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20621 | Microtubule
Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can grow as long as 50 micrometres and are highly dynamic. The outer diameter of a microtubule is between 23 and 27 nm while the inner diameter is between 11 and 15 nm. They are formed by the polymerization of a dimer of two globular proteins, alpha and beta tubulin into protofilaments that can then associate laterally to form a hollow tube, the microtubule. The most common form of a microtubule consists of 13 protofilaments in the tubular arrangement.
Microtubules are very important in a number of cellular processes. They are involved in maintaining the structure of the cell and, together with microfilaments and intermediate filaments, they form the cytoskeleton. They also make up the internal structure of cilia and flagella. They provide platforms for intracellular transport and are involved in a variety of cellular processes, including the movement of secretory vesicles, organelles, and intracellular macromolecular assemblies (see entries for dynein and kinesin). They are also involved in cell division (by mitosis and meiosis) and are the major constituents of mitotic spindles, which are used to pull eukaryotic chromosomes apart.
Microtubules are nucleated and organized by microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs), such as the centrosome found in the center of many animal cells or the basal bodies found in cilia and flagella, or the spindle pole bodies found in most fungi.
There are many proteins that bind to microtubules, including the motor proteins kinesin and dynein, microtubule-severing proteins like katanin, and other proteins important for regulating microtubule dynamics. Recently an actin-like protein has been found in a gram-positive bacterium "Bacillus thuringiensis", which forms a microtubule-like structure called a nanotubule, involved in plasmid segregation. Other bacterial microtubules have a ring of five protofilaments.
Tubulin and microtubule-mediated processes, like cell locomotion, were seen by early microscopists, like Leeuwenhoek (1677). However, the fibrous nature of flagella and other structures were discovered two centuries later, with improved light microscopes, and confirmed in the 20th century with the electron microscope and biochemical studies.
Microtubule in vitro assays for motor proteins such as dynein and kinesin are researched by fluorescently tagging a microtubule and fixing either the microtubule or motor proteins to a microscope slide then visualizing the slide with video-enhanced microscopy to record the travel of the microtubule motor proteins. This allows the movement of the motor proteins along the microtubule or the microtubule moving across the motor proteins. Consequently, some microtubule processes can be determined by kymograph.
In eukaryotes, microtubules are long, hollow cylinders made up of polymerised α- and β-tubulin dimers. The inner space of the hollow microtubule cylinders is referred to as the lumen. The α and β-tubulin subunits are approximately 50% identical at the amino acid level, and each have a molecular weight of approximately 50 kDa.
These α/β-tubulin dimers polymerize end-to-end into linear protofilaments that associate laterally to form a single microtubule, which can then be extended by the addition of more α/β-tubulin dimers. Typically, microtubules are formed by the parallel association of thirteen protofilaments, although microtubules composed of fewer or more protofilaments have been observed in various species as well as "in vitro".
Microtubules have a distinct polarity that is critical for their biological function. Tubulin polymerizes end to end, with the β-subunits of one tubulin dimer contacting the α-subunits of the next dimer. Therefore, in a protofilament, one end will have the α-subunits exposed while the other end will have the β-subunits exposed. These ends are designated the (−) and (+) ends, respectively. The protofilaments bundle parallel to one another with the same polarity, so, in a microtubule, there is one end, the (+) end, with only β-subunits exposed, while the other end, the (−) end, has only α-subunits exposed. While microtubule elongation can occur at both the (+) and (−) ends, it is significantly more rapid at the (+) end.
The lateral association of the protofilaments generates a pseudo-helical structure, with one turn of the helix containing 13 tubulin dimers, each from a different protofilament. In the most common "13-3" architecture, the 13th tubulin dimer interacts with the next tubulin dimer with a vertical offset of 3 tubulin monomers due to the helicity of the turn. There are other alternative architectures, such as 11-3, 12-3, 14-3, 15-4, or 16-4, that have been detected at a much lower occurrence. Microtubules can also morph into other forms such as helical filaments, which are observed in protist organisms like foraminifera. There are two distinct types of interactions that can occur between the subunits of lateral protofilaments within the microtubule called the A-type and B-type lattices. In the A-type lattice, the lateral associations of protofilaments occur between adjacent α and β-tubulin subunits (i.e. an α-tubulin subunit from one protofilament interacts with a β-tubulin subunit from an adjacent protofilament). In the B-type lattice, the α and β-tubulin subunits from one protofilament interact with the α and β-tubulin subunits from an adjacent protofilament, respectively. Experimental studies have shown that the B-type lattice is the primary arrangement within microtubules. However, in most microtubules there is a seam in which tubulin subunits interact α-β.
Some species of "Prosthecobacter" also contain microtubules. The structure of these bacterial microtubules is similar to that of eukaryotic microtubules, consisting of a hollow tube of protofilaments assembled from heterodimers of bacterial tubulin A (BtubA) and bacterial tubulin B (BtubB). Both BtubA and BtubB share features of both α- and β-tubulin. Unlike eukaryotic microtubules, bacterial microtubules do not require chaperones to fold. In contrast to the 13 protofilaments of eukaryotic microtubules, bacterial microtubules comprise only five.
Microtubules are part of the cytoskeleton, a structural network within the cell's cytoplasm. The roles of the microtubule cytoskeleton include mechanical support, organization of the cytoplasm, transport, motility and chromosome segregation. In developing neurons microtubules are known as neurotubules, and they can modulate the dynamics of actin, another component of the cytoskeleton. A microtubule is capable of growing and shrinking in order to generate force, and there are motor proteins that allow organelles and other cellular components to be carried along a microtubule. This combination of roles makes microtubules important for organizing and moving intracellular constituents.
The organization of microtubules in the cell is cell-type specific. In epithelia, the minus-ends of the microtubule polymer are anchored near the site of cell-cell contact and organized along the apical-basal axis. After nucleation, the minus-ends are released and then re-anchored in the periphery by factors such as ninein and PLEKHA7. In this manner, they can facilitate the transport of proteins, vesicles and organelles along the apical-basal axis of the cell. In fibroblasts and other mesenchymal cell-types, microtubules are anchored at the centrosome and radiate with their plus-ends outwards towards the cell periphery (as shown in the first figure). In these cells, the microtubules play important roles in cell migration. Moreover, the polarity of microtubules is acted upon by motor proteins, which organize many components of the cell, including the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus.
Nucleation is the event that initiates the formation of microtubules from the tubulin dimer. Microtubules are typically nucleated and organized by organelles called microtubule-organizing centres (MTOCs). Contained within the MTOC is another type of tubulin, γ-tubulin, which is distinct from the α- and β-subunits of the microtubules themselves. The γ-tubulin combines with several other associated proteins to form a lock washer-like structure known as the "γ-tubulin ring complex" (γ-TuRC). This complex acts as a template for α/β-tubulin dimers to begin polymerization; it acts as a cap of the (−) end while microtubule growth continues away from the MTOC in the (+) direction.
The centrosome is the primary MTOC of most cell types. However, microtubules can be nucleated from other sites as well. For example, cilia and flagella have MTOCs at their base termed basal bodies. In addition, work from the Kaverina group at Vanderbilt, as well as others, suggests that the Golgi apparatus can serve as an important platform for the nucleation of microtubules. Because nucleation from the centrosome is inherently symmetrical, Golgi-associated microtubule nucleation may allow the cell to establish asymmetry in the microtubule network. In recent studies, the Vale group at UCSF identified the protein complex augmin as a critical factor for centrosome-dependent, spindle-based microtubule generation. It that has been shown to interact with γ-TuRC and increase microtubule density around the mitotic spindle origin.
Some cell types, such as plant cells, do not contain well defined MTOCs. In these cells, microtubules are nucleated from discrete sites in the cytoplasm. Other cell types, such as trypanosomatid parasites, have a MTOC but it is permanently found at the base of a flagellum. Here, nucleation of microtubules for structural roles and for generation of the mitotic spindle is not from a canonical centriole-like MTOC.
Following the initial nucleation event, tubulin monomers must be added to the growing polymer. The process of adding or removing monomers depends on the concentration of αβ-tubulin dimers in solution in relation to the critical concentration, which is the steady state concentration of dimers at which there is no longer any net assembly or disassembly at the end of the microtubule. If the dimer concentration is greater than the critical concentration, the microtubule will polymerize and grow. If the concentration is less than the critical concentration, the length of the microtubule will decrease.
Dynamic instability refers to the coexistence of assembly and disassembly at the ends of a microtubule. The microtubule can dynamically switch between growing and shrinking phases in this region. Tubulin dimers can bind two molecules of GTP, one of which can be hydrolyzed subsequent to assembly. During polymerization, the tubulin dimers are in the GTP-bound state. The GTP bound to α-tubulin is stable and it plays a structural function in this bound state. However, the GTP bound to β-tubulin may be hydrolyzed to GDP shortly after assembly. The assembly properties of GDP-tubulin are different from those of GTP-tubulin, as GDP-tubulin is more prone to depolymerization. A GDP-bound tubulin subunit at the tip of a microtubule will tend to fall off, although a GDP-bound tubulin in the middle of a microtubule cannot spontaneously pop out of the polymer. Since tubulin adds onto the end of the microtubule in the GTP-bound state, a cap of GTP-bound tubulin is proposed to exist at the tip of the microtubule, protecting it from disassembly. When hydrolysis catches up to the tip of the microtubule, it begins a rapid depolymerization and shrinkage. This switch from growth to shrinking is called a catastrophe. GTP-bound tubulin can begin adding to the tip of the microtubule again, providing a new cap and protecting the microtubule from shrinking. This is referred to as "rescue".
In 1986, Marc Kirschner and Tim Mitchison proposed that microtubules use their dynamic properties of growth and shrinkage at their plus ends to probe the three dimensional space of the cell. Plus ends that encounter kinetochores or sites of polarity become captured and no longer display growth or shrinkage. In contrast to normal dynamic microtubules, which have a half-life of 5–10 minutes, the captured microtubules can last for hours. This idea is commonly known as the "search and capture" model. Indeed, work since then has largely validated this idea. At the kinetochore, a variety of complexes have been shown to capture microtubule (+)-ends. Moreover, a (+)-end capping activity for interphase microtubules has also been described. This later activity is mediated by formins, the adenomatous polyposis coli protein, and EB1, a protein that tracks along the growing plus ends of microtubules.
Although most microtubules have a half-life of 5–10 minutes, certain microtubules can remain stable for hours. These stabilized microtubules accumulate post-translational modifications on their tubulin subunits by the action of microtubule-bound enzymes. However, once the microtubule depolymerizes, most of these modifications are rapidly reversed by soluble enzymes. Since most modification reactions are slow while their reverse reactions are rapid, modified tubulin is only detected on long-lived stable microtubules. Most of these modifications occur on the C-terminal region of alpha-tubulin. This region, which is rich in negatively charged glutamate, forms relatively unstructured tails that project out from the microtubule and form contacts with motors. Thus, it is believed that tubulin modifications regulate the interaction of motors with the microtubule. Since these stable modified microtubules are typically oriented towards the site of cell polarity in interphase cells, this subset of modified microtubules provide a specialized route that helps deliver vesicles to these polarized zones. These modifications include:
Tubulin is also known to be phosphorylated, ubiquitinated, sumoylated, and palmitoylated.
A wide variety of drugs are able to bind to tubulin and modify its assembly properties. These drugs can have an effect at intracellular concentrations much lower than that of tubulin. This interference with microtubule dynamics can have the effect of stopping a cell's cell cycle and can lead to programmed cell death or apoptosis. However, there are data to suggest that interference of microtubule dynamics is insufficient to block the cells undergoing mitosis. These studies have demonstrated that suppression of dynamics occurs at concentrations lower than those needed to block mitosis. Suppression of microtubule dynamics by tubulin mutations or by drug treatment have been shown to inhibit cell migration. Both microtubule stabilizers and destabilizers can suppress microtubule dynamics.
The drugs that can alter microtubule dynamics include:
Taxanes (alone or in combination with platinum derivatives (carboplatine) or gemcitabine) are used against breast and gynecological malignancies, squamous-cell carcinomas (head-and-neck cancers, some lung cancers), etc.
Expression of β3-tubulin has been reported to alter cellular responses to drug-induced suppression of microtubule dynamics. In general the dynamics are normally suppressed by low, subtoxic concentrations of microtubule drugs that also inhibit cell migration. However, incorporating β3-tubulin into microtubules increases the concentration of drug that is needed to suppress dynamics and inhibit cell migration. Thus, tumors that express β3-tubulin are not only resistant to the cytotoxic effects of microtubule targeted drugs, but also to their ability to suppress tumor metastasis. Moreover, expression of β3-tubulin also counteracts the ability of these drugs to inhibit angiogenesis which is normally another important facet of their action.
Microtubule polymers are extremely sensitive to various environmental effects. Very low levels of free calcium can destabilize microtubules and this prevented early researchers from studying the polymer in vitro. Cold temperatures also cause rapid depolymerization of microtubules. In contrast, heavy water promotes microtubule polymer stability.
MAPs have been shown to play a crucial role in the regulation of microtubule dynamics "in-vivo". The rates of microtubule polymerization, depolymerization, and catastrophe vary depending on which microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) are present. The originally identified MAPs from brain tissue can be classified into two groups based on their molecular weight. This first class comprises MAPs with a molecular weight below 55-62 kDa, and are called τ (tau) proteins. "In-vitro", tau proteins have been shown to directly bind microtubules, promote nucleation and prevent disassembly, and to induce the formation of parallel arrays. Additionally, tau proteins have also been shown to stabilize microtubules in axons and have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. The second class is composed of MAPs with a molecular weight of 200-1000 kDa, of which there are four known types: MAP-1, MAP-2, MAP-3 and MAP-4. MAP-1 proteins consists of a set of three different proteins: A, B and C. The C protein plays an important role in the retrograde transport of vesicles and is also known as cytoplasmic dynein. MAP-2 proteins are located in the dendrites and in the body of neurons, where they bind with other cytoskeletal filaments. The MAP-4 proteins are found in the majority of cells and stabilize microtubules. In addition to MAPs that have a stabilizing effect on microtubule structure, other MAPs can have a destabilizing effect either by cleaving or by inducing depolymerization of microtubules. Three proteins called katanin, spastin, and fidgetin have been observed to regulate the number and length of microtubules via their destabilizing activities. Furthermore, KIAA1211L is predicted to be localized to the microtubules.
Plus end tracking proteins are MAP proteins which bind to the tips of growing microtubules and play an important role in regulating microtubule dynamics. For example, +TIPs have been observed to participate in the interactions of microtubules with chromosomes during mitosis. The first MAP to be identified as a +TIP was CLIP170 (cytoplasmic linker protein), which has been shown to play a role in microtubule depolymerization rescue events. Additional examples of +TIPs include EB1, EB2, EB3, p150Glued, Dynamitin, Lis1, CLIP115, CLASP1, and CLASP2.
Microtubules can act as substrates for motor proteins that are involved in important cellular functions such as vesicle trafficking and cell division. Unlike other microtubule-associated proteins, motor proteins utilize the energy from ATP hydrolysis to generate mechanical work that moves the protein along the substrate. The major motor proteins that interact with microtubules are kinesin, which usually moves toward the (+) end of the microtubule, and dynein, which moves toward the (−) end.
Some viruses (including retroviruses, herpesviruses, parvoviruses, and adenoviruses) that require access to the nucleus to replicate their genomes attach to motor proteins.
The centrosome is the main MTOC (microtubule organizing center) of the cell during mitosis. Each centrosome is made up of two cylinders called centrioles, oriented at right angles to each other. The centriole is formed from 9 main microtubules, each having two partial microtubules attached to it. Each centriole is approximately 400 nm long and around 200 nm in circumference.
The centrosome is critical to mitosis as most microtubules involved in the process originate from the centrosome. The minus ends of each microtubule begin at the centrosome, while the plus ends radiate out in all directions. Thus the centrosome is also important in maintaining the polarity of microtubules during mitosis.
Most cells only have one centrosome for most of their cell cycle, however, right before mitosis, the centrosome duplicates, and the cell contains two centrosomes. Some of the microtubules that radiate from the centrosome grow directly away from the sister centrosome. These microtubules are called astral microtubules. With the help of these astral microtubules the centrosomes move away from each other towards opposite sides of the cell. Once there, other types of microtubules necessary for mitosis, including interpolar microtubules and K-fibers can begin to form.
A final important note about the centrosomes and microtubules during mitosis is that while the centrosome is the MTOC for the microtubules necessary for mitosis, research has shown that once the microtubules themselves are formed and in the correct place the centrosomes themselves are not needed for mitosis to occur.
Astral microtubules are a subclass of microtubules which only exist during and around mitosis. They originate from the centrosome, but do not interact with the chromosomes, kinetochores, or with the microtubules originating from the other centrosome. Instead their microtubules radiate towards the cell membrane. Once there they interact with specific motor proteins which create force that pull the microtubules, and thus the entire centrosome towards the cell membrane. As stated above, this helps the centrosomes orient themselves away from each other in the cell. However these astral microtubules do not interact with the mitotic spindle itself. Experiments have shown that without these astral microtubules, the mitotic spindle can form, however its orientation in the cell is not always correct and thus mitosis does not occur as effectively. Another key function of the astral microtubules is to aid in cytokinesis. Astral microtubules interact with motor proteins at the cell membrane to pull the spindle and the entire cell apart once the chromosomes have been replicated.
Interpolar/Polar microtubules are a class of microtubules which also radiate out from the centrosome during mitosis. These microtubules radiate towards the mitotic spindle, unlike astral microtubules. Interpolar microtubules are both the most abundant and dynamic subclass of microtubules during mitosis. Around 95 percent of microtubules in the mitotic spindle can be characterized as interpolar. Furthermore, the half life of these microtubules is extremely short as it is less than one minute. Interpolar microtubules that do not attach to the kinetochores can aid in chromosome congregation through lateral interaction with the kinetochores.
K fibers/Kinetochore microtubules are the third important subclass of mitotic microtubules. These microtubules form direct connections with the kinetochores in the mitotic spindle. Each K fiber is composed of 20–40 parallel microtubules, forming a strong tube which is attached at one end to the centrosome and on the other to the kinetochore, located in the center of each chromosome. Since each centrosome has a K fiber connecting to each pair of chromosomes, the chromosomes become tethered in the middle of the mitotic spindle by the K fibers. K fibers have a much longer half life than interpolar microtubules, at between 4 and 8 minutes. During the end of mitoses, the microtubules forming each K fiber begin to disassociate, thus shorting the K fibers. As the K fibers shorten the pair chromosomes are pulled apart right before cytokinesis. Previously, some researchers believed that K fibers form at there minus end originating from the centrosome just like other microtubules, however, new research has pointed to a different mechanism. In this new mechanism, the K fibers are initially stabilized at their plus end by the kinetochores and grow out from there. The minus end of these K fibers eventually connect to an existing Interpolar microtubule and are eventually connected to the centrosome in this way.
Most of the microtubules that form the mitotic spindle originate from the centrosome. Originally it was thought that all of these microtubules originated from the centrosome via a method called search and capture, described in more detail in a section above, however new research has shown that there are addition means of microtubule nucleation during mitosis. One of the most important of these additional means of microtubule nucleation is the RAN-GTP pathway. RAN-GTP associates with chromatin during mitosis to create a gradient that allows for local nucleation of microtubules near the chromosomes. Furthermore, a second pathway known as the augmin/HAUS complex (some organisms use the more studied augmin complex, while others such as humans use an analogous complex called HAUS) acts an additional means of microtubule nucleation in the mitotic spindle.
Microtubule plus ends are often localized to particular structures. In polarized interphase cells, microtubules are disproportionately oriented from the MTOC toward the site of polarity, such as the leading edge of migrating fibroblasts. This configuration is thought to help deliver microtubule-bound vesicles from the Golgi to the site of polarity.
Dynamic instability of microtubules is also required for the migration of most mammalian cells that crawl. Dynamic microtubules regulate the levels of key G-proteins such as RhoA and Rac1, which regulate cell contractility and cell spreading. Dynamic microtubules are also required to trigger focal adhesion disassembly, which is necessary for migration. It has been found that microtubules act as “struts” that counteract the contractile forces that are needed for trailing edge retraction during cell movement. When microtubules in the trailing edge of cell are dynamic, they are able to remodel to allow retraction. When dynamics are suppressed, microtubules cannot remodel and, therefore, oppose the contractile forces. The morphology of cells with suppressed microtubule dynamics indicate that cells can extend the front edge (polarized in the direction of movement), but have difficulty retracting their trailing edge. On the other hand, high drug concentrations, or microtubule mutations that depolymerize the microtubules, can restore cell migration but there is a loss of directionality. It can be concluded that microtubules act both to restrain cell movement and to establish directionality
Microtubules have a major structural role in eukaryotic cilia and flagella. Cilia and flagella always extend directly from a MTOC, in this case termed the basal body. The action of the dynein motor proteins on the various microtubule strands that run along a cilium or flagellum allows the organelle to bend and generate force for swimming, moving extracellular material, and other roles. Prokaryotes possess tubulin-like proteins including FtsZ. However, prokaryotic flagella are entirely different in structure from eukaryotic flagella and do not contain microtubule-based structures.
The cytoskeleton formed by microtubules is essential to the morphogenetic process of an organism's development. For example, a network of polarized microtubules is required within the oocyte of "Drosophila melanogaster" during its embryogenesis in order to establish the axis of the egg. Signals sent between the follicular cells and the oocyte (such as factors similar to epidermal growth factor) cause the reorganization of the microtubules so that their (-) ends are located in the lower part of the oocyte, polarizing the structure and leading to the appearance of an anterior-posterior axis. This involvement in the body's architecture is also seen in mammals.
Another area where microtubules are essential is the development of the nervous system in higher vertebrates, where tubulin's dynamics and those of the associated proteins (such as the microtubule-associated proteins) is finely controlled during the development of the nervous system.
The cellular cytoskeleton is a dynamic system that functions on many different levels: In addition to giving the cell a particular form and supporting the transport of vesicles and organelles, it can also influence gene expression. The signal transduction mechanisms involved in this communication are little understood. However, the relationship between the drug-mediated depolymerization of microtubules, and the specific expression of transcription factors has been described, which has provided information on the differential expression of the genes depending on the presence of these factors. This communication between the cytoskeleton and the regulation of the cellular response is also related to the action of growth factors: for example, this relation exists for connective tissue growth factor. | en.wikipedia.org | Microtubule | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20621 |
20622 | Militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a nation, or subjects of a state, who can be called upon for military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel, or historically, members of a warrior nobility class (e.g., knights or samurai). Generally unable to hold ground against regular forces, it is common for militias to be used for aiding regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or irregular warfare, instead of being used in offensive campaigns by themselves. Militia are often limited by local civilian laws to serve only in their home region, and to serve only for a limited time; this further reduces their use in long military campaigns.
With the emergence of professional forces (in the form of mercenaries whose livelihood was military service) during the Renaissance, Western European militias wilted; later however, they would be revived as part of Florentine civic humanism, which held that professional militaries were a result of corruption, and admired the Roman model. The civic humanist ideal of the militia was spread through Europe by the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli (According to Hörnqvist, "The Prince", ch. 12 and 13, "Discourses on Livy", and "The Art of War".) Beginning in the late 20th century, some militias (in particular officially recognized and sanctioned militias of a government) act as professional forces, while still being "part-time" or "on-call" organizations. For instance, the members of United States National Guard units are considered professional soldiers, as they are trained to the same standards as their "full-time" (active duty) counterparts are.
Militias thus can be either military or paramilitary, depending on the instance. Some of the contexts in which the term "militia" can apply to include: forces engaged in a defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws, the entire able-bodied population of a community, town, county, or state available to be called to arms, a subset of these who may be legally penalized for failing to respond to a call-up, a subset of these who actually respond to a call-up regardless of legal obligation, a private (non-governmental) force not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government, an irregular armed force that enables its leader to exercise military, economic, or political control over a subnational territory within a sovereign state, an official reserve army composed of citizen soldiers known as the militsiya, a "select militia" composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population, or maritime militias composed of fishermen and other participants of the marine industry which are organized and sanctioned by the state to enforce its maritime boundaries.
"Militia" derives from Latin roots:
The word "militia" dates back to ancient Rome, and more recently to at least 1590 when it was recorded in a book by Sir John Smythe, "Certain Discourses Military" with the meanings: a military force; a body of soldiers and military affairs; a body of military discipline
The word Militia comes from ancient Latin, in which it meant defense service, as distinguished from a body of (armed) defenders which would be "volgus militum". The term is used by several countries with the meaning of "defense activity" indicating it is taken directly from Latin.
In the early 1800s Buenos Aires, which was by then the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, was attacked during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata. As regular military forces were insufficient to counter the British attackers, Santiago de Liniers drafted all males in the city capable of bearing arms into the military. These recruits included the criollo peoples, who ranked low down in the social hierarchy, as well as some slaves. With these reinforcements, the British armies were twice defeated. The militias became a strong factor in the politics of the city afterwards, as a springboard from which the "criollos" could manifest their political ambitions. They were a key element in the success of the May Revolution, which deposed the Spanish viceroy and began the Argentine War of Independence. A decree by Mariano Moreno derogated the system of promotions involving "criollos", allowing instead their promotion on military merit.
The Argentine Civil War was waged by militias again, as both federalists and unitarians drafted common people into their ranks as part of ongoing conflicts. These irregular armies were organized at a provincial level, and assembled as leagues depending on political pacts. This system had declined by the 1870s, mainly due to the establishment of the modern Argentine Army, drafted for the Paraguayan War by President Bartolome Mitre. Provincial militias were outlawed and decimated by the new army throughout the presidential terms of Mitre, Sarmiento, Avellaneda and Roca.
Armenian militia, or "fedayi" played a major role in the independence of various Armenian states, including Western Armenia, the First Republic of Armenia, and the currently de facto independent Republic of Artsakh. Armenian militia also played a role in the Georgia-Abkhazia War of 1992–1993.
In the Colony of New South Wales, Governor Lachlan Macquarie proposed a colonial militia but the idea was rejected. Governor Ralph Darling felt a mounted police force was more efficient than a militia. A military volunteer movement attracted wide interest during the Crimean War. Following Federation, the various military reserve forces of the Commonwealth of Australia became the Citizen Military Force (CMF).
A citizens' militia modeled on the British Home Guard called the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) was founded by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) in 1940 in response to the possibility of a Japanese invasion of Australia. In the beginning, members didn't have uniforms and often paraded in business attire. They were given instruction on guerrilla warfare, and later the private organization was taken over by the Australian Government and became part of the Australian Military Forces (AMF). The government supported the organization and equipped them with anti-aircraft artillery; however, they were disbanded by the end of World War II due to the fact that there was no longer a significant threat to national security.
During the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, a National Guard was established in Vienna. A separate but related Academic Legion was composed mainly of students in the capital city.
After World War I, multiple militias formed as soldiers returned home to their villages, only to find many of them occupied by Slovene and Yugoslav forces. Especially in the southern province of Carinthia the Volkswehr (Peoples Defense Force) was formed, to fight the occupant forces.
During the First Republic, similar to the development in Germany, increasing radicalization of politics led to certain paramilitary militias associating with certain political parties. The Heimwehr (German: "Home Defense") became affiliated with the Christian Social Party and the Republikanischer Schutzbund (German: "Republican Defense League") became affiliated with the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. Violence increasingly escalated, breaking out during the July Revolt of 1927 and finally the Austrian Civil War, when the Schutzbund was defeated by the Heimwehr, police, Gendarmerie and Austrian Armed Forces.
After World War II the Austrian Armed Forces (Bundesheer) were reestablished as a conscript military force. A basic part of it is the militia, which is a regular reservists force of the Bundesheer, comparable to the national guard units of the United States. The conscript soldiers of the militia have to store their military equipment at home, to be mobilized quite fast within a few days in case of emergency. The system was established during the Cold War and still exists, but the members of the militia now are volunteers only.
"See also: Republikanischer Schutzbund, Heimwehr"
In Bahrain, emergence of a small militia group Katibat al Haydariyah was first seen in 2015. During the year, total four attacks were claimed by the attack, including on August 22 and 24, 2015, in Muharraq, on September 10, 2015, in Al Khamis, and on October 9, 2015, on Bahraini forces in the Al Juffair region. Katibat al Haydariyah is its own distinct organization that decries the Bahraini government, but Canada and the United Kingdom listed it as an alias for the larger Al-Ashtar Brigades (or the Saraya al Ashtar). After four years, the militia group reemerged on social media in October 2019, to threaten new attacks on the island. It stated that they “will not retreat from our goals of the downfall of the Al Khalifa entity,” and that the “soon, guns will open their mouths and they will hear the whiz of bullets”.
In Brazil there are clandestine paramilitary groups called "milícias".
In Canada the title "Militia" historically referred to the land component of the armed forces, both regular (full-time) and reserve. The earliest Canadian militias date from the beginning of the French colonial period. In New France, King Louis XIV created a compulsory militia of settlers in every parish that supported French authorities in the defence and expansion of the colony.
Following the British conquest of New France in 1760, local militia units supported British Army regiments stationed in British North America. In addition to the Canadian militia, British regiments were also supported by locally raised regulars (including the 40th Regiment of Foot, and the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot) and Fencibles regiments. These regiments were raised through ordinary modes of recruiting, as opposed to being raised by ballot like the militia. Most militia units were only activated in time of war, but remained inactive in between. The battle honours awarded to these colonial militia regiments are perpetuated by modern regiments within the Canadian Army.
Defence of the Canadas long relied on a contingent of British soldiers, as well as support from the Royal Navy. However, the Crimean War saw the diversion of a significant number of British soldiers from British North America. Fearing possible incursions from the United States, the Parliament of the Province of Canada passed the "Militia Act of 1855", creating the Active Militia. The Active Militia, later splitting into the Permanent Active Militia (PAM), a full-time professional army component (although it continued to use the label militia), and Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM), a military reserve force for the Canadian militia. Following 1855, the traditional sedentary militia was reorganized into the Reserve Militia, with its last enrolment taking place in 1873, and was formally abolished in 1950.
Prior to Canadian Confederation, the colonies that made up the Maritimes, and Newfoundland maintained their own militias independent of the Canadian Militia. From 1853 to 1871, the Colony of Vancouver Island (and the succeeding Colony of British Columbia) periodically raised and disbanded militia units. These units were raised for specific purposes, or in response to a specific threat, real or perceived.
After the Treaty of Washington was signed between the Americans and British, nearly all remaining British soldiers were withdrawn from Canada in November 1871. The departure of the majority of British forces in Canada made the Canadian militia the only major land forces available in Canada. In 1940, both components of the militia, PAM and NPAM were reorganized, the former into Canadian Army (Active), the latter into the Canadian Army (Reserve)
In addition to the various colonial militia units, and the regiments of the Canadian militia, in 1942, the Army's Pacific Command created the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers. Intended to function similarly to the United Kingdom's Home Guard, the Rangers were a secondary defence force, defending the coast of British Columbia and Yukon from potential Japanese attack. The Rangers were disbanded in September 1945, shortly after the conclusion of World War II. The legacy of the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers is perpetuated by the Canadian Rangers, a component of the Primary Reserve that provides a military presence in areas where it would not be economically or practically viable to have conventional Army units - most notably northern Canada.
The Canadian Army Reserve continued to use the term "militia" in reference to itself until the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces in 1968. Since unification, no Canadian military force has formally used "militia" in its name. However, the Canadian Army Reserve is still colloquially referred to as the "militia". Members of the Canadian Army Reserve troops typically train one night a week and every other weekend of the month, except in the summer. Summertime training may consist of courses, individual call-outs, or concentrations (unit and formation training of one to two weeks' duration). Most Canadian cities and counties have one or more militia units. Primary Reserve members may volunteer for overseas service, to augment their regular force counterparts—usually during NATO or United Nations missions.
China's current militia falls under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and forms part of the Chinese armed forces. Under the command of the military organs, it undertakes such jobs as war preparation services, security and defense operational tasks and assistance in maintaining social order and public security.
Historically, militias of varying levels of ability have existed in China, organized on a village and clan level, especially during periods of instability and in areas subject to pirate and bandit attack. When the British attempted to take control of the New Territories in 1898, they were resisted by the local militias which had been formed for mutual defence against pirate raids. Although ultimately defeated, the militias' dogged resistance convinced the British to make concessions to the indigenous inhabitants allowing them to preserve inheritance, property and marriage rights and customs throughout most of the period of the British rule.
Cuba has three militia organizations: The Territorial Troops Militia ("Milicias de Tropas Territoriales") of about one million people (half women), the Youth Labor Army ("Ejército Juvenil del Trabajo") devoted to agricultural production, and a naval militia. Formerly, there existed the National Revolutionary Militias ("Milicias Nacionales Revolucionarias"), which was formed after the Cuban Revolution and initially consisted of 200,000 men who helped the 25,000 strong standing army defeat counter-revolutionary guerillas.
The Danish Home Guard () (HJV) is the fourth service of the Danish military. It was formerly concerned only with the defence of Danish territory but, since 2008, it has also supported Danish international military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. There are five branches: Army Home Guard, Naval Home Guard, Air Force Home Guard, Police Home Guard, and Infrastructure Home Guard.
The Danish Militia played a major role in repelling the Swedish attackers during the assault on Copenhagen in 1659.
The Danish Home guard are the most highly trained militia men in the world as of 2012 as the receive about 90 hours of training a year in many yearly exercises. These include many exercises such as repelling assaults and RPG fire from afghan irregulares.
These yearly exercises include marksman training, and desert training for future possible deployment in afghan, as well as CQB training with the Danish special forces frogmen(frømen).
The Omakaitse (Home Guard) was an organisation formed by the local population of Estonia on the basis of the Estonian Defence League and the forest brothers resistance movement active on the Eastern Front between 3July 1941 and 17September 1944. This arrangement was unique in the context of the war as in Latvia, which otherwise shared a common fate with Estonia, there was no organisation of this kind.
While Finland employs conscription, they do not have separate militia units: all units are organized by and under the command of the Finnish Defence Forces. All men belong to the reserve until age 50 or 60 depending on rank, and may be called up in case of mobilization. Each reservist is assigned a position in a unit to be activated. However, since 2004, the FDF does have territorial forces, organized along the lines of regular infantry formations, which are composed of volunteers. Furthermore, long-range patrol units (sissi troops, a type of special forces) are assigned to local troops.
In history, before Finland became independent, two types of local militias existed: the White Guards and Red Guards, which were non-socialists and socialists, respectively. In the Finnish Civil War (1918) the White Guards founded the White Army, which was victorious over the Red Guards. White Guards continued their existence as a volunteer militia until the Second World War. In some cases their activity found overt political expression as in the Mäntsälä rebellion. However, in 1934 separate wartime White Guard units were dissolved and in the Second World War they served at the front, dispersed in regular units. They were dissolved as a condition of peace after the Continuation War.
The first notable militia in French history was the resistance of the Gauls to invasion by the Romans until they were defeated by Julius Caesar. Centuries later, Joan of Arc organized and led a militia until her capture and execution in 1431. This settled the succession to the French crown and laid the basis for the formation of the modern nation of France.
During the French Revolution the National Guard was a political home defense militia. The levée en masse was a conscription army used during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, the Parisian National Guard engaged the Prussian Army and later rebelled against the Versailles Army under Marshal McMahon.
Under German occupation during World War II, a militia usually called the French Resistance emerged to conduct a guerrilla war of attrition against German forces and prepare the way for the D-Day Allied Invasion of France. The Resistance militia were opposed by the collaborationist French Militia—the paramilitary police force of the German puppet state of Vichy.
Although defunct from 1871 until 2016, the French National Guard has now been reestablished for homeland security purposes.
The earliest reports of Germanic militias was the system of hundreds described in 98 AD by the Roman historian Tacitus as the "centeni." They were similar in nature to the Anglo-Saxon "fyrd".
Freikorps (German for "Free Corps") was originally applied to voluntary armies. The first "Freikorps" were recruited by Frederick II of Prussia during the Seven Years' War. These troops were regarded as unreliable by regular armies, so they were mainly used as sentries and for minor duties. During the Napoleonic occupation, organizations such as the Lutzow Free Corps fought against the occupiers and later joined the allied forces as regular soldiers.
However, after 1918, the term was used for nationalist paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. They were one of the many Weimar paramilitary groups active during that time. They received considerable support from Gustav Noske, the German Defence Minister who used them to crush the Spartakist League with enormous violence, including the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg on January15, 1919. Militia were also used to put down the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919. They were officially "disbanded" in 1920, resulting in the ill-fated Kapp Putsch in March 1920. The "Einwohnerwehr", active in Germany from 1919 to 1921 was a paramilitary citizens' militia consisting of hundreds of thousands of mostly former servicemen. Formed by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior on April15, 1919, to allow citizens to protect themselves from looters, armed gangs, and revolutionaries, the "Einwohnerwehr" was under the command of the local "Reichswehr" regiments, which supplied its guns. In 1921, the Berlin government dissolved the "Einwohnerwehr". Many of its members went on to join the Nazi Party.
In 1921 the Nazi Party created the "Sturmabteilung" (SA; Storm Detachment; Brownshirts), which was the first paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party and served as a Nazi militia whose initial assignment was to protect Nazi leaders at rallies and assemblies. The SA also took part in street battles against the forces of rival political parties and violent actions against Jews. From the SA sprung the Schutzstaffel (SS; Protective Squadron) which grew to become one of the largest and most powerful groups in Nazi Germany, which Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (the leader of the SS from 1929) envisioned as an elite group of guards. The Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS, became a de facto fourth branch of the Wehrmacht.
In 1944–1945, as World War II came to a close in Europe, the German high command deployed increasing numbers of Volkssturm units to combat duties. These regiments were composed of men, women and children too old, young or otherwise unfit for service in the Wehrmacht (German Regular Army). Their primary role was assisting the army with fortification duties and digging anti-tank ditches. As the shortage of manpower became severe, they were used as front line infantry, most often in urban settings. Due to the physical state of members, almost non-existent training and shortage of weapons, there was not much the "Volkssturm" could do except act like shields for regular army units. However, armed with Panzerfausts and deeply entrenched, a unit of Volkssturm could cause serious trouble for Soviet armor.
Salwa Judum (meaning "Peace March" or "Purification Hunt" in Gondi language) is a militia active in the Chhattisgarh state of India.
The Basij militia founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in November 1980 is composed of 10,000 regular soldiers. It ultimately draws from about 11 million members, and is subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran.
Since the rise of ISIL in 2014 and their conquest of many predominantly-Sunni areas in Iraq, the Shiite militias became even more prominent in the country by joining the Iraqi Army in many major battles against ISIL.
In modern times, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is often described as a heavily armed militia, not a full-fledged army, since it is legally and publicly viewed as a defensive force only, and since it relies heavily on the reserve duty of Israeli citizens who are annually called to service for set periods of time, rather than on professional, full-time soldiers. Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories rely on armed militia teams for their security. National service conscripts can also serve in the Israel Border Police (commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav which means border guard in Hebrew), which is a paramilitary branch of the Israel Police rather than the IDF.
Since the fall of Gaddafi's rule of Libya in the aftermath of the Libyan Civil War, rebel groups that have contributed to the revolution splintered into self-organized militia movements and have been involved in a feud for control of each city. Since the revolution, reports of clashes and violence by militia groups have been increasing.
Mexico has a history of various activities and insurrection by militia and paramilitary groups dating back several hundred years that include the exploits of historical figures such as Captain Manuel Pineda Munoz and Francisco "Pancho" Villa. This also includes groups such as the Free-Colored Militia (the interracial militias of New Spain, Colonial Mexico), the Camisas Doradas, and the contemporary Self Defense Council of Michoacan.
Free-colored militias were an important and at times critical organization in Colonial Mexico. Prior to the eighteenth century, Spain's territories in the Americas were mainly defended through a series of Spanish military units being based in strategic coastal port cities and important economic centers. But as European rivals began to challenge the Spanish crown and their dominance in the new world, the Bourbon dynasty initiated a series of reforms, allowing people from their colonies to serve in the regular armies, as well as permitting local militias in their territories.
While these groups began to integrate themselves into the official Spanish colonial militaries, free-colored militias have been reluctantly used since the-mid sixteenth century. "Palenques," or run away slave communities, would often initiate slavery uprising in various cities and towns in New Spain, which made the colonial Spanish authorities uneasy about arming any free colored individuals. Free colored rebellions and violence in Mexico City impacted regional policy of New Spain towards blacks. Given this social context, the racial climate in which these free-colored militias first appeared was a hostile one, and the first militias often had conflicts within them between their free-colored and white commanders. The first large scale recruitment of fee-colored militias was in response to the attack on Veracruz port in 1683 by Dutch pirateer Lorenzo de Graff, with free-colored soldiers being called in from Mexico City, Puebla, Orizaba and other large colonial cities. Militias increasingly began to take shape and develop over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, but it's critical to understand that their development was not a linear progressive one. The experiences of militias in urban areas was vastly different than those in rural communities, and the role, influence, and duties of militias in the early 17th century were not the same as those of a century later. The critical stage for militia growth was during 1670-1762, where there was an increase of the militias responsibilities and they gained a considerable amount of autonomy over their own affairs. The social impact of these free-colored militias added complexity to the race based caste system that dominated the social landscape.
Free-colored militias were structured to follow the "tercio" organizational model that was used by Spanish Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties. "Tercios" compromised 2,500 soldiers distributed among ten companies, each under the leadership of a captain. Free-colored militias under the tercio system were headed by a "sargento mayor" (major) who became the senior operating officer in militias. Under the "sargento mayor" were the junior officers, which included one captain and alferez (lieutenant) per company, who were also aided by an "ayudante" (adjutant) and "subteniente" (second lieutenant) after they were incorporated into the system after 1767. The captain had supreme authority within their company, only reporting to the "sargento" mayor when he could not control matters of the company. The "alferez" coordinated affairs with his captain and was next in line in command in his absence. Below the junior officers were ranking NCO's and up to four sergeants served per company. A "cabo" (corporal) was assigned to lead each squad of 25 soldiers. These NCO's were responsible for discipline of the soldiers and maintaining a limited record of individuals. Officers and first sergeants were the only soldiers in the free-colored militias to receive a monthly salary with lower ranked soldiers only receiving pay when on campaigns. Their salaries came from the royal treasuries, alongside occasional supplementation by private contributions of prominent individuals.
Who exactly constitutes as a “free-colored person” is subject to much debate and discussion. While the terms "pardos, mulatos, negros" and "morenos" were commonly used under the caste system that was in place during this era, their use in this context is much more complex and who exactly qualified as who was a very fluid process, dependent on the social context of the time and place. Despite the lack of universal understanding of racial identification across New Spain, when they were faced with external threats to their organizations, free-colored militias showed great racial unity in these times, such as in the case of Huajolotitlan, a small town of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. After a decree was passed in 1784 calling for the retirement of every free-colored officer and the disbandment of their militia, the tows free-coloreds fiercely resisted. Free-colored soldiers refused to leave their posts and they dispatched to the capital in protests to defend their racially integrated organizations. This later inspired the communities other free-colored people to protests what they saw as other aggressions by the government, such as increasing tribute burdens.
While some of the previous examples are historical, the current official view on the existence of such militias in Mexico, when they are not backed by the government, has been to always label them as illegal and to combat them in a military and a political way.
Modern examples on the Mexican view on militias are the Chiapas conflict against the EZLN and against the EPR in Guerrero, where the government forces combated the upraised militias. And in a more recent case when civilian self-defence militias appeared during the Mexican war on drugs, the government regulated them and transformed the militias in to Rural federal forces, and those who resisted were combated and imprisoned.
From the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 until 1844 small detachments of British Imperial troops based in New Zealand were the only military. This changed as a result of the Flagstaff War, with the colonial government passing a Militia Act on 25 March 1845. Militia units were formed in Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson. Service in the militia was compulsory.
Many localized militia saw service, together with British Imperial troops, during the New Zealand Wars. In the late nineteenth century a system of local Volunteer militias evolved throughout the country. These were semi-trained but uniformed and administered by a small number of regular "Imperial" officers.
The militia units were disbanded and reformed as the Territorial Army in 1911.
The Worker-Peasant Red Guards is a North Korean paramilitary organization organized on a provincial/town/city/village level.
Militias have played an important role supporting Pakistan's Military since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 when Pakistan, with the support of militias, was able to gain control of the region which is now known as Azad Kashmir. Pakistan found the militias volunteering to participate in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 quite useful as well.
Currently Pakistani citizens forming militias from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are participating in the 'war on terror'.
Article XVI, Section 4 of the Philippines Constitution states: "The Armed Forces of the Philippines shall be composed of a citizen armed force which shall undergo military training and serve as may be provided by law."
Portugal had a long tradition in the use of militias for national defense. Between the 12th and 16th centuries, the municipal militias – composed of spearmen, pikemen, horsemen, slingers, javelineers, archers, crossbowmen and later arquebusiers – constituted the main component of the Portuguese Royal Army, together with smaller military forces from the King, the military orders and the feudal lords.
After some failed previous attempts, in 1570 King Sebastian of Portugal created the "Ordenanças", a centrally managed military territorial organization that would replace the municipal militias and became the basis of a national army. After 60 years of foreign domination (1580–1640), the "Ordenanças" were reorganized for the Portuguese Restoration War. The Portuguese Army was then organized in three lines, with the 2nd and 3rd being militia forces. The "Ordenanças" became the 3rd line and acted both as a territorial draft organization for the 1st and 2nd line troops and as a kind of home guard for local defense. The 2nd line was made of the auxiliary troops, also militia units with the role of regional defense. In the end of the 18th century, the auxiliary troops were renamed "Militias".
In the Peninsular War, the Militia regiments and the Ordenanças units had an important role in the defense of the country against the Napoleonic invader army. Still in the 19th century, the Militia units also had an important role in the Liberal Wars, with the majority of those troops fighting on the side of King Miguel. Besides the regular militias, a number of volunteer militia units were formed to fight on both sides of the war.
With the establishment of the constitutional regime, the old Militias and "Ordenanças" were replaced by a single national militia force, the National Guard. However, the National Guard revealed itself an ineffective and undisciplined force. Their units became highly politicized, being involved in a number of conspiracies and coups. The National Guard having less and less confidence from the authorities, became extinct in 1847, terminating a long tradition of national militias in Portugal.
During the 20th century, some experiments with militia type forces were made. From 1911 to 1926, the Portuguese Army was organized as a militia army. Also, in 1936, the "Estado Novo" regime created the Portuguese Legion as a political volunteer militia, dedicated to the fight against the enemies of country and of the social order. From World War II, the Portuguese Legion assumed the responsibility for civil defense, this becoming its main role during the Cold War, until its extinction in 1974.
Neither the Russian Empire, nor the Soviet Union ever had an organised force that could be equated to a militia. Instead a form of organisation that predated the Russian state was used during national emergencies called Narodnoe Opolcheniye (People's Regimentation). More comparable to the English Fyrd, it was a popular voluntary joining of the local полк polk, or a regiment, though it had no regular established strength or officers, these usually elected from prominent local citizens. Although these spontaneously created popular forces had participated in several major wars of the Russian Empire, including in combat, they were not obligated to serve for more than one year, and notably departed for home during the 1813 campaign in Germany. On only one occasion, during the military history of the Soviet Union, the Narodnoe Opolcheniye was incorporated into the regular forces of the Red Army, notably in Leningrad and Moscow.
The term Militsiya in Russia and former Communist Bloc nations was specifically used to refer to the civilian police force, and should not be confused with the conventional western definition of militia. The term, as used in this context, dated from post-revolutionary Russia in late 1917 and was intended to draw a distinction between the new Soviet law enforcement agencies and the disbanded Tsarist police. In some of these states militia was renamed back to police such as Ukraine while in the other states it remains such as Belarus. In Russia it was renamed to Police (in , "Politsiya") in March 2011.
The first militias formed in Sri Lanka were by Lankan Kings, who raised militia armies for their military campaigns both within and outside the island. This was due to the reason that the Kings never maintained a standing army instead had a Royal Guard during peacetime and formed a militia in wartime.
When the Portuguese who were the first colonial power to dominate the island raised local militias under the command of local leaders known as Mudaliyars. These militias took part in the many Portuguese campaigns against the Lankan Kings. The Dutch continued to employ these militias but due to their unreliability tended to favor employing Swiss and Malay mercenaries in their campaigns in the island.
The British Empire then ousted the Dutch from the coastal areas of the country, and sought to conquer the independent Kandyan Kingdom. In 1802, the British became the first foreign power to raise a regular unit of Sinhalese with British officers, which was named the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, also known as the Sepoy Corps. It fought alongside British troops in the Kandyan wars. After the Matale Rebellion led by Puran Appu in 1848, in which a number of Sinhalese recruits defected to the side of the rebels, the recruitment of Sinhalese to the British forces was temporarily halted and the Ceylon Regiments disbanded.
In 1861, the Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers were raised as a militia, but soon became a military reserve force. This became the Ceylon Defence Force in 1910 and consisted of militia units. These were the Colombo Town Guard and the Town Guard Artillery formed during the two world wars.
With the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War, local villagers under threat of attack were formed into localized militia to protect their families and homes. According to the Sri Lankan Military these militias were formed after "massacres done by the LTTE" and in the early 1990s they were reformed as the Sri Lankan Home Guard. In 2007 the Home Guard became the Sri Lanka Civil Security Force. In 2008, the government called for the formation of nearly 15,000 civil defence committees at the village level for additional protection.
In 2004, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claimed have establish a voluntary "Tamil Eelam auxiliary force". According to the LTTE's then head of police, the force was to be assigned to tasks such as rehabilitation, construction, forest conservation and agriculture, but would also be used to battle the Sri Lankan military if the need arose. In early 2009 it ceased to exist with the military defeat of the LTTE at the hands of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.
The Janjaweed militia consists of armed Arab Muslims fighting for the government in Khartoum against non-Arab Muslim "rebels". They are active in the Darfur region of western Sudan and also in eastern Chad. According to Human Rights Watch these partisans are responsible for abuses including war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
As of 2012, the Swedish Home Guard consists of 22,000 organized into 40 light infantry battalions of 300–700 Guardsmen. These battalions are then organised into companies, usually one for every municipality. The main task of the battalions is to guard vital military and civilian installations throughout the country.
In 2001, the Rapid Response units numbered around 5,000 soldiers of the total of 42,000. As of 2014, the majority of the force, 17,000 out of 22,000 soldiers will be in Rapid Response units. The decrease in number of troops comes with an equal increase in quality and modern equipment. These units are motorized and are ready to be mobilized more often, than other Home Guard units. Rapid response units have more combat tasks compared to the rest of the Home Guard, including escort duties. Some battalions located near the coast also have marine companies equipped with Combat Boat 90. A few battalions have recently set up 'specialized' companies to evaluate the possibility to add new abilities to the Home Guard. These are at the time of writing eight reconnaissance/intelligence companies, four CBRN-platoons, a movcon platoon, an engineer platoon, and a military police unit.
One of the best known and ancient militias is the Swiss Armed Forces. Switzerland has long maintained, proportionally, the second largest military force in the world, with about half the proportional amount of reserve forces of the Israeli Defense Forces, a militia of some 33% of the total population. The "militia principle" of public duties is central to Swiss political culture and not limited to military issues. For example, in most municipalities it is common to serve as a conscript fire fighter in the Compulsory Fire Department.
Article 58.1 of the April18, 1999, Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (official, French version) provides that "Switzerland has an army. It is primarily organised according to the principle of a militia." However, under the country's militia system, professional soldiers constitute about 5 percent of military personnel. In 1995, the number of soldiers was reduced to 400,000 (including reservists, amounting to some 5.6% of the population) and again in 2004, to 200,000 (including 80,000 reservists, or 2.5% of the population). However, the Swiss Militia continues to consist of most of the adult male population (with voluntary participation by women) who are required to keep an assault rifle at home and to periodically engage in combat and marksmanship training. The militia clauses of the Swiss Federal Constitution are contained in Art. 59, where it is referred to as "military service" (; ; ; ).
The Syrian National Defense Force was formed out of pro-government militias. They receive their salaries and their military equipment from the government and as of 2013 numbers around 100,000. The force acts in an infantry role, directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running counter-insurgency operations in coordination with the army which provides them with logistical and artillery support. Unlike the Syrian Army, NDF soldiers are allowed to take loot from battlefields, which can then be sold on for extra money.
The obligation to serve in the militia in England derives from a common law tradition, and dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. The tradition was that all able-bodied males were liable to be called out to serve in one of two organisations. These were the posse comitatus, an "ad hoc" assembly called together by a law officer to apprehend lawbreakers, and the fyrd, a military body intended to preserve internal order or defend the locality against an invader. The latter developed into the militia, and was usually embodied by a royal warrant. Service in each organisation involved different levels of preparedness.
With the decay of the feudal system and the military revolution of the 16th century, the militia began to become an important institution in English life. It was organised on the basis of the shire county, and was one of the responsibilities of the Lord Lieutenant, a royal official (usually a trusted nobleman). Each of the county hundreds was likewise the responsibility of a Deputy Lieutenant, who relayed orders to the justices of the peace or magistrates. Every parish furnished a quota of eligible men, whose names were recorded on muster rolls. Likewise, each household was assessed for the purpose of finding weapons, armour, horses, or their financial equivalent, according to their status. The militia was supposed to be mustered for training purposes from time to time, but this was rarely done. The militia regiments were consequently ill-prepared for an emergency, and could not be relied upon to serve outside their own counties. This state of affairs concerned many people. Consequently, an elite force was created, composed of members of the militia who were prepared to meet regularly for military training and exercise. These were formed into trained band regiments, particularly in the City of London, where the Artillery Ground was used for training. The trained bands performed an important role in the English Civil War on the side of parliament, in marching to raise the siege of Gloucester (5 September 1643). Except for the London trained bands, both sides in the Civil War made little use of the militia, preferring to recruit their armies by other means.
As successful English settlement of North America began to take place in 1607 in the face of the hostile intentions of the powerful Spanish, and of the native populations, it became immediately necessary to raise militia amongst the settlers. The militia in Jamestown saw constant action against the Powhatan Federation and other native polities. In the Virginia Company's other outpost, Bermuda, fortification began immediately in 1612. A Spanish attack in 1614 was repulsed by two shots fired from the incomplete Castle Islands Fortifications manned by Bermudian Militiamen. In the Nineteenth century, "Fortress Bermuda" would become Britain's "Gibraltar of the West", heavily fortified by a Regular Army garrison to protect the Royal Navy's headquarters and dockyard in the Western Atlantic.
In the 17th Century, however, Bermuda's defence was left entirely in the hands of the Militia. In addition to requiring all male civilians to train and serve in the militia of their Parish, the Bermudian Militia included a standing body of trained artillerymen to garrison the numerous fortifications which ringed "New London" (St. George's). This standing body was created by recruiting volunteers, and by sentencing criminals to serve as punishment. The Bermudian militiamen were called out on numerous occasions of war, and, on one notable occasion, to quell rioting privateers. The 1707 Acts of Union made Bermudian and other English militiamen "British". The Militia in Bermuda came to include a Troop of Horse (mounted infantry) and served alongside volunteers and (from 1701) a small body of regulars. The Militia faded away after the American War of 1812 when the Parliament of Bermuda declined to renew the Militia Act. This resulted from the build-up of the regular army Bermuda Garrison along with Bermuda's development as the headquarters and dockyard of the North America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy, which made the militia seem excess to need. Vast sums of the Imperial defence expenditure were lavished on fortifying Bermuda during the Nineteenth Century and the British Government cajoled, implored, begged, and threatened the colonial legislature for 80 years before it raised a militia and volunteer units (in 1894 and 1894 respectively). Although the militia had historically been an infantry force, many units in Britain had been re-tasked as militia artillery from the 1850s onward due to the increased importance of the coastal artillery defences and the new militia unit in Bermuda followed suit. Titled the "Bermuda Militia Artillery", it was badged and uniformed as part of the Royal Artillery, and tasked with the garrison artillery role, manning coastal batteries. As in Britain, recruitment was of volunteers who engaged for terms of service, whereas the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was organised on the same lines as volunteer rifle corps in Britain. Recruitment to the BVRC was restricted to whites, but the BMA recruited primarily coloured (those who were not entirely of European heritage) other ranks, though its officers were all white until 1953. Neither unit was reorganised in 1908 when the Militia, Volunteer Force and Yeomanry in Britain merged into the Territorial Force, but the BVRC was re-organised as a territorial in 1921 and the BMA in 1926. The BVRC name was not modified to Bermuda Rifles until 1951, however, and the Bermuda Militia Artillery (and from 1939 the Bermuda Militia Infantry) continued to be titled as militia until amalgamated with the Bermuda Rifles in 1965 to form the Bermuda Regiment.
In British India, a special class of militia was established in 1907. This took the form of the Frontier Corps, which consisted of locally recruited full-time auxiliaries under British officers. Their role combined the functions of tribal police and border guards deployed along the North-West Frontier. Regional units included the Zhob Militia, the Kurram Militia, and the Chagai Militia. After 1946 the Frontier Corps became part of the modern Pakistan Army.
Until the Glorious Revolution in 1688 the Crown and Parliament were in strong disagreement. The English Civil War left a rather unusual military legacy. Both Whigs and Tories distrusted the creation of a large standing army not under civilian control. The former feared that it would be used as an instrument of royal tyranny. The latter had memories of the New Model Army and the anti-monarchical social and political revolution that it brought about. Both preferred a small standing army under civilian control for defensive deterrence and to prosecute foreign wars, a large navy as the first line of national defence, and a militia composed of their neighbours as additional defence and to preserve domestic order.
Consequently, the English Bill of Rights (1689) declared, amongst other things: "that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law..." and "that the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law." This implies that they are fitted to serve in the militia, which was intended to serve as a counterweight to the standing army and preserve civil liberties against the use of the army by a tyrannical monarch or government.
The Crown still (in the British constitution) controls the use of the army. This ensures that officers and enlisted men swear an oath to a politically neutral head of state, and not to a politician. While the funding of the standing army subsists on annual financial votes by parliament, the Mutiny Act, superseded by the Army Act, and now the Armed Forces Act is also renewed on an annual basis by Parliament. If it lapses, the legal basis for enforcing discipline disappears, and soldiers lose their legal indemnity for acts committed under orders.
With the creation of the British Empire, militias were also raised in the colonies, where little support could be provided by regular forces. Overseas militias were first raised in Jamestown, Virginia, and in Bermuda, where the Bermuda Militia followed over the next two centuries a similar trajectory to that in Britain.
In 1707 the Acts of Union united the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland. The Scottish navy was incorporated into the Royal Navy. The Scottish military (as opposed to naval) forces merged with the English, with pre-existing regular Scottish regiments maintaining their identities, though command of the new British Army was from England. How this affected militias either side of the border is unclear.
The Militia Act of 1757 created a more professional force. Better records were kept, and the men were selected by ballot to serve for longer periods; specific provision was made for members of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers, to be exempted, as conscientious objectors, from compulsory enlistment in the militia. Proper uniforms and better weapons were provided, and the force was 'embodied' from time to time for training sessions.
The militia was widely embodied at various times during the French and Napoleonic Wars. It served at several vulnerable locations, and was particularly stationed on the South Coast and in Ireland. A number of camps were held at Brighton, where the militia regiments were reviewed by the Prince Regent. (This is the origin of the song "Brighton Camp".) The militia could not be compelled to serve overseas, but it was seen as a training reserve for the army, as bounties were offered to men who opted to 'exchange' from the militia to the regular army.
The Parliament of Ireland passed an act in 1715 raising regiments of militia in each county and county corporate. Membership was restricted to Protestants between the ages of 16 and 60. In 1793, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Irish militia were reorganised to form thirty-seven county and city regiments. While officers of the reorganised force were Protestant, membership of the other ranks was now made available to members of all denominations.
In the late 17th century came calls for the resurrection of militia in Scotland that had the understated aim of protecting the rights of Scots from English oppression. The 1757 Militia Act did not apply in Scotland. The old traditional system continued, so that militia regiments only existed in some places. This was resented by some and the Militia Club, soon to become the Poker Club, was formed to promote the raising of a Scottish militia. This and several other Edinburgh clubs became the crucible of the Scottish Enlightenment. The Militia Act 1797 empowered Scottish Lord Lieutenants to raise and command militia regiments in each of the "Counties, Stewartries, Cities, and Places" under their jurisdiction.
Although muster rolls were prepared as late as 1820, the element of compulsion was abandoned, and the militia transformed into a volunteer force, revived by the Militia Act of 1852. It was intended to be seen as an alternative to the army. Men would volunteer and undertake basic training for several months at an army depot. Thereafter, they would return to civilian life, but report for regular periods of military training (usually on the weapons ranges) and an annual two-week training camp. In return, they would receive military pay and a financial retainer, a useful addition to their civilian wage. Of course, many saw the annual camp as the equivalent of a paid holiday. The militia thus appealed to agricultural labourers, colliers and the like, men in casual occupations, who could leave their civilian job and pick it up again. Until 1852 the militia were an entirely infantry force, but from that year a number of county infantry regiments were converted to artillery and new ones raised. In 1877 the militia of Anglesey and Monmouthshire were converted to engineers. Under the reforms, introduced by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, the remaining militia infantry regiments were redesignated as numbered battalions of regiments of the line, ranking after the two regular battalions. Typically, an English, Welsh or Scottish regiment would have two militia battalions (the 3rd and 4th) and Irish regiments three (numbered 3rd–5th).
The militia must not be confused with the volunteer units created in a wave of enthusiasm in the second half of the nineteenth century. In contrast with the Volunteer Force, and the similar Yeomanry Cavalry, they were considered rather plebeian.
The militia was transformed into the Special Reserve by the military reforms of Haldane in the reforming post 1906 Liberal government. In 1908 the militia infantry battalions were redesignated as "reserve" and a number were amalgamated or disbanded. Numbered Territorial Force battalions, ranking after the Special Reserve, were formed from the volunteer units at the same time. Altogether, 101 infantry battalions, 33 artillery regiments and two engineer regiments of special reservists were formed. Upon mobilisation, the special reserve units would be formed at the depot and continue training while guarding vulnerable points in Britain. The special reserve units remained in Britain throughout the First World War, but their rank and file did not, since the object of the special reserve was to supply drafts of replacements for the overseas units of the regiment. The original militiamen soon disappeared, and the battalions simply became training units. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to Supplementary Reserve in 1924, though the units were effectively placed in "suspended animation" until disbanded in 1953.
The name was briefly revived in the Military Training Act 1939, in the aftermath of the Munich Crisis. Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, wished to introduce a limited form of conscription, not known in peacetime Britain since the militia of the early 19th century and previously. It was thought that calling the conscripts 'militiamen' would make this more acceptable, as it would render them distinct from the rest of the army. Only single men aged 20 up to the day before their 22nd birthday were to be conscripted, for six months full-time training before discharge into the reserve (with a free suit of civilian clothing). Although the first intake was called up in late July 1939, the declaration of war on 3 September entailed implementation of full-time conscription for all men aged 18–41, superseding the militia, never to be revived.
Three units still maintain their militia designation in the British Army. These are the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (formed in 1539), the Jersey Field Squadron (The Royal Militia Island of Jersey) (formed in 1337), and the Royal Alderney Militia (created in the 13th century and reformed in 1984). Additionally, the Atholl Highlanders are a ceremonial infantry militia maintained by the Duke of Atholl—they are the only legal private army in Europe.
Various other part-time, home defence organisations have been raised during times of crisis or perceived threat, although without the word "militia" in their title. These have included:
The various non-state paramilitary groups involved in the 20th-century conflicts in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland, such as the various Irish Republican Army groups and loyalist paramilitaries, could also be described as militias and are occasionally referred to as such.
The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was a locally raised professional militia instituted by an Act of Parliament in December 1969, becoming operational on 1 April 1970. Created as a non-partisan force to defend Northern Ireland "against armed attack or sabotage", it eventually peaked at 11 battalions with 7,559 men and women. 197 soldiers of the UDR, including four women, were killed as active servicemen, with a further 61 killed after leaving the regiment, mostly by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. As a result of defence cuts it was eventually reduced to 7 battalions before being amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 to form the "Home Service Battalions" of the Royal Irish Regiment.
The history of militia in the United States dates from the colonial era, such as in the American Revolutionary War. Based on the English system, colonial militias were drawn from the body of adult male citizens of a community, town, or local region. Because there was no standing English Army before the English Civil War, and subsequently the English Army and later the British Army had few regulars garrisoning North America, colonial militia served a vital role in local conflicts, particularly in the French and Indian Wars. Before shooting began in the American War of Independence, American revolutionaries took control of the militia system, reinvigorating training and excluding men with Loyalist inclinations. Regulation of the militia was codified by the Second Continental Congress with the Articles of Confederation. The revolutionaries also created a full-time regular army—the Continental Army—but because of manpower shortages the militia provided short-term support to the regulars in the field throughout the war.
In colonial era Anglo-American usage, militia service was distinguished from military service in that the latter was normally a commitment for a fixed period of time of at least a year, for a salary, whereas militia was only to meet a threat, or prepare to meet a threat, for periods of time expected to be short. Militia persons were normally expected to provide their own weapons, equipment, or supplies, although they may later be compensated for losses or expenditures. A related concept is the jury, which can be regarded as a specialized form of militia convened to render a verdict in a court proceeding (known as a petit jury or trial jury) or to investigate a public matter and render a presentment or indictment (grand jury).
With the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution, control of the army and the power to direct the militia of the states was concurrently delegated to the federal Congress. The Militia Clauses gave Congress authority for "organizing, arming, and disciplining" the militia, and "governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States", with the States retaining authority to appoint officers and to impose the training specified by Congress. Proponents describe a key element in the concept of "militia" was that to be "genuine" it not be a "select militia", composed of an unrepresentative subset of the population. This was an argument presented in the ratification debates.
The first legislation on the subject was the Militia Act of 1792 which provided, in part:
That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia... every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock.
Prior to the War of Independence the officers of militia units were commissioned by the royal governors. During the war they were commissioned either by the legislature or the chief executive of the state. After the war, commissions were typically granted by the state's chief executive. Militias did not operate independently of the state governments, but were under the command of the civil government just like the regular military forces. Twenty-four of the current US states maintain state defense forces in the form of a constitutional militia in addition to the National Guard which is shared with the US government. These states include Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Vermont, and Virginia. In addition, the Territory of Puerto Rico has a defense force.
During the nineteenth century, each of the states maintained its militia differently, some more than others. American militia saw action in the various Indian Wars, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War. Sometimes militia units were found to be unprepared, ill-supplied, and unwilling. Prior to the Civil War, militia units were sometimes used by southern states for slave control. Formed in 1860, Republican Party-affiliated Wide Awakes clubs were quick to take action to defend persons against southern slave-hunters. In California, the militia carried out campaigns against bandits and against the Indians at the direction of its Governor between 1850 and 1866. During Reconstruction after the Civil War, Republican state governments had militias composed almost entirely of freed slaves and populist whites. Their deployment to maintain order in the former Confederate states caused increased resentment among many Southern whites.
After the American Civil War, secret groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Knights of the White Camellia arose quickly across the South, reaching a peak in the late 1860s. Even more significant in terms of effect were private militias: paramilitary organizations that formed starting in 1874, including the White League in Louisiana, which quickly formed chapters in other states; the Red Shirts in Mississippi in 1875, and with South Carolina and North Carolina; and other "white line" militias and rifle clubs.
In contrast to the KKK, these paramilitary organizations were open; members were often well known in their communities. Nevertheless, they used force, intimidation, and violence, including murder, to push out Republican officeholders, break up organizing, and suppress freedmen's voting and civil rights. The paramilitary groups were described as "the military arm of the Democratic Party" and were instrumental in helping secure Democratic victories in the South in the elections of 1876.
The Militia Act of 1903 divided what had been the militia into what it termed the "organized" militia, created from portions of the former state guards to become state National Guard units, and the "unorganized" militia consisting of all males from ages 17 to 45, with the exception of certain officials and others, which is codified in . Some states, such as Texas, California, and Ohio, created separate state defense forces for assistance in local emergencies. Congress later established a system of "dual enlistment" for the National Guard, so that anyone who enlisted in the National Guard also enlisted in the U.S. Army. When the U.S. Air Force was established as an independent service in 1947, the National Guard was further divided into the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. Under this construct, the 1933 defense act's "dual enlistment" facet was further amended so that enlisted soldiers and commissioned officers in the Army National Guard were also enlisted or commissioned in the Reserve Component of the U.S. Army. Enlisted airmen and commissioned officers in the Air National Guard were also enlisted or commissioned in the Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force.
The 20th century saw the rise of militia organizations in the United States, these private militias often have an anti-government outlook and are not under the civil authority of the states. Privately organized citizen militia-related groups blossomed in the mid-1990s. Many militia groups are based on religious or political extremism and some are regarded as hate groups.
In the 2008 decision of the Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the "de jure" definition of "militia" as used in United States jurisprudence was discussed. The Court's opinion made explicit, in its "obiter dicta", that the term "militia," as used in colonial times in this originalist decision, included both the federally organized militia and the citizen-organized militias of the several States: "... the 'militia' in colonial America consisted of a subset of 'the people'—those who were male, able-bodied, and within a certain age range" (7)... Although the militia consists of all able-bodied men, the federally-organized militia may consist of a subset of them"(23).
The most important previous activity of the Texas Militia was the Texas Revolution in 1836. Texans declared independence from Mexico while they were defeated during the Battle of the Alamo, in March 1836. On April 21, 1836, led by Sam Houston, the Militia attacked the Mexican Army at their camp, in the Battle of San Jacinto near the present city of Houston. Following the war, some militia units reorganized into what was later to be known as the Texas Rangers, which was a private, volunteer effort for several years before becoming an official organization. After Texas joined the Union of the United States in 1845, Texas militia units participated in the Mexican–American War.
In 1861 Texas joined the other Confederate States in seceding from the Union, and Texas militias played a role in the American Civil War, until it ended in 1865. Texas militiamen joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, a volunteer militia, and fought with him during the Spanish–American War in 1898. Some of the training of the Rough Riders took place in San Pedro Park, in the north central part of San Antonio near the present site of San Antonio College. When a muster of the Militia proposed to train there on April 19, 1994, they were threatened with arrest, even though the charter of San Pedro Park forbids exclusion of activities of that kind. This threat led to a change of the meeting site. Like many other American states, Texas maintains a recognized State Militia, the Texas State Guard.
The Vietnam Civil Defense Force ("Dân quân Tự vệ Việt Nam") is a part of Vietnam People's Armed Forces. The militia organized in communes, wards and townships and are put under commune-level military commands.
Vietnam Militia has two branches: Special Militia (nòng cốt) and General Militia (rộng rãi). The term of service in the core militia is 4 years.
Beside the federal Yugoslav People's Army, each constituent republic of the former SFR Yugoslavia had its own "Territorial Defense Forces". The Non-Aligned Yugoslavia was concerned about an eventual aggression from any of the superpowers, especially by the Warsaw Pact after the Prague Spring, so the "Territorial Defense Forces" were formed as an integral part of the total war military doctrine called "Total National Defense". Those forces corresponded to military reserve forces, paramilitary or militia, the latter, in the military meaning of the term (like military formation). It should not be confused with the Yugoslav Militia- "Milicija" which was a term for a police. | en.wikipedia.org | Militia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20622 |
20623 | Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, thus avoiding complex lookups in a routing table and speeding traffic flows. The labels identify virtual links ("paths") between distant nodes rather than endpoints. MPLS can encapsulate packets of various network protocols, hence the "multiprotocol" reference on its name. MPLS supports a range of access technologies, including T1/E1, ATM, Frame Relay, and DSL.
MPLS is scalable and protocol-independent. In an MPLS network, data packets are assigned labels. Packet-forwarding decisions are made solely on the contents of this label, without the need to examine the packet itself. This allows one to create end-to-end circuits across any type of transport medium, using any protocol. The primary benefit is to eliminate dependence on a particular OSI model data link layer (layer 2) technology, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay, Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) or Ethernet, and eliminate the need for multiple layer-2 networks to satisfy different types of traffic. Multiprotocol label switching belongs to the family of packet-switched networks.
MPLS operates at a layer that is generally considered to lie between traditional definitions of OSI Layer 2 (data link layer) and Layer 3 (network layer), and thus is often referred to as a "layer 2.5" protocol. It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients which provide a datagram service model. It can be used to carry many different kinds of traffic, including IP packets, as well as native ATM, SONET, and Ethernet frames.
A number of different technologies were previously deployed with essentially identical goals, such as Frame Relay and ATM. Frame Relay and ATM use "labels" to move frames or cells throughout a network. The header of the Frame Relay frame and the ATM cell refers to the virtual circuit that the frame or cell resides on. The similarity between Frame Relay, ATM, and MPLS is that at each hop throughout the network, the “label” value in the header is changed. This is different from the forwarding of IP packets. MPLS technologies have evolved with the strengths and weaknesses of ATM in mind. MPLS is designed to have lower overhead than ATM while providing connection-oriented services for variable-length frames, and has replaced much use of ATM in the market.
In particular, MPLS dispenses with the cell-switching and signaling-protocol baggage of ATM. MPLS recognizes that small ATM cells are not needed in the core of modern networks, since modern optical networks are so fast (, at 200 Gbit/s and beyond) that even full-length 1500 byte packets do not incur significant real-time queuing delays (the need to reduce such delays — "e.g.", to support voice traffic — was the motivation for the cell nature of ATM).
At the same time, MPLS attempts to preserve the traffic engineering (TE) and out-of-band control that made Frame Relay and ATM attractive for deploying large-scale networks.
In 1996 a group from Ipsilon Networks proposed a "flow management protocol".
Their "IP Switching" technology, which was defined only to work over ATM, did not achieve market dominance. Cisco Systems introduced a related proposal, not restricted to ATM transmission, called "Tag Switching" (with its Tag Distribution Protocol TDP). It was a Cisco proprietary proposal, and was renamed "Label Switching". It was handed over to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for open standardization. The IETF work involved proposals from other vendors, and development of a consensus protocol that combined features from several vendors' work.
One original motivation was to allow the creation of simple high-speed switches since for a significant length of time it was impossible to forward IP packets entirely in hardware. However, advances in VLSI have made such devices possible. Therefore, the advantages of MPLS primarily revolve around the ability to support multiple service models and perform traffic management. MPLS also offers a robust recovery framework that goes beyond the simple protection rings of synchronous optical networking (SONET/SDH).
MPLS works by prefixing packets with an MPLS header, containing one or more labels. This is called a label stack.
Each entry in the label stack contains four fields:
These MPLS-labeled packets are switched after a label lookup/switch instead of a lookup into the IP table. As mentioned above, when MPLS was conceived, label lookup and label switching were faster than a routing table or RIB (Routing Information Base) lookup because they could take place directly within the switched fabric and avoid having to use the OS.
The presence of such a label, however, has to be indicated to the router/switch. In the case of Ethernet frames this is done through the use of EtherType values 0x8847 and 0x8848, for unicast and multicast connections respectively.
An MPLS router that performs routing based only on the label is called a label switch router (LSR) or transit router. This is a type of router located in the middle of an MPLS network. It is responsible for switching the labels used to route packets.
When an LSR receives a packet, it uses the label included in the packet header as an index to determine the next hop on the label-switched path (LSP) and a corresponding label for the packet from a lookup table. The old label is then removed from the header and replaced with the new label before the packet is routed forward.
A label edge router (LER, also known as edge LSR) is a router that operates at the edge of an MPLS network and acts as the entry and exit points for the network. LERs "push" an MPLS label onto an incoming packet and "pop" it off an outgoing packet. Alternatively, under penultimate hop popping this function may instead be performed by the LSR directly connected to the LER.
When forwarding an IP datagram into the MPLS domain, a LER uses routing information to determine the appropriate label to be affixed, labels the packet accordingly, and then forwards the labeled packet into the MPLS domain. Likewise, upon receiving a labeled packet which is destined to exit the MPLS domain, the LER strips off the label and forwards the resulting IP packet using normal IP forwarding rules.
In the specific context of an MPLS-based virtual private network (VPN), LERs that function as ingress and/or egress routers to the VPN are often called PE (Provider Edge) routers. Devices that function only as transit routers are similarly called P (Provider) routers. The job of a P router is significantly easier than that of a PE router, so they can be less complex and may be more dependable because of this.
Labels are distributed between LERs and LSRs using the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP). LSRs in an MPLS network regularly exchange label and reachability information with each other using standardized procedures in order to build a complete picture of the network so they can then use to forward packets.
Label-switched paths (LSPs) are established by the network operator for a variety of purposes, such as to create network-based IP virtual private networks or to route traffic along specified paths through the network. In many respects, LSPs are not different from permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) in ATM or Frame Relay networks, except that they are not dependent on a particular layer-2 technology.
When an unlabeled packet enters the ingress router and needs to be passed on to an MPLS tunnel, the router first determines the forwarding equivalence class (FEC) for the packet and then inserts one or more labels in the packet's newly created MPLS header. The packet is then passed on to the next hop router for this tunnel.
The MPLS Header is added between the network layer header and link layer header of the OSI model.
When a labeled packet is received by an MPLS router, the topmost label is examined. Based on the contents of the label a "swap", "push" ("impose") or "pop" ("dispose") operation is performed on the packet's label stack. Routers can have prebuilt lookup tables that tell them which kind of operation to do based on the topmost label of the incoming packet so they can process the packet very quickly.
During these operations, the contents of the packet below the MPLS Label stack are not examined. Indeed, transit routers typically need only to examine the topmost label on the stack. The forwarding of the packet is done based on the contents of the labels, which allows "protocol-independent packet forwarding" that does not need to look at a protocol-dependent routing table and avoids the expensive IP longest prefix match at each hop.
At the egress router, when the last label has been popped, only the payload remains. This can be an IP packet or any of a number of other kinds of payload packet. The egress router must, therefore, have routing information for the packet's payload since it must forward it without the help of label lookup tables. An MPLS transit router has no such requirement.
Usually (by default with only one label in the stack, accordingly to the MPLS specification), the last label is popped off at the penultimate hop (the hop before the egress router). This is called penultimate hop popping (PHP). This may be interesting in cases where the egress router has lots of packets leaving MPLS tunnels, and thus spends inordinate amounts of CPU time on this. By using PHP, transit routers connected directly to this egress router effectively offload it, by popping the last label themselves. In the label distribution protocols, this PHP label pop action is advertised as label value 3 « implicit-null» (which is never found in a label, since it means that the label is to be popped).
This optimisation is no longer that useful (like for initial rationales for MPLS – easier operations for the routers). Several MPLS services (including end-to-end QoS management, and 6PE) imply to keep a label even between the penultimate and the last MPLS router, with a label disposition always done on the last MPLS router: the «Ultimate Hop Popping» (UHP). Some specific label values have been notably reserved for this use:
A label-switched path (LSP) is a path through an MPLS network, set up by the NMS or by a signaling protocol such as LDP, RSVP-TE, BGP (or the now deprecated CR-LDP). The path is set up based on criteria in the FEC.
The path begins at a label edge router (LER), which makes a decision on which label to prefix to a packet, based on the appropriate FEC. It then forwards the packet along to the next router in the path, which swaps the packet's outer label for another label, and forwards it to the next router. The last router in the path removes the label from the packet and forwards the packet based on the header of its next layer, for example IPv4. Due to the forwarding of packets through an LSP being opaque to higher network layers, an LSP is also sometimes referred to as an MPLS tunnel.
The router which first prefixes the MPLS header to a packet is called an ingress router. The last router in an LSP, which pops the label from the packet, is called an egress router. Routers in between, which need only swap labels, are called transit routers or label switch routers (LSRs).
Note that LSPs are unidirectional; they enable a packet to be label switched through the MPLS network from one endpoint to another. Since bidirectional communication is typically desired, the aforementioned dynamic signaling protocols can set up an LSP in the other direction to compensate for this.
When protection is considered, LSPs could be categorized as primary (working), secondary (backup) and tertiary (LSP of last resort). As described above, LSPs are normally P2P (point to point). A new concept of LSPs, which are known as P2MP (point to multi-point), was introduced recently. These are mainly used for multicasting purposes.
There are two standardized protocols for managing MPLS paths: the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) and RSVP-TE, an extension of the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) for traffic engineering. Furthermore, there exist extensions of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) that can be used to manage an MPLS path.
An MPLS header does not identify the type of data carried inside the MPLS path. If one wants to carry two different types of traffic between the same two routers, with different treatment by the core routers for each type, one has to establish a separate MPLS path for each type of traffic.
Multicast was, for the most part, an after-thought in MPLS design. It was introduced by point-to-multipoint RSVP-TE. It was driven by service provider requirements to transport broadband video over MPLS. Since the inception of there has been a tremendous surge in interest and deployment of MPLS multicast and this has led to several new developments both in the IETF and in shipping products.
The hub&spoke multipoint LSP is also introduced by IETF, short as HSMP LSP. HSMP LSP is mainly used for multicast, time synchronization, and other purposes.
MPLS works in conjunction with the Internet Protocol (IP) and its routing protocols, such as the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). MPLS LSPs provide dynamic, transparent virtual networks with support for traffic engineering, the ability to transport layer-3 (IP) VPNs with overlapping address spaces, and support for layer-2 pseudowires using Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) that are capable of transporting a variety of transport payloads (IPv4, IPv6, ATM, Frame Relay, etc.). MPLS-capable devices are referred to as LSRs. The paths an LSR knows can be defined using explicit hop-by-hop configuration, or are dynamically routed by the constrained shortest path first (CSPF) algorithm, or are configured as a loose route that avoids a particular IP address or that is partly explicit and partly dynamic.
In a pure IP network, the shortest path to a destination is chosen even when the path becomes congested. Meanwhile, in an IP network with MPLS Traffic Engineering CSPF routing, constraints such as the RSVP bandwidth of the traversed links can also be considered, such that the shortest path with available bandwidth will be chosen. MPLS Traffic Engineering relies upon the use of TE extensions to Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) or Intermediate System To Intermediate System (IS-IS) and RSVP. In addition to the constraint of RSVP bandwidth, users can also define their own constraints by specifying link attributes and special requirements for tunnels to route (or not to route) over links with certain attributes.
For end-users the use of MPLS is not visible directly, but can be assumed when doing a traceroute: only nodes that do "full" IP routing are shown as hops in the path, thus not the MPLS nodes used in between, therefore when you see that a packet "hops" between two very distant nodes and hardly any other 'hop' is seen in that provider's network (or AS) it is very likely that network uses MPLS.
In the event of a network element failure when recovery mechanisms are employed at the IP layer, restoration may take several seconds which may be unacceptable for real-time applications such as VoIP. In contrast, MPLS local protection meets the requirements of real-time applications with recovery times comparable to those of shortest path bridging networks or SONET rings of less than 50 ms.
MPLS can make use of existing ATM network or Frame Relay infrastructure, as its labeled flows can be mapped to ATM or Frame Relay virtual-circuit identifiers, and vice versa.
Frame Relay aimed to make more efficient use of existing physical resources, which allow for the underprovisioning of data services by telecommunications companies (telcos) to their customers, as clients were unlikely to be utilizing a data service 100 percent of the time. In more recent years, Frame Relay has acquired a bad reputation in some markets because of excessive bandwidth overbooking by these telcos.
Telcos often sell Frame Relay to businesses looking for a cheaper alternative to dedicated lines; its use in different geographic areas depended greatly on governmental and telecommunication companies' policies.
Many customers migrated from Frame Relay to MPLS over IP or Ethernet, which in many cases will reduce costs and improve manageability and performance of their wide area networks.
While the underlying protocols and technologies are different, both MPLS and ATM provide a connection-oriented service for transporting data across computer networks. In both technologies, connections are signaled between endpoints, the connection state is maintained at each node in the path, and encapsulation techniques are used to carry data across the connection. Excluding differences in the signaling protocols (RSVP/LDP for MPLS and PNNI:Private Network-to-Network Interface for ATM) there still remain significant differences in the behavior of the technologies.
The most significant difference is in the transport and encapsulation methods. MPLS is able to work with variable length packets while ATM transports fixed-length (53 bytes) cells. Packets must be segmented, transported and re-assembled over an ATM network using an adaptation layer, which adds significant complexity and overhead to the data stream. MPLS, on the other hand, simply adds a label to the head of each packet and transmits it on the network.
Differences exist, as well, in the nature of the connections. An MPLS connection (LSP) is unidirectional—allowing data to flow in only one direction between two endpoints. Establishing two-way communications between endpoints requires a pair of LSPs to be established. Because 2 LSPs are required for connectivity, data flowing in the forward direction may use a different path from data flowing in the reverse direction. ATM point-to-point connections (virtual circuits), on the other hand, are bidirectional, allowing data to flow in both directions over the same path (Both SVC and PVC ATM connections are bidirectional. Check ITU-T I.150 3.1.3.1).
Both ATM and MPLS support tunneling of connections inside connections. MPLS uses label stacking to accomplish this while ATM uses "virtual paths". MPLS can stack multiple labels to form tunnels within tunnels. The ATM virtual path indicator (VPI) and virtual circuit indicator (VCI) are both carried together in the cell header, limiting ATM to a single level of tunneling.
The biggest advantage that MPLS has over ATM is that it was designed from the start to be complementary to IP. Modern routers are able to support both MPLS and IP natively across a common interface allowing network operators great flexibility in network design and operation. ATM's incompatibilities with IP require complex adaptation, making it comparatively less suitable for today's predominantly IP networks.
MPLS is currently (as of March 2012) in use in IP-only networks and is standardized by the IETF in . It is deployed to connect as few as two facilities to very large deployments.
In practice, MPLS is mainly used to forward IP protocol data units (PDUs) and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) Ethernet traffic. Major applications of MPLS are telecommunications traffic engineering, and MPLS VPN.
MPLS has been originally proposed to allow high-performance traffic forwarding and traffic engineering in IP networks. However it evolved in Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) to allow the creation of label-switched paths (LSPs) also in non-native IP networks, such as SONET/SDH networks and wavelength switched optical networks.
MPLS can exist in both an IPv4 and an IPv6 environment, using appropriate routing protocols. The major goal of MPLS development was the increase of routing speed. This goal is no longer relevant because of the usage of newer switching methods (able to forward plain IPv4 as fast as MPLS labelled packets), such as ASIC, TCAM and CAM-based switching. Now, therefore, the main application of MPLS is to implement limited traffic engineering and layer 3 / layer 2 “service provider type” VPNs over IPv4 networks.
Besides GMPLS, the main competitors to MPLS are Shortest Path Bridging (SPB), Provider Backbone Bridges (PBB), and MPLS-TP. These also provide services such as service provider layer 2 and layer 3 VPNs.
As an example of NPLC, consider two cities. An organization has an office in each city. The organization requires connectivity between these two offices. The ISP will have access to a PoP in each city and therefore has a link between the PoPs. To connect the offices to the PoPs, a connection via the local loop will be commissioned for each office. In this way, an NPLC is delivered. | en.wikipedia.org | Multiprotocol Label Switching | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20623 |
20624 | Message transfer agent
Within the Internet email system, a message transfer agent or mail transfer agent (MTA) or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using SMTP. The terms mail server, mail exchanger, and MX host are also used in some contexts.
Messages exchanged across networks are passed between mail servers, including any attached data files (such as images, multimedia or documents). These servers also often keep mailboxes for email. Access to this email by end users is typically either via webmail or an email client.
A message transfer agent receives mail from either another MTA, a mail submission agent (MSA), or a mail user agent (MUA). The transmission details are specified by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). When a recipient mailbox of a message is not hosted locally, the message is relayed, that is, forwarded to another MTA. Every time an MTA receives an email message, it adds a Received trace header field to the top of the header of the message, thereby building a sequential record of MTAs handling the message. The process of choosing a target MTA for the next hop is also described in SMTP, but can usually be overridden by configuring the MTA software with specific routes.
An MTA works in the background, while the user usually interacts directly with a mail user agent. One may distinguish initial submission as first passing through an MSA—port 587 is used for communication between an MUA and an MSA, while port 25 is used for communication between MTAs, or from an MSA to an MTA; this distinction is first made in RFC 2476.
For recipients hosted locally, the final delivery of email to a recipient mailbox is the task of a message delivery agent (MDA). For this purpose the MTA transfers the message to the message handling service component of the message delivery agent (MDA). Upon final delivery, the Return-Path field is added to the envelope to record the return path.
A relay or filtering server will typically store email only briefly, but other systems keep full mailboxes for email - in which case they usually support some means for end users to access their email via a Mail User Agent (MUA), or email client.
Common protocols for this are:
Submission of new email from a mail client is via SMTP, typically on port 587 or 465, and is now generally restricted to servers the user has an account with-such as their ISP. This is for policy, not technical, reasons so that providers have some means of holding their users accountable for the generation of spam and other forms of email abuse. | en.wikipedia.org | Message transfer agent | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20624 |
20625 | Makran
Makran (, ) also mentioned in some sources as Mecran and Mokrān the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east westwards to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistān and Balučestān province of modern Iran. Makrān is thus bisected by the modern political boundary between Pakistan and Iran. is a semi-desert coastal strip in Balochistan, in Pakistan and Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman.
The southern part of Balochistan is called "Kech Makran" on Pakistani side and Makran on the Iranian side which is also the name of a former Iranian province. The location corresponds to that of the Maka satrapy in Achaemenid times. The Sumerian trading partners of Magan are identified with Makran. In Varahamihira's Brihat Samhita, there is a mention of a tribe called "Makara" inhabiting the lands west of India. Arrian used the term "Ichthyophagi" (Ancient Greek for "fish eaters") for inhabitants of coastal areas, which has led to a suggestion to derive "Makran" from the modern Persian term "māhī khorān", meaning "fish eaters", but this derivation is considered "erroneous".
The remnants of the earliest people in Balochistan were the Brahui people, a Dravidian speaking people closely related to the Dravidian speaking people of South India. The Brahuis were originally Hindus and Buddhists, similar to the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian speaking peoples in the rest of the subcontinent. However, unlike the rest of northern India, where Indo-Aryan languages rose to prominence, the Brahuis retained the Dravidian language throughout the millennias.
After the victory of the Mauryan Empire against the Greeks in the Seleucid–Mauryan war, much of Baluchistan came under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya of ancient India. Chandragupta and Seleucus made a peace settlement in 304 BCE. Seleucus I Nicator ceded the satrapies, including those in Baluchistan to the expanding Mauryan Empire. The alliance was solidified with a marriage between Chandragupta Maurya and a princess of the Seleucid Empire. The outcome of the arrangement proved to be mutually beneficial. The border between the Seleucid and Mauryan Empires remained stable in subsequent generations, and friendly diplomatic relations are reflected by the ambassador Megasthenes, and by the envoys sent westward by Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka.
From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region of modern Pakistani Balochistan was ruled by the Pāratarājas, the "Pātatahaa Kings", a dynasty of Indo-Scythian or Indo-Parthian kings. The Parata kings are essentially known through their coins, which typically exhibit the bust of the ruler with long hair in a headband on the obverse and a swastika within a circular legend on the reverse, written in Brahmi, usually silver coins, or Kharoshthi copper coins. These coins are mainly found in Loralai in today's western Pakistan.
Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī states in his book "Alberuni's India" that the coast of India begins with Tiz, the capital of Makran.
According to historian Andre Wink:
Wink has recorded Hiuen Tsang's notings on the language and script in use in easternmost Makran (eastern parts of Pakistani Balochistan and Sindh):
The Hindu Sewa Dynasty ruled much of Baluchistan up until the 7th century AD. The Sibi division carved out of Quetta division still derives its name from Rani Sewi, the queen of the Hindu Sewa dynasty.
In 635 or 636 CE, the Hindu Brahman dynasty of Sindh controlled parts of Balochistan.
The first Islamic conquest of Makran took place during the Rashidun Caliphate in the year 643 A.D. Caliph Umar’s governor of Bahrain, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who was on a campaign to conquer the southern coastal areas beyond Sassanid, sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region.
In late 644 AD Caliph Umar dispatched an army under the command of Hakam ibn Amr for the wholesale invasion of Makkuran. He was joined by reinforcements from Kufa under the command of Shahab ibn Makharaq, and by Abdullah ibn Utban, the commander of a campaign in Kerman. They encountered no strong resistance in Makran until the army of the King of Rai, along with contingents from Makran and Sind, stopped them near the Indus River. In mid-644 the Battle of Rasil was fought between the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Rai Kingdom; the Raja's forces were defeated and forced to retreat to the eastern bank of the Indus. The Raja’s army had included war elephants, but these had posed little problem for the Muslim invaders, who had dealt with them during the conquest of Persia. In accordance with the orders of Caliph Umar, the captured war elephants were sold in Islamic Persia, with the proceeds distributed among the soldiers as share in booty. In response to Caliph Umar’s questions about the Makran region, the messenger from Makkuran who brought the news of the victory told him:
Umar looked at the messenger and said:
"Are you a messenger or a poet?" He replied, "Messenger".
Thereupon Caliph Umar instructed Hakim bin Amr al Taghlabi that for the time being Makkuran should be the easternmost frontier of the Islamic empire, and that no further attempt should be made to extend the conquests.
Makran remained part of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, and was also ruled by Muslim Turks, Persian. It was conquered by Mongols in the 13th century AD but failed later, and in the 18th century the Baluch Nawab had agreed for governing the Makran region with mutual interest between both sides, as the British failed to conquer the area by force.
Baloch raiders plundered Mahmud of Ghazni's ambassador between Tabbas and Khabis. In revenge, his son Masud defeated them at the latter place, which lies at the foot of the Karman Mountains on the edge of the desert.
From the 15th century onward, the area was ruled by the Rind tribe which was headed by Mir Chakar Rind. Which led by Hooths and Khosags and in small particular part governed by Gorgeig and Sardarzahi. In the late 18th century, the Khan of Kalat is said to have granted sanctuary at Gwadar to one of the claimants for the throne of Muscat. When that claimant became Sultan, he kept hold of Gwadar, installing a governor, who eventually led an army to conquer the city of Chabahar some 200 kilometres to the west.
The sultanate held onto the Makran coast throughout the period of British colonial rule, but eventually, only Gwadar was left in the hands of the sultan. On the independence of Pakistan, Makran became a district within the province of Balochistan, with the exception of an area of 800 km2 around Gwadar. In 1958 the Gwadar enclave was transferred to Pakistani control as part of the district of Makran. The entire region has been subdivided into new smaller districts over the years.
The narrow coastal plain rises rapidly into several mountain ranges. Of the coastline, around is in Pakistan. The climate is dry with little rainfall. Makran is very sparsely inhabited, with much of the population concentrated in a string of small ports including Chabahar, Gwatar, Jiwani, Jask, Sirik, Gwadar (not to be confused with Gwatar), Pasni, Ormara and many smaller fishing villages.
There is only one island off the coast of Makran, Astola Island, near Pasni although there are several small islets. The coastline can be divided into an eastern lagoon coastline and a western embayed coastline. The main lagoons are Miani Hor and Kalamat Hor. The main bays of the embayed coast are Gwadar Bay and Gwatar Bay. This latter bay shelters a large mangrove forest and the nesting grounds of endangered turtle species. The Mirani Dam provides irrigation, flood prevention and water supply to Gwadar city. | en.wikipedia.org | Makran | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20625 |
20627 | Micrometre
The micrometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is an SI derived unit of length equalling (SI standard prefix "micro-" = 10−6); that is, one millionth of a metre (or one thousandth of a millimetre, 0.001 mm, or about 0.000039 inch).
The next smallest common SI unit is the nanometre, equivalent to one one-thousandth of a micrometre, or one billionth of a metre ( m).
The micrometre is a common unit of measurement for wavelengths of infrared radiation as well as sizes of biological cells and bacteria, and for grading wool by the diameter of the fibres. The width of a single human hair ranges from approximately 20 to 200 μm. The longest human chromosome is approximately 10 μm in length.
Between 1 μm and 10 μm:
Between 10 μm and 100 μm:
The term "micron" and the symbol μ were officially accepted for use in isolation to denote the micrometre in 1879, but officially revoked by the International System of Units (SI) in 1967. This became necessary because the older usage was incompatible with the official adoption of the unit prefix "micro-", denoted μ, during the creation of the SI in 1960.
In the SI, the systematic name "micrometre" became the official name of the unit, and μm became the official unit symbol.
The plural of "micron" is normally "microns", though "micra" was occasionally used before 1950.
The official symbol for the SI prefix "micro-" is a Greek lowercase mu (μ). In Unicode, there is also a micro sign with the code point U+00B5 (µ), distinct from the code point U+03BC (μ) of the Greek letter lowercase mu. According to the Unicode Consortium, the Greek letter character is preferred, but implementations must recognize the micro sign as well. Most fonts use the same glyph for the two characters. | en.wikipedia.org | Micrometre | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20627 |
20629 | Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. As the home of the Marathi people, Maharashtra is the second-most populous state and third-largest state by area in India. Spread over , it is also the world's second-most populous country subdivision. Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to the southeast and Chhattisgarh to the east, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the north, and the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the north west.
Maharashtra was formed on 1 May 1960 by splitting the bilingual Bombay State, which had existed since 1956, into majority Marathi speaking Maharashtra, and Gujarati speaking Gujarat respectively. It has over 112 million inhabitants and its capital, Mumbai, has a population around 18.4 million making it the most populous urban area in India. Nagpur hosts the winter session of the state legislature. Pune is known as the 'Oxford of the East' due to the presence of several well-known educational institutions. Nashik is known as the 'Wine Capital of India' as it has the largest number of wineries and vineyards in the country.
The Godavari and the Krishna are the two major rivers in the state. The Narmada and Tapi Rivers flow near the border between Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Maharashtra is the third-most urbanised state of India. Prior to Indian independence, Maharashtra was chronologically ruled by the Satavahana dynasty, Rashtrakuta dynasty, Western Chalukyas, Deccan sultanates, Mughals and Marathas, and the British. Ruins, monuments, tombs, forts, and places of worship left by these rulers are dotted around the state. They include the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Ajanta and Ellora caves. The numerous forts are associated with the life of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Maharashtra is the most industrialised state in India while state capital Mumbai is India's financial and commercial capital. The state continues to be the single largest contributor to the national economy with a share of 15% in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The economy of Maharashtra is the largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of and has the country's 13th-highest GSDP per capita of . Maharashtra has the 15th-highest ranking among Indian states in human development index.
The modern Marathi language developed from the Maharashtri Prakrit, and the word "Marhatta" (later used for the Marathas) is found in the Jain Maharashtri literature. The terms Maharashtra, Maharashtri, Marathi, and Maratha may have derived from the same root. However, their exact etymology is uncertain.
The most widely accepted theory among the linguistic scholars is that the words Maratha and Maharashtra ultimately derived from a combination of "Maha" () and "rashtrika" (), the name of a tribe or dynasty of petty chiefs ruling in the Deccan region. Another theory is that the term is derived from "Maha" ("great") and "ratha" / "rathi" (chariot / charioteer), which refers to a skilful northern fighting force that migrated southward into the area.
An alternative theory states that the term derives from the word "Maha" ("great") and "Rashtra" ("nation/dominion"). However, this theory is somewhat controversial among modern scholars who believe it to be the Sanskritised interpretation of later writers.
Chalcolithic sites belonging to the Jorwe culture ("circa" 1300–700 BCE) have been discovered throughout the state.
Maharashtra was ruled by the Maurya Empire in the fourth and third centuries BCE. Around 230 BCE, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty for 400 years. The greatest ruler of the Satavahana dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni. In 90 CE, Vedishri, son of the Satavahana king Satakarni, the "Lord of Dakshinapatha, wielder of the unchecked wheel of Sovereignty", made Junnar, 30 miles north of Pune, the capital of his kingdom. The state was also ruled by Western Satraps, Gupta Empire, Gurjara-Pratihara, Vakataka, Kadambas, Chalukya Empire, Rashtrakuta Dynasty, and Western Chalukya before finally, the Yadava rule. The Buddhist Ajanta Caves in present-day Aurangabad display influences from the Satavahana and Vakataka style. The caves were possibly excavated during this period.
The Chalukya dynasty ruled from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE, and the two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the north Indian Emperor Harsha, and Vikramaditya II, who defeated the Arab invaders in the eighth century. The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the eighth to the tenth century. The Arab traveller Sulaiman al Mahri described the ruler of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty Amoghavarsha as "one of the four great kings of the world". Shilahara dynasty began as vassals of the Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled the Deccan plateau between the eighth and tenth centuries. From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau, which includes a significant part of Maharashtra, was dominated by the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty. Several battles were fought between the Western Chalukya empire and the Chola dynasty in the Deccan Plateau during the reigns of Raja Raja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I, Jayasimha II, Someshvara I, and Vikramaditya VI.
In the early 14th century, the Yadava Dynasty, which ruled most of present-day Maharashtra, was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate ruler Ala-ud-din Khalji. Later, Muhammad bin Tughluq conquered parts of the Deccan, and temporarily shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in Maharashtra. After the collapse of the Tughluqs in 1347, the local Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. After the break-up of the Bahamani sultanate in 1518, Maharashtra split into five Deccan Sultanates: Nizamshah of Ahmednagar, Adilshah of Bijapur, Qutubshah of Golkonda, Bidarshah of Bidar and Imadshah of Elichpur. These kingdoms often fought with each other. United, they decisively defeated the Vijayanagara Empire of the south in 1565. The present area of Mumbai was ruled by the Sultanate of Gujarat before its capture by Portugal in 1535 and the Faruqi dynasty ruled the Khandesh region between 1382 and 1601 before finally getting annexed by the Mughal Empire. Malik Ambar, the regent of the Nizamshahi dynasty of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626, increased the strength and power of Murtaza Nizam Shah II and raised a large army. Malik Ambar is said to have been a proponent of guerrilla warfare in the Deccan region. Malik Ambar assisted Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in Delhi against his stepmother, Nur Jahan, who had ambitions of seating her son-in-law on the throne.
By the early 17th century, Shahaji Bhosale, an ambitious local general who had served Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Mughals and Adil Shah of Bijapur at different periods during his career, attempted to establish his independent rule. His son Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj succeeded in establishing the Maratha Empire which was further expanded during the 18th century by the Bhat family "Peshwas" based in Pune, Bhonsle of Nagpur, Gaekwad of Baroda, Holkar of Indore, Scindia of Gwalior. At its peak, the empire covered much of the subcontinent, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km². The Marathas are credited to a large extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. The Marathas defeated the Mughals, and conquered large territories in northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent. After their defeat at the hand of Ahmad Shah Abdali's Afghan forces in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha suffered a setback. However, the Marathas soon regained lost influence and ruled central and north India including New Delhi until the end of the eighteenth century. The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818) led to the end of the Maratha Empire and East India Company ruled the country in 1819.
The Marathas also developed a potent "Navy" circa 1660s, which at its peak, dominated the territorial waters of the western coast of India from Mumbai to Savantwadi. It would engage in attacking the British, Portuguese, Dutch, and Siddi Naval ships and kept a check on their naval ambitions. The Maratha Navy dominated till around the 1730s, was in a state of decline by the 1770s, and ceased to exist by 1818.
The British governed western Maharashtra as part of the Bombay Presidency, which spanned an area from Karachi in Pakistan to northern Deccan. A number of the Maratha states persisted as princely states, retaining autonomy in return for acknowledging British suzerainty. The largest princely states in the territory were Nagpur, Satara and Kolhapur; Satara was annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1848, and Nagpur was annexed in 1853 to become Nagpur Province, later part of the Central Provinces. Berar, which had been part of the Nizam of Hyderabad's kingdom, was occupied by the British in 1853 and annexed to the Central Provinces in 1903. However, a large part called Marathwada remained part of the Nizam's Hyderabad State throughout the British period.
The period of British rule was marked by social reforms and an improvement in infrastructure as well as revolts due to their discriminatory policies. At the turn of the 20th century, the struggle for independence took shape, led by radical nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the moderates like Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotirao Phule – social reformers who were all born in this region. After the partial autonomy given to the states by the Government of India Act 1935, B. G. Kher became the first Chief Minister of the Congress party-led Government of tri-lingual Bombay Presidency. The ultimatum to the British during the Quit India Movement was given in Mumbai, and culminated in the transfer of power and independence in 1947.
After India's independence, the Deccan States, including Kolhapur were integrated into Bombay State, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganised the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay Presidency State was enlarged by the addition of the predominantly Marathi-speaking regions of Marathwada (Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile Hyderabad state and Vidarbha region from the Central Provinces and Berar. The southernmost part of Bombay State was ceded to Mysore. From 1954 to 1955 the people of Maharashtra strongly protested against bilingual Bombay state and Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, was formed. The Mahagujarat Movement was started, seeking a separate Gujarat state. Keshavrao Jedhe, S.M. Joshi, Shripad Amrit Dange, Pralhad Keshav Atre and Gopalrao Khedkar fought for a separate state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital under the banner of Samyukta Maharashtra Movement. On 1 May 1960, following mass protests and 105 deaths, the separate Marathi-speaking state was formed by dividing earlier Bombay State into the new states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The state continues to have a dispute with Karnataka regarding the region of Belgaum and Karwar.
Maharashtra occupies the western and central part of the country and has a long coastline stretching 720 kilometres along the Arabian Sea. One of the more prominent physical features of Maharashtra is the Deccan plateau, which is separated from the Konkan coastline by 'Ghats'. The Ghats are a succession of steep hills, periodically bisected by narrow roads. Most of the famous hill stations of the state are at the Ghats. The Western Ghats (or the Sahyadri Mountain range) provide a physical backbone to the state on the west, while the Satpura Hills along the north and Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the east serve as its natural borders. The state is surrounded by Gujarat to the north west, Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Telangana to the south east, Karnataka to the south and Goa to the south west.
Maharashtra is the third largest state by area in India. Maharashtra has 36 districts, 355 talukas, 535 cities, 63663 villages, 6 administrative divisions . The Western Ghats better known as Sahyadri, are a hilly range running parallel to the coast, at an average elevation of 1,200 metres (4,000 ft). Kalsubai, a peak in the Sahyadris, near Nashik city is the highest elevated point in Maharashtra. To the west of these hills lie the Konkan coastal plains, 50–80 kilometres in width. To the east of the Ghats lies the flat Deccan Plateau. Forests comprise 17% of the total area of the state. A majority of the forests are in the eastern and Sahyadri regions of the state. The main rivers of the state are Krishna, Bhima, Godavari, Tapi-Purna and Wardha-Wainganga. Since the central parts of the state receives low rainfall, most of the rivers in the region have multiple dams. Maharashtra has around 1821 notable large dams.
Maharashtra is divided into five geographic regions. Konkan is the western coastal region, between the Western Ghats and the sea. Kandesh is the north-western region lying in the valley of the Tapti River. Nashik, Jalgaon, Dhule and Bhusawal are the major cities of this region. Desh is in the centre of the state. Marathwada, which was a part of the princely state of Hyderabad until 1956, is located in the southeastern part of the state. Aurangabad and Nanded are the main cities of the region. Vidarbha is the easternmost region of the state, formerly part of the Central Provinces and Berar. Nagpur, where the winter session of the state assembly is held, Akola, Amravati and Chandrapur are the main cities in the region. Sahyadri range, with an elevation of 1,000 meters, is known for its crowning plateaus. Lying between the Arabian Sea and the Sahyadri Range, Konkan is narrow coastal lowland, just 50 km wide and with an elevation below 200 meters. The third important region is the Satpura hills along the northern border, and the Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the eastern border, which form physical barriers preventing easy movement. These ranges also serve as natural limits to the state.
Maharashtra has a tropical climate, with three distinct seasons: Summer (March–May), Monsoon (June–September), and Winter (October–February). However, dew and hail also occur sometimes, depending upon the seasonal weather. The winter between October to February is followed by summer between March and May and the monsoon season between June and September. Summers (March, April and May) are extremely hot, the temperature rises from 22 °C to as high as 43 °C during the summer. The rainfall starts normally in the first week of June. July is the wettest month in Maharashtra, while August also gets substantial rain. The rainy season starts its retreat with the coming of September to the state. Rainfall in Maharashtra differs from region to region. Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, receive heavy rains of an average of 200 centimetres annually. But the districts of Nashik, Pune, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and parts of Kolhapur less than 50 centimetres. Rainfall is particularly high in areas adjacent to the Sahyadri mountains such as coastal Konkan on the west and foothills of the mountain range on the eastern side. Central Maharashtra receives less rainfall. However, under the influence of the Bay of Bengal, eastern Vidarbha receives good rainfall in July, August and September. In winter, a cool dry spell occurs, with clear skies, gentle air breeze, and pleasant weather prevails from October to February. But the eastern part of Maharashtra sometimes receives some rainfall. Temperature rise from 12 °C to 34 °C during this season.
Flora of Maharashtra is heterogeneous in composition. In 2012 the recorded thick forest area in the state was which was about 20.13% of the state's geographical area.These There are three main Public Forestry Institutions (PFIs) in the Maharashtra state: the Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD), the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) and the Directorate of Social Forestry (SFD). The Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board, constituted by the Government of Maharashtra in January 2012 under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is the nodal body for conservation of biodiversity within and outside forest areas in the State.
According to the Champion and Seth classification, Maharashtra has five types of forests:
In addition to the above forest types, Maharashtra harbours significant mangrove, coastal and marine biodiversity, with 304 km2 of area under mangrove cover as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) of the Forest survey India. Some of the forest areas have been converted into wildlife reserves, thus preserving their biodiversity.
Western ghats of Maharashtra are included in the 34 global Biodiversity hotspots owing to its
extraordinarily rich biodiversity. The biodiversity includes more than five hundred species of birds.
Similarly a study in the Amravati region found 171 species of birds. Both regions include resident as well as migrant species.
The state has three game reserves, as well as several national parks and bird sanctuaries. The six tiger reserves located in the state cover a total area of 9133 km2. Wildlife sanctuaries in the state include Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, Bor Wildlife Sanctuary, Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Chandoli National Park, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, Navegaon National Park and Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
The most common animal species present in the state are tiger, leopard, gaur, sloth bear, sambar, four-horned antelope, blue bull, chital, barking deer, mouse deer, small Indian civet, golden jackal, jungle cat, striped hyena, and hare. Other animals in the state include reptiles such as lizards, cobras and kraits. The national parks of Maharashtra possess a variety of plant species that include jamun, palas, shisam, neem, teak, dhawada, kalam, ain, bija, shirish, mango, acacia, awala, kadamba, moha, terminalia, hedu and ficus.
Maharashtra consists of six administrative divisions:
The state's six divisions are further divided into 36 districts, 109 sub-divisions and 357 talukas. Maharashtra's top five districts by population, as ranked by the 2011 Census, are listed in the following table.
Each district is governed by a district collector or district magistrate, appointed either by the Indian Administrative Service or the Maharashtra Civil Service. Districts are subdivided into "sub-divisions" (Taluka) governed by sub-divisional magistrates, and again into "blocks". A block consists of panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities. Talukas are intermediate level panchayat between the Zilla Parishad (district councils) at the district level and gram panchayat (village councils) at the lower level.
According to the provisional results of the 2011 national census, Maharashtra is the richest state in India and second most populous state in India with a population of 112,374,333 (9.28% of India's population) of which male and female are 58,243,056 and 54,131,277 respectively. The total population growth in 2011 was 15.99 percent while in the previous decade it was 22.57 percent. Since independence, the decadal growth rate of population has remained higher (except in the year 1971) than the national average. For the first time, in the year 2011, it was found to be lower than the national average. The 2011 census for the state found 55% of the population to be rural with 45% being urban based.
Bihari, Gujarati, Sindhis, Punjabis, Parsis, Marwari, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil minorities are scattered throughout the state. The 2011 census found scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to account for 11.8 and 8.9% of the population respectively. The scheduled tribes include "adivasis" such as Thakar, Warli, Konkana and Halba.
According to the 2011 census, Hinduism was the principal religion in the state at 79.8% of the total population, while Muslims constituted 11.5% of the total population. Buddhism accounted for 5.8% in Maharashtra's total population, with 6,531,200 followers, which is 77.36% of all Buddhists in India. Sikhs, Christians and Jains constituted 0.2%, 1.0%, 1.2% of the population respectively.
The state contributes 9.28% to India's population. The sex ratio in Maharashtra was 929 females per 1000 males, which was below the national average of 943. The density of Maharashtra was 365 inhabitants per km2 which was lower than national average 382 per km2. Since 1921, the populations of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg shrank by −4.96% and −2.30% respectively, while the population of Thane grew by 35.9%, followed by Pune at 30.3%. The literacy rate rose to 83.2%. Of this, male literacy stood at 89.82% and female literacy 75.48%.
The official language is Marathi although different regions have their own dialects. It is native to the Maharashtra state, and is its main language.
Over 83.1 million people speak Marathi, making it the third-most spoken language in India, and 10th most-spoken native language in the world.
English is also spoken in Maharashtra, mostly in urban areas. Spoken Marathi language varies by district, area or locality in its tone and a few words. Konkani, Kannada, Tulu and Gujarati are also spoken in some areas. Other major dialects include Varhadi spoken in the Vidarbha region and Dangi spoken near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. The sound is abundantly used in many verbs and nouns in Marathi. It is replaced by the sound in the Varhadi dialect, which makes it quite distinct. According to the economic survey of Maharashtra (2008–09), the percentage of the state's population that names Marathi as its mother tongue has declined to 68.8% from 76.5% over the past three decades, while there has been a sharp rise in the Hindi-speaking population (11% from 5%) in the same period.
Maharashtra has a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) consists of 288 members who are elected for five-year terms. The Maharashtra Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) is a permanent body of 78 members with a third of members replaced every two years. The government of Maharashtra is headed by the Chief Minister, who is chosen by the party or coalition holding the majority in the Legislative Assembly. The Chief Minister, along with the council of ministers, drives the legislative agenda and exercises most of the executive powers. However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the Governor, who is appointed for a five-year term by the President of India on the advice of the Union government.
The politics of the state since its formation in 1960 have been dominated by the Indian National Congress party. Maharashtra became a bastion of the Congress party producing stalwarts such as Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, Vasantrao Naik and Shankarrao Chavan. Sharad Pawar has been a towering personality in the state and National politics for over forty years. During his career, he has split the Congress twice with significant consequences for the state politics. The Congress party enjoyed a near unchallenged dominance of the political landscape until 1995 when the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured an overwhelming majority in the state to form a coalition government. After his second parting from the Congress party in 1999, Sharad Pawar formed the NCP but formed a coalition with the Congress to keep out the BJP-Shivsena combine out of the government for fifteen years until September 2014. Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress party was the last Chief Minister of Maharashtra under the Congress / NCP alliance.
For the 2014 assembly polls, the two alliances between NCP and Congress and that between BJP and Shivsena respectively broke down over seat allocations. In the election, the largest number of seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party, with 122 seats. The BJP initially formed a minority government under Devendra Fadnavis.The Shiv sena entered the Government after two months, and provided a comfortable majority for the alliance in the Maharashtra Vidhansabha. In 2019 Lok sabha elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance secured 41 seat out 48 from the state..
The people of Maharashtra also elect 48 members to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. In the 2014 general elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), consisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena, and Swabhimani Paksha, won 23, 18, and 1 seats, respectively. The NDA retained its dominance in the state by winning 41 out of the 48 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The members of the state Legislative Assembly elect 19 members to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
The state has a long tradition of highly powerful planning bodies at district and local levels. Local self governance institutions in rural areas include 34 zilla parishads (district councils), 355 Taluka Panchayat samitis (district Sub-division councils) and 27,993 Gram panchayats (village councils). Urban areas in the state are governed by 27
Municipal Corporations, 222 Municipal Councils, four Nagar Panchayats and seven Cantonment Boards.
Although Maharashtra had Gram panchayat with elected members since 1961, the 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution of 1993 put in place a statutory requirement of 33% of seats on the panchayats reserved for women.In addition, 33% of the sarpanch (panchayat chief) positions were also reserved for women.
Although the amendment boosted the number of women leaders at the village level, there have been cases of harassment by male members of the panchayat towards the female members of the organisations.
The administration in each district is headed by a District Collector, who belongs to the Indian Administrative Service and is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Maharashtra state services. The Superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service and assisted by the officers of the Maharashtra Police Service, maintains law and order in addition to other related issues in each district. The Divisional Forest Officer, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, manages the forests, environment, and wildlife of the district, assisted by the officers of Maharashtra Forest Service and Maharashtra Forest Subordinate Service. Sectoral development in the districts is looked after by the district head of each development department, such as Public Works, Health, Education, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.
The judiciary in the state consists of the Maharashtra High Court (The High Court of Bombay), district and session courts in each district and lower courts and judges at the taluka level. The High Court has regional branches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji which is the capital of Goa. The state cabinet on 13 May 2015 passed a resolution favouring the setting up of one more bench of the Bombay high court in Kolhapur, covering the region.
The President of India appoints the chief justice of the High Court of the Maharashtra judiciary on the advice of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India as well as the Governor of Maharashtra. Other judges are appointed by the chief justice of the high court of the judiciary on the advice of the Chief Justice. Subordinate Judicial Service is another vital part of the judiciary of Maharashtra. The subordinate judiciary or the district courts are categorised into two divisions: the Maharashtra civil judicial services and higher judicial service. While the Maharashtra civil judicial services comprises the Civil Judges (Junior Division)/Judicial Magistrates and civil judges (Senior Division)/Chief Judicial Magistrate, the higher judicial service comprises civil and sessions judges. The Subordinate judicial service of the judiciary is controlled by the District Judge.
The economy of Maharashtra is driven by manufacturing, international trade, Mass Media (television, motion pictures, video games, recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Maharashtra is the most industrialised state and has maintained the leading position in the industrial sector in India. The State is pioneer in small scale industries. Mumbai, the capital of state and the financial capital of India, houses the headquarters of most of the major corporate and financial institutions. India's main stock exchanges and capital market and commodity exchanges are located in Mumbai. The State continues to attract industrial investments from domestic as well as foreign institutions. Maharashtra has the largest proportion of taxpayers in India and its share markets transact almost 70 per cent of the country's stocks.
The Service sector dominates the economy of Maharashtra, accounting for 61.4% of the value addition and 69.3% of the value of output in the state. The state's per-capita income is 40% higher than the all-India average. The gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices for 2011–12 is estimated at 11,995.48 billion and contributes about 14.4% of the GDP. The agriculture and allied activities sector contributes 12.9% to the state's income. Net State Domestic Product (State Income), as per the first revised estimates was 10,827.51 billion and Per Capita State Income was 95,339 during 2011–12. The percentage of fiscal deficit to GSDP was 1.7 per cent and debt stock to GSDP was 18.4 per cent during 2012–13, well within Consolidated Fiscal Reform Path stipulated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission. In 2012, Maharashtra reported a revenue surplus of 1524.9 million (US$24 million), with a total revenue of 1,367,117 million (US$22 billion) and a spending of 1,365,592.1 million (US$22 billion). Maharashtra ranks first in FDI equity and percentage share of total FDI inflows is 32.27%. Total FDI inflows into Maharashtra are US$53.48 billion. Top countries that invested FDI equity in Maharashtra (from January 2000 to December 2011) were Mauritius (39%), Singapore (10%), United Kingdom (10%), United States (7%) and Netherlands (5%).
Maharashtra contributes 25% of the country's industrial output and is the most indebted state in the country. Industrial activity in state is concentrated in four districts: Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Thane and Pune. Mumbai has the largest share in GSDP (21.5 per cent), both Thane and Pune districts contribute about same in the Industry sector, Pune district contributes more in the agriculture and allied activities sector, whereas Thane district contributes more in the Services sector. Nashik district shares highest in the agricultural and allied activities sector, but is far behind in the Industry and Services sectors as compared to Thane and Pune districts. Industries in Maharashtra include chemical and chemical products (17.6%), food and food products (16.1%), refined petroleum products (12.9%), machinery and equipment (8%), textiles (6.9%), basic metals (5.8%), motor vehicles (4.7%) and furniture (4.3%). Maharashtra is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest public sector industries in India, including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Tata Petrodyne and Oil India Ltd.
Maharashtra has an above average knowledge industry in India with the Pune Metropolitan area being the leading IT hub in the state. Approximately 25% of the top 500 companies in the IT sector are situated in Maharashtra. The state accounts for 28% of the software exports of India. The state houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, the SEBI and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy.
The banking sector comprises scheduled and non-scheduled banks. Scheduled banks are of two types, commercial and co-operative. Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India are classified into five types: State Bank of India and its associates, nationalised banks, private sector banks, Regional Rural Banks and others (foreign banks). In 2012, there were 9,053 banking offices in the state, of which about 26 percent were in rural and 54 percent were in urban areas. Maharashtra has a microfinance system, which refers to small scale financial services extended to the poor in both rural and urban areas. It covers a variety of financial instruments, such as lending, savings, life insurance, and crop insurance. Three largest urban cooperative banks in India are all based in Maharashtra.
With more than half the population being rural, agriculture and allied industries play an important role in the states's economy. The agriculture and allied activities sector contributes 12.9% to the state's income. Staples such as rice and millet are the main monsoon crops. Important cash crops include sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds, tobacco, fruit, vegetables and spices such as turmeric. Animal husbandry is an important agriculture related activity. The State's share in the livestock and poultry population in India is about 7% and 10% respectively. Maharashtra was a pioneer in the development of Agricultural Cooperative Societies after independence. In fact, it was an integral part of the then Governing Congress party's vision of ‘rural development with local initiative’. A ‘special’ status was accorded to the sugar cooperatives and the government assumed the role of a mentor by acting as a stakeholder, guarantor and regulator, Apart from sugar, Cooperatives play a crucial role in dairy, cotton, and fertiliser industries.
The state has a large, multi-modal transportation system with the largest road network in India. In 2011, the total length of surface road in Maharashtra was 267,452 km; national highways comprised 4,176 km and state highways 3,700 km. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) provides economical and reliable passenger road transport service in the public sector. These buses, popularly called ST (State Transport), are the preferred mode of transport for much of the populace. Hired forms of transport include metered taxis and auto rickshaws, which often ply specific routes in cities. Other district roads and village roads provide villages accessibility to meet their social needs as well as the means to transport agricultural produce from villages to nearby markets. Major district roads provide a secondary function of linking between main roads and rural roads. Almost 98% of villages are connected via the highways and modern roads in Maharashtra. Average speed on state highways varies between 50–60 km/h (31–37 mi/h) due to heavy presence of vehicles; in villages and towns, speeds are as low as 25–30 km/h (15–18 mi/h).
The first passenger train in India ran from Mumbai to Thane on 16 April 1853.
Rail transportation is run by Central Railway, Western Railway, South Central Railway and South East Central Railway zones of the Indian Railways with the first two zones being headquartered in Mumbai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Churchgate respectively and Konkan Railway which is headquartered in Navi Mumbai. The Mumbai Rajdhani Express, the fastest rajdhani train, connects the Indian capital of New Delhi to Mumbai. Thane and CSMT are the busiest railway stations in India, the latter serving as a terminal for both long-distance trains and commuter trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.
The two principal sea ports, Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which is also in the Mumbai region, are under the control and supervision of the government of India. There are around 48 minor ports in Maharashtra. Most of these handle passenger traffic and have a limited capacity. None of the major rivers in Maharashtra are navigable and so river transport does not exist in the state.
Almost all the major cities of Maharashtra have airports. CSIA (formerly Bombay International Airport) and Juhu Airport are the two airports in Mumbai. The two other international airports are Pune International Airport and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur. While Aurangabad Airport is a domestic airport operated by Airports Authority of India. Flights are operated by both private and government airline companies.
Most of the State's airfields are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) while Reliance Airport Developers (RADPL), currently operate five non-metro airports at Latur, Nanded, Baramati, Osmanabad and Yavatmal on a 95-year lease. The Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) was set up in 2002 to take up development of airports in the state that are not under the AAI or the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). MADC is playing the lead role in the planning and implementation of the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project. Additional smaller airports include Akola, Amravati, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gondia, Jalgaon, Karad, Kolhapur, Nashik Road, Ratnagiri, and Solapur.
Census of 2011 showed literacy rates in the state for males and females were around 78% and 67% respectively.
Scottish missionary John Wilson, Indian nationalists such as Vasudev Balwant Phadke and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, social reformers such as Jyotirao Phule, Dhondo Keshav Karve and Bhaurao Patil all played a leading role in the setting up of modern schools and colleges during the British colonial era . The forerunner of Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute was established in 1821. The Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, the oldest women's liberal arts college in south Asia, started its journey in 1916. College of Engineering Pune, established in 1854, is the third oldest college in Asia. Government Polytechnic Nagpur, established in 1914, is one of the oldest polytechnic in India.
Maharashtra schools are run by the state government or by private organisations, including religious institutions. Instruction is mainly in Marathi, English or Hindi, though Urdu is also used. The secondary schools are affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), the National Institute of Open School (NIOS) or the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Under the 10+2+3 plan, after completing secondary school, students typically enroll for two years in a junior college, also known as pre-university, or in schools with a higher secondary facility affiliated with the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education or any central board. Students choose from one of three streams, namely liberal arts, commerce or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students may enroll in general or professional degree programs.
Maharashtra has 24 universities with a turnout of 160,000 Graduates every year. Maharashtra has played a pioneering role in the development of the modern education system in India. The University of Mumbai, is the largest university in the world in terms of the number of graduates and has 141 affiliated colleges.
According to prominent national rankings, 5 to 7 Maharashtra colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in India. Maharashtra is also home to such notable autonomous institutes as Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Institute of Chemical Technology, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Walchand College of Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE). Most of these autonomous institutes are ranked the highest in India and have very competitive entry requirements. The University of Pune (now Savitribai Phule Pune University), the National Defence Academy, Film and Television Institute of India, Armed Forces Medical College and National Chemical Laboratory were established in Pune soon after the Indian independence in 1947. Mumbai has an IIT, has National Institute of Industrial Engineering and Nagpur has IIM and AIIMS.
Some of the notable institutes in the state are: Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur (MNLUN), Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai (MNLUM), Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad (MNLUA), Government Law College, Mumbai (GLC), ILS Law College, and Symbiosis Law School (SLS).
Maharashtra has hundreds of other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. Most of the private colleges were set up in the last thirty years after the State Government of Vasantdada Patil liberalised the Education Sector in 1982. Politicians and leaders involved in the huge cooperative movement in Maharashtra were instrumental in setting up the private institutes
There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition.
The state also has four agricultural universities namely Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth and Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, besides these, there are other regional universities like Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, North Maharashtra University, Shivaji University, Solapur University, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, all well established and nationally renowned, to cover the educational needs at the district levels of the state. Apart from this, there are a number of deemed universities in Maharashtra, including Symbiosis International University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Tilak Maharashtra University.
The state has many post-secondary school industrial training institutes (ITIs) run by the government and private trusts that offer vocational training in numerous trades such as construction, plumbing, welding, automobile mechanic etc. Successful candidates receive the National Trade Certificate.
In 2011, the health care system in Maharashtra consisted of 363 rural government hospitals, 23 district hospitals (with 7,561 beds), 4 general hospitals (with 714 beds) mostly under the Maharashtra Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and 380 private medical establishments; these establishments provide the state with more than 30,000 hospital beds. It is the first state in India to have nine women's hospitals serving 1,365 beds. The state also has significant number of medical practitioners who hold the Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery qualifications. These practitioners primarily use the traditional Indian therapy of Ayurveda but can use modern western medicine as well.
Maharashtra has a life expectancy at birth of 67.2 years in 2011, ranking it third among 29 Indian states. The total fertility rate of the state is 1.9. The Infant mortality rate is 28 and the maternal mortality ratio is 104 (2012–2013), which are lower than the national averages. Public health services are governed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), through various departments. The Ministry is divided into two departments: the Public Health Department, which includes family welfare and medical relief, and the Department of Medical Education and Drugs.
In Maharashtra, health insurance includes any program that helps pay for medical expenses, whether through privately purchased insurance, social insurance or a social welfare program funded by the government. In a more technical sense, the term is used to describe any form of insurance that provides protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes private insurance and social insurance programs such as National Health Mission, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs such as National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Health Insurance Program, which provide assistance to people who cannot afford health coverage.
Although its population makes Maharashtra one of the country's largest energy users, conservation mandates, mild weather in the largest population centres and strong environmental movements have kept its per capita energy use to one of the smallest of any Indian state. The high electricity demand of the state constitutes 13% of the total installed electricity generation capacity in India, which is mainly from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Mahavitaran is responsible for distribution of electricity throughout the state by buying power from Mahanirmiti, captive power plants, other state electricity boards and private sector power generation companies.
As of 2012, Maharashtra was the largest power generating state in India, with installed electricity generation capacity of 26,838 MW. The state forms a major constituent of the western grid of India, which now comes under the North, East, West and North Eastern (NEWNE) grids of India. Maharashtra Power Generation Company (MAHAGENCO) operates thermal power plants. In addition to the state government-owned power generation plants, there are privately owned power generation plants that transmit power through the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company, which is responsible for transmission of electricity in the state.
The Maharashtra Plastic and Thermocol Products ban became effective as law on 23 June 2018, subjecting plastic users to fines and potential imprisonment for repeat offenders.
Maharashtra cuisine covers a range from mild to very spicy dishes. Wheat, rice, "jowar", "bajri", vegetables, lentils and fruit form staple food of the Maharashtrian diet. Some of the popular traditional dishes include "puran poli", "ukdiche modak", and "batata wada". Misal Pav, Pav Bhaji and Vada pav are dishes that became very popular in the last fifty years. Meals (mainly lunch and dinner) are served on a plate called thali. Each food item served on the "thali" has a specific place. In some households, meals begin with a thanksgiving offering of food (Naivedya) to the household Gods. Maharashtrian cuisine has many regional varieties including Malvani (Konkani),Kolhapuri and Varhadhi. Though quite different, both use a lot of seafood and coconut. The staple foods of the Konkani people are rice and fish
The "bhaaji"s are vegetable dishes made with a particular vegetable or a combination. They require the use of "goda (sweet) masala", essentially consisting of some combination of coconut, onion, garlic, ginger, red chilli powder, green chillies and mustard. Depending on the caste or specific religious tradition of a family, onion and garlic may not be used in cooking. A particular variant of "bhaaji" is the "rassa" or curry. Vegetarians prepare "rassa" or "curry" of potatoes and or cauliflower with tomatoes or fresh coconut kernel and plenty of water to produce a soup-like preparation rather than "bhaaji". "Varan" is nothing but plain dal, a common Indian lentil stew. "Aamti" is variant of the curry, typically consisting of a lentil ("tur") stock, flavoured with goda masala, tamarind or amshul, and jaggery ("gul").
Among seafood, the most popular fish is bombil or the Bombay duck. All non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes are eaten with boiled rice, chapatis or with bhakris, made of jowar, bajra or rice flours. Special rice puris called vada and amboli, which is a pancake made of fermented rice, urad dal, and semolina, are also eaten as a part of the main meal.
Traditionally, Marathi women commonly wore the sari, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. Most middle aged and young women in urban Maharashtra dress in western outfits such as skirts and trousers or shalwar kameez with the traditionally "nauvari" or nine-yard lugade, disappearing from the markets due to a lack of demand. Older women wear the five-yard sari. In urban areas, the five-yard sari, especially the Paithani, is worn by younger women for special occasions such as marriages and religious ceremonies. Among men, western dressing has greater acceptance. Men also wear traditional costumes such as the dhoti, and pheta on cultural occasions. The Gandhi cap is the popular headgear among older men in rural Maharashtra. The Kurta (a long shirt) is worn by men on special occasions. Women wear traditional jewelries derived from Maratha and Peshwa dynasties. Kolhapuri saaj, a special type of necklace, is also worn by Marathi women. In urban areas, many women and men wear western attire.
Maharashtrian artists have made major contributions to Indian Classical music. Its vibrant folk form includes Powada, Bharuds and Gondhals. Cities like Kolhapur and Pune have been playing a major role in preservation of music like Bhavageet and Natya Sangeet, which are inherited from Indian classical music. The songs from Hindi films and Marathi films are popular in urban areas.
Marathi dance forms draw from folk traditions. Lavani is popular form of dance in the state. The Bhajan, Kirtan and Abhangas of the Varkari sect (Vaishanav Devotees) have a long history and are part of their daily rituals. Koli dance (as called 'Koligeete') is among the most popular dances of Maharashtra. As the name suggests, it is related to the fisher folk of Maharashtra, who are called Kolis. Popular for their unique identity and liveliness, their dances represent their occupation. This type of dance is represented by both men and women. While dancing, they are divided into groups of two. These fishermen display the movements of waves and casting of the nets during their koli dance performances.,
Maharashtra's regional literature is about lives and circumstances of Marathi people in specific parts of the state. The Marathi language, which boasts a rich literary heritage, is written in the Devanagari script. The earliest instances of Marathi literature is by Sant Dnyaneshwar with his "Bhawarthadeepika" (popularly known as "Dnyaneshwari"). The compositions, written in the 13th century, are spiritually inclined. Other compositions are by Bhakti saints such as Tukaram, Eknath, Namdev, Ramdas, and Gora Kumbhar. Their compositions are mostly in poetic form, which are called Abhang. Maharashtra has a long tradition in spiritual literature, evidenced by the "Amrutanubhav", "Bhavarth Deepika", "Bhagavata Purana", "Eknathi Bhagwat" and "Bhavarth Ramayan".
19th century Marathi literature includes the works of authors such as Balshastri Jambhekar, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Jyotirao Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Vinayak Damodar Sawarkar, Ram Ganesh Gadkari, Tryambak Bapuji Thombre, Hari Narayan Apte, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar and Keshavsuta. 20th century notable writers include Mahadevshastri Joshi, Kusumagraj, Pu La Deshpande, Va Pu Kale, Vyankatesh Digambar Madgulkar, Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, Prahlad Keshav Atre, B. S. Mardhekar, Sane Guruji, Vinoba Bhave, Chintamani Tryambak Khanolkar, Bahinabai Chaudhari and Laxmanshastri Joshi.
Vishwas Patil, Ranjit Desai, Shivaji Sawant, Narayan Surve, Vinda Karandikar, Shanta Shelke, Durga Bhagwat, Suresh Bhat, Ratnakar Matkari, Varjesh Solanki, Manya Joshi, Hemant Divate, Mangesh Narayanrao Kale, Avinash Dharmadhikari, Bhalchandra Nemade, Narendra Jadhav and Saleel Wagh are some of the more recent authors. Regional languages spoken in Maharashtra are Kokani, Koli, Malvani, Varhadi and Khandeshi.
Maharashtra is a prominent location for the Indian entertainment industry, with many films, television series, books, and other media being set there. Mainstream Hindi films are popular in Maharashtra, especially in urban areas. Mumbai is the largest centre for film and television production and a third of all Indian films are produced in the state. Multimillion-dollar Bollywood productions, with the most expensive costing up to , are filmed there. The Marathi film industry, previously located in Kolhapur, has spread throughout Mumbai. Well known for its art films, the early Marathi film industry included acclaimed directors such as Dadasaheb Phalke, and V. Shantaram. Dada Kondke is the most prominent name in Marathi film. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.
Modern Theatre in Maharashtra can trace its origins to the British colonial era in the middle of the 19th century. It is modelled mainly after the western tradition but also includes forms like Sangeet Natak (musical drama). In recent decades, Marathi Tamasha has been also been incorporated in some experimental plays.
Today, theatre continues to have a marked presence in Mumbai and Pune with an educated loyal audience base, when most theatre in other parts of India have had a tough time facing the onslaught of cinema and television. Its repertoire ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. Marathi Playwrights such as Vijay Tendulkar, P. L. Deshpande, Mahesh Elkunchwar and Satish Alekar have influenced theatre throughout India. Besides Marathi theatre, Maharashtra and particularly, Mumbai, has had a long tradition of theatre in other languages such as Gujarati, Hindi and English.
More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in this state and the book-publishing industry employs about 250,000 people. Sakal published from Pune and other major Maharashtrian cities, has the largest circulation for Marathi Newspaper in Maharashtra as of December 2016. Other major Marathi newspapers are "Maharashtra Times", "Loksatta", "Nava Kaal", "Pudhari", and "Lokmat". Tarun Bharat and Kesari, two newspapers that once were quite influential during the colonial and the post-independence era have stopped the print edition and are now published only digitally. Popular Marathi language magazines are "Saptahik Sakaal", "Grihashobhika", "Lokrajya", "Lokprabha" and "Chitralekha". Major English language newspapers which are published and sold in large numbers are "Daily News & Analysis", "The Times of India", "Hindustan Times", "The Indian Express", "Mumbai Mirror", "Asian Age", "MiD-DAY" and "The Free Press Journal". Some prominent financial dailies like "The Economic Times", "Mint", "Business Standard" and "The Financial Express" are widely circulated. Vernacular newspapers such as those in Hindi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu are also read by a select readership.
The television industry developed in Maharashtra and is a significant employer in the state's economy. Numerous Indian and international television channels can be watched in Maharashtra through one of the Pay TV companies or the local cable television provider. The four major India broadcast networks are all headquartered in Maharashtra: The Times, STAR India, CNN-IBN and ZEEL. Doordarshan is the state-owned television broadcaster and provides two free terrestrial channels. Multi system operators provide a mix of Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Hindi, English and international channels via cable. The wide range of cable channels available includes sports channels like ESPN, Star Sports, National entertainment channels like Colors, Sony, Zee TV and Star Plus, business news channels like CNBC Awaaz, Zee Business, ET Now and Bloomberg UTV. Marathi 24-hour television news channels include ABP Majha, News18 Lokmat, Zee 24 Taas, Colors Marathi, TV9 Marathi and Jai Maharashtra.
All India Radio is a public radio station. Private FM stations are available in all major cities. Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Communications, Aircel, MTS India, Tata Indicom, Idea Cellular and Tata DoCoMo are available cellular phone operators. Maharashtra has the highest share of the internet market at 18.8% of total households internet users in India. Broadband internet is available in all towns, villages and cities, provided by the state-run MTNL and BSNL and by other private companies. Dial-up access is provided throughout the state by BSNL and other providers.
The most popular sports in Maharashtra are Kabaddi and Cricket.
As in the rest of India, cricket is popular in Maharashtra and is played on grounds and in streets throughout the state. Maharashtra has various domestic level franchise-based leagues for hockey, chess, tennis and badminton. The state is home to top national football clubs such as Mumbai Tigers F.C., Kenkre F.C., Bengal Mumbai FC and Air India FC. Adventure sports such as paragliding, water sports, rock climbing, backpacking, mountaineering and scuba diving are also popular in the state. Other notable sports played in the state include Kho kho, fencing, archery and shooting.
Maharashtra has an Indian Premier League franchise known as the Mumbai Indians and also had the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant and Pune Warriors India; the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) regulates cricket in state. Maharashtra has three domestic cricket teams: the Mumbai cricket team, Maharashtra cricket team and Vidarbha cricket team. Wankhede Stadium which has a capacity of around 33,000 hosted the final match of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. It is home to the Mumbai Indians and Mumbai cricket team while the MCA Stadium in Pune is home to the Maharashtra cricket team.
Maharashtra football team represents the state in competition for the Santosh Trophy. Pune FC and Mumbai FC were the football clubs from the state that played in I-League. Maharashtra has two teams in the Indian Super League (ISL), FC Pune City and Mumbai City FC representing the two cities respectively.
The state has two club franchises playing in American football's Elite Football League of India. Mumbai Gladiators and Pune Marathas are teams based in Mumbai and Pune respectively.
Mumbai and Pune hold derby races at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and Pune Race Course respectively. The wrestling championships Hind Kesari and Maharashtra Kesari are widely popular in the rural regions and are affiliated with the All India Amateur Wrestling Federation (AIAWF). Maharashtra Chess Association is the apex body for the game of chess in Maharashtra. Maharashtra Tennis League is India's first league format in tennis.
Notable athletes from Maharashtra include India's first individual Olympic Medalist- wrestler Khashaba Jadhav, retired cricket legends and former captains of the Indian national cricket team, Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar;, Indian national cricket team player Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, Commonwealth Games gold medalists – shooters Anjali Bhagwat, Rahi Sarnobat and Tejaswini Sawant, Asian Games silver medalist Hiranna M. Nimal, chess player Rohini Khadilkar, tennis player Gaurav Natekar, former hockey players Dhanraj Pillay, Viren Rasquinha and badminton players Nikhil Kanetkar and Aparna Popat.
A number of Indian sports either originated in Maharashtra or were formalised here. These include Badminton (previously known as Poona game), Kabaddi, Kho kho, and Mallakhamba. In rural areas of Maharashtra, Kusti (Indian mud wrestling) and bullock cart competitions take place during the annual "jatra" (carnival) of a region.The government of Maharashtra has in the past supported Kusti by building two permanent akhara (Indian training centers) in the Kolhapur area.
According to a survey, most tourists visiting places in Maharashtra are from the state. Two other states, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh send the largest number of domestic visitors to Maharashtra. Foreign visitors to Maharashtra account for just 2% of the tourist. Visitors from the US, UK, Germany, and UAE each form a significant percentage of foreign tourists.
Mumbai, the biggest and the most cosmopolitan city in India attracts tourists from all over the world for its many attractions including colonial architecture, beaches, movie industry, shopping, and an active nightlife. Pune, called the cultural capital of Maharashtra, also attracts many visitors during the annual Ganeshotsav festival.
The area around Aurangabad has many ancient and medieval sites including the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora caves, the Daulatabad Fort, and the Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad.
The mountainous districts of Western Maharashtra are dotted with the ruins of hundreds of mountain forts from the Deccan Sultanate and the Maratha empire eras respectively. These forts and the surrounding hills are popular with people interested in trekking, hiking and Heritage tourism related to Shivaji Maharaj.
The British built many hill-stations during the colonial era for government officials to escape from the heat of Indian summers.These places have been magnets for tourism for a long time. The important hill stations in Western Maharashtra are Mahabaleshwar, and Matheran. In Vidarbha region, Chikhaldara is the hill station popular with visitors.
Places of worship that attract pilgrims from other parts of India and beyond include the Sikh Gurudwara of Hazur Sahib at Nanded, Khandoba temple at Jejuri in Pune district where worshipers shower each other with Bhandar and the shrine of Saibaba at Shirdi . The places associated with the Warkari sect such as Pandharpur, Dehu and Alandi attract pilgrims from all over Maharashtra throughout the year but particularly during religious observations at these places.
The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra has numerous nature reserve parks. These include, Melghat Tiger Reserve in Amravati district, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district
, Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagpur district, the Nagzira wild life sanctuary and Navegaon National Park (bird sanctuary) of Gondia District.
The state Government has established Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) for systematic development and promotion of tourism in the state.
MTDC has, since its inception, been involved in the development and maintenance of the various tourist locations of Maharashtra. MTDC owns and maintains resorts at all key tourist centers and having more resorts is on the plan. | en.wikipedia.org | Maharashtra | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20629 |
20632 | Mozzarella
Mozzarella (, ; ) is a traditionally southern Italian cheese made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Mozzarella received a Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG) certification from the European Union in 1998. This protection scheme requires that mozzarella sold in the European Union is produced according to a traditional recipe.
The TSG certification does not specify the source of the milk, so any type of milk can be used, but it is speculated that it is normally made from whole milk. In Italy, mozzarella made from the milk of the Italian water buffalo is an important variety; the Italian "buffalo mozzarella" sold as "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana" is protected under the EU's Protected Designation of Origin scheme and may only be produced in select locations in the regions of Campania, Lazio, Apulia and Molise.
Fresh mozzarella is generally white but may vary seasonally to slightly yellow depending on the animal's diet. Due to its high moisture content, it is traditionally served the day after it is made but can be kept in brine for up to a week or longer when sold in vacuum-sealed packages. "Low-moisture mozzarella" can be kept refrigerated for up to a month, though some shredded low-moisture mozzarella is sold with a shelf life of up to six months. Mozzarella of several kinds is used for most types of pizza and several pasta dishes or served with sliced tomatoes and basil in Caprese salad.
"Mozzarella," derived from the Neapolitan dialect spoken in Campania, is the diminutive form of ("cut"), or ("to cut off") derived from the method of working. The term is first mentioned in 1570, cited in a cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi, reading "milk cream, fresh butter, ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella and milk". An earlier reference is also often cited as describing mozzarella. Historian Monsignor Alicandri, in "Chiesa Metropolitana di Capua," states that in the 12th century the Monastery of Saint Lorenzo, in Capua, Campania offered pilgrims a piece of bread with mozza or provatura. These are locations rather than products and mozza is taken by some to be mozzarella.
Mozzarella, recognised as a Specialità Tradizionale Garantita (STG) since 1996, is available fresh, usually rolled into a ball of or about in diameter, and sometimes up to or about diameter. It is soaked in salt water (brine) or whey, and other times citric acid is added and it is partly dried (desiccated), its structure being more compact. In this last form it is often used to prepare dishes cooked in the oven, such as lasagna and pizza.
When twisted to form a plait mozzarella is called . Mozzarella is also available in smoked () and reduced-moisture, packaged varieties.
"Ovolini" refers to smaller-sized bocconcini, and sometimes to cherry bocconcini.
Several variants have been specifically formulated and prepared for use on pizza, such as low-moisture Mozzarella cheese. The "International Dictionary of Food and Cooking" defines this cheese as "a soft spun-curd cheese similar to Mozzarella made from cow's milk" that is "[u]sed particularly for pizzas and [that] contains somewhat less water than real Mozzarella".
Low-moisture part-skim mozzarella, widely used in the food-service industry, has a low galactose content, per some consumers' preference for cheese on pizza to have low or moderate browning. Some pizza cheeses derived from skim mozzarella variants were designed not to require aging or the use of starter. Others can be made through the direct acidification of milk.
In Italy, the cheese is produced nationwide using Italian buffalo's milk under the government's official name "Mozzarella di latte di bufala" because Italian buffalo is in all Italian regions. Only selected "Mozzarella di bufala campana PDO" is a type, made from the milk of Italian buffalo, raised in designated areas of Campania, Lazio, Apulia, and Molise. Unlike other mozzarellas—50% of whose production derives from non-Italian and often semi-coagulated milk—it holds the status of a protected designation of origin (PDO 1996) under the European Union.
"Fior di latte" is made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk and not water buffalo milk, which greatly lowers its cost. Outside the EU, "mozzarella" not clearly labeled as deriving from water buffalo can be presumed to derive from cow milk. "Mozzarella affumicata" means smoked mozzarella.
Mozzarella of sheep milk, sometimes called "mozzarella pecorella", is typical of Sardinia, Abruzzo and Lazio, where it is also called 'mozzapecora'. It is worked with the addition of the rennet of lamb.
Mozzarella of goat's milk is of recent origin and the producers are still few; among the reasons for this new production is the need to offer a kind of mozzarella to those who do not digest cow's milk, because goat's milk is more digestible.
Mozzarella di bufala is traditionally produced solely from the milk of the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. A whey starter is added from the previous batch that contains thermophilic bacteria, and the milk is left to ripen so the bacteria can multiply. Then, rennet is added to coagulate the milk. After coagulation, the curd is cut into large, 2.5 – 5 cm pieces, and left to sit so the curds firm up in a process known as healing.
After the curd heals, it is further cut into 1 – 1.5 cm large pieces. The curds are stirred and heated to separate the curds from the whey. The whey is then drained from the curds and the curds are placed in a hoop to form a solid mass. The curd mass is left until the pH is at around 5.2–5.5, which is the point when the cheese can be stretched and kneaded to produce a delicate consistency—this process is generally known as pasta filata. According to the Mozzarella di Bufala trade association, "The cheese-maker kneads it with his hands, like a baker making bread, until he obtains a smooth, shiny paste, a strand of which he pulls out and lops off, forming the individual mozzarella." It is then typically formed into cylinder shapes or in plait. In Italy, a "rubbery" consistency is generally considered not satisfactory; the cheese is expected to be softer.
Different variants of this dairy product are included in the list of traditional Italian agri-food products (P.A.T) of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAAF), with the following denominations: | en.wikipedia.org | Mozzarella | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20632 |
20633 | Macrinus
Macrinus (; Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus; – June 218) was Roman Emperor from April 217 to 8 June 218. He reigned jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. Macrinus was by origin a Berber from Mauretania Caesariensis. A member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial class and was the first emperor from Mauretania. Before becoming emperor, Macrinus served under Emperor Caracalla as a praetorian prefect and dealt with Rome's civil affairs. He later conspired against Caracalla and had him murdered in a bid to protect his own life, succeeding him as emperor.
Macrinus was proclaimed emperor of Rome by 11 April 217 while in the eastern provinces of the empire and was subsequently confirmed as such by the Senate; however, for the duration of his reign, he never had the opportunity to return to Rome. His predecessor's policies had left Rome's coffers empty and the empire at war with several kingdoms, including Parthia, Armenia and Dacia. As emperor, Macrinus first attempted to enact reform to bring economic and diplomatic stability to Rome. While Macrinus' diplomatic actions brought about peace with each of the individual kingdoms, the additional monetary costs and subsequent fiscal reforms generated unrest in the Roman military.
Caracalla's aunt Julia Maesa took advantage of the unrest and instigated a rebellion to have her fourteen-year-old grandson, Elagabalus, recognized as emperor. Macrinus was overthrown at the Battle of Antioch on 8 June 218 and Elagabalus proclaimed himself emperor with support from the rebelling Roman legions. Macrinus fled the battlefield and tried to reach Rome, but was captured in Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia. He sent his son to the care of Artabanus V of Parthia, but Diadumenianus was also captured before he could reach his destination and executed. After Macrinus' death, the Senate declared him and his son enemies of Rome and had their names struck from the records and their images destroyed.
Macrinus was born in Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell, Algeria) in the Roman province of Mauretania to an equestrian family of Berber origins. According to David Potter, his family traced its origins to the Berber tribes of the region and his pierced ear was an indication of his Berber heritage. He received an education which allowed him to ascend to the Roman political class. Over the years, he earned a reputation as a skilled lawyer; and, under Emperor Septimius Severus, he became an important bureaucrat. Severus' successor Caracalla later appointed him a prefect of the Praetorian Guard.
While Macrinus probably enjoyed the trust of Emperor Caracalla, this may have changed when, according to tradition, it was prophesied that he would depose and succeed the emperor. Macrinus, fearing for his safety, resolved to have Caracalla murdered before he was condemned.
In the spring of 217, Caracalla was in the eastern provinces preparing a campaign against the Parthian Empire. Macrinus was among his staff, as were other members of the Praetorian Guard. In April, Caracalla went to visit a temple of Luna near the site of the battle of Carrhae and was accompanied only by his personal guard, which included Macrinus. On April 8, while traveling to the temple, Caracalla was stabbed to death by Justin Martialis, a soldier whom Macrinus had recruited to commit the murder. In the aftermath, Martialis was killed by one of Caracalla's men.
For two or three days, Rome remained without an emperor. By April 11, Macrinus had proclaimed himself emperor and assumed all of the imperial titles and powers, without waiting for the Senate. The army backed his claim as emperor and the Senate, so far away, was powerless to intervene. Macrinus never returned to Rome as emperor and remained based in Antioch for the duration of his reign. Macrinus was the first emperor to hail from the equestrian class, rather than the senatorial and also the first emperor of Mauretanian descent. He adopted the name of Severus, in honor of the Severan dynasty, and conferred the imperial title of Augusta to his wife Nonia Celsa and the title of Caesar and name of Antoninus to his son Diadumenianus in honor of the Antonine dynasty, thus making him second in command. At the time of Diadumenian's accession he was eight years old.
Despite his equestrian background, Macrinus was accepted by the Senate for two reasons: for the removal of Caracalla, and for having received the loyalty of the army. The senators were less concerned by Macrinus' Mauretanian ancestry than by his equestrian social background and scrutinized his actions as emperor. Their opinion of him was reduced by his decisions to appoint men to high offices who were of similarly undistinguished background. Only the Senate had the constitutional power to choose the emperor from among the senators and Macrinus, not being a senator and having become emperor through force rather than through traditional means, was looked down upon.
Macrinus had several issues that he needed to deal with at the time of his accession, which had been left behind by his predecessor. As Caracalla had a tendency towards military belligerence, rather than diplomacy, this left several conflicts for Macrinus to resolve. Additionally, Caracalla had been a profligate spender of Rome's income. Most of the money was spent on the army; he had greatly increased their pay from 2,000 sesterces to 3,000 sesterces per year. The increased expenditures forced Caracalla to strip bare whatever sources of income he had to supply the difference. This shortfall left Rome in a dire fiscal situation that Macrinus needed to address.
Macrinus was at first occupied by the threat of the Parthians, with whom Rome had been at war since the reign of Caracalla. Macrinus settled a peace deal with the Parthians, after fighting an indecisive battle at Nisibis in 217. In return for peace, Macrinus was forced to pay a large indemnity to the Parthian ruler Artabanus V. Rome was at the time also under threat from Dacia and Armenia, so any deal with Parthia would likely have been beneficial to Rome. Next, Macrinus turned his attention to Armenia. In 216, Caracalla had imprisoned Khosrov I of Armenia and his family after Khosrov had agreed to meet with Caracalla at a conference to discuss some issue between himself and his sons. Caracalla instead installed a new Roman governor to rule over Armenia. These actions angered the Armenian people and they soon rebelled against Rome. Macrinus settled a peace treaty with them by returning the crown and loot to Khosrov's son and successor Tiridates II and releasing his mother from prison, and by restoring Armenia to its status as a client kingdom of Rome. Macrinus made peace with the Dacians by releasing hostages, though this was likely not handled by himself but by Marcius Agrippa. In matters of foreign policy, Macrinus showed a tendency towards settling disputes through diplomacy and a reluctance to engage in military conflict, though this may have been due more to the lack of resources and manpower than to his own personal preference.
Macrinus began to overturn Caracalla's fiscal policies and moved closer towards those that had been set forth by Septimius Severus. One such policy change involved the pay of Roman legionaries. The soldiers that were already enlisted during Caracalla's reign enjoyed exorbitant payments which were impossible for Macrinus to reduce without risking a potential rebellion. Instead, Macrinus allowed the enlisted soldiers to retain their higher payments, but he reduced the pay of new recruits to the level which had been set by Severus. Macrinus revalued the Roman currency, increasing the silver purity and weight of the denarius from 50.78 percent and 1.66 grams at the end of Caracalla's reign to 57.85 percent and 1.82 grams from Fall 217 to the end of his reign, so that it mirrored Severus' fiscal policy for the period 197–209 A.D. Macrinus' goal with these policies might have been to return Rome to the relative economic stability that had been enjoyed under Severus' reign, though it came with a cost. The fiscal changes that Macrinus enacted might have been tenable had it not been for the military. By this time, the strength of the military was too great and by enacting his reforms he angered the veteran soldiers, who viewed his actions in reducing the pay of new recruits as a foreshadowing of eventual reductions in their own privileges and pay. This significantly reduced Macrinus' popularity with the legions that had declared him emperor.
Caracalla's mother Julia Domna was initially left in peace when Macrinus became emperor. This changed when Macrinus discovered that she was conspiring against him and had her placed under house arrest in Antioch. By this time Julia Domna was suffering from an advanced stage of breast cancer and soon died in Antioch, possibly by starving herself. Afterwards, Macrinus sent Domna's sister Julia Maesa and her children back to Emesa in Syria, from where Maesa set in motion her plans to have Macrinus overthrown. Macrinus remained in Antioch instead of going to Rome upon being declared emperor, a step which furthered his unpopularity in Rome and contributed to his eventual downfall.
Julia Maesa had retired to her home town of Emesa with an immense fortune, which she had accrued over the course of twenty years. She took her children, Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea, and grandchildren, including Elagabalus, with her to Emesa. Elagabalus, aged 14, was the chief priest of the Phoenician sun-deity Elagabalus (or El-Gabal) in Emesa. Soldiers from Legio III "Gallica" (Gallic Third Legion), that had been stationed at the nearby camp of Raphanea, often visited Emesa and went to see Elagabalus perform his priestly rituals and duties while there. Julia Maesa took advantage of this, to suggest to the soldiers that Elagabalus was indeed the illegitimate son of Caracalla. On May 16, Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor by the Legio III "Gallica" at its camp at Raphanea. Upon Elagabalus' revolt, Macrinus travelled to Apamea and conferred the title of Augustus onto his son, Diadumenianus, and made him co-emperor.
Macrinus realised that his life was in danger but struggled to decide upon a course of action and remained at Antioch. He sent a force of cavalry commanded by Ulpinus Julianus to regain control of the rebels, but they failed and Ulpinus died in the attempt. This failure further strengthened Elagabalus' army. Soon after, a force under Elagabalus' tutor Gannys marched on Antioch and engaged Macrinus' army on 8 June 218 near the village of Immae, located approximately 24 miles from Antioch. At some point during the ensuing Battle of Antioch, Macrinus deserted the field and returned to Antioch. Macrinus was then forced to flee from Antioch as fighting erupted in the city as well. Elagabalus himself subsequently entered Antioch as the new ruler of the Roman Empire. Macrinus fled for Rome; he traveled as far as Chalcedon before being recognized and captured. His son and co-emperor Diadumenianus, sent to the care of Artabanus V of Parthia, was himself captured in transit at Zeugma and killed in June of 218. Diadumenianus' reign lasted a total of 14 months, and he was about 10 years old when he died. Macrinus, upon learning of his son's death, tried to escape captivity, but he injured himself in the unsuccessful attempt and was afterward executed in Cappadocia; his head was sent to Elagabalus. Much like Macrinus, Diadumenianus' head was also cut off and sent to Elagabalus as a trophy.
Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus were declared "hostes", enemies of the state, by the Senate immediately after news had arrived of their deaths and as part of an official declaration of support for the usurper Elagabalus, who was recognized in the Senate as the new Emperor. The declaration of "hostes" led to two actions being taken against the images of the former Emperors. First, their portraits were destroyed and their names were stricken from inscriptions and papyri. The second action, taken by the Roman soldiers who had rebelled against Macrinus in favour of Elagabalus, was to destroy all of the works and possessions of Macrinus. The "damnatio memoriae" against Macrinus is among the earliest of such sanctions enacted by the Senate. Many of the marble busts of Macrinus that exist were defaced and mutilated as a response to the "damnatio memoriae" and many of the coins depicting Macrinus and Diadumenianus were also destroyed. These actions against Macrinus are evidence of his unpopularity in Rome. | en.wikipedia.org | Macrinus | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20633 |
20634 | Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( ; in Latin as "Minotaurus" ) is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "part man and part bull". He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.
The word Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek , a compound of the name (Minos) and the noun "bull", translated as "(the) Bull of Minos". In Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion, a name shared with Minos' foster-father. In Etruscan, the Minotaur had the name "Θevrumineś".
"Minotaur" was originally a proper noun in reference to this mythical figure. The use of "minotaur" as a common noun to refer to members of a generic "species" of bull-headed creatures developed much later, in 20th-century fantasy genre fiction.
English pronunciation of the word "Minotaur" is varied. The following can be found in dictionaries: , , .
After ascending the throne of the island of Crete, Minos competed with his brothers as ruler. Minos prayed to the sea god Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull as a sign of the god's favour. Minos was to sacrifice the bull to honor Poseidon, but owing to the bull's beauty he decided instead to keep him. Minos believed that the god would accept a substitute sacrifice. To punish Minos, Poseidon made Minos' wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull. Pasiphaë had the craftsman Daedalus fashion a hollow wooden cow, which she climbed into in order to mate with the bull. The monstrous Minotaur was the result.
Pasiphaë nursed the Minotaur but he grew in size and became ferocious. As the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, the Minotaur had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured humans for sustenance. Minos, following advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos' palace in Knossos.
The Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. According to Sophocles' "Trachiniai", when the river spirit Achelous seduced Deianira, one of the guises he assumed was a man with the head of a bull.
From Classical times through the Renaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth. Ovid's Latin account of the Minotaur, which did not describe which half was bull and which half man, was the most widely available during the Middle Ages, and several later versions show a man's head and torso on a bull's body – the reverse of the Classical configuration, reminiscent of a centaur. This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and still figures in some modern depictions, such as Steele Savage's illustrations for Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" (1942). Modern interpretations consistently portray the Minotaur with the head of a bull, the cloven hooves of a bull and the torso of a man, but differ in the extent to which the legs resemble those of a bull.
Androgeus, son of Minos, had been killed by the Athenians, who were jealous of the victories he had won at the Panathenaic festival. Others say he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan Bull, his mother's former taurine lover, who Aegeus, king of Athens, had commanded him to slay. The common tradition holds that Minos waged and won a war to avenge the death of his son. Catullus, in his account of the Minotaur's birth, refers to another version in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeos." Aegeus had to avert the plague caused by his crime by sending "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" to the Minotaur. Minos required that seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, drawn by lots, be sent every seventh or ninth year (some accounts say every year) to be devoured by the Minotaur.
When the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster. He promised his father, Aegeus, that he would put up a white sail on his journey back home if he was successful, but would have the crew put up black sails if he was killed. In Crete, Minos' daughter Ariadne fell madly in love with Theseus and helped him navigate the labyrinth. In most accounts she gave him a ball of thread, allowing him to retrace his path. Theseus killed the Minotaur with the sword of Aegeus and led the other Athenians back out of the labyrinth. On the way home, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos and continued. He neglected, however, to put up the white sail. King Aegeus, from his lookout on Cape Sounion, saw the black-sailed ship approach and, presuming his son dead, committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea that is since named after him. This act secured the throne for Theseus.
The view of the Minotaur as the antagonist of Theseus reflects the literary sources, which are biased in favour of the Athenian perspectives. The Etruscans, who paired Ariadne with Dionysus, never with Theseus, offered an alternative view, never seen in Greek arts: on an Etruscan red-figure wine-cup of the early-to-mid fourth century Pasiphaë tenderly cradles an infant Minotaur on her knee.
The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented in Greek art. A Knossian didrachm exhibits on one side the labyrinth, on the other the Minotaur surrounded by a semicircle of small balls, probably intended for stars; one of the monster's names was Asterion ("star").
While the ruins of Minos' palace at Knossos were discovered, the labyrinth never was. The multiplicity of rooms, staircases and corridors in the palace has led some archaeologists to suggest that the palace itself was the source of the labyrinth myth, an idea that is now generally discredited. Homer, describing the shield of Achilles, remarked that Daedalus had constructed a ceremonial dancing ground for Ariadne, but does not associate this with the term "labyrinth".
Some modern mythologists regard the Minotaur as a solar personification and a Minoan adaptation of the Baal-Moloch of the Phoenicians. The slaying of the Minotaur by Theseus in that case indicates the breaking of Athenian tributary relations with Minoan Crete.
According to A. B. Cook, "Minos" and "Minotaur" were different forms of the same personage, representing the sun-god of the Cretans, who depicted the sun as a bull. He and J. G. Frazer both explain Pasiphaë's union with the bull as a sacred ceremony, at which the queen of Knossos was wedded to a bull-formed god, just as the wife of the Tyrant in Athens was wedded to Dionysus. E. Pottier, who does not dispute the historical personality of Minos, in view of the story of Phalaris, considers it probable that in Crete (where a bull cult may have existed by the side of that of the labrys) victims were tortured by being shut up in the belly of a red-hot brazen bull. The story of Talos, the Cretan man of brass, who heated himself red-hot and clasped strangers in his embrace as soon as they landed on the island, is probably of similar origin.
A historical explanation of the myth refers to the time when Crete was the main political and cultural potency in the Aegean Sea. As the fledgling Athens (and probably other continental Greek cities) was under tribute to Crete, it can be assumed that such tribute included young men and women for sacrifice. This ceremony was performed by a priest disguised with a bull head or mask, thus explaining the imagery of the Minotaur.
Once continental Greece was free from Crete's dominance, the myth of the Minotaur worked to distance the forming religious consciousness of the Hellene "poleis" from Minoan beliefs.
A scientific interpretation also exists. Citing early descriptions of the minotaur by Callimachus as being entirely focused on the "cruel bellowing" it made from its underground labyrinth and the extensive tectonic activity in the region, science journalist Matt Kaplan has theorised that the myth may well stem from geology. He points out that carbon dating of marine fossils attached to boulders that were ejected from the ocean by ancient tsunamis indicates the region was tectonically very active during the years when the minotaur myth first appeared. Given this, he argues that the Minoans used the monster to help explain the terrifying earthquakes that were "bellowing" beneath their feet.
The Minotaur ("infamia di Creti", Italian for "infamy of Crete"), appears briefly in Dante's "Inferno", in Canto 12 (l. 12–13, 16–21), where Dante and his guide Virgil find themselves picking their way among boulders dislodged on the slope and preparing to enter into the seventh circle of hell.
Dante and Virgil encounter the beast first among the "men of blood": those damned for their violent natures. Some commentators believe that Dante, in a reversal of classical tradition, bestowed the beast with a man's head upon a bull's body, though this representation had already appeared in the Middle Ages.
In these lines, Virgil taunts the Minotaur in order to distract him, and reminds the Minotaur that he was killed by Theseus the Duke of Athens with the help of the monster's half-sister Ariadne. The Minotaur is the first infernal guardian whom Virgil and Dante encounter within the walls of Dis. The Minotaur seems to represent the entire zone of Violence, much as Geryon represents Fraud in Canto XVI, and serves a similar role as gatekeeper for the entire seventh Circle.
Giovanni Boccaccio writes of the Minotaur in his literary commentary of the Commedia: "When he had grown up and become a most ferocious animal, and of incredible strength, they tell that Minos had him shut up in a prison called the labyrinth, and that he had sent to him there all those whom he wanted to die a cruel death". Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in his own commentary, compares the Minotaur with all three sins of violence within the seventh circle: "The Minotaur, who is situated at the rim of the tripartite circle, fed, according to the poem was biting himself (violence against oneself) and was conceived in the 'false cow' (violence against nature, daughter of God)."
Virgil and Dante then pass quickly by to the centaurs (Nessus, Chiron, Pholus, and Nessus) who guard the Flegetonte ("river of blood"), to continue through the seventh Circle. | en.wikipedia.org | Minotaur | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20634 |
20636 | Memex
The memex (originally coined "at random", though sometimes said to be a portmanteau of "memory" and "index") is the name of the hypothetical proto-hypertext system that Vannevar Bush described in his 1945 "The Atlantic Monthly" article "As We May Think". Bush envisioned the memex as a device in which individuals would compress and store all of their books, records, and communications, "mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility". The memex would provide an "enlarged intimate supplement to one's memory". The concept of the memex influenced the development of early hypertext systems (eventually leading to the creation of the World Wide Web) and personal knowledge base software. The hypothetical implementation depicted by Bush for the purpose of concrete illustration was based upon a document bookmark list of static microfilm pages and lacked a true hypertext system, where parts of pages would have internal structure beyond the common textual format. Early electronic hypertext systems were thus inspired by memex rather than modeled directly upon it.
In "As We May Think", Bush describes a memex as an electromechanical device enabling individuals to develop and read a large self-contained research library, create and follow associative trails of links and personal annotations, and recall these trails at any time to share them with other researchers. This device would closely mimic the associative processes of the human mind, but it would be gifted with permanent recollection. As Bush writes, "Thus science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race".
The technology used would have been a combination of electromechanical controls, microfilm cameras and readers, all integrated into a large desk. Most of the microfilm library would have been contained within the desk, but the user could add or remove microfilm reels at will. A memex would hypothetically read and write content on these microfilm reels, using electric photocells to read coded symbols recorded next to individual microfilm frames while the reels spun at high speed, stopping on command. The coded symbols would enable the memex to index, search, and link content to create and follow associative trails.
The top of the desk would have slanting translucent screens on which material could be projected for convenient reading. The top of the memex would have a transparent platen. When a longhand note, photograph, memoranda, or other things were placed on the platen, the depression of a lever would cause the item to be photographed onto the next blank space in a section of the memex film.
The memex would become "'a sort of mechanized private file and library'. It would use microfilm storage, dry photography, and analog computing to give postwar scholars access to a huge, indexed repository of knowledge any section of which could be called up with a few keystrokes."
The vision of the memex predates, and is credited as the inspiration for, the first practical hypertext systems of the 1960s. Bush describes the memex and other visions of As We May Think as projections of technology known in the 1930s and 1940s in the spirit of Jules Verne's adventures, or Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 proposal to orbit geosynchronous satellites for global telecommunication. The memex proposed by Bush would create "trails" of links connecting sequences of microfilm frames, rather than links in the modern sense where a hyperlink connects a single word, phrase or picture within a document and a local or remote destination.
An associative trail as conceived by Bush would be a way to create a new "linear" sequence of microfilm frames across any arbitrary sequence of microfilm frames by creating a chained sequence of links in the way just described, along with personal comments and "side trails". At the time Bush saw the current ways of indexing information as limiting and instead proposed a way to store information that was analogous to the mental association of the human brain: storing information with the capability of easy access at a later time using certain cues (in this case, a series of numbers as a code to retrieve data). The closest analogy with the modern Web browser would be to create a list of bookmarks to articles relevant to a topic, and then to have some mechanism for automatically scrolling through the articles (for example, use Google to search for a keyword, obtain a list of matches, repeatedly use the "open in new tab" feature of the Web browser, and then visit each tab sequentially). Modern hypertext systems with word and phrase-level linking offer more sophistication in connecting relevant information, but until the rise of wiki and other social software models, modern hypertext systems have rarely imitated Bush in providing individuals with the ability to create personal trails and share them with colleagues – or publish them widely.
The memex would have features other than linking. The user could record new information on microfilm, by taking photos from paper or from a touch-sensitive translucent screen. A user could "...insert a comment of his own, either linking it into the main trail or joining it by a side trail to a particular item. ...Thus he builds a trail of his interest through the maze of materials available to him." A user could also create a copy of an interesting trail (containing references and personal annotations) and "...pass it to his friend for insertion in his own memex, there to be linked into the more general trail." As observers like Tim Oren have pointed out, the memex could be considered to be a microfilm-based precursor to the personal computer. The September 10, 1945, Life magazine article showed the first illustrations of what the memex desk could look like, as well as illustrations of a head-mounted camera, which a scientist could wear while doing experiments, and a typewriter capable of voice recognition and of reading text by speech synthesis. Considered together, these memex machines were probably the earliest practical description of what we would call today an office of the future.
"Given a memex, a scholar could create her own knowledge tools as connections within reams of information, share these tools, and use complexes of tools to create yet more sophisticated knowledge that could in turn be deployed toward this work. The memex has been envisioned as a means of turning an information explosion into a knowledge explosion. This remains one of the defining dreams of new media."
Bush's idea for the memex extended far beyond a mechanism which might augment the research of one individual working in isolation. In Bush's idea, the ability to connect, annotate, and share both published works and personal trails would profoundly change the process by which the "world's record" is created and used:
Bush states that "technical difficulties of all sorts have been ignored," but that, "also ignored are means as yet unknown which may come any day to accelerate technical progress as violently as did the advent of the thermionic tube." Indeed, anyone who stops to consider the performance consequences of trail following – let alone link-directed pointer chasing – over a microfilm library of near universal scope should quickly come to the conclusion that microfilm is no more appropriate a technology for implementing AWMT's vision than Jules Verne's cannon is an appropriate technology for sending astronauts to the Moon. In both cases the vision may be more significant than the specific technology used to describe it. See Michael Buckland's conclusion: "Bush's contributions in this area were twofold: (i) A significant engineering achievement by the team under his leadership in building a truly rapid prototype microfilm selector, and (ii) a speculative article, 'As We May Think,' which, through its skillful writing and the social prestige of its author, has had an immediate and lasting effect in stimulating others."
In "Memex: Getting Back on the Trail", Tim Oren argues that Bush's original vision expressed in AWMT describes a "...private device into which public encyclopedias and colleague's trails might be inserted to be joined with the owner's own work."
However, in Bush's manuscript draft of "Memex II" of 1959, Bush says, "Professional societies will no longer print papers..." and states that individuals will either order sets of papers to come on tape – complete with photographs and diagrams – or download 'facsimiles' by telephone. Each society would maintain a 'master memex' containing all papers, references, tables "intimately interconnected by trails, so that one may follow a detailed matter from paper to paper, going back through the classics, recording criticism in the margins."
The AWMT paper did not describe any automatic search, nor any universal metadata scheme such as a standard library classification or a hypertext element set like the Dublin Core. Instead, when the user made an entry, such as a new or annotated manuscript, typescript or image, he was expected to index and describe it in his personal code book. By consulting his code book, the user could retrace annotated and generated entries.
Between 1990 and 1994, Paul Flaherty, a Stanford student who was looking for a project, was introduced by his wife to her supervisor. The supervisor had just seen a demonstration of the World Wide Web and suggested it could be improved and better conformed to the memex described by Vannevar Bush if links did not have to be manually inserted and instead one could follow a link simply by using the words themselves. Flaherty went on to create AltaVista, the first searchable, full-text database of a large part of the Web.
By 1999, many companies had created web annotation systems, where web site publishers or users could annotate web pages. Sentius Corporation, for one, developed technology that would automatically insert hyperlinks into web or text documents, from a dictionary of terms. This was used in particular to display Japanese translations of English medical terms when the mouse hovered over a term, while maintaining the look of a standard text document normally, and then extended for other purposes.
This idea directly influenced computer pioneers J.C.R. Licklider (see his 1960 paper "Man-Computer Symbiosis"), Douglas Engelbart (see his 1962 report "Augmenting Human Intellect"), and also led to Ted Nelson's groundbreaking work in concepts of hypermedia and hypertext.
"As We May Think" also predicted many kinds of technology invented after its publication in addition to hypertext such as personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, speech recognition, and CD-ROM encyclopedias such as Encarta and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia: "Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified."
Bush's influence is still evident in research laboratories of today in Gordon Bell's MyLifeBits (from Microsoft Research), which implements path-based systems reminiscent of the Memex, is especially impactful in the areas of information retrieval and information science.
A fictional implementation of the memex appears in The Laundry Files series by Charles Stross.
A high-performance computing cluster (HPC) at the Carnegie Institution for Science is named "Memex".
In early 2014, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released a statement on their website outlining the preliminary details of the "Memex program", which aims at developing new search technologies overcoming some limitations of text-based search. DARPA wants the Memex technology developed in this research to be usable for search engines that can search for information on the Deep Web – the part of the Internet that is largely unreachable by commercial search engines like Google or Yahoo. DARPA's website describes that "The goal is to invent better methods for interacting with and sharing information, so users can quickly and thoroughly organize and search subsets of information relevant to their individual interests". As reported in a 2015 "Wired" article, the search technology being developed in the Memex program "aims to shine a light on the dark web and uncover patterns and relationships in online data to help law enforcement and others track illegal activity". DARPA intends for the program to replace the centralized procedures used by commercial search engines, stating that the "creation of a new domain-specific indexing and search paradigm will provide mechanisms for improved content discovery, information extraction, information retrieval, user collaboration, and extension of current search capabilities to the deep web, the dark web, and nontraditional (e.g. multimedia) content". In their description of the program, DARPA explains the program's name as a tribute to Bush's original Memex invention, which served as an inspiration.
In April 2015, it was announced parts of Memex would be open sourced. Modules were available for download.
In 1967, Vannevar Bush published a retrospective article entitled "Memex Revisited" in his book "Science Is Not Enough". Published 22 years after his initial conception of the Memex, Bush details the various technological advancements that have made his vision a possibility. Specifically, Bush cites photocells, transistors, cathode ray tubes, magnetic and video tape, "high-speed electric circuits", and "miniaturization of solid-state devices" such as the TV and radio. The article claims that magnetic tape would be central to the creation of a modern Memex device. The erasable quality of the tape is of special significance, as this would allow for modification of information stored in the proposed Memex.
In the article, Bush stresses the continued importance of supplementing "how creative men think" and relates that the systems for indexing data are still insufficient and rely too much on linear pathways rather than the association-based system of the human brain. Bush writes that a machine with the "speed and flexibility" of the brain is not attainable, but improvements could be made in regard to the capacity to obtain informational "permanence and clarity".
Bush also relates that, unlike digital technology, Memex would be of no significant aid to business or profitable ventures, and as a consequence its development would occur only long after the mechanization of libraries and the introduction of what he describes as the specialized "group machine", which would be useful for the sharing of ideas in fields such as medicine. Furthermore, although Bush discusses the compressional ability and rapidity so key to modern machines, he relates that speed will not be an integral part of Memex, stating that a tenth of a second would be an acceptable interval for its data retrieval, rather than the billionths of a second that modern computers are capable of. "For Memex," he writes, "the problem is not swift access, but selective access". Bush states that although the code-reading and potential linking capabilities of the rapid selector would be key to the creation of Memex, there is still an issue of enabling "moderately rapid access to really large memory storage". There is an issue concerning selection, Bush conveys, and despite the fact that improvements have been made in the speed of digital selection, according to Bush, "selection, in the broad sense, is still a stone adze in the hands of the cabinetmaker". Bush goes on to discuss the record-making process and how Memex could incorporate systems of voice-control and user-propagated learning. He proposes a machine that could respond to "simple remarks" as well as build trails based on its user's "habits of association," as Belinda Barnet described them in "The Technical Evolution of Vannevar Bush's Memex." Barnet also makes the distinction between the idea of a constructive Memex and the "permanent trails" described in "As We May Think," and attributes Bush's machine learning concepts to Claude Shannon's mechanical mouse and work with "feedback and machine learning". | en.wikipedia.org | Memex | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20636 |
20637 | Modulation
In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the "carrier signal", with a modulating signal that typically contains information to be transmitted. Most radio systems in the 20th century used frequency modulation (FM) or amplitude modulation (AM) for radio broadcast.
A modulator is a device that performs modulation. A demodulator (sometimes "detector" or "demod") is a device that performs demodulation, the inverse of modulation. A modem (from modulator–demodulator) can perform both operations.
The aim of analog modulation is to transfer an analog baseband (or lowpass) signal, for example an audio signal or TV signal, over an analog bandpass channel at a different frequency, for example over a limited radio frequency band or a cable TV network channel. The aim of digital modulation is to transfer a digital bit stream over an analog communication channel, for example over the public switched telephone network (where a bandpass filter limits the frequency range to 300–3400 Hz) or over a limited radio frequency band. Analog and digital modulation facilitate frequency division multiplexing (FDM), where several low pass information signals are transferred simultaneously over the same shared physical medium, using separate passband channels (several different carrier frequencies).
The aim of digital baseband modulation methods, also known as line coding, is to transfer a digital bit stream over a baseband channel, typically a non-filtered copper wire such as a serial bus or a wired local area network.
The aim of pulse modulation methods is to transfer a narrowband analog signal, for example, a phone call over a wideband baseband channel or, in some of the schemes, as a bit stream over another digital transmission system.
In music synthesizers, modulation may be used to synthesize waveforms with an extensive overtone spectrum using a small number of oscillators. In this case, the carrier frequency is typically in the same order or much lower than the modulating waveform (see frequency modulation synthesis or ring modulation synthesis).
In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal. Common analog modulation techniques include:
In digital modulation, an analog carrier signal is modulated by a discrete signal. Digital modulation methods can be considered as digital-to-analog conversion and the corresponding demodulation or detection as analog-to-digital conversion. The changes in the carrier signal are chosen from a finite number of M alternative symbols (the "modulation alphabet").
A simple example: A telephone line is designed for transferring audible sounds, for example, tones, and not digital bits (zeros and ones). Computers may, however, communicate over a telephone line by means of modems, which are representing the digital bits by tones, called symbols. If there are four alternative symbols (corresponding to a musical instrument that can generate four different tones, one at a time), the first symbol may represent the bit sequence 00, the second 01, the third 10 and the fourth 11. If the modem plays a melody consisting of 1000 tones per second, the symbol rate is 1000 symbols/second, or 1000 baud. Since each tone (i.e., symbol) represents a message consisting of two digital bits in this example, the bit rate is twice the symbol rate, i.e. 2000 bits per second.
According to one definition of digital signal, the modulated signal is a digital signal. According to another definition, the modulation is a form of digital-to-analog conversion. Most textbooks would consider digital modulation schemes as a form of digital transmission, synonymous to data transmission; very few would consider it as analog transmission.
The most fundamental digital modulation techniques are based on keying:
In QAM, an in-phase signal (or I, with one example being a cosine waveform) and a quadrature phase signal (or Q, with an example being a sine wave) are amplitude modulated with a finite number of amplitudes and then summed. It can be seen as a two-channel system, each channel using ASK. The resulting signal is equivalent to a combination of PSK and ASK.
In all of the above methods, each of these phases, frequencies or amplitudes are assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase, frequency or amplitude encodes an equal number of bits. This number of bits comprises the "symbol" that is represented by the particular phase, frequency or amplitude.
If the alphabet consists of formula_1 alternative symbols, each symbol represents a message consisting of "N" bits. If the symbol rate (also known as the baud rate) is formula_2 symbols/second (or baud), the data rate is formula_3 bit/second.
For example, with an alphabet consisting of 16 alternative symbols, each symbol represents 4 bits. Thus, the data rate is four times the baud rate.
In the case of PSK, ASK or QAM, where the carrier frequency of the modulated signal is constant, the modulation alphabet is often conveniently represented on a constellation diagram, showing the amplitude of the I signal at the x-axis, and the amplitude of the Q signal at the y-axis, for each symbol.
PSK and ASK, and sometimes also FSK, are often generated and detected using the principle of QAM. The I and Q signals can be combined into a complex-valued signal "I"+"jQ" (where "j" is the imaginary unit). The resulting so called equivalent lowpass signal or equivalent baseband signal is a complex-valued representation of the real-valued modulated physical signal (the so-called passband signal or RF signal).
These are the general steps used by the modulator to transmit data:
At the receiver side, the demodulator typically performs:
As is common to all digital communication systems, the design of both the modulator and demodulator must be done simultaneously. Digital modulation schemes are possible because the transmitter-receiver pair has prior knowledge of how data is encoded and represented in the communications system. In all digital communication systems, both the modulator at the transmitter and the demodulator at the receiver are structured so that they perform inverse operations.
Asynchronous methods do not require a receiver reference clock signal that is phase synchronized with the sender carrier signal. In this case, modulation symbols (rather than bits, characters, or data packets) are asynchronously transferred. The opposite is synchronous modulation.
The most common digital modulation techniques are:
MSK and GMSK are particular cases of continuous phase modulation. Indeed, MSK is a particular case of the sub-family of CPM known as continuous-phase frequency shift keying (CPFSK) which is defined by a rectangular frequency pulse (i.e. a linearly increasing phase pulse) of one-symbol-time duration (total response signaling).
OFDM is based on the idea of frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), but the multiplexed streams are all parts of a single original stream. The bit stream is split into several parallel data streams, each transferred over its own sub-carrier using some conventional digital modulation scheme. The modulated sub-carriers are summed to form an OFDM signal. This dividing and recombining help with handling channel impairments. OFDM is considered as a modulation technique rather than a multiplex technique since it transfers one bit stream over one communication channel using one sequence of so-called OFDM symbols. OFDM can be extended to multi-user channel access method in the orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) and multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) schemes, allowing several users to share the same physical medium by giving different sub-carriers or spreading codes to different users.
Of the two kinds of RF power amplifier, switching amplifiers (Class D amplifiers) cost less and use less battery power than linear amplifiers of the same output power. However, they only work with relatively constant-amplitude-modulation signals such as angle modulation (FSK or PSK) and CDMA, but not with QAM and OFDM. Nevertheless, even though switching amplifiers are completely unsuitable for normal QAM constellations, often the QAM modulation principle are used to drive switching amplifiers with these FM and other waveforms, and sometimes QAM demodulators are used to receive the signals put out by these switching amplifiers.
Automatic digital modulation recognition in intelligent communication systems is one of the most important issues in software defined radio and cognitive radio. According to incremental expanse of intelligent receivers, automatic modulation recognition becomes a challenging topic in telecommunication systems and computer engineering. Such systems have many civil and military applications. Moreover, blind recognition of modulation type is an important problem in commercial systems, especially in software defined radio. Usually in such systems, there are some extra information for system configuration, but considering blind approaches in intelligent receivers, we can reduce information overload and increase transmission performance. Obviously, with no knowledge of the transmitted data and many unknown parameters at the receiver, such as the signal power, carrier frequency and phase offsets, timing information, etc., blind identification of the modulation is made fairly difficult. This becomes even more challenging in real-world scenarios with multipath fading, frequency-selective and time-varying channels.
There are two main approaches to automatic modulation recognition. The first approach uses likelihood-based methods to assign an input signal to a proper class. Another recent approach is based on feature extraction.
The term digital baseband modulation (or digital baseband transmission) is synonymous to line codes. These are methods to transfer a digital bit stream over an analog baseband channel (a.k.a. lowpass channel) using a pulse train, i.e. a discrete number of signal levels, by directly modulating the voltage or current on a cable or serial bus. Common examples are unipolar, non-return-to-zero (NRZ), Manchester and alternate mark inversion (AMI) codings.
Pulse modulation schemes aim at transferring a narrowband analog signal over an analog baseband channel as a two-level signal by modulating a pulse wave. Some pulse modulation schemes also allow the narrowband analog signal to be transferred as a digital signal (i.e., as a quantized discrete-time signal) with a fixed bit rate, which can be transferred over an underlying digital transmission system, for example, some line code. These are not modulation schemes in the conventional sense since they are not channel coding schemes, but should be considered as source coding schemes, and in some cases analog-to-digital conversion techniques.
Analog-over-analog methods
Analog-over-digital methods | en.wikipedia.org | Modulation | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20637 |
20640 | MacOS
macOS (; previously Mac OS X and later OS X) is a series of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows.
macOS is the second major series of Macintosh operating systems. The first is colloquially called the classic Mac OS, introduced in 1984, the final release of which was Mac OS 9 in 1999. The first desktop version, Mac OS X 10.0, was released in March 2001, with its first update, 10.1, arriving later that year. After this, Apple began naming its releases after big cats, which lasted until OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Since OS X 10.9 Mavericks, releases have been named after locations in California. Apple shortened the name to "OS X" in 2012 and then changed it to "macOS" in 2016, adopting the nomenclature that they were using for their other operating systems, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The latest version is macOS Catalina, which was publicly released in October 2019.
Between 1999 and 2009, Apple sold a separate series of operating systems called Mac OS X Server. The initial version, Mac OS X Server 1.0, was released in 1999 with a user interface similar to Mac OS 8.5. After this, new versions were introduced concurrently with the desktop version of . Beginning with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, the server functions were made available as a separate package on the Mac App Store.
macOS is based on the Unix operating system and on technologies developed between 1985 and 1997 at NeXT, a company that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs created after leaving Apple in 1985. The "X" in Mac OS X and OS X is the Roman numeral for the number 10 and is pronounced as such. The X was a prominent part of the operating system's brand identity and marketing in its early years, but gradually receded in prominence since the release of Snow Leopard in 2009. In 2020, Apple incremented the major version number to 11 in macOS Big Sur, although it retains the same base as the previous versions of macOS. UNIX 03 certification was achieved for the Intel version of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and all releases from Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard up to the current version also have UNIX 03 certification. | en.wikipedia.org | MacOS | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20640 |
20642 | Mattel
Mattel, Inc. () is an American multinational toy manufacturing company founded in 1945 with headquarters in El Segundo, California. The products and brands it produces include Fisher-Price, Barbie, Monster High, Ever After High, Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Masters of the Universe, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, and WWE. In the early 1980s, Mattel produced video game systems, under its own brands and under license from Nintendo. The company has presence in 40 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 countries. The company operates through three business segments: North America, international, and American Girl. It is the world's second largest toy maker in terms of revenue, after The Lego Group. In 2019, it ranked #575 on the Fortune 500 list. On January 17, 2017, Mattel named former Google executive Margo Georgiadis as CEO. Georgiadis stepped down as CEO of Mattel on April 19, 2018. Her last day was on April 26, 2018. Ynon Kreiz is now the new CEO of Mattel.
The name Mattel is a portmanteau of Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler, two of the company's founders.
Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler founded Mattel in 1945. The company sold picture frames, and later dollhouse furniture. Matson sold his share to Handler due to poor health, and Handler's wife Ruth took Matson's role. In 1947, the company had its first hit toy, a ukulele called "Uke-A-Doodle".
The company incorporated the next year in California. Mattel became the first year-round sponsor of the "Mickey Mouse Club" TV series in 1955. The Barbie doll debuted in 1959, becoming the company's best-selling toy in history. In 1960, Mattel introduced Chatty Cathy, a talking doll revolutionizing the toy industry, which led to pull-string talking dolls and toys flooding the market throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
The company went public in 1960, and the New York Stock Exchange listed them in 1963. Mattel also acquired a number of companies during the 1960s (see table). In 1965, the company built on its success with the Chatty Cathy doll to introduce the See 'n Say talking toy, spawning a line of products. They released Hot Wheels to the market on May 18, 1968. In May 1970, Mattel formed a joint venture film production company Radnitz/Mattel Productions with producer Robert B. Radnitz, and later entered a multimillion-dollar partnership with Mehra Entertainment, whose CEO, Dr. Nishpeksh Padmamohan Mehra, is one of Mattel's Inc.'s main directors for Barbie (film series).
Mattel purchased The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1971 for $40 million from the Feld family, whom Mattel kept as management. Mattel sold the circus corporation by December 1973, despite its profit contributions, as Mattel showed a $29.9 million loss in 1972.
In 1974, an investigation found Mattel guilty of issuing false and misleading financial reports, which lead to the banishing of Elliot and Ruth Handler from their own company.
Arthur S. Spear, a Mattel vice president, took control of the company in 1975, who returned the company to profitability in 1977. Ruth Handler sold her stock in 1980.
The Mattel Electronics line debuted in 1977 with an all-electronic handheld game. The success of the handheld led to the expansion of the line with game console then the line becoming its own corporation in 1982. Mattel Electronics forced Mattel to take a $394 million loss in 1983 and almost filed for bankruptcy.
In 1979, through Feld Productions, Mattel purchased the Holiday on Ice and Ice Follies for $12 million. Also acquired that year was Western Publishing for $120 million in cash and stock. The Felds bought the circus (and related companies) in 1982 for $22.8 million.
New York venture capital firms E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., and Drexel Burnham Lambert invested a couple hundred million in Mattel in 1984 to help the company survive. However, the Master of the Universe action figure line sales dropped, causing a $115 million loss in 1987. Chairman John W. Amerman improved the company's financial performance in 1987 by focusing on core brands. Mattel returned to working with the Disney company in 1988. In 1991, Mattel moved its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to El Segundo, California.
Mattel entered the game business in 1992 with the purchase of International Games, maker of Uno and Skip-Bo. Mattel purchased Fisher-Price, Inc. in 1993, Tyco Toys, Inc. (owners of the Matchbox and Dinky Toys brands) in 1997, and Pleasant Company (maker of the American Girl brand) in 1998. Mattel purchased The Learning Company in 1999 for $3.5 billion, but sold it in 2000 at a loss. The company had a $430.9 million net loss that year.
Mattel earned the first grant for Disney Princess doll licenses in 2000. In December 2000, Mattel sued the band Aqua, saying their song "Barbie Girl" violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "blonde bimbo." The lawsuit was rejected in 2002.
In 2000, Mattel signed a deal with Warner Bros to become the master licensee for Harry Potter-branded toys. In 2002, the companies extended their partnership, with Mattel becoming master licensee for Batman, Superman, Justice League and the Looney Tunes toys for all markets except Asia.
In 2002, Mattel closed its last factory in the United States, originally part of the Fisher-Price division, outsourcing production to China, which began a chain of events that led to a lead contamination scandal. On August 14, 2007, Mattel recalled over 18 million products. "The New York Times" closely covered Mattel's multiple recalls. Many of the products had exceeded the US limits set on surface coatings that contain lead. Surface coatings cannot exceed .06% lead by weight. Additional recalls were because it was possible that some toys could pose a danger to children due to the use of strong magnets that could detach. Mattel re-wrote its policy on magnets, finally issuing a recall in August 2007. The recall included 7.1 million Polly Pocket toys produced before November 2006, 600,000 Barbie and Tanner Playsets, 1 million Doggie Daycare, Shonen Jump's One Piece and thousands of Batman Manga toys due to exposed magnets. In 2009, Mattel would pay a $2.9 million fine to the Consumer Products Safety Commission for marketing, importing, and selling non-compliant toys. Mattel was noted for its crisis response by several publications, including "PRWeek", the "Los Angeles Times", "Fortune" and Business Management.
In early 2010, HIT Entertainment licensed Thomas & Friends to Mattel for toys. Mattel agreed to purchase HiT Entertainment sans share of PBS Kids Sprout from Apax Partners group in October 2011 for $680 million. The sale/merger was completed on February 1, 2012, and HIT Entertainment became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel, managed under its Fisher-Price unit. In October 2013, Mattel launched its new in-house film studio, Playground Productions.
"Fortune" Magazine named Mattel one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013, noting only 1,292 positions were full, out of 164,045 job applications during the previous year, as well as more than 1,000 employees had been with the company longer than 15 years.
On February 28, 2014, Mattel acquired Mega Brands. On April 16, 2015, Mattel announced a partnership with invention platform Quirky to crowd-source a number of products.
Mattel added a princess-themed Barbie line in 2010, and the fair and fantasy store-based Ever After High line in 2013. Barbie sales began plummeting in 2012, thus removing focus from the Disney Princess line. Mattel had only sold Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, and the two Frozen princesses during the last year or so of its license. With these competing lines and an expiration of the brand license at the end of 2015, Disney gave Hasbro a chance to gain the license given their work on Star Wars, which led to a "Descendants" license. Disney Consumer Products also made an attempt to evolve the brand from "damsels" to "heroines." In September 2014, Disney announced Hasbro would be the licensed doll maker for the Disney Princess line starting on January 1, 2016.
In January 2015, board member Christopher Sinclair replaced CEO Bryan Stockton, following with 2/3 of senior executives resigning or receiving lay off. In January 2016, Mattel acquired Fuhu, makers of Nabi tablets and other technology-driven hardware, in a bankruptcy proceeding for a sum worth $21 million. Mattel formed a new division formed over HIT, Playground Productions and the American Girl called Mattel Creations in March 2016. On July 2016, NBCUniversal announced Mattel acquired the license to produce toys based on the "Jurassic Park" franchise after Hasbro's rights expire in 2017.
On November 10, 2017, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that Hasbro, Inc. had made a takeover offer for Mattel, Inc. At the time, Mattel worth was $5 billion, while Hasbro was about $11 billion. On November 15, 2017, Reuters reported that Mattel rejected the offer.
Mattel formed with Chinese internet technology and video game company NetEase in January 2018 a joint venture, Mattel163, a mobile publishing and development studio. The company announced on December 24, 2018 that they lost the DC Comics boy toy license to Spin Master starting in the spring of 2020. With the news, company share reached an 18-year low at $9.25 a share.
Ynon Kreiz was named company Chairman and CEO in April 2018. In June 2018, the company laid off 2,200 partial due to Toys R Us' liquidation. Kreiz started reorganizing which included new board directors added that have entertainment backgrounds and a global franchise management group charged with finding new opportunities in existing markets.
On September 6, 2018, Mattel announced the launch of a film division, Mattel Films, that will make movies based on the company's toy brands. Mattel's prior incarnation of its film division, Playground Productions, was absorbed into Mattel Creations after its Max Steel movie flopped.
On August 31, 2018, Mattel indicated the formation of its global franchise management division head by Janet Hsu as chief franchise management officer. The division's mandate seek out new commercial opportunities plus to bring to together consumer products, content development and distribution, digital gaming, live events and partnerships. Hsu was previously Saban Brands CEO, where Frederic Soulie last worked before being appointed as senior vice president of content distribution and business development in the franchise division in late September 2018. Mattel reorganized Mattel Television in early February 2019.
Arts Music arranged to become the distributor of Mattel's music catalog in May 2020. Art Music planned to make available 100s of ever-before-released songs and new songs for existing properties with first up the digital launch on May 8 of Thomas & Friends’ birthday album.
Mattel Television, is the television production division of Mattel, Inc. The division is head by executive producer Adam Bonnett and consists of HIT Entertainment and the American Girl content creation team in Middleton, Wisconsin. Distribution is to be handled by Mattel franchise management division.
In May 1970, Mattel had teamed up with producer Robert B. Radnitz to form a joint venture film production company, Radnitz/Mattel Productions. Masters of the Universe had a cartoon series back in the 1980s followed by a live action film in 1987.
Mattel agreed to purchase HIT Entertainment sans Sprout from Apax Partners group in October 2011 for $680 million. With Lionsgate, Mattel had Barbie brand launched into a series of successful animated direct-to-video movies, which later moved to Universal. Monster High followed Barbie in 2010. Many “American Girl” films were made.
A few properties, Hot Wheels, Max Steel, Masters of the Universe and Monster High have been set up at the various studios. For example, Hot Wheels was first at Columbia Pictures with McG attached to direct, but ended up moving to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver. As of 2013, the property was licensed out to Legendary Pictures, with Joe Roth attached to produce. In October 2013, Mattel Playground Productions was launched by Mattel as its new in-house film studio to handle multi-media productions for Mattel's brands.
Mattel Creations was formed in March 2016 to bring all three of Mattel's content production units, including the American Girl creative team in Middleton, Wisconsin, under its aegis. Mattel chief content officer Catherine Balsam-Schwaber was named to head the unit. While, Christopher Keenan was moved up out of HiT Entertainment to be Creations' Senior Vice President of content development & production. Two pacts with DHX Media and 9 Story Media Group were placed into Mattel Creations. The DHX partnership with Mattel included HiT properties (Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam) and direct Mattel properties (Little People and Polly Pocket). The partnership included new multi-platform content development and production and distribution of the new and existing content. 9 Story deal was directly with HiT for 2017 revivals of "Barney & Friends" and "Angelina Ballerina", but as no new information on either revival has been provided since the initial announcement, its unknown when or even if they will ever air.
Mattel Creations and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Content Group had agreed to an exclusive worldwide SVOD rights agreement for the Barbie movie library. This deal started in October 2016 for the next seven years and includes the next two releases, and Barbie: Video Game Hero.
With Balsam-Schwaber taking the general manager position at Craftsy, Mattel president and chief operating officer Richard Dickson has taken over responsibility for Mattel Creation and was not planning to fill the chief creative officer post. However, between the failure of the Max Steel movie and the announcement of Mattel Films in September 2018, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.
Mattel hired former Disney Channel Worldwide programming executive Adam Bonnett as executive producer and head of a reorganized Mattel Television in early February 2019. On February 15, 2019, Mattel TV announced a slate of 22 animated and live-action TV programs. This division works with the franchise management division's senior vice president of content distribution and business development Frederic Soulie.
Mattel Films (formerly Mattel Playground Productions (PGP), or commonly Playground Productions) is a division of Mattel. As Playground Productions, it was first part of Mattel Global Brands. It was later transferred to Mattel Creations, itself a division of Mattel, Inc. on September 6, 2018, the division was reformed as Mattel Films.
In October 2013, Mattel Playground Productions was launched by Mattel as its new in-house film studio to handle multi-media production, films, TV shows, web series, live events and games, for Mattel's brands. The intent was to centralize Mattel's disjointed content productions. Its first animated project is “Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome”. Mattel has under development a live-action Hot Wheels movie at Legendary Entertainment and Universal Studios, a Masters of the Universe and a Barbie film at Columbia Pictures, a Monster High feature with Universal and a Max Steel film with Dolphin Entertainment. Playground Productions was planned to set up three-year storytelling plans that incorporate every part of the Mattel company from toy designers to consumer products and marketing. David Voss was appointed as Senior Vice President of Playground Productions.
With WWE in March 2014, Playground launched an online short form series, "WWE Slam City", to go along with the toy line. The series was picked up by Nicktoons’ NickSports programming block starting October 22, 2014.
Voss left the division in January 2016 for subscription service, Loot Crate. In March 2016, PGP was placed within Mattel Creations along with the other two Mattel content production units. After failure of the Max Steel movie in 2016, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.
On September 6, 2018, Mattel announced the launch of a film division, Mattel Films, that will make movies based on the company’s toy brands. Robbie Brenner was appointed to head the division as executive producer and will report directly to the CEO. The revived division's first two projects are expect to be Barbie and Masters of the Universe films. In early January 2019, Mattel closed the deal with Margot Robbie to star in the Barbie film and Warner and Robbie's production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, to co-produce the film. Mattel Films and Sony revive Master of the Universe film development in January 2019 with many of the prior attempt's director and producers while bringing on board different writers, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. | en.wikipedia.org | Mattel | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20642 |
20645 | The Medallions
The Medallions were an American doo-wop vocal group led by Vernon Green (1937–2000).
The group formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1954, after Vernon Green was heard singing on the street by Walter "Dootsie" Williams, the owner of Dootone Records. Green – who walked with a cane as a result of childhood polio – put together a singing group with three friends from Fremont High School, Andrew Blue (tenor), Randolph Bryant (baritone), and Ira Foley (bass), and named them the Medallions because of his own penchant for wearing medallions around his neck. Their first release, "Buick 59", based on Todd Rhodes' double-entendre R&B recording "Rocket 69", was one of the first releases on Dootone in September 1954. It was backed with a ballad called "The Letter", which received extensive airplay in the region. "The Letter" contained the nonsense lyric, "the 'puppetutes' of love", which was later picked up by the Steve Miller Band as "the pompatus of love" and used in their song "The Joker". The song also included the nonsense word "pismotality", invented by Green.
Blue was replaced by Willy Graham, and Donald Woods joined to make the group a quintet. The group became a popular attraction in southern California, appearing on bills with stars such as Fats Domino, Percy Mayfield and T-Bone Walker. The Medallions performed for the eleventh famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on July 24, 1955. Also featured Big Jay McNeely, Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, The Penguins and James Moody and his Orchestra.
They continued to release singles on Dootone into late 1955, including "Edna", a favorite of Frank Zappa when interviewed on the "Pop Chronicles" documentary. They also recorded with singer Johnny Morrisette, as Johnny Twovoice & The Medallions. The original version of the Medallions then broke up.
Green then joined forces with a different group, the Dootones, who were sometimes billed as the "New" Medallions, before forming a new version of the Medallions with his brother Jimmy Green (tenor), Charles Gardner (tenor, formerly of the Dootones), Albert Johnson (tenor), and Otis Scott (bass). Thereafter, there were numerous personnel changes in the group, with Vernon Green the only constant member, and the group became officially known as Vernon Green and the Medallions. Members included Billy Foster – who later, as Etta James' boyfriend at the time, received a co-writing credit for the song "I'd Rather Go Blind" – bass singers Bubba (or Buddha) Carter and Joe Williams. In 1957, the group recorded for Specialty Records as the Phantoms, and Green also recorded with the Cameos. Green then returned to Williams' label, by then renamed Dooto Records, with a new line-up of the Medallions comprising himself, his brother Jimmy, Billy Foster and Joe Williams. The group, with a variety of line-ups, later recorded for the Pan World and Minit labels, continuing to release singles into the early 1960s.
The group ceased to exist after Green was injured in a car accident in the mid-1960s, although he released a single, "Can You Talk", on Dootone as late as 1973. Since the death of Vernon Green in 2000, the group has been occasionally reconstituted by his brother Jimmy Green, Billy Foster, Buddha Carter, and Jerome Evans, who have performed as the New Medallions.
Singles | en.wikipedia.org | The Medallions | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20645 |
20646 | Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology () is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation and stress, and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning. Morphology differs from morphological typology, which is the classification of languages based on their use of words, and lexicology, which is the study of words and how they make up a language's vocabulary.
While words, along with clitics, are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, in most languages, if not all, many words can be related to other words by rules that collectively describe the grammar for that language. For example, English speakers recognize that the words "dog" and "dogs" are closely related, differentiated only by the plurality morpheme "-s", only found bound to noun phrases. Speakers of English, a fusional language, recognize these relations from their innate knowledge of English's rules of word formation. They infer intuitively that "dog" is to "dogs" as "cat" is to "cats"; and, in similar fashion, "dog" is to "dog catcher" as "dish" is to "dishwasher". By contrast, Classical Chinese has very little morphology, using almost exclusively unbound morphemes ("free" morphemes) and depending on word order to convey meaning. (Most words in modern Standard Chinese ["Mandarin"], however, are compounds and most roots are bound.) These are understood as grammars that represent the morphology of the language. The rules understood by a speaker reflect specific patterns or regularities in the way words are formed from smaller units in the language they are using, and how those smaller units interact in speech. In this way, morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies patterns of word formation within and across languages and attempts to formulate rules that model the knowledge of the speakers of those languages.
Phonological and orthographic modifications between a base word and its origin may be partial to literacy skills. Studies have indicated that the presence of modification in phonology and orthography makes morphologically complex words harder to understand and that the absence of modification between a base word and its origin makes morphologically complex words easier to understand. Morphologically complex words are easier to comprehend when they include a base word.
Polysynthetic languages, such as Chukchi, have words composed of many morphemes. The Chukchi word "təmeyŋəlevtpəγtərkən", for example, meaning "I have a fierce headache", is composed of eight morphemes "t-ə-meyŋ-ə-levt-pəγt-ə-rkən" that may be glossed. The morphology of such languages allows for each consonant and vowel to be understood as morphemes, while the grammar of the language indicates the usage and understanding of each morpheme.
The discipline that deals specifically with the sound changes occurring within morphemes is morphophonology.
The history of morphological analysis dates back to the ancient Indian linguist Pāṇini, who formulated the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology in the text "Aṣṭādhyāyī" by using a constituency grammar. The Greco-Roman grammatical tradition also engaged in morphological analysis. Studies in Arabic morphology, conducted by Marāḥ al-arwāḥ and Aḥmad b. ‘alī Mas‘ūd, date back to at least 1200 CE.
The linguistic term "morphology" was coined by August Schleicher in 1859.
The term "word" has no well-defined meaning. Instead, two related terms are used in morphology: lexeme and word-form. Generally, a lexeme is a set of inflected word-forms that is often represented with the citation form in small capitals. For instance, the lexeme contains the word-forms "eat, eats, eaten," and "ate". "Eat" and "eats" are thus considered different word-forms belonging to the same lexeme . "Eat" and "Eater", on the other hand, are different lexemes, as they refer to two different concepts.
Here are examples from other languages of the failure of a single phonological word to coincide with a single morphological word form. In Latin, one way to express the concept of 'NOUN-PHRASE1 and NOUN-PHRASE2' (as in "apples and oranges") is to suffix '-que' to the second noun phrase: "apples oranges-and", as it were. An extreme level of this theoretical quandary posed by some phonological words is provided by the Kwak'wala language. In Kwak'wala, as in a great many other languages, meaning relations between nouns, including possession and "semantic case", are formulated by affixes instead of by independent "words". The three-word English phrase, "with his club", where 'with' identifies its dependent noun phrase as an instrument and 'his' denotes a possession relation, would consist of two words or even just one word in many languages. Unlike most languages, Kwak'wala semantic affixes phonologically attach not to the lexeme they pertain to semantically, but to the preceding lexeme. Consider the following example (in Kwak'wala, sentences begin with what corresponds to an English verb):
kwixʔid-i-da bəgwanəmai-χ-a q'asa-s-isi t'alwagwayu
Morpheme by morpheme translation:
(Notation notes:
That is, to the speaker of Kwak'wala, the sentence does not contain the "words" 'him-the-otter' or 'with-his-club' Instead, the markers -"i-da" (PIVOT-'the'), referring to "man", attaches not to the noun "bəgwanəma" ("man") but to the verb; the markers -"χ-a" (ACCUSATIVE-'the'), referring to "otter", attach to "bəgwanəma" instead of to "q'asa" ('otter'), etc. In other words, a speaker of Kwak'wala does not perceive the sentence to consist of these phonological words:
kwixʔid i-da-bəgwanəma χ-a-q'asa s-isi-t'alwagwayu
clubbed PIVOT-the-mani hit-the-otter with-hisi-club
A central publication on this topic is the recent volume edited by Dixon and Aikhenvald (2007), examining the mismatch between prosodic-phonological and grammatical definitions of "word" in various Amazonian, Australian Aboriginal, Caucasian, Eskimo, Indo-European, Native North American, West African, and sign languages. Apparently, a wide variety of languages make use of the hybrid linguistic unit clitic, possessing the grammatical features of independent words but the prosodic-phonological lack of freedom of bound morphemes. The intermediate status of clitics poses a considerable challenge to linguistic theory.
Given the notion of a lexeme, it is possible to distinguish two kinds of morphological rules. Some morphological rules relate to different forms of the same lexeme; while other rules relate to different lexemes. Rules of the first kind are inflectional rules, while those of the second kind are rules of word formation. The generation of the English plural "dogs" from "dog" is an inflectional rule, while compound phrases and words like "dog catcher" or "dishwasher" are examples of word formation. Informally, word formation rules form "new" words (more accurately, new lexemes), while inflection rules yield variant forms of the "same" word (lexeme).
The distinction between inflection and word formation is not at all clear cut. There are many examples where linguists fail to agree whether a given rule is inflection or word formation. The next section will attempt to clarify this distinction.
Word formation is a process where one combines two complete words, whereas with inflection you can combine a suffix with some verb to change its form to subject of the sentence. For example: in the present indefinite, we use ‘go’ with subject I/we/you/they and plural nouns, whereas for third person singular pronouns (he/she/it) and singular nouns we use ‘goes’. So this ‘-es’ is an inflectional marker and is used to match with its subject. A further difference is that in word formation, the resultant word may differ from its source word's grammatical category whereas in the process of inflection the word never changes its grammatical category.
There is a further distinction between two primary kinds of morphological word formation: derivation and compounding. Compounding is a process of word formation that involves combining complete word forms into a single compound form. "Dog catcher", therefore, is a compound, as both "dog" and "catcher" are complete word forms in their own right but are subsequently treated as parts of one form. Derivation involves affixing bound (i.e. non-independent) forms to existing lexemes, whereby the addition of the affix derives a new lexeme. The word "independent", for example, is derived from the word "dependent" by using the prefix "in-", while "dependent" itself is derived from the verb "depend". There is also word formation in the processes of clipping in which a portion of a word is removed to create a new one, blending in which two parts of different words are blended into one, acronyms in which each letter of the new word represents a specific word in the representation i.e. NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, borrowing in which words from one language are taken and used in another, and finally coinage in which a new word is created to represent a new object or concept.
A linguistic paradigm is the complete set of related word forms associated with a given lexeme. The familiar examples of paradigms are the conjugations of verbs and the declensions of nouns. Also, arranging the word forms of a lexeme into tables, by classifying them according to shared inflectional categories such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender or case, organizes such. For example, the personal pronouns in English can be organized into tables, using the categories of person (first, second, third); number (singular vs. plural); gender (masculine, feminine, neuter); and case (nominative, oblique, genitive).
The inflectional categories used to group word forms into paradigms cannot be chosen arbitrarily; they must be categories that are relevant to stating the syntactic rules of the language. Person and number are categories that can be used to define paradigms in English, because English has grammatical agreement rules that require the verb in a sentence to appear in an inflectional form that matches the person and number of the subject. Therefore, the syntactic rules of English care about the difference between "dog" and "dogs", because the choice between these two forms determines which form of the verb is used. However, no syntactic rule for the difference between "dog" and "dog catcher", or "dependent" and "independent". The first two are nouns and the second two are adjectives.
An important difference between inflection and word formation is that inflected word forms of lexemes are organized into paradigms that are defined by the requirements of syntactic rules, and there are no corresponding syntactic rules for word formation. The relationship between syntax and morphology is called "morphosyntax" and concerns itself with inflection and paradigms, not with word formation or compounding.
Above, morphological rules are described as analogies between word forms: "dog" is to "dogs" as "cat" is to "cats" and as "dish" is to "dishes". In this case, the analogy applies both to the form of the words and to their meaning: in each pair, the first word means "one of X", while the second "two or more of X", and the difference is always the plural form "-s" (or "-es") affixed to the second word, signaling the key distinction between singular and plural entities.
One of the largest sources of complexity in morphology is that this one-to-one correspondence between meaning and form scarcely applies to every case in the language. In English, there are word form pairs like "ox/oxen", "goose/geese", and "sheep/sheep", where the difference between the singular and the plural is signaled in a way that departs from the regular pattern, or is not signaled at all. Even cases regarded as regular, such as "-s", are not so simple; the "-s" in "dogs" is not pronounced the same way as the "-s" in "cats"; and, in plurals such as "dishes", a vowel is added before the "-s". These cases, where the same distinction is effected by alternative forms of a "word", constitute allomorphy.
Phonological rules constrain which sounds can appear next to each other in a language, and morphological rules, when applied blindly, would often violate phonological rules, by resulting in sound sequences that are prohibited in the language in question. For example, to form the plural of "dish" by simply appending an "-s" to the end of the word would result in the form , which is not permitted by the phonotactics of English. In order to "rescue" the word, a vowel sound is inserted between the root and the plural marker, and results. Similar rules apply to the pronunciation of the "-s" in "dogs" and "cats": it depends on the quality (voiced vs. unvoiced) of the final preceding phoneme.
Lexical morphology is the branch of morphology that deals with the lexicon, which, morphologically conceived, is the collection of lexemes in a language. As such, it concerns itself primarily with word formation: derivation and compounding.
There are three principal approaches to morphology and each tries to capture the distinctions above in different ways:
While the associations indicated between the concepts in each item in that list are very strong, they are not absolute.
In morpheme-based morphology, word forms are analyzed as arrangements of morphemes. A morpheme is defined as the minimal meaningful unit of a language. In a word such as "independently", the morphemes are said to be "in-", "de-", "pend", "-ent", and "-ly"; "pend" is the (bound) root and the other morphemes are, in this case, derivational affixes. In words such as "dogs", "dog" is the root and the "-s" is an inflectional morpheme. In its simplest and most naïve form, this way of analyzing word forms, called "item-and-arrangement", treats words as if they were made of morphemes put after each other ("concatenated") like beads on a string. More recent and sophisticated approaches, such as distributed morphology, seek to maintain the idea of the morpheme while accommodating non-concatenated, analogical, and other processes that have proven problematic for item-and-arrangement theories and similar approaches.
Morpheme-based morphology presumes three basic axioms:
Morpheme-based morphology comes in two flavours, one Bloomfieldian and one Hockettian. For Bloomfield, the morpheme was the minimal form with meaning, but did not have meaning itself. For Hockett, morphemes are "meaning elements", not "form elements". For him, there is a morpheme plural using allomorphs such as "-s", "-en" and "-ren". Within much morpheme-based morphological theory, the two views are mixed in unsystematic ways so a writer may refer to "the morpheme plural" and "the morpheme "-s"" in the same sentence.
Lexeme-based morphology usually takes what is called an item-and-process approach. Instead of analyzing a word form as a set of morphemes arranged in sequence, a word form is said to be the result of applying rules that alter a word-form or stem in order to produce a new one. An inflectional rule takes a stem, changes it as is required by the rule, and outputs a word form; a derivational rule takes a stem, changes it as per its own requirements, and outputs a derived stem; a compounding rule takes word forms, and similarly outputs a compound stem.
Word-based morphology is (usually) a word-and-paradigm approach. The theory takes paradigms as a central notion. Instead of stating rules to combine morphemes into word forms or to generate word forms from stems, word-based morphology states generalizations that hold between the forms of inflectional paradigms. The major point behind this approach is that many such generalizations are hard to state with either of the other approaches. Word-and-paradigm approaches are also well-suited to capturing purely morphological phenomena, such as morphomes. Examples to show the effectiveness of word-based approaches are usually drawn from fusional languages, where a given "piece" of a word, which a morpheme-based theory would call an inflectional morpheme, corresponds to a combination of grammatical categories, for example, "third-person plural". Morpheme-based theories usually have no problems with this situation since one says that a given morpheme has two categories. Item-and-process theories, on the other hand, often break down in cases like these because they all too often assume that there will be two separate rules here, one for third person, and the other for plural, but the distinction between them turns out to be artificial. The approaches treat these as whole words that are related to each other by analogical rules. Words can be categorized based on the pattern they fit into. This applies both to existing words and to new ones. Application of a pattern different from the one that has been used historically can give rise to a new word, such as "older" replacing "elder" (where "older" follows the normal pattern of adjectival superlatives) and "cows" replacing "kine" (where "cows" fits the regular pattern of plural formation).
In the 19th century, philologists devised a now classic classification of languages according to their morphology. Some languages are isolating, and have little to no morphology; others are agglutinative whose words tend to have lots of easily separable morphemes; others yet are inflectional or fusional because their inflectional morphemes are "fused" together. That leads to one bound morpheme conveying multiple pieces of information. A standard example of an isolating language is Chinese. An agglutinative language is Turkish. Latin and Greek are prototypical inflectional or fusional languages.
It is clear that this classification is not at all clearcut, and many languages (Latin and Greek among them) do not neatly fit any one of these types, and some fit in more than one way. A continuum of complex morphology of language may be adopted.
The three models of morphology stem from attempts to analyze languages that more or less match different categories in this typology. The item-and-arrangement approach fits very naturally with agglutinative languages. The item-and-process and word-and-paradigm approaches usually address fusional languages.
As there is very little fusion involved in word formation, classical typology mostly applies to inflectional morphology. Depending on the preferred way of expressing non-inflectional notions, languages may be classified as synthetic (using word formation) or analytic (using syntactic phrases).
Pingelapese is a Micronesian language spoken on the Pingelap atoll and on two of the eastern Caroline Islands, called the high island of Pohnpei. Similar to other languages, words in Pingelapese can take different forms to add to or even change its meaning. Verbal suffixes are morphemes added at the end of a word to change its form. Prefixes are those that are added at the front. For example, the Pingelapese suffix –"kin" means ‘with’ or 'at.’ It is added at the end of a verb.
"ius" = to use --> "ius-kin" = to use with
"mwahu" = to be good --> "mwahu-kin" = to be good at
"sa-" is an example of a verbal prefix. It is added to the beginning of a word and means ‘not.’
"pwung" = to be correct --> "sa-pwung" = to be incorrect
There are also directional suffixes that when added to the root word give the listener a better idea of where the subject is headed. The verb "alu" means to walk. A directional suffix can be used to give more detail.
"-da" = ‘up’ --> "aluh-da" = to walk up
"-d"i = ‘down’ --> "aluh-di" = to walk down
"-eng" = ‘away from speaker and listener’ --> "aluh-eng" = to walk away
Directional suffixes are not limited to motion verbs. When added to non-motion verbs, their meanings are a figurative one. The following table gives some examples of directional suffixes and their possible meanings.
Morphology analysis is used in various fields. For example, using morphological features it is possible to assess data quality in Wikipedia in English, Polish, Russian and other language versions. | en.wikipedia.org | Morphology (linguistics) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20646 |
20648 | Melting
Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which increases the substance's temperature to the melting point. At the melting point, the ordering of ions or molecules in the solid breaks down to a less ordered state, and the solid melts to become a liquid.
Substances in the molten state generally have reduced viscosity as the temperature increases. An exception to this principle is the element sulfur, whose viscosity increases in the range of 160 °C to 180 °C due to polymerization.
Some organic compounds melt through mesophases, states of partial order between solid and liquid.
From a thermodynamics point of view, at the melting point the change in Gibbs free energy "∆G" of the substances is zero, but there are non-zero changes in the enthalpy ("H") and the entropy ("S"), known respectively as the enthalpy of fusion (or latent heat of fusion) and the entropy of fusion. Melting is therefore classified as a first-order phase transition. Melting occurs when the Gibbs free energy of the liquid becomes lower than the solid for that material. The temperature at which this occurs is dependent on the ambient pressure.
Low-temperature helium is the only known exception to the general rule. Helium-3 has a negative enthalpy of fusion at temperatures below 0.3 K. Helium-4 also has a very slightly negative enthalpy of fusion below 0.8 K. This means that, at appropriate constant pressures, heat must be "removed" from these substances in order to melt them.
Among the theoretical criteria for melting, the Lindemann and Born criteria are those most frequently used as a basis to analyse the melting conditions . The Lindemann criterion states that melting occurs because of vibrational instability, e.g. crystals melt when the average amplitude of thermal vibrations of atoms is relatively high compared with interatomic distances, e.g. 2">1/2 > "δLRs", where "δu" is the atomic displacement, the Lindemann parameter "δL" ≈ 0.20...0.25 and "Rs" is one-half of the inter-atomic distance. The Lindemann melting criterion is supported by experimental data both for crystalline materials and for glass-liquid transitions in amorphous materials. The Born criterion is based on a rigidity catastrophe caused by the vanishing elastic shear modulus, i.e. when the crystal no longer has sufficient rigidity to mechanically withstand the load.
Under a standard set of conditions, the melting point of a substance is a characteristic property. The melting point is often equal to the freezing point. However, under carefully created conditions, supercooling or superheating past the melting or freezing point can occur. Water on a very clean glass surface will often supercool several degrees below the freezing point without freezing. Fine emulsions of pure water have been cooled to −38 degrees Celsius without nucleation to form ice. Nucleation occurs due to fluctuations in the properties of the material. If the material is kept still there is often nothing (such as physical vibration) to trigger this change, and supercooling (or superheating) may occur. Thermodynamically, the supercooled liquid is in the metastable state with respect to the crystalline phase, and it is likely to crystallize suddenly.
Glasses are amorphous solids which are usually fabricated when the molten material cools very rapidly to below its glass transition temperature, without sufficient time for a regular crystal lattice to form. Solids are characterised by a high degree of connectivity between their molecules, and fluids have lower connectivity of their structural blocks. Melting of a solid material can also be considered as a percolation via broken connections between particles e.g. connecting bonds. In this approach melting of an amorphous material occurs when the broken bonds form a percolation cluster with "Tg" dependent on quasi-equilibrium thermodynamic parameters of bonds e.g. on enthalpy ("Hd") and entropy ("Sd") of formation of bonds in a given system at given conditions:
where "fc" is the percolation threshold and "R" is the universal gas constant. Although "Hd" and "Sd" are not true equilibrium thermodynamic parameters and can depend on the cooling rate of a melt they can be found from available experimental data on viscosity of amorphous materials.
Even below its melting point, quasi-liquid films can be observed on crystalline surfaces. The thickness of the film is temperature dependent. This effect is common for all crystalline materials. Pre-melting shows its effects in e.g. frost heave, the growth of snowflakes and, taking grain boundary interfaces into account, maybe even in the movement of glaciers.
In genetics, melting DNA means to separate the double-stranded DNA into two single strands by heating or the use of chemical agents, cf. polymerase chain reaction. | en.wikipedia.org | Melting | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20648 |
20650 | Macroevolution
Macroevolution in the modern sense is evolution that is guided by selection among interspecific variation, as opposed to selection among intraspecific variation in microevolution. This modern definition differs from the original concept, which referred macroevolution to the evolution of taxa above the species level (genera, families, orders etc.).
Philiptschenko distinguished between microevolution and macroevolution because he rejected natural selection in the sense of Darwin as an explanation for larger evolutionary transitions that give rise to taxa above the species level in the Linnean taxonomy. Accordingly, he restricted Darwinian "microevolution" to evolutionary changes within the boundary of given species that may lead to different races or subspecies at the most. By contrast, he referred "macroevolution" to major evolutionary changes that correspond to taxonomic differences above the species level, which in his opinion would require evolutionary processes different from natural selection. An explanatory model for macroevolution in this sense was the "hopeful monster" concept of geneticist Richard Goldschmidt, who suggested saltational evolutionary changes either due to mutations that affect the rates of developmental processes or due to alterations in the chromosomal pattern. Particularly the latter idea was widely rejected by the modern synthesis and is disproved today, but the hopeful monster concept based on evo-devo explanations found a moderate revival in recent times. As an alternative to saltational evolution, Dobzhansky suggested that the difference between macroevolution and microevolution reflects essentially a difference in time-scales, and that macroevolutionary changes were simply the sum of microevolutionary changes over geologic time. This view became broadly accepted, and accordingly, the term macroevolution has been used widely as a neutral label for the study of evolutionary changes that take place over a very large time-scale. However, the tenet that large-scale evolutionary patterns were ultimately reducible to microevolution has been challenged by the concept of species selection, which suggests that selection among species is a major evolutionary factor that is independent from and complementary to selection among organisms. Accordingly, the level of selection (or, more generally, of sorting) has become the conceptual basis of a third definition, which defines macroevolution as evolution through selection among interspecific variation.
According to the modern definition, the evolutionary transition from the ancestral to the daughter species is microevolutionary, because it results from selection (or, more generally, sorting) among varying organisms. However, speciation has also a macroevolutionary aspect, because it produces the interspecific variation species selection operates on. Another macroevolutionary aspect of speciation is the rate at which it successfully occurs, analogous to reproduction success in microevolution.
"Species selection operates on variation provided by the largely random process of speciation and favors species that speciate at high rates or survive for long periods and therefore tend to leave many daughter species." Species selection comprises (a) effect-macroevolution, where organism-level traits (aggregate traits) affect speciation and extinction rates (Stanley’s original concept), and (b) strict-sense species selection, where species-level traits (e.g. geographical range) affect speciation and extinction rates. It has been argued that effect macroevolution is reducible to microevolution because both operate through selection on organismic traits, but Grantham demonstrated that effect macroevolution can oppose selection at the organismic level and is therefore not reducible microevolution. Cases in which selection on the same trait has opposing effects at the organismic and the species level have been made in the context of sexual selection, which increases individual fitness but may also increase the extinction risk of the species.
Punctuated equilibrium postulates that evolutionary change is concentrated during a geologically short speciation phase, which is followed by evolutionary stasis that persists until the species goes extinct. The prevalence of evolutionary stasis through most of the existence time of species is a major argument for the relevance of species selection in shaping the evolutionary history of clades. However, punctuated equilibrium is neither a macroevolutionary model of speciation, nor is it a prerequisite for species selection.
A macroevolutionary benchmark study is Sepkoski's work on marine animal diversity through the Phanerozoic. His iconic diagram of the numbers of marine families from the Cambrian to the Recent illustrates the successive expansion and dwindling of three "evolutionary faunas" that were characterized by differences in origination rates and carrying capacities.
The macroevolutionary relevance of environmental changes is most obvious in the case of global mass extinction events. Such events are usually due to massive disturbances of the non-biotic environment that occur too fast for a microevolutionary response through adaptive change. Mass extinctions therefore act nearly excursively through selection among species, i.e., macroevolutionary. In their differential impact on species, mass extinctions introduce a strong non-adaptive aspect to evolution. A classic example in this context is the suggestion that the decline of brachiopods that is apparently mirrored by the rise of bivalves was actually caused by differential survival of these clades during the end-Permian mass extinction.
Macroevolution is driven by differences between species in origination and extinction rates. Remarkably, these two factors are generally positively correlated: taxa that have typically high diversification rates have also high extinction rates. This observation has been described first by Steven Stanley, who attributed it to a variety of ecological factors. Yet, a positive correlation of origination and extinction rates is also a prediction of the Red Queen hypothesis, which postulates that evolutionary progress (increase in fitness) of any given species causes a decrease in fitness of other species, ultimately driving to extinction those species that do not adapt rapidly enough. High rates of origination must therefore correlate with high rates of extinction. Stanley's rule, which applies to almost all taxa and geologic ages, is therefore a strong indication for a dominant role of biotic interactions in macroevolution.
Subjects studied within macroevolution include: | en.wikipedia.org | Macroevolution | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20650 |
20651 | Martin Waldseemüller
Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470 – 16 March 1520) was a German cartographer and humanist scholar. Sometimes known by the Latinized form of his name, Hylacomylus, his work was influential among contemporary cartographers. He and his collaborator, Matthias Ringmann, are credited with the first recorded usage of the word "America" to name a portion of the New World in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Waldseemüller was also the first to map South America as a continent separate from Asia; the first to produce a printed globe and the first to create a printed wall map of Europe. A set of his maps printed as an appendix to the 1513 edition of Ptolemy's "Geography" is considered to be the first example of a modern atlas.
Details of Waldseemüller's life are scarce. He was born around 1470 in the German town of Wolfenweiler. His father was a butcher and moved to Freiburg im Breisgau in about 1480. Records show that Waldseemüller was enrolled in 1490 at the University of Freiburg where Gregor Reisch, a noted humanist scholar, was one of his influential teachers. After finishing at the university, he lived in Basel where he was ordained a priest and, apparently, gained experience in printing and engraving while working with the printer community in Basel.
Around 1500, an association of humanist scholars formed in Saint-Dié under the patronage of René II, Duke of Lorraine. They called themselves the "Gymnasium Vosagense" and their leader was Walter Lud. Their initial intention was to publish a new edition of Ptolemy's "Geography". Waldseemüller was invited to join the group and contribute his skills as a cartographer. It is not clear how he came to the groups's attention, but Lud later described him as a master cartographer. Matthias Ringmann was also brought into the group because of his previous work with the "Geography" and his knowledge of Greek and Latin. Ringmann and Waldseemüller soon became friends and collaborators.
In 1506, the "Gymnasium" obtained a French translation of the Soderini Letter, a booklet attributed to Amerigo Vespucci that provided a sensational account of four alleged Vespucci voyages to explore the coast of lands recently discovered in the western Atlantic. The "Gymnasium" surmised that this was the "new world" or the "antipodes" hypothesized by classical writers. The Soderini Letter gave Vespucci credit for discovery of this new continent and implied that newly obtained Portuguese maps were based on his explorations. They decided to put aside the "Geography" for the moment and publish a brief "Introduction to Cosmography" with an accompanying world map. The "Introduction" was written by Ringmann and included a Latin translation of the "Soderini Letter". In a preface to the "Letter", Ringmann wrote
"I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women's names."
While Ringmann was writing the "Introduction", Waldseemüller focused on the creation of a world map using an aggregation of sources including maps based on the works of Ptolemy, Henricus Martellus, Alberto Cantino and Nicolò de Caverio. In addition to a large 12-panel wall map, Waldseemüller created a smaller, simplified globe. The wall map was decorated with prominent portraits of Ptolemy and Vespucci. The map and globe were notable for showing the New World as a continent separate from Asia and for naming the southern landmass America. By April 1507, the map, globe and accompanying book, "Introduction to Cosmography", were published. A thousand copies were printed and sold throughout Europe.
The "Introduction" and map were a great success and four editions were printed in the first year alone. The map was widely used in universities and was influential among cartographers who admired the craftsmanship that went into its creation. In the following years other maps were printed that often incorporated the name America. Although Waldseemüller had intended the name to apply only to a specific part of Brazil, other maps applied it to the entire continent. In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used America to name both the North and South continents on his influential map and by this point the name was securely fixed on the New World
After 1507, Waldseemüller and Ringmann continued to collaborate on a new edition of Ptolemy's "Geography". In 1508 Ringmann traveled to Italy and obtained a Greek manuscript of "Geography" ("Codex Vaticanum Graecorum 191"). With this key reference they continued to make progress and Waldseemüller was able to finish his maps. However, completion was forestalled when their patron, Duke René II, died in 1508. The new edition was finally printed in 1513 by Johannes Schott in Strasbourg. By then, Waldseemüller had pulled out of the project and was not credited for his cartographic work. Nevertheless his maps were recognized as important contributions to the science of cartography and was considered a standard reference work for many decades.
Approximately twenty of Waldseemüller's "tabulae modernae" (modern maps) were included in the new "Geography" as a separate appendix, "Claudii Ptolemaei Supplementem". This supplement constitutes the first modern atlas. Maps of Lorraine and the upper Rhine region were the first printed maps of those regions and were probably based on survey work done by Waldseemüller himself.
The world map published in the 1513 "Geography" seems to indicate that Waldseemüller had second thoughts about the name and the nature of the lands discovered in the western Atlantic. The New World was no longer clearly shown as a continent separate from Asia and the name America had been replaced with "Terra Incognita" (Unknown Land). What caused him to make these changes is not clear but perhaps he was influenced by contemporary criticism that Vespucci had usurped Columbus's primacy of discovery.
Waldseemüller was also interested in surveying and surveying instruments. In 1508 he contributed a treatise on surveying and perspective to the fourth edition of Gregor Reisch’s "Margarita Philosophica". He included an illustration of a forerunner to the theodolite, a surveying instrument he called the polimetrum. In 1511 he published the "Carta Itineraria Europae", a road map of Europe that showed important trade routes as well as pilgrim routes from central Europe to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was the first printed wall map of Europe.
In 1516 he produced another large-scale wall map of the world, the "Carta Marina Navigatoria", printed in Strasbourg. It was designed in the style of portolan charts and consisted of twelve printed sheets.
The Paris Green Globe (or "Globe vert"), has been attributed to Waldseemüller by experts at the Bibliotheque Nationale. However, the attribution is not universally accepted.
Waldseemüller died without a will on 16 March 1520 in Saint-Dié, where he had served as a canon in the collegiate Church of Saint-Dié since 1514.
The 1507 wall map was lost for a long time, but a copy was found in Schloss Wolfegg in southern Germany by Joseph Fischer in 1901. It is the only known copy and was purchased by the United States Library of Congress in May 2003 Five copies of Waldseemüller's globular map survive in the form of "gores": printed maps that were intended to be cut out and pasted onto a wooden globe. | en.wikipedia.org | Martin Waldseemüller | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20651 |
20653 | Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band formed in 1983 by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson in Los Angeles, California. Along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal, responsible for its development and popularization. Their music features complex arrangements and fast rhythm sections, and lyrical themes of death, war, politics, personal relationships and religion.
In 1985, Megadeth released its debut album, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!", on the independent record label Combat Records, to moderate success. It caught the attention of bigger labels, which led to Megadeth signing with Capitol Records. Their first major-label album, "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?", was released in 1986 and was a major hit with the underground metal scene. Substance abuse and personal disputes brought Megadeth negative publicity during this period.
After the lineup stabilized, Megadeth released a number of platinum-selling albums, including "Rust in Peace" (1990) and "Countdown to Extinction" (1992). These albums, along with worldwide tours, brought them public recognition. The band temporarily disbanded in 2002 when Mustaine suffered an arm injury and re-established in 2004 without bassist Ellefson, who had taken legal action against Mustaine. Ellefson settled out of court and rejoined in 2010. Megadeth has hosted its own music festival, Gigantour, several times since July 2005.
Megadeth has sold 38 million records worldwide, earned platinum certification in the United States for six of its fifteen studio albums, and received twelve Grammy nominations. Megadeth won its first Grammy Award in 2017 for the song "Dystopia" in the Best Metal Performance category. The band's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, regularly appears on album artwork and live shows. The group has drawn controversy for its music and lyrics, including album bans and canceled concerts; MTV refused to play two of the band's music videos that the network considered to condone suicide.
On April 11, 1983, Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica just prior to the band recording their debut album "Kill 'Em All" due to substance abuse and personal conflicts with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. As Metallica's lead guitarist since 1981, Mustaine had composed some of the group's early songs and helped hone the band into a tight live unit. Afterward, Mustaine vowed revenge by forming a band that was faster and heavier than Metallica. On the bus trip back to Los Angeles, Mustaine found a pamphlet by California senator Alan Cranston that read: "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to." The term "Megadeath" stuck with Mustaine and he wrote a song with the spelling slightly changed to Megadeth, which, according to Mustaine, represented the annihilation of power.
After arriving back in Los Angeles, Mustaine began the search for new bandmates. He formed a band with his new neighbors David Ellefson and Greg Handevidt, who had moved from Minnesota and played bass and guitar. While Handevidt would only last a few months, Mustaine and Ellefson formed a tight musical bond. Despite his enthusiasm, Mustaine had trouble finding other members to fill out the lineup. He and Ellefson auditioned about fifteen drummers, hoping to find one who understood metre changes in music. After briefly playing with Dijon Carruthers, they selected Lee Rausch. Following six months of trying to find a lead singer, Mustaine decided to fill the role himself.
In 1984, Megadeth recorded a three-song demo tape featuring Mustaine, Ellefson, and Rausch. The demo tape, "Last Rites", was released on March 9, 1984. The demo featured early versions of "Last Rites/Loved to Death", "The Skull Beneath the Skin", and "Mechanix", all of which appeared on the band's debut album. The band were unable to find a compatible second guitarist. Kerry King of Slayer filled in on rhythm guitar for several shows in the San Francisco area in the spring of 1984. Afterwards, King went back to Slayer and Megadeth replaced Rausch with jazz fusion drummer Gar Samuelson. Samuelson had previously been in the jazz band the New Yorkers with guitarist Chris Poland. After seeing Samuelson perform with Megadeth as a trio, Poland went backstage and suggested an impromptu audition as lead guitarist for the band; he joined Megadeth in December 1984.
After considering several labels, Mustaine signed the band to Combat Records, a New York-based Independent record label that offered Megadeth the highest budget to record and tour. In 1985, Combat Records gave the band $8,000 to record and produce its debut album. After spending $4,000 of the budget on drugs, alcohol, and food, the band fired the original producer and finished the recording themselves.
Despite its low fidelity sound, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" was relatively successful in underground metal circles and attracted major-label interest. Music writer Joel McIver praised its "blistering technicality" and stated that the album "raised the bar for the whole thrash metal scene, with guitarists forced to perform even more accurately and powerfully". The front cover marked the debut of band mascot Vic Rattlehead, who regularly appeared on subsequent album artwork.
"Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" features "Mechanix", a song Mustaine wrote during his time with Metallica. Though Mustaine told the band after his dismissal not to use the music he had written, Metallica recorded a different version of the song, "The Four Horsemen", with a slower tempo and a melodic middle section. The album also included a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," at a faster tempo and with altered lyrics. Megadeth's version generated controversy during the 1990s, when its writer, Lee Hazlewood, called Mustaine's changes "vile and offensive". Under threat of legal action, the song was removed from pressings released from 1995 to 2001.
In mid-1985, on a bill with Canadian speed metal band Exciter, Megadeth played its first North American tour: the Killing for a Living Tour. Touring guitarist Mike Albert replaced Poland, who was battling drug addiction. Poland rejoined Megadeth in October 1985, shortly before the group began recording its second album for Combat.
According to Mustaine, Megadeth was under pressure to deliver another successful album: "That sophomore offering is the 'be-all or end-all' of any band. You either go to the next level, or it's the beginning of the nadir." The songs were developed relatively quickly in an old warehouse south of Los Angeles before recording began. Mustaine composed the music, with the other members adding arrangement ideas.
The album was produced on a $25,000 budget from Combat Records. Dissatisfied with its financial limitations, the band left Combat and signed with Capitol Records. Capitol bought the rights to the album, and hired producer Paul Lani to remix the earlier recordings. Released in late 1986, "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?" has clearer production and more sophisticated songwriting. Mustaine wanted to write socially conscious lyrics, unlike mainstream heavy metal bands who sang about "hedonistic pleasures". The album was noted for its political commentary and helped Megadeth expand its fanbase. The title track was the album's lead single and was accompanied by a music video that received regular airplay on MTV.
In February 1987, Megadeth was the opening act on Alice Cooper's Constrictor tour, and the following month began its first headlining world tour in the United Kingdom. The 72-week tour was supported by Overkill and Necros, and continued in the United States. During the tour, Mustaine and Ellefson considered firing Samuelson for his drug abuse. According to Mustaine, Samuelson had become too much to handle when intoxicated. Drummer Chuck Behler traveled with Megadeth for the last dates of the tour as the other band members feared Samuelson would not be able to continue. Poland quarreled with Mustaine, and was accused of selling band equipment to buy heroin. As a result, Samuelson and Poland were asked to leave Megadeth in 1987, with Behler becoming the band's full-time drummer.
Poland was initially replaced by Jay Reynolds of Malice, but as the band began working on its next record, Reynolds was replaced by his guitar teacher, Jeff Young, when Megadeth was six weeks into the recording of its third album.
With a major-label budget, the Paul Lani-produced "So Far, So Good... So What!" took over five months to record. The production was plagued with problems, partially due to Mustaine's struggle with drug addiction. Mustaine later said: "The production of "So Far, So Good... So What!" was horrible, mostly due to substances and the priorities we had or didn't have at the time." Mustaine clashed with Lani, beginning with Lani's insistence that the drums be recorded separately from the cymbals, an unheard-of process for rock drummers. Mustaine and Lani became estranged during the mixing, and Lani was replaced by Michael Wagener, who remixed the album.
"So Far, So Good... So What!" was released in January 1988 and was well received by fans and critics. The album featured a cover version of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."; Mustaine changed the lyrics, later saying that he had simply heard them incorrectly. To support the album, Megadeth embarked on a world tour that lasted for nearly eight months. The band (along with Savatage) opened for Dio on the "Dream Evil" tour and supported Iron Maiden on their "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" tour, both in the United States. They also headlined a North American tour with Warlock and Sanctuary (whose debut album "Refuge Denied" was produced by Mustaine), and a European trek with Testament, Nuclear Assault, Flotsam and Jetsam and Sanctuary.
In June 1988, Megadeth appeared in Penelope Spheeris' documentary "". The documentary chronicled the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of the late 1980s, and Spheeris, who had directed Megadeth in the video for "Wake Up Dead", decided to include them to feature a more serious band in contrast to the glam metal groups. Mustaine remembered the film as a disappointment, as it aligned Megadeth with "a bunch of shit bands".
In August, the band appeared at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in the United Kingdom, performing to an audience of more than 100,000. One show featured a guest appearance by Metallica drummer (and Mustaine's former bandmate) Lars Ulrich. The band was added to the Monsters of Rock European tour, but left after the first show due to Ellefson's drug problems, for which he was treated immediately. Megadeth was replaced by Testament.
Shortly after the Monsters of Rock appearance, Mustaine fired Behler and Young and canceled Megadeth's Australian tour. "On the road, things escalated from a small border skirmish into a full-on raging war," Mustaine later recalled. "I think a lot of us were inconsistent because of [drugs]." During the tour, Mustaine noticed problems developing with Behler and brought in drummer Nick Menza as Behler's drum technician. As with Samuelson, Menza was expected to take over if Behler could not continue the tour. Menza replaced Behler in 1989. Young's dismissal resulted from Mustaine's suspicions that he was having an affair with Mustaine's girlfriend, an allegation Young denied.
The band was unable to quickly find a suitable replacement for Young. Although 1989 marked the first time since its inception that Megadeth did not tour nor perform at least one show, they recorded a cover version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" which appeared on the soundtrack to the Wes Craven horror movie "Shocker". The video was directed by Penelope Spheeris, who recalled the filming as a "Herculean task" as Mustaine was unable to play guitar because of his drug addiction. During the March 1989 auditions for a new lead guitarist, Mustaine was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of narcotics after crashing into a parked vehicle occupied by an off-duty police officer. Mustaine entered court-ordered drug rehabilitation shortly afterwards, and became drug-free for the first time in ten years.
With Mustaine sober, Megadeth continued searching for a new lead guitarist. Among those auditioned were Lee Altus of Heathen and Eric Meyer of Dark Angel. Meyer was invited to join the band after Poland's departure, but chose to remain with Dark Angel. Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash had been jamming with Mustaine and Ellefson, and although it seemed that he might join Megadeth, he remained with Guns N' Roses. Dimebag Darrell of Pantera was offered the job, but the deal fell through after Mustaine refused his request to recruit his brother, Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul, as he had already hired Menza. The offer was also extended to Criss Oliva who also declined as he did not want to leave Savatage. Jeff Loomis, who would later go on to form progressive metal titans Nevermore, also auditioned though Mustaine deemed him too young to join as Loomis was only 18 at the time.
Marty Friedman filled the guitarist position at the recommendation of Ron Laffitte, a member of Capitol management. Laffitte had heard "Dragon's Kiss", a solo recording by Friedman when he was in Cacophony. Mustaine and Ellefson were satisfied with Friedman's style and thought that he understood Megadeth's music. With Friedman in the group, the band completed what fans consider the definitive Megadeth lineup. The revitalized band entered Rumbo Studios in March 1990 with co-producer Mike Clink to begin Megadeth's most critically acclaimed album, "Rust in Peace". For the first time the band's members remained sober in the studio, alleviating many problems which plagued previous albums. Clink was the first producer to complete a Megadeth album without being fired. Its recording was documented in "Rusted Pieces", a home video released in 1991 with six music videos and an interview with the band.
Released in September 1990, "Rust in Peace" debuted at number 23 in the United States and number eight in the United Kingdom. Mustaine had developed a writing style with a rhythmically complex, progressive edge, and the songs featured longer guitar solos and frequent tempo changes. Described as a genre-defining work by "Decibel", the album solidified Megadeth's reputation in the music industry. It features the singles "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18", both of which were accompanied by music videos and became live staples. "Rust in Peace" received a Grammy nomination in 1991 for Best Metal Performance, and was the group's third platinum album, certified in December 1994.
Early in 1990, Megadeth joined Slayer, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies for the successful European Clash of the Titans tour, featuring several American thrash metal bands. An American leg began the following year featuring Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax, with Alice in Chains as a supporting act. The tour was considered a multi-headliner, as the three main bands alternated time slots. In addition to the Clash of the Titans tour, Megadeth (along with Testament) supported Judas Priest on their "Painkiller" tour in North America late in 1990 and appeared at the second Rock in Rio festival in January 1991. In July 1991 the song "Go to Hell" was featured in the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and on its soundtrack.
The recording sessions for Megadeth's fifth studio album began in January 1992 at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California. Max Norman was chosen to produce, as the band was pleased with his mixing of "Rust in Peace". Megadeth spent nearly four months in the studio with Norman, writing and recording what became the band's most commercially successful album, "Countdown to Extinction". The album, whose title was suggested by Menza, features songwriting contributions from each band member. Ellefson explained that the band changed its approach to songwriting for this album, beginning to write more melodic songs.
Released in July 1992, "Countdown to Extinction" entered the "Billboard" 200 chart at number two and was certified double platinum in the United States. The album's overseas success helped the band to develop a larger following outside the US. It received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards, and its title track won a Genesis Award from the Humane Society in 1993 for raising awareness for animal rights issues. Ellefson later said that he and Friedman were disappointed that Megadeth did not win the Grammy: "It was such a bizarre moment, because it was as if the amount of work it had taken to ramp up to that hopeful night was literally gone in a second."
A world tour in support of the album was launched in late 1992, with Pantera and White Zombie as supporting acts. The tour included a North American leg in early 1993, with Stone Temple Pilots as the opening act. One month into the leg, the remaining shows, including dates in Japan, were canceled when Mustaine returned to substance abuse, ending up in a hospital emergency room. After seven weeks in rehab, Mustaine emerged sober again and the band returned to the studio to record "Angry Again". The song is featured on the soundtrack of the 1993 film "Last Action Hero" and received a Grammy nomination in 1994.
During mid-1993, Megadeth performed at a number of shows with Metallica in Europe. The first was at Milton Keynes Bowl in England, and included Diamond Head. In July, Megadeth was added as the opening act for Aerosmith's Get a Grip Tour, but was removed from the bill after three shows. Aerosmith said that Megadeth was "dumped" because of Mustaine's erratic behavior, while Capitol Records said it was due to "artistic restrictions". After the canceled US tour, Megadeth returned to the studio to record "99 Ways to Die", which appeared on "The Beavis and Butt-head Experience", a compilation album released in November featuring songs interspersed with commentary by the main characters of the animated series "Beavis and Butt-head". The song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards. During these sessions, Megadeth recorded a cover version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", which appeared on the Black Sabbath tribute album "Nativity in Black"; it was nominated for a Grammy the following year.
In early 1994, Megadeth reunited with producer Max Norman for the follow-up to "Countdown to Extinction". With three band members living in Arizona, initial work began at Phase Four Studios in Phoenix. A few days into pre-production, problems with Phase Four's equipment forced the band to look for another studio. Mustaine insisted on recording in Arizona, but no suitable recording facility could be found. At Norman's request, the band built its own recording studio in Phoenix in a rented warehouse, later called "Fat Planet in Hangar 18". During the studio's construction, much of the pre-production songwriting and arrangements were done at Vintage Recorders in Phoenix. At Norman's suggestion, the tracks on "Youthanasia" had a slower tempo than previous albums, at about 120 beats per minute. The band abandoned the progressive approach from its previous albums and focused on stronger vocal melodies and more accessible, radio-friendly arrangements. For the first time, Megadeth wrote and arranged the entire album in the studio, including basic tracks recorded live by the entire band. The album's recording was video recorded and released as "Evolver: The Making of Youthanasia" in 1995.
After eight months of studio work, "Youthanasia" was released in November 1994. It debuted at number four on the "Billboard" 200 and charted in several European countries. The album was certified gold in Canada the day it was released, and was certified platinum in the US two months later. Megadeth hired fashion photographer Richard Avedon to enhance the band's image. Avedon had the band members exchange their jeans and T-shirts for a more conscious appearance. To promote "Youthanasia", the band played a Halloween show in New York City called "Night of the Living Megadeth", which was broadcast live on MTV. In November, the band performed twice on the "Late Show with David Letterman", playing "Train of Consequences" on the first appearance and "À Tout le Monde" on the second.
An eleven-month tour began in South America in November 1994. In 1995, Megadeth played in Europe and North America with several opening acts, including Corrosion of Conformity, Korn and Fear Factory. The tour culminated with an appearance at the Monsters of Rock festival in Brazil, co-headlining with Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne. In January 1995, Megadeth appeared on the soundtrack of the horror movie "Demon Knight" with the song "Diadems". In July, Megadeth released "Hidden Treasures", an extended play featuring songs which originally appeared on movie soundtracks and tribute albums.
After completing the extensive world tour in support of "Youthanasia", Megadeth took time off in most of 1996, making it the second time in their career, following 1989, that the band had not done any live shows in a single year. During this hiatus, Mustaine began work on MD.45, a side project with vocalist Lee Ving of Fear. The duo hired drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who had played with Alice Cooper on the South American Monsters of Rock tour earlier that year. Marty Friedman built a studio in his new home in Phoenix and completed his fourth solo album, released in April 1996. In September 1996, Megadeth went to London to work on songs for the next album. The songwriting was closely supervised by new manager Bud Prager, who contributed musical ideas and lyrics; many lyrics and song titles were changed at his request. Regarding Prager's influence, Mustaine later wrote: "I figured maybe this guy [Prager] could help me get that intangible number one record I so badly wanted." The album, recorded in Nashville, was Megadeth's first collaboration with country pop producer Dann Huff, who had met Mustaine in 1990.
"Cryptic Writings" was released in June 1997. The album peaked at number ten on the "Billboard" 200, and was eventually certified gold in the United States. Its lead single, "Trust", became Megadeth's highest charting song on the Mainstream Rock Tracks at number five, and was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards. Although all four singles from the album entered the top 20 on "Billboard"s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, press response to the album was mixed. The album featured a diverse set of songs which the "Los Angeles Times" described as a "rousing balance" between older material and experimental songs. Asked about the album's eclecticism, Mustaine said that "Cryptic Writings" was divided into thirds. One part was based around faster, more aggressive material, another was "radio-orientated music like "Youthanasia"", and the final third was more melodic.
After more than a year since the band's last concert, Megadeth returned as a live act in June 1997, beginning a world tour with the Misfits and touring in the United States with Life of Agony and Coal Chamber. In July, the band participated in Ozzfest '98 but, halfway through the tour, Menza reportedly discovered a tumor on his knee and left to undergo surgery. Jimmy DeGrasso, who had collaborated with Mustaine in MD.45, was hired to replace Menza for the remainder of the tour. Though initially meant to be a temporary replacement, DeGrasso joined the band permanently after the tour. Mustaine later said that he dismissed Menza from the band because he believed the drummer had lied about having cancer.
Following the band's mainstream radio success with "Cryptic Writings", Megadeth again worked with Dann Huff on its eighth studio album. The band began writing in January 1999, supervised by manager Bud Prager, who was credited with co-writing five of the album's twelve songs. With high expectations following the chart success of "Trust", Prager convinced Mustaine to grant Huff even more control over the album's recording, a decision Mustaine later regretted.
"Risk", released in August 1999, was a critical and commercial failure and led to backlash from many longtime fans. Although its two predecessors incorporated rock elements alongside a more traditional heavy metal sound, "Risk" was virtually devoid of metal. About the band's musical direction, Dave Mustaine said: "We hit the nadir of our career with "Risk", and I vowed after that we were going to get back to our roots. It took a little bit of time to do that." Despite this, "Risk" was certified gold in the United States. The album's lead single, "Crush 'Em", appeared on the soundtrack for "" and was used as an entrance theme for NHL hockey games and professional wrestling events.
On July 14, 1999, former drummer Gar Samuelson died of liver failure at age 41 in Orange City, Florida. Three days later, during Megadeth's performance at Woodstock 1999, Mustaine dedicated "Peace Sells" to Samuelson's memory. That month, Megadeth also recorded a cover version of the Black Sabbath's "Never Say Die" for the second Nativity in Black tribute album. The band began a world tour in support of "Risk" in September, playing with Iron Maiden during the European leg. Three months into the tour, Friedman announced his resignation from Megadeth, citing musical differences. Mustaine later said: "I told [Marty] after "Risk" that we had to go back to our roots and play metal, and he quit." In January 2000, guitarist Al Pitrelli, formerly of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, became Friedman's replacement.
In April, Megadeth returned to the studio to work on its ninth studio album. A month into production, the band received an offer to join the Maximum Rock tour with Anthrax and Mötley Crüe. Megadeth put the recording on hold and toured North America during the second quarter of 2000. Early in the tour, Anthrax was removed from the bill, allowing Megadeth to play an extended co-headlining set. The tour, however, had poor ticket sales.
After 15 years with Capitol Records, Megadeth left the label in July 2000. According to Mustaine, the departure was due to ongoing tensions with Capitol management. Capitol returned the band's newest recordings and released a greatest hits album, "", with two new tracks: "Kill the King" and "Dread and the Fugitive Mind". In November, Megadeth signed with Sanctuary Records. The band returned to the studio in October to finish its next album, "The World Needs a Hero", which was near completion when Megadeth joined the Maximum Rock tour six months earlier. Following the negative response to "Risk", Mustaine fired Bud Prager and produced the album himself. The songs were written by Mustaine alone, except for "Promises", which had contributions from Pitrelli. Two days before the release of "The World Needs a Hero", Megadeth appeared in an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" showcasing Mustaine, Ellefson, several past members, and Mustaine's old Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
"The World Needs a Hero" was released in May 2001 and debuted at number sixteen on the "Billboard" 200. It was banned in Malaysia when the national government determined that the album's artwork was "unsuitable for the nation's youth". Consequently, the band canceled its concert of August 2 in Kuala Lumpur. The album marked Megadeth's return to a more aggressive sound after the stylistic variations of its previous two albums, but critics felt it fell short of expectations. Mustaine compared the album to a huge ship at sea, turning and trying to right itself to get back on course. Its lead single, "Moto Psycho", reached number 22 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
A European tour with AC/DC in support of "The World Needs a Hero" began in mid-2001, followed by an American tour with Iced Earth and Endo in September. Mustaine allowed fans to choose the setlist in each American city. However, the tour was cut short following the September 11 attacks; all dates were canceled, including a DVD shoot in Argentina. The band instead played two shows in Arizona on November 16 and 17, which were filmed and released as Megadeth's first live release, "Rude Awakening". That year, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" was remixed and remastered; the reissue featured modified artwork and several bonus tracks.
In January 2002, Mustaine was hospitalized for the removal of a kidney stone and was administered pain medication that triggered a relapse of his drug addiction. Following his stay, Mustaine checked himself into a treatment center in Texas. While there, Mustaine fell asleep with his left arm over the back of a chair, causing compression of the radial nerve. He was subsequently diagnosed with radial neuropathy, which left him unable to grasp or make a fist with his left hand.
On April 3, Mustaine announced in a press release that he was disbanding Megadeth, as his arm injury rendered him unable to play guitar. For the next four months, he had physical therapy five days a week, and slowly began to "re-teach" his left hand. To fulfill contract obligations to Sanctuary, Megadeth released the compilation album "Still Alive... and Well?". The first half of the album contains live tracks recorded at the Web Theatre in Phoenix, and the second half has studio recordings from "The World Needs a Hero".
Following nearly a year of recovery, including physical and electroshock therapy, Mustaine began work on what was to have been his first solo album. The new material was recorded with session musicians Vinnie Colaiuta and Jimmie Lee Sloas in October 2003. The project was put on hold when Mustaine agreed to remix and remaster Megadeth's eight-album back catalog on Capitol Records, re-recording portions that were missing or altered without his knowledge in the original mixing.
In May 2004, Mustaine returned to his solo project. Contractual obligations to the band's European label, EMI, resulted in the recording's release as a Megadeth album. Mustaine reformed the band and contacted the fan-favorite "Rust in Peace" lineup to re-record backing tracks. While drummer Nick Menza agreed to return, both Marty Friedman and David Ellefson were unable to come to an agreement with Mustaine. Menza was sent home shortly after rehearsals began, a few days before the start of a tour supporting Megadeth's upcoming album. Mustaine said Menza was insufficiently prepared for the physical demands of a US tour, and "it just didn't work out". This was the first album without Ellefson. Chris Poland, who played lead guitar on Megadeth's first two albums, was hired to contribute guitar solos to the new album, working with Mustaine for the first time since the 1980s. Poland opted to serve only as a session musician, wanting to remain focused on his jazz fusion project OHM.
"The System Has Failed" was released in September 2004. Critics heralded it as a return to form; "Revolver" gave the album a favorable review, calling it "Megadeth's most vengeful, poignant and musically complex offering since 1992's "Countdown to Extinction"". The album marked a shift toward the band's earlier sound; journalist Amy Sciarretto of "CMJ New Music Report" wrote that the album contained "neo-thrash riffing with biting, politically charged lyrics". "The System Has Failed" debuted at number eighteen on the "Billboard" 200 and was led by "Die Dead Enough", which reached number 21 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Mustaine announced that the album would be the band's last and would be followed by a farewell tour, after which he would focus on a solo career.
Megadeth began the Blackmail the Universe world tour in October, enlisting touring bassist James MacDonough of Iced Earth and guitarist Glen Drover of Eidolon and King Diamond. Five days before the first show, Menza was replaced by Shawn Drover, who remained with the band as a regular member. The band toured the US with Exodus and Europe with Diamond Head and Dungeon. In June 2005, Capitol released a greatest-hits compilation, "", featuring remixed and remastered versions of songs chosen by fans from Megadeth's Capitol albums.
In mid-2005, Mustaine organized an annual thrash metal festival tour, Gigantour. Megadeth headlined the inaugural tour with acts such as Dream Theater, Nevermore, Anthrax, and Fear Factory. Performances at the Montreal and Vancouver shows were filmed and recorded for a live DVD-and-CD set released in the second quarter of 2006. On October 9, following the successes of "The System Has Failed" and the Blackmail the Universe world tour, Mustaine announced to a sold-out crowd at the Pepsi Music Rock Festival in Argentina that Megadeth would continue to record and tour. The concert, held at Obras Sanitarias stadium in Buenos Aires in front of 25,000 fans, was filmed and released on DVD as "" in 2007.
In February 2006, bassist James MacDonough left the band over "personal differences". He was replaced by James LoMenzo, who had worked with David Lee Roth, White Lion, and Black Label Society. The new Megadeth lineup made its live debut headlining the Dubai Desert Rock Festival in the United Arab Emirates with Testament. In March, Capitol released a two-disc DVD, "Arsenal of Megadeth", which included archive footage, interviews, live shows, and many of the band's music videos. Due to licensing issues, soundtrack and non-Capitol videos were not included. The second Gigantour began during the third quarter of 2006; Megadeth again headlined, this time with Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy and Overkill. The 2006 tour included three dates in Australia, supported by Soulfly, Arch Enemy, and Caliban.
In May 2006, Megadeth announced that its eleventh studio album, "United Abominations", was near completion. Originally scheduled for release in October, Mustaine said that the band was "putting the finishing touches on it" and postponed its release to May of the following year. He commented on the release: "Metal needs a really good old-school record again. I believe I have delivered." "United Abominations" was the band's first album to feature Glen Drover, Shawn Drover, and James Lomenzo. It also has a newer version of "À Tout le Monde" entitled "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)". The 2007 version is a duet with Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil; it was recorded at a slightly faster tempo than the original and contains an extended solo.
Released in May 2007, "United Abominations" debuted at number eight on the "Billboard" 200, selling 54,000 copies in the first week. In March, Megadeth began a North American tour opening for the newly reformed Heaven & Hell. The band played with Down for Canadian shows and with Machine Head for the US dates. A European summer festival tour followed. Late in the year, Megadeth returned to the United States to headline its Tour of Duty. In November, the band brought Gigantour to Australia with a lineup including Static-X, DevilDriver and Lacuna Coil.
In January 2008, Glen Drover quit Megadeth, stating that he was tired of the frequent touring and wanted to spend more time with his family. He also cited personal issues with other band members. Drover was replaced by Chris Broderick, formerly of Nevermore and Jag Panzer. Broderick was initially asked by Mustaine's management company at the end of 2007 if he would be interested in auditioning for Megadeth. After an informal meeting at Mustaine's house, Broderick was introduced as the band's new guitarist. Mustaine complimented Broderick's playing skills and called him "the best guitarist Megadeth has ever had". Broderick's former Nevermore bandmate, Van Williams, congratulated Megadeth on "getting one hell of a good player, more importantly they're getting a great guy to hang out with and a true friend".
The new lineup made its live debut at the Helsinki Ice Hall on February 4. The 2008 Gigantour, with 29 North American dates, began shortly afterwards. Mustaine wanted a shorter lineup, allowing each band a chance to perform well. The third tour featured In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy and High on Fire. Megadeth continued the Tour of Duty in South America and Mexico in May and June. A compilation album, "", was released in September 2008.
In February 2009, Megadeth and Testament were scheduled on the European "Priest Feast" tour, with Judas Priest as headliners. At this time, Metallica, who had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, invited Mustaine to attend the ceremony. Mustaine was informed that he would not be inducted to the Hall of Fame because such honors were granted only to those members who received recording credit on a Metallica album. Mustaine congratulated the group respectfully, and honored his commitment to the European tour with Judas Priest. In April, Megadeth and Slayer co-headlined the Canadian Carnage. This was the first time they had performed together in more than 15 years. Machine Head and Suicide Silence opened for the four shows that occurred later in June.
In May, Megadeth finished recording its twelfth album, "Endgame". The release date for "Endgame" was announced on the Megadeth official website, and "Metal Hammer" was the first to review the album track-by-track. Megadeth began its Endgame tour in October, and finished it in December. The tour featured a number of supporting acts, including Machine Head, Suicide Silence, and Warbringer. In January 2010, Megadeth was set to embark on the American Carnage tour with Slayer and Testament, but the tour was postponed due to Tom Araya's back surgery. Several weeks later, Megadeth's "Head Crusher" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards, the band's eighth Grammy nomination in 19 years.
In March, Megadeth embarked on the Rust in Peace 20th Anniversary Tour, which took place in North America and had support from Testament and Exodus. During the tour, Megadeth played "Rust in Peace" in its entirety. Prior to the start of the tour, original bassist Ellefson rejoined Megadeth after eight years. In an interview for "Classic Rock", he stated that Shawn Drover contacted him, informing him that bassist LoMenzo was leaving the band, saying "if ever there was a time for you and Dave [Mustaine] to talk, now is it".
Megadeth, along with Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, collectively known as the "big four" of thrash metal, agreed to perform on the same bill during mid-2010. These performances were part of the Sonisphere Festival and were held in a number of European countries. One such performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, was filmed and released as a video album entitled "". These shows continued the following year in the United States. The first took place in Indio, California, and was the only scheduled show in the United States at the time, although a second American production was held at Yankee Stadium in New York City shortly afterwards.
In July 2010, after the European "big four" shows, Megadeth and Slayer commenced the first leg of the American Carnage Tour, where Megadeth played "Rust in Peace" in its entirety, while Slayer performed its album "Seasons in the Abyss", both of which were released in 1990. From these shows onward, Vic Rattlehead started making sustained onstage appearances, to improve the visual facet of Megadeth's live performances. Shortly afterward, the two bands united with Anthrax for the Jägermeister Music Tour in late 2010. During the final show of the tour, Kerry King joined Megadeth on stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Hollywood to perform Megadeth's "Rattlehead". It was the first time that King had performed onstage with Megadeth as the latter's early shows in 1984. Megadeth and Slayer again shared the stage for the European Carnage Tour in March and April 2011. Megadeth also headlined the fourth annual Rockstar Mayhem Festival in July and August the same year.
In September, the band released the DVD album "Rust in Peace Live", recorded at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Later that month, Megadeth released "Sudden Death" for the video game "". The song was commissioned by the publishers of the Guitar Hero franchise, who wanted the track to feature dark lyrics and multiple guitar solos. It was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2011 Grammy ceremony.
Megadeth returned to its own Vic's Garage studio to record its thirteenth album, to be produced by Johnny K, because Andy Sneap, the producer of Megadeth's previous two albums, was unavailable. The album was titled "Thirteen" and featured previously released tracks such as "Sudden Death" and "Never Dead". The album was released in November 2011, and charted at number eleven on the "Billboard" 200; its lead single "Public Enemy No. 1" received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, but did not win. Shortly after the album was released, Dave Mustaine stated that, after a four-year hiatus, there would be a new Gigantour tour in early 2012. The lineup consisted of Motörhead, Volbeat, and Lacuna Coil alongside Megadeth. After the conclusion of Gigantour, Rob Zombie and Megadeth embarked on a nine-date co-headlining US tour in the summer of 2012.
In September 2012, it was announced that Megadeth would re-release "Countdown to Extinction" in honor of the album's 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Megadeth launched a tour in which the band performed the album live in its entirety. One performance, filmed at the Pomona Fox Theater, was released as a live album, "," the following year. Another track from "Thirteen", "Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)", was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2013 Grammy Awards, but lost to Halestorm's "Love Bites (So Do I)".
In August, Megadeth announced the recording of its fourteenth album with producer Johnny K. At the start of 2013, Megadeth left Roadrunner Records for Mustaine's newly founded label, Tradecraft, distributed through Universal Music Group. The album, "Super Collider", was released in June and debuted at number six on the "Billboard" 200, the band's highest chart position since 1994's "Youthanasia". Critical reaction to the album, however, was largely negative. Shortly after the release of "Super Collider", Mustaine stated that he had already started thinking about a fifteenth Megadeth album. He said this had been spurred by the death of Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, which gave him a sense of mortality. Mustaine elaborated: "You know, time is short. Nobody knows how long they're gonna live. You see what happened with Jeff Hanneman, so I wanna write as much as I can while I can."
The 2013 edition of Gigantour featured Black Label Society, Hellyeah, Device, and Newsted as opening bands. At the final show, Jason Newsted, Metallica's former bassist, joined Megadeth onstage to perform "Phantom Lord", a song Mustaine had co-written during his stint with Metallica. Early in 2014, Megadeth was slated to play the Soundwave festival in Australia, but pulled out over a disagreement with tour promoter A. J. Maddah concerning the band's sideshows with Newsted. "Icon", an eleven-song compilation of Megadeth's Capitol-era material, was released as part of Universal Music's Icon series in February.
The band encountered several setbacks through the second half of 2014. The August concert in Tel Aviv was canceled due to an armed conflict between Israel and Gaza. Megadeth was scheduled to appear on Motörhead's Motörboat cruise in late September, but withdrew because of Mustaine's complications following his cervical spine surgery. In late November, Drover quit the band after ten years, wanting to pursue his own musical interests. This was quickly followed by the departure of Broderick, due to artistic and musical differences. Ellefson denied rumors that Megadeth would disband, and said he and Mustaine would continue working on new music. Mustaine said that one of the reasons for Broderick's and Drover's departure was the frustration caused by Megadeth's fan base demanding a reunion with Friedman and Menza. Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler and guitarist Kiko Loureiro of Angra were brought in to perform on Megadeth's fifteenth studio album.
In October 2015, Megadeth streamed "Fatal Illusion" off the album "Dystopia", which was released in January 2016. In support of "Dystopia", Megadeth embarked on a North American tour in February and March with Suicidal Tendencies, Children of Bodom and Havok (though Havok was soon removed from the tour by Megadeth's management following a dispute over a contract). Mustaine announced that Adler, who was performing with both Lamb of God and Megadeth, was no longer in the band due to scheduling conflicts between the two bands. He was replaced by Dirk Verbeuren from Soilwork, on Adler's recommendation. A second US tour took place in September and October, with support from Amon Amarth, Suicidal Tendencies, Metal Church, and Butcher Babies.
Former drummer Menza died of a heart attack on May 21, 2016, while performing with OHM at a jazz club in Los Angeles.
Asked about any further Big Four gigs, Mustaine called for "the powers-that-be" to help put together a new Big Four tour in 2017 as all the respective bands were promoting new albums. "Dystopia"'s title track won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 2017 Grammy Awards, the band's first win after 12 nominations. Mustaine, Loureiro, Ellefson, and Verbeuren attended the ceremony; however, album drummer and award recipient Chris Adler did not. While accepting the award, the house band played Mustaine's former band Metallica's "Master of Puppets" causing some controversy among fans.
The band joined with Scorpions for a co-headlining tour in the fall of 2017.
In June 2017 interview with No Brown M&Ms, Mustaine said that Megadeth would enter the studio at the end of the year to begin working on their sixteenth studio album. He explained, "We plan on going back in the studio, we're probably gonna go back in and start throwing some ideas around at the end of the year. We're thinking about November or December." A month later, Mustaine stated on Twitter that he has begun "collecting ideas" for the new Megadeth album, but stated that they would "probably" enter the studio in mid-2018 to begin recording it for a 2019 release.
On April 6, 2018, the band announced a re-issue of "Killing Is My Business... And Business is Good!" containing remastered versions of all songs and a re-cut version of "These Boots" being lyrically adjusted to Hazlewood's version, bonus discs also included rare live performances of songs off the album during Alice Cooper's Live in the Flesh Tour. The re-issued album, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! – The Final Kill", was released on June 8, 2018.
On September 25, 2018, Megadeth announced that they had launched its first-ever cruise called MegaCruise, which was set to take place in the Pacific Ocean in 2019. Two weeks later, it was announced that MegaCruise was due to sail on October 13, 2019 from Los Angeles and hit ports of San Diego and Ensenada before returning on October 18, and would include performances by heavy metal acts such as Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, Corrosion of Conformity, Queensrÿche, Armored Saint, Metal Church, Suicidal Tendencies, DragonForce, Doro, John 5, Sacred Reich, Death Angel and Toothgrinder. Mustaine was not present at MegaCruise, due to his illness, nor did Megadeth perform at the event.
On November 6, 2018, Mustaine shared a video on his Instagram teasing a track from the band's sixteenth album, which was originally set for release in 2019. Megadeth announced on May 10, 2019 that they had entered a studio in Franklin, Tennessee to begin pre-production of the album, once again teaming up with "Dystopia" co-producer Chris Rakestraw.
On June 17, 2019, it was announced that several of Megadeth's shows of that year (with the exception of MegaCruise) would be cancelled due to Mustaine being diagnosed with throat cancer; of all the cancelled dates, the band was supposed to support Ozzy Osbourne on the North American leg of the latter's No More Tours II, which had been postponed from the summer of 2019 to the next year, and Megadeth was replaced by Marilyn Manson. Despite Mustaine's illness, the band vowed to continue working on their new album.
On July 17, 2019, Megadeth announced their partnership with Gimme Radio and Richard Childress Racing on the No. 2 Gimme Radio Chevrolet Camaro, to be driven by Xfinity Series driver Tyler Reddick at the New Hampshire 200 on July 20.
On August 21, 2019, it was announced that Megadeth would embark on their first tour since Mustaine's illness in January and February 2020, supporting Five Finger Death Punch on the latter's European tour.
Mustaine has made numerous inflammatory statements in the press, usually regarding issues with former Metallica bandmates. The feud stemmed from his ejection from the band, how it was conducted, and disagreements on songwriting credits. Mustaine expressed his anger in the movie "", in a scene he later disapproved of as he felt he was mischaracterized, and that it did not represent the full extent of what happened during the meeting.
During a live performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." at a 1988 show in Antrim, Northern Ireland, Mustaine drunkenly and confusedly dedicated the song to "the cause" of "giving Ireland back to the Irish!" Before the final song, Mustaine said, "This one's for the cause! Give Ireland back to the Irish!" This elicited a riot and fighting between Catholics and Protestants among the audience. The band had to travel in a bulletproof bus back to Dublin. Mustaine later said that he had been misled by T-shirt bootleggers about the meaning of the expression "the cause". This incident served as inspiration for the song "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".
Controversial and misinterpreted lyrics have caused complications for the band. In 1988, MTV deemed that the song "In My Darkest Hour" encouraged suicide and banned the video. The station banned the video for "A Tout le Monde" for the same reason, though Mustaine said the song was written from the perspective of a dying man saying his last words to his loved ones. According to him, MTV considered the videos for "Skin o' My Teeth" and "Symphony of Destruction" a "little bit too harsh" and refused to play them.
During a world tour in 2001, the Malaysian government canceled the band's show in the nation's capital because the authorities had a negative perception of the group's image and music. The government pointed the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead as inappropriate and told the members that they would be arrested if they performed. Dave Mustaine responded: "I recognize what the Malaysian government is trying to do, and it is admirable of them trying to protect the young people in the country. But it just shows the degree of ignorance and apathy that the government has toward the problem."
In 2003, after recovering from an arm injury that threatened to end his career, Mustaine became a born-again Christian. Minor controversy was sparked by Mustaine's announcement that Megadeth would not play certain songs live due to his conversion. In May 2005, Mustaine allegedly threatened to cancel shows in Greece and Israel with extreme metal bands Rotting Christ and Dissection due to the bands' anti-Christian beliefs. This caused the two bands to cancel appearances.
In July 2004, Ellefson sued Mustaine for $18.5 million in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ellefson alleged that Mustaine short-changed him on profits including tour merchandise and publishing royalties. The suit was dismissed in 2005, and Mustaine filed a countersuit alleging that Ellefson had used the band's name in an advertisement for musical equipment; the suit was settled out of court.
During the first term of the Presidency of Barack Obama, Mustaine joined the Birther Movement in alleging that Obama wasn't born in the United States, and thus couldn't be president. Mustaine has yet to retract this statement.
Traditional heavy metal bands such as UFO, Black Sabbath, Budgie, new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands such as Judas Priest, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, and Venom, and punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols and Ramones had a significant influence on Megadeth's sound. Hard rock bands such as AC/DC, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Scorpions were also influential on the group's guitar style. Although the music has roots in punk, university professor Jason Bivins wrote that Megadeth followed the basic blueprint of Motörhead and Iron Maiden. He described the style as a mix of "the instrumental virtuosity of the NWOBHM with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk", while also drawing lyrical inspiration from the horror-obsessed punk band Misfits. Mustaine has also listed albums by the Beatles and David Bowie as recordings that influenced him.
Mustaine is the band's primary songwriter. He develops songs starting with a particular riff that, with modifications, becomes the central part of the song. He has said that song fragments are composed separately, and then the band makes a compact structure from them. Drummer Shawn Drover stated that Mustaine had saved many riffs over the years and that some recent material is based on those demo recordings. Ellefson stated that the band constantly creates new material, and that making a recording begins with exchanging ideas after which the band enters the studio and discusses the concept, direction, artwork, and song titles. The lyrics are usually written after the music is arranged. Discussing the band's lyrics, Mustaine said that many of the themes are derived from literature, such as the novels of George Orwell.
The music of Megadeth and its underground metal contemporaries from the 1980s featured harsh vocals, double bass drum patterns, staccato riffing, power chords, tremolo picking, and screeching lead guitar work; albums from this period were produced on low budgets. After forming Megadeth, Mustaine followed the thrash metal style of his previous band, Metallica, with more emphasis on speed and intensity. Megadeth's music is characterized by its neat instrumental performance, featuring fast rhythm sections, complex arrangements, and snarling vocals. When asked to describe Megadeth's guitar style, Mustaine answered: "When you go to a show and see a guitar player who just stands there, that's a guitar player. A thrash guitar player is a guy who plays like he wants to beat the guitar's guts out." Most of the songs are recorded in standard guitar tuning as Mustaine believes it to provide a superior melody to alternative methods of tuning.
In 2017, David Ellefson talked in an interview about how the band recently started to use a lower tuning saying: "it's just natural with age, for singers it can be a struggle, so rather than quit, than not play, how do you work it around? Well, let's drop the guitars, let's find a way to work around it."
During the band's early days, Mustaine was the rhythm guitarist, while Chris Poland played lead. Although Poland performed only on Megadeth's first two albums, music journalists Pete Prown and Harvey P. Newquist credit him with making the music more colorful because of his jazz influences. According to former "Metal Maniacs" editor Jeff Wagner, the band's songwriting techniques peaked with the fourth album, "Rust in Peace", which he described as a "flurry of precision and fluidity, making good on Megadeth's claim to being the world's state-of-the-art speed metal band". Musicologist Glenn Pillsbury stated the guitar work on the album was a mixture of Mustaine's "controlled chaos" and the "technical brilliance" of Marty Friedman. Studio efforts released in the mid- and late 1990s featured songs with compact structures and less complicated riffing.
Megadeth's lyrics often focus on death, war, politics, and religion. The lyricism centers on nihilistic themes, but occasionally deals with topics such as alienation and social problems. The earliest releases featured themes such as occultism, graphic violence, and Satanism. Nuclear warfare and government conspiracy were preoccupations on albums such as "Rust in Peace" and "Countdown to Extinction". During Megadeth's commercial peak, Mustaine elaborated on more personal themes such as addiction and intimate relationships. For the lyrics on "Cryptic Writings", Mustaine said that he wanted to write songs that had more appeal to a wider audience. The title of "United Abominations" is a satiric play on the name of the United Nations; Mustaine criticized the organization's ineffectiveness on a number of songs on that album. Later albums contained lyrics in a similar vein.
Having sold about 38 million units worldwide, Megadeth is one of the few bands from the 1980s American underground metal scene to have achieved mass commercial success. Along with contemporaries Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, Megadeth is regarded as one of the core founding groups of thrash metal. These bands are often referred to as the "big four" of thrash metal, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. "Loudwire" ranked Megadeth the third best thrash metal band of all time, praising the group's "provoking lyrics and mind-warping virtuosity". "CMJ New Music Report" called the band's debut album a seminal release and a representative of "the golden age of speed metal". Billboard called the band's second album "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?" a "landmark of the thrash movement" whose lyrics it found still relevant. MTV also recognized the band as an influential metal act, highlighting the technical aspect of the early albums.
Megadeth is considered one of the most musically influential groups that originated in the 1980s. As part of the early American thrash metal movement, the band's music was a direct influence on death metal. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris wrote that the mainstream success of Megadeth was one of the reasons for the expansion of extreme metal to countries where it had previously been unknown. The band's sound and album artwork influenced a number of thrash metal bands in the 21st century, including Toxic Holocaust and Warbringer. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Megadeth has sold 9.2 million copies of its albums in the United States between 1991 and 2014.
Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards:
Clio Awards:
Genesis Awards:
Grammy Awards:
"Loudwire" Music Awards:
"Metal Hammer" Golden Gods Awards:
"Revolver" Golden Gods Awards: | en.wikipedia.org | Megadeth | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20653 |
20659 | MV Blue Marlin
Blue Marlin and her sister ship comprise the "Marlin" class of semi-submersible heavy lift ships operated by Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands. Designed to transport very large semi-submersible drilling rigs above the transport ship's deck, it is equipped with 38 cabins to accommodate 60 people, a workout room, sauna and swimming facilities, and a secure citadel for protection against pirate attacks.
"Blue Marlin" and its sister ship were owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway, from their construction, in April 2000 and November 1999 respectively, until 6 July 2001, when they were purchased by Dockwise. The U.S. Navy hired "Blue Marlin" from Offshore Heavy Transport to move the destroyer back to the United States after the warship was damaged by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers while anchored in the port of Aden, Yemen. During the latter part of 2003, work done on "Blue Marlin" boosted its capacity and added two retractable propulsors to improve maneuverability. The ship re-entered service in January 2004. Following these improvements, "Blue Marlin" delivered the oil platform "Thunder Horse PDQ", weighing 60,000 tons, to Corpus Christi, Texas, for completion.
In July 2005 "Blue Marlin" moved the gas refinery Snøhvit from its construction site in Cádiz to Hammerfest, an 11-day trip. This transport was filmed for the TV show "Extreme Engineering" on the Discovery Channel, and also the TV show "Mega Movers" on the "History Channel".
In November 2005, "Blue Marlin" left Corpus Christi to move the massive Sea-based X-band Radar to Adak, Alaska, USA via the southern tip of South America and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It arrived at Pearl Harbor on 9 January 2006, having travelled 15,000 miles. In January 2007, the Blue Marlin was employed to move two jack-up rigs, the "Rowan Gorilla VI" and the GlobalSantaFe "Galaxy II", from Halifax Harbour to the North Sea.
On 16 June 2012, the ship arrived in Ferrol Harbour in preparation for transporting the incomplete amphibious warship to Melbourne. The Australian ship was lifted onto "Blue Marlin" on 4 August 2012 and was scheduled to sail on 12 August, bound for Australia BAE Systems shipyard in Williamstown. The ship passed the Port Phillip Heads and arrived at Melbourne on 17 October 2012.
In May 2019 "Blue Marlin" was briefly hijacked off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. The crew took shelter in the ship’s citadel while pirates shot up the bridge in frustration and fled before the arrival of the Equatorial Guinean and Spanish navies. | en.wikipedia.org | MV Blue Marlin | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20659 |
20663 | Modified Mercalli intensity scale
The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM or MMI), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the "intensity of shaking" produced by an earthquake. It measures the "effects" of an earthquake "at a given location", distinguished from the earthquake's inherent "force" or "strength" as measured by seismic magnitude scales (such as the "" magnitude usually reported for an earthquake). While shaking is caused by the seismic energy released by an earthquake, earthquakes differ in how much of their energy is radiated as seismic waves. Deeper earthquakes also have less interaction with the surface, and their energy is spread out across a larger area. Shaking intensity is localized, generally diminishing with distance from the earthquake's epicenter, but can be amplified in sedimentary basins and certain kinds of unconsolidated soils.
Intensity scales empirically categorize the intensity of shaking based on the effects reported by untrained observers and are adapted for the effects that might be observed in a particular region. By not requiring instrumental measurements, they are useful for estimating the magnitude and location of historical (pre-instrumental) earthquakes: the greatest intensities generally correspond to the epicentral area, and their degree and extent (possibly augmented by knowledge of local geological conditions) can be compared with other local earthquakes to estimate the magnitude.
The Italian volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli formulated his first intensity scale in 1883. It had six degrees or categories, has been described as "merely an adaptation" of the then standard Rossi–Forel scale of ten degrees, and is now "more or less forgotten". Mercalli's second scale, published in 1902, was also an adaptation of the Rossi–Forel scale, retaining the ten degrees and expanding the descriptions of each degree. This version "found favour with the users", and was adopted by the Italian Central Office of Meteorology and Geodynamics.
In 1904, Adolfo Cancani proposed adding two additional degrees for very strong earthquakes, "catastrophe" and "enormous catastrophe", thus creating a 12-degree scale. His descriptions being deficient, August Heinrich Sieberg augmented them during 1912 and 1923, and indicated a peak ground acceleration (PGA) for each degree. This became known as the "Mercalli–Cancani scale, formulated by Sieberg", or the "Mercalli–Cancani–Sieberg scale", or simply "MCS", and used extensively in Europe.
When Harry O. Wood and Frank Neumann translated this into English in 1931 (along with modification and condensation of the descriptions, and removal of the acceleration criteria); they named it the "Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale of 1931" (MM31). Some seismologists refer to this version the "Wood–Neumann scale". Wood and Neumann also had an abridged version, with fewer criteria for assessing the degree of intensity.
The Wood–Neumann scale was revised in 1956 by Charles Francis Richter and published in his influential textbook "Elementary Seismology". Not wanting to have this intensity scale confused with the Richter magnitude scale he had developed, he proposed calling it the "Modified Mercalli scale of 1956" (MM56).
In their 1993 compendium of historical seismicity in the United States, Carl Stover and Jerry Coffman ignored Richter's revision, and assigned intensities according to their slightly modified interpretation of Wood and Neumann's 1931 scale, effectively creating a new but largely undocumented version of the scale.
The basis by which the U.S. Geological Survey (and other agencies) assigns intensities is nominally Wood and Neumann's "Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale of 1931". However, this is generally interpreted with the modifications summarized by Stover and Coffman because in the decades since 1931 it has been found that "some criteria are more reliable than others as indicators of the level of ground shaking". Also, construction codes and methods have evolved, making much of built environment stronger; these make a given intensity of ground shaking seem weaker. And it is now recognized that some of the original criteria of the most intense degrees (X and above), such as bent rails, ground fissures, landslides, etc., are "related less to the level of ground shaking than to the presence of ground conditions susceptible to spectacular failure".
The categories "catastrophe" and "enormous catastrophe" added by Cancani (XI and XII) are used so infrequently that current USGS practice is merge them into a single category "Extreme" abbreviated as "X+".
The lesser degrees of the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale generally describe the manner in which the earthquake is felt by people. The greater numbers of the scale are based on observed structural damage.
This table gives Modified Mercalli scale intensities that are typically observed at locations near the epicenter of the earthquake.
The correlation between magnitude and intensity is far from total, depending upon several factors including the depth of the hypocenter, terrain, distance from the epicenter. For example, a 4.5 magnitude quake in Salta, Argentina, in 2011, that was 164 km deep had a maximum intensity of I, while a 2.2 magnitude event in Barrow in Furness, England, in 1865, about 1 km deep had a maximum intensity of VIII.
The small table is a rough guide to the degrees of the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. The colors and descriptive names shown here differ from those used on certain shake maps in other articles.
Dozens of so-called intensity prediction equations have been published to estimate the macroseismic intensity at a location given the magnitude, source-to-site distance and, perhaps, other parameters (e.g. local site conditions). These are similar to ground motion prediction equations for the estimation of instrumental strong-motion parameters such as peak ground acceleration. A summary of intensity prediction equations is available. Such equations can be used to estimate the seismic hazard in terms of macroseismic intensity, which has the advantage of being related more closely to seismic risk than instrumental strong-motion parameters.
The Mercalli scale is not defined in terms of more rigorous, objectively quantifiable measurements such as shake amplitude, shake frequency, peak velocity, or peak acceleration. Human-perceived shaking and building damages are best correlated with peak acceleration for lower-intensity events, and with peak velocity for higher-intensity events.
The effects of any one earthquake can vary greatly from place to place, so there may be many Mercalli intensity values measured for the same earthquake. These values can be displayed best using a contoured map of equal intensity, known as an isoseismal map. However, each earthquake has only one magnitude. | en.wikipedia.org | Modified Mercalli intensity scale | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20663 |
20664 | The Mickey Mouse Club
The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show which aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised for four seasons, from 1955 to 1959, by ABC. This original run featured a regular but ever-changing cast of mostly teen performers. ABC broadcast reruns weekday afternoons during the 1958–1959 season, airing right after "American Bandstand". The show was revived three times after its initial 1955–1959 run on ABC, first from 1977 to 1979 for first-run syndication as The New Mickey Mouse Club, then from 1989 to 1996 as The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (also known to fans as MMC from 1993 to 1996) airing exclusively on cable television's The Disney Channel, and again in 2017 with the moniker Club Mickey Mouse airing exclusively on internet social media. It ended in 2018.
The character of Mickey Mouse appeared in every show, not only in vintage cartoons originally made for theatrical release, but also in the opening, interstitial, and closing segments made especially for the show. In both the vintage cartoons and new animated segments, Mickey was voiced by his creator Walt Disney. (Disney had previously voiced the character theatrically from 1928 to 1947 before being replaced by sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.)
The first official theater-based Mickey Mouse Club began on January 11, 1930, at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California, with 60 theaters hosting clubs by March 31. The Club released its first issue of the "Official Bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club" on April 15, 1930. By 1932, the club had 1 million members, and in 1933 its first British club opened at Darlington’s Arcade Cinema. In 1935, Disney began to phase out the club.
"The Mickey Mouse Club" was hosted by Jimmie Dodd, a songwriter and the Head Mouseketeer, who provided leadership both on and off the screen. In addition to his other contributions, he often provided short segments which encouraged young viewers to make the right moral choices. These little homilies became known as "Doddisms". Roy Williams, a staff artist at Disney, also appeared in the show as the Big Mouseketeer. Roy suggested that the Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears should be worn by the show's cast members, which he helped create, along with Chuck Keehne, Hal Adelquist, and Bill Walsh.
The main cast members were called Mouseketeers, and they performed in a variety of musical and dance numbers, as well as some informational segments. The most popular of the Mouseketeers constituted the so-called Red Team, which was kept under contract for the entire run of the show (1955–1959), and its members included:
Other Mouseketeers who were Red Team members but did not star on the show for all three seasons included:
The remaining Mouseketeers, who were members of the White or Blue Teams, were Don Agrati (who was later known as Don Grady when he starred as "Robbie" on the longest-running sitcom "My Three Sons"), Sherry Alberoni, Billie Jean Beanblossom, Eileen Diamond, Dickie Dodd (not related to Jimmie Dodd), Mary Espinosa, Bonnie Lynn Fields, Judy Harriet, Linda Hughes, Dallas Johann, John Lee Johann, Bonni Lou Kern, Charlie Laney, Larry Larsen, Paul Petersen, Lynn Ready, Mickey Rooney Jr., Tim Rooney, Mary Sartori, Bronson Scott, Margene Storey, Ronnie Steiner, and Mark Sutherland. Larry Larsen, on only for the 1956–57 season, was the oldest Mouseketeer, being born in 1939, and Bronson Scott, on only the 1955–56 season, was the youngest Mouseketeer, being born in July 1947. Among the thousands who auditioned but did not make the cut were future Oscar-winning vocalist/songwriter Paul Williams and future Primetime Emmy Award-winning actress Candice Bergen.
The 39 Mouseketeers and the seasons in which they were featured (with the team color which they belonged to are listed for each season):
Notes: Cole and Day were originally Blue Team members, but were drafted to the Red Team later in the first season.
Johann, Petersen, and the Rooney brothers were all left early in the first season. Dallas' brother John Lee replaced him, while Dodd and Steiner were hired as replacements for the Rooney brothers.
For the show's fourth season, only a small amount of new footage was filmed and was interspliced with material from previous seasons. It is believed that only six of the Mouseketeers— Funicello, Gillespie, Tracey, Burgess, Pendleton, and O'Brien— were called back for the filming of new material, while Cole and Baird were merely used for some publicity material.
Other notable non-Mouseketeer performers appeared in several dramatic segments:
These non-Mouseketeers primarily appeared in several original serials filmed for the series, only some of which have appeared in reruns. Other Mouseketeers were also featured in some of the serials, particularly Annette Funicello and Darlene Gillespie.
Major serials included:
The opening theme, "The Mickey Mouse March", was written by the show's primary adult host, Jimmie Dodd. It was also reprised at the end of each episode, with the slower "it's-time-to-say-goodbye" verse. A shorter version of the opening title was used later in the series, in syndication, and on Disney Channel reruns. Dodd also wrote many other songs used in individual segments throughout the series.
Each day of the week had a special show theme, which was reflected in the several segments. The themes were:
The series ran on ABC Television for an hour each weekday in the 1955–1956 and 1956–1957 seasons (from 5:00 to 6:00 pm ET), and only a half-hour weekdays (5:30 to 6:00 pm ET) in 1957–1958, the final season to feature new programming. Although the show returned for the 1958–1959 season (5:30 to 6:00 pm ET), these programs were repeats from the first two seasons, recut into a half-hour format. "The Mickey Mouse Club" was featured on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and "Walt Disney's Adventure Time", featuring reruns of "The Mickey Mouse Club" serials and several re-edited segments from "Disneyland" and "Walt Disney Presents", appeared on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Although the show remained popular, ABC decided to cancel it after its fourth season ended, because Disney and the ABC network could not come to terms for its renewal. The cancellation of the show in September 1959 was attributed to several factors: the Disney studios did not realize high-profit margins from merchandise sales, the sponsors were uninterested in educational programming for children, and many commercials were needed to pay for the show. After canceling "The Mickey Mouse Club", ABC also refused to let Disney air the show on another network. Walt Disney filed a lawsuit against ABC, and won the damages in a settlement; however, he had to agree that both the "Mickey Mouse Club" and "Zorro" could not be aired on any major network. This left "Walt Disney Presents" (initially titled "Disneyland", later retitled the "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" when it moved to NBC) as the only Disney series which was left on prime time until 1972 when "The Mouse Factory" went on the air. The prohibition which prevented major American broadcast networks from playing the original "Mickey Mouse Club" (or any later version of it) was disputed when Disney acquired ABC in 1996. Although it would not air on ABC again, Disney ran it on the Disney Channel's "Vault Disney" block from 1998-2002.
Although the series had been ended in the United States, many members of the cast assembled for highly successful tours of Australia in 1959 and 1960. The television series was very successful in Australia and was still running on Australian television. The cast surprised Australian audiences, as by then they had physically matured and in some cases, bore little resemblance to the young cast with whom Australians were so familiar. Mainstream television did not reach Australia until 1956, so the series screened well into the 1960s when the back catalog expired.
In response to continuing audience demand, the original "Mickey Mouse Club" went into edited syndicated half-hour reruns that enjoyed wide distribution starting in the fall of 1962, achieving strong ratings especially during its first three seasons in syndicated release. (Because of its popularity in some markets, a few stations continued to carry it into 1968 before the series was finally withdrawn from syndication.) Some new features were added such as "Fun with Science" or "Professor Wonderful" (with scientist Julius Sumner Miller) and "Marvelous Marvin" in the 1964–1965 season; Jimmie Dodd appeared in several of these new segments before his death in November 1964. Many markets stretched the program back to an hour's daily run time during the 1960s rerun cycle by adding locally produced and hosted portions involving educational subjects and live audience participation of local children, in a manner not unlike "Romper Room".
In response to an upsurge in demand from baby boomers entering adulthood, the show again went into syndicated reruns from January 20, 1975, until January 14, 1977. It has since been rerun on cable specialty channels Disney in the United States and Family in Canada. The original "Mickey Mouse Club" films aired five days a week on The Disney Channel from its launch in 1983 until the third version of the series began in 1989. The last airing of the edited 1950s material was on Disney Channel's "Vault Disney" from 1997 to September 2002. During the baseball seasons in 1975 and 1976, WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, aired the show on a delayed basis due to Cubs ballgame coverages.
Annette Funicello and Tim Considine were reunited on "The New Mickey Mouse Club" in 1977. Darlene Gillespie and Cubby O'Brien were also reunited on another episode of the same series.
31 out of the 39 original Mouseketeers were reunited for a TV special, which aired on "Disney's Wonderful World" in November 1980.
Cast members Annette Funicello, Bobby Burgess, Tommy Cole, Sharon Baird, Don Grady, and Sherry Alberoni were reunited on the 100th episode of "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club", during the show's third season in 1991.
Mouseketeers Doreen Tracey, Cubby O'Brien, Sherry Alberoni, Sharon Baird, Don Grady, Cheryl Holdridge, Bobby Burgess, Karen Pendleton, Tommy Cole, and Mary Espinosa performed together at Disneyland in the fall of 2005, in observance of Disneyland's 50th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the TV premiere of "The Mickey Mouse Club".
In early 2020, the first week of the Mickey Mouse Club and the first Spin and Marty serial have been added to Disney's new streaming platform Disney+.
In 1977, Walt Disney Productions revived the concept, but modernized the show cosmetically, with a disco re-recording of the theme song and a more ethnically diverse group of young cast members. The sets were brightly colored and simpler than the detailed black and white artwork of the original. Like the original, nearly every day's episode included a vintage cartoon, though usually in color from the late 1930s onward. The 1977 Mouseketeers were part of the halftime show of Super Bowl XI on January 9, 1977.
Serials were usually old Disney movies, cut into segments for twice-weekly inclusion. Movies included "Third Man on the Mountain", "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and its sequel "The Monkey's Uncle" (both starring Tommy Kirk), "Emil and the Detectives" (retitled "The Three Skrinks"), "Tonka" (retitled "A Horse Called Comanche"), "The Horse Without a Head" (about a toy horse), and "Toby Tyler" (starring Kevin Corcoran). In addition, one original serial was produced, "The Mystery of Rustler's Cave", starring Kim Richards and Robbie Rist. Often shown were scenes from animated Disney films, from "Snow White" to "The Jungle Book" billed as "Mouseka Movie Specials".
Theme days were:
The series debuted on January 17, 1977, on 38 local television stations in the United States, and by June of that same year, when the series was discontinued, about 70 stations in total had picked up the series. Additional stations picked up the canceled program, which continued to run until January 12, 1979; 130 new episodes, with much of the original material repackaged and a bit of new footage added, and a shortened version of the theme song, was produced to start airing September 5, 1977. Since the 1970s, the series has aired only briefly in reruns, unlike its 1950s predecessor, and while both the 1950s and 1989/1990s series had DVD releases of select episodes in July 2005, the 1970s series has been largely forgotten by many, including the generation of youthful viewers who made it their club. On November 20, 1977, "The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World" was shown on "The Wonderful World of Disney". WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, also aired this version on a delayed basis in 1977 and 1978 during the Cubs baseball season due to game coverages. Action for Children's Television successfully got the show canceled because of their objections to the types of commercials that aired during the program.
The cast of twelve (five boys and seven girls) had a more diverse multiethnic background than the 1950s version. Several 1977–1978 cast members went on to become TV stars and other notable icons.
The show's most notable alumnus was Lisa Whelchel (born in 1963, in Littlefield, Texas), who later starred in the NBC television sitcom "The Facts of Life" which ran from 1979 to 1988 before becoming a well-known Christian author, and most recently, overall runner-up, and winner of the $100,000 viewers' choice award, on the of the CBS television reality series "Survivor". Mouseketeer Julie Piekarski (born in 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri.) also appeared with Lisa Whelchel on the first season of "The Facts of Life". Kelly Parsons (born in 1964, in Coral Gables, Florida) went on to become a beauty queen and runner-up to Miss USA.
Other Mouseketeers (from seasons 1–2) from the 1977 show:
Disney voice actor and sound effects editor Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey Mouse in the animated lead-ins for the show, replacing Jimmy MacDonald, who in 1947 had replaced Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey for theatrical short cartoons. Walt Disney had been the original voice of Mickey and for the original 1954—1959 run provided the voice for animated introductions to the original TV show but had died in 1966. Allwine kept providing the voice for the character up to his death in 2009.
Future rock musician Courtney Love (wife of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain) claims to have auditioned for a part on the show, reading a poem by Sylvia Plath; she was not selected.
Former Mouseketeers Annette Funicello and serial star Tim Considine guest-starred in one episode; Former Mouseketeers Darlene Gillespie and Cubby O'Brien were also reunited on another episode.
The lyrics of the "Mickey Mouse Club March" theme song were slightly different from the original, with two additional lines: "He's our favorite Mouseketeer; we know you will agree" and "Take some fun and mix in love, our happy recipe."
A soundtrack album was released with the show.
A new rendition of the "Mickey Mouse Club March" was made later on in 1999 by Mannheim Steamroller, a contemporary band, in hopes of connecting new-age children and their parents who watched the" Mickey Mouse Club.
This incarnation was not distributed by Disney only; while Disney did produce the series, it was co-produced and distributed by SFM Entertainment, which also handled 1970s-era syndication of the original 1950s series. (Disney since regained only distribution rights.)
Reruns of the original "The Mickey Mouse Club" began airing on The Disney Channel with the channel's 1983 launch. While the show was popular with younger audiences, the Disney Channel executives felt it had become dated over the years, particularly as it was aired in black-and-white. Their answer was to create a brand-new version of the club, one aimed toward contemporary audiences. Notably, the all-new "club-members" would wear Mouseketeer varsity jackets without the iconic Mickey Mouse ears. This show was called "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club" (also known as "MMC" to fans).
This version of the series is notable for featuring a number of cast members who went on to achieve global success in music and acting, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, Deedee Magno, Rhona Bennett, Nikki DeLoach, and Chase Hampton. Nick Carter was selected to join the program at age twelve, however, he decided to join the developing boy band, Backstreet Boys.
Throughout the run, Fred Newman was the main adult co-host from the beginning of the series until season 6. In the first season, Newman was joined by other co-host Mowava Pryor. She was then replaced by Terri Eoff from the fourth season until the sixth season. By the show's final season, two original members Chase Hampton and Tiffini Hale became the co-hosts.
This was the first version of the club to have any studio audience, though a fairly small group.
Former Mouseketeer Don Grady guest-starred in the show's first season finale. Grady, along with fellow Mouseketeers Annette Funicello, Bobby Burgess, Tommy Cole, Sharon Baird, and Sherry Alberoni were reunited on the 100th episode, during the show's third season. Funicello later appeared on the show again, in an interview with the Mouseketeer Lindsey Alley.
From the first through fifth seasons, the series aired Monday through Friday at 5:30 pm. Through season 6, the show aired Monday to Thursday. In its final season, it aired Thursdays only at 7:00 pm (later moved a half hour later, to 7:30 pm). The series premiered Monday, April 24, 1989, ended production in October 1994, and aired its last original episode in 1996. Seasons 3 and 5 had the most episodes (55, each season). Seasons 4 and 6 were shorter, having about 35 episodes (36 in season 6) each. The remaining seasons were a standard 45 episodes (44 in season 7) each.
The show was known for its sketch comedy. Some of the sketches played off well-known movies, musicals, and even cartoons, as well as holiday-related skits. During the final season, some of the skits showed everyday occurrences experienced by teens, often teaching viewers a lesson on how to handle real-life situations.
The series featured music videos of the Mouseketeers singing their versions of popular songs in front of a live studio audience or the Walt Disney World Resort. This became one of the most popular segments.
A unique feature of the show was the Mouseketeers performing concerts on different days (which were usually taped the day before or in the summer, when the kids had more time). During the final season, the concerts were replaced primarily by live performances that featured singing and dancing in front of the audience.
This version maintained the "theme day" format from the previous two versions. When Disney decided to revamp the show for its final season, the show was reduced to a single weekly airing, shown only on Thursdays. Although still produced as a daily series during the final season taping in 1994, The Disney Channel, after canceling the series once season 7 production had ended, decided to air the final season in a weekly format, therefore stretching the first-run episodes into early 1996. The final season premiered in May 1995, almost a year after production had started and more than 6 months after the series finale was taped.
Theme days were:
The adult co-hosts for the show were Fred Newman (1989–1993, seasons 1-6), Mowava Pryor (1989–1990, seasons 1–3), Terri Misner Eoff (1991–1993 (seasons 4–6), Tiffini Hale (1994, season 7), and Chase Hampton (1994, season 7).
The 35 Mouseketeers and the seasons in which they were featured are:
Note: For the show's fourth season, Albert Fields, Tiffini Hale, Chase Hampton, Deedee Magno, and Damon Pampolina were featured in segments as "The Party," primarily in footage separate from the rest of the cast.
During the last three seasons of MMC they had a TV series called "Emerald Cove" with the cast:
On July 9, 2015, it was announced that a new version of the series will debut on July 23, 2015, on Disney Channel Korea. The format of revival will include musical performances, games, and skits, as same as the original one in the US. The series had two pilot episodes and ten regular episodes. The Mouseketeers consisted of nine members of S.M. Entertainment's pre-debut group SM Rookies, including five boys — Mark, Jeno, Donghyuck, Jaemin, and Jisung — and four girls — Koeun, Hina, Herin, and Lami.
The series was hosted by Leeteuk of boy band Super Junior.
The show ended on December 17, 2015.
On May 4, 2017, it was announced that "Club Mickey Mouse" will be created in Malaysia. The format will include musical performances, games and comedy sketches.
The series is hosted by YouTube personality, Charis Ow, and premiered on Disney Channel Asia on September 15, 2017. The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on July 6, 2018 and a third season which premiered on June 14, 2019. They also cast as a guest (except Dheena Menon which she had an exam) on Episode 14 (”Friends in Need, Indeed!”) on Disney Channel Asia Original Series, Wizards of Warna Walk. VTV6 aired the Vietnamese version.
While its final episode in Season 3 was on Nov 29 2019, reruns can be watched on Disney Channel Asia and later on VTV6 in Vietnam.
On September 8, 2017, "The Mickey Mouse Club" was rebooted under the name "Club Mickey Mouse" with a new set of Mouseketeers, and for the first time, the series was made available on Facebook and Instagram, rather than its original half hour to full hour format on television, and is more like a reality show than a variety show, with about 90% of its content being behind the scenes. This incarnation of "The Mickey Mouse Club" features eight Mouseketeers who range in age from 15 to 18 (rather than 8 to 14 like the original): Regan Aliyah, Jenna Alvarez, Ky Baldwin, Gabe De Guzman, Leanne Tessa Langston, Brianna Mazzola, Sean Oliu, and Will Simmons. The Mouseketeers were also joined by the guest star Todrick Hall, who also served as a mentor to the cast during the cast, and Jennifer Chia as the host. The series was produced by Disney Digital Network.No new episodes or music videos have been produced since 2018. | en.wikipedia.org | The Mickey Mouse Club | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20664 |
20665 | Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos (; , , ) was the first King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by the Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld.
The Minoan civilization of Crete has been named after him by the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans.
"Minos" is often interpreted as the Cretan word for "king", or, by a euhemerist interpretation, the name of a particular king that was subsequently used as a title.
There is a name in Minoan Linear A "mi-nu-te" that may be related to "Minos".
According to La Marle's reading of Linear A, which has been heavily criticised as arbitrary, we should read "mwi-nu ro-ja" (Minos the king) on a Linear A tablet.
The royal title "ro-ja" is read on several documents, including on stone libation tables from the sanctuaries, where it follows the name of the main god, Asirai (the equivalent of Sanskrit Asura, and of Avestan Ahura).
La Marle suggests that the name" mwi-nu" (Minos) is expected to mean 'ascetic' as Sanskrit "muni", and fits this explanation to the legend about Minos sometimes living in caves on Crete.
If royal succession in Minoan Crete descended matrilinearly— from the queen to her firstborn daughter— the queen's husband would have become the "Minos", or war chief.
Some scholars see a connection between "Minos" and the names of other ancient founder-kings, such as Menes of Egypt, Mannus of Germany, and Manu of India, and even with Meon of Phrygia and Lydia (after him named Maeonia), Mizraim of Egypt in the Book of Genesis and the Canaanite deity Baal.
Minos appears in Greek literature as the king of Knossos as early as Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Thucydides tells us Minos was the most ancient man known to build a navy. He reigned over Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea three generations before the Trojan War. He lived at Knossos for periods of nine years, where he received instruction from Zeus in the legislation which he gave to the island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its naval supremacy.
On the Athenian stage Minos is a cruel tyrant, the heartless exactor of the tribute of Athenian youths to feed to the Minotaur; in revenge for the death of his son Androgeus during a riot (see Theseus).
To reconcile the contradictory aspects of his character, as well as to explain how Minos governed Crete over a period spanning so many generations, two kings of the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and rationalizing mythologists, such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch— "putting aside the mythological element", as he claims— in his life of Theseus.
According to this view, the first King Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa and brother of Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. This was the 'good' king Minos, and he was held in such esteem by the Olympian gods that, after he died, he was made one of the three 'Judges of the Dead', alongside his brother Rhadamanthys and half-brother Aeacus. The wife of this 'Minos I' was said to be Itone (daughter of Lyctius) or Crete (a nymph or daughter of his stepfather Asterion), and he had a single son named Lycastus, his successor as King of Crete.
Lycastus had a son named Minos, after his grandfather, born by Lycastus' wife, Ida, daughter of Corybas. This 'Minos II'— the 'bad' king Minos— is the son of this Lycastus, and was a far more colorful character than his father and grandfather. It would be to this Minos that we owe the myths of Theseus, Pasiphaë, the Minotaur, Daedalus, Glaucus, and Nisus. Unlike Minos I, Minos II fathered numerous children, including Androgeus, Catreus, Deucalion, Ariadne, Phaedra, and Glaucus — all born to him by his wife Pasiphaë. Through Deucalion, he was the grandfather of King Idomeneus, who led the Cretans to the Trojan War.
Doubtless there is a considerable historical element in the legend, perhaps in the Phoenician origin of Europa; it is possible that not only Athens, but Mycenae itself, were once culturally bound to the kings of Knossos, as Minoan objects appear at Mycenaean sites.
Minos himself is said to have died at Camicus in Sicily, where he had gone in pursuit of Daedalus, who had given Ariadne the clue by which she guided Theseus through the labyrinth. He was killed by the daughter of Cocalus, king of Agrigentum, who poured boiling water over him while he was taking a bath. Subsequently his remains were sent back to the Cretans, who placed them in a sarcophagus, on which was inscribed: "The tomb of Minos, the son of Zeus."
The earlier legend knows Minos as a beneficent ruler, legislator, and suppressor of piracy. His constitution was said to have formed the basis of that of Lycurgus for Sparta. In accordance with this, after his death he became judge of the shades in the underworld. In later versions, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus were made judges as well, with Minos leading as the "appeals court" judge.
By his wife, Pasiphaë (or some say Crete), he fathered Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis and Xenodice.
By a nymph, Pareia, he had four sons, Eurymedon, Nephalion, Chryses and Philolaus, who were killed by Heracles in revenge for the murder of the latter's two companions.
By Dexithea, one of the Telchines, he had a son called Euxanthius.
By Androgeneia of Phaestus he had Asterion, who commanded the Cretan contingent in the war between Dionysus and the Indians. Also given as his children are Euryale, possibly the mother of Orion with Poseidon, and Pholegander, eponym of the island Pholegandros.
Minos, along with his brothers, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, were raised by King Asterion (or Asterius) of Crete. When Asterion died, his throne was claimed by Minos who banished Sarpedon and, according to some sources, Rhadamanthys too.
Asterion, king of Crete, adopted the three sons of Zeus and Europa: Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus. According to the "Odyssey" he spoke with Zeus every nine years for nine years. He got his laws straight from Zeus himself. When Minos' son Androgeos had won the Panathenaic Games the king, Aegeus, sent him to Marathon to fight a bull, resulting in the death of Androgeos. Outraged, Minos went to Athens to avenge his son, and on the way he camped at Megara where Nisos lived. Learning that Nisos' strength came from his hair, Minos gained the love of Scylla and her aid in cutting off her father's hair so that he could conquer the city. After his triumph, he punished Scylla for her treachery against her father by tying her to a boat and dragging her until she drowned. On arriving in Attica, he asked Zeus to punish the city, and the god struck it with plague and hunger. An oracle told the Athenians to meet any of Minos' demands if they wanted to escape the punishment. Minos then asked Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, the offspring from the zoophilic encounter of Minos' wife Pasiphaë with a certain bull that the king refused to sacrifice to Poseidon, which he had placed within a labyrinth he commanded his architect Daedalus to build. The Minotaur was defeated by the hero Theseus with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne.
One day, Glaucus was playing with a ball or mouse and suddenly disappeared. The Curetes told the Cretans "A marvelous creature has been born amongst you: whoever finds the true likeness for this creature will also find the child."
Polyidus of Argos observed the similarity of a newborn calf in Minos' herd, colored white and red and black, to the ripening of the fruit of the bramble plant, and so Minos sent him to find Glaucus.
Searching for the boy, Polyidus saw an owl driving bees away from a wine-cellar in Minos' palace. Inside the wine-cellar was a cask of honey, with Glaucus dead inside. Minos demanded Glaucus be brought back to life, though Polyidus objected. Minos shut Polyidus up in the wine-cellar with a sword. When a snake appeared nearby, Polyidus killed it with the sword. Another snake came for the first, and after seeing its mate dead, the second serpent left and brought back an herb which brought the first snake back to life. Following this example, Polyidus used the same herb to resurrect Glaucus.
Minos refused to let Polyidus leave Crete until he taught Glaucus the art of divination. Polyidus did so, but then, at the last moment before leaving, he asked Glaucus to spit in his mouth. Glaucus did so, and forgot everything he had been taught.
Minos justified his accession as king and prayed to Poseidon for a sign. Poseidon sent a giant white bull out of the sea. Minos was committed to sacrificing the bull to Poseidon, but then decided to substitute a different bull. In rage, Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, with a mad passion for the bull. Daedalus built her a wooden cow, which she hid inside. The bull mated with the wooden cow and Pasiphaë was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to a horrible monster, again named Asterius, the Minotaur, half man half bull. Daedalus then built a complicated "chamber that with its tangled windings perplexed the outward way" called the Labyrinth, and Minos put the Minotaur in it. To make sure no one would ever know the secret of who the Minotaur was and how to get out of the Labyrinth (Daedalus knew both of these things), Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, along with the monster. Daedalus and Icarus flew away on wings Daedalus invented, but Icarus' wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Icarus fell in the sea and drowned.
Minos' son Androgeus won every game in a contest hosted by Aegeas of Athens. Alternatively, the other contestants were jealous of Androgeus and killed him. Minos was angry and declared war on Athens. He offered the Athenians peace if they sent Minos seven young men and seven virgin maidens to feed the Minotaur every year (which corresponded directly to the Minoans' meticulous records of lunar alignments - a full moon falls on the equinoxes once every eight years). This continued until Theseus killed the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, Minos' lovestruck daughter.
Minos was also part of the King Nisus story. Nisus was King of Megara, and he was invincible as long as a lock of crimson hair still existed, hidden in his white hair. Minos attacked Megara but Nisus knew he could not be beaten because he still had his lock of crimson hair. His daughter, Scylla, fell in love with Minos and proved it by cutting the crimson hair off her father's head. Nisus died and Megara fell to Crete. Minos spurned Scylla for disobeying her father. She was changed into a shearer bird, relentlessly pursued by her father, who was a falcon.
Minos searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city asking a riddle; he presented a spiral seashell and asked for it to be strung all the way through. When he reached Camicus, Sicily, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle, fetched the old man. He tied the string to an ant, which walked through the seashell, stringing it all the way through. Minos then knew Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and demanded he be handed over. Cocalus managed to convince him to take a bath first; then Cocalus' daughters and Daedalus, with Minos trapped in the bath, scalded him to death with boiling water.
After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades together with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus. Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote.
On Cretan coins, Minos is represented as bearded, wearing a diadem, curly-haired, haughty and dignified, like the traditional portraits of his reputed father, Zeus. On painted vases and sarcophagus bas-reliefs he frequently occurs with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus as judges of the underworld and in connection with the Minotaur and Theseus.
In Michelangelo's famous fresco, "The Last Judgment" (located in the Sistine Chapel), Minos appears as judge of the underworld, surrounded by a crowd of devils. With his tail coiled around him and two donkey ears (symbol of stupidity), Minos judges the damned as they are brought down to hell (see "Inferno", Second Circle).
In the "Aeneid" of Virgil, Minos was the judge of those who had been given the death penalty on a false charge - Minos sits with a gigantic urn, and decides whether a soul should go to Elysium or Tartarus with the help of a silent jury. Radamanthus, his brother, is a judge at Tartarus who decides upon suitable punishments for sinners there.
In Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" story "Inferno", Minos is depicted as having a snake-like tail. He sits at the entrance to the second circle in the "Inferno", which is the beginning of Hell proper. There, he judges the sins of each soul and assigns it to its rightful punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his own body the appropriate number of times. He can also speak, to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by the wrapping of his tail. | en.wikipedia.org | Minos | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20665 |
20666 | Metre Convention
The Metre Convention (), also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations (Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Ottoman Empire, United States of America, and Venezuela). The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), that coordinates international metrology and the development of the metric system.
As well as founding the BIPM and laying down the way in which the activities of the BIPM should be financed and managed, the Metre Convention established a permanent organizational structure for member governments to act in common accord on all matters relating to units of measurement.
The three organs of the BIPM are:
Only states can be Members as per the Metre Convention. In addition to Member status, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) created in 1999 the status of Associate of the CGPM open to States and Economic Entities to enable them to participate in some activities of the BIPM through their National Metrology Institutes (NMIs). Membership of the convention requires payment of substantial fees. Failure to pay these over a span of years, without any expectation of a payment agreement, has caused a number of nations such as North Korea to be removed from the protocol. , there are 62 member states and 40 associate states and economies.
Initially the Metre Convention was only concerned with the units of mass and length but, in 1921, at the 6th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), it was revised and it extended the scope and responsibilities of the BIPM to other fields in physics. In 1960, at the 11th meetings of the CGPM, the system of units it had established was named the International System of Units, with the abbreviation SI.
Before the French Revolution, which started in 1789, French units of measurement were based on the Carolingian system, introduced by the first Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (800–814 AD) which in turn were based on ancient Roman measures. Charlemagne brought a consistent system of measures across the entire empire. However, after his death, the empire fragmented and many rulers introduced their own variants of the units of measure.
Some of Charlemagne's units of measure, such as the "pied du Roi" (the king's foot) remained virtually unchanged for about a thousand years, while others, such as the "aune" (ell—used to measure cloth) and the "livre" (pound) varied dramatically from locality to locality. By the time of the revolution, the number of units of measure had grown to the extent that it was almost impossible to keep track of them.
In England in 1215, clause 25 of the Magna Carta required that the same standards of measurement be applied throughout the realm. The wording of the clause emphasized that "There is to be a single measure ... throughout our realm". Five centuries later, when in 1707 England and Scotland were united into a single kingdom, the Scots agreed to use the same units of measure that were already established in England. During the eighteenth century, in order to facilitate trade, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia adopted the English system of measure.
From 1668 to 1776 the French standard of length was the Toise of Châtelet which was fixed outside the Grand Châtelet in Paris. In 1735 two geodetic standards were calibrated against the Toise of Châtelet. One of them, the Toise of Peru was used for the Spanish-French Geodesic Mission. In 1766 the Toise of Peru became the official standard of length in France and was renamed Toise of the Academy (French: "Toise de l'Académie").
Profusion of units of measures was a practical problem of importance before the French Revolution and its reform was one of the items on the agenda of National Assembly. In 1799, after the remeasurement of the Paris meridian arc (French: "Méridienne de France") between Dunkirk and Barcelona by Delambre and Mechain, the metre was defined as a quarter of a 10-millionth of the Earth circumference or 3 "pieds" (french feet) and 11.296 "lignes" (lines) of the Toise of the Academy. Talleyrand, an influential leader of the Assembly invited British and American participation in the establishment of a new system, but in the event, the Assembly went it alone and introduced the metre and the kilogram which were to form the basis of the metric system, manufacturing prototypes which, in 1799, were lodged with Archives.
The Helvetic Republic adopted the metric system in 1803. In 1805, a Swiss immigrant Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler brought copies of the French metre and kilogram in the United States. In 1830 the Congress decided to create uniform standards for length and weight in the United States. Hassler was mandated to work out the new standards and proposed to adopt the metric system. The United States Congress opted for the British Parliamentary Standard Yard of 1758 and the British Troy Pound of 1824 as length and weight standards. Nevertheless, the primary baseline of the U.S Coast Survey was measured in 1834 at Fire Island using four two-metre iron bars constructed after Hassler's specification in Great Britain and brought back in the United States in 1815. All distances measured in the U.S. National Geodetic Survey were referred to the metre.
Between 1840 and 1870, a number of countries definitively adopted the metric system as their system of measure including France, Spain, many South American republics and many of the Italian and German states (the Netherlands had adopted the system in 1817). In 1863, the International Postal Union used grams to express permitted weights of letters.
In 1852 the Spanish Government was urged by the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences to approve the creation of a large-scale map of Spain. The following year Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero was appointed to undertake this task. All the scientific and technical material had to be created. Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero and Frutos Saavedra Meneses went to Paris to supervise the production by Brunner of a four metres long measuring instrument which they had devised and which they later compared with Borda's double-toise N°1 which was the main reference for measuring all geodetic bases in France and whose length was 3.8980732 metres.
In 1867 at the second General Conference of the International Association of Geodesy (German: "Europäische Gradmessung") held in Berlin, the question of international standard of length was discussed in order to combine the measurements made in different countries to determine the size and shape of the earth. The conference recommended the adoption of the metric system (replacing Bessel's toise, a copy of the Toise of Peru made in 1823) and the creation of an International Metre Commission.
In the 1860s, inspections of the prototype metre revealed wear and tear at the measuring faces of the bar and also that the bar was wont to flex slightly when in use. In view of the doubts being cast on the reproducibility of the metre and the kilogram and the threat that a rival standard might be set up, Napoleon III invited scientists from all the world's nations to attend a conference in Paris. In July 1870, two weeks before the conference was due to start, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Although the delegates did meet (without a German delegation), it was agreed that the conference should be recalled once all the delegates (including the German delegation) were present. The International Metre Commission was established in Paris.
Following the war, which resulted in Napoleon III's exile, Germany and Italy, now unified nations, adopted the metric system as their national system of units, but with the prototype copy of the kilogram and metre under the control of the Third French Republic. In 1872 the new republican government reissued the invitations and in 1875 scientists from thirty European and American countries met in Paris. This same year, the International Association of Geodesy held its General Conference in Paris and decided the creation of an international geodetic standard for baselines' measurement calibrated against the metre.
The principal tasks facing the delegates at the 1875 conference was the replacement of the existing metre and kilogram artefacts that were held by the French Government and the setting up of an organization to administer the maintenance of standards around the globe. The conference did not concern itself with other units of measure. The conference had undertones of Franco-German political manoeuvring, particularly since the French had been humiliated by the Prussians during the war a few years previously. Although France lost control of the metric system, they ensured that it passed to international rather than German control and that the international headquarters were located in Paris. Spain notably supported France for this outcome and the first president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures, the Spanish geodesist, Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero received the Grand Officer medal of the Légion d'Honneur for his diplomatic role on this issue and was awarded the Poncelet Prize for his scientific contribution to metrology. Indeed, as Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero was collaborating with the French on the Paris meridian arc (West Europe-Africa Meridian-arc) remeasurement since 1853, and was president of both the Permanent Committee of the International Metre Commission since 1872 and the Permanent Commission of the International Association of Geodesy since 1874, he was to play a pivotal role in reconciling French and German interests.
The conference was called to discuss the maintenance of international standards based on the existing French standards rather than using French standards which, at that time, were 70 years old and which, through wear and tear, might not be exactly the same as when they adopted in 1799.
Prior to the 1870 conference, French politicians had feared that the world community might reject the existing metre as it was 0.03% (300 µm) shorter than its design length, ordering a new meridional measurement. They were eventually reassured when the German-born Swiss delegate Adolphe Hirsch said "no serious scientist would in our day and age contemplate a metre deduced from the size of the earth". When the conference was reconvened in 1875, it was proposed that new prototype metre and kilogram standards be manufactured to reproduce the values of the existing artifacts as closely as possible.
Although the new standard metre had the same value as the old metre, it had an "X" cross-section rather than a rectangular cross-section as this reduced the flexing when taking measurements. Moreover, the new bar, rather than being exactly one metre in length was a little longer than one metre and had lines engraved on them that were exactly one metre apart. The London firm Johnson Matthey delivered 30 prototype metres and 40 prototype kilograms. At the first meeting of the CGPM in 1889 bar No. 6 and cylinder No. X were chosen by lot as the international prototypes. The remainder were either kept as BIPM working copies or distributed by lot to member states as national prototypes.
The prototype metre was retained as the international standard until 1960 when the metre was redefined in terms of the wavelength of the orange-red line of krypton-86. The current definition of the metre is "the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/ of a second".
On 16 November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted unanimously in favour of revised definitions of some SI base units, in particular the kilogram. The new definitions came into force on 20 May 2019, but do not change the metre.
The Convention created an international organization with three organs to facilitate the standardization of weights and measures around the world. The first, the CGPM provides a forum for representative of member states, the second, the CIPM is an advisory committee of metrologists of high standing and the third, is the secretariat that provides appropriate meeting and laboratory facilities in support of the CGPM and CIPM.
The structure may be compared to a corporation. The CIPM is the board of directors, and the CGPM is the shareholders' meeting.
The General Conference on Weights and Measures ("Conférence générale des poids et mesures" or CGPM) is the principal decision-making body put on place by the convention. It is made up of delegates from member states and [non-voting] observers from associate states and economies. The conference usually meets every four years to receive and discuss a report from the CIPM and to endorse new developments in the SI on the advice of the CIPM though at the 2011 meeting, it agreed to meet again in 2014 rather than 2015 to discuss the maturity of the new SI proposals. It is also responsible for new appointments to the CIPM and decides on major issues concerning the development and financing of the BIPM. According to the Metre Convention (Art. 4) the President of the French Academy of Sciences is also the President of the General Conference on Weights and Measures.
The International Committee for Weights and Measures ("Comité international des poids et mesures" or CIPM) is made up of eighteen (originally fourteen) individuals from a member state of high scientific standing, nominated by the CGPM to advise the CGPM on administrative and technical matters. It is responsible for the running of ten consultative committees (CCs), each of which investigates different aspects of metrology – one CC discusses the measurement of temperature, another the measurement of mass and so on. The CIPM meets annually at Saint-Cloud to discuss annual reports from the various CCs, to submit an annual report to the governments of member states in respect of the administration and finances of the BIPM and to advise the CGPM on technical matters as and when necessary. Each member of the CIPM is from a different member state – with France, in recognition of its work in setting up the Convention, always having one seat on the CIPM.
The Secretariat of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures ("Bureau international des poids et mesures" or BIPM) is based at Saint-Cloud, France. It has custody of the now historical international prototype of the kilogram and provides metrology services for the CGPM and CIPM, and hosts their formal meetings. It also has custody of the former international prototype of the metre which was retired in 1960. Over the years the various prototypes of the metre and of the kilogram were returned to BIPM headquarters for recalibration services.
Initially it had a staff of 9, falling to 4 once the initial batch of prototypes had been distributed; in 2012 it had a staff of over 70 people and an annual budget of over €10 million. The director of the BIPM is "ex-officio" a member of the CIPM and a member of all consultative committees.
The original treaty was written in French and the authoritative language of all official documents is French. Communication between the BIPM and member states is, in the case of France, via the French Foreign Minister and in the case of all other members, via the members' ambassador to France.
The French government offered the treaty members the Pavillon de Breteuil in Saint-Cloud to house the BIPM. The Pavillon was originally built in 1675 on the estate of the Château de Saint-Cloud and was home to, amongst others, Emperor Napoleon III. The château was all but destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1) and the Pavillon badly damaged. The Pavillon has been fully restored and, as headquarters of an intergovernmental organization enjoys privileges and immunities.
The science of metrology has progressed vastly since 1875. In particular the treaty was amended in 1921 with the result that many other international organizations have a forum within the CIPM to ensure harmonization of measurement standards across many disciplines. In addition, what were originally conceived as standards for the purposes of trade have now been extended to cover a large number of aspects of human activity including medicine, science, engineering and technology.
The metre convention was originally drawn up with the main purpose of providing a standards of length and mass only. Standards relating to other quantities were under the control of other bodies – time was measured by astronomers, electrical units by a series of ad-hoc international conferences, and other physical standards and concepts were maintained or defined by international bodies such as International Congress of Applied Chemistry or the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
In 1901 Giorgi published a proposal for building a coherent set of units based on four base units – the metre, kilogram, second and one electrical unit (ampere, volt or ohm). In 1921 the Convention was extended to permit the promotion of standards relating to any physical quantity which greatly increased the scope of the CIPM's remit and implicitly giving it freedom to exploit Giorgi's proposals. The 8th CGPM (1933) resolved to work with other international bodies to agree standards for electrical units that could be related back to the international prototypes. This was agreed in principle by the International Electrotechnical Commission at its congress in Brussels in 1935 subject to the choice of the fourth unit being agreed with, amongst others, the appropriate consultative committee of the CIPM.
In 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War and fifteen years after the 8th CGPM, the 9th CGPM was convened. In response to formal requests made by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and by the French Government to establish a practical system of units of measure, the CGPM requested the CIPM to prepare recommendations for a single practical system of units of measurement, suitable for adoption by all countries adhering to the Metre Convention. At the same time the CGPM formally adopted a recommendation for the writing and printing of unit symbols and of numbers. The recommendation also catalogued the recommended symbols for the most important MKS and CGS units of measure and for the first time the CGPM made recommendations concerning derived units.
The CIPM's draft proposal, which was an extensive revision and simplification of the metric unit definitions, symbols and terminology based on the MKS system of units, was put to the 10th CGPM in 1954. In the proposal the CIPM recommended that the ampere be the base unit from which electromechanical standards would be derived. After negotiations with the CIS and IUPAP, two further base units, the degree kelvin and the candela were also proposed as base units. The full system and name "Système International d'Unités" were adopted at the 11th CGPM. During the years that followed the definitions of the base units and particularly the "mise en pratique" to realize these definitions have been refined.
The formal definition of International System of Units (SI) along with the associated resolutions passed by the CGPM and the CIPM are published by the BIPM on the Internet and in brochure form at regular intervals. The eighth edition of the brochure "Le Système International d'Unités – The International System of Units" was published in 2006.
During the 1940s, the United States government recognized the benefits of its suppliers keeping quality control records in respect of manufactured goods that would provide traceability of the process. This process was formalized by the British Government and in 1979 as the quality control standard BS 5750. In 1987 BS 5750 was adopted by ISO as the basis for ISO 9000. ISO 9000 is a general purpose quality control standard which works in conjunction industry-specific standards: for example ISO 15195:2003 which gives the specific requirements for reference measurement laboratories in laboratory medicine.
International trade is hampered by one country not recognising the quality controls in place in other countries – often due to standards being different or being incompatible with each other. At the 20th CGPM (1995), it was recognized that although ad-hoc recognition of instrument calibration between cooperating countries had been taking place for a hundred years, a need had arisen for a more comprehensive agreement. Consequently, the CIPM was mandated to investigate the setting up of a Mutual Recognition Agreement in respect of instrument calibration. Any such agreement would require the keeping of records that could demonstrate the traceability of calibrations back to the base standards. Such records would be recorded within an ISO 9000 framework. Four years later, in 1999 the text of the CIPM-MRA was agreed at the 21st CGPM.
The CIPM-MRA scheme is to catalogue the capabilities of National Measurement Institutes (NMIs) such as NIST in the United States or the National Physical Laboratory in Britain whose calibration procedures have been peer-assessed. The essential points of CIPM-MRA are:
Subsequent to launch of the CIPM MRA and in response to a European Community directive on "in vitro" medical devices, the Joint Committee for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM) was created in 2002 through a Declaration of Cooperation between the International Committee of Weights and Measures (CIPM), the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). The joint committee provides a forum for the harmonization of standards of the various participants.
With the advent of the atomic clock it has been possible to define and measure International Atomic Time with sufficient precision that variations in the Earth's rotation can be detected. The International Earth Rotation Service monitors these changes relative to the stars at regular intervals and proposes leap seconds as and when these are needed. Currently there are over 200 atomic clocks in over 50 national laboratories around the world and the BIPM, in terms of the mandate given to it under the Metre Convention, coordinates the various atomic clocks.
After 1960, when the definition of the metre was linked to a particular wavelength of light rather than the international prototype of the metre, the only unit of measure that remained dependent on a particular artefact was the kilogram. Over the years, small drifts which could be as high as kilograms per annum in the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram were detected. At the 21st meeting of the CGPM (1999), national laboratories were urged to investigate ways of breaking the link between the kilogram and a specific artefact.
Independently of this drift having been identified, the Avogadro project and development of the Kibble (or watt) balance promised methods of indirectly measuring mass with a very high precision. These projects provided tools that enabled alternative means of redefining the kilogram.
A report published in 2007 by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry to the CIPM noted that their definition of temperature had proved to be unsatisfactory for temperatures below 20 K and for temperatures above 1300 K. The committee was of the view that the Boltzmann constant provided a better basis for temperature measurement than did the triple point of water, as it overcame these difficulties.
Over the next few years the support for natural constants grew and details were clarified, until in November 2018, the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures voted unanimously in favour of revised definitions of the SI base units. The 2019 redefinition of the SI base units came into force on the 144th anniversary of the Convention, 20 May 2019.
The CGPM recognizes two classes of membership – full membership for those states that wish to participate in the activities of the BIPM and associate membership for those countries or economies that only wish to participate in the MRA programme. Associate members have observer status at the CGPM. Since all formal liaison between the convention organizations and national governments is handled by the member state's ambassador to France, it is implicit that member states must have diplomatic relations with France, though during both world wars, nations that were at war with France retained their membership of the CGPM. The opening session of each CGPM is chaired by the French foreign minister and subsequent sessions by the president of the French Academy of Sciences.
On 20 May 1875 representatives from seventeen of countries that attended the Conference of the Metre in 1875, signed the Convention of the Metre. In April 1884 HJ Chaney, Warden of Standards in London unofficially contacted the BIPM inquiring whether the BIPM would calibrate some metre standards that had been manufactured in Britain. Broch, director of the BIPM replied that he was not authorized to perform any such calibrations for non-member states. On 17 September 1884, the British Government signed the convention. This number grew to 21 in 1900, 32 in 1950, and 49 in 2001. , the General Conference membership was made up of 62 member states, 40 associate states and economies and four international organizations as follows (with year of partnership between brackets):
At its 21st meeting (October 1999), the CGPM created the category of "associate" for those states not yet members of the BIPM and for economic unions.
The following international organizations have signed the CIPM MRA:
The following former members were excluded from the organization following failure to pay their arrears over a span of years and upon failing to provide any form of payment plan: | en.wikipedia.org | Metre Convention | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20666 |
20668 | MAC address
A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking technologies, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Within the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model, MAC addresses are used in the medium access control protocol sublayer of the data link layer. As typically represented, MAC addresses are recognizable as six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated by hyphens, colons, or without a separator.
MAC addresses are primarily assigned by device manufacturers, and are therefore often referred to as the burned-in address, or as an Ethernet hardware address, hardware address, and "physical address". Each address can be stored in hardware, such as the card's read-only memory, or by a firmware mechanism. Many network interfaces, however, support changing their MAC address. The address typically includes a manufacturer's organizationally unique identifier (OUI). MAC addresses are formed according to the principles of two numbering spaces based on Extended Unique Identifiers (EUI) managed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): EUI-48, which replaces the obsolete term MAC-48, and EUI-64.
Network nodes with multiple network interfaces, such as routers and multilayer switches, must have a unique MAC address for each NIC.
The original IEEE 802 MAC address comes from the original Xerox Network Systems Ethernet addressing scheme. This 48-bit address space contains potentially 248 (over 281 trillion) possible MAC addresses. The IEEE manages allocation of MAC addresses, originally known as MAC-48 and which it now refers to as EUI-48 identifiers. The IEEE has a target lifetime of 100 years (until 2080) for applications using EUI-48 space and restricts applications accordingly. The IEEE encourages adoption of the more plentiful EUI-64 for non-Ethernet applications.
The distinction between EUI-48 and MAC-48 identifiers is in name and application only. MAC-48 was used to address hardware interfaces within existing 802-based networking applications; EUI-48 is now used for 802-based networking and is also used to identify other devices and software, for example Bluetooth. The IEEE now considers "MAC-48" to be an obsolete term. "EUI-48" is now used in all cases. In addition, the EUI-64 numbering system originally encompassed both MAC-48 and EUI-48 identifiers by a simple translation mechanism. These translations have since been deprecated.
An Individual Address Block (IAB) is an inactive registry activity which has been replaced by the MA-S (MA-S was previously named OUI-36 and have no overlaps in addresses with IAB) registry product as of January 1, 2014. The IAB uses an OUI from MA-L (MA-L (MAC address block large) registry was previously named OUI registry, the term OUI is still in use, but not for calling a registry) belonging to the IEEE Registration Authority, concatenated with 12 additional IEEE-provided bits (for a total of 36 bits), leaving only 12 bits for the IAB owner to assign to their (up to 4096) individual devices. An IAB is ideal for organizations requiring not more than 4096 unique 48-bit numbers (EUI-48). Unlike an OUI, which allows the assignee to assign values in various different number spaces (for example, EUI-48, EUI-64, and the various context-dependent identifier number spaces, like for SNAP or EDID (VSDB field)), the Individual Address Block could only be used to assign EUI-48 identifiers. All other potential uses based on the OUI from which the IABs are allocated are reserved, and remain the property of the IEEE Registration Authority. Between 2007 and September 2012, the OUI value 00:50:C2 was used for IAB assignments. After September 2012, the value 40:D8:55 was used. The owners of an already assigned IAB may continue to use the assignment.
MA-S (MAC address block small) registry activity includes both a 36-bit unique number used in some standards and the assignment of a block of EUI-48 and EUI-64 identifiers (while owner of IAB cannot assign EUI-64) by the IEEE Registration Authority. MA-S does not include assignment of an OUI.
There is also another registry which is called MA-M (MAC address block medium). The MA-M assignment block provides both 220 EUI-48 identifiers and 236 EUI-64 identifiers (that means first 28 bits are IEEE assigned bits). The first 24 bits of the assigned MA-M block are an OUI assigned to IEEE that will not be reassigned, so the MA-M does not include assignment of an OUI.
Addresses can either be "universally administered addresses" (UAA) or "locally administered addresses" (LAA). A universally administered address is uniquely assigned to a device by its manufacturer. The first three octets (in transmission order) identify the organization that issued the identifier and are known as the organizationally unique identifier (OUI). The remainder of the address (three octets for EUI-48 or five for EUI-64) are assigned by that organization in nearly any manner they please, subject to the constraint of uniqueness. A locally administered address is assigned to a device by a network administrator, overriding the burned-in address for physical devices.
Universally administered and locally administered addresses are distinguished by setting the second-least-significant bit of the first octet of the address. This bit is also referred to as the U/L bit, short for Universal/Local, which identifies how the address is administered. If the bit is 0, the address is universally administered, which is why this bit is 0 in all OUIs. If it is 1, the address is locally administered. In the example address the first octet is 06 (hex), the binary form of which is 00000110, where the second-least-significant bit is 1. Therefore, it is a locally administered address. Even though many hypervisors manage dynamic MAC addresses within their own OUI, often it is useful to create an entire unique MAC within the LAA range.
In virtualisation, hypervisors such as QEMU and Xen have their own OUIs. Each new virtual machine is started with a MAC address set by assigning the last three bytes to be unique on the local network. While this is local administration of MAC addresses, it is not an LAA in the IEEE sense.
An historical example of this hybrid situation is the DECnet protocol, where the universal MAC address (OUI AA-00-04, Digital Equipment Corporation) is administered locally. The DECnet software assigns the last three bytes of the MAC address to be where reflects the DECnet network address "xx.yy" of the host. This eliminates the need for DECnet to have an address resolution protocol since the MAC address for any DECnet host can be determined from its DECnet address.
When the least significant bit of an address's first octet is 0 (zero), the frame is meant to reach only one receiving NIC. This type of transmission is called unicast. A unicast frame is transmitted to all nodes within the collision domain. In a modern wired setting the collision domain usually is the length of the Ethernet cable between two network cards. In a wireless setting, the collision domain is all receivers that can detect a given wireless signal. If a switch does not know which port leads to a given MAC address, the switch will forward a unicast frame to all of its ports (except the originating port), an action known as unicast flood. Only the node with the matching hardware MAC address will accept the frame; network frames with non-matching MAC-addresses are ignored, unless the device is in promiscuous mode.
If the least significant bit of the first octet is set to 1, the frame will still be sent only once; however, NICs will choose to accept it based on criteria other than the matching of a MAC address: for example, based on a configurable list of accepted multicast MAC addresses. This is called multicast addressing.
The IEEE has built in several special address types to allow more than one network interface card to be addressed at one time:
These are all examples of "group addresses", as opposed to "individual addresses"; the least significant bit of the first octet of a MAC address distinguishes individual addresses from group addresses. That bit is set to 0 in individual addresses and set to 1 in group addresses. Group addresses, like individual addresses, can be universally administered or locally administered.
The following network technologies use the EUI-48 identifier format:
Every device that connects to an IEEE 802 network (such as Ethernet and WiFi) has an EUI-48 address. Common networked consumer devices such as PCs, smartphones and tablet computers use EUI-48 addresses.
EUI-64 identifiers are used in:
On broadcast networks, such as Ethernet, the MAC address is expected to uniquely identify each node on that segment and allows frames to be marked for specific hosts. It thus forms the basis of most of the link layer (OSI Layer 2) networking upon which upper layer protocols rely to produce complex, functioning networks.
Many network interfaces support changing their MAC address. On most Unix-like systems, the command utility ifconfig may be used to remove and add link address aliases. For instance, the "active" ifconfig directive may be used on NetBSD to specify which of the attached addresses to activate. Hence, various configuration scripts and utilities permit the randomization of the MAC address at the time of booting or before establishing a network connection.
Changing MAC addresses is necessary in network virtualization. In MAC spoofing, this is practiced in exploiting security vulnerabilities of a computer system. Some modern operating systems, such as Apple iOS and Android, especially in mobile devices, are designed to randomize the assignment of a MAC address to network interface when scanning for wireless access points to avert tracking systems.
In Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the MAC address of an interface corresponding to an IP address may be queried with the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) for IPv4 and the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) for IPv6, relating OSI Layer 3 addresses to Layer 2 addresses.
According to Edward Snowden, the US National Security Agency has a system that tracks the movements of mobile devices in a city by monitoring MAC addresses.
To avert this practice, Apple has started using random MAC addresses in iOS devices while scanning for networks. Other vendors followed quickly. MAC address randomization during scanning was added in Android starting from version 6.0, Windows 10, and Linux kernel 3.18. The actual implementations of the MAC address randomization technique vary largely in different devices. Moreover, various flaws and shortcomings in these implementations may allow an attacker to track a device even if its MAC address is changed, for instance its probe requests' other elements, or their timing. If random MAC addresses are not used, researchers have confirmed that it is possible to link a real identity to a particular wireless MAC address.
Using wireless access points in SSID-hidden mode (network cloaking), a mobile wireless device may not only disclose its own MAC address when traveling, but even the MAC addresses associated to SSIDs the device has already connected to, if they are configured to send these as part of probe request packets. Alternative modes to prevent this include configuring access points to be either in beacon-broadcasting mode, or probe-response with SSID mode. In these modes, probe requests may be unnecessary, or sent in broadcast mode without disclosing the identity of previously-known networks.
The standard (IEEE 802) format for printing EUI-48 addresses in human-friendly form is six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated by hyphens () in transmission order (e.g. ).
This form is also commonly used for EUI-64 (e.g. ).
Other conventions include six groups of two hexadecimal digits separated by colons (:) (e.g. ), and three groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by dots (.) (e.g. ); again in transmission order.
The standard notation, also called canonical format, for MAC addresses is written in transmission order with the least significant bit of each byte transmitted first, and is used in the output of the codice_1, codice_2, and codice_3 commands, for example.
However, since IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) and IEEE 802.4 (Token Bus) send the bytes (octets) over the wire, left-to-right, with least significant bit in each byte first, while IEEE 802.5 (Token Ring) and IEEE 802.6 (FDDI) send the bytes over the wire with the most significant bit first, confusion may arise when an address in the latter scenario is represented with bits reversed from the canonical representation. For example, an address in canonical form would be transmitted over the wire as bits codice_4 in the standard transmission order (least significant bit first). But for Token Ring networks, it would be transmitted as bits codice_5 in most-significant-bit first order. The latter might be incorrectly displayed as . This is referred to as "bit-reversed order", "non-canonical form", "MSB format", "IBM format", or "Token Ring format", as explained in . | en.wikipedia.org | MAC address | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20668 |
20669 | My Neighbor Totoro
In 1989, Streamline Pictures produced an exclusive dub for use on transpacific flights by Japan Airlines. Troma Films, under their 50th St. Films banner, distributed the dub of the film co-produced by Jerry Beck. This dub was released to United States theaters in 1993, on VHS and laserdisc in the United States by Fox Video in 1994, and on DVD in 2002. The rights to this dub expired in 2004, so it was re-released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on March 7, 2006 with a new dub cast. This version was also released in Australia by Madman on March 15, 2006 and in the UK by Optimum Releasing on March 27, 2006. This DVD release is the first version of the film in the United States to include both Japanese and English language tracks.
"My Neighbor Totoro" was critically acclaimed and has amassed a worldwide cult following in the years after its release. The film and its titular character, Totoro, have become cultural icons. The film has grossed over at the worldwide box office as of September 2019, in addition to generating approximately from home video sales and from licensed merchandise sales, adding up to approximately in total lifetime revenue.
"My Neighbor Totoro" ranked 41st in "Empire" magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010, and Totoro was ranked 18th on Empire's 50 Best Animated Film Characters list. A list of the greatest animated films in "Time Out" ranked the film number 1. A similar list compiled by the editors of "Time Out" ranked the film number 3. "My Neighbor Totoro" was also the highest-ranking animated film on the 2012 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of all-time greatest films. The character made multiple cameo appearances in a number of Studio Ghibli films and video games and also serves as the mascot for the studio and is recognized as one of the most popular characters in Japanese animation. Totoro was ranked 24th on IGN's top 25 anime characters.
In 1958 Japan, university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei, move into an old house to be closer to the hospital where the girls' mother, Yasuko, is recovering from a long-term illness. The house is inhabited by tiny creatures called "susuwatari"—small, dark, dust-like house spirits seen when moving from light to dark places. When the girls become comfortable in their new house, the soot spirits leave to find another empty house.
One day, Mei discovers two small spirits who lead her into the hollow of a large camphor tree. She befriends a larger spirit, which identifies itself by a series of roars that she interprets as "Totoro". She falls asleep atop Totoro, but when Satsuki finds her, she is on the ground. Despite many attempts, Mei is unable to show her family Totoro's tree. Tatsuo comforts her by telling her that Totoro will reveal himself when he wants to.
One rainy night, the girls are waiting for Tatsuo's bus, which is late. Mei falls asleep on Satsuki's back, and Totoro appears beside them, allowing Satsuki to see him for the first time. Totoro has only a leaf on his head for protection against the rain, so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken for her father. Totoro is delighted and gives her a bundle of nuts and seeds in return. A giant, bus-shaped cat halts at the stop, and Totoro boards it and leaves. Shortly after, Tatsuo's bus arrives.
The girls plant the seeds. A few days later, they awaken at midnight to find Totoro and his colleagues engaged in a ceremonial dance around the planted seeds. The girls join in and the seeds grow into an enormous tree. Totoro takes the girls for a ride on a magical flying top. In the morning, the tree is gone but the seeds have indeed sprouted; it is left unclear whether the girls were dreaming.
The girls find out that a planned visit by Yasuko has to be postponed because of a setback in her treatment. Mei does not take this well and argues with Satsuki, later leaving for the hospital to bring fresh corn to Yasuko. Her disappearance prompts Satsuki and the neighbors to search for her. In desperation, Satsuki returns to the camphor tree and pleads for Totoro's help. Delighted to help, he summons the Catbus, which carries her to where the lost Mei sits. The bus then whisks them over the countryside to see Yasuko in the hospital. The girls overhear a conversation between their parents and discover that she has been kept in hospital by a minor cold but is otherwise doing well. They secretly leave the ear of corn on the windowsill, where it is discovered by their parents, and return home.
Eventually, Mei and Satsuki's mother returns home, and the sisters play with other children, while Totoro and his friends watch them from afar.
Animism is a large theme in this film according to Eriko Ogihara-Schuck. Totoro has animistic traits and has kami status according to his surroundings and being referred to as ""mori no nushi,"" or "master of the forest". Totoro lives in a camphor tree in a Shinto shrine surrounded by a Shinto rope, these are all characteristics of a kami. Moreover, Ogihara-Schuck writes that when Mei returns from her encounter with Totoro her father takes Mei and her sister to the shrine to greet and thank Totoro. This is a common practice in the Shinto tradition following an encounter with a kami.
Art director Kazuo Oga was drawn to the film when Hayao Miyazaki showed him an original image of Totoro standing in a satoyama. The director challenged Oga to raise his standards, and Oga's experience with "My Neighbor Totoro" jump-started the artist's career. Oga and Miyazaki debated the palette of the film, Oga seeking to paint black soil from Akita Prefecture and Miyazaki preferring the color of red soil from the Kantō region. The ultimate product was described by Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki: "It was nature painted with translucent colors."
Oga's conscientious approach to "My Neighbor Totoro" was a style that the "International Herald Tribune" recognized as "[updating] the traditional Japanese animist sense of a natural world that is fully, spiritually alive". The newspaper described the final product:
Oga's work on "My Neighbor Totoro" led to his continued involvement with Studio Ghibli. The studio assigned jobs to Oga that would play to his strengths, and Oga's style became a trademark style of Studio Ghibli.
In several of Miyazaki's initial conceptual watercolors, as well as on the theatrical release poster and on later home video releases, only one young girl is depicted, rather than two sisters. According to Miyazaki, "If she was a little girl who plays around in the yard, she wouldn't be meeting her father at a bus stop, so we had to come up with two girls instead. And that was difficult." The opening sequence of the film was not storyboarded, Miyazaki said. "The sequence was determined through permutations and combinations determined by the time sheets. Each element was made individually and combined in the time sheets..." The ending sequence depicts the mother's return home and the signs of her return to good health by playing with Satsuki and Mei outside.
The storyboard depicts the town of Matsuko as the setting, with the year being 1955; Miyazaki stated that it was not exact and the team worked on a setting "in the recent past". The film was originally set to be an hour long, but throughout the process it grew to respond to the social context including the reason for the move and the father's occupation. Eight animators worked on the movie, which was completed in eight months.
Miyazaki has said that Totoro is "not a spirit: he's only an animal. I believe he lives on acorns. He's supposedly the forest keeper, but that's only a half-baked idea, a rough approximation." The character of Mei was modeled on Miyazaki's niece.
After writing and filming "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984) and "Castle in the Sky" (1986), Hayao Miyazaki began directing "My Neighbor Totoro" for Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki's production paralleled his colleague Isao Takahata's production of "Grave of the Fireflies". Miyazaki's film was financed by executive producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma, and both "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Grave of the Fireflies" were released on the same bill in 1988. The dual billing was considered "one of the most moving and remarkable double bills ever offered to a cinema audience".
In Japan, "My Neighbor Totoro" initially sold 801,680 tickets and earned a distribution rental income of in 1988. , the film's total box office gross receipts in Japan amounted to ().
The film has received international releases since 2002. Overall, the film has grossed $30,476,708 overseas, for a total of at the worldwide box office.
30 years after its original release in Japan, "My Neighbour Totoro" received a Chinese theatrical release in December 2018. The delay was due to long-standing political tensions between China and Japan, but many Chinese nevertheless became familiar with Miyazaki's films due to rampant video piracy. In its opening weekend, ending December 16, 2018, "My Neighbour Totoro" grossed , entering the box office charts at number two, behind only Hollywood film "Aquaman" at number one and ahead of Bollywood film "Padman" at number three. By its second weekend, "My Neighbor Totoro" grossed in China. As of February 2019, it grossed $25,798,550 in China.
In 1988, US-based company Streamline Pictures produced an exclusive English language dub of the film for use as an in-flight movie on Japan Airlines flights. Due to his disappointment with the result of the heavily edited English version of "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind", Miyazaki would not permit any part of the movie to be edited out, all the names had to remain the same (with the exception being Catbus), the translation had to be as close to the original Japanese as possible, and no part of the movie could be changed for any reason, cultural or linguistic (which was very common at the time) despite creating problems with some English viewers, particularly in explaining the origin of the name "Totoro". It was produced by John Daly and Derek Gibson, with co-producer Jerry Beck. In April 1993, Troma Films, under their 50th St. Films banner, distributed the dub of the film as a theatrical release, and was later released onto VHS by Fox Video.
In 2004, Disney produced an all new English dub of the movie to be released after the rights to the Streamline dub had expired. As is the case with Disney's other English dubs of Miyazaki films, the Disney version of "Totoro" features a star-heavy cast, including Dakota and Elle Fanning as Satsuki and Mei, Timothy Daly as Mr. Kusakabe, Pat Carroll as Granny, Lea Salonga as Mrs. Kusakabe, and Frank Welker as Totoro and Catbus. The songs for the new dub retained the same translation as the previous dub, but were sung by Sonya Isaacs. The songs for the Streamline version of "Totoro" were sung by Cassie Byram. Disney's English-language dub premiered on October 23, 2005; it then appeared at the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival. The Turner Classic Movies cable television network held the television premiere of Disney's new English dub on January 19, 2006, as part of the network's salute to Hayao Miyazaki. (TCM aired the dub as well as the original Japanese with English subtitles.) The Disney version was initially released on DVD in the United States on March 7, 2006, but is now out of print. This version of the film has since been used in all English-speaking regions.
The movie was released to VHS and LaserDisc by Tokuma Shoten in August 1988 under their Animage Video label. Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan (now Walt Disney Japan) would later reissue the VHS on June 27, 1997 as part of their "Ghibli ga Ippai" series, and was later released to DVD on September 28, 2001, including both the original Japanese and the Streamline Pictures English dub. Disney would later release the film on Blu-ray in the country on July 18, 2012. The DVD was re-released on July 16, 2014, using the remastered print from the Blu-ray and having the Disney produced English dub instead of Streamline's.
In 1993, Fox Video released the Streamline Pictures dub of "My Neighbor Totoro" on VHS and LaserDisc in the United States and was later released to DVD in 2002. After the rights to the dub expired in 2004, Walt Disney Home Entertainment re-released the movie on DVD on March 7, 2006 with Disney's newly produced English dub and the original Japanese version. A reissue of "Totoro", "Castle in the Sky", and "Kiki's Delivery Service" featuring updated cover art highlighting its Studio Ghibli origins was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 2, 2010, coinciding with the US DVD and Blu-ray debut of "Ponyo", and was It was later released on Blu-Ray Disc on May 21, 2013. GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on October 17, 2017.
The Disney-produced Dub has also been released onto DVD and Blu-ray by distributors like Madman Entertainment in Australia and Optimum Releasing/StudioCanal UK in the United Kingdom.
In Japan, the film sold 3.5million VHS and DVD units as of April 2012, equivalent to approximately () at an average retail price of ( on DVD and on VHS). In the United States, the film sold over 500,000 VHS units by 1996, equivalent to approximately at a retail price of $19.98, with the later 2010 DVD release selling a further 3.8million units and grossing in the United States as of October 2018. In total, the film's home video releases have sold 7.8million units and grossed approximately in Japan and the United States.
"My Neighbor Totoro" received widespread acclaim from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10 based on 48 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, “"My Neighbor Totoro" is a heartwarming, sentimental masterpiece that captures the simple grace of childhood." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 86 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is listed as a "must-see" by Metacritic. "My Neighbor Totoro" was voted the highest-ranking animated film on the 2012 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of all-time greatest films.
Film critic Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" identified "My Neighbor Totoro" as one of his "Great Movies", calling it "one of the lovingly hand-crafted works of Hayao Miyazaki". In his review, Ebert declared ""My Neighbor Totoro" is based on experience, situation and exploration—not on conflict and threat", and described its appeal:
The 1993 translation was not as well received as the 2006 translation. Leonard Klady of the entertainment trade newspaper "Variety" wrote of the 1993 translation, that "My Neighbor Totoro" demonstrated "adequate television technical craft" that was characterized by "muted pastels, homogenized pictorial style and [a] vapid storyline". Klady described the film's environment, "Obviously aimed at an international audience, the film evinces a disorienting combination of cultures that produces a nowhere land more confused than fascinating." Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" described the 1993 translation as "very visually handsome", and believed that the film was "very charming" when "dispensing enchantment". Despite the highlights, Holden wrote, "Too much of the film, however, is taken up with stiff, mechanical chitchat."
Matthew Leyland of "Sight & Sound" reviewed the DVD released in 2006, "Miyazaki's family fable is remarkably light on tension, conflict and plot twists, yet it beguiles from beginning to end... what sticks with the viewer is the every-kid credibility of the girls' actions as they work, play and settle into their new surroundings." Leyland praised the DVD transfer of the film, but noted that the disc lacked a look at the film's production, instead being overabundant with storyboards.
Phillip E. Wegner makes a case for the film being an example of alternative history citing the utopian-like setting of the anime.
"My Neighbor Totoro" set its writer-director Hayao Miyazaki on the road to success. The film's central character, Totoro, is as famous among Japanese children as Winnie-the-Pooh is among British ones. "The Independent" recognized Totoro as one of the greatest cartoon characters, describing the creature, "At once innocent and awe-inspiring, King Totoro captures the innocence and magic of childhood more than any of Miyazaki's other magical creations." The "Financial Times" recognized the character's appeal, commenting that "[Totoro] is more genuinely loved than Mickey Mouse could hope to be in his wildest—not nearly so beautifully illustrated—fantasies." Totoro and characters from the movie play a significant role in the Ghibli Museum, including a large catbus and the Straw Hat Cafe.
The environmental journal "Ambio" described the influence of "My Neighbor Totoro", "[It] has served as a powerful force to focus the positive feelings that the Japanese people have for satoyama and traditional village life." The film's central character Totoro was used as a mascot by the Japanese "Totoro Hometown Fund Campaign" to preserve areas of satoyama in the Saitama Prefecture. The fund, started in 1990 after the film's release, held an auction in August 2008 at Pixar Animation Studios to sell over 210 original paintings, illustrations, and sculptures inspired by "My Neighbor Totoro".
Totoro has made cameo appearances in multiple Studio Ghibli films, including "Pom Poko", "Kiki's Delivery Service", and "Whisper of the Heart". Various other anime series and films have featured cameos, including one episode of the Gainax TV series "His and Her Circumstances". Miyazaki uses Totoro as a part of his Studio Ghibli company logo.
A main-belt asteroid, discovered on December 31, 1994, was named 10160 Totoro after the film's central character. Totoro makes a cameo appearance in the Pixar film "Toy Story 3" (2010); the film's art director Daisuke Tsutsumi is married to Miyazaki's niece, who was the original inspiration for the character Mei in "My Neighbour Totoro".
In 2013 a velvet worm species "Eoperipatus totoro", recently discovered in Vietnam, was named after Totoro: "Following the request of Pavel V. Kvartalnov, Eduard A. Galoyan and Igor V. Palko, the species is named after the main character of the cartoon movie "My Neighbour Totoro" by Hayao Miyazaki (1988, Studio Ghibli), who uses a many-legged animal as a vehicle, which according to the collectors resembles a velvet worm."
A four-volume series of "ani-manga" books, which use color images and lines directly from the film, was published in Japan in May 1988 by Tokuma. The series was licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media, which released the books from November 10, 2004, through February 15, 2005. A 111-page picture book based on the film and aimed at younger readers was released by Tokuma on June 28, 1988 and, in a 112-page English translation, by Viz on November 8, 2005. A 176-page art book containing conceptual art from the film and interviews with the production staff was released by Tokuma on July 15, 1988 and, in English translation, by Viz on November 8, 2005. A hardcover "light novel" written by Tsugiko Kubo and illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki was released by Viz in 2013.
is a thirteen-minute sequel to "My Neighbor Totoro", written and directed by Miyazaki. Chika Sakamoto, who voiced Mei in "Totoro", returned to voice Mei in this short. Hayao Miyazaki himself did the voice of the Granny Cat ("Neko Baa-chan"), as well as Totoro. It concentrates on the character of Mei Kusakabe from the original film and her adventures one night with the Kittenbus (the offspring of the Catbus from the film) and other cat-oriented vehicles.
Originally released in Japan in 2003, the short is regularly shown at the Ghibli Museum, but has not been released to home video. It was shown briefly in the United States in 2006 to honor the North American release of fellow Miyazaki film "Spirited Away" and at a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fundraiser a few days later.
The "Tonari no Totoro" Soundtrack was originally released in Japan on May 1, 1988 by Tokuma Shoten. The CD primarily features the musical score used in the film composed by Joe Hisaishi, except for five vocal pieces performed by Azumi Inoue. It has since been re-released twice, once on November 21, 1996, and again on August 25, 2004.
Numerous licensed merchandise of Totoro have been sold in Japan for decades after the film's release. Totoro licensed merchandise sales in Japan grossed in 1999, during 20032007, at least in 2008, and during 20102012. Combined, Totoro licensed merchandise sales have grossed at least () in Japan between 1999 and 2012. | en.wikipedia.org | My Neighbor Totoro | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20669 |
20670 | Maribor
Maribor ( , , ; also known by other historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, the seat of the Drava statistical region and the Eastern Slovenia region. Maribor is also the economic, administrative, educational, and cultural centre of eastern Slovenia.
Maribor was first mentioned as a castle in 1164, as a settlement in 1209, and as a city in 1254. Like most Slovene ethnic territory, Maribor was under Habsburg rule until 1918, when Rudolf Maister and his men secured the city for the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which then joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1991 Maribor became part of independent Slovenia.
Maribor, along with the Portuguese city of Guimarães, was selected the European Capital of Culture for 2012.
Maribor was attested in historical sources as "Marpurch" circa 1145 (and later as "Marchburch", "Marburc", and "Marchpurch"), and is a compound of Middle High German "march" 'march (borderland)' + "burc" 'fortress'. In modern times, the town's German name was "Marburg an der Drau" (; literally, 'Marburg on the Drava').
The Slovene name "Maribor" is an artificial Slovenized creation, coined by Stanko Vraz in 1836. Vraz created the name in the spirit of Illyrianism by analogy with the name "Brandenburg" (cf. Lower Sorbian "Bramborska"). Locally, the town is known in Slovene as "Marprk" or "Marprog". In addition to its Slovene and German names, the city is also known as "Marburgum" in Latin and "Marburgo" in Italian.
The oldest known remnants of settlement in the Maribor area date back to the 5th millennium BC, at the time of the Chalcolithic. With the construction of Maribor's western bypass, larger settlements were discovered dating from the 44th to 42nd century BC. Another settlement from around the same period was also discovered in Spodnje Hoče, a town right next to Maribor and another below Melje Hill near Malečnik. Another settlement below Melje Hill was also found dating to the 4th millennium BC.
A more intense period of settlement of the Maribor area occurred in the 3rd millennium BC with the advent of the Bronze Age. In the 13th to 12th century BC, in the age of the Urnfield culture, new settlements were found in Pekel. Around 1000 BC, new settlers moved to the Maribor area. An urnfield cemetery was found from that period in today's "Mladinska ulica" and another necropolis was also found in Pobrežje.
With the Iron Age and the Hallstatt Culture, new settlements began to appear on hills. One of them was Poštela in the Pohorje Mountains. Poštela was an old town that was abandoned in the 6th century BC and inhabited again in the 2nd century BC.
During Roman times, the area where Maribor later developed was part of the province of Noricum, right on the border with Pannonia. During that period, Roman agricultural estates known as "villae rusticae" filled the area around Radvanje, Betnava, Bohova, and Hoče. The best-known of them was in today's Borova Vas neighborhood of Maribor. An important trade route was also established in the area, connecting Celeia and Flavia Solva in one direction with Poetovio and central Noricum on the other.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Maribor area was settled by the Slavs.
A Slavic cemetery was found in Radvanje dating to the 10th century AD. The area of what later became Maribor was first part of Samo's Empire and later the area stood on the border between Carantania and Lower Pannonia. In 843 the area was absorbed into the Frankish Empire.
In the Frankish Empire, the area again stood on the border, this time between the Frankish Empire and the Principality of Hungary. To protect the Frankish Empire from Hungarian raids, a castle was built on Pyramid Hill. The castle was mentioned for the first time on 20 October 1164 as "Castrum Marchburch". A settlement soon began to grow below the castle. Maribor was first mentioned as a market near the castle in 1204, and it received town privileges in 1254. It is likely that the castle stood before 1164 because Bernard of Trixien, the count of the region, already used the title "Bernhard von Marchpurg" 'Bernard of Maribor' in 1124.
The town began to grow rapidly after the victory of Rudolf I of the Habsburg dynasty over King Otakar II of Bohemia in 1278. The town built fortifications, and trade, viticulture, and crafts started to grow. The town had a monopoly over the entire region and also controlled the viticulture trade with Carinthia. The first churches were built, and also around this time the first Jews arrived. The Jews built their own ghetto in the southeastern part of town, where they also built the Maribor Synagogue. Most Slovenians lived in the northwestern part of town on what is now Slovenian Street ("Slovenska ulica"). In 1478, a second castle was built on the northeastern side of the town, today known as Maribor Castle. In 1480 and in 1481, Matthias Corvinus besieged the town but failed to conquer it on both occasions. In 1496, Maximilian I issued a decree to expel all Jews from Maribor and Styria. In 1515, the Maribor Town Hall was built and a few years later, in 1532, Maribor again came under siege, this time by the Ottoman Empire. In the battle that became known as the Siege of Maribor, a 100,000-strong Ottoman army under the leadership of Suleiman the Magnificent attacked the town, which was defended only by the local garrison and its citizens. Despite all the odds, Maribor was defended and the legend of the Maribor shoemaker who raised the sluice gates and flooded the Ottoman army is still popular today.
In the 17th century, numerous fires razed the town. The biggest ones occurred in 1601, 1645, 1648, and 1700. Because of them, the town was rebuilt numerous times. In addition to fires, the plague decimated the town's population. The largest plague epidemics occurred in 1646, 1664, and 1680. Due to the plague, the town lost 35 percent of its population. In gratitude for the end of the plague, a plague column was built in 1681, with the original being replaced in 1743. In 1846, the Southern Railway was built through the town, which resulted in great economic growth and territorial expansion. In 1859, Anton Martin Slomšek, a bishop of the Diocese of Lavant, transferred the seat of the diocese to Maribor, and he further encouraged the use of Slovene. With the transfer, Maribor also received its first higher school. Four years later, Maribor was connected with Carinthia with the construction of the railway from Maribor to Prevalje. The first daily Slovenian newspaper, called "Slovenski narod", was established in 1868 on today's Slomšek Square ("Slomškov trg"). On 4 April 1883, the first electric light in Slovene ethnic territory was installed on Castle Square ("Grajski trg"). The renowned electrical engineer Nikola Tesla lived in Maribor from 1878 to 1879, where he received his first job. Maribor National Hall was built in 1899, and it became a political, cultural, and economic centre for all Styrian Slovenes.
In 1900, the city itself had a population that was 82.3% Austrian German (19,298 people) and 17.3% Slovene (4,062 people; based on the language spoken at home); most of the city's capital and public life was in Austrian German hands. However, the county excluding the city had only 10,199 Austrian Germans and 78,888 Slovene inhabitants, meaning the city was completely surrounded by majority-Slovene ethnic territory. Some former independent settlements that later became part of the city had more ethnic Slovenes than Austrian Germans (e.g., Krčevina, Radvanje, Tezno), whereas others had more Austrian Germans than ethnic Slovenes (e.g., Pobrežje and Studenci). In 1913, a new bridge was opened over the Drava River, today known as the Old Bridge. In World War I, the 47th Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army was based in the city and also fought on the Isonzo front. During the First World War many Slovenes in Carinthia and Styria were detained on suspicion of being enemies of the Austrian Empire. This led to distrust between Austrian Germans and Slovenes.
After the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Maribor was claimed by both the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and German Austria. On 1 November 1918, a meeting was held by Colonel Anton Holik in the Melje barracks, where it was decided that the city would be part of German Austria. Ethnic Slovene Major Rudolf Maister, who was present at the meeting, denounced the decision and organised Slovenian military units that were able to seize control of the city. All Austrian officers and soldiers were disarmed and demobilised to the new state of German Austria. The German city council then held a secret meeting, where it was decided to do whatever possible to regain Maribor for German Austria. They organised a military unit called the Green Guard ("Schutzwehr"), and approximately 400 well-armed soldiers of this unit opposed the pro-Slovenian and pro-Yugoslav Major Maister. Slovenian troops surprised and disarmed the Green Guard early on the morning of 23 November. Thereafter, the city remained in Slovenian hands.
On 27 January 1919, Austrian Germans gathered to await the United States peace delegation at the city's marketplace were fired upon by Slovenian troops. Nine citizens were killed and some eighteen were seriously wounded; who had actually ordered the shooting has never been unequivocally established. German sources accused Maister's troops of shooting without cause. In turn Slovene witnesses such as Maks Pohar claimed that the Austrian Germans attacked the Slovenian soldiers guarding the town hall, one even discharging a revolver and hitting one Slovenian soldier in the bayonet. The German-language media called the incident "Marburg's Bloody Sunday". As Maribor was now firmly in the hands of the Slovenian forces and surrounded completely by Slovenian territory; the city had been recognised as part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes without a plebiscite in the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 September 1919 between the victors and German Austria. For his actions in Maribor and later in the Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia, Rudolf Maister is today considered a Slovenian national hero.
After 1918, most of Maribor's Austrian Germans left the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes for Austria. A policy of cultural assimilation was pursued in Yugoslavia against the Austrian German minority similar to the Germanization policy followed by Austria against its Slovene minority in Carinthia. From 1922 to 1929, Maribor was the seat of the Maribor Oblast, a subdivision within Yugoslavia and was later part of the Drava Banovina. Up until World War II, Maribor was considered the fastest-developing city in the country.
In 1941 Lower Styria, the predominantly Slovene part of Styria, was annexed by Nazi Germany. German troops marched into the town at 9 pm on 8 April 1941. On 26 April Adolf Hitler, who encouraged his followers to "make this land German again", visited Maribor and a grand reception was organised in the city castle by the local Germans. Immediately after the occupation, Nazi Germany began mass expulsions of Slovenes to the Independent State of Croatia, Serbia, and later to the concentration and work camps in Germany. The Nazi goal was to Germanize the population of Lower Styria after the war. Slovene patriots were taken hostage and many were later shot in the prisons of Maribor and Graz. This led to organised resistance by Slovene partisans. The first act of resistance in Maribor and occupied Slovenia occurred only three days after Hitler's visit, when Slovene communists and SKOJ members burned two German cars.
Maribor was the site of a German prisoner-of-war camp from 1941 to 1945 for many British, Australian, and New Zealand troops who had been captured in Crete in 1941. In 1944, the largest mass rescue of POWs of the war in Europe took place when 105 Allied prisoners from the camp were freed by Slovene partisans in the Raid at Ožbalt. The city, a major industrial centre with an extensive armament industry, was systematically bombed by the Allies in the closing years of World War II. A total of 29 bombing raids devastated some 47% of the city area, killing 483 civilians and leaving over 4,200 people homeless. Over 2,600 people died in Maribor during the war. By the end of the war, Maribor was the most war-damaged major town of Yugoslavia. The remaining German-speaking population, except those who had actively supported the resistance during the war, was summarily expelled at the end of the war in May 1945. At the same time Croatian Home Guard members and their relatives who tried to escape from Yugoslavia were executed by the Yugoslav Army. The existence of nine mass graves in and near Maribor was revealed after Slovenia's independence.
After the Second World War, Maribor became part of SR Slovenia, within SFR Yugoslavia. A major process of renewal and reconstruction began in the city. Maribor soon after became the industrial centre of Slovenia and the whole of Yugoslavia, hosting many known companies such as the Maribor Automobile Factory among others. The first clash between the Yugoslav People's Army and the Slovenian Territorial Defence in Slovenia's war of independence happened in nearby Pekre and on the streets of Maribor resulting in the conflicts first casualty. After Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, the loss of the Yugoslav market severely strained the city's economy, which was based on heavy industry. The city saw a record unemployment rate of nearly 25%.
The economic situation of Maribor after the mid-1990s crisis worsened again with the onset of global economic crisis combined with the European sovereign-debt crisis, which was one of the causes for the beginning of 2012–13 Maribor protests which spread into 2012–2013 Slovenian protests. During the year 2012 Maribor was also one of two European Capitals of Culture and the following year Maribor was the European Youth Capital.
On the Drava River lies Maribor Island (). The oldest public bath, still important and much visited place in Maribor, is located there.
There are two hills in Maribor: Calvary Hill and Pyramid Hill, both surrounded by vineyards. The latter dominates the northern border of the city. Ruins of the first Maribor castle from the 11th century and a chapel from the 19th century also stand there. The hill offers an easily accessible scenic overlook of Maribor and the countryside to the south over the Drava River.
The city of Maribor is divided into 11 districts () of the City Municipality of Maribor. The Drava River separates the districts of Center, Koroška Vrata, and Ivan Cankar to the north from other districts south of it. The various city districts are connected by four road bridges, a rail bridge, and a pedestrian bridge.
Maribor has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb), bordering on oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb). Average temperatures hover around zero degrees Celsius during the winter. Summers are generally warm. Average temperatures during the city's warmest month (July) exceed 20 degrees Celsius, which is one of the main reasons for the Maribor wine tradition. The city sees on average roughly of precipitation annually and it's one of the sunniest Slovene cities, with an average of 266 sunny days throughout the course of the year. The most recent temperature heatwave record for August is 40.6 °C, measured at the Maribor–Tabor weather station by the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO) on 8 August 2013.
Many historical structures stand in Maribor. Of the remains of city walls surrounding the old downtown, the most prominent are the Judgement Tower, the Water Tower, and the Jewish Tower. Maribor Cathedral was built in the Gothic style in the 13th century. Maribor Synagogue was built in the 14th century, and is the second oldest synagogue of Europe. Today it serves as a centre for cultural activities. Other prominent Medieval buildings are Maribor Castle, Betnava Castle, and the ruins of Upper Maribor Castle on Pyramid Hill. Town Hall was constructed in the Renaissance style, and the Plague Column in the Baroque style.
At the start of the 21st century, plans were made for a new modern business, residential and entertainment district, called the Drava Gate () and nicknamed the "Maribor Manhattan". The project includes many new exclusive residential apartments, offices and conference halls, a green and recreational space, and other structures. It also includes a tall skyscraper that would be the tallest building in Slovenia. Due to lack of finances, the project has been postponed.
In 2008, the Studenci Footbridge () was renovated according to the design of the Ponting company. The design was awarded that year at the 3rd International Footbridge Conference in Porto.
In 2010, Maribor organised an international architectural competition "ECC Maribor 2012 – Drava 2012" to gather proposals for the design and reconstruction of the Drava banks, the construction of a new art gallery, and for a new footbridge. Its jury received about 400 proposals for the three different projects. The footbridge and the river embankments will be built in the near future, but the art gallery was replaced with a cultural center MAKS, which is currently under construction.
The construction of a new modern Faculty of Medicine started in 2011 near the Drava River. It was designed by architect Boris Podrecca and was completed in 2013.
There are plans to renovate the Maribor Public Library and Town Hall Square (). In addition, the renovation of Maribor Island () in the Drava River has been planned.
The main park of the city is Maribor City Park, with the City Aquarium and Terrarium, and a wide promenade leading to the Three Ponds (), containing over 100 local and foreign species of deciduous and coniferous trees.
Maribor, previously in the Catholic Diocese of Graz-Seckau, became part of the Diocese of Lavant on 1 June 1859, and the seat of its Prince-Bishop. The name of the diocese (after a river in Carinthia) was later changed to the Diocese of Maribor on 5 March 1962. It was elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI on 7 April 2006.
Jewish people living in Maribor were first mentioned in 1277. It is suggested that at that time there was already a Jewish quarter in the city. The Jewish ghetto was located in the southeastern part of the city and it comprised, at its peak, several main streets in the city centre including part of the main city square. The ghetto had a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery and also a Talmud school. The Jewish community of Maribor was numerically at its apex around 1410. After 1450 the circumstances changed dramatically: increasing competition that coincided with an economic crisis dealt a severe blow to the economic activities that were crucial to their economic success. According to a decree issued by Emperor Maximilian I in 1496, Jews were forced to leave the city of Maribor. Restrictions on settlement and business for Jews remained in place until 1861. From late spring 1941, after Lower Styria was annexed by the Third Reich, the Jews of Maribor were deported to concentration camps.
The city hosts the University of Maribor, established in 1975, and many other schools.
Every June, the two-week Lent Festival (named after the waterfront district called Lent) is held, with hundreds of musical, theatrical and other events. Every year the festival attracts theatre, opera, ballet performers, classical, modern, and jazz musicians and dancers from all over the world, and of course many visitors. There is also mime, magic shows are being held and acrobats perform during the festival.
Maribor is known for wine and culinary specialities of international and Slovene cuisine (mushroom soup with buckwheat mush, tripe, sour soup, sausages with Sauerkraut, cheese dumplings, apple strudel, special cheese cake called gibanica). There are also many popular restaurants with Serbian cuisine. The Vinag Wine Cellar (), with the area of and the length of , keeps 5,5 millions litres of wine. The house of the oldest grapevine in the world () at Lent grows the world's oldest grapevine, which was in 2004 recorded in "Guinness World Records". The grapevine of Žametovka is about 440 years old.
The most listened radio stations transmitting from Maribor are the commercial radio stations Radio City and Radio Net FM. They are followed by the national non-commercial Radio Maribor.
The alternative scene of Maribor is situated in the Pekarna (Bakery; former squat) area next to Magdalena Park.
Maribor is the hometown of the association football club NK Maribor, playing in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. NK Maribor has won the domestic title 14 times and has participated in the UEFA Champions League group stages three times, in the 1999–2000, 2014–15, and 2017–18 seasons. The club's home ground is Ljudski vrt, located in the Koroška Vrata district.
Maribor's handball club is RK Maribor Branik. Maribor Branik competes in the Slovenian First League of Handball and play their matches at Tabor Hall.
Every January the Maribor Pohorje Ski Resort, situated on the outskirts of the city on the slopes of the Pohorje mountain range, hosts the women's slalom and giant slalom races for the Alpine Skiing World Cup known as "Zlata lisica" (The Golden Fox).
In November 2012, Maribor hosted the World Youth Chess Championship with Garry Kasparov as the guest-of-honour. It was presumed that Maribor would also host the XXVI 2013 Winter Universiade but the Government of Slovenia refused any financial support for this project due to major financial problems. As a result, the International University Sports Federation decided that it would organise the Universiade elsewhere.
Maribor sports parks include Pohorje Adrenaline Park () with a high ropes course, one-track-line PohorJET, and summer sledding; Pohorje Bike Park; and Betnava Adventure Park ("Pustolovski park Betnava") with ropes courses, zip-lines, and poles.
Maribor is twinned with:
Maribor has signed partnerships with: | en.wikipedia.org | Maribor | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20670 |
20672 | Matthew the Apostle
Matthew the Apostle, also known as Saint Matthew and as Levi, was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian tradition, he was also one of the four Evangelists and thus is also known as Matthew the Evangelist.
The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus, and was one of the witnesses of the Ascension of Jesus. Later Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria claim that Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before going to other countries.
Among the early followers and apostles of Jesus, Matthew is mentioned in and as a publican (KJV) or tax collector (NIV) who, while sitting at the "receipt of custom" in Capernaum, was called to follow Jesus. He is also listed among the twelve, but without identification of his background, in , and . In passages parallel to Matthew 9:9, both and describe Jesus' calling of the tax collector Levi, the son of Alphaeus, but Mark and Luke never explicitly equate this Levi with the Matthew named as one of the twelve.
According to the Gospels, Matthew was a 1st-century Galilean (presumably born in Galilee, which was not part of Judea or the Roman Iudaea province), the son of Alphaeus. As a tax collector, he would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek. | en.wikipedia.org | Matthew the Apostle | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20672 |
20675 | Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh (Balochi: "Mehrgaŕh"; ) is a Neolithic site (dated c. 7000 BCE to c. 2500/2000 BCE), which lies on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan. Mehrgarh is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the present-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and Catherine Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh—in the northeast corner of the site—was a small farming village dated between 7000 BCE and 5500 BCE.
Mehrgarh is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia. Mehrgarh was influenced by the Near Eastern Neolithic, with similarities between "domesticated wheat varieties, early phases of farming, pottery, other archaeological artefacts, some domesticated plants and herd animals." According to Parpola, the culture migrated into the Indus Valley and became the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Jean-Francois Jarrige argues for an independent origin of Mehrgarh. Jarrige notes "the assumption that farming economy was introduced full-fledged from Near-East to South Asia," and the similarities between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a "cultural continuum" between those sites. But given the originality of Mehrgarh, Jarrige concludes that Mehrgarh has an earlier local background," and is not a "'backwater' of the Neolithic culture of the Near East."
Lukacs and Hemphill suggest an initial local development of Mehrgarh, with a continuity in cultural development but a change in population. According to Lukacs and Hemphill, while there is a strong continuity between the neolithic and chalcolithic (Copper Age) cultures of Mehrgarh, dental evidence shows that the chalcolithic population did not descend from the neolithic population of Mehrgarh, which "suggests moderate levels of gene flow." They wrote that "the direct lineal descendents of the Neolithic inhabitants of Mehrgarh are to be found to the south and the east of Mehrgarh, in northwestern India and the western edge of the Deccan plateau," with neolithic Mehrgarh showing greater affinity with chalcolithic Inamgaon, south of Mehrgarh, than with chalcolithic Mehrgarh.
Gallego Romero et al. (2011) state that their research on lactose tolerance in India suggests that "the west Eurasian genetic contribution identified by Reich et al. (2009) principally reflects gene flow from Iran and the Middle East." Gallego Romero notes that Indians who are lactose-tolerant show a genetic pattern regarding this tolerance which is "characteristic of the common European mutation." According to Romero, this suggests that "the most common lactose tolerance mutation made a two-way migration out of the Middle East less than 10,000 years ago. While the mutation spread across Europe, another explorer must have brought the mutation eastward to India – likely traveling along the coast of the Persian Gulf where other pockets of the same mutation have been found." They further note that "[t]he earliest evidence of cattle herding in south Asia comes from the Indus River Valley site of Mehrgarh and is dated to 7,000 YBP."
Archaeologists divide the occupation at the site into eight periods.
The Mehrgarh Period I (7000 BCE-5500 BCE) was Neolithic and aceramic, without the use of pottery. The earliest farming in the area was developed by semi-nomadic people using plants such as wheat and barley and animals such as sheep, goats and cattle. The settlement was established with simple mud buildings and most of them had four internal subdivisions. Numerous burials have been found, many with elaborate goods such as baskets, stone and bone tools, beads, bangles, pendants and occasionally animal sacrifices, with more goods left with burials of males. Ornaments of sea shell, limestone, turquoise, lapis lazuli and sandstone have been found, along with simple figurines of women and animals. Sea shells from far sea shore and lapis lazuli found as far away as present-day Badakshan, Afghanistan shows good contact with those areas. A single ground stone axe was discovered in a burial, and several more were obtained from the surface. These ground stone axes are the earliest to come from a stratified context in South Asia. Periods I, II and III are contemporaneous with another site called Kili Gul Mohammad
The aceramic Neolithic phase in the region is now called 'Kili Gul Muhammad phase', and it is dated 7000-5000 BC. Yet the Kili Gul Muhammad site, itself, may have started c. 5500 BC.
In 2001, archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh made the discovery that the people of this civilization had knowledge of proto-dentistry. In April 2006, it was announced in the scientific journal "Nature" that the oldest (and first "early Neolithic") evidence for the drilling of human teeth "in vivo" ("i.e." in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region. "Here we describe eleven drilled molar crowns from nine adults discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan that dates from 7,500 to 9,000 years ago. These findings provide evidence for a long tradition of a type of proto-dentistry in an early farming culture."
The Mehrgarh Period II (5500 BCE–4800 BCE) and Merhgarh Period III (4800 BCE–3500 BCE) were ceramic Neolithic, using pottery, and later chalcolithic. Period II is at site MR4 and Period III is at MR2. Much evidence of manufacturing activity has been found and more advanced techniques were used. Glazed faience beads were produced and terracotta figurines became more detailed. Figurines of females were decorated with paint and had diverse hairstyles and ornaments. Two flexed burials were found in Period II with a red ochre cover on the body. The amount of burial goods decreased over time, becoming limited to ornaments and with more goods left with burials of females. The first button seals were produced from terracotta and bone and had geometric designs. Technologies included stone and copper drills, updraft kilns, large pit kilns and copper melting crucibles. There is further evidence of long-distance trade in Period II: important as an indication of this is the discovery of several beads of lapis lazuli, once again from Badakshan. Mehrgarh Periods II and III are also contemporaneous with an expansion of the settled populations of the borderlands at the western edge of South Asia, including the establishment of settlements like Rana Ghundai, Sheri Khan Tarakai, Sarai Kala, Jalilpur and Ghaligai.
Period IV was 3500 to 3250 BCE. Period V from 3250 to 3000 BCE and period VI was around 3000 BCE. The site containing Periods IV to VII is designated as MR1.
Somewhere between 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, the city seems to have been largely abandoned in favor of the larger and fortified town Nausharo five miles away when the Indus Valley Civilization was in its middle stages of development. Historian Michael Wood suggests this took place around 2500 BCE.
The last period is found at the Sibri cemetery, about 8 kilometers from Mehrgarh.
Early Mehrgarh residents lived in mud brick houses, stored their grain in granaries, fashioned tools with local copper ore, and lined their large basket containers with bitumen. They cultivated six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. Residents of the later period (5500 BCE to 2600 BCE) put much effort into crafts, including flint knapping, tanning, bead production, and metal working. Mehrgarh is probably the earliest known center of agriculture in South Asia.
The oldest known example of the lost-wax technique comes from a 6,000-year-old wheel-shaped copper amulet found at Mehrgarh. The amulet was made from unalloyed copper, an unusual innovation that was later abandoned.
The oldest ceramic figurines in South Asia were found at Mehrgarh. They occur in all phases of the settlement and were prevalent even before pottery appears. The earliest figurines are quite simple and do not show intricate features. However, they grow in sophistication with time and by 4000 BC begin to show their characteristic hairstyles and typical prominent breasts. All the figurines up to this period were female. Male figurines appear only from period VII and gradually become more numerous. Many of the female figurines are holding babies, and were interpreted as depictions of the "mother goddess". However, due to some difficulties in conclusively identifying these figurines with the "mother goddess", some scholars prefer using the term "female figurines with likely cultic significance".
Evidence of pottery begins from Period II. In period III, the finds become much more abundant as the potter's wheel is introduced, and they show more intricate designs and also animal motifs. The characteristic female figurines appear beginning in Period IV and the finds show more intricate designs and sophistication. Pipal leaf designs are used in decoration from Period VI. Some sophisticated firing techniques were used from Period VI and VII and an area reserved for the pottery industry has been found at mound MR1. However, by Period VIII, the quality and intricacy of designs seem to have suffered due to mass production, and due to a growing interest in bronze and copper vessels.
There are two types of burials in the Mehrgarh site. There were individual burials where a single individual was enclosed in narrow mud walls and collective burials with thin mud brick walls within which skeletons of six different individuals were discovered. The bodies in the collective burials were kept in a flexed position and were laid east to west. Child bones were found in large jars or urn burials (4000~3300 BCE).
Metal finds have dated as early as Period IIB, with a few copper items. | en.wikipedia.org | Mehrgarh | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20675 |
20676 | Microvision
The Microvision (aka Milton Bradley Microvision or MB Microvision) is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable ROM cartridges. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979. The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex gaming console. The Microvision's combination of portability and a cartridge-based system led to moderate success, with Smith Engineering grossing $15 million in the first year of the system's release. However, very few cartridges, a small screen, and a lack of support from established home video game companies led to its demise in 1981. According to Satoru Okada, the former head of Nintendo's R&D1 Department, the Microvision gave birth to the Game & Watch after Nintendo designed around Microvision's limitations.
Unlike most later consoles, the Microvision did not contain an onboard processor (CPU). Instead, each game included its own processor contained within the removable cartridge. This meant that the console itself effectively consisted of the controls, LCD panel and LCD controller.
The processors for the first Microvision cartridges were made with both Intel 8021 (cross licensed by Signetics) and Texas Instruments TMS1100 processors. Due to purchasing issues, Milton Bradley switched to using TMS1100 processors exclusively including reprogramming the games that were originally programmed for the 8021 processor. The TMS1100 was a more primitive device, but offered more memory and lower power consumption than the 8021. First-revision Microvisions needed two batteries due to the 8021's higher power consumption, but later units (designed for the TMS1100) only had one active battery holder. Even though the battery compartment was designed to allow the two 9-volt batteries to be inserted with proper polarity of positive and negative terminals, when a battery was forcefully improperly oriented, while the other battery was properly oriented, the two batteries would be shorted and they would overheat. The solution was to remove terminals for one of the batteries to prevent this hazard. Due to the high cost of changing production molds, Milton Bradley did not eliminate the second battery compartment, but instead removed its terminals and called it the spare battery holder.
Milton Bradley put most of its marketing muscle at the time behind the tabletop Vectrex system, contributing to the Microvision's mediocre performance in the market.
Microvision units and cartridges are now somewhat rare. Those that are still in existence are susceptible to three main problems: "screen rot," ESD damage, and keypad destruction.
The manufacturing process used to create the Microvision's LCD was primitive by modern standards. Poor sealing and impurities introduced during manufacture has resulted in the condition known as "screen rot". The liquid crystal spontaneously leaks and permanently darkens, resulting in a game unit that still plays but is unable to properly draw the screen. While extreme heat (such as resulting from leaving the unit in the sun) which can instantly destroy the screen can be avoided, there is nothing that can be done to prevent screen rot in most Microvision systems.
A major design problem on early units involves the fact that the microprocessor (which is inside the top of each cartridge) lacks ESD protection and is directly connected to the copper pins which normally connect the cartridge to the Microvision unit. If the user opens the protective sliding door that covers the pins, the processor can be exposed to any electric charge the user has built up. If the user has built up a substantial charge, the discharge can jump around the door's edge or pass through the door itself (dielectric breakdown). The low-voltage integrated circuit inside the cartridge is extremely ESD sensitive, and can be destroyed by an event of only a few dozen volts which cannot even be felt by the person, delivering a fatal shock to the game unit. This phenomenon was described in detail by John Elder Robison (a former Milton Bradley engineer) in his book "Look Me in the Eye"; Robinson described the issue as having been a significant enough issue during the 1979 holiday season (with up to 60% of units being returned as defective) that it resulted in significant panic among Milton Bradley staff and required extensive modifications to both later Microvision units and Microvision factories (the former being of his own design) to better dispel stray static charges.
The Microvision unit had a twelve-button keypad, with the switches buried under a thick layer of flexible plastic. To align the user's fingers with the hidden buttons, the cartridges had cutouts in their bottom (over the keypad). As different games required different button functions, the cutouts were covered with a thin printed piece of plastic, which identified the buttons' functions in that game. The problem with this design is that pressing on the buttons stretched the printed plastic, resulting in the thin material stretching and eventually tearing. Having long fingernails exacerbated the condition. Many of the initial games were programmed to give feedback of the keypress when the key was released instead of when the key was pressed. As a result, users may press on the keypad harder because they are not being provided with any feedback that the key has been pressed. This resulted from a keypad used for prototyping being different from the production keypad; the prototyping keypad had tactile feedback upon key pressing that the production units lacked.
While the game cartridge plastic cases were beige colored in the USA, in Europe they came in a variety of different colors, and the games were numbered on the Box. The age range in Europe for the console and its games was from 8 to 80 years old or 8 to Adult.
There were titles known to have been released. | en.wikipedia.org | Microvision | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20676 |
20677 | Mary, Queen of Hungary
Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (, , ; 137117 May 1395), reigned as Queen of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Mary's marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379.
Mary was crowned "king" of Hungary on 17September 1382, seven days after Louis the Great's death. Her mother, who assumed regency, absolved the Polish noblemen from their oath of loyalty to Mary in favor of Mary's younger sister, Jadwiga, in early 1383. The idea of a female monarch remained unpopular among the Hungarian noblemen, the majority of whom regarded Mary's distant cousin, Charles III of Naples, as the lawful king. To strengthen Mary's position, the queen mother wanted her to marry Louis, the younger brother of Charles VI of France. Their engagement was announced in May 1385.
Charles III of Naples landed in Dalmatia in September 1385. Sigismund of Luxembourg invaded Upper Hungary (now Slovakia), forcing the queen mother to give Mary in marriage to him in October. However, they could not prevent Charles from entering Buda. After Mary renounced the throne, Charles was crowned king on 31December 1385, but he was murdered at the instigation of Mary's mother in February 1386. Mary was restored, but the murdered king's supporters captured her and her mother on 25July. Queen Elizabeth was murdered in January 1387, but Mary was released on 4June 1387. Mary officially remained the co-ruler with Sigismund, who had meanwhile been crowned king, but her influence on the government was minimal. She and her premature son died after falling from her horse during a hunting trip.
Mary was born in the latter half of 1371 to Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his second wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. She was the second daughter of her parents. They had been childless for over a decade before Mary's older sister, Catherine, was born in 1370. Mary and Catherine gained another sibling, Jadwiga, in 1374.
Since Louis had fathered no sons, the expectation that he would bequeath Hungary, Poland, and his claims to the Kingdom of Naples and Provence to his daughters made them desirable spouses for members of the European royal families. Before Mary's first birthday, her father made a promise to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, that Mary would marry the emperor's second son, Sigismund of Luxembourg. Louis confirmed his promise in a deed in June 1373. Mary and Sigismund were closely related, because her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth of Poland, was the sister of his great-grandfather, Casimir III of Poland. Pope Gregory XI issued the dispensation necessary for their marriage on 6December 1374. The leading Hungarian and Polish lords confirmed Louis's promise of Mary's and Sigismund's marriage on 14April 1375.
Mary's older sister, Catherine, who had been betrothed to Louis of France, died in late 1378. Louis the Great confirmed his earlier promise of Mary's and Sigismund's marriage to Sigismund's brother, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, in Zólyom (now Zvolen in Slovakia) in 1379. Louis and Wenceslaus also agreed that they would acknowledge Urban VI as the lawful pope against Clement VII. Mary was formally engaged to Sigismund in Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in the same year. Sigismund, who had meanwhile become Margrave of Brandenburg, came to Hungary.
Louis summoned the Polish prelates and lords to Kassa (now Košice in Slovakia) in September 1379, persuading them to acknowledge Mary's right to succeed him in Poland. The contemporaneous Jan of Czarnków, who was biased against Louis, recorded that the Poles yielded to the monarch's demand only after he had prevented them from leaving the town by shutting its gates. At a meeting with Leopold III, Duke of Austria in early 1380, Louis strongly hinted that he would bequeath Hungary to his younger daughter, Jadwiga, who had been engaged to LeopoldIII's son, William. Upon Louis's demand, a delegation of the Polish noblemen again paid homage to Sigismund and Mary on 25July 1382. According to the historian Oscar Halecki, Louis wished to divide his kingdoms between his two surviving daughters, but Pál Engel and Claude Michaud write that the ailing king wanted to bequeath both Hungary and Poland on Mary and Sigismund.
Louis the Great died on 10 September 1382. Cardinal Demetrius, Archbishop of Esztergom, crowned Mary "king" with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on 17September, a day after her father's burial. Mary's title and her rapid coronation in the absence of her fiancé, Sigismund, show that her mother and her mother's supporters wanted to emphasize Mary's role as monarch and to postpone or even hinder Sigismund's coronation.
The queen mother, Elizabeth, assumed regency. Palatine Nicholas Garai and Cardinal Demetrius became her main advisors. Most of Louis's barons preserved their offices; the queen mother only dismissed the master of the cupbearers, George Czudar, and his brother Peter, voivode of Ruthenia. According to the 15th-century historian Jan Długosz, the Czudar brothers surrendered forts to the Lithuanians, who had "[h]eavily bribed" them. Queen Elizabeth had Peter Czudar imprisoned before 1November; her charters only stated that he "had obviously been disloyal" without specifying the reasons for his arrest.
All royal charters issued during the first six months of Mary's reign emphasized that she had lawfully inherited her father's crown. However, most Hungarian noblemen were strongly opposed to the very idea of a female monarch. They regarded Charles III of Naples as Louis the Great's legitimate heir because Charles was the last male offspring of the Capetian House of Anjou. Charles could not openly lay claim to Hungary, because his rival for the Kingdom of Naples, Louis I, Duke of Anjouwho was Charles VI of France's unclehad invaded Southern Italy in the previous year.
Noblemen from Greater Poland offered to pay homage to either Mary or Jadwiga at a meeting in Radomsko on 25November, but they stipulated that the queen and her husband should live in Poland. The assembly of the nobility of Lesser Poland passed a similar resolution in Wiślica on 12December. On the latter occasion, in response to Queen Elizabeth's demand, the noblemen also promised that they would not pay homage to anyone else than either Mary or Jadwiga. Mary's fiancé, Sigismund, who had stayed in Poland, returned to Hungary. Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, the Nałęcz family, and their allies in Greater Poland favored a native prince, SiemowitIV of Masovia. To avoid a civil war, Queen Elizabeth sent envoys to the Polish noblemen's next assembly which met in Sieradz in late February 1383. Her envoys absolved the Poles from their 1382 oath of loyalty to Mary on 28March, announcing that the queen mother would send her younger daughter, Jadwiga, to Poland.
John of Palisna, Prior of Vrana, rose up in open rebellion against the rule of Mary and her mother in the spring of 1383. The queens made Stephen Lackfi Ban of Croatia. The royal army marched to Croatia and laid siege to Vrana, forcing John of Palisna to flee to Bosnia. The defenders of Vrana surrendered to Mary, who had been present during the siege along with her mother, on 4November. To strengthen Mary's position against Charles of Naples, Queen Elizabeth sent her envoys to France and opened negotiations on the marriage of Mary to the younger brother of CharlesVI of France, Louis, who had once been engaged to Mary's sister, Catherine. Mary and the queen mother only left Croatia and Slavonia early next year. Queen Elizabeth replaced Stephen Lackfi with Thomas Szentgyörgyi, who used draconian measures to put an end to a conspiracy against the queens in Zadar in May 1384.
Although the last Diet was held in the early 1350s, the queens convoked a Diet to deal with the grievances of the noblemen. Mary confirmed her father's decrees of 1351 summarizing the noblemen's privileges on 22June 1384. The negotiations of Mary's marriage in France caused a new rift within the Hungarian nobility, because the Lackfis, Nicholas Zámbó and Nicholas Szécsi and other high officers, who had been appointed during Louis the Great's reign, continued to support Mary's fiancé, Sigismund, in accordance with Louis the Great's will. The queen mother replaced them with Nicholas Garai's supporters in August 1384. The prelates were also opposed to the French marriage, because the French supported Clement VII whom the Hungarian clergy considered an antipope. Mary's sister, Jadwiga, went to Poland where she was crowned on 16October 1384. Cardinal Demetrius, who had accompanied Jadwiga to Poland, remained absent from the queens' court after his return to Hungary. The royal government could not properly function during his absence because he was the keeper of the royal seal.
Louis I of Anjou died on 10 September 1384, enabling his rival, CharlesIII of Naples, to stabilize his rule in Southern Italy during the next months. The consolidation of CharlesIII's position in Naples also contributed to the formation of a party of noblemen who supported his claim to Hungary. John Horvat, Ban of Macsó (now Mačva in Serbia), and his brother, Paul, Bishop of Zagreb, were the leading figures of their movement. Sigismund of Luxembourg tried to persuade the queen mother to consent to his marriage to Mary, but she refused him. He left Hungary in early 1385.
The queens and their supporters initiated negotiations with the representatives of the opposition, but no reconciliation was reached at their meeting in Požega in the spring of 1385. After a French delegation came to Hungary in May 1385, Mary was engaged to Louis of France. Louis of France thereafter signed his letters "Louis of France, King of Hungary", according to Jean Froissart. In the same month, the queen mother dismissed Stephen Lackfi, accusing him of high treason. She also sent letters to Zagreb and other places in the kingdom, forbidding the local inhabitants to support Lackfi, Nicholas Szécsi, Bishop Paul Horvat and their relatives. John and Paul Horvat and their allies formally offered the crown to CharlesIII of Naples and invited him to Hungary in August. In the same month, Mary confirmed TvrtkoI of Bosnia's acquisition of Kotor in Dalmatia. Sigismund stormed into Upper Hungary, accompanied by his cousins, Jobst and Prokop of Moravia, and occupied Pozsony County. The queen mother replaced Nicholas Garai with Nicholas Szécsi, and made Stephen Lackfi voivode of Transylvania and Nicholas Zámbó master of the treasury.
Charles III of Naples landed at Senj in Dalmatia in September 1385 and marched to Zagreb. Sigismund of Luxembourg came to Buda and persuaded the queen mother to give her consent to his marriage to Mary. The marriage took place in Buda in October, but Sigismund was not crowned king and received no governmental function. The queen mother convoked a new Diet and Mary again confirmed the noblemen's liberties, but the queens' rule remained unpopular. Sigismund left Buda and mortgaged the territories west of the River Vág to his Moravian cousins. Charles of Naples had meanwhile left Zagreb, stating that he wanted to restore peace and public order in Hungary.
Many noblemen joined Charles of Naples who marched towards Buda. Mary and her mother received him ceremoniously before he reached Buda, and he entered the capital in the two queens' company in early December 1385. Mary renounced the crown without resistance in the middle of December out of fear that Charles would kill her. Charles first adopted the title governor, but the Diet elected him king. Charles was crowned king of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on 31December. According to the contemporaneous Lorenzo de Monacis, Mary and her mother, who attended Charles's coronation, visited Louis the Great's tomb during the ceremony where they burst into tears because of their ill fate.
Charles did not detain Mary and her mother who continued to live in the royal palace in Buda. Queen Elizabeth and Nicholas Garai decided to get rid of Charles. They persuaded Blaise Forgách, the master of the cupbearers, to join them, promising him the domain of Gimes (now Jelenec in Slovakia) if he murdered the king. Upon Queen Elizabeth's request, Charles visited her and her daughter on 7February 1386. During the meeting, Blaise Forgách attacked the king, seriously injuring him on the head. The wounded King Charles was carried to Visegrád where he died on 24February.
Mary was restored to the throne, with her mother ruling in her name. The queen mother informed the citizens of Kőszeg already on 14February that "Queen Mary had regained the Holy Crown". However, the Horvat brothers rose up in open rebellion on behalf of the murdered king's son, Ladislaus of Naples. Mary's husband, Sigismund, and his brother, Wenceslaus, invaded Upper Hungary in April. After weeks of negotiations, the queens acknowledged Sigismund's position as consort in a treaty which was signed in Győr in early May. They also confirmed Sigismund's mortgage of the lands west of the Vág to Jobst and Prokop of Moravia. After the treaty was signed, the queens returned to Buda and Sigismund went to Bohemia, suggesting that he was dissatisfied with the treaty.
Queen Elizabeth, who according to the 15th-century historian Johannes de Thurocz was "driven by folly", decided to visit the southern counties of the kingdom that were controlled by supporters of Ladislaus of Naples. The queen mother and Mary set out for Đakovo, accompanied by Nicholas Garai and a modest following around 15July. However, John Horvát, John of Palisna and their retainers ambushed and attacked the queens and their retinue at Gorjani on 25July. The queens' small entourage fought the attackers, but all were killed or captured. Blaise Forgách and Nicholas Garai were beheaded and their heads were thrown into the queens' carriage. Elizabeth took all blame for the rebellion and begged the attackers to spare her daughter's life, according to Johannes deThurocz's account.
Mary and her mother were imprisoned. They were held in captivity in Gomnec Castle, which was a fortress of the Bishopric of Zagreb. In the queens' absence, the barons of the realm convoked a Diet under the newly carved "seal of the regnicoles". On Queen Mary's behalf, they promised a general pardon, but the Horvats refused to submit. The two queens were dragged to Krupa, and from there to Novigrad Castle on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The barons or the Diet elected Stephen Lackfi palatine and made Sigismund of Luxembourg regent. John Horvat's henchmen strangled Queen Elizabeth in Mary's presence in early January. In the same month, Sigismund invaded Slavonia, but could not defeat the rebels.
Taking advantage of the anarchy in Hungary, Polish troops invaded Lodomeria and Halych in February. Only Vladislaus II of Opole, who claimed the two realms for himself, protested against their action. Sigismund was crowned king on 31March as it was decided that the kingdom could no longer be without an effective ruler. One of his supporters, Ivan of Krk, laid siege to Novigrad Castle with the assistance of a Venetian fleet, which was under the command of Giovanni Barbarigo. They captured the castle and liberated Mary on 4June 1387. She was especially grateful to Barbarigo; she knighted him and granted an annuity of 600 golden florins to him.
Mary met her husband in Zagreb on 4July. She officially remained Sigismund's co-ruler until the end of her life, but her influence on government was minimal. Sigismund's land grants were always confirmed with Mary's own great seal during the first year of their common rule, but thereafter the grantees rarely sought her confirmation. Royal charters counted her regnal years not from her ascension, but from her husband's coronation. Nevertheless, Mary persuaded her husband to torture and execute John Horvat who was captured in July 1394 although Sigismund would have been willing to spare his life.
Mary was pregnant when she decided to venture out alone on a hunt in a Buda forest on 17May 1395. Her horse tripped, threw her and landed on top of her. The trauma induced labor and she gave birth prematurely to a son. The queen succumbed to the fatal injuries; being far from any kind of assistance, her son died as well. She was buried in the cathedral of Várad (now Oradea in Romania). Mary's sister, Jadwiga, claimed the crown, but Sigismund retained it without much difficulty. | en.wikipedia.org | Mary, Queen of Hungary | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20677 |
20679 | TiVo Corporation
TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property within the consumer electronics industry, including digital rights management, electronic program guide software, and metadata. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents. The company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry.
In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc., and renamed itself TiVo Corporation. On May 30, 2019, TiVo announced the appointment of Dave Shull as the company's new President and CEO. On December 19, 2019, TiVo merged with Xperi, creating the largest licensing company in the world.
Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film "The Cotton Club" was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985. The technology was subsequently extended to DVD players and other consumer electronic recording and playback devices such as digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and portable media players. By the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services.
In the 1990s, Macrovision acquired companies with expertise in managing access control and secure distribution of other forms of digital media, including music, video games, internet content, and computer software.
John O. Ryan (founder and CEO of Macrovision from June 1995 to October 2001) and William A. Krepick (president of Macrovision Corporation from July 1995 to July 2005 and CEO from October 2001 to July 2005) led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. Under their leadership, the company went from a private company with sales of under $20 million to a global, publicly traded corporation with annual sales of $220 million and market cap exceeding $1 billion.
In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief executive officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick, who announced his retirement earlier in the year.
Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2, 2008, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience,” said Mr. Amoroso.
After the announcement of its intent to buy Gemstar-TV Guide, Macrovision made other changes in order to focus on entertainment technology, including selling its software business unit, valued at approximately $200 million, to private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo. The divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1, 2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on digital entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network and the TV Games Network.
The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata: All Media Guide on November 6, 2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, Inc. on April 15, 2009.
On July 16, 2009, Macrovision Solutions Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation.
Rovi announced its first product on January 7, 2010 – TotalGuide, an interactive media guide that incorporated entertainment data, to search, browse and provide recommendations. On March 16, 2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for clients such as Napster, eMusic and MTV Networks. On June 16, 2010, the company announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising and third-party interactive TV platforms.
On December 23, 2010, the company announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions and its DivX video software in a deal valued at $720 million. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow (formerly CinemaNow) an OTT technology provider.
On March 1, 2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel.
The company announced Amoroso's intention to retire on May 26, 2011. Tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011. Under Carson the company shifted its focus on "growth opportunities related to its core enabling technology and services" and it announced that it intended to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store business. It entered into separate agreements to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store to Reliance Majestic Holdings, a private equity-backed company; and its consumer websites to All Media Networks, a new company, in July 2013. Continuing on this path, the company made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX and MainConcept businesses.
On April 1, 2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services. The technology would be integrated into Rovi's audience analysis services.
In April 2013, Facebook began licensing Rovi metadata for use within the service.
On April 29, 2016, Rovi Corporation announced that it had acquired TiVo Inc. for $1.1 billion. The combined company operates under the TiVo brand, and hold over 6,000 pending and registered patents. Rovi plans to discontinue in-house hardware production, and focus primarily on licensing its technologies and the TiVo brand to third-party companies.
In December 2019, TiVo Corporation announced their intent to merge with Xperi. The surviving entity will operate under the Xperi name and have a combined value of $3 billion. TiVo had previously considered splitting out its hardware operations from its licensing operations.
Rovi provides guides for service providers and CE manufacturers.
Rovi provides entertainment metadata for consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, retailers, online portals and application developers around the world. The company has over 50 years of metadata for video, music, books, and games covering more than 5 million movies and TV programs, 3.2 million album releases and 30 million song tracks, 9 million in-print and out-of-print book titles, and 70,000 video games. The metadata includes basic facts, local TV listings and channel line-ups for interactive program guides, original editorial, imagery, and other features.
Rovi Search Service allows consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, and developers to provide solutions that enable consumers to search for and access desired content. Rovi Recommendations Service is a cloud-based service that offers consumers entertainment choices similar to their chosen program, movie, album, track, musician or band.
Rovi Advertising Service enables the monetization of entertainment platforms. It places ads that appear as content choices in application menus and user interfaces for set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other devices.
Rovi Audience Management is a suite of products (Advertising Optimizer and Promotion Optimizer) combining big data with predictive analytics to provide TV audience insights and advertising campaign management. Ad Optimizer allows provides campaign management and media planning capabilities to TV networks and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Promo Optimizer uses past viewing data to enable cable and broadcast networks to create plans for on-air promos.
The company historically developed technologies and products that helped protect content from being pirated. Its two core legacy products were called RipGuard and ACP (analog copy protection).
Macrovision introduced its RipGuard technology in February 2005. It was designed to prevent or reduce digital DVD copying by altering the format of the DVD content to disrupt the ripping software. Although the technology could be circumvented by several current DVD rippers such as AnyDVD or DVDFab, Macrovision claimed that 95% of casual users lack the knowledge and/or determination to be able to copy a DVD with RipGuard technology.
Analog video formats convey video signals as a series of "lines". Most of these lines are used for constructing the visible image, and are shown on the screen. But several more lines exist which do not convey visual information. Known as the vertical blanking interval (VBI), these extra lines historically served no purpose other than to contain the vertical synchronizing pulses, but in more modern implementations they are used to carry or convey different things in different countries; for example closed captioning.
Macrovision's legacy analog copy protection (ACP) works by implanting a series of excessive voltage pulses within the off-screen VBI lines of video. These pulses were included physically within pre-existing recordings on VHS and Betamax and were generated upon playback by a chip in DVD players and digital cable or satellite boxes. A DVD recorder receiving an analog signal featuring these pulses would detect them and display a message saying that the source is "copy-protected" followed by aborting the recording. VCRs, in turn, react to these excessive voltage pulses by compensating with their automatic gain control circuitry. This causes the recorded picture to wildly change brightness, rendering it annoying to watch. The system was only effective on VCRs made from the mid-1980s.
A later form of Macrovision's analog copy protection, called Level II ACP, introduced multiple 180-degree phase inversions to the analog signal's color burst. Also known as color striping, this technology caused numerous off-color bands to appear within the picture.
Another form of analog copy protection, known as CGMS-A, is added by DVD players and digital cable/satellite boxes. While not invented by Macrovision, the company's products implemented it. CGMS-A consists of a "flag" within the vertical blanking interval (essentially data, like closed captioning) which digital recording devices search for. If present, it refused to record the signal, just as with the earlier ACP technology. Unlike digital recording equipment, however, analog VCRs do not respond to CGMS-A encoded video and would record it successfully if ACP is not also present.
Historically, the original Macrovision technology was considered a nuisance to some specialist users because it could interfere with other electronic equipment. For example, if one were to run a video signal through a VCR before the television, some VCRs will output a ruined signal regardless of whether it is recording. This also occurs in some TV-VCR combo sets. Apart from this, many DVD recorders mistake the mechanical instability of worn videotapes for Macrovision signals, and so refuse to make what would be perfectly legal DVD dubs of legitimate video tapes, such as home movies. This widespread problem is another factor contributing to the demand for devices that defeat Macrovision. The signal has also been known to confuse home theater line doublers (devices for improving the quality of video for large projection TVs) and some high-end television comb filters. In addition, Macrovision confuses many upconverters (devices that convert a video signal to a higher resolution), causing them to shut down and refuse to play Macrovision content.
There are also devices called "stabilizers", "video stabilizers" or "enhancers" available that filter out the Macrovision spikes and thereby defeat the system. The principle of their function lies in detecting the vertical synchronization signal, and forcing the lines occurring during the VBI to black level, removing the AGC-confusing pulses. They can be easily built by hobbyists, as nothing more than a cheap microcontroller together with an analog multiplexer and a little other circuitry is needed. Individuals less experienced with such things can purchase video stabilizers.
Discs made with DVD copying programs such as DVD Shrink automatically disable any Macrovision copy protection. The ease with which Macrovision and other copy protection measures can be defeated has prompted a steadily growing number of DVD releases that do not have copy protection of any kind, Content Scramble System (CSS) or Macrovision.
United States fair use law, as interpreted in the decision over Betamax (Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios), dictates that consumers are fully within their legal rights to copy videos they own. However, the legality has changed somewhat with the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act. After April 26, 2002, no VCR may be manufactured or imported without Automatic Gain Control circuitry (which renders VCRs vulnerable to Macrovision). This is contained in title 17, section 1201(k) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. However, there are a number of mostly older VCR models on the market that are not affected by Macrovision.
On October 26, 2001, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that has no commercial purpose other than disabling Macrovision copy protection was made illegal under section 1201(a) of the same controversial act.
In June 2005, Macrovision sent a cease and desist letter to "Lightning UK!", the maker of DVD Decrypter, a program that allows users to back up their DVDs by bypassing CSS and Macrovision. They later acquired the rights to this software.
In June 2005, Macrovision sued Sima Products under section 1201 of the DMCA, claiming that Sima's video processors provided a way to circumvent Macrovision's analog copy protection. Sima received an injunction barring the sale of this device, but the parties ultimately settled without a judgment on the legal issues. | en.wikipedia.org | TiVo Corporation | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20679 |
20682 | MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc., formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., was an American fabless semiconductor design company that is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of RISC CPU chips based on it. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking, embedded, Internet of things and mobile applications.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is owned by Wave Computing, who acquired it from Tallwood MIPS Inc., a company indirectly owned by Tallwood Venture Capital. Tallwood bought it on 2017-10-25 from Imagination Technologies, a UK-based company best known for their PowerVR graphics processor family. Imagination Technologies had previously bought MIPS after CEVA, Inc. pulled out of a bidding on 2013-02-08.
MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was founded in 1984 by a group of researchers from Stanford University that included John L. Hennessy and Chris Rowen. These researchers had worked on a project called MIPS (for "Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages"), one of the projects that pioneered the RISC concept. Other principal founders were Skip Stritter, formerly a Motorola technologist, and John Moussouris, formerly of IBM.
The initial CEO was Vaemond Crane, formerly President and CEO of Computer Consoles Inc., who arrived in February 1985 and departed in June 1989. He was replaced by Bob Miller, a former senior IBM and Data General executive. Miller ran the company through its IPO and subsequent sale to Silicon Graphics.
In 1988, MIPS Computer Systems designs were noticed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) and the company adopted the MIPS architecture for its computers. A year later, in December 1989, MIPS held its first IPO. That year, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) released a Unix workstation based on the MIPS design.
After developing the R2000 and R3000 microprocessors, a management change brought along the larger dreams of being a computer vendor. The company found itself unable to compete in the computer market against much larger companies and was struggling to support the costs of developing both the chips and the systems (MIPS Magnum). To secure the supply of future generations of MIPS microprocessors (the 64-bit R4000), SGI acquired the company in 1992 for $333 million and renamed it as MIPS Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SGI.
During SGI's ownership of MIPS, the company introduced the R8000 in 1994 and the R10000 in 1996 and a follow up the R12000 in 1997. During this time, two future microprocessors code-named "The Beast" and "Capitan" were in development; these were cancelled after SGI decided to migrate to the Itanium architecture in 1998. As a result, MIPS was spun out as an intellectual property licensing company, offering licences to the MIPS architecture as well as microprocessor core designs.
On June 30, 1998, MIPS held an IPO after raising about $16.3 million with an offering price of $14 a share. In 1999, SGI announced it would overhaul its operations; it planned to continue introducing new MIPS processors until 2002, but its server business would include Intel's processor architectures as well. SGI spun MIPS out completely on June 20, 2000 by distributing all its interest as stock dividend to the stockholders.
In early 2008 MIPS laid-off 28 employees from its processor business group. On August 13, 2008, MIPS announced a loss of $108.5 million for their fiscal fourth-quarter and that they would lay-off another 15% of their workforce. At the time MIPS had 512 employees. In May 2018, according to the company's presence on LinkedIn, there may be less than 50 employees.
Some notable people who worked in MIPS: James Billmaier, Steve Blank, Joseph DiNucci, John L. Hennessy, David Hitz, Earl Killian, Dan Levin, John Mashey, John P. McCaskey, Bob Miller, Stratton Sclavos. and Skip Stritter. Board members included: Bill Davidow.
In 2010, Sandeep Vij was named CEO of MIPS Technologies. Vij studied under Dr. John Hennessy as a Stanford University grad student. Prior to taking over at MIPS, Vij was an executive at Cavium Networks, Xilinx and Altera.
EE Times reported that MIPS had 150 employees as of November 1, 2010. If the August 14, 2008 EDN article was accurate about MIPS having over 500 employees at the time, then MIPS reduced their total workforce by 70% between 2008 and 2010.
In addition to its main R&D centre in Sunnyvale, California, MIPS has engineering facilities in Shanghai, China, Beaverton, Oregon, Bristol and Kings Langley, both in England. It also has offices in Hsin-chu, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Remscheid, Germany and Haifa, Israel.
During the first quarter of 2013, 498 out of 580 of MIPS patents were sold to Bridge Crossing which was created by Allied Security Trust, with all processor-specific patents and the other parts of the company sold to Imagination Technologies Group. Imagination had outbid Ceva Inc to buy MIPS with an offer of $100 million, and was investing to develop the architecture for the embedded processor market.
MIPS Technologies created the processor architecture that is licensed to chip makers. Before the acquisition, the company had 125+ licensees who ship more than 500 million MIPS-based processors each year.
MIPS processor architectures and cores are used in home entertainment, networking and communications products. The company licensed its 32- and 64-bit architectures as well as 32-bit cores.
The MIPS32 architecture is a high-performance 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) that is used in applications such as 32-bit microcontrollers, home entertainment, home networking devices and mobile designs. MIPS customers license the architecture to develop their own processors or license off-the-shelf cores from MIPS that are based on the architecture.
The MIPS64 architecture is a high performance 64-bit instruction set architecture that is widely used in networking infrastructure equipment through MIPS licensees such as Cavium Networks and Broadcom.
SmartCE (Connected Entertainment) is a reference platform that integrates Android, Adobe Flash platform for TV, Skype, the Home Jinni ConnecTV application and other applications. SmartCE lets OEM customers create integrated products more quickly.
The MIPS processor cores are divided by Imagination into three major families:
MIPS Technologies had a strong customer licensee base in home electronics and portable media players; for example, 75 percent of Blu-ray Disc players were running on MIPS Technologies processors. In the digital home, the company's processors were predominantly found in digital TVs and set-top boxes. The Sony PlayStation Portable used two processors based on the MIPS32 4K processor.
Within the networking segment, licensees include Cavium Networks and Broadcom. Cavium has used up to 48 MIPS cores for its OCTEON family network reference designs. Broadcom ships Linux-ready MIPS64-based XLP, XLR, and XLS multicore, multithreaded processors. Licensees using MIPS to build smartphones and tablets include Actions Semiconductor and Ingenic Semiconductor. Tablets based on MIPS include the Cruz tablets from Velocity Micro. TCL Corporation is using MIPS processors for the development of smartphones.
Companies can also obtain an MIPS "architectural licence" for designing their own CPU cores using the MIPS architecture. Distinct MIPS architecture implementations by licensees include Broadcom's BRCM 5000.
Other licensees include Broadcom, which has developed MIPS-based CPUs for over a decade, Microchip Technology, which leverages MIPS processors for its 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers, Qualcomm Atheros, MediaTek and Mobileye, whose EyeQ chips are based on cores licensed from MIPS.
MIPS is widely supported by Unix-like systems, including Android, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
Google's processor-agnostic Android operating system is built on the Linux kernel. MIPS originally ported Android to its architecture for embedded products beyond the mobile handset, where it was originally targeted by Google. In 2010, MIPS and its licensee Sigma Designs announced the world's first Android set-top boxes. By porting to Android, MIPS processors power smartphones and tablets running on the Android operating system.
OpenWrt is an embedded operating system based on the Linux kernel.
While it currently runs on a variety of processor architectures,
it was originally developed for the Linksys WRT54G, which used a 32-bit MIPS processor from Broadcom.
The OpenWrt Table of Hardware now includes MIPS-based devices from
Atheros, Broadcom, Cavium, Lantiq, MediaTek, etc.
Real-time operating systems that run on MIPS include CMX Systems, eCosCentric's eCos, ENEA OSE, Express Logic's ThreadX, FreeRTOS, Green Hills Software's Integrity, LynuxWorks' LynxOS, Mentor Graphics, Micrium's Micro-Controller Operating Systems (µC/OS), QNX Software Systems' QNX, Quadros Systems Inc.'s RTXC™ Quadros RTOS, Segger's embOS and Wind River's VxWorks. | en.wikipedia.org | MIPS Technologies | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20682 |
20683 | Machine code
Machine code consisting of machine language instructions is the only format that can be executed directly by a computer's central processing unit (CPU). Each instruction causes the CPU to perform a very specific task, such as a load, a store, a jump, or an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) operation on one or more units of data in the CPU's registers or memory.
Machine code is a strictly numerical language which is intended to run as fast as possible, and may be regarded as the lowest-level representation of a compiled or assembled computer program or as a primitive and hardware-dependent programming language. While it is possible to write programs directly in machine code, managing individual bits and calculating numerical addresses and constants manually is tedious and error-prone. For this reason, programs are very rarely written directly in machine code in modern contexts, but may be done for low level debugging, program patching (especially when assembler source is not available) and assembly language disassembly.
The overwhelming majority of practical programs today are written in higher-level languages or assembly language. The source code is then translated to executable machine code by utilities such as compilers, assemblers, and linkers, with the important exception of interpreted programs, which are not translated into machine code. However, the "interpreter" itself, which may be seen as an executor or processor performing the instructions of the source code, typically consists of directly executable machine code (generated from assembly or high-level language source code).
Machine code is by definition the lowest level of programming detail visible to the programmer, but internally many processors use microcode or optimise and transform machine code instructions into sequences of micro-ops. This is not generally considered to be a machine code.
Every processor or processor family has its own instruction set. Instructions are patterns of bits, digits or characters that by physical design correspond to different commands to the machine. Thus, the instruction set is specific to a class of processors using (mostly) the same architecture. Successor or derivative processor designs often include all the instructions of a predecessor and may add additional instructions. Occasionally, a successor design will discontinue or alter the meaning of some instruction code (typically because it is needed for new purposes), affecting code compatibility to some extent; even nearly completely compatible processors may show slightly different behavior for some instructions, but this is rarely a problem. Systems may also differ in other details, such as memory arrangement, operating systems, or peripheral devices. Because a program normally relies on such factors, different systems will typically not run the same machine code, even when the same type of processor is used.
A processor's instruction set may have all instructions of the same length, or it may have variable-length instructions. How the patterns are organized varies strongly with the particular architecture and often also with the type of instruction. Most instructions have one or more opcode fields which specifies the basic instruction type (such as arithmetic, logical, jump, etc.) and the actual operation (such as add or compare) and other fields that may give the type of the operand(s), the addressing mode(s), the addressing offset(s) or index, or the actual value itself (such constant operands contained in an instruction are called "immediates").
Not all machines or individual instructions have explicit operands. An accumulator machine has a combined left operand and result in an implicit accumulator for most arithmetic instructions. Other architectures (such as 8086 and the x86-family) have accumulator versions of common instructions, with the accumulator regarded as one of the general registers by longer instructions. A stack machine has most or all of its operands on an implicit stack. Special purpose instructions also often lack explicit operands (CPUID in the x86 architecture writes values into four implicit destination registers, for instance). This distinction between explicit and implicit operands is important in code generators, especially in the register allocation and live range tracking parts. A good code optimizer can track implicit as well as explicit operands which may allow more frequent constant propagation, constant folding of registers (a register assigned the result of a constant expression freed up by replacing it by that constant) and other code enhancements.
A computer program is a list of instructions that can be executed by a central processing unit (CPU). A program's execution is done in order for the CPU that is executing it to solve a specific problem and thus accomplish a specific result. While simple processors are able to execute instructions one after another, superscalar processors are capable of executing a variety of different instructions at once.
Program flow may be influenced by special 'jump' instructions that transfer execution to an instruction other than the numerically following one. Conditional jumps are taken (execution continues at another address) or not (execution continues at the next instruction) depending on some condition.
A much more readable rendition of machine language, called assembly language, uses mnemonic codes to refer to machine code instructions, rather than using the instructions' numeric values directly, and uses symbolic names to refer to storage locations and sometimes registers. For example, on the Zilog Z80 processor, the machine code codice_1, which causes the CPU to decrement the codice_2 processor register, would be represented in assembly language as codice_3.
The MIPS architecture provides a specific example for a machine code whose instructions are always 32 bits long. The general type of instruction is given by the "op" (operation) field, the highest 6 bits. J-type (jump) and I-type (immediate) instructions are fully specified by "op". R-type (register) instructions include an additional field "funct" to determine the exact operation. The fields used in these types are:
"rs", "rt", and "rd" indicate register operands; "shamt" gives a shift amount; and the "address" or "immediate" fields contain an operand directly.
For example, adding the registers 1 and 2 and placing the result in register 6 is encoded:
Load a value into register 8, taken from the memory cell 68 cells after the location listed in register 3:
Jumping to the address 1024:
In some computer architectures, the machine code is implemented by an even more fundamental underlying layer called microcode, providing a common machine language interface across a line or family of different models of computer with widely different underlying dataflows. This is done to facilitate porting of machine language programs between different models. An example of this use is the IBM System/360 family of computers and their successors. With dataflow path widths of 8 bits to 64 bits and beyond, they nevertheless present a common architecture at the machine language level across the entire line.
Using microcode to implement an emulator enables the computer to present the architecture of an entirely different computer. The System/360 line used this to allow porting programs from earlier IBM machines to the new family of computers, e.g. an IBM 1401/1440/1460 emulator on the IBM S/360 model 40.
Machine code is generally different from bytecode (also known as p-code), which is either executed by an interpreter or itself compiled into machine code for faster (direct) execution. An exception is when a processor is designed to use a particular bytecode directly as its machine code, such as is the case with Java processors.
Machine code and assembly code are sometimes called "native code" when referring to platform-dependent parts of language features or libraries.
The Harvard architecture is a computer architecture with physically separate storage and signal pathways for the code (instructions) and data. Today, most processors implement such separate signal pathways for performance reasons but implement a Modified Harvard architecture, so they can support tasks like loading an executable program from disk storage as data and then executing it. Harvard architecture is contrasted to the Von Neumann architecture, where data and code are stored in the same memory which is read by the processor allowing the computer to execute commands.
From the point of view of a process, the "code space" is the part of its address space where the code in execution is stored. In multitasking systems this comprises the program's code segment and usually shared libraries. In multi-threading environment, different threads of one process share code space along with data space, which reduces the overhead of context switching considerably as compared to process switching.
Pamela Samuelson wrote that machine code is so unreadable that the United States Copyright Office cannot identify whether a particular encoded program is an original work of authorship; however, the US Copyright Office "does" allow for copyright registration of computer programs and a program's machine code can sometimes be decompiled in order to make its functioning more easily understandable to humans.
Cognitive science professor Douglas Hofstadter has compared machine code to genetic code, saying that "Looking at a program written in machine language is vaguely comparable to looking at a DNA molecule atom by atom." | en.wikipedia.org | Machine code | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20683 |
20684 | Instructions per second
Instructions per second (IPS) is a measure of a computer's processor speed. For
CISC computers different instructions take different amounts of time, so the value measured depends on the instruction mix; even for comparing processors in the same family the IPS measurement can be problematic. Many reported IPS values have represented "peak" execution rates on artificial instruction sequences with few branches and no cache contention, whereas realistic workloads typically lead to significantly lower IPS values. Memory hierarchy also greatly affects processor performance, an issue barely considered in IPS calculations. Because of these problems, synthetic benchmarks such as Dhrystone are now generally used to estimate computer performance in commonly used applications, and raw IPS has fallen into disuse.
The term is commonly used in association with a numeric value such as thousand/kilo instructions per second (TIPS/KIPS), million instructions per second (MIPS), and billion instructions per second (GIPS).
IPS can be calculated using this equation:
However, the instructions/cycle measurement depends on the instruction sequence, the data and external factors.
Before standard benchmarks were available, average speed rating of computers was based on calculations for a mix of instructions with the results given in kilo Instructions Per Second (kIPS). The most famous was the Gibson Mix, produced by Jack Clark Gibson of IBM for scientific applications. Other ratings, such as the ADP mix which does not include floating point operations, were produced for commercial applications. The thousand instructions per second (kIPS) unit is rarely used today, as most current microprocessors can execute at least a million instructions per second.
The speed of a given CPU depends on many factors, such as the type of instructions being executed, the execution order and the presence of branch instructions (problematic in CPU pipelines). CPU instruction rates are different from clock frequencies, usually reported in Hz, as each instruction may require several clock cycles to complete or the processor may be capable of executing multiple independent instructions simultaneously. MIPS can be useful when comparing performance between processors made with similar architecture (e.g. Microchip branded microcontrollers), but they are difficult to compare between differing CPU architectures. This led to the term "Meaningless Indices of Performance" being popular amongst technical people by the mid-1980s.
For this reason, MIPS has become not a measure of instruction execution speed, but task performance speed compared to a reference. In the late 1970s, minicomputer performance was compared using "VAX MIPS", where computers were measured on a task and their performance rated against the VAX 11/780 that was marketed as a "1 MIPS" machine. (The measure was also known as the "VAX Unit of Performance" or VUP.) This was chosen because the 11/780 was roughly equivalent in performance to an IBM System/370 model 158–3, which was commonly accepted in the computing industry as running at 1 MIPS.
Many minicomputer performance claims were based on the Fortran version of the Whetstone benchmark, giving Millions of Whetstone Instructions Per Second (MWIPS). The VAX 11/780 with FPA (1977) runs at 1.02 MWIPS.
Effective MIPS speeds are highly dependent on the programming language used. The Whetstone Report has a table showing MWIPS speeds of PCs via early interpreters and compilers up to modern languages. The first PC compiler was for BASIC (1982) when a 4.8 MHz 8088/87 CPU obtained 0.01 MWIPS. Results on a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (1 CPU 2007) vary from 9.7 MWIPS using BASIC Interpreter, 59 MWIPS via BASIC Compiler, 347 MWIPS using 1987 Fortran, 1,534 MWIPS through HTML/Java to 2,403 MWIPS using a modern C/C++ compiler.
For the most early 8-bit and 16-bit microprocessors, performance was measured in thousand instructions per second (1000 KIPS = 1 MIPS).
"zMIPS" refers to the MIPS measure used internally by IBM to rate its mainframe servers (zSeries, IBM System z9, and IBM System z10).
"Weighted million operations per second (WMOPS)" is a similar measurement, used for audio codecs. | en.wikipedia.org | Instructions per second | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20684 |
20685 | Michael
Michael is a masculine given name that comes from ("Mīkhāʼēl" ), derived from the rhetorical question "Who [is] like [the Hebrew God] El?]]", whose answer is “there is none like El”, (cf with the Latin language Quis ut Deus?). The Hebrew gramatical components of the name are "mī kāʼēl", “Who [is] like-El”.
Patronymic surnames that come from Michael include Carmichael, DiMichele, MacMichael, McMichael, Michaels, Micallef, Michaelson, Michalka, Michels, Mihály, Mikeladze, Mikhaylov, Mikkelsen, Mitchell, Michalski, Mykhaylenko and Mikaelyan.
The name first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Numbers, where Sethur the son of Michael is one of 12 spies sent into the Land of Canaan.
Michael is the name of an archangel in the Book of Daniel . He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. For the Roman Catholic Church, 29 September is the feast day of the three archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. For the Orthodox Church, 8 November is the feast day commemorating the archangels Michael and Gabriel, as well as the whole host of angels, while the Monday of each liturgical week likewise corresponds to the "Bodiless Powers." In the Coptic Orthodox Church, his main feast days are 12 Hathor and 12 Paoni, with lesser feast days on the 12th day of each month of the Coptic calendar.
Michael (and its variants) is one of the most common given names for men in the world. In the United States, Michael was the most popular name of the 20th century, ranking No. 1 from 1954 to 1998 (with the exception of 1960, when it was second to David). It was among the top three most popular names for each year since 1953, only falling out of the top five in 2011 for the first time since 1949.
In 2014, Michael was the 20th most popular name in Northern Ireland, 27th in Canada and 42nd in Australia. In England and Wales, Michael ranked 53rd in 2011 and 2012. Michael ranked as the eighth most popular name for boys in Ireland in 2013.
Variants of Michael rank among the most popular masculine names in multiple countries. It was the third most popular in Finland from 2010 – March 2015 (as Mikael), seventh in Russia in 2009 (as Mikhail), 14th in Spain in 2012 (as Miguel), and 15th in Denmark (as Mikkel). | en.wikipedia.org | Michael | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20685 |
20690 | Modafinil
Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a medication to treat sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, or obstructive sleep apnea. While it has seen off-label use as a purported cognitive enhancer, the research on its effectiveness for this use is not conclusive. It is taken by mouth.
Common side effects include headache, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and nausea. Serious side effects may include allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, misuse, and hallucinations. It is unclear if use during pregnancy is safe. The amount of medication used may need to be adjusted in those with kidney or liver problems. It is not recommended in those with an arrhythmia, significant hypertension, or left ventricular hypertrophy. How it works is not entirely clear. One possibility is that it may affect the areas of the brain involved with the sleep cycle.
Modafinil was approved for medical use in the United States in 1998. In the United States it is classified as a schedule IV controlled substance. In the United Kingdom it is a prescription only medication. It is available as a generic medication. In the United Kingdom it costs the NHS about £105.21 a month as of 2018. In the United States the wholesale cost per month is about US$34.20 as of 2018. In 2017, it was the 328th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 900 thousand prescriptions.
Modafinil is a eugeroic used for treatment of narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea.
For obstructive sleep apnea, it is recommended that continuous positive airway pressure be appropriately used before considering starting modafinil to help with daytime sleepiness.
Because of the risk for development of skin or hypersensitivity reactions and serious adverse psychiatric reactions, the European Medicines Agency has recommended that new patient prescriptions should be only to treat sleepiness associated with narcolepsy.
Armed forces of several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, India and France, have expressed interest in modafinil as an alternative to amphetamine—the drug traditionally employed in combat situations or lengthy missions where troops face sleep deprivation. The French government indicated that the Foreign Legion used modafinil during certain covert operations. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence commissioned research into modafinil from QinetiQ and spent £300,000 on one investigation. In 2011, the Indian Air Force announced that modafinil was included in contingency plans.
In the United States military, modafinil has been approved for use on certain Air Force missions, and it is being investigated for other uses. As of November 2012, modafinil is the only drug approved by the Air Force as a "go pill" for fatigue management (replacing prior use of amphetamine-based medications such as dextroamphetamine).
The Canadian Medical Association Journal also reports that modafinil is used by astronauts on long-term missions aboard the International Space Station. Modafinil is "available to crew to optimize performance while fatigued" and helps with the disruptions in circadian rhythms and with the reduced quality of sleep astronauts experience.
Modafinil is contraindicated in people with known hypersensitivity to modafinil, armodafinil, or inactive ingredients. Modafinil is not approved for use in children for any medical conditions.
The incidence of adverse effects are reported as the following: less than 10% of users report having a headache, nausea, and decreased appetite. Between 5% to 10% of users may be affected with anxiety, insomnia, dizziness, diarrhea, and rhinitis.
Rare occurrences have been reported of more serious adverse effects, including severe skin rashes and other symptoms that are probably allergy-related. From the date of initial marketing, December 1998, to January 30, 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration received six cases of severe cutaneous adverse reactions associated with modafinil, including erythema multiforme (EM), Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and DRESS syndrome, involving adult and pediatric patients. The FDA issued a relevant alert. In the same alert, the FDA also noted that angioedema and multi-organ hypersensitivity reactions have also been reported in postmarketing experiences. In 2007, the FDA ordered Cephalon to modify the Provigil leaflet in bold-face print of several serious and potentially fatal conditions attributed to modafinil use, including TEN, DRESS syndrome, and SJS.
The long term safety and effectiveness of modafinil have not been determined.
Modafinil may have an adverse effect on hormonal contraceptives for up to a month after discontinuation.
The addiction and dependence liabilities of modafinil are relatively low. It shares biochemical mechanisms with addictive stimulant drugs, and some studies have reported it to have similar mood-elevating properties, although to a lesser degree.
Monkeys will self-administer modafinil if they have previously been trained to self-administer cocaine. As such, modafinil is classified by the United States FDA as a schedule IV controlled substance, a category for drugs with valid medical uses and low but significant addiction potential.
Large-scale clinical studies have found no evidence of tolerance with modafinil at therapeutic dosages even with prolonged use (for 40 weeks and as long as three years).
Modafinil-associated psychiatric reactions have occurred in those with and without a pre-existing psychiatric history.
In mice and rats, the median lethal dose (LD50) of modafinil is approximately or slightly greater than 1250 mg/kg. Oral LD50 values reported for rats range from 1000–3400 mg/kg. Intravenous LD50 for dogs is 300 mg/kg. Clinical trials on humans involving taking up to 1200 mg/day for 7–21 days and known incidents of acute one-time overdoses up to 4500 mg did not appear to cause life-threatening effects, although a number of adverse experiences were observed, including excitation or agitation, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, aggressiveness, confusion, nervousness, tremor, palpitations, sleep disturbances, nausea, and diarrhea. As of 2004, the FDA is not aware of any fatal overdoses involving modafinil alone (as opposed to multiple drugs including modafinil).
Coadministration with modafinil alongside opioids such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and fentanyl, as well as various other drugs, may experience a drop in plasma concentrations. The reason behind this action is because modafinil is an inducer of the CYP3A4 enzymes. If not monitored closely, reduced efficacy or withdrawal symptoms can occur.
the therapeutic mechanism of action of modafinil for narcolepsy and sleep-wake disorders remains unknown. Modafinil acts as an atypical, selective, and weak dopamine reuptake inhibitor which indirectly activates the release of orexin neuropeptides and histamine from the lateral hypothalamus and tuberomammillary nucleus, respectively all of which may contribute to heightened arousal.
Research found that modafinil elevates histamine levels in the hypothalamus in animals. The locus of the monoamine action of modafinil was also the target of studies, with effects identified on dopamine in the striatum and, in particular, nucleus accumbens, norepinephrine in the hypothalamus and ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, and serotonin in the amygdala and frontal cortex. Modafinil was screened at a large panel of receptors and transporters in an attempt to elucidate its pharmacology. Of the sites tested, it was found to significantly affect only the dopamine transporter (DAT), acting as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor (DRI) with an IC50 value of 4 μM. Subsequently, it was determined that modafinil binds to the same site on the DAT as cocaine, but in a different manner. In accordance, modafinil increases locomotor activity and extracellular dopamine concentrations in animals in a manner similar to the selective DRI vanoxerine (GBR-12909), and also inhibits methamphetamine-induced dopamine release (a common property of DRIs, since DAT transport facilitates methamphetamine's access to its intracellular targets). As such, "modafinil is an exceptionally weak, but apparently very selective, [DAT] inhibitor". In addition to animal research, a human positron emission tomography (PET) imaging study found that 200 mg and 300 mg doses of modafinil resulted in DAT occupancy of 51.4% and 56.9%, respectively, which was described as "close to that of methylphenidate". Another human PET imaging study similarly found that modafinil occupied the DAT and also determined that it significantly elevated extracellular levels of dopamine in the brain, including in the nucleus accumbens.
Modafinil has been described as an "atypical" DAT inhibitor, and shows a profile of effects that is very different from those of other dopaminergic stimulants. For instance, modafinil produces wakefulness reportedly without the need for compensatory sleep, and shows a relatively low, if any, potential for abuse. Aside from modafinil, examples of other atypical DAT inhibitors include vanoxerine and benztropine, which have a relatively low abuse potential similarly to modafinil. These drugs appear to interact molecularly with the DAT in a distinct way relative to "conventional" DAT blockers such as cocaine and methylphenidate.
Against the hypothesis that modafinil exerts its effects by acting as a DRI, tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitors (which deplete dopamine) fail to block the effects of modafinil in animals. In addition, modafinil fails to reverse reserpine-induced akinesia, whereas dextroamphetamine, a dopamine releasing agent (DRA), is able to do so. Moreover, one of the first published structure-activity relationship studies of modafinil found in 2012 that DAT inhibition did not correlate with wakefulness-promoting effects in animals among modafinil analogues, and a variety of analogues without any significant inhibition of the DAT still produced wakefulness-promoting effects. Furthermore, "[the] neurochemical effects [of modafinil] and anatomical pattern of brain area activation differ from typical psychostimulants and are consistent with its beneficial effects on cognitive performance processes such as attention, learning, and memory", and a study found that modafinil-induced increased locomotor activity in animals was dependent on histamine release and could be abolished by depletion of neuronal histamine, whereas those of methylphenidate were not and could not be. As such, although it is established that modafinil is a clinically significant DRI, its full pharmacology remains unclear and may be more complex than this single property (i.e., may also include DAT-independent actions, such as "activation of the orexin system").
In any case, there is nonetheless a good deal of evidence to indicate that modafinil is producing at least a portion of its wakefulness-promoting effects by acting as a DRI, or at least via activation of the dopaminergic system. In support of modafinil acting as a dopaminergic agent, its wakefulness-promoting effects are abolished in DAT knockout mice (although it is important to note that DAT knockout mice show D1 and D2 receptor and norepinephrine compensatory abnormalities, which might confound this finding), reduced by both D1 and D2 receptor antagonists (although conflicting reports exist), and completely blocked by simultaneous inactivation of both D1 and D2 receptors. In accordance, modafinil shows full stimulus generalization to other DAT inhibitors including cocaine, methylphenidate, and vanoxerine, and discrimination is blocked by administration of both ecopipam (SCH-39166), a D1 receptor antagonist, and haloperidol, a D2 receptor antagonist. Partial substitution was seen with the DRA dextroamphetamine and the D2 receptor agonist PNU-91356A, as well as with nicotine (which indirectly elevates dopamine levels through activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors).
Modafinil may possess yet an additional mechanism of action. Both modafinil and its metabolite, modafinil sulfone, possess anticonvulsant properties in animals, and modafinil sulfone is nearly as potent as modafinil in producing this effect. However, modafinil sulfone lacks any wakefulness-promoting effects in animals, indicating that a distinct mechanism may be at play in the anticonvulsant effects of both compounds.
The ("R")-enantiomer of modafinil, known as armodafinil, was also subsequently found to act as a D2High receptor partial agonist, with a Ki of 16 nM, an intrinsic activity of 48%, and an EC50 of 120 nM, in rat striatal tissue. The ("S")-enantiomer is inactive with respect to the D2 receptor. Modafinil has been found to directly inhibit the firing of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra of rats via activation of D2 receptors.
Modafinil induces the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP1A2, CYP3A4, and CYP2B6, as well as inhibiting CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 "in vitro". It may also induce P-glycoprotein (Pgp), which may affect drugs transported by Pgp, such as digoxin. The bioavailability of modafinil is greater than 80% of the administered dose. "In vitro" measurements indicate that 60% of modafinil is bound to plasma proteins at clinical concentrations of the drug. This percentage actually changes very little when the concentration is varied. Cmax (peak levels) occurs approximately 2–3 hours after administration. Food slows absorption, but does not affect the total AUC(AUC – area under the curve – meaning, food may slow absorption, but the total amount of the chemical will be absorbed with or without food). Half-life is generally in the 10–12 hour range, subject to differences in CYP genotypes, liver function and renal function. It is metabolized in the liver, and its inactive metabolite is excreted in the urine. Urinary excretion of the unchanged drug ranges from 0% to as high as 18.7%, depending on various factors.
The two major circulating metabolites of modafinil are modafinil acid (CRL-40467) and modafinil sulfone (CRL-41056). Both of these metabolites have been described as inactive, and neither appear to contribute to the wakefulness-promoting effects of modafinil. However, modafinil sulfone does appear to possess anticonvulsant effects, and this is a property that it shares with modafinil.
Modafinil and/or its major metabolite, modafinil acid, may be quantified in plasma, serum or urine to monitor dosage in those receiving the drug therapeutically, to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized patients or to assist in the forensic investigation of a vehicular traffic violation. Instrumental techniques involving gas or liquid chromatography are usually employed for these purposes. As of 2011, it is not specifically tested for by common drug screens (except for anti-doping screens) and is unlikely to cause false positives for other chemically-unrelated drugs such as substituted amphetamines.
Reagent testing can be used to screen for the presence of modafinil in samples.
Modafinil is a highly researched compound, with many derivatives created and studied, some examples and their differences between dopamine, serotonin & norepinephrine affect is given in bundled table form below.
Modafinil was originally developed in France by neurophysiologist and emeritus experimental medicine professor Michel Jouvet and Lafon Laboratories. Modafinil originated with the late 1970s invention of a series of benzhydryl sulfinyl compounds, including adrafinil, which was first offered as an experimental treatment for narcolepsy in France in 1986. Modafinil is the primary metabolite of adrafinil, lacking the polar -OH group on its terminal amide, and has similar activity to the parent drug but is much more widely used. It has been prescribed in France since 1994 under the name Modiodal, and in the US since 1998 as Provigil.
In 1998, modafinil was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of narcolepsy and in 2003 for shift work sleep disorder and obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea even though caffeine and amphetamine were shown to be more wakefulness promoting on the Stanford Sleepiness Test Score than modafinil.
It was approved for use in the UK in December 2002. Modafinil is marketed in the United States by Cephalon, who originally leased the rights from Lafon, but eventually purchased the company in 2001.
Cephalon began to market armodafinil, the ("R")-enantiomer of modafinil, in the United States in 2007. After protracted patent litigation and negotiations (see below), generic versions of modafinil became available in the US in 2012.
was issued to Laboratoire L. Lafon on May 22, 1990, covering the chemical compound modafinil. After receiving an interim term extension of 1066 days and pediatric exclusivity of six months, it expired on October 22, 2010. On October 6, 1994, Cephalon filed an additional patent, covering modafinil in the form of particles of defined size. That patent, was issued on April 8, 1997. It was reissued in 2002 as RE 37,516, which surrendered the 5618845 patent. With pediatric exclusivity, this patent expired on April 6, 2015.
On December 24, 2002, anticipating the expiration of exclusive marketing rights, generic drug manufacturers Mylan, Teva, Barr, and Ranbaxy applied to the FDA to market a generic form of modafinil. At least one withdrew its application after early opposition by Cephalon based on the RE 37,516 patent. There is some question of whether a particle size patent is sufficient protection against the manufacture of generics. Pertinent questions include whether modafinil may be modified or manufactured to avoid the granularities specified in the new Cephalon patent, and whether patenting particle size is invalid because particles of appropriate sizes are likely to be obvious to practitioners skilled in the art. However, under United States patent law, a patent is entitled to a legal presumption of validity, meaning that in order to invalidate the patent, much more than "pertinent questions" are required.
As of October 31, 2011, U.S. Reissue Patent No. RE 37,516 has been declared invalid and unenforceable. The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that RE 37,516 was invalid because it: (1) was on sale more than one year prior to the date of the application in violation of 35 U.S.C. section 102(b); (2) was actually invented by someone else (the French company Laboratoire L. Lafon); (3) was obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art under 35 U.S.C. section 103(a); and (4) failed the written description requirement of 35 U.S.C. section 112. The patent was also found to be unenforceable due to Cephalon's inequitable conduct during patent prosecution.
Cephalon made an agreement with four major generics manufacturers Teva, Barr Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Watson Pharmaceuticals between 2005 and 2006 to delay sales of generic modafinil in the US until April 2012 by these companies in exchange for upfront and royalty payments. Litigation arising from these agreements is still pending including an FTC suit filed in April 2008. Apotex received regulatory approval in Canada despite a suit from Cephalon's marketing partner in Canada, Shire Pharmaceuticals. Cephalon has sued Apotex in the US to prevent it from releasing a genericized armodafinil (Nuvigil). Cephalon's 2011 attempt to merge with Teva was approved by the FTC under a number of conditions, including granting generic US rights to another company; ultimately, Par Pharmaceutical acquired the US modafinil rights as well as some others.
In the United Kingdom, Mylan Inc. received regulatory approval to sell generic modafinil produced by Orchid in January 2010; Cephalon sued to prevent sale, but lost the patent trial in November.
Modafinil is classified as a Schedule IV controlled substance under United States federal law; it is illegal to import by anyone other than a DEA-registered importer without a prescription. However, one may legally bring modafinil into the United States in person from a foreign country, provided that he or she has a prescription for it, and the drug is properly declared at the border crossing. U.S. residents are limited to 50 dosage units (e.g., pills). Under the US Pure Food and Drug Act, drug companies are not allowed to market their drugs for off-label uses (conditions other than those officially approved by the FDA); Cephalon was reprimanded in 2002 by the FDA because its promotional materials were found to be "false, lacking in fair balance, or otherwise misleading". Cephalon pleaded guilty to a criminal violation and paid several fines, including and fines to the U.S. government in 2008.
In mainland China, modafinil is strictly controlled like other stimulants, such as amphetamines and methylphenidate. It has been classified as Class I psychotropic drug, meaning that only doctors who have the right to prescribe narcotics and Class I psychotropic drugs (usually through special examination) can prescribe it for no more than three-day use (or seven-day use for control/extend-release products). The first and only modafinil products was approved in November 2017, but its marketing status in mainland China is still unknown.
In Japan, modafinil is Schedule I psychotropic drug. Cephalon has licensed Alfresa Corporation to produce, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma to sell modafinil products under the trade name Modiodal in Japan. Also, there have been reported arrests of people who imported modafinil for personal use.
Modafinil is considered a stimulant doping agent and as such is prohibited in sports competitions, in the same category as steroids. Sanctions range from a simple warning to a 4.000 lei fine, as well as confiscation of the substance.
In Russia modafinil is Schedule II controlled substance like cocaine and morphine. Possession of few modafinil pills can lead to 3–10 years imprisonment.
In Australia, modafinil is considered to be a Schedule 4 prescription-only medicine or prescription animal remedy. Schedule 4 is defined as "Substances, the use or supply of which should be by or on the order of persons permitted by State or Territory legislation to prescribe and should be available from a pharmacist on prescription."
In India, it can be bought over the counter at around Rs. 22.5 per pill. Modafinil is not part of India's Schedule-H or Schedule-H1 or Schedule X drugs as of 2018. Though the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation warned users of potential side-effects in a 2012 report, and in spite of the letters from the DCGI to pharmacies mandating its sale, Modafinil continues to be sold in India with rather lax regulation.
In Sweden, modafinil is classified as a schedule IV substance and possession is therefore illegal without prescription.
The following countries do not classify modafinil as a controlled substance:
Modafinil is sold under a wide variety of brand names worldwide, including Alertec, Alertex, Altasomil, Aspendos, Forcilin, Intensit, Mentix, Modafinil, Modafinilo, Modalert, Modanil, Modasomil, Modvigil, Modiodal, Modiwake, Movigil, Provigil, Resotyl, Stavigile, Vigia, Vigicer, Vigil, Vigimax, Wakelert and Zalux.
The regulation of modafinil as a doping agent has been controversial in the sporting world, with high-profile cases attracting press coverage since several prominent American athletes have tested positive for the substance. Some athletes who were found to have used modafinil protested that the drug was not on the prohibited list at the time of their offenses. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintains that it was related to already banned substances. The Agency added modafinil to its list of prohibited substances on August 3, 2004, ten days before the start of the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Modafinil has received some publicity in the past when several athletes (such as sprinter Kelli White in 2004, cyclist David Clinger and basketball player Diana Taurasi in 2010, and rower Timothy Grant in 2015) were discovered allegedly using it as a performance-enhancing doping agent. (Taurasi and another player, Monique Coker, tested at the same lab, were later cleared.) It is not clear how widespread this practice is. The BALCO scandal brought to light an as-yet unsubstantiated (but widely published) account of Major League Baseball's all-time leading home-run hitter Barry Bonds' supplemental chemical regimen that included modafinil in addition to anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Modafinil has been shown to prolong exercise time to exhaustion while performing at 85% of VO2max and also reduces the perception of effort required to maintain this threshold. Modafinil was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency "Prohibited List" in 2004 as a prohibited stimulant (see Modafinil Legal Status).
Modafinil has been used non-medically as a "smart drug" by students, office workers, soldiers and transhumanists. As a 'smart drug' it allegedly increases mental focus and helps evade sleep, properties which attract students, professionals in the corporate and tech fields, air-force personnel, surgeons, truck drivers and call-center workers. A survey of 2000 students in the UK in 2014 found that one in five people had used Modafinil to stay awake and study. The drug is also used widely by students in India's academic institutions, where academic pressure and competition is often cited as a reason.
In the United States, an application to market modafinil for pediatric ADHD was submitted to the FDA, but approval was denied due to major concerns over the occurrence of Stevens–Johnson syndrome in clinical trials.
Modafinil and armodafinil have been studied as a complement to antipsychotic medications in the treatment of schizophrenia. They have been consistently shown to have no effect on positive symptoms or cognitive performance. A 2015 meta-analysis found that modafinil and armodafinil may slightly reduce negative symptoms in people with acute schizophrenia, though it does not appear useful for people with the condition who are stable, with high negative symptom scores. Among medications demonstrated to be effective for reducing negative symptoms in combination with anti-psychotics, modafinil and armodafinil are among the smallest effect sizes.
The prescribing information for Provigil notes that "There were no clinically significant differences in body weight change in patients treated with Provigil compared to placebo-treated patients in the placebo-controlled clinical trials."
The drug has seen widespread abuse in India, for cognitive enhancement, especially among young adults studying at universities.
A 2015 review of clinical studies of possible nootropic effects in healthy people found: "... whilst most studies employing basic testing paradigms show that modafinil intake enhances executive function, only half show improvements in attention and learning and memory, and a few even report impairments in divergent creative thinking. In contrast, when more complex assessments are used, modafinil appears to consistently engender enhancement of attention, executive functions, and learning. Importantly, we did not observe any preponderances for side effects or mood changes." A 2019 review of a single-dose of modafinil on mental function in healthy, non-sleep deprived people found a small effect and thus limited usefulness as a cognitive enhancer.
Modafinil has been used off-label in trials with people with symptoms of post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment, also known as "chemobrain", but a 2011 review found that it was no better than placebo. As of 2015 it had been studied for use in multiple sclerosis associated fatigue, but the resulting evidence was weak and inconclusive.
General anesthesia is required for many surgeries, but there may be lingering fatigue, sedation, and/or drowsiness after surgery has ended that lasts for hours to days. In outpatient settings wherein patients are discharged home after surgery, this sedation, fatigue and occasional dizziness is problematic. As of 2006, modafinil had been tested in one small (N=34) double-blind randomized controlled trial for this use. | en.wikipedia.org | Modafinil | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20690 |
20696 | Class (set theory)
In set theory and its applications throughout mathematics, a class is a collection of sets (or sometimes other mathematical objects) that can be unambiguously defined by a property that all its members share. The precise definition of "class" depends on foundational context. In work on Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, the notion of class is informal, whereas other set theories, such as von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory, axiomatize the notion of "proper class", e.g., as entities that are not members of another entity.
A class that is not a set (informally in Zermelo–Fraenkel) is called a proper class, and a class that is a set is sometimes called a small class. For instance, the class of all ordinal numbers, and the class of all sets, are proper classes in many formal systems.
In Quine's set-theoretical writing, the phrase "ultimate class" is often used instead of the phrase "proper class" emphasising that in the systems he considers, certain classes cannot be members, and are thus the final term in any membership chain to which they belong.
Outside set theory, the word "class" is sometimes used synonymously with "set". This usage dates from a historical period where classes and sets were not distinguished as they are in modern set-theoretic terminology. Many discussions of "classes" in the 19th century and earlier are really referring to sets, or perhaps rather take place without considering that certain classes can fail to be sets.
The collection of all algebraic structures of a given type will usually be a proper class. Examples include the class of all groups, the class of all vector spaces, and many others. In category theory, a category whose collection of objects forms a proper class (or whose collection of morphisms forms a proper class) is called a large category.
The surreal numbers are a proper class of objects that have the properties of a field.
Within set theory, many collections of sets turn out to be proper classes. Examples include the class of all sets, the class of all ordinal numbers, and the class of all cardinal numbers.
One way to prove that a class is proper is to place it in bijection with the class of all ordinal numbers. This method is used, for example, in the proof that there is no free complete lattice on three or more generators.
The paradoxes of naive set theory can be explained in terms of the inconsistent tacit assumption that "all classes are sets". With a rigorous foundation, these paradoxes instead suggest proofs that certain classes are proper (i.e., that they are not sets). For example, Russell's paradox suggests a proof that the class of all sets which do not contain themselves is proper, and the Burali-Forti paradox suggests that the class of all ordinal numbers is proper. The paradoxes do not arise with classes because there is no notion of classes containing classes. Otherwise, one could, for example, define a class of all classes that do not contain themselves, which would lead to a Russell paradox for classes. A conglomerate, on the other hand, can have proper classes as members, although the "theory" of conglomerates is not yet well-established.
ZF set theory does not formalize the notion of classes, so each formula with classes must be reduced syntactically to a formula without classes. For example, one can reduce the formula formula_1 to formula_2. Semantically, in a metalanguage, the classes can be described as equivalence classes of logical formulas: If formula_3 is a structure interpreting ZF, then the object language "class-builder expression" formula_4 is interpreted in formula_3 by the collection of all the elements from the domain of formula_3 on which formula_7 holds; thus, the class can be described as the set of all predicates equivalent to formula_8 (which includes formula_8 itself). In particular, one can identify the "class of all sets" with the set of all predicates equivalent to formula_10
Because classes do not have any formal status in the theory of ZF, the axioms of ZF do not immediately apply to classes. However, if an inaccessible cardinal formula_11 is assumed, then the sets of smaller rank form a model of ZF (a Grothendieck universe), and its subsets can be thought of as "classes".
In ZF, the concept of a function can also be generalised to classes. A class function is not a function in the usual sense, since it is not a set; it is rather a formula formula_12 with the property that for any set formula_13 there is no more than one set formula_14 such that the pair formula_15 satisfies formula_16 For example, the class function mapping each set to its successor may be expressed as the formula formula_17 The fact that the ordered pair formula_15 satisfies formula_19 may be expressed with the shorthand notation formula_20
Another approach is taken by the von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel axioms (NBG); classes are the basic objects in this theory, and a set is then defined to be a class that is an element of some other class. However, the class existence axioms of NBG are restricted so that they only quantify over sets, rather than over all classes. This causes NBG to be a conservative extension of ZF.
Morse–Kelley set theory admits proper classes as basic objects, like NBG, but also allows quantification over all proper classes in its class existence axioms. This causes MK to be strictly stronger than both NBG and ZF.
In other set theories, such as New Foundations or the theory of semisets, the concept of "proper class" still makes sense (not all classes are sets) but the criterion of sethood is not closed under subsets. For example, any set theory with a universal set has proper classes which are subclasses of sets. | en.wikipedia.org | Class (set theory) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20696 |
20698 | Michael Atiyah
Sir Michael Francis Atiyah (; 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019) was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry.
Atiyah grew up in Sudan and Egypt but spent most of his academic life in the United Kingdom at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge and in the United States at the Institute for Advanced Study. He was the President of the Royal Society (1990–1995), founding director of the Isaac Newton Institute (1990–1996), master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1990–1997), chancellor of the University of Leicester (1995–2005), and the President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2005–2008). From 1997 until his death, he was an honorary professor in the University of Edinburgh.
Atiyah's mathematical collaborators included Raoul Bott, Friedrich Hirzebruch and Isadore Singer, and his students included Graeme Segal, Nigel Hitchin and Simon Donaldson. Together with Hirzebruch, he laid the foundations for topological K-theory, an important tool in algebraic topology, which, informally speaking, describes ways in which spaces can be twisted. His best known result, the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, was proved with Singer in 1963 and is used in counting the number of independent solutions to differential equations. Some of his more recent work was inspired by theoretical physics, in particular instantons and monopoles, which are responsible for some subtle corrections in quantum field theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004.
Atiyah was born on 22 April 1929 in Hampstead, London, England, the son of Jean (née Levens) and Edward Atiyah. His mother was Scottish and his father was a Lebanese Orthodox Christian. He had two brothers, Patrick (deceased) and Joe, and a sister, Selma (deceased). Atiyah went to primary school at the Diocesan school in Khartoum, Sudan (1934–1941) and to secondary school at Victoria College in Cairo and Alexandria (1941–1945); the school was also attended by European nobility displaced by the Second World War and some future leaders of Arab nations. He returned to England and Manchester Grammar School for his HSC studies (1945–1947) and did his national service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (1947–1949). His undergraduate and postgraduate studies took place at Trinity College, Cambridge (1949–1955). He was a doctoral student of William V. D. Hodge and was awarded a doctorate in 1955 for a thesis entitled "Some Applications of Topological Methods in Algebraic Geometry".
During his time at Cambridge, he was president of The Archimedeans.
Atiyah spent the academic year 1955–1956 at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, then returned to Cambridge University, where he was a research fellow and assistant lecturer (1957–1958), then a university lecturer and tutorial fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge (1958–1961). In 1961, he moved to the University of Oxford, where he was a reader and professorial fellow at St Catherine's College (1961–1963). He became Savilian Professor of Geometry and a professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1963 to 1969. He took up a three-year professorship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton after which he returned to Oxford as a Royal Society Research Professor and professorial fellow of St Catherine's College. He was president of the London Mathematical Society from 1974 to 1976.
Atiyah was president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1997 to 2002. He also contributed to the foundation of the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues, the Association of European Academies (ALLEA), and the European Mathematical Society (EMS).
Within the United Kingdom, he was involved in the creation of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge and was its first director (1990–1996). He was President of the Royal Society (1990–1995), Master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1990–1997), Chancellor of the University of Leicester (1995–2005), and president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2005–2008). From 1997 until his death in 2019 he was an honorary professor in the University of Edinburgh. He was a Trustee of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation.
Atiyah collaborated with many mathematicians. His three main collaborations were with Raoul Bott on the Atiyah–Bott fixed-point theorem and many other topics, with Isadore M. Singer on the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, and with Friedrich Hirzebruch on topological K-theory, all of whom he met at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1955. His other collaborators included; J. Frank Adams (Hopf invariant problem), Jürgen Berndt (projective planes), Roger Bielawski (Berry–Robbins problem), Howard Donnelly (L-functions), Vladimir G. Drinfeld (instantons), Johan L. Dupont (singularities of vector fields), Lars Gårding (hyperbolic differential equations), Nigel J. Hitchin (monopoles), William V. D. Hodge (Integrals of the second kind), Michael Hopkins (K-theory), Lisa Jeffrey (topological Lagrangians), John D. S. Jones (Yang–Mills theory), Juan Maldacena (M-theory), Yuri I. Manin (instantons), Nick S. Manton (Skyrmions), Vijay K. Patodi (spectral asymmetry), A. N. Pressley (convexity), Elmer Rees (vector bundles), Wilfried Schmid (discrete series representations), Graeme Segal (equivariant K-theory), Alexander Shapiro (Clifford algebras), L. Smith (homotopy groups of spheres), Paul Sutcliffe (polyhedra), David O. Tall (lambda rings), John A. Todd (Stiefel manifolds), Cumrun Vafa (M-theory), Richard S. Ward (instantons) and Edward Witten (M-theory, topological quantum field theories).
His later research on gauge field theories, particularly Yang–Mills theory, stimulated important interactions between geometry and physics, most notably in the work of Edward Witten.
Atiyah's students included
Peter Braam 1987,
Simon Donaldson 1983,
K. David Elworthy 1967,
Howard Fegan 1977,
Eric Grunwald 1977,
Nigel Hitchin 1972,
Lisa Jeffrey 1991,
Frances Kirwan 1984,
Peter Kronheimer 1986,
Ruth Lawrence 1989,
George Lusztig 1971,
Jack Morava 1968,
Michael Murray 1983,
Peter Newstead 1966,
Ian R. Porteous 1961,
John Roe 1985,
Brian Sanderson 1963,
Rolph Schwarzenberger 1960,
Graeme Segal 1967,
David Tall 1966,
and Graham White 1982.
Other contemporary mathematicians who influenced Atiyah include Roger Penrose, Lars Hörmander, Alain Connes and Jean-Michel Bismut. Atiyah said that the mathematician he most admired was Hermann Weyl, and that his favourite mathematicians from before the 20th century were Bernhard Riemann and William Rowan Hamilton.
The seven volumes of Atiyah's collected papers include most of his work, except for his commutative algebra textbook; the first five volumes are divided thematically and the sixth and seventh arranged by date.
Atiyah's early papers on algebraic geometry (and some general papers) are reprinted in the first volume of his collected works.
As an undergraduate Atiyah was interested in classical projective geometry, and wrote his first paper: a short note on twisted cubics. He started research under W. V. D. Hodge and won the Smith's prize for 1954 for a sheaf-theoretic approach to ruled surfaces, which encouraged Atiyah to continue in mathematics, rather than switch to his other interests—architecture and archaeology.
His PhD thesis with Hodge was on a sheaf-theoretic approach to Solomon Lefschetz's theory of integrals of the second kind on algebraic varieties, and resulted in an invitation to visit the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for a year. While in Princeton he classified vector bundles on an elliptic curve (extending Alexander Grothendieck's classification of vector bundles on a genus 0 curve), by showing that any vector bundle is a sum of (essentially unique) indecomposable vector bundles, and then showing that the space of indecomposable vector bundles of given degree and positive dimension can be identified with the elliptic curve. He also studied double points on surfaces, giving the first example of a flop, a special birational transformation of 3-folds that was later heavily used in Shigefumi Mori's work on minimal models for 3-folds. Atiyah's flop can also be used to show that the universal marked family of K3 surfaces is non-Hausdorff.
Atiyah's works on K-theory, including his book on K-theory are reprinted in volume 2 of his collected works.
The simplest nontrivial example of a vector bundle is the Möbius band (pictured on the right): a strip of paper with a twist in it, which represents a rank 1 vector bundle over a circle (the circle in question being the centerline of the Möbius band). K-theory is a tool for working with higher-dimensional analogues of this example, or in other words for describing higher-dimensional twistings: elements of the K-group of a space are represented by vector bundles over it, so the Möbius band represents an element of the K-group of a circle.
Topological K-theory was discovered by Atiyah and Friedrich Hirzebruch who were inspired by Grothendieck's proof of the Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorem and Bott's work on the periodicity theorem. This paper only discussed the zeroth K-group; they shortly after extended it to K-groups of all degrees, giving the first (nontrivial) example of a generalized cohomology theory.
Several results showed that the newly introduced K-theory was in some ways more powerful than ordinary cohomology theory. Atiyah and Todd used K-theory to improve the lower bounds found using ordinary cohomology by Borel and Serre for the James number, describing when a map from a complex Stiefel manifold to a sphere has a cross section. (Adams and Grant-Walker later showed that the bound found by Atiyah and Todd was best possible.) Atiyah and Hirzebruch used K-theory to explain some relations between Steenrod operations and Todd classes that Hirzebruch had noticed a few years before. The original solution of the Hopf invariant one problem operations by J. F. Adams was very long and complicated, using secondary cohomology operations. Atiyah showed how primary operations in K-theory could be used to give a short solution taking only a few lines, and in joint work with Adams also proved analogues of the result at odd primes.
The Atiyah–Hirzebruch spectral sequence relates the ordinary cohomology of a space to its generalized cohomology theory. (Atiyah and Hirzebruch used the case of K-theory, but their method works for all cohomology theories).
Atiyah showed that for a finite group "G", the K-theory of its classifying space, "BG", is isomorphic to the completion of its character ring:
The same year they proved the result for "G" any compact connected Lie group. Although soon the result could be extended to "all" compact Lie groups by incorporating results from Graeme Segal's thesis, that extension was complicated. However a simpler and more general proof was produced by introducing equivariant K-theory, "i.e." equivalence classes of "G"-vector bundles over a compact "G"-space "X". It was shown that under suitable conditions the completion of the equivariant K-theory of "X" is isomorphic to the ordinary K-theory of a space, formula_2, which fibred over "BG" with fibre "X":
The original result then followed as a corollary by taking "X" to be a point: the left hand side reduced to the completion of "R(G)" and the right to "K(BG)". See Atiyah–Segal completion theorem for more details.
He defined new generalized homology and cohomology theories called bordism and cobordism, and pointed out that many of the deep results on cobordism of manifolds found by René Thom, C. T. C. Wall, and others could be naturally reinterpreted as statements about these cohomology theories. Some of these cohomology theories, in particular complex cobordism, turned out to be some of the most powerful cohomology theories known.
He introduced the J-group "J"("X") of a finite complex "X", defined as the group of stable fiber homotopy equivalence classes of sphere bundles; this was later studied in detail by J. F. Adams in a series of papers, leading to the Adams conjecture.
With Hirzebruch he extended the Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorem to complex analytic embeddings, and in a related paper they showed that the Hodge conjecture for integral cohomology is false. The Hodge conjecture for rational cohomology is, as of 2008, a major unsolved problem.
The Bott periodicity theorem was a central theme in Atiyah's work on K-theory, and he repeatedly returned to it, reworking the proof several times to understand it better. With Bott he worked out an elementary proof, and gave another version of it in his book. With Bott and Shapiro he analysed the relation of Bott periodicity to the periodicity of Clifford algebras; although this paper did not have a proof of the periodicity theorem, a proof along similar lines was shortly afterwards found by R. Wood. He found a proof of several generalizations using elliptic operators; this new proof used an idea that he used to give a particularly short and easy proof of Bott's original periodicity theorem.
Atiyah's work on index theory is reprinted in volumes 3 and 4 of his collected works.
The index of a differential operator is closely related to the number of independent solutions (more precisely, it is the differences of the numbers of independent solutions of the differential operator and its adjoint). There are many hard and fundamental problems in mathematics that can easily be reduced to the problem of finding the number of independent solutions of some differential operator, so if one has some means of finding the index of a differential operator these problems can often be solved. This is what the Atiyah–Singer index theorem does: it gives a formula for the index of certain differential operators, in terms of topological invariants that look quite complicated but are in practice usually straightforward to calculate.
Several deep theorems, such as the Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem, are special cases of the Atiyah–Singer index theorem. In fact the index theorem gave a more powerful result, because its proof applied to all compact complex manifolds, while Hirzebruch's proof only worked for projective manifolds. There were also many new applications: a typical one is calculating the dimensions of the moduli spaces of instantons. The index theorem can also be run "in reverse": the index is obviously an integer, so the formula for it must also give an integer, which sometimes gives subtle integrality conditions on invariants of manifolds. A typical example of this is Rochlin's theorem, which follows from the index theorem.
The index problem for elliptic differential operators was posed in 1959 by Gel'fand. He noticed the homotopy invariance of the index, and asked for a formula for it by means of topological invariants. Some of the motivating examples included the Riemann–Roch theorem and its generalization the Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem, and the Hirzebruch signature theorem. Hirzebruch and Borel had proved the integrality of the  genus of a spin manifold, and Atiyah suggested that this integrality could be explained if it were the index of the Dirac operator (which was rediscovered by Atiyah and Singer in 1961).
The first announcement of the Atiyah–Singer theorem was their 1963 paper. The proof sketched in this announcement was inspired by Hirzebruch's proof of the Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem and was never published by them, though it is described in the book by Palais. Their first published proof was more similar to Grothendieck's proof of the Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorem, replacing the cobordism theory of the first proof with K-theory, and they used this approach to give proofs of various generalizations in a sequence of papers from 1968 to 1971.
Instead of just one elliptic operator, one can consider a family of elliptic operators parameterized by some space "Y". In this case the index is an element of the K-theory of "Y", rather than an integer. If the operators in the family are real, then the index lies in the real K-theory of "Y". This gives a little extra information, as the map from the real K theory of "Y" to the complex K theory is not always injective.
With Bott, Atiyah found an analogue of the Lefschetz fixed-point formula for elliptic operators, giving the Lefschetz number of an endomorphism of an elliptic complex in terms of a sum over the fixed points of the endomorphism. As special cases their formula included the Weyl character formula, and several new results about elliptic curves with complex multiplication, some of which were initially disbelieved by experts.
Atiyah and Segal combined this fixed point theorem with the index theorem as follows.
If there is a compact group action of a group "G" on the compact manifold "X", commuting with the elliptic operator, then one can replace ordinary K theory in the index theorem with equivariant K-theory.
For trivial groups "G" this gives the index theorem, and for a finite group "G" acting with isolated fixed points it gives the Atiyah–Bott fixed point theorem. In general it gives the index as a sum over fixed point submanifolds of the group "G".
Atiyah solved a problem asked independently by Hörmander and Gel'fand, about whether complex powers of analytic functions define distributions. Atiyah used Hironaka's resolution of singularities to answer this affirmatively. An ingenious and elementary solution was found at about the same time by J. Bernstein, and discussed by Atiyah.
As an application of the equivariant index theorem, Atiyah and Hirzebruch showed that manifolds with effective circle actions have vanishing Â-genus. (Lichnerowicz showed that if a manifold has a metric of positive scalar curvature then the Â-genus vanishes.)
With Elmer Rees, Atiyah studied the problem of the relation between topological and holomorphic vector bundles on projective space. They solved the simplest unknown case, by showing that all rank 2 vector bundles over projective 3-space have a holomorphic structure. Horrocks had previously found some non-trivial examples of such vector bundles, which were later used by Atiyah in his study of instantons on the 4-sphere.
Atiyah, Bott and Vijay K. Patodi gave a new proof of the index theorem using the heat equation.
If the manifold is allowed to have boundary, then some restrictions must be put on the domain of the elliptic operator in order to ensure a finite index. These conditions can be local (like demanding that the sections in the domain vanish at the boundary) or more complicated global conditions (like requiring that the sections in the domain solve some differential equation). The local case was worked out by Atiyah and Bott, but they showed that many interesting operators (e.g., the signature operator) do not admit local boundary conditions. To handle these operators, Atiyah, Patodi and Singer introduced global boundary conditions equivalent to attaching a cylinder to the manifold along the boundary and then restricting the domain to those sections that are square integrable along the cylinder, and also introduced the Atiyah–Patodi–Singer eta invariant. This resulted in a series of papers on spectral asymmetry, which were later unexpectedly used in theoretical physics, in particular in Witten's work on anomalies.
The fundamental solutions of linear hyperbolic partial differential equations often have Petrovsky lacunas: regions where they vanish identically. These were studied in 1945 by I. G. Petrovsky, who found topological conditions describing which regions were lacunas.
In collaboration with Bott and Lars Gårding, Atiyah wrote three papers updating and generalizing Petrovsky's work.
Atiyah showed how to extend the index theorem to some non-compact manifolds, acted on by a discrete group with compact quotient. The kernel of the elliptic operator is in general infinite-dimensional in this case, but it is possible to get a finite index using the dimension of a module over a von Neumann algebra; this index is in general real rather than integer valued. This version is called the "L2 index theorem," and was used by Atiyah and Schmid to give a geometric construction, using square integrable harmonic spinors, of Harish-Chandra's discrete series representations of semisimple Lie groups. In the course of this work they found a more elementary proof of Harish-Chandra's fundamental theorem on the local integrability of characters of Lie groups.
With H. Donnelly and I. Singer, he extended Hirzebruch's formula (relating the signature defect at cusps of Hilbert modular surfaces to values of L-functions) from real quadratic fields to all totally real fields.
Many of his papers on gauge theory and related topics are reprinted in volume 5 of his collected works. A common theme of these papers is the study of moduli spaces of solutions to certain non-linear partial differential equations, in particular the equations for instantons and monopoles. This often involves finding a subtle correspondence between solutions of two seemingly quite different equations. An early example of this which Atiyah used repeatedly is the Penrose transform, which can sometimes convert solutions of a non-linear equation over some real manifold into solutions of some linear holomorphic equations over a different complex manifold.
In a series of papers with several authors, Atiyah classified all instantons on 4-dimensional Euclidean space. It is more convenient to classify instantons on a sphere as this is compact, and this is essentially equivalent to classifying instantons on Euclidean space as this is conformally equivalent to a sphere and the equations for instantons are conformally invariant. With Hitchin and Singer he calculated the dimension of the moduli space of irreducible self-dual connections (instantons) for any principal bundle over a compact 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold (the Atiyah–Hitchin–Singer theorem). For example, the dimension of the space of SU2 instantons of rank "k">0 is 8"k"−3. To do this they used the Atiyah–Singer index theorem to calculate the dimension of the tangent space of the moduli space at a point; the tangent space is essentially the space of solutions of an elliptic differential operator, given by the linearization of the non-linear Yang–Mills equations. These moduli spaces were later used by Donaldson to construct his invariants of 4-manifolds.
Atiyah and Ward used the Penrose correspondence to reduce the classification of all instantons on the 4-sphere to a problem in algebraic geometry. With Hitchin he used ideas of Horrocks to solve this problem, giving the ADHM construction of all instantons on a sphere; Manin and Drinfeld found the same construction at the same time, leading to a joint paper by all four authors. Atiyah reformulated this construction using quaternions and wrote up a leisurely account of this classification of instantons on Euclidean space as a book.
Atiyah's work on instanton moduli spaces was used in Donaldson's work on Donaldson theory. Donaldson showed that the moduli space of (degree 1) instantons over a compact simply connected 4-manifold with positive definite intersection form can be compactified to give a cobordism between the manifold and a sum of copies of complex projective space. He deduced from this that the intersection form must be a sum of one-dimensional ones, which led to several spectacular applications to smooth 4-manifolds, such as the existence of non-equivalent smooth structures on 4-dimensional Euclidean space. Donaldson went on to use the other moduli spaces studied by Atiyah to define Donaldson invariants, which revolutionized the study of smooth 4-manifolds, and showed that they were more subtle than smooth manifolds in any other dimension, and also quite different from topological 4-manifolds. Atiyah described some of these results in a survey talk.
Green's functions for linear partial differential equations can often be found by using the Fourier transform to convert this into an algebraic problem. Atiyah used a non-linear version of this idea. He used the Penrose transform to convert the Green's function for the conformally invariant Laplacian into a complex analytic object, which turned out to be essentially the diagonal embedding of the Penrose twistor space into its square. This allowed him to find an explicit formula for the conformally invariant Green's function on a 4-manifold.
In his paper with Jones, he studied the topology of the moduli space of SU(2) instantons over a 4-sphere. They showed that the natural map from this moduli space to the space of all connections induces epimorphisms of homology groups in a certain range of dimensions, and suggested that it might induce isomorphisms of homology groups in the same range of dimensions. This became known as the Atiyah–Jones conjecture, and was later proved by several mathematicians.
Harder and M. S. Narasimhan described the cohomology of the moduli spaces of stable vector bundles over Riemann surfaces by counting the number of points of the moduli spaces over finite fields, and then using the Weil conjectures to recover the cohomology over the complex numbers.
Atiyah and R. Bott used Morse theory and the Yang–Mills equations over a Riemann surface to reproduce and extending the results of Harder and Narasimhan.
An old result due to Schur and Horn states that the set of possible diagonal vectors of an Hermitian matrix with given eigenvalues is the convex hull of all the permutations of the eigenvalues. Atiyah proved a generalization of this that applies to all compact symplectic manifolds acted on by a torus, showing that the image of the manifold under the moment map is a convex polyhedron, and with Pressley gave a related generalization to infinite-dimensional loop groups.
Duistermaat and Heckman found a striking formula, saying that the push-forward of the Liouville measure of a moment map for a torus action is given exactly by the stationary phase approximation (which is in general just an asymptotic expansion rather than exact). Atiyah and Bott showed that this could be deduced from a more general formula in equivariant cohomology, which was a consequence of well-known localization theorems. Atiyah showed that the moment map was closely related to geometric invariant theory, and this idea was later developed much further by his student F. Kirwan. Witten shortly after applied the Duistermaat–Heckman formula to loop spaces and showed that this formally gave the Atiyah–Singer index theorem for the Dirac operator; this idea was lectured on by Atiyah.
With Hitchin he worked on magnetic monopoles, and studied their scattering using an idea of Nick Manton. His book with Hitchin gives a detailed description of their work on magnetic monopoles. The main theme of the book is a study of a moduli space of magnetic monopoles; this has a natural Riemannian metric, and a key point is that this metric is complete and hyperkähler. The metric is then used to study the scattering of two monopoles, using a suggestion of N. Manton that the geodesic flow on the moduli space is the low energy approximation to the scattering. For example, they show that a head-on collision between two monopoles results in 90-degree scattering, with the direction of scattering depending on the relative phases of the two monopoles. He also studied monopoles on hyperbolic space.
Atiyah showed that instantons in 4 dimensions can be identified with instantons in 2 dimensions, which are much easier to handle. There is of course a catch: in going from 4 to 2 dimensions the structure group of the gauge theory changes from a finite-dimensional group to an infinite-dimensional loop group. This gives another example where the moduli spaces of solutions of two apparently unrelated nonlinear partial differential equations turn out to be essentially the same.
Atiyah and Singer found that anomalies in quantum field theory could be interpreted in terms of index theory of the Dirac operator; this idea later became widely used by physicists.
Many of the papers in the 6th volume of his collected works are surveys, obituaries, and general talks. Atiyah continued to publish subsequently, including several surveys, a popular book, and another paper with Segal on twisted K-theory.
One paper is a detailed study of the Dedekind eta function from the point of view of topology and the index theorem.
Several of his papers from around this time study the connections between quantum field theory, knots, and Donaldson theory. He introduced the concept of a topological quantum field theory, inspired by Witten's work and Segal's definition of a conformal field theory. His book describes the new knot invariants found by Vaughan Jones and Edward Witten in terms of topological quantum field theories, and his paper with L. Jeffrey explains Witten's Lagrangian giving the Donaldson invariants.
He studied skyrmions with Nick Manton, finding a relation with magnetic monopoles and instantons, and giving a conjecture for the structure of the moduli space of two skyrmions as a certain subquotient of complex projective 3-space.
Several papers were inspired by a question of Jonathan Robbins (called the Berry–Robbins problem), who asked if there is a map from the configuration space of "n" points in 3-space to the flag manifold of the unitary group. Atiyah gave an affirmative answer to this question, but felt his solution was too computational and studied a conjecture that would give a more natural solution. He also related the question to Nahm's equation, and introduced the Atiyah conjecture on configurations.
With Juan Maldacena and Cumrun Vafa, and E. Witten he described the dynamics of M-theory on manifolds with G2 holonomy. These papers seem to be the first time that Atiyah has worked on exceptional Lie groups.
In his papers with M. Hopkins and G. Segal he returned to his earlier interest of K-theory, describing some twisted forms of K-theory with applications in theoretical physics.
In October 2016, he claimed a short proof of the non-existence of complex structures on the 6-sphere. His proof, like many predecessors, is considered flawed by the mathematical community, even after the proof was rewritten in a revised form.
In September 2018, at the 2018 Heidelberg Laureate Forum, he claimed a simple proof of the Riemann hypothesis, one of the 7 Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics. His claims have been met with skepticism by the mathematical community.
This subsection lists all books written by Atiyah; it omits a few books that he edited.
In 1966, when he was thirty-seven years old, he was awarded the Fields Medal, for his work in developing K-theory, a generalized Lefschetz fixed-point theorem and the Atiyah–Singer theorem, for which he also won the Abel Prize jointly with Isadore Singer in 2004.
Among other prizes he has received are the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1968, the De Morgan Medal of the London Mathematical Society in 1980, the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1981, the King Faisal International Prize for Science in 1987, the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1988, the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences of the American Philosophical Society in 1993, the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Medal
of the Indian National Science Academy in 1993, the President's Medal from the Institute of Physics in 2008, the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences in 2010 and the Grand Officier of the French Légion d'honneur in 2011.
He was elected a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1969), the Académie des Sciences, the Akademie Leopoldina, the Royal Swedish Academy, the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the American Philosophical Society, the Indian National Science Academy, the Chinese Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Science, the Russian Academy of Science, the Ukrainian Academy of Science, the Georgian Academy of Science, the Venezuela Academy of Science, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Royal Spanish Academy of Science, the Accademia dei Lincei and the Moscow Mathematical Society. In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was also appointed as a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1993.
Atiyah was awarded honorary degrees by the universities of Birmingham, Bonn, Chicago, Cambridge, Dublin, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Ghent, Helsinki, Lebanon, Leicester, London, Mexico, Montreal, Oxford, Reading, Salamanca, St. Andrews, Sussex, Wales, Warwick, the American University of Beirut, Brown University, Charles University in Prague, Harvard University, Heriot–Watt University, Hong Kong (Chinese University), Keele University, Queen's University (Canada), The Open University, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Technical University of Catalonia, and UMIST.
Atiyah was made a Knight Bachelor in 1983 and made a member of the Order of Merit in 1992.
The Michael Atiyah building at the University of Leicester
and the Michael Atiyah Chair in Mathematical Sciences at the American University of Beirut were named after him.
Atiyah married Lily Brown on 30 July 1955, with whom he had three sons, John, David and Robin. Atiyah's eldest son John died on 24 June 2002 while on a walking holiday in the Pyrenees with his wife Maj-Lis. Lily Atiyah died on 13 March 2018 at the age of 90.
Sir Michael Atiyah died on 11 January 2019, aged 89. | en.wikipedia.org | Michael Atiyah | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20698 |
20700 | Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.
Kaplan was born in Švenčionys, Lithuania, to Rabbi Israel and Haya (Anna) Kaplan. In 1889, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sisters to join his father in New York City who was working with the Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph. He attended Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Manhattan for a short period. In 1895 Kaplan attended the City College of New York. From 1893 to 1902 he also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. After graduating from CCNY in 1900 he went to Columbia University studying philosophy, sociology and education receiving a master's degree and a Doctorate. Majoring in philosophy, he wrote his Masters thesis on the ethical philosophy of Henry Sidgwick. His lecturers included the philosopher of ethical culture Felix Adler and the sociologist Franklin Giddings.
In July 1908 he married Lena Rubin. He received "semikhah" from Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines while on his honeymoon. Kaplan began his career as an Orthodox rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, a synagogue in New York. In 1912, he was an advisor to the creators of the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism, together with Rabbi Israel Friedlander. | en.wikipedia.org | Mordecai Kaplan | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20700 |
20701 | Mathilde Roth Schechter
Mathilde Roth Schechter (also Matilda; December 16, 1859 – August 27, 1924) was the American founder of the U.S. National Women's League of Conservative Judaism in 1918.
Schechter was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland). She was married to Dr. Solomon Schechter, a prominent rabbi who was chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA). They lived in Cambridge, England before immigrating to the United States in 1902.
She founded and taught at the Columbia Religious and Industrial School for Jewish Girls. After assisting Henrietta Szold in creating Hadassah, Schechter later served as its national chairwoman of education. The Mathilde Schechter Residence Hall formerly contained undergraduate housing for students of the JTSA's List College.
She died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on August 27, 1924, following an operation. | en.wikipedia.org | Mathilde Roth Schechter | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20701 |
20703 | MOS Technology
MOS Technology, Inc. ("MOS" being short for Metal Oxide Semiconductor), later known as CSG (Commodore Semiconductor Group), was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is most famous for its 6502 microprocessor and various designs for Commodore International's range of home computers.
MOS Technology, Inc. was originally started in 1969 by Allen-Bradley to provide a second source for electronic calculators and their chips designed by Texas Instruments (TI). In the early 1970s TI decided to release their own line of calculators, instead of selling just the chips inside them, and introduced them at a price that was lower than the price of the chipset alone. Many early chip companies were wiped out in the aftermath; those that survived did so by finding other chips to produce. MOS became a supplier to Atari, producing a custom single-chip "Pong" system.
Things changed dramatically in 1975. Several of the designers of the Motorola 6800 left Motorola shortly after its release, after management told them to stop working on a low-cost version of the design. At the time there was no such thing as a pure-play semiconductor foundry, so they had to join a chip-building company to produce their new CPU. MOS was a small firm with good credentials in the right area, the east coast of the USA. The team of four design engineers was headed by Chuck Peddle and included Bill Mensch. At MOS they set about building a new CPU that would outperform the 6800 while being similar to it in purpose. The resulting 6501 design was somewhat similar to the 6800, but by using several simplifications in the design, the 6501 would be up to 4 times faster.
In addition to a good design, MOS had a secret weapon: the ability to "fix" its masks. Masks are the large drawings of the chip that are photo-reduced to make the pattern from which chips are made—a process similar to photocopying. All masks end up with flaws, both as a result of design problems in the chip itself, as well as side effects from the photo-reduction process. When a chip is made with this mask there is a chance that some of these flaws will end up expressed on the chip. If too many of them are expressed, that particular chip will not work.
If a chip design with five design flaws results in a mask with ten flaws in total, there is no point in making another mask because it will have the same five design flaws plus some other set of five copying flaws. So companies simply built chips with known-bad masks, and threw away broken chips. In the 1970s, this meant throwing away 70 percent or more of the completed chips. The price of a chip is largely defined by the "yield", the measure of how many work for a given number produced, so improving this number can lower the price and raise the gross profit dramatically.
MOS's engineers had learned the trick of fixing their masks "after" they were made. This allowed them to correct the major flaws in a series of small fixes, eventually producing a mask with a very low flaw rate. The company's production lines typically reversed the numbers others were achieving; even the early runs of a new CPU design—what would become the 6502—were achieving a success rate of 70 percent or better. This meant that not only were its designs faster, they cost much less as well.
When the 6501 was announced, Motorola launched a lawsuit almost immediately. Although the 6501 instruction set was not compatible with the 6800, it could nevertheless be plugged into existing motherboard designs because it had the same functional pin arrangement and IC package footprint. That was enough to allow Motorola to sue. Sales of the 6501 basically stopped, and the lawsuit would drag on for many years before MOS was eventually forced to pay $200,000 USD in fines.
In the meantime MOS had started selling the 6502, a chip capable of operating at 1 MHz in September 1975 for a mere US$25. It was nearly identical to the 6501, with only a few minor differences: an added on-chip clock oscillator, a different functional pinout arrangement, generation of the SYNC signal (supporting single-instruction stepping), and removal of data bus enablement control signals (DBE and BA, with the former directly connected to the phase 2 clock instead). It outperformed the more-complex 6800 and Intel 8080, but cost much less and was easier to work with. Although it did not have the 6501's advantage of being able to be used in place of the Motorola 6800 in existing hardware, it was so inexpensive that it quickly became more popular than the 6800, making that a moot point.
The 6502 was so cheap that many people believed it was a scam when MOS first showed it at a 1975 trade show. They were not aware of MOS's masking techniques and when they calculated the price per chip at the current industry yield rates, it did not add up. But any hesitation to buy it evaporated when both Motorola and Intel dropped the prices on their own designs from $179 to $69 at the same show in order to compete. Their moves legitimized the 6502, and by the show's end, the wooden barrel full of samples was empty.
The 6502 would quickly go on to be one of the most popular chips of its day. A number of companies licensed the 650x line from MOS, including Rockwell International, GTE, Synertek, and Western Design Center (WDC).
A number of different versions of the basic CPU, known as the 6503 through 6507, were offered in 28-pin packages for lower cost. The various models removed signal or address pins. Far and away the most popular of these was the 6507, which was used in the Atari 2600 and Atari disk drives. The 6504 was sometimes used in printers. MOS also released a series of similar CPUs using external clocks, which added a "1" to the name in the third digit, as the 6512 through 6515. These were useful in systems where the clock support was already being provided on the motherboard by some other source. The final addition was the "crossover" 6510, used in the Commodore 64, with additional I/O ports.
However successful the 6502 was, the company itself was having problems. At about the same time the 6502 was being released, MOS's entire calculator IC market collapsed, and its prior existing products stopped shipping. Soon they were in serious financial trouble. Another company, Commodore Business Machines (CBM), had invested heavily in the calculator market and was also nearly wiped out by TI's entry into the market. A fresh injection of capital saved CBM, and allowed it to invest in company suppliers in order to help ensure their IC supply would not be upset in this fashion again. Among the several companies were LED display manufacturers, power controllers, and suppliers of the driver chips, including MOS.
In late 1976, CBM, quoted at US$60 million on the NYSE, purchased MOS, valued at around US$12 million, in exchange for a 9.4 percent equity stake in CBM in an outright buy on the condition that Chuck Peddle would join Commodore as chief engineer. The deal went through, and while the firm basically became Commodore's production arm, they continued using the name MOS for some time so that manuals would not have to be reprinted. After a while MOS became the Commodore Semiconductor Group (CSG). Despite being renamed to CSG, all chips produced were still stamped with the old "MOS" logo until 1989.
MOS had previously designed a simple computer kit called the KIM-1, primarily to "show off" the 6502 chip. At Commodore, Peddle convinced the owner, Jack Tramiel, that calculators were a dead end, and that home computers would soon be huge.
However, the original design group appeared to be even less interested in working for Jack Tramiel than it had for Motorola, and the team quickly started breaking up. One result was that the newly completed 6522 (VIA) chip was left undocumented for years.
Bill Mensch left MOS even before the Commodore takeover, and moved home to Mesa, AZ from MOS's Norristown, PA. After a short stint consulting for a local company called ICE, he set up the Western Design Center (WDC) in 1978. As a licensee of the 6502 line, their first products were bug-fixed, power-efficient CMOS versions of the 6502 (the 65C02, both as a separate chip and embedded inside a microcontroller called the 65C150). But then they expanded the line greatly with the introduction of the 65816, a fairly straightforward 16-bit upgrade of the original 65C02 that could also run in 8-bit mode for compatibility. Since then WDC moved much of the original MOS catalog to CMOS, and the 6502 continued to be a popular CPU for the embedded systems market, like medical equipment and car dashboard controllers.
After Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994, Commodore Semiconductor Group, MOS's successor, was bought by its former management for about $4.3 million, plus an additional $1 million to cover miscellaneous expenses including EPA license. Dennis Peasenell became CEO. In December 1994, they entered into a Prospective Purchase Agreement (limiting the company's liability in exchange for sharing the costs of cleanup) with GMT Microelectronics.
In 1994, the company, operating under the name GMT Microelectronics ("Great Mixed-signal Technologies"), reopened MOS Technologies' original, circa-1970 one-micrometre fab in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania that Commodore had closed in 1993.
GMT would have provided foundry services based on TelCom's Bipolar and SiCr Thin Film Resistor processes and would have been licensed alternate sources for TelCom's Bipolar based products., with production running at 10 thousand 5-inch wafers per month, producing CMOS, BiCMOS, NMOS, bipolar and SOI devices.
The plant had been on the EPA's National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites since October 4, 1989. This was due to a 1974 leak of TCE from an underground 250-gallon concrete storage tank used by Commodore Business Machines in the semiconductor cleaning process. Leaks from tank had caused the local groundwater to become contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 1978. By 1999 GMT Microelectronics had $21 million in revenues and 183 employees working on the site. In 2000, GMT Microelectronics discontinued operations and abandoned all of its assets at the Commodore Semiconductor Group superfund site.
Most of the MOS chips are named according to following rules, which shows used technology (logic gate design): | en.wikipedia.org | MOS Technology | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20703 |
20707 | Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins, September 14, 1879September 6, 1966, also known as Margaret Sanger Slee) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sanger used her writings and speeches primarily to promote her way of thinking. She was prosecuted for her book "Family Limitation" under the Comstock Act in 1914. She was afraid of what would happen, so she fled to Britain until she knew it was safe to return to the US. Sanger's efforts contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the United States. Due to her connection with Planned Parenthood, Sanger is a frequent target of criticism by opponents of abortion. However, Sanger drew a sharp distinction between birth control and abortion and was opposed to abortion through the bulk of her career. Sanger remains an admired figure in the American reproductive rights movement. She has been criticized for supporting eugenics.
In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, which led to her arrest for distributing information on contraception, after an undercover policewoman bought a copy of her pamphlet on family planning. Her subsequent trial and appeal generated controversy. Sanger felt that in order for women to have a more equal footing in society and to lead healthier lives, they needed to be able to determine when to bear children. She also wanted to prevent so-called back-alley abortions, which were common at the time because abortions were illegal in the United States. She believed that while abortion was sometimes justified it should generally be avoided, and she considered contraception the only practical way to avoid them.
In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In New York City, she organized the first birth control clinic to be staffed by all-female doctors, as well as a clinic in Harlem which had an all African-American advisory council, where African-American staff were later added. In 1929, she formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, which served as the focal point of her lobbying efforts to legalize contraception in the United States. From 1952 to 1959, Sanger served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She died in 1966 and is widely regarded as a founder of the modern birth control movement.
Sanger was born Margaret Louise Higgins in 1879 in Corning, New York, to Irish Catholic parents—a "free-thinking" stonemason father, Michael Hennessey Higgins, and Anne Purcell Higgins. Michael had immigrated to the United States aged 14, joining the Army in the Civil War as a drummer aged 15. Upon leaving the army, he studied medicine and phrenology but ultimately became a stonecutter, chiseling-out angels, saints, and tombstones. Michael became an atheist and an activist for women's suffrage and free public education.
Anne accompanied her family to Canada during the Potato Famine. She married Michael in 1869. In 22 years, Anne Higgins conceived 18 times, birthing 11 alive before dying aged 49. Sanger was the sixth of 11 surviving children, spending her tender years submitted to the sharing of household chores and care of family members.
Supported by her two older sisters, Margaret Higgins attended Claverack College and Hudson River Institute, before enrolling in 1900 at White Plains Hospital as a nurse probationer. In 1902, she married architect William Sanger, giving up her education. Suffering from consumption (recurring active tubercular), Margaret Sanger was able to bear three children, and the five settled down to a quiet life in Westchester, New York.
In 1911, after a fire destroyed their home in Hastings-on-Hudson, the Sangers abandoned the suburbs for a new life in New York City. Margaret Sanger worked as a visiting nurse in the slums of the East Side, while her husband worked as an architect and a house painter. Already imbued with her husband's leftist politics, Margaret Sanger also threw herself into the radical politics and modernist values of pre-World War I Greenwich Village bohemia. She joined the Women's Committee of the New York Socialist party, took part in the labor actions of the Industrial Workers of the World (including the notable 1912 Lawrence textile strike and the 1913 Paterson silk strike) and became involved with local intellectuals, left-wing artists, socialists and social activists, including John Reed, Upton Sinclair, Mabel Dodge and Emma Goldman.
Sanger's political interests, her emerging feminism and her nursing experience all led her to write two series of columns on sex education which were titled "What Every Mother Should Know" (1911–12) and "What Every Girl Should Know" (1912–13) for the socialist magazine "New York Call." By the standards of the day, Sanger's articles were extremely frank in their discussion of sexuality, and many "New York Call" readers were outraged by them. Other readers, however, praised the series for its candor. One stated that the series contained "a purer morality than whole libraries full of hypocritical cant about modesty". Both were published in book form in 1916.
During her work among working-class immigrant women, Sanger met women who underwent frequent childbirth, miscarriages and self-induced abortions for lack of information on how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Access to contraceptive information was prohibited on grounds of obscenity by the 1873 federal Comstock law and a host of state laws. Seeking to help these women, Sanger visited public libraries, but was unable to find information on contraception. These problems were epitomized in a story that Sanger would later recount in her speeches: while Sanger was working as a nurse, she was called to the apartment of a woman, "Sadie Sachs", who had become extremely ill due to a self-induced abortion. Afterward, Sadie begged the attending doctor to tell her how she could prevent this from happening again, to which the doctor simply advised her to remain abstinent. His exact words and actions, apparently, were to laugh and say "You want your cake while you eat it too, do you? Well it can’t be done. I'll tell you the only sure thing to do ... Tell Jake to sleep on the roof." A few months later, Sanger was called back to Sadie's apartment—only this time, Sadie died shortly after Sanger arrived. She had attempted yet another self-induced abortion. Sanger would sometimes end the story by saying, "I threw my nursing bag in the corner and announced ... that I would never take another case until I had made it possible for working women in America to have the knowledge to control birth"; biographer Ellen Chesler attempted unsuccessfully to find corroboration of this story. There is the strong possibility Sanger might have deliberately fabricated the whole story as a propaganda technique.
This story—along with Sanger's 1904 rescue of her unwanted niece Olive Byrne from the snowbank in which she had been left—marks the beginning of Sanger's commitment to spare women from the pursuit of dangerous and illegal abortions. Sanger opposed abortion, but primarily as a societal ill and public health danger which would disappear if women were able to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
Given the connection between contraception and working-class empowerment, Sanger came to believe that only by liberating women from the risk of unwanted pregnancy would fundamental social change take place. She launched a campaign to challenge governmental censorship of contraceptive information through confrontational actions.
Sanger became estranged from her husband in 1913, and the couple's divorce was finalized in 1921. In 1922, she married her second husband, James Noah H. Slee.
In 1914, Sanger launched "The Woman Rebel", an eight-page monthly newsletter which promoted contraception using the slogan "No Gods, No Masters". Sanger, collaborating with anarchist friends, popularized the term "birth control" as a more candid alternative to euphemisms such as "family limitation"; the term "birth control" was suggested in 1914 by a young friend called Otto Bobstei Sanger proclaimed that each woman should be "the absolute mistress of her own body." In these early years of Sanger's activism, she viewed birth control as a free-speech issue, and when she started publishing "The Woman Rebel", one of her goals was to provoke a legal challenge to the federal anti-obscenity laws which banned dissemination of information about contraception. Though postal authorities suppressed five of its seven issues, Sanger continued publication, all the while preparing "Family Limitation", another challenge to anti-birth control laws. This 16-page pamphlet contained detailed and precise information and graphic descriptions of various contraceptive methods. In August 1914, Margaret Sanger was indicted for violating postal obscenity laws by sending "The Woman Rebel" through the postal system. Rather than stand trial, she fled the country.
Margaret Sanger spent much of her 1914 exile in England, where contact with British neo-Malthusians such as Charles Vickery Drysdale helped refine her socioeconomic justifications for birth control. She shared their concern that over-population led to poverty, famine and war. At the Fifth International Neo-Malthusian Conference in 1922, she was the first woman to chair a session. She organized the Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth-Control Conference that took place in New York in 1925. Over-population would remain a concern of hers for the rest of her life.
During her 1914 trip to England, she was also profoundly influenced by the liberation theories of Havelock Ellis, under whose tutelage she sought not just to make sexual intercourse safer for women but more pleasurable. Another notable person she met around this time was Marie Stopes, who had run into Sanger after she had just given a talk on birth control at a Fabian Society meeting. Stopes showed Sanger her writings and sought her advice about a chapter on contraception.
Early in 1915, Margaret Sanger's estranged husband, William Sanger, gave a copy of "Family Limitation" to a representative of anti-vice politician Anthony Comstock. William Sanger was tried and convicted, spending thirty days in jail while attracting interest in birth control as an issue of civil liberty. Margaret's second husband, Noah Slee, also lent his help to her life's work. In 1928, Slee would smuggle diaphragms into New York through Canada in boxes labeled as 3-In-One Oil. He later became the first legal manufacturer of diaphragms in the United States.
Some countries in northwestern Europe had more liberal policies towards contraception than the United States at the time, and when Sanger visited a Dutch birth control clinic in 1915, she learned about diaphragms and became convinced that they were a more effective means of contraception than the suppositories and douches that she had been distributing back in the United States. Diaphragms were generally unavailable in the United States, so Sanger and others began importing them from Europe, in defiance of United States law.
On October 16, 1916, Sanger opened a family planning and birth control clinic at 46 Amboy Street in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, the first of its kind in the United States. Nine days after the clinic opened, Sanger was arrested. Sanger's bail was set at $500 and she went back home. Sanger continued seeing some women in the clinic until the police came a second time. This time, Sanger and her sister, Ethel Byrne, were arrested for breaking a New York state law that prohibited distribution of contraceptives. Sanger was also charged with running a public nuisance. Sanger and Byrne went to trial in January 1917. Byrne was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse but went on a hunger strike. She was force-fed, the first woman hunger striker in the US to be so treated. Only when Sanger pledged that Byrne would never break the law was she pardoned after ten days. Sanger was convicted; the trial judge held that women did not have "the right to copulate with a feeling of security that there will be no resulting conception." Sanger was offered a more lenient sentence if she promised to not break the law again, but she replied: "I cannot respect the law as it exists today." For this, she was sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse. An initial appeal was rejected, but in a subsequent court proceeding in 1918, the birth control movement won a victory when Judge Frederick E. Crane of the New York Court of Appeals issued a ruling which allowed doctors to prescribe contraception. The publicity surrounding Sanger's arrest, trial, and appeal sparked birth control activism across the United States and earned the support of numerous donors, who would provide her with funding and support for future endeavors.<
In February 1917, Sanger began publishing the monthly periodical "Birth Control Review".
After World War I, Sanger shifted away from radical politics, and she founded the American Birth Control League (ABCL) in 1921 to enlarge her base of supporters to include the middle class. The founding principles of the ABCL were as follows:
After Sanger's appeal of her conviction for the Brownsville clinic secured a 1918 court ruling that exempted physicians from the law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptive information to women (provided it was prescribed for medical reason), she established the Clinical Research Bureau (CRB) in 1923 to exploit this loophole. The CRB was the first legal birth control clinic in the United States, staffed entirely by female doctors and social workers. The clinic received extensive funding from John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family, who continued to make anonymous donations to Sanger's causes in subsequent decades.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated five thousand dollars to her American Birth Control League in 1924 and a second time in 1925.
In 1922, she traveled to China, Korea, and Japan. In China, she observed that the primary method of family planning was female infanticide, and she later worked with Pearl Buck to establish a family planning clinic in Shanghai. Sanger visited Japan six times, working with Japanese feminist Kato Shidzue to promote birth control. This was ironic, since ten years earlier Sanger had accused Katō of murder and praised an attempt to kill her.
In 1928, conflict within the birth control movement leadership led Sanger to resign as the president of the ABCL and take full control of the CRB, renaming it the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (BCCRB), marking the beginning of a schism that would last until 1938.
Sanger invested a great deal of effort communicating with the general public. From 1916 onward, she frequently lectured (in churches, women's clubs, homes, and theaters) to workers, churchmen, liberals, socialists, scientists, and upper-class women. She once lectured on birth control to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. In her autobiography, she described the experience as "weird", and reported having the impression that the audience were all half-wits, and speaking in the simplest possible language, as if she were talking to children.
She wrote several books in the 1920s which had a nationwide impact in promoting the cause of birth control. Between 1920 and 1926, 567,000 copies of "Woman and the New Race" and "The Pivot of Civilization" were sold. She also wrote two autobiographies designed to promote the cause. The first, "My Fight for Birth Control", was published in 1931 and the second, more promotional version, "Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography", was published in 1938.
During the 1920s, Sanger received hundreds of thousands of letters, many of them written in desperation by women begging for information on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Five hundred of these letters were compiled into the 1928 book, "Motherhood in Bondage."
Sanger worked with African American leaders and professionals who saw a need for birth control in their communities. In 1929, James H. Hubert, a black social worker and the leader of New York's Urban League, asked Sanger to open a clinic in Harlem. Sanger secured funding from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and opened the clinic, staffed with black doctors, in 1930. The clinic was directed by a 15-member advisory board consisting of black doctors, nurses, clergy, journalists, and social workers. The clinic was publicized in the African-American press as well as in black churches, and it received the approval of W. E. B. Du Bois, the co-founder of the NAACP and the editor of its magazine, " The Crisis." Sanger did not tolerate bigotry among her staff, nor would she tolerate any refusal to work within interracial projects. Sanger's work with minorities earned praise from Martin Luther King, Jr., in his 1966 acceptance speech for the Margaret Sanger award.
From 1939 to 1942, Sanger was an honorary delegate of the Birth Control Federation of America, which included a supervisory role—alongside Mary Lasker and Clarence Gamble—in the Negro Project, an effort to deliver information about birth control to poor black people. Sanger advised Dr. Gamble on the utility of hiring a black physician for the Negro Project. She also advised him on the importance of reaching out to black ministers, writing:
The ministers work is also important and also he should be trained, perhaps by the [Birth Control] Federation [of America] as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.
New York University's "Margaret Sanger Papers Project" says that though the letter would have been meant to avoid the mistaken notion that the Negro Project was a racist campaign, detractors of Sanger, such as Angela Davis, have interpreted the passage "as evidence that she led a calculated effort to reduce the black population against its will".
In 1929, Sanger formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control in order to lobby for legislation to overturn restrictions on contraception. That effort failed to achieve success, so Sanger ordered a diaphragm from Japan in 1932, in order to provoke a decisive battle in the courts. The diaphragm was confiscated by the United States government, and Sanger's subsequent legal challenge led to a 1936 court decision which overturned an important provision of the Comstock laws which prohibited physicians from obtaining contraceptives. This court victory motivated the American Medical Association in 1937 to adopt contraception as a normal medical service and a key component of medical school curriculums.
This 1936 contraception court victory was the culmination of Sanger's birth control efforts, and she took the opportunity, now in her late 50s, to move to Tucson, Arizona, intending to play a less critical role in the birth control movement. In spite of her original intentions, she remained active in the movement through the 1950s.
In 1937, Sanger became chairman of the newly formed Birth Control Council of America, and attempted to resolve the schism between the ABCL and the BCCRB. Her efforts were successful, and the two organizations merged in 1939 as the Birth Control Federation of America. Although Sanger continued in the role of president, she no longer wielded the same power as she had in the early years of the movement, and in 1942, more conservative forces within the organization changed the name to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a name Sanger objected to because she considered it too euphemistic.
In 1948, Sanger helped found the International Committee on Planned Parenthood, which evolved into the International Planned Parenthood Federation in 1952, and soon became the world's largest non-governmental international women's health, family planning and birth control organization. Sanger was the organization's first president and served in that role until she was 80 years old. In the early 1950s, Sanger encouraged philanthropist Katharine McCormick to provide funding for biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the birth control pill which was eventually sold under the name Enovid. Pincus had recruited Dr. John Rock, Harvard gynecologist, to investigate clinical use of progesterone to prevent ovulation. (Jonathan Eig (2014). "The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution." W. W. Norton & Company. New York. London. pp. 104ff.) Pincus would often say that he never could have done it without Sanger, McCormick, and Rock. (Ibid., p. 312.)
Sanger died of congestive heart failure in 1966 in Tucson, Arizona, aged 86, about a year after the U.S. Supreme Court case "Griswold v. Connecticut", which legalized birth control in the United States. Sanger is buried in Fishkill, New York, next to her sister, Nan Higgins, and her second husband, Noah Slee. One of her surviving brothers was College Football Hall of Fame player and Pennsylvania State University Head Football coach Bob Higgins.
While researching information on contraception, Sanger read treatises on sexuality including "The Psychology of Sex" by the English psychologist Havelock Ellis and was heavily influenced by it. While traveling in Europe in 1914, Sanger met Ellis. Influenced by Ellis, Sanger adopted his view of sexuality as a powerful, liberating force. This view provided another argument in favor of birth control, because it would enable women to fully enjoy sexual relations without fear of unwanted pregnancy. Sanger also believed that sexuality, along with birth control, should be discussed with more candor, and praised Ellis for his efforts in this direction. She also blamed Christianity for the suppression of such discussions.
Sanger opposed excessive sexual indulgence. She wrote that "every normal man and woman has the power to control and direct his sexual impulse. Men and women who have it in control and constantly use their brain cells thinking deeply, are never sensual." Sanger said that birth control would elevate women away from the position of being objects of lust and elevate sex away from an activity that was purely being engaged in for the purpose of satisfying lust, saying that birth control "denies that sex should be reduced to the position of sensual lust, or that woman should permit herself to be the instrument of its satisfaction." Sanger wrote that masturbation was dangerous. She stated: "In my personal experience as a trained nurse while attending persons afflicted with various and often revolting diseases, no matter what their ailments, I never found any one so repulsive as the chronic masturbator. It would not be difficult to fill page upon page of heart-rending confessions made by young girls, whose lives were blighted by this pernicious habit, always begun so innocently." She believed that women had the ability to control their sexual impulses, and should utilize that control to avoid sex outside of relationships marked by "confidence and respect". She believed that exercising such control would lead to the "strongest and most sacred passion". However, Sanger was not opposed to homosexuality and praised Ellis for clarifying "the question of homosexuals ... making the thing a—not exactly a perverted thing, but a thing that a person is born with different kinds of eyes, different kinds of structures and so forth ... that he didn't make all homosexuals perverts—and I thought he helped clarify that to the medical profession and to the scientists of the world as perhaps one of the first ones to do that."
Sanger opposed censorship throughout her career. Sanger grew up in a home where orator Robert Ingersoll was admired. During the early years of her activism, Sanger viewed birth control primarily as a free-speech issue, rather than as a feminist issue, and when she started publishing "The Woman Rebel" in 1914, she did so with the express goal of provoking a legal challenge to the Comstock laws banning dissemination of information about contraception. In New York, Emma Goldman introduced Sanger to members of the Free Speech League, such as Edward Bliss Foote and Theodore Schroeder, and subsequently the League provided funding and advice to help Sanger with legal battles.
Over the course of her career, Sanger was arrested at least eight times for expressing her views during an era in which speaking publicly about contraception was illegal. Numerous times in her career, local government officials prevented Sanger from speaking by shuttering a facility or threatening her hosts. In Boston in 1929, city officials under the leadership of James Curley threatened to arrest her if she spoke. In response she stood on stage, silent, with a gag over her mouth, while her speech was read by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr.
After World War I, Sanger increasingly appealed to the societal need to limit births by those least able to afford children. The affluent and educated already limited their child-bearing, while the poor and uneducated lacked access to contraception and information about birth control. Here she found an area of overlap with eugenicists. She believed that they both sought to "assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit." She distinguished herself from other eugenicists, by saying that "eugenists imply or insist that a woman's first duty is to the state; we contend that her duty to herself is her duty to the state. We maintain that a woman possessing an adequate knowledge of her reproductive functions is the best judge of the time and conditions under which her child should be brought into the world. We further maintain that it is her right, regardless of all other considerations, to determine whether she shall bear children or not, and how many children she shall bear if she chooses to become a mother." Sanger was a proponent of negative eugenics, which aimed to improve human hereditary traits through social intervention by reducing the reproduction of those who were considered unfit.
Sanger's view of eugenics was influenced by Havelock Ellis and other British eugenicists, who believed that environmentally acquired traits were inherited by one's progeny. She did not speak specifically to the idea of race or ethnicity being determining factors and "although Sanger articulated birth control in terms of racial betterment and, like most old-stock Americans, supported restricted immigration, she always defined fitness in individual rather than racial terms." Instead, she stressed limiting the number of births to live within one's economic ability to raise and support healthy children. This would lead to a betterment of society and the human race. Sanger's view put her at odds with leading American eugenicists, such as Charles Davenport, who took a racist view of inherited traits. In "A History of the Birth Control Movement in America", Engelman also noted that "Sanger quite effortlessly looked the other way when others spouted racist speech. She had no reservations about relying on flawed and overtly racist works to serve her own propaganda needs."
In "The Morality of Birth Control", a 1921 speech, she divided society into three groups: the "educated and informed" class that regulated the size of their families, the "intelligent and responsible" who desired to control their families in spite of lacking the means or the knowledge, and the "irresponsible and reckless people" whose religious scruples "prevent their exercising control over their numbers". Sanger concludes, "There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped."
Sanger's eugenics policies included an exclusionary immigration policy, free access to birth control methods, and full family planning autonomy for the able-minded, as well as compulsory segregation or sterilization for the "profoundly retarded". Sanger wrote, "we [do not] believe that the community could or should send to the lethal chamber the defective progeny resulting from irresponsible and unintelligent breeding." In "The Pivot of Civilisation" she attacked charity organizations arguing that their efforts contribute to spreading of "sinister forces of the hordes of irresponsibility and imbecility" and "human weed".
In personal correspondence she expressed her sadness about the aggressive and lethal Nazi eugenics program, and donated to the American Council Against Nazi Propaganda.
Sanger believed that self-determining motherhood was the only unshakable foundation for racial betterment. Initially she advocated that the responsibility for birth control should remain with able-minded individual parents rather than the state. Later, she proposed that "Permits for parenthood shall be issued upon application by city, county, or state authorities to married couples," but added that the requirement should be implemented by state advocacy and reward for complying, not enforced by punishing anyone for violating it.
Sanger justified her decision to speak to a women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan group by explaining, "to me any aroused group is a good group." She was supported by one of the most racist authors in America in the 1920s, the Klansman Lothrop Stoddard, who was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Sanger's American Birth Control League. Chesler comments:
Margaret Sanger opposed abortion and sharply distinguished it from birth control, the latter being a fundamental right of women, the former being a shameful crime. In 1916, when she opened her first birth control clinic, she was employing harsh rhetoric against abortion. Flyers she distributed to women exhorted them in all capitals: "Do not kill, do not take life, but prevent." Sanger's patients at that time were told "that abortion was the wrong way—no matter how early it was performed it was taking life; that contraception was the better way, the safer way—it took a little time, a little trouble, but it was well worth while in the long run, because life had not yet begun." Sanger consistently distanced herself from any calls for legal access to abortion, arguing that legal access to contraceptives would remove the need for abortion. Ann Hibner Koblitz has argued that Sanger's anti-abortion stance contributed to the further stigmatization of abortion and impeded the growth of the broader reproductive rights movement.
While Margaret Sanger condemned abortion as a method of family limitation, she was not opposed to abortion intended to save a woman's life. Furthermore, in 1932, Margaret Sanger directed the Clinical Research Bureau to start referring patients to hospitals for therapeutic abortions when indicated by an examining physician. She also advocated for birth control so that the pregnancies that led to therapeutic abortions could be prevented in the first place.
Sanger's writings are curated by two universities: New York University's history department maintains the "Margaret Sanger Papers Project", and Smith College's Sophia Smith Collection maintains the "Margaret Sanger Papers" collection.
Sanger's story also features in several biographies, including David Kennedy's biography "Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger" (1970), which won the Bancroft Prize and the John Gilmary Shea Prize. She is also the subject of the television films "Portrait of a Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger" (1980), and "" (1995). In 2013, the American cartoonist Peter Bagge published "Woman Rebel", a full-length graphic-novel biography of Sanger. In 2016, Sabrina Jones published the graphic novel "Our Lady of Birth Control: A Cartoonist's Encounter With Margaret Sanger."
Sanger has been recognized with several honors. Her speech "Children's Era", given in 1925, is listed as #81 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank). Sanger was an inspiration for Wonder Woman, a comic-book character introduced by William Marston in 1941. Marston was influenced by early feminist thought while in college, and later formed a romantic relationship with Sanger's niece, Olive Byrne. According to Jill Lepore, several Wonder Woman story lines were at least in part inspired by Sanger, like the character's involvement with different labor strikes and protests. Between (and including) 1953 and 1963, Sanger was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 31 times. In 1957, the American Humanist Association named her Humanist of the Year. In 1966, Planned Parenthood began issuing its Margaret Sanger Awards annually to honor "individuals of distinction in recognition of excellence and leadership in furthering reproductive health and reproductive rights". The 1979 artwork "The Dinner Party" features a place setting for her. In 1981, Sanger was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1976, she was inducted into the first class of the Steuben County (NY) Hall of Fame. In 1993, the United States National Park Service designated the Margaret Sanger Clinic—where she provided birth-control services in New York in the mid-twentieth century—as a National Historic Landmark. As well, government authorities and other institutions have memorialized Sanger by dedicating several landmarks in her name, including a residential building on the Stony Brook University campus, a room in Wellesley College's library, and Margaret Sanger Square in New York City's Noho area. There is a bust of Sanger in the National Portrait Gallery, which was a gift from Cordelia Scaife May. Sanger, a crater in the northern hemisphere of Venus, takes its name from Margaret Sanger.
Due to her connection with Planned Parenthood, many who oppose abortion frequently condemn Sanger by criticizing her views on birth control and eugenics. In spite of such controversies, Sanger continues to be regarded as a force in the American reproductive rights and women's rights movements.
The Planned Parenthood headquarters on Bleecker Street in New York now bears her name. Wellesley College Library has a room named in her honor. There is a Margaret Sanger Lane in Plattsburgh, New York and an Allée Margaret Sanger in Saint-Nazaire, France.
Hoolihan, Christopher (2004), "An Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine and Health Reform, Vol. 2 (M–Z)", University Rochester Press, p. 299. Multiple editions published through the 1920s, by Max N. Maisel and Sincere Publishing, with the title "What Every Mother Should Know, or how six little children were taught the truth ..." Online (1921 edition, Michigan State University) | en.wikipedia.org | Margaret Sanger | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20707 |
20708 | Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, is a major American oil company that merged with Exxon in 1999 to form a parent company called ExxonMobil. It was previously one of the Seven Sisters that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s until the 1970s. Today, Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with its own store or On the Run. The former Mobil headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia, was used as ExxonMobil's downstream headquarters until 2015 when ExxonMobil consolidated employees into a new corporate campus in Spring, Texas.
Following the break-up of Standard Oil in 1911, the Standard Oil Company of New York, or Socony, was founded, along with 33 other successor companies. In 1920, the company registered the name "Mobiloil" as a trademark.
Henry Clay Folger was head of the company until 1923, when he was succeeded by Herbert L. Pratt. Beginning February 29, 1928 on NBC, Socony Oil reached radio listeners with a comedy program, "Soconyland Sketches", scripted by William Ford Manley and featuring Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly as rural New Englanders. Socony continued to sponsor the show when it moved to CBS in 1934. In 1935, it became the "Socony Sketchbook," with Christopher Morley and the Johnny Green orchestra.
In 1931, Socony merged with Vacuum Oil to form Socony-Vacuum.
In 1933, Socony-Vacuum and Jersey Standard (which had oil production and refineries in Indonesia) merged their interests in the Far East into a 50–50 joint venture. Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or "Stanvac", operated in 50 countries, including New Zealand, China, and the region of East Africa, before it was dissolved in 1962. In 1935, Socony Vacuum Oil opened the huge Mammoth Oil Port on Staten Island which had a capacity of handling 250 million gallons of petroleum products a year and could transship oil from ocean-going tankers and river barges.
In 1940, Socony-Vacuum's gasoline buying practices led to the major antitrust law case "United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co." The case originated with Socony-Vacuum's practices of organizing a cartel among the "major" oil companies in which they bought oil—known as "hot oil"—from independent producers and stored the surplus in tanks to limit the supply of oil available on the market and keep the price of oil artificially high. In its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that regardless of the purpose of the price fixing or if the prices varied, such conduct was illegal in and of itself: "Under the Sherman Act a combination formed for the purpose and with the effect of raising, depressing, fixing, pegging, or stabilizing the price of a commodity in interstate or foreign commerce is illegal "per se"..." This rule remains in use today for agreements that appear on their face to always or almost always restrict competition and reduce output.
In 1955, Socony-Vacuum was renamed Socony Mobil Oil Company. In 1963, it changed its trade name from "Mobiloil" to simply "Mobil", introducing a new logo (created by New York graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar). To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1966, "Socony" was dropped from the corporate name.
From 1936 to 1968, Mobil sponsored an economy run each year (except during World War II) in which domestic automobiles of various manufacturers in several price and size classes were driven by light-footed drivers on cross-country runs. The Economy Run originated with the Gilmore Oil Company of California in 1936 (which was purchased by Socony-Vacuum in 1940) and later became the Mobilgas Economy Run, and still later the Mobil Economy Run. The cars driven in the economy run were fueled with Mobil gasoline, and Mobiloil and lubricants were also used. The vehicles in each class that achieved the highest fuel economy numbers were awarded the coveted title as the Mobilgas Economy Run winner.
During American involvement in World War II, April 29, 1942, Socony's unescorted tanker, named "Mobiloil", was sunk by a German U-boat (German Type IX submarine "U-108" captained by Klaus Schlotz), and all 52 people survived after 86 hours adrift in lifeboats. Socony-Mobil ranked 86th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.
Through the years, Mobil was among the largest sellers of gasoline and motor oils in the United States and even held the top spot during the 1940s and much of the 1950s. Various Mobil products during the Socony-Vacuum and Socony-Mobil years included Metro, Mobilgas and Mobilgas Special gasolines; Mobilfuel Diesel, MobilHeat and Mobil-flame heating oil, Mobil Kerosine, Lubrite, Gargoyle, Mobiloil and Mobiloil Special motor oils; Mobilgrease, Mobillubrication, Mobil Upperlube, Mobil Freezone and Permazone antifreezes, Mobilfluid automatic transmission fluid, Mobil Premiere tires, Mobil Stop-Leak, and Mobil Lustrecloth, among many others.
In 1954, Mobil introduced a new and improved Mobilgas Special in response to trends toward new automobiles powered by high-compression engines that demanded higher and higher octane gasolines. The newest formulas of Mobilgas Special were advertised as offering "A Tune-Up in Every Tankful" due to a combination of chemicals known as the "Mobil Power Compound" which was designed to increase power, check pre-ignition ping, correct spark plug misfiring, control stalling and combat gumming up of carburetors. Later Mobil campaigns advertised Mobilgas as the "New Car Gasoline" following extensive testing during the annual Mobilgas Economy Run.
In 1962, the gasoline product lines marketed as Mobilgas and Mobilgas Special were rebranded as Mobil Regular and Mobil Premium in a move to emphasize the shortened brand name "Mobil" in promotional efforts, although Mobiloil continued as a single-word term until the 1970s. After a few years of advertising Mobil gasolines as "Megatane"-rated and as "High Energy" gasolines, Mobil began, in 1966, to promote both its Regular and Premium fuels as "Detergent Gasolines", due to the inclusion of additives designed to clean carburetors and various internal engine parts. During the early 1970s, Mobil ran a TV commercial featuring a character known as "Mr. Dirt" to show the ruinous effects that dirt had on automotive engines for which a tank of Mobil Detergent Gasoline could provide a cure and preventive medicine against damage that could lead to costly repairs.
As automakers were switching en masse from carbureted to fuel-injected engines during the early to mid-1980s, and the detergent additives that existed in most available gasolines proved not to be enough to prevent injection clogging, leading to drivability problems, Mobil received accolades from General Motors and other automakers for increasing the detergency of its Super Unleaded gasoline in 1984 to prevent formation or deposit build-ups of the injectors but also remove existing deposits as well in normal driving. At the end of the 1980s Mobil sold its fuel stations in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to Norsk Hydro, who converted them into Hydro stations.
William P. Tavoulareas was President of Mobil Corporation until succeeded by Allen E. Murray in 1984.
Mobil moved its headquarters from 150 East 42nd Street, New York City to Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1987. That same year, Mobil sold nearly all of its stations in Western Pennsylvania (including Pittsburgh) to Standard Oil of Ohio (which had just been fully acquired by BP) and terminated franchise contracts with the rest of the stations in the area, withdrawing the Mobil brand from the area for 29 years until a Uni-Mart location in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania started selling Mobil gasoline in 2016.
In 1998, Mobil and Exxon agreed on a merger to create ExxonMobil, which was completed on November 30, 1999. Lou Noto was Chairman of Mobil at the time of the merger, and Walter Arnheim was treasurer.
Mobil continues to operate as a major brandname of ExxonMobil within the ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties division. Many of its products feature the Mobil symbol of a winged red horse, Pegasus, which has been a company trademark since its affiliation with Magnolia Petroleum Company in the 1930s.
The Mobil brand now mainly covers a wide range of automotive, industrial, aviation and marine lubricants. For historic reasons, the Mobil brand is still used by Mobil service stations and for fuel (gasoline, diesel, heating oil, kerosene, aviation fuels and marine fuel) products.
There are four main Mobil sub-brands:
Mobil is ExxonMobil's primary retail gasoline brand in California, Florida, New York, New England, the Great Lakes and the Midwest. The Mobil brand is also used to market gasoline in Australia, Canada (since 2017), Colombia, Egypt, Guam, Japan (until 2019), Malaysia (until 2012), Mexico (starting about first quarter of 2018), New Zealand and Nigeria.
The Mobil brand has a significant market presence in the following metropolitan areas:
Mobil stores have made an increased presence in Arizona. Growing in size in the Phoenix area from fewer than 5 stations to over 20. Mobil stores have also made an increased presence in areas of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Exxon is the primary brand in the rest of the United States, with the highest concentration of Exxon retail outlets located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas (Mobil has a sizeable amount of stations in Dallas and Houston), Louisiana (mainly New Orleans as well as Baton Rouge) and in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. Esso is ExxonMobil's primary gasoline brand worldwide. Both the Esso and Mobil brands are used in Canada (since 2017), Colombia, Egypt, and formerly Japan and Malaysia, in which the latter were rebranded as Petron in 2013, and ENEOS for the former in 2019, separately. In Esso stations in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Mobil brand is used on fuel tanks, along with Esso.
Mobil 1, the successor to the Mobiloil brand, is a brand name of ExxonMobil. It was introduced in 1974 as a Multi-grade 5W20 viscosity synthetic motor oil. The brand now includes multi-grade motor oils, oil filters, synthetic grease, transmission fluids, and gear lubricants. The Esso and Exxon motor oil brands have largely been discontinued.
Mobil Delvac is a range of heavy-duty lubricants designed for commercial vehicles. The range includes engine oils, transmission fluids, drivetrain lubricants and various greases.
Mobil Industrial is a sub-brand of ExxonMobil for marketing oils and greases used in industrial applications. The main product lines are Mobil SHC synthetic oils and Mobil Grease greases.
Mobil rebranded numerous stations to the Hi-Val, Reelo and Sello discount gasoline brands after major price increases following the 1970s oil crisis made a significant number of consumers extremely price conscious. The stations were converted Mobil stations selling convenience store items in the station lobby, while the service bays were rented to customers for do-it-yourself auto repairs. These brands were discontinued in the 1980s, after the gasoline market had recovered.
Mobil expanded the sale of convenience store items first pioneered at its discount gasoline stations under the Mobil Mart brand. Mobil continued to refine and enhance its convenience store offerings with the On-the-Run C-store brand, which proved to be much more popular. On-the-Run was sold to Alimentation Couche-Tard, operator of the Circle K convenience store chain. Some On the Run locations were sold to 7-Eleven.
The Mobil Guide was an annual book of hotel and restaurant recommendations based on a system developed by Mobil in 1958. It rated businesses from one to five stars according to their assessed quality. In October 2009, ExxonMobil licensed the brand to "Forbes" magazine, which retitled the guide's various designations, e.g., Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes Five Stars, and so on. Forbes launched revised versions of various guides in late 2009.
In 2000, Lukoil purchased the remaining assets of Getty Oil and began opening Lukoil stations in the US in 2003. Most of the US Lukoil locations are converted Getty stations, although some are also converted Mobil stations bought from ConocoPhillips when that company left the Northeast.
In spring 2004, Lukoil purchased 779 Mobil gas stations throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and in 2005 began converting them to the Lukoil brand. Most New Jersey Mobil locations were converted to Lukoil stations.
Vacuum Oil Company started selling lubricating oils in Europe in the late 19th century. By the 1930s its Mobiloil had become one of the main brands. Mobil gradually expanded its operation into fuels retailing as well, and opened its first UK service stations in the early 1950s, after the wartime POOL monopoly was disbanded. Mobil grew to become the seventh largest brand of petrol in Britain, supplying 1,990 outlets in 1965, and claimed in the mid-1960s to be the first company to operate 100 self-service stations. As well as its downstream interests, Mobil was active in the North Sea and operated an oil refinery in Coryton (opened in 1953), on the Thames estuary. In 1996, Mobil's fuels operations in Europe were placed into a joint venture 70% owned by BP, and the Mobil brand disappeared from service stations. Mobil continued to sell lubricants through BP and independent service stations. Following Mobil's merger with Exxon, at the start of 2000 BP acquired all the petrol retailing assets as well as the Coryton refinery (but sold it to Petroplus in 2007). Mobil returned to being purely a lubricant brand in Europe, and became the premium quality oil on sale at Esso service stations.
The Vacuum Oil Company began operating in Australia in 1895, introducing its Plume brand of petrol in 1916. The Flying Red Horse (Pegasus) logo was introduced in 1939, and in 1954, the Plume brand was replaced by Mobilgas.
Mobil Australia's corporate office is in Melbourne. In 1946, Mobil began construction of its refinery at Altona, in Melbourne's western suburbs, which originally produced lubricating oils and bitumen, before commencing the production of motor vehicle fuels in 1956. A second refinery at Port Stanvac, south of Adelaide, came on-stream in 1963, but was closed in 2003. Mobil commenced removal of the refinery in July 2009, together with site remediation works.
In 1990, Mobil acquired the service station network of Esso Australia. On 27 May 2009, Caltex Australia announced it would be acquiring 302 Mobil service stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide, subject to approval of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The ACCC subsequently announced its opposition to the takeover, citing the likelihood of increased fuel prices due to diminished competition.
On 27 May 2010, 7-Eleven announced that it had acquired Mobil's entire Australian network of 295 service stations, with fuel still to be supplied by Mobil. At the same time, it was announced that 7-Eleven had sold 29 South Australian service stations to Peregrine Corporation. Peregrine's acquisition saw Mobil's sites in South Australia rebranded to On the Run convenience stores, but they continued to be supplied by Mobil. 7-Eleven store renovations and openings since 2013 have included prominent placement of the Mobil logo (as the advertised fuel supplier), usually underneath the 7-Eleven logo, on main signage as well as on petrol pumps.
Mobil is the oldest oil company in New Zealand with commercial operations dating back to 1896. It first began operating in New Zealand under the Standard Oil brand name selling kerosene in the 1870s. Early in 1896, Vacuum Oil of New York established a marketing office on Featherston Street in Wellington selling lamp oil and harness grease. It brought with it extensive collective production, marketing and management skills that presented a major advancement in business organisation. The company's unrivaled mineral lubricant products and associated services quickly dominated the market.
When New Zealanders began taking to the motorcar in the early twentieth century, Vacuum Oil expanded into the oil refining business. Its marketing network and transportation fleet grew as it extended its range of operation. The company continued to meet New Zealand's fuel needs throughout World War One holding roughly eighty five percent of the market. However, after the war Vacuum Oil began facing very strong competition from a number of multinational oil companies which began setting up operations in New Zealand. Among these competitors was the Atlantic Union Oil Company, another of ExxonMobil's historical companies.
Atlantic Union was bought by the New Jersey-based Standard Oil Company, which would later become Exxon, and its eastern hemisphere interests were merged with those of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company to create the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company. The new company continued operations in New Zealand under both the Vacuum and Atlantic Union brand names.
On November 30, 1999, Exxon Corporation and Mobil Oil Corporation merged with Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited now owned by new entity ExxonMobil. The company currently owns a 17.2 percent share in The New Zealand Refining Company Limited which operates an oil refinery at Marsden Point near the city of Whangarei. It supplies roughly twenty percent of the total fuels market in New Zealand which most of its products sourced from the Marsden Point refinery. Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited operates over one hundred and fifty locations across the country either as Mobil-owned stations or as franchises. It also operates six storage locations across the country maintaining a reputation as a dominant petroleum company in New Zealand.
The first petrol station of Mobil in Greece opened in March 4, 1955. Up until 1970 had opened about 100 petrol stations of the company. On the March 1st 1999 Mobil closed its remaining petrol stations in Greece.
Since the 1960s, Esso and Mobil stations in Japan had been run by Tōnen General Sekiyu, which had a controlling stake owned by ExxonMobil. In 2012, the company bought out much of ExxonMobil's stake, reducing it to a 22% minority. In 2016, ExxonMobil sold the remainder of its stake.
In 2017, the company announced that it would merge with JX Group to form JXTG Holdings, with its petroleum business operating as JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy. Following the merger, it was announced that both the Esso and Mobil brands would be phased out by 2020, and replaced by the JX-originated Eneos banner.
In April 2017, Loblaw Companies sold its network of 213 gas stations (all of which are attached to its various grocery store locations) to Brookfield Business Partners. Brookfield announced that it would license the Mobil brand from ExxonMobil for use on these locations, making them a sister to Imperial Oil's network of Esso-branded gas stations in Canada. As part of the sale agreement, the Mobil stations continue to offer Loblaw's PC Optimum rewards program (which Esso also joined the following year).
Brookfield stated that it would open further Mobil stations beyond the Loblaw properties.
In Egypt, ExxonMobil's operations started in 1902, it is known for providing quality lubricants and fuels as well as convenience products. It offers more than 350 service stations, more than 40 Mobil 1 centers and a variety of industrial products, lubrication programs and services. Some stations in Cairo, Alexandria and Giza feature On the Run convenience stores. | en.wikipedia.org | Mobil | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20708 |
16779 | Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly called the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans as well as Jews, immigrants, leftists, members of the LGBT community and, until recently, Catholics. The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and – especially in later iterations – Nordicism, antisemitism, prohibition, homophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-Catholicism. Historically, the first Klan used terrorism – both physical assault and murder – against politically active blacks and their allies in the South in the late 1860s, until it was suppressed around 1872. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered "right-wing extremist" organizations. In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies.
The first Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s during Reconstruction, then died out by the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South, especially by using voter intimidation and targeted violence against African-American leaders. Each chapter was autonomous and highly secret as to membership and plans. Its numerous chapters across the South were suppressed around 1871, through federal law enforcement. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and conical hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities.
The second Klan started small in Georgia in 1915. It grew after 1920 and flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West. Taking inspiration from D. W. Griffith's 1915 silent film "The Birth of a Nation", which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure. Rooted in local Protestant communities, it sought to maintain white supremacy, often took a pro-Prohibition stance, and it opposed Catholics and Jews, while also stressing its opposition to the alleged political power of the Pope and the Catholic Church. This second Klan flourished both in the south and northern states; it was funded by initiation fees and selling its members a standard white costume. The chapters did not have dues. It used K-words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades to intimidate others. It rapidly declined in the later half of the 1920s.
The third and current manifestation of the KKK emerged after 1950, in the form of localized and isolated groups that use the KKK name. They have focused on opposition to the civil rights movement, often using violence and murder to suppress activists. It is classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. , the Anti-Defamation League puts total KKK membership nationwide at around 3,000, while the Southern Poverty Law Center puts it at 6,000 members total.
The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent references to America's "Anglo-Saxon" blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism. Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality, the group is widely denounced by Christian denominations.
The first Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 24, 1865 by six former officers of the Confederate army as a fraternal social club inspired at least in part by the then largely defunct Sons of Malta. It borrowed parts of the initiation ceremony from that group, with the same purpose: "ludicrous initiations, the baffling of public curiosity, and the amusement for members were the only objects of the Klan", according to Albert Stevens in 1907. The manual of rituals was printed by Laps D. McCord of Pulaski.
According to "The Cyclopædia of Fraternities" (1907), "Beginning in April, 1867, there was a gradual transformation ... The members had conjured up a veritable Frankenstein. They had played with an engine of power and mystery, though organized on entirely innocent lines, and found themselves overcome by a belief that something must lie behind it all—that there was, after all, a serious purpose, a work for the Klan to do."
Although there was little organizational structure above the local level, similar groups rose across the South and adopted the same name and methods. Klan groups spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement promoting resistance and white supremacy during the Reconstruction Era. For example, Confederate veteran John W. Morton founded a chapter in Nashville, Tennessee. As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder. "They targeted white Northern leaders, Southern sympathizers and politically active blacks." In 1870 and 1871, the federal government passed the Enforcement Acts, which were intended to prosecute and suppress Klan crimes.
The first Klan had mixed results in terms of achieving its objectives. It seriously weakened the black political establishment through its use of assassinations and threats of violence; it drove some people out of politics. On the other hand, it caused a sharp backlash, with passage of federal laws that historian Eric Foner says were a success in terms of "restoring order, reinvigorating the morale of Southern Republicans, and enabling blacks to exercise their rights as citizens". Historian George C. Rable argues that the Klan was a political failure and therefore was discarded by the Democratic leaders of the South. He says:
After the Klan was suppressed, similar insurgent paramilitary groups arose that were explicitly directed at suppressing Republican voting and turning Republicans out of office: the White League, which started in Louisiana in 1874; and the Red Shirts, which started in Mississippi and developed chapters in the Carolinas. For instance, the Red Shirts are credited with helping elect Wade Hampton as governor in South Carolina. They were described as acting as the military arm of the Democratic Party and are attributed with helping white Democrats regain control of state legislatures throughout the South. In addition, there were thousands of Confederate veterans in what were called rifle clubs.
In 1915, the second Klan was founded atop Stone Mountain, Georgia by William Joseph Simmons. While Simmons relied on documents from the original Klan and memories of some surviving elders, the revived Klan was based significantly on the wildly popular film, "The Birth of a Nation". The earlier Klan had not worn the white costumes or burned crosses; these were aspects introduced in on which the film was based. When the film was shown in Atlanta in December of that year, Simmons and his new klansmen paraded to the theater in robes and pointed hoods—many on robed horses—just like in the movie. These mass parades would become another hallmark of the new Klan that had not existed in the original Reconstruction-era organization.
Beginning in 1921, it adopted a modern business system of using full-time paid recruiters and appealed to new members as a fraternal organization, of which many examples were flourishing at the time. The national headquarters made its profit through a monopoly of costume sales, while the organizers were paid through initiation fees. It grew rapidly nationwide at a time of prosperity. Reflecting the social tensions pitting urban versus rural America, it spread to every state and was prominent in many cities. The second KKK preached "One Hundred Percent Americanism" and demanded the purification of politics, calling for strict morality and better enforcement of Prohibition. Its official rhetoric focused on the threat of the Catholic Church, using anti-Catholicism and nativism. Its appeal was directed exclusively at white Protestants; it opposed Jews, blacks, Catholics, and newly arriving Southern and Eastern European immigrants such as Italians, Russians, and Lithuanians, many of whom were Jewish or Catholic. Some local groups threatened violence against rum runners and those they deemed "notorious sinners"; the violent episodes generally took place in the South. The Red Knights were a militant group organized in opposition to the Klan and responded violently to Klan provocations on several occasions.
The second Klan was a formal fraternal organization, with a national and state structure. During the resurgence of the second Klan during the 1920s, its publicity was handled by the Southern Publicity Association—within the first six months of the Association's national recruitment campaign, Klan membership had increased by 85,000. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization claimed to include about 15% of the nation's eligible population, approximately 4–5 million men.
From 1923 there were two Ku Klux Klan organizations: that founded by Simmons, and a splinter group founded by D. C. Stephenson.
Internal divisions, criminal behavior by leaders—especially Stephenson's conviction for the abduction, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer—and external opposition brought about a collapse in the membership of both groups. The main group's membership had dropped to about 30,000 by 1930. It finally faded away in the 1940s. Klan organizers also operated in Canada, especially in Saskatchewan in 1926–1928, where Klansmen denounced immigrants from Eastern Europe as a threat to Canada's "Anglo-Saxon" heritage.
The "Ku Klux Klan" name was used by numerous independent local groups opposing the civil rights movement and desegregation, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, they often forged alliances with Southern police departments, as in Birmingham, Alabama; or with governor's offices, as with George Wallace of Alabama. Several members of Klan groups were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 and children in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963.
As of 2016, researchers estimate that there are just over 30 active Klan groups existing in the United States, with about 130 chapters. Estimates of total collective membership range from about 3,000 to between 5,000–8,000. In addition to its active membership, the Klan has an "unknown number of associates and supporters".
Today, many sources classify the Klan as a "subversive or terrorist organization". In April 1997, FBI agents arrested four members of the True Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas for conspiracy to commit robbery and for conspiring to blow up a natural gas processing plant. In 1999, the city council of Charleston, South Carolina passed a resolution declaring the Klan a terrorist organization. In 2004, a professor at the University of Louisville began a campaign to have the Klan declared a terrorist organization in order to ban it from campus.
The name was probably formed by combining the Greek ' (κύκλος, which means circle) with "clan". the word had previously been used for other fraternal organizations in the South such as Kuklos Adelphon.
Six Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee created the original Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, shortly after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction of the South. The group was known for a short time as the "Kuklux Clan". The Ku Klux Klan was one of a number of secret, oath-bound organizations using violence, which included the Southern Cross in New Orleans (1865) and the Knights of the White Camelia (1867) in Louisiana.
Historians generally classify the KKK as part of the post-Civil War insurgent violence related not only to the high number of veterans in the population, but also to their effort to control the dramatically changed social situation by using extrajudicial means to restore white supremacy. In 1866, Mississippi Governor William L. Sharkey reported that disorder, lack of control, and lawlessness were widespread; in some states armed bands of Confederate soldiers roamed at will. The Klan used public violence against black people and their allies as intimidation. They burned houses and attacked and killed black people, leaving their bodies on the roads.
At an 1867 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, Klan members gathered to try to create a hierarchical organization with local chapters eventually reporting to a national headquarters. Since most of the Klan's members were veterans, they were used to such military hierarchy, but the Klan never operated under this centralized structure. Local chapters and bands were highly independent.
Former Confederate Brigadier General George Gordon developed the "Prescript", which espoused white supremacist belief. For instance, an applicant should be asked if he was in favor of "a white man's government", "the reenfranchisement and emancipation of the white men of the South, and the restitution of the Southern people to all their rights". The latter is a reference to the Ironclad Oath, which stripped the vote from white persons who refused to swear that they had not borne arms against the Union.
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected the first Grand Wizard, and claimed to be the Klan's national leader. In an 1868 newspaper interview, Forrest stated that the Klan's primary opposition was to the Loyal Leagues, Republican state governments, people such as Tennessee governor William Gannaway Brownlow, and other "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags". He argued that many Southerners believed that blacks were voting for the Republican Party because they were being hoodwinked by the Loyal Leagues. One Alabama newspaper editor declared "The League is nothing more than a nigger Ku Klux Klan."
Despite Gordon's and Forrest's work, local Klan units never accepted the Prescript and continued to operate autonomously. There were never hierarchical levels or state headquarters. Klan members used violence to settle old personal feuds and local grudges, as they worked to restore general white dominance in the disrupted postwar society. The historian Elaine Frantz Parsons describes the membership:
Lifting the Klan mask revealed a chaotic multitude of antiblack vigilante groups, disgruntled poor white farmers, wartime guerrilla bands, displaced Democratic politicians, illegal whiskey distillers, coercive moral reformers, sadists, rapists, white workmen fearful of black competition, employers trying to enforce labor discipline, common thieves, neighbors with decades-old grudges, and even a few freedmen and white Republicans who allied with Democratic whites or had criminal agendas of their own. Indeed, all they had in common, besides being overwhelmingly white, southern, and Democratic, was that they called themselves, or were called, Klansmen.
Historian Eric Foner observed: "In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired restoration of white supremacy. Its purposes were political, but political in the broadest sense, for it sought to affect power relations, both public and private, throughout Southern society. It aimed to reverse the interlocking changes sweeping over the South during Reconstruction: to destroy the Republican party's infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life. To that end they worked to curb the education, economic advancement, voting rights, and right to keep and bear arms of blacks. The Klan soon spread into nearly every Southern state, launching a reign of terror against Republican leaders both black and white. Those political leaders assassinated during the campaign included Arkansas Congressman James M. Hinds, three members of the South Carolina legislature, and several men who served in constitutional conventions".
Klan members adopted masks and robes that hid their identities and added to the drama of their night rides, their chosen time for attacks. Many of them operated in small towns and rural areas where people otherwise knew each other's faces, and sometimes still recognized the attackers by voice and mannerisms. "The kind of thing that men are afraid or ashamed to do openly, and by day, they accomplish secretly, masked, and at night." The KKK night riders "sometimes claimed to be ghosts of Confederate soldiers so, as they claimed, to frighten superstitious blacks. Few freedmen took such nonsense seriously."
The Klan attacked black members of the Loyal Leagues and intimidated Southern Republicans and Freedmen's Bureau workers. When they killed black political leaders, they also took heads of families, along with the leaders of churches and community groups, because these people had many roles in society. Agents of the Freedmen's Bureau reported weekly assaults and murders of blacks.
"Armed guerrilla warfare killed thousands of Negroes; political riots were staged; their causes or occasions were always obscure, their results always certain: ten to one hundred times as many Negroes were killed as whites." Masked men shot into houses and burned them, sometimes with the occupants still inside. They drove successful black farmers off their land. "Generally, it can be reported that in North and South Carolina, in 18 months ending in June 1867, there were 197 murders and 548 cases of aggravated assault."
Klan violence worked to suppress black voting, and campaign seasons were deadly. More than 2,000 people were killed, wounded, or otherwise injured in Louisiana within a few weeks prior to the Presidential election of November 1868. Although St. Landry Parish had a registered Republican majority of 1,071, after the murders, no Republicans voted in the fall elections. White Democrats cast the full vote of the parish for President Grant's opponent. The KKK killed and wounded more than 200 black Republicans, hunting and chasing them through the woods. Thirteen captives were taken from jail and shot; a half-buried pile of 25 bodies was found in the woods. The KKK made people vote Democratic and gave them certificates of the fact.
In the April 1868 Georgia gubernatorial election, Columbia County cast 1,222 votes for Republican Rufus Bullock. By the November presidential election, Klan intimidation led to suppression of the Republican vote and only one person voted for Ulysses S. Grant.
Klansmen killed more than 150 African Americans in a county in Florida, and hundreds more in other counties. Florida Freedmen's Bureau records provided a detailed recounting of Klansmen's beatings and murders of freedmen and their white allies.
Milder encounters, including some against white teachers, also occurred. In Mississippi, according to the Congressional inquiry:
One of these teachers (Miss Allen of Illinois), whose school was at Cotton Gin Port in Monroe County, was visited ... between one and two o'clock in the morning on March 1871, by about fifty men mounted and disguised. Each man wore a long white robe and his face was covered by a loose mask with scarlet stripes. She was ordered to get up and dress which she did at once and then admitted to her room the captain and lieutenant who in addition to the usual disguise had long horns on their heads and a sort of device in front. The lieutenant had a pistol in his hand and he and the captain sat down while eight or ten men stood inside the door and the porch was full. They treated her "gentlemanly and quietly" but complained of the heavy school-tax, said she must stop teaching and go away and warned her that they never gave a second notice. She heeded the warning and left the county.
By 1868, two years after the Klan's creation, its activity was beginning to decrease. Members were hiding behind Klan masks and robes as a way to avoid prosecution for freelance violence. Many influential Southern Democrats feared that Klan lawlessness provided an excuse for the federal government to retain its power over the South, and they began to turn against it. There were outlandish claims made, such as Georgian B. H. Hill stating "that some of these outrages were actually perpetrated by the political friends of the parties slain."
Union Army veterans in mountainous Blount County, Alabama organized "the anti-Ku Klux". They put an end to violence by threatening Klansmen with reprisals unless they stopped whipping Unionists and burning black churches and schools. Armed blacks formed their own defense in Bennettsville, South Carolina and patrolled the streets to protect their homes.
National sentiment gathered to crack down on the Klan, even though some Democrats at the national level questioned whether the Klan really existed, or believed that it was a creation of nervous Southern Republican governors. Many southern states began to pass anti-Klan legislation.
In January 1871, Pennsylvania Republican Senator John Scott convened a Congressional committee which took testimony from 52 witnesses about Klan atrocities, accumulating 12 volumes. In February, former Union General and Congressman Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act). This added to the enmity that Southern white Democrats bore toward him. While the bill was being considered, further violence in the South swung support for its passage. The Governor of South Carolina appealed for federal troops to assist his efforts in keeping control of the state. A riot and massacre occurred in a Meridian, Mississippi courthouse, from which a black state representative escaped by fleeing to the woods. The 1871 Civil Rights Act allowed the President to suspend "habeas corpus."
In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed Butler's legislation. The Ku Klux Klan Act and the Enforcement Act of 1870 were used by the federal government to enforce the civil rights provisions for individuals under the constitution. The Klan refused to voluntarily dissolve after the 1871 Klan Act, so President Grant issued a suspension of "habeas corpus" and stationed federal troops in nine South Carolina counties. The Klansmen were apprehended and prosecuted in federal court. Judges Hugh Lennox Bond and George S. Bryan presided over the trial of KKK members in Columbia, South Carolina during December 1871. The defendants were given from three months to five years of incarceration with fines. More blacks served on juries in federal court than on local or state juries, so they had a chance to participate in the process. Hundreds of Klan members were fined or imprisoned during the crackdown.
Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest boasted that the Klan was a nationwide organization of 550,000 men and that he could muster 40,000 Klansmen within five days notice. However, the Klan had no membership rosters, no chapters, and no local officers, so it was difficult for observers to judge its membership. It had created a sensation by the dramatic nature of its masked forays and because of its many murders.
In 1870, a federal grand jury determined that the Klan was a "terrorist organization" and issued hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism. Klan members were prosecuted, and many fled from areas that were under federal government jurisdiction, particularly in South Carolina. Many people not formally inducted into the Klan had used the Klan's costume to hide their identities when carrying out independent acts of violence. Forrest called for the Klan to disband in 1869, arguing that it was "being perverted from its original honorable and patriotic purposes, becoming injurious instead of subservient to the public peace". Historian Stanley Horn argues that "generally speaking, the Klan's end was more in the form of spotty, slow, and gradual disintegration than a formal and decisive disbandment". A Georgia-based reporter wrote in 1870: "A true statement of the case is not that the Ku Klux are an organized band of licensed criminals, but that men who commit crimes call themselves Ku Klux".
In many states, officials were reluctant to use black militia against the Klan out of fear that racial tensions would be raised. Republican Governor of North Carolina William Woods Holden called out the militia against the Klan in 1870, adding to his unpopularity. This and extensive violence and fraud at the polls caused the Republicans to lose their majority in the state legislature. Disaffection with Holden's actions contributed to white Democratic legislators impeaching him and removing him from office, but their reasons for doing so were numerous.
Klan operations ended in South Carolina and gradually withered away throughout the rest of the South. Attorney General Amos Tappan Ackerman led the prosecutions.
Foner argues that:
New groups of insurgents emerged in the mid-1870s, local paramilitary organizations such as the White League, Red Shirts, saber clubs, and rifle clubs, that intimidated and murdered black political leaders. The White League and Red Shirts were distinguished by their willingness to cultivate publicity, working directly to overturn Republican officeholders and regain control of politics.
In 1882, the Supreme Court ruled in "United States v. Harris" that the Klan Act was partially unconstitutional. It ruled that Congress's power under the Fourteenth Amendment did not include the right to regulate against private conspiracies. It recommended that persons who had been victimized should seek relief in state courts, which were entirely unsympathetic to such appeals.
Klan costumes, also called "regalia", disappeared from use by the early 1870s, after Grand Wizard Forrest called for their destruction as part of disbanding the Klan. The Klan was broken as an organization by 1872. In 1915, William Joseph Simmons held a meeting to revive the Klan in Georgia; he attracted two aging former members, and all other members were new.
In 1915 the film "The Birth of a Nation" was released, mythologizing and glorifying the first Klan and its endeavors. The second Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1915 by William Joseph Simmons at Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, with fifteen "charter members". Its growth was based on a new anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, Prohibitionist and anti-Semitic agenda, which reflected contemporary social tensions, particularly recent immigration. The new organization and chapters adopted regalia featured in "The Birth of a Nation"; membership was kept secret by wearing masks in public.
Director D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" glorified the original Klan. The film was based on the book and play "", as well as the book "The Leopard's Spots", both by Thomas Dixon Jr. Much of the modern Klan's iconography is derived from it, including the standardized white costume and the burning cross. Its imagery was based on Dixon's romanticized concept of old England and Scotland, as portrayed in the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott. The film's influence was enhanced by a false claim of endorsement by President Woodrow Wilson. Dixon was an old friend of Wilson's and, before its release, there was a private showing of the film at the White House. A publicist claimed that Wilson said, "It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." Wilson strongly disliked the film and felt he had been tricked by Dixon. The White House issued a denial of the "lightning" quote, saying that he was entirely unaware of the nature of the film and at no time had expressed his approbation of it.
The first and third Klans were primarily Southeastern groups aimed against blacks. The second Klan, in contrast, broadened the scope of the organization to appeal to people in the Midwestern and Western states who considered Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreign-born minorities to be anti-American.
The Second Klan saw threats from every direction. According to historian Brian R. Farmer, "two-thirds of the national Klan lecturers were Protestant ministers". Much of the Klan's energy went into guarding the home, and historian Kathleen Blee says that its members wanted to protect "the interests of white womanhood". Joseph Simmons published the pamphlet "ABC of the Invisible Empire" in Atlanta in 1917; in it, he identified the Klan's goals as "to shield the sanctity of the home and the chastity of womanhood; to maintain white supremacy; to teach and faithfully inculcate a high spiritual philosophy through an exalted ritualism; and by a practical devotedness to conserve, protect and maintain the distinctive institutions, rights, privileges, principles and ideals of a pure Americanism". Such moral-sounding purpose underlay its appeal as a fraternal organization, recruiting members with a promise of aid in settling in the new urban societies of rapidly growing cities such as Dallas and Detroit. During the 1930s, particularly after James A. Colescott of Indiana took over as imperial wizard, opposition to Communism became another primary aim of the Klan.
New Klan founder William J. Simmons joined 12 different fraternal organizations and recruited for the Klan with his chest covered with fraternal badges, consciously modeling the Klan after fraternal organizations. Klan organizers called "Kleagles" signed up hundreds of new members, who paid initiation fees and received KKK costumes in return. The organizer kept half the money and sent the rest to state or national officials. When the organizer was done with an area, he organized a rally, often with burning crosses, and perhaps presented a Bible to a local Protestant preacher. He left town with the money collected. The local units operated like many fraternal organizations and occasionally brought in speakers.
Simmons initially met with little success in either recruiting members or in raising money, and the Klan remained a small operation in the Atlanta area until 1920. The group produced publications for national circulation from its headquarters in Atlanta: "Searchlight" (1919–1924), "Imperial Night-Hawk" (1923–1924), and "The Kourier".
The second Klan grew primarily in response to issues of declining morality typified by divorce, adultery, defiance of Prohibition, and criminal gangs in the news every day. It was also a response to the growing power of Catholics and American Jews and the accompanying proliferation of non-Protestant cultural values. The Klan had a nationwide reach by the mid-1920s, with its densest per capita membership in Indiana. It became most prominent in cities with high growth rates between 1910 and 1930, as rural Protestants flocked to jobs in Detroit and Dayton in the Midwest, and Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis, and Houston in the South. Close to half of Michigan's 80,000 Klansmen lived in Detroit.
Members of the KKK swore to uphold American values and Christian morality, and some Protestant ministers became involved at the local level. However, no Protestant denomination officially endorsed the KKK; indeed, the Klan was repeatedly denounced by the major Protestant magazines, as well as by all major secular newspapers. Historian Robert Moats Miller reports that "not a single endorsement of the Klan was found by the present writer in the Methodist press, while many of the attacks on the Klan were quite savage ... the Southern Baptist press condoned the aims but condemned the methods of the Klan." National denominational organizations never endorsed the Klan, but they rarely condemned it by name. Many nationally and regionally prominent churchmen did condemn it by name, and none endorsed it.
The second Klan was less violent than either the first or third Klan were. However, the second Klan, especially in the Southeast, was not an entirely non-violent organization. The most violent Klan was in Dallas, Texas. In April 1921, shortly after they began gaining popularity in the area, the Klan kidnapped Alex Johnson, a black man who had been accused of having sex with a white woman. They burned the words KKK into his forehead and gave him a severe beating by a riverbed. The police chief and district attorney refused to prosecute, explicitly and publicly stating they believed that Johnson deserved this treatment. Encouraged by the approval of this whipping, the Dallas KKK whipped 68 people by the riverbed in 1922 alone. Although Johnson had been black, most of the Dallas KKK's whipping victims were white men who were accused of offenses against their wives such as adultery, wife beating, abandoning their wives, refusing to pay child support or gambling. Far from trying to hide its vigilante activity, the Dallas KKK loved to publicize it. The Dallas KKK often invited local newspaper reporters to attend their whippings so they could write a story about it in the next day's newspaper.
The Alabama KKK was less chivalrous than the Dallas KKK was and whipped both white and black women who were accused of fornication or adultery. Although many people in Alabama were outraged by the whippings of white women, no Klansmen were ever convicted for the violence.
In 1920 Simmons handed the day-to-day activities of the national office over to two professional publicists, Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Young Clarke. The new leadership invigorated the Klan and it grew rapidly. It appealed to new members based on current social tensions, and stressed responses to fears raised by defiance of Prohibition and new sexual freedoms. It emphasized anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant and later anti-Communist positions. It presented itself as a fraternal, nativist and strenuously patriotic organization; and its leaders emphasized support for vigorous enforcement of Prohibition laws. It expanded membership dramatically to a 1924 peak of 1.5 million to 4 million, which was between 4–15% of the eligible population.
By the 1920s, most of its members lived in the Midwest and West. Nearly one in five of the eligible Indiana population were members. It had a national base by 1925. In the South, where the great majority of whites were Democrats, the Klansmen were Democrats. In the rest of the country, the membership comprised both Republicans and Democrats, as well as independents. Klan leaders tried to infiltrate political parties; as Cummings notes, "it was non-partisan in the sense that it pressed its nativist issues to both parties". Sociologist Rory McVeigh has explained the Klan's strategy in appealing to members of both parties:
Religion was a major selling point. Kelly J. Baker argues that Klansmen seriously embraced Protestantism as an essential component of their white supremacist, anti-Catholic, and paternalistic formulation of American democracy and national culture. Their cross was a religious symbol, and their ritual honored Bibles and local ministers. No nationally prominent religious leader said he was a Klan member.
Economists Fryer and Levitt argue that the rapid growth of the Klan in the 1920s was partly the result of an innovative multi-level marketing campaign. They also argue that the Klan leadership focused more intently on monetizing the organization during this period than fulfilling the political goals of the organization. Local leaders profited from expanding their membership.
Historians agree that the Klan's resurgence in the 1920s was aided by the national debate over Prohibition. The historian Prendergast says that the KKK's "support for Prohibition represented the single most important bond between Klansmen throughout the nation". The Klan opposed bootleggers, sometimes with violence. In 1922, two hundred Klan members set fire to saloons in Union County, Arkansas. Membership in the Klan and in other Prohibition groups overlapped, and they sometimes coordinated activities.
A significant characteristic of the second Klan was that it was an organization based in urban areas, reflecting the major shifts of population to cities in the North, West, and the South. In Michigan, for instance, 40,000 members lived in Detroit, where they made up more than half of the state's membership. Most Klansmen were lower- to middle-class whites who were trying to protect their jobs and housing from the waves of newcomers to the industrial cities: immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were mostly Catholic or Jewish; and black and white migrants from the South. As new populations poured into cities, rapidly changing neighborhoods created social tensions. Because of the rapid pace of population growth in industrializing cities such as Detroit and Chicago, the Klan grew rapidly in the Midwest. The Klan also grew in booming Southern cities such as Dallas and Houston.
In the medium-size industrial city of Worcester, Massachusetts in the 1920s, the Klan ascended to power quickly but declined as a result of opposition from the Catholic Church. There was no violence and the local newspaper ridiculed Klansmen as "night-shirt knights". Half of the members were Swedish Americans, including some first-generation immigrants. The ethnic and religious conflicts among more recent immigrants contributed to the rise of the Klan in the city. Swedish Protestants were struggling against Irish Catholics, who had been entrenched longer, for political and ideological control of the city.
In some states, historians have obtained membership rosters of some local units and matched the names against city directory and local records to create statistical profiles of the membership. Big city newspapers were often hostile and ridiculed Klansmen as ignorant farmers. Detailed analysis from Indiana showed that the rural stereotype was false for that state:
Indiana's Klansmen represented a wide cross section of society: they were not disproportionately urban or rural, nor were they significantly more or less likely than other members of society to be from the working class, middle class, or professional ranks. Klansmen were Protestants, of course, but they cannot be described exclusively or even predominantly as fundamentalists. In reality, their religious affiliations mirrored the whole of white Protestant society, including those who did not belong to any church.
The Klan attracted people but most of them did not remain in the organization for long. Membership in the Klan turned over rapidly as people found out that it was not the group which they had wanted. Millions joined, and at its peak in the 1920s, the organization claimed numbers that amounted to 15% of the nation's eligible population. The lessening of social tensions contributed to the Klan's decline.
The distinctive white costume permitted large-scale public activities, especially parades and cross-burning ceremonies, while keeping the membership rolls a secret. Sales of the costumes provided the main financing for the national organization, while initiation fees funded local and state organizers.
The second Klan embraced the burning Latin cross as a dramatic display of symbolism, with a tone of intimidation. No crosses had been used as a symbol by the first Klan, but it became a symbol of the Klan's quasi-Christian message. Its lighting during meetings was often accompanied by prayer, the singing of hymns, and other overtly religious symbolism. In his novel "The Clansman", Thomas Dixon Jr. borrows the idea that the first Klan had used fiery crosses from 'the call to arms' of the Scottish Clans, and film director D.W. Griffith used this image in "The Birth of a Nation"; Simmons adopted the symbol wholesale from the movie, and the symbol and action have been associated with the Klan ever since.
By the 1920s, the KKK developed a women's auxiliary, with chapters in many areas. Its activities included participation in parades, cross lightings, lectures, rallies, and boycotts of local businesses owned by Catholics and Jews. The Women's Klan was active in promoting Prohibition, stressing liquor's negative impact on wives and children. Its efforts in public schools included distributing Bibles and petitioning for the dismissal of Roman Catholic teachers. As a result of the Women's Klan's efforts, Texas would not hire Catholic teachers to work in its public schools. As sexual and financial scandals rocked the Klan leadership late in the 1920s, the organization's popularity among both men and women dropped off sharply.
The second Klan expanded with new chapters in cities in the Midwest and West, and reached both Republicans and Democrats, as well as men without a party affiliation. The goal of Prohibition in particular helped the Klan and some Republicans to make common cause in the North.
The Klan had numerous members in every part of the United States, but was particularly strong in the South and Midwest. At its peak, claimed Klan membership exceeded four million and comprised 20% of the adult white male population in many broad geographic regions, and 40% in some areas. The Klan also moved north into Canada, especially Saskatchewan, where it opposed Catholics.
In Indiana, members were American-born, white Protestants and covered a wide range of incomes and social levels. The Indiana Klan was perhaps the most prominent Ku Klux Klan in the nation. It claimed more than 30% of white male Hoosiers as members. In 1924 it supported Republican Edward Jackson in his successful campaign for governor.
Catholic and liberal Democrats—who were strongest in northeastern cities—decided to make the Klan an issue at the 1924 Democratic National Convention in New York City. Their delegates proposed a resolution indirectly attacking the Klan; it was defeated by one vote out of 1,100. The leading presidential candidates were William Gibbs McAdoo, a Protestant with a base in the South and West where the Klan was strong, and New York Governor Al Smith, a Catholic with a base in the large cities. After weeks of stalemate and bitter argumentation, both candidates withdrew in favor of a compromise candidate.
In some states, such as Alabama and California, KKK chapters had worked for political reform. In 1924, Klan members were elected to the city council in Anaheim, California. The city had been controlled by an entrenched commercial-civic elite that was mostly German American. Given their tradition of moderate social drinking, the German Americans did not strongly support Prohibition laws—the mayor had been a saloon keeper.
Led by the minister of the First Christian Church, the Klan represented a rising group of politically oriented non-ethnic Germans who denounced the elite as corrupt, undemocratic and self-serving. The historian Christopher Cocoltchos says the Klansmen tried to create a model, orderly community. The Klan had about 1,200 members in Orange County, California. The economic and occupational profile of the pro and anti-Klan groups shows the two were similar and about equally prosperous. Klan members were Protestants, as were most of their opponents, but the latter also included many Catholic Germans. Individuals who joined the Klan had earlier demonstrated a much higher rate of voting and civic activism than did their opponents. Cocoltchos suggests that many of the individuals in Orange County joined the Klan out of that sense of civic activism. The Klan representatives easily won the local election in Anaheim in April 1924. They fired city employees who were known to be Catholic, and replaced them with Klan appointees. The new city council tried to enforce Prohibition. After its victory, the Klan chapter held large rallies and initiation ceremonies over the summer.
The opposition organized, bribed a Klansman for the secret membership list, and exposed the Klansmen running in the state primaries; they defeated most of the candidates. Klan opponents in 1925 took back local government, and succeeded in a special election in recalling the Klansmen who had been elected in April 1924. The Klan in Anaheim quickly collapsed, its newspaper closed after losing a libel suit, and the minister who led the local Klavern moved to Kansas.
In the South, Klan members were still Democratic, as it was essentially a one-party region for whites. Klan chapters were closely allied with Democratic police, sheriffs, and other functionaries of local government. Due to disenfranchisement of most African Americans and many poor whites around the start of the 20th century, the only political activity for whites took place within the Democratic Party.
In Alabama, Klan members advocated better public schools, effective Prohibition enforcement, expanded road construction, and other political measures to benefit lower-class white people. By 1925, the Klan was a political force in the state, as leaders such as J. Thomas Heflin, David Bibb Graves, and Hugo Black tried to build political power against the Black Belt wealthy planters, who had long dominated the state. In 1926, with Klan support, Bibb Graves won the Alabama governor's office. He was a former Klan chapter head. He pushed for increased education funding, better public health, new highway construction, and pro-labor legislation. Because the Alabama state legislature refused to redistrict until 1972, and then under court order, the Klan was unable to break the planters' and rural areas' hold on legislative power.
Scholars and biographers have recently examined Hugo Black's Klan role. Ball finds regarding the KKK that Black "sympathized with the group's economic, nativist, and anti-Catholic beliefs". Newman says Black "disliked the Catholic Church as an institution" and gave over 100 anti-Catholic speeches in his 1926 election campaign to KKK meetings across Alabama. Black was elected US senator in 1926 as a Democrat. In 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Black to the Supreme Court without knowing how active in the Klan he had been in the 1920s. He was confirmed by his fellow Senators before the full KKK connection was known; Justice Black said he left the Klan when he became a senator.
Many groups and leaders, including prominent Protestant ministers such as Reinhold Niebuhr in Detroit, spoke out against the Klan, gaining national attention. The Jewish Anti-Defamation League was formed in the early 20th century in response to attacks on Jewish Americans, including the lynching of Leo Frank in Atlanta, and the Klan's campaign to prohibit private schools (which was chiefly aimed at Catholic parochial schools). Opposing groups worked to penetrate the Klan's secrecy. After one civic group in Indiana began to publish Klan membership lists, there was a rapid decline in the number of Klan members. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) launched public education campaigns in order to inform people about Klan activities and lobbied in Congress against Klan abuses. After its peak in 1925, Klan membership in most areas began to decline rapidly.
Specific events contributed to the Klan's decline as well. In Indiana, the scandal surrounding the 1925 murder trial of Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson destroyed the image of the KKK as upholders of law and order. By 1926 the Klan was "crippled and discredited". D. C. Stephenson was the Grand Dragon of Indiana and 22 northern states. In 1923 he had led the states under his control in order to break away from the national KKK organization. At his 1925 trial, he was convicted of second-degree murder for his part in the rape, and subsequent death, of Madge Oberholtzer. After Stephenson's conviction, the Klan declined dramatically in Indiana.
The historian Leonard Moore says that a failure in leadership caused the Klan's collapse:
Stephenson and the other salesmen and office seekers who maneuvered for control of Indiana's Invisible Empire lacked both the ability and the desire to use the political system to carry out the Klan's stated goals. They were uninterested in, or perhaps even unaware of, grass roots concerns within the movement. For them, the Klan had been nothing more than a means for gaining wealth and power. These marginal men had risen to the top of the hooded order because, until it became a political force, the Klan had never required strong, dedicated leadership. More established and experienced politicians who endorsed the Klan, or who pursued some of the interests of their Klan constituents, also accomplished little. Factionalism created one barrier, but many politicians had supported the Klan simply out of expedience. When charges of crime and corruption began to taint the movement, those concerned about their political futures had even less reason to work on the Klan's behalf.
In Alabama, KKK vigilantes launched a wave of physical terror in 1927. They targeted both blacks and whites for violations of racial norms and for perceived moral lapses. This led to a strong backlash, beginning in the media. Grover C. Hall, Sr., editor of the "Montgomery Advertiser" from 1926, wrote a series of editorials and articles that attacked the Klan. (Today the paper says it "waged war on the resurgent [KKK]".) Hall won a Pulitzer Prize for the crusade, the 1928 Editorial Writing Pulitzer, citing "his editorials against gangsterism, floggings and racial and religious intolerance". Other newspapers kept up a steady, loud attack on the Klan, referring to the organization as violent and "un-American". Sheriffs cracked down on activities. In the 1928 presidential election, the state voters overcame their initial opposition to the Catholic candidate Al Smith, and voted the Democratic Party line as usual.
Although in decline, a measure of the Klan's influence was still evident when it staged its march along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in 1928. By 1930, Klan membership in Alabama dropped to less than 6,000. Small independent units continued to be active in the industrial city of Birmingham.
KKK units were active through the 1930s in parts of Georgia, with a group of "night riders" in Atlanta enforcing their moral views by flogging people who violated them, whites as well as blacks. In March 1940, they were implicated in the beating murders of a young white couple taken from their car on a lovers lane, and flogged a white barber to death for drinking, both in East Point, a suburb of Atlanta. More than 20 others were "brutally flogged". As the police began to investigate, they found the records of the KKK had disappeared from their East Point office. The cases were reported by the "Chicago Tribune" and the NAACP in its "Crisis" magazine, as well as local papers.
Three lynchings of black men by whites (no KKK affiliation is known) took place in the South that year: Elbert Williams was the first NAACP member known to be killed for civil rights activities: he was murdered in Brownsville, Tennessee for working to register blacks to vote, and several other activists were run out of town; Jesse Thornton was lynched in Luverne, Alabama for a minor social infraction; and 16-year-old Austin Callaway, a suspect in the assault of a white woman, was taken from jail in the middle of the night and killed by six white men in LaGrange, Georgia. In January 2017, the police chief and mayor of LaGrange apologized for their offices' failures to protect Callaway, at a reconciliation service marking the anniversary of his death.
In major Southern cities such as Birmingham, Alabama, Klan members kept control of access to the better-paying industrial jobs and opposed unions. During the 1930s and 1940s, Klan leaders urged members to disrupt the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which advocated industrial unions and accepted African-American members, unlike earlier unions. With access to dynamite and using the skills from their jobs in mining and steel, in the late 1940s some Klan members in Birmingham used bombings to destroy houses in order to intimidate upwardly mobile blacks who moved into middle-class neighborhoods. "By mid-1949, there were so many charred house carcasses that the area [College Hills] was informally named Dynamite Hill."
Activism by these independent KKK groups in Birmingham increased as a reaction to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Independent Klan groups violently opposed the civil rights movement. KKK members were implicated in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on a Sunday in September 1963, which killed four African-American girls and injured 22 other people. Members of the Communist Workers' Party came to North Carolina to organize textile workers and pushed back against racial discrimination there, taunting the KKK, resulting in the 1979 Greensboro massacre.
In 1939, after experiencing several years of decline due to the Great Depression, the Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans sold the national organization to James A. Colescott, an Indiana veterinary physician, and Samuel Green, an Atlanta obstetrician. They could not revive the Klan's declining membership. In 1944, the Internal Revenue Service filed a lien for $685,000 in back taxes against the Klan, and Colescott dissolved the organization that year. Local Klan groups closed down over the following years.
After World War II, the folklorist and author Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the Klan; he provided internal data to media and law enforcement agencies. He also provided secret code words to the writers of the "Superman" radio program, resulting in episodes in which Superman took on the KKK. Kennedy stripped away the Klan's mystique and trivialized its rituals and code words, which may have contributed to the decline in Klan recruiting and membership. In the 1950s, Kennedy wrote a bestselling book about his experiences, which further damaged the Klan.
The historiography of the second Klan of the 1920s has changed over time. Early histories were based on mainstream sources of the time, and since the late 20th century, other histories have been written drawing from records and analysis of members of the chapters in social histories.
The KKK was a secret organization; apart from a few top leaders, most members never identified as such and wore masks in public. Investigators in the 1920s used KKK publicity, court cases, exposés by disgruntled Klansmen, newspaper reports, and speculation to write stories about what the Klan was doing. Almost all the major national newspapers and magazines were hostile to its activities. The historian Thomas R. Pegram says that published accounts exaggerated the official viewpoint of the Klan leadership, and repeated the interpretations of hostile newspapers and the Klan's enemies. There was almost no evidence in that time regarding the behavior or beliefs of individual Klansmen. According to Pegram, the resulting popular and scholarly interpretation of the Klan from the 1920s into the mid-20th century emphasized its Southern roots and the violent vigilante-style actions of the Klan in its efforts to turn back the clock of modernity. Scholars compared it to fascism in Europe. Amann states that, "Undeniably, the Klan had some traits in common with European fascism—chauvinism, racism, a mystique of violence, an affirmation of a certain kind of archaic traditionalism—yet their differences were fundamental. ... [the KKK] never envisioned a change of political or economic system."
Pegram says this original interpretation
The "social history" revolution in historiography from the 1960s explored history from the bottom up. In terms of the Klan, it developed evidence based on the characteristics, beliefs, and behavior of the typical membership, and downplayed accounts by elite sources. Historians discovered membership lists and the minutes of local meetings from KKK chapters scattered around the country. They discovered that the original interpretation was largely mistaken about the membership and activities of the Klan; the membership was not anti-modern, rural or rustic and consisted of fairly well educated middle-class joiners and community activists. Half the members lived in the fast-growing industrial cities of the period: Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Denver, and Portland, Oregon, were Klan strongholds during the 1920s.
Studies developed as social history find that in general, the KKK membership in these cities was from the stable, successful middle classes, with few members drawn from the elite or the working classes. Pegram, reviewing the studies, concludes, "the popular Klan of the 1920s, while diverse, was more of a civic exponent of white Protestant social values than a repressive hate group."
Kelly J. Baker argues that religion was critical—the KKK based its hatred on a particular brand of Protestantism that resonated with mainstream Americans: "Members embraced Protestant Christianity and a crusade to save America from domestic as well as foreign threats."
In Indiana, traditional political historians focused on notorious leaders, especially D. C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan, whose conviction for 1925 kidnap, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer helped destroy the Ku Klux Klan movement nationwide. In his history of 1967, Kenneth Jackson already described the Klan of the 1920s as associated with cities and urbanization, with chapters often acting as a kind of fraternal organization to aid people coming from other areas.
Social historian Leonard Moore titled his monograph "Citizen Klansmen" (1997) and contrasted the intolerant rhetoric of the group's leaders with the actions of most of the membership. The Klan was white Protestant, established Americans who were fearful of change: represented by new immigrants and black migrants to the North. They were highly suspicious of Catholics, Jews and blacks, who they believed subverted ideal Protestant moral standards. Violence was uncommon in most chapters. In Indiana, KKK members directed more threats and economic blacklisting primarily against fellow white Protestants for transgressions of community moral standards, such as adultery, wife-beating, gambling and heavy drinking. Up to one third of Indiana's Protestant men joined the order making it, Moore argued, "a kind of interest group for average white Protestants who believed that their values should be dominant in their community and state."
Moore says that they joined:
Northern Indiana's industrial cities had attracted a large Catholic population of European immigrants and their descendants. They established the University of Notre Dame, a major Catholic college near South Bend. In May 1924 when the KKK scheduled a regional meeting in the city, Notre Dame students blocked the Klansmen and stole some KKK regalia. The next day the Klansmen counterattacked. Finally the college president and the football coach Knute Rockne kept the students on campus to avert further violence.
In Alabama, some young white urban activists joined the KKK to fight the old guard establishment. Hugo Black was a member before becoming nationally famous; he focused on anti-Catholicism. But in rural Alabama the Klan continued to operate to enforce Jim Crow; its members resorted more often to violence against blacks for infringements of the social order of white supremacy.
Racial terrorism was used in smaller towns to suppress black political activity; Elbert Williams of Brownsville, Tennessee was lynched in 1940 for trying to organize black residents to register and vote. That year, Jesse Thornton of Luverne, Alabama was lynched for failing to address a police officer as "Mister".
After the decline of the national organization, small independent groups adopted the name "Ku Klux Klan", along with variations. They had no formal relationships with each other, or connection to the second KKK, except for the fact that they copied its terminology and costumes. Beginning in the 1950s, for instance, individual Klan groups in Birmingham, Alabama, began to resist social change and blacks' efforts to improve their lives by bombing houses in transitional neighborhoods. The white men worked in mining and steel industries, with access to these materials. There were so many bombings of blacks' homes in Birmingham by Klan groups in the 1950s that the city was nicknamed "Bombingham".
During the tenure of Bull Connor as police commissioner in Birmingham, Klan groups were closely allied with the police and operated with impunity. When the Freedom Riders arrived in Birmingham in 1961, Connor gave Klan members fifteen minutes to attack the riders before sending in the police to quell the attack. When local and state authorities failed to protect the Freedom Riders and activists, the federal government began to establish intervention and protection.
In states such as Alabama and Mississippi, Klan members forged alliances with governors' administrations. In Birmingham and elsewhere, the KKK groups bombed the houses of civil rights activists. In some cases they used physical violence, intimidation, and assassination directly against individuals. Continuing disfranchisement of blacks across the South meant that most could not serve on juries, which were all-white and demonstrably biased verdicts and sentences.
According to a report from the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta, the homes of 40 black Southern families were bombed during 1951 and 1952. Some of the bombing victims were social activists whose work exposed them to danger, but most were either people who refused to bow to racist convention or were innocent bystanders, unsuspecting victims of random violence.
Among the more notorious murders by Klan members in the 1950s and 1960s:
There was considerable resistance among African Americans and white allies to the Klan. In 1953, newspaper publishers W. Horace Carter (Tabor City, North Carolina), who had campaigned for three years, and Willard Cole (Whiteville, North Carolina) shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service citing "their successful campaign against the Ku Klux Klan, waged on their own doorstep at the risk of economic loss and personal danger, culminating in the conviction of over one hundred Klansmen and an end to terrorism in their communities". In a 1958 incident in North Carolina, the Klan burned crosses at the homes of two Lumbee Native Americans for associating with white people, and threatened more actions. When the KKK held a nighttime rally nearby, they were quickly surrounded by hundreds of armed Lumbee. Gunfire was exchanged, and the Klan was routed at what became known as the Battle of Hayes Pond.
While the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had paid informants in the Klan, for instance in Birmingham in the early 1960s, its relations with local law enforcement agencies and the Klan were often ambiguous. The head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, appeared more concerned about Communist links to civil rights activists than about controlling Klan excesses against citizens. In 1964, the FBI's COINTELPRO program began attempts to infiltrate and disrupt civil rights groups.
As 20th-century Supreme Court rulings extended federal enforcement of citizens' civil rights, the government revived the Enforcement Acts and the Klan Act from Reconstruction days. Federal prosecutors used these laws as the basis for investigations and indictments in the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner; and the 1965 murder of Viola Liuzzo. They were also the basis for prosecution in 1991 in "Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic".
In 1965, the House Un-American Activities Committee started an investigation on the Klan, putting in the public spotlight its front organizations, finances, methods and divisions.
After federal legislation was passed prohibiting legal segregation and authorizing enforcement of protection of voting rights, KKK groups began to oppose court-ordered busing to desegregate schools, affirmative action, and the more open immigration authorized in the 1960s. In 1971, KKK members used bombs to destroy 10 school buses in Pontiac, Michigan. By 1975, there were known KKK groups on most college campuses in Louisiana as well as at Vanderbilt University, the University of Georgia, the University of Mississippi, the University of Akron, and the University of Southern California.
On November 3, 1979, five communist protesters were killed by KKK and American Nazi Party members in Greensboro, North Carolina in what is known as the Greensboro massacre. The Communist Workers' Party had sponsored a rally against the Klan in an effort to organize predominantly black industrial workers in the area. Klan members drove up with arms in their car trunks, and attacked marchers.
Jerry Thompson, a newspaper reporter who infiltrated the KKK in 1979, reported that the FBI's COINTELPRO efforts were highly successful. Rival KKK factions accused each other's leaders of being FBI informants. William Wilkinson of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was revealed to have been working for the FBI.
Thompson also related that KKK leaders showed great concern about a series of civil lawsuits filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, claiming damages amounting to millions of dollars. These were filed after KKK members shot into a group of African Americans. Klansmen curtailed their activities in order to conserve money for defense against the lawsuits. The KKK also used lawsuits as tools; they filed a libel suit in order to prevent the publication of a paperback edition of Thompson's book, but were unsuccessful.
In 1980, three KKK members shot four elderly black women (Viola Ellison, Lela Evans, Opal Jackson, and Katherine Johnson) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, following a KKK initiation rally. A fifth woman, Fannie Crumsey, was injured by flying glass in the incident. Attempted murder charges were filed against the three KKK members, two of whom—Bill Church and Larry Payne—were acquitted by an all-white jury. The third defendant, Marshall Thrash, was sentenced by the same jury to nine months on lesser charges. He was released after three months. In 1982, a jury awarded the five women $535,000 in a civil trial.
After Michael Donald was lynched in 1981 in Alabama, the FBI investigated his death. The US Attorney prosecuted the case. Two local KKK members were convicted for his murder, including Henry Francis Hays, who was sentenced to death. After exhausting the appeals process, Hays was executed by electric chair for Donald's death in Alabama on June 6, 1997. It was the first time since 1913 that a white man had been executed in Alabama for a crime against an African American.
With the support of attorneys Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and State Senator Michael A. Figures, Donald's mother Beulah Mae Donald sued the KKK in civil court in Alabama. Her lawsuit against the United Klans of America was tried in February 1987. The all-white jury found the Klan responsible for the lynching of Donald and ordered the Klan to pay US$7 million, but the KKK did not have sufficient funds to pay the fine. They had to sell off their national headquarters building in Tuscaloosa.
In 1995, Don Black and Chloê Hardin, the ex-wife of the KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, began a small bulletin board system (BBS) called Stormfront, which has become a prominent online forum for white nationalism, Neo-Nazism, hate speech, racism, and antisemitism in the early 21st century.
Duke has an account on Stormfront which he uses to post articles from his own website. He also polls forum members for opinions and questions, in particular during his internet broadcasts. Duke has worked with Don Black on numerous projects including Operation Red Dog in 1980.
The modern KKK is not one organization; rather it is composed of small independent chapters across the United States. According to a 1999 ADL report, the KKK's estimated size then was "No more than a few thousand, organized into slightly more than 100 units". In 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors extremist groups, estimated that there were "at least 29 separate, rival Klan groups currently active in the United States, and they compete with one another for members, dues, news media attention and the title of being the true heir to the Ku Klux Klan". The formation of independent chapters has made KKK groups more difficult to infiltrate, and researchers find it hard to estimate their numbers. Analysts believe that about two-thirds of KKK members are concentrated in the Southern United States, with another third situated primarily in the lower Midwest.
The Klan has expanded its recruitment efforts to white supremacists at the international level. For some time, the Klan's numbers have been steadily dropping. This decline has been attributed to the Klan's lack of competence in the use of the Internet, their history of violence, a proliferation of competing hate groups, and a decline in the number of young racist activists who are willing to join groups at all.
According to a 2016 analysis by the SPLC, hate groups in general are on the rise in the United States. The ADL published a report in 2016 that concluded: "Despite a persistent ability to attract media attention, organized Ku Klux Klan groups are actually continuing a long-term trend of decline. They remain a collection of mostly small, disjointed groups that continually change in name and leadership."
In 2015, however, the number of KKK chapters nationwide grew from 72 to 190. The SPLC released a similar report stating that "there were significant increases in Klan as well as black separatist groups".
Recent KKK membership campaigns have stimulated people's anxieties about illegal immigration, urban crime, civil unions, and same-sex marriage. In 2006 J. Keith Akins argued that "Klan literature and propaganda is rabidly homophobic and encourages violence against gays and lesbians ... Since the late 1970s, the Klan has increasingly focused its ire on this previously ignored population."
Many KKK groups have formed strong alliances with other white supremacist groups, such as neo-Nazis. Some KKK groups have become increasingly "nazified", adopting the look and emblems of white power skinheads.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has provided legal support to various factions of the KKK in defense of their First Amendment rights to hold public rallies, parades, and marches, as well as their right to field political candidates.
The Imperial Wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights, Frank Ancona, was fatally shot in Missouri in February 2017, several days after disappearing. The coroner declared his death a homicide. Ancona's wife and stepson were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing. The prosecutor in the case believes that the killing "happened because of a marital dispute" and was not connected to Ancona's Klan participation. Ancona's group "was not considered the largest or the most influential iteration of the Klan, but he was skilled at attracting the spotlight".
The February 14, 2019 edition of the Linden, Alabama weekly newspaper "The Democrat-Reporter" carried an editorial titled "Klan needs to ride again" written by Goodloe Sutton—the newspaper's owner, publisher and editor—which urged the Klan to return to staging their night rides, because proposals were being made to raise taxes in the state. In an interview, Sutton suggested that Washington, D.C. could be "clean[ed] out" by way of lynchings. "We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them," Sutton said. He also specified that he was only referring to hanging "socialist-communists", and compared the Klan to the NAACP. The editorial and Sutton's subsequent comments provoked calls for his resignation from Alabama politicians and the Alabama Press Association, which later censured Sutton and suspended the newspaper's membership. In addition the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Communication removed Sutton—who is an alumnus of that school—from its Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame, and "strongly condemned" his remarks. Sutton was also stripped of a distinguished community journalism award he had been presented in 2009 by Auburn University's Journalism Advisory Council. Sutton expressed no regret and said that the editorial was intended to be "ironic", but that "Not many people understand irony today."
A list is maintained by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL):
Aside from the Ku Klux Klan in Canada, there have been various attempts to organize KKK chapters outside the United States.
In Australia in the late 1990s, former One Nation member Peter Coleman established branches throughout the country, and circa 2012 the KKK has attempted to infiltrate other political parties such as Australia First.
Recruitment activity has also been reported in the United Kingdom.
In Germany, a KKK-related group, "Ritter des Feurigen Kreuzes" ("Knights of the Fiery Cross"), was established in the 1920s. After the Nazis took over Germany, the group disbanded and its members joined the Nazis. Another German KKK-related group, the European White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, has organized and it gained notoriety in 2012 when the German media reported that two police officers who held membership in the organization would be allowed to keep their jobs.
A Ku Klux Klan group was even established in Fiji in the early 1870s by white American settlers, although its operations were quickly put to an end by the British who, although not officially yet established as the major authority of Fiji, had played a leading role in establishing a new constitutional monarchy that was being threatened by the activities of the Fijian Klan.
In São Paulo, Brazil, the website of a group called Imperial Klans of Brazil was shut down in 2003, and the group's leader was arrested.
Membership in the Klan is secret. Like many fraternal organizations, the Klan has signs that members can use to recognize one another. In conversation, a member may use the acronym "AYAK" (Are you a Klansman?) to surreptitiously identify himself to another potential member. The response "AKIA" (A Klansman I am) completes the greeting.
Throughout its varied history, the Klan has coined many words beginning with "Kl", including:
All of the above terminology was created by William Joseph Simmons, as part of his 1915 revival of the Klan. The Reconstruction-era Klan used different titles; the only titles to carry over were "Wizard" for the overall leader of the Klan and "Night Hawk" for the official in charge of security.
The Imperial Kludd was the chaplain of the Imperial Klonvokation and he performed "such other duties as may be required by the Imperial Wizard".
The Imperial Kaliff was the second highest position after the Imperial Wizard.
Because there are multiple Ku Klux Klan organizations, there are multiple official websites. To find a website, try entering the full name of a particular organization into a search engine. Following are third-party lists of such organizations: | en.wikipedia.org | Ku Klux Klan | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16779 |
16782 | King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code monster adventure film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. The screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose was developed from an idea conceived by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. It stars Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot and Robert Armstrong, and opened in New York City on March 2, 1933, to rave reviews. It has been ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as the fourth greatest horror film of all time and the thirty-third greatest film of all time.
The film portrays the story of a huge, gorilla-like creature dubbed Kong who perishes in an attempt to possess a beautiful young woman (Wray). "King Kong" contains stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and a music score by Max Steiner. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A sequel quickly followed with "Son of Kong" (also released in 1933), with several more films made in the following decades, including two remakes.
In New York Harbor, filmmaker Carl Denham, known for wildlife films in remote and exotic locations, charters Captain Englehorn's ship, the "Venture", for his new project. However, he is unable to secure an actress for a female role he has been reluctant to disclose. Searching in the streets of New York City, he finds Ann Darrow and promises her the adventure of a lifetime. The crew boards the "Venture" and sets off, during which the ship's first mate, Jack Driscoll, falls in love with Ann.
Denham reveals to the crew that their destination is in fact Skull Island, an uncharted territory. He alludes to a monstrous creature named "Kong", rumored to dwell on the island. The crew arrives and anchor offshore. They encounter a native village, separated from the rest of the island by an ancient stone wall. They witness a group of natives preparing to sacrifice a young woman termed the "bride of Kong". The intruders are spotted and the native chief stops the ceremony. When he sees Ann, he offers to trade six of his tribal women for the "golden woman". They rebuff him and return to the "Venture".
That night, the natives kidnap Ann from the ship and take her through the wall gate and to an altar, where she is offered to King Kong, an enormous gorilla-like creature. Kong carries a terrified Ann into the wilderness as Denham, Jack and some volunteers enter the jungle in hopes of rescuing her. They are ambushed by another giant creature, a "Stegosaurus", which they manage to defeat. After facing a "Brontosaurus" and Kong himself, Jack and Denham are the only survivors.
A "Tyrannosaurus rex" attacks Ann and Kong, but Kong kills it in the battle. Meanwhile, Jack continues to follow them, while Denham returns to the village for more men. Upon arriving in Kong's lair, Ann is menaced by a snake-like "Elasmosaurus", which Kong also kills. While Kong is distracted killing a "Pteranodon" that tried to fly away with Ann, Jack reaches her and they climb down a vine dangling from a cliff ledge. When Kong notices and starts pulling them back up, the two fall unharmed. They run through the jungle and back to the village, where Denham, Englehorn, and the surviving crewmen are waiting. Kong, following, breaks open the gate and relentlessly rampages through the village. Onshore, Denham, now determined to bring Kong back alive, knocks him unconscious with a gas bomb.
Shackled in chains, Kong is taken to New York City and presented to a Broadway theatre audience as "King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World". Ann and Jack are brought on stage to join him, surrounded by a group of press photographers. Kong, believing that the ensuing flash photography is an attack, breaks loose. The audience flees in horror. Ann is whisked away to a hotel room on a high floor, but Kong, scaling the building, soon finds her. His hand smashes through the hotel room window, shoves Jack aside, and abducts Ann again. Kong rampages through the city as Ann screams in his grip. He wrecks a crowded elevated train and then climbs the Empire State Building. At its top, he is attacked by four airplanes. Kong destroys one, but finally succumbs to their gunfire. He gazes sorrowfully at Ann one last time before falling to his death. Jack takes an elevator to the top of the building and reunites with Ann. Denham arrives and pushes through a crowd surrounding Kong's corpse in the street. When a policeman remarks that the planes got him, Denham tells him, "No, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast".
Before "King Kong" entered production, a long tradition of jungle films existed, and, whether drama or documentary, such films (for example "Stark Mad") generally adhered to a narrative pattern that followed an explorer or scientist into the jungle to test a theory only to discover some monstrous aberration in the undergrowth. In these films, scientific knowledge could be subverted at any time, and it was this that provided the genre with its vitality, appeal, and endurance.
In the early 20th century, few zoos had primate exhibits so there was popular demand to see them on film. At the turn of the 20th century, the Lumière Brothers sent film documentarians to places westerners had never seen, and Georges Méliès utilized trick photography in film fantasies that prefigured that in "King Kong". Jungle films were launched in the United States with "Beasts in the Jungle" (1913), and the film's popularity spawned similar pictures such as "Tarzan of the Apes" (1918). "The Lost World" (1925), made movie history with special effects by Willis O'Brien and a crew that later would work on "King Kong". "King Kong" producer Ernest B. Schoedsack had earlier monkey experience directing "" (1927), also with Merian C. Cooper, and "Rango" (1931), both of which prominently featured monkeys in authentic jungle settings. Capitalizing on this trend, Congo Pictures released the hoax documentary "Ingagi" (1930), advertising the film as "an authentic incontestable celluloid document showing the sacrifice of a living woman to mammoth gorillas." "Ingagi" is now often recognized as a racial exploitation film as it implicitly depicted black women having sex with gorillas, and baby offspring that looked more ape than human. The film was an immediate hit, and by some estimates it was one of the highest-grossing films of the 1930s at over $4 million. Although Cooper never listed "Ingagi" among his influences for "King Kong," it has long been held that RKO green-lit "Kong" because of the bottom-line example of "Ingagi" and the formula that "gorillas plus sexy women in peril equals enormous profits".
Merian C. Cooper's fascination with gorillas began with his boyhood reading of Paul Du Chaillu's "Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa" (1861) and was furthered in 1929 by studying a tribe of baboons in Africa while filming "The Four Feathers". After reading W. Douglas Burden's "The Dragon Lizards of Komodo", he fashioned a scenario depicting African gorillas battling Komodo dragons intercut with artificial stand-ins for joint shots. He then narrowed the "dramatis personae" to one ferocious, lizard-battling gorilla (rather than a group) and included a lone woman on expedition to appease those critics who belabored him for neglecting romance in his films. A remote island would be the setting and the gorilla would be dealt a spectacular death in New York City.
Cooper took his concept to Paramount Studios in the first years of the Great Depression but executives shied away from a project that sent film crews on costly shoots to Africa and Komodo. In 1931, David O. Selznick brought Cooper to RKO as his executive assistant and promised him he could make his own films. Cooper began immediately developing "The Most Dangerous Game", and hired Ernest B. Schoedsack to direct. A huge jungle stage set was built, with Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray as the stars. Once the film was underway, Cooper turned his attention to the studio's big-budget-out-of-control fantasy, "Creation", a project with stop motion animator Willis O'Brien about a group of travelers shipwrecked on an island of dinosaurs.
When Cooper screened O'Brien's stop-motion "Creation" footage, he was unimpressed, but realized he could economically make his gorilla picture by scrapping the Komodo dragons and costly location shoots for O'Brien's animated dinosaurs and the studio's existing jungle set. It was at this time Cooper probably cast his gorilla as a giant named Kong, and planned to have him die at the Empire State Building. The RKO board was wary about the project, but gave its approval after Cooper organized a presentation with Wray, Armstrong, and Cabot, and O'Brien's model dinosaurs. In his executive capacity, Cooper ordered the "Creation" production shelved, and put its crew to work on "Kong".
Cooper assigned recently hired RKO screenwriter and best-selling British mystery/adventure writer Edgar Wallace the job of writing a screenplay and a novel based on his gorilla fantasy. Cooper understood the commercial appeal of Wallace's work and planned to publicize the film as being "based on the novel by Edgar Wallace". Wallace conferred with Cooper and O'Brien (who contributed, among other things, the "Ann's dress" scene) and began work on January 1, 1932. He completed a rough draft called "The Beast" on January 5, 1932. Cooper thought the draft needed considerable work but Wallace died on February 10, 1932, just after beginning revisions. Despite not using any of the draft in the final production beyond the previously agreed upon plot outline, Cooper gave a screen credit to Wallace as he had promised it as a producer.
Cooper called in James Ashmore Creelman (who was working on the script of "The Most Dangerous Game" at the time) and the two men worked together on several drafts under the title "The Eighth Wonder". Some details from Wallace's rough draft were dropped, such as his boatload of escaped convicts. Wallace's Danby Denham character, a big game hunter, became film director Carl Denham. His Shirley became Ann Darrow and her lover-convict John became Jack Driscoll. The “beauty and the beast” angle was first developed at this time. Kong's escape was switched from Madison Square Garden to Yankee Stadium and (finally) to a Broadway theater. Cute moments involving the gorilla in Wallace's draft were cut because Cooper wanted Kong hard and tough in the belief that his fall would be all the more awesome and tragic.
Time constraints forced Creelman to temporarily drop "The Eighth Wonder" and devote his time to the "Game" script. RKO staff writer Horace McCoy was called in to work with Cooper, and it was he who introduced the island natives, a giant wall, and the sacrificial maidens into the plot. Leon Gordon also contributed to the screenplay in a minimal capacity; both he and McCoy went uncredited in the completed film. When Creelman returned to the script full-time, he hated McCoy's “mythic elements”, believing the script already had too many over-the-top concepts, but Cooper insisted on keeping them in. RKO head Selznick and his executives wanted Kong introduced earlier in the film (believing the audience would grow bored waiting for his appearance), but Cooper persuaded them that a suspenseful build-up would make Kong's entrance all the more exciting.
Cooper felt Creelman's final draft was slow-paced, too full of flowery dialogue, weighted-down with long scenes of exposition, and written on a scale that would have been prohibitively expensive to film. Writer Ruth Rose (Schoedsack's wife) was brought in to for rewrites and, although she had never written a screenplay, undertook the task with a complete understanding of Cooper's style, streamlining the script and tightening the action. Rather than explaining how Kong would be transported to New York, for example, she simply cut from the island to the theater. She incorporated autobiographical elements into the script with Cooper mirrored in the Denham character, her husband Schoedsack in the tough but tender Driscoll character, and herself in struggling actress Ann Darrow. Rose also rewrote the dialogue and created the film's opening sequence, showing Denham meeting Ann on the streets of New York. Cooper was delighted with Rose's script, approving the newly re-titled "Kong" for production. Cooper and Schoedsack decided to co-direct scenes but their styles were different (Cooper was slow and meticulous, Schoedsack brisk) and they finally agreed to work separately, with Cooper overseeing O'Brien's miniature work and directing the special effects sequences, and Schoedsack directing the dialogue scenes.
After the RKO board approved the production of a test reel, Marcel Delgado constructed Kong (or the "Giant Terror Gorilla" as he was then known) per designs and directions from Cooper and O'Brien on a one-inch-equals-one-foot scale to simulate a gorilla 18 feet tall. Four models were built: two jointed 18-inch aluminum, foam rubber, latex, and rabbit fur models (to be rotated during filming), one jointed 24-inch model of the same materials for the New York scenes, and a small model of lead and fur for the climactic plummeting-down-the-Empire-State-Building shot. At least two armatures have survived – one believed to be the original made for the test footage – and are owned by Peter Jackson and Bob Burns. In 2009, one sold for £121,000 ($200,000) at Christie's in London.
Kong's torso was streamlined to eliminate the comical appearance of the real world gorilla's prominent belly and buttocks. His lips, eyebrows, and nose were fashioned of rubber, his eyes of glass, and his facial expressions controlled by thin, bendable wires threaded through holes drilled in his aluminum skull. During filming, Kong's rubber skin dried out quickly under studio lights, making it necessary to replace it often and completely rebuild his facial features.
A huge bust of Kong's head, neck, and upper chest was made of wood, cloth, rubber, and bearskin by Delgado, E. B. Gibson, and Fred Reese. Inside the structure, metal levers, hinges, and an air compressor were operated by three men to control the mouth and facial expressions. Its fangs were 10 inches in length and its eyeballs 12 inches in diameter. The bust was moved from set to set on a flatcar. Its scale matched none of the models and, if fully realized, Kong would have stood thirty to forty feet tall.
Two versions of Kong's right hand and arm were constructed of steel, sponge rubber, rubber, and bearskin. The first hand was non articulated, mounted on a crane, and operated by grips for the scene in which Kong grabs at Driscoll in the cave. The other hand and arm had articulated fingers, was mounted on a lever to elevate it, and was used in the several scenes in which Kong grasps Ann. A non articulated leg was created of materials similar to the hands, mounted on a crane, and used to stomp on Kong's victims.
The dinosaurs were made by Delgado in the same fashion as Kong and based on Charles R. Knight's murals in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. All the armatures were manufactured in the RKO machine shop. Materials used were cotton, foam rubber, latex sheeting, and liquid latex. Football bladders were placed inside some models to simulate breathing. A scale of one-inch-equals-one-foot was employed and models ranged from 18 inches to 3 feet in length. Several of the models were originally built for "Creation" and sometimes two or three models were built of individual species. Prolonged exposure to studio lights wreaked havoc with the latex skin so John Cerasoli carved wooden duplicates of each model to be used as stand-ins for test shoots and lineups. He carved wooden models of Ann, Driscoll, and other human characters. Models of the "Venture", railway cars, and war planes were built.
"King Kong" is well known for its groundbreaking use of special effects, such as stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures, all of which were conceived decades before the digital age.
The numerous prehistoric creatures inhabiting Skull Island were brought to life through the use of stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and his assistant animator, Buzz Gibson. The stop-motion animation scenes were painstaking and difficult to achieve and complete after the special effects crew realized that they could not stop, because it would make the movements of the creatures seem inconsistent and the lighting would not have the same intensity over the many days it took to fully animate a finished sequence. A device called the surface gauge was used in order to keep track of the stop-motion animation performance. The iconic fight between Kong and the "Tyrannosaurus" took seven weeks to be completed. O'Brien's protegé, Ray Harryhausen, who later worked with him on several films, stated that O'Brien's second wife noticed that there was so much of her husband in Kong.
The backdrop of Skull Island seen when the Venture crew first arrive was painted on glass by matte painters Henry Hillinck, Mario Larrinaga and Byron C. Crabbé. The scene was then composted with separate bird elements and rear projected behind the ship and the actors. The background of the scenes in the jungle (a miniature set) were also painted on several layers of glass to convey the illusion of deep and dense jungle foliage.
The most difficult task for the special effects crew to achieve was to make live-action footage interact with separately filmed stop-motion animation – to make the interaction between the humans and the creatures of the island seem believable. The most simple of these effects were accomplished by exposing part of the frame, then running the same piece of the film through the camera again by exposing the other part of the frame with a different image. The most complex shots, where the live-action actors interacted with the stop-motion animation, were achieved via two different techniques, the Dunning process and the Williams process, in order to produce the effect of a travelling matte. The Dunning process, invented by cinematographer Carroll H. Dunning, employed the use of blue and yellow lights that were filtered and photographed into black-and-white film. Bi-packing of the camera was used for these types of effects. With it, the special effects crew could combine two strips of different film at the same time, creating the final composite shot in the camera. It was used in the climactic scene where one of the Curtiss Helldiver planes attacking Kong crashes from the top of the Empire State Building, and in the scene where natives are running through the foreground, while Kong is fighting other natives at the wall.
On the other hand, the Williams process, invented by cinematographer Frank D. Williams, did not require a system of colored lights and could be used for wider shots. It was used in the scene where Kong is shaking the sailors off the log, as well as the scene where Kong pushes the gates open. The Williams process did not use bipacking, but rather an optical printer, the first such device that synchronized a projector with a camera, so that several strips of film could be combined into a single composited image. Through the use of the optical printer, the special effects crew could film the foreground, the stop-motion animation, the live-action footage, and the background, and combine all of those elements into one single shot, eliminating the need to create the effects in the camera.
O'Brien and his special effects crew also devised a way to use rear projection in miniature sets. A tiny screen was built into the miniature onto which live-action footage would then be projected. A fan was used to prevent the footage that was projected from melting or catching fire. This miniature rear projection was used in the scene where Kong is trying to grab Driscoll, who is hiding in a cave. The scene where Kong puts Ann in the top of a tree switched from a puppet in Kong's hand to a projected footage of Ann sitting.
The scene where Kong fights the snake-like reptile in his lair was likely the most significant special effects achievement of the film, due to the way in which all of the elements in the sequence work together at the same time. The scene was accomplished through the use of a miniature set, stop-motion animation for Kong, background matte paintings, real water, foreground rocks with bubbling mud, smoke and two miniature rear screen projections of Driscoll and Ann.
Over the years, some media reports have alleged that in certain scenes Kong was played by an actor wearing a gorilla suit. However, film historians have generally agreed that all scenes involving Kong were achieved with animated models.
"King Kong" was filmed in several stages over an eight-month period. Some actors had so much time between their "Kong" periods that they were able to fully complete work on other films. Cabot completed "Road House" and Wray appeared in the horror films "Dr. X" (1932) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933). She estimated she worked for ten weeks on "Kong" over its eight-month production.
In May and June 1932, Cooper directed the first live-action "Kong" scenes on the jungle set built for "The Most Dangerous Game". Some of these scenes were incorporated into the test reel later exhibited for the RKO board. The script was still in revision when the jungle scenes were shot and much of the dialogue was improvised. The jungle set was scheduled to be struck after "Game" was completed, so Cooper filmed all of the other jungle scenes at this time. The last scene shot was that of Driscoll and Ann racing through the jungle to safety following their escape from Kong's lair.
In July 1932, the native village was readied while Schoedsack and his crew filmed establishing shots in the harbor of New York City. Curtiss F8C-5/O2C-1 Helldiver war planes taking off and in flight were filmed at a U.S. Naval airfield on Long Island. Views of New York City were filmed from the Empire State Building for backgrounds in the final scenes and architectural plans for the mooring mast were secured from the building's owners for a mock-up to be constructed on the Hollywood sound stage.
In August 1932, the island landing party scene and the gas bomb scene were filmed south of Los Angeles on a beach at San Pedro, California. All of the native village scenes were then filmed on the RKO-Pathé lot in Culver City with the native huts recycled from "Bird of Paradise" (1932). The great wall in the island scenes was a hand-me-down from DeMille's "The King of Kings" (1927) and dressed up with massive gates, a gong, and primitive carvings. The scene of Ann being led through the gates to the sacrificial altar was filmed at night with hundreds of extras and 350 lights for illumination. A camera was mounted on a crane to follow Ann to the altar. The Culver City Fire Department was on hand due to concerns that the set might go up in flames from the many native torches used in the scene. The wall and gate were destroyed in 1939 for "Gone With the Wind"s burning of Atlanta sequence. Hundreds of extras were once again used for Kong's rampage through the native village, and filming was completed with individual vignettes of mayhem and native panic.
Meanwhile, the scene depicting a New York woman being dropped to her apparent death from a hotel window was filmed on the sound stage using the articulated hand. At the same time, a scene depicting poker players surprised by Kong's face peering through a window was filmed using the 'big head', although the scene was eventually dropped. When filming was completed, a break was scheduled to finish construction of the interior sets and to allow screenwriter Ruth Rose time to finish the script.
In September–October 1932, Schoedsack returned to the sound stage after completing the native village shoots in Culver City. The decks and cabins of the "Venture" were constructed and all the live-action shipboard scenes were then filmed. The New York scenes were filmed, including the scene of Ann being plucked from the streets by Denham, and the diner scene. Following completion of the interior scenes, Schoedsack returned to San Pedro and spent a day on a tramp steamer to film the scene of Driscoll punching Ann, and various atmospheric harbor scenes. The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was rented for one day to film the scenes where Kong is displayed in chains and the backstage theater scenes following his escape. Principal photography wrapped at the end of October 1932 with the filming of the climax wherein Driscoll rescues Ann at the top of the Empire State Building. Schoedsack's work was completed and he headed to Syria to film outdoor scenes for "Arabia", a project that was never completed.
In December 1932 – January 1933, the actors were called back to film a number of optical effects shots which were mostly rear-screen projections. Technical problems inherent in the process made filming difficult and time-consuming. Wray spent most of a twenty-two hour period sitting in a fake tree to witness the battle between Kong and a "Tyrannosaurus". She was sore for days after. Many of the scenes featuring Wray in the articulated hand were filmed at this time. In December, Cooper re-shot the scene of the female New Yorker falling to her death. Stunt doubles were filmed for the water scenes depicting Driscoll and Ann escaping from Kong. A portion of the jungle set was reconstructed to film Denham snagging his sleeve on a branch during the pursuit scene. Originally, Denham ducked behind a bush to escape danger, but this was later considered cowardly and the scene was re shot. The final scene was originally staged on the top of the Empire State Building, but Cooper was dissatisfied and re shot the scene with Kong lying dead in the street with the crowd gathered about him.
Murray Spivack provided the sound effects for the film. Kong's roar was created by mixing the recorded growls of zoo lions and tigers, subsequently played backwards slowly. Spivak himself provided Kong's "love grunts" by grunting into a megaphone and playing it at a slow speed. For the huge ape's footsteps, Spivak stomped across a gravel-filled box with plungers wrapped in foam attached to his own feet, while the sounds of his chest beats were recorded by Spivak hitting his assistant (who had a microphone held to his back) on the chest with a drumstick. Spivak created the hisses and croaks of the dinosaurs with an air compressor for the former and his own vocals for the latter. The vocalizations of the Tyrannosaurus were additionally mixed in with puma screams. Bird squawks were used for the Pteranodon. Spivak also provided the numerous screams of the various sailors. Fay Wray herself provided all of her character's screams in a single recording session.
For budgetary reasons, RKO decided not to have an original film score composed, instead instructing composer Max Steiner to simply reuse music from other films. Cooper thought the film deserved an original score and paid Steiner $50,000 to compose it. Steiner completed the score in six weeks and recorded it with a 46-piece orchestra. The studio later reimbursed Cooper. The score was unlike any that came before and marked a significant change in the history of film music. "King Kong"s score was the first feature-length musical score written for an American "talkie" film, the first major Hollywood film to have a thematic score rather than background music, the first to mark the use of a 46-piece orchestra, and the first to be recorded on three separate tracks (sound effects, dialogue, and music). Steiner used a number of new film scoring techniques, such as drawing upon opera conventions for his use of leitmotifs. Over the years, Steiner's score was recorded by multiple record labels and the original motion picture soundtrack has been issued on a compact disc.
"King Kong" opened at the 6,200-seat Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the 3,700-seat RKO Roxy across the street on Thursday, March 2, 1933. The film was preceded by a stage show called "Jungle Rhythms". Crowds lined up around the block on opening day, tickets were priced at $.35 to $.75, and, in its first four days, every one of its ten-shows-a-day was sold out – setting an all-time attendance record for an indoor event. Over the four-day period, the film grossed $89,931.
The film had its official world premiere on March 23, 1933 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The 'big head bust' was placed in the theater's forecourt and a seventeen-act show preceded the film with "The Dance of the Sacred Ape" performed by a troupe of African American dancers the highpoint. "Kong" cast and crew attended and Wray thought her on-screen screams distracting and excessive. The film opened nationwide on April 10, 1933, and worldwide on Easter Day in London, England.
It was re-released in 1938, 1942, 1946, 1952 and 1956, the latter following a successful telecast on WOR-TV.
The film was a box-office success making about $5 million in worldwide rentals on its initial release, with an opening weekend estimated at $90,000. Receipts fell by up to 50% in the second week of the film's release because of the national "bank holiday" called in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first days in office. During the film's first run it made a profit of $650,000.
Prior to the 1952 re-release, the film is reported to have worldwide rentals of $2,847,000 including $1,070,000 from the United States and Canada and profits of $1,310,000. After the 1952 re-release, "Variety" estimated the film had made an additional $1.6 million in the United States and Canada taking its total to $3.9 million in cumulative domestic (United States and Canada) rentals. Profits from the 1952 re-release were estimated by the studio at $2.5 million.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on , with a weighted average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""King Kong" explores the soul of a monster – making audiences scream and cry throughout the film – in large part due to Kong's breakthrough special effects." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "Universal acclaim".
"Variety" thought the film was a powerful adventure. "The New York Times" gave readers an enthusiastic account of the plot and thought the film a fascinating adventure. John Mosher of "The New Yorker" called it "ridiculous", but wrote that there were "many scenes in this picture that are certainly diverting". The "New York World-Telegram" said it was "one of the very best of all the screen thrillers, done with all the cinema's slickest camera tricks". The "Chicago Tribune" called it "one of the most original, thrilling and mammoth novelties to emerge from a movie studio."
On February 3, 2002, Roger Ebert included "King Kong" in his "Great Movies" list, writing that "In modern times the movie has aged, as critic James Berardinelli observes, and 'advances in technology and acting have dated aspects of the production.' Yes, but in the very artificiality of some of the special effects, there is a creepiness that isn't there in today's slick, flawless, computer-aided images... Even allowing for its slow start, wooden acting and wall-to-wall screaming, there is something ageless and primeval about "King Kong" that still somehow works."
In the 19th and early 20th century, people of African descent were commonly visually represented as ape-like, a metaphor that fitted racist stereotypes, further bolstered by the emergence of scientific racism. Early films frequently mirrored racial tensions. While "King Kong" is often compared to the story of "Beauty and the Beast", many film scholars have argued that the film was a cautionary tale about interracial romance, in which the film's "carrier of blackness is not a human being, but an ape". Cooper and Schoedsack rejected any allegorical interpretations, insisting in interviews that the film's story contained no hidden meanings. In an interview, which was published posthumously, Cooper actually explained the deeper meaning of the film. The inspiration for the climactic scene came when, "as he was leaving his office in Manhattan, he heard the sound of an airplane motor. He reflexively looked up as the sun glinted off the wings of a plane flying extremely close to the tallest building in the city... he realized if he placed the giant gorilla on top of the tallest building in the world and had him shot down by the most modern of weapons, the armed airplane, he would have a story of the primitive doomed by modern civilization."
The film was initially banned in Nazi Germany, with the censors describing it as an "attack against the nerves of the German people" and a "violation of German race feeling". However, according to confidant Ernst Hanfstaengl, Adolf Hitler was "fascinated" by the film and saw it several times.
"Kong" did not receive any Academy Awards nominations. Selznick wanted to nominate O'Brien and his crew for a special award in visual effects but the Academy declined. Such a category did not exist at the time and would not exist until 1938. Sidney Saunders and Fred Jackman received a special achievement award for the development of the translucent acetate/cellulose rear screen – the only "Kong"-related award.
The film has since received some significant honors. In 1975, "Kong" was named one of the 50 best American films by the American Film Institute, and, in 1991, the film was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1998, the AFI ranked the film #43 on its list of the 100 greatest movies of all time.
American Film Institute Lists
"King Kong" was re-released in 1938, 1942, 1946, 1952 and 1956; each time to great box office success. The Production Code's stricter decency rules had been put into effect in Hollywood after its 1933 premiere and it was progressively censored further, with several scenes being either trimmed or excised altogether.
These scenes were as follows:
After the 1956 re-release, the film was sold to television (first being broadcast March 5, 1956).
RKO did not preserve copies of film's negative or release prints with the excised footage, and the cut scenes were considered lost for many years. In 1969, a 16mm print, including the censored footage, was found in Philadelphia. The cut scenes were added to the film, restoring it to its original theatrical running time of 100 minutes. This version was re-released to art houses by Janus Films in 1970.
Over the next two decades, Universal Studios carried out further photochemical restoration on "King Kong". This was based on a 1942 release print, with missing censor cuts taken from a 1937 print, which "contained heavy vertical scratches from projection." An original release print located in the UK in the 1980s was found to contain the cut scenes in better quality.
After a 6-year worldwide search for the best surviving materials, a further, fully digital, restoration utilizing 4K resolution scanning was completed by Warner Bros. in 2005. This restoration also had a 4-minute overture added, bringing the overall running time to 104 minutes. "King Kong" was also, somewhat controversially, colorized in the late 1980s for television.
In 1984, "King Kong" was one of the first films to be released on LaserDisc by the Criterion Collection, and was the very first movie to have an audio commentary track included. Criterion's audio commentary was by film historian Ron Haver; in 1985 Image Entertainment released another LaserDisc, this time with a commentary by film historian and soundtrack producer Paul Mandell. The Haver commentary was preserved in full on the FilmStruck streaming service.
"King Kong" had numerous VHS and LaserDisc releases of varying quality prior to receiving an official studio release on DVD. Those included a Turner 60th anniversary edition in 1993 featuring a front cover which had the sound effect of Kong roaring when his chest was pressed. It also included the colorized version of the film and a 25-minute documentary, "It Was Beauty Killed the Beast" (1992). The documentary is also available on two different UK "King Kong" DVDs, while the colorized version is available on DVD in the UK and Italy. Warner Home Video re-released the black and white version on VHS with the 25-minute documentary included under the "Warner Bros. Classics" label in 1999.
In 2005 Warner Bros released their digital restoration of "King Kong" in a US 2-disc Special Edition DVD, coinciding with the theatrical release of Peter Jackson's remake. It had numerous extra features, including a new, third audio commentary by visual effects artists Ray Harryhausen and Ken Ralston, with archival excerpts from actress Fay Wray and producer/director Merian C. Cooper. Warners issued identical DVDs in 2006 in Australia and New Zealand, followed by a US digibook-packaged Blu-ray in 2010. In 2014 the Blu-ray was repackaged with three unrelated films in a "4 Film Favorites: Colossal Monster Collection".
At present, Universal holds worldwide rights to "Kong"'s home video releases outside of North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. All Universal's releases only contain their earlier, 100 minute, pre-2005 restoration. However, in the UK, Warner Home Video released the film digitally and on Blu-Ray and DVD in early 2017. The Blu-Ray contained the same contents as the US release, but unfortunately for the DVD, that was based on the first Disc of the 2-Disc DVD release.
The 1933 "King Kong" film and character inspired imitations and installments. "Son of Kong", a direct sequel to the 1933 film was released nine months after the first film's release. In the early 1960s, RKO had licensed the King Kong character to Japanese studio Toho and produced two King Kong films, "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (a crossover with the "Godzilla" series) and "King Kong Escapes", both directed by Ishirō Honda.
In 1976, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis released his version of "King Kong", a modern remake of the 1933 film, which was followed by a sequel in 1986 titled "King Kong Lives". In 2005, Universal Pictures released another remake of "King Kong", directed by Peter Jackson. Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. released a Kong reboot film titled "" in 2017 which was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and is the second installment of Legendary's MonsterVerse, which started with Legendary's reboot of " Godzilla". | en.wikipedia.org | King Kong (1933 film) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16782 |
16788 | Kenning
A kenning (Modern Icelandic pronunciation: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English poetry. They continued to be a feature of Icelandic poetry (including "rímur") for centuries, together with the closely related heiti.
A kenning has two parts: a base-word (also known as a head-word) and a determinant. For example, the base-word of the kenning "íss rauðra randa" ('icicle of red shields' [SWORD], Einarr Skúlason: "Øxarflokkr" 9) is "íss" ('ice, icicle') and the determinant is "rǫnd" ('rim, shield-rim, shield'). The thing, person, place or being to which the kenning refers is known as its referent (in this case a sword). Although kennings are sometimes hyphenated in English translation, Old Norse poetry did not require kennings to be in normal word order, nor do the parts of the kenning need to be side-by-side. The lack of grammatical cases in modern English makes this aspect of kennings impossible to translate.
Modern scholars have also applied the term kenning to similar figures of speech in other languages, especially Old English.
The corresponding modern verb "to ken" survives in Scots and English dialects and in general English through the derivative existing in the standard language in the set expression "beyond one's ken", "beyond the scope of one's knowledge" and in the phonologically altered forms "uncanny", "surreal" or "supernatural", and "canny", "shrewd", "prudent". Modern Scots retains (with slight differences between dialects) "tae ken" "to know", "kent" "knew" or "known", Afrikaans "ken" "be acquainted with" and " to know" and "kennis "knowledge"". Old Norse "kenna" (Modern Icelandic "kenna", Swedish "känna", Danish "kende", Norwegian "kjenne" or "kjenna") is cognate with Old English "cennan", Old Frisian "kenna", "kanna", Old Saxon ("ant")"kennian" (Middle Dutch and Dutch "kennen"), Old High German ("ir-", "in-", "pi-") "chennan" (Middle High German and German "kennen"), Gothic "kannjan" < Proto-Germanic *"kannjanan", originally causative of *"kunnanan" "to know (how to)", whence Modern English "can" 'to be able'. The word ultimately derives from "*ǵneh₃", the same Proto-Indo-European root that yields Modern English "know", Latin-derived terms such as "cognition" and "ignorant", and Greek "gnosis".
Old Norse kennings take the form of a genitive phrase ("báru fákr" "wave's horse" = "ship" (Þorbjörn Hornklofi: Glymdrápa 3)) or a compound word ("gjálfr-marr" "sea-steed" = "ship" (Anon.: "Hervararkviða" 27)). The simplest kennings consist of a base-word (Icelandic "stofnorð", German "Grundwort") and a determinant (Icelandic "kenniorð", German "Bestimmung") which qualifies, or modifies, the meaning of the base-word. The determinant may be a noun used uninflected as the first element in a compound word, with the base-word constituting the second element of the compound word. Alternatively the determinant may be a noun in the genitive case placed before or after the base-word, either directly or separated from the base-word by intervening words.
Thus the base-words in these examples are "fákr" "horse" and "marr" "steed", the determinants "báru" "waves" and "gjálfr" "sea". The unstated noun which the kenning refers to is called its referent, in this case: "skip" "ship".
In Old Norse poetry, either component of a kenning (base-word, determinant or both) could consist of an ordinary noun or a "heiti" "poetic synonym". In the above examples, "fákr" and "marr" are distinctively poetic lexemes; the normal word for "horse" in Old Norse prose is "hestr".
The skalds also employed complex kennings in which the determinant, or sometimes the base-word, is itself made up of a further kenning: "grennir gunn-más" "feeder of war-gull" = "feeder of raven" = "warrior" (Þorbjörn Hornklofi: "Glymdrápa" 6); "eyðendr arnar hungrs" "destroyers of eagle's hunger" = "feeders of eagle" = "warrior" (Þorbjörn Þakkaskáld: Erlingsdrápa 1) (referring to carnivorous birds scavenging after a battle). Where one kenning is embedded in another like this, the whole figure is said to be "tvíkent" "doubly determined, twice modified".
Frequently, where the determinant is itself a kenning, the base-word of the kenning that makes up the determinant is attached uninflected to the front of the base-word of the whole kenning to form a compound word: "mög-fellandi mellu" "son-slayer of giantess" = "slayer of sons of giantess" = "slayer of giants" = "the god Thor" (Steinunn Refsdóttir: Lausavísa 2).
If the figure comprises more than three elements, it is said to be "rekit" "extended". Kennings of up to seven elements are recorded in skaldic verse. Snorri himself characterises five-element kennings as an acceptable license but cautions against more extreme constructions: "Níunda er þat at reka til hinnar fimtu kenningar, er ór ættum er ef lengra er rekit; en þótt þat finnisk í fornskálda verka, þá látum vér þat nú ónýtt." "The ninth [license] is extending a kenning to the fifth determinant, but it is out of proportion if it is extended further. Even if it can be found in the works of ancient poets, we no longer tolerate it." The longest kenning found in skaldic poetry occurs in "Hafgerðingadrápa" by Þórðr Sjáreksson and reads "nausta blakks hlé-mána gífrs drífu gim-slöngvir" "fire-brandisher of blizzard of ogress of protection-moon of steed of boat-shed", which simply means "warrior".
Word order in Old Norse was generally much freer than in Modern English because Old Norse and Old English are synthetic languages, where added prefixes and suffixes to the root word (the core noun, verb, adjective or adverb) carry grammatical meanings, whereas Middle English and Modern English use word order to carry grammatical information, so-called analytic languages. This freedom is exploited to the full in skaldic verse and taken to extremes far beyond what would be natural in prose. Other words can intervene between a base-word and its genitive determinant, and occasionally between the elements of a compound word (tmesis). Kennings, and even whole clauses, can be interwoven. Ambiguity is usually less than it would be if an English text were subjected to the same contortions, thanks to the more elaborate morphology of Old Norse.
Another factor aiding comprehension is that Old Norse kennings tend to be highly conventional. Most refer to the same small set of topics, and do so using a relatively small set of traditional metaphors. Thus a leader or important man will be characterised as generous, according to one common convention, and called an "enemy of gold", "attacker of treasure", "destroyer of arm-rings", etc. and a friend of his people. Nevertheless, there are many instances of ambiguity in the corpus, some of which may be intentional, and some evidence that, rather than merely accepting it from expediency, skalds favoured contorted word order for its own sake.
Some scholars take the term kenning broadly to include any noun-substitute consisting of two or more elements, including merely descriptive epithets (such as Old Norse "grand viðar" "bane of wood" = "fire" (Snorri Sturluson: Skáldskaparmál 36)), while others would restrict it to metaphorical instances (such as Old Norse "sól húsanna" "sun of the houses" = "fire" (Snorri Sturluson: Skáldskaparmál 36)), specifically those where "[t]he base-word identifies the referent with something which it is not, except in a specially conceived relation which the poet imagines between it and the sense of the limiting element'" (Brodeur (1959) pp. 248–253). Some even exclude naturalistic metaphors such as Old English "forstes bend" "bond of frost" = "ice" or "winter-ġewǣde" "winter-raiment" = "snow": "A metaphor is a kenning only if it contains an incongruity between the referent and the meaning of the base-word; in the kenning the limiting word is essential to the figure because without it the incongruity would make any identification impossible" (Brodeur (1959) pp. 248–253). Descriptive epithets are a common literary device in many parts of the world, whereas kennings in this restricted sense are a distinctive feature of Old Norse and, to a lesser extent, Old English poetry.
Snorri's own usage, however, seems to fit the looser sense: "Snorri uses the term "kenning" to refer to a structural device, whereby a person or object is indicated by a periphrastic description containing two or more terms (which can be a noun with one or more dependent genitives or a compound noun or a combination of these two structures)" (Faulkes (1998 a), p. xxxiv). The term is certainly applied to non-metaphorical phrases in Skáldskaparmál: "En sú kenning er áðr var ritat, at kalla Krist konung manna, þá kenning má eiga hverr konungr." "And that kenning which was written before, calling Christ the king of men, any king can have that kenning. Likewise in Háttatal: "Þat er kenning at kalla fleinbrak orrostu [...]" "It is a kenning to call battle 'spear-crash' [...]".
Snorri's expression "kend heiti" "qualified terms" appears to be synonymous with "kenningar", although Brodeur applies this more specifically to those periphrastic epithets which don't come under his strict definition of kenning.
Sverdlov approaches the question from a morphological standpoint. Noting that the modifying component in Germanic compound words can take the form of a genitive or a bare root, he points to behavioural similarities between genitive determinants and the modifying element in regular Old Norse compound words, such as the fact that neither can be modified by a free-standing (declined) adjective. According to this view, all kennings are formally compounds, notwithstanding widespread tmesis.
Kennings could be developed into extended, and sometimes vivid, metaphors: "tröddusk törgur fyr [...] hjalta harðfótum" "shields were trodden under the hard feet of the hilt (sword blades)" (Eyvindr Skáldaspillir: Hákonarmál 6); "svarraði sárgymir á sverða nesi" "wound-sea (=blood) sprayed on headland of swords (=shield)" (Eyvindr Skáldaspillir: Hákonarmál 7). Snorri calls such examples "nýgervingar" and exemplifies them in verse 6 of his Háttatal. The effect here seems to depend on an interplay of more or less naturalistic imagery and jarring artifice. But the skalds weren't averse either to arbitrary, purely decorative, use of kennings: "That is, a ruler will be a distributor of gold even when he is fighting a battle and gold will be called the fire of the sea even when it is in the form of a man's arm-ring on his arm. If the man wearing a gold ring is fighting a battle on land the mention of the sea will have no relevance to his situation at all and does not contribute to the picture of the battle being described" (Faulkes (1997), pp. 8–9).
Snorri draws the line at mixed metaphor, which he terms "nykrat" "made monstrous" (Snorri Sturluson: Háttatal 6), and his nephew called the practice "löstr" "a fault" (Óláfr hvítaskáld: Third Grammatical Treatise 80). In spite of this, it seems that "many poets did not object to and some must have preferred baroque juxtapositions of unlike kennings and neutral or incongruous verbs in their verses" (Foote & Wilson (1970), p. 332). E.g. "heyr jarl Kvasis dreyra" "listen, earl, to Kvasir's blood (=poetry)" (Einarr skálaglamm: Vellekla 1).
Sometimes there is a kind of redundancy whereby the referent of the whole kenning, or a kenning for it, is embedded: "barmi dólg-svölu" "brother of hostility-swallow" = "brother of raven" = "raven" (Oddr breiðfirðingr: Illugadrápa 1); "blik-meiðendr bauga láðs" "gleam-harmers of the land of rings" = "harmers of gleam of arm" = "harmers of ring" = "leaders, nobles, men of social standing (conceived of as generously destroying gold, i.e. giving it away freely)" (Anon.: Líknarbraut 42).
While some Old Norse kennings are relatively transparent, many depend on a knowledge of specific myths or legends. Thus the sky might be called naturalistically "él-ker" "squall-vat" (Markús Skeggjason: Eiríksdrápa 3) or described in mythical terms as "Ymis haus" "Ymir's skull" (Arnórr jarlaskáld: Magnúsdrápa 19), referring to the idea that the sky was made out of the skull of the primeval giant Ymir. Still others name mythical entities according to certain conventions without reference to a specific story: "rimmu Yggr" "Odin of battle" = "warrior" (Arnórr jarlaskáld: Magnúsdrápa 5).
Poets in medieval Iceland even treated Christian themes using the traditional repertoire of kennings complete with allusions to heathen myths and aristocratic epithets for saints: "Þrúðr falda" "goddess of headdresses" = "Saint Catherine" (Kálfr Hallsson: Kátrínardrápa 4).
Kennings of the type AB, where B routinely has the characteristic A and thus this AB is tautological, tend to mean "like B in that it has the characteristic A", e.g. "shield-Njörðr", tautological because the god Njörðr by nature has his own shield, means "like Njörðr in that he has a shield", i.e. "warrior". A modern English example is "painted Jezebel" as a disapproving expression for a woman too fond of using cosmetics.
Kennings may include proper names. A modern example of this is an ad hoc usage by a helicopter ambulance pilot: "the Heathrow of hang gliders" for the hills behind Hawes in Yorkshire in England, when he found the air over the emergency site crowded with hang-gliders.
Sometimes a name given to one well-known member of a species, is used to mean any member of that species. For example, Old Norse "valr" means "falcon", but Old Norse mythology mentions a horse named Valr, and thus in Old Norse poetry "valr" is sometimes used to mean "horse".
A term may be omitted from a well-known kenning: "val-teigs Hildr" "hawk-ground's valkyrie/goddess" (Haraldr Harðráði: Lausavísa 19). The full expression implied here is "goddess of gleam/fire/adornment of ground/land/seat/perch of hawk" = "goddess of gleam of arm" = "goddess of gold" = "lady" (characterised according to convention as wearing golden jewellery, the arm-kenning being a reference to falconry). The poet relies on listeners' familiarity with such conventions to carry the meaning.
In the following dróttkvætt stanza, the Norwegian skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir (d. ca 990) compares the greed of King Harald Greycloak (Old Norse: "Haraldr") to the generosity of his predecessor, Haakon the Good ("Hákon"):
A literal translation reveals several kennings: "Ullr of the war-leek! We carried the seed of Fýrisvellir on our hawk-mountains during all of Haakon's life; now the enemy of the people has hidden the flour of Fróði's hapless slaves in the flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantess."
This could be paraphrased as "O warrior, we carried gold on our arms during all of King Haakon's life; now the enemy of the people has hidden gold in the earth." The kennings are:
Ullr ... ímunlauks, "warrior", from Ullr, the name of a god, and ímun-laukr, "sword" (literally "war-leek"). By convention, the name of any god can be associated with another word to produce a kenning for a certain type of man; here "Ullr of the sword" means "warrior." "War-leek" is a kenning for "sword" that likens the shape of the sword to that of a leek. The warrior referred to may be King Harald.
Hauka fjöllum, "arms", from "hauka" "hawk" and "fjöll" mountain. This is a reference to the sport of falconry, where a bird of prey is perched on the arm of the falconer. By convention, "hawk" combined with a term for a geographic feature forms a kenning for "arm."
Fýrisvalla fræ, "gold", from "Fýrisvellir", the plains of the river Fýri, and "fræ", "seed." This is an allusion to a legend retold in "Skáldskaparmál" and "Hrólfs saga kraka" in which King Hrolf and his men scattered gold on the plains ("vellir") of the river Fýri south of Gamla Uppsala to delay their pursuers.
Fróða fáglýjaðra þýja meldr, "flour of Fróði's hapless slaves", is another kenning for "gold." It alludes to the Grottasöngr legend.
Móður hold mellu dolgs, "flesh of the mother of the enemy of the giantess." "earth." Here the earth is personified as the goddess Jörð, mother of Thor, enemy of the Jǫtnar or "giants".
The practice of forming kennings has traditionally been seen as a common Germanic inheritance, but this has been disputed since, among the early Germanic languages, their use is largely restricted to Old Norse and Old English poetry. A possible early kenning for "gold" ("walha-kurna" "Roman/Gallic grain") is attested in the Proto-Norse runic inscription on the Tjurkö (I)-C bracteate. Kennings are virtually absent from the surviving corpus of continental West Germanic verse; the Old Saxon Heliand contains only one example: "lîk-hamo" "body-raiment" = "body" (Heliand 3453 b), a compound which, in any case, is normal in West Germanic and North Germanic prose (Old English "līchama", Old High German "lîchamo", "lîchinamo", Dutch "lichaam", Old Icelandic "líkamr", "líkami", Old Swedish "līkhamber", Swedish "lekamen", Danish and Norwegian Bokmål "legeme", Norwegian Nynorsk "lekam").
Old English kennings are all of the simple type, possessing just two elements, e.g. for "sea": "seġl-rād" "sail-road" (Beowulf 1429 b), "swan-rād" "swan-road" (Beowulf 200 a), "bæð-weġ" "bath-way" (Andreas 513 a), "hron-rād" "whale-road" (Beowulf 10), "hwæl-weġ" "whale-way" (The Seafarer 63 a). Most Old English examples take the form of compound words in which the first element is uninflected: "heofon-candel" "sky-candle" = "the sun" (Exodus 115 b). Kennings consisting of a genitive phrase occur too, but rarely: "heofones ġim" "sky's jewel" = "the sun" (The Phoenix 183).
Old English poets often place a series of synonyms in apposition, and these may include kennings (loosely or strictly defined) as well as the literal referent: "Hrōðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga" ... "Hrothgar, helm (=protector, lord) of the Scyldings, said ..." (Beowulf 456).
Although the word "kenning" isn't often used for non-Germanic languages, a similar form can be found in Biblical poetry in its use of parallelism. Some examples include , in which "blood of grapes" is used as a kenning for "wine", and where "born of woman" is a parallel for "man".
Figures of speech similar to kennings occur in Modern English (both in literature and in regular speech), and are often found in combination with other poetic devices. For example, the Madness song "The Sun and the Rain" contains the line "standing up in the falling-down", where "the falling-down" refers to rain and is used in juxtaposition to "standing up". Some recent English writers have attempted to use approximations of kennings in their work. John Steinbeck used kenning-like figures of speech in his 1950 novella "Burning Bright", which was adapted into a Broadway play that same year. According to Steinbeck biographer Jay Parini, "The experiment is well-intentioned, but it remains idiosyncratic to the point of absurdity. Steinbeck invented compound phrases (similar to the Old English use of kennings), such as 'wife-loss' and 'friend-right' and 'laughter-starving,' that simply seem eccentric."
Kennings remain somewhat common in German ("Drahtesel" "wire-donkey" for bicycle, "Feuerstuhl" "fire-chair" for motorcycle, "Stubentiger" "parlour-tiger" for cat, and so on).
The poet Seamus Heaney regularly employed kennings in his work; for example, 'bone-house' for "skeleton". | en.wikipedia.org | Kenning | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16788 |
16789 | Kult (role-playing game)
Kult is a contemporary horror role-playing game originally created by Gunilla Jonsson & Michael Petersén with illustrations by Nils Gulliksson, first published in Sweden by Äventyrsspel (later Target Games) in 1991. Kult is notable for its philosophical and religious depth as well as for its mature and controversial content.
The first English edition was published in 1993 by Metropolis Ltd.. In 1995, translated the second Swedish edition into French.
In 2018 current licensor Helmgast released the fourth edition called KULT: Divinity Lost created by Robin Liljenberg and Petter Nallo. This edition moved the setting from the 1990s to the present and was completely rewritten with new art, layout and a ruleset based on Powered by the Apocalypse. The new edition was well received by critics and fans and won two ennies for "Best Writing" and "Best Cover 2019" and was also nominated for "Best Interior Art".
The default backdrop of Kult is modern-day real-life larger cities; players taking the roles of contemporary multi-genre protagonists, such as private investigators and femme fatales, vigilantes and drug dealers, artists and journalists, or secret agents and mad scientists. In the game, however, all this and the entire world we see, is an "illusion" held together by a monotheistic belief which is unravelling to reveal a darker backdrop where nightmarish monsters lurk, called "reality" in the game. This illusion was created by the Demiurge to hold humanity prisoner and to prevent mankind from regaining the divinity it once had. In the absence of this Demiurge, sinister forces plot to keep us from realizing the truth, or even to plunge the world into an apocalyptic war to restore humanity's ignorance and blind faith in the divine order.
Some symbols and creatures appearing in Kult can also be seen in other Swedish games to which the Kult authors and production team also have contributed. The Mutant Chronicles' universe (created by Nils Gulliksson and Michael Stenmark) its spin-offs share creatures such as Nepharites and Razides which appear in the game.
The notion of an originally divine mankind being held captive by sinister forces is borrowed from gnosticism. The cosmological backdrop of Kult is largely based on the Tree of life, the Sephirot and the Qliphoth. It is balanced with the Demiurge and his Archons on one side and Astaroth and his Death Angels on the other. Each Archon or Death Angel represents a value, group or an action (aid organisations, child abuse, mafia, apathy, judicial systems, etc.) over which they have great influence. The Archons and Death Angels have various creatures and cults (thereby the name of the game) to do their bidding and promote their values. Many of these are our jailers who work to maintain the Illusion. Many of the adventures revolve around how these entities' conflicts affect the player characters and the world around them.
One of the more central elements of the game is that the Demiurge has disappeared since just before the 20th century, and since then Astaroth, the Archons and the Death Angels have been struggling for power. Many entities have vanished since, and the Illusion has been weakened. The game leaves a lot to the imagination of interpretive game masters regarding reasons for the Demiurge's disappearance as well as the earlier mentioned divinity of mankind.
The game concept relies on there being several realities that may appear when the Illusion shatters: Metropolis, the original city which interconnects with all great cities; Inferno and its purgatories, where humans are held captive and tortured after death; and Gaia, which connects to nature and nature's destructive forces. The Underworld where strange people from lost worlds lives in the depth close to infinity. Limbo, the Dream World where Dream Princes create their kingdoms and dream wanderers explore tattered dreams close to Vortex (a place of chaos and creation).
The original system is a skill-based system utilizing 20-sided dice (related to the BRP system used by Äventyrsspel for their Drakar och Demoner rpgs), with point-based characters. In the game, a natural 1 usually is great success with added bonuses and a natural 20 means a complete failure. Normal characters usually have skill ranges of 3 to 20; to succeed in a skill roll, the player needs to roll equal or below his character's skill. The lower the player rolls below the skill number, the greater the success. Extraordinary characters and inhuman entities can have skill values far above the normal range.
The recent edition KULT: Divinity Lost uses rules that are based on the Apocalypse World rules engine. You roll two ten-sided dice, add possible modifications, and try to reach at least 10 to avoid failure or 15 to gain a complete success. KULT: Divinity Lost also has a system where the Gamemaster builds the campaign around the Player Characters and aims to reach true personal horror.
There are several different official rulesets for combat. The second and third English edition rules use a system based on Damage Effect Factors (DEF). The fourth edition, KULT: Divinity Lost, has less focus on combat than previous editions.
Kult's magic system is largely drawn on the same real-world occult belief systems as some modern magick societies. Sorcerers can cast spells from one (or rarely more) of five different Lores; Death, Dream, Madness, Passion and Time & Space. Because these spells have (very) long casting times (up to several days), highly specific and exacting verbal, material and somatic requirements, and can only be cast inside the sorcerer's consecrated temple, these spells are actually more like quasi-religious rituals.
Central to the game is the aspect of Mental Balance, which is a sanity-gauge of sorts. In the game's cosmology humans can - at least in theory - regain their lost divine status through a game concept called Awakening in which characters with an extremely high (or low, the game never values positive or moral traits higher than negative or immoral ones) mental balance are no longer restrained by the rules of the Illusion. Effectively, they escape the prison and become gods.
The closer to equilibrium the character is, the more he is anchored in everyday human reality and the harder it is for the character to see through the veil of The Illusion to the true reality beneath. On the other hand, this protects him from becoming traumatized or insane. The further from this balance point (zero) the character's Mental Balance gets, the more easily he or she will become emotionally and mentally unbalanced by shocking events. A Kult character can have positive or negative mental balance affected by trauma, influence from creatures or places, or by advantages and disadvantages. The advantages and disadvantages are typically talents and traits that work for or against the character, such as (on the positive side) having animal friendship, artistic talent, body awareness, a code of honor, or (from the negative spectrum) being socially inept, suffering from a drug addiction, sex addiction, paranoia, mystic curse or similar.
Both an unusually high or unusually low (+25/-25) Mental Balance will affect how normal people and animals react to the character in question. The further the character strays away from the zero point, the more sociopathic, strange or eccentric he becomes, as he sheds his human quirks and viewpoints and becomes more inhuman. Characters with a very high or very low Mental Balance will start to involuntarily manifest outward physical signs of their ascent or descent; they become either detached saints or Children of the Night. If Mental Balance ever reaches +500/-500, the character Awakens and regains their true potential.
In the fourth edition of Kult the Mental Balance system has been removed, the reason made by the developers is that even if it is interesting it was practically impossible to use other than as a concept. instead you transcend between different types of Archetypes: "The Sleeper", "The Aware", "The Enlightened" that moves you towards Awakening.
Kult was originally published by the company Target Games in 1991 as a Swedish role-playing game, and has later been translated into several other languages. Kult has been published in Swedish, German, English, Italian, Spanish and French.
Metropolis Ltd. published the English-language game through three editions and new supplements, with a new US background and a revised page design and editing led by Terry K. Amthor.
The third English edition of Kult had two English books released in print form: a player's handbook named "Kult Rumours" in 2001 and the core rulebook, subtitled "Beyond The Veil", printed in 2004. Both are currently out of print, though copies can be purchased through secondary and specialized markets.
The former publishers were 7ème Cercle (French) and (Italian).
The license has been the property of first Target Games, then Paradox Entertainment, and, in 2015, Cabinet Holdings.
Currently, Kult is licensed by Helmgast.
A 2016 Kickstarter campaign funded a new edition of the game, entitled 'Kult: Divinity Lost'. This edition uses a different rules engine than previous editions, one based on "Apocalypse World" and its "Powered by the Apocalypse" rules engine. It updates the setting to answer the question “What would Kult had been like if it was released in 2016 instead of 1991?” The game was released in 2018.
In 2017 Free League published Anders Fager's novel "För Gudinnan" (for the love of goddess) set in the Kult universe. Fager has also written an audiolouge called "Faraday" set in the Kult adventure Tarroticum.
In Sweden, Kult has been noted by the general press several times, and in 1997 the Kult core rules were quoted in a motion in the Parliament of Sweden. The motion was to stop taxpayer funding of youth groups that were active with role-playing. It refers to a murder in a small town in southern Sweden called Bjuv, where a 15-year-old was killed by two 16- and 17-year-old friends who (according to the legal motion) were influenced by Kult.
Critics of role-playing games have also tied Kult to a 16-year-old Swedish boy who committed suicide by shotgun in November 1996.
The local newspaper "Tønsbergs Blad" in Tønsberg, Norway similarly used Kult in relation to the disappearance of a boy called Andreas Hammer on July 1, 1994. Andreas Hammer allegedly played Kult the week prior to his disappearance. He is still missing.
Jeff Koke reviewed "Kult" for "Pyramid" #3 (Sept./Oct., 1993), and stated that "All in all, Kult is a very good system and background for roleplayers who are mature enough to delve into truly dark roleplaying. Even for those players who dislike being immersed in depressing, hopeless worlds, the background has enough tidbits of bleak imagery and morsels of horrific scenery that it's worth the cover price just to browse through the Metropolis." | en.wikipedia.org | Kult (role-playing game) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16789 |
16790 | Carl Friedrich Abel
Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument.
Abel was born in Köthen, a small German city, where his father, Christian Ferdinand Abel, had worked for years as the principal viola da gamba and cello player in the court orchestra. In 1723 Abel senior became director of the orchestra, when the previous director, Johann Sebastian Bach, moved to Leipzig. The young Abel later boarded at St. Thomas School, Leipzig, where he was taught by Bach.
On Bach's recommendation in 1743 he was able to join Johann Adolph Hasse's court orchestra at Dresden, where he remained for fifteen years. In 1759 (or 1758 according to "Chambers"), he went to England and became chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte, in 1764. He gave a concert of his own compositions in London, performing on various instruments, one of which was a five-string cello known as a pentachord, which had been recently invented by John Joseph Merlin.
In 1762, Johann Christian Bach, the eleventh son of J.S. Bach, joined him in London, and the friendship between him and Abel led, in 1764 or 1765, to the establishment of the famous Bach-Abel concerts, England's first subscription concerts. In those concerts, many celebrated guest artists appeared, and many works of Haydn received their first English performance.
For ten years the concerts were organized by Mrs. Theresa Cornelys, a retired Venetian opera singer who owned a concert hall at Carlisle House in Soho Square, then the height of fashionable events. In 1775 the concerts became independent of her, to be continued by Abel and Bach until Bach's death in 1782. Abel still remained in great demand as a player on various instruments new and old. He traveled to Germany and France between 1782 and 1785, and upon his return to London, became a leading member of the Grand Professional Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms in Soho. Throughout his life he had enjoyed excessive living, and his drinking probably hastened his death, which occurred in London on 20 June 1787. He was buried in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church.
One of Abel's works became famous due to a misattribution: in the 19th century, a manuscript symphony in the hand of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was catalogued as his "Symphony no. 3 in E flat," K. 18, and was published as such in the first complete edition of Mozart's works by Breitkopf & Härtel. Later, it was discovered that this symphony was actually the work of Abel, copied by the boy Mozart—evidently for study purposes—while he was visiting London in 1764. That symphony was originally published as the concluding work in Abel's "Six Symphonies, Op. 7."
In 2015 new manuscripts of Abel's viola da gamba music were found in the library of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, in a collection from the Maltzahn family palace in the town of Milicz in Poland, originally brought back from London by .
"(adapted from the listing in the at fr.wikipedia.org)" | en.wikipedia.org | Carl Friedrich Abel | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16790 |
16791 | Kista
Kista () is a district in the borough of Rinkeby-Kista, Stockholm, Sweden. It has a strategic position located in between Sweden's main airport, the Stockholm-Arlanda International Airport and central Stockholm, and alongside the main national highway E4 economic artery. Kista comprises residential and commercial areas, the latter in the highly technological telecommunication and information technology industry. There are large research efforts in this entire area, which therefore is dubbed Kista Science City. It is the research park of KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Kista is the largest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cluster in Europe, and the world's second largest cluster after Silicon Valley in California. It is the largest corporate area in Sweden, important to the national economy due to the presence of, among others, Ericsson Group, the largest corporation in Sweden.
Kista Science City is the location where a large portion of the research and development of the world's 4G LTE mobile telephony infrastructure is being developed, a European ETSI standard used worldwide and Kista Science City has been the largest such cluster in Europe for decades. A majority is done at Ericsson corporation, with 100,000 employees worldwide, but with its research and worldwide Headquarters in the Kista Science City.
Kista was named after an old farm "Kista Gård", still located in the area. The construction of the modern parts were started in the 1970s. Most of the streets in Kista are named after towns and places in Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and Faroe Islands. Before the opening of the Mall of Scandinavia, Kista Galleria was the biggest shopping center in the Stockholm region.
Because of its ICT industries, it became in the 1980s referred to as "Chipsta" and, after Sweden joined the EU in 1995, also as Europe's "Silicon Valley".
Kista is the largest corporate area in Sweden and important to the national economy.
The construction of the industrial section of Kista began in the 1970s with companies such as SRA (Svenska Radioaktiebolaget, now a part of Ericsson), RIFA AB (later Ericsson Components AB, and later still Ericsson Microelectronics AB, and now Infineon Technologies), and IBM Svenska AB (the Swedish branch of IBM). Ericsson has had its headquarters in Kista since 2003.
Kista hosts entire departments of both KTH Royal Institute of Technology, such as Wireless@KTH, and Stockholm University (formerly jointly known as "the IT University").
There are also Swedish national research institutes (pure research, no students) such as the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI who has its Headquarters there, just as Ericsson, Swedish IBM and Tele 2, among others has.
Also the Swedish Co-location Centre of EU innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation EIT Digital is located in Kista and offers a 2-year Master program in collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology. | en.wikipedia.org | Kista | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16791 |
16792 | Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike () is a region of the Yukon territory in northwest Canada, east of the Alaskan border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon River from the east at Dawson City.
The Klondike is famed due to the Klondike Gold Rush, which started in 1896 and lasted until 1899. Gold has been mined continuously in that area except for a hiatus in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The name "Klondike" evolved from the Hän word "Tr'ondëk", which means "hammerstone water". Early gold seekers found it difficult to pronounce the First Nations word, so "Klondike" was the result of this poor pronunciation.
The climate is warm in the short summer, and very cold during the long winter. By late October ice is formed over the rivers. The ground for the majority of the year is frozen to the depth of . | en.wikipedia.org | Klondike, Yukon | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16792 |
16793 | Korean cuisine
Korean cuisine is the customary cooking traditions and practices of the culinary arts of Korea. Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine has evolved through a complex interaction of the natural environment and different cultural trends.
Korean cuisine is largely based on rice, vegetables, and (at least in the South) meats. Traditional Korean meals are named for the number of side dishes (반찬; 飯饌; "banchan") that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Kimchi is served at nearly every meal. Commonly used ingredients include sesame oil, "doenjang" (fermented bean paste), soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, "gochugaru" (pepper flakes), "gochujang" (fermented red chili paste) and napa cabbage.
Ingredients and dishes vary by province. Many regional dishes have become national, and dishes that were once regional have proliferated in different variations across the country. Korean royal court cuisine once brought all of the unique regional specialties together for the royal family. Foods are regulated by Korean cultural etiquette.
In the Jeulmun pottery period (approximately 8000 to 1500 BCE), hunter-gatherer societies engaged in fishing and hunting, and incipient agriculture in the later stages. Since the beginning of the Mumun pottery period (1500 BCE), agricultural traditions began to develop with new migrant groups from the Liao River basin of Manchuria. During the Mumun period, people grew millet, barley, wheat, legumes and rice, and continued to hunt and fish. Archaeological remains point to development of fermented beans during this period, and cultural contact with nomadic cultures to the north facilitated domestication of animals.
The Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE – 668 CE) was one of rapid cultural evolution. The kingdom of Goguryeo (37 BCE – 668 CE) was located in the northern part of the peninsula along much of modern-day Manchuria. The second kingdom, Baekje (18 BCE – 660 CE), was in the southwestern portion of the peninsula, and the third, Silla (57 BCE – 935 CE), was located at the southeastern portion of the peninsula. Each region had its own distinct set of cultural practices and foods. For example, Baekje was known for cold foods and fermented foods like "kimchi". The spread of Buddhism and Confucianism through cultural exchanges with China during the fourth century CE began to change the distinct cultures of Korea.
During the latter Goryeo period, the Mongols invaded Goryeo in the 13th century. Some traditional foods found today in Korea have their origins during this period. The dumpling dish, "mandu", grilled meat dishes, noodle dishes, and the use of seasonings such as black pepper, all have their roots in this period.
Agricultural innovations were significant and widespread during this period, such as the invention of the rain gauge during the 15th century. During 1429, the government began publishing books on agriculture and farming techniques, which included "Nongsa jikseol" (literally "Straight Talk on Farming"), an agricultural book compiled under King Sejong.
A series of invasions in the earlier half of the Joseon caused a dynamic shift in the culture during the second half of the period. Groups of "silhak" ("practical learning") scholars began to emphasize the importance of looking outside the country for innovation and technology to help improve the agricultural systems. Crops traded by Europeans from the New World began to appear, acquired through trade with China, Japan, Europe, and the Philippines; these crops included corn, sweet potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, peanuts, and squash. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were particularly favored as they grew in soils and on terrains that were previously unused.
Government further developed agriculture through technology and lower taxation. Complex irrigation systems built by government allowed peasant farmers to produce larger crop volumes and produce crops not only for sustenance but also as cash crops. Reduced taxation of the peasantry also furthered the expanded commerce through increasing periodic markets, usually held every five days. One thousand such markets existed in the 19th century, and were communal centers for economic trade and entertainment.
The end of the Joseon period was marked by consistent encouragement to trade with the Western world, China and Japan. In the 1860s, trade agreements pushed by the Japanese government led the Joseon Dynasty to open its trade ports with the west, and to numerous treaties with the United States, Britain, France, and other Western countries.
The opening of Korea to the Western world brought further exchange of culture and food. Western missionaries introduced new ingredients and dishes to Korea. Joseon elites were introduced to these new foods by way of foreigners who attended the royal court as advisers or physicians. This period also saw the introduction of various seasonings imported from Japan via western traders and alcoholic drinks from China.
Japan colonized Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Many of the agricultural systems were taken over by the Japanese to support Japan's food supply. Land changes resulting from the Japanese occupation included combining small farms into large-scale farms, which led to larger yields. Rice production increased during this period to support the Japanese Empire's war efforts. Many Koreans, in turn, increased the production of other grains for their own consumption.
Meals during the Japanese occupation were quite varied. Koreans usually ate two meals a day during the cold seasons, and three during the warm seasons. For the lower classes, satiety, rather than quality, was most important. Those in even lower economic levels were likely to enjoy only a single bowl of white rice "each year", while the remainder of the year was filled with cheaper grains, such as millet and barley. For the Korean middle and upper classes during the occupation, things were quite different. Western foods began emerging in the Korean diet, such as white bread and commercially produced staples such as precooked noodles. The Japanese occupational period ended after the defeat of Japan during World War II.
The country remained in a state of turmoil through the Korean War (1950–1953) and the Cold War, which separated the country into North Korea and South Korea. Both of these periods continued the limited food provisions for Koreans, and the stew called "budae jjigae", which makes use of inexpensive meats such as sausage and Spam, originated during this period.
At this point, the history of North and South Korea sharply diverged. In the 1960s under President Park Chung-hee, industrialization began to give South Korea the economic and cultural power it holds in the global economy today. Agriculture was increased through use of commercial fertilizers and modern farming equipment. In the 1970s, food shortages began to lessen. Consumption of instant and processed foods increased, as did the overall quality of foods. Livestock and dairy production was increased during the 1970s through the increase of commercial dairies and mechanized farms. The consumption of pork and beef increased vastly in the 1970s. Per-capita consumption of meat was 3.6 kg in 1961 and 11 kg by 1979. The result of this increased meat consumption brought about the rise of "bulgogi" restaurants, which gave the middle class of South Korea the ability to enjoy meat regularly. Meat eating continued to rise, reaching 40 kg in 1997, with fish consumption at 49.5 kg in 1998. Rice consumption continually decreased through these years, with 128 kg consumed per person in 1985 to 106 kg in 1995 and 83 kg in 2003. The decrease in rice consumption has been accompanied by an increase in the consumption of bread and noodles.
Understanding the environmental characteristics of Korea is necessary to see its influence on Korean cuisine and culture. Korea is located between the Chinese Mainland and the islands of Japan, and it therefore shares many cultural characteristics with the two countries. However, its unique climate and geography have also produced many differences.
Korea is located on the Korean Peninsula, which extends southward from the northeastern region of the Asian continental landmass. It shares its border with China and Russia to the north but is otherwise surrounded by water, resulting in a flourishing fishing industry. Forested, mountainous terrain covers 70 percent of the nation, yielding a variety of wild edible greens that are also grown in dry-field farms. Korea’s major rivers, including the Nakdong River, the Han River and the Geum River, tend to flow westward along the mountain ranges, creating well-developed plains in the peninsula’s western region. The conditions in the western and southern regions of the peninsula are therefore favorable to rice farms, while dry-field farms predominate in the northern and eastern regions. Korea’s eastern coast has a smooth coastline, but the southern and western coasts have jagged coastlines with many islands. This provides an ideal environment for exploiting a rich variety of marine products. Due to the varying geographical features and climates of the four regions of Korea, they have resulted in differing regional cuisines. Despite the development of transportation increasing contact between regions, and making local cultures less distinct, many of the unique local specialties and distinct styles of each province still remain.
The climate of Korea is characterized by four distinct seasons–spring, summer, autumn and winter–yielding a diverse array of seasonal foods. Even the same ingredients may have different tastes and nutrients in each season, which produces a variety of flavor variation within recipes. Unlike the abundant food materials available in the hot, humid summers and clear, dry springs and autumns, cold winters see Koreans eating dried vegetables and kimchi instead of fresh vegetables. Jeotgal, a salted fermented fish, was developed by the ancestors in the southern region of Korea as a way to preserve fish for a long period of time during the cold winters and hot summers. However, recent climate changes have introduced a subtropical climate to the peninsula, changing the types of seasonal food materials available.
Grains have been one of the most important staples of the Korean diet. Early myths of the foundations of various kingdoms in Korea center on grains. One foundation myth relates to Jumong, who received barley seeds from two doves sent by his mother after establishing the kingdom of Goguryeo. Yet another myth speaks of the three founding deities of Jeju Island, who were to be wed to the three princesses of Tamna; the deities brought seeds of five grains which were the first seeds planted, which in turn became the first instance of farming.
During the pre-modern era, grains such as barley and millet were the main staples. They were supplemented by wheat, sorghum, and buckwheat. Rice is not an indigenous crop to Korea and millet was likely the preferred grain before rice was cultivated. Rice became the grain of choice during the Three Kingdoms period, particularly in the Silla and Baekje Kingdoms in the southern regions of the peninsula. Rice was such an important commodity in Silla that it was used to pay taxes. The Sino-Korean word for "tax" is a compound character that uses the character for the rice plant. The preference for rice escalated into the Joseon period, when new methods of cultivation and new varieties emerged that would help increase production.
As rice was prohibitively expensive when it first came to Korea, the grain was likely mixed with other grains to "stretch" the rice; this is still done in dishes such as "boribap" (rice with barley) and "kongbap" (rice with beans). White rice, which is rice with the bran removed, has been the preferred form of rice since its introduction into the cuisine. The most traditional method of cooking the rice has been to cook it in an iron pot called a "sot" (솥) or "musoe sot" (무쇠솥). This method of rice cookery dates back to at least the Goryeo period, and these pots have even been found in tombs from the Silla period. The "sot" is still used today, much in the same manner as it was in the past centuries.
Rice is used to make a number of items, outside of the traditional bowl of plain white rice. It is commonly ground into a flour and used to make rice cakes called "tteok" in over two hundred varieties. It is also cooked down into a congee ("juk") or gruel ("mieum") and mixed with other grains, meat, or seafood. Koreans also produce a number of rice wines, both in filtered and unfiltered versions.
Legumes have been significant crops in Korean history and cuisine, according to the earliest preserved legumes found in archaeological sites in Korea. The excavation at Okbang site, Jinju, South Gyeongsang province indicates soybeans were cultivated as a food crop "circa" 1000–900 BCE. They are made into tofu ("dubu"), while soybean sprouts are sauteed as a vegetable ("kongnamul") and whole soybeans are seasoned and served as a side dish. They are also made into soy milk, which is used as the base for the noodle dish called "kongguksu". A byproduct of soy milk production is "biji" or "kong-biji", which is used to thicken stews and porridges. Soybeans may also be one of the beans in "kongbap", boiled together with several types of beans and other grains, and they are also the primary ingredient in the production of fermented condiments collectively referred to as "jang", such as soybean pastes, "doenjang" and "cheonggukjang", a soy sauce called "ganjang", chili pepper paste or "gochujang" and others.
Mung beans are commonly used in Korean cuisine, where they are called "nokdu" (; Hanja: 綠豆; ). Mung bean sprouts, called "sukju namul", are often served as a side dish, blanched and sautéed with sesame oil, garlic, and salt. Ground mung beans are used to make a porridge called "nokdujuk", which is eaten as a nutritional supplement and digestive aid, especially for ill patients. A popular snack, "bindaetteok" (mung bean pancake), is made with ground mung beans and fresh mung bean sprouts. Starch extracted from ground mung beans is used to make transparent cellophane noodles ("dangmyeon"). The noodles are the main ingredients for "japchae" (a salad-like dish) and "sundae" (a blood sausage), and are a subsidiary ingredient for soups and stews. The starch can be also used to make jelly-like foods, such as "nokdumuk" and "hwangpomuk". The "muk" have a bland flavor, so are served seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and crumbled seaweed or other seasonings such as "tangpyeongchae".
Cultivation of azuki beans dates back to ancient times according to an excavation from Odong-ri, Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, which is assumed to be that of Mumun period (approximately 1500-300 BCE). Azuki beans are generally eaten as "patbap", which is a bowl of rice mixed with the beans, or as a filling and covering for "tteok" (rice cake) and breads. A porridge made with azuki beans, called "patjuk", is commonly eaten during the winter season. On Dongjinal, a Korean traditional holiday which falls on December 22, Korean people eat "donji patjuk", which contains "saealsim" (새알심), a ball made from glutinous rice flour. In old Korean tradition, "patjuk" is believed to have the power to drive evil spirits away.
Condiments are divided into fermented and nonfermented variants. Fermented condiments include "ganjang", "doenjang", "gochujang" and vinegars. Nonfermented condiments or spices include red pepper, black pepper, cordifolia, mustard, chinensis, garlic, onion, ginger, leek, and scallion (spring onion).
Gochujang can be found in many writings. Some of the writings are the "", "The Three States", the "Nonggawolryeongga", the "Gijaejapgi", and the "". The "Hyangyak-jipseongbang", which dates back to around 1433 during the Chosun Dynasty, is one of the oldest writings mentioning gochujang.
Gochujang is a fermented bean paste that has red pepper powder, soybean powder and rice flour added to it to create a spicy paste. It typically can be added to most dishes. Gochujang can be used as a seasoning and sometimes as a dipping sauce.
Many variations come from "jang", fermented bean paste. Some variations can include doenjang (soybean and brine), ganjang (soybeans, water, and salt), chogochujang (gochujang and vinegar), and jeotgal (mixture of other jangs and seafoods).
Vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, and cabbage use gochujang as a dip. Gochujang is a common seasoning for foods such as Korean barbecue including pork and beef. One popular snack food that is very commonly eaten with gochujang is bibimbap. Bibimbap includes rice, spinach, radish, bean sprouts. Sometimes beef is added to bibimbap. Another popular dish including gochujang is tteokbokki.
Gochujang was used to revitalize people who were sick with colds or exhaustion during the Chosun Period. There have been some studies that show that red peppers fight obesity and diabetes. Gochujang is also added to many foods so that there can be additional nutritional value with each meal.
In antiquity, most meat in Korea was likely obtained through hunting and fishing. Ancient records indicate rearing of livestock began on a small scale during the Three Kingdoms period. Meat was consumed roasted or in soups or stews during this period. Those who lived closer to the oceans were able to complement their diet with more fish, while those who lived in the interior had a diet containing more meat.
Beef is the most prized of all, with the cattle holding an important cultural role in the Korean home. Beef is prepared in numerous ways today, including roasting, grilling ("gui") or boiling in soups. Beef can also be dried into "yukpo", a type of "po", as with seafood, called "eopo".
The cattle were valuable draught animals, often seen as equal to human servants, or in some cases, members of the family. Cattle were also given their own holiday during the first 'cow' day of the lunar New Year. The importance of cattle does not suggest Koreans ate an abundance of beef, however, as the cattle were valued as beasts of burden and slaughtering one would create dire issues in farming the land. Pork and seafood were consumed more regularly for this reason. The Buddhist ruling class of the Goryeo period forbade the consumption of beef. The Mongols dispensed with the ban of beef during the 13th century, and they promoted the production of beef cattle. This increased production continued into the Joseon period, when the government encouraged both increased quantities and quality of beef. Only in the latter part of the 20th century has beef become regular table fare.
Chicken has played an important role as a protein in Korean history, evidenced by a number of myths. One myth tells of the birth of Kim Alji, founder of the Kim family of Gyeongju being announced by the cry of a white chicken. As the birth of a clan's founder is always announced by an animal with preternatural qualities, this myth speaks to the importance of chicken in Korean culture. Chicken is often served roasted or braised with vegetables or in soups. All parts of the chicken are used in Korean cuisine, including the gizzard, liver, and feet. Young chickens are braised with ginseng and other ingredients in medicinal soups eaten during the summer months to combat heat called "samgyetang". The feet of the chicken, called "dakbal" (닭발), are often roasted and covered with hot and spicy "gochujang"-based sauce and served as an "anju", or side dish, to accompany alcoholic beverages, especially "soju".
Pork has also been another important land-based protein for Korea. Records indicate pork has been a part of the Korean diet back to antiquity, similar to beef.
A number of foods have been avoided while eating pork, including Chinese bellflower ("doraji", 도라지) and lotus root ("yeonn ppuri", 연뿌리), as the combinations have been thought to cause diarrhea. All parts of the pig are used in Korean cuisine, including the head, intestines, liver, kidney and other internal organs. Koreans utilize these parts in a variety of cooking methods including steaming, stewing, boiling and smoking. Koreans especially like to eat grilled pork belly, which is called "samgyeopsal" (삼겹살, 三--).
Fish and shellfish have been a major part of Korean cuisine because of the oceans bordering the peninsula. Evidence from the 12th century illustrates commoners consumed a diet mostly of fish and shellfish, such as shrimp, clams, oysters, abalone, and loach, while sheep and hogs were reserved for the upper class.
Both fresh and saltwater fish are popular, and are served raw, grilled, broiled, dried or served in soups and stews. Common grilled fish include mackerel, hairtail, croaker and Pacific herring. Smaller fish, shrimp, squid, mollusks and countless other seafood can be salted and fermented as "jeotgal". Fish can also be grilled either whole or in fillets as banchan. Fish is often dried naturally to prolong storing periods and enable shipping over long distances. Fish commonly dried include yellow corvina, anchovies ("myeolchi") and croaker. Dried anchovies, along with kelp, form the basis of common soup stocks.
Shellfish is widely eaten in all different types of preparation. They can be used to prepare broth, eaten raw with "chogochujang", which is a mixture of "gochujang" and vinegar, or used as a popular ingredient in countless dishes. Raw oysters and other seafood can be used in making kimchi to improve and vary the flavor. Salted baby shrimp are used as a seasoning agent, known as "saeujeot", for the preparation of some types of kimchi. Large shrimp are often grilled as "daeha gui" (대하구이) or dried, mixed with vegetables and served with rice. Mollusks eaten in Korean cuisine include octopus, cuttlefish, and squid.
Korean cuisine uses a wide variety of vegetables, which are often served uncooked, either in salads or pickles, as well as cooked in various stews, stir-fried dishes, and other hot dishes. Commonly used vegetables include Korean radish, napa cabbage, cucumber, potato, sweet potato, spinach, bean sprouts, scallions, garlic, chili peppers, seaweed, zucchini, mushrooms, lotus root. Several types of wild greens, known collectively as "chwinamul" (such as "Aster scaber"), are a popular dish, and other wild vegetables such as bracken fern shoots ("gosari") or Korean bellflower root ("doraji") are also harvested and eaten in season. Medicinal herbs, such as ginseng, lingzhi mushroom, wolfberry, "Codonopsis pilosula", and "Angelica sinensis", are often used as ingredients in cooking, as in "samgyetang".
Medicinal food ("boyangshik") is a wide variety of specialty foods prepared and eaten for medicinal purposes, especially during the hottest 30-day period in the lunar calendar, called "sambok". Hot foods consumed are believed to restore "ki", as well as sexual and physical stamina lost in the summer heat. Commonly eaten "boyangshik" include ginseng, chicken, black goat, abalone, eel, carp, beef bone soups, pig kidneys and dog.
Dog meat is less popular today in South Korea than in the past, being viewed largely as a kind of health tonic rather than as a diet staple, especially amongst the younger generations who view dogs as pets and service animals. That said, historically the consumption of dog meat can be traced back to antiquity. Dog bones were excavated in a neolithic settlement in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. A wall painting in the "Goguryeo" tombs complex in South Hwanghae Province, a UNESCO World Heritage site which dates from 4th century AD, depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse.
The "Balhae" people enjoyed dog meat, and the Koreans' appetite for canine cuisine seems to have come from that era.
Koreans have distinguished Chinese terms for dog ("견; 犬", which refers to pet dogs, feral dogs, and wolves) from the Chinese term ("구; 狗") which is used specifically to indicate dog meat. "Hwangu" has been considered better for consumption than "Baekgu" (White dog) and "Heukgu" (Black dog).
Around 1816, "Jeong Hak-yu", the second son of "Jeong Yak-yong", a prominent politician and scholar of the Joseon dynasty, wrote a poem called "Nongga Wollyeongga" (농가월령가). This poem, which is an important source of Korean folk history, describes what ordinary Korean farming families did in each month of the year. In the description of the month of August the poem tells of a married woman visiting her birth parents with boiled dog meat, rice cake, and rice wine, thus showing the popularity of dog meat at the time (Ahn, 2000; Seo, 2002). "Dongguk Sesigi" (동국세시기), a book written by Korean scholar Hong Seok-mo in 1849, contains a recipe for Bosintang including a boiled dog, green onion, and red chili pepper powder.
According to one survey conducted in 2006, dog meat was the fourth most commonly consumed meat in South Korea, but in 2019, 71.9 percent of Korean avoid eating dog meat.
Samgyetang is a hot chicken soup to boost energy in the hot summer season. It is made with a young whole chicken stuffed with ginseng, garlic and sweet rice. Samgyetang is a Koreans' favorite energizing food and it is common to have it on sambok (삼복) days — Chobok (초복), Jungbok (중복) and Malbok (말복) — which are believed to be the hottest days in Korea.
Seasonings draw out the unique flavors of a dish’s ingredients, and various seasonings are used to create unique flavor combinations. Seasonings primarily consist of condiments and spices. Condiments are ingredients that contain salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter flavors. Spices lend their own scent to a dish, and spicy, bitter and crispy pastes can remove certain odors or enhance an ingredient’s original flavor.
Sauces are the foundation taste of Korean food. Koreans’ ancestors created various types of sauces to salt, add flavor, and season food. Ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (soybean paste), cheonggukjang (rich soybean paste), and other sauces are used to flavor kimchi, pickles, rice cakes, braised food, soups, and almost every other type of Korean dish. All Koreans grow up on the savory, aromatic taste of their mothers’ sauces.
Korean soy sauce is made by further fermentation of fermented soybean paste bricks. There are many single - step fermented foods such as tempe in Indonesia and natto in Japan, but these are not analogous to double-fermented Korean soy sauce. Korean soy sauce is one of the few natural, double-fermented foods in the world. Various types of molds, and yeasts appear not only when the soybean paste bricks are fermented; but also as they are matured in salt water, and both the bricks and soy sauce are fermented.
Garnishes are used to decorate food and give it a pleasing appearance and color. In Korea, garnishes are sometimes referred to as utgi or kkumi . A basic garnish consists of 5 colors: red, green, yellow, white and black. This combination is based on the philosophy of YinYang and the Five Phases and relies on the garnishes’ natural colors.
Korean foods can be largely categorized into groups of "main staple foods" (주식), "subsidiary dishes" (부식), and "dessert" (후식). The main dishes are made from grains such as "bap" (a bowl of rice), "juk" (porridge), and "guksu" (noodles).
Many Korean "banchan" rely on fermentation for flavor and preservation, resulting in a tangy, salty, and spicy taste. Certain regions are especially associated with some dishes (for example, the city of Jeonju with "bibimbap") either as a place of origin or for a famous regional variety. Restaurants will often use these famous names on their signs or menus (e.g. "Suwon galbi").
Soups are a common part of any Korean meal. Unlike other cultures, in Korean culture, soup is served as part of the main course rather than at the beginning or the end of the meal, as an accompaniment to rice along with other banchan. Soups known as "guk" are often made with meats, shellfish and vegetables. Soups can be made into more formal soups known as "tang", often served as the main dish of the meal. "Jjigae" are a thicker, heavier seasoned soups or stews.
Some popular types of soups are:
Stews are referred to as "jjigae", and are often a shared side dish. "Jjigae" is often both cooked and served in the glazed earthenware pot ("ttukbaegi") in which it is cooked. The most common version of this stew is "doenjang jjigae", which is a stew of soybean paste, with many variations; common ingredients include vegetables, saltwater or freshwater fish, and tofu. The stew often changes with the seasons and which ingredients are available. Other common varieties of "jjigae" contain kimchi ("kimchi jjigae") or tofu ("sundubu jjigae").
Kimchi refers to often fermented vegetable dishes usually made with napa cabbage, Korean radish, or sometimes cucumber. There are 4 types of raw materials which are major ones: spices, seasonings, and other additional materials. Red and black pepper, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, onion, and mustard are the example of spices. There are endless varieties with regional variations, and it is served as a side dish or cooked into soups and rice dishes. In the late 15th century, it depicted Korean's custom that Korean ancestors buried kimchi jars in the ground for storage for the entire winter season, as fermented foods can keep for several years. These were stored in traditional Korean mud pots known as jangdokdae, although with the advent of refrigerators, special kimchi freezers and commercially produced kimchi, this practice has become less common. Kimchi is a vegetable-based food which includes low calorie, low fat, and no cholesterol. Also, it is a rich source of various vitamins and minerals. It contains vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin K and minerals which are calcium, iron, phosphorus, and selenium. South Koreans eat an average of 40 pounds of kimchi each year.
Noodles or noodle dishes in Korean cuisine are collectively referred to as "guksu" in native Korean or "myeon" in hanja. While noodles were eaten in Korea from ancient times, productions of wheat was less than other crops, so wheat noodles did not become a daily food until 1945. Wheat noodles ("milguksu") were specialty foods for birthdays, weddings or auspicious occasions because the long and continued shape were thought to be associated with the bliss for longevity and long-lasting marriage.
In Korean traditional noodle dishes are "onmyeon" or "guksu jangguk" (noodles with a hot clear broth), "naengmyeon" (cold buckwheat noodles), "bibim guksu" (cold noodle dish mixed with vegetables), "kalguksu" (knife-cut noodles), "kongguksu" (noodles with a cold soybean broth), "japchae" (cellophane noodles made from sweet potato with various vegetables) and others. In royal court, "baekmyeon" (literally "white noodles") consisting of buckwheat noodles and pheasant broth, was regarded as the top quality noodle dish. "Naengmyeon" with a cold soup mixed with "dongchimi" (watery radish kimchi) and beef brisket broth was eaten in court during summer.
Banchan is a term referring collectively to side dishes in Korean cuisine. Soups and stews are not considered banchan.
"Gui" are grilled dishes, which most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetable ingredients. At traditional restaurants, meats are cooked at the center of the table over a charcoal grill, surrounded by various "banchan" and individual rice bowls. The cooked meat is then cut into small pieces and wrapped with fresh lettuce leaves, with rice, thinly sliced garlic, "ssamjang" (a mixture of "gochujang" and "dwenjang"), and other seasonings. The suffix "gui" is often omitted in the names of meat-based "gui" such as "galbi", the name of which was originally "galbi gui".
"Jjim" and "seon" (steamed dishes) are generic terms referring to steamed or boiled dishes in Korean cuisine. However, the former is made with meat or seafood-based ingredients marinated in "gochujang" or "ganjang" while "seon" is made with vegetable stuffed with fillings.
"Hoe" (raw dishes): although the term originally referred to any kind of raw dish, it is generally used to refer to "saengseonhweh" (생선회, raw fish dishes). It is dipped in "gochujang", or soy sauce with wasabi, and served with lettuce or perilla leaves.
"Jeon" (or "buchimgae") are savory pancakes made from various ingredients. Chopped kimchi or seafood is mixed into a wheat flour-based batter, and then pan fried. This dish tastes best when it is dipped in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and red pepper powder.
"Namul" may refer to either "saengchae" (생채, literally "fresh vegetables") or "sukchae" (숙채, literally "heated vegetables"), although the term generally indicates the latter. "Saengchae" is mostly seasoned with vinegar, chili pepper powder and salt to give a tangy and refreshing taste. On the other hand, "sukchae" (숙채) is blanched and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped garlic, or sometimes chili pepper powder.
Anju is a general term for a Korean side dish consumed with alcohol. It matches well with Korean traditional alcohol such as Soju or Makgeolli and helps people to enjoy their drinking more. Some examples of "anju" include steamed squid with "gochujang", assorted fruit, "dubu kimchi" (tofu with kimchi), peanuts, "odeng"/"ohmuk", "sora" (소라) (a kind of shellfish popular in street food tents), and "nakji" (small octopus) and Jokbal (pig's leg served with salted shrimp sauce). Samgyupsal (pork belly) is also considered as Anju with Soju. Most Korean foods can be considered as 'anju', as the food consumed alongside the alcohol depends on the diner's taste and preferences.
All Korean traditional nonalcoholic beverages are referred to as "eumcheong" or "eumcheongnyu" (음청류 ) which literally means "clear beverages". According to historical documents regarding Korean cuisine, 193 items of "eumcheongnyu" are recorded. "Eumcheongnyu" can be divided into the following categories: "tea", "hwachae" (fruit punch), "sikhye" (sweet rice drink), "sujeonggwa" (persimmon punch), "tang" (탕, boiled water), "jang" (장, fermented grain juice with a sour taste), "suksu" (숙수, beverage made of herbs), "galsu" (갈수, drink made of fruit extract, and Oriental medicine), honeyed water, juice and milk by their ingredient materials and preparation methods. Among the varieties, tea, "hwachae", "sikhye", and "sujeonggwa" are still widely favored and consumed; however, the others almost disappeared by the end of the 20th century.
In Korean cuisine, tea, or "cha", refers to various types of herbal tea that can be served hot or cold. Not necessarily related to the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the "Camellia sinensis" plant, they are made from diverse substances, including fruits (e.g. "yuja-cha"), flowers (e.g. "gukhwa-cha"), leaves, roots, and grains (e.g. "bori-cha", "hyeonmi-cha") or herbs and substances used in traditional Korean medicine, such as ginseng (e.g. "insam-cha") and ginger (e.g. "saenggang-cha").
While "soju" is the best known liquor, there are well over 100 different alcoholic beverages, such as beers, rice and fruit wines, and liquors produced in South Korea as well as a sweet rice drink. The top-selling domestic beers (the Korean term for beer being "maekju") are lagers, which differ from Western beers in that they are brewed from rice, rather than barley. Consequently, Korean beers are lighter, sweeter and have less head than their Western counterparts. The South Korean beer market is dominated by the two major breweries: Hite and OB. Taedonggang is a North Korean beer produced at a brewery based in Pyongyang since 2002. Microbrewery beers and bars are growing in popularity after 2002.
"Soju" is a clear spirit which was originally made from grain, especially rice, and is now also made from sweet potatoes or barley. "Soju" made from grain is considered superior (as is also the case with grain vs. potato vodka). "Soju" is around 22% ABV, and is a favorite beverage of hard-up college students, hard-drinking businessmen, and blue-collar workers.
"Yakju" is a refined pure liquor fermented from rice, with the best known being "cheongju". "Takju" is a thick unrefined liquor made with grains, with the best known being "makgeolli", a white, milky rice wine traditionally drunk by farmers.
In addition to the rice wine, various fruit wines and herbal wines exist in Korean cuisine. Acacia, "maesil" plum, Chinese quince, cherry, pine fruits, and pomegranate are most popular. "Majuang wine" (a blended wine of Korean grapes with French or American wines) and ginseng-based wines are also available.
Traditional rice cakes, "tteok" and Korean confectionery "hangwa" are eaten as treats during holidays and festivals. "Tteok" refers to all kinds of rice cakes made from either pounded rice (메떡, "metteok"), pounded glutinous rice (찰떡, "chaltteok"), or glutinous rice left whole, without pounding. It is served either filled or covered with sweetened mung bean paste, red bean paste, mashed red beans, raisins, a sweetened filling made with sesame seeds, sweet pumpkin, beans, jujubes, pine nuts or honey). "Tteok" is usually served as dessert or as a snack. Among varieties, "songpyeon" is a chewy stuffed "tteok" served at "Chuseok". Honey or another soft sweet material such as sweetened sesame or black beans are used as fillings. Pine needles can be used for imparting flavor during the steaming process. "Yaksik" is a sweet rice cake made with glutinous rice, chestnuts, pine nuts, jujubes, and other ingredients, while "chapssaltteok" is a "tteok" filled with sweet bean paste.
On the other hand, "hangwa" is a general term referring to all types of Korean traditional confectionery. The ingredients of "hahngwa" mainly consist of grain flour, honey, "yeot", and sugar, or of fruit and edible roots. "Hangwa" is largely divided into "yumilgwa" (fried confectionery), "suksilgwa", "jeonggwa", "gwapyeon", "dasik" (tea food) and "yeot". "Yumilgwa" is made by stir frying or frying pieces of dough, such as "maejakgwa" and "yakgwa". "Maejakgwa" is a ring-shaped confection made of wheat flour, vegetable oil, cinnamon, ginger juice, "jocheong", and pine nuts, while "yakgwa", literally "medicinal confectionery", is a flower-shaped biscuit made of honey, sesame oil and wheat flour.
"Suksilgwa" is made by boiling fruits, ginger, or nuts in water, and then forming the mix into the original fruit's shape, or other shapes. "Gwapyeon" is a jelly-like confection made by boiling sour fruits, starch, and sugar. "Dasik", literally "eatery for tea", is made by kneading rice flour, honey, and various types of flour from nuts, herbs, sesame, or jujubes. "Jeonggwa", or "jeongwa", is made by boiling fruits, plant roots and seeds in honey, mullyeot ("물엿", liquid candy) or sugar. It is similar to marmalade or jam/jelly. "Yeot" is a Korean traditional candy in liquid or solid form made from steamed rice, glutinous rice, glutinous kaoliang, corn, sweet potatoes or mixed grains. The steamed ingredients are lightly fermented and boiled in a large pot called "sot" (솥) for a long time.
Korean regional cuisines (Korean: "hyangto eumsik", literally "native local foods") are characterized by local specialties and distinctive styles within Korean cuisine. The divisions reflected historical boundaries of the provinces where these food and culinary traditions were preserved until modern times.
Although Korea has been divided into two nation-states since 1948 (North Korea and South Korea), it was once divided into eight provinces ("paldo") according to the administrative districts of the Joseon Dynasty. The northern region consisted of Hamgyeong Province, Pyeongan Province and Hwanghae Province. The central region comprised Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheong Province, and Gangwon Province. Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla Province made up the southern region.
Until the late 19th century, transportation networks were not well developed, and each provincial region preserved its own characteristic tastes and cooking methods. Geographic differences are also reflected by the local specialty foodstuffs depending on the climate and types of agriculture, as well as the natural foods available. With the modern development of transportation and the introduction of foreign foods, Korean regional cuisines have tended to overlap and integrate. However, many unique traditional dishes in Korean regional cuisine have been handed down through the generations.
Korean temple cuisine originated in Buddhist temples of Korea. Since Buddhism was introduced into Korea, Buddhist traditions have strongly influenced Korean cuisine, as well. During the Silla period (57 BCE – 935 CE), "chalbap" (찰밥, a bowl of cooked glutinous rice) "yakgwa" (a fried dessert) and "yumilgwa" (a fried and puffed rice snack) were served for Buddhist altars and have been developed into types of "hangwa", Korean traditional confectionery. During the Goryeo Dynasty, "sangchu ssam" (wraps made with lettuce), "yaksik", and "yakgwa" were developed, and since spread to China and other countries. Since the Joseon Dynasty, Buddhist cuisine has been established in Korea according to regions and temples.
On the other hand, royal court cuisine is closely related to Korean temple cuisine. In the past, when the royal court maids, "sanggung", who were assigned to "Suragan" (hangul: 수라간; hanja: 水剌間; the name of the royal kitchen), where they prepared the king's meals, became old, they had to leave the royal palace. Therefore, many of them entered Buddhist temples to become nuns. As a result, culinary techniques and recipes of the royal cuisine were integrated into Buddhist cuisine.
Vegetarian cookery in Korea may be linked to the Buddhist traditions that influenced Korean culture from the Goryeo dynasty onwards. There are hundreds of vegetarian restaurants in Korea, although historically they have been local restaurants that are unknown to tourists. Most have buffets, with cold food, and vegetarian kimchi and tofu being the main features. "Bibimbap" is a common vegan dish. Menus change with seasons. Wine with the alcohol removed and fine teas are also served. The Korean tea ceremony is suitable for all vegetarians and vegans, and began with Buddhist influences. All food is eaten with a combination of stainless steel oval chopsticks and a long-handled shallow spoon called together "sujeo".
Food is an important part of traditions of Korean family ceremonies, which are mainly based on the Confucian culture. Gwan Hon Sang Je (관혼상제; 冠婚喪祭), the four family ceremonies (coming-of-age ceremony, wedding, funeral, and ancestral rite) have been considered especially important and elaborately developed, continuing to influence Korean life to these days. Ceremonial food in Korea has developed with variation across different regions and cultures.
For example, rituals are mainly performed on the anniversary of deceased ancestors, called "jesa". Ritual food include rice, liquor, soup, vinegar and soy sauce (1st row); noodles, skewered meat, vegetable and fish dishes, and rice cake (2nd row); three types of hot soup, meat and vegetable dishes (3rd row); dried snacks, "kimchi", and sweet rice drink (4th row); and variety of fruit (5th row).
In South Korea, inexpensive food may be purchased from "pojangmacha", street carts during the day, where customers may eat standing beside the cart or have their food wrapped up to take home. At night, "pojangmacha" (포장마차) become small tents that sell food, drinks, and alcoholic beverages.
Seasonal street foods include "hotteok", and "bungeoppang", which are enjoyed in autumn and winter. "Gimbap" (김밥) and "tteokbokki" (떡볶이) are also very popular street food.
People also enjoy to eat "Sundae (Korean food)" (순대), "Twigim" (튀김), and "Eomuk" (오뎅/어묵) which are popular with "tteokbokki". Also, "Gyeran-ppang" (계란빵) which is Egg Bread and "Hoppang" (호빵) are also enjoyed in winter. "Dak-kkochi" (닭꼬치) is a popular food in Korea with various sauces on the chicken. "Beondegi" (번데기) and "Honeycomb toffee/Bbopki" (뽑기) are two examples of the original street foods that everyone enjoyed since the childhood.
Dining etiquette in Korea can be traced back to the Confucian philosophies of the Joseon period. Guidebooks, such as "Sasojeol" (士小節, "Elementary Etiquette for Scholar Families"), written in 1775 by Yi Deokmu (이덕무; 李德懋), comment on the dining etiquette for the period. Suggestions include items such as "when you see a fat cow, goat, pig, or chicken, do not immediately speak of slaughtering, cooking or eating it", "when you are having a meal with others, do not speak of smelly or dirty things, such as boils or diarrhea," "when eating a meal, neither eat so slowly as to appear to be eating against your will nor so fast as if to be taking someone else's food. Do not throw chopsticks on the table. Spoons should not touch plates, making a clashing sound", among many other recommendations which emphasized proper table etiquette.
Other than the etiquette mentioned above, blowing one's nose when having a meal is considered an inappropriate act as well. Such act should be avoided.
The eldest male at the table was always served first, and was commonly served in the men's quarters by the women of the house. Women usually dined in a separate portion of the house after the men were served. The eldest men or women always ate before the younger family members. The meal was usually quiet, as conversation was discouraged during meals. In modern times, these rules have become lax, as families usually dine together now and use the time to converse. Of the remaining elements of this decorum, one is that the younger members of the table should not pick up their chopsticks or start eating before the elders of the table or guests and should not finish eating before the elders or guests finish eating.
In Korea, unlike in other East Asian cuisines such as Chinese and Japanese, the rice or soup bowl is not lifted from the table when eating from it. This is due to the fact that each diner is given a metal spoon along with the chopsticks known collectively as sujeo. The use of the spoon for eating rice and soups is expected. There are rules which reflect the decorum of sharing communal side dishes; rules include not picking through the dishes for certain items while leaving others, and the spoon used should be clean, because usually diners put their spoons in the same serving bowl on the table. Diners should also cover their mouths when using a toothpick after the meal.
The table setup is important as well, and individual place settings, moving from the diner's left should be as follows: rice bowl, spoon, then chopsticks. Hot foods are set to the right side of the table, with the cold foods to the left. Soup must remain on the right side of the diner along with stews. Vegetables remain on the left along with the rice, and kimchi is set to the back while sauces remain in the front.
The manner of drinking alcoholic drinks while dining is significant in Korean dining etiquette. Each diner is expected to face away from the eldest male and cover his mouth when drinking alcohol.
According to Hyang Eum Ju Rye (향음주례; 鄕飮酒禮), the drinking etiquette established in Choseon Dynasty, it is impolite for a king and his vassal, a father and his son, or a teacher and his student to drink face to face. Also, a guest should not refuse the first drink offered by host, and in the most formal situations, the diner should politely twice refuse a drink offered by the eldest male or a host. When the host offers for the third time, then finally the guest can receive it. If the guest refuses three times, drink is not to be offered any more.
Collectively known as "gungjung eumsik" during the pre-modern era, the foods of the royal palace were reflective of the opulent nature of the past rulers of the Korean peninsula. This nature is evidenced in examples as far back as the Silla kingdom, where a man-made lake (Anapji Lake, located in Gyeongju), was created with multiple pavilions and halls for the sole purpose of opulent banquets, and a spring fed channel, Poseokjeong, was created for the singular purpose of setting wine cups afloat while they wrote poems.
Reflecting the regionalism of the kingdoms and bordering countries of the peninsula, the cuisine borrowed portions from each of these areas to exist as a showcase. The royalty would have the finest regional specialties and delicacies sent to them at the palace. Although there are records of banquets predating the Joseon period, the majority of these records mostly reflect the vast variety of foods, but do not mention the specific foods presented. The meals cooked for the royal family did not reflect the seasons, as the commoner's meals would have. Instead, their meals varied significantly day-to-day. Each of the eight provinces was represented each month in the royal palace by ingredients presented by their governors, which gave the cooks a wide assortment of ingredients to use for royal meals.
Food was considered significant in the Joseon period. Official positions were created within the Six Ministries ("Yukjo", 육조) that were charged with all matters related to procurement and consumption of food and drink for the royal court. The Board of Personnel ("Ijo", 이조) contained positions specific for attaining rice for the royal family. The Board of Rights ("Yejo") were responsible for foods prepared for ancestor rites, attaining wines and other beverages, and medicinal foods. There were also hundreds of slaves and women who worked in the palace that had tasks such as making tofu, liquor, tea, and "tteok" (rice cakes). The women were the cooks to the royal palace and were of commoner or low-born families. These women would be split into specific skill sets or "bureau" such as the bureau of special foods ("Saenggwa-bang", 생과방) or the bureau of cooking foods ("Soju-bang", 소주방). These female cooks may have been assisted by male cooks from outside the palace during larger banquets when necessary.
Five meals were generally served in the royal palace each day during the Joseon period, and records suggest this pattern had existed from antiquity. Three of these meals would be full meals, while the afternoon and after dinner meals would be lighter. The first meal, "mieumsang" (미음상), was served at sunrise and was served only on days when the king and queen were not taking herbal medicines. The meal consisted of rice porridge ("juk", 죽) made with ingredients such as abalone ("jeonbokjuk"), white rice ("huinjuk"), mushrooms ("beoseotjuk"), pine nuts ("jatjuk"), and sesame ("kkaejuk"). The side dishes could consist of "kimchi", "nabak kimchi", oysters, soy sauce, and other items. The porridge was thought to give vitality to the king and queen throughout the day.
The "sura" (수라) were the main meals of the day. Breakfast was served at ten in the morning, and the evening meals were served between six and seven at night. The set of three tables ("surasang", 수라상), were usually set with two types of rice, two types of soup, two types of stew ("jjigae"), one dish of "jjim" (meat stew), one dish of "jeongol" (a casserole of meat and vegetables), three types of "kimchi", three types of "jang" (장) and twelve side dishes, called 12 cheop (12첩). The meals were set in the "suragan" (수라간), a room specifically used for taking meals, with the king seated to the east and the queen to the west. Each had their own set of tables and were attended by three palace servant women known as "sura sanggung" (수라상궁). These women would remove bowl covers and offer the foods to the king and queen after ensuring the dishes were not poisoned.
Banquets (궁중 연회 음식) were held on special occasions in the Korean Royal Palace. These included birthdays of the royal family members, marriages, and national festivals, including Daeborum, Dano, Chuseok, and Dongji. Banquet food was served on individual tables which varied according to the rank of the person. Usually banquet food consisted of ten different types of dishes. Main dishes were prepared based on the seasonal foods. Main dishes of the banquet included "sinseollo", "jeon", "hwayang jeok", "honghapcho", "nengmyun" and "mulgimchi". A typical banquet ingredient was "chogyetang" (chicken broth with vinegar), which was prepared with five different chickens, five abalones, ten sea cucumbers, twenty eggs, half a bellflower root, mushrooms, two cups of black pepper, two peeled pine nuts, starch, soy sauce and vinegar. "Yaksik" was a favorite banquet dessert. | en.wikipedia.org | Korean cuisine | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16793 |
16794 | Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information.
The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix "kilo" as 1000 (103); per this definition, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes. The internationally recommended unit symbol for the kilobyte is kB.
In some areas of information technology, particularly in reference to digital memory capacity, "kilobyte" instead denotes 1024 (210) bytes. This arises from the powers-of-two sizing common to memory circuit design. In this context, the symbols KB and K are often used.
In the International System of Units (SI) the prefix "kilo" means 1000 (103); therefore, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes. The unit symbol is kB.
This is the definition recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
This definition, and the related definitions of the prefixes mega (), giga (), etc., are most commonly used for data transfer rates
in computer networks, internal bus, hard drive and flash media transfer speeds, and for the capacities of most storage media, particularly hard drives, flash-based storage, and DVDs. It is also consistent with the other uses of the SI prefixes in computing, such as CPU clock speeds or measures of performance.
The IEC 80000-13 standard uses the term 'byte' to mean eight bits (1 B = 8 bit). Therefore, 1 kB = 8000 bit. One thousand kilobytes (1000 kB) is equal to one megabyte (1 MB), where 1 MB is one million bytes.
The kilobyte has traditionally been used to refer to 1024 bytes (210 B), a usage still common. The usage of the metric prefix "kilo" for binary multiples arose as a convenience, because 1024 is approximately 1000.
The binary interpretation of metric prefixes is still prominently used by the Microsoft Windows operating system. Metric prefixes are also used for random-access memory capacity, such as main memory and CPU cache size, due to the prevalent binary addressing of memory.
The binary meaning of the kilobyte for 1024 bytes typically uses the symbol KB, with an uppercase letter "K". The "B" is often omitted in informal use. For example, a processor with 65,536 bytes of cache memory might be said to have "64 K" of cache. In this convention, one thousand and twenty-four kilobytes (1024 KB) is equal to one megabyte (1 MB), where 1 MB is 10242 bytes.
In December 1998, the IEC addressed such multiple usages and definitions by creating prefixes such as kibi, mebi, gibi, etc., to unambiguously denote powers of 1024. Thus the kibibyte, symbol KiB, represents 210 bytes = 1024 bytes. These prefixes are now part of the International System of Quantities. The IEC further specified that the kilobyte should only be used to refer to 1000 bytes. | en.wikipedia.org | Kilobyte | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16794 |
16795 | Karl Andree
Karl Andree (20 October 1808 – 10 August 1875) was a German geographer.
Andree was born in Braunschweig. He was educated at Jena, Göttingen, and Berlin. After having been implicated in a students' political agitation he became a journalist, and in 1851 founded the newspaper "Bremer Handelsblatt". From 1855, however, he devoted himself entirely to geography and ethnography, working successively at Leipzig and at Dresden. During the American Civil War, he advocated the cause of the secessionists. In 1862 he founded the important geographical periodical "Globus". He died at Wildungen. His son Richard Andree followed in his father's career. | en.wikipedia.org | Karl Andree | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16795 |
16796 | Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt (), occasionally called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed. While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia and water. The Kuiper belt is home to three officially recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, may have originated in the region.
The Kuiper belt was named after Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, though he did not predict its existence. In 1992, Albion was discovered, the first Kuiper belt object (KBO) since Pluto and Charon. Since its discovery, the number of known KBOs has increased to thousands, and more than 100,000 KBOs over in diameter are thought to exist. The Kuiper belt was initially thought to be the main repository for periodic comets, those with orbits lasting less than 200 years. Studies since the mid-1990s have shown that the belt is dynamically stable and that comets' true place of origin is the scattered disc, a dynamically active zone created by the outward motion of Neptune 4.5 billion years ago; scattered disc objects such as Eris have extremely eccentric orbits that take them as far as 100 AU from the Sun.
The Kuiper belt is distinct from the theoretical Oort cloud, which is a thousand times more distant and is mostly spherical. The objects within the Kuiper belt, together with the members of the scattered disc and any potential Hills cloud or Oort cloud objects, are collectively referred to as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Pluto is the largest and most massive member of the Kuiper belt, and the largest and the second-most-massive known TNO, surpassed only by Eris in the scattered disc. Originally considered a planet, Pluto's status as part of the Kuiper belt caused it to be reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. It is compositionally similar to many other objects of the Kuiper belt and its orbital period is characteristic of a class of KBOs, known as "plutinos", that share the same 2:3 resonance with Neptune.
The Kuiper belt and Neptune may be treated as a marker of the extent of the Solar System, alternatives being the heliopause and the distance at which the Sun's gravitational influence is matched by that of other stars (estimated to be between and about 2 light-years).
After the discovery of Pluto in 1930, many speculated that it might not be alone. The region now called the Kuiper belt was hypothesized in various forms for decades. It was only in 1992 that the first direct evidence for its existence was found. The number and variety of prior speculations on the nature of the Kuiper belt have led to continued uncertainty as to who deserves credit for first proposing it.
The first astronomer to suggest the existence of a trans-Neptunian population was Frederick C. Leonard. Soon after Pluto's discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Leonard pondered whether it was "not likely that in Pluto there has come to light the "first" of a "series" of ultra-Neptunian bodies, the remaining members of which still await discovery but which are destined eventually to be detected". That same year, astronomer Armin O. Leuschner suggested that Pluto "may be one of many long-period planetary objects yet to be discovered."
In 1943, in the "Journal of the British Astronomical Association", Kenneth Edgeworth hypothesized that, in the region beyond Neptune, the material within the primordial solar nebula was too widely spaced to condense into planets, and so rather condensed into a myriad of smaller bodies. From this he concluded that "the outer region of the solar system, beyond the orbits of the planets, is occupied by a very large number of comparatively small bodies" and that, from time to time, one of their number "wanders from its own sphere and appears as an occasional visitor to the inner solar system", becoming a comet.
In 1951, in a paper in "Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium", Gerard Kuiper speculated on a similar disc having formed early in the Solar System's evolution, but he did not think that such a belt still existed today. Kuiper was operating on the assumption, common in his time, that Pluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the Oort cloud or out of the Solar System. Were Kuiper's hypothesis correct, there would not be a Kuiper belt today.
The hypothesis took many other forms in the following decades. In 1962, physicist Al G.W. Cameron postulated the existence of "a tremendous mass of small material on the outskirts of the solar system". In 1964, Fred Whipple, who popularised the famous "dirty snowball" hypothesis for cometary structure, thought that a "comet belt" might be massive enough to cause the purported discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus that had sparked the search for Planet X, or, at the very least, massive enough to affect the orbits of known comets. Observation ruled out this hypothesis.
In 1977, Charles Kowal discovered 2060 Chiron, an icy planetoid with an orbit between Saturn and Uranus. He used a blink comparator, the same device that had allowed Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto nearly 50 years before. In 1992, another object, 5145 Pholus, was discovered in a similar orbit. Today, an entire population of comet-like bodies, called the centaurs, is known to exist in the region between Jupiter and Neptune. The centaurs' orbits are unstable and have dynamical lifetimes of a few million years. From the time of Chiron's discovery in 1977, astronomers have speculated that the centaurs therefore must be frequently replenished by some outer reservoir.
Further evidence for the existence of the Kuiper belt later emerged from the study of comets. That comets have finite lifespans has been known for some time. As they approach the Sun, its heat causes their volatile surfaces to sublimate into space, gradually dispersing them. In order for comets to continue to be visible over the age of the Solar System, they must be replenished frequently. One such area of replenishment is the Oort cloud, a spherical swarm of comets extending beyond 50,000 AU from the Sun first hypothesised by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950. The Oort cloud is thought to be the point of origin of long-period comets, which are those, like Hale–Bopp, with orbits lasting thousands of years.
There is another comet population, known as short-period or periodic comets, consisting of those comets that, like Halley's Comet, have orbital periods of less than 200 years. By the 1970s, the rate at which short-period comets were being discovered was becoming increasingly inconsistent with their having emerged solely from the Oort cloud. For an Oort cloud object to become a short-period comet, it would first have to be captured by the giant planets. In a paper published in "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society" in 1980, Uruguayan astronomer Julio Fernández stated that for every short-period comet to be sent into the inner Solar System from the Oort cloud, 600 would have to be ejected into interstellar space. He speculated that a comet belt from between 35 and 50 AU would be required to account for the observed number of comets. Following up on Fernández's work, in 1988 the Canadian team of Martin Duncan, Tom Quinn and Scott Tremaine ran a number of computer simulations to determine if all observed comets could have arrived from the Oort cloud. They found that the Oort cloud could not account for all short-period comets, particularly as short-period comets are clustered near the plane of the Solar System, whereas Oort-cloud comets tend to arrive from any point in the sky. With a "belt", as Fernández described it, added to the formulations, the simulations matched observations. Reportedly because the words "Kuiper" and "comet belt" appeared in the opening sentence of Fernández's paper, Tremaine named this hypothetical region the "Kuiper belt".
In 1987, astronomer David Jewitt, then at MIT, became increasingly puzzled by "the apparent emptiness of the outer Solar System". He encouraged then-graduate student Jane Luu to aid him in his endeavour to locate another object beyond Pluto's orbit, because, as he told her, "If we don't, nobody will." Using telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, Jewitt and Luu conducted their search in much the same way as Clyde Tombaugh and Charles Kowal had, with a blink comparator. Initially, examination of each pair of plates took about eight hours, but the process was sped up with the arrival of electronic charge-coupled devices or CCDs, which, though their field of view was narrower, were not only more efficient at collecting light (they retained 90% of the light that hit them, rather than the 10% achieved by photographs) but allowed the blinking process to be done virtually, on a computer screen. Today, CCDs form the basis for most astronomical detectors. In 1988, Jewitt moved to the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. Luu later joined him to work at the University of Hawaii's 2.24 m telescope at Mauna Kea. Eventually, the field of view for CCDs had increased to 1024 by 1024 pixels, which allowed searches to be conducted far more rapidly. Finally, after five years of searching, Jewitt and Luu announced on August 30, 1992 the "Discovery of the candidate Kuiper belt object 1992 QB1". Six months later, they discovered a second object in the region, (181708) 1993 FW. By 2018, over 2000 Kuiper belts objects had been discovered.
Over one thousand bodies were found in a belt in the twenty years (1992-2012), after finding 1992 QB1 (named in 2018, 15760 Albion), showing a vast belt of bodies more than just Pluto and Albion. By the 2010s the full extent and nature of Kuiper belt bodies is largely unknown. Finally, in the late 2010s, two KBOs were closely flown past by an unmanned spacecraft, providing much closer observations of the Plutonian system and another KBO.
Studies conducted since the trans-Neptunian region was first charted have shown that the region now called the Kuiper belt is not the point of origin of short-period comets, but that they instead derive from a linked population called the scattered disc. The scattered disc was created when Neptune migrated outward into the proto-Kuiper belt, which at the time was much closer to the Sun, and left in its wake a population of dynamically stable objects that could never be affected by its orbit (the Kuiper belt proper), and a population whose perihelia are close enough that Neptune can still disturb them as it travels around the Sun (the scattered disc). Because the scattered disc is dynamically active and the Kuiper belt relatively dynamically stable, the scattered disc is now seen as the most likely point of origin for periodic comets.
Astronomers sometimes use the alternative name Edgeworth–Kuiper belt to credit Edgeworth, and KBOs are occasionally referred to as EKOs. Brian G. Marsden claims that neither deserves true credit: "Neither Edgeworth nor Kuiper wrote about anything remotely like what we are now seeing, but Fred Whipple did". David Jewitt comments: "If anything ... Fernández most nearly deserves the credit for predicting the Kuiper Belt."
KBOs are sometimes called "kuiperoids", a name suggested by Clyde Tombaugh. The term "trans-Neptunian object" (TNO) is recommended for objects in the belt by several scientific groups because the term is less controversial than all others—it is not an exact synonym though, as TNOs include all objects orbiting the Sun past the orbit of Neptune, not just those in the Kuiper belt.
At its fullest extent (but excluding the scattered disc), including its outlying regions, the Kuiper belt stretches from roughly 30 to 55 AU. The main body of the belt is generally accepted to extend from the 2:3 mean-motion resonance (see below) at 39.5 AU to the 1:2 resonance at roughly 48 AU. The Kuiper belt is quite thick, with the main concentration extending as much as ten degrees outside the ecliptic plane and a more diffuse distribution of objects extending several times farther. Overall it more resembles a torus or doughnut than a belt. Its mean position is inclined to the ecliptic by 1.86 degrees.
The presence of Neptune has a profound effect on the Kuiper belt's structure due to orbital resonances. Over a timescale comparable to the age of the Solar System, Neptune's gravity destabilises the orbits of any objects that happen to lie in certain regions, and either sends them into the inner Solar System or out into the scattered disc or interstellar space. This causes the Kuiper belt to have pronounced gaps in its current layout, similar to the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt. In the region between 40 and 42 AU, for instance, no objects can retain a stable orbit over such times, and any observed in that region must have migrated there relatively recently.
Between the 2:3 and 1:2 resonances with Neptune, at approximately 42–48 AU, the gravitational interactions with Neptune occur over an extended timescale, and objects can exist with their orbits essentially unaltered. This region is known as the classical Kuiper belt, and its members comprise roughly two thirds of KBOs observed to date. Because the first modern KBO discovered (Albion, but long called (15760) 1992 QB1), is considered the prototype of this group, classical KBOs are often referred to as cubewanos ("Q-B-1-os"). The guidelines established by the IAU demand that classical KBOs be given names of mythological beings associated with creation.
The classical Kuiper belt appears to be a composite of two separate populations. The first, known as the "dynamically cold" population, has orbits much like the planets; nearly circular, with an orbital eccentricity of less than 0.1, and with relatively low inclinations up to about 10° (they lie close to the plane of the Solar System rather than at an angle). The cold population also contain a concentration of objects, referred to as the kernel, with semi-major axes at 44–44.5 AU. The second, the "dynamically hot" population, has orbits much more inclined to the ecliptic, by up to 30°. The two populations have been named this way not because of any major difference in temperature, but from analogy to particles in a gas, which increase their relative velocity as they become heated up. Not only are the two populations in different orbits, the cold population also differs in color and albedo, being redder and brighter, has a larger fraction of binary objects, has a different size distribution, and lacks very large objects. The mass of the dynamically cold population is roughly 30 times less than the mass of the hot. The difference in colors may be a reflection of different compositions, which suggests they formed in different regions. The hot population is proposed to have formed near Neptune's original orbit and to have been scattered out during the migration of the giant planets. The cold population, on the other hand, has been proposed to have formed more or less in its current position because the loose binaries would be unlikely to survive encounters with Neptune. Although the Nice model appears to be able to at least partially explain a compositional difference, it has also been suggested the color difference may reflect differences in surface evolution.
When an object's orbital period is an exact ratio of Neptune's (a situation called a mean-motion resonance), then it can become locked in a synchronised motion with Neptune and avoid being perturbed away if their relative alignments are appropriate. If, for instance, an object orbits the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits, and if it reaches perihelion with Neptune a quarter of an orbit away from it, then whenever it returns to perihelion, Neptune will always be in about the same relative position as it began, because it will have completed orbits in the same time. This is known as the 2:3 (or 3:2) resonance, and it corresponds to a characteristic semi-major axis of about 39.4 AU. This 2:3 resonance is populated by about 200 known objects, including Pluto together with its moons. In recognition of this, the members of this family are known as plutinos. Many plutinos, including Pluto, have orbits that cross that of Neptune, though their resonance means they can never collide. Plutinos have high orbital eccentricities, suggesting that they are not native to their current positions but were instead thrown haphazardly into their orbits by the migrating Neptune. IAU guidelines dictate that all plutinos must, like Pluto, be named for underworld deities. The 1:2 resonance (whose objects complete half an orbit for each of Neptune's) corresponds to semi-major axes of ~47.7AU, and is sparsely populated. Its residents are sometimes referred to as twotinos. Other resonances also exist at 3:4, 3:5, 4:7 and 2:5. Neptune has a number of trojan objects, which occupy its Lagrangian points, gravitationally stable regions leading and trailing it in its orbit. Neptune trojans are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune and often have very stable orbits.
Additionally, there is a relative absence of objects with semi-major axes below 39 AU that cannot apparently be explained by the present resonances. The currently accepted hypothesis for the cause of this is that as Neptune migrated outward, unstable orbital resonances moved gradually through this region, and thus any objects within it were swept up, or gravitationally ejected from it.
The 1:2 resonance at 47.8 AU appears to be an edge beyond which few objects are known. It is not clear whether it is actually the outer edge of the classical belt or just the beginning of a broad gap. Objects have been detected at the 2:5 resonance at roughly 55 AU, well outside the classical belt; predictions of a large number of bodies in classical orbits between these resonances have not been verified through observation.
Based on estimations of the primordial mass required to form Uranus and Neptune, as well as bodies as large as Pluto "(see )", earlier models of the Kuiper belt had suggested that the number of large objects would increase by a factor of two beyond 50 AU, so this sudden drastic falloff, known as the "Kuiper cliff", was unexpected, and to date its cause is unknown. In 2003, Bernstein, Trilling, et al. found evidence that the rapid decline in objects of 100 km or more in radius beyond 50 AU is real, and not due to observational bias. Possible explanations include that material at that distance was too scarce or too scattered to accrete into large objects, or that subsequent processes removed or destroyed those that did. Patryk Lykawka of Kobe University claimed that the gravitational attraction of an unseen large planetary object, perhaps the size of Earth or Mars, might be responsible.
The precise origins of the Kuiper belt and its complex structure are still unclear, and astronomers are awaiting the completion of several wide-field survey telescopes such as Pan-STARRS and the future LSST, which should reveal many currently unknown KBOs. These surveys will provide data that will help determine answers to these questions.
The Kuiper belt is thought to consist of planetesimals, fragments from the original protoplanetary disc around the Sun that failed to fully coalesce into planets and instead formed into smaller bodies, the largest less than in diameter. Studies of the crater counts on Pluto and Charon revealed a scarcity of small craters suggesting that such objects formed directly as sizeable objects in the range of tens of kilometers in diameter rather than being accreted from much smaller, roughly kilometer scale bodies. Hypothetical mechanisms for the formation of these larger bodies include the gravitational collapse of clouds of pebbles concentrated between eddies in a turbulent protoplanetary disk or in streaming instabilities. These collapsing clouds may fragment, forming binaries.
Modern computer simulations show the Kuiper belt to have been strongly influenced by Jupiter and Neptune, and also suggest that neither Uranus nor Neptune could have formed in their present positions, because too little primordial matter existed at that range to produce objects of such high mass. Instead, these planets are estimated to have formed closer to Jupiter. Scattering of planetesimals early in the Solar System's history would have led to migration of the orbits of the giant planets: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune drifted outwards, whereas Jupiter drifted inwards. Eventually, the orbits shifted to the point where Jupiter and Saturn reached an exact 1:2 resonance; Jupiter orbited the Sun twice for every one Saturn orbit. The gravitational repercussions of such a resonance ultimately destabilized the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, causing them to be scattered outward onto high-eccentricity orbits that crossed the primordial planetesimal disc.
While Neptune's orbit was highly eccentric, its mean-motion resonances overlapped and the orbits of the planetesimals evolved chaotically, allowing planetesimals to wander outward as far as Neptune's 1:2 resonance to form a dynamically cold belt of low-inclination objects. Later, after its eccentricity decreased, Neptune's orbit expanded outward toward its current position. Many planetesimals were captured into and remain in resonances during this migration, others evolved onto higher-inclination and lower-eccentricity orbits and escaped from the resonances onto stable orbits. Many more planetesimals were scattered inward, with small fractions being captured as Jupiter trojans, as irregular satellites orbiting the giant planets, and as outer belt asteroids. The remainder were scattered outward again by Jupiter and in most cases ejected from the Solar System reducing the primordial Kuiper belt population by 99% or more.
The original version of the currently most popular model, the "Nice model", reproduces many characteristics of the Kuiper belt such as the "cold" and "hot" populations, resonant objects, and a scattered disc, but it still fails to account for some of the characteristics of their distributions. The model predicts a higher average eccentricity in classical KBO orbits than is observed (0.10–0.13 versus 0.07) and its predicted inclination distribution contains too few high inclination objects. In addition, the frequency of binary objects in the cold belt, many of which are far apart and loosely bound, also poses a problem for the model. These are predicted to have been separated during encounters with Neptune, leading some to propose that the cold disc formed at its current location, representing the only truly local population of small bodies in the solar system.
A recent modification of the Nice model has the Solar System begin with five giant planets, including an additional ice giant, in a chain of mean-motion resonances. About 400 million years after the formation of the Solar System the resonance chain is broken. Instead of being scattered into the disc, the ice giants first migrate outward several AU. This divergent migration eventually leads to a resonance crossing, destabilizing the orbits of the planets. The extra ice giant encounters Saturn and is scattered inward onto a Jupiter-crossing orbit and after a series of encounters is ejected from the Solar System. The remaining planets then continue their migration until the planetesimal disc is nearly depleted with small fractions remaining in various locations.
As in the original Nice model, objects are captured into resonances with Neptune during its outward migration. Some remain in the resonances, others evolve onto higher-inclination, lower-eccentricity orbits, and are released onto stable orbits forming the dynamically hot classical belt. The hot belt's inclination distribution can be reproduced if Neptune migrated from 24 AU to 30 AU on a 30 Myr timescale. When Neptune migrates to 28 AU, it has a gravitational encounter with the extra ice giant. Objects captured from the cold belt into the 1:2 mean-motion resonance with Neptune are left behind as a local concentration at 44 AU when this encounter causes Neptune's semi-major axis to jump outward. The objects deposited in the cold belt include some loosely bound 'blue' binaries originating from closer than the cold belt's current location. If Neptune's eccentricity remains small during this encounter, the chaotic evolution of orbits of the original Nice model is avoided and a primordial cold belt is preserved. In the later phases of Neptune's migration, a slow sweeping of mean-motion resonances removes the higher-eccentricity objects from the cold belt, truncating its eccentricity distribution.
Being distant from the Sun and major planets, Kuiper belt objects are thought to be relatively unaffected by the processes that have shaped and altered other Solar System objects; thus, determining their composition would provide substantial information on the makeup of the earliest Solar System. Due to their small size and extreme distance from Earth, the chemical makeup of KBOs is very difficult to determine. The principal method by which astronomers determine the composition of a celestial object is spectroscopy. When an object's light is broken into its component colors, an image akin to a rainbow is formed. This image is called a spectrum. Different substances absorb light at different wavelengths, and when the spectrum for a specific object is unravelled, dark lines (called absorption lines) appear where the substances within it have absorbed that particular wavelength of light. Every element or compound has its own unique spectroscopic signature, and by reading an object's full spectral "fingerprint", astronomers can determine its composition.
Analysis indicates that Kuiper belt objects are composed of a mixture of rock and a variety of ices such as water, methane, and ammonia. The temperature of the belt is only about 50 K, so many compounds that would be gaseous closer to the Sun remain solid. The densities and rock–ice fractions are known for only a small number of objects for which the diameters and the masses have been determined. The diameter can be determined by imaging with a high-resolution telescope such as the Hubble Space Telescope, by the timing of an occultation when an object passes in front of a star or, most commonly, by using the albedo of an object calculated from its infrared emissions. The masses are determined using the semi-major axes and periods of satellites, which are therefore known only for a few binary objects. The densities range from less than 0.4 to 2.6 g/cm3. The least dense objects are thought to be largely composed of ice and have significant porosity. The densest objects are likely composed of rock with a thin crust of ice. There is a trend of low densities for small objects and high densities for the largest objects. One possible explanation for this trend is that ice was lost from the surface layers when differentiated objects collided to form the largest objects.
Initially, detailed analysis of KBOs was impossible, and so astronomers were only able to determine the most basic facts about their makeup, primarily their color. These first data showed a broad range of colors among KBOs, ranging from neutral grey to deep red. This suggested that their surfaces were composed of a wide range of compounds, from dirty ices to hydrocarbons. This diversity was startling, as astronomers had expected KBOs to be uniformly dark, having lost most of the volatile ices from their surfaces to the effects of cosmic rays. Various solutions were suggested for this discrepancy, including resurfacing by impacts or outgassing. Jewitt and Luu's spectral analysis of the known Kuiper belt objects in 2001 found that the variation in color was too extreme to be easily explained by random impacts. The radiation from the Sun is thought to have chemically altered methane on the surface of KBOs, producing products such as tholins. Makemake has been shown to possess a number of hydrocarbons derived from the radiation-processing of methane, including ethane, ethylene and acetylene.
Although to date most KBOs still appear spectrally featureless due to their faintness, there have been a number of successes in determining their composition. In 1996, Robert H. Brown et al. acquired spectroscopic data on the KBO 1993 SC, which revealed that its surface composition is markedly similar to that of Pluto, as well as Neptune's moon Triton, with large amounts of methane ice. For the smaller objects, only colors and in some cases the albedos have been determined. These objects largely fall into two classes: gray with low albedos, or very red with higher albedos. The difference in colors and albedos is hypothesized to be due to the retention or the loss of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the surface of these objects, with the surfaces of those that formed far enough from the Sun to retain H2S being reddened due to irradiation.
The largest KBOs, such as Pluto and Quaoar, have surfaces rich in volatile compounds such as methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide; the presence of these molecules is likely due to their moderate vapor pressure in the 30–50 K temperature range of the Kuiper belt. This allows them to occasionally boil off their surfaces and then fall again as snow, whereas compounds with higher boiling points would remain solid. The relative abundances of these three compounds in the largest KBOs is directly related to their surface gravity and ambient temperature, which determines which they can retain. Water ice has been detected in several KBOs, including members of the Haumea family such as , mid-sized objects such as 38628 Huya and 20000 Varuna, and also on some small objects. The presence of crystalline ice on large and mid-sized objects, including 50000 Quaoar where ammonia hydrate has also been detected, may indicate past tectonic activity aided by melting point lowering due to the presence of ammonia.
Despite its vast extent, the collective mass of the Kuiper belt is relatively low. The total mass of the dynamically hot population is estimated to be 1% the mass of the Earth. The dynamically cold population is estimated to be much smaller with only 0.03% the mass of the Earth. While the dynamically hot population is thought to the remnant of a much larger population that formed closer to the Sun and was scattered outward during the migration of the giant planets. In contrast, the dynamically cold population is thought to have formed at its current location. The most recent estimate puts the total mass of the Kuiper belt at Earth masses based on the influence that it exerts on the motion of planets.
The small total mass of the dynamically cold population presents some problems for models of the Solar System's formation because a sizable mass is required for accretion of KBOs larger than in diameter. If the cold classical Kuiper belt had always had its current low density, these large objects simply could not have formed by the collision and mergers of smaller planetesimals. Moreover, the eccentricity and inclination of current orbits makes the encounters quite "violent" resulting in destruction rather than accretion. The removal of a large fraction of the mass of the dynamically cold population is thought to be unlikely Neptune's current influence is too weak to explain such a massive "vacuuming", and the extent of mass loss by collisional grinding is limited by the presence of loosely bound binaries in the cold disk, which are likely to be disrupted in collisions. Instead of forming from the collisions of smaller planetesimals the larger object may have formed directly from the collapse of clouds of pebbles.
The size distributions of the kuiper belt objects follow a number of power laws. A power law describes the relationship between "N"("D") (the number of objects of diameter greater than "D") and "D", and is referred to as brightness slope. The number of objects is inversely proportional to some power of the diameter "D":
Early estimates that were based on measurements of the apparent magnitude distribution found a value of q = 4 ±0.5. Which implied that there are 8 (=23) times more objects in the 100–200 km range than in the 200–400 km range.
Recent research has revealed that the size distributions of the hot classical and cold classical objects have differing slopes. The slope for the hot objects is q = 5.3 at large diameters and q = 2.0 at small diameters with the change in slope at 110 km. The slope for the cold objects is q = 8.2 at large diameters and q = 2.9 at small diameters with a change in slope at 140 km. The size distributions of the scattering objects, the plutinos, and the Neptune trojans have slopes similar to the other dynamically hot populations, but may instead have a divot, a sharp decrease in the number of objects below a specific size. This divot is hypothesized to be due to either the collisional evolution of the population, or to be due to the population having formed with no objects below this size, with the smaller objects being fragments of the original objects.
As of December 2009, the smallest Kuiper belt object detected is 980 m across. It is too dim (magnitude 35) to be seen by "Hubble" directly, but it was detected by "Hubble"'s star tracking system when it occulted a star.
The scattered disc is a sparsely populated region, overlapping with the Kuiper belt but extending to beyond 100 AU. Scattered disc objects (SDOs) have very elliptical orbits, often also very inclined to the ecliptic. Most models of Solar System formation show both KBOs and SDOs first forming in a primordial belt, with later gravitational interactions, particularly with Neptune, sending the objects outward, some into stable orbits (the KBOs) and some into unstable orbits, the scattered disc. Due to its unstable nature, the scattered disc is suspected to be the point of origin of many of the Solar System's short-period comets. Their dynamic orbits occasionally force them into the inner Solar System, first becoming centaurs, and then short-period comets.
According to the Minor Planet Center, which officially catalogues all trans-Neptunian objects, a KBO, strictly speaking, is any object that orbits exclusively within the defined Kuiper belt region regardless of origin or composition. Objects found outside the belt are classed as scattered objects. In some scientific circles the term "Kuiper belt object" has become synonymous with any icy minor planet native to the outer Solar System assumed to have been part of that initial class, even if its orbit during the bulk of Solar System history has been beyond the Kuiper belt (e.g. in the scattered-disc region). They often describe scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects". Eris, which is known to be more massive than Pluto, is often referred to as a KBO, but is technically an SDO. A consensus among astronomers as to the precise definition of the Kuiper belt has yet to be reached, and this issue remains unresolved.
The centaurs, which are not normally considered part of the Kuiper belt, are also thought to be scattered objects, the only difference being that they were scattered inward, rather than outward. The Minor Planet Center groups the centaurs and the SDOs together as scattered objects.
During its period of migration, Neptune is thought to have captured a large KBO, Triton, which is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit (it orbits opposite to Neptune's rotation). This suggests that, unlike the large moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, which are thought to have coalesced from rotating discs of material around their young parent planets, Triton was a fully formed body that was captured from surrounding space. Gravitational capture of an object is not easy: it requires some mechanism to slow down the object enough to be caught by the larger object's gravity. A possible explanation is that Triton was part of a binary when it encountered Neptune. (Many KBOs are members of binaries. See below.) Ejection of the other member of the binary by Neptune could then explain Triton's capture. Triton is only 14% larger than Pluto, and spectral analysis of both worlds shows that their surfaces are largely composed of similar materials, such as methane and carbon monoxide. All this points to the conclusion that Triton was once a KBO that was captured by Neptune during its outward migration.
Since 2000, a number of KBOs with diameters of between 500 and , more than half that of Pluto (diameter 2370 km), have been discovered. 50000 Quaoar, a classical KBO discovered in 2002, is over 1,200 km across. and , both announced on July 29, 2005, are larger still. Other objects, such as 28978 Ixion (discovered in 2001) and 20000 Varuna (discovered in 2000), measure roughly across.
The discovery of these large KBOs in orbits similar to Pluto's led many to conclude that, aside from its relative size, Pluto was not particularly different from other members of the Kuiper belt. Not only are these objects similar to Pluto in size, but many also have satellites, and are of similar composition (methane and carbon monoxide have been found both on Pluto and on the largest KBOs). Thus, just as Ceres was considered a planet before the discovery of its fellow asteroids, some began to suggest that Pluto might also be reclassified.
The issue was brought to a head by the discovery of Eris, an object in the scattered disc far beyond the Kuiper belt, that is now known to be 27% more massive than Pluto. (Eris was originally thought to be larger than Pluto by volume, but the "New Horizons" mission found this not to be the case.) In response, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was forced to define what a planet is for the first time, and in so doing included in their definition that a planet must have "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit". As Pluto shares its orbit with many other sizable objects, it was deemed not to have cleared its orbit, and was thus reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, making it a member of the Kuiper belt.
Although Pluto is currently the largest known KBO, there is at least one known larger object currently outside the Kuiper belt that probably originated in it: Neptune's moon Triton (which, as explained above, is probably a captured KBO).
As of 2008, only five objects in the Solar System (Ceres, Eris, and the KBOs Pluto, Makemake and Haumea) are listed as dwarf planets by the IAU. 90482 Orcus, 28978 Ixion and many other Kuiper-belt objects are large enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium; most of them will probably qualify when more is known about them.
The six largest TNOs (Eris, Pluto, Gonggong, Makemake, Haumea and Quaoar) are all known to have satellites, and two have more than one. A higher percentage of the larger KBOs have satellites than the smaller objects in the Kuiper belt, suggesting that a different formation mechanism was responsible. There are also a high number of binaries (two objects close enough in mass to be orbiting "each other") in the Kuiper belt. The most notable example is the Pluto–Charon binary, but it is estimated that around 11% of KBOs exist in binaries.
On January 19, 2006, the first spacecraft to explore the Kuiper belt, "New Horizons", was launched, which flew by Pluto on July 14, 2015. Beyond the Pluto flyby, the mission's goal was to locate and investigate other, farther objects in the Kuiper belt.
On October 15, 2014, it was revealed that "Hubble" had uncovered three potential targets, provisionally designated PT1 ("potential target 1"), PT2 and PT3 by the "New Horizons" team. The objects' diameters were estimated to be in the 30–55 km range; too small to be seen by ground telescopes, at distances from the Sun of 43–44 AU, which would put the encounters in the 2018–2019 period. The initial estimated probabilities that these objects were reachable within "New Horizons" fuel budget were 100%, 7%, and 97%, respectively. All were members of the "cold" (low-inclination, low-eccentricity) classical Kuiper belt, and thus very different from Pluto. PT1 (given the temporary designation "1110113Y" on the HST web site), the most favorably situated object, was magnitude 26.8, 30–45 km in diameter, and was encountered in January 2019. Once sufficient orbital information was provided, the Minor Planet Center gave official designations to the three target KBOs: (PT1), (PT2), and (PT3). By the fall of 2014, a possible fourth target, , had been eliminated by follow-up observations. PT2 was out of the running before the Pluto flyby.
On August 26, 2015, the first target, (nicknamed "Ultima Thule" and later named 486958 Arrokoth), was chosen. Course adjustment took place in late October and early November 2015, leading to a flyby in January 2019. On July 1, 2016, NASA approved additional funding for "New Horizons" to visit the object.
On December 2, 2015, "New Horizons" detected what was then called (later named "15810 Arawn") from away, and the photographs show the shape of the object and one or two details.
On January 1, 2019, "New Horizons" successfully flew by Arrokoth, returning data showing Arrokoth to be a contact binary 32 km long by 16 km wide. The Ralph instrument aboard "New Horizons" confirmed Arrokoth's red color. Data from the fly by will continue to be downloaded over the next 20 months.
No follow up missions for "New Horizons" are planned, though at least two concepts for missions that would return to orbit or land on Pluto have been studied. Beyond Pluto, there exist many large KBOs that cannot be visited with "New Horizons", such as the dwarf planets Makemake and Haumea. New missions would be tasked to explore and study these objects in detail. Thales Alenia Space has studied the logistics of an orbiter mission to Haumea, a high priority scientific target due to its status as the parent body of a collisional family that includes several other TNOs, as well as Haumea's ring and two moons. The lead author, Joel Poncy, has advocated for new technology that would allow spacecraft to reach and orbit KBOs in 10–20 years or less. "New Horizons" Principal Investigator Alan Stern has informally suggested missions that would flyby the planets Uranus or Neptune before visiting new KBO targets, thus furthering the exploration of the Kuiper belt while also visiting these ice giant planets for the first time since the "Voyager 2" flybys in the 1980s.
Quaoar has been considered as a flyby target for a probe tasked with exploring the interstellar medium, as it currently lies near the heliospheric nose; Pontus Brandt at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and his colleagues have studied a probe that would flyby Quaoar in the 2030s before continuing to the interstellar medium through the heliospheric nose. Among their interests in Quaoar include its likely disappearing methane atmosphere and cryovolcanism. The mission studied by Brandt and his colleagues would launch using SLS and achieve 30 km/s using a Jupiter flyby. Alternatively, for an orbiter mission, a study published in 2012 concluded that Ixion and Huya are among the most feasible targets. For instance, the authors calculated that an orbiter mission could reach Ixion after 17 years cruise time if launched in 2039.
In the late 2010s, one design study discussed orbital capture and multi-target scenarios for Kuiper belt objects. Some Kuiper belt objects studied in that particular paper included , , and 47171 Lempo.
In 2011, a design study explored a spacecraft survey of Quaoar, Sedna, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris.
Interstellar missions have evaluated including a flyby of Kuiper Belt objects as part of their mission.
By 2006, astronomers had resolved dust discs thought to be Kuiper belt-like structures around nine stars other than the Sun. They appear to fall into two categories: wide belts, with radii of over 50 AU, and narrow belts (tentatively like that of the Solar System) with radii of between 20 and 30 AU and relatively sharp boundaries. Beyond this, 15–20% of solar-type stars have an observed infrared excess that is suggestive of massive Kuiper-belt-like structures. Most known debris discs around other stars are fairly young, but the two images on the right, taken by the "Hubble Space Telescope" in January 2006, are old enough (roughly 300 million years) to have settled into stable configurations. The left image is a "top view" of a wide belt, and the right image is an "edge view" of a narrow belt. Computer simulations of dust in the Kuiper belt suggest that when it was younger, it may have resembled the narrow rings seen around younger stars. | en.wikipedia.org | Kuiper belt | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16796 |
16797 | Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, they were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.
On commercially successful albums such as "Autobahn" (1974), "Trans-Europe Express" (1977), and "The Man-Machine" (1978), Kraftwerk developed a self-described "robot pop" style that combined electronic music with pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized image including matching suits. Following the release of "Electric Café" (1986), Wolfgang Flür left the group in 1987, followed by percussionist Karl Bartos in 1990. Founding member Schneider left in 2008.
The band's work has influenced a diverse range of artists and many genres of modern music, including synth-pop, hip hop, post-punk, techno, ambient, and club music. In 2014, the Recording Academy honoured Kraftwerk with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They later won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album with their live album "3-D The Catalogue" (2017) at the 2018 ceremony. As of 2020, the remaining members of the band continue to tour.
Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesizers, violin) and Ralf Hütter (organ, synthesizers) met as students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf in the late 1960s, participating in the German experimental music and art scene of the time, which "Melody Maker" jokingly dubbed "krautrock". They joined a quintet known as Organisation, which released one album, "Tone Float" in 1969, issued on RCA Records in the UK, and split shortly thereafter. Schneider became interested in synthesizers, deciding to acquire one in 1970. While visiting an exhibition in their hometown about visual artists Gilbert and George, they saw "two men wearing suits and ties, claiming to bring art into everyday life. The same year, Hütter and Schneider started bringing everyday life into art and form Kraftwerk".
Early Kraftwerk line-ups from 1970 to 1974 fluctuated, as Hütter and Schneider worked with around a half-dozen other musicians during the preparations for and the recording of three albums and sporadic live appearances, including guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger, who left to form Neu! The only constant figure in these line-ups was Schneider, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times he also played the violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic devices. Hütter, who left the band for eight months to focus on completing his university studies, played synthesizer and keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano).
The band released two free-form experimental rock albums, "Kraftwerk" (1970) and "Kraftwerk 2". The albums were mostly exploratory musical improvisations played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, organ, flute, and violin. Post-production modifications to these recordings were used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental. Live performances from 1972 to 1973 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ. These shows were mainly in Germany, with occasional shows in France. Later in 1973, Wolfgang Flür joined the group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show "Aspekte" for German television network ZDF.
With "Ralf und Florian", released in 1973, Kraftwerk began to rely more heavily on synthesizers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerk's first use of the vocoder, which became one of its musical signatures. According to English music journalist Simon Reynolds, Kraftwerk were influenced by what he called the "adrenalized insurgency" of Detroit artists of the late '60s MC5 and the Stooges.
The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank was highly significant in the early years of Kraftwerk. Plank also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of that time, including members of Can, Neu!, Cluster, and Harmonia. As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio near Cologne became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1970s. Plank coproduced the first four Kraftwerk albums.
The release of "Autobahn" in 1974 saw Kraftwerk moving away from the sound of its first three albums. Hütter and Schneider had invested in newer technology such as the Minimoog and the EMS Synthi AKS, helping give Kraftwerk a newer, "disciplined" sound. "Autobahn" was also the last album that Conny Plank engineered. After the commercial success of "Autobahn" in the US, where it peaked at number 5 in the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes, Hütter and Schneider invested in updating their studio, thus lessening their reliance on outside producers. At this time the painter and graphic artist Emil Schult became a regular collaborator, designing artwork, cowriting lyrics, and accompanying the group on tour.
The year 1975 saw a turning point in Kraftwerk's live shows. With financial support from Phonogram Inc., in the US, they were able to undertake a multi-date tour to promote the "Autobahn" album, a tour which took them to the US, Canada and the UK for the first time. The tour also saw a new, stable, live line-up in the form of a quartet. Hütter and Schneider continued playing keyboard synthesizers such as the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey, with Schneider's use of flute diminishing. The two men started singing live for the first time, and Schneider processing his voice with a vocoder live. Wolfgang Flür and new recruit Karl Bartos performed on home-made electronic percussion instruments. Bartos also used a Deagan vibraphone on stage. The Hütter-Schneider-Bartos-Flür formation remained in place until the late 1980s and is now regarded as the classic live line-up of Kraftwerk. Emil Schult generally fulfilled the role of tour manager.
After the 1975 "Autobahn" tour, Kraftwerk began work on a follow-up album, "Radio-Activity" (German title: "Radio-Aktivität"). After further investment in new equipment, the Kling Klang Studio became a fully working recording studio. The group used the central theme in radio communication, which had become enhanced on their last tour of the United States. With Emil Schult working on artwork and lyrics, Kraftwerk began to compose music for the new record. Even though "Radio-Activity" was less commercially successful than "Autobahn" in the UK and United States, the album served to open up the European market for Kraftwerk, earning them a gold disc in France. Kraftwerk made videos and performed several European live dates to promote the album. With the release of "Autobahn" and "Radio-Activity", Kraftwerk left behind avant-garde experimentation and moved towards the electronic pop tunes for which they are best known.
In 1976, Kraftwerk toured in support of the "Radio-Activity" album. David Bowie was among the fans of the record and invited the band to support him on his "Station to Station" tour, an offer the group declined. Despite some innovations in touring, Kraftwerk took a break from live performances after the "Radio-Activity" tour of 1976.
After having finished the Radio-Activity tour Kraftwerk began recording "Trans-Europe Express" (German: "Trans-Europa Express") at the Kling Klang Studio. "Trans-Europe Express" was mixed at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. It was around this time that Hütter and Schneider met David Bowie at the Kling Klang Studio. A collaboration was mentioned in an interview (Brian Eno) with Hütter, but it never materialised. The release of "Trans-Europe Express" in March 1977 was marked with an extravagant train journey used as a press conference by EMI France. The album won a disco award in New York later that year.
In May 1978 Kraftwerk released "The Man-Machine" (German: "Die Mensch-Maschine"), recorded at the Kling Klang Studio. Due to the complexity of the recording, the album was mixed at Studio Rudas in Düsseldorf. The band hired sound engineer Leanard Jackson from Detroit to work with Joschko Rudas on the final mix. "The Man-Machine" was the first Kraftwerk album where Karl Bartos was cocredited as a songwriter. The cover, produced in black, white and red, was inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky and the Suprematism movement. Gunther Frohling photographed the group for the cover, a now-iconic image which featured the quartet dressed in red shirts and black ties. After it was released Kraftwerk did not release another album for three years.
In May 1981 Kraftwerk released "Computer World" (German: "Computerwelt") on EMI Records. It was recorded at Kling Klang Studio between 1978 and 1981. Much of this time was spent modifying the studio to make it portable so the band could take it on tour. Some of the electronic vocals on "Computer World" were generated using a Texas Instruments language translator. "Computer Love" was released as a single backed with the "Man-Machine" track "The Model". Radio DJs were more interested in the B-side so the single was repackaged by EMI and re-released with "The Model" as the A-side. The single reached number one in the UK, making "The Model" Kraftwerk's most successful song in that country. As a result, the "Man-Machine" album also became a success in the UK, peaking at number 9 in the album chart in February 1982. The band's live set focused increasingly on song-based material, with greater use of vocals and the use of sequencing equipment for both percussion and music. In contrast to their cool and controlled image, the group used sequencers interactively, which allowed for live improvisation. Ironically Kraftwerk did not own a computer at the time of recording "Computer World".
Kraftwerk returned to live performance with the "Computer World" tour of 1981, where the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it along on the road. They also made greater use of live visuals including back-projected slides and films synchronized with the music as the technology developed, the use of hand-held miniaturized instruments during the set (for example, during "Pocket Calculator"), and, perhaps most famously, the use of replica mannequins of themselves to perform on stage during the song "The Robots".
In 1982 Kraftwerk began to work on a new album that initially had the working title "Technicolor" but due to trademark issues was changed to "Techno Pop". One of the songs from these recording sessions was "Tour de France", which EMI released as a single in 1983. This song was a reflection of the band's new-found obsession for cycling. After the physically demanding "Computer World" tour, Ralf Hütter had been looking for forms of exercise that fitted in with the image of Kraftwerk; subsequently he encouraged the group to become vegetarians and take up cycling. "Tour de France" included sounds that followed this theme including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based on cycling. The other members of the band were not convinced, and the theme was left to the single alone. "Tour de France" was released in German and French. The vocals of the song were recorded on the Kling Klang Studio stairs to create the right atmosphere. "Tour de France" was featured in the 1984 film "Breakin'", showing the influence that Kraftwerk had on black American dance music.
In May or June 1982,, during the recording of "Tour de France", Ralf Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident. He suffered head injuries and remained in a coma for several days. During 1983 Wolfgang Flür was beginning to spend less time in the studio. Since the band began using sequencers his role as a drummer was becoming less frequent. He preferred to spend his time travelling with his girlfriend. Flür was also experiencing artistic difficulties with the band. Though he toured the world with Kraftwerk as a drummer in 1981, his playing does not appear on that year's "Computer World" or on the 1986 album "Electric Café". In 1987 he left the band and was replaced by Fritz Hilpert.
After years of withdrawal from live performance Kraftwerk began to tour Europe more frequently. In February 1990 the band played a few secret shows in Italy. Karl Bartos left the band shortly afterwards. The next proper tour was in 1991, for the album "The Mix". Hütter and Schneider wished to continue the synth-pop quartet style of presentation, and recruited Fernando Abrantes as a replacement for Bartos. Abrantes left the band shortly after though. In late 1991, long-time Kling Klang Studio sound engineer Henning Schmitz was brought in to finish the remainder of the tour and to complete a new version of the quartet that remained active until 2008.
In 1997 Kraftwerk made a famous appearance at the dance festival Tribal Gathering held in England. In 1998, the group toured the US and Japan for the first time since 1981, along with shows in Brazil and Argentina. Three new songs were performed during this period and a further two tested in soundchecks, which remain unreleased. Following this trek, the group decided to take another break.
In July 1999 the single "Tour de France" was reissued in Europe by EMI after it had been out of print for several years. It was released for the first time on CD in addition to a repressing of the 12-inch vinyl single. Both versions feature slightly altered artwork that removed the faces of Flür and Bartos from the four-man cycling paceline depicted on the original cover. In 1999 ex-member Flür published his autobiography in Germany, "Ich war ein Roboter". Later English-language editions of the book were titled "Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot".
In 1999, Kraftwerk were commissioned to create an a cappella jingle for the Hannover Expo 2000 world's fair in Germany. The jingle was subsequently developed into the single "Expo 2000", which was released in December 1999, and remixed and re-released as "Expo Remix" in November 2000.
In August 2003 the band released "Tour de France Soundtracks", its first album of new material since 1986's "Electric Café". In January and February 2003, before the release of the album, the band started the extensive "Minimum-Maximum" world tour, using four customised Sony VAIO laptop computers, effectively leaving the entire Kling Klang studio at home in Germany. The group also obtained a new set of transparent video panels to replace its four large projection screens. This greatly streamlined the running of all of the group's sequencing, sound-generating, and visual-display software. From this point, the band's equipment increasingly reduced manual playing, replacing it with interactive control of sequencing equipment. Hütter retained the most manual performance, still playing musical lines by hand on a controller keyboard and singing live vocals and having a repeating ostinato. Schneider's live vocoding had been replaced by software-controlled speech-synthesis techniques. In November, the group made a surprising appearance at the MTV European Music Awards in Edinburgh, Scotland, performing "Aerodynamik". The same year a promotional box set entitled "12345678" (subtitled "The Catalogue") was issued, with plans for a proper commercial release to follow. The box featured remastered editions of the group's eight core studio albums, from "Autobahn" to "Tour de France Soundtracks". This long-awaited box-set was eventually released in a different set of remasters in November 2009.
In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, "Minimum-Maximum", which was compiled from the shows during the band's tour of spring 2004, received extremely positive reviews. The album contained reworked tracks from existing studio albums. This included a track titled "Planet of Visions" that was a reworking of "Expo 2000". In support of this release, Kraftwerk made another quick sweep around the Balkans with dates in Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Turkey, and Greece. In December, the "Minimum-Maximum" DVD was released. During 2006, the band performed at festivals in Norway, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.
In April 2008 the group played three shows in US cities Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Denver, and were a coheadliner at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. This was their second appearance at the festival since 2004. Further shows were performed in Ireland, Poland, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore later that year. The touring quartet consisted of Ralf Hütter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert, and video technician Stefan Pfaffe, who became an official member in 2008. Original member Florian Schneider was absent from the lineup. Hütter stated that he was working on other projects. On 21 November, Kraftwerk officially confirmed Florian Schneider's departure from the band. "The Independent" commented on that incident: "There is something brilliantly Kraftwerkian about the news that Florian Schneider, a founder member of the German electronic pioneers, is leaving the band to pursue a solo career. Many successful bands break up after just a few years. It has apparently taken Schneider and his musical partner, Ralf Hütter, four decades to discover musical differences." Kraftwerk's headline set at Global Gathering in Melbourne, Australia, on 22 November was cancelled moments before it was scheduled to begin, due to a Fritz Hilpert heart problem.
In 2009, Kraftwerk performed concerts with special 3D background graphics in Wolfsburg, Germany; Manchester, UK; and Randers, Denmark. Members of the audience were able to watch this multimedia part of the show with 3D glasses, which were given out. During the Manchester concert (part of the 2009 Manchester International Festival) four members of the GB cycling squad (Jason Kenny, Ed Clancy, Jamie Staff and Geraint Thomas) rode around the Velodrome while the band performed "Tour de France". The group also played several festival dates, the last being at the Bestival 2009 in September, on the Isle of Wight. 2009 also saw the release of "The Catalogue" box set in November. It is a 12" album-sized box set containing all eight remastered CDs in cardboard slipcases, as well as LP-sized booklets of photographs and artwork for each individual album.
Although not officially confirmed, Ralf Hütter suggested that a second boxed set of their first three experimental albums—"Kraftwerk", "Kraftwerk 2" and "Ralf and Florian"—could be on its way, possibly seeing commercial release after their next studio album: "We've just never really taken a look at those albums. They've always been available, but as really bad bootlegs. Now we have more artwork. Emil has researched extra contemporary drawings, graphics, and photographs to go with each album, collections of paintings that we worked with, and drawings that Florian and I did. We took a lot of Polaroids in those days." Kraftwerk also released an iOS app called Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine. The Lenbach House in Munich exhibited some Kraftwerk 3-D pieces in Autumn 2011. Kraftwerk performed three concerts to open the exhibit.
Kraftwerk played at Ultra Music Festival in Miami on 23 March 2012. Initiated by Klaus Biesenbach, the Museum of Modern Art of New York organized an exhibit titled "Kraftwerk – Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8" where the band performed their studio discography from "Autobahn" to "Tour de France" over the course of eight days to sell-out crowds. The exhibit later toured to the Tate Gallery as well as to K21 in Düsseldorf. Kraftwerk performed at the No Nukes 2012 Festival in Tokyo, Japan. Kraftwerk were also going to play at the Ultra Music Festival in Warsaw, but the event was cancelled; instead, Kraftwerk performed at Way Out West in Gothenburg. A limited edition version of the "Catalogue" box set was released during the retrospective, restricted to 2000 sets. Each box was individually numbered and inverted the colour scheme of the standard box. In December, Kraftwerk stated on their website that they would be playing their "Catalogue" in Düsseldorf and at London's Tate Modern. Kraftwerk tickets were priced at £60 in London, but fans compared that to the $20 ticket price for tickets at New York's MoMA in 2012, which caused consternation. Even so, the demand for the tickets at The Tate was so high that it shut down the website.
In March 2013, the band was not allowed to perform at a music festival in China due to unspecified "political reasons". In an interview in June after performing the eight albums of "The Catalogue" in Sydney, Ralf Hütter stated: "Now we have finished one to eight, now we can concentrate on number nine." In July, they performed at the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival. The band also played a 3-D concert on 12 July at Scotland's biggest festival – T in the Park – in Balado, Kinross, as well as 20 July at Latitude Festival in Suffolk, and 21 July at the Longitude Festival in Dublin.
In October 2013 the band played four concerts, over two nights, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The venue, Evoluon (the former technology museum of Philips Electronics, now a conference center) was handpicked by Ralf Hütter, for its retro-futuristic UFO-like architecture. Bespoke visuals of the building, with the saucer section descending from space, were displayed during the rendition of "Spacelab."
In 2014, Kraftwerk brought their four-night, 3D "Catalogue" tour to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and at NYC's United Palace Theatre. They also played at the Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden and at the music festival Summer Sonic in Tokyo, Japan. In November 2014 the 3D "Catalogue" live set was played in Paris, France, at the brand new Fondation Louis-Vuitton from 6 to 14 November. and then in the iconic Paradiso concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where they played before in 1976. In 2015, Ralf Hütter, being told that the Tour de France would be starting that year in the nearby Dutch city of Utrecht, decided that Kraftwerk would perform during the "Grand Depart". Eventually the band played three concerts 3 and 4 July in TivoliVredenburg performing "Tour de France Soundtracks" and visited the start of the Tour in-between.
In April 2017, Kraftwerk announced "3-D The Catalogue", a live album and video documenting performances of all eight albums in "The Catalogue" that was released 26 May 2017. It is available in multiple formats, the most extensive of which being a 4-disc Blu-ray set with a 236-page hardback book. The album was nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Surround Sound Album at the ceremony that took place on 28 January 2018, winning the former, which became the band's first Grammy win.
On 20 July 2018, at a concert in Stuttgart, German astronaut Alexander Gerst performed "Spacelab" with the band while aboard the International Space Station, joining via a live video link. Gerst played melodies using a tablet as his instrument alongside Hütter as a duet, and delivered a short message to the audience.
On 20 July 2019, Kraftwerk headlined the Saturday night lineup on the Lovell Stage at Bluedot Festival, a music and science festival held annually at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, UK. The 2019 festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
On 21 April 2020, Florian Schneider died at age 73 after a brief battle with cancer.
Kraftwerk have been recognized as pioneers of electronic music as well as subgenres such as electropop, art pop, and synth-pop. In its early incarnation, the band pursued an avant-garde, experimental rock style inspired by the compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Hütter has also listed the Beach Boys as a major influence. The group was also inspired by the funk music of James Brown and, later, punk rock. They were initially connected to the German krautrock scene. In the mid-1970s, they transitioned to an electronic sound which they described as "robot pop". Kraftwerk's lyrics dealt with post-war European urban life and technology—traveling by car on the Autobahn, traveling by train, using home computers, and the like. They were influenced by the modernist Bauhaus aesthetic, seeing art as inseparable from everyday function. Usually, the lyrics are very minimal but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a knowing caution about, the modern world, as well as playing an integral role in the rhythmic structure of the songs. Many of Kraftwerk's songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life: a strong sense of alienation existing side-by-side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology.
Starting with the release of "Autobahn", Kraftwerk began to release a series of concept albums ("Radio-Activity", "Trans-Europe Express", "The Man-Machine", "Computer World", "Tour de France Soundtracks"). All of Kraftwerk's albums from "Trans Europe Express" onwards, except "Tour de France Soundtracks" have been released in separate versions: one with German vocals for sale in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and one with English vocals for the rest of the world, with occasional variations in other languages when conceptually appropriate. Live performance has always played an important part in Kraftwerk's activities. Also, despite its live shows generally being based around formal songs and compositions, live improvisation often plays a noticeable role in its performances. This trait can be traced back to the group's roots in the first experimental Krautrock scene of the late 1960s, but, significantly, it has continued to be a part of its playing even as it makes ever greater use of digital and computer-controlled sequencing in its performances. Some of the band's familiar compositions have been observed to have developed from live improvisations at its concerts or sound-checks.
Throughout their career, Kraftwerk have pushed the limits of music technology with some notable innovations, such as home-made instruments and custom-built devices. The group has always perceived their Kling Klang Studio as a complex music instrument, as well as a sound laboratory; Florian Schneider in particular developed a fascination with music technology, with the result that the technical aspects of sound generation and recording gradually became his main fields of activity within the band. Alexei Monroe called Kraftwerk the "first successful artists to incorporate representations of industrial sounds into non-academic electronic music".
Kraftwerk used a custom-built vocoder on their albums "Ralf und Florian" and "Autobahn"; the device was constructed by engineers P. Leunig and K. Obermayer of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig. Hütter and Schneider hold a patent for an electronic drum kit with sensor pads, filed in July 1975 and issued in June 1977. It must be hit with metal sticks, which are connected to the device to complete a circuit that triggers analog synthetic percussion sounds. The band first performed in public with this device in 1973, on the television program "Aspekte" (on the all-German channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), where it was played by Wolfgang Flür. They created drum machines for "Autobahn" and "Trans-Europe Express"
On the "Radio-Activity" tour in 1976 Kraftwerk tested out an experimental light-beam-activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm and hand movements. Unfortunately, the device did not work as planned, and it was quickly abandoned. The same year Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider commissioned Bonn-based "Synthesizerstudio Bonn, Matten & Wiechers" to design and build the Synthanorma Sequenzer with Intervallomat, a 4×8 / 2×16 / 1×32 step-sequencer system with some features that commercial products couldn't provide at that time. The music sequencer was used by the band for the first time to control the electronic sources creating the rhythmic sound of the album "Trans-Europe Express".
Since 2002, Kraftwerk's live performances have been conducted with the use of virtual technology (i.e. software replicating and replacing original analogue or digital equipment). According to Fritz Hilpert, "the mobility of music technology and the reliability of the notebooks and software have greatly simplified the realization of complex touring setups: we generate all sounds on the laptops in real time and manipulate them with controller maps. It takes almost no time to get our compact stage system set up for performance. […] This way, we can bring our Kling-Klang Studio with us on stage. The physical light weight of our equipment also translates into an enormous ease of use when working with software synthesizers and sound processors. Every tool imaginable is within immediate reach or just a few mouse clicks away on the Internet."
The band is notoriously reclusive, providing rare and enigmatic interviews, using life-size mannequins and robots to conduct official photo shoots, refusing to accept mail and not allowing visitors at the Kling Klang Studio, the precise location of which they used to keep secret.
Another notable example of this eccentric behavior was reported to Johnny Marr of the Smiths by Karl Bartos, who explained that anyone trying to contact the band for collaboration would be told the studio telephone did not have a ringer since, while recording, the band did not like to hear any kind of noise pollution. Instead, callers were instructed to phone the studio precisely at a certain time, whereupon the phone would be answered by Ralf Hütter, despite never hearing the phone ring.
Chris Martin of Coldplay recalled in a 2007 article in "Q" magazine the process of requesting permission to use the melody from the track "Computer Love" on "Talk" from the album "X&Y". He sent a letter through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later received an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said "yes".
According to music journalist Neil McCormick, Kraftwerk might be "the most influential group in pop history". "NME" wrote: "'The Beatles and Kraftwerk' may not have the ring of 'the Beatles and the Stones', but nonetheless, these are the two most important bands in music history". AllMusic wrote that their music "resonates in virtually every new development to impact the contemporary pop scene of the late 20th century".
Kraftwerk's musical style and image can be heard and seen in 1980s synth-pop groups such as Gary Numan, Ultravox, John Foxx, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Human League, Depeche Mode, Visage, and Soft Cell. Kraftwerk influenced other forms of music such as hip hop, house, and drum and bass, and they are also regarded as pioneers of the electro genre. Most notably, "Trans Europe Express" and "Numbers" were interpolated into "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force, one of the earliest hip-hop/electro hits. Kraftwerk helped ignite the New York electro-movement. Techno was created by three musicians from Detroit, often referred to as the 'Belleville three' (Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May), who fused the repetitive melodies of Kraftwerk with funk rhythms. The Belleville three were heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and their sounds because Kraftwerk's sounds appealed to the middle-class blacks residing in Detroit at this time. Depeche Mode's composer Martin Gore emphasized: "For anyone of our generation involved in electronic music, Kraftwerk were the godfathers". Vince Clarke of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode, is also a notable disco and Kraftwerk fan. Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records, purchased the vocoder used by Kraftwerk in their early albums, comparing it to owning "the guitar Jimi Hendrix used on 'Purple Haze'". Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, founding members of OMD, have stated that Kraftwerk was a major reference on their early work, and covered "Neon Lights" on the 1991 album, "Sugar Tax". The electronic band Ladytron were inspired by Kraftwerk's song "The Model" when they composed their debut single "He Took Her to a Movie". Aphex Twin noted Kraftwerk as one of his biggest influences and called "Computer World" as a very influential album towards his music and sound. Björk has cited the band as one of her main musical influences. Electronic musician Kompressor has cited Kraftwerk as an influence. The band was also mentioned in the song "Rappers We Crush" by Kompressor and MC Frontalot ("I hurry away, get in my Chrysler. Oh, the dismay!/Someone's replaced all of my Backstreet Boys with Kraftwerk tapes!"). Dr. Alex Paterson of the Orb listed "The Man-Machine" as one of his 13 most favourite albums of all time. According to "NME", Kraftwerk's pioneering "robot pop" also spawned groups like Prodigy and Daft Punk.
Kraftwerk inspired many acts from other styles and genres. David Bowie's "V-2 Schneider", from the 1977's "Heroes" album, was a tribute to Florian Schneider. Post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order were heavily influenced by the band. Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis was a fan, and showed his colleagues records that would influence their music. New Order also sampled "Uranium" in its biggest hit "Blue Monday". Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded a cover of "Hall of Mirrors" on their 1987 album "Through the Looking Glass" which was lauded by Ralf Hütter: "In general, we consider cover versions as an appreciation of our work. The version of "Hall of Mirrors" by Siouxsie and the Banshees is extraordinary, just like the arrangements of Alexander Bălănescu for his Balanescu Quartet release [of "Possessed", 1992]. We also like the album "El Baile Alemán" of Señor Coconut a lot." Members of Blondie have admitted on several occasions that Kraftwerk were an important reference for their sound by the time they were working on their third album "Parallel Lines". The worldwide hit "Heart of Glass" turned radically from an initial reggae-flavoured style to its distinctive electronic sound in order to imitate the technological approach of Kraftwerk's albums and adapt it to a disco concept. U2 recorded a cover version of "Neon Lights" as did Simple Minds. Rammstein also covered their song "Das Modell", releasing it as a non-album single in 1997. John Frusciante cited the ability to experiment of the group as an inspiration when working in a recording studio. The 1998 comedy "The Big Lebowski" features a fictional band called "Autobahn", a parody of Kraftwerk and their 1974 record "Autobahn".
In January 2018, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the 30-minute documentary "Kraftwerk: Computer Love" which examined "how Kraftwerk's classic album "Computer World" has changed people's lives." In October 2019, Kraftwerk were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for 2020.
Current members
Former members
Timeline | en.wikipedia.org | Kraftwerk | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16797 |
16800 | Kalmar Union
The Kalmar Union (Danish, Norwegian, and ; ) was a personal union in Scandinavia that from 1397 to 1523 joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including most of Finland), and Norway, together with Norway's overseas dependencies (then including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern Isles). The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions. Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic and foreign policies being directed by a common monarch. Gustav Vasa's election as king on 6 June 1523 and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union.
The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League. More personally, it was achieved by Queen Margaret I of Denmark (1353–1412). She was a daughter of King Valdemar IV and had married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, who was the son of King Magnus IV of Sweden, Norway and Scania. Margaret succeeded in having her son Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olaf inherited the crown of Denmark from his maternal grandfather as King Olaf II, with his mother as guardian; when Haakon VI died in 1380, Olaf also inherited the crown of Norway.
Margaret became regent of Denmark and Norway when Olaf died in 1387, leaving her without an heir. She adopted her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania the same year. The following year, 1388, Swedish nobles called upon her help against King Albert. After Margaret defeated Albert in 1389, her heir Eric was proclaimed King of Norway. Eric was subsequently elected King of Denmark and Sweden in 1396. His coronation was held in Kalmar on 17 June 1397.
One main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the perpetual struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility, which did not. Diverging interests (especially the Swedish nobility's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals starting in the 1430s. Charles Bonde, for example, was made king of Sweden three times by nationalists there, in 1440, 1464 and 1467.
The Union lost territory when the Northern Isles were pledged by Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland in 1468. However the money was never paid, so in 1472 the islands were annexed by the Kingdom of Scotland.
The Kalmar union fell apart when Sweden rebelled and became independent on 6 June 1523 and Gustav I of Sweden was elected as king there.
One of the last structures of the Union remained until 1536/1537 when the Danish Privy Council, in the aftermath of the Count's Feud, unilaterally declared Norway to be a Danish province: this did not happen; instead, Norway became a hereditary kingdom in a real union with Denmark. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries, until it was transferred to Sweden in 1814. The ensuing union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of both the incumbent king of Denmark and the late king of Sweden was elected king of Norway. | en.wikipedia.org | Kalmar Union | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16800 |
16801 | Krav Maga
Krav Maga (; , "lit." "contact combat") is a military self-defence and fighting system developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli security forces derived from a combination of techniques sourced from Aikido, Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, and Karate.
Krav Maga is known for its focus on real-world situations and its extreme efficiency. It was derived from the street-fighting experience of Hungarian-Israeli martial artist Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler, while defending the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, during the mid-to-late 1930s. In the late 1940s, following his migration to Palestine, he began to provide lessons on combat training to what was to become the IDF.
From the outset, the original concept of Krav Maga was to take the most simple and practical techniques of other fighting styles (originally European boxing, wrestling, and street fighting) and to make them rapidly teachable to military conscripts.
Krav Maga has a philosophy emphasizing aggression, and simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers. Krav Maga has been used by the Israel Defense Forces' special forces units, security forces and by regular infantry units. Closely related variations have been developed and adopted by Israeli law enforcement and intelligence organizations. There are several organizations teaching variations of Krav Maga internationally.
In addition, there are two types of this martial art; one type is used in the Israeli security forces and one type is in civilian use. Most of the security forces use of Krav Maga is classified, and Israeli military veterans who want to teach Krav Maga in the civilian market are under the supervision of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
The name in Hebrew can be translated as "contact combat". The root word "krav" () means "combat" and "maga" () means "contact".
Like most martial arts, Krav Maga encourages students to avoid physical confrontation. If this is impossible or unsafe, it promotes finishing a fight as quickly and aggressively as possible. Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to techniques that avoid severe injury; some even permanently injure or cause death to the opponent.
Students learn to defend against all variety of attacks and are taught to counter in the quickest and most efficient way.
Ideas in Krav Maga include:
Training can also cover the study and development of situational awareness to develop an understanding of one's surroundings, learning to understand the psychology of a street confrontation, and identifying potential threats before an attack occurs. It may also cover ways to deal with physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible. It also teaches mental toughness, using controlled scenarios to strengthen mental fortitude in order for students to control the impulse and not do something rash, but instead attack only when necessary and as a last resort.
Some of the key focuses of techniques in Krav Maga are—as described above—effectiveness and instinctive response under stress. To that end, Krav Maga is an eclectic system that has not sought to replace existing effective techniques, taking what is useful from available systems, for example:
Imre Lichtenfeld (also known as Imi S'de-Or) was born in 1910 in Budapest, Austro-Hungary to a Jewish family and grew up in Bratislava (Slovakia). Lichtenfeld became active in a wide range of sports, including gymnastics, wrestling, and boxing. In 1928, Lichtenfeld won the Slovak Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929 the adult championship (light and middle weight divisions). That same year, he also won the national boxing championship and an international gymnastics championship. During the ensuing decade, Lichtenfeld athletic activities focused mainly on wrestling, both as a contestant and a trainer.
In the mid-1930s, anti-Semitic riots began to threaten the Jews of Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Lichtenfeld became the leader of a group of Jewish boxers and wrestlers who took to the streets to defend Jewish neighborhoods against the growing numbers of anti-Semitic national socialists. Lichtenfeld quickly discovered, however, that actual fighting was very different from competition fighting, and although boxing and wrestling were good sports, they were not always practical for the aggressive and brutal nature of street combat. It was then that he started to re-evaluate his ideas about fighting and started developing the skills and techniques that would eventually become Krav Maga. Having become a thorn in the side of the equally anti-Semitic local authorities, in 1940 Lichtenfeld left his home with his family and friends on the last refugee ship to escape Europe.
After making his way to Mandatory Palestine, Lichtenfeld joined the Haganah paramilitary organization. In 1944 Lichtenfeld began training fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness, swimming, wrestling, use of the knife, and defense against knife attacks. During this period, Lichtenfeld trained several elite units of the Haganah including Palmach (striking force of the Haganah and forerunner of the special units of the Israel Defense Forces) and the Pal-Yam, as well as groups of police officers.
In 1948, when the State of Israel was founded and the IDF was formed, Lichtenfeld became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time he developed and refined his unique method for self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. Self-defense was not a new concept, since nearly all martial arts had developed some form of defensive techniques in their quest for tournament or sport dominance. However, self-defense was based strictly upon the scientific and dynamic principles of the human body. In 1965 judo training was added as part of the Krav Maga training, and until 1968 there were no grades in Krav Maga. Then a trainee's grades were determined largely by his knowledge in judo.
In 1968 Eli Avikzar, Lichtenfeld's principal student and first black belt, began learning aikido and in 1971 left for France where he received a black belt in aikido. Upon his return, Avikzar started working alongside Imi to integrated more traditional martial arts into krav maga and as an instructor. Then in 1974 Imre retired and gave Eli Avikzar control over the Krav Maga training center in Netanya. Shortly after, in 1976, Avikzar joined the permanent force of IDF, as head of the Krav Maga section. The role of Krav Maga in the army advanced greatly after Eli's appointment. More courses were given and every P.E. instructor was obliged to learn Krav Maga. Avikzar continued to develop Krav Maga within the IDF until his retirement in 1987. Up to this date, Eli had trained 80,000 male soldiers and 12,000 female soldiers.
Further pursuing excellence as a student of martial arts, Eli went to Germany in 1977 and received a black belt in aikido from the European Federation. In 1978 the Krav Maga association was established, and in 1989, as an active member of the judo association, Eli Avikzar helped to establish the professional and rank committees by founding the Israeli Krav Maga Association (IKMA or KAMI).Eli retired as the Chief Krav Maga instructor in 1987 and Boaz Aviram became the third person to hold the position, being the last head instructor to have studied directly with both Lichtenfeld and Avikzar.
The IDF offers a five-week Krav Maga instructor course. It has held an annual Krav Maga competition since May 2013.
Upon Lichtenfeld's retirement from the IDF, he decided to open a school and teach Krav Maga to civilians.
The first Krav Maga course took place at the Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel, in 1971, under the direct supervision of Imi Lichtenfeld.
Lichtenfeld died in January 1998 in Netanya, Israel.
Most of the Krav Maga organizations in Israel use Imi Lichtenfeld's colored belt grading system which is based upon the Judo ranking system. It starts with white belt, and then yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black belts. Black belt students can move up the ranks from 1st to 9th Dan. The time and requirements for advancing have some differences between the organizations.
Other organizations that teach Krav Maga in and outside of Israel use similar grading systems.
A patch system was developed by Eyal Yanilov in the late 1980s. The grades are divided into three main categories; Practitioner, Graduate and Expert. Each of the categories, which are often abbreviated to their initials, has five ranks. Grades P1 through to P5 are the student levels and make up the majority of the Krav Maga community. After P5 are G1-G5, and in order to achieve Graduate level the student has to demonstrate a proficiency in all of the P level techniques before advancing.
Although there are some subtle differences, the various organizations teach the same core techniques and principles. Some other organizations have less formal grading ranks without belts or patches but do have levels by which students can monitor their progress.
In some organizations sparring is slow and light until the student reaches G2 level. This takes approximately four to six years because rising one level in the Practitioner and Graduate categories takes at minimum half a year of consistent training. It is, however, more common to observe regular trainees grading only once a year from P3 and up.
Once in G2, students also do simulated "real" fighting with protective gear.
Some organizations encourage sparring as soon as students start training. They train full contact with minimal gear in both stand-up and ground fighting, using semi-professional MMA rules for safety. Sparring should always be supervised and monitored carefully by a qualified instructor.
Some Krav Maga organizations do not support a competition component, taking the stance that Krav Maga is not a sport. So-called "fighting" sports tend to operate under principles of using safe techniques, doing minimal harm, and consequently wearing down opponents and using other tactics supported by the "rules" of safe competition. In its role as self-defense and as a hand-to-hand combat system, Krav Maga operates under a completely different set of principles in which techniques may indeed cause significant damage and fights are to be ended as quickly as possible when the conflict cannot be avoided. Krav Maga organizations that involve competition are usually founded and named specifically to focus on using Krav Maga-based techniques specifically under a set of sporting principles. | en.wikipedia.org | Krav Maga | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16801 |
16802 | The Katzenjammer Kids
The Katzenjammer Kids is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949). It debuted December 12, 1897, in the "American Humorist", the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst's "New York Journal". Dirks was the first cartoonist to regularly express comic characters' dialogue using speech balloons. The comic strip was turned into a stage play in 1903. It inspired several animated cartoons and was one of 20 strips included in the Comic Strip Classics series of U.S. commemorative postage stamps.
After a series of legal battles between 1912 and 1914, Dirks left the Hearst organization and began a new strip, first titled Hans and Fritz and then The Captain and the Kids. It featured the same characters seen in "The Katzenjammer Kids", which was continued by Knerr. The two separate versions of the strip competed with each other until 1979, when "The Captain and the Kids" ended its six-decade run. "The Katzenjammer Kids" published its last strip on January 1, 2006, but is still distributed in reprints by King Features Syndicate, making it the oldest comic strip still in syndication and the longest-running ever.
"The Katzenjammer Kids" was inspired by "Max and Moritz", a children's story of the 1860s by German author Wilhelm Busch.
"Katzenjammer" translates literally as "the wailing of cats" (i.e. "caterwaul") but is used to mean "contrition after a failed endeavor" or "hangover" in German (and, in the latter sense, in English too). Whereas Max & Moritz were grotesquely but comically put to death after seven destructive pranks, the Katzenjammer Kids and the other characters still thrive.
"The Katzenjammer Kids" was so popular that it became two competing comic strips and the subject of a lawsuit. This happened because Dirks, in 1912, wanted to take a break after drawing the strip for 15 years, but the Hearst newspaper syndicate would not allow it. Dirks left anyway, and the strip was taken over by Harold Knerr. Dirks' last strip appeared March 16, 1913. Dirks sued, and after a long legal battle, the Hearst papers were allowed to continue "The Katzenjammer Kids", with Knerr as writer and artist. He took over permanently in the summer of 1914. However, Dirks was allowed to create an almost identical strip of his own for the rival Pulitzer newspapers, although he had to use a different name for the strip.
Initially named "Hans und Fritz" after the two naughty protagonist brothers, Dirks' new feature was called "The Captain and the Kids" from 1918 on. "The Captain and the Kids" was very similar to "The Katzenjammer Kids" in terms of content and characters, but Dirks had a looser and more verbal style than Knerr, who on the other hand often produced stronger, more direct gags and drawings. "The Captain and the Kids" soon proved equal in popularity to "The Katzenjammer Kids". It was later distributed by the United Feature Syndicate, while Hearst's King Features distributed "The Katzenjammer Kids".
"The Captain and the Kids" expanded as a daily strip during the 1930s, but it had only a short run. However, the Sunday strip remained popular for decades. From 1946, Dirks' son, John Dirks, gradually began doing more of the work on "The Captain and the Kids". They introduced new characters and plots during the 1950s, including a 1958 science fiction storyline about a brilliant inventor and alien invasions. Even as John Dirks took over most of the work, Rudolph Dirks signed the strip until his death in 1968. John Dirks' drawing shifted slightly towards a more square-formed line, though it maintained the original style until "The Captain and the Kids" ended its run in 1979.
Knerr continued drawing "The Katzenjammer Kids" until his death in 1949; the strip was then written and drawn by Charles H. "Doc" Winner (1949–56), with Joe Musial taking over in 1956. Musial was replaced on "The Katzenjammer Kids" by Mike Senich (1976–81), Angelo DeCesare (1981–86), and Hy Eisman (1986–2006). Now syndicated in reprint form, the strip is distributed internationally to some 50 newspapers and magazines. Eisman reused a lot of old gags and stories in later years.
"The Katzenjammer Kids" (three brothers in the first strip but soon reduced to two) featured Hans and Fritz, twins who rebelled against authority, particularly in the form of their mother, Mama; der Captain, a shipwrecked sailor who acted as a surrogate father; and der Inspector, an official from the school system. Other characters included John Silver, a pirate sea captain and his crew, and King Bongo, a primitive-living but sophisticated-acting black jungle monarch who ruled a tropical island. Several of the characters spoke in stereotypical German-accented English.
The defining theme of the strip was Hans and Fritz pranking der Captain, der Inspector, Mama, or all three, for which the boys were often spanked, but sometimes shifted the blame to others. Other stories involved der Captain taking the Katzenjammers on treasure hunts or cargo voyages, sometimes aided by or competing with John Silver. Still other stories involved King Bongo enlisting the Katzenjammers to run errands or go on missions related to his kingdom; in both strips, by the mid-1930s, the family lived on Bongo's island—usually called Squee-Jee—and were readily at hand.
Knerr's version of "The Katzenjammer Kids" introduced several major new characters in the 1930s. Miss Twiddle, a pompous tutor, and her brainy niece Lena came to stay permanently with the Katzenjammers in early 1936. Later in the year Twiddle's ex-pupil, "boy prodigy" Rollo Rhubarb joined them. The ever-smug Rollo is always trying to outwit Hans and Fritz, but his cunning plans often backfire.
"The Captain and the Kids" also introduced some new characters. Ginga Dun is a snooty Indian trader who can outsmart almost anyone and only talks in verse. Captain Bloodshot is a pint-sized pirate rival of John Silver's.
Notable features of the later strips, at both syndicates, included a more constructive relationship between the Captain and the boys, who sometimes bickered like friendly rivals rather than pranking each other outright. The King and his people, also in both strips, were now Polynesian rather than African.
The "Katzenjammer Kids" characters initially appeared outside comics in a handful of live-action silent films, with the first released in 1898. This first film, titled "The Katzenjammer Kids In School", was made for the Biograph Company by William George Bitzer. This film was followed in 1900 by another Bitzer-Biograph film, "The Katzenjammer Kids in Love."
Between December 1916 and August 1918, a total of 37 "Katzenjammer Kids" silent cartoon shorts were produced by William Randolph Hearst's own cartoon studio International Film Service, which adapted Hearst's well-known comic strips. The series was retired in 1918 at the height of the characters' popularity – partly because of the growing tension against titles with German associations after World War I. The comic strip was briefly renamed to "The Shenanigan Kids" around this time, and in 1920 another five cartoons were produced under this title. All "Katzenjammer Kids"/"Shenanigan Kids" cartoons from International Film Services were directed (and most likely also animated) by Gregory La Cava.
The Katzenjammer Kids also appeared (along with other King Features comic-strip stars) in Filmation's TV special "Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter" (1972).
In 1938, "The Captain and the Kids" became the subject of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first self-produced series of theatrical short subject cartoons, directed by William Hanna, Bob Allen and Friz Freleng: "The Captain and the Kids". Unlike the strip, which focused most of all on the gruesomely amusing antics of Hans and Fritz, the MGM cartoons often centered on the Captain. The series was overall unsuccessful, ending after one year and a total of 15 cartoons. Following that cancellation, Freleng returned to Warner Bros., where he had earlier been an animation director. The Captain was voiced by Billy Bletcher, Mama was voiced by Martha Wentworth, and John Silver was voiced by Mel Blanc.
"The Captain and the Kids" version of the strip was also animated for television as a back-up segment on Filmation's "Archie's TV Funnies" in 1971, and in the spinoff series "Fabulous Funnies" from 1978-1979. | en.wikipedia.org | The Katzenjammer Kids | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16802 |
16803 | Ketone
In chemistry, a ketone is a functional group with the structure RC(=O)R', where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones contain a carbonyl group (a carbon-oxygen double bond). The simplest ketone is acetone (R = R' = methyl), with the formula CH3C(O)CH3. Many ketones are of great importance in industry and in biology. Examples include many sugars (ketoses), many steroids (e.g., testosterone), and the solvent acetone.
The word "ketone" is derived from "Aketon", an old German word for 'acetone'.
According to the rules of IUPAC nomenclature, ketones are named by changing the suffix "-ane" of the parent alkane to "-anone". The position of the carbonyl group is usually denoted by a number. For the most important ketones, however, traditional nonsystematic names are still generally used, for example acetone and benzophenone. These nonsystematic names are considered retained IUPAC names, although some introductory chemistry textbooks use systematic names such as "2-propanone" or "propan-2-one" for the simplest ketone (CH3−CO−CH3) instead of "acetone".
The derived names of ketones are obtained by writing separately the names of the two alkyl groups attached to the carbonyl group, followed by "ketone" as a separate word. The names of the alkyl groups are written in order of increasing complexity: for example, methyl ethyl ketone. According to the rules of IUPAC nomenclature, the alkyl groups are written alphabetically, i.e., ethyl methyl ketone. When the two alkyl groups are the same, the prefix "di-" is added before the name of alkyl group. The positions of other groups are indicated by Greek letters, the α-carbon being the atom adjacent to carbonyl group.
Although used infrequently, "oxo" is the IUPAC nomenclature for the oxo group (=O) and used as prefix when the ketone does not have the highest priority. Other prefixes, however, are also used. For some common chemicals (mainly in biochemistry), "keto" refer to the ketone functional group.
The ketone carbon is often described as "sp2 hybridized", a description that includes both their electronic and molecular structure. Ketones are trigonal planar around the ketonic carbon, with C−C−O and C−C−C bond angles of approximately 120°. Ketones differ from aldehydes in that the carbonyl group (CO) is bonded to two carbons within a carbon skeleton. In aldehydes, the carbonyl is bonded to one carbon and one hydrogen and are located at the ends of carbon chains. Ketones are also distinct from other carbonyl-containing functional groups, such as carboxylic acids, esters and amides.
The carbonyl group is polar because the electronegativity of the oxygen is greater than that for carbon. Thus, ketones are nucleophilic at oxygen and electrophilic at carbon. Because the carbonyl group interacts with water by hydrogen bonding, ketones are typically more soluble in water than the related methylene compounds. Ketones are hydrogen-bond acceptors. Ketones are not usually hydrogen-bond donors and cannot hydrogen-bond to themselves. Because of their inability to serve both as hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors, ketones tend not to "self-associate" and are more volatile than alcohols and carboxylic acids of comparable molecular weights. These factors relate to the pervasiveness of ketones in perfumery and as solvents.
Ketones are classified on the basis of their substituents. One broad classification subdivides ketones into symmetrical and asymmetrical derivatives, depending on the equivalency of the two organic substituents attached to the carbonyl center. Acetone and benzophenone (C6H5C(O)C6H5) are symmetrical ketones. Acetophenone (C6H5C(O)CH3) is an asymmetrical ketone. In the area of stereochemistry, asymmetrical ketones are known for being prochiral.
Many kinds of diketones are known, some with unusual properties. The simplest is diacetyl (CH3C(O)C(O)CH3), once used as butter-flavoring in popcorn. Acetylacetone (pentane-2,4-dione) is virtually a misnomer (inappropriate name) because this species exists mainly as the monoenol CH3C(O)CH=C(OH)CH3. Its enolate is a common ligand in coordination chemistry.
Ketones containing alkene and alkyne units are often called unsaturated ketones. The most widely used member of this class of compounds is methyl vinyl ketone, CH3C(O)CH=CH2, which is useful in the Robinson annulation reaction. Lest there be confusion, a ketone itself is a site of unsaturation; that is, it can be hydrogenated.
Many ketones are cyclic. The simplest class have the formula (CH2)"n"CO, where "n" varies from 2 for cyclopropanone to the teens. Larger derivatives exist. Cyclohexanone, a symmetrical cyclic ketone, is an important intermediate in the production of nylon. Isophorone, derived from acetone, is an unsaturated, asymmetrical ketone that is the precursor to other polymers. Muscone, 3-methylpentadecanone, is an animal pheromone. Another cyclic ketone is cyclobutanone, having the formula C4H6O.
Ketones that have at least one alpha-hydrogen, undergo keto-enol tautomerization; the tautomer is an enol. Tautomerization is catalyzed by both acids and bases. Usually, the keto form is more stable than the enol. This equilibrium allows ketones to be prepared via the hydration of alkynes.
Ketones are far more acidic (p"K"a ≈ 20) than a regular alkane (p"K"a ≈ 50). This difference reflects resonance stabilization of the enolate ion that is formed upon deprotonation. The relative acidity of the α-hydrogen is important in the enolization reactions of ketones and other carbonyl compounds. The acidity of the α-hydrogen also allows ketones and other carbonyl compounds to react as nucleophiles at that position, with either stoichiometric and catalytic base. Using very strong bases like lithium diisopropylamide (LDA, p"K"a of conjugate acid ~36) under non-equilibrating conditions (–78 °C, 1.1 equiv LDA in THF, ketone added to base), the less-substituted "kinetic" "enolate" is generated selectively, while conditions that allow for equilibration (higher temperature, base added to ketone, using weak or insoluble bases, e.g., NaOEt in EtOH, or NaH) provides the more-substituted "thermodynamic enolate".
Ketones are also weak bases, undergoing protonation on the carbonyl oxygen in the presence of Brønsted acids. Ketonium ions (i.e., protonated ketones) are strong acids, with p"K"a values estimated to be somewhere between –5 and –7. Although acids encountered in organic chemistry are seldom strong enough to fully protonate ketones, the formation of equilibrium concentrations of protonated ketones is nevertheless an important step in the mechanisms of many common organic reactions, like the formation of an acetal, for example. Acids as weak as pyridinium cation (as found in pyridinium tosylate) with a p"K"a of 5.2 are able to serve as catalysts in this context, despite the highly unfavorable equilibrium constant for protonation ("K"eq < 10−10).
An aldehyde differs from a ketone in that it has a hydrogen atom attached to its carbonyl group, making aldehydes easier to oxidize. Ketones do not have a hydrogen atom bonded to the carbonyl group, and are therefore more resistant to oxidation. They are oxidized only by powerful oxidizing agents which have the ability to cleave carbon–carbon bonds.
Ketones and aldehydes absorb strongly in the infra-red spectrum near 1700 cm−1. The exact position of the peak depends on the substituents.
Whereas 1H NMR spectroscopy is generally not useful for establishing the presence of a ketone, 13C NMR spectra exhibit signals somewhat downfield of 200 ppm depending on structure. Such signals are typically weak due to the absence of nuclear Overhauser effects. Since aldehydes resonate at similar chemical shifts, multiple resonance experiments are employed to definitively distinguish aldehydes and ketones.
Ketones give positive results in Brady's test, the reaction with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine to give the corresponding hydrazone. Ketones may be distinguished from aldehydes by giving a negative result with Tollens' reagent or with Fehling's solution. Methyl ketones give positive results for the iodoform test. Ketones also give positive results when treated with "m"-dinitrobenzene in presence of dilute sodium hydroxide to give violet coloration.
Many methods exist for the preparation of ketones in industrial scale and academic laboratories. Ketones are also produced in various ways by organisms; see the section on biochemistry below.
In industry, the most important method probably involves oxidation of hydrocarbons, often with air. For example, a billion kilograms of cyclohexanone are produced annually by aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane. Acetone is prepared by air-oxidation of cumene.
For specialized or small scale organic synthetic applications, ketones are often prepared by oxidation of secondary alcohols:
Typical strong oxidants (source of "O" in the above reaction) include potassium permanganate or a Cr(VI) compound. Milder conditions make use of the Dess–Martin periodinane or the Moffatt–Swern methods.
Many other methods have been developed, examples include:
Ketones engage in many organic reactions. The most important reactions follow from the susceptibility of the carbonyl carbon toward nucleophilic addition and the tendency for the enolates to add to electrophiles.
Nucleophilic additions include in approximate order of their generality:
Ketones are pervasive in nature. The formation of organic compounds in photosynthesis occurs via the ketone ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate. Many sugars are ketones, known collectively as ketoses. The best known ketose is fructose; it exists as a cyclic hemiketal, which masks the ketone functional group. Fatty acid synthesis proceeds via ketones. Acetoacetate is an intermediate in the Krebs cycle which releases energy from sugars and carbohydrates.
In medicine, acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate are collectively called ketone bodies, generated from carbohydrates, fatty acids, and amino acids in most vertebrates, including humans. Ketone bodies are elevated in the blood (ketosis) after fasting, including a night of sleep; in both blood and urine in starvation; in hypoglycemia, due to causes other than hyperinsulinism; in various inborn errors of metabolism, and intentionally induced via a ketogenic diet, and in ketoacidosis (usually due to diabetes mellitus). Although ketoacidosis is characteristic of decompensated or untreated type 1 diabetes, ketosis or even ketoacidosis can occur in type 2 diabetes in some circumstances as well.
Ketones are produced on massive scales in industry as solvents, polymer precursors, and pharmaceuticals. In terms of scale, the most important ketones are acetone, methylethyl ketone, and cyclohexanone. They are also common in biochemistry, but less so than in organic chemistry in general. The combustion of hydrocarbons is an uncontrolled oxidation process that gives ketones as well as many other types of compounds.
Although it is difficult to generalize on the toxicity of such a broad class of compounds, simple ketones are, in general, not highly toxic. This characteristic is one reason for their popularity as solvents. Exceptions to this rule are the unsaturated ketones such as methyl vinyl ketone with of 7 mg/kg (oral). | en.wikipedia.org | Ketone | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16803 |
16804 | Ketene
A ketene is an organic compound of the form R′R″C=C=O, where R and R' are two arbitrary monovalent chemical groups (or two separate substitution sites in the same molecule). The name may also refer to the specific compound ethenone , the simplest ketene.
Although they are highly useful, most ketenes are unstable. When used as reagents in a chemical procedure, they are typically generated when needed, and consumed as soon as (or while) they are produced.
Ketenes were first studied as a class by Hermann Staudinger before 1905.
Ketenes were systematically investigated by Hermann Staudinger in 1905 in the form of diphenylketene (conversion of formula_1-chlorodiphenyl acetyl chloride with zinc). Staudinger was inspired by the first examples of reactive organic intermediates and stable radicals discovered by Moses Gomberg in 1900 (compounds with triphenylmethyl group).
Ethenone, the simplest ketene can be generated by pyrolysis (thermal cracking) of acetone:
This reaction is called the Schmidlin ketene synthesis.
Other ketenes can be prepared from acyl chlorides by an elimination reaction in which HCl is lost:
In this reaction, a base, usually triethylamine, removes the acidic proton alpha to the carbonyl group, inducing the formation of the carbon-carbon double bond and the loss of a chloride ion:
Ketenes can also be formed from α-diazoketones by Wolff rearrangement.
Another way to generate ketenes is through flash vacuum thermolysis (FVT) with 2-pyridylamines. Plüg and Wentrup developed a method in 1997 that improved on FVT reactions to produce ketenes with a stable FVT that is moisture insensitive, using mild conditions (480 °C). The N-pyridylamines are prepared via a condensation with R-malonates with N-amino(pyridene) and DCC as the solvent.
A more robust method for preparing ketenes is the carbonylation of metal-carbenes, and "in situ" reaction of the thus produced highly reactive ketenes with suitable reagents such as imines, amines, or alcohols. This method is an efficient one‐pot tandem protocol of the carbonylation of α‐diazocarbonyl compounds and a variety of "N"‐tosylhydrazones catalysed by Co(II)–porphyrin metalloradicals leading to the formation of ketenes, which subsequently react with a variety of nucleophiles and imines to form esters, amides and β‐lactams. This system has a broad substrate scope and can be applied to various combinations of carbene precursors, nucleophiles and imines.
Due to their cumulated double bonds, ketenes are very reactive.
By reaction with alcohols, carboxylic acid esters are formed:
Ketenes react with a carboxylic acids to form carboxylic acid anhydrides:
Ketenes react with ammonia to primary amides:
The reaction of ketenes with primary amines produces secondary amides:
Ketenes react with secondary amines to give tertiary amides:
By reaction with water, carboxylic acids are formed from ketenes
Enolacetates are formed from ketenes with enolisable carbonyl compounds. The following example shows the reaction of ethenone with acetone to form a propen-2-yl acetate:
At room temperature, ketene quickly dimerizes to diketene, but the ketene can be recovered by heating:
Ketenes can react with alkenes, carbonyl compounds, carbodiimides and imines in a [2+2] cycloaddition. The example shows the synthesis of a β-lactam by the reaction of a ketene with an imine (see Staudinger synthesis):
Ketenes are generally very reactive, and participate in various cycloadditions. One important process is the dimerization to give propiolactones. A specific example is the dimerization of the ketene of stearic acid to afford alkyl ketene dimers, which are widely used in the paper industry. AKD's react with the hydroxyl groups on the celluose via esterification reaction.
They will also undergo [2+2] cycloaddition reactions with electron-rich alkynes to form cyclobutenones, or carbonyl groups to form beta-lactones. With imines beta-lactams are formed. This is the Staudinger synthesis, a facile route to this important class of compounds. With acetone, ketene reacts to give Isopropenyl acetate.
A variety of hydroxylic compounds can add as nucleophiles, forming either enol or ester products. As examples, a water molecule easily adds to ketene to give 1,1-dihydroxyethene and acetic anhydride is produced by the reaction of acetic acid with ketene. Reactions between diols (HO−R−OH) and bis-ketenes (O=C=CH−R′−CH=C=O) yield polyesters with a repeat unit of (−O−R−O−CO−R′−CO).
Ethyl acetoacetate, an important starting material in organic synthesis, can be prepared using a diketene in reaction with ethanol. They directly form ethyl acetoacetate, and the yield is high when carried out under controlled circumstances; this method is therefore used industrially. | en.wikipedia.org | Ketene | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16804 |
16806 | Kistvaen
A kistvaen or cistvaen is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a "tumulus". The word is derived from the Welsh "cist" (chest) and "maen" (stone). The term originated in relation to Celtic structures, typically pre-Christian, but in antiquarian scholarship of the 19th and early 20th centuries it was sometimes applied to similar structures outside the Celtic world.
One of the most numerous kinds of kistvaen are the Dartmoor kistvaens. These often take the form of small rectangular pits about 3 ft. (0.9 m) long by 2 feet (0.6 m) wide. The kistvaens were usually covered with a mound of earth and surrounded by a circle of small stones. When a body was placed in the kistvaen, it was usually lain in a contracted position. Sometimes however the body was cremated with the ashes placed in a cinerary urn.
Kistvaens are also found associated with holy sites or burial places of early Celtic saints, who are often semi-legendary. Saints associated with kistvaens include Callwen daughter of Brychan, Geraint, Begnet, and Melangell. Foundation remains of stone slab- or gable-shrines, or the "cella memoriae" of Mediterranean origin, may sometimes have been misunderstood in an earlier era of scholarship as a kistvaen, and the subject is complicated by this "woolly nomenclature." | en.wikipedia.org | Kistvaen | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16806 |
16807 | Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published nineteen novels and numerous short stories but is best known for his "Mars" trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. Robinson's work has been labeled by "The Atlantic" as "the gold-standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in "The New Yorker", Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."
Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He moved to Southern California as a child.
In 1974, he earned a B.A. in literature from the University of California, San Diego. In 1975, he earned an M.A. in English from Boston University.
In 1978 Robinson moved to Davis, California, to take a break from his graduate studies at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). During this time, he worked as a bookseller for Orpheus Books. He also taught freshman composition and other courses at University of California, Davis.
In 1982 Robinson earned a PhD in English from UC San Diego. His initial PhD advisor was literary critic and Marxist scholar Fredric Jameson, who told Robinson to read works by Philip K. Dick. Jameson described Dick to Robinson as "the greatest living American writer". Robinson's doctoral thesis, "The Novels of Philip K. Dick", was published in 1984 and a hardcover version was published by UMI Research Press.
In 2008, "Time" magazine named Robinson a "Hero of the Environment" for his optimistic focus on the future.
In 2009, Robinson was an instructor at the Clarion Workshop. In 2010, he was the guest of honor at the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Melbourne. In April 2011, Robinson presented at the second annual Rethinking Capitalism conference, held at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among other points made, his talk addressed the cyclical nature of capitalism.
Robinson was appointed Muir Environmental Fellow in 2011 by the John Muir College at UC San Diego.
Sheldon Brown described Robinson's novels as ways to explore how nature and culture continuously reformulate one another; "Three Californias Trilogy" as California in the future; Washington DC undergoing the impact of climate change in the "Science in the Capital" series; or Mars as a stand-in for Earth in the "Mars" trilogy to think about re-engineering on a global scale, both social and natural conditions.
Virtually all of Robinson's novels have an ecological component; sustainability is one of his primary themes (a strong contender for the primary theme would be the nature of a plausible utopia.) The "Orange County" trilogy is about the way in which the technological intersects with the natural, highlighting the importance of keeping the two in balance. In the "Mars" trilogy, one of the principal divisions among the population of Mars is based on dissenting views on terraforming. Colonists debate whether or not the barren Martian landscape has a similar ecological or spiritual value when compared with a living ecosphere like earth's. "Forty Signs of Rain" has an entirely ecological thrust, taking global warming for its principal subject.
Robinson's work often explores alternatives to modern capitalism. In the "Mars" trilogy, it is argued that capitalism is an outgrowth of feudalism, which could be replaced in the future by a more democratic economic system. Worker ownership and cooperatives figure prominently in "Green Mars" and "Blue Mars" as replacements for traditional corporations. The "Orange County" trilogy explores similar arrangements; "Pacific Edge" includes the idea of attacking the legal framework behind corporate domination to promote social egalitarianism. Tim Kreider writes in the "New Yorker" that Robinson may be our greatest political novelist and describes how Robinson uses the "Mars" trilogy as a template for a credible utopia.
Robinson's work often portrays characters struggling to preserve and enhance the world around them in an environment characterized by individualism and entrepreneurialism, often facing the political and economic authoritarianism of corporate power acting in this environment. Robinson has been described as anti-capitalist, and his work often portrays a form of frontier capitalism that promotes egalitarian ideals that closely resemble socialist systems, but faced with a capitalism that is maintained by entrenched hegemonic corporations. In particular, his Martian Constitution draws upon social democratic ideals explicitly emphasizing a community-participation element in political and economic life.
Robinson's works often portray the worlds of tomorrow in a manner similar to the mythologized American Western frontier, showing a sentimental affection for the freedom and wildness of the frontier. This aesthetic includes a preoccupation with competing models of political and economic organization.
The environmental, economic, and social themes in Robinson's oeuvre stand in marked contrast to the right-libertarian science fiction prevalent in much of the genre (Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle being prominent examples), and his work has been called the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with a left wing and anti-capitalist utopian vision since Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel, "The Dispossessed".
Robinson's work often features scientists as heroes. They are portrayed in a mundane way compared to most work featuring scientists: rather than being adventurers or action heroes, Robinson's scientists become critically important because of research discoveries, networking and collaboration with other scientists, political lobbying, or becoming public figures. Robinson captures the joy of scientists as they work at something they care about. The "Mars" trilogy and "The Years of Rice and Salt" rely heavily on the idea that scientists must take responsibility for ensuring public understanding and responsible use of their discoveries. Robinson's scientists often emerge as the best people to direct public policy on important environmental and technological questions, of which politicians are often ignorant.
Related to Robinson's focus on the environment is his themes of the imminent catastrophe of global warming and the need to limit greenhouse gas emissions in the present day. His 2012 novel "2312" explores the detrimental, long-term effects of climate change, which include food shortages, global instability, mass extinction, and sea level rise that has drowned many major coastal cities. The novel condemns the people of the period it calls "the Dithering", from 2005 to 2060, for failing to address climate change and thereby causing mass suffering and death in the future. Robinson and his work accuse global capitalism for the failure to address climate change. In his 2017 novel "New York 2140" Robinson explores the themes of climate change and global warming, setting the novel in the year 2140 when the New York City he imagines is beset by a sea level rise that submerges half of the city. Climate change is also the focus of his "Science in the Capital" series.
Asteroid 72432 Kimrobinson discovered by astronomer Donald P. Pray in 2001, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on April 22, 2016 ().
Robinson and his wife have two sons. Robinson has lived in Washington, D.C., California, and during some of the 1980s, in Switzerland. At times, Robinson was a stay-at-home dad. He now lives in Davis, California in a cohousing community.
Robinson has described himself as an avid backpacker with the Sierra Nevada serving as his home range and a big influence on how he sees the world.
Politically, Robinson identifies as a democratic socialist, and in a February 2019 interview mentioned he is a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has also remarked that libertarianism has never "[made] any sense to me, nor sounds attractive as a principle." | en.wikipedia.org | Kim Stanley Robinson | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16807 |
16808 | King Arthur
King Arthur (, , ) was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and modern historians generally agree that he is unhistorical. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the "Annales Cambriae", the "Historia Brittonum", and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as "Y Gododdin".
Arthur is a central figure in the legends making up the Matter of Britain. The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century "Historia Regum Britanniae" ("History of the Kings of Britain"). In some Welsh and Breton tales and poems that date from before this work, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh otherworld Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's "Historia" (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown.
Although the themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend varied widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version, Geoffrey's version of events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's "Historia", including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the magician Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann, and final rest in Avalon.
The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. In these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend lives on, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media.
The historical basis for King Arthur was long debated by scholars. One school of thought, citing entries in the "Historia Brittonum" ("History of the Britons") and "Annales Cambriae" ("Welsh Annals"), saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century.
The "Historia Brittonum", a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius, contains the first datable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Badon, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies, however, question the reliability of the "Historia Brittonum".
The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century "Annales Cambriae", which also link Arthur with the Battle of Badon. The "Annales" date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often been used to bolster confidence in the "Historia"'s account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon.
Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the "Historia Brittonum"s account. The latest research shows that the "Annales Cambriae" was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the "Annales Cambriae" precludes any certainty that the Arthurian annals were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at some point in the 10th century and may never have existed in any earlier set of annals. The Badon entry probably derived from the "Historia Brittonum".
This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain. In the view of historian Thomas Charles-Edwards, "at this stage of the enquiry, one can only say that there may well have been an historical Arthur [but ...] the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him". These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend; earlier generations of historians were less sceptical. The historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, "The Age of Arthur" (1973). Even so, he found little to say about a historical Arthur.
Partly in reaction to such theories, another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all. Morris's "Age of Arthur" prompted the archaeologist Nowell Myres to observe that "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time". Gildas' 6th-century polemic "De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae" ("On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain"), written within living memory of Badon, mentions the battle but does not mention Arthur. Arthur is not mentioned in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820. He is absent from Bede's early-8th-century "Ecclesiastical History of the English People", another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Badon. The historian David Dumville wrote: "I think we can dispose of him [Arthur] quite briefly. He owes his place in our history books to a 'no smoke without fire' school of thought ... The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books."
Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore—or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity—who became credited with real deeds in the distant past. They cite parallels with figures such as the Kentish Hengist and Horsa, who may be totemic horse-gods that later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain. It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the "Historia" nor the "Annales" calls him ""rex"": the former calls him instead ""dux bellorum"" (leader of battles) and ""miles"" (soldier).
The consensus among academic historians today is that there is no solid evidence for his historical existence. However, because historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce, a definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century, but archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts. The so-called "Arthur stone", discovered in 1998 among the ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross, is tainted with the suggestion of forgery.
Several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century, to sub-Roman British rulers such as Riotamus, Ambrosius Aurelianus, Owain Ddantgwyn, and Athrwys ap Meurig. However, no convincing evidence for these identifications has emerged.
The origin of the Welsh name "Arthur" remains a matter of debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman "nomen gentile" (family name) Artorius. Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology, but possibly of Messapian or Etruscan origin. Linguist Stephan Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had a Celtic origin, being a Latinization of a hypothetical name "*Artorījos", in turn derived from an older patronym" *Arto-rīg-ios", meaning "son of the bear/warrior-king". This patronym is unattested, but the root, "*arto-rīg", "bear/warrior-king", is the source of the Old Irish personal name "Artrí". Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as "Arthur" or "Arturus" in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as "Artōrius" (though Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name "Arthur", as "Artōrius" would regularly become "Art(h)ur" when borrowed into Welsh.
Another commonly proposed derivation of "Arthur" from Welsh "arth" "bear" + "(g)wr" "man" (earlier "*Arto-uiros" in Brittonic) is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons. Notably, a Brittonic compound name "*Arto-uiros" should produce Old Welsh "*Artgur" (where "u" represents the short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh "*Arthwr", rather than "Arthur" (where "u" is a long vowel /ʉː/). In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled "Arthur" and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in "-ur"—never words ending in "-wr"—which confirms that the second element cannot be "[g]wr" "man".
An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives the name Arthur from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. Classical Latin "Arcturus" would also have become "Art(h)ur" when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes.
The familiar literary persona of Arthur began with Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-historical "Historia Regum Britanniae" ("History of the Kings of Britain"), written in the 1130s. The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's "Historia" (known as pre-Galfridian texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, "Galfridus") and those written afterwards, which could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts).
The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources. There have been few attempts to define the nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole, rather than in a single text or text/story-type. A 2007 academic survey led by Caitlin Green has identified three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material. The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats. Some of these are human threats, such as the Saxons he fights in the "Historia Brittonum", but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat-monsters, destructive divine boars, dragons, dogheads, giants, and witches. The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore (particularly topographic or onomastic folklore) and localised magical wonder-tales, the leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in the wilds of the landscape. The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners. On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin.
One of the most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the collection of heroic death-songs known as "Y Gododdin" ("The Gododdin"), attributed to 6th-century poet Aneirin. One stanza praises the bravery of a warrior who slew 300 enemies, but says that despite this, "he was no Arthur" – that is, his feats cannot compare to the valour of Arthur. "Y Gododdin" is known only from a 13th-century manuscript, so it is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation, but John Koch's view that the passage dates from a 7th-century or earlier version is regarded as unproven; 9th- or 10th-century dates are often proposed for it. Several poems attributed to Taliesin, a poet said to have lived in the 6th century, also refer to Arthur, although these all probably date from between the 8th and 12th centuries. They include "Kadeir Teyrnon" ("The Chair of the Prince"), which refers to "Arthur the Blessed"; "Preiddeu Annwn" ("The Spoils of Annwn"), which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the Otherworld; and "Marwnat vthyr pen[dragon]" ("The Elegy of Uther Pen[dragon]"), which refers to Arthur's valour and is suggestive of a father-son relationship for Arthur and Uther that pre-dates Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include a poem found in the "Black Book of Carmarthen", "Pa gur yv y porthaur?" ("What man is the gatekeeper?"). This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men, notably Cei (Kay) and Bedwyr (Bedivere). The Welsh prose tale "Culhwch and Olwen" (), included in the modern "Mabinogion" collection, has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, though Cei and Bedwyr again take a central place. The story as a whole tells of Arthur helping his kinsman Culhwch win the hand of Olwen, daughter of Ysbaddaden Chief-Giant, by completing a series of apparently impossible tasks, including the hunt for the great semi-divine boar Twrch Trwyth. The 9th-century "Historia Brittonum" also refers to this tale, with the boar there named Troy(n)t. Finally, Arthur is mentioned numerous times in the Welsh Triads, a collection of short summaries of Welsh tradition and legend which are classified into groups of three linked characters or episodes to assist recall. The later manuscripts of the Triads are partly derivative from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later continental traditions, but the earliest ones show no such influence and are usually agreed to refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions. Even in these, however, Arthur's court has started to embody legendary Britain as a whole, with "Arthur's Court" sometimes substituted for "The Island of Britain" in the formula "Three XXX of the Island of Britain". While it is not clear from the "Historia Brittonum" and the "Annales Cambriae" that Arthur was even considered a king, by the time "Culhwch and Olwen" and the Triads were written he had become "Penteyrnedd yr Ynys hon", "Chief of the Lords of this Island", the overlord of Wales, Cornwall and the North.
In addition to these pre-Galfridian Welsh poems and tales, Arthur appears in some other early Latin texts besides the "Historia Brittonum" and the "Annales Cambriae". In particular, Arthur features in a number of well-known "vitae" ("Lives") of post-Roman saints, none of which are now generally considered to be reliable historical sources (the earliest probably dates from the 11th century). According to the "Life of Saint Gildas", written in the early 12th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur is said to have killed Gildas' brother Hueil and to have rescued his wife Gwenhwyfar from Glastonbury. In the "Life of Saint Cadoc", written around 1100 or a little before by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as "wergeld" for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of the animals, they turn into bundles of ferns. Similar incidents are described in the medieval biographies of Carannog, Padarn, and Eufflam, probably written around the 12th century. A less obviously legendary account of Arthur appears in the "Legenda Sancti Goeznovii", which is often claimed to date from the early 11th century (although the earliest manuscript of this text dates from the 15th century and the text is now dated to the late 12th to early 13th century). Also important are the references to Arthur in William of Malmesbury's "De Gestis Regum Anglorum" and Herman's "De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudensis", which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return, a theme that is often revisited in post-Galfridian folklore.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae", completed , contains the first narrative account of Arthur's life. This work is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th-century Welsh king Cadwallader. Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do "Historia Brittonum" and "Annales Cambriae". He incorporates Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, his magician advisor Merlin, and the story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna (Igraine) at Tintagel, and she conceives Arthur. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as King of Britain and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the "Historia Brittonum", culminating in the Battle of Bath. He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and the Orkney Islands. After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul. Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered, and Arthur's victory leads to a further confrontation with Rome. Arthur and his warriors, including Kaius (Kay), Beduerus (Bedivere) and Gualguanus (Gawain), defeat the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius in Gaul but, as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears that his nephew Modredus (Mordred)—whom he had left in charge of Britain—has married his wife Guenhuuara (Guinevere) and seized the throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again.
How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate. He seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against the Saxons found in the 9th-century "Historia Brittonum", along with the battle of Camlann from the "Annales Cambriae" and the idea that Arthur was still alive. Arthur's status as the king of all Britain seems to be borrowed from pre-Galfridian tradition, being found in "Culhwch and Olwen", the Welsh Triads, and the saints' lives. Finally, Geoffrey borrowed many of the names for Arthur's possessions, close family, and companions from the pre-Galfridian Welsh tradition, including Kaius (Cei), Beduerus (Bedwyr), Guenhuuara (Gwenhwyfar), Uther (Uthyr) and perhaps also Caliburnus (Caledfwlch), the latter becoming Excalibur in subsequent Arthurian tales. However, while names, key events, and titles may have been borrowed, Brynley Roberts has argued that "the Arthurian section is Geoffrey's literary creation and it owes nothing to prior narrative." Geoffrey makes the Welsh Medraut into the villainous Modredus, but there is no trace of such a negative character for this figure in Welsh sources until the 16th century. There have been relatively few modern attempts to challenge the notion that the "Historia Regum Britanniae" is primarily Geoffrey's own work, with scholarly opinion often echoing William of Newburgh's late-12th-century comment that Geoffrey "made up" his narrative, perhaps through an "inordinate love of lying". Geoffrey Ashe is one dissenter from this view, believing that Geoffrey's narrative is partially derived from a lost source telling of the deeds of a 5th-century British king named Riotamus, this figure being the original Arthur, although historians and Celticists have been reluctant to follow Ashe in his conclusions.
Whatever his sources may have been, the immense popularity of Geoffrey's "Historia Regum Britanniae" cannot be denied. Well over 200 manuscript copies of Geoffrey's Latin work are known to have survived, as well as translations into other languages. For example, 60 manuscripts are extant containing the "Brut y Brenhinedd", Welsh-language versions of the "Historia", the earliest of which were created in the 13th century. The old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's "Historia", advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's "Historia Regum Britanniae" was enormously influential on the later medieval development of the Arthurian legend. While it was not the only creative force behind Arthurian romance, many of its elements were borrowed and developed (e.g., Merlin and the final fate of Arthur), and it provided the historical framework into which the romancers' tales of magical and wonderful adventures were inserted.
The popularity of Geoffrey's "Historia" and its other derivative works (such as Wace's "Roman de Brut") gave rise to a significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. It was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing "Matter of Britain". There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt), and "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's "Historia" appear in the Arthurian romances. From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps the most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guinevere, Percival, Galahad, Gawain, Ywain, and Tristan and Iseult. Whereas Arthur is very much at the centre of the pre-Galfridian material and Geoffrey's "Historia" itself, in the romances he is rapidly sidelined. His character also alters significantly. In both the earliest materials and Geoffrey he is a great and ferocious warrior, who laughs as he personally slaughters witches and giants and takes a leading role in all military campaigns, whereas in the continental romances he becomes the "roi fainéant", the "do-nothing king", whose "inactivity and acquiescence constituted a central flaw in his otherwise ideal society". Arthur's role in these works is frequently that of a wise, dignified, even-tempered, somewhat bland, and occasionally feeble monarch. So, he simply turns pale and silent when he learns of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere in the "Mort Artu", whilst in "Yvain, the Knight of the Lion", he is unable to stay awake after a feast and has to retire for a nap. Nonetheless, as Norris J. Lacy has observed, whatever his faults and frailties may be in these Arthurian romances, "his prestige is never—or almost never—compromised by his personal weaknesses ... his authority and glory remain intact."
Arthur and his retinue appear in some of the "Lais" of Marie de France, but it was the work of another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, that had the greatest influence with regard to the development of Arthur's character and legend. Chrétien wrote five Arthurian romances between and 1190. "Erec and Enide" and "Cligès" are tales of courtly love with Arthur's court as their backdrop, demonstrating the shift away from the heroic world of the Welsh and Galfridian Arthur, while "Yvain, the Knight of the Lion", features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, with Arthur very much on the sidelines and weakened. However, the most significant for the development of the Arthurian legend are "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", which introduces Lancelot and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen Guinevere, extending and popularising the recurring theme of Arthur as a cuckold, and "Perceval, the Story of the Grail", which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and which again sees Arthur having a much reduced role. Chrétien was thus "instrumental both in the elaboration of the Arthurian legend and in the establishment of the ideal form for the diffusion of that legend", and much of what came after him in terms of the portrayal of Arthur and his world built upon the foundations he had laid. "Perceval", although unfinished, was particularly popular: four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century, with the notion of the Grail and its quest being developed by other writers such as Robert de Boron, a fact that helped accelerate the decline of Arthur in continental romance. Similarly, Lancelot and his cuckolding of Arthur with Guinevere became one of the classic motifs of the Arthurian legend, although the Lancelot of the prose "Lancelot" () and later texts was a combination of Chrétien's character and that of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's "Lanzelet". Chrétien's work even appears to feed back into Welsh Arthurian literature, with the result that the romance Arthur began to replace the heroic, active Arthur in Welsh literary tradition. Particularly significant in this development were the three Welsh Arthurian romances, which are closely similar to those of Chrétien, albeit with some significant differences: "Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain" is related to Chrétien's "Yvain"; "Geraint and Enid", to "Erec and Enide"; and "Peredur son of Efrawg", to "Perceval".
Up to , continental Arthurian romance was expressed primarily through poetry; after this date the tales began to be told in prose. The most significant of these 13th-century prose romances was the Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), a series of five Middle French prose works written in the first half of that century. These works were the "Estoire del Saint Grail", the "Estoire de Merlin", the "Lancelot propre" (or Prose "Lancelot", which made up half the entire Vulgate Cycle on its own), the "Queste del Saint Graal" and the "Mort Artu", which combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend. The cycle continued the trend towards reducing the role played by Arthur in his own legend, partly through the introduction of the character of Galahad and an expansion of the role of Merlin. It also made Mordred the result of an incestuous relationship between Arthur and his sister Morgause and established the role of Camelot, first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's "Lancelot", as Arthur's primary court. This series of texts was quickly followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle (), of which the "Suite du Merlin" is a part, which greatly reduced the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere but continued to sideline Arthur, and to focus more on the Grail quest. As such, Arthur became even more of a relatively minor character in these French prose romances; in the Vulgate itself he only figures significantly in the "Estoire de Merlin" and the "Mort Artu". During this period, Arthur was made one of the Nine Worthies, a group of three pagan, three Jewish and three Christian exemplars of chivalry. The Worthies were first listed in Jacques de Longuyon's "Voeux du Paon" in 1312, and subsequently became a common subject in literature and art.
The development of the medieval Arthurian cycle and the character of the "Arthur of romance" culminated in "Le Morte d'Arthur", Thomas Malory's retelling of the entire legend in a single work in English in the late 15th century. Malory based his book—originally titled "The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table"—on the various previous romance versions, in particular the Vulgate Cycle, and appears to have aimed at creating a comprehensive and authoritative collection of Arthurian stories. Perhaps as a result of this, and the fact that "Le Morte D'Arthur" was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485, most later Arthurian works are derivative of Malory's.
The end of the Middle Ages brought with it a waning of interest in King Arthur. Although Malory's English version of the great French romances was popular, there were increasing attacks upon the truthfulness of the historical framework of the Arthurian romances – established since Geoffrey of Monmouth's time – and thus the legitimacy of the whole Matter of Britain. So, for example, the 16th-century humanist scholar Polydore Vergil famously rejected the claim that Arthur was the ruler of a post-Roman empire, found throughout the post-Galfridian medieval "chronicle tradition", to the horror of Welsh and English antiquarians. Social changes associated with the end of the medieval period and the Renaissance also conspired to rob the character of Arthur and his associated legend of some of their power to enthrall audiences, with the result that 1634 saw the last printing of Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" for nearly 200 years. King Arthur and the Arthurian legend were not entirely abandoned, but until the early 19th century the material was taken less seriously and was often used simply as a vehicle for allegories of 17th- and 18th-century politics. Thus Richard Blackmore's epics "Prince Arthur" (1695) and "King Arthur" (1697) feature Arthur as an allegory for the struggles of William III against James II. Similarly, the most popular Arthurian tale throughout this period seems to have been that of Tom Thumb, which was told first through chapbooks and later through the political plays of Henry Fielding; although the action is clearly set in Arthurian Britain, the treatment is humorous and Arthur appears as a primarily comedic version of his romance character. John Dryden's masque "King Arthur" is still performed, largely thanks to Henry Purcell's music, though seldom unabridged.
In the early 19th century, medievalism, Romanticism, and the Gothic Revival reawakened interest in Arthur and the medieval romances. A new code of ethics for 19th-century gentlemen was shaped around the chivalric ideals embodied in the "Arthur of romance". This renewed interest first made itself felt in 1816, when Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" was reprinted for the first time since 1634. Initially, the medieval Arthurian legends were of particular interest to poets, inspiring, for example, William Wordsworth to write "The Egyptian Maid" (1835), an allegory of the Holy Grail. Pre-eminent among these was Alfred Tennyson, whose first Arthurian poem "The Lady of Shalott" was published in 1832. Arthur himself played a minor role in some of these works, following in the medieval romance tradition. Tennyson's Arthurian work reached its peak of popularity with "Idylls of the King", however, which reworked the entire narrative of Arthur's life for the Victorian era. It was first published in 1859 and sold 10,000 copies within the first week. In the "Idylls", Arthur became a symbol of ideal manhood who ultimately failed, through human weakness, to establish a perfect kingdom on earth. Tennyson's works prompted a large number of imitators, generated considerable public interest in the legends of Arthur and the character himself, and brought Malory's tales to a wider audience. Indeed, the first modernisation of Malory's great compilation of Arthur's tales was published in 1862, shortly after "Idylls" appeared, and there were six further editions and five competitors before the century ended.
This interest in the "Arthur of romance" and his associated stories continued through the 19th century and into the 20th, and influenced poets such as William Morris and Pre-Raphaelite artists including Edward Burne-Jones. Even the humorous tale of Tom Thumb, which had been the primary manifestation of Arthur's legend in the 18th century, was rewritten after the publication of "Idylls". While Tom maintained his small stature and remained a figure of comic relief, his story now included more elements from the medieval Arthurian romances and Arthur is treated more seriously and historically in these new versions. The revived Arthurian romance also proved influential in the United States, with such books as Sidney Lanier's "The Boy's King Arthur" (1880) reaching wide audiences and providing inspiration for Mark Twain's satire "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1889). Although the 'Arthur of romance' was sometimes central to these new Arthurian works (as he was in Burne-Jones's "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon", 1881–1898), on other occasions he reverted to his medieval status and is either marginalised or even missing entirely, with Wagner's Arthurian operas providing a notable instance of the latter. Furthermore, the revival of interest in Arthur and the Arthurian tales did not continue unabated. By the end of the 19th century, it was confined mainly to Pre-Raphaelite imitators, and it could not avoid being affected by World War I, which damaged the reputation of chivalry and thus interest in its medieval manifestations and Arthur as chivalric role model. The romance tradition did, however, remain sufficiently powerful to persuade Thomas Hardy, Laurence Binyon and John Masefield to compose Arthurian plays, and T. S. Eliot alludes to the Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem "The Waste Land", which mentions the Fisher King.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the romance tradition of Arthur continued, through novels such as T. H. White's "The Once and Future King" (1958), Thomas Berger's tragicomic "Arthur Rex" and Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon" (1982) in addition to comic strips such as "Prince Valiant" (from 1937 onward). Tennyson had reworked the romance tales of Arthur to suit and comment upon the issues of his day, and the same is often the case with modern treatments too. Bradley's tale, for example, takes a feminist approach to Arthur and his legend, in contrast to the narratives of Arthur found in medieval materials, and American authors often rework the story of Arthur to be more consistent with values such as equality and democracy. In John Cowper Powys's "" (1951), set in Wales in 499, just prior to the Saxon invasion, Arthur, the Emperor of Britain, is only a minor character, whereas Myrddin (Merlin) and Nineue, Tennyson's Vivien, are major figures. Myrddin's disappearance at the end of the novel is "in the tradition of magical hibernation when the king or mage leaves his people for some island or cave to return either at a more propitious or more dangerous time" (see King Arthur's messianic return). Powys's earlier novel, "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932) is concerned with both the Holy Grail and the legend that Arthur is buried at Glastonbury.
The romance Arthur has become popular in film and theatre as well. T. H. White's novel was adapted into the Lerner and Loewe stage musical "Camelot" (1960) and Walt Disney's animated film "The Sword in the Stone" (1963); "Camelot", with its focus on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere and the cuckolding of Arthur, was itself made into a film of the same name in 1967. The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and in critically respected films like Robert Bresson's "Lancelot du Lac" (1974), Éric Rohmer's "Perceval le Gallois" (1978) and John Boorman's "Excalibur" (1981); it is also the main source of the material used in the Arthurian spoof "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975).
Retellings and reimaginings of the romance tradition are not the only important aspect of the modern legend of King Arthur. Attempts to portray Arthur as a genuine historical figure of , stripping away the "romance", have also emerged. As Taylor and Brewer have noted, this return to the medieval "chronicle tradition" of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the "Historia Brittonum" is a recent trend which became dominant in Arthurian literature in the years following the outbreak of the Second World War, when Arthur's legendary resistance to Germanic enemies struck a chord in Britain. Clemence Dane's series of radio plays, "The Saviours" (1942), used a historical Arthur to embody the spirit of heroic resistance against desperate odds, and Robert Sherriff's play "The Long Sunset" (1955) saw Arthur rallying Romano-British resistance against the Germanic invaders. This trend towards placing Arthur in a historical setting is also apparent in historical and fantasy novels published during this period.
Arthur has also been used as a model for modern-day behaviour. In the 1930s, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table was formed in Britain to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. In the United States, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls joined Arthurian youth groups, such as the Knights of King Arthur, in which Arthur and his legends were promoted as wholesome exemplars. However, Arthur's diffusion within modern culture goes beyond such obviously Arthurian endeavours, with Arthurian names being regularly attached to objects, buildings, and places. As Norris J. Lacy has observed, "The popular notion of Arthur appears to be limited, not surprisingly, to a few motifs and names, but there can be no doubt of the extent to which a legend born many centuries ago is profoundly embedded in modern culture at every level." | en.wikipedia.org | King Arthur | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16808 |
16810 | Konrad Zuse
Konrad Zuse (; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-controlled Turing-complete Z3 became operational in May 1941. Thanks to this machine and its predecessors, Zuse has often been regarded as the inventor of the modern computer.
Zuse was noted for the S2 computing machine, considered the first process control computer. In 1941, he founded one of the earliest computer businesses, producing the Z4, which became the world's first commercial computer. From 1943 to 1945 he designed the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül. In 1969, Zuse suggested the concept of a computation-based universe in his book "Rechnender Raum" ("Calculating Space").
Much of his early work was financed by his family and commerce, but after 1939 he was given resources by the Nazi German government. Due to World War II, Zuse's work went largely unnoticed in the United Kingdom and the United States. Possibly his first documented influence on a US company was IBM's option on his patents in 1946.
Konrad Zuse was born in Berlin on 22 June 1910. In 1912, his family moved to East Prussian Braunsberg (now Braniewo in Poland), where his father was a postal clerk. Zuse attended the Collegium Hosianum in Braunsberg and in 1923, the family moved to Hoyerswerda where he passed his Abitur in 1928, qualifying him to enter university.
He enrolled in the "Technische Hochschule Berlin" (now Technical University of Berlin) and explored both engineering and architecture, but found them boring. Zuse then pursued civil engineering, graduating in 1935.
After graduation, Zuse worked for the Ford Motor Company, using his artistic skills in the design of advertisements. He started work as a design engineer at the Henschel aircraft factory in Schönefeld near Berlin. This required the performance of many routine calculations by hand, which he found mind-numbing, leading him to dream of doing them by machine.
Beginning in 1935 he experimented in the construction of computers in his parents' flat on Wrangelstraße 38, moving with them into their new flat on Methfesselstraße 10, the street leading up the Kreuzberg, Berlin. Working in his parents' apartment in 1936, he produced his first attempt, the Z1, a floating point binary mechanical calculator with limited programmability, reading instructions from a perforated 35 mm film.
In 1937, Zuse submitted two patents that anticipated a von Neumann architecture. In 1938, he finished the Z1 which contained some 30,000 metal parts and never worked well due to insufficient mechanical precision. On 30 January 1944, the Z1 and its original blueprints were destroyed with his parents' flat and many neighbouring buildings by a British air raid in World War II.
Zuse completed his work entirely independently of other leading computer scientists and mathematicians of his day. Between 1936 and 1945, he was in near-total intellectual isolation.
In 1939, Zuse was called to military service, where he was given the resources to ultimately build the Z2. In September 1940 Zuse presented the Z2, covering several rooms in the parental flat, to experts of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL; i.e. German Research Institute for Aviation). The Z2 was a revised version of the Z1 using telephone relays.
In 1940, the German government began funding him and his company through the "Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt" (AVA, Aerodynamic Research Institute, forerunner of the DLR), which used his work for the production of glide bombs. Zuse built the S1 and S2 computing machines, which were special purpose devices which computed aerodynamic corrections to the wings of radio-controlled flying bombs. The S2 featured an integrated analog-to-digital converter under program control, making it the first process-controlled computer.
In 1941 Zuse started a company, "Zuse Apparatebau" (Zuse Apparatus Construction), to manufacture his machines, renting a workshop on the opposite side in Methfesselstraße 7 and stretching through the block to Belle-Alliance Straße 29 (renamed and renumbered as Mehringdamm 84 in 1947).
In 1941, he improved on the basic Z2 machine, and built the Z3. On 12 May 1941 Zuse presented the Z3, built in his workshop, to the public. The Z3 was a binary 22-bit floating point calculator featuring programmability with loops but without conditional jumps, with memory and a calculation unit based on telephone relays. The telephone relays used in his machines were largely collected from discarded stock. Despite the absence of conditional jumps, the Z3 was a Turing complete computer. However, Turing-completeness was never considered by Zuse (who had practical applications in mind) and only demonstrated in 1998 (see History of computing hardware).
The Z3, the first fully operational electromechanical computer, was partially financed by German government-supported DVL, which wanted their extensive calculations automated. A request by his co-worker Helmut Schreyer—who had helped Zuse build the Z3 prototype in 1938—for government funding for an electronic successor to the Z3 was denied as "strategically unimportant".
On 3 February 1945, aerial bombing caused devastating destruction in the Luisenstadt, the area around Oranienstraße, including neighbouring houses. This event effectively brought Zuse's research and development to a complete halt. The partially finished, telephone relay-based Z4 computer was then packed and moved from Berlin on 14 February, arriving in Göttingen approximately two weeks later.
These machines contributed to the Henschel Werke Hs 293 and Hs 294 guided missiles developed by the German military between 1941 and 1945, which were the precursors to the modern cruise missile. The circuit design of the S1 was the predecessor of Zuse's Z11. Zuse believed that these machines had been captured by occupying Soviet troops in 1945.
While working on his Z4 computer, Zuse realised that programming in machine code was too complicated. He started working on a PhD thesis. containing groundbreaking research years ahead of its time, mainly the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül ("Plan Calculus") and, as an elaborate example program, the first real computer chess engine.
After the 1945 Luisenstadt bombing, he flew from Berlin for the rural Allgäu.
In the extreme privation of post-war Germany Zuse was unable to build computers.
In 1947, according to the memoirs of the German computer pioneer Heinz Billing from the Max Planck Institute for Physics, there was a meeting between Alan Turing and Konrad Zuse in Göttingen. The encounter had the form of a colloquium. Participants were Womersley, Turing, Porter from England and a few German researchers like Zuse, Walther, and Billing. (For more details see Herbert Bruderer, "Konrad Zuse und die Schweiz").
It was not until 1949 that Zuse was able to resume work on the Z4. He would show the computer to the mathematician Eduard Stiefel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ("Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich") who then ordered one in 1950. In November 1949, Zuse KG was founded and that Z4 was delivered to ETH Zurich in July 1950, and proved very reliable.
Unable to do any hardware development, he continued working on the Plankalkül, eventually publishing some brief excerpts of his thesis in 1948 and 1959; the work in its entirety, however, remained unpublished until 1972. The PhD thesis was submitted at University of Augsburg, but rejected for formal reasons, because Zuse forgot to pay the 400 Mark university enrollment fee. The rejection did not bother him.
Plankalkül slightly influenced the design of ALGOL 58 but was itself implemented only in 1975 in a dissertation by Joachim Hohmann. Heinz Rutishauser, one of the inventors of ALGOL, wrote: "The very first attempt to devise an algorithmic language was undertaken in 1948 by K. Zuse. His notation was quite general, but the proposal never attained the consideration it deserved". Further implementations followed in 1998 and then in 2000 by a team from the Free University of Berlin. Donald Knuth suggested a thought experiment: What might have happened had the bombing not taken place, and had the PhD thesis accordingly been published as planned?
In 1956, Zuse began to work on a high precision, large format plotter. It was demonstrated at the 1961 Hanover Fair, and became well known also outside of the technical world thanks to Frieder Nake's pioneering computer art work. Other plotters designed by Zuse include the ZUSE Z90 and ZUSE Z9004.
In 1967, Zuse suggested that the universe itself is running on a cellular automaton or similar computational structure (digital physics); in 1969, he published the book "Rechnender Raum" (translated into English as "Calculating Space").
In the last years of his life, Zuse conceptualized and created a purely mechanical, extensible, modular tower automaton he named "helix tower" (""Helixturm""). The structure is based on a gear drive that employs rotary motion (e.g. provided by a crank) to assemble modular components from a storage space, elevating a tube-shaped tower; the process is reversible, and inverting the input direction will deconstruct the tower and store the components. The Deutsches Museum restored Zuse's original 1:30 functional model that can be extended to a height of 2.7 m. Zuse intended the full construction to reach a height of 120 m, and envisioned it for use with wind power generators and radio transmission installations.
Between 1987 and 1989, Zuse recreated the Z1, suffering a heart attack midway through the project. It cost 800,000 DM, (approximately $500,000) and required four individuals (including Zuse) to assemble it. Funding for this retrocomputing project was provided by Siemens and a consortium of five companies.
Konrad Zuse married Gisela Brandes in January 1945, employing a carriage, himself dressed in tailcoat and top hat and with Gisela in a wedding veil, for Zuse attached importance to a "noble ceremony". Their son Horst, the first of five children, was born in November 1945.
While Zuse never became a member of the Nazi Party, he is not known to have expressed any doubts or qualms about working for the Nazi war effort. Much later, he suggested that in modern times, the best scientists and engineers usually have to choose between either doing their work for more or less questionable business and military interests in a Faustian bargain, or not pursuing their line of work at all.
After Zuse retired, he focused on his hobby of painting.
Zuse was an atheist.
Zuse died on 18 December 1995 in Hünfeld, Hesse (near Fulda) from heart failure.
Zuse founded one of the earliest computer companies: the "Zuse-Ingenieurbüro Hopferau". Capital was raised in 1946 through ETH Zurich and an IBM option on Zuse's patents.
In 1949, Zuse founded another company, "Zuse KG" in Haunetal-Neukirchen; in 1957 the company's head office moved to Bad Hersfeld. The Z4 was finished and delivered to the ETH Zurich, Switzerland in September 1950. At that time, it was the only working computer in continental Europe, and the second computer in the world to be sold, beaten only by the BINAC, which never worked properly after it was delivered. Other computers, all numbered with a leading Z, up to Z43, were built by Zuse and his company. Notable are the Z11, which was sold to the optics industry and to universities, and the Z22, the first computer with a memory based on magnetic storage.
By 1967, the "Zuse KG" had built a total of 251 computers. Owing to financial problems, the company was then sold to Siemens.
Zuse received several awards for his work:
The Zuse Institute Berlin is named in his honour.
The Konrad Zuse Medal of the Gesellschaft für Informatik, and the Konrad Zuse Medal of the Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes (Central Association of German Construction), are both named after Zuse.
A replica of the Z3, as well as the original Z4, is in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin has an exhibition devoted to Zuse, displaying twelve of his machines, including a replica of the Z1 and several of Zuse's paintings.
The 100th anniversary of his birth was celebrated by exhibitions, lectures and workshops.
German posts DP AG issued a commemorative stamp at this occasion, June 6, 2010: a Zuse portrait, composed solely by the binary code numbers 1 and 0 in fine print. | en.wikipedia.org | Konrad Zuse | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16810 |
16812 | Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his handling of the Black Sox scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests. His firm actions and iron rule over baseball in the near quarter-century of his commissionership are generally credited with restoring public confidence in the game.
Landis was born in Millville, Ohio, in 1866. His name was a spelling variation on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the American Civil War, where his father was wounded in 1864. Landis spent much of his youth in Indiana; he left school at 15 and worked in a series of positions in that state. His involvement in politics led to a civil service job. At age 21, Landis applied to become a lawyer—there were then no educational or examination requirements for the Indiana bar. Following a year of unprofitable practice, he went to law school. After his graduation, he opened an office in Chicago, but left it when Walter Q. Gresham, the new United States Secretary of State, named him his personal secretary in 1893. After Gresham's death in 1895, Landis refused an offer of an ambassadorship, and returned to Chicago to practice law and marry.
President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Landis as a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1905. Landis received national attention in 1907 when he fined Standard Oil of Indiana more than $29 million ($800 million in 2020) for violating federal laws forbidding rebates on railroad freight tariffs. Though Landis was reversed on appeal, he was seen as a judge determined to rein in big business. During and after World War I, Landis presided over several high-profile trials of draft resisters and others whom he saw as opposing the war effort. He imposed heavy sentences on those who were convicted; some of the convictions were reversed on appeal, and other sentences were commuted.
In 1920, Judge Landis was a leading candidate when American League and National League team owners, embarrassed by the Black Sox scandal and other instances of players throwing games, sought someone to rule over baseball. Landis was given full power to act in the sport's best interest, and used that power extensively over the next quarter-century. Landis was widely praised for cleaning up the game, although some of his decisions in the Black Sox matter remain controversial: supporters of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson and Buck Weaver contend that he was overly harsh with those players. Others blame Landis for, in their view, delaying the racial integration of baseball. Landis was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by a special vote shortly after he died in 1944.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was born in Millville, Ohio, the sixth child and fourth son of Abraham Hoch Landis, a physician, and Mary Kumler Landis, on November 20, 1866. The Landises descended from Swiss Mennonites who had emigrated to Alsace before coming to the United States. Abraham Landis had been wounded fighting on the Union side at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia, and when his parents proved unable to agree on a name for the new baby, Mary Landis proposed that they call him Kenesaw Mountain. At the time, both spellings of "Kenesaw" were used, but in the course of time, "Kennesaw Mountain" became the accepted spelling of the battle site.
Abraham Landis worked in Millville as a country physician. When Kenesaw was eight, the elder Landis moved his family to Delphi, Indiana and subsequently to Logansport, Indiana where the doctor purchased and ran several local farms—his war injury had caused him to scale back his medical practice. Two of Kenesaw's four brothers, Charles Beary Landis and Frederick Landis, became members of Congress.
As "Kenny", as he was sometimes known, grew, he did an increasing share of the farm work, later stating, "I did my share—and it was a substantial share—in taking care of the 13 acres ... I do not remember that I particularly liked to get up at 3:30 in the morning." Kenesaw began his off-farm career at age ten as a news delivery boy. He left school at 15 after an unsuccessful attempt to master algebra; he then worked at the local general store. He left that job for a position as errand boy with the Vandalia Railroad. Landis applied for a job as a brakeman, but was laughingly dismissed as too small. He then worked for the Logansport "Journal", and taught himself shorthand reporting, becoming in 1883 official court reporter for the Cass County Circuit Court. Landis later wrote, "I may not have been much of a judge, nor baseball official, but I do pride myself on having been a real shorthand reporter." He served in that capacity until 1886. In his spare time, he became a prize-winning bicycle racer and played on and managed a baseball team. Offered a professional contract as a ballplayer, he turned it down, stating that he preferred to play for the love of the game.
In 1886, Landis first ventured into Republican Party politics, supporting a friend, Charles F. Griffin, for Indiana Secretary of State. Griffin won, and Landis was rewarded with a civil service job in the Indiana Department of State. While employed there, he applied to be an attorney. At that time, in Indiana, an applicant needed only to prove that he was 21 and of good moral character, and Landis was admitted. Landis opened a practice in Marion, Indiana but attracted few clients in his year of work there. Realizing that an uneducated lawyer was unlikely to build a lucrative practice, Landis enrolled at Cincinnati's YMCA Law School (now part of Northern Kentucky University) in 1889. Landis transferred to Union Law School (now part of Northwestern University) the following year, and in 1891, he took his law degree from Union and was admitted to the Illinois Bar. He began a practice in Chicago, served as an assistant instructor at Union and with fellow attorney Clarence Darrow helped found the nonpartisan Chicago Civic Centre Club, devoted to municipal reform. Landis practiced with college friend Frank O. Lowden; the future commissioner and his law partner went into debt to impress potential clients, buying a law library secondhand.
In March 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed federal judge Walter Q. Gresham as his Secretary of State, and Gresham hired Landis as his personal secretary. Gresham had a long career as a political appointee in the latter part of the 19th century; though he lost his only two bids for elective office, he served in three Cabinet positions and was twice a dark horse candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Although Gresham was a Republican, he had supported Cleveland (a Democrat) in the 1892 election because of his intense dislike for the Republican nominee, President Benjamin Harrison. Kenesaw Landis had appeared before Judge Gresham in court. According to Landis biographer J.G. Taylor Spink, Gresham thought Landis "had something on the ball" and believed that Landis's shorthand skills would be of use.
In Washington, Landis worked hard to protect Gresham's interests in the State Department, making friends with many members of the press. He was less popular among many of the Department's senior career officials, who saw him as brash. When word leaked concerning President Cleveland's Hawaiian policy, the President was convinced Landis was the source of the information and demanded his dismissal. Gresham defended Landis, stating that Cleveland would have to fire both of them, and the President relented, later finding out that he was mistaken in accusing Landis. President Cleveland grew to like Landis, and when Gresham died in 1895, offered Landis the post of United States Ambassador to Venezuela. Landis declined the diplomatic post, preferring to return to Chicago to begin a law practice and to marry Winifred Reed, daughter of the Ottawa, Illinois postmaster. The two married July 25, 1895; they had two surviving children, a boy, Reed, and a girl, Susanne—a third child, Winifred, died almost immediately after being born.
Landis built a corporate law practice in Chicago; with the practice doing well, he deeply involved himself in Republican Party politics. He built a close association with his friend Lowden and served as his campaign manager for governor of Illinois in 1904. Lowden was defeated, but would later serve two terms in the office and be a major contender for the 1920 Republican presidential nomination. A seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois was vacant; President Theodore Roosevelt offered it to Lowden, who declined it and recommended Landis. Other recommendations from Illinois politicians followed, and Roosevelt nominated Landis for the seat. According to Spink, President Roosevelt wanted "a tough judge and a man sympathetic with his viewpoint in that important court"; Lowden and Landis were, like Roosevelt, on the progressive left of the Republican Party. On March 18, 1905, Roosevelt transmitted the nomination to the Senate, which confirmed Landis the same afternoon, without any committee hearing; he received his commission the same day.
Landis's courtroom, room 627 in the Chicago Federal Building, was ornate and featured two murals; one of King John conceding Magna Carta, the other of Moses about to smash the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The mahogany and marble chamber was, according to Landis biographer David Pietrusza, "just the spot for Landis's sense of the theatrical. In it he would hold court for nearly the next decade and a half." According to Spink, "It wasn't long before Chicago writers discovered they had a 'character' on the bench." A. L. Sloan of the Chicago "Herald-American", a friend of Landis, recalled:
The Judge was always headline news. He was a great showman, theatrical in appearance, with his sharp jaw and shock of white hair, and people always crowded into his courtroom, knowing there would be something going on. There were few dull moments.
If Judge Landis was suspicious of an attorney's line of questioning, he would begin to wrinkle his nose, and once told a witness, "Now let's stop fooling around and tell exactly what did happen, without reciting your life's history." When an elderly defendant told him that he would not be able to live to complete a five-year sentence, Landis scowled at him and asked, "Well, you can try, can't you?" When a young man stood before him for sentencing after admitting to stealing jewels from a parcel, the defendant's wife stood near him, infant daughter in her arms, and Landis mused what to do about the situation. After a dramatic pause, Landis ordered the young man to take his wife and daughter and go home with them, expressing his unwillingness to have the girl be the daughter of a convict. According to sportswriter Ed Fitzgerald in "SPORT" magazine, "[w]omen wept unashamed and the entire courtroom burst into spontaneous, prolonged applause."
Landis had been a lawyer with a corporate practice; upon his elevation to the bench, corporate litigants expected him to favor them. According to a 1907 magazine article about Landis, "Corporations smiled pleasantly at the thought of a corporation lawyer being on the bench. They smile no more." In an early case, Landis fined the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company the maximum $4,000 for illegally importing workers, even though Winifred Landis's sister's husband served on the corporate board. In another decision, Landis struck down a challenge to the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC) jurisdiction over rebating, a practice banned by the Elkins Act of 1903 in which railroads and favored customers agreed that the customers would pay less than the posted tariff, which by law was to be the same for all shippers. Landis's decision allowed the ICC to take action against railroads which gave rebates.
By the first decade of the 20th century, a number of business entities had formed themselves into trusts, which dominated their industries. Trusts often sought to purchase or otherwise neutralize their competitors, allowing the conglomerates to raise prices to high levels. In 1890, Congress had passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, but it was not until the Theodore Roosevelt administration (1901–09) that serious efforts were made to break up or control the trusts. The dominant force in the oil industry was Standard Oil, controlled by John D. Rockefeller. Modern-day ExxonMobil, Atlantic Richfield, Chevron, Sohio, Amoco and Continental Oil all trace their ancestry to various parts of Standard Oil.
In March 1906, Commissioner of Corporations James Rudolph Garfield submitted a report to President Roosevelt, alleging large-scale rebating in Standard Oil shipments. Federal prosecutors in several states and territories sought indictments against components of the Standard Oil Trust. On June 28, 1906, Standard Oil of Indiana was indicted on 6,428 counts of violation of the Elkins Act for accepting rebates on shipments on the Chicago & Alton Railroad. The case was assigned to Landis.
Trial on the 1,903 counts that survived pretrial motions began on March 4, 1907. The fact that rebates had been given was not contested; what was at issue was whether Standard Oil knew the railroad's posted rates, and if it had a duty to enquire if it did not. Landis charged the jury that it "was the duty of the defendant diligently in good faith to get from the Chicago & Alton ... the lawful rate". The jury found Standard Oil guilty on all 1,903 counts.
The maximum fine that Landis could impose was $29,240,000. To aid the judge in determining the sentence, Landis issued a subpoena for Rockefeller to testify as to Standard Oil's assets. The tycoon had often evaded subpoenas, not having testified in court since 1888. Deputy United States marshals visited Rockefeller's several homes, as well as the estates of his friends, in the hope of finding him. After several days, Rockefeller was found at his lawyer's estate, Taconic Farm in northwestern Massachusetts, and was served with the subpoena. The tycoon duly came to Landis's Chicago courtroom, making his way through a mob anxious to see the proceedings. Rockefeller's actual testimony, proffered after the judge made him wait through several cases and witnesses, proved to be anticlimactic, as he professed almost no knowledge of Standard Oil's corporate structure or assets.
On August 3, 1907, Landis pronounced sentence. He fined Standard Oil the maximum penalty, $29,240,000, the largest fine imposed on a corporation to that date. The corporation quickly appealed; in the meantime, Landis was lionized as a hero. According to Pietrusza, "much of the nation could hardly believe a federal judge had finally cracked down on a trust—and cracked down "hard" ". President Roosevelt, when he heard the sentence, reportedly stated, "That's bully." Rockefeller was playing golf in Cleveland when he was brought a telegram containing the news. Rockefeller calmly informed his golfing partners of the amount of the fine, and proceeded to shoot a personal record score, later stating, "Judge Landis will be dead a long time before this fine is paid." He proved correct; the verdict and sentence were reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on July 22, 1908. In January 1909, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and in a new trial before another judge (Landis recused himself), Standard Oil was acquitted.
A lifelong baseball fan, Landis often slipped away from the courthouse for a White Sox or Cubs game. In 1914, the two existing major leagues were challenged by a new league, the Federal League. In 1915, the upstart league brought suit against the existing leagues and owners under the Sherman Act and the case was assigned to Landis. Baseball owners feared that the reserve clause, which forced players to sign new contracts only with their former team, and the 10-day clause, which allowed teams (but not players) to terminate player contracts on ten days notice, would be struck down by Landis.
Landis held hearings in late January 1915, and newspapers expected a quick decision, certainly before spring training began in March. During the hearings, Landis admonished the parties, "Both sides must understand that any blows at the thing called baseball would be regarded by this court as a blow to a national institution". When the National League's chief counsel, future Senator George Wharton Pepper referred to the activities of baseball players on the field as "labor", Landis interrupted him: "As a result of 30 years of observation, I am shocked because you call playing baseball 'labor.' " Landis reserved judgment, and the parties waited for his ruling. Spring training passed, as did the entire regular season and the World Series. In December 1915, still with no word from Landis, the parties reached a settlement, and the Federal League disbanded. Landis made no public statement as to the reasons for his failure to rule, though he told close friends that he had been certain the parties would reach a settlement sooner or later. Most observers thought that Landis waited because he did not want to rule against the two established leagues and their contracts.
In 1916, Landis presided over the "Ryan Baby" or "Baby Iraene" case. The recent widow of a prominent Chicago banker, Anna Dollie Ledgerwood Matters, had brought a baby girl home from a visit to Canada and claimed that the child was her late husband's posthumous heir. Matters had left an estate of $250,000. However, a shop girl from Ontario, Margaret Ryan, claimed the baby was hers, and brought a writ of "habeas corpus" in Landis's court. Ryan stated that she had given birth to the girl in an Ottawa hospital, but had been told her baby had died. In the era before blood and DNA testing, Landis relied on witness testimony and awarded the child to Ryan. The case brought comparisons between Landis and King Solomon, who had judged a similar case. Landis was reversed by the Supreme Court, which held he had no jurisdiction in the matter. A Canadian court later awarded the child to Ryan.
Although Landis was an autocrat in the courtroom, he was less so at home. In a 1916 interview, he stated,
Every member of this family does exactly what he or she wants to do. Each one is his or her supreme court. Everything for the common good of the family is decided according to the wishes of the whole family. Each one knows what is right and each one can do whatever he thinks is best. It is purely democratic.
In early 1917, Landis considered leaving the bench and returning to private practice—though he greatly enjoyed being a judge, the salary of $7,500 was considerably lower than what he could make as an attorney. The entry of the United States into World War I in April ended Landis's determination to resign; a firm supporter of the war effort, he felt he could best serve the country by remaining on the bench. Despite this decision and his age, fifty, Landis wrote to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, asking him to take him into the service and send him to France, where the war was raging. Baker urged Landis to make speeches in support of the war instead, which he did. The judge's son, Reed, had already served briefly in the Illinois National Guard; during the war he became a pilot, and eventually an ace.
Landis's disdain for draft dodgers and other opponents of the war was evident in July 1917, when he presided over the trials of some 120 men, mostly foreign-born Socialists, who had resisted the draft and rioted in Rockford, Illinois. According to Pietrusza, Landis "was frequently brutal in his remarks" to the defendants, interrogating them on their beliefs. Landis tried the case in Rockford, and found all guilty, sentencing all but three to a year and a day in jail, the maximum sentence. The prisoners were ordered to register for the draft after serving their sentences—except 37, whom he ordered deported.
On September 5, 1917, federal officers raided the national headquarters, in Chicago, of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, sometimes "Wobblies"), as well as 48 of the union's halls across the nation. The union had opposed the war and urged members and others to refuse conscription into the armed forces. On September 28, 166 IWW leaders, including union head Big Bill Haywood were indicted in the Northern District of Illinois; their cases were assigned to Landis. Some 40 of the indicted men could not be found; a few others had charges dismissed against them. Ultimately, Landis presided over a trial against 113 defendants, the largest federal criminal trial to that point.
The trial began on April 1, 1918. Landis quickly dismissed charges against a dozen defendants, including one A.C. Christ, who showed up in newly obtained army uniform. Jury selection occupied a month. Journalist John Reed attended the trial, and wrote of his impressions of Landis:
Small on the huge bench sits a wasted man with untidy white hair, an emaciated face in which two burning eyes are set like jewels, parchment-like skin split by a crack for a mouth; the face of Andrew Jackson three years dead ... Upon this man has devolved the historic role of trying the Social Revolution. He is doing it like a gentleman. In many ways a most unusual trial. When the judge enters the court-room after recess, no one rises—he himself has abolished the pompous formality. He sits without robes, in an ordinary business suit, and often leaves the bench to come down and perch on the step of the jury box. By his personal orders, spittoons are placed by the prisoners' seats ... and as for the prisoners themselves, they are permitted to take off their coats, move around, read newspapers. It takes some human understanding for a Judge to fly in the face of judicial ritual as much as that.
Haywood biographer Melvyn Dubofsky wrote that Landis "exercised judicial objectivity and restraint for five long months". Baseball historian Harold Seymour stated that "[o]n the whole, Landis conducted the trial with restraint, despite his reputation as a foe of all radical groups." Landis dismissed charges against an elderly defendant who was in obvious pain as he testified, and allowed the release of a number of prisoners on bail or on their own recognizances.
On August 17, 1918, following the closing argument for the prosecution (the defendants waived argument), Landis instructed the jury. The lead defense counsel objected to the wording of the jury charge several times, but Haywood believed it to have been fair. After 65 minutes, the jury returned with guilty verdicts for all of the remaining accused, much to their shock; they had believed that Landis's charge pointed towards their acquittal. When the defendants returned to court on August 29, Landis listened with patience to the defendants' final pleas. For the sentencing, according to Richard Cahan in his history of Chicago's district court, "mild-mannered Landis returned a changed man". Although two defendants received only ten days in jail, all others received at least a year and a day, and Haywood and fourteen others received twenty years. A number of defendants, including Haywood, obtained bail during the appeal; even before Haywood's appeals were exhausted, he jumped bail and took ship for the Soviet Union. The labor leader hung a portrait of Landis in his Moscow apartment, and when Haywood died in 1928, he was interred near John Reed (who had died of illness in Moscow after the Bolshevik Revolution) in the Kremlin Wall—they remain the only Americans so honored. President Calvin Coolidge commuted the sentences of the remaining incarcerated defendants in 1923, much to the disgust of Landis, who issued an angry statement. After leaving his judgeship, Landis referred to the defendants in the Haywood case as "scum", "filth", and "slimy rats".
Landis hoped that the Kaiser, Wilhelm II would be captured and tried in his court; he wanted to indict the Kaiser for the murder of a Chicagoan who lost his life on the "RMS Lusitania" in 1915. The State Department notified Landis that extradition treaties did not permit the rendition of the Kaiser, who fled into exile in the Netherlands as the war concluded. Nevertheless, in a speech, Landis demanded that Kaiser Wilhelm, his six sons, and 5,000 German military leaders "be lined up against a wall and shot down in justice to the world and to Germany".
Even with the armistice in November 1918, the war-related trials continued. The Socialist Party of America, like the IWW, had opposed the war, and had also been raided by federal authorities. Seven Socialist Party leaders, including Victor Berger, who was elected to Congress in November 1918, were indicted for alleged anti-war activities. The defendants were charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, which made it illegal "to utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language" about the armed forces, the flag, the Constitution, or democracy. The defendants, who were mostly of German birth or descent, moved for a change of venue away from Landis's courtroom, alleging that Landis had stated on November 1, 1918, that "[i]f anybody has said anything about the Germans that is worse than I have said, I would like to hear it so I could use it myself." Landis, however, examined the transcript of the trial in which the statement was supposedly made, failed to find it, declared the affidavit in support of the motion "perjurious", and denied the motion. While the jury was being selected, Berger was indicted on additional espionage charges for supposedly violating the law during an earlier, unsuccessful political campaign. At the conclusion of the case, Landis took an hour to dramatically charge the jury, emphasizing the secretive nature of conspiracies and pointing at the jury box as he noted, "the country was then at war". At one point, Landis leapt out of his seat, twirled his chair around, then sat on its arm. Later in his charge, he lay prone upon the bench. The jury took less than a day to convict Congressman-elect Berger and his four remaining codefendants. Landis sentenced each defendant to twenty years in federal prison. Landis denied the defendants bail pending appeal, but they quickly obtained it from an appellate court judge. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rule on the case itself, sending it on to the Supreme Court, which on January 31, 1921, overturned the convictions and sentences by a 6–3 vote, holding that Landis should have stepped aside once he was satisfied that the affidavit was legally sufficient, leaving it for another judge to decide whether it was actually true. Landis refused to comment on the Supreme Court's decision, which ordered a new trial. In 1922, the charges against the defendants were dropped by the government.
The postwar period saw considerable deflation; the shortage of labor and materials during the war had led to much higher wages and prices, and in the postwar economic readjustment, wages were cut heavily. In Chicago, employers in the building trades attempted a 20% wage cut; when this was rejected by the unions, a lockout followed. Both sides agreed to submit the matter to a neutral arbitrator, and settled on Landis, who agreed to take the case in June 1921. By this time, Landis was Commissioner of Baseball, and still a federal judge. In September, Landis issued his report, cutting wages by an average of 12.5%. To improve productivity, he also struck restrictions on machinery which saved labor, established a standardized overtime rate, and resolved jurisdictional conflicts between unions. The labor organizations were not completely satisfied, but Landis's reforms were adopted in many places across the country and were credited with reviving the building industry.
Criticism of Landis having both the judicial and baseball positions began almost as soon as his baseball appointment was announced in November 1920. On February 2, 1921, lame duck Congressman Benjamin F. Welty (Democrat-Ohio) offered a resolution calling for Landis's impeachment. On February 11, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer opined that there was no legal impediment to Landis holding both jobs. On February 14, the House Judiciary Committee voted 24–1 to investigate Landis. Reed Landis later stated, "[n]one of the other congressmen wanted Father impeached but they did want him to come down and defend himself because they knew what a show it would be."
Although Welty's departure from office on March 4, 1921, began a lull in criticism of Landis, in April, the judge made a controversial decision in the case of Francis J. Carey, a 19-year-old bank teller, who had pleaded guilty to embezzling $96,500. Carey, the sole support of his widowed mother and unmarried sisters, gained Landis's sympathy. He accused the bank of underpaying Carey, and sent the youth home with his mother. Two members of the Senate objected to Landis's actions, and the "New York Post" compared Carey with "Les Misérables's" Jean Valjean, noting "[b]etween a loaf of bread [Valjean was incarcerated for stealing one] and $96,500 there is a difference." A bill barring outside employment by federal judges had been introduced by Landis's foes, but had expired with the end of the congressional session in March; his opponents tried again in July, and the bill failed in the Senate on a tie vote. On September 1, 1921, the American Bar Association, a trade group of lawyers, passed a resolution of censure against Landis.
By the end of 1921, the controversy was dying down, and Landis felt that he could resign without looking pressured. On February 18, 1922, he announced his resignation as judge effective March 1, stating, "There are not enough hours in the day for all these activities". In his final case, he fined two theatre owners for evading the federal amusement tax. One owner had refused to make restitution before sentencing; he was fined $5,000. The owner who had tried to make his shortfall good was fined one cent.
By 1919, the influence of gamblers on baseball had been a problem for several years. Historian Paul Gardner wrote,
Baseball had for some time been living uneasily in the knowledge that bribes were being offered by gamblers, and that some players were accepting them. The players knew it was going on, and the owners knew it was going on. But more important, the players knew that the owners knew—and they knew the owners were doing nothing about it for fear of a scandal that might damage organized baseball. Under such conditions it quite obviously did not pay to be honest.
The 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds was much anticipated, as the nation attempted to return to normalcy in the postwar period. Baseball had seen a surge of popularity during the 1919 season, which set several attendance records. The powerful White Sox, with their superstar batter "Shoeless Joe" Jackson and star pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams, were believed likely to defeat the less-well-regarded Reds. To the surprise of many, the Reds defeated the White Sox, five games to three (during 1919–21, the World Series was a best-of-nine affair).
Rumors that the series was fixed began to circulate after gambling odds against the Reds winning dropped sharply before the series began, and gained more credibility after the White Sox lost four of the first five games. Cincinnati lost the next two games, and speculation began that the Reds were losing on purpose to extend the series and increase gate revenues. However, Cincinnati won Game Eight, 10–5, to end the series, as Williams lost his third game (Cicotte lost the other two). After the series, according to Gene Carney, who wrote a book about the scandal, "there was more than the usual complaining from those who had bet big on the Sox and lost".
The issue of the 1919 Series came to the public eye again in September 1920, when, after allegations that a game between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies on August 31 had been fixed, a grand jury was empaneled in state court in Chicago to investigate baseball gambling. Additional news came from Philadelphia, where gambler Billy Maharg stated that he had worked with former boxer Abe Attell and New York gambler Arnold Rothstein to get the White Sox to throw the 1919 Series. Cicotte and Jackson were called before the grand jury, where they gave statements incriminating themselves and six teammates: Williams, first baseman Chick Gandil, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, center fielder Happy Felsch and reserve infielder Fred McMullin. Williams and Felsch were also called before the grand jury and incriminated themselves and their teammates. Through late September, the 1920 American League season had been one of the most exciting on record, with the White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees dueling for the league lead. By September 28, the Yankees were close to elimination, but the White Sox and Indians were within percentage points of each other. On that day, however, the eight players, seven of whom were still on the White Sox, were indicted. They were immediately suspended by White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. The Indians were able to pull ahead and win the pennant, taking the American League championship by two games over Chicago.
Baseball had been governed by a three-man National Commission, consisting of American League President Ban Johnson, National League President John Heydler and Cincinnati Reds owner Garry Herrmann. In January 1920, Herrmann left office at the request of other club owners, leaving the Commission effectively deadlocked between Johnson and Heydler. A number of club owners, disliking one or both league presidents, preferred a single commissioner to rule over the game, but were willing to see the National Commission continue if Herrmann was replaced by someone who would provide strong leadership. Landis's name was mentioned in the press for this role, and the influential baseball newspaper "The Sporting News" sought his appointment.
Another proposal, known as the "Lasker Plan" after Albert Lasker, a shareholder in the Chicago Cubs who had proposed it, was for a three-man commission to govern the game, drawn from outside baseball. On September 30, 1920, with the Black Sox scandal exposed, National League President Heydler began to advocate for the Lasker Plan, and by the following day, four major league teams had supported him. Among the names discussed in the press for membership on the new commission were Landis, former Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo, former President William Howard Taft, and General John J. Pershing.
The start of the 1920 World Series on October 5 distracted the public from baseball's woes for a time, but discussions continued behind the scenes. By mid-October, 11 of the 16 team owners (all eight from the National League and the owners of the American League Yankees, White Sox and Boston Red Sox) were demanding the end of the National Commission and the appointment of a three-man commission whose members would have no financial interest in baseball. Heydler stated his views on baseball's requirements:
We want a man as chairman who will rule with an iron hand ... Baseball has lacked a hand like that for years. It needs it now worse than ever. Therefore, it is our object to appoint a big man to lead the new commission.
On November 8, the owners of the eight National League and three American League teams which supported the Lasker Plan met and unanimously selected Landis as head of the proposed commission. The American League clubs that supported the plan threatened to move to the National League, away from Johnson, who opposed it. Johnson had hoped that the minor leagues would support his position; when they did not, he and the "Loyal Five" teams agreed to the Lasker Plan. In the discussions among the owners that followed, they decided that Landis would be the only commissioner–no associate members would be elected. On November 12, the team owners came to Landis's courtroom to approach him. Landis was trying a bribery case; when he heard noise in the back of the courtroom from the owners, he gaveled them to silence. He made them wait 45 minutes while he completed his docket, then met with them in his chambers.
The judge heard out the owners; after expressing initial reluctance, he took the job for seven years at a salary of $50,000, on condition he could remain on the federal bench. During Landis's time serving as both judge and commissioner, he allowed a $7,500 reduction in his salary as commissioner, to reflect his pay as judge. The appointment of Landis was met with acclaim in the press. A tentative agreement was signed by the parties a month later—an agreement which itemized Landis's powers over baseball, and which was drafted by the judge. The owners were still reeling from the perception that baseball was crooked, and accepted the agreement virtually without dissent. Under the terms of the contract, Landis could not be dismissed by the team owners, have his pay reduced, or even be criticized by them in public. He also had nearly unlimited authority over every person employed in the major or minor leagues, from owners to batboys. The owners waived any recourse to the courts to contest Landis's will. Humorist Will Rogers stated, "[D]on't kid yourself that that old judicial bird isn't going to make those baseball birds walk the chalkline". Player and manager Leo Durocher later stated, "The legend has been spread that the owners hired the Judge off the federal bench. Don't you believe it. They got him right out of Dickens."
On January 30, 1921, Landis, speaking at an Illinois church, warned:
Now that I am in baseball, just watch the game I play. If I catch any crook in baseball, the rest of his life is going to be a pretty hot one. I'll go to any means and to anything possible to see that he gets a real penalty for his offense.
The criminal case against the Black Sox defendants suffered unexpected setbacks, with evidence vanishing, including some of the incriminating statements made to the grand jury. The prosecution was forced to dismiss the original indictments, and bring new charges against seven of the ballplayers (McMullin was not charged again). Frustrated by the delays, Landis placed all eight on an "ineligible list", banning them from major and minor league baseball. Comiskey supported Landis by giving the seven who remained under contract to the White Sox their unconditional release. Public sentiment was heavily against the ballplayers, and when Jackson, Williams, Felsch, and Weaver played in a semi-pro game, "The Sporting News" mocked the 3,000 attendees, "Just Like Nuts Go to See a Murderer".
The criminal trial of the Black Sox indictees began in early July 1921. Despite what Robert C. Cottrell, in his book on the scandal, terms "the mysterious loss of evidence", the prosecution was determined to pursue the case, demanding five-year prison terms for the ballplayers for defrauding the public by throwing the World Series. On August 2, 1921, the jury returned not guilty verdicts against all defendants, leading to happy pandemonium in the courtroom, joined by the courtroom bailiffs, with even the trial judge, Hugo Friend, looking visibly pleased. The players and jury then retired to an Italian restaurant and partied well into the night.
The jubilation proved short-lived. On August 3, Landis issued a statement:
Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball. Of course, I don't know that any of these men will apply for reinstatement, but if they do, the above are at least a few of the rules that will be enforced. Just keep in mind that, regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.
According to ESPN columnist Rob Neyer, "with that single decision, Landis might have done more for the sport than anyone else, ever. Certainly, Landis never did anything more important." According to Carney, "The public amputation of the eight Sox was seen as the only acceptable cure." Over the years of Landis's commissionership, a number of the players applied for reinstatement to the game, notably Jackson and Weaver. Jackson, raised in rural South Carolina and with limited education, was said to have been drawn unwillingly into the conspiracy, while Weaver, though admitting his presence at the meetings, stated that he took no money. Both men stated that their play on the field, and their batting percentages during the series (.375 for Jackson, .324 for Weaver) indicated that they did not help to throw the series. None was ever reinstated, with Landis telling a group of Weaver supporters that his presence at the meetings with the gamblers was sufficient to bar him. Even today, long after the deaths of all three men, efforts are periodically made to reinstate Jackson (which would make him eligible for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame) and Weaver (deemed by some the least culpable of the eight). In the 1990s, a petition drive to reinstate Jackson drew 60,000 signatures. He has been treated sympathetically in movies such as "Eight Men Out" and "Field of Dreams", and Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bob Feller expressed their support for Jackson's induction into the Hall. Landis's expulsion of the eight men remains in force.
Landis felt that the Black Sox scandal had been initiated by people involved in horse racing, and stated that "by God, as long as I have anything to do with this game, they'll never get another hold on it." In 1921, his first season as commissioner, New York Giants owner Charles Stoneham and manager John McGraw purchased Oriental Park Racetrack in Havana, Cuba. Landis gave Stoneham and McGraw an ultimatum—they could not be involved in both baseball and horse racing. They quickly put the track back on the market.
Even before the Black Sox scandal had been resolved, Landis acted to clean up other gambling cases. Eugene Paulette, a first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, had been with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1919, and had met with gamblers. It is uncertain if any games were fixed, but Paulette had written a letter naming two other Cardinals who might be open to throwing games. The letter had fallen into the hands of Phillies President William F. Baker, who had taken no action until Landis's appointment, then turned the letter over to him. Paulette met with Landis once, denying any wrongdoing, then refused further meetings. Landis placed him on the ineligible list in March 1921. In November 1921, Landis banned former St. Louis Browns player Joe Gedeon, who had been released by the Browns after admitting to sitting in on meetings with gamblers who were trying to raise the money to bribe the Black Sox. When a minor league official asked if he was eligible, Landis settled the matter by placing Gedeon on the ineligible list.
Two other player gambling affairs marked Landis's early years as commissioner. In 1922, Giants pitcher Phil Douglas, embittered at McGraw for disciplining him for heavy drinking, wrote a letter to Cardinals outfielder Leslie Mann, suggesting that he would take a bribe to ensure the Giants did not win the pennant. Although Mann had been a friend, the outfielder neither smoked nor drank and had long been associated with the YMCA movement; according to baseball historian Lee Allen, Douglas might as well have sent the letter to Landis himself. Mann immediately turned over the letter to his manager, Branch Rickey, who ordered Mann to contact Landis at once. The Giants placed Douglas on the ineligible list, an action backed by Landis after meeting with the pitcher. On September 27, 1924, Giants outfielder Jimmy O'Connell offered Phillies shortstop Heinie Sand $500 if Sand didn't "bear down too hard against us today". Sand was initially inclined to let the matter pass, but recalling the fate of Weaver and other Black Sox players, told his manager, Art Fletcher. Fletcher met with Heydler, who contacted Landis. O'Connell did not deny the bribe attempt, and was placed on the ineligible list.
In total, Landis banned eighteen players from the game. Landis biographer Pietrusza details the effect of Landis's stand against gambling:
Before 1920 if one player approached another player to throw a contest, there was a very good chance he would not be informed upon. Now, there was an excellent chance he would be turned in. No honest player wanted to meet the same fate as Buck Weaver ... Without the forbidding example of Buck Weaver to haunt them, it is unlikely Mann and Sand would have snitched on their fellow players. After Landis' unforgiving treatment of the popular and basically honest Weaver they dared not to. And once prospectively crooked players knew that honest players would no longer shield them, "the scandals stopped".
At the time of Landis's appointment as commissioner, it was common for professional baseball players to supplement their pay by participating in postseason "barnstorming" tours, playing on teams which would visit smaller cities and towns to play games for which admission would be charged. Since 1911, however, players on the two World Series teams had been barred from barnstorming. The rule had been leniently enforced—in 1916, several members of the champion Red Sox, including pitcher George Herman "Babe" Ruth had barnstormed and had been fined a token $100 each by the National Commission.
Ruth, who after the 1919 season had been sold to the Yankees, and who by then had mostly abandoned his pitching role for the outfield, was the focus of considerable fan interest as he broke batting records in 1920 and 1921, some by huge margins. Ruth's major league record 29 home runs with the Red Sox in 1919 fell to his own efforts in 1920, when he hit 54. He then proceeded to hit 59 in 1921, leading the Yankees to their first pennant. Eight major league teams failed to hit as many home runs in 1921 as Ruth hit by himself. The Yankees lost the 1921 World Series to the Giants (Ruth was injured and missed several games) and after the series, the outfielder proposed to capitalize on fan interest by leading a team of barnstormers, including Yankees teammate Bob Meusel, in violation of the rule. According to Cottrell,
[T]he two men clashed who helped the national pastime overcome the Black Sox scandal, one through his seemingly iron will, the other thanks to his magical bat. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Babe Ruth battled over the right of a ballplayer from a pennant-winning squad to barnstorm in the off-season. Also involved was the commissioner's continued determination to display, as he had through his banishment of the Black Sox, that he had established the boundaries for organized baseball. These boundaries, Landis intended to demonstrate, applied even to the sport's most popular and greatest star. Significant too, only Babe Ruth now contended with Commissioner Landis for the title of baseball's most important figure.
Ruth had asked Yankees general manager Ed Barrow for permission to barnstorm. Barrow had no objection but warned Ruth he must obtain Landis's consent. Landis biographer Spink, who was at the time the editor of "The Sporting News", stated, "I can say that Ruth knew exactly what he was doing when he defied Landis in October, 1921. He was willing to back his own popularity and well-known drawing powers against the Judge." Ruth, to the commissioner's irritation, did not contact Landis until October 15, one day before the first exhibition. When the two spoke by telephone, Landis ordered Ruth to attend a meeting with him; Ruth refused, stating that he had to leave for Buffalo for the first game. Landis angrily refused consent for Ruth to barnstorm, and after slamming down the receiver, is recorded as saying, "Who the hell does that big ape think he is? That blankety-blank! If he goes on that trip it will be one of the sorriest things he has ever done." By one account, Yankees co-owner Colonel Tillinghast Huston attempted to dissuade Ruth as he departed, only to be told by the ballplayer, "Aw, tell the old guy to jump in a lake."
The tour also featured fellow Yankees Bob Meusel and Bill Piercy (who had been called up late in the season and was ineligible for the World Series) as well as Tom Sheehan, who had been sent to the minor leagues before the end of the season. Two other Yankees, Carl Mays and Wally Schang, had been scheduled to join the tour, but given Landis's position, according to Spink, "wisely decided to pass it up". Spink describes the tour as "a fiasco." On Landis's orders, it was barred from all major and minor league ballparks. In addition, it was plagued by poor weather, and was called off in late October. In early December, Landis suspended Ruth, Piercy, and Meusel until May 20, 1922. Yankee management was actually relieved; they had feared Landis would suspend Ruth for the season or even longer. Both the Yankees and Ruth repeatedly asked Landis for the players' early reinstatement, which was refused, and when Landis visited the Yankees during spring training in New Orleans, he lectured Ruth for two hours on the value of obeying authority. "He sure can talk", noted Ruth.
When Ruth returned on May 20, he batted 0-for-4, and was booed by the crowd at the Polo Grounds. According to Pietrusza, "Always a politician, there was one boss Landis did fear: public opinion. He had no guarantee at the start of the Ruth controversy that the public and press would back him as he assumed unprecedented powers over baseball. Now, he knew they would.
At the start of Landis's commissionership, the minor league teams were for the most part autonomous of the major leagues; in fact the minor leagues independently chose to accept Landis's rule. To ensure players did not become mired in the minor leagues without a chance to earn their way out, major league teams were able to draft players who played two consecutive years with the same minor league team. Several minor leagues were not subject to the draft; Landis fought for the inclusion of these leagues, feeling that the non-draft leagues could prevent players from advancing as they became more skilled. By 1924, he had succeeded, as the International League, the final holdout, accepted the draft.
By the mid-1920s, major league clubs were beginning to develop "farm systems", that is, minor league teams owned or controlled by them, at which they could develop young prospects without the risk of the players being acquired by major league rivals. The pioneer in this development was Branch Rickey, who then ran the St. Louis Cardinals. As the 1921 National Agreement among the major and minor leagues which implemented Landis's hiring lifted a ban on major league teams owning minor league ones, Landis was limited in his avenues of attack on Rickey's schemes. Developing talent at little cost thanks to Rickey, the Cardinals dominated the National League, winning nine league titles in the years from 1926 to 1946.
Soon after Landis's appointment, he surprised the major league owners by requiring that they disclose their minor league interests. Landis fought against the practice of "covering up", using transfers between two teams controlled by the same major league team to make players ineligible for the draft. His first formal act as commissioner was to declare infielder Phil Todt a free agent, dissolving his contract with the St. Louis Browns (at the time run by Rickey, who soon thereafter moved across town to run the Cardinals); in 1928, he ruled future Hall of Famer Chuck Klein a free agent as he held the Cardinals had tried to cover Klein up by having him play in a league where they owned two affiliates. The following year, he freed Detroit Tigers prospect and future Hall of Famer Rick Ferrell, who attracted a significant signing bonus from the Browns. In 1936, Landis found that teenage pitching prospect Bob Feller's signing by minor league club Fargo-Moorhead had been a charade; the young pitcher was for all intents and purposes property of the Cleveland Indians. However, Feller indicated that he wanted to play for Cleveland and Landis issued a ruling which required the Indians to pay damages to minor league clubs, but allowed them to retain Feller, who went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Indians.
Landis's attempts to crack down on "covering up" provoked the only time he was ever sued by one of his owners. After the 1930 season, minor leaguer Fred Bennett, convinced he was being covered up by the Browns, petitioned Landis for his release. Landis ruled that the Browns could either keep Bennett on their roster for the entire 1931 season, trade him, or release him. Instead, Browns owner Phil Ball brought suit against Landis in his old court in Chicago. Federal Judge Walter Lindley ruled for Landis, noting that the agreements and rules were intended to "endow the Commissioner with all the attributes of a benevolent but absolute despot and all the disciplinary powers of the proverbial "pater familias"". Ball intended to appeal, but after a meeting between team owners and Landis in which the commissioner reminded owners of their agreement not to sue, decided to drop the case.
Landis had hoped that the large Cardinal farm system would become economically unfeasible; when it proved successful for the Cardinals, he had tolerated it for several years and was in a poor position to abolish it. In 1938, however, finding that the Cardinals effectively controlled multiple teams in the same league (a practice disliked by Landis), he freed 70 players from their farm system. As few of the players were likely prospects for the major leagues, Landis's actions generated headlines, but had little effect on the Cardinals organization, and the development of the modern farm system, whereby each major league club has several minor league teams which it uses to develop talent, proceeded apace. Rob Neyer describes Landis's effort as "a noble effort in a good cause, but it was also doomed to fail."
One of the most controversial aspects of Landis's commissionership is the question of race. From 1884, black ballplayers were informally banned from organized baseball. No black ballplayer played in organized baseball during Landis's commissionership; Rickey (then running the Brooklyn Dodgers) broke the color line by signing Jackie Robinson to play for the minor league Montreal Royals in 1946, after Landis's death. Robinson became the first African-American in the major leagues since the 19th century, playing with the Dodgers beginning in 1947.
According to contemporary newspaper columns, at the time of his appointment as commissioner, Landis was considered a liberal on race questions; two Chicago African-American newspapers defended him against the 1921 efforts to impeach him from his judgeship. A number of baseball authors have ascribed racism to Landis, who they say actively perpetuated baseball's color line. James Bankes, in "The Pittsburgh Crawfords", tracing the history of that Negro League team, states that Landis, whom the author suggests was a Southerner, made "little effort to disguise his racial prejudice during 25 years in office" and "remained a steadfast foe of integration". Negro League historian John Holway termed Landis "the hard-bitten Carolinian Kennesaw Mountain Landis". In a 2000 article in "Smithsonian" magazine, writer Bruce Watson states that Landis "upheld baseball's unwritten ban on black players and did nothing to push owners toward integration". A number of authors say that Landis banned major league play against black teams for fear the white teams would lose, though they ascribe various dates for this action, and the Dodgers are known to have played black teams in and around their Havana spring training base as late as 1942.
Landis's documented actions on race are inconsistent. In 1938, Yankee Jake Powell was interviewed by a radio station, and when asked what he did in the offseason, made comments that were interpreted as meaning he worked as a police officer and beat up African Americans. Landis suspended Powell for ten days. In June 1942, the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs played several games against the white "Dizzy Dean All-Stars" at major league ballparks, attracting large crowds. After three games, all won by the Monarchs, Landis ordered a fourth canceled, on the ground that the games were outdrawing major league contests. On one occasion, Landis intervened in Negro League affairs, though he had no jurisdiction to do so. The Crawfords lost a game to a white semi-pro team when their star catcher, Josh Gibson dropped a pop fly, and Gibson was accused of throwing the game at the behest of gamblers. Landis summoned the black catcher to his office, interviewed him, and announced Gibson was cleared of wrongdoing.
In July 1942, Dodger manager Leo Durocher charged that there was a "grapevine understanding" keeping blacks out of baseball. He was summoned to Landis's Chicago office, and after emerging from a meeting with the commissioner, alleged that he had been misquoted. Landis then addressed the press, and stated,"
Negroes are not barred from organized baseball by the commissioner and never have been in the 21 years I have served. There is no rule in organized baseball prohibiting their participation and never has been to my knowledge. If Durocher, or if any other manager, or all of them, want to sign one, or twenty-five Negro players, it is all right with me. That is the business of the managers and the club owners. The business of the commissioner is to interpret the rules of baseball, and to enforce them.
In his 1961 memoir, "Veeck as in Wreck", longtime baseball executive and owner Bill Veeck told of his plan, in 1942, to buy the Phillies and stock the team with Negro League stars. Veeck wrote that he told Landis, who reacted with shock, and soon moved to block the purchase. In his book, Veeck placed some of the blame on National League President Ford Frick, but later reserved blame exclusively for Landis, whom he accused of racism, stating in a subsequent interview, "[a]fter all, a man who is named Kenesaw Mountain was not born and raised in the state of Maine." However, when Veeck was asked for proof of his allegations against Landis, he stated, "I have no proof of that. I can only surmise." According to baseball historian David Jordan, "Veeck, nothing if not a storyteller, seems to have added these embellishments, sticking in some guys in black hats, simply to juice up his tale."
In November 1943, Landis agreed after some persuasion that black sportswriter Sam Lacy should make a case for integration of organized baseball before the owners' annual meeting. Instead of Lacy attending the meeting, actor Paul Robeson did. Robeson, though a noted black actor and advocate of civil rights, was a controversial figure due to his affiliation with the Communist Party. The owners heard Robeson out, but at Landis's suggestion, did not ask him any questions or begin any discussion with him.
Neyer noted that "Landis has been blamed for delaying the integration of the major leagues, but the truth is that the owners didn't want black players in the majors any more than Landis did. And it's not likely that, even if Landis hadn't died in 1944, he could have prevented Branch Rickey from bringing Jackie Robinson to the National League in 1947." C.C. Johnson Spink, son of Landis biographer J.G. Taylor Spink and his successor as editor of "The Sporting News", noted in the introduction to the reissue of his father's biography of Landis,
K.M. Landis was quite human and not infallible. If, for example, he did drag his feet at erasing baseball's color line, he was grievously wrong, but then so were many others of his post-Civil War generation.
Landis took full jurisdiction over the World Series, as a contest between representatives of the two major leagues. Landis was blamed when the umpires called a game on account of darkness with the score tied during the 1922 World Series, even though there was still light. Landis decided that such decisions in future would be made by himself, moved forward the starting time of World Series games in future years, and announced that proceeds from the tied game would be donated to charity. In the 1932 World Series, Landis ordered that tickets for Game One at Yankee Stadium only be sold as part of strips, forcing fans to purchase tickets for all Yankee home games during that Series. Bad weather and the poor economy resulted in a half-filled stadium, and Landis allowed individual game sales for Game Two. During the 1933 World Series, he instituted a rule that only he could throw a player out of a World Series game, a rule which followed the ejection of Washington Senator Heinie Manush by umpire Charley Moran. The following year, with the visiting Cardinals ahead of the Detroit Tigers, 9–0 in Game Seven, he removed Cardinal Joe Medwick from the game for his own safety when Medwick, the left fielder, was pelted with fruit by Tiger fans after Medwick had been involved in a fight with one of the Tigers. Spink notes that Landis would most likely not have done so were the game within reach of the Tigers. In the 1938 World Series, umpire Moran was hit by a wild throw and suffered facial injuries. He was able to continue, but the incident caused Landis to order that World Series games and All-Star Games be played with six umpires.
The All-Star Game began in 1933; Landis had been a strong supporter of the proposal for such a contest, and after the first game remarked, "That's a grand show, and it should be continued." He never missed an All-Star Game in his lifetime; his final public appearance was at the 1944 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.
In 1928, National League ball clubs proposed an innovation whereby each team's pitcher, usually the weakest hitter in the lineup, would not bat, but be replaced for the purposes of batting and base-running by a tenth player. There were expectations that at the interleague meetings that year, the National League teams would vote for it, and the American League teams against it, leaving Landis to cast the deciding vote. In the event, the proposal was withdrawn, and Landis did not disclose how he would have voted on this early version of the "designated hitter" rule.
Landis disliked the innovation of "night baseball", played in the evening with the aid of artificial light, and sought to discourage teams from it. Despite this, he attended the first successful minor league night game, in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1930. When major league night baseball began in the late 1930s, Landis got the owners to restrict the number of such games. During World War II, many restrictions on night baseball were reduced, with the Washington Senators permitted to play all their home games (except those on Sundays and holidays) at night.
With the entry of the United States into World War II in late 1941, Landis wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, inquiring as to the wartime status of baseball. The President responded, urging Landis to keep baseball open, foreseeing that even those fully engaged in war work would benefit from inexpensive diversions such as attending baseball games. Many major leaguers enlisted or were drafted; even so Landis repeatedly stated, "We'll play as long as we can put nine men on the field." Although many of the teams practiced at their normal spring training sites in 1942, beginning the following year they were required to train near their home cities or in the Northeast. Landis was as virulently opposed to the Axis Powers as he had been towards the Kaiser, writing that peace would not be possible until "about fifteen thousand little Hitler, Himmlers and Hirohitos" were killed.
Landis retained a firm hold on baseball despite his advancing years and, in 1943, banned Phillies owner William D. Cox from baseball for betting on his own team. In 1927, Landis's stance regarding gambling had been codified in the rules of baseball: "Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor had a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible." Cox was required to sell his stake in the Phillies.
In early October 1944, Landis checked into St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, where his wife Winifred had been hospitalized, with a severe cold. While in the hospital, he had a heart attack, causing him to miss the World Series for the first time in his commissionership. He remained fully alert, and as usual signed the World Series share checks to players. His contract was due to expire in January 1946; on November 17, 1944, baseball's owners voted him another seven-year term. However, on November 25, he died surrounded by family, five days after his 78th birthday. His longtime assistant, Leslie O'Connor, wept as he read the announcement for the press. Landis is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.
Two weeks after his death, Landis was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by a special committee vote. The Baseball Writers' Association of America renamed its Most Valuable Player Awards after Landis.
American League President Will Harridge said of Landis, "He was a wonderful man. His great qualities and downright simplicity impressed themselves deeply on all who knew him." Pietrusza suggests that the legend on Landis's Hall of Fame plaque is his true legacy: "His integrity and leadership established baseball in the esteem, respect, and affection of the American people." Pietrusza notes that Landis was hired by the baseball owners to clean up the sport, and "no one could deny Kenesaw Mountain Landis had accomplished what he had been hired to do". According to his first biographer, Spink:
[Landis] may have been arbitrary, self-willed and even unfair, but he 'called 'em as he saw 'em' and he turned over to his successor and the future a game cleansed of the nasty spots which followed World War I. Kenesaw Mountain Landis put the fear of God into weak characters who might otherwise have been inclined to violate their trust. And for that, I, as a lifelong lover of baseball, am eternally grateful. | en.wikipedia.org | Kenesaw Mountain Landis | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16812 |
16814 | Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron
In geometry, a Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron is any of four regular star polyhedra.
They may be obtained by stellating the regular convex dodecahedron and icosahedron, and differ from these in having regular pentagrammic faces or vertex figures. They can all be seen as three-dimensional analogues of the pentagram in one way or another.
These figures have pentagrams (star pentagons) as faces or vertex figures. The small and great stellated dodecahedron have nonconvex regular pentagram faces. The great dodecahedron and great icosahedron have convex polygonal faces, but pentagrammic vertex figures.
In all cases, two faces can intersect along a line that is not an edge of either face, so that part of each face passes through the interior of the figure. Such lines of intersection are not part of the polyhedral structure and are sometimes called false edges. Likewise where three such lines intersect at a point that is not a corner of any face, these points are false vertices. The images below show spheres at the true vertices, and blue rods along the true edges.
For example, the small stellated dodecahedron has 12 pentagram faces with the central pentagonal part hidden inside the solid. The visible parts of each face comprise five isosceles triangles which touch at five points around the pentagon. We could treat these triangles as 60 separate faces to obtain a new, irregular polyhedron which looks outwardly identical. Each edge would now be divided into three shorter edges (of two different kinds), and the 20 false vertices would become true ones, so that we have a total of 32 vertices (again of two kinds). The hidden inner pentagons are no longer part of the polyhedral surface, and can disappear. Now Euler's formula holds: 60 − 90 + 32 = 2. However, this polyhedron is no longer the one described by the Schläfli symbol {5/2, 5}, and so can not be a Kepler–Poinsot solid even though it still looks like one from outside.
A Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron covers its circumscribed sphere more than once, with the centers of faces acting as winding points in the figures which have pentagrammic faces, and the vertices in the others. Because of this, they are not necessarily topologically equivalent to the sphere as Platonic solids are, and in particular the Euler relation
does not always hold. Schläfli held that all polyhedra must have χ = 2, and he rejected the small stellated dodecahedron and great dodecahedron as proper polyhedra. This view was never widely held.
A modified form of Euler's formula, using density ("D") of the vertex figures (formula_2) and faces (formula_3) was given by Arthur Cayley, and holds both for convex polyhedra (where the correction factors are all 1), and the Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra:
The Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra exist in dual pairs. Duals have the same Petrie polygon, or more precisely, Petrie polygons with the same two dimensional projection.
The following images show the two dual compounds with the same edge radius. They also show that the Petrie polygons are skew.
Two relationships described in the article below are also easily seen in the images: That the violet edges are the same, and that the green faces lie in the same planes.
John Conway defines the Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra as "greatenings" and "stellations" of the convex solids.
In his naming convention the small stellated dodecahedron is just the "stellated dodecahedron".
"Stellation" changes pentagonal faces into pentagrams. (In this sense stellation is a unique operation, and not to be confused with the more general stellation described below.)
"Greatening" maintains the type of faces, shifting and resizing them into parallel planes.
The great icosahedron is one of the stellations of the icosahedron. (See The Fifty-Nine Icosahedra)
The three others are all the stellations of the dodecahedron.
The great stellated dodecahedron is a faceting of the dodecahedron.
The three others are facetings of the icosahedron.
If the intersections are treated as new edges and vertices, the figures obtained will not be regular, but they can still be considered stellations.
The great stellated dodecahedron shares its vertices with the dodecahedron. The other three Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra share theirs with the icosahedron.
The small and great stellated dodecahedron
can be seen as a regular and a great dodecahedron with their edges and faces extended until they intersect.
The pentagon faces of these cores are the invisible parts of the star polyhedra's pentagram faces.
For the small stellated dodecahedron the hull is formula_5 times bigger than the core, and for the great it is formula_6 times bigger.
(The midradius is a common measure to compare the size of different polyhedra.)
Traditionally the two star polyhedra have been defined as "augmentations" (or "cumulations"),
Kepler calls the small stellation an "augmented dodecahedron" (then nicknaming it "hedgehog").
These naïve definitions are still used.
E.g. MathWorld states that the two star polyhedra can be constructed by adding pyramids to the faces of the Platonic solids.
All Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra have full icosahedral symmetry, just like their convex hulls.
The great icosahedron and its dual resemble the icosahedron and its dual in that they have faces and vertices on the 3-fold (yellow) and 5-fold (red) symmetry axes.
In the great dodecahedron and its dual all faces and vertices are on 5-fold symmetry axes (so there are no yellow elements in these images).
The following table shows the solids in pairs of duals. In the top row they are shown with pyritohedral symmetry, in the bottom row with icosahedral symmetry (to which the mentioned colors refer).
The table below shows orthographic projections from the 5-fold (red), 3-fold (yellow) and 2-fold (blue) symmetry axes.
Most, if not all, of the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra were known of in some form or other before Kepler. A small stellated dodecahedron appears in a marble tarsia (inlay panel) on the floor of St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy. It dates from the 15th century and is sometimes attributed to Paolo Uccello.
In his "Perspectiva corporum regularium" ("Perspectives of the regular solids"), a book of woodcuts published in 1568, Wenzel Jamnitzer depicts the great stellated dodecahedron and a great dodecahedron (both shown below). There is also a truncated version of the small stellated dodecahedron. It is clear from the general arrangement of the book that he regarded only the five Platonic solids as regular.
The small and great stellated dodecahedra, sometimes called the Kepler polyhedra, were first recognized as regular by Johannes Kepler around 1619. He obtained them by stellating the regular convex dodecahedron, for the first time treating it as a surface rather than a solid. He noticed that by extending the edges or faces of the convex dodecahedron until they met again, he could obtain star pentagons. Further, he recognized that these star pentagons are also regular. In this way he constructed the two stellated dodecahedra. Each has the central convex region of each face "hidden" within the interior, with only the triangular arms visible. Kepler's final step was to recognize that these polyhedra fit the definition of regularity, even though they were not convex, as the traditional Platonic solids were.
In 1809, Louis Poinsot rediscovered Kepler's figures, by assembling star pentagons around each vertex. He also assembled convex polygons around star vertices to discover two more regular stars, the great icosahedron and great dodecahedron. Some people call these two the Poinsot polyhedra. Poinsot did not know if he had discovered all the regular star polyhedra.
Three years later, Augustin Cauchy proved the list complete by stellating the Platonic solids, and almost half a century after that, in 1858, Bertrand provided a more elegant proof by faceting them.
The following year, Arthur Cayley gave the Kepler–Poinsot polyhedra the names by which they are generally known today.
A hundred years later, John Conway developed a systematic terminology for stellations in up to four dimensions. Within this scheme the small stellated dodecahedron is just the "stellated dodecahedron".
A dissection of the great dodecahedron was used for the 1980s puzzle Alexander's Star.
Regular star polyhedra first appear in Renaissance art. A small stellated dodecahedron is depicted in a marble tarsia on the floor of St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy, dating from ca. 1430 and sometimes attributed to Paulo Ucello.
In the 20th Century, Artist M. C. Escher's interest in geometric forms often led to works based on or including regular solids; "Gravitation" is based on a small stellated dodecahedron.
Norwegian artist Vebjørn Sands sculpture "The Kepler Star" is displayed near Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. The star spans 14 meters, and consists of an icosahedron and a dodecahedron inside a great stellated dodecahedron. | en.wikipedia.org | Kepler–Poinsot polyhedron | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16814 |
16815 | Kraków
Kraków (, also , , ), written in English as Krakow and traditionally known as Cracow, is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Province, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town was declared the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world.
The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of about 770,000, with approximately 8 million additional people living within a radius of its main square.
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau (Kraków District) became the capital of Germany's General Government. The Jewish population of the city was forced into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from which they were sent to German extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz, and the Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów. However, the city was spared from destruction and major bombing.
In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II—the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO approved Kraków's entire Old Town and historic centre as its first World Heritage List alongside Quito. Kraków is classified as a global city with the ranking of high sufficiency by GaWC. Its extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture includes the Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula, the St. Mary's Basilica, Saints Peter and Paul Church and the largest medieval market square in Europe, the Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and traditionally Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning.
In 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture. In 2013, Kraków was officially approved as a UNESCO City of Literature. The city hosted the World Youth Day in July 2016.
The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from Krakus (Krak, Grakch), the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians. In Polish, is an archaic possessive form of "Krak" and essentially means "Krak's (town)". Krakus's name may derive from "krakula", a Proto-Slavic word meaning a judge's staff, or from "krak", a Proto-Slavic word meaning an oak, once a sacred tree most often associated with the concept of genealogy. The first recorded mention of Prince Krakus (then written as "Grakch") dates back to 1190, although the town existed as early as the 7th century, when it was inhabited by the tribe of Vistulans.
The city's full official name is , which can be translated as "Royal Capital City of Kraków". In English, a person born or living in Kraków is a Cracovian ( or "krakus"). While in the 1990s the English version of the name was often written Cracow, the most widespread modern English version is Krakow.
Kraków's early history begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill. A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record of the city's name dates back to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre controlled first by Moravia (876–879), but captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. The first acclaimed ruler of Poland, Mieszko I, took Kraków from the Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty towards the end of his reign.
In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral, and a basilica. The city was sacked and burned during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt practically identical, based on new location act and incorporated in 1257 by the high duke Bolesław V the Chaste who following the example of Wrocław, introduced city rights modelled on the Magdeburg law allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for the citizens. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack in 1287 was repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications. In 1335, King Casimir III of Poland (Kazimierz in Polish) declared the two western suburbs to be a new city named after him, Kazimierz ("Casimiria" in Latin). The defensive walls were erected around the central section of Kazimierz in 1362, and a plot was set aside for the Augustinian order next to Skałka.
The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in central Europe after the Charles University in Prague. King Casimir also began work on a campus for the Academy in Kazimierz, but he died in 1370 and the campus was never completed. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted many craftsmen, businesses, and guilds as science and the arts began to flourish. The royal chancery and the University ensured a first flourishing of Polish literary culture in the city.
The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's "Złoty Wiek" or Golden Age. Many works of Polish Renaissance art and architecture were created, including ancient synagogues in Kraków's Jewish quarter located in the north-eastern part of Kazimierz, such as the Old Synagogue. During the reign of Casimir IV, various artists came to work and live in Kraków, and Johann Haller established a printing press in the city after Kasper Straube had printed the Calendarium Cracoviense, the first work printed in Poland, in 1473.
In 1520, the most famous church bell in Poland, named "Zygmunt" after Sigismund I of Poland, was cast by Hans Behem. At that time, Hans Dürer, a younger brother of artist and thinker Albrecht Dürer, was Sigismund's court painter. Hans von Kulmbach made altarpieces for several churches. In 1553, the Kazimierz district council gave the Jewish Qahal a licence for the right to build their own interior walls across the western section of the already existing defensive walls. The walls were expanded again in 1608 due to the growth of the community and influx of Jews from Bohemia. In 1572, King Sigismund II, the last of the Jagiellons, died childless. The Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa moved the administrative capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw.
Already weakened during the 18th century, by the mid-1790s the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had twice been partitioned by its neighbors: Russia, the Habsburg empire based in Austria, and Prussia. In 1791, the Austrian and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II changed the status of Kazimierz as a separate city and made it into a district of Kraków. The richer Jewish families began to move out. However, because of the injunction against travel on the Sabbath, most Jewish families stayed relatively close to the historic synagogues. In 1794, Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated an unsuccessful insurrection in the town's Main Square which, in spite of his victorious Battle of Racławice against a numerically superior Russian army, resulted in the third and final partition of Poland. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte captured former Polish territories from Austria and made the town part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Following Napoleon's defeat, the 1815 Congress of Vienna restored the pre-war boundaries but also created the partially independent Free City of Kraków. An insurrection in 1846 failed, resulting in the city being annexed by Austria under the name the Grand Duchy of Kraków (, ).
In 1866, Austria granted a degree of autonomy to Galicia after its own defeat in the Austro-Prussian War. Politically freer Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a centre of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" ('). Many leading Polish artists of the period resided in Kraków, among them the seminal painter Jan Matejko, laid to rest at Rakowicki Cemetery, and the founder of modern Polish drama, Stanisław Wyspiański. Fin de siècle Kraków evolved into a modern metropolis; running water and electric streetcars were introduced in 1901, and between 1910 and 1915, Kraków and its surrounding suburban communities were gradually combined into a single administrative unit called Greater Kraków (').
At the outbreak of World War I on 3 August 1914, Józef Piłsudski formed a small cadre military unit, the First Cadre Company—the predecessor of the Polish Legions—which set out from Kraków to fight for the liberation of Poland. The city was briefly besieged by Russian troops in November 1914. Austrian rule in Kraków ended in 1918 when the Polish Liquidation Committee assumed power.
With the emergence of the Second Polish Republic, Kraków resumed its role as a major academic and cultural centre, with the establishment of new universities such as the AGH University of Science and Technology and the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, including a number of new and essential vocational schools. It became an important cultural centre for the Polish Jews, including both Zionist and Bundist groups. Kraków was also an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox, to Hasidic and Reform Judaism flourishing side by side.
Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939, the city of Kraków became part of the General Government, a separate administrative region of the Third Reich. On 26 October 1939, the Nazi Regime constructed Distrikt Krakau, one of four total districts within the General Government. On the same day, the city of Kraków also became the capital of the administration. The General Government was ruled by Hans Frank who was based in the city's Wawel Castle. The Nazis envisioned turning Kraków into a completely Germanised city; after removal of all the Jews and Poles, renaming of locations and streets into the German language, and sponsorship of propaganda trying to portray it as a historically German city. On 28 November 1939 Hans Frank created Judenräte (Jewish Councils) which were to be run by Jewish citizens for the purpose of carrying out orders for the Nazis. These orders included registration of all Jewish people living in the area, the collection of taxes, and forced labour groups.
On the eve of the war some 56,000 Jews resided in Krakow, almost one-quarter of a total population of about 250,000. By November 1939, the Jewish population of Krakow had grown to approximately 70,000. According to German statistics from 1940, over 200,000 Jews lived within the entire Kraków District, exceeding 5 percent of the total population in the district. These statistics, however, are likely an underestimate.
During an operation called "", more than 180 university professors and academics were arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, though the survivors were later released on the request of prominent Italians.
Before the formation of ghettos, which began in the District in December 1939, Jews were encouraged to flee the city. For those who remained the German authorities decided in March 1941 to allocate a then suburban neighborhood, Podgórze District, to become Kraków's ghetto where so many Jews were destined to die of illness or starvation. Initially, most ghettos were open and Jews were allowed to enter and exit freely. However, with time ghettos were generally closed and security became tighter. From autumn 1941, the SS developed the policy of Extermination through labour, which further worsened the already bleak Jewish condition.The ghetto inhabitants were later murdered or sent to German Extermination camps, including Bełżec and Auschwitz, and to Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. The largest deportations within the District occurred from June to September 1942. More specifically, the Kraków ghetto deportation occurred in the first week of June 1942, and in March 1943 the ghetto was definitely liquidated.
Roman Polanski, the film director, is a survivor of the Kraków Ghetto, while Oskar Schindler selected employees from the ghetto to work in his enamelware factory, ' (' for short) saving them from the camps. Similarly, many men capable of physical labor were saved from the deportations to extermination camps and instead set to labor camps across the General Government.
By September 1943, the last of the Jews from the Kraków ghetto were deported. Although looted by occupational authorities, Kraków remained relatively undamaged at the end of World War II, sparing most of the city's historical and architectural legacy. Soviet forces entered the city on 18 January 1945, and began arresting Poles loyal to the Polish government-in-exile or those who had served in the Home Army.
After the war, under the Polish People's Republic, the intellectual and academic community of Kraków was put under complete political control. The universities were soon deprived of printing rights and autonomy. The Stalinist government ordered the construction of the country's largest steel mill in the newly created suburb of Nowa Huta. The creation of the giant Lenin Steelworks (now Sendzimir Steelworks owned by Mittal) sealed Kraków's transformation from a university city, into an industrial centre. The new working-class, drawn by the industrialization of Kraków, contributed to rapid population growth.
In an effort that spanned two decades, Karol Wojtyła, cardinal archbishop of Kraków, successfully lobbied for permission to build the first churches in the newly industrial suburbs. In 1978, Wojtyła was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In the same year, UNESCO placed Kraków Old Town on the first-ever list of World Heritage Sites.
Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River, in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, above sea level; halfway between the Jurassic Rock Upland () to the north, and the Tatra Mountains to the south, constituting the natural border with Slovakia and the Czech Republic; west from the border with Ukraine.
There are five nature reserves in Kraków, with a combined area of ca. . Due to their ecological value, these areas are legally protected. The western part of the city, along its northern and north-western side, borders an area of international significance known as the Jurassic Bielany-Tyniec refuge. The main motives for the protection of this area include plant and animal wildlife and the area's geomorphological features and landscape. Another part of the city is located within the ecological 'corridor' of the Vistula River valley. This corridor is also assessed as being of international significance as part of the Pan-European ecological network. The city centre is situated on the left (northern) bank of the river.
Officially, Kraków has an oceanic climate, denoted by Köppen classification as "Cfb", best defined as a semicontinental climate. It could also be classified as a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") using the original Köppen isotherms and . By classification of Wincenty Okołowicz, it has a warm-temperate climate in the centre of continental Europe with the "fusion" of different features.
Due to its geographic location, the city may be under marine influence, sometimes Arctic influence, but without direct influence, giving the city variable meteorological conditions over short spaces of time.
Being towards Eastern Europe and a relatively considerable distance from the sea, Krakow has significant temperature differences according to the progress of different air masses, having four defined seasons of the year. Average temperatures in summer range from and in winter from . The average annual temperature is . In summer temperatures often exceed , even reaching , while in winter temperatures drop to at night and about during the day. During very cold nights the temperature can drop to . The city lies near the Tatra Mountains, there are often occurrences of halny blowing (a foehn wind), causing temperatures to rise rapidly, and even in winter reach up to .
In relation to Warsaw, temperatures are very similar for most of the year, except that in the colder months southern Poland has a larger daily temperature range, more moderate winds, generally more rainy days and with greater chances of clear skies on average, especially in winter. The lower sun angle also allows for a larger growing season. In addition, for older data there was less sun than the capital of the country, about 30 minutes daily per year, but both have small differences in relative humidity and the direction of the winds is northeast.
The climate table below presents weather data from the years 2000–2012 although the official Köppen reference period was from 1981–2010 (therefore not being technically a climatological normal). According to ongoing measurements, the temperature has increased during these years as compared with the last series. This increase averages about 0.6 °C over all months. Warming is most pronounced during the winter months, with an increase of more than 1.0 °C in January.
Developed over many centuries, Kraków provides a showcase setting for many historic styles of architecture. As the city expanded, so too did the architectural achievements of its builders. It is for this reason that the variations in style and urban planning are so easily recognisable.
Built from its earliest nucleus outward, and having escaped much of the destruction endured by Poland during the 20th-century wars, Kraków's many architectural monuments can typically be seen in historical order by walking from the city centre out, towards its later districts. Kraków is one of the few medieval towns in Poland that does not have a historic Ratusz town hall in its Main Square, because it has not survived the Partitions of Poland.
Kraków's historic centre, which includes the Old Town, Kazimierz and the Wawel Castle, was included as the first of its kind on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978. The "Stare Miasto" is the most prominent example of an old town in the country. For many centuries Kraków was the royal capital of Poland, until Sigismund III Vasa relocated the court to Warsaw in 1596. The whole district is bisected by the Royal Road, the coronation route traversed by the Kings of Poland. The Route begins at St. Florian's Church outside the northern flank of the old city-walls in the medieval suburb of Kleparz; passes the Barbican of Kraków ("Barbakan") built in 1499, and enters "Stare Miasto" through the Florian Gate. It leads down Floriańska Street through the Main Square, and up Grodzka to Wawel, the former seat of Polish royalty, overlooking the Vistula river. Old Town attracts visitors from all over the World. Kraków historic centre is one of the 13 places in Poland that are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The architectural design of the district had survived all cataclysms of the past and retained its original form coming from the medieval times. The Old Town of Kraków is home to about six thousand historic sites and more than two million works of art. Its rich variety of heritage architecture includes Romanesque (e.g., St. Andrew's Church, Kraków), Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches, theatres and mansions display great variety of color, architectural details, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.
In addition to the old town, the city's district of Kazimierz is particularly notable for its many renaissance buildings and picturesque streets, as well as the historic Jewish quarter located in the north-eastern part of Kazimierz. Kazimierz was founded in the 14th century to the south-east of the city centre and soon became a wealthy, well-populated area where construction of imposing properties became commonplace. Perhaps the most important feature of medieval Kazimierz was the only major, permanent bridge ("Pons Regalis") across the northern arm of the Vistula. This natural barrier used to separate Kazimierz from the Old Town for several centuries, while the bridge connected Kraków to the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the lucrative Hungarian trade route. The last structure at this location (at the end of modern Stradom Street) was dismantled in 1880 when the northern arm of the river was filled in with earth and rock, and subsequently built over.
By the 1930s, Kraków had 120 officially registered synagogues and prayer houses that spanned across the old city. Much of Jewish intellectual life had moved to new centres like Podgórze. This in turn, led to the redevelopment and renovation of much of Kazimierz and the development of new districts in Kraków. Most historic buildings in central Kazimierz today are preserved in their original form. Some old buildings, however, were not repaired after the devastation brought by the Second World War, and have remained empty. Most recent efforts at restoring the historic neighborhoods gained new impetus around 1993. Kazimierz is now a well-visited area, seeing a booming growth in Jewish-themed restaurants, bars, bookstores and souvenir shops.
As the city of Kraków began to expand further under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the new architectural styles also developed. Key buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries in Kraków include the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, the directorate of the Polish State Railways as well as the original complex of Kraków Główny railway station and the city's Academy of Economics. It was also at around that time that Kraków's first radial boulevards began to appear, with the city undergoing a large-scale program aimed at transforming the ancient Polish capital into a sophisticated regional centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. New representative government buildings and multi-story tenement houses were built at around that time. Much of the urban-planning beyond the walls of the Old Town was done by Polish architects and engineers trained in Vienna. Some major projects of the era include the development of the Jagiellonian University's new premises and the building of the Collegium Novum just west of the Old Town. The imperial style planning of the city's further development continued until the return of Poland's independence, following the First World War. Early modernist style in Kraków is represented by such masterpieces as the Palace of Art by Franciszek Mączyński and the 'House under the Globe'. Secession style architecture, which had arrived in Kraków from Vienna, became popular towards the end of the Partitions.
With Poland's regained independence came the major change in the fortunes of Kraków—now the second most important city of a sovereign nation. The state began to make new plans for the city development and commissioned a number of representative buildings. The predominant style for new projects was modernism with various interpretations of the art-deco style. Important buildings constructed in the style of Polish modernism include the Feniks 'LOT' building on Basztowa Street, the Feniks department store on the Main Square and the Municipal Savings Bank on Szczepański Square. The Józef Piłsudski house is also of note as a particularly good example of interwar architecture in the city.
After the Second World War, new government turned toward Soviet influence and the Stalinist monumentalism. The doctrine of Socialist realism in Poland, as in other countries of the People's Republics, was enforced from 1949 to 1956. It involved all domains of art, but its most spectacular achievements were made in the field of urban design. The guidelines for this new trend were spelled-out in a 1949 resolution of the National Council of Party Architects. Architecture was to become a weapon in establishing the new social order by the communists. The ideological impact of urban design was valued more than aesthetics. It aimed at expressing persistence and power. This form of architecture was implemented in the new industrial district of Nowa Huta with apartment blocks constructed according to a Stalinist blueprint, with repetitious courtyards and wide, tree-lined avenues.
Since the style of the Renaissance was generally regarded as the most revered in old Polish architecture, it was also used for augmenting Poland's Socialist national format. However, in the course of incorporating the principles of Socialist realism, there were quite a few deviations introduced by the communists. One of these was to more closely reflect Soviet architecture, which resulted in the majority of works blending into one another. From 1953, critical opinions in the Party were increasingly frequent, and the doctrine was given up in 1956 marking the end of Stalinism. The soc-realist centre of Nowa Huta is considered to be a meritorious monument of the times. This period in postwar architecture was followed by the mass-construction of large Panel System apartment blocks, most of which were built outside the city centre and thus do not encroach upon the beauty of the old or new towns. Some examples of the new style (e.g., Hotel Cracovia) recently listed as heritage monuments were built during the latter half of the 20th century in Kraków.
After the Revolutions of 1989 and the birth of the Third Republic in the latter half of the 20th century, a number of new architectural projects were completed, including the construction of large business parks and commercial facilities such as the Galeria Krakowska, or infrastructure investments like the Kraków Fast Tram. A good example of this would be the 2007-built "Pawilon Wyspiański 2000", which is used as a multi-purpose information and exhibition space, or the Małopolski Garden of Arts (""), a multi-purpose exhibition and theatre complex located in the historic Old Town.
There are about 40 parks in Kraków including dozens of gardens and forests. Several, like the Planty Park, Botanical Garden, Zoological Garden, Park Krakowski, Jordan Park and Błonia Park are located in the centre of the city; with Zakrzówek, Lasek Wolski forest, Strzelecki Park and Park Lotników (among others) in the surrounding districts. Parks cover about 318.5 hectares (787 acres, 1.2 sq mi) of the city.
The Planty Park is the best-known park in Kraków. It was established between 1822 and 1830 in place of the old city walls, forming a green belt around the Old Town. It consists of a chain of smaller gardens designed in various styles and adorned with monuments. The park has an area of and a length of , forming a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians.
The Jordan Park founded in 1889 by Dr Henryk Jordan, was the first public park of its kind in Europe. The park built on the banks of the Rudawa river was equipped with running and exercise tracks, playgrounds, the swimming pool, amphitheatre, pavilions, and a pond for boat rowing and water bicycles. It is located on the grounds of a larger Kraków's Błonia Park. The less prominent Park Krakowski was founded in 1885 by Stanisław Rehman but has since been greatly reduced in size because of rapid real estate development. It was a popular destination point with many Cracovians at the end of the 19th century.
There are five nature reserves in Kraków with a total area of 48.6 ha (120 acres). Smaller green zones constitute parts of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland Jurassic Landscape Parks' Board, which deals with the protection areas of the Polish Jura. Under its jurisdiction are: the Bielany-Tyniec Landscape Park (Park Bielańsko-Tyniecki), Tenczynek Landscape Park (Park Tencziński) and Kraków Valleys Landscape Park (Park Krajobrazowy Dolinki Krakowskie), with their watersheds. All natural reserves of the Polish Jura Chain are part of the CORINE biotopes programme due to their unique flora, fauna, geomorphology and landscape. The western part of Kraków constitutes the so-called Obszar Krakowski ecological network, including the ecological corridor of the Vistula river. The southern slopes of limestone hills provide conditions for the development of thermophilous vegetation, grasslands and scrubs.
The city is spaced along an extended latitudinal transect of the Vistula River Valley with a network of tributaries including its right tributary Wilga, and left: Rudawa, Białucha, Dłubnia and Sanka. The rivers and their valleys along with bodies of water are some of the most interesting natural wonders of Kraków.
Kraków and its environ, surrounded by mountains, suffer from Europe's dirtiest air pollution because of smog, caused by burning coal for heating, especially in winter.
The Kraków City Council has 43 elected members, one of whom is the mayor, or President of Kraków, elected every four years. The election of the City Council and of the local head of government, which takes place at the same time, is based on legislation introduced on 20 June 2002. The President of Kraków, re-elected for his fourth term in 2014, is Jacek Majchrowski. Several members of the Polish national Parliament (Sejm) are elected from the Kraków constituency. The city's official symbols include a coat of arms, a flag, a seal, and a banner.
The responsibilities of Kraków's president include drafting and implementing resolutions, enacting city bylaws, managing the city budget, employing city administrators, and preparing against floods and natural disasters. The president fulfills his duties with the help of the City Council, city managers and city inspectors. In the 1990s, the city government was reorganised to better differentiate between its political agenda and administrative functions. As a result, the Office of Public Information was created to handle inquiries and foster communication between city departments and citizens at large.
In 2000, the city government introduced a new long-term program called "Safer City" in cooperation with the Police, Traffic, Social Services, Fire, Public Safety, and the Youth Departments. Subsequently, the number of criminal offences went down by 3 percent between 2000 and 2001, and the rate of detection increased by 1.4 percent to a total of 30.2 percent in the same period. The city is receiving help in carrying out the program from all educational institutions and the local media, including TV, radio and the press.
Kraków is divided into 18 administrative districts ("dzielnica") or boroughs, each with a degree of autonomy within its own municipal government. Prior to March 1991, the city had been divided into four quarters which still give a sense of identity to Kraków – the towns of Podgórze, Nowa Huta, and Krowodrza which were amalgamated into the city of Kraków as it expanded, and the ancient town centre of Kraków itself.
The oldest neighborhoods of Kraków were incorporated into the city before the late-18th century. They include the Old Town ("Stare Miasto"), once contained within the city defensive walls and now encircled by the Planty park; the Wawel District, which is the site of the Royal Castle and the cathedral; Stradom and Kazimierz with its historic Jewish quarter, the latter originally divided into Christian and Jewish quarters; as well as the ancient town of Kleparz.
Major districts added in the 19th and 20th centuries include Podgórze, which until 1915, was a separate town on the southern bank of the Vistula, and Nowa Huta, east of the city centre, built after World War II.
Among the most notable historic districts of the city are: Wawel Hill, home to Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral, where many historic Polish kings are buried; the medieval Old Town, with its Main Market Square ( square); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th-century buildings of the Jagiellonian University; and Kazimierz, the historical centre of Kraków's Jewish social and religious life.
The Old Town district of Kraków is home to about 6,000 historic sites, and more than 2,000,000 works of art. Its rich variety of historic architecture includes Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic buildings. Kraków's palaces, churches and mansions display great variety of colour, architectural details, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, and furnishings.
In the Market Square stands the Gothic St. Mary's Basilica ("Kościół Mariacki"). It was rebuilt in the 14th-century and features the famous wooden altar (Altarpiece of Veit Stoss), the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world, carved by Veit Stoss. From the church's main tower a trumpet call ("hejnał mariacki"), is sounded every hour. The melody, which used to announce the opening and closing of city gates, ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during the 13th-century Tatar invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by an archer of the invading Tatar forces whilst playing, the bugle call breaking off at the moment he died. The story was recounted in a book published in 1928 called "The Trumpeter of Krakow", by Eric P. Kelly, which won a Newbery Award.
The current divisions were introduced by the Kraków City Hall on 19 April 1995. Districts were assigned Roman numerals as well as the name: Stare Miasto (I), Grzegórzki (II), Prądnik Czerwony (III), Prądnik Biały (IV), Łobzów (V), Bronowice (VI), Zwierzyniec (VII), Dębniki (VIII), Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki (IX), Swoszowice (X), Podgórze Duchackie (XI), Bieżanów-Prokocim (XII), Podgórze (XIII), Czyżyny (XIV), Mistrzejowice (XV), Bieńczyce (XVI), Wzgórza Krzesławickie (XVII), and Nowa Huta (XVIII).
Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centres and the economic hub of the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) region. Since the fall of communism, the private sector has been growing steadily. There are about 50 large multinational companies in the city, including Google, IBM, Royal Dutch Shell, UBS, HSBC, Motorola, Aptiv, MAN SE, General Electric, ABB, Aon, Akamai, Cisco Systems, Hitachi, Philip Morris, Capgemini, and Sabre Holdings, along with other British, German and Scandinavian-based firms. The city is also the global headquarters for Comarch, a Polish enterprise software house. In 2005, Foreign direct investment in Kraków has reached approximately US$3,500,000,000. Kraków has been trying to model itself as a European version of Silicon Valley, based on the large number of local and foreign hi-tech companies. The unemployment rate in Kraków was 4.8% in May 2007, well below the national average of 13%. Kraków is the second most-visited city in Poland (after Warsaw). According to the World Investment Report 2011 by the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kraków is also the most emergent city location for investment in global BPO projects (Business Process Outsourcing) in the world.
In 2011, the city budget, which is presented by the Mayor of Kraków on 15 November annually, has a projected revenue of 3,500,000,000 złoty. The primary sources of revenue were as follows: 14% from the municipal taxation on real estate properties and the use of amenities, 30% in transfers from the national budget, and 34% in state subsidies. Projected expenditures, totaling 3,520,000,000 złoty, included 21% in city development costs and 79% in city maintenance costs. Of the maintenance costs, as much as 39% were spent on education and childcare. The City of Kraków's development costs included; 41% toward construction of roads, transport, and communication (combined), and 25% for the city's infrastructure and environment. The city has a high bond credit rating, and some 60% of the population is under the age of 45.
Krakow has a long history of entrepreneurship, perhaps best reflected in the fact the most important square in the city is called the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny).
Since the early 2000s a startup community has emerged in Krakow, In the early days the Krakow: Europe's Silicon Valley web page was the on line hub of the community. Most important now is the OMGKRK foundation and its Facebook group which has over 5000 members and acts as a community notice board for the startup community.
Jan Thurzo, a Hungarian entrepreneur and mining engineer who was from 1477 an Alderman and later Mayor of Kraków. He established the Fugger–Thurzo company with Jakob Fugger. Fugger monopolised copper mining and trade in the Holy Roman Empire around 1500 and has been described as the richest man who has ever lived.
Michal Hornstein, born in Krakow, and graduate of a Krakow Business School, escaped from a Nazi death camp transport. He moved to Montreal in 1951 where he founded Federal Construction Ltd., a real estate company focussing on apartments and shopping centres. He was recognised as a major philanthropist in Montreal and supported the arts, education and medicine, for example with this Gift of Old Masters to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Helena Rubinstein, born in Kraków, established the Helena Rubenstein inc. cosmetics company which was sold to Colgate Palmolive in 1973 for $142.3 million in stock and cash, and was said to be one of the world's richest women.
Janusz Filipiak established the successful IT company "Comarch" in 1993 which in 2018 employs 5500 people, and sponsors the Cracovia Football team.
Piotr Wilam established the Pascal Publishing House, the internet portal Onet.pl and seed capital fund Innovation Nest.
Kraków is one of the co-location centres of Knowledge and Innovation Community (Sustainable Energy) of The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
InnoEnergy is an integrated alliance of reputable organisations from the education, research and industry sectors. It was created based on long standing links of cooperation as well as the principles of excellence. The partners have jointly developed a strategy to tackle the weaknesses of the European innovation landscape in the field of sustainable energy.
Public transport is based on a fairly dense network of tram and bus routes operated by a municipal company, supplemented by a number of private minibus operators. Local trains connect some of the suburbs. The bulk of the city's historic area has been turned into a pedestrian zone with rickshaws and horse-drawn carriages; however, the trams run within a three-block radius. The historic means of transportation in the city can be examined at the Museum of Municipal Engineering in the Kazimierz district, with many old trams, cars and buses.
Railway connections are available to most Polish cities, e.g. Katowice, Częstochowa, Szczecin, Gdynia and Warsaw. International destinations include Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Hamburg, Lviv, Kiev, and Odessa (June–September). The main railway station is located just outside the Old Town District and is well-served by public transport.
Kraków's airport, officially named Kraków John Paul II International Airport , is located west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between Kraków Główny train station and the airport in 20 minutes. Kraków Airport served around 5,800,000 passengers in 2017. Also, the Katowice International Airport is located or about 75 minutes from Kraków.
In Autumn 2016 Poland's oldest Bicycle-sharing system was modernized and now offers 1,500 bikes at 150 stations under the name of Wavelo "", which is owned by BikeU of the French multinational company Egis.
Kraków had a recorded population of 774,839 in 2019. According to the 2006 data, the population of Kraków comprised about 2% of the population of Poland and 23% of the population of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Selected demographic indicators are presented in a table (below), compiled on the basis of only the population living in Kraków permanently. The larger metropolitan area of the city encompasses a territory in which (in 2010) 1,393,893 inhabitants live.
Already in the Middle Ages, the population of Kraków consisting of numerous ethnic groups, began to grow rapidly. It doubled between 1100 and 1300 from 5,000 to 10,000, and in 1400 counted 14,000 inhabitants. By 1550, the population of metropolitan Kraków was 18,000; although it went down to 15,000 in the next fifty years due to calamity. By the early 17th century the Kraków population had reached 28,000 inhabitants.
In the historical 1931 census preceding World War II, 78.1% of Cracovians declared Polish as their primary language, with Yiddish or Hebrew at 20.9%, Ukrainian 0.4%, German 0.3%, and Russian 0.1%. The ravages of history have greatly reduced the percentage of ethnic minorities living in Kraków.
In the 2002 census, 1,895 of Kraków's inhabitants declared non-Polish national identity, the most numerous were: Romani people (264), Ukrainians (255) and Russians (141).
Many immigrants from other countries, particularly from Eastern Europe, settle in Kraków; as of 2019 10% of Kraków's population are foreigners, most of them Ukrainians (between 11,000 and 50,000).
The metropolitan city of Kraków is known as the city of churches. The abundance of landmark, historic temples along with the plenitude of monasteries and convents earned the city a countrywide reputation as the "Northern Rome" in the past. The churches of Kraków comprise over 120 places of worship (2007) of which over 65 were built in the 20th century. More are still being added. In addition to Roman Catholicism, other denominations present include Jehovah's Witnesses, Mariavite Church, Polish Catholic Church, Polish Orthodox Church, Protestantism and Latter-Day Saints.
Kraków contains also an outstanding collection of monuments of Jewish sacred architecture unmatched anywhere in Poland. Kraków was an influential centre of Jewish spiritual life before the outbreak of World War II, with all its manifestations of religious observance from Orthodox to Hasidic and Reform flourishing side by side. There were at least 90 synagogues in Kraków active before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, serving its burgeoning Jewish community of 60,000–80,000 (out of the city's total population of 237,000), established since the early 12th century.
Most synagogues of Kraków were ruined during World War II by the Nazis who despoiled them of all ceremonial objects, and used them as storehouses for ammunition, firefighting equipment, as general storage facilities and stables. The post-Holocaust Jewish population of the city had dwindled to about 5,900 before the end of the 1940s. Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah (emigration to Israel) without visas or exit permits upon the conclusion of World War II. By contrast, Stalin forcibly kept Russian Jews in the Soviet Union, as agreed to in the Yalta Conference. In recent time, thanks to efforts of the local Jewish and Polish organisations including foreign financial aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, many synagogues underwent major restorations and serve religious and tourist purposes.
Kraków is a major centre of education. Twenty-four institutions of higher education offer courses in the city, with more than 200,000 students. Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland and ranked by the "Times Higher Education Supplement" as the second-best university in the country, was founded in 1364 as "Studium Generale" and renamed in 1817 to commemorate the royal Jagiellonian dynasty of Poland and Lithuania. Its principal academic asset is the Jagiellonian Library, with more than 4 million volumes, including a large collection of medieval manuscripts like Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus" and the Balthasar Behem Codex. With 42,325 students (2005) and 3,605 academic staff, the Jagiellonian University is also one of the leading research centres in Poland. Famous historical figures connected with the University include Saint John Cantius, Jan Długosz, Nicolaus Copernicus, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Jan Kochanowski, King John III Sobieski, Pope John Paul II and Nobel laureates Ivo Andrić and Wisława Szymborska.
AGH University of Science and Technology, established in 1919, is the largest technical university in Poland, with more than 15 faculties and student enrollment exceeding 30,000. It was ranked by the Polish edition of "Newsweek" as the best technical university in the country in 2004. During its 80-year history, more than 73,000 students graduated from AGH with master's or bachelor's degrees. Some 3,600 persons were granted the degree of Doctor of Science, and about 900 obtained the qualification of Habilitated Doctor.
Other institutions of higher learning include Academy of Music in Kraków first conceived as conservatory in 1888, one of the oldest and most prestigious conservatories in Central Europe and a major concert venue; Cracow University of Economics, established in 1925; Pedagogical University, in operation since 1946; Agricultural University of Krakow, offering courses since 1890 (initially as a part of Jagiellonian University); Academy of Fine Arts, the oldest Fine Arts Academy in Poland, founded by the Polish painter Jan Matejko; Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts; The Pontifical Academy of Theology; and Krakow University of Technology, which has more than 37,000 graduates.
Scientific societies and their branches in Kraków conduct scientific and educational work in local and countrywide scale. Academy of Learning, Krakow Scientific Society, Association of Law Students' Library of the Jagiellonian University, Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists, Polish Geological Society, Polish Theological Society in Kraków, Polish Section of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Polish Society for Synchrotron Radiation have in Kraków their main seats.
Kraków was named the official European Capital of Culture for the year 2000 by the European Union. It is a major attraction for both local and international tourists, attracting nearly 13 million visitors a year. Major landmarks include the Main Market Square with St. Mary's Basilica and the Sukiennice Cloth Hall, the Wawel Castle, the National Art Museum, the Zygmunt Bell at the Wawel Cathedral, and the medieval St. Florian's Gate with the Barbican along the Royal Coronation Route. Kraków has 28 museums and public art galleries. Among them is the Czartoryski Museum featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt as well as the EUROPEUM - European Culture Centre and the Archaeological Museum of Kraków whose collection highlights include the Zbruch Idol and the Bronocice Pot.
Kraków's 28 museums are separated into the national and municipal museums; the city also has a number of art collections and public art galleries. The National Museum, established in 1879, as well as the National Art Collection on Wawel Hill, are all accessible to the general public and well patroned.
The National Art Collection is located at the Wawel, the former residence of three dynasties of Polish monarchs. Royal Chambers feature art, period furniture, Polish and European paintings, collectibles, and an unsurpassed display of the 16th-century monumental Flemish tapestries. Wawel Treasury and Armoury features Polish royal memorabilia, jewels, applied art, and 15th- to 18th-century arms. The Wawel Eastern Collection features Turkish tents and military accessories. The National Museum is the richest museum in the country with collections consisting of several hundred thousand items kept in big part in the Main Building at Ul. 3 Maja, although there are as many as eleven separate divisions of the museum in the city, one of the most popular being The Gallery of the 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice with the collection of some of the best known paintings and sculptures of the Young Poland movement. The latest division called "Europeum" with Brueghel among a hundred Western European paintings was inaugurated in 2013.
Other major museums of special interest in Kraków include the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology (at M. Konopnickiej 26), Stanisław Wyspiański Museum (at 11 Szczepanska St), Jan Matejko Manor in Krzesławice, – a museum devoted to the master painter and his life, Emeryk Hutten Czapski Museum, and Józef Mehoffer Manor.
The Rynek Underground museum, under the main square, is an evocative modern display of Kraków's 1000+ years of history though its streets, activities and artifacts. This followed the massively extended excavations which started in a small way in 2005 and, as more and more was found, ran on eventually to 2010.
A half-an-hour tram-ride takes you to the little-heralded Polish Aviation Museum considered eighth world's best aviation museum by CNN and featuring over 200 aircraft including a Sopwith Camel among other First World War biplanes; a comprehensive display of aero engines; and essentially a complete collection of airplane types developed by Poland after 1945. Activities of small museums around Kraków and in the Lesser Poland region are promoted and supported by the Małopolska Institute of Culture; the Institute organises annual Małopolska Heritage Days.
The city has several famous theatres, including the Narodowy Stary Teatr (the National Old Theatre), the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, the Bagatela Theatre, the Ludowy Theatre, and the Groteska Theatre of Puppetry, as well as the Opera Krakowska and Kraków Operetta. The city's principal concert hall and the home of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra is the Kraków Philharmonic ("Filharmonia Krakowska") built in 1931.
Kraków hosts many annual and biannual artistic events, some of international significance such as the Misteria Paschalia (Baroque music), Sacrum-Profanum (contemporary music), the Krakow Screen Festival (popular music), the Festival of Polish Music (classical music), Dedications (theatre), the Kraków Film Festival (one of Europe's oldest short films events), Etiuda&Anima International Film Festival (the oldest international art-film event in Poland), Biennial of Graphic Arts, and the Jewish Culture Festival. Kraków was the residence of two Polish Nobel laureates in literature, Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz; a third Nobel laureate, the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric, lived and studied in Kraków. Other former longtime residents include internationally renowned Polish film directors Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski, both of whom are Academy Award winners.
Opera Krakowska one of the leading national opera companies, stages 200 performances each year including ballet, operettas and musicals. It has, in its main repertoire, the greatest world and Polish opera classics. The Opera moved into its first permanent House in the autumn of 2008. It is in charge also of the "Summer Festival of Opera and Operetta".
Kraków is home to two major Polish festivals of early music presenting forgotten Baroque oratorios and operas: "Opera Rara", and "Misteria Paschalia". Meanwhile, Capella Cracoviensis runs the "Music in Old Krakow International Festival".
Academy of Music in Kraków, founded in 1888, is known worldwide as the "alma mater" of the contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and it is also the only one in Poland to have two winners of the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw among its alumni. The Academy organises concerts of its students and guests throughout the whole year.
Music organisations and venues include: Kraków Philharmonic, "Sinfonietta Cracovia" (a.k.a. the Orchestra of the Royal City of Kraków), the Polish Radio Choir of Kraków, "Organum" Academic Choir, the Mixed Mariański Choir ("Mieszany Chór Mariański"), Kraków Academic Choir of the Jagiellonian University, the Kraków Chamber Choir, "Amar Corde" String Quartet, "Consortium Iagellonicum" Baroque Orchestra of the Jagiellonian University, Brass Band of T. Sendzimir Steelworks, and "Camerata" Chamber Orchestra of Radio Kraków.
According to official statistics, in 2019 Kraków was visited by over 14 million tourists including 3.3 million foreign travellers. The visitors spent over 7.5 billion złoty (ca. €1.7 billion) in the city (without travel costs and pre-booked accommodation). Most foreign tourists came from Germany (14.2%), United Kingdom (13.9%), Italy (11.5%), France (11.2%), Spain (10.4%) and Ukraine (5.4%). The Kraków tour-guide from the Lesser Poland Visitors Bureau indicated that not all statistics are recorded due to the considerable number of those who come, staying in readily available private rooms paid for by cash, especially from Eastern Europe.
The main reasons for visiting the city are: its historical monuments, recreation as well as relatives and friends (placing third in the ranking), religion and business. There are 120 quality hotels in Kraków (usually about half full) offering 15,485 overnight accommodations. The average stay last for about 4 to 7 nights. The survey conducted among the travelers showed that they enjoyed the city's friendliness most, with 90% of Polish tourists and 87% foreigners stating that they would recommend visiting it. Notable points of interest outside the city include the Wieliczka salt mine, the Tatra Mountains to the south, the historic city of Częstochowa (north-west), the well-preserved former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, and Ojcowski National Park, which includes the Renaissance Castle at Pieskowa Skała. Kraków has been awarded a number of top international rankings such as the 1st place in the "Top city-break destinations 2014" survey conducted by the British "Which?".
Kraków was the host city of the 2014 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship and 2016 European Men's Handball Championship. It has also been selected as the European City of Sport for 2014.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the city. The two teams with the largest following are thirteen-time Polish champion Wisła Kraków, and five-time champion Cracovia, both founded in 1906 as the oldest still existing in Poland. They have been involved in the most intense rivalry in the country and one of the most intense in all of Europe, known as the Holy War (""). Other football clubs include Hutnik Kraków, Wawel Kraków, and one-time Polish champion Garbarnia Kraków. There is also the first-league rugby club Juvenia Kraków. Kraków has a number of additional, equally valued sports teams including twelve-time Polish ice hockey champions Cracovia and the twenty-time women's basketball champions Wisła Kraków.
The Cracovia Marathon, with over a thousand participants from two dozen countries annually, has been held in the city since 2002. Poland's first F1 racing driver Robert Kubica was born and brought up in Kraków, as was former WWE tag team champion Ivan Putski, and Top 10 ranked women's tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska.
The construction of a new Tauron Arena Kraków began in May 2010; for concerts, indoor athletics, hockey, basketball, futsal and other events. The facility area has 61,434 m2, with maximum area of the arena court of 4 546 m2. The average capacity is 18,000 for concerts, and 15,000 for sport events, with maximum number of spectators being 22,000. The Arena boasts Poland's largest LED media façade, with a total surface of 5,200 m2 of LED strip lighting, wrapping around the stadium, and one of Europe's largest LED screens, measuring over 540 m2.
Kraków was bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics with Jasná but the bid was rejected by a majority (69.72%) of the vote in a referendum on 16 May 2014. The referendum was organised after a wave of criticism from citizens who believed that the Olympics would not promote the city. The organizing committee of "Krakow 2022" spent almost $40,000 to pay for a citizen-approved logo, but many citizens considered this a waste of public money. The committee was rumoured to have fraudulently used several million zlotys for unknown expenses.
In May 2019, the Polish Olympic Committee announced Kraków as host of the Polish bid for the 2023 European Games, On 22 June 2019, The European Olympic Committees at the General Assembly in Minsk, Belarus announced that Kraków will host the 2023 edition.
Kraków is referred to by various names in different languages. An old English name for the city is Cracow; though it has become less common in recent decades, some sources still use it. The city is known in Czech, Slovak and Serbian as "Krakov", in Hungarian as , in Lithuanian as , in Finnish as , in German and Dutch as , in Latin, Spanish and Italian as , in French as , in Portuguese as and in Russian as Краков. Ukrainian and Yiddish languages refer to it as (Краків) and () respectively.
Kraków is twinned, or maintains close relations, with 36 cities around the world: | en.wikipedia.org | Kraków | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16815 |
16818 | Kora (instrument)
The kora is a string instrument used extensively in West Africa. A kora typically has 21-strings which are played by plucking with the fingers, and combines features of the lute and a harp.
The kora is built from a large calabash, cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator with a long hardwood neck. The skin is supported by two handles that run under it. It has 21 strings, each playing a different note. It supports a notched double free-standing bridge. It doesn't fit into any one category of musical instrument, but rather several, and must be classified as a "double-bridge-harp-lute". The strings run in two divided ranks, making it a double harp. They do not end in a soundboard but are held in notches on a bridge, making it a bridge harp. They originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber, making it a lute too.
The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco and Delta blues guitar techniques of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns (using the remaining fingers to secure the instrument by holding the hand posts on either side of the strings). Ostinato riffs ("Kumbengo") and improvised solo runs ("Birimintingo") are played at the same time by skilled players.
Kora players have traditionally come from jali families (also from the Mandinka tribes) who are traditional historians, genealogists and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants. The instrument though played in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso was first discovered in the Gambia. While neighbouring Guinea were known to carry the Lute. Senegalese Griotes were known as carriers of a hand drum known as Sabar. Most West African musicians prefer the term "jali" to "griot", which is the French word. "Jali" means something similar to a "bard" or oral historian.
Traditional koras feature strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example cow or antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes plaited together to create thicker strings.
A vital accessory in the past was the nyenmyemo, a leaf-shaped plate of tin or brass with wire loops threaded around the edge. Clamped to the bridge, or the top end of the neck it produced sympathetic sounds, serving as an amplifier since the sound carried well into the open air. In today's environment players usually prefer or need an electric pickup.
By moving the konso (a system of leather tuning rings) up and down the neck, a kora player can retune the instrument into one of four seven-note scales. These scales are close in tuning to western major, minor and Lydian modes.
In the 1300s, explorer Ibn Battuta did mention that the women who accompanied Dugha to perform were carrying bows that they plucked. He didn't mention the number of strings, but this clearly shows the existence of harp instruments in 14th century Mali and could be the earliest written reference to the kora. The kora is designed like a bow with a gourd but Ibn Battuta did not go into detail about these instruments. The earliest European reference to the kora in Western literature is in "Travels in Interior Districts of Africa" (1799) by the Scotsman
Mungo Park. The most likely scenario, based on Mandinka oral tradition, suggests that the origins of the kora may ultimately be linked with Jali Mady Fouling Cissoko, some time after the founding of Kaabu in the 16th century.
The kora is mentioned in the Senegalese national anthem "Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons".
Nowadays, increasingly, koras are made with guitar machine heads instead of the traditional konso (leather rings). The advantage is that they are much easier to tune. The disadvantage is that this design limits the pitch of the instrument because string lengths are more fixed and lighter strings are needed to lift it much more than a tone. Learning to tune a traditional kora is arguably as difficult as learning to play it, and many tourists who are entranced by the sound while in West Africa buy koras and then find themselves unable to keep it in tune once they are home, relegating it to the status of ornament. Koras can be converted to replace the leather rings with machine heads. Wooden pegs and harp pegs are also used, but both can still cause tuning problems in damper climates unless made with great skill.
In the late 20th century, a 25-string model of the kora was developed, though it has been adopted by only a few players, primarily in the region of Casamance, in southern Senegal. Some kora players such as Seckou Keita have double necked koras, allowing them to switch from one tuning to another within seconds, giving them increased flexibility.
The French Benedictine monks of the Keur Moussa Abbey in Senegal (who possibly were the first to introduce guitar machine heads instead of leather rings in the late seventies) conceived a method based on scores to teach the instrument. Brother Dominique Catta, choirmaster of the Keur Moussa Abbey, was the first Western composer who wrote for the kora (solo pieces as well as duets with Western instruments).
An electric instrument modeled on the kora (but made primarily of metal) called the gravikord was invented in the late 20th century by instrument builder and musician Robert Grawi. It has 24 strings but is tuned and played differently than the kora. Another instrument, the Gravi-kora, a 21 string electro-acoustic instrument, was later developed by Robert Grawi especially for kora players who wanted a modern instrument. Its playing and tuning are the same as the traditional kora. The gravi-kora has been adopted by kora players such as Daniel Berkman, Jacques Burtin, and Foday Musa Suso, who featured it in recordings with jazz innovator Herbie Hancock, with his band "Mandingo", and on Suso's "New World Power" album.
The kora music being part of the oral tradition, its music was not written until the 20th century. The ethnomusicologists were the only ones to note some traditional airs in the normal grand staff method using the G clef and the F clef.
Nowadays, kora scores are written on a single G clef, following the Keur Moussa notation system. This notation system was created for the kora in the late 1970s by Brother Dominique Catta, a monk of the Keur Moussa Monastery (Senegal). The seven low notes that should be written on the F clef are replaced by Arabic or Roman numerals and written on the G clef.
While griots still compose in the traditional way (without writing scores), some Western musicians began to write partitures for the kora and adopted the Keur Moussa notation system at the beginning of the 1980s. More than 200 scores have already been written for kora solo or kora and Western instruments. Two notable Western composers for the kora are Brother Dominique Catta and Jacques Burtin (France), who wrote most of these scores, though composers like Carole Ouellet (Canada), Brother Grégoire Philippe (Monastère de Keur Moussa) and Sister Claire Marie Ledoux (France) contributed with original works.
Derek Gripper (Cape Town, South Africa) has transcribed a number of West African kora compositions, by Toumani Diabaté and others, for performance on western-style classical guitar, and has performed some of these transcriptions on two recordings and in concert from 2012 through the present (2017). | en.wikipedia.org | Kora (instrument) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16818 |
16820 | Kathleen Kenyon
Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978) was a British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She led excavations of Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, from 1952 to 1958, and has been called one of the most influential archaeologists of the 20th century. She was Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford from 1962 to 1973 and studied herself at Somerville College, Oxford.
Kathleen Kenyon was born in London, England, in 1906. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Frederic Kenyon, biblical scholar and later director of the British Museum. Her grandfather was lawyer and Fellow of All Souls College, John Robert Kenyon, and her great-great-grandfather was the politician and lawyer Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon. She grew up in Bloomsbury, London, in a house attached to the British Museum, with her mother, Amy Kenyon, and sister Nora Kenyon. Known for being hard-headed and stubborn, Kathleen grew up as a tomboy, fishing, climbing trees and playing a variety of sports.
Determined that she and her sister should be well educated, Kathleen's father encouraged wide reading and independent study. In later years Kenyon would remark that her father's position at the British Museum was particularly helpful for her education. Kathleen was an excellent student, winning awards at school and particularly excelling in history. She studied first at St Paul's Girls' School, where she was Head Girl, before winning an Exhibition to read History at Somerville College, Oxford. While at Oxford, Kenyon won a Blue for her college in hockey and became the first female president of the Oxford University Archaeological Society. She graduated in 1929 and began a career in archaeology.
Although working on several important sites across Europe, it was her excavations in Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) in the 1950s that established her as one of the foremost archaeologists in the field. In 1962 Kenyon was made Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford. She retired in 1973 to Erbistock and was appointed a DBE. Kenyon never married. From 1974, Kenyon was the Honorary Vice President of the Chester Archaeological Society.
A career in archaeology was first suggested to Kathleen by Margery Fry, librarian at Somerville College. After graduation Kenyon's first field experience was as a photographer for the pioneering excavations at Great Zimbabwe in 1929, led by Gertrude Caton-Thompson. Returning to England, Kenyon joined the archaeological couple Tessa Wheeler and her husband Mortimer Wheeler on their excavation of the Romano-British settlement of Verulamium (St Albans), 20 miles north of London. Working there each summer between 1930 and 1935, Kenyon learned from Mortimer Wheeler the discipline of meticulously controlled and recorded stratigraphic excavation. Wheeler entrusted her with the direction of the excavation of the Roman theatre.
In the years 1931 to 1934 Kenyon worked simultaneously at Samaria, then under the administration of the British Mandate for Palestine, with John and Grace Crowfoot. There she cut a stratigraphic trench across the summit of the mound and down the northern and southern slopes, exposing the Iron II to the Roman period stratigraphic sequence of the site. In addition to providing crucial dating material for the Iron Age stratigraphy of Palestine, she obtained key stratified data for the study of Eastern "terra sigilata" ware.
In 1934 Kenyon was closely associated with the Wheelers in the foundation of the Institute of Archaeology of University College London. From 1936 to 1939 she carried out important excavations at the Jewry Wall in the city of Leicester. These were published in the Illustrated London News1937 with pioneering reconstruction drawings by the artist Alan Sorrell whom she had happened to notice sketching her dig.
During the Second World War, Kenyon served as Divisional Commander of the Red Cross in Hammersmith, London, and later as Acting Director and Secretary of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of London.
After the war, she excavated in Southwark, at The Wrekin, Shropshire and elsewhere in Britain, as well as at Sabratha, a Roman city in Libya. As a member of the Council of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (BSAJ), Kenyon was involved in the efforts to reopen the School after the hiatus of the Second World War. In January 1951 she travelled to the Transjordan and undertook excavations in the West Bank at Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) on behalf of the BSAJ. The initial finding were first viewed by the public in the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain 1951 with a reconstruction drawing by Alan Sorrell. Her work at Jericho, from 1952 until 1958, made her world-famous and established a lasting legacy in the archaeological methodology of the Levant. Ground-breaking discoveries concerning the Neolithic cultures of the Levant were made in this ancient settlement. Her excavation of the Early Bronze Age walled city and the external cemeteries of the end of the Early Bronze Age, together with her analysis of the stratified pottery of these periods established her as the leading authority on that period. Kenyon focused her attention on the absence of certain Cypriot pottery at City IV, arguing for an older destruction date than that of her predecessors. Jericho was recognized as the oldest continuously occupied settlement in history because of her discoveries. At the same time she also completed the publication of the excavations at Samaria. Her volume, "Samaria Sebaste III: The Objects", appeared in 1957. Having completed her excavations at Tell es-Sultan in 1958, Kenyon excavated in Jerusalem from 1961 to 1967, concentrating on the 'City of David' to the immediate south of the Temple Mount.
Although Kenyon had no doubt the sites she excavated were linked to the Old Testament narrative she nevertheless drew attention to inconsistencies, concluding that Solomon's "stables" at Megiddo were totally impractical for holding horses (1978:72), and that Jericho fell long before Joshua's arrival (1978:35). Consequently, Kenyon's work has been cited to support the Minimalist School of Biblical Archaeology.
Kenyon's legacy in the field of excavation technique and ceramic methodology is attested to by Larry G. Herr, one of the directors of the Madaba Plains Project. He attributes to her directly the first of the key events (after the advances made by William F. Albright at Tell Beit Mirsim in the 1920s) that brought about our modern understanding of pottery in the southern Levant:
"The first event was the refinement of stratigraphic techniques that Kathleen Kenyon's dig at Jericho catalyzed. The strict separation of earth layers, or archaeological sediments, also allowed the strict separation of ceramic assemblages".
Herr detects Kenyon's powerful indirect influence in the second event that promoted advance within ceramic methodology, namely:
"the importation of Kenyon's digging techniques by Larry Toombs and Joe Callaway to Ernest Wright's project at Balata. Here, they combined Wright's interest in ceramic typology in the best Albright tradition with Kenyon's methods of excavation, which allowed the isolation of clear, stratigraphically determined pottery assemblages".
Herr summarises the somewhat mixed nature of Kenyon's legacy: for all the positive advances, there were also shortcomings:
"Kenyon... did not capitalize fully on (the) implication of her stratigraphic techniques by producing final publications promptly. Indeed her method of digging, which most of us have subsequently adopted, causes a proliferation of loci that excavators often have difficulty keeping straight long enough to produce coherent published stratigraphic syntheses. Moreover, her insistence that excavation proceed in narrow trenches denies us, when we use the Jericho reports, the confidence that her loci, and the pottery assemblages that go with them, represent understandable human activity patterns over coherently connected living areas. The individual layers, insufficiently exposed horizontally, simply cannot be interpreted credibly in terms of function. This further makes publication difficult, both to produce and to use".
From 1948 to 1962 she lectured in Levantine Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Kenyon's teaching complemented her excavations at Jericho Jericho and Jerusalem. In 1962, she was appointed Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford.
In the 1973 New Year Honours, following her retirement from Oxford, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) "for services to archaeology". She was an elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) and of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). She was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Independence by the King of Jordan in 1977.
The British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, amalgamated within the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) in 1998, was officially renamed the Kenyon Institute on 10 July 2003 in honour of Kathleen Kenyon.
The Kathleen Kenyon Archaeology Collection, a collection of Kenyon's books and papers purchased from her estate in 1984, is housed at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
The finds from her excavations are held in a number of collections, including the British Museum, the UCL Institute of Archaeology, while the bulk of archive is located at the Manchester Museum. | en.wikipedia.org | Kathleen Kenyon | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16820 |
16821 | Callicrates
Callicrates or Kallikrates (; ) was an ancient Greek architect active in the middle of the fifth century BC. He and Ictinus were architects of the Parthenon (Plutarch, "Pericles", 13). An inscription identifies him as the architect of "the Temple of Nike" in the Sanctuary of Athena Nike on the Acropolis (IG I3 35). The temple in question is either the amphiprostyle Temple of Athena Nike now visible on the site or a small-scale predecessor (naiskos) whose remains were found in the later temple's foundations. An inscription identifies Callicrates as one of the architects of the Classical circuit wall of the Acropolis (IG I3 45), and Plutarch further states (loc. cit.) that he was contracted to build the Middle of three amazing walls linking Athens and Piraeus. | en.wikipedia.org | Callicrates | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16821 |
16822 | Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem (; ), also known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, was a crusader state established in the Southern Levant by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. Its history is divided into two distinct periods. The First Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187, when it was almost entirely overrun by Saladin. After the subsequent Third Crusade, the kingdom was re-established in Acre in 1192, and lasted until that city's destruction in 1291, except for the two decades after Frederick II of Hohenstaufen reclaimed Jerusalem, placing it back in Christian hands after the Sixth Crusade. This second kingdom is sometimes called the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Kingdom of Acre, after its new capital. Most of the crusaders who settled there were of French or Norman origin.
At first the kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured during the First Crusade, but at its height in the mid-12th century, the kingdom encompassed roughly the territory of modern-day Israel, Palestine and the southern parts of Lebanon. From the Mediterranean Sea, the kingdom extended in a thin strip of land from Beirut in the north to the Sinai Desert in the south; into modern Jordan and Syria in the east, and towards Fatimid Egypt in the west. Three other crusader states founded during and after the First Crusade were located further north: the County of Edessa (1097–1144), the Principality of Antioch (1098–1268), and the County of Tripoli (1109–1289). While all three were independent, they were closely tied to Jerusalem. Beyond these to the north and west lay the states of Armenian Cilicia and the Byzantine Empire, with which Jerusalem had a close relationship in the twelfth century. Further east, various Muslim emirates were located which were ultimately allied with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
The fragmentation of the Muslim east allowed for the initial success of the crusade, but as the 12th century progressed, the kingdom's Muslim neighbours were united by Nur ad-Din and Saladin, who vigorously began to recapture lost territory. Jerusalem itself fell to Saladin in 1187, and in the 13th century the kingdom was reduced to a few cities along the Mediterranean coast. In this period, the kingdom was ruled by the Lusignan dynasty of the Kingdom of Cyprus, another crusader state founded during the Third Crusade. Dynastic ties also strengthened with Tripoli, Antioch, and Armenia. The kingdom was soon increasingly dominated by the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa, as well as the imperial ambitions of the Holy Roman Emperors. Emperor Frederick II (reigned 1220-1250) claimed the kingdom by marriage, but his presence sparked a civil war (1228-1243) among the kingdom's nobility. The kingdom became little more than a pawn in the politics and warfare of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Egypt, as well as the Khwarezmian and Mongol invaders. As a relatively minor kingdom, it received little financial or military support from Europe; despite numerous small expeditions, Europeans generally proved unwilling to undertake an expensive journey to the east for an apparently losing cause. The Mamluk sultans Baibars (reigned 1260-1277) and al-Ashraf Khalil (reigned 1290-1293) eventually reconquered all the remaining crusader strongholds, culminating in the destruction of Acre in 1291.
The kingdom was ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse, although the crusaders themselves and their descendants were an elite Catholic minority. They imported many customs and institutions from their homelands in Western Europe, and there were close familial and political connections with the West throughout the kingdom's existence. The kingdom also inherited "oriental" qualities, influenced by the pre-existing customs and populations. The majority of the kingdom's inhabitants were native Christians, especially Greek and Syriac Orthodox, as well as Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. The native Christians and Muslims, who were a marginalized lower class, tended to speak Greek and Arabic, while the crusaders, who came mainly from France, spoke French. There were also a small number of Jews and Samaritans.
According to the Jewish writer Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled through the kingdom around 1170, there were 1,000 Samaritans in Nablus, 200 in Caesarea and 300 in Ascalon. This sets a lower bound for the Samaritan population at 1,500, since the contemporary "Tolidah", a Samaritan chronicle, also mentions communities in Gaza and Acre. Benjamin of Tudela estimated the total Jewish population of 14 cities in the kingdom to be 1,200, making the Samaritan population of the time larger than the Jewish, perhaps for the only time in history.
The First Crusade was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II, with the goal of assisting the Byzantine Empire against the invasions of the Seljuk Turks. However, the main objective quickly became the control of the Holy Land. The Byzantines were frequently at war with the Seljuks and other Turkish dynasties for control of Anatolia and Syria. The Sunni Seljuks had formerly ruled the Great Seljuk Empire, but this empire had collapsed into several smaller states after the death of Malik-Shah I in 1092. Malik-Shah was succeeded in the Anatolian Sultanate of Rûm by Kilij Arslan I, and in Syria by his brother Tutush I, who died in 1095. Tutush's sons Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other, as well as Kerbogha, the atabeg of Mosul. This disunity among the Anatolian and Syrian emirs allowed the crusaders to overcome any military opposition they faced on the way to Jerusalem.
Egypt and much of Palestine were controlled by the Arab Shi'ite Fatimid Caliphate, which had extended further into Syria before the arrival of the Seljuks. Warfare between the Fatimids and Seljuks caused great disruption for the local Christians and for western pilgrims. The Fatimids, under the nominal rule of caliph al-Musta'li but actually controlled by vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah, had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1073; they recaptured it in 1098 from the Artuqids, a smaller Turkish tribe associated with the Seljuks, just before the arrival of the crusaders.
The crusaders arrived at Jerusalem in June 1099; a few of the neighbouring towns (Ramla, Lydda, Bethlehem, and others) were taken first, and Jerusalem itself was captured on July 15. On 22 July, a council was held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to establish a king for the newly created Kingdom of Jerusalem. Raymond IV of Toulouse and Godfrey of Bouillon were recognized as the leaders of the crusade and the siege of Jerusalem. Raymond was the wealthier and more powerful of the two, but at first he refused to become king, perhaps attempting to show his piety and probably hoping that the other nobles would insist upon his election anyway. The more popular Godfrey did not hesitate like Raymond, and accepted a position as secular leader. Although it is widely claimed that he took the title "Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri" ("advocate" or "defender" of the Holy Sepulchre), this title is used only in a letter that was not written by Godfrey. Instead, Godfrey himself seems to have used the more ambiguous term "princeps", or simply retained his title of "dux" from Lower Lorraine. According to William of Tyre, writing in the later 12th century when Godfrey had become a legendary hero, he refused to wear "a crown of gold" where Christ had worn "a crown of thorns". Robert the Monk is the only contemporary chronicler of the crusade to report that Godfrey took the title "king". Raymond was incensed and took his army to forage away from the city. The new kingdom, and Godfrey's reputation, was secured with the defeat of the Fatimid Egyptian army under al-Afdal Shahanshah at the Battle of Ascalon one month after the conquest, on August 12, but Raymond and Godfrey's continued antagonism prevented the crusaders from taking control of Ascalon itself.
There was still some uncertainty about what to do with the new kingdom. The papal legate Daimbert of Pisa convinced Godfrey to hand over Jerusalem to him as Latin Patriarch, with the intention to set up a theocratic state directly under papal control. According to William of Tyre, Godfrey may have supported Daimbert's efforts, and he agreed to take possession of "one or two other cities and thus enlarge the kingdom" if Daimbert were permitted to rule Jerusalem. Godfrey did indeed increase the boundaries of the kingdom, by capturing Jaffa, Haifa, Tiberias, and other cities, and reducing many others to tributary status. He set the foundations for the system of vassalage in the kingdom, establishing the Principality of Galilee and the County of Jaffa. But his reign was short, and he died of an illness in 1100. His brother Baldwin of Boulogne successfully outmanoeuvred Daimbert and claimed Jerusalem for himself as "King of the Latins of Jerusalem". Daimbert compromised by crowning Baldwin I in Bethlehem rather than Jerusalem, but the path for a secular state had been laid. Within this secular framework, a Catholic church hierarchy was established, overtop of the local Eastern Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox authorities, who retained their own hierarchies (the Catholics considered them schismatics and thus illegitimate; and vice versa). Under the Latin Patriarch, there were four suffragan archdioceses and numerous dioceses.
During Baldwin I's reign, the kingdom expanded even further. The numbers of European inhabitants increased, as the minor crusade of 1101 brought reinforcements to the kingdom. Baldwin repopulated Jerusalem with Franks and native Christians, after his expedition across the Jordan in 1115. With help from the Italian city-states and other adventurers, notably King Sigurd I of Norway, Baldwin captured the port cities of Acre (1104), Beirut (1110), and Sidon (1111), while exerting his suzerainty over the other crusader states to the north – Edessa (which he had founded in 1097 during the crusade), Antioch, and Tripoli, which he helped capture in 1109. He successfully defended against Muslim invasions, from the Fatimids at the numerous battles at Ramla and elsewhere in the southwest of the kingdom, and from Damascus and Mosul at the Battle of al-Sannabra in the northeast in 1113. As Thomas Madden says, Baldwin was "the true founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem", who "had transformed a tenuous arrangement into a solid feudal state. With brilliance and diligence, he established a strong monarchy, conquered the Palestinian coast, reconciled the crusader barons, and built strong frontiers against the kingdom's Muslim neighbours."
Baldwin brought with him an Armenian wife, traditionally named Arda (although never named such by contemporaries), whom he had married to gain political support from the Armenian population in Edessa, and whom he quickly set aside when he no longer needed Armenian support in Jerusalem. He bigamously married Adelaide del Vasto, regent of Sicily, in 1113, but was convinced to divorce her as well in 1117; Adelaide's son from her first marriage, Roger II of Sicily, never forgave Jerusalem, and for decades withheld much-needed Sicilian naval support.
Baldwin died without heirs in 1118, during a campaign against Egypt, and the kingdom was offered to his brother Eustace III of Boulogne, who had accompanied Baldwin and Godfrey on the crusade. Eustace was uninterested, and instead the crown passed to Baldwin's relative, probably a cousin, Baldwin of Le Bourg, who had previously succeeded him in Edessa. Baldwin II was an able ruler, and he too successfully defended against Fatimid and Seljuk invasions. Although Antioch was severely weakened after the Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119, and Baldwin himself was held captive by the emir of Aleppo from 1122–1124, Baldwin led the crusader states to victory at the Battle of Azaz in 1125. His reign saw the establishment of the first military orders, the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar; the earliest surviving written laws of the kingdom, compiled at the Council of Nablus in 1120; and the first commercial treaty with the Republic of Venice, the Pactum Warmundi, in 1124. The increase of naval and military support from Venice led to the capture of Tyre that year. The influence of Jerusalem was further extended over Edessa and Antioch, where Baldwin II acted as regent when their own leaders were killed in battle, although there were regency governments in Jerusalem as well during Baldwin's captivity. Baldwin was married to the Armenian noblewoman Morphia of Melitene, and had four daughters: Hodierna and Alice, who married into the families of the Count of Tripoli and Prince of Antioch; Ioveta, who became an influential abbess; and the eldest, Melisende, who was his heir and succeeded him upon his death in 1131, with her husband Fulk V of Anjou as king-consort. Their son, the future Baldwin III, was named co-heir by his grandfather.
Fulk was an experienced crusader and had brought military support to the kingdom during a pilgrimage in 1120. He brought Jerusalem into the sphere of the Angevin Empire, as the father of Geoffrey V of Anjou and grandfather of the future Henry II of England. Not everyone appreciated the imposition of a foreigner as king. In 1132 Antioch, Tripoli, and Edessa all asserted their independence and conspired to prevent Fulk from exercising the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them. He defeated Tripoli in battle, and settled the regency in Antioch by arranging a marriage between the countess, Melisende's niece Constance, and his own relative Raymond of Poitiers. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the native crusader nobles opposed Fulk's preference for his Angevin retinue. In 1134 Hugh II of Jaffa revolted against Fulk, allying with the Muslim garrison at Ascalon, for which he was convicted of treason "in absentia". The Latin Patriarch intervened to settle the dispute, but an assassination attempt was then made on Hugh, for which Fulk was blamed. This scandal allowed Melisende and her supporters to gain control of the government, just as her father had intended. Accordingly, Fulk "became so uxorious that...not even in unimportant cases did he take any measures without her knowledge and assistance."
Fulk was then faced with a new and more dangerous enemy: the atabeg Zengi of Mosul, who had taken control of Aleppo and had set his sights on Damascus as well; the union of these three states would have been a serious blow to the growing power of Jerusalem. A brief intervention in 1137–1138 by the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus, who wished to assert imperial suzerainty over all the crusader states, did nothing to stop the threat of Zengi; in 1139 Damascus and Jerusalem recognized the severity of the threat to both states, and an alliance was concluded which halted Zengi's advance. Fulk used this time to construct numerous castles, including Ibelin and Kerak. After the death of both Fulk and Emperor John in separate hunting accidents in 1143, Zengi invaded and conquered Edessa in 1144. Queen Melisende, now regent for her elder son Baldwin III, appointed a new constable, Manasses of Hierges, to head the army after Fulk's death, but Edessa could not be recaptured, despite Zengi's own assassination in 1146. The fall of Edessa shocked Europe, and a Second Crusade arrived in 1148.
After meeting in Acre in June, the crusading kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany agreed with Melisende, Baldwin III and the major nobles of the kingdom to attack Damascus. Zengi's territory had been divided amongst his sons after his death, and Damascus no longer felt threatened, so an alliance had been made with Zengi's son Nur ad-Din, the emir of Aleppo. Perhaps remembering attacks launched on Jerusalem from Damascus in previous decades, Damascus seemed to be the best target for the crusade, rather than Aleppo or another city to the north which would have allowed for the recapture of Edessa. The subsequent Siege of Damascus was a complete failure; when the city seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the crusader army suddenly moved against another section of the walls, and were driven back. The crusaders retreated within three days. There were rumours of treachery and bribery, and Conrad III felt betrayed by the nobility of Jerusalem. Whatever the reason for the failure, the French and German armies returned home, and a few years later Damascus was firmly under Nur ad-Din's control.
The failure of the Second Crusade had dire long-term consequences for the kingdom. The West was hesitant to send large-scale expeditions; for the next few decades, only small armies came, headed by minor European nobles who desired to make a pilgrimage. The Muslim states of Syria were meanwhile gradually united by Nur ad-Din, who defeated the Principality of Antioch at the Battle of Inab in 1149 and gained control of Damascus in 1154. Nur ad-Din was extremely pious and during his rule the concept of jihad came to be interpreted as a kind of counter-crusade against the kingdom, which was an impediment to Muslim unity, both political and spiritual.
In Jerusalem, the crusaders were distracted by a conflict between Melisende and Baldwin III. Melisende continued to rule as regent long after Baldwin came of age. She was supported by, among others, Manasses of Hierges, who essentially governed for her as constable; her son Amalric, whom she set up as Count of Jaffa; Philip of Milly; and the Ibelin family. Baldwin asserted his independence by mediating disputes in Antioch and Tripoli, and gained the support of the Ibelin brothers when they began to oppose Manasses' growing power, thanks to his marriage to their widowed mother Helvis of Ramla. In 1153 Baldwin had himself crowned as sole ruler, and a compromise was reached by which the kingdom was divided in two, with Baldwin taking Acre and Tyre in the north and Melisende remaining in control of Jerusalem and the cities of the south. Baldwin was able to replace Manasses with one of his own supporters, Humphrey II of Toron. Baldwin and Melisende knew that this situation was untenable. Baldwin soon invaded his mother's possessions, defeated Manasses, and besieged his mother in the Tower of David in Jerusalem. Melisende surrendered and retired to Nablus, but Baldwin appointed her his regent and chief advisor, and she retained some of her influence, especially in appointing ecclesiastical officials. In 1153, Baldwin launched an offensive against Ascalon, the fortress in the south from which Fatimid Egyptian armies had continually raided Jerusalem since the foundation of the kingdom. The fortress was captured and was added to the County of Jaffa, still in the possession of his brother Amalric.
With the capture of Ascalon the southern border of the kingdom was now secure, and Egypt, formerly a major threat to the kingdom but now destabilized under the reign of several underaged caliphs, was reduced to a tributary state. Nur ad-Din remained a threat in the east, and Baldwin had to contend with the advances of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, who claimed suzerainty over the Principality of Antioch. In order to bolster the defences of the kingdom against the growing strength of the Muslims, Baldwin III made the first direct alliance with the Byzantine Empire, by marrying Theodora Comnena, a niece of emperor Manuel; Manuel married Baldwin's cousin Maria. As William of Tyre put it, it was hoped that Manuel would be able "to relieve from his own abundance the distress under which our realm was suffering and to change our poverty into superabundance".
When Baldwin died childless in 1162, a year after his mother Melisende, the kingdom passed to his brother Amalric, who renewed the alliance negotiated by Baldwin. In 1163 the chaotic situation in Egypt led to a refusal to pay tribute to Jerusalem, and requests were sent to Nur ad-Din for assistance; in response, Amalric invaded, but was turned back when the Egyptians flooded the Nile at Bilbeis. The Egyptian vizier Shawar again requested help from Nur ad-Din, who sent his general Shirkuh, but Shawar quickly turned against him and allied with Amalric. Amalric and Shirkuh both besieged Bilbeis in 1164, but both withdrew due to Nur ad-Din's campaigns against Antioch, where Bohemond III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli were defeated at the Battle of Harim. It seemed likely that Antioch itself would fall to Nur ad-Din, but he withdrew when Emperor Manuel sent a large Byzantine force to the area. Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh back to Egypt in 1166, and Shawar again allied with Amalric, who was defeated at the Battle of al-Babein. Despite the defeat, both sides withdrew, but Shawar remained in control with a crusader garrison in Cairo. Amalric cemented his alliance with Manuel by marrying Manuel's niece Maria Komnene in 1167, and an embassy led by William of Tyre was sent to Constantinople to negotiate a military expedition, but in 1168 Amalric pillaged Bilbeis without waiting for the naval support promised by Manuel. Amalric accomplished nothing else, but his actions prompted Shawar to switch sides again and seek help from Shirkuh. Shawar was promptly assassinated, and when Shirkuh died in 1169, he was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known as Saladin. That year, Manuel sent a large Byzantine fleet of some 300 ships to assist Amalric, and the town of Damietta was placed under siege. However, the Byzantine fleet sailed with enough provisions for only three months. By the time that the crusaders were ready supplies were already running out and the fleet retired. Each side sought to blame the other for the failure, but both knew that they could not take Egypt without the other's assistance: the alliance was maintained, and plans for another campaign in Egypt were made, which ultimately were to come to naught.
In the end, Nur ad-Din was victorious and Saladin established himself as Sultan of Egypt. Saladin soon began to assert his independence from Nur ad-Din, and with the death of both Amalric and Nur ad-Din in 1174, he was well-placed to begin exerting control over Nur ad-Din's Syrian possessions as well. Upon the death of the pro-western Emperor Manuel in 1180, the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost its most powerful ally.
The subsequent events have often been interpreted as a struggle between two opposing factions, the "court party", made up of Baldwin's mother, Amalric's first wife Agnes of Courtenay, her immediate family, and recent arrivals from Europe who were inexperienced in the affairs of the kingdom and who were in favour of war with Saladin; and the "noble party", led by Raymond of Tripoli and the lesser nobility of the kingdom, who favoured peaceful co-existence with the Muslims. This is the interpretation offered by William of Tyre, who was firmly placed in the "noble" camp, and his view was taken up by subsequent historians; in the 20th century, Marshall W. Baldwin, Steven Runciman, and Hans E. Mayer favoured this interpretation. Peter W. Edbury, on the other hand, argues that William, as well as the thirteenth-century authors who continued William's chronicle in French and were allied to Raymond's supporters in the Ibelin family, cannot be considered impartial. Although the events were clearly a dynastic struggle, "the division was not between native barons and newcomers from the West, but between the king's maternal and paternal kin."
Miles of Plancy was briefly "bailli" or regent during Baldwin IV's minority. Miles was assassinated in October 1174, and Count Raymond III of Tripoli, Amalric's first cousin, became regent. It is highly probable that Raymond or his supporters engineered the assassination. Baldwin reached his majority in 1176, and despite his illness he no longer had any legal need for a regent. Since Raymond was his nearest relative in the male line with a strong claim to the throne, there was concern about the extent of his ambitions, although he had no direct heirs of his own. To balance this, the king turned from time to time to his uncle, Joscelin III of Edessa, who was appointed seneschal in 1176; Joscelin was more closely related to Baldwin than Raymond was, but had no claim to the throne himself.
As a leper, Baldwin had no children and could not be expected to rule much longer, so the focus of his succession passed to his sister Sibylla and his younger half-sister Isabella. Baldwin and his advisors recognised that it was essential for Sibylla to be married to a Western nobleman in order to access support from European states in a military crisis; while Raymond was still regent, a marriage was arranged for Sibylla and William of Montferrat, a cousin of Louis VII of France and of Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor. It was hoped that by allying with a relative of the western emperor, Frederick would come to the kingdom's aid. Jerusalem looked again towards the Byzantine Empire for help, and Emperor Manuel was looking for a way to restore his empire's prestige after his defeat at the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176; this mission was undertaken by Raynald of Châtillon. After William of Montferrat arrived in 1176, he fell ill and died in June 1177, leaving Sibylla widowed and pregnant with the future Baldwin V. Raynald was then named regent.
Soon afterwards, Philip of Flanders arrived in Jerusalem on pilgrimage; he was Baldwin IV's cousin, and the king offered him the regency and command of the army, both of which Philip refused, although he objected to the appointment of Raynald as regent. Philip then attempted to intervene in the negotiations for Sibylla's second husband, and suggested one of his own retinue, but the native barons refused his suggestion. In addition, Philip seemed to think he could carve out a territory of his own in Egypt, but he refused to participate with the planned Byzantine-Jerusalem expedition. The expedition was delayed and finally cancelled, and Philip took his army away to the north.
Most of the army of Jerusalem marched north with Philip, Raymond III, and Bohemond III to attack Hama, and Saladin took the opportunity to invade the kingdom. Baldwin proved to be an effective and energetic king as well as being a brilliant military commander: he defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in September 1177 despite being greatly outnumbered and having to rely on a levee-en-masse. Although Baldwin's presence despite his illness was inspirational, direct military decisions were actually made by Raynald.
Hugh III of Burgundy was expected to come to Jerusalem and marry Sibylla, but Hugh was unable to leave France due to the political unrest there in 1179–1180 following the death of Louis VII. Meanwhile, Baldwin IV's stepmother Maria, mother of Isabella and stepmother of Sibylla, married Balian of Ibelin. At Easter in 1180, Raymond and his cousin Bohemond III of Antioch attempted to force Sibylla to marry Balian's brother Baldwin of Ibelin. Raymond and Bohemond were King Baldwin's nearest male relatives in the paternal line, and could have claimed the throne if the king died without an heir or a suitable replacement. Before Raymond and Bohemond arrived, Agnes and King Baldwin arranged for Sibylla to be married to a Poitevin newcomer, Guy of Lusignan, whose older brother Amalric of Lusignan was already an established figure at court. Internationally, the Lusignans were useful as vassals of Baldwin and Sibylla's cousin Henry II of England. Baldwin betrothed eight-year-old Isabella to Humphrey IV of Toron, stepson of the powerful Raynald of Châtillon, thereby removing her from the influence of the Ibelin family and that of her mother.
The dispute between the two factions in the kingdom affected the election of a new Patriarch in 1180. When Patriarch Amalric died on 6 October 1180, the two most obvious choices for his successor were William of Tyre and Heraclius of Caesarea. They were fairly evenly matched in background and education, but politically they were allied with opposite parties, as Heraclius was one of Agnes of Courtenay's supporters. The canons of the Holy Sepulchre asked the king for advice, and Heraclius was chosen through Agnes' influence. There were rumours that Agnes and Heraclius were lovers, but this information comes from the partisan 13th-century continuations of William of Tyre's history, and there is no other evidence to substantiate such a claim.
At the end of 1181, Raynald of Châtillon raided south into Arabia, in the direction of Medina, although he did not make it that far. It was probably around this time that Raynald also attacked a Muslim caravan. The kingdom had a truce with Saladin at the time, and Raynald's actions have been seen as an independent act of brigandage; it is possible that he was trying to prevent Saladin from moving his forces north to take control of Aleppo, which would have strengthened Saladin's position. In response, Saladin attacked the kingdom in 1182, but was defeated at Belvoir Castle. King Baldwin, although quite ill, was still able to command the army in person. Saladin attempted to besiege Beirut from land and sea, and Baldwin raided Damascene territory, but neither side did significant damage. In December 1182, Raynald launched a naval expedition on the Red Sea, which made it as far south as Rabigh. The expedition was defeated and two of Raynald's men were actually taken to Mecca to be executed in public. Like his earlier raids, Raynald's expedition is usually seen as selfish and ultimately fatal for Jerusalem, but according to Bernard Hamilton it was actually shrewd strategy, meant to damage Saladin's prestige and reputation.
In 1183 a general tax was levied throughout the kingdom, which was unprecedented in Jerusalem and almost all of medieval Europe to that point. The tax helped pay for larger armies for the next few years. More troops were certainly needed, since Saladin was finally able to gain control of Aleppo, and with peace in his northern territories he could focus on Jerusalem in the south. King Baldwin was so incapacitated by his leprosy that it was necessary to appoint a regent, and Guy of Lusignan was chosen, as he was Baldwin's legal heir and the king was not expected to live. The inexperienced Guy led the Frankish army against Saladin's incursions into the kingdom, but neither side made any real gains, and Guy was criticized by his opponents for not striking against Saladin when he had the chance.
In October 1183 Isabella married Humphrey of Toron at Kerak, during a siege by Saladin, who perhaps hoped to take some valuable prisoners. As King Baldwin, although now blind and crippled, had recovered enough to resume his reign and his command of the army, Guy was removed from the regency and his five-year-old step-son, King Baldwin's nephew and namesake Baldwin, was crowned as co-king in November. King Baldwin himself then went to relieve the castle, carried on a litter, and attended by his mother. He was reconciled with Raymond of Tripoli and appointed him military commander. The siege was lifted in December and Saladin retreated to Damascus. Saladin attempted another siege in 1184, but Baldwin repelled that attack as well, and Saladin raided Nablus and other towns on the way home.
In October 1184, Guy of Lusignan led an attack on the Bedouin nomads from his base in Ascalon. Unlike Raynald's attacks on caravans, which may have had some military purpose, Guy attacked a group that was usually loyal to Jerusalem and provided intelligence about the movements of Saladin's troops. At the same time, King Baldwin contracted his final illness and Raymond of Tripoli, rather than Guy, was appointed as his regent. His nephew Baldwin was paraded in public, wearing his crown as Baldwin V. Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in May 1185.
Meanwhile, the succession crisis had prompted a mission to the west to seek assistance. In 1184, Patriarch Heraclius travelled throughout the courts of Europe, but no help was forthcoming. Heraclius offered the "keys of the Holy Sepulchre, those of the Tower of David and the banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem", but not the crown itself, to both Philip II of France and Henry II of England; the latter, as a grandson of Fulk, was a first cousin of the royal family of Jerusalem, and had promised to go on crusade after the murder of Thomas Becket. Both kings preferred to remain at home to defend their own territories, rather than act as regent for a child in Jerusalem. The few European knights who did travel to Jerusalem did not even see any combat, since the truce with Saladin had been re-established. William V of Montferrat was one of the few who came to his grandson Baldwin V's aid.
Baldwin V's rule, with Raymond of Tripoli as regent and his great-uncle Joscelin of Edessa as his guardian, was short. He was a sickly child and died in the summer of 1186. Raymond and his supporters went to Nablus, presumably in an attempt to prevent Sibylla from claiming the throne, but Sibylla and her supporters went to Jerusalem, where it was decided that the kingdom should pass to her, on the condition that her marriage to Guy be annulled. She agreed but only if she could choose her own husband and king, and after being crowned, she immediately crowned Guy with her own hands. Raymond had refused to attend the coronation, and in Nablus he suggested that Isabella and Humphrey should be crowned instead, but Humphrey refused to agree to this plan which would have certainly started a civil war. Humphrey went to Jerusalem and swore allegiance to Guy and Sibylla, as did most of Raymond's other supporters. Raymond himself refused to do so and left for Tripoli; Baldwin of Ibelin also refused, gave up his fiefs, and left for Antioch.
Raymond of Tripoli allied with Saladin against Guy and allowed a Muslim garrison to occupy his fief in Tiberias, probably hoping that Saladin would help him overthrow Guy. Saladin, meanwhile, had pacified his Mesopotamian territories, and was now eager to attack the crusader kingdom; he did not intend to renew the truce when it expired in 1187. Before the truce expired, Raynald of Chatillon, the lord of Oultrejourdain and of Kerak and one of Guy's chief supporters, recognized that Saladin was massing his troops, and attacked Muslim caravans in an attempt to disrupt this. Guy was on the verge of attacking Raymond, but realized that the kingdom would need to be united in the face of the threat from Saladin, and Balian of Ibelin effected a reconciliation between the two during Easter in 1187. Saladin attacked Kerak again in April, and in May, a Muslim raiding party ran into the much smaller embassy on its way to negotiate with Raymond, and defeated it at the Battle of Cresson near Nazareth. Raymond and Guy finally agreed to attack Saladin at Tiberias, but could not agree on a plan; Raymond thought a pitched battle should be avoided, but Guy probably remembered the criticism he faced for avoiding battle in 1183, and it was decided to march out against Saladin directly. On July 4, 1187, the army of the kingdom was utterly destroyed at the Battle of Hattin. Raymond of Tripoli, Balian of Ibelin, and Reginald of Sidon escaped, but Raynald was executed by Saladin and Guy was imprisoned in Damascus.
Over the next few months Saladin easily overran the entire kingdom. Only the port of Tyre remained in Frankish hands, defended by Conrad of Montferrat, the paternal uncle of Baldwin V, who had coincidentally arrived just in time from Constantinople. The fall of Jerusalem essentially ended the first Kingdom of Jerusalem. Much of the population, swollen with refugees fleeing Saladin's conquest of the surrounding territory, was allowed to flee to Tyre, Tripoli, or Egypt (whence they were sent back to Europe), but those who could not pay for their freedom were sold into slavery, and those who could were often robbed by Christians and Muslims alike on their way into exile. The capture of the city led to the Third Crusade, launched in 1189 and led by Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus and Frederick Barbarossa, though the last drowned en route.
Guy of Lusignan, who had been refused entry to Tyre by Conrad, began to besiege Acre in 1189. During the lengthy siege, which lasted until 1191, Patriarch Heraclius, Queen Sibylla and her daughters, and many others died of disease. With the death of Sibylla in 1190, Guy now had no legal claim to the kingship, and the succession passed to Sibylla's half-sister Isabella. Isabella's mother Maria and the Ibelins (now closely allied to Conrad) argued that Isabella and Humphrey's marriage was illegal, as she had been underage at the time; underlying this was the fact that Humphrey had betrayed his wife's cause in 1186. The marriage was annulled amid some controversy. Conrad, who was now the nearest kinsman to Baldwin V in the male line, and had already proved himself a capable military leader, then married Isabella, but Guy refused to concede the crown.
When Richard arrived in 1191, he and Philip took different sides in the succession dispute. Richard backed Guy, his vassal from Poitou, while Philip supported Conrad, a cousin of his late father Louis VII. After much ill-feeling and ill-health, Philip returned home in 1191, soon after the fall of Acre. Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, recovering most of the coast, but could not recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom. It has been suggested that this may have actually been a strategic decision by Richard rather than a failure as such, as he may have recognized that Jerusalem in particular was in fact a strategic liability as long as the crusaders were obligated to defend it, as it was isolated from the sea where Western reinforcements could arrive. Conrad was unanimously elected king in April 1192, but was murdered by the Hashshashin only days later. Eight days after that, the pregnant Isabella was married to Count Henry II of Champagne, nephew of Richard and Philip, but politically allied to Richard. As compensation, Richard sold Guy the island of Cyprus, which Richard had captured on the way to Acre, although Guy continued to claim the throne of Jerusalem until his death in 1194.
The crusade came to an end peacefully, with the Treaty of Ramla negotiated in 1192; Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem, allowing the crusaders to fulfill their vows, after which they all returned home. The native crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities.
For the next hundred years, the Kingdom of Jerusalem remained as a tiny kingdom hugging the Syrian coastline. Its capital was moved to Acre and controlled most of the coastline of present-day Israel and southern and central Lebanon, including the strongholds and towns of Jaffa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut. At best, it included only a few other significant cities, such as Ascalon and some interior fortresses, as well as suzerainty over Tripoli and Antioch. The new king, Henry of Champagne, died accidentally in 1197, and Isabella married for a fourth time, to Aimery of Lusignan, Guy's brother. Aimery had already inherited Cyprus from Guy, and had been crowned king by Frederick Barbarossa's son, Emperor Henry VI. Henry led a crusade in 1197 but died along the way. Nevertheless, his troops recaptured Beirut and Sidon for the kingdom before returning home in 1198. A five-year truce was then concluded with the Ayyubids in Syria in 1198.
The Ayyubid empire had fallen into civil war after the death of Saladin in 1193. His sons claimed various parts of his empire: az-Zahir took control of Aleppo, al-Aziz Uthman held Cairo, while his eldest son, al-Afdal, retained Damascus. Saladin's brother Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din (often called "Saphadin" by the crusaders) acquired al-Jazira (northern Mesopotamia), and al-Adil's son al-Mu'azzam took possession of Karak and Transjordan. In 1196, al-Afdal was driven out of Damascus by al Adil in alliance with Uthman. When Uthman died in 1198, al Afdal returned to power as regent in Egypt for Uthman's infant son. Allied with az-Zahir, he then attacked his uncle in Damascus. The alliance fell apart, and al-Adil then defeated al Afdal in Egypt and annexed the country. In 1200 Al-Adil proclaimed himself Sultan of Egypt and Syria, entrusting Damascus to al-Mu'azzam and al-Jazira to another son, al-Kamil. Following a second unsuccessful siege of Damascus by the two brothers, Al Afdal accepted a fief consisting of Samosata and a number of other towns. Az-Zahir of Aleppo submitted to his uncle in 1202, thus re-uniting the Ayyubid territories.
Meanwhile, schemes were hatched to reconquer Jerusalem through Egypt. A Fourth Crusade was planned after the failure of the Third, but it resulted in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and most of the crusaders involved never arrived in the kingdom. Aimery, however, not knowing of the diversion to Constantinople, raided Egypt in advance of the expected invasion. Both Isabella and Aimery died in 1205 and again an underage girl, Isabella and Conrad's daughter Maria of Montferrat, became queen of Jerusalem. Isabella's half-brother John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut governed as regent until 1210 when Maria married an experienced French knight, John of Brienne. Maria died in childbirth in 1212, and John of Brienne continued to rule as regent for their daughter Isabella II.
The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 called for a new, better-organized crusade against Egypt. In late 1217 Andrew II of Hungary and Leopold VI, Duke of Austria arrived in Acre and, along with John of Brienne, raided territory further inland, including Mount Tabor, but without success. After the departure of the Hungarians, the remaining crusaders set about refortifying Caesarea and the Templar fortress of Château Pèlerin throughout the winter of 1217 and spring of 1218.
In the spring of 1218 the Fifth Crusade began in earnest when German crusader fleets landed at Acre. Along with King John, who was elected leader of the crusade, the fleets sailed to Egypt and besieged Damietta at the mouth of the Nile in May. The siege progressed slowly, and the Egyptian sultan al-Adil died in August 1218, supposedly of shock after the crusaders managed to capture one of Damietta's towers. He was succeeded by his son al-Kamil. In the autumn of 1218 reinforcements arrived from Europe, including the papal legate Pelagius of Albano. In the winter the crusaders were affected by floods and disease, and the siege dragged on throughout 1219, when Francis of Assisi arrived to attempt to negotiate a truce. Neither side could agree to terms, despite the Ayyubid offer of a thirty-year truce and the restoration of Jerusalem and most of the rest of the former kingdom. The crusaders finally managed to starve out the city and captured it in November. Al-Kamil retreated to the nearby fortress of al-Mansurah, but the crusaders remained in Damietta throughout 1219 and 1220, awaiting the arrival of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, while King John returned to Acre briefly to defend against al-Mu'azzam, who was raiding the kingdom from Damascus in John's absence. Still expecting the emperor's imminent arrival, in July 1221, the crusaders set off towards Cairo, but they were stopped by the rising Nile, which al-Kamil allowed to flood by breaking the dams along its course. The sultan easily defeated the trapped crusader army and regained Damietta. Emperor Frederick had, in fact, never left Europe at all.
After the failure of the crusade, John travelled throughout Europe seeking assistance, but found support only from Frederick, who then married John and Maria's daughter Isabella II in 1225. The next year, Isabella died giving birth to their son Conrad IV, who succeeded his mother to the throne although he never appeared in the east. Frederick had reneged on his promise to lead the Fifth Crusade, but was now eager to cement his claim to the throne through Conrad. There were also plans to join with al-Kamil in attacking al-Mu'azzam in Damascus, an alliance which had been discussed with Egyptian envoys in Italy. But after continually delaying his departure for the Holy Land, including suffering an outbreak of disease in his fleet, he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in 1227. The crusaders, led not by Frederick but by his representatives Richard Filangieri, Henry IV, Duke of Limburg, and Hermann of Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, arrived in the east late in 1227, and while waiting for the emperor they set about refortifying Sidon, where they built the sea castle, and Montfort, which later became the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights. The Ayyubids of Damascus did not dare attack, as al-Mu'azzam had suddenly died not long before. Frederick finally arrived on the Sixth Crusade in September 1228, and claimed the regency of the kingdom in the name of his infant son.
Frederick immediately came into conflict with the native nobles of Outremer, some of whom resented his attempts to impose Imperial authority over both Cyprus and Jerusalem. The Cypriot nobles were already quarrelling amongst themselves about the regency for Henry I of Cyprus, who was still a child. The High Court of Cyprus had elected John of Ibelin as regent, but Henry's mother Alice of Champagne wished to appoint one of her supporters; Alice and her party, members or supporters of the Lusignan dynasty, sided with Frederick, whose father had crowned Aimery of Lusignan king in 1197. At Limassol, Frederick demanded that John give up not only the regency of Cyprus, but also John's own lordship of Beirut on the mainland. John argued that Frederick had no legal authority to make such demands and refused to give up either title. Frederick then imprisoned John's sons as hostages to guarantee John's support for his crusade.
John did accompany Frederick to the mainland, but Frederick was not well-received there; one of his few supporters was Balian, Lord of Sidon, who had welcomed the crusaders the year before and now acted as an ambassador to the Ayyubids. The death of al-Mu'azzam negated the proposed alliance with al-Kamil, who along with his brother al-Ashraf had taken possession of Damascus (as well as Jerusalem) from their nephew, al-Mu'azzam's son an-Nasir Dawud. However, al-Kamil presumably did not know of the small size of Frederick's army, nor the divisions within it caused by his excommunication, and wished to avoid defending his territories against another crusade. Frederick's presence alone was sufficient to regain Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and a number of surrounding castles without a fight: these were recovered in February 1229, in return for a ten-year truce with the Ayyubids and freedom of worship for Jerusalem's Muslim inhabitants. The terms of the treaty were unacceptable to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Gerald of Lausanne, who placed the city under interdict. In March, Frederick crowned himself in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but because of his excommunication and the interdict Jerusalem was never truly reincorporated into the kingdom, which continued to be ruled from Acre.
Meanwhile, in Italy, the Pope had used Frederick's excommunication as an excuse to invade his Italian territories; the papal armies were led by Frederick's former father-in-law John of Brienne. Frederick was forced to return home in 1229, leaving the Holy Land "not in triumph, but showered with offal" by the citizens of Acre.
Nevertheless, Frederick sent an Imperial army in 1231, under Richard Filangieri, who occupied Beirut and Tyre, but was unable to gain control of Acre. John's supporters formed a commune in Acre, of which John himself was elected mayor in 1232. With the help of the Genoese merchants, the commune recaptured Beirut. John also attacked Tyre, but was defeated by Filangieri at the Battle of Casal Imbert in May 1232.
On Cyprus, King Henry I came of age in 1232 and John's regency was no longer necessary. Both John and Filangieri raced back to Cyprus to assert their authority, and the imperial forces were defeated at the Battle of Agridi on June 15. Henry became undisputed king of Cyprus, but continued to support the Ibelins over the Lusignans and the imperial party. On the mainland, Filangieri had the support of Bohemund IV of Antioch, the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Pisan merchants. John was supported by his nobles on Cyprus, and by his continental holdings in Beirut, Caesarea, and Arsuf, as well as by the Knights Templar and the Genoese. Neither side could make any headway, and in 1234 Gregory IX excommunicated John and his supporters. This was partly revoked in 1235, but still no peace could be made. John died in 1236 and the war was taken up by his son Balian of Beirut and his nephew Philip of Montfort.
Meanwhile, the treaty with the Ayyubids was set to expire in 1239. Plans for a new crusade to be led by Frederick came to nothing, and Frederick himself was excommunicated by Gregory IX again in 1239. However, other European nobles took up the cause, including Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre, Peter of Dreux, and Amaury VI of Montfort, who arrived in Acre in September 1239. Theobald was elected leader of the crusade at a council in Acre, attended by the most of the important nobles of the kingdom, including Walter of Brienne, John of Arsuf, and Balian of Sidon. The arrival of the crusade was a brief respite from the Lombard War; Filangieri remained in Tyre and did not participate. The council decided to refortify Ascalon in the south and attack Damascus in the north.
The crusaders may have been aware of the new divisions among the Ayyubids; al-Kamil had occupied Damascus in 1238 but had died soon afterwards, and his territory was inherited by his family. His sons al-Adil abu Bakr and as-Salih Ayyub inherited Egypt and Damascus. Ayyub marched on Cairo in an attempt to drive out al-Adil, but during his absence al-Kamil's brother as-Salih Isma'il took over Damascus, and Ayyub was taken prisoner by an-Nasir Dawud. The crusaders, meanwhile, marched to Ascalon. Along the way, Walter of Brienne captured livestock intended to resupply Damascus, as the Ayyubids had probably learned of the crusaders' plans to attack it. The victory was short-lived, however, as the crusaders were then defeated by the Egyptian army at Gaza in November 1239. Henry II, Count of Bar was killed and Amaury of Montfort captured. The crusaders returned to Acre, possibly because the native barons of the kingdom were suspicious of Filangieri in Tyre. Dawud took advantage of the Ayyubid victory to recapture Jerusalem in December, the ten-year truce having expired.
Although Ayyub was Dawud's prisoner, the two now allied against al-Adil in Egypt, which Ayyub seized in 1240. In Damascus, Isma'il recognized the threat of Dawud and Ayyub against his own possessions, and turned to the crusaders for assistance. Theobald concluded a treaty with Isma'il, in return for territorial concessions that restored Jerusalem to Christian control, as well as much of the rest of the former kingdom, even more territory than Frederick had recovered in 1229. Theobald, however, was frustrated by the Lombard War, and returned home in September 1240. Almost immediately after Theobald's departure, Richard of Cornwall arrived. He completed the rebuilding of Ascalon, and also made peace with Ayyub in Egypt. Ayyub confirmed Isma'il's concessions in 1241, and prisoners taken at Gaza were exchanged by both sides. Richard returned to Europe in 1241.
Although the kingdom had essentially been restored, the Lombard War continued to occupy the kingdom's nobility. As the Templars and Hospitallers supported opposite sides, they also attacked each other, and the Templars broke the treaty with the Ayyubids by attacking Nablus in 1241. Conrad proclaimed that he had come of age in 1242, eliminating both Frederick's claim to the regency and the need for an imperial guardian to govern in his place, although he had not yet turned 15, the age of majority according to the customs of Jerusalem. Through Conrad, Frederick tried to send an imperial regent, but the anti-imperial faction in Acre argued that Jerusalem's laws allowed them to appoint their own regent. In June the "Haute Cour" granted the regency to Alice of Champagne, who, as the daughter of Isabella I, was Conrad's great-aunt and his closest relative living in the kingdom. Alice ordered Filangieri to be arrested, and along with the Ibelins and Venetians, besieged Tyre, which fell in July 1243. The Lombard War was over, but the king was still absent, as Conrad never came to the east. Alice was prevented from exercising any real power as regent by Philip of Montfort, who took control of Tyre, and Balian of Beirut, who continued to hold Acre.
The Ayyubids were still divided between Ayyub in Egypt, Isma'il in Damascus, and Dawud in Kerak. Isma'il, Dawud, and al-Mansur Ibrahim of Homs went to war with Ayyub, who hired the Khwarazmians to fight for him. The Khwarazmians were nomadic Turks from central Asia, who had recently been displaced by the Mongols further to the east and were now residing in Mesopotamia. With Ayyub's support they sacked Jerusalem in the summer of 1244, leaving it in ruins and useless to both Christians and Muslims. In October, the Khwarazmians, along with the Egyptian army under the command of Baibars, were met by the Frankish army, led by Philip of Montfort, Walter of Brienne, and the masters of the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, along with al-Mansur and Dawud. On October 17 the Egyptian-Khwarazmian army destroyed the Frankish-Syrian coalition, and Walter of Brienne was taken captive and later executed. By 1247, Ayyub had reoccupied most of the territory that had been conceded in 1239, and had also gained control of Damascus.
A new crusade was discussed at the Council of Lyon in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV. The council deposed Frederick II, so no help could be expected from the empire, but King Louis IX of France had already vowed to go on crusade. Louis arrived in Cyprus in 1248, where he gathered an army of his own men, including his brothers Robert of Artois, Charles of Anjou, and Alphonse of Poitiers, and those of Cyprus and Jerusalem, led by the Ibelin family John of Jaffa, Guy of Ibelin, and Balian of Beirut. Once again the target was Egypt. Damietta was captured without resistance when the crusaders landed in June 1249, but the crusade halted there until November, by which time the Egyptian sultan Ayyub had died and had been succeeded by his son Turanshah. In February, the crusaders were defeated at the Battle of al-Mansurah, where Robert of Artois was killed. The crusaders were unable to cross the Nile, and, suffering from disease and lack of supplies, retreated towards Damietta in April. They were defeated along the way at the Battle of Fariskur, with Louis being taken captive by Turanshah. During Louis' captivity, Turanshah was overthrown by his Mamluk soldiers, led by the general Aybak, who then released Louis in May in return for Damietta and a large ransom. For the next four years Louis resided in Acre, and helped refortify that city along with Caesarea, Jaffa, and Sidon. He also made truces with the Ayyubids in Syria, and sent embassies to negotiate with the Mongols, who were beginning to threaten the Muslim world, before returning home in 1254. He left behind a large garrison of French soldiers in Acre, under the command of Geoffrey of Sergines.
In the midst of these events, Alice of Champagne had died in 1246 and had been replaced as regent by her son King Henry I of Cyprus, for whom John of Jaffa served as "bailli" in Acre. During Louis IX's stay in Acre, Henry I died in 1253, and was succeeded in Cyprus by his infant son Hugh II. Hugh was technically regent of Jerusalem as well, both for Conrad and for Conrad's son Conradin after Conrad died in 1254. Both Cyprus and Jerusalem were governed by Hugh's mother Plaisance of Antioch, but John remained "bailli" for Hugh in Acre. John made peace with Damascus and attempted to regain Ascalon; the Egyptians, now ruled by the Mamluk sultanate, besieged Jaffa in 1256 in response. John defeated them, and afterwards gave up the bailliage to his cousin John of Arsuf.
In 1256 the commercial rivalry between the Venetian and Genoese merchant colonies broke out into open warfare. In Acre, the two colonies disputed possession of the monastery of Saint Sabas. The Genoese, assisted by the Pisan merchants, attacked the Venetian quarter and burned their ships, but the Venetians drove them out. The Venetians were then expelled from Tyre by Philip of Monfort. John of Arsuf, John of Jaffa, John II of Beirut, the Templars, and the Teutonic Knights supported the Venetians, who also convinced the Pisans to join them, while the Hospitallers supported the Genoese. In 1257 the Venetians conquered the monastery and destroyed its fortifications, although they were unable to expel the Genoese completely. They blockaded the Genoese quarter, but the Genoese were supplied by the Hospitallers, whose complex was nearby, and by Philip of Montfort who sent food from Tyre. In August 1257, John of Arsuf tried to end the war by granting commercial rights in Acre to the Republic of Ancona, an Italian ally of Genoa, but aside from Philip of Montfort and the Hospitallers, the rest of the nobles continued to support Venice. In June 1258, Philip and the Hospitallers marched on Acre while a Genoese fleet attacked the city by sea. The naval battle was won by Venice, and the Genoese were forced to abandon their quarter and flee to Tyre with Philip. The war also spread to Tripoli and Antioch, where the Embriaco family, descended from Genoese crusaders, were pitted against Bohemond VI of Antioch, who supported the Venetians. In 1261 the Patriarch, Jacques Pantaleon, organised a council to re-establish order in the kingdom, though the Genoese did not return to Acre.
It was during this period that the Mongols arrived in the Near East. Their presence further east had already displaced the Khwarazmians, and embassies had been sent by various popes as well as Louis IX to ally or negotiate with them, but they were uninterested in alliances. They sacked Baghdad in 1258, and Aleppo and Damascus in 1260, destroying both the Abbasid caliphate and the last vestiges of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hethum I of Armenia and Bohemond VI of Antioch had already submitted to the Mongols as vassals. Some of the Mongols were Nestorian Christians, including Kitbuqa, one of the generals at the sieges of Baghdad and Damascus, but despite this, the nobles of Acre refused to submit. As the kingdom was by now a relatively unimportant state, the Mongols paid little attention to it, but there were a few skirmishes in 1260: the forces of Julian of Sidon killed the nephew of Kitbuqa, who responded by sacking Sidon, and John II of Beirut was also captured by the Mongols during another raid. The apparently inevitable Mongol conquest was stalled when Hulagu, the Mongol commander in Syria, returned home after the death of his brother Möngke Khan, leaving Kitbuqa with a small garrison. The Mamluks of Egypt then sought, and were granted, permission to advance through Frankish territory, and defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260. Kitbuqa was killed and all of Syria fell under Mamluk control. On the way back to Egypt, the Mamluk sultan Qutuz was assassinated by the general Baibars, who was far less favourable than his predecessor to alliances with the Franks.
John of Arsuf had died in 1258 and was replaced as "bailli" by Geoffrey of Sergines, Louis IX's lieutenant in Acre. Plaisance died in 1261, but as her son Hugh II was still underage, Cyprus passed to his cousin Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan, whose mother Isabella of Cyprus, Alice of Champagne and Hugh I of Cyprus' daughter and Hugh II's aunt, took over the regency in Acre. She appointed as "bailli" her husband Henry of Antioch (who was also Plaisance's uncle), but died in 1264. The regency in Acre was then claimed by Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan and his cousin Hugh of Brienne, and Hugh II died in 1267 before he reached the age of majority. Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan won the dispute and succeeded Hugh II on Cyprus as Hugh III. When Conradin was executed in Sicily in 1268, there was no other Hohenstaufen heir to succeed him, and Hugh III inherited the Kingdom of Jerusalem as well in 1269. This was disputed by another branch of the Lusignan family: Maria of Antioch, daughter of Bohemond IV of Antioch and Melisende of Lusignan (herself a daughter of Isabella I and Amalric II), claimed the throne as the oldest living relative of Isabella I, but for the moment her claim was ignored. By this time, the Mamluks under Baibars were taking advantage of the kingdom's constant disputes, and began conquering the remaining crusader cities along the coast. In 1265, Baibars took Caesarea, Haifa and Arsuf, and Safad and Toron in 1266. In 1268 he captured Jaffa and Beaufort, and then besieged and destroyed Antioch.
Hugh III and Baibars made a one-year truce after these conquests; Baibars knew that Louis IX was planning another crusade from Europe, and assumed that the target would once again be Egypt. But instead the crusade was diverted to Tunis, where Louis died. Baibars was free to continue his campaigns: in 1270 he had the Assassins kill Philip of Montfort, and in 1271 he captured the Hospitaller and Teutonic Knights strongholds of Krak des Chevaliers and Montfort Castle. He also besieged Tripoli, but abandoned it in May when Prince Edward of England arrived, the only part of Louis IX's crusade to arrive in the east. Edward could do nothing except arrange a ten-year truce with Baibars, who nevertheless attempted to have him assassinated as well. Edward left in 1272, and despite the Second Council of Lyon's plans for another crusade in 1274, no further large-scale expedition ever arrived. Hugh III's authority on the mainland began to break down; he was an unpopular king, and Beirut, the only territory left outside of Acre and Tyre, started to act independently. Its heiress, Isabella of Ibelin (widow of Hugh II), actually placed it under Baibars' protection. Finding the mainland ungovernable, Hugh III left for Cyprus, leaving Balian of Arsuf as "bailli". Then in 1277, Maria of Antioch sold her claim to the kingdom to Charles of Anjou, who sent Roger of San Severino to represent him. The Venetians and Templars supported the claim, and Balian was powerless to oppose him. Baibars died in 1277 and was succeeded by Qalawun. In 1281 the ten-year truce expired and was renewed by Roger. Roger returned to Europe after the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, and was replaced by Odo Poilechien. Hugh III attempted to re-assert his authority on the mainland by landing at Beirut in 1283, but this was ineffective and he died in Tyre in 1284. He was succeeded briefly by his son John II, who died soon after in 1285, and was succeeded by his brother, Hugh III's other son Henry II. That year Qalawun captured the Hospitaller fortress of Marqab. Charles of Anjou also died in 1285, and the military orders and the commune of Acre accepted Henry II as king; Odo Poilechen refused to recognize him, but was allowed to hand Acre over to the Templars rather than Henry directly, and the Templars then handed it to the king. War broke out between the Venetians and Genoese again in 1287, and Tripoli fell to Qalawun in 1289. Although it was only a matter of time before Acre also fell, the end of the crusader kingdom was actually instigated in 1290 by newly arrived crusaders, who rioted in Acre and attacked the city's Muslim merchants. Qalawun died before he could retaliate, but his son al-Ashraf Khalil arrived to besiege Acre in April 1291. Acre was defended by Henry II's brother Amalric of Tyre, the Hospitallers, Templars, and Teutonic Knights, the Venetians and Pisans, the French garrison led by Jean I de Grailly, and the English garrison led by Otton de Grandson, but they were vastly outnumbered. Henry II himself arrived in May during the siege, but the city fell on May 18. Henry, Amalric, Otton, and Jean escaped, as did a young Templar named Roger de Flor, but most of the other defenders did not, including the master of the Templars Guillaume de Beaujeu. Tyre fell without a fight the next day, Sidon fell in June, and Beirut in July.
The crusaders moved their headquarters north to cities such as Tortosa, but lost that too, and were forced to relocate their headquarters offshore to Cyprus. Some naval raids and attempts to retake territory were made over the next ten years, but with the loss of the island of Arwad in 1302/1303, the Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist on the mainland. The kings of Cyprus for many decades hatched plans to regain the Holy Land, but without success. For the next seven centuries, up to today, a veritable multitude of European monarchs have used the title of King of Jerusalem.
The Latin population of the kingdom was always small; although a steady stream of settlers and new crusaders continually arrived, most of the original crusaders who fought in the First Crusade simply went home. According to William of Tyre, "barely three hundred knights and two thousand foot soldiers could be found" in the kingdom in 1100 during Godfrey's siege of Arsuf. From the very beginning, the Latins were little more than a colonial frontier exercising rule over the native Jewish, Samaritan, Muslim-converted, Greek Orthodox, and Syriac populations, who were more numerous. But Jerusalem came to be known as Outremer, the French word for "overseas", and as new generations grew up in the kingdom, they began to think of themselves as natives, rather than immigrants, much as the Arabs had done before them. Although they never gave up their core identity as Western Europeans or Franks, their clothing, diet, and commercialism integrated much Oriental, particularly Byzantine, influence. As the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres wrote around 1124,
For we who were Occidentals now have been made Orientals. He who was a Roman or Frank has in this land been made into a Galilaean, or an inhabitant of Palestine. He who was of Rheims or Chartres has now become a citizen of Tyre or Antioch. We have already forgotten the places of our birth; already these are unknown to many of us or not mentioned any more.
The crusaders and their descendants often learned to speak Greek, Arabic, and other eastern languages, and intermarried with the native Christians (whether Greek, Syriac, or Armenian) and sometimes with converted Muslims. Nonetheless, the Frankish principalities remained a distinctive Occidental colony in the heart of Islam.
Fulcher, a participant in the First Crusade and chaplain of Baldwin I, continued his chronicle up to 1127. Fulcher's chronicle was very popular and was used as a source by other historians in the west, such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury. Almost as soon as Jerusalem had been captured, and continuing throughout the 12th century, many pilgrims arrived and left accounts of the new kingdom; among them are the English Sæwulf, the Russian Abbot Daniel, the Frank Fretellus, the Byzantine Johannes Phocas, and the Germans John of Würzburg and Theoderich. Aside from these, thereafter there is no eyewitness to events in Jerusalem until William of Tyre, archbishop of Tyre and chancellor of Jerusalem, who began writing around 1167 and died around 1184, although he includes much information about the First Crusade and the intervening years from the death of Fulcher to his own time, drawn mainly from the writings of Albert of Aix and Fulcher himself. From the Muslim perspective, a chief source of information is Usamah ibn Munqidh, a soldier and frequent ambassador from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt, whose memoirs, "Kitab al i'tibar", include lively accounts of crusader society in the east. Further information can be gathered from travellers such as Benjamin of Tudela and Ibn Jubayr.
The Kingdom at first was virtually bereft of a loyal subject population and had few knights to implement the laws and orders of the realm. With the arrival of Italian trading firms, the creation of the military orders, and immigration by European knights, artisans, and farmers, the affairs of the Kingdom improved and a feudal society developed, similar to but distinct from the society the crusaders knew in Europe. The nature of this society has long been a subject of debate among crusade historians.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, French scholars, such as E. G. Rey, Gaston Dodu, and René Grousset believed that the crusaders, Muslims and Christians lived in a totally integrated society. Ronnie Ellenblum claims this view was influenced by French imperialism and colonialism; if medieval French crusaders could integrate themselves into local society, then certainly modern French colonies in the Levant could thrive. In the mid-20th century, scholars such as Joshua Prawer, R. C. Smail, Meron Benvenisti, and Claude Cahen argued instead that the crusaders lived totally segregated from the native inhabitants, who were thoroughly Arabicized and/or Islamicized and were a constant threat to the foreign crusaders. Prawer argued further that the kingdom was an early attempt at colonization, in which the crusaders were a small ruling class, who were dependent on the native population for survival but made no attempt to integrate with them. For this reason, the rural European society to which the crusaders were accustomed was replaced by a more secure urban society in the pre-existing cities of the Levant.
According to Ellenblum's interpretation the inhabitants of the Kingdom (Latin Christians living alongside native Greek and Syriac Christians, Shia and Sunni Arabs, Sufis, Bedouin, Turks, Druze, Jews, and Samaritans) all had major differences between each other as well as with the crusaders. Relations between eastern Christians and the Latin crusaders were "complex and ambiguous", not simply friendly or hostile. The Turks were the common enemy for everyone, as they were only very recent arrivals in the Levant, and although they had imposed their rule prior to the arrival of the crusaders, it is unlikely that they were thoroughly Islamicized as Prawer and others believed. The eastern Christians, at least, probably felt closer ties to their fellow Christian crusaders than to either Turkic overlords or Muslim Arabs.
Although the crusaders came upon an ancient urban society, Ellenblum argues that they never completely abandoned their rural European lifestyle, but nor was European society completely rural to begin with. Crusader settlement in the Levant resembled the types of colonization and settlement that were already being practiced in Europe, a mixture of urban and rural civilization centred around fortresses. The crusaders were neither totally integrated with the native population, nor segregated in the cities away from the rural natives; rather they settled in both urban and rural areas; specifically, in areas traditionally inhabited by Eastern Christians. Areas that were traditionally Muslim had very little crusader settlement, just as they already had very few native Christian inhabitants.
Into this mixed society the crusaders adapted existing institutions and introduced their familiar customs from Europe. As in Europe the nobles had vassals and were themselves vassals to the king. Agricultural production was regulated by the "iqta", a Muslim system of land ownership and payments roughly (though far from exactly) equivalent to the feudal system of Europe, and this system was not heavily disrupted by the crusaders.
As Hans Mayer says, "the Muslim inhabitants of the Latin Kingdom hardly ever appear in the Latin chronicles", so information on their role in society is difficult to find. The crusaders "had a natural tendency to ignore these matters as simply without interest and certainly not worthy of record." Although Muslims, as well as Jews and Eastern Christians, had virtually no rights in the countryside, where they were essentially the property of the crusader lord who owned the land, tolerance for other faiths was in general no higher or lower than that found elsewhere in the Middle East. Greeks, Syriacs, and Jews continued to live as they had before, subject to their own laws and courts, with their former Muslim overlords simply replaced by the crusaders; Muslims now joined them at the lowest level of society. The "ra'is", the leader of a Muslim or Syriac community, was a kind of vassal to whatever noble owned his land, but as the crusader nobles were absentee landlords the "ra'is" and their communities had a high degree of autonomy.
Arab-Andalusian geographer and traveler Ibn Jubayr, who was hostile to the Franks, described the Muslims living under the Christian crusaders' Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 12th-century:
In the cities, Muslims and Eastern Christians were free, although no Muslims were permitted to live in Jerusalem itself. They were second-class citizens and played no part in politics or law, and owed no military service to the crown, although in some cities they may have been the majority of the population. Likewise, citizens of the Italian city-states owed nothing as they lived in autonomous quarters in the port cities.
There were an unknown number of Muslim slaves living in the Kingdom. There was a very large slave market in Acre which functioned throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Italian merchants were sometimes accused of selling South eastern European Christians as slaves along with Muslim slaves. Slavery was less common than ransom, especially for prisoners of war; the large numbers of prisoners taken during raids and battles every year ensured that ransom money flowed freely between the Christian and Muslim states. Escape for prisoners and slaves was probably not difficult, as the inhabitants of the countryside were majority Muslim, and fugitive slaves were always a problem. The only legal means of manumission was conversion to (Catholic) Christianity. No Christian, whether Western or Eastern, was permitted by law to be sold into slavery.
The nomadic Bedouin tribes were considered to be the property of the king and under his protection. They could be sold or alienated just like any other property, and later in the 12th century they were often under the protection of a lesser noble or one of the military orders.
21st century positions on the question of cultural integration or cultural apartheid remain divergent. Interactions between the Franks and the native Muslims and Christians, though muddled, exhibited a practical coexistence. Though likely overstated, the accounts of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh of Shaizar's travels through Antioch and Jerusalem described a level of aristocratic exchange elevated above ethnic prejudice. Contact between Muslims and Christians came on the administrative or personal level (on the basis of taxes or translation), not communal or cultural, representative of a hierarchical lord over subject relationship. Evidence of inter-cultural integration remains scarce, but evidence of inter-cultural cooperation and complex social interaction proves more common. Key use of the word dragoman, literally translator, with Syriac administrators and Arabic headsmen represented the direct need for negotiation of interests on both sides. Comments on households with Arabic-speaking Christians and a few Arabized Jews and Muslims represent a less dichotomous relationship than the mid-20th-century historians depicted. Rather, the commonality of Frankish Christians having non-Frankish priests, doctors, and other roles within households and inter-cultural communities presents the lack of standardized discrimination. Jersulamite William of Tyre complained about a trend to hire Jewish or Muslim medical practitioners over their Latin and Frankish counterparts. Evidence even indicates alterations to Frankish cultural and social customs regarding hygiene (notorious amongst Arabs for their lack of washing and knowledge of bathhouse culture), going so far as to ensure water supplies for domestic use in addition to irrigation.
It is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the population of the kingdom. Josiah Russell calculates that all of Syria had about 2.3 million people at the time of the crusades, with perhaps eleven thousand villages; most of these, of course, were outside of crusader rule even at the greatest extent of all four crusader states. It has been estimated by scholars such as Joshua Prawer and Meron Benvenisti that there were at most 120,000 Franks and 100,000 Muslims living in the cities, with another 250,000 Muslim and Eastern Christian peasants in the countryside. The crusaders accounted for 15–25% of the total population. Benjamin Z. Kedar estimates that there were between 300,000 and 360,000 non-Franks in the Kingdom, 250,000 of whom were villagers in the countryside, and "one may assume that Muslims were in the majority in some, possibly most parts of the kingdom of Jerusalem…" As Ronnie Ellenblum points out, there simply is not enough existing evidence to accurately count the population and any estimate is inherently unreliable. Contemporary chronicler William of Tyre recorded the census of 1183, which was intended to determine the number of men available to defend against an invasion, and to determine the amount of tax money that could be obtained from the inhabitants, Muslim or Christian. If the population was actually counted, William did not record the number. In the 13th century, John of Ibelin drew up a list of fiefs and the number of knights owed by each, but this gives no indication of the non-noble, non-Latin population.
The Mamluks, led by Baibars, eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the Franks. With the fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved and the last traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared.
The urban composition of the area, combined with the presence of the Italian merchants, led to the development of an economy that was much more commercial than it was agricultural. Palestine had always been a crossroads for trade; now, this trade extended to Europe as well. European goods, such as the woolen textiles of northern Europe, made their way to the Middle East and Asia, while Asian goods were transported back to Europe. Jerusalem was especially involved in the silk, cotton and spice trade; other items that first appeared in Europe through trade with crusader Jerusalem included oranges and sugar, the latter of which chronicler William of Tyre called "very necessary for the use and health of mankind." In the countryside, wheat, barley, legumes, olives, grapes, and dates were grown. The Italian city-states made enormous profits from this trade, thanks to commercial treaties like the "Pactum Warmundi", and it influenced their Renaissance in later centuries.
Jerusalem collected money through tribute payments, first from the coastal cities which had not yet been captured, and later from other neighbouring states such as Damascus and Egypt, which the crusaders could not conquer directly. After Baldwin I extended his rule over Oultrejordain, Jerusalem gained revenue from the taxation of Muslim caravans passing from Syria to Egypt or Arabia. The money economy of Jerusalem meant that their manpower problem could be partially solved by paying for mercenaries, an uncommon occurrence in medieval Europe. Mercenaries could be fellow European crusaders, or, perhaps more often, Muslim soldiers, including the famous Turcopoles.
Jerusalem was the center of education in the kingdom. There was a school in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the basic skills of reading and writing Latin were taught; the relative wealth of the merchant class meant that their children could be educated there along with the children of nobles – it is likely that William of Tyre was a classmate of future king Baldwin III. Higher education had to be undertaken at one of the universities in Europe; the development of a university was impossible in the culture of crusader Jerusalem, where warfare was far more important than philosophy or theology. Nonetheless, the nobility and general Frankish population were noted for the high literacy: lawyers and clerks were in abundance, and the study of law, history, and other academic subjects was a beloved pastime of the royal family and the nobility. Jerusalem had an extensive library not only of ancient and medieval Latin works but of Arabic literature, much of which was apparently captured from Usamah ibn Munqidh and his entourage after a shipwreck in 1154. The Holy Sepulchre contained the kingdom's scriptorium and the city had a chancery where royal charters and other documents were produced. Aside from Latin, the standard written language of medieval Europe, the populace of crusader Jerusalem communicated in vernacular forms of French and Italian; Greek, Armenian, and even Arabic were used by Frankish settlers.
In Jerusalem itself the greatest architectural endeavour was the expansion of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in western Gothic style. This expansion consolidated all the separate shrines on the site into one building, and was completed by 1149. Outside of Jerusalem, castles and fortresses were the major focus of construction: Kerak and Montreal in Oultrejordain and Ibelin near Jaffa are among the numerous examples of crusader castles.
Crusader art was a mix of Western, Byzantine, and Islamic styles. The major cities featured baths, interior plumbing, and other advanced hygienic tools which were lacking in most other cities and towns throughout the world. The foremost example of crusader art are perhaps the Melisende Psalter, an illuminated manuscript commissioned between 1135 and 1143 and now located in the British Library, and the sculpted Nazareth Capitals. Paintings and mosaics were popular forms of art in the kingdom, but many of these were destroyed by the Mamluks in the 13th century; only the most durable fortresses survived the reconquest.
Immediately after the First Crusade, land was distributed to loyal vassals of Godfrey, forming numerous feudal lordships within the kingdom. This was continued by Godfrey's successors. The number and importance of the lordships varied throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and many cities were part of the royal domain. The king was assisted by a number of officers of state. The king and the royal court were normally located in Jerusalem, but due to the prohibition on Muslim inhabitants, the capital was small and underpopulated. The king just as often held court at Acre, Nablus, Tyre, or wherever else he happened to be. In Jerusalem, the royal family lived firstly on the Temple Mount, before the foundation of the Knights Templar, and later in the palace complex surrounding the Tower of David; there was another palace complex in Acre.
Because the nobles tended to live in Jerusalem rather than on estates in the countryside, they had a larger influence on the king than they would have had in Europe. The nobles, along with the bishops, formed the "haute cour" (high court), which was responsible for confirming the election of a new king (or a regent if necessary), collecting taxes, minting coins, allotting money to the king, and raising armies. The "haute cour" was the only judicial body for the nobles of the kingdom, hearing criminal cases such as murder, rape, and treason, and simpler feudal disputes such as recovery of slaves, sales and purchases of fiefs, and default of service. Punishments included forfeiture of land and exile, or in extreme cases death. The first laws of the kingdom were, according to tradition, established during Godfrey of Bouillon's short reign, but were more probably established by Baldwin II at the Council of Nablus in 1120. Benjamin Z. Kedar argued that the canons of the Council of Nablus were in force in the 12th century but had fallen out of use by the thirteenth. Marwan Nader questions this and suggests that the canons may not have applied to the whole kingdom at all times. The most extensive collection of laws, together known as Assizes of Jerusalem, were written in the mid-13th century, although many of them are purported to be twelfth-century in origin.
There were other, lesser courts for non-nobles and non-Latins; the "Cour des Bourgeois" provided justice for non-noble Latins, dealing with minor criminal offences such as assault and theft, and provided rules for disputes between non-Latins, who had fewer legal rights. Special courts such as the "Cour de la Fond" (for commercial disputes in the markets) and the "Cour de la Mer" (an admiralty court) existed in the coastal cities. The extent to which native Islamic and Eastern Christian courts continued to function is unknown, but the "ra'is" probably exercised some legal authority on a local level. The "Cour des Syriens" judged non-criminal matters among the native Christians (the "Syriacs"). For criminal matters non-Latins were to be tried in the "Cour des Bourgeois" (or even the "Haute Cour" if the crime was sufficiently severe).
The Italian communes were granted almost complete autonomy from the very early days of the Kingdom, thanks to their military and naval support in the years following the First Crusade. This autonomy included the right to administer their own justice, although the kinds of cases that fell under their jurisdiction varied at different times.
The king was recognised as head of the Haute Cour, although he was legally only "primus inter pares".
After the loss of all territory in the Levant in 1291, there were late attempts at further crusades, nominally proposing to recapture Jerusalem, but with the rise of the Ottoman Empire
their character was more and more that of a desperate defensive war rarely reaching beyond the Balkans (Alexandrian Crusade, Smyrniote crusades).
Henry IV of England made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1393/4, and he later vowed to lead a crusade to recapture the city, but he did not undertake such a campaign before his death in 1413.
The Levant remained under Ottoman control from 1517 until the Partition of the Ottoman Empire in 1918.
With the Fall of Ruad in 1302, the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost its final outpost on the Levantine coast, its possession closest to the Holy Land now being Cyprus.
Henry II of Jerusalem retained the title of king of Jerusalem until his death in 1324, and the title continued to be claimed by his successors, the kings of Cyprus.
The title of "king of Jerusalem" was also continuously used by the Angevin kings of Naples, whose founder, Charles of Anjou, had in 1277 bought a claim to the throne from Mary of Antioch. Thereafter, this claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem was treated as a tributary of the crown of Naples, which often changed hands by testament or conquest rather than direct inheritance. As Naples was a papal fief, the Popes often endorsed the title of King of Jerusalem as well as of Naples, and the history of these claims is that of the Neapolitan Kingdom.
In 1441, control of the Kingdom of Naples was lost to Alfonso V of Aragon and the title thus was claimed by the kings of Spain, and after the War of the Spanish Succession both by the House of Bourbon and the House of Habsburg.
The title is still in "de facto" use by the Spanish Crown, currently held by Felipe VI of Spain. It was also claimed by Otto von Habsburg as Habsburg pretender until 1958, and by the kings of Italy until 1946. | en.wikipedia.org | Kingdom of Jerusalem | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16822 |
16824 | Korfball
Korfball () is a ball sport, with similarities to netball and basketball. It is played by two teams of eight players with four female players and four male players in each team. The objective is to throw a ball into a netless basket that is mounted on a high pole.
The sport was invented by Dutch school teacher Nico Broekhuysen in 1902. In the Netherlands, there are approximately 500 clubs and more than 90,000 people playing korfball. The sport is also played in Belgium and Taiwan, and in nearly 70 other countries.
In 1902 Nico Broekhuysen, a Dutch school teacher from Amsterdam, was sent to Nääs, a town in Sweden, to follow an educational course about teaching gymnastics to children. This is where he was introduced to the Swedish game "ringboll". In ringboll one could score points by throwing the ball through a ring that was attached to a 3 m pole. Men and women played together, and the field was divided into three zones. Players could not leave their zone.
Broekhuysen was inspired; and when he returned to Amsterdam he decided to teach his students a similar game. He replaced the ring with a basket (for which the Dutch word is "Korf" or "mand"), so it was easier to see whether or not a player had scored. Broekhuysen also simplified the rules so that children could also understand and play the game. Thus korfball was born. The main idea was the same as ringboll, but the new sport now stood on its own.
The oldest still existing korfball club to never have merged with any other club is a Dutch korfball club H.K.C. ALO from The Hague, Netherlands. H.K.C. ALO was founded on 1 February 1906.
At first, there was considerable controversy about the sport, because the players were of both sexes. Several sports journalists refused to pay even the slightest attention to the new sport. Korfball players were accused of being immoral. Even the sportswear was criticised, because the women were showing bare knees and ankles; one newspaper wrote that "Korfball is a monster that spreads its claws to all sides." Yet korfball was featured as a demonstration sport in the Summer Olympics of 1920 and 1928.
The International Korfball Federation was founded in 1933 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Korfball is played in 69 countries including the United States, China, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Greece, Serbia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, The Netherlands, Belgium, Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana, Russia, Germany, Taiwan, Turkey, Hong Kong, Portugal, Pakistan, India, Sweden, Hungary, Philippines, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, France and Romania. It is growing in popularity in the U.K., and is referenced in a song by the band Half Man Half Biscuit entitled "Joy in Leeuwarden (We Are Ready)" on their 2011 album "90 Bisodol (Crimond)".
Korfball has been played in the World Games since 1985. IKF World Korfball Championships have been held every four years since 1978. The leading nations are the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, and Belgium.
Hong Kong hosted its first international tournament, the IKF Asia Oceania Korfball Championship, in 2006. New Zealand hosted the IKF Asia Oceania Youth Korfball Championships in 2007.
Korfball is played inside in winter and outdoors in spring and autumn.
The size of the indoor court is , as are most outdoor courts. The court is divided into halves called "zones". In each zone is a tall post with a basket at the top. This is positioned two-thirds of the distance between the center line and the back of the zone.
A korfball team consists of eight players: four female and four male.
An international korfball match typically consists of two (2) halves or four (4) periods, with the length varying depending on the competition. When the match consists of halves, the duration is typically 25 minutes, with periods typically between 7 and 10 minutes, with a one-minute break between the first and second periods and between the third and fourth periods. At half time the break is five or ten minutes.
Four players of each team are in one zone and the other four are in the other zone. Within each zone, a player may only defend a member of the opposite team of the same gender.
At the beginning of the match, one team chooses a particular half of the court. That half will be that team's defending zone, with "their" basket in it. Players score by throwing the ball through the opposing team's basket. After two goals, the teams change zones: defenders become attackers and attackers become defenders. In between those zone-changes, attackers cannot set foot on their defending zone or vice versa. At half time the teams swap halves of the court.
The rules prevent physical strength dominating the game. Blocking, tackling, and holding are not allowed, nor is kicking the ball.
Once a player has the ball, that player cannot dribble or walk with it; however, the player can move one foot as long as the foot on which the player landed when catching the ball stays in the same spot. Therefore, tactical and efficient teamwork is required, because players need each other in order to keep the ball moving.
A player may not attempt to score when defended, which occurs when the defender is in between the opponent and the basket, is facing his/her opponent, or is within arm's length and attempting to block the ball. This rule encourages fast movement while also limiting the impact of players' height compared to their opponents.
The national teams competition organized by the International World Games Association has been played roughly every four years since 1981.
The national teams competition organized by the International Korfball Federation has been played roughly every four years since 1978.
IKF promotes four continental championships: European Korfball Championship, All-Africa Korfball Championship, Pan-American Korfball Championship and Asia-Oceania Korfball Championship.
Every year the IKF organises the Europa Cup for national champions (clubs). The Europa Cup was organized for the first time in 1967, and was won by Ons Eibernest from the Netherlands. The winner of the last edition was TOP/SolarCompleet, which also won in 2017.
PKC from Papendrecht, the Netherlands, have won the championship the most times, a record 12 wins in total.
Until now, the winning team was either from the Netherlands or Belgium, with respectively 45 and 6 Europa Cups. The only club from the United Kingdom to reach the final was Mitcham Korfball Club from London. Mitcham lost the final against Catbavrienden from Belgium in 1998.
For beach korfball, the rules of the game differ slightly from those of regular korfball. Each team has 4 starters and 2 substitutes. The field of play is 20 metres by 10 metres, and goals are to be placed 4 metres from the end line. Matches consist of two halves of 6 minutes with a 1-minute rest.
Each team has a total of 4 players in the field, two men and two women. Players can be substituted at any time.
Furthermore, if a goal is scored from a 2-point zone, a two-point goal is awarded. Free shots can both be executed at the standard Free Shot line, or at the spot where the fault was made by the opponent.
The current European beach korfball champion is Portugal, who won the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup (Europe) 2019. Belgium claimed victory in the U19 division.
Korfball is the theme of the song "Joy in Leeuwarden (We Are Ready)" on the album "90 Bisodol (Crimond)" by Half Man Half Biscuit. | en.wikipedia.org | Korfball | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16824 |
16826 | Kabul
Kabul (, ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the eastern section of the country. It is also a municipality, forming part of the greater Kabul Province, and divided into 22 districts. According to estimates in 2020, the population of Kabul is 4.222 million, which includes all the major ethnic groups of Afghanistan. Afghanistan's only city with a population of over 1 million, Kabul serves as its political, cultural and economical center. Rapid urbanization has made Kabul the world's 75th largest city.
Kabul is located high up in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush mountains, with an elevation of making it one of the highest capitals in the world. The city is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Located at crossroads in Asia - roughly halfway between Istanbul in the west and Hanoi in the east - it is in a strategic location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia, and a key location of the ancient Silk Road. It has been part of the Achaemenids followed by the Seleucids, Mauryans, Kushans, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khwarazmians, Qarlughids, Khaljis, Timurids, Mughals, and Hotaks, until finally becoming part of the Durrani Empire (also known as the "Afghan Empire") in 1747. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan in 1776, during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, the son of Ahmad Shah Durrani.
In the early 19th century, the British occupied the city, but after establishing foreign relations, they were compelled to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan. The city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed. A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties. From late 2001 the city has been continuously rebuilt.
Kabul is known for its gardens, bazaars, and palaces, well known examples being the Gardens of Babur and Darul Aman Palace. It was also formerly a mecca for young western hippies. Despite frequent terrorist attacks in the city, mainly by Taliban insurgents, the city continues to develop and was the fifth fastest-growing city in the world as of 2012.
Kabul (; ', ; ', ) is also spelled as Cabool, Cabol, Kabol, or Cabul.
The origin of Kabul, who built it and when, is largely unknown. The Hindu Rigveda, composed between 1500–1200 BCE and one of the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of Hinduism, and the Avesta, the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, refer to the Kabul River and to a settlement called "Kubha". The Rigveda refers to "Kubha" as an "ideal city" and a vision of paradise set in the mountains and is full of poems in praise of the city.
The Kabul valley was part of the Median Empire (c. 678-549 BC). In 549 BC, the Median Empire was annexed by Cyrus The Great and Kabul became part the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). During that period, Kabul became a center of learning for Zoroastrianism, followed by Buddhism. An inscription on Darius the Great's tombstone lists Kabul as one of the 29 countries of the Achaemenid Empire.
When Alexander annexed the Achaemenid Empire, the Kabul region came under his control. After his death, his empire was seized by his general Seleucus, becoming part of the Seleucid Empire. In 305 BCE, the Seleucid Empire was extended to the Indus river which led to friction with the neighboring Mauryan Empire, but it is widely believed that the two empires reached an alliance treaty. During the Mauryan period, trade flourished because of uniform weights and measures. Irrigation facilities for public use were developed leading to an increased harvest of crops. People were also employed as artisans, jewelers, carpenters.
The Greco-Bactrians took control of Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, then lost the city to their subordinates in the Indo-Greek Kingdom around the mid-2nd century BC. Buddhism was greatly patronized by the rulers and majority of people of the city were adherents of the religion. Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later.
Some historians ascribe Kabul the Sanskrit name of Kamboja ("Kamboj"). It is mentioned as "Kophes" or "Kophene" in some classical writings. Hsuan Tsang refers to the city as "Kaofu" in the 7th century AD, which is the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had migrated from across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley around the beginning of the Christian era. It was conquered by Kushan Emperor Kujula Kadphises in about 45 AD and remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century AD. The Kushans were Indo-European-speaking peoples based in Bactria (northern Afghanistan).
Around 230 AD, the Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Empire and replaced by Sassanid vassals known as the Indo-Sassanids. During the Sassanian period, the city was referred to as "Kapul" in Pahlavi scripts. Kapol in the Persian language means Royal (ka) Bridge (pol), which is due to the main bridge on the Kabul River that connected the east and west of the city. In 420 AD the Indo-Sassanids were driven out of Afghanistan by the Xionite tribe known as the Kidarites, who were then replaced in the 460s by the Hephthalites. It became part of the surviving Turk Shahi Kingdom of Kapisa, also known as "Kabul-Shahan". According to "Táríkhu-l Hind" by Al-Biruni, Kabul was governed by princes of Turkic lineage whose rule lasted for about 60 generations.
The Kabul rulers built a defensive wall around the city to protect it from enemy raids. This wall has survived until today. It was briefly held by the Tibetan Empire between 801 and 815.
The Islamic conquest reached modern-day Afghanistan in 642 AD, at a time when Kabul was independent. A number of failed expeditions were made to Islamize the region. In one of them, Abdur Rahman bin Samana arrived to Kabul from Zaranj in the late 600s and converted 12,000 inhabitants to Islam before abandoning the city. Muslims were a minority until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar of Zaranj conquered Kabul in 870 and established the first Islamic dynasty in the region. It was reported that the rulers of Kabul were Muslims with non-Muslims living close by.
Over the following centuries, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Khwarazmshahs, Qarlughids, and Khaljis. In the 13th century, the invading Mongols caused major destruction in the region. Report of a massacre in the close by Bamiyan is recorded around this period, where the entire population of the valley was annihilated by the Mongol troops as a revenge for the death of Genghis Khan's grandson. As a result, many natives of Afghanistan fled south toward the Indian subcontinent where some established dynasties in Delhi. The Chagatai Khanate and Kartids were vassals of Ilkhanate till dissolution of latter in 1335.
Following the era of the Khalji dynasty in 1333, the famous Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta was visiting Kabul and wrote:
In the 14th century, Kabul became a major trading center under the kingdom of Timur ("Tamerlane"). In 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north and made into his headquarters, which became one of the principal cities of his later Mughal Empire. In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that:
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, a poet from Hindustan who visited at the time wrote: ""Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else."" It was from here that Babur began his 1526 conquest of Hindustan, which was ruled by the Afghan Lodi dynasty and began east of the Indus River in what is present-day Pakistan. Babur loved Kabul due to the fact that he lived in it for 20 years and the people were loyal to him, including its weather that he was used to. His wish to be buried in Kabul was finally granted. The inscription on his tomb contains the famous Persian couplet, which states: اگرفردوس روی زمین است همین است و همین است و همین است (If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this!)
Nine years after Nader Shah and his forces invaded and occupied the city as part of the more easternmost parts of his Empire, he was assassinated by his own officers, causing the rapid disintegration of it. Ahmad Shah Durrani, commander of 4,000 Abdali Afghans, asserted Pashtun rule in 1747 and further expanded his new Afghan Empire. His ascension to power marked the beginning of Afghanistan. His son Timur Shah Durrani, after inheriting power, transferred the capital of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776, and used Peshawar in what is today Pakistan as the winter capital. Timur Shah died in 1793 and was succeeded by his son Zaman Shah Durrani. Kabul's first visitor from Europe was Englishman George Forster, who described 18th-century Kabul as "the best and cleanest city in Asia".
In 1826, the kingdom was claimed by Dost Mohammad Khan but in 1839 Shujah Shah Durrani was re-installed with the help of British India during the First Anglo-Afghan War. In 1841 a local uprising resulted in the killing of the British resident and loss of mission in Kabul and the 1842 retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad. In 1842 the British returned to Kabul, plundering Bala Hissar in revenge before fleeing back to British India (now Pakistan). Akbar Khan took to the throne from 1842 to 1845 and was followed by Dost Mohammad Khan.
The British-led Indian forces invaded in 1879 when Kabul was under Sher Ali Khan's rule, as the Afghan king initially refused to accept British diplomatic mission and later the British residents were again massacred. The British partially destroyed Bala Hissar fortress before retreating to British India.
Having become an established bazaar city, leather and textile industries developed by 1916. The majority of the population was concentrated on the south side of the river.
Kabul modernized throughout the regime of King Habibullah Khan, with the introduction of electricity, telephone, and a postal service. The first modern high school, Habibia, was established in 1903. In 1919, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War, King Amanullah Khan announced Afghanistan's independence from foreign affairs at Eidgah Mosque in Kabul. Amanullah was reform-minded and he had a plan to build a new capital city on land about 6 km away from Kabul. This area was named Darulaman and it consisted of the famous Darul Aman Palace, where he later resided. Many educational institutions were founded in Kabul during the 1920s. In 1929 King Ammanullah left Kabul due to a local uprising orchestrated by Habibullah Kalakani, but he himself was imprisoned and executed after nine months in power by King Nader Khan. Three years later, in 1933, the new king was assassinated during an award ceremony inside a school in Kabul. The throne was left to his 19-year-old son, Zahir Shah, who became the last King of Afghanistan. Unlike Amanullah Khan, Nader Khan and Zahir Shah had no plans to create a new capital city, and thus Kabul remained the country's seat of government.
During the inter-war period France and Germany helped develop the country and maintained high schools and lycees in the capital, providing education for the children of the city's elite families. Kabul University opened in 1932 and by the 1960s western educated Afghans made up the majority of teachers. By the 1960s the majority of instructors at the university had degrees from Western universities.
When Zahir Shah took power in 1933 Kabul had the only of rail in the country and the country had few internal telegraphs, phone lines or roads. Zahir turned to the Japanese, Germans and Italians for help developing a modern transportation and communication network. A radio tower built by the Germans in 1937 in Kabul allowing instant communication with outlying villages. A national bank and state cartels were organized to allow for economic modernization. Textile mills, power plants, carpet and furniture factories were also built in Kabul, providing much needed manufacturing and infrastructure.
During the 1940s and 1950s, urbanization accelerated and the built-up area was increased to 68 km2 by 1962, an almost fourteen-fold increase compared to 1925. Under the premiership of Mohammad Daoud Khan in the 1950s, foreign investment and development increased. In 1955, the Soviet Union forwarded $100 million in credit to Afghanistan, which financed public transportation, airports, a cement factory, mechanized bakery, a five-lane highway from Kabul to the Soviet border and dams, including the Salang Pass to the north of Kabul. During the 1960s, Soviet-style microrayon housing estates were built, containing sixty blocks. The government also built many ministry buildings in the brutalist architecture style.
In the 1960s the first Marks & Spencer store in Central Asia was built in the city. Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967, which was maintained with the help of visiting German zoologists. Foreigners flocked to Kabul and the nation's tourism industry picked up speed. Kabul experimented with liberalization, notably the loosening of restrictions on speech and assembly which led to student politics in the capital. Socialist, Maoist and liberal factions demonstrated daily in Kabul while more traditional Islamic leaders spoke out against the failure to aid the Afghan countryside. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, Kabul was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail. By the beginning of the 1970s, Kabul became known for its street sales of hashish and became a major tourist attraction for western hippies.
On April 28, 1978, President Daoud and most of his family were assassinated in Kabul's Presidential Palace in what is called the Saur Revolution. Pro-Soviet PDPA under Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power and slowly began to institute reforms. Private businesses were nationalized in the Soviet manner. Education was modified into the Soviet model, with lessons focusing on teaching Russian, Marxism–Leninism and learning of other countries belonging to the Soviet bloc.
On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Kabul was heavily occupied by Soviet Armed Forces. In Pakistan, Director-General of the ISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman advocated for the idea of covert operation in Afghanistan by arming Islamic extremists who formed the mujahideen. General Rahman was heard loudly saying: ""Kabul must burn! Kabul must burn!"", and mastered the idea of proxy war in Afghanistan. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq authorized this operation under General Rahman, which was later merged with Operation Cyclone, a programme funded by the United States and carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency. Large protests against the Soviet presence broke out in Kabul in 1980 in what is called the 3 Hut uprising.
The Soviets turned the city of Kabul into their command center during the Soviet–Afghan War, though the city was considered moderately safe during that period since fighting was mostly taking place in the countryside. However political crime such as assassinations of PDPA party members or guerrilla attacks on military and government targets were quite common. The Soviet Embassy, for example, was attacked four times with arms fire in the first five years of the war. A Western correspondent revisiting Kabul in December 1983 after a year, said that the city was "converted into a fortress bristling with weapons". Contrastingly, that same year American diplomat Charles Dunbar commented that the Soviet troops' presence was "surprisingly modest", and an author in a 1983 "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" article thought that the Soviet soldiers had a "friendly" atmosphere.
The city's population increased from around 500,000 in 1978 to 1.5 million in 1988. The large influx were mostly internal refugees who fled other parts of the country for safety in Kabul. During this time, women made up 40% of the workforce. Soviet men and women were very common in the city's shopping roads, with the large availability of Western products. Most Soviet civilians (numbering between 8,000 and 10,000) lived in the north eastern Soviet-style Mikrorayon ("microraion") housing complex that was surrounded by barbed-wire and armed tanks. They sometimes received abuse from anti-Soviet civilians on the streets. The mujahideen rebels managed to strike at the city a few times—on October 9, 1987, a car bomb planted by a mujahideen group killed 27 people, and on April 27, 1988 in celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Saur Revolution, a truck bomb killed six people.
After the fall of Mohammad Najibullah's government in April 1992, different mujahideen factions entered the city and formed a government under the Peshawar Accords, but Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's party refused to sign the accords and started shelling the city for power, which soon escalated into a full-scale conflict. This marked the start of a dark period of the city: at least 30,000 civilians were killed in a period known locally as the "Kabul Wars." About 80 percent of the city was devastated and destroyed by 1996. The old city and western areas were among the worst-hit. A "The New York Times" analyst said in 1996 that the city was more devastated than Sarajevo, which was similarly damaged during the Bosnian War at the time.
The city suffered heavily under a bombardment campaign between rival militias which intensified during the summer of 1992. Its geographic location in a narrow valley made it an easy target from rockets fired by militias who based themselves in the surrounding mountains. Within two years' time, the majority of infrastructure was destroyed, a massive exodus of the population left to the countryside or abroad, and electricity and water was completely out. In late 1994, bombardment of the capital came to a temporary halt. These forces took steps to restore law and order. Courts started to work again, convicting individuals inside government troops who had committed crimes. On September 27, 1996, the hardline Taliban militia seized Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They imposed a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law), restricting women from work and education, conducting amputations against common thieves, and hit-squads from the infamous "Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" watching public beatings of people.
In November 2001, the Northern Alliance captured Kabul after the Taliban had abandoned it following the American invasion. A month later a new government under President Hamid Karzai began to assemble. In the meantime, a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was deployed in Afghanistan. The war-torn city began to see some positive development as many expatriate Afghans returned to the country. The city's population grew from about 500,000 in 2001 to over 3 million in recent years. Many foreign embassies re-opened, and the city has been recovering ever since. In 2008 the process started to gradually hand over security responsibilities from NATO to Afghan forces.
As of 2014, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have been in charge of security in and around the city. Kabul is periodically the scene of deadly bombings carried out mostly by the Taliban but also by the Haqqani network, ISIL, and other anti-state groups. Government employees, soldiers and ordinary civilians have all been targets of attacks. The Afghan government called the actions of the terrorists war crimes. The deadliest attack yet was a truck bombing in May 2017. Since 2010, a series of manned checkpoints called the Ring of Steel operates in the city.
The city has experienced rapid urbanization with an increasing population. Many informal settlements have been built. Since the late 2000s, numerous modern housing complexes have been built, many of which are gated and secured, to serve a growing Afghan middle class. Some of these include the Aria City (in District 10) and Golden City (District 8). Some complexes have been built out-of-town, such as the Omid-e-Sabz township (District 13), Qasaba/Khwaja Rawash township (District 15), and Sayed Jamaludin township (District 12).
A major ambitious $80 billion project called "Kabul New City" aims to develop a large modern township of homes and businesses on 1,700 acres of land to the north of Kabul (Districts 18 and 19) and Bagram in Parwan Province. The project was first conceptualized in 2007 and approved in 2009. After years in planning and assistance from the Japanese government, construction started in 2015.
On 12 May 2020, three gunmen wearing police uniforms carried out a mass shooting in the maternity ward of Dashte Barchi hospital in Kabul, which is assisted by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) personnel. The attackers killed 24 people and injured another 16. The deaths included two newborn babies, one midwife, and 16 mothers, who were either pregnant giving birth or were with their newborns. Three of the mothers were shot and killed in the delivery room along with their unborn babies. The gunmen had walked straight past other wards closer to the hospital's entrance, and attacked only the maternity ward. More than 80 women, infants, and staff, including three foreign nationals, were safely evacuated from the hospital, and all of the attackers were killed by the Afghan security forces. No armed group claimed responsibility for the hospital shooting. The U.S. government said that it had assessed that ISIL–KP was responsible for the attack. The Afghan government, however, claimed that the Taliban and the affiliated Haqqani network were behind the attack.
Kabul is situated in the eastern part of the country, above sea level in a narrow valley, wedged between the Hindu Kush mountains along the Kabul River. Immediately to the south of the old city are the ancient city walls and the Sher Darwaza mountain, with the Shuhadayi Salihin cemetery behind it. A bit further east is the ancient Bala Hissar fortress with the Kol-e Hasmat Khan lake behind it.
Its location has been described as a "bowl surrounded by mountains". Some of the mountains (which are called "koh") include: Khair Khana-e Shamali, Khwaja Rawash, Shakhi Baran Tey, Chihil Sutun, Qurugh, Khwaja Razaq and Sher Darwaza. There are also two mountains in between urban areas in western Kabul: Asamayi (also known as the "Television hill") and Ali Abad. Hills within the city (which are called "tapa") include Bibi Mahro and Maranjan.
The city covers an area size of , making it by far the largest in the country. The closest foreign capital cities as the bird flies are Islamabad, Dushanbe, Tashkent, New Delhi and Bishkek. Kabul is roughly equidistant between Istanbul (western Asia) and Hanoi (eastern Asia).
Kabul has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSk") with precipitation concentrated in the winter (almost exclusively falling as snow) and spring months. Temperatures are cool compared to much of Southwest Asia, mainly due to the high elevation of the city. Summer has very low humidity, providing relief from the heat. Autumn features warm afternoons and sharply cooler evenings. Winters are cold, with a January daily average of . Spring is the wettest time of the year. Sunny conditions dominate year-round. The annual mean temperature is , much lower than the other large cities of Afghanistan.
The Kabul River flows through the heart of the city, dividing the central bazaars. There are several bridges ("pul") crossing the river, the major ones being Pul-e Shah-Do Shamshira, Pul-e Bagh-e Omomi, Pul-e Khishti, and Pul-e Mahmoud. Due to climate change, since the 21st century, the river runs dry most of the year, only filling up in the wetter winter and spring seasons.
A large lake and wetland is located just to the southeast from the old city called "Kol-e Hashmat Khan". The marsh provides a critical resting place to thousands of birds who fly between the Indian subcontinent and Siberia. In 2017 the government declared the lake a protected area. Some rare species of birds have been spotted at the lake, such as the Eastern imperial eagle and the Dalmatian pelican. Kabul's other large lake is Qargha, located some 9 km northwest from the center. It is a major attraction for locals as well as foreigners.
Air pollution is a major problem in the city during the winter season, when many residents burn low-quality fuels.
The city of Kabul forms one of the 15 districts of Kabul Province. As the provincial capital, it forms a municipality ("shārwāli") which is further divided into 22 administrative districts called municipal districts or city districts ("nāhia"), which coincide with the official Police Districts (PD). The number of city districts increased from 11 to 18 in 2005, and then to 22 by 2010 after the incorporation of Districts 14 and 19-22 which were annexed by Kabul Municipality from surrounding rural districts. The city limits have thus substantially increased. Due to demarcation disputes with the provincial administration, some of these new districts are more administered by the provincial districts than the municipality.
District 1 contains most of the old city. Downtown Kabul mostly consist of Districts 2, 4 and 10. In addition, Districts 3 and 6 house many commercial and governmental points of interests. The city's north and west are the most urbanized, as opposed to the south and east.
The table below show the 22 city districts and their settlements, with information about its land size and usage, accurate as of 2011.
Each year about 20,000 foreign tourists visit Afghanistan. Major hotels in Kabul include; the Serena Hotel, the Inter-Continental, and the Safi Landmark Hotel above the Kabul City Center. There are a number of other less-known hotels. Most visitors prefer lodging at guest houses, which are found all over the city. The better and safer ones are in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood where the embassies are located.
The old part of Kabul is filled with bazaars nestled along its narrow, crooked streets. Cultural sites include: the National Museum of Afghanistan, notably displaying an impressive statue of Surya excavated at Khair Khana, the ruined Darul Aman Palace, the tomb of Mughal Emperor Babur at Bagh-e Babur, and Chihil Sutun Park, the Minar-i-Istiqlal (Column of Independence) built in 1919 after the Third Afghan War, the tomb of Timur Shah Durrani, the Bagh-e Bala Palace and the imposing Id Gah Mosque (founded 1893). Bala Hissar is a fort destroyed by the British in 1879, in retaliation for the death of their envoy, now restored as a military college. There are also the Kolola Pushta fort, which is still garrisoned by the Afghan Army, and the nearby 19th-century Shahrara Tower fort, which was ruined in 1928. The Minaret of Chakari, destroyed in 1998, had Buddhist swastika and both Mahayana and Theravada qualities.
Other places of interest include Kabul City Center, which is Kabul's first shopping mall, the shops around Flower Street and Chicken Street, Wazir Akbar Khan district, Kabul Golf Club, Kabul Zoo, Abdul Rahman Mosque, Shah-Do Shamshira and other famous mosques, the National Gallery of Afghanistan, the National Archives of Afghanistan, Afghan Royal Family Mausoleum, the OMAR Mine Museum, Bibi Mahro Hill, Kabul Cemetery, and Paghman Gardens. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) was also involved in the restoration of the Bagh-e Babur (Babur Gardens).
Tappe-i-Maranjan is a nearby hill where Buddhist statues and Graeco-Bactrian coins from the 2nd century BC have been found. Outside the city proper is a citadel and the royal palace. Paghman and Jalalabad are interesting valleys west and east of the city.
Kabul's population was estimated in 2020 at about 4.222 million. Another 2015 estimate has put it at 3,678,034. The city's population has long fluctuated due to the wars. The lack of an up-to-date census means that there are various estimates of the population.
Kabul's population is estimated to have been about 10,000 in 1700, 65,000 by 1878, and 120,000 by 1940. More recently, the population was around 500,000 in 1979, whilst another source claims 337,715 as of 1976. This figure rose to about 1.5 million by 1988, before dramatically dropping in the 1990s. Kabul became one of the fastest growing cities in the world, with its population growing fourfold from 2001 to 2014. This was partly due to the return of refugees after the fall of the Taliban regime, and partly due to Afghans moving from other provinces mainly due to war between Taliban insurgents and Afghan government forces in their native areas as well as looking for labor. This resulting rapid urbanization mean that many residents today live in informal settlements. Shanty mud-brick homes on the mountainsides and steep hills have been built by them and these are usually poverty-stricken, not connected to the water and electricity grid. Although the settlements are illegal, they have been tolerated by authorities. In 2017 Kabul Municipality started a project to paint the homes in these settlements in bright colors in an effort to "cheer up" residents.
Kabul is the most ethnically diverse city in the country, with the population including Afghans from all over the country. A 2009 report states that Kabul has large populations of all major ethnic groups, including Tajiks and Pashtuns as well as Hazaras in pockets throughout, and smaller communities of Uzbeks and other groups. The Dari (Persian) and Pashto languages are widely used in the region, although Dari serves as the lingua franca. Multilingualism is common throughout the area, particularly among the Pashtun people.
The term "Kabuli" (کابلی) is referred to the urbanites of the city. They are ethnic-neutral, typically speak Dari (Persian), are generally secularly and highly educated, and favor Western fashion. Many Kabulites (especially elites and the upper class) left the country during the civil war and are now outnumbered by rural people who moved in from the countryside, mostly refugees but also labor-seekers.
About 74% of the city's population follow Sunni Islam while 25% are Shiites (mainly the Hazaras). The remaining 1% are followers of Sikhism and Hinduism, as well as one known Christian resident (First Lady Rula Ghani) and one Jewish resident (Zablon Simintov); other known Christians and Jews exist though are not Afghan nationals and are generally workers at international organizations rather than permanent residents. Kabul also has small Indian and Turkish communities (mostly business-owners and investors), and in the 1980s had a sizable Russian community during the Soviet campaign in the country.
Cricket is the dominant sport in Kabul with 2 of the 3 sports stadiums reserved for cricket.
The municipality's administrative structure consists of 17 departments under a mayor. Like other provincial municipalities in Afghanistan, the municipality of Kabul deals with city affairs such as construction and infrastructure. The city districts ("nāhia") collect certain taxes and issue building licenses. Each city district has a district head appointed by the mayor, and leads six major departments in the district office. The neighborhood organization structure at the "nahia" level is called a "gozar". A "wakil-e gozar" is a person chosen to represent a community within a city district.
Kabul's Chief of Police is Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi. The police are part of the Afghan National Police (ANP) under the Ministry of Interior and are arranged by city districts. The Police Chief is selected by the Interior Minister and is responsible for all law enforcement activities throughout the Kabul province.
Kabul's main products include fresh and dried fruit, nuts, beverages, Afghan rugs, leather and sheep skin products, furniture, antique replicas, and domestic clothes. The World Bank authorized US$25 million for the Kabul Urban Reconstruction Project which closed in 2011. Over the last decade, the United States has invested approximately $9.1 billion into urban infrastructure in Afghanistan. The wars since 1978 have limited the city's economic productivity but after the establishment of the Karzai administration since late 2001, local economic developments have included a number of indoor shopping malls. The first of these was the Kabul City Center, opened 2005. Others have also opened in recent years including Gulbahar Center, City Walk Mall and Majid Mall.
Kabul's largest industrial hub is located in District 9, on the north banks of the River Kabul and near the airport. About from downtown Kabul, in Bagrami, a industrial complex has completed with modern facilities, which will allow companies to operate businesses there. The park has professional management for the daily maintenance of public roads, internal streets, common areas, parking areas, 24 hours perimeter security, access control for vehicles and persons. A number of factories operate there, including the $25 million Coca-Cola bottling plant and the Omaid Bahar juice factory.
According to Transparency International, the government of Afghanistan is the third most-corrupt in the world. Experts believe that the poor decisions of Afghan politicians contribute to the unrest in the region. This also prevents foreign investment in Afghanistan, especially by Western countries. In 2012, there were reportedly $3.9 billion paid to public officials in bribes which contributed to these issues.
Da Afghanistan Bank, the nation's central bank, is headquartered in Kabul. In addition, there are several commercial banks in the city.
A US$1 billion contract was signed in 2013 to commence work on the "New Kabul City", which is a major residential scheme that would accommodate 1.5 million people. In the meantime, many high rise buildings are being constructed in order to control the overcrowding and also to modernize the city.
An initial concept design called the City of Light Development, envisioned by Dr. Hisham N. Ashkouri, for the development and the implementation of a privately based investment enterprise has been proposed for multi-function commercial, historic and cultural development within the limits of the Old City of Kabul, along the southern side of the Kabul River and along Jade Meywand Avenue,
As of November 2015, there are more than 24 television stations based out of Kabul.
In Kabul, Minister Amir Zai Sangin of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology maintains statistics regarding telecommunications in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS) provides software development, capacity development, information management, and project management services to the Afghan Government and other NGOs, thereby supporting their on-the-ground activities.
GSM/GPRS mobile phone services in the city are provided by Afghan Wireless, Etisalat, Roshan, MTN and Salaam. , all of them provide 3G services as well. In November 2006, the Afghan Ministry of Communications signed a $64.5 million US dollar deal with ZTE on the establishment of a countrywide fibre optical cable network to help improve telephone, internet, television and radio broadcast services not just in Kabul but throughout the country. Internet cafes were introduced in 2002 and has been expanding throughout the country. , 3G services are also available.
There are a number of post offices throughout the city. Package delivery services like FedEx, TNT N.V., and DHL are also available.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport (Kabul International Airport) is located from the center of Kabul, which has always served as the country's main airport. It is a hub to Ariana Afghan Airlines, the national carrier of Afghanistan, as well as private airlines such as Afghan Jet International, East Horizon Airlines, Kam Air, Pamir Airways, and Safi Airways. Regional airlines such as Air India, SpiceJet, flydubai, Emirates, Gulf Air, Mahan Air, Pakistan International Airlines, Turkish Airlines and others also have regularly scheduled flights to the airport. A new international terminal was built by the government of Japan and began operation in 2008.
Kabul has no train service; its only railway service, the Kabul–Darulaman Tramway, operated for six years from 1923 to 1929. As part of the approved major Deh Sabz "Kabul New City" development project that kicked off in 2015, a light rail service is being planned during the mid-term development period.
The AH76 highway (or Kabul-Charikar Highway) connects Kabul north towards Charikar, Pol-e Khomri and Mazar-i-Sharif ( away), with leading roads to Kunduz ( away). The AH77 highway goes west towards Bamiyan Province ( away) and Chaghcharan in the central mountains of Afghanistan. To the south-west, the Kabul-Ghazni Highway goes to Ghazni ( away) and Kandahar ( away). To the south, the Kabul-Gardez Highway connects it to Gardez ( away) and Khost. To the east, the Kabul-Jalalabad Highway goes to Jalalabad ( away) and across the border to Peshawar.
Much of the road network in downtown Kabul consist of square or circle intersections ("char-rahi"). The main square in the city is Pashtunistan Square (named after Pashtunistan), which has a large fountain in it and is located adjacent to the presidential palace, the Central Bank, and other landmarks. The Massoud Circle is located by the U.S. Embassy and has the road leading to the airport. In the old city, Sar-e Chawk roundabout is at the center of Maiwand Road ("Jadayi Maiwand"). Once all roads led to it, and in the 16th century was called the "navel of Kabul". In the Shahr-e Naw district there are several major intersections: Ansari, Haji Yaqub, Quwayi Markaz, Sedarat, and Turabaz Khan. The latter, named after Turabaz Khan, connect Flower Street and Chicken Street. There are also two major intersections in western Kabul: the Deh Mazang Circle and Kote Sangi. Salang Watt is the main road to the north-west, whereas Asamayi Watt and Seh Aqrab (also called Sevom Aqrab) is the main road to western Kabul.
The steep population rise in the 21st century has caused major congestion problems for the city's roads. In efforts to tackle this issue, a 95 km outer ring road costing $110 million was approved in 2017. Construction will take five years and it will run from Char Asiab via Ahmad Shah Baba Mina, Deh Sabz ("Kabul New City" development area), the AH76 highway, Paghman and back to Char Asyab. A new bus public transport service is also planned to be opened in 2018 (see below). In September 2017, the head of the Kabul Municipality announced that 286 meters of pedestrian overpass footbridges will be built in eight busy areas "in the near future".
Under the Kabul Urban Transport Efficiency Improvement Project that was signed in 2014 and backed by the World Bank, the city has seen widespread improvements in road conditions, including the building of new pedestrian sidewalks, drainage systems, lighting and asphalted road surfaces. The project runs until December 31, 2019.
Private vehicles have been on the rise in Kabul since 2002, with about 700,000 cars registered as of 2013 and up to 80% of the cars reported to be Toyota Corollas. The number of dealerships have also increased from 77 in 2003 to over 550 by 2010. Gas stations are mainly private-owned. Bicycles on the road are a common sight in the city.
The taxicabs in Kabul are painted in a white and yellow livery. The majority of these are older model Toyota Corollas. A few Soviet-era Russian cabs are also still in operation.
Long distance road journeys are made by private Mercedes-Benz coach buses or vans, trucks and cars. Although a nationwide bus service is available from Kabul, flying is safer, especially for foreigners. The city's public bus service (Millie Bus / "National Bus") was established in the 1960s to take commuters on daily routes to many destinations. The service has about 800 buses. The Kabul bus system has discovered a new source of revenue in whole-bus advertising from MTN similar to "bus wrap" advertising on public transit in more developed nations. There is also an express bus that runs from downtown to Hamid Karzai International Airport for Safi Airways passengers.
An electric trolleybus system operated in Kabul from February 1979 to 1992 using Škoda fleet built by a Czechoslovak company (see Trolleybuses in Kabul for more). The trolleybus service was highly popular mainly due to its low price compared to the Millie Bus conventional bus service. The last trolleybus came to a halt in late 1992 due to warfare - much of the copper overhead wires were later looted but a few of them, including the steel poles, can still be seen in Kabul today.
In June 2017 Kabul Municipality unveiled plans for a new bus rapid transit system, the first major urban public transportation scheme. It was expected to open by 2018, but its launch has been delayed.
The Ministry of Education led by Ghulam Farooq Wardak is responsible for the education system in Afghanistan. Public and private schools in the city have reopened since 2002 after they were shut down or destroyed during fighting in the 1980s to the late 1990s. Boys and girls are strongly encouraged to attend school under the Karzai administration but many more schools are needed not only in Kabul but throughout the country. The Afghan Ministry of Education has plans to build more schools in the coming years so that education is provided to all citizens of the country. High schools in Kabul include:
Universities include:
Health care in Afghanistan is relatively poor. The wealthy Afghans usually go abroad when seeking treatment. Presently, there are several hospitals in Kabul which include; | en.wikipedia.org | Kabul | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16826 |
16827 | Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor and musician. His films include musical-drama film "Footloose" (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller "JFK" (1991), the legal drama "A Few Good Men" (1992), the historical docudrama "Apollo 13" (1995), and the mystery drama "Mystic River" (2003). Bacon is also known for taking on darker roles, such as that of a sadistic guard in "Sleepers" (1996), and troubled former child abuser in "The Woodsman" (2004). He is further known for the hit comedies "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978), "Diner" (1982), "Tremors" (1990) and "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011). His other well-known films are "Friday the 13th" (1980), "Flatliners" (1990), "The River Wild" (1994), "Wild Things" (1998), "Stir of Echoes" (1999), "Hollow Man" (2000), "Frost/Nixon" (2008), "" (2011), "Black Mass" (2015) and "Patriots Day" (2016). He is equally prolific on television, having starred in the Fox drama series "The Following" (2013–2015). For the HBO original film "Taking Chance" (2009), Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, also receiving a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. More recently, Bacon portrayed the title character, and was the series lead, of the Amazon Prime web television series "I Love Dick", for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
"The Guardian" named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. In 2003, Bacon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry.
Bacon has become associated with the concept of interconnectedness (as in social networks), having been popularized by the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". In 2007, he created SixDegrees.org, a charitable foundation.
Bacon, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in a close-knit family in Philadelphia. His mother, Ruth Hilda (née Holmes; 1916–1991), taught at an elementary school and was a liberal activist, while his father, Edmund Norwood Bacon (1910–2005), was an architect who served for many years as executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Bacon attended Julia R. Masterman High School for both middle and high school. At age 16, in 1975, Bacon won a full scholarship to and attended the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts at Bucknell University, a state-funded five-week arts program at which he studied theater under Glory Van Scott. The experience solidified Bacon's passion for the arts.
Bacon left home at age 17 to pursue a theater career in New York City, where he appeared in a production at the Circle in the Square Theater School. "I wanted life, man, the real thing", he later recalled to Nancy Mills of "Cosmopolitan". "The message I got was 'The arts are it. Business is the devil's work. Art and creative expression are next to godliness.' Combine that with an immense ego and you wind up with an actor."
Bacon's debut in the fraternity comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978) did not lead to the fame he had sought, and Bacon returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater. He briefly worked on the television soap operas "Search for Tomorrow" (1979) and "Guiding Light" (1980–81) in New York.
In 1980, he appeared in the slasher film "Friday the 13th". Some of his early stage work included "Getting Out", performed at New York's Phoenix Theater, and "Flux", at Second Stage Theatre during their 1981–1982 season.
In 1982, he won an Obie Award for his role in "Forty Deuce", and soon afterward he made his Broadway debut in "Slab Boys", with then-unknowns Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. However, it was not until he portrayed Timothy Fenwick that same year in Barry Levinson's film "Diner"costarring Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly, and Ellen Barkinthat he made an indelible impression on film critics and moviegoers alike.
Bolstered by the attention garnered by his performance in "Diner", Bacon starred in "Footloose" (1984). Richard Corliss of "TIME" likened "Footloose" to the James Dean classic "Rebel Without a Cause" and the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musicals, commenting that the film includes "motifs on book burning, mid-life crisis, AWOL parents, fatal car crashes, drug enforcement, and Bible Belt vigilantism." To prepare for the role, Bacon enrolled at a high school as a transfer student named "Ren McCormick" and studied teenagers before leaving in the middle of the day. Bacon earned strong reviews for "Footloose".
Bacon's critical and box office success led to a period of typecasting in roles similar to the two he portrayed in "Diner" and "Footloose", and he had difficulty shaking this on-screen image. For the next several years he chose films that cast him against either type and experienced, by his own estimation, a career slump.
In 1988, he starred in John Hughes' comedy "She's Having a Baby", and the following year he was in another comedy called "The Big Picture".
In 1990, Bacon had two successful roles. He played a character who saved his town from under-the-earth "graboid" monsters in the comedy/horror film "Tremors", and he portrayed an earnest medical student experimenting with death in Joel Schumacher's "Flatliners".
In Bacon's next project he starred opposite Elizabeth Perkins in "He Said, She Said". Despite lukewarm reviews and low audience turnout, "He Said, She Said" was illuminating for Bacon. Required to play a character with sexist attitudes, he admitted that the role was not that large a stretch for him.
By 1991, Bacon began to give up the idea of playing leading men in big-budget films and to remake himself as a character actor. "The only way I was going to be able to work on 'A' projects with really 'A' directors was if I wasn't the guy who was starring", he confided to "The New York Times" writer Trip Gabriel. "You can't afford to set up a $40 million movie if you don't have your star." He performed that year as gay prostitute Willie O'Keefe in Oliver Stone's "JFK" and went on to play a prosecuting attorney in the military courtroom drama "A Few Good Men". Later that year he returned to the theater to play in "Spike Heels", directed by Michael Greif.
In 1994, Bacon earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in "The River Wild", opposite Meryl Streep. He described the film to Chase in "Cosmopolitan" as a "grueling shoot", in which "every one of us fell out of the boat at one point or another and had to be saved".
His next film, "Murder in the First", earned him the Broadcast Film Critic's Association Award in 1995, the same year that he starred in the blockbuster hit "Apollo 13". Bacon played a trademark dark role once again in "Sleepers" (1996). This part starkly contrasted with his appearance in the lighthearted romantic comedy, "Picture Perfect" (1997).
Bacon made his debut as a director with the television film "Losing Chase" (1996), which was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, and won one. Bacon again resurrected his oddball mystique that year as a mentally-challenged houseguest in "Digging to China" and as a disc jockey corrupted by payola in "Telling Lies in America". As the executive producer of "Wild Things" (1998), Bacon reserved a supporting role for himself and went on to star in "Stir of Echoes" (1999), directed by David Koepp.
In 2000, he appeared in Paul Verhoeven's "Hollow Man." Bacon, Colin Firth and Rachel Blanchard depict a ménage à trois in their film, "Where the Truth Lies". Bacon and director Atom Egoyan have condemned the MPAA ratings board decision to rate the film "NC-17" rather than the preferable "R". Bacon commented: "I don't get it, when I see films (that) are extremely violent, extremely objectionable sometimes in terms of the roles that women play, slide by with an R, no problem, because the people happen to have more of their clothes on."
In 2003 he acted with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in Clint Eastwood's movie "Mystic River".
Bacon was again acclaimed for a dark starring role playing an offending pedophile on parole in "The Woodsman" (2004), for which he was nominated for best actor and received the Independent Spirit Award. He appeared in the HBO Films production of "Taking Chance", based on an eponymous story written by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, an American Desert Storm war veteran. The film premiered on HBO on February 21, 2009. Bacon won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his role.
On July 15, 2010, it was confirmed that Bacon would appear in Matthew Vaughn's "". His character was mutant villain Sebastian Shaw.
In March 2012, Bacon was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, "8" – a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage – as Attorney Charles J. Cooper. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
From 2013 to 2015, Bacon starred as Ryan Hardy in the FOX television series "The Following". In 2013, he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television for that role.
In 2015, he said in a "Huffington Post" interview he would like to return to the "Tremors" franchise. However, Bacon doesn't appear in "" (2015).
Beginning in 2012, Bacon has appeared in a major advertising campaign for the EE mobile network in the United Kingdom, based on the Six Degrees concept and his various film roles. In 2015, he became a commercial spokesperson for the U.S. egg industry.
Bacon has been married to actress Kyra Sedgwick since September 4, 1988; they met on the set of the PBS version of Lanford Wilson's play "Lemon Sky". He has said: "The time I was hitting what I considered to be bottom was also the time I met my wife, our kids were born, good things were happening. And I was able to keep supporting myself; that always gave me strength." Bacon and Sedgwick have starred together in "Pyrates," "Murder in the First", "The Woodsman", and "Loverboy". They have two children, Travis Sedgwick (b. 1989) and Sosie Ruth (b. 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Bacon was previously in a five-year relationship with actress Tracy Pollan, in the 1980s.
Bacon has spoken out for the separation of church and state, and told "The Times" in 2005 that he did not "believe in God." He has also said that he is not anti-religion.
Bacon and Sedgwick appeared in will.i.am's video "It's a New Day", which was released following Barack Obama's 2008 presidential win.
The pair lost part of their savings in the Ponzi scheme of infamous swindler Bernie Madoff.
Bacon and Sedgwick learned in 2011, via their appearance on the PBS TV show "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, that they are ninth cousins, once removed. They also appeared in a video promoting the "Bill of Reproductive Rights", supporting among other things a woman's right to choose and have access to birth control.
Bacon is the subject of the trivia game titled "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," based on the idea that, due to his prolific screen career covering a diverse range of genres, any Hollywood actor can be linked to another in a handful of steps based on their association with Bacon. The name of the game derives from the idea of six degrees of separation.
Although he was initially dismayed by the game, the meme stuck, and Bacon eventually embraced it, forming the charitable initiative SixDegrees.org, a social networking site intended to link people and charities to each other.
The measure of proximity to Bacon has been mathematically formalized as the Bacon number and can be referenced at websites including Oracle of Bacon, which is in turn based upon Internet Movie Database data. In 2012, Google added a feature to their search engine, whereby searching for an actor's name followed by the words "Bacon Number" will show the ways in which that actor is connected to Kevin Bacon. This feature is no longer active.
A similar measurement exists in the mathematics community, where one measures how far one is removed from co-writing a mathematical paper with the famous mathematician Paul Erdős. This is done by means of the Erdős number, which is 0 for Paul Erdős himself, 1 for someone who co-wrote an article with him, 2 for someone who co-wrote with someone who co-wrote with him, etc. People have combined the Bacon number and the Erdős number to form the Erdős–Bacon number, which is the sum of the two.
Kevin formed a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother, Michael. The duo has released six albums. | en.wikipedia.org | Kevin Bacon | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16827 |
16829 | Kornilov
Kornilov () and Kornilova (feminine; ) is a common Russian surname derived from the baptismal name Kornil (). Notable people with this surname include: | en.wikipedia.org | Kornilov | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16829 |
16830 | Keyboard technology
Computer keyboards can be classified by the switch technology that they use. Computer alphanumeric keyboards typically have 80 to 110 durable switches, generally one for each key. The choice of switch technology affects key response (the positive feedback that a key has been pressed) and pre travel (the distance needed to push the key to enter a character reliably). Newer keyboard models use hybrids of various technologies to achieve greater cost savings.
There are two types of membrane-based keyboards, flat-panel membrane keyboards and full-travel membrane keyboards:
Flat-panel membrane keyboards are most often found on appliances like microwave ovens or photocopiers. A common design consists of three layers. The top layer has the labels printed on its front and conductive stripes printed on the back. Under this it has a spacer layer, which holds the front and back layer apart so that they do not normally make electrical contact. The back layer has conductive stripes printed perpendicularly to those of the front layer. When placed together, the stripes form a grid. When the user pushes down at a particular position, their finger pushes the front layer down through the spacer layer to close a circuit at one of the intersections of the grid. This indicates to the computer or keyboard control processor that a particular button has been pressed.
Generally, flat-panel membrane keyboards do not produce a noticeable physical feedback. Therefore, devices using these issue a beep or flash a light when the key is pressed. They are often used in harsh environments where water- or leak-proofing is desirable. Although used in the early days of the personal computer (on the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and Atari 400), they have been supplanted by the more tactile dome and mechanical switch keyboards.
Full-travel membrane-based keyboards are the most common computer keyboards today. They have one-piece plastic keytop/switch plungers which press down on a membrane to actuate a contact in an electrical switch matrix.
Dome-switch keyboards are a hybrid of flat-panel membrane and mechanical-switch keyboards. They bring two circuit board traces together under a rubber or silicone keypad using either metal "dome" switches or polyurethane formed domes. The metal dome switches are formed pieces of stainless steel that, when compressed, give the user a crisp, positive tactile feedback. These metal types of dome switches are very common, are usually reliable to over 5 million cycles, and can be plated in either nickel, silver or gold. The rubber dome switches, most commonly referred to as polydomes, are formed polyurethane domes where the inside bubble is coated in graphite. While polydomes are typically cheaper than metal domes, they lack the crisp snap of the metal domes, and usually have a lower life specification. Polydomes are considered very quiet, but purists tend to find them "mushy" because the collapsing dome does not provide as much positive response as metal domes. For either metal or polydomes, when a key is pressed, it collapses the dome, which connects the two circuit traces and completes the connection to enter the character. The pattern on the PC board is often gold-plated.
Both are common switch technologies used in mass market keyboards today. This type of switch technology happens to be most commonly used in handheld controllers, mobile phones, automotive, consumer electronics and medical devices. Dome-switch keyboards are also called direct-switch keyboards.
A special case of the computer keyboard dome-switch is the scissor-switch. The keys are attached to the keyboard via two plastic pieces that interlock in a "scissor"-like fashion, and snap to the keyboard and the key. It still uses rubber domes, but a special plastic 'scissors' mechanism links the keycap to a plunger that depresses the rubber dome with a much shorter travel than the typical rubber dome keyboard. Typically scissor-switch keyboards also employ 3-layer membranes as the electrical component of the switch. They also usually have a shorter total key travel distance (2 mm instead of 3.5 – 4 mm for standard dome-switch keyswitches). This type of keyswitch is often found on the built-in keyboards on laptops and keyboards marketed as 'low-profile'. These keyboards are generally quiet and the keys require little force to press.
Scissor-switch keyboards are typically slightly more expensive. They are harder to clean (due to the limited movement of the keys and their multiple attachment points) but also less likely to get debris in them as the gaps between the keys are often smaller (as there is no need for extra room to allow for the 'wiggle' in the key, as typically found on a membrane keyboard).
In this type of keyboard, pressing a key changes the capacitance of a pattern of capacitor pads. The pattern consists of two D-shaped capacitor pads for each switch, printed on a printed circuit board (PCB) and covered by a thin, insulating film of soldermask which acts as a dielectric.
Despite the sophistication of the concept, the mechanism of capacitive switching is physically simple. The movable part ends with a flat foam element about the size of an aspirin tablet, finished with aluminum foil. Opposite the switch is a PCB with the capacitor pads. When the key is pressed, the foil tightly clings to the surface of the PCB, forming a daisy chain of two capacitors between contact pads and itself separated with thin soldermask, and thus "shorting" the contact pads with an easily detectable drop of capacitive reactance between them. Usually this permits a pulse or pulse train to be sensed. Because the switch doesn't have an actual electrical contact, there is no debouncing necessary. The keys do not need to be fully pressed to be actuated, which enables some people to type faster. The sensor tells enough about the position of the key to allow the user to adjust actuation point (key sensitivity). This adjustment can be done with the help of the bundled software and individually for each key, if so implemented.
The IBM Model F keyboard is mechanical-key design consisted of a buckling spring over a capacitive PCB, similarly to the later Model M keyboard that used a membrane in place of the PCB.
The most known company for their capacitive (electrostatic) switching technology is Topre Corporation from Japan. However, while their products are for sale on eBay and Amazon (new and used), they are generally less available in large parts of the world. Topre's key switches use a spring below a rubber dome. The dome provides most of the force that keeps the key from being pressed, similar to a membrane keyboard, while the spring helps with the capacitive action.
Each key on a mechanical-switch keyboard contains a complete switch underneath. Each switch is composed of a housing, a spring, and a stem, and sometimes other parts such as a separate tactile leaf or a clickbar. Switches come in three variants: linear with consistent resistance; tactile with a non-audible bump; and clicky, a tactile with an audible click. Depending on the resistance of the spring, the key requires different amounts of pressure to actuate and to bottom out. The shape of the stem as well as the design of the switch housing varies the actuation distance and travel distance of the switch. The amount of sound produced by actuation can also be changed by the addition of rubber dampeners. Like other types of keyboards, mechanical keyboards allow for the removal and replacement of keycaps, but replacing them is more common with mechanical keyboards due to common stem shapes.
Mechanical keyboards typically have a longer lifespan than membrane or dome-switch keyboards. Cherry MX switches, for example, have an expected lifespan of 50 million clicks per switch, while switches from Razer have a rated lifetime of 60 million clicks per switch.
The major current mechanical switch producer is Cherry. Alps Electric, a former major producer, ended production in the early 2000s, but Alps style switches continue to be made by others companies as Matias, Xiang Min(XM), Tai-Hao (APC) and Hua-Jie (AK). Other switch manufacturers include Gateron, Kaihua (Kailh), Gaote (Outemu), Greetech, TTC and Omron.
Many typists prefer buckling spring keyboards. The buckling spring mechanism (expired ) atop the switch is responsible for the tactile and aural response of the keyboard. This mechanism controls a small hammer that strikes a capacitive or membrane switch.
In 1993, two years after spawning Lexmark, IBM transferred its keyboard operations to the daughter company. New Model M keyboards continued to be manufactured for IBM by Lexmark until 1999, when Unicomp purchased the keyboard technology.
Today, new buckling-spring keyboards are manufactured by Unicomp. Unicomp also repairs old IBM and Lexmark keyboards.
Hall effect keyboards use magnets and Hall effect sensors instead of switches with mechanical contacts. When a key is depressed, it moves a magnet that is detected by a solid-state sensor. Because they require no physical contact for actuation, Hall-effect keyboards are extremely reliable and can accept millions of keystrokes before failing. They are used for ultra-high reliability applications such as nuclear power plants, aircraft cockpits, and critical industrial environments. They can easily be made totally waterproof, and can resist large amounts of dust and contaminants. Because a magnet and sensor are required for each key, as well as custom control electronics, they are expensive to manufacture.
A laser projection device approximately the size of a computer mouse projects the outline of keyboard keys onto a flat surface, such as a table or desk. This type of keyboard is portable enough to be easily used with PDAs and cellphones, and many models have retractable cords and wireless capabilities. However, sudden or accidental disruption of the laser will register unwanted keystrokes. Also, if the laser malfunctions, the whole unit becomes useless, unlike conventional keyboards which can be used even if a variety of parts (such as the keycaps) are removed. This type of keyboard can be frustrating to use since it is susceptible to errors, even in the course of normal typing, and its complete lack of tactile feedback makes it even less user-friendly than the lowest quality membrane keyboards.
Keyboards made of flexible silicone or polyurethane materials can roll up in a moderately tight bundle. Tightly folding the keyboard may damage the internal membrane circuits. When they are completely sealed in rubber they are water resistant. Like membrane keyboards, they are reported to be very hard to get used to, as there is little tactile feedback, and silicone will tend to attract dirt, dust, and hair.
Also known as photo-optical keyboard, light responsive keyboard, photo-electric keyboard, and optical key actuation detection technology.
Optical keyboard technology was introduced in 1962 by Harley E. Kelchner for use in a typewriter machine with the purpose of reducing the noise generating by actuating the typewriter keys.
An optical keyboard technology utilizes light-emitting devices and photo sensors to optically detect actuated keys. Most commonly the emitters and sensors are located at the perimeter, mounted on a small PCB. The light is directed from side to side of the keyboard interior, and it can only be blocked by the actuated keys. Most optical keyboards require at least 2 beams (most commonly a vertical beam and a horizontal beam) to determine the actuated key. Some optical keyboards use a special key structure that blocks the light in a certain pattern, allowing only one beam per row of keys (most commonly a horizontal beam).
The mechanism of the optical keyboard is very simple – a light beam is sent from the emitter to the receiving sensor, and the actuated key blocks, reflects, refracts or otherwise interacts with the beam, resulting in an identified key.
Some earlier optical keyboards were limited in their structure and required special casing to block external light, no multi-key functionality was supported and the design was very limited to a thick rectangular case.
The advantages of optical keyboard technology are that it offers a real waterproof keyboard, resilient to dust and liquids; and it uses about 20% PCB volume, compared with membrane or dome switch keyboards, significantly reducing electronic waste.
Additional advantages of optical keyboard technology over other keyboard technologies such as Hall effect, laser, roll-up, and transparent keyboards lie in cost (Hall effect keyboard) and feel – optical keyboard technology does not require different key mechanisms, and the tactile feel of typing has remained the same for over 60 years.
The specialist DataHand keyboard uses optical technology to sense keypresses with a single light beam and sensor per key. The keys are held in their rest position by magnets; when the magnetic force is overcome to press a key, the optical path is unblocked and the keypress is registered.
When a key is struck, it oscillates (or bounces) against its contacts several times before settling. When released, it oscillates again until it reverts to its rest state. Although it happens on such a small scale as to be invisible to the naked eye, it is sufficient for the computer to register multiple key strokes inadvertently.
To resolve this problem, the processor in a keyboard "debounces" the keystrokes, by aggregating them across time to produce one "confirmed" keystroke that (usually) corresponds to what is typically a solid contact. Early membrane keyboards had limited typing speed because they had to do significant debouncing. This was a noticeable problem on the ZX81.
Keycaps are used on full-travel keyboards. While modern keycaps are typically surface-printed, they can also be double-shot molded, laser printed, sublimation printed, engraved, or they can be made of transparent material with printed paper inserts.
There are also keycaps which are thin shells that are placed over key bases. These were used on IBM PC keyboards.
The modern PC keyboard also includes a control processor and indicator lights to provide feedback to the user about what state the keyboard is in. Depending on the sophistication of the controller's programming, the keyboard may also offer other special features. The processor is usually a single chip 8048 microcontroller variant. The keyboard switch matrix is wired to its inputs and it processes the incoming keystrokes and sends the results down a serial cable (the keyboard cord) to a receiver in the main computer box. It also controls the illumination of the "caps lock", "num lock" and "scroll lock" lights.
A common test for whether the computer has crashed is pressing the "caps lock" key. The keyboard sends the key code to the keyboard driver running in the main computer; if the main computer is operating, it commands the light to turn on. All the other indicator lights work in a similar way. The keyboard driver also tracks the shift, alt and control state of the keyboard.
The keyboard switch matrix is often drawn with horizontal wires and vertical wires in a grid which is called a matrix circuit. It has a switch at some or all intersections, much like a multiplexed display. Almost all keyboards have only the switch at each intersection, which causes "ghost keys" and "key jamming" when multiple keys are pressed (rollover). Certain, often more expensive, keyboards have a diode between each intersection, allowing the keyboard microcontroller to accurately sense any number of simultaneous keys being pressed, without generating erroneous ghost keys. | en.wikipedia.org | Keyboard technology | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16830 |
16831 | Kick
A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of attack is used frequently by hooved animals as well as humans in the context of stand-up fighting. Kicks play a significant role in many forms of martial arts, such as savate, taekwondo, MMA, sikaran, karate, Pankration, Kung Fu, Vovinam, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Yaw-Yan, capoeira, silat and kalaripayattu. If the kick is to a target, it is a form of compliance
Kicking is also prominent from its use in many sports, especially those called football. The best known of these sports is association football, also known as soccer.
The English verb to kick appears only in the late 14th century, apparently as a loan from Old Norse, originally in the sense of a hooved animal delivering strikes with his hind legs; the oldest use is Biblical.
Kicks as an act of human aggression have likely existed worldwide since prehistory. However, high kicks, aiming above the waist or to the head appear to have originated from Asian martial arts. Such kicks were introduced to the west in the 19th century with early hybrid martial arts inspired by Asian styles such as Bartitsu and Savate. Practice of high kicks became more universal in the second half of the 20th century with the more widespread development of hybrid styles such as kickboxing and eventually mixed martial arts.
The history of the high kick in Asian martial arts is difficult to trace, it appears to be prevalent in all traditional forms of Indochinese kickboxing, but these cannot be traced with any technical detail to pre-modern times. In Muay Boran ("ancient boxing" in Thailand) was developed under Rama V (r. 1868-1910) and while it is known that earlier forms of "boxing" existed during the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the details regarding these techniques are unclear. Some stances that look like low kicks, but not high kicks, are visible in the Shaolin temple frescoes, dated to the 17th century. The "Mahabharata" (4.13), an Indian epic compiled at some point before the 5th century AD, describes an unarmed hand-to-hand battle, including the sentence "and they gave each other violent kicks" (without providing any further detail).
As the human leg is longer and stronger than the arm, kicks are generally used to keep an opponent at a distance, surprise them with their range and inflict substantial damage. Stance is also very important in any combat system and any attempt to deliver a kick will necessarily compromise stability to some degree. The application of kicks is a trade-off between the power and range that can be delivered against the cost incurred to balance. As combat situations are fluid, understanding this trade-off and making the appropriate decision to adjust to each moment is key.
Kicks are commonly directed against helpless or downed targets, while for more general self-defense applications, the consensus is that simple kicks aimed at vulnerable targets below the chest may be highly efficient, but should be executed with a degree of care. Self-defense experts, such as author and teacher Marc Macyoung, claim that kicks should be aimed no higher than the waist/stomach. Thus, the fighter should not compromise their balance while delivering a kick and retract the leg properly to avoid grappling. It is often recommended to build and drill simple combinations that involve attacking different levels of an opponent. A common example would be distracting an opponent's focus via a fake jab, following up with a powerful attack at the opponent's legs and punching.
Further, since low kicks are inherently quicker and harder to see and dodge in general they are often emphasized in a street fight scenario.
The utility of high kicks (above chest level) has been debated. Proponents have viewed that some high front snap kicks are effective for striking the face or throat, particularly against charging opponents and flying kicks can be effective to scare off attackers. Martial arts systems that utilize high kicks also emphasize training of very efficient and technically perfected forms of kicks, include recovery techniques in the event of a miss or block and will employ a wide repertoire of kicks adapted to specific situations.
Detractors have asserted that the flying/jumping kicks performed in synthesis styles are primarily performed for conditioning or aesthetic reasons, while the high kicks as practiced in sport martial arts are privileged due to specialized tournament rules, such as limiting the contest to stand-up fighting, or reducing the penalty resulting from a failed attempt at delivering a kick.
Although kicks can result in an easy takedown for the opponent if they are caught or the resulting imbalance is exploited, kicks to all parts of the body are very present in mixed martial arts, with some fighters employing them sporadically, while others, like Lyoto Machida, Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone rely heavily on their use and have multiple knockouts by kicks on their resumee.
Delivering a front kick involves raising the knee and foot of the striking leg to the desired height and extending the leg to contact the target. The strike is usually delivered by the ball of the foot for a forward kick or the top of the toes for an upward kick. Taekwondo practitioners utilize both the heel and ball of the foot for striking. Various combat systems teach 'general' front kick using the heel or whole foot when footwear is on. Depending on the fighter's tactical needs, a front kick may involve more or less body motion and thrusting with the hips is a common method of increasing both reach and power of the kick. The front kick is typically executed with the upper body straight and balanced. Front kicks are typically aimed at targets below the chest: stomach, thighs, groin, knees or lower. Highly skilled martial artists are often capable of striking head-level targets with front kick.
The attacker swings their leg sideways in a circular motion, kicking the opponent's side with the front of the leg, usually with the instep, ball of the foot, toe, or shin. It can also be performed is a 360-degree kick where the attacker performs a full circle with their leg, in which the striking surface is generally either the instep, shin or ball of the foot.
There are many variations of the roundhouse kick based on various chambering of the cocked leg (small, or full, or universal or no chambering) or various footwork possibilities (rear-leg, front-leg, hopping, switch, oblique, dropping, ground spin-back or full 360 spin-back). An important variation is the downward roundhouse kick, nicknamed the '"Brazilian Kick"' from recent K-1 use: A more pronounced twist of the hips allows for a downward end of the trajectory of the kick that is very deceiving.
Due to its power, the roundhouse kick may also be performed at low level against targets, such as the knees, calf, or even thigh, since attacking leg muscles will often cripple an opponent's mobility. It is the most commonly used kick in kickboxing due to its power and ease of use. In most Karate styles, the instep is used to strike, though use of the shin as an official technique for a street fight would mostly be allowed,
The side kick is delivered sideways in relation to the body of the person kicking. A standard side kick is performed by first 'chambering' by raising the kicking leg diagonally across the body, then extending the leg in a linear fashion toward the target, while flexing the abdominals. The two common impact points in sidekicks are the heel or the outer edge of the foot, with the heel is more suited to hard targets such as the ribs, stomach, jaw, temple and chest. When executing a side kick with the heel, the toes should be pulled back so that they only make contact the heel and not with the whole foot as striking with the arch or the ball of the foot can injure the foot or break an ankle.
Another way of doing the side kick is to make it an end result of a faked roundhouse. This technique is considered antiquated and used only after an opponent is persuaded to believe it is a roundhouse (a feint) and then led to believe that closing the distance is best for an upper body attack, which plays into the tactical position and relative requirement of this version of the side kick. In Korean, "yeop chagi and in" Okinawan fighting, it is sometimes called a "dragon kick". Some have called this side kick a "twist kick" due to its roundhouse like origins. This side kick begins as would a roundhouse kick however the practitioner allows the heel to move towards the center of the body. The kick is then directed outward from a cross-leg chamber so that the final destination of the kick is a target to the side, rather than one that is directly ahead.
Also referred to as a donkey kick, mule kick, horse kick or turning back kick. This kick is directed backwards, keeping the kicking leg close to the standing leg and using the heel as a striking surface. In wushu, this kick is called the "half-moon" kick but involves the slight arching of the back and a higher lift of the leg to give a larger curvature. It is often used to strike opponents by surprise when facing away from them.
These are often complicated variations of basic kicks, either with a different target or combined with another move, such as jumping.
In Japanese, "kakato-geri" or "kakato-otoshi"; in Korean, "doki bal chagi" or "naeryeo chagi" or "chikka chagi". In Chinese, "pigua tui" or "xiapi tui".
An axe kick, also known as a "hammer kick" or "stretch kick", is characterized by a straightened leg with the heel descending onto an opponent like the blade of an axe. It begins with one foot rising upward as in a crescent kick then the upward arc motion is stopped and then the attacking foot is lowered to strike the target from above. The arc can be performed in either an inward (counter-clockwise) or outward (clockwise) fashion.
A well-known proponent of the axe kick was Andy Hug, the Swiss Kyokushinkai Karateka who won the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix.
The butterfly kick is done by doing a large circular motion with both feet in succession, making the combatant airborne. There are many variations of this kick. The kick may look like a slanted aerial cartwheeland at the same time, the body spins horizontally in a circle. It begins as a jump with one leg while kicking with the other, then move the kicking leg down and the jumping leg up into a kick, landing with the first kicking leg, all while spinning. This kick involves also the arching the back backwards when airborne to give a horizontal body with high angled legs to the horizontal. It may also resemble a jumping spin roundhouse kick (developed by James 'Two Screens' Perkins) into a spinning hook kick, all in one jump and one spin although the difference is that both legs should remain in the air at the same time for a considerable amount of time.
First practiced in Chinese martial arts, the butterfly kick, or "xuan zi", is widely viewed as ineffective for actual combat. However, its original purpose was to evade an opponent's floor sweep and flip to the antagonist's exposed side or it may be used as a double aerial kick to an opponent standing off to the side. It is now widely used in demonstrative wushu forms (taolu) as a symbol of difficulty. Also note the similarity in execution when compared to an ice skating maneuver known as a flying camel spin (aka: Button Camel).
This strike is a low roundhouse kick that hits the backside of the calf with the shin. While a Calf Kick sacrifices range in comparison to a standard low roundhouse kick to the thigh, the Calf Kick can't be checked with a knee or grabbed with an arm making it a safer kick for a striker in MMA matches vs opponents capable of checking low kicks or grapplers looking for takedown opportunities. The kick was popularized by former UFC Lightweight champion Benson Henderson during his tenure in the UFC.
In Japanese, "mikazuki Geri"; in Korean, "bandal chagi" (반달 차기).
The crescent kick, also referred to as a "swing" kick, has some similarities to a hook kick and is sometimes practised as an off-target front snap kick. The leg is bent like the front kick, but the knee is pointed at a target to the left or right of the true target. The energy from the snap is then redirected, whipping the leg into an arc and hitting the target from the side. This is useful for getting inside defenses and striking the side of the head or for knocking down hands to follow up with a close attack. In many styles of T'ai chi ch'uan and Kalaripayattu, crescent kicks are taught as tripping techniques. When training for crescent kicks, it is common to keep the knee extended to increase the difficulty. This also increases the momentum of the foot and can generate more force, though it takes longer to build up the speed.
The inward/inner/inside crescent hits with the inside edge of the foot. Its arch is clockwise for the left leg and counter-clockwise for the right leg with force generated by both legs' movement towards from the midline of the body. The inward variant has also been called a "hangetsu geri" (Half moon kick) in karate and is employed to "wipe" an opponents hand off of the wrist. It can quickly be followed up by a low side-blade kick to the knee of the offender.
The outward/outer/outside crescent hits with the 'blade', the outside edge of the foot. Its path is counter-clockwise for the left leg and clockwise for the right leg and force is generated by both legs' hip abduction. This is similar to a rising side kick, only with the kicking leg's hip flexed so that the line of force travels parallel to the ground from front to side rather than straight up, beginning and ending at the side.
In Korean, "huryeo chagi" (후려 차기) or "golcho chagi".
The hook kick strikes with the heel from the side. It is executed similar to a side kick. However, the kick is intentionally aimed slightly off target in the direction of the kicking foot's toes. At full extension, the knee is bent and the foot snapped to the side, impacting the target with the heel. In Taekwondo it is often used at the resulting miss of a short slide side kick to the head, but is considered a very high level technique in said circumstance. Practitioners of jeet kune do frequently use the term "heel hook kick" or "sweep kick". It is known as Gancho in Capoeira.
There are many variations of the hook kick, generally based on different foot work: rear- or front-leg, oblique or half-pivot, dropping, spin-back and more. The hook kick can be delivered with a near-straight leg at impact, or with a hooked finish (Kake in Japanese Karate) where the leg bends before impact to catch the target from behind. An important variation is the downward hook kick, delivered as a regular or a spin-back kick, in which the end of the trajectory is diagonally downwards for a surprise effect or following an evading opponent. Another important variation is the whip kick, which strikes with the flat of the foot instead of heel.
The hook kick is mainly used to strike the jaw area of an opponent, but is also highly effective in the temple region.
In Japanese, ; in Korean, "bandae dollyo chagi" (반대 돌려 차기), "dwit hu ryo chagi", "nakkio mom dollyo chagi" or "parryo chagi".
This kick is also known as a "heel kick", "reverse turning kick", "reverse round kick", "spinning hook kick", "spin kick", or "wheel kick". A low reverse roundhouse is also known as a "Sweep Kick". This kick traditionally uses the heel to strike with the kicking leg comes from around the kicker's back and remains straight, unlike a reverse hooking kick. See above for more on hook kicks. Variations exist for low, middle and high height. Spinning and leaping variations of the kick are also popular and are often showcased in film and television media. At UFC 142Edson Barboza knocked out Terry Etim using a wheel kick in the third round of their fight, the first such in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
A similarly named but technically different kick, is a roundhouse kick performed by turning as if for a "back straight kick" and executing a roundhouse kick. It is known as a "Reverse Roundhouse Kick" because the kicker turns in the opposite, or "reverse", direction before the kick is executed. This kick strikes with the ball of the foot for power or the top of the foot for range. This was exhibited by Bruce Lee on numerous occasions in his films Enter the Dragon, Fist of Fury and The Big Boss, Bill Wallace was also a great user of this kick, as seen in his fight with Bill Briggs, where he KO'd his opponent with the clocked 60 mph kick. The Jump Spin Hook Kick was popularized in the mid-eighties by Steven Ho in open martial art competitions.
In Olympic format (sport) taekwondo, this technique is performed using the balls of the feet and in a manner similar to a back thrust, rather than the circular technique adopted in other styles/Martial Arts.
A flying kick, in martial arts, is a general description of kicks that involve a running start, jump, then a kick in mid-air. Compared to a regular kick, the user is able to achieve greater momentum from the run at the start. Flying kicks are not to be mistaken for jumping kicks, which are similar maneuvers. A jumping kick is very similar to a flying kick, except that it lacks the running start and the user simply jumps and kicks from a stationary position. Flying kicks are often derived from the basic kicks. Some of the more commonly known flying kicks are the: flying side kick, flying back kick and the flying roundhouse kick, as well as the flying reverse roundhouse kick. Flying kicks are commonly practiced in Taekwondo, Karate, Wushu and Muay Thai for fitness, exhibitions and competition. It is known as "tobi geri" in Japanese martial artsand "twyo chagi" in Taekwondo.
The Showtime kick gained notability after being used by mixed martial artist Anthony Pettis, during his fight against Benson Henderson on December 16, at WEC 53 for the WEC Lightweight Championship. In the fifth round Pettis ran up the cage, jumped off the cage, then landed a switch kick while airborne. Sports reporters later named this the Showtime Kick. The kick was also used by mixed martial artists: Zabit Magomedsharipov and others. The kick was featured in the movie Here Comes the Boom.
Several kicks may be called a scissor kick, involving swinging out the legs to kick multiple targets or using the legs to take down an opponent.
The popularized version of a scissor kick is, while lying down, or jumping, the kicker brings both legs to both sides of the opponent's legs or to their body and head, then brings both in as a take down (as the name states, leg motions are like that of a pair of scissors).
The scissor kick in Taekwondo is called "kawi chagi". In Capoeira it is called tesoura (scissors).
Scissor kicks and other variants are also commonly applied in Vovinam.
A spinning heel kick is where the artist turns his/her body 360 degrees before landing the heel or the ball of his/her foot on the target. It is found in Muay Thai and is known in Capoeira as armada.
The vertical kick involves bringing the knee forward and across the chest, then swinging the hip while extending the kicking leg outward, striking with the outside ("sword") edge of the foot. In karate this is called a "yoko geri keage," in Taekwondo it is referred to as "sewo chagi" and can be performed as either an inward ("anuro") or outward ("bakuro") kick.
In Japanese karate, the term "ren geri" is used for several kicks performed in succession. Old karate did not promote the use of the legs for weapons as much as modern karate does, seeing them as being too open for countering, in modern sport karate (non-traditional) competitions,however, the ability to use multiple kicks without setting the foot down has become a viable option, not only for effectiveness but also for stylish aesthetics.
In Taekwon-Do, three types of multiple kick are distinguished:
One such Multiple Kick commonly seen in Taekwon-Do, is a slightly complex Side Kick where a High Side Kick is followed by a Low Side Kick which is in turn followed by a more powerful Side Kick. This combination is done rapidly and is meant not for multiple targets but for a single one. The Multiple Kick usually targets the face, thigh and chest, but in turn can be a multiple chest attack which is useful for knocking the breath out of an attacker. The Multiple Kick is usually done in the "second" style described in the Side Kick article which "involves shooting the leg forward as in a front kick and then pivoting and turning so" to actually deliver a side kick. That style "has far less power but is much faster and more deceptive", which is what the Multiple Kick was designed for. The Multiple Kick, unlike some Side Kicks or "side blade kicks", never uses the outer edge of the foot; it is intended solely for the heel to be used as the impact point. Depending on the strength and skill of the attacker and the attacked, the combination can be highly effective or highly ineffective when compared to more pragmatic attacks. In some encounters with highly trained and conditioned fighters, multiple side-kicks have seen disastrous results against the abs of their target. | en.wikipedia.org | Kick | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16831 |
16838 | Khalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar (, ; also transliterated as Almihdhar) (May 16, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi Arabian Hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks.
Mihdhar was born in Saudi Arabia and fought with the Bosnian mujahideen during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. In early 1999, he traveled to Afghanistan where, as an experienced and respected jihadist, he was selected by Osama bin Laden to participate in the attacks. Mihdhar arrived in California with fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi in January 2000, after traveling to Malaysia for the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. At this point, the CIA was aware of Mihdhar, and he was photographed in Malaysia with another al-Qaeda member who was involved in the USS "Cole" bombing. The CIA did not inform the FBI when it learned that Mihdhar and Hazmi had entered the United States, and Mihdhar was not placed on any watchlists until late August 2001.
Upon arriving in San Diego County, California, Mihdhar and Hazmi were to train as pilots, but spoke English poorly and did not do well with flight lessons. In June 2000, Mihdhar left the United States for Yemen, leaving Hazmi behind in San Diego. Mihdhar spent some time in Afghanistan in early 2001 and returned to the United States in early July 2001. He stayed in New Jersey in July and August, before arriving in the Washington, D.C. area at the beginning of September.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Mihdhar boarded American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked approximately 30 minutes after takeoff. The plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people aboard the flight, along with 125 on the ground.
Al-Mihdhar was born on May 16, 1975, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to a prominent family, related to the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. Little is known about his life before the age of 20, when he and childhood friend Nawaf al-Hazmi went to Bosnia and Herzegovina to fight with the mujahideen in the Bosnian War. After the war, Mihdhar and Hazmi went to Afghanistan where they fought alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, and al-Qaeda would later dub Hazmi his "second in command". In 1997, Mihdhar told his family that he was leaving to fight in Chechnya, though it is not certain that he actually went to Chechnya. The same year, both men attracted the attention of Saudi Intelligence, who believed they were involved in arms smuggling, and the following year they were eyed as possible collaborators in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa after it emerged that Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali had given the FBI the phone number of Mihdhar's father-in-law; 967-1-200578, which turned out to be a key communications hub for al-Qaeda militants, and eventually tipped off the Americans about the upcoming Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit.
In the late 1990s, Mihdhar married Hoda al-Hada, who was the sister of a comrade from Yemen, and they had two daughters. Through marriage, Mihdhar was related to a number of individuals involved with al-Qaeda in some way. Mihdhar's father-in-law, Ahmad Mohammad Ali al-Hada, helped facilitate al-Qaeda communications in Yemen, and in late 2001, Mihdhar's brother-in-law, Ahmed al-Darbi, was captured in Azerbaijan and sent to Guantanamo Bay on charges of supporting a plot to bomb ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
In Spring 1999, al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden committed to support the 9/11 attacks plot, which was largely organized by prominent al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mihdhar and Hazmi were among the first group of participants selected for the operation, along with Tawfiq bin Attash and Abu Bara al Yemeni, al-Qaeda members from Yemen. Mihdhar, who had spent time in al-Qaeda camps in the 1990s, was known and highly regarded by Bin Laden. Mihdhar was so eager to participate in jihad operations in the United States that he had already obtained a one-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) multiple-entry visa from the consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on April 7, 1999, one day after obtaining a new passport. Mihdhar listed the Los Angeles Sheraton as his intended destination.
Once selected, Mihdhar and Hazmi were sent to the Mes Aynak training camp in Afghanistan. In late 1999, Hazmi, Attash and Yemeni went to Karachi, Pakistan to see Mohammed, who instructed them on Western culture and travel; however, Mihdhar did not go to Karachi, instead returning to Yemen. He was known as "Sinaan" during the preparations.
The CIA was aware of Mihdhar and Hazmi's involvement with al-Qaeda, having been informed by Saudi intelligence during a 1999 meeting in Riyadh. Based on information uncovered by the FBI in the 1998 United States embassy bombings case, the National Security Agency (NSA) began tracking the communications of Hada, Mihdhar's father-in-law. In late 1999, the NSA informed the CIA of an upcoming meeting in Malaysia, which Hada mentioned would involve "Khalid", "Nawaf", and "Salem", who was Hazmi's younger brother, Salem al-Hazmi.
On January 4, 2000, Mihdhar left Yemen and flew to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he spent the night. The CIA broke into his hotel room and photocopied his passport, which gave them his full name, birth information and passport number for the first time, and alerted them that he held an entry visa to the United States. The photocopy was sent to the CIA's Alec Station, which was tracking al-Qaeda.
On January 5, 2000, Mihdhar traveled to Kuala Lumpur, where he joined Hazmi, Attash and Yemeni, who were all arriving from Pakistan. Hamburg cell member Ramzi bin al-Shibh was also at the summit, and Mohammed possibly attended. The group was in Malaysia to meet with Hambali, the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Asian al-Qaeda affiliate. During the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit, many key details of the 9/11 attacks may have been arranged. At the time, the attacks plot had an additional component involving hijacking aircraft in Asia, as well as in the United States. Attash and Yemeni were slated for this part of the plot. However, it was later canceled by Bin Laden for being too difficult to coordinate with United States operations.
In Malaysia, the group stayed with Yazid Sufaat, a local Jemaah Islamiyah member, who provided accommodation at Hambali's request. Both Mihdhar and Hazmi were secretly photographed at the meeting by Malaysian authorities, whom the CIA had asked to provide surveillance. The Malaysians reported that Mihdhar spoke at length with Attash, and he met with Fahd al-Quso and others who were later involved in the USS "Cole" bombing. After the meeting, Mihdhar and Hazmi traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, on January 8 and left a week later on January 15 for the United States.
On January 15, 2000, Mihdhar and Hazmi arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Bangkok and were admitted as tourists for a period of six months. Immediately after entering the country, Mihdhar and Hazmi met Omar al-Bayoumi in an airport restaurant. Bayoumi claimed he was merely being charitable in assisting the two seemingly out-of-place Muslims with moving to San Diego, where he helped them find an apartment near his own, co-signed their lease, and gave them $1,500 to help pay their rent. Mohammed later claimed that he suggested San Diego as their destination, based on information gleaned from a San Diego phone book that listed language and flight schools. Mohammed also recommended that the two seek assistance from the local Muslim community, since neither spoke English nor had experience with Western culture.
While in San Diego, witnesses told the FBI he and Hazmi had a close relationship with Anwar Al Awlaki, an imam who served as their spiritual advisor. Authorities say the two regularly attended the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami mosque Awlaki led in San Diego, and Awlaki had many closed-door meetings with them, which led investigators to believe Awlaki knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.
In early February 2000, Mihdhar and Hazmi rented an apartment at the Parkwood Apartments complex in the Clairemont Mesa area of San Diego, and Mihdhar purchased a used 1988 Toyota Corolla. Neighbors thought that Mihdhar and Hazmi were odd because months passed without the men getting any furniture, and they slept on mattresses on the floor, yet they carried briefcases, were frequently on their mobile phones, and were occasionally picked up by a limousine. Those who met Mihdhar in San Diego described him as "dark and brooding, with a disdain for American culture". Neighbors also said that the pair constantly played flight simulator games.
Mihdhar and Hazmi took flight lessons on May 5, 2000, at the Sorbi Flying Club in San Diego, with Mihdhar flying an aircraft for 42 minutes. They took additional lessons on May 10; however, with poor English skills, they did not do well with flight lessons. Mihdhar and Hazmi raised some suspicion when they offered extra money to their flight instructor, Richard Garza, if he would train them to fly jets. Garza refused the offer but did not report them to authorities. After the 9/11 attacks, Garza described the two men as "impatient students" who "wanted to learn to fly jets, specifically Boeings".
Mihdhar and Hazmi moved out of the Parkwood Apartments at the end of May 2000, and Mihdhar transferred registration for the Toyota Corolla to Hazmi. On June 10, 2000, Mihdhar left the United States and returned to Yemen to visit his wife, against the wishes of Mohammed who wanted him to remain in the United States to help Hazmi adapt. Mohammed was so angered by this that he decided to remove Mihdhar from the 9/11 plot, but he was overruled by bin Laden. Mihdhar remained part of the plot as a muscle hijacker, who would help take over the aircraft. On October 12, 2000, the USS "Cole" was bombed by a small boat laden with explosives. After the bombing, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani reported that Mihdhar had been one of the key planners of the attack and had been in the country at the time of the attacks. In late 2000, Mihdhar was back in Saudi Arabia, staying with a cousin in Mecca.
In February 2001, Mihdhar returned to Afghanistan for several months, possibly entering across the Iranian border after a flight from Syria. FBI director Robert Mueller later stated his belief that Mihdhar served as the coordinator and organizer for the muscle hijackers. He was the last of the muscle hijackers to return to the United States. On June 10, he returned to Saudi Arabia for a month, where he applied to re-enter the United States through the Visa Express program, indicating that he intended to stay at a Marriott hotel in New York City. On his visa application, Mihdhar falsely stated that he had never previously traveled to the United States.
On July 4, Mihdhar returned to the United States, arriving at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, using a new passport obtained the previous month. A digital copy of one of Mihdhar's passports was later recovered during a search of an al-Qaeda safe house in Afghanistan, which held indicators, such as fake or altered passport stamps, that Mihdhar was a member of a known terrorist group. At the time when Mihdhar was admitted to the United States, immigration inspectors had not been trained to look for such indicators. Upon arriving, Mihdhar did not check into the Marriott but instead spent a night at another hotel in the city.
Mihdhar bought a fake ID on July 10 from All Services Plus in Passaic County, New Jersey, which was in the business of selling counterfeit documents, including another ID to Flight 11 hijacker Abdulaziz al-Omari. On August 1, Mihdhar and fellow Flight 77 hijacker Hani Hanjour drove to Virginia in order to obtain driver's licenses. Once they arrived, they scouted out a 7-Eleven convenience store and a dollar store in Falls Church, and found two Salvadoran immigrants who, for $50 each, were willing to vouch for Mihdhar and Hanjour as being Virginian residents. With notarized residency forms, Mihdhar and Hanjour were able to obtain driver's licenses at a Virginian motor vehicle office. Flight 77 hijackers Salem al-Hazmi and Majed Moqed, and United Airlines Flight 93 hijacker Ziad Jarrah used the same addresses obtained from the Salvadorans to obtain Virginian driver's licenses.
In August 2001, Mihdhar and Hazmi made several visits to the library at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, where they used computers to look up travel information and book flights. On August 22, Mihdhar and Hazmi tried to purchase flight tickets from the American Airlines online ticket-merchant, but had technical difficulties and gave up. Mihdhar and Moqed were able to make flight reservations for Flight 77 on August 25, using Moqed's credit card; however, the transaction did not fully go through because the billing address and the shipment address for the tickets did not match.
On August 31, Mihdhar closed an account at Hudson United Bank in New Jersey, having opened the account when he arrived in July, and was with Hanjour when he made a withdrawal from an ATM in Paterson on September 1. The next day, Mihdhar, Moqed and Hanjour traveled to Maryland, where they stayed at budget motels in Laurel. Mihdhar was among the muscle hijackers who worked out at a Gold's Gym in Greenbelt in early September. On September 5, Mihdhar and Moqed went to the American Airlines ticket counter at Baltimore-Washington International Airport to pick up their tickets for Flight 77, paying $2,300 in cash.
Mihdhar was placed on a CIA watchlist on August 21, 2001, and a note was sent on August 23 to the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) suggesting that Mihdhar and Hazmi be added to their watchlists. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not notified about the two men. On August 23, the CIA informed the FBI that Mihdhar had obtained a U.S. visa in Jeddah. The FBI headquarters received a copy of the Visa Express application from the Jeddah embassy on August 24, showing the New York Marriott as Mihdhar's destination.
On August 28, the FBI New York field office requested that a criminal case be opened to determine whether Mihdhar was still in the United States, but the request was refused. The FBI ended up treating Mihdhar as an intelligence case, which meant that the FBI's criminal investigators could not work on the case, due to the barrier separating intelligence and criminal case operations. An agent in the New York office sent an e-mail to FBI headquarters saying, "Whatever has happened to this, someday someone will die, and the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain 'problems.'" The reply from headquarters was, "we [at headquarters] are all frustrated with this issue ... [t]hese are the rules. NSLU does not make them up."
The FBI contacted Marriott on August 30, requesting that they check guest records, and on September 5, they reported that no Marriott hotels had any record of Mihdhar checking in. The day before the attacks, Robert Fuller of the New York office requested that the Los Angeles FBI office check all local Sheraton Hotels, as well as Lufthansa and United Airlines bookings, because those were the two airlines Mihdhar had used to enter the country. Neither the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network nor the FBI's Financial Review Group, which have access to credit card and other private financial records, were notified about Mihdhar prior to September 11.
Regarding the CIA's refusal to inform the FBI about Mihdhar and Hazmi, author Lawrence Wright suggests the CIA wanted to protect its turf and was concerned about giving sensitive intelligence to FBI Agent John P. O'Neill, who Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer described as duplicitous. Wright also speculates that the CIA may have been protecting intelligence operations overseas, and might have been eying Mihdhar and Hazmi as recruitment targets to obtain intelligence on al-Qaeda, although the CIA was not authorized to operate in the United States and might have been leaving them for Saudi intelligence to recruit.
On September 10, 2001, Mihdhar and the other hijackers checked into the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, a prominent Saudi Arabian government official, was staying at the same hotel that night, although there is no evidence that they met or knew of each other's presence.
At 6:22 a.m. on September 11, 2001, the group checked out of the hotel and headed to Dulles airport. At 7:15 a.m., Mihdhar and Moqed checked in at the American Airlines ticket counter and arrived at the passenger security checkpoint at 7:20 a.m. Both men set off the metal detector and were put through secondary screening. Security video footage later released shows that Moqed was wanded, but the screener did not identify what set off the alarm, and both Moqed and Mihdhar were able to proceed without further hindrance. Mihdhar was also selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which involved extra screening of his luggage; however, because Mihdhar did not check any luggage, this had no effect. By 7:50 a.m., Mihdhar and the other hijackers, carrying knives and box cutters, had made it through the airport security checkpoint and boarded Flight 77 to Los Angeles. Mihdhar was seated in seat 12B, next to Moqed.
The flight was scheduled to depart from Gate D26 at 8:10 a.m. but was delayed by 10 minutes. The last routine radio communication from the plane to air traffic control occurred at 8:50:51 a.m. At 8:54 a.m., Flight 77 deviated from its assigned flight path and began to turn south, at which point the hijackers set the flight's autopilot setting for Washington, D.C. Passenger Barbara Olson called her husband, United States Solicitor General Ted Olson (whose 61st birthday was on that day), and reported that the plane had been hijacked. At 9:37:45 a.m, Flight 77 crashed into the west facade of the Pentagon, killing all 64 people aboard, along with 125 in the Pentagon. In the recovery process, remains of the five hijackers were identified through a process of elimination, since their DNA did not match any from the victims, and put into the custody of the FBI.
After the attacks, the identification of Mihdhar was one of the first links suggesting that bin Laden had played a role in their organization, since Mihdhar had been seen at the Malaysian conference speaking to bin Laden's associates. The FBI interrogated Quso, who was arrested following the USS "Cole" bombing and in custody in Yemen. Quso was able to identify Mihdhar, Hazmi and Attash in photos provided by the FBI, and he also knew Marwan al-Shehhi, a hijacker aboard United Airlines Flight 175. From Quso, the FBI was able to establish an al-Qaeda link to the attacks.
On September 12, 2001, the Toyota Corolla purchased by Mihdhar was found in Dulles International Airport's hourly parking lot. Inside the vehicle, authorities found a letter written by Mohamed Atta, a hijacker aboard American Airlines Flight 11; maps of Washington, D.C. and New York City; a cashier's check made out to a Phoenix, Arizona flight school; four drawings of a Boeing 757 cockpit; a box cutter; and a page with notes and phone numbers, which contained evidence that led investigators to San Diego.
On September 19, 2001, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) distributed a special alert that listed Mihdhar as still alive, and other reports began suggesting that a number of the alleged hijackers were likewise still alive. For instance, on September 23, 2001, the BBC published an article that suggested Mihdhar and others named as hijackers were still at large. The German magazine "Der Spiegel" later investigated the BBC's claims of "living" hijackers and reported they were cases of mistaken identities. In 2002, Saudi Arabian officials stated that the names of the hijackers were correct and that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabian. In 2006, in response to 9/11 conspiracy theories surrounding its original news story, the BBC said that confusion had arisen with the common Arabic names, and that its later reports on the hijackers superseded its original story.
In 2005, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon alleged that the Defense Department data mining project Able Danger identified Mihdhar, Hazmi, Shehhi, and Atta as members of a Brooklyn-based al-Qaeda cell in early 2000. Shaffer largely based his allegations on the recollections of Navy Captain Scott Phillpott, who later recanted his recollection, telling investigators that he was "convinced that Atta was not on the chart that we had". Phillpott said that Shaffer was "relying on my recollection 100 percent", and the Defense Department Inspector General's report indicated that Philpott strongly supported the social network analysis techniques used in Able Danger, and might have exaggerated claims of identifying the hijackers. | en.wikipedia.org | Khalid al-Mihdhar | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16838 |
16839 | Kilo-
Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand (103). It is used in the International System of Units, where it has the symbol k, in lower case.
The prefix "kilo" is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "thousand". It was originally adopted by Antoine Lavoisier's research group in 1795, and introduced into the metric system in France with its establishment in 1799.
In 19th century English it was sometimes spelled chilio, in line with a puristic opinion by Thomas Young.
By extension, currencies are also sometimes preceded by the prefix kilo-:
For the kilobyte, a second definition has been in common use in some fields of computer science and information technology. It uses "kilobyte" to mean 210 bytes (= 1024 bytes), because of the mathematical coincidence that 210 is approximately 103. The reason for this application is that digital hardware and architectures natively use base 2 exponentiation, and not decimal systems. JEDEC memory standards still permit this definition, but acknowledge the correct SI usage.
NIST comments on the confusion caused by these contrasting definitions: "Faced with this reality, the "IEEE Standards Board" decided that IEEE standards will use the conventional, internationally adopted, definitions of the SI prefixes", instead of kilo for 1024. To address this conflict, a new set of binary prefixes has been introduced, which is based on powers of 2. Therefore, 1024 bytes are defined as one kibibyte (1 KiB).
When units occur in exponentiation, such as in square and cubic forms, any multiplier prefix is considered part of the unit, and thus included in the exponentiation. | en.wikipedia.org | Kilo- | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16839 |
16843 | Utamaro
Kitagawa Utamaro (, ; ; – 31 October 1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his "bijin ōkubi-e" "large-headed pictures of beautiful women" of the 1790s. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects.
Little is known of Utamaro's life. His work began to appear in the 1770s, and he rose to prominence in the early 1790s with his portraits of beauties with exaggerated, elongated features. He produced over 2000 known prints and was one of the few ukiyo-e artists to achieve fame throughout Japan in his lifetime. In 1804 he was arrested and manacled for fifty days for making illegal prints depicting the 16th-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and died two years later.
Utamaro's work reached Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, where it was very popular, enjoying particular acclaim in France. He influenced the European Impressionists, particularly with his use of partial views and his emphasis on light and shade, which they imitated. The reference to the "Japanese influence" among these artists often refers to the work of Utamaro.
Ukiyo-e art flourished in Japan during the Edo period from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The artform took as its primary subjects courtesans, kabuki actors, and others associated with the "ukiyo" "floating world" lifestyle of the pleasure districts. Alongside paintings, mass-produced woodblock prints were a major form of the genre. Ukiyo-e art was aimed at the common townspeople at the bottom of the social scale, especially of the administrative capital of Edo. Its audience, themes, aesthetics, and mass-produced nature kept it from consideration as serious art.
In the mid-eighteenth century, full-colour ' prints became common. They were printed by using a large number of woodblocks, one for each colour. Towards the close of the eighteenth century there was a peak in both quality and quantity of the work. Kiyonaga was the pre-eminent portraitist of beauties during the 1780s, and the tall, graceful beauties in his work had a great influence on Utamaro, who was to succeed him in fame. Shunshō of the Katsukawa school introduced the ' "large-headed picture" in the 1760s. He and other members of the Katsukawa school, such as Shunkō, popularized the form for "" actor prints, and popularized the dusting of mica in the backgrounds to produce a glittering effect.
Little is known of Utamaro's life. He was born Kitagawa Ichitarō in . As an adult, he was known by the given names Yūsuke, and later Yūki. Early accounts have given his birthplace as Kyoto, Osaka, Yoshiwara in Edo (modern Tokyo), or Kawagoe in Musashi Province (modern Saitama Prefecture); none of these places has been verified. The names of his parents are not known; it has been suggested his father may have been a Yoshiwara teahouse owner, or Toriyama Sekien, an artist who tutored him and who wrote of Utamaro playing in his garden as a child.
Apparently, Utamaro married, although little is known about his wife and there is no record of their having had children. There are, however, many prints of tender and intimate domestic scenes featuring the same woman and child over several years of the child's growth among his works.
Sometime during his childhood Utamaro came under the tutelage of Sekien, who described his pupil as bright and devoted to art. Sekien, although trained in the upper-class Kanō school of Japanese painting, had become in middle age a practitioner of ukiyo-e and his art was aimed at the townspeople in Edo. His students included haiku poets and ukiyo-e artists such as Eishōsai Chōki.
Utamaro's first published work may be an illustration of eggplants in the "haikai" poetry anthology "Chiyo no Haru" published in 1770. His next known works appear in 1775 under the name Kitagawa Toyoaki,—the cover to a kabuki playbook entitled "Forty-eight Famous Love Scenes" which was distributed at the Edo playhouse Nakamura-za. As Toyoaki, Utamaro continued as an illustrator of popular literature for the rest of the decade, and occasionally produced single-sheet "" portraits of kabuki actors.
The young, ambitious publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō enlisted Utamaro and in the autumn of 1782 the artist hosted a lavish banquet whose list of guests included artists such as Kiyonaga, Kitao Shigemasa, and Katsukawa Shunshō, as well as writers such as Ōta Nanpo (1749–1823)and . It was at this banquet that it is believed the artist first announced his new art name, "Utamaro". Per custom, he distributed a specially made print for the occasion, in which, before a screen bearing the names of his guests, is a self-portrait of Utamaro making a deep bow.
Utamaro's first work for Tsutaya appeared in a publication dated as 1783: "The Fantastic Travels of a Playboy in the Land of Giants", a "" picture book created in collaboration with his friend Shimizu Enjū, a writer. In the book, Tsutaya described the pair as making their debuts.
At some point in the mid-1780s, probably 1783, he went to live with Tsutaya Jūzaburō. It is estimated that he lived there for approximately five years. He seems to have become a principal artist for the Tsutaya firm. Evidence of his prints for the next few years is sporadic, as he mostly produced illustrations for books of "kyōka" ("crazy verse"), a parody of the classical "waka" form. None of his work produced during the period 1790–1792 has survived.
In about 1791 Utamaro gave up designing prints for books and concentrated on making single portraits of women displayed in half-length, rather than the prints of women in groups favoured by other ukiyo-e artists.
In 1793 he achieved recognition as an artist, and his semi-exclusive arrangement with the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō ended. Utamaro then went on to produce several series of well-known works, all featuring women of the Yoshiwara district.
Over the years, he also created a number of volumes of animal, insect, and nature studies and "shunga", or erotica. Shunga prints were quite acceptable in Japanese culture, not associated with a negative concept of pornography as found in western cultures, but considered rather as a natural aspect of human behavior and circulated among all levels of Japanese society.
Tsutaya Jūzaburō died in 1797, and Utamaro thereafter lived in Kyūemon-chō, then Bakuro-chō, and finally near the Benkei Bridge. Utamaro was apparently very upset by the loss of his long-time friend and supporter. Some commentators feel that after this event, his work never reached the heights previously attained.
A law went into effect in 1790 requiring prints to bear a censor's seal of approval to be sold. Censorship increased in strictness over the following decades, and violators could receive harsh punishments. From 1799 even preliminary drafts required approval. A group of Utagawa-school offenders including Toyokuni had their works repressed in 1801. In 1804, Utamaro ran into legal trouble over a series of prints of samurai warriors, with their names slightly disguised; the depiction of warriors, their names, and their crests was forbidden at the time. Records have not survived of what sort of punishment Utamaro received.
The , published from 1797 to 1802, detailed the life of the 16th-century military ruler, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The work was widely adapted, such as for kabuki and bunraku theatre. When artists and writers put out prints and books based on the "Ehon Taikōki" in the disparaged "ukiyo-e" style, it attracted reprisals from the government. In probably the most famous case of censorship of the Edo period, Utamaro was imprisoned in 1804, after which he was manacled along with Tsukimaro, Toyokuni, Shuntei, Shun'ei, and Jippensha Ikku for fifty days and their publishers subjected to heavy fines.
Government documents of the case are no longer extant, and there are few other documents relating to the incident. It appears that Utamaro was most prominent of the group. The artists might have offended the authorities by identifying the historical figures by name and with their identifying crests and other symbols, which was prohibited, and by depicting Hideyoshi with prostitutes of the pleasure quarters. Utamaro's censored prints include one of the "daimyō" Katō Kiyomasa lustily gazing at a Korean dancer at a party, another of Hideyoshi holding the hand of his page Ishida Mitsunari in a sexually suggestive manner, and another of Hideyoshi with his five consorts viewing the cherry blossoms at the temple Daigo-ji in Kyoto, a historical event famous for displaying Hideyoshi's extravagance. This last displays the names of each consort while placing them in the typical poses of courtesans at a Yoshiwara party.
Records give Utamaro's death date as the 20th day of the 9th month of the year Bunka, which equates to 31 October 1806. He was given the Buddhist posthumous name Shōen Ryōkō Shinshi. Apparently with no heirs, his tomb at the temple was left untended. A century later, in 1917, admirers of Utamaro had the decayed grave repaired.
Utamaro had a number of pupils, who took names such as Kikumaro (later Tsukimaro), Hidemaro, and Takemaro. These artists produced works in the master's style, though none are considered of Utamaro's quality. Sometimes he allowed them to sign his name. Of his students, Koikawa Shunchō married Utamaro's widow on the master's death and took on the name . After 1820 he produced his work under the name "Kitagawa Tetsugorō".
What little information about Utamaro's life that has been passed down is often contradictory, so analysis of his development as an artist relies chiefly on his work itself. Utamaro is known primarily for his "bijin-ga" portraits of female beauties, though his work ranges from "kachō-e" "flower-and-bird pictures" to landscapes to book illustrations.
Utamaro's early "bijin-ga" follow closely the example of Kiyonaga. In the 1790s his figures became more exaggerated, with thin bodies and long faces with small features. Utamaro experimented with line, colour, and printing techniques to bring out subtle differences in the features, expressions, and backdrops of subjects from a wide variety of class and background. Utamaro's individuated beauties were in sharp contrast to the stereotyped, idealized images that had been the norm.
By the end of the 1790s, especially following the death of his patron Tsutaya Jūzaburō in 1797, Utamaro's prodigious output declined in quality. By 1800 his exaggerations had become more extreme, with faces three times as long as they are wide and body proportions of eight heads length to the body. By this point, critics such as Basil Stewart consider Utamaro's figures to "lose much of their grace"; these later works are less prized amongst collectors.
Utamaro produced more than two thousand prints during his working career, amongst which are over 120 "bijin-ga" print series. He made illustrations for nearly 100 books and about 30 paintings. He also created a number of paintings and "surimono", as well as many illustrated books, including more than thirty "shunga" books, albums, and related publications. Among his best-known works are the series "Ten Studies in Female Physiognomy", "A Collection of Reigning Beauties", "Great Love Themes of Classical Poetry" (sometimes called "Women in Love" containing individual prints such as "Revealed Love" and "Pensive Love"), and "Twelve Hours in the Pleasure Quarters". His work appeared from at least 60 publishers, of which Tsutaya Jūzaburō and Izumiya Ichibei were the most important.
He alone, of his contemporary "ukiyo-e" artists, achieved a national reputation during his lifetime. His sensuous beauties generally are considered the finest and most evocative "bijinga" in all of "ukiyo-e".
He succeeded in capturing the subtle aspects of personality and the transient moods of women of all classes, ages, and circumstances. His reputation has remained undiminished since. Kitagawa Utamaro's work is known worldwide, and he generally is regarded as one of the half-dozen greatest "ukiyo-e" artists of all time.
Utamaro was recognized as a master in his own age. He appears to have achieved a national reputation at a time when even the most popular Edo ukiyo-e artists were little known outside the city. Due to his popularity Utamaro had many imitators, some of whom likely signed their work with his name; this is believed to include students of his and his successor, Utamaro II. On rare occasions Utamaro signed his work "the genuine Utamaro" to distinguish himself from these imitators. Forgeries and reprints of Utamaro's work are common; he produced a large body of work, but his earlier, more popular works are difficult to find in good condition.
A wave of interest in Japanese art swept France from the mid-19th century, called "Japonisme". Exhibitions in Paris of Japanese art began to be staged in the 1880s, include an Utamaro exhibition in 1888 by the German-French art dealer Siegfried Bing. The French Impressionists regarded Utamaro's work on a level akin with Hokusai and Hiroshige. French artist-collectors of Utamaro's work included Monet, Degas, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec
Utamaro had an influence on the compositional, colour, and sense of tranquility of the American painter Mary Cassatt's work. The "shin-hanga" ("new prints") artist Goyō Hashiguchi (1880–1921) was called the "Utamaro of the Taishō period" (1912–1926) for his manner of depicting women. The painter character Seiji Moriyama in the British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro's "An Artist of the Floating World" (1986) has a reputation as a "modern Utamaro" for his combination of Western techniques Utamaro-like feminine subjects.
In 2016 Utamaro's "Fukaku Shinobu Koi" set the record price for an ukiyo-e print sold at auction at €.
The only surviving official record of Utamaro is a stele at Senkō-ji Temple, which gives his death date as the 20th day of the 9th month of the year Bunka, which equates to 31 October 1806. The record states he was 54 by East Asian age reckoning, by which age begins at 1 rather than 0. From this a birth year of is deduced.
Utamaro has gained general acceptance as one of the form's greatest masters. The earliest document of ukiyo-e artists, "Ukiyo-e Ruikō", was first compiled while Utamaro was active. The work was not printed, but exists in various manuscripts that different writers altered and expanded. The earliest surviving copy, the "Ukiyo-e Kōshō", wrote of Utamaro:
The earliest comprehensive historical and critical works on ukiyo-e came from the West, and often denied Utamaro a place in the ukiyo-e canon. Ernest Fenollosa's "Masters of " of 1896 was the first such overview of ukiyo-e. The book posited ukiyo-e as having evolved towards a late-18th-century golden age that began to decline with the advent of Utamaro, which he condemned for his "gradual elongation of the figure, and an adoption of violent emotion and extravagant attitudes". Fenollosa had harsher criticism for Utamaro's pupils, who he considered to have "carried the extravagances of their teacher to a point of ugliness". In his "Chats on Japanese Prints" of 1915, Arthur Davison Ficke concurred that with Utamaro ukiyo-e entered a period of exaggerated, manneristic decadence.
Laurence Binyon, the Keeper of Oriental Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, wrote an account in "Painting in the Far East" in 1908 that was similar to Fenollosa's, considering the 1790s a period of decline, but placing Utamaro amongst the masters. He called Utamaro "one of the world's artists for the intrinsic qualities of his genius" and "the greatest of all the figure-designers" in ukiyo-e, with a "far greater resource of composition" than his peers and an "endless" capacity for "unexpected invention". James A. Michener re-evaluated the development of ukiyo-e in "The Floating World" of 1954, in which he places the 1790s as "the culminating years of ukiyo-e", when "Utamaro brought the grace of Sukenobu to its apex". 's "Traditional Woodblock Prints of Japan" of 1964 set the golden age of ukiyo-e at the period of Kiyonaga, Utamaro, and Sharaku, followed by a period of decline with the declaration beginning in the 1790s of strict sumptuary laws that dictated what could be depicted in artworks.
The French art critic Edmond de Goncourt published "Outamaro", the first monograph on Utamaro, in 1891, with help from the Japanese art dealer Tadamasa Hayashi. British ukiyo-e scholar Jack Hillier had the monograph "Utamaro: Colour Prints and Paintings" published in 1961.
A partial list of his print series and their dates includes: | en.wikipedia.org | Utamaro | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16843 |
16844 | Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organization founded by Nelson Mandela.
Annan studied economics at Macalester College, international relations at the Graduate Institute Geneva, and management at MIT. Annan joined the UN in 1962, working for the World Health Organization's Geneva office. He went on to work in several capacities at the UN Headquarters including serving as the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between March 1992 and December 1996. He was appointed the Secretary-General on 13 December 1996 by the Security Council, and later confirmed by the General Assembly, making him the first office holder to be elected from the UN staff itself. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001, and was succeeded as Secretary-General by Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2007.
As the Secretary-General, Annan reformed the UN bureaucracy; worked to combat HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa; and launched the UN Global Compact. He was criticized for not expanding the Security Council and faced calls for his resignation after an investigation into the Oil-for-Food Programme, but was largely exonerated of personal corruption. After the end of his term as UN Secretary-General, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to work on international development. In 2012, Annan was the UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria, to help find a resolution to the ongoing conflict there. Annan quit after becoming frustrated with the UN's lack of progress with regards to conflict resolution. In September 2016, Annan was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis.
Kofi Annan was born in Kumasi in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) on 8 April 1938. His twin sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, shared the middle name "Atta", which in the Akan language means 'twin'. Annan and his sister were born into one of the country's Ashanti and Fante aristocratic families; both of their grandfathers and their uncle were tribal chiefs.
In the Akan names tradition, some children are named according to the day of the week on which they were born, sometimes in relation to how many children precede them. "Kofi" in Akan is the name that corresponds with Friday, the day of which Annan was born. Annan said that his surname rhymes with "cannon" in English.
From 1954 to 1957, Annan attended the elite Mfantsipim school, a Methodist boarding school in Cape Coast founded in the 1870s. Annan said that the school taught him that "suffering anywhere, concerns people everywhere". In 1957, the year Annan graduated from Mfantsipim, the Gold Coast gained independence from the UK and began using the name "Ghana".
In 1958, Annan began studying economics at the Kumasi College of Science and Technology, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology of Ghana. He received a Ford Foundation grant, enabling him to complete his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, in 1961. Annan then completed a "diplôme d'études approfondies" DEA degree in International Relations at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1961–62. After some years of work experience, he studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management (1971–72) in the Sloan Fellows program and earned a master's degree in management.
Annan was fluent in English, French, Akan, and some Kru languages as well as other African languages.
In 1962, Kofi Annan started working as a budget officer for the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations (UN). From 1974 to 1976, he worked as a manager of the state-owned Ghana Tourist Development Company in Accra. In 1980 he became the head of personnel for the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. In 1983 he became the director of administrative management services of the UN Secretariat in New York. In 1987, Annan was appointed as an Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management and Security Coordinator for the UN system. In 1990, he became Assistant Secretary-General for Program Planning, Budget and Finance, and Control.
When Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali established the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in 1992, Annan was appointed to the new department as Deputy to then Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding. Annan was subsequently appointed in March 1993 as Under-Secretary-General of that department. On 29 August 1995, while Boutros-Ghali was unreachable on an airplane, Annan instructed United Nations officials to "relinquish for a limited period of time their authority to veto air strikes in Bosnia." This move allowed NATO forces to conduct Operation Deliberate Force and made him a favorite of the United States. According to Richard Holbrooke, Annan's "gutsy performance" convinced the United States that he would be a good replacement for Boutros-Ghali.
He was appointed a Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia, serving from November 1995 to March 1996.
In 2003, retired Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, who was force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, claimed that Annan was overly passive in his response to the imminent genocide. In his book "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" (2003), Dallaire asserted that Annan held back UN troops from intervening to settle the conflict, and from providing more logistical and material support. Dallaire claimed that Annan failed to provide responses to his repeated faxes asking for access to a weapons depository; such weapons could have helped Dallaire defend the endangered Tutsis. In 2004, ten years after the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, Annan said, "I could and should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support."
In his book "", Annan again argued that the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations could have made better use of the media to raise awareness of the violence in Rwanda and put pressure on governments to provide the troops necessary for an intervention. Annan explained that the events in Somalia and the collapse of the UNOSOM II mission fostered a hesitation among UN Member states to approve robust peacekeeping operations. As a result, when the UNAMIR mission was approved just days after the battle, the resulting force lacked the troop levels, resources and mandate to operate effectively.
In 1996, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for a second term. Although he won 14 of the 15 votes on the Security Council, he was vetoed by the United States. After four deadlocked meetings of the Security Council, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy, becoming the only Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term. Annan was the leading candidate to replace him, beating Amara Essy by one vote in the first round. However, France vetoed Annan four times before finally abstaining. The UN Security Council recommended Annan on 13 December 1996. Confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly, he started his first term as Secretary-General on 1 January 1997.
Due to Boutros-Ghali's overthrow, a second Annan term would give Africa the office of Secretary-General for three consecutive terms. In 2001, the Asia-Pacific Group agreed to support Annan for a second term in return for the African Group's support for an Asian Secretary-General in the 2006 selection. The Security Council recommended Annan for a second term on 27 June 2001, and the General Assembly approved his reappointment on 29 June 2001.
Soon after taking office in 1997, Annan released two reports on management reform. On 17 March 1997, the report "Management and Organisational Measures" (A/51/829) introduced new management mechanisms through the establishment of a cabinet-style body to assist him and be grouping the UN's activities in accordance with four core missions. A comprehensive reform agenda was issued on 14 July 1997 entitled "Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform" (A/51/950). Key proposals included the introduction of strategic management to strengthen unity of purpose, the establishment of the position of Deputy Secretary-General, a 10-percent reduction in posts, a reduction in administrative costs, the consolidation of the UN at the country level, and reaching out to civil society and the private sector as partners. Annan also proposed to hold a Millennium Summit in 2000.
After years of research, Annan presented a progress report, "In Larger Freedom", to the UN General Assembly, on 21 March 2005. Annan recommended Security Council expansion and a host of other UN reforms.
On 31 January 2006, Annan outlined his vision for a comprehensive and extensive reform of the UN in a policy speech to the United Nations Association UK. The speech, delivered at Central Hall, Westminster, also marked the 60th Anniversary of the first meetings of the General Assembly and Security Council.
On 7 March 2006, he presented to the General Assembly his proposals for a fundamental overhaul of the United Nations Secretariat. The reform report is entitled "Investing in the United Nations, For a Stronger Organization Worldwide".
On 30 March 2006, he presented to the General Assembly his analysis and recommendations for updating the entire work programme of the United Nations Secretariat. The reform report is entitled: "Mandating and Delivering: Analysis and Recommendations to Facilitate the Review of Mandates".
Regarding the UN Human Rights Council, Annan said "declining credibility" had "cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system. Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself." However, he did believe that, despite its flaws, the council could do good.
In March 2000, Annan appointed the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations to assess the shortcomings of the then existing system and to make specific and realistic recommendations for change. The panel was composed of individuals experienced in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace-building. The report it produced, which became known as the "Brahimi Report", after Chair of the Panel Lakhdar Brahimi, called for:
The Panel further noted that in order to be effective, UN peacekeeping operations must be properly resourced and equipped, and operate under clear, credible and achievable mandates. In a letter transmitting the report to the General Assembly and Security Council, Annan stated that the Panel's recommendations were essential to make the United Nations truly credible as a force for peace. Later that same year, the Security Council adopted several provisions relating to peacekeeping following the report, in Resolution 1327.
In 2000, Annan issued a report entitled: "We the peoples: the role of the United Nations in the 21st century". The report called for member states to "put people at the centre of everything we do. No calling is more noble, and no responsibility greater, than that of enabling men, women and children, in cities and villages around the world, to make their lives better".
In the final chapter of the report, Annan called to "free our fellow men and women from the abject and dehumanizing poverty in which more than 1 billion of them are currently confined".
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, national leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration, which was subsequently implemented by the United Nations Secretariat as the Millennium Development Goals in 2001.
Within the "We the Peoples" document, Annan suggested the establishment of a United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS), a consortium of high-tech volunteer corps, including NetCorps Canada and Net Corps America, which United Nations Volunteers would co-ordinate. In the Report of the high-level panel of experts on information and communication technology (22 May 2000) suggesting a UN ICT Task Force, the panel welcomed the establishment of UNITeS, and made suggestions on its configuration and implementation strategy, including that ICT4D volunteering opportunities make mobilizing "national human resources" (local ICT experts) within developing countries a priority, for both men and women. The initiative was launched at the United Nations Volunteers and was active from February 2001 to February 2005. Initiative staff and volunteers participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003.
In an address to The World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, Secretary-General Annan argued that the "goals of the United Nations and those of business can, indeed, be mutually supportive" and proposed that the private sector and the United Nations initiate "a global compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to the global market".
On 26 July 2000, the United Nations Global Compact was officially launched at UN headquarters in New York. It is a principle-based framework for businesses which aims to "Catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)". The Compact established ten core principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, and under the Compact, companies commit to the ten principles and are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society to effectively implement them.
Towards the end of the 1990s, increased awareness of the destructive potential of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS pushed public health issues to the top of the global development agenda. In April 2001, Annan issued a five-point "Call to Action" to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Stating it was a "personal priority", Annan proposed the establishment of a Global AIDS and Health Fund, "dedicated to the battle against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases" to stimulate the increased international spending needed to help developing countries confront the HIV/AIDS crisis. In June of that year, the General Assembly of the United Nations committed to the creation of such a fund during a special session on AIDS, and the permanent secretariat of the Global Fund was subsequently established in January 2002.
Following the failure of Annan and the International Community to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda and in Srebrenica, Annan asked whether the international community had an obligation in such situations to intervene to protect civilian populations. In a speech to the General Assembly on 20 September 1999 "to address the prospects for human security and intervention in the next century," Annan argued that individual sovereignty—the protections afforded by the Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the UN—was being strengthened, while the notion of state sovereignty was being redefined by globalization and international co-operation. As a result, the UN and its member states had to consider a willingness to act to prevent conflict and civilian suffering, a dilemma between "two concepts of sovereignty" that Annan also presented in a preceding article in "The Economist", on 16 September 1999.
In September 2001 the Canadian government established an ad-hoc committee to address this balance between state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention. The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty published its final report in 2001, which focused on not on the right of states to intervene but a responsibility to protect populations at risk. The report moved beyond the question of military intervention, arguing that a range of diplomatic and humanitarian actions could also be utilized to protect civilian populations.
In 2005, Annan included the doctrine of "Responsibility to Protect" in his report "Larger Freedom". When that report was endorsed by the UN General Assembly, it amounted to the first formal endorsement by UN Member States of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect.
In the years after 1998 when UNSCOM was expelled by the government of Saddam Hussein and during the Iraq disarmament crisis, in which the United States blamed UNSCOM and former IAEA director Hans Blix for failing to properly disarm Iraq, former UNSCOM chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter blamed Annan for being slow and ineffective in enforcing Security Council resolutions on Iraq and was overtly submissive to the demands of the Clinton administration for regime removal and inspection of sites, often Presidential palaces, that were not mandated in any resolution and were of questionable intelligence value, severely hampering UNSCOM's ability to co-operate with the Iraqi government and contributed to their expulsion from the country. Ritter also claimed that Annan regularly interfered with the work of the inspectors and diluted the chain of command by trying to micromanage all of the activities of UNSCOM, which caused intelligence processing (and the resulting inspections) to be backed up and caused confusion with the Iraqis as to who was in charge and as a result, they generally refused to take orders from Ritter or Rolf Ekéus without explicit approval from Annan, which could have taken days, if not weeks. He later believed that Annan was oblivious to the fact the Iraqis took advantage of this in order to delay inspections. He claimed that on one occasion, Annan refused to implement a no-notice inspection of the SSO headquarters and instead tried to negotiate access, but the negotiation ended up taking nearly six weeks, giving the Iraqis more than enough time to clean out the site.
During the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Annan called on the United States and the United Kingdom not to invade without the support of the United Nations. In a September 2004 interview on the BBC, when questioned about the legal authority for the invasion, Annan said he believed it was not in conformity with the UN charter and was illegal.
In 1998, Annan was deeply involved in supporting the transition from military to civilian rule in Nigeria. The following year, he supported the efforts of East Timor to secure independence from Indonesia. In 2000, he was responsible for certifying Israel 's withdrawal from Lebanon, and in 2006, he led talks in New York between the presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria which led to a settlement of the dispute between the two countries over the Bakassi peninsula.
Annan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disagreed sharply on Iran's nuclear program, on an Iranian exhibition of cartoons mocking the Holocaust, and on the then upcoming International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, an Iranian Holocaust denial conference in 2006. During a visit to Iran instigated by continued Iranian uranium enrichment, Annan said "I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and ensure it is never repeated."
Annan supported sending a UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Sudan. He worked with the government of Sudan to accept a transfer of power from the African Union peacekeeping mission to a UN one. Annan also worked with several Arab and Muslim countries on women's rights and other topics.
Beginning in 1998, Annan convened an annual UN "Security Council Retreat" with the 15 States' representatives of the council. It was held at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) Conference Center at the Rockefeller family estate in Pocantico Hills, New York, and was sponsored by both the RBF and the UN.
In June 2004, Annan was given a copy of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) report on the complaint brought by four female workers against Ruud Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and retaliation. The report also reviewed a long-serving staff member's allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Werner Blatter, Director of UNHCR Personnel. The investigation found Lubbers guilty of sexual harassment; no mention was made publicly of the other charge against a senior official, or two subsequent complaints filed later that year. In the course of the official investigation, Lubbers wrote a letter which some considered was a threat to the female worker who had brought the charges. On 15 July 2004, Annan cleared Lubbers of the accusations, saying they were not substantial enough legally. The internal UN-OIOS report on Lubbers was leaked, and sections accompanied by an article by Kate Holt were published in a British newspaper. In February 2005, Lubbers resigned as head of the UN refugee agency, saying that he wanted to relieve political pressure on Annan.
In December 2004, reports surfaced that the Secretary-General's son Kojo Annan received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Programme. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations. On 11 November 2005, "The Sunday Times" agreed to apologise and pay a substantial sum in damages to Kojo Annan, accepting that the allegations were untrue.
Annan appointed the Independent Inquiry Committee, which was led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, then the director of the United Nations Association of the US. In his first interview with the Inquiry Committee, Annan denied having had a meeting with Cotecna. Later in the inquiry, he recalled that he had met with Cotecna's chief executive Elie-Georges Massey twice. In a final report issued on 27 October, the committee found insufficient evidence to indict Kofi Annan on any illegal actions, but did find fault with Benon Sevan, an Armenian-Cypriot national who had worked for the UN for about 40 years. Appointed by Annan to the Oil-For-Food role, Sevan repeatedly asked Iraqis for allocations of oil to the African Middle East Petroleum Company. Sevan's behavior was "ethically improper", Volcker said to reporters. Sevan repeatedly denied the charges and argued that he was being made a "scapegoat". The Volcker report was highly critical of the UN management structure and the Security Council oversight. It strongly recommended a new position be established of Chief Operating Officer (COO), to handle the fiscal and administrative responsibilities then under the Secretary-General's office. The report listed the companies, both Western and Middle Eastern, which had benefited illegally from the program.
In 2001, its centennial year, the Nobel Committee decided that the Peace Prize was to be divided between the UN and Annan. They were awarded the Peace Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world," having revitalized the UN and for having given priority to human rights. The Nobel Committee also recognized his commitment to the struggle to containing the spread of HIV in Africa and his declared opposition to international terrorism.
Annan defended his deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, who openly criticized the United States in a speech on 6 June 2006: "[T]he prevailing practice of seeking to use the UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You will lose the UN one way or another. [...] [That] the US is constructively engaged with the UN [...] is not well known or understood, in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News." Malloch later said his talk was a "sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy toward the U.N. by a friend and admirer."
The talk was unusual because it violated unofficial policy of not having top officials publicly criticize member nations. The interim U.S. ambassador John R. Bolton, appointed by President George W. Bush, was reported to have told Annan on the phone: "I've known you since 1989 and I'm telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time." Observers from other nations supported Malloch's view that conservative politicians in the U.S. prevented many citizens from understanding the benefits of U.S. involvement in the UN.
On 19 September 2006, Annan gave a farewell address to world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York, in anticipation of his retirement on 31 December. In the speech he outlined three major problems of "an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law", which he believed "have not resolved, but sharpened" during his time as Secretary-General. He also pointed to violence in Africa, and the Arab–Israeli conflict as two major issues warranting attention.
On 11 December 2006, in his final speech as Secretary-General, delivered at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, Annan recalled Truman's leadership in the founding of the United Nations. He called for the United States to return to President Truman's multilateralist foreign policies, and to follow Truman's credo that "the responsibility of the great states is to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world". He also said that the United States must maintain its commitment to human rights, "including in the struggle against terrorism."
The United Nations Archives and Records Management Section (UNARMS) provides full text access to Kofi Annan's declassified archives while he served as Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006)
Search Kofi Annan's Archives
After his service as UN Secretary-General, Annan took up residence in Geneva and worked in a leading capacity on various international humanitarian endeavors.
In 2007, Annan established the Kofi Annan Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organization that works to promote better global governance and strengthen the capacities of people and countries to achieve a fairer, more peaceful world.
The organisation was founded on the principles that fair and peaceful societies rest on three pillars: Peace and Security, Sustainable Development, and Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and they have made it their mission to mobilise the leadership and the political resolve needed to tackle threats to these three pillars ranging from violent conflict to flawed elections and climate change, with the aim of achieving a fairer, more peaceful world.
The Foundation provides the analytical, communication and co-ordination capacities needed to ensure that these objectives are achieved. Annan's contribution to peace worldwide is delivered through mediation, political mentoring, advocacy and advice. Through his engagement, Annan aimed to strengthen local and international conflict resolution capabilities. The Foundation provides the analytical and logistical support to facilitate this in co-operation with relevant local, regional and international actors. The Foundation works mainly through private diplomacy, where Annan provided informal counsel and participated in discreet diplomatic initiatives to avert or resolve crises by applying his experience and inspirational leadership. He was often asked to intercede in crises, sometimes as an impartial independent mediator, sometimes as a special envoy of the international community. In recent years he had provided such counsel to Burkina Faso, Kenya, Myanmar, Senegal, Iraq and Colombia.
Following the outbreak of violence during the 2007 Presidential elections in Kenya, the African Union established a Panel of Eminent African Personalities to assist in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The panel, headed by Annan, managed to convince the two principal parties to the conflict, President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) and Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), to participate in the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Process (KNDR). Over the course of 41 days of negotiations, several agreements regarding taking actions to stop the violence and remedying its consequences were signed. On 28 February, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga signed a coalition government agreement.
On 23 February 2012, Annan was appointed as the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, in an attempt to end the civil war taking place. He developed a six-point plan for peace:
On 2 August, he resigned as UN and Arab League joint special envoy to Syria, citing the intransigence of both the Assad government and the rebels, as well as the stalemate on the Security Council as preventing any peaceful resolution of the situation. Annan also stated that the lack of international unity and ineffective diplomacy among the world leaders had made the peaceful resolution in Syria an impossible task.
Annan served as the Chair of the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security. The commission was launched in May 2011 as a joint initiative of the Kofi Annan Foundation and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. It comprised 12 eminent individuals from around the world, including Ernesto Zedillo, Martti Ahtisaari, Madeleine Albright and Amartya Sen, and aimed to highlight the importance of the integrity of elections to achieving a more secure, prosperous and stable world. The Commission released its final report: Democracy, a Strategy to Improve the Integrity of Elections Worldwide, in September 2012.
In September 2016, Annan was asked to lead the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (in Myanmar) – an impoverished region beset by ethnic conflict and extreme sectarian violence, particularly by Myanmar's Buddhist majority against the Rohingya Muslim minority, further targeted by government forces. The commission, widely known simply as the "Annan Commission", was opposed by many Myanmar Buddhists as unwelcome interference in their relations with the Rohingya.
When the Annan commission released its final report, the week of 24 August 2017, with recommendations unpopular with all sides, violence exploded in the Rohingya conflict – the largest and bloodiest humanitarian disaster in the region in decades – driving most of the Rohingya from Myanmar. Annan attempted to engage the United Nations to resolve the matter, but failed.
Annan died a week before the first anniversary of the report, shortly after an announcement by a replacement commission that it would not "point fingers" at the guilty parties – leading to widespread concern that the new commission was just a sham to protect culpable Myanmar government officials and citizens from accountability.
In 2018, before Annan's death, Myanmar's civilian government, under the direction of State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, made a gesture of acceptance of the Annan commission's recommendations by convening another board – the Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State – ostensibly to implement the Annan commission's proposed reforms, but never actually implemented them. Some of the international representatives resigned – notably the panel's Secretary, Thailand's former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson – decrying the "implementation" committee as ineffective, or a "whitewash."
Corporate boards
In March 2011, Annan became a member of the Advisory Board for Investcorp Bank B. S. C. Europe, an international private equity firm and sovereign wealth fund owned by the United Arab Emirates. He held the position until 2018.
Annan became member of the Global Advisory Board of Macro Advisory Partners LLP, Risk and strategic consulting firm based in London and New York, for business, finance and government decision-makers, with some operations related to Investcorp.
Non-profit organizations
In addition to the above, Annan also became involved with several organizations with both global and African focuses, including the following:
Annan served as Chair of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues. In November 2008, Annan and fellow Elders Jimmy Carter and Graça Machel attempted to travel to Zimbabwe to make a first-hand assessment of the humanitarian situation in the country. Refused entry, the Elders instead carried out their assessment from Johannesburg, where they met Zimbabwe- and South Africa-based leaders from politics, business, international organisations, and civil society. In May 2011, following months of political violence in Côte d'Ivoire, Annan travelled to the country with Elders Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson to encourage national reconciliation. On 16 October 2014, Annan attended the One Young World Summit in Dublin. During a session with fellow Elder Mary Robinson, Annan encouraged 1,300 young leaders from 191 countries to lead on intergenerational issues such as climate change and the need for action to take place now, not tomorrow.
"We don't have to wait to act. The action must be now. You will come across people who think we should start tomorrow. Even for those who believe action should begin tomorrow, remind them tomorrow begins now, tomorrow begins today, so let's all move forward."
Annan chaired the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. As Chair, he facilitates coalition building to leverage and broker knowledge, in addition to convening decision-makers to influence policy and create lasting change in Africa. Every year, the Panel releases a report, the Africa Progress Report, which outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a set of associated policies. In 2014, the Africa Progress Report highlighted the potential of African fisheries, agriculture, and forests to drive economic development. The 2015 report explores the role of climate change and the potential of renewable energy investments in determining Africa's economic future.
On 4 September 2012, Annan with Nader Mousavizadeh wrote a memoir, "". Published by Penguin Press, the book has been described as a "personal biography of global statecraft".
In 1965, Kofi Annan married Titi Alakija, a Nigerian woman from an aristocratic family. Several years later they had a daughter, Ama, and later a son, Kojo. The couple separated in the late 1970s, and divorced in 1983. In 1984, Annan married , a Swedish lawyer at the UN and a maternal half-niece of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. She has a daughter, Nina, from a previous marriage. His brother, Kobina Annan served as Ghana's ambassador to Morocco.
Annan died on the morning of 18 August 2018 in Bern, Switzerland, at the age of 80 after a short illness. António Guterres, the current UN Secretary-General, said that "Kofi Annan was a champion for peace and a guiding force for good." The body of Kofi Annan was returned to his native Ghana from Geneva in a brief and solemn ceremony at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, on 10 September 2018. His coffin, draped in the blue UN flag, was accompanied by his widow Nane Annan, his children and senior diplomats from the international organisation.
On 13 September 2018, a state funeral was held for Annan in Ghana at the Accra International Conference Centre. The ceremony was attended by several political leaders from across Africa as well as Ghanaian traditional rulers, European royalty and dignitaries from the international community, including the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Prior to the funeral service, his body lay in state in the foyer of the same venue, from 11–12 September 2018. A private burial followed the funeral service at the new Military Cemetery at Burma Camp, with full military honours – the sounding of the Last Post by army buglers and a .
The United Nations Postal Administration released a new stamp in memory of Kofi Annan on 31 May 2019. Annan's portrait on the stamp was designed by artist Martin Mörck.
Biography of Kofi Annan, by Chloé Maurel, in: BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SECRETARIES-GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. [archive]
Friederike Bauer, "Kofi Annan. Ein Leben" (in German), Fischer, 2005.
Stanley Meisler, "Kofi Annan. A Man of Peace in a World of War" (in English), Wiley, 2007. | en.wikipedia.org | Kofi Annan | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16844 |
16846 | Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the Southern United States. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States.
The bluegrass region in the central part of the state houses the state's capital, Frankfort, as well as its two largest cities, Louisville and Lexington, the two of which together are home to over 20% of the state's population.[3] Kentucky shares borders with Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south, and Missouri to the west.
Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on Kentucky bluegrass, a species of grass found in many of its pastures. Kentucky is home to the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park, one of the greatest lengths of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States, and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River.
In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state admitted to the Union, splitting from Virginia in the process.
Kentucky is also known for horse racing, bourbon, moonshine, coal, "My Old Kentucky Home" historic state park, automobile manufacturing, tobacco, bluegrass music, college basketball, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the Kentucky colonel.
In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, named for the Kentucky River. The precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning "(on) the meadow" or "(on) the prairie" (cf. Mohawk "kenhtà:ke", Seneca "gëdá'geh" (phonemic ), "at the field").
Others have put forth the possibility of "Kenta Aki", which would absolutely have come from the Algonquian language and therefore probably derived from Shawnee. Folk etymology states that this translates as "Land of Our Fathers". The closest approximation in another Algonquian language, Ojibwe (N. Michigan) translates it more-so to "Land of Our In-Laws", thus making a fairer English translation "The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers". In any case, the word "aki" comes out as land in practically all Algonquian languages.
Kentucky is situated in the Upland South. A significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia.
Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast. West Virginia lies to the northeast, Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois to the northwest, and Indiana and Ohio to the north. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more.
Kentucky's northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River; however, the official border is based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792. For instance, northbound travelers on U.S. 41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about . Ellis Park, a thoroughbred racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the only land border between Indiana and Kentucky.
Kentucky has a non-contiguous part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, and is included in the boundaries of Fulton County. Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River (populated by only 18 people ) requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, even causing the river to flow backwards in some places. Though the series of quakes did change the area geologically and affect the (small number of) inhabitants of the area at the time, the Kentucky Bend was formed because of a surveying error, not the New Madrid earthquake.
Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the Cumberland Plateau in the east, the north-central Bluegrass region, the south-central and western Pennyroyal Plateau (also known as the Pennyrile or Mississippi Plateau), the Western Coal Fields and the far-west Jackson Purchase.
The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass encircling around Lexington and the Outer Bluegrass that contains most of the northern portion of the state, above the Knobs. Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills.
The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps.
Located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that is best described as a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: "Cfa"), only small higher areas of the southeast of the state has an oceanic climate ("Cfb") influenced by the Appalachians. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of to the winter low of . The average precipitation is a year. Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was at Greensburg on July 28, 1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was at Shelbyville on January 19, 1994. It has four distinct seasons, but rarely experiences the extreme cold as far northern states, nor the high heat of the states in the Deep South. Temperatures seldom drop below 0 degrees or rise above 100 degrees. Rain and snowfall totals about 45 inches per year. There are also big variations in climate within the state. The northern parts tend to be about 5 degrees cooler than those in western parts of the state. Somerset in the south-central part receives 10 more inches of rain per year than, for instance, Covington to the north. Average temperatures for the entire Commonwealth go from the low 30s in January to the high 70s in mid-July. The annual average temperature varies from : of in the far north as an average annual temperature and of in the extreme southwest.
In general, Kentucky has relatively hot, humid, rainy summers, and moderately cold and rainy winters. Mean maximum temperatures in July vary from ; the mean minimum July temperatures are . In January the mean maximum temperatures range from ; the mean minimum temperatures range from . Temperature means vary with northern and far-eastern mountain-regions averaging five degrees cooler year-round, compared to the relatively warmer areas of the southern- and western region of the state. Precipitation also varies north to south with the north averaging of , and the south averaging of . Days per year below the freezing point vary from about sixty days in the southwest to more than a hundred days in the far-north and far-east.
Kentucky has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the union, other than Alaska.
Kentucky is the only U.S. state to have a continuous border of rivers running along three of its sides—the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Big Sandy River and Tug Fork to the east. Its major internal rivers include the Kentucky River, Tennessee River, Cumberland River, Green River and Licking River.
Though it has only three major natural lakes, Kentucky is home to many artificial lakes. Kentucky has both the largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi in water volume (Lake Cumberland) and surface area (Kentucky Lake). Kentucky Lake's of shoreline, of water surface, and 4,008,000 acre feet (4,944 Gl) of flood storage are the most of any lake in the TVA system.
Kentucky's of streams provides one of the most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation.
Kentucky has an expansive park system, which includes one national park, two National Recreation areas, two National Historic Parks, two national forests, two National Wildlife Refuges, 45 state parks, of state forest, and 82 Wildlife Management Areas.
Kentucky has been part of two of the most successful wildlife reintroduction projects in United States history. In the winter of 1997, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources began to re-stock elk in the state's eastern counties, which had been extinct from the area for over 150 years. , the herd had reached the project goal of 10,000 animals, making it the largest herd east of the Mississippi River.
The state also stocked wild turkeys in the 1950s. There were reported to be less than 900 at one point. Once nearly extinct here, wild turkeys thrive throughout today's Kentucky. Hunters officially reported a record 29,006 birds taken during the 23-day season in Spring 2009.
A female gray wolf shot in 2013 in Hart County, Kentucky by a hunter was the first verified sighting of the species in Kentucky in modern times.
It is not known exactly when the first humans arrived in what is now Kentucky. Based on evidence in other regions, humans were likely living in Kentucky prior to 10,000 BCE, but "archaeological evidence of their occupation has yet to be documented". Around 1800 BCE, a gradual transition began from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculturalism. Around 900 CE, a Mississippian culture took root in western and central Kentucky; by contrast, a Fort Ancient culture appeared in eastern Kentucky. While the two had many similarities, the distinctive ceremonial earthwork mounds constructed in the former's centers were not part of the culture of the latter.
In about the 10th century, the Kentucky native people's variety of corn became highly productive, supplanting the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and replaced it with a maize-based agriculture in the Mississippian era. French explorers in the 17th century documented numerous tribes living in Kentucky until the Beaver Wars in the 1670s; however, by the time that European colonial explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in greater numbers in the mid-18th century, there were no major Native American settlements in the region.
As of the 16th century, the area known as Kentucky was home to tribes from five different culture groups—Iroquoian, Sioux, Algonquian, Muskogean & Yuchi. Around the Bluestone River was the Siouan Tutelo. North of the Tennessee River was the Yuchi & south of it was the Cherokee. Much of the interior of the state was controlled by the Algonquian Cisca & the confluence region of the Mississippi & Ohio was home to the Chickasaw. During a period known as the Beaver Wars, 1640–1680, another Algonquian tribe called the Maumee, or Mascouten was chased out of southern Michigan. The vast majority of them moved to Kentucky, pushing the Kispoko east and war broke out with the Tutelo that pushed them deeper into Appalachia, where they merged with the Saponi & Moneton. The Maumee were closely related to the Miami of Indiana. Later, the Kispoko merged with the Shawnee (who broke off from the Powhatan on the east coast) & the Thawikila of Ohio to form the larger Shawnee nation that inhabited the Ohio River Valley into the 19th century.
The Shawnee from the northwest and Cherokee from the south also sent parties into the area regularly for hunting.
Today there are two state recognized tribes in Kentucky, the Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky and the Ridgetop Shawnee.
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle was a French explorer who claimed all of the land along the Mississippi River Valley, including Kentucky, for France. In July 1669, Robert de la Salle organized twenty four men and six canoes for his expedition. During this venture, he met Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, the first white men to explore and map the Mississippi River, in Hamilton, Ontario. The expedition eventually reached the Ohio River, allegedly, which it followed as far as Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1774, James Harrod founded the first permanent European settlement in Kentucky at the site of present-day Harrodsburg. As more settlers entered the area, warfare broke out with the Native Americans over their traditional hunting grounds.
A 1790 U.S. government report states that 1,500 Kentucky settlers had been killed by Native Americans since the end of the Revolutionary War. In 1786, George Rogers Clark led a group of 1,200 men in actions against Shawnee towns on the Wabash River to begin the Northwest Indian War.
On December 31, 1776, the region of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains was established as Kentucky County by the Virginia General Assembly. (Kentucky County was abolished on June 30, 1780, when it was divided into Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties.) On several occasions the region's residents petitioned the General Assembly and the Confederation Congress for separation from Virginia and statehood. Ten constitutional conventions were held in Danville between 1784 and 1792.
One petition, which had Virginia's assent, came before the Confederation Congress in early July 1788. Unfortunately, its consideration came up a day after word of New Hampshire's all-important ninth ratification of the proposed Constitution, thus establishing it as the new framework of governance for the United States. In light of this development, Congress thought that it would be "unadvisable" to admit Kentucky into the Union, as it could do so "under the Articles of Confederation" only, but not "under the Constitution", and so declined to take action.
On December 18, 1789, Virginia again gave its consent to Kentucky statehood. The United States Congress gave its approval on February 4, 1791. (This occurred two weeks before Congress approved Vermont's petition for statehood.) Kentucky officially became the fifteenth state in the Union on June 1, 1792. Isaac Shelby, a military veteran from Virginia, was elected its first Governor.
Central Kentucky, the bluegrass region, was the area of the state with the most slave owners. Planters cultivated tobacco and hemp (see Hemp in Kentucky) and were noted for their quality livestock. During the 19th century, Kentucky slaveholders began to sell unneeded slaves to the Deep South, with Louisville becoming a major slave market and departure port for slaves being transported downriver.
Kentucky was one of the border states during the American Civil War. Although frequently described as never having seceded, representatives from 68 of 110 counties met at Russellville calling themselves the "Convention of the People of Kentucky" and passed an Ordinance of Secession on November 20, 1861. They established a Confederate government of Kentucky with its capital in Bowling Green.
Though Kentucky was represented by the central star on the Confederate battle flag, it remained officially "neutral" throughout the war due to the Union sympathies of a majority of the Commonwealth's citizens. Some 21st-century Kentuckians observe Confederate Memorial Day on Confederate leader Jefferson Davis' birthday, June 3, and participate in Confederate battle re-enactments. Both Davis and U.S. president Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky.
On January 30, 1900, Governor William Goebel, flanked by two bodyguards, was mortally wounded by an assassin while walking to the State Capitol in downtown Frankfort. Goebel was contesting the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899, which William S. Taylor was initially believed to have won. For several months, J. C. W. Beckham, Goebel's running mate, and Taylor fought over who was the legal governor, until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in May in favor of Beckham. After fleeing to Indiana, Taylor was indicted as a co-conspirator in Goebel's assassination. Goebel is the only governor of a U.S. state to have been assassinated while in office.
The Black Patch Tobacco Wars, a vigilante action, occurred in Western Kentucky in the early 20th century. As a result of the tobacco industry monopoly, tobacco farmers in the area were forced to sell their crops at prices that were too low. Many local farmers and activists united in a refusal to sell their crops to the major tobacco companies.
An Association meeting occurred in downtown Guthrie, where a vigilante wing of "Night Riders", formed. The riders terrorized farmers who sold their tobacco at the low prices demanded by the tobacco corporations. They burned several tobacco warehouses throughout the area, stretching as far west as Hopkinsville to Princeton. In the later period of their operation, they were known to physically assault farmers who broke the boycott. Governor Augustus E. Willson declared martial law and deployed the Kentucky National Guard to end the wars.
On October 15, 1959, a B-52 carrying two nuclear weapons collided in midair with a KC-135 tanker near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. One of the nuclear bombs was damaged by fire but both weapons were recovered.
Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to officially use the term "commonwealth." The term was used for Kentucky as it had also been used by Virginia, from which Kentucky was created. The term has no particular significance in its meaning and was chosen to emphasize the distinction from the status of royal colonies as a place governed for the general welfare of the populace. Kentucky was originally styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the act admitting it to the union, since that is how it was referred to in Kentucky's first constitution.
The commonwealth term was used in citizen petitions submitted between 1786 and 1792 for the creation of the state. It was also used in the title of a history of the state that was published in 1834 and was used in various places within that book in references to Virginia and Kentucky. The other three states officially called "commonwealths" are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are also formally commonwealths.
Kentucky is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others being Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia). Kentucky holds elections for these offices every 4 years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, Kentucky held gubernatorial elections in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
The executive branch is headed by the governor who serves as both head of state and head of government. The lieutenant governor may or may not have executive authority depending on whether the person is a member of the Governor's cabinet. Under the current Kentucky Constitution, the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor only if the governor is incapacitated. (Before 1992 the lieutenant governor assumed power any time the governor was out of the state.) The governor and lieutenant governor usually run on a single ticket (also per a 1992 constitutional amendment), and are elected to four-year terms. The current governor is Andy Beshear, and the lieutenant governor is Jacqueline Coleman. Both are Democrats.
Other elected constitutional offices include the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. Currently, Republican Michael G. Adams serves as the Secretary of State. The commonwealth's chief prosecutor, law enforcement officer, and law officer is the Attorney General, currently Republican Daniel Cameron. The Auditor of Public Accounts is Republican Mike Harmon. Republican Allison Ball is the current Treasurer. Republican Ryan Quarles is the current Commissioner of Agriculture.
Kentucky's legislative branch consists of a bicameral body known as the Kentucky General Assembly.
The Senate is considered the upper house. It has 38 members, and is led by the President of the Senate, currently Robert Stivers (R).
The House of Representatives has 100 members, and is led by the Speaker of the House, currently David Osborne of the Republican Party.
In November 2016, Republicans won control of the House for the first time since 1922, and currently have supermajorities in both the House and Senate.
The judicial branch of Kentucky is called the Kentucky Court of Justice and comprises courts of limited jurisdiction called District Courts; courts of general jurisdiction called Circuit Courts; specialty courts such as Drug Court and Family Court; an intermediate appellate court, the Kentucky Court of Appeals; and a court of last resort, the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The Kentucky Court of Justice is headed by the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth. The chief justice is appointed by, and is an elected member of, the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The current chief justice is John D. Minton Jr.
Unlike federal judges, who are usually appointed, justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the state's populace in non-partisan elections.
Kentucky's two U.S. Senators are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both Republicans. The state is divided into six Congressional Districts, represented by Republicans James Comer (1st), Brett Guthrie (2nd), Thomas Massie (4th), Hal Rogers (5th) and Andy Barr (6th) and Democrat John Yarmuth (3rd).
In the federal judiciary, Kentucky is served by two United States district courts: the Eastern District of Kentucky, with its primary seat in Lexington, and the Western District of Kentucky, with its primary seat in Louisville. Appeals are heard in the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kentucky's body of laws, known as the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), were enacted in 1942 to better organize and clarify the whole of Kentucky law. The statutes are enforced by local police, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, and constables and deputy constables. Unless they have completed a police academy elsewhere, these officers are required to complete Police Officer Professional Standards (POPS) training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. Additionally, in 1948, the Kentucky General Assembly established the Kentucky State Police, making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state.
Kentucky is one of the 32 states in the United States that sanctions the death penalty for certain murders defined as heinous. Those convicted of capital crimes after March 31, 1998 are always executed by lethal injection; those convicted on or before this date may opt for the electric chair. Only three people have been executed in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court re-instituted the practice in 1976. The most notable execution in Kentucky was that of Rainey Bethea on August 14, 1936. Bethea was publicly hanged in Owensboro for the rape and murder of Lischia Edwards. Irregularities with the execution led to this becoming the last public execution in the United States.
Kentucky has been on the front lines of the debate over displaying the Ten Commandments on public property. In the 2005 case of "McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky", the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a display of the Ten Commandments in the Whitley City courthouse of McCreary County was unconstitutional. Later that year, Judge Richard Fred Suhrheinrich, writing for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of "ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County", wrote that a display including the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, "The Star-Spangled Banner", and the national motto could be erected in the Mercer County courthouse.
Kentucky has also been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws, especially compared to surrounding states. The origin of this is unknown, but it has been suggested it has to do with the commonwealth tradition.
A 2008 study found that Kentucky's Supreme Court to be the least influential high court in the nation with its decisions rarely being followed by other states.
Where politics are concerned, Kentucky historically has been very competitive. It leaned slightly toward the Democratic Party since 1860, when the Whig Party dissolved. The state was not included as among the "Solid South" that prevailed in the former Confederacy after states disenfranchised blacks at the turn of the century. The southeastern section had aligned with the Union during the war and tended to support Republican candidates.
In a reversal of the demographics of party alignment in the post-Civil War nineteenth century, in the 21st century, state Democrats include liberal whites, African Americans, and other minorities. As of March 2020, 48.42% of the state's voters were officially registered as Democrats, 42.75% were registered Republican, who tend to be conservative whites. Some 8.83% were registered with some other political party or as Independents. Despite this, a majority of the state's voters have generally elected Republican candidates for federal office since around the turn of the 21st century.
From 1964 through 2004, Kentucky voted for the eventual winner of the election for President of the United States; however, in the 2008 election the state lost its bellwether status. Republican John McCain won Kentucky, but he lost the national popular and electoral vote to Democrat Barack Obama (McCain carried Kentucky 57% to 41%). 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 election while he lost to Barack Obama nationwide.
Voters in the Commonwealth supported the previous three Democratic candidates elected to the White House in the late 20th century, all from Southern states: Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas) in 1964, Jimmy Carter (Georgia) in 1976, and Bill Clinton (Arkansas) in 1992 and 1996. In 21st-century presidential elections, the state has become a Republican stronghold, supporting that party's presidential candidates by double-digit margins from 2000 through 2016. At the same time, voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions.
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Kentucky was 4,467,673 on July 1, 2019, a 2.96% increase since the 2010 United States Census.
As of July 1, 2016, Kentucky had an estimated population of 4,436,974, which is an increase of 12,363 from the prior year and an increase of 97,607, or 2.2%, since the year 2010. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 73,541 people (that is 346,968 births minus 273,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 26,135 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 40,051 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 13,916 people. , Kentucky's population included about 149,016 foreign-born persons (3.4%). In 2016, the population density of the state was 110 people per square mile (42.5/km²).
Kentucky's population has grown during every decade since records have been kept. But during most decades of the 20th century there was also net out-migration from Kentucky. Since 1900, rural Kentucky counties have had a net loss of more than 1 million people to migration, while urban areas have experienced a slight net gain.
Kentucky's center of population is in Washington County, in the city of Willisburg.
According to U.S. Census Bureau official statistics, the largest ancestry in 2013 was American totalling 20.2%. In 1980, before the status of ethnic American was an available option on the official census, the largest claimed ancestries in the commonwealth were English (49.6%), Irish (26.3%), and German (24.2%). In the state's most urban counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Fayette, Boone, Kenton, and Campbell, German is the largest reported ancestry. Americans of Scots-Irish and English stock are present throughout the entire state. Many residents claim Irish ancestry because of known "Scots-Irish" among their ancestors, who immigrated from Ireland, where their ancestors had moved for a period from Scotland during the plantation period.
As of the 1980s, the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were in the hills of eastern Kentucky (virtually every county in this region had a majority of residents identifying as exclusively English in ancestry).
The Ridgetop Shawnee organized in the early 21st century as a non-profit to gain structure for their community and increase awareness of Native Americans in Kentucky. In the 2000 census, some 20,000 people in the state identified as Native American (0.49%). In June 2011, Jerry "2 Feather" Thornton, a Cherokee, led a team in the Voyage of Native American Awareness 2011 canoe journey, to begin on the Green River in Rochester, Kentucky and travel through to the Ohio River at Henderson.
African Americans, who were mostly enslaved at the time, made up 25% of Kentucky's population before the Civil War; they were held and worked primarily in the central Bluegrass region, an area of hemp and tobacco cultivation, as well as raising blooded livestock. The number of African Americans living in Kentucky declined during the 20th century. Many migrated during the early part of the century to the industrial North and Midwest during the Great Migration for jobs and the chance to leave segregated, oppressive societies. Today, less than 9% of the state's total population is African-American.
The state's African-American population is highly urbanized and 52% of them live in the Louisville metropolitan area; 44.2% of them reside in Jefferson County. The county's population is 20% African American. Other areas with high concentrations, beside Christian and Fulton counties and the Bluegrass region, are the cities of Paducah and Lexington. Some mining communities in far Southeastern Kentucky have populations that are between five and 10 percent African-American.
In 2000, 96.1% of all residents five years old and older spoke only English at home, a decrease from 97.5% in 1990.
Speech patterns in the state generally reflect the first settlers' Virginia and Kentucky backgrounds. South Midland features are best preserved in the mountains, but some common to Midland and Southern are widespread. After a vowel, the /r/ may be weak or missing. For instance, "Coop" has the vowel of "put", but the root rhymes with "boot". In southern Kentucky, earthworms are called "redworms", a burlap bag is known as a "tow sack" or the "Southern grass sack", and green beans are called "snap beans". In Kentucky English, a young man may "carry", not escort, his girlfriend to a party.
Spanish is the second-most-spoken language in Kentucky, after English.
, the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) reported the following groupings of Kentucky's 4,339,367 residents:
Kentucky is home to several seminaries. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville is the principal seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention. Louisville is also the home of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, an institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Lexington has one seminary, Lexington Theological Seminary (affiliated with the Disciples of Christ). The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky is located on the campus of Georgetown College in Georgetown. Asbury Theological Seminary, a multi-denominational seminary in the Methodist tradition, is located in nearby Wilmore.
In addition to seminaries, there are several colleges affiliated with denominations:
Bardstown is home Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, home of Trappist monk, social activist and author Thomas Merton from 1941 until his death in 1968.
Louisville is home to the Cathedral of the Assumption, the third oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
Louisville is home to the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and their printing press.
In 1996, the Center for Interfaith Relations established the Festival of Faiths, the first and oldest annual interfaith festival to be held in the United States.
The Christian creationist apologetics group Answers in Genesis, along with its Creation Museum, is headquartered in Petersburg, Kentucky.
Louisville also has Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu communities.
Early in its history, Kentucky gained recognition for its excellent farming conditions. It was the site of the first commercial winery in the United States (started in present-day Jessamine County in 1799) and due to the high calcium content of the soil in the Bluegrass region quickly became a major horse breeding (and later racing) area. Today Kentucky ranks 5th nationally in goat farming, 8th in beef cattle production, and 14th in corn production. Kentucky has also been a long-standing major center of the tobacco industry – both as a center of business and tobacco farming.
Today Kentucky's economy has expanded to importance in non-agricultural terms as well, especially in auto manufacturing, energy fuel production, and medical facilities.
Kentucky ranks 4th among U.S. states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled. The Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac XLR (2004–2009), Ford Escape, Ford Super Duty trucks, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, Toyota Camry, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Solara, Toyota Venza, and Lexus ES 350 are assembled in Kentucky.
Kentucky has historically been a major coal producer, but the coal industry has been in decline since the 1980s, and the number of people employed in the coal industry there dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2015.
, 24% of electricity produced in the U.S. depended on either enriched uranium rods coming from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (the only domestic site of low grade uranium enrichment), or from the 107,336 tons of coal extracted from the state's two coal fields (which combined produce 4% percent of the electricity in the United States).
Kentucky produces 95% of the world's supply of bourbon whiskey, and the number of barrels of bourbon being aged in Kentucky (more than 5.7 million) exceeds the state's population. Bourbon has been a growing market – with production of Kentucky bourbon rising 170 percent between 1999 and 2015. In 2019 the state had more than fifty distilleries for bourbon production.
Kentucky exports reached a record $22.1 billion in 2012, with products and services going to 199 countries.
According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state, new business investment in Kentucky in 2012 totaled nearly $2.7 billion, with the creation of more than 14,000 new jobs. One such investment was L'Oréal in Northern Kentucky, which added 200 jobs on top of the 280 already in existing facilities in Florence and Walton.
Fort Knox, a United States Army post best known as the site of the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States official gold reserves, is located in Kentucky between Louisville and Elizabethtown. In May 2010, the Army Human Resource Center of Excellence, the largest office building in the state at nearly opened at Fort Knox. The new complex employs nearly 4,300 soldiers and civilians.
Kentucky contains two of the twenty U.S. Federal Penitentiaries – USP Big Sandy (in the east in Martin County near Inez) and USP McCreary (in the south in McCreary County in the Daniel Boone National Forest).
The total gross state product for 2019 Q1 was $213.313 billion. Its per-capita income was US$25,888 in 2017. An organization called the Institute for Truth in Accounting estimated that the state government's debts exceeded its available assets by per taxpayer , ranking the state as having the 5th highest such debt burden in the nation.
As of October 2019, the state's unemployment rate is 4.3%. In 2014, Kentucky was found to be the most affordable U.S. state in which to live.
Tax is collected by the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
There are six income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 6% of personal income. The sales tax rate in Kentucky is 6%.
Kentucky has a broadly based classified property tax system. All classes of property, unless exempted by the Constitution, are taxed by the state, although at widely varying rates. Many of these classes are exempted from taxation by local government. Of the classes that are subject to local taxation, three have special rates set by the General Assembly, one by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the remaining classes are subject to the full local rate, which includes the tax rate set by the local taxing bodies plus all voted levies. Real property is assessed on 100% of the fair market value and property taxes are due by December 31. Once the primary source of state and local government revenue, property taxes now account for only about 6% of the Kentucky's annual General Fund revenues.
Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky imposed a tax on intangible personal property held by a taxpayer on January 1 of each year. The Kentucky intangible tax was repealed under House Bill 272. Intangible property consisted of any property or investment that represents evidence of value or the right to value. Some types of intangible property included: bonds, notes, retail repurchase agreements, accounts receivable, trusts, enforceable contracts sale of real estate (land contracts), money in hand, money in safe deposit boxes, annuities, interests in estates, loans to stockholders, and commercial paper.
In December 2002, the Kentucky governor Paul Patton unveiled the state slogan "It's that friendly", in hope of drawing more people into the state based on the idea of southern hospitality. This campaign was neither a failure nor a success. Though it was meant to embrace southern values, many Kentuckians rejected the slogan as cheesy and ineffective. It was quickly seen that the slogan did not encourage tourism as much as initially hoped for. So government decided to create a different slogan to embrace Kentucky as a whole while also encouraging more people to visit the Bluegrass.
In 2004, then Governor Ernie Fletcher launched a comprehensive branding campaign with the hope of making the state's $12–14 million advertising budget more effective. The resulting "Unbridled Spirit" brand was the result of a $500,000 contract with New West, a Kentucky-based public relations advertising and marketing firm, to develop a viable brand and tag line. The Fletcher administration aggressively marketed the brand in both the public and private sectors. Since that time, the "Welcome to Kentucky" signs at border areas have an "Unbridled Spirit" symbol on them.
Kentucky is served by six major Interstate highways (I-24, I-64, I-65, I-69, I-71, and I-75), seven , and six bypasses and spurs (I-165, I-169, I-264, I-265, I-275, and I-471). The parkways were originally toll roads, but on November 22, 2006, Governor Ernie Fletcher ended the toll charges on the William H. Natcher Parkway and the Audubon Parkway, the last two parkways in Kentucky to charge tolls for access. The related toll booths have been demolished.
Ending the tolls some seven months ahead of schedule was generally agreed to have been a positive economic development for transportation in Kentucky. In June 2007, a law went into effect raising the speed limit on rural portions of Kentucky Interstates and parkways from .
Road tunnels include the interstate Cumberland Gap Tunnel and the rural Nada Tunnel.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Ashland, South Portsmouth, Maysville and Fulton. The "Cardinal" (trains 50 and 51) is the line that offers Amtrak service to Ashland, South Shore, Maysville and South Portsmouth. The "City of New Orleans" (trains 58 and 59) serve Fulton. The Northern Kentucky area is served by the "Cardinal" at Cincinnati Union Terminal. The terminal is just across the Ohio River in Cincinnati.
Norfolk Southern Railway passes through the Central and Southern parts of the Commonwealth, via its Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) subsidiary. The line originates in Cincinnati and terminates 338 miles south in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
, there were approximately of railways in Kentucky, with about 65% of those being operated by CSX Transportation. Coal was by far the most common cargo, accounting for 76% of cargo loaded and 61% of cargo delivered.
Bardstown features a tourist attraction known as "My Old Kentucky Dinner Train". Run along a stretch of rail purchased from CSX in 1987, guests are served a four-course meal as they make a two-and-a-half-hour round-trip between Bardstown and Limestone Springs. The Kentucky Railway Museum is located in nearby New Haven.
Other areas in Kentucky are reclaiming old railways in rail trail projects. One such project is Louisville's Big Four Bridge. When the bridge's Indiana approach ramps opened in 2014, completing the pedestrian connection across the Ohio River, the Big Four Bridge rail trail became the second-longest pedestrian-only bridge in the world. The longest pedestrian-only bridge is also found in Kentucky—the Newport Southbank Bridge, popularly known as the "Purple People Bridge", connecting Newport to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kentucky's primary airports include Louisville International Airport (Standiford Field (SDF)) of Louisville, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) of Cincinnati/Covington, and Blue Grass Airport (LEX) in Lexington. Louisville International Airport is home to UPS's Worldport, its international air-sorting hub. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is the largest airport in the state, and is a focus city for passenger airline Delta Air Lines and headquarters of its Delta Private Jets. The airport is one of DHL Aviation's three super-hubs, serving destinations throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, making it the 7th busiest airport in the U.S. and 36th in the world based on passenger and cargo operations. CVG is also a focus city for Frontier Airlines and is the largest O&D airport and base for Allegiant Air, along with home to a maintenance for American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines and Delta Air Lines subsidiary Endeavor Air. There are also a number of regional airports scattered across the state.
On August 27, 2006, Blue Grass Airport was the site of a crash that killed 47 passengers and 2 crew members aboard a Bombardier CRJ designated Comair Flight 191, or Delta Air Lines Flight 5191, sometimes mistakenly identified by the press as Comair Flight 5191. The lone survivor was the flight's first officer, James Polehinke, who doctors determined to be brain damaged and unable to recall the crash at all.
As the state is bounded by two of the largest rivers in North America, water transportation has historically played a major role in Kentucky's economy. Louisville was a major port for steamships in the nineteenth century. Today, most barge traffic on Kentucky waterways consists of coal that is shipped from both the Eastern and Western Coalfields, about half of which is used locally to power many power plants located directly off the Ohio River, with the rest being exported to other countries, most notably Japan.
Many of the largest ports in the United States are located in or adjacent to Kentucky, including:
As a state, Kentucky ranks 10th overall in port tonnage.
The only natural obstacle along the entire length of the Ohio River is the Falls of the Ohio, located just west of Downtown Louisville.
Kentucky is subdivided into 120 counties, the largest being Pike County at , and the most populous being Jefferson County (which coincides with the Louisville Metro governmental area) with 741,096 residents .
County government, under the Kentucky Constitution of 1891, is vested in the County Judge/Executive, (formerly called the County Judge) who serves as the executive head of the county, and a legislature called a Fiscal Court. Despite the unusual name, the Fiscal Court no longer has judicial functions.
Kentucky's two most populous counties, Jefferson and Fayette, have their governments consolidated with the governments of their largest cities. "Louisville-Jefferson County Government" (Louisville Metro) and "Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government" (Lexington Metro) are unique in that their city councils and county Fiscal Court structures have been merged into a single entity with a single chief executive, the Metro Mayor and Urban County Mayor, respectively. Although the counties still exist as subdivisions of the state, in reference the names Louisville and Lexington are used to refer to the entire area coextensive with the former cities and counties. Somewhat incongruously, when entering Lexington-Fayette the highway signs read "Fayette County" while most signs leading into Louisville-Jefferson simply read "Welcome to Louisville Metro".
The Metro Louisville government area has a 2018 population of 1,298,990. Under United States Census Bureau methodology, the population of Louisville was 623,867. The latter figure is the population of the so-called "balance"—the parts of Jefferson County that were either unincorporated or within the City of Louisville before the formation of the merged government in 2003. In 2018, the Louisville Combined Statistical Area (CSA) had a population of 1,569,112; including 1,209,191 in Kentucky, which means more than 25% of the state's population now lives in the Louisville CSA. Since 2000, over one-third of the state's population growth has occurred in the Louisville CSA. In addition, the top 28 wealthiest places in Kentucky are in Jefferson County and seven of the 15 wealthiest counties in the state are located in the Louisville CSA.
The second largest city is Lexington with a 2018 census population of 323,780, its metro had a population of 516,697, and its CSA, which includes the Frankfort and Richmond statistical areas, having a population of 746,310. The Northern Kentucky area, which comprises the seven Kentucky counties in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area, had a population of 447,457 in 2018. The metropolitan areas of Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky have a combined population of 2,402,958 , which is 54% of the state's total population on only about 19% of the state's land. This area is often referred to as the Golden triangle as it contains a majority of the state's wealth, population, population growth, and economic growth, it is also where most of the state's largest cities by population are located. It is referred to the Golden triangle as the metro areas of Lexington, Louisville, and Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati outline a triangle shape. Interstates I-71, I-75, and I-64 form the triangle shape. Additionally all counties in Kentucky that are part of a MSA or CSA have a total population of 2,970,694, which is 67% of the state's population.
The two other fast growing urban areas in Kentucky are the Bowling Green area and the "Tri Cities Region" of southeastern Kentucky, comprising Somerset, London and Corbin.
Although only one town in the "Tri Cities", namely Somerset, currently has more than 12,000 people, the area has been experiencing heightened population and job growth since the 1990s. Growth has been especially rapid in Laurel County, which outgrew areas such as Scott and Jessamine counties around Lexington or Shelby and Nelson Counties around Louisville. London significantly grew in population in the 2000s, from 5,692 in 2000 to 7,993 in 2010. London also landed a Wal-Mart distribution center in 1997, bringing thousands of jobs to the community.
In northeast Kentucky, the greater Ashland area is an important transportation, manufacturing, and medical center. Iron and petroleum production, as well as the transport of coal by rail and barge, have been historical pillars of the region's economy. Due to a decline in the area's industrial base, Ashland has seen a sizable reduction in its population since 1990; however, the population of the area has since stabilized with the medical service industry taking a greater role in the local economy. The Ashland area, including the counties of Boyd and Greenup, are part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 288,649. More than 21,000 of those people () reside within the city limits of Ashland.
The largest county in Kentucky by area is Pike, which contains Pikeville and suburb Coal Run Village. The county and surrounding area is the most populated region in the state that is not part of a Micropolitan Statistical Area or a Metropolitan Statistical Area containing nearly 200,000 people in five counties: Floyd County, Martin County, Letcher County, and neighboring Mingo County, West Virginia. Pike County contains slightly more than 68,000 people.
Only three U.S. states have capitals with smaller populations than Kentucky's Frankfort (pop. 25,527), those being Augusta, Maine (pop. 18,560), Pierre, South Dakota (pop. 13,876), and Montpelier, Vermont (pop. 8,035).
Kentucky maintains eight public four-year universities. There are two general tiers: major research institutions (the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville) and regional universities, which encompasses the remaining 6 schools. The regional schools have specific target counties that many of their programs are targeted towards (such as Forestry at Eastern Kentucky University or Cave Management at Western Kentucky University), however most of their curriculum varies little from any other public university.
UK and UofL have the highest academic rankings and admissions standards although the regional schools aren't without their national recognized departments – examples being Western Kentucky University's nationally ranked Journalism Department or Morehead State University offering one of the nation's only Space Science degrees. UK is the flagship and land grant of the system and has agriculture extension services in every county. The two research schools split duties related to the medical field, UK handles all medical outreach programs in the eastern half of the state while UofL does all medical outreach in the state's western half.
The state's sixteen public two-year colleges have been governed by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System since the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, commonly referred to as House Bill 1. Before the passage of House Bill 1, most of these colleges were under the control of the University of Kentucky.
Transylvania University, a liberal arts university located in Lexington, was founded in 1780 as the oldest university west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Berea College, located at the extreme southern edge of the Bluegrass below the Cumberland Plateau, was the first coeducational college in the South to admit both black and white students, doing so from its very establishment in 1855. This policy was successfully challenged in the United States Supreme Court in the case of "Berea College v. Kentucky" in 1908. This decision effectively segregated Berea until the landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954.
There are 173 school districts and 1,233 public schools in Kentucky. For the 2010 to 2011 school year, there were approximately 647,827 students enrolled in public school.
Kentucky has been the site of much educational reform over the past two decades. In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the state's education system was unconstitutional. The response of the General Assembly was passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) the following year. Years later, Kentucky has shown progress, but most agree that further reform is needed.
The West Virginia teachers' strike in 2018 inspired teachers in other states, including Kentucky, to take similar action.
Although Kentucky's culture is generally considered to be Southern, it is unique in that it is also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia in certain areas of the state. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distilling, tobacco, horse racing, and college basketball. Kentucky is more similar to the Upland South in terms of ancestry that is predominantly American.
Nevertheless, during the 19th century, Kentucky did receive a substantial number of German immigrants, who settled mostly in the Midwest, along the Ohio River primarily in Louisville, Covington and Newport. Only Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia have higher German ancestry percentages than Kentucky among Census-defined Southern states, although Kentucky's percentage is closer to Arkansas and Virginia's than the previously named state's percentages. Scottish Americans, English Americans and Scotch-Irish Americans have heavily influenced Kentucky culture, and are present in every part of the state. As of the 1980s the only counties in the United States where more than half the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were all in the hills of eastern Kentucky (and made up virtually every county in this region).
Kentucky was a slave state, and blacks once comprised over one-quarter of its population; however, it lacked the cotton plantation system and never had the same high percentage of African Americans as most other slave states. While less than 8% of the total population is black, Kentucky has a relatively significant rural African American population in the Central and Western areas of the state.
Kentucky adopted the Jim Crow system of racial segregation in most public spheres after the Civil War. Louisville's 1914 ordinance for residential racial segregation was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1917. However, in 1908 Kentucky enacted the Day Law, "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Persons from Attending the Same School", which Berea College unsuccessfully challenged at the US Supreme Court in 1908; in 1948, Lyman T. Johnson filed suit for admission to the University of Kentucky; as a result in the summer of 1949, nearly thirty African American students entered UK graduate and professional programs. Kentucky integrated its schools after the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education" verdict, later adopting the first state civil rights act in the South in 1966.
The biggest day in American horse racing, the Kentucky Derby, is preceded by the two-week Derby Festival in Louisville. The Derby Festival features many events, including Thunder Over Louisville, the Pegasus Parade, the Great Steamboat Race, Fest-a-Ville, the Chow Wagon, BalloonFest, BourbonVille, and many others leading up to the big race.
Louisville also plays host to the Kentucky State Fair and the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. Bowling Green, the state's third-largest city and home to the only assembly plant in the world that manufactures the Chevrolet Corvette, opened the National Corvette Museum in 1994. The fourth-largest city, Owensboro, gives credence to its nickname of "Barbecue Capital of the World" by hosting the annual International Bar-B-Q Festival.
Old Louisville, the largest historic preservation district in the United States featuring Victorian architecture and the third largest overall, hosts the St. James Court Art Show, the largest outdoor art show in the United States. The neighborhood was also home to the Southern Exposition (1883–1887), which featured the first public display of Thomas Edison's light bulb, and was the setting of Alice Hegan Rice's novel, "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch".
Hodgenville, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, hosts the annual Lincoln Days Celebration, and also hosted the kick-off for the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in February 2008. Bardstown celebrates its heritage as a major bourbon-producing region with the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Glasgow mimics Glasgow, Scotland by hosting the Glasgow Highland Games, its own version of the Highland Games, and Sturgis hosts "Little Sturgis", a mini version of Sturgis, South Dakota's annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Winchester celebrates an original Kentucky creation, Beer Cheese, with its Beer Cheese Festival held annually in June. Beer Cheese was developed in Clark County at some point in the 1940s along the Kentucky River.
The residents of tiny Benton pay tribute to their favorite tuber, the sweet potato, by hosting Tater Day. Residents of Clarkson in Grayson County celebrate their city's ties to the honey industry by celebrating the Clarkson Honeyfest. The Clarkson Honeyfest is held the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in September, and is the "Official State Honey Festival of Kentucky".
Renfro Valley, Kentucky is home to Renfro Valley Entertainment Center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and is known as "Kentucky's Country Music Capital", a designation given it by the Kentucky State Legislature in the late 1980s. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance was where Renfro Valley's musical heritage began, in 1939, and influential country music luminaries like Red Foley, Homer & Jethro, Lily May Ledford & the Original Coon Creek Girls, Martha Carson, and many others have performed as regular members of the shows there over the years. The Renfro Valley Gatherin' is today America's second oldest continually broadcast radio program of any kind. It is broadcast on local radio station WRVK and a syndicated network of nearly 200 other stations across the United States and Canada every week.
Contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman is a Paducah native, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Everly Brothers are closely connected with Muhlenberg County, where older brother Don was born. Merle Travis, Country & Western artist known for both his signature "Travis picking" guitar playing style, as well as his hit song "Sixteen Tons", was also born in Muhlenberg County. Kentucky was also home to Mildred and Patty Hill, the Louisville sisters credited with composing the tune to the ditty Happy Birthday to You in 1893; Loretta Lynn (Johnson County), Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, and Billy Ray Cyrus (Flatwoods).
However, its depth lies in its signature sound—Bluegrass music. Bill Monroe, "The Father of Bluegrass", was born in the small Ohio County town of Rosine, while Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, David "Stringbean" Akeman, Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones, Sonny and Bobby Osborne, and Sam Bush (who has been compared to Monroe) all hail from Kentucky. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum is located in Owensboro, while the annual Festival of the Bluegrass is held in Lexington.
Kentucky is also home to famed jazz musician and pioneer, Lionel Hampton. Blues legend W. C. Handy and R&B singer Wilson Pickett also spent considerable time in Kentucky. The R&B group Midnight Star and Hip-Hop group Nappy Roots were both formed in Kentucky, as were country acts The Kentucky Headhunters, Montgomery Gentry and Halfway to Hazard, The Judds, as well as Dove Award-winning Christian groups Audio Adrenaline (rock) and Bride (metal). Heavy Rock band Black Stone Cherry hails from rural Edmonton. Rock band My Morning Jacket with lead singer and guitarist Jim James originated out of Louisville, as well as bands Wax Fang, White Reaper, Tantric. Rock bands Cage the Elephant, Sleeper Agent, and Morning Teleportation are also from Bowling Green. The bluegrass groups Driftwood and Kentucky Rain, along with Nick Lachey of the pop band 98 Degrees are also from Kentucky. King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew is from Covington. Post rock band Slint also hails from Louisville. Noted singer and actress Rosemary Clooney was a native of Maysville, her legacy being celebrated at the annual music festival bearing her name. Noted songwriter and actor Will Oldham is from Louisville. More recently in the limelight are country artists Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, and Chris Knight.
In eastern Kentucky, old-time music carries on the tradition of ancient ballads and reels developed in historical Appalachia.
Kentucky has played a major role in Southern and American literature, producing works that often celebrate the working class, rural life, nature, and explore issues of class, extractive economy, and family. Major works from the state include Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, widely seen as one of the impetuses for the American Civil War; The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1908) by John Fox, Jr., which was the first novel to sell a million copies in the United States; All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946) rated as the 36th greatest novel by Modern Library; The Dollmaker (1954) by Harriette Arnow later adapted into a popular film starring Jane Fonda; Night Comes to the Cumberlands (1962) by Harry Caudill, which led to The War on Poverty, and others. Thomas Merton lived most of his life and wrote most of his books during his time as a monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky. Hunter S. Thompson is also a native of the state. In recent years, several writers from Kentucky have published widely read and critically acclaimed books. These authors include Wendell Berry, Silas House, Barbara Kingsolver, Maurice Manning, and Bobbie Ann Mason.
Well-known playwrights from Kentucky include Marsha Norman ('Night Mother) and Naomi Wallace (One Flea Spare).
Kentucky's cuisine is generally similar to traditional southern cooking, although in some areas of the state it can blend elements of both the South and Midwest. One original Kentucky dish is called the Hot Brown, a dish normally layered in this order: toasted bread, turkey, bacon, tomatoes and topped with mornay sauce. It was developed at the Brown Hotel in Louisville. The Pendennis Club in Louisville is the birthplace of the Old Fashioned cocktail. Also, western Kentucky is known for its own regional style of barbecue. Central Kentucky is the birthplace of Beer Cheese.
Harland Sanders, a Kentucky colonel, originated Kentucky Fried Chicken at his service station in North Corbin, though the first franchised KFC was located in South Salt Lake, Utah.
Kentucky is the home of several sports teams such as Minor League Baseball's Triple-A Louisville Bats and Class A Lexington Legends and the Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods. They are also home to the Frontier League's Florence Y'alls and several teams in the MCFL. The Lexington Horsemen and Louisville Fire of the now-defunct af2 had been interested in making a move up to the "major league" Arena Football League, but nothing has come of those plans.
The northern part of the state lies across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, which is home to a National Football League team, the Bengals, and a Major League Baseball team, the Reds. It is not uncommon for fans to park in the city of Newport and use the Newport Southbank Pedestrian Bridge, locally known as the "Purple People Bridge", to walk to these games in Cincinnati. Also, Georgetown College in Georgetown was the location for the Bengals' summer training camp, until it was announced in 2012 that the Bengals would no longer use the facilities.
As in many states, especially those without major league professional sport teams, college athletics are prominent. This is especially true of the state's three Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs, including the Kentucky Wildcats, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, and the Louisville Cardinals. The Wildcats, Hilltoppers, and Cardinals are among the most tradition-rich college men's basketball teams in the United States, combining for 11 National championships and 24 NCAA Final Fours; all three are high on the lists of total all-time wins, wins per season, and average wins per season.
The Kentucky Wildcats are particularly notable, leading all Division I programs in all-time wins, win percentage, NCAA tournament appearances, and being second only to UCLA in NCAA championships. Louisville has also stepped onto the football scene in recent years, including winning the 2007 Orange Bowl as well as the 2013 Sugar Bowl, and also producing 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. Western Kentucky, the 2002 national champion in Division I-AA football (now Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)), completed its transition to Division I FBS football in 2009.
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. The Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville has hosted several editions of the PGA Championship, Senior PGA Championship and Ryder Cup since the 1990s.
The NASCAR Cup Series has a race at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which is within an hour driving distance from Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington. The race is called the Quaker State 400. The NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series also race there, and previously the IndyCar Series.
Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville was the primary location for training and rehab for WWE professional wrestlers from 2000 until 2008, when WWE moved its contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling. OVW later became the primary developmental territory for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2011 to 2013.
In 2014 Louisville City FC, a professional soccer team in the league then known as USL Pro and now as the United Soccer League, was announced. The team made its debut in 2015, playing home games at Louisville Slugger Field. In its first season, Louisville City was the official reserve side for Orlando City SC while making its debut in Major League Soccer at the same time. That arrangement ended in 2016, when Orlando City established a directly controlled reserve side in the USL.
Unless otherwise specified, all state symbol information is taken from Kentucky State Symbols.
The distinction of being named a Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's commission, by issuance of letters patent. Kentucky colonels are commissioned for life and act officially as the state's goodwill ambassadors. | en.wikipedia.org | Kentucky | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16846 |
16848 | Kurtosis
In probability theory and statistics, kurtosis (from , "kyrtos" or "kurtos", meaning "curved, arching") is a measure of the "tailedness" of the probability distribution of a real-valued random variable. Like skewness, kurtosis describes the shape of a probability distribution and there are different ways of quantifying it for a theoretical distribution and corresponding ways of estimating it from a sample from a population. Different measures of kurtosis may have different interpretations.
The standard measure of a distribution's kurtosis, originating with Karl Pearson, is a scaled version of the fourth moment of the distribution. This number is related to the tails of the distribution, not its peak; hence, the sometimes-seen characterization of kurtosis as "peakedness" is incorrect. For this measure, higher kurtosis corresponds to greater extremity of deviations (or outliers), and not the configuration of data near the mean.
The kurtosis of any univariate normal distribution is 3. It is common to compare the kurtosis of a distribution to this value. Distributions with kurtosis less than 3 are said to be "platykurtic", although this does not imply the distribution is "flat-topped" as is sometimes stated. Rather, it means the distribution produces fewer and less extreme outliers than does the normal distribution. An example of a platykurtic distribution is the uniform distribution, which does not produce outliers. Distributions with kurtosis greater than 3 are said to be "leptokurtic". An example of a leptokurtic distribution is the Laplace distribution, which has tails that asymptotically approach zero more slowly than a Gaussian, and therefore produces more outliers than the normal distribution. It is also common practice to use an adjusted version of Pearson's kurtosis, the excess kurtosis, which is the kurtosis minus 3, to provide the comparison to the standard normal distribution. Some authors use "kurtosis" by itself to refer to the excess kurtosis. For clarity and generality, however, this article follows the non-excess convention and explicitly indicates where excess kurtosis is meant.
Alternative measures of kurtosis are: the L-kurtosis, which is a scaled version of the fourth L-moment; measures based on four population or sample quantiles. These are analogous to the alternative measures of skewness that are not based on ordinary moments.
The kurtosis is the fourth standardized moment, defined as
where "μ"4 is the fourth central moment and σ is the standard deviation. Several letters are used in the literature to denote the kurtosis. A very common choice is "κ", which is fine as long as it is clear that it does not refer to a cumulant. Other choices include "γ"2, to be similar to the notation for skewness, although sometimes this is instead reserved for the excess kurtosis.
The kurtosis is bounded below by the squared skewness plus 1:
where "μ"3 is the third central moment. The lower bound is realized by the Bernoulli distribution. There is no upper limit to the kurtosis of a general probability distribution, and it may be infinite.
A reason why some authors favor the excess kurtosis is that cumulants are extensive. Formulæ related to the extensive property are more naturally expressed in terms of the excess kurtosis. For example, let "X"1, ..., "X""n" be independent random variables for which the fourth moment exists, and let "Y" be the random variable defined by the sum of the "X""i". The excess kurtosis of "Y" is
where formula_4 is the standard deviation of formula_5. In particular if all of the "X""i" have the same variance, then this simplifies to
The reason not to subtract off 3 is that the bare fourth moment better generalizes to multivariate distributions, especially when independence is not assumed. The cokurtosis between pairs of variables is an order four tensor. For a bivariate normal distribution, the cokurtosis tensor has off-diagonal terms that are neither 0 nor 3 in general, so attempting to "correct" for an excess becomes confusing. It is true, however, that the joint cumulants of degree greater than two for any multivariate normal distribution are zero.
For two random variables, "X" and "Y", not necessarily independent, the kurtosis of the sum, "X" + "Y", is
Note that the binomial coefficients appear in the above equation.
The exact interpretation of the Pearson measure of kurtosis (or excess kurtosis) used to be disputed, but is now settled. As Westfall notes in 2014, ""...its only unambiguous interpretation is in terms of tail extremity; i.e., either existing outliers (for the sample kurtosis) or propensity to produce outliers (for the kurtosis of a probability distribution)."" The logic is simple: Kurtosis is the average (or expected value) of the standardized data raised to the fourth power. Any standardized values that are less than 1 (i.e., data within one standard deviation of the mean, where the "peak" would be), contribute virtually nothing to kurtosis, since raising a number that is less than 1 to the fourth power makes it closer to zero. The only data values (observed or observable) that contribute to kurtosis in any meaningful way are those outside the region of the peak; i.e., the outliers. Therefore, kurtosis measures outliers only; it measures nothing about the "peak".
Many incorrect interpretations of kurtosis that involve notions of peakedness have been given. One is that kurtosis measures both the "peakedness" of the distribution and the heaviness of its tail. Various other incorrect interpretations have been suggested, such as "lack of shoulders" (where the "shoulder" is defined vaguely as the area between the peak and the tail, or more specifically as the area about one standard deviation from the mean) or "bimodality". Balanda and MacGillivray assert that the standard definition of kurtosis "is a poor measure of the kurtosis, peakedness, or tail weight of a distribution" and instead propose to "define kurtosis vaguely as the location- and scale-free movement of probability mass from the shoulders of a distribution into its center and tails".
In 1986 Moors gave an interpretation of kurtosis. Let
where "X" is a random variable, "μ" is the mean and "σ" is the standard deviation.
Now by definition of the kurtosis formula_9, and by the well-known identity formula_10
The kurtosis can now be seen as a measure of the dispersion of "Z"2 around its expectation. Alternatively it can be seen to be a measure of the dispersion of "Z" around +1 and −1. "κ" attains its minimal value in a symmetric two-point distribution. In terms of the original variable "X", the kurtosis is a measure of the dispersion of "X" around the two values "μ" ± "σ".
High values of "κ" arise in two circumstances:
The "excess kurtosis" is defined as kurtosis minus 3. There are 3 distinct regimes as described below.
Distributions with zero excess kurtosis are called mesokurtic, or mesokurtotic. The most prominent example of a mesokurtic distribution is the normal distribution family, regardless of the values of its parameters. A few other well-known distributions can be mesokurtic, depending on parameter values: for example, the binomial distribution is mesokurtic for formula_12.
A distribution with positive excess kurtosis is called leptokurtic, or leptokurtotic. "Lepto-" means "slender". In terms of shape, a leptokurtic distribution has "fatter tails". Examples of leptokurtic distributions include the Student's t-distribution, Rayleigh distribution, Laplace distribution, exponential distribution, Poisson distribution and the logistic distribution. Such distributions are sometimes termed "super-Gaussian".
A distribution with negative excess kurtosis is called platykurtic, or platykurtotic. "Platy-" means "broad". In terms of shape, a platykurtic distribution has "thinner tails". Examples of platykurtic distributions include the continuous and discrete uniform distributions, and the raised cosine distribution. The most platykurtic distribution of all is the Bernoulli distribution with "p" = 1/2 (for example the number of times one obtains "heads" when flipping a coin once, a coin toss), for which the excess kurtosis is −2. Such distributions are sometimes termed "sub-Gaussian distribution", originally proposed by Jean-Pierre Kahane and further described by Buldygin and Kozachenko.
The effects of kurtosis are illustrated using a parametric family of distributions whose kurtosis can be adjusted while their lower-order moments and cumulants remain constant. Consider the Pearson type VII family, which is a special case of the Pearson type IV family restricted to symmetric densities. The probability density function is given by
where "a" is a scale parameter and "m" is a shape parameter.
All densities in this family are symmetric. The "k"th moment exists provided "m" > ("k" + 1)/2. For the kurtosis to exist, we require "m" > 5/2. Then the mean and skewness exist and are both identically zero. Setting "a"2 = 2"m" − 3 makes the variance equal to unity. Then the only free parameter is "m", which controls the fourth moment (and cumulant) and hence the kurtosis. One can reparameterize with formula_14, where formula_15 is the excess kurtosis as defined above. This yields a one-parameter leptokurtic family with zero mean, unit variance, zero skewness, and arbitrary non-negative excess kurtosis. The reparameterized density is
In the limit as formula_17 one obtains the density
which is shown as the red curve in the images on the right.
In the other direction as formula_19 one obtains the standard normal density as the limiting distribution, shown as the black curve.
In the images on the right, the blue curve represents the density formula_20 with excess kurtosis of 2. The top image shows that leptokurtic densities in this family have a higher peak than the mesokurtic normal density, although this conclusion is only valid for this select family of distributions. The comparatively fatter tails of the leptokurtic densities are illustrated in the second image, which plots the natural logarithm of the Pearson type VII densities: the black curve is the logarithm of the standard normal density, which is a parabola. One can see that the normal density allocates little probability mass to the regions far from the mean ("has thin tails"), compared with the blue curve of the leptokurtic Pearson type VII density with excess kurtosis of 2. Between the blue curve and the black are other Pearson type VII densities with "γ"2 = 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16. The red curve again shows the upper limit of the Pearson type VII family, with formula_21 (which, strictly speaking, means that the fourth moment does not exist). The red curve decreases the slowest as one moves outward from the origin ("has fat tails").
Several well-known, unimodal and symmetric distributions from different parametric families are compared here. Each has a mean and skewness of zero. The parameters have been chosen to result in a variance equal to 1 in each case. The images on the right show curves for the following seven densities, on a linear scale and logarithmic scale:
Note that in these cases the platykurtic densities have bounded support, whereas the densities with positive or zero excess kurtosis are supported on the whole real line.
One cannot infer that high or low kurtosis distributions have the characteristics indicated by these examples. There exist platykurtic densities with infinite support,
and there exist leptokurtic densities with finite support.
Also, there exist platykurtic densities with infinite peakedness,
and there exist leptokurtic densities that appear flat-topped,
For a sample of "n" values the sample excess kurtosis is
where "m"4 is the fourth sample moment about the mean, "m"2 is the second sample moment about the mean (that is, the sample variance), "x""i" is the "i"th value, and formula_23 is the sample mean.
This formula has the simpler representation,
where the formula_25 values are the standardized data values using the standard deviation defined using "n" rather than "n" − 1 in the denominator.
For example, suppose the data values are 0, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 2, 0, 2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3, 999.
Then the formula_25 values are −0.239, −0.225, −0.221, −0.234, −0.230, −0.225, −0.239, −0.230, −0.234, −0.225, −0.230, −0.239, −0.230, −0.230, −0.225, −0.230, −0.216, −0.230, −0.225, 4.359
and the formula_27 values are 0.003, 0.003, 0.002, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.003, 0.002, 0.003, 0.003, 360.976.
The average of these values is 18.05 and the excess kurtosis is thus 18.05 − 3 = 15.05. This example makes it clear that data near the "middle" or "peak" of the distribution do not contribute to the kurtosis statistic, hence kurtosis does not measure "peakedness". It is simply a measure of the outlier, 999 in this example.
An upper bound for the sample kurtosis of "n" ("n" > 2) real numbers is
where formula_29 is the sample skewness formula_30.
The variance of the sample kurtosis of a sample of size "n" from the normal distribution is
Stated differently, under the assumption that the underlying random variable formula_32 is normally distributed, it can be shown that formula_33.
Given a sub-set of samples from a population, the sample excess kurtosis above is a biased estimator of the population excess kurtosis. An alternative estimator of the population excess kurtosis is defined as follows:
where "k"4 is the unique symmetric unbiased estimator of the fourth cumulant, "k"2 is the unbiased estimate of the second cumulant (identical to the unbiased estimate of the sample variance), "m"4 is the fourth sample moment about the mean, "m"2 is the second sample moment about the mean, "x""i" is the "i"th value, and formula_35 is the sample mean. Unfortunately, formula_36 is itself generally biased. For the normal distribution it is unbiased.
The sample kurtosis is a useful measure of whether there is a problem with outliers in a data set. Larger kurtosis indicates a more serious outlier problem, and may lead the researcher to choose alternative statistical methods.
D'Agostino's K-squared test is a goodness-of-fit normality test based on a combination of the sample skewness and sample kurtosis, as is the Jarque–Bera test for normality.
For non-normal samples, the variance of the sample variance depends on the kurtosis; for details, please see variance.
Pearson's definition of kurtosis is used as an indicator of intermittency in turbulence.
A concrete example is the following lemma by , He, Zhang and Zhang:
Assume a random variable formula_32 has expectation formula_38, variance formula_39 and kurtosis formula_40.
Assume we sample formula_41 many independent copies. Then
This shows that with formula_43 many samples, we will see one that is above the expectation with probability at least formula_44.
In other words: If the kurtosis is large, we might see a lot values either all below or above the mean.
Applying band-pass filters to digital images, kurtosis values tend to be uniform, independent of the range of the filter. This behavior, termed "kurtosis convergence", can be used to detect image splicing in forensic analysis.
A different measure of "kurtosis" is provided by using L-moments instead of the ordinary moments. | en.wikipedia.org | Kurtosis | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16848 |
16849 | Kon Ichikawa
Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture as Giichi Ichikawa (市川儀一). His father died when he was four years old, and the family kimono shop went bankrupt, so he went to live with his sister. He was given the name "Kon" by an uncle who thought the characters in the kanji 崑 signified good luck, because the two halves of the Chinese character look the same when it is split in half vertically. As a child he loved drawing and his ambition was to become an artist. He also loved films and was a fan of "chambara" or samurai films. In his teens he was fascinated by Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies" and decided to become an animator. He attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O Studio, in their animation department. Decades later, he told the American writer on Japanese film Donald Richie, "I'm still a "cartoonist" and I think that the greatest influence on my films (besides Chaplin, particularly "The Gold Rush") is probably Disney."
He moved to the feature film department as an assistant director when the company closed its animation department, working under such luminaries as Yutaka Abe and Nobuo Aoyagi.
In the early 1940s J.O Studio merged with P.C.L. and Toho Film Distribution to form the Toho Film Company. Ichikawa moved to Tokyo. His first film was a puppet play short, "A Girl at Dojo Temple" ("Musume Dojoji" 1946), which was confiscated by the interim U.S. Occupation authorities under the pretext that it was too "feudal", though some sources suggest the script had not been approved by the occupying authorities. Thought lost for many years, it is now archived at the Cinémathèque Française.
It was at Toho that he met Natto Wada. Wada was a translator for Toho. They agreed to marry sometime after Ichikawa completed his first film as director. Natto Wada's original name was Yumiko Mogi (born 13 September 1920 in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan); the couple both had failed marriages behind them. She graduated with a degree in English Literature from Tokyo Woman's Christian University. She married Kon Ichikawa on 10 April 1948, and died on 18 February 1983 of breast cancer.
It was after Ichikawa's marriage to Wada that the two began collaborating, first on "Design of a Human Being" ("Ningen moyo") and "Endless Passion" ("Hateshinaki jonetsu") in 1949. The period 1950–1965 is often referred to as Ichikawa's Natto Wada period. It's the period that contains the majority of Ichikawa's most highly respected works, such as "Tokyo Olympiad" ("Tōkyō Orinpikku"), for which he was awarded the Olympic Diploma of Merit, as well as the BAFTA United Nations Award and the Robert Flaherty Award (now known as the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary). It is also during this period that Wada wrote 34 screenplays, most of which were adaptations.
He gained Western recognition during the 1950s and 1960s with two anti-war films, "The Burmese Harp" and "Fires on the Plain", and the technically formidable period-piece "An Actor's Revenge" ("Yukinojo henge") about a kabuki actor.
Among his many literary adaptations were Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's "The Key" ("Kagi"), Natsume Sōseki's "The Heart" (Kokoro) and "I Am a Cat" ("Wagahai wa neko de aru"), in which a teacher's cat critiques the foibles of the humans surrounding him, and Yukio Mishima's "Conflagration" ("Enjo"), in which a priest burns down his temple to save it from spiritual pollution. "The Key", released in the United States as "Odd Obsession", was entered in the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize with Antonioni's "L'Avventura".
After Tokyo Olympiad Wada retired from screenwriting, and it marked a significant change in Ichikawa's films from that point onward. Concerning her retirement, he said "She doesn't like the new film grammar, the method of presentation of the material; she says there's no heart in it anymore, that people no longer take human love seriously."
His final film, 2006's "Inugamis", a remake of Ichikawa's own 1976 film "The Inugami Family", was entered into the 29th Moscow International Film Festival.
Also in 2006, Ichikawa was the subject of a feature-length documentary, "The Kon Ichikawa Story", directed by Shunji Iwai.
Ichikawa died of pneumonia on 13 February 2008 in a Tokyo hospital. He was 92 years old.
"The Magic Hour" marked Ichikawa's last appearance and was dedicated to his memory. (This message can be seen in the end of this film.) In this film, a movie director played by Ichikawa is shooting "Kuroi Hyaku-ichi-nin no Onna" (a hundred and one dark women), a parody of "Ten Dark Women".
Ichikawa's films are marked with a certain darkness and bleakness, punctuated with sparks of humanity.
It can be said that his main trait is technical expertise, irony, detachment and a drive for realism married with a complete spectrum of genres. Some critics class him with Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu as one of the masters of Japanese cinema.
The Kon Ichikawa Memorial Room, a small museum dedicated to him and his wife Natto Wada displaying materials from his personal collection, was opened in Shibuya in 2015, on the site of his former home. | en.wikipedia.org | Kon Ichikawa | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16849 |
16850 | Karel van het Reve
Karel van het Reve (19 May 1921 – 4 March 1999) was a Dutch writer, translator and literary historian, teaching and writing on Russian literature.
He was born in Amsterdam and was raised as a communist. He lost his 'faith' in his twenties and became an active critic and opponent of the Soviet regime. With his help, work of dissident Andrei Sakharov was smuggled to the west, and his Alexander Herzen Foundation published dissident Soviet literature.
He is considered to be one of the finest Dutch essayists, his interests ranging from the fallacies of Marxism to nude beach etiquette. His works include a history of Russian literature, 2 novels and several collections of essays. In 1978, Karel van het Reve delivered the Huizinga Lecture, under the title: "Literatuurwetenschap: het raadsel der onleesbaarheid" (Literary studies: the enigma of unreadability).
His brother, Gerard Reve, was a prominent prose writer.
The main-belt asteroid 12174 van het Reve, discovered by the Palomar–Leiden Survey in 1977, was named in his honor. | en.wikipedia.org | Karel van het Reve | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16850 |
16851 | Katakana
In contrast to the hiragana syllabary, which is used for Japanese words not covered by kanji and for grammatical inflections, the katakana syllabary usage is quite similar to italics in English; specifically, it is used for transcription of foreign-language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words (collectively "gairaigo"); for emphasis; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical and scientific terms; and for names of plants, animals, minerals and often Japanese companies.
Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and sharp corners. There are two main systems of ordering katakana: the old-fashioned iroha ordering and the more prevalent gojūon ordering.
The complete katakana script consists of 48 characters, not counting functional and diacritic marks:
These are conceived as a 5×10 grid ("gojūon", 五十音, literally "fifty sounds"), as shown in the adjacent table, read , , , , , , , , , and so on. The "gojūon" inherits its vowel and consonant order from Sanskrit practice. In vertical text contexts, which used to be the default case, the grid is usually presented as 10 columns by 5 rows, with vowels on the right hand side and ア ("a") on top. Katakana glyphs in the same row or column do not share common graphic characteristics. Three of the syllabograms to be expected, "yi", "ye" and "wu", may have been used idiosyncratically with varying glyphs, but never became conventional in any language and are not present at all in modern Japanese.
The 50-sound table is often amended with an extra character, the nasal stop ン ("n"). This can appear in several positions, most often next to the "N" signs or, because it developed from one of many "mu" hentaigana, below the "u" column. It may also be appended to the vowel row or the "a" column. Here, it is shown in a table of its own.
The script includes two diacritic marks placed at the upper right of the base character that change the initial sound of a syllabogram. A double dot, called "dakuten", indicates a primary alteration; most often it voices the consonant: "k"→"g", "s"→"z", "t"→"d" and "h"→"b"; for example, becomes . Secondary alteration, where possible, is shown by a circular "handakuten": "h"→"p"; For example; becomes . Diacritics, though used for over a thousand years, only became mandatory in the Japanese writing system in the second half of the 20th century. Their application is strictly limited in proper writing systems, but may be more extensive in academic transcriptions.
Furthermore, some characters may have special semantics when used in smaller size after a normal one (see below), but this does not make the script truly bicameral.
The layout of the "gojūon" table promotes a systematic view of kana syllabograms as being always pronounced with the same single consonant followed by a vowel, but this is not exactly the case (and never has been). Existing schemes for the romanization of Japanese either are based on the systematic nature of the script, e.g. nihon-siki チ "ti", or they apply some Western graphotactics, usually the English one, to the common Japanese pronunciation of the kana signs, e.g. Hepburn-shiki チ "chi". Both approaches conceal the fact, though, that many consonant-based katakana signs, especially those canonically ending in "u", can be used in coda position, too, where the vowel is unvoiced and therefore barely perceptible.
Of the 48 katakana syllabograms described above, only 46 are used in modern Japanese, and one of these is preserved for only a single use:
A small version of the katakana for "ya", "yu" or "yo" (ャ, ュ or ョ, respectively) may be added to katakana ending in "i". This changes the "i" vowel sound to a glide (palatalization) to "a", "u" or "o", e.g. キャ ("ki + ya") /kja/. Addition of the small "y" kana is called yōon.
Small versions of the five vowel kana are sometimes used to represent trailing off sounds (ハァ "haa", ネェ "nee"), but in katakana they are more often used in yōon-like extended digraphs designed to represent phonemes not present in Japanese; examples include チェ ("che") in チェンジ "chenji" ("change"), ファ ("fa") in ファミリー "famirī" ("family") and ウィ ("wi") and ディ ("di") in ウィキペディア "Wikipedia".
A character called a "sokuon", which is visually identical to a small "tsu" ッ, indicates that the following consonant is geminated (doubled); this is represented in rōmaji by doubling the consonant that follows the "sokuon". In Japanese this is an important distinction in pronunciation; for example, compare サカ "saka" "hill" with サッカ "sakka" "author". Geminated consonants are common in transliterations of foreign loanwords; for example English "bed" is represented as ベッド ("beddo"). The sokuon also sometimes appears at the end of utterances, where it denotes a glottal stop. However, it cannot be used to double the "na", "ni", "nu", "ne", "no" syllables' consonants; to double these, the singular "n" (ン) is added in front of the syllable. The "sokuon" may also be used to approximate a non-native sound: Bach is written ("Bahha"); Mach as ("Mahha").
Both katakana and hiragana usually spell native long vowels with the addition of a second vowel kana. However, in foreign loanwords katakana instead uses a vowel extender mark, called a "chōonpu" ("long vowel mark"). This is a short line (ー) following the direction of the text, horizontal for "yokogaki" (horizontal text), and vertical for "tategaki" (vertical text). For example, メール "mēru" is the "gairaigo" for e-mail taken from the English word "mail"; the ー lengthens the "e". There are some exceptions, such as () or (), where Japanese words written in katakana use the elongation mark, too.
Standard and voiced iteration marks are written in katakana as ヽ and ヾ, respectively.
In modern Japanese, katakana is most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages (other than words historically imported from Chinese), called "gairaigo". For example, "television" is written テレビ ("terebi"). Similarly, katakana is usually used for country names, foreign places, and foreign personal names. For example, the United States is usually referred to as "Amerika", rather than in its ateji kanji spelling of "Amerika".
Katakana are also used for onomatopoeia, words used to represent sounds – for example, ピンポン ("pinpon"), the "ding-dong" sound of a doorbell.
Technical and scientific terms, such as the names of animal and plant species and minerals, are also commonly written in katakana. Homo sapiens, as a species, is written ヒト ("hito"), rather than its kanji .
Katakana are also often (but not always) used for transcription of Japanese company names. For example, Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. As these are common family names, Suzuki being the second most common in Japan, it helps distinguish company names from surnames in writing. Katakana are commonly used on signs, advertisements, and hoardings (i.e., billboards), for example, "koko" ("here"), "gomi" ("trash"), or "megane" ("glasses"). Words the writer wishes to emphasize in a sentence are also sometimes written in katakana, mirroring the European usage of italics.
Pre–World War II official documents mix katakana and kanji in the same way that hiragana and kanji are mixed in modern Japanese texts, that is, katakana were used for "okurigana" and particles such as "wa" or "o".
Katakana were also used for telegrams in Japan before 1988, and for computer systems – before the introduction of multibyte characters – in the 1980s. Most computers of that era used katakana instead of kanji or hiragana for output.
Although words borrowed from ancient Chinese are usually written in kanji, loanwords from modern Chinese dialects which are borrowed directly use katakana instead.
The very common Chinese loanword "rāmen", written in katakana as , is rarely written with its kanji ().
There are rare instances where the opposite has occurred, with kanji forms created from words originally written in katakana. An example of this is "kōhī", ("coffee"), which can alternatively be written as . This kanji usage is occasionally employed by coffee manufacturers or coffee shops for novelty.
Katakana are used to indicate the "on'yomi" (Chinese-derived readings) of a kanji in a kanji dictionary. For instance, the kanji 人 has a Japanese pronunciation, written in hiragana as "hito" (person), as well as a Chinese derived pronunciation, written in katakana as "jin" (used to denote groups of people). Katakana are sometimes used instead of hiragana as furigana to give the pronunciation of a word written in Roman characters, or for a foreign word, which is written as kanji for the meaning, but intended to be pronounced as the original.
Katakana are also sometimes used to indicate words being spoken in a foreign or otherwise unusual accent. For example, in a manga, the speech of a foreign character or a robot may be represented by "konnichiwa" ("hello") instead of the more typical hiragana . Some Japanese personal names are written in katakana. This was more common in the past, hence elderly women often have katakana names. This was particularly common among women in the Meiji and Taishō periods, when many poor, illiterate parents were unwilling to pay a scholar to give their daughters names in kanji. Katakana is also used to denote the fact that a character is speaking a foreign language, and what is displayed in katakana is only the Japanese "translation" of his or her words.
Some frequently used words may also be written in katakana in dialogs to convey an informal, conversational tone. Some examples include ("manga"), "aitsu" ("that guy or girl; he/him; her"), "baka" ("fool"), etc.
Words with difficult-to-read kanji are sometimes written in katakana (hiragana is also used for this purpose). This phenomenon is often seen with medical terminology. For example, in the word "hifuka" ("dermatology"), the second kanji, , is considered difficult to read, and thus the word "hifuka" is commonly written or , mixing kanji and katakana. Similarly, difficult-to-read kanji such as "gan" ("cancer") are often written in katakana or hiragana.
Katakana is also used for traditional musical notations, as in the "Tozan-ryū" of "shakuhachi", and in "sankyoku" ensembles with "koto", "shamisen" and "shakuhachi".
Some instructors teaching Japanese as a foreign language "introduce "katakana" after the students have learned to read and write sentences in "hiragana" without difficulty and know the rules." Most students who have learned hiragana "do not have great difficulty in memorizing" katakana as well. Other instructors introduce katakana first, because these are used with loanwords. This gives students a chance to practice reading and writing kana with meaningful words. This was the approach taken by the influential American linguistics scholar Eleanor Harz Jorden in "" (parallel to "").
Katakana is commonly used by Japanese linguists to write the Ainu language. In Ainu katakana usage, the consonant that comes at the end of a syllable is represented by a small version of a katakana that corresponds to that final consonant followed by an arbitrary vowel. For instance "up" is represented by ウㇷ゚ (ウプ ["u" followed by small "pu"]). Ainu also uses three handakuten modified katakana, セ゚ ([tse]), and ツ゚ or ト゚ ([tu̜]). In Unicode, the Katakana Phonetic Extensions block (U+31F0–U+31FF) exists for Ainu language support. These characters are used for the Ainu language only.
Taiwanese kana (タイ ヲァヌ ギイ カア ビェン) is a katakana-based writing system once used to write Holo Taiwanese, when Taiwan was under Japanese control. It functioned as a phonetic guide for Chinese characters, much like furigana in Japanese or Zhùyīn fúhào in Chinese. There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including Hakka and Formosan languages.
Unlike Japanese or Ainu, Taiwanese kana are used similarly to the Zhùyīn fúhào characters, with kana serving as initials, vowel medials and consonant finals, marked with tonal marks. A dot below the initial kana represents aspirated consonants, and チ, ツ, サ, セ, ソ, ウ and オ with a superpositional bar represent sounds found only in Taiwanese.
Katakana is used as a phonetic guide for the Okinawan language, unlike the various other systems to represent Okinawan, which use hiragana with extensions. The system was devised by the Okinawa Center of Language Study of the University of the Ryukyus. It uses many extensions and yōon to show the many non-Japanese sounds of Okinawan.
This is a table of katakana together with their Hepburn romanization and rough IPA transcription for their use in Japanese. Katakana with "dakuten" or "handakuten" follow the "gojūon" kana without them.
Characters "shi" シ and "tsu" ツ, and "so" ソ and "n(g)" ン, look very similar in print except for the slant and stroke shape. These differences in slant and shape are more prominent when written with an ink brush.
Katakana was developed in the 9th century (during the early Heian period) by Buddhist monks by taking parts of "man'yōgana" characters as a form of shorthand, hence this kana is so-called .
For example, comes from the left side of . The adjacent table shows the origins of each katakana: the red markings of the original Chinese character (used as "man'yōgana") eventually became each corresponding symbol.
Early on, katakana was almost exclusively used by men for official text and text imported from China.
Official documents of the Empire of Japan were written exclusively with kyūjitai and katakana.
Recent findings by Yoshinori Kobayashi, professor of Japanese at Tokushima Bunri University, suggest the possibility that the katakana-like annotations used in may have originated in 8th-century Korea – possibly Silla – and then introduced to Japan through Buddhist texts.
The following table shows the method for writing each katakana character. It is arranged in the traditional way, beginning top right and reading columns down. The numbers and arrows indicate the stroke order and direction, respectively.
In addition to fonts intended for Japanese text and Unicode catch-all fonts (like Arial Unicode MS), many fonts intended for Chinese (such as MS Song) and Korean (such as Batang) also include katakana.
In addition to the usual display forms of characters, katakana has a second form, (there are no kanji). The half-width forms were originally associated with the JIS X 0201 encoding. Although their display form is not specified in the standard, in practice they were designed to fit into the same rectangle of pixels as Roman letters to enable easy implementation on the computer equipment of the day. This space is narrower than the square space traditionally occupied by Japanese characters, hence the name "half-width". In this scheme, diacritics (dakuten and handakuten) are separate characters. When originally devised, the half-width katakana were represented by a single byte each, as in JIS X 0201, again in line with the capabilities of contemporary computer technology.
In the late 1970s, two-byte character sets such as JIS X 0208 were introduced to support the full range of Japanese characters, including katakana, hiragana and kanji. Their display forms were designed to fit into an approximately square array of pixels, hence the name "full-width". For backwards compatibility, separate support for half-width katakana has continued to be available in modern multi-byte encoding schemes such as Unicode, by having two separate blocks of characters – one displayed as usual (full-width) katakana, the other displayed as half-width katakana.
Although often said to be obsolete, the half-width katakana are still used in many systems and encodings. For example, the titles of mini discs can only be entered in ASCII or half-width katakana, and half-width katakana are commonly used in computerized cash register displays, on shop receipts, and Japanese digital television and DVD subtitles. Several popular Japanese encodings such as EUC-JP, Unicode and Shift JIS have half-width katakana code as well as full-width. By contrast, ISO-2022-JP has no half-width katakana, and is mainly used over SMTP and NNTP.
Katakana was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0.
The Unicode block for (full-width) katakana is U+30A0–U+30FF.
Encoded in this block along with the katakana are the "nakaguro" word-separation middle dot, the "chōon" vowel extender, the katakana iteration marks, and a ligature of コト sometimes used in vertical writing.
Half-width equivalents to the usual full-width katakana also exist in Unicode. These are encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF) (which also includes full-width forms of Latin characters, for instance), starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F (characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are half-width punctuation marks). This block also includes the half-width dakuten and handakuten. The full-width versions of these characters are found in the Hiragana block.
Circled katakana are code points U+32D0–U+32FE in the Enclosed CJK Letters and Months block (U+3200–U+32FF). A circled ン (n) is not included.
Extensions to Katakana for phonetic transcription of Ainu and other languages were added to the Unicode standard in March 2002 with the release of version 3.2.
The Unicode block for Katakana Phonetic Extensions is U+31F0–U+31FF:
Historic and variant forms of Japanese kana characters were added to the Unicode standard in October 2010 with the release of version 6.0.
The Unicode block for Kana Supplement is U+1B000–U+1B0FF:
The Unicode block for Small Kana Extension is U+1B130–U+1B16F:
Katakana in other Unicode blocks:
Furthermore, as of Unicode 13.0, the following combinatory sequences have been explicitly named, despite having no precomposed symbols in the katakana block. Font designers may want to optimize the display of these composed glyphs. Some of them are mostly used for writing the Ainu language, the others are called "bidakuon" in Japanese. Other, arbitrary combinations with U+309A handakuten are also possible. | en.wikipedia.org | Katakana | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16851 |
16852 | Kia Asamiya
, best known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist whose work spans multiple genres and appeals to diverse audiences.
He is well known for using influences from American comics, television, and films in his work, and describes himself as a big fan of Batman and "Star Wars". One of the most widely published Japanese manga artist, nearly all of his stories have been translated into other languages, including English. His two most successful and popular manga series to-date are "Martian Successor Nadesico" and "Silent Möbius".
Before becoming a manga artist, Asamiya graduated from the Tokyo Designer School, then worked as a character designer for a number of anime series, and even designed models for some of the later Godzilla films (1980s). For this career, he used his real name, and maintained the two professional identities separately for many years. Several of the anime series that he worked on were very popular inside and outside Japan, most notably "Sonic Soldier Borgman" and "Project A-ko". Even after focusing primarily on his manga career, Asamiya continued to do character designs and creative consultation on anime series based on his stories, occasionally under the Kikuchi name.
In the early 2000s, Asamiya has shifted his focus from teenage and young-adult stories to stories designed for children and for an American audience. In the former case, he credits his children as a motivation but, in the latter case, he points to a long-standing desire to work with his favorite American characters. To that end, he has worked on projects with Image Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics, as well as developing a manga adaptation of the film "".
While many Japanese artists (and artists in general) are quite reclusive, Asamiya often makes an effort to be available to his fans. He maintains a website with news and information about his studio, TRON (named after the Disney film "Tron"). He aids and assists his official fan club by sending them regular announcements and limited-edition merchandise. Despite these actions, he shunned all public photography and had the habit of depicting himself with a placeholder sign for a face. It has become a trademark feature of his books that instead of a picture of the artist, there is an elaborately decorated rectangle sporting the words "Now Printing" (a message used in Japan for placeholder images). | en.wikipedia.org | Kia Asamiya | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16852 |
16853 | Kitáb-i-Aqdas
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas or Aqdas is the central book of the Baháʼí Faith written by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the religion, in 1873. The work was written in Arabic under the Arabic title ( / "al-Kitāb al-ʾaqdās"), but it is commonly referred to by its Persian title, "Kitáb-i-Aqdas" ( / "Ketâb Âqdas"), which was given to the work by Baháʼu'lláh himself. It is sometimes also referred to as "the Most Holy Book", "the Book of Laws" or the Book of Aqdas. The word "Aqdas" is a superlative form derived from the triconsonantal root Q-D-Š, denoting holiness or sanctity in Semitic languages.
Baháʼu'lláh had manuscript copies sent to Baháʼís in Iran some years after the revelation of the "Kitáb-i-Aqdas" in 1873, and in 1890–91 (1308 AH, 47 BE) he arranged for the publication of the original Arabic text of the book in Bombay, India.
The "Aqdas" is referred to as "the Mother-Book" of the Baháʼí teachings, and the "Charter of the future world civilization". It is not, however, only a 'book of laws': much of the content deals with other matters, notably ethical exhortations and addresses to various individuals, groups, and places. The "Aqdas" also discusses the establishment of Baháʼí administrative institutions, Baháʼí religious practices, mysticism, laws of personal status, inheritance, criminal law, spiritual and ethical exhortations, social principles, miscellaneous laws and abrogations, and prophecies.
Baháʼu'lláh stated that the observance of the laws that he prescribed should be subject to "tact and wisdom", and that they do not cause "disturbance and dissension." Baháʼu'lláh thus provided for the progressive application of his laws; for example certain Baháʼí laws are currently only applicable to Iranian Baháʼís such as the limit to the period of engagement, while any Baháʼí may practice the laws if they so decide. Shoghi Effendi also stated that certain other laws, such as criminal laws, that are dependent upon the existence of a predominantly Baháʼí society would only be applicable in a possible future Baháʼí society. He also stated that if the laws were in conflict with the civil law of the country where a Baháʼí lives the laws could not be practiced. This is not always the case. For example a Bahá’í wedding cannot take place until the Baha'i Assembly of the area agrees that all requirements of both Bahá’í and civil law have been met. Furthermore, some laws and teachings are, according to Baháʼí teaching, not meant to be applied at the present time and their application depends on decisions by the Universal House of Justice. Baha'is believe the Aqdas supersedes and succeeds previous revelations such as the Quran and the Bible.
The text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas consists of several hundred verses, which have been grouped in 189 numbered paragraphs in the English translation most of which are just a few sentences. The style combines elements of both poetry ("shi'r") and rhymed prose ("saj") and the text contains instances of literary devices like alliteration, assonance, repetition, onomatopoeia, juxtaposition and antithesis, metaphors, alternation of person and personification.
Rules and principles are interspersed and guide interpretation, and authority and limits for authorized interpretation are also specified. It defines a Baháʼí Administration as part of the Covenant of Baháʼu'lláh, and also speaks to the individual reader, as there are no clergy in the religion to rely on for guidance. It must be noted that elected Baha'i Administrative bodies and the appointed Institution of Continental Board of Councilors together with their army of Auxiliary Board Members and Assistants wield more power than most clergy could ever hope to have. For example they're permitted to excommunicate critics of the Baha'i Administration and society is required to shun them completely. The text also moves between statements said to be plain and statements suggesting the key to understanding the book is to look at the text for clues to itself. Some statements reflect on the teachings in the religion on various themes and underscore a relationship of the Aqdas as a 'motherhood' in relation to all the other scriptural works and they to it. It also relates to scriptures of other religions by abrogation, explanation, affirmation or reformation — an example of progressive revelation as a principle of the religion. While it is the core text on laws of the religion, it is not the exclusive source of laws in the religion, nor of Baháʼu'lláh's own writings, and complementarily the reader is told explicitly to not view the text as a "mere code of laws".
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas was completed by Baháʼu'lláh in 1873. It was published in the Arabic for circulation among Baháʼís speaking the language circa 1890. A Russian translation was undertaken by Alexander Tumansky in 1899 and was his most important contribution to Baháʼí studies. Around 1900 an informal English translation was made by Baháʼí Anton Haddad, which circulated among the early American Baháʼí community in a typewritten form. In 1961, an English scholar of Arabic, Dr. Earl E. Elder, and William McElwee Miller, who (according to Laurence Elwell-Sutton) is an openly hostile Christian minister, published an English translation, "Al-Kitab Al-Aqdas", through the Royal Asiatic Society, however its translation of the notes section was problematic and overall lacked "poetic sensibility, and skill in Arabic translation". Indeed, Miller only ever used it to further his polemical agenda. In 1973 a "Synopsis and Codification" of the book was published in English by the Universal House of Justice, with 21 passages of the Aqdas that had already been translated into English by Shoghi Effendi with additional terse lists of laws and ordinances contained in the book outside of any contextual prose. Finally, in 1992, a full and authorized Baháʼí translation in English was published. This version is used as the basis of translation into many other languages highlighting the practice of an indirect translation and how the purpose of the translation affects the act of translation. The Baháʼí Library Online provides a side-by-side comparison of the authorized translation with earlier translations of Anton Haddad and Earl Elder.
The "Kitáb-i-Aqdas" is supplemented by the
The book was divided into six main themes in the "Synopsis and Codification" by Shoghi Effendi:
Further, the laws were divided into four categories:
Scholarly review finds the Aqdas has themes of laws of worship, societal relations and administrative organization, or governance, of the religion. Through the authority vested in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in the Aqdas there is an expanse of internationalism related to the law in works like "The Secret of Divine Civilization" and through his extended authority to Shoghi Effendi works like his "World Order of Baháʼu'lláh" further elaborates on the internationalism theme. This stands in some distinction from other scriptures by not using triumphal tones as the voice of God is given to be viewed but rather one of progressive development, social context, and outright delay in application until another day. Indeed, it insists that divine law is applicable only in situations with requisite conditions, where it is likely to have certain social effects. The goal of application of the law and its methods are not to cause disturbance and dissension and requires an appreciation for context and intention. Additionally one is to eschew emphasis in the development of textualist and intentionalist arguments about the law though some of this is visible in scholarship on the Aqdas. Such methods of application of law in a religious context are, in the opinion of Roshan Danish, common in Islam and Judaism.
The Aqdas is understood by Baháʼís to be a factor in the process of ongoing developments in world order. This can be seen comparing the Baháʼí approach to history and the future to that of the theory of the Clash of Civilizations on the one hand and the development of a posthegemony system on the other (compared with work of Robert Cox, for example, in "Approaches to World Order", (Robert Cox & Timonthy Sinclair eds, Cambridge University Press, 1996).)
Certain possible sources of law are specifically abrogated: laws of the Bábí religion, notably in the "Persian Bayán", oral traditions (linked with pilgrim notes, and natural law, (that is to say God's sovereign will through revelation is the independent authority.) Divine revelation's law-making is both unconditioned in terms of the divine right to choose, and conditioned in the sense of the progress of history from one revelation to the next.
Baha'u'llah's statements about marriage in the "Kitáb-i-Aqdas" are brief. Marriage is highly recommended but is stated to not be obligatory. Baháʼu'lláh states that the maximum number of wives is two, but also states that having only one wife would add more tranquility to both partners. These statements were later interpreted by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá that having a second wife is conditional upon treating both wives with justice and equality and was not possible in practice, thus establishing monogamy.
That Baháʼu'lláh had three wives, while his religion teaches monogamy, which has been the subject of criticism. The writing of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and Baháʼí teachings on gender equality and monogamy post-date Baháʼu'lláh's marriages and are understood to be evolutionary in nature, slowly leading Baháʼís away from what had been a deeply rooted cultural practice.
The institutional status of the authority of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and a House of Justice are specifically delineated. On the basis of the authority granted ʻAbdu'l-Bahá he extended forms of the authority vested in him to the Guardianship, whose sole member was Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal, or International, House of Justice through his Will and Testament. This was confirmed and amplified in other texts, notably the Kitáb-i-'Ahd. The Universal House of Justice is specifically empowered to write and rescind any laws it is felt necessary aside from those of the text of scripture and actual application of the laws of the Aqdas among Baháʼís are dependent on the choice of the Universal House of Justice. | en.wikipedia.org | Kitáb-i-Aqdas | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16853 |
16407 | Johann Tetzel
Johann Tetzel (c. 1465 – 11 August 1519) was a Holy Roman Empire Dominican friar and preacher. He was appointed Inquisitor for Poland and Saxony, later becoming the Grand Commissioner for indulgences in Germany. Tetzel was known for granting indulgences on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for money, which are claimed to allow a remission of temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven, a position heavily challenged by Martin Luther. This contributed in part to the Reformation. The main usage of the indulgences sold by Johann Tetzel was to help fund and build the St. Peter's Basilica.
Tetzel was born in Pirna, Saxony, and studied theology and philosophy at Leipzig University. He entered the Dominican order in 1489, achieved some success as a preacher, and was in 1502 commissioned by Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X, to preach the Jubilee indulgence, which he did throughout his life. In 1509 he was made an inquisitor of Poland and, in January 1517 was made commissioner of indulgences for Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg in the dioceses of Magdeburg and Halberstadt.
He acquired the degree of Licentiate of Sacred Theology in the University of Frankfurt an der Oder in 1517, and then of Doctor of Sacred Theology in 1518, by defending in two disputations, the doctrine of indulgences against Martin Luther. The accusation that he had sold full forgiveness for sins not yet committed caused a great scandal. It was believed that all of the money that Tetzel raised was for the ongoing reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica, although half the money went to the Archbishop of Mainz, Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (under whose authority Tetzel was operating), to pay off the debts incurred in securing Albert's appointment to the archbishopric. Luther began to preach openly against him and was inspired to write his famous "Ninety-five Theses" in part due to Tetzel's actions, in which he states,
Tetzel was also condemned (though later pardoned) for immorality. When he discovered that Karl von Miltitz had accused him of perpetrating numerous frauds and embezzlements, he withdrew, broken in spirit, wrecked in health, into the Dominican monastery in Leipzig. Miltitz was later discredited to the point where his claims carry no historical weight.
Tetzel died in Leipzig in 1519. At the time of his death, Tetzel had fallen into disrepute and was shunned by the public.
When Luther heard that Tetzel was mortally ill and on his deathbed, he wrote to comfort him and bade him "not to be troubled, for the matter did not begin on his account, but the child had quite a different father."
After his death, he was given an honorable burial and interred before the high altar of the Dominican Church in Leipzig.
Tetzel overstated Catholic doctrine in regard to indulgences for the dead. He became known for a couplet attributed to him:
As soon as the gold in the casket rings
The rescued soul to heaven springs
This oft-quoted saying was by no means representative of the official Catholic teaching on indulgences, but rather, more a reflection of Tetzel's capacity to exaggerate. Yet if Tetzel overstated the matter in regard to indulgences for the dead, his teaching on indulgences for the living was pure Catholic teaching. The German Catholic historian Ludwig von Pastor explains:
Above all, a most clear distinction must be made between indulgences for the living and those for the dead.
As regards indulgences for the living, Tetzel always taught pure (Catholic) doctrine. The assertion that he put forward indulgences as being not only a remission of the temporal punishment of sin but as a remission of its guilt, is as unfounded as is that other accusation against him, that he sold the forgiveness of sin for money, without even any mention of contrition and confession, or that, for payment, he absolved from sins which might be committed in the future. His teaching was, in fact, very definite, and quite in harmony with the theology of the (Catholic) Church, as it was then and as it is now, i.e., that indulgences "apply only to the temporal punishment due to sins which have been already repented of and confessed"...
The case was very different from indulgences for the dead. As regards these there is no doubt that Tetzel did, according to what he considered his authoritative instructions, proclaim as Christian doctrine that nothing but an offering of money was required to gain the indulgence for the dead, without there being any question of contrition or confession.
He also taught, in accordance with the opinion then held, that an indulgence could be applied to any given soul with unfailing effect. Starting from this assumption, there is no doubt that his doctrine was virtually that of the well known drastic proverb.
The Papal Bull of indulgence gave no sanction whatever to this proposition. It was a vague scholastic opinion, rejected by the Sorbonne in 1482, and again in 1518, and certainly not a doctrine of the Church, which was thus improperly put forward as dogmatic truth. The first among the theologians of the Roman court, Cardinal Cajetan, was the enemy of all such extravagances and declared emphatically that, even if theologians and preachers taught such opinions, no faith need be given them. "Preachers," he said, "speak in the name of the Church only so long as they proclaim the doctrine of Christ and His Church; but if, for purposes of their own, they teach that about which they know nothing, and which is only their own imagination, they must not be accepted as mouthpieces of the Church. No one must be surprised if such as these fall into error."
Luther claimed, that Tetzel had received a substantial amount of money at Leipzig, from a nobleman asking him for a letter of indulgence for a future sin. Supposedly Tetzel answered in the affirmative, insisting that the payment had to be made at once. The nobleman did so and received a letter and seal from Tetzel.
However, when Tetzel left Leipzig the nobleman attacked him along the way, and gave him a thorough beating, sending him back empty-handed to Leipzig, with the comment that it was the future sin which he had in mind. Duke George at first was quite furious about the incident, but when he heard the whole story, he let it go without punishing the nobleman.
Luther also claimed that at Halle, Tetzel said that an indulgence could wipe away the sin of a man guilty of raping Mary, Mother of God. However, Tetzel obtained affidavits from authorities at Halle, both civil and ecclesiastical, who swore that Tetzel never made any such claim.
Tetzel has been portrayed on stage and screen by the following: | en.wikipedia.org | Johann Tetzel | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16407 |
16412 | James Tiptree Jr.
Alice Bradley Sheldon (August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987) was an American science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a woman. From 1974 to 1977 she also used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon. Sheldon was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.
Sheldon came from a family in the intellectual enclave of Hyde Park, a university neighborhood in Chicago. Her father was Herbert Bradley, a lawyer and naturalist, and her mother was Mary Hastings Bradley, a prolific writer of fiction and travel books. From an early age Sheldon traveled with her parents, and in 1921–22, the Bradleys made their first trip to central Africa, which later contributed to Sheldon's short story, "The Women Men Don't See." During these trips, she played the role of the "perfect daughter, willing to be carried across Africa like a parcel, always neatly dressed and well behaved, a credit to her mother."
Between trips to Africa, Sheldon attended school in Chicago. At the age of ten, she went to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, which was an experimental teaching workshop with small classes and loose structure. When she was fourteen, she was sent to finishing school in Lausanne in Switzerland, before returning to the US to attend boarding school in Tarrytown in New York. Later on, she became a graphic artist, a painter, and—under the name "Alice Bradley Davey"—an art critic for the "Chicago Sun" between 1941 and 1942.
Sheldon was encouraged by her mother to seek a career, but her mother also hoped that she would get married and settle down. At age 19, she met and married William (Bill) Davey, her first husband. The couple eloped in 1934. She dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College, which did not allow married students to attend. They moved to Berkeley, California, where they took classes and Bill encouraged her to pursue art. The marriage was not a success; he was an alcoholic and irresponsible with money and she disliked keeping house. The couple divorced in 1940.
After the divorce, she joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps where she became a supply officer. In 1942 she joined the United States Army Air Forces and worked in the Army Air Forces photo-intelligence group. She later was promoted to major, a high rank for women at the time. In the army, she "felt she was among free women for the first time." As an intelligence officer, she became an expert in reading aerial intelligence photographs.
In 1945, at the close of the war, while she was on assignment in Paris, she married her second husband, Huntington D. Sheldon, known as "Ting." She was discharged from the military in 1946, at which time she set up a small business in partnership with her husband. The same year her first story ("The Lucky Ones") was published in the November 16, 1946 issue of "The New Yorker", and credited to "Alice Bradley" in the magazine. In 1952 she and her husband were invited to join the CIA, which she accepted. At the CIA, she worked as a spy, but she didn't enjoy the work. She resigned her position in 1955 and returned to college.
She studied for her bachelor of arts degree at American University (1957–1959), going on to achieve a doctorate at George Washington University in Experimental Psychology in 1967. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on the responses of animals to novel stimuli in differing environments. During this time, she wrote and submitted a few science fiction stories under the name James Tiptree Jr., in order to protect her academic reputation.
In her personal life, Sheldon had a complex sexual orientation, and she described her sexuality in different terms over many years. This statement, for example, is how she explained it at one point: "I like some men a lot, but from the start, before I knew anything, it was always girls and women who lit me up."
Sheldon began illustrating when she was nine years old, contributing to her mother's book, "Alice in Elephantland", a children's book about the family's second trip to Africa, appearing in it as herself. She later had an exhibit of her drawings of Africa at the Chicago Gallery, arranged by her parents. Although she illustrated several of her mother's books, she only sold one illustration during her lifetime, in 1931, to "The New Yorker", with help from Harold Ober, a New York agent who worked with her mother. The illustration, of a horse rearing and throwing off its rider, sold for ten dollars.
In 1936, Sheldon participated in a group show at the Art Institute of Chicago, to which she had connections through her family, featuring new American work. This was an important step forward for her painting career. During this time she also took private art lessons from John Sloan. Sheldon disliked prudery in painting. While examining an anatomy book for an art class, she noticed that the genitals were blurred, so she restored the genitals of the figures with a pencil.
In 1939, Sheldon's nude self-portrait titled "Portrait in the Country" was accepted for the "All-American" biennial show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C., where it was displayed for six weeks. While these two shows were considered big breaks, she disparaged these accomplishments, saying that "only second rate painters sold" and she preferred to keep her works at home.
By 1940, Sheldon felt she had mastered all the techniques she needed and was ready to choose her subject matter. However, she began to doubt whether she should paint. She kept working at her painting techniques, fascinated with the questions of form, and read books on aesthetics in order to know what scientifically made a painting "good." She stopped painting in 1941. As she was in need of a way to support herself, her parents helped her find a job as an art critic for the "Chicago Sun" after it launched in 1941. Newly divorced, she started going by the name Alice Bradley Davey as a journalist, a job she held until she enlisted for the army in 1942.
Bradley discovered science fiction in 1924, when she read her first issue of "Weird Tales," but she wouldn't write any herself until years later. Unsure what to do with her new degrees and her new/old careers, Sheldon began to write science fiction. She adopted the pseudonym of James Tiptree Jr. in 1967. The name "Tiptree" came from a branded jar of marmalade, and the "Jr." was her husband's idea. In an interview, she said: "A male name seemed like good camouflage. I had the feeling that a man would slip by less observed. I've had too many experiences in my life of being the first woman in some damned occupation." She also made the choice to start writing science fiction she, herself, was interested in and "was surprised to find that her stories were immediately accepted for publication and quickly became popular."
Her first published short story was "Birth of a Salesman" in the March 1968 issue of "Analog Science Fact & Fiction", edited by John W. Campbell. Three more followed that year in "If" and "Fantastic". Other pen names that she used included "Alice Hastings Bradley", "Major Alice Davey", "Alli B. Sheldon", "Dr. Alice B. Sheldon", "Raccoona Sheldon", and "Alli". [2]
Writing under the pseudonym Raccoona, she was not very successful getting published until her other alter ego, Tiptree, wrote to publishers to intervene.
The pseudonym was successfully maintained until late 1977, partly because, although "Tiptree" was widely known to be a pseudonym, it was generally understood that its use was intended to protect the professional reputation of an intelligence community official. Readers, editors and correspondents were permitted to assume sex, and generally, but not invariably, they assumed "male". There was speculation, based partially on the themes in her stories, that Tiptree might be female. Robert Silverberg wrote "It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree's writing." Silverberg also compared Tiptree's writing to Ernest Hemingway, and in fact, found Tiptree to be "superior in masculinity."
"Tiptree" never made any public appearances, but she did correspond regularly with fans and other science fiction authors through the mail. When asked for biographical details, Tiptree/Sheldon was forthcoming in everything but her sex. According to her biographer, Julie Phillips, "No one had ever seen or spoken to the owner of this voice. He wrote letters, warm, frank, funny letters, to other writers, editors, and science fiction fans."[4] In her letters to fellow writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Joanna Russ, she would present herself as a feminist man; however, Sheldon did not present herself as male in person. Writing was a way to escape a male dominated society, themes Tiptree explored in the short stories later collected in "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever". One story in particular offers an excellent illustration of these themes. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" follows a group of astronauts who discover a future Earth whose male population has been wiped out; the remaining females have learned to get along just fine in their absence"."
After the death of Mary Hastings Bradley in 1976, "Tiptree" mentioned in a letter that "his" mother, also a writer, had died in Chicago—details that led inquiring fans to find the obituary, with its reference to Alice Sheldon; soon all was revealed. Once the initial shock was over, Alli wrote to one of her closest friends, Ursula K. Le Guin, confessing her identity. Sheldon wrote, "I never wrote you anything but the exact truth, there was no calculation or intent to deceive, other than the signature which over 8 years became just another nickname; everything else is just plain me. The thing is, I am a 61-year-old woman named Alice Sheldon — nickname Alli – solitary by nature but married for 37 years to a very nice man considerably older, who doesn't read my stuff but is glad I like writing."
Several prominent science fiction writers suffered some embarrassment. Robert Silverberg had written an introduction to "Warm Worlds and Otherwise" arguing, from the evidence of stories in that collection, that Tiptree could not possibly be a woman. Harlan Ellison had introduced Tiptree's story in the anthology "Again, Dangerous Visions" with the opinion that "[Kate] Wilhelm is the woman to beat this year, but Tiptree is the man."
Only then did she complete her first full-length novel, "Up the Walls of the World" (Berkley Books, 1978), which was a Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club selection. Before that she had worked on and built a reputation only in the field of short stories.
Tiptree/Sheldon was an eclectic writer who worked in a variety of styles and subgenres, often combining the technological focus and hard-edged style of "hard" science fiction with the sociological and psychological concerns of "soft" SF, along with some of the stylistic experimentation of the New Wave movement.
After writing several stories in more conventional modes, she produced her first work to draw widespread acclaim, "The Last Flight of Doctor Ain", in 1969. One of her shortest stories, "Ain" is a sympathetic portrait of a scientist whose concern for Earth's ecological suffering leads him to destroy the entire human race.
Many of her stories have a milieu reminiscent of the space opera and pulp tales she read in her youth, but typically with a much darker tone: the cosmic journeys of her characters are often linked to a drastic spiritual alienation, and/or a transcendent experience which brings fulfillment but also death. John Clute, noting Tiptree's "inconsolable complexities of vision", concluded that "It is very rarely that a James Tiptree story does not both deal directly with death and end with a death of the spirit, or of all hope, or of the race". Notable stories of this type include "Painwise", in which a space explorer has been altered to be immune to pain but finds such an existence intolerable, and "A Momentary Taste of Being", in which the true purpose of humanity, found on a distant planet, renders individual human life entirely pointless.
Another major theme in Tiptree/Sheldon's work is the tension between free will and biological determinism, or reason and sexual desire. "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death", one of the rare SF stories in which no humans appear, describes an alien creature's romantic rationalizations for the brutal instincts that drive its life cycle. "The Screwfly Solution" suggests that humans might similarly rationalize a plague of murderous sexual insanity. Sex in Tiptree's writing is frankly portrayed, a sometimes playful but more often threatening force.
Before the revelation of Sheldon's identity, Tiptree was often referred to as an unusually macho male (see, e.g., Robert Silverberg's commentaries) as well as an unusually feminist science fiction writer (for a male)—particularly for "The Women Men Don't See", a story of two women who go looking for aliens to escape from male-dominated society on Earth. However, Sheldon's view of sexual politics could be ambiguous, as in the ending of "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", where a society of female clones must deal with three time-traveling male astronauts.
A constant theme in Sheldon's work is feminism. In "The Women Men Don't See" Sheldon gives the tale a unique feminist spin by making the narrator, Don Fenton, a male. Fenton judges the Parsons, the mother and daughter who are searching for alien life, based on their attractiveness and is agitated when they do not "fulfill stereotypical female roles", according to Anne Cranny-Francis. In addition, Fenton's inability to understand both the plight of woman and Ruth Parsons' feelings of alienation further illustrate the differences of men and women in society. The theme of feminism is emphasized by "the feminist ideology espoused by Ruth Parsons and the contrasting sexism of Fenton". The title of the short story itself reflects the idea that women are invisible during Sheldon's time. As Francis states, "'The Women Men Don't See' is an outstanding example … of the subversive use of genre fiction to produce an unconventional discursive position, the feminist subject".
Sheldon's two novels, produced toward the end of her career, were not as critically well-received as her best-known stories but continued to explore similar themes. Some of her best-regarded work can be found in the collection "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever", available in paperback through Tachyon Publications as of 2004.
Sheldon continued writing under the Tiptree pen name for another decade. In the last years of her life she suffered from depression and heart trouble, while her husband began to lose his eyesight, becoming almost completely blind in 1986. In 1976, then 61-year-old Sheldon wrote Silverberg expressing her desire to end her own life while she was still able-bodied and active, but saying that she was reluctant to act upon this intention, as she didn't want to leave Ting behind and couldn't bring herself to kill him. Later she suggested to her husband that they make a suicide pact when their health began to fail. On July 21, 1977, she wrote in her diary: “Ting agreed to consider suicide in 4–5 years.”
Ten years later, on May 19, 1987, Sheldon shot her husband and then herself; she telephoned her attorney after the first shooting to announce her actions. They were found dead, hand-in-hand in bed, in their Virginia home. According to biographer Julie Phillips, the suicide note Sheldon left was written in September 1979 and saved until needed. Although the circumstances surrounding the Sheldons' deaths are not clear enough to rule out murder-suicide, testimony of those closest to them suggests a suicide pact.
The James Tiptree Jr. Award, honoring works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore our understanding of gender, was named in her honor. The award-winning science fiction authors Karen Joy Fowler and Pat Murphy created the award in February 1991. Works of fiction such as "Half Life" by Shelley Jackson and "Light" by M. John Harrison have received the award. Due to controversy over the circumstances of her and her husband's death, however, the name of the award was changed to the Otherwise Award in 2019.
The abbreviation(s) after each title indicate its appearance in one or more of the following collections:
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Tiptree in 2012. She also won several annual awards for particular works of fiction (typically the preceding calendar year's best):
Japanese-language translations of her fiction also won two Hayakawa Awards and three Seiun Awards as the year's best under changing designations (foreign, overseas, translated). The awards are voted by magazine readers and annual convention participants respectively:
Notes
Biblography | en.wikipedia.org | James Tiptree Jr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16412 |
16413 | Otherwise Award
The Otherwise Award, formerly known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science fiction authors Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler, subsequent to a discussion at WisCon.
In addition to the award itself, the judges publish what was originally known as the "Tiptree Award Honor List", which they describe as "a strong part of the award's identity and (...) used by many readers as a recommended reading list."
The award was originally named for Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. Due to controversy over the appropriateness of naming an award after Tiptree, the committee administering the award announced on October 13, 2019 that the award would be renamed the Otherwise Award.
By choosing a masculine "nom de plume," having her stories accepted under that name and winning awards with them, Alice Sheldon helped demonstrate that the division between male and female science fiction writing was illusory. Years after "Tiptree" first published science fiction, Sheldon wrote some work under the female pen name "Raccoona Sheldon"; later, the science fiction world discovered that "Tiptree" had been female all along. This discovery led to widespread discussion over which aspects of writing, if any, have an intrinsic gender. To remind audiences of the role gender plays in both reading and writing, the award was named in Sheldon's honor at the suggestion of Karen Joy Fowler.
In 2019, controversy arose over the appropriateness of naming an award after Tiptree. In 1987, Tiptree killed her ailing husband Huntington Sheldon before shooting herself. Although some have called the killing a "suicide pact", others characterize the act as "caregiver murder"—i.e., the murder of a disabled person by the person responsible for caring for them. In light of these allegations, the Tiptree Motherboard received requests to change the name of the award. On September 2, 2019, in response to these requests, the Motherboard made a statement that "a change to the name of the Tiptree Award is [not] warranted now"; but nine days later, on September 11, they announced that the award "can’t go on under its existing name". On October 13, 2019, the Tiptree Motherboard released an announcement stating that the Tiptree Award would become the Otherwise Award, drawing on Black queer feminist scholarship around what is termed "otherwise politics". According to the statement, ""Otherwise" means finding different directions to move in—toward newly possible places, by means of emergent and multiple pathways and methods."
Fundraising efforts for the Tiptree include publications (two cookbooks), "feminist bake sales", and auctions. The Tiptree cookbook "The Bakery Men Don't See", edited by WisCon co-founder Jeanne Gomoll, was nominated for a 1992 Hugo Award. Tiptree Award juries traditionally consist of four female jurors and one male juror (the "token man"). The funds are administered by the "Tiptree Motherboard" (currently consisting of Gomoll, Murphy, Alexis Lothian, Gretchen Treu, Sumana Harihareswara, and Jeffrey D. Smith, with Fowler remaining closely involved).
In 2011, the Science Fiction Research Association gave its 2011 "Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service" to the Tiptree Motherboard. The Clareson Award was presented to the Tiptree Motherboard for "outstanding service activities – promotion of SF teaching and study, editing, reviewing, editorial writing, publishing, organizing meetings, mentoring, and leadership in SF/fantasy organizations".
Selections of the winners, various short-listed fiction, and essays have appeared in four Tiptree-related collections, "Flying Cups and Saucers" (1999) and a series of annual anthologies published by Tachyon Publications of San Francisco. These include: | en.wikipedia.org | Otherwise Award | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16413 |
16415 | Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club (from , "youth"; ), colloquially known as Juventus and Juve (), is an Italian professional association football club based in Turin, Piedmont. Founded in 1897 by a group of Torinese students, the club has worn a black and white striped home kit since 1903 and has played home matches in different grounds around its city, the latest being the 41,507-capacity Juventus Stadium. Nicknamed "Vecchia Signora" ("the Old Lady"), the club has won 35 official league titles, 13 Coppa Italia titles and eight Supercoppa Italiana titles, being the record holder for all these competitions; two Intercontinental Cups, two European Cups / UEFA Champions Leagues, one European Cup Winners' Cup, a joint national record of three UEFA Cups, two UEFA Super Cups and a joint national record of one UEFA Intertoto Cup. Consequently, the side leads the historical Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) ranking whilst on the international stage occupies the 5th position in Europe and the eleventh in the world for most confederation titles won with eleven trophies, having led the UEFA ranking during seven seasons since its inception in 1979, the most for an Italian team and joint second overall.
Founded with the name of Sport-Club Juventus, initially as an athletics club, it is the second oldest of its kind still active in the country after Genoa's football section (1893) and has competed uninterruptedly in the top flight league (reformulated as Serie A from 1929) since its debut in 1900 after changing its name to Foot-Ball Club Juventus, with the exception of the 2006–07 season, being managed by the industrial Agnelli family almost continuously since 1923. The relationship between the club and that dynasty is the oldest and longest in national sports, making Juventus one of the first professional sporting clubs "ante litteram" in the country, having established itself as a major force in the national stage since the 1930s and at confederation level since the mid-1970s and becoming one of the first ten wealthiest in world football in terms of value, and profit since the mid-1990s, being listed on the Borsa italiana since 2001.
Under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, the club won 13 trophies in the ten years before 1986, including six league titles and five international titles, and became the first to win all three seasonal competitions organised by the Union of European Football Associations: the 1976–77 UEFA Cup (first Southern European side to do so), the 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup and the 1984–85 European Cup. With successive triumphs in the 1984 European Super Cup and 1985 Intercontinental Cup, it became the first and thus far only in the world to complete a clean sweep of all confederation trophies; an achievement that they revalidated with the title won in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup after another successful era led by Marcello Lippi, becoming in addition the only professional Italian club to have won every ongoing honour available to the first team and organised by a national or international football association. In December 2000, Juventus was ranked seventh in the FIFA's historic ranking of the best clubs in the world and nine years later was ranked second best club in Europe during the 20th Century based on a statistical study series by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the highest for an Italian club in both.
The club's fan base is the largest at national level and one of the largest worldwide. Unlike most European sporting supporters' groups, which are often concentrated around their own club's city of origin, it is widespread throughout the whole country and the Italian diaspora, making Juventus a symbol of "anticampanilismo" ("anti-parochialism") and "italianità" ("Italianness"). Juventus players have won eight Ballon d'Or awards, four of these in consecutive years (1982–1985, an overall record), among these the first player representing Serie A, Omar Sívori, as well as Michel Platini and three of the five recipients with Italian nationality as the former member of the youth sector Paolo Rossi; they have also won four FIFA World Player of the Year awards, with winners as Roberto Baggio and Zinédine Zidane, a national record and third and joint second highest overall, respectively, in the cited prizes. Additionally, players representing the club have won 11 Serie A Footballer of the Year awards including the only goalkeeper to win it, Gianluigi Buffon, and 17 different players were inducted in the Serie A Team of the Year, being both also a record. Finally, the club has also provided the most players to the Italy national team—mostly in official competitions in almost uninterrupted way since 1924—who often formed the group that led the "Azzurri" squad to international success, most importantly in the 1934, 1982 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.
Juventus were founded as Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin, among them the brothers Eugenio and Enrico Canfari, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later. The club joined the Italian Football Championship in 1900. In 1904, the businessman Ajmone-Marsan revived the finances of the football club Juventus, making it also possible to transfer the training field from piazza d'armi to the more appropriate Velodrome Umberto I. During this period, the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the league championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodrome Umberto I ground. By this time the club colours had changed to black and white stripes, inspired by English side Notts County.
There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin. President Alfred Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the "Derby della Mole". Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, surviving the First World War.
FIAT owner Edoardo Agnelli gained control of the club in 1923 and built a new stadium. This helped the club to its second "scudetto" (league championship) in the 1925–26 season, after beating Alba Roma with an aggregate score of 12–1 (Antonio Vojak's goals were essential that season). The club established itself as a major force in Italian football since the 1930s, becoming the country's first professional club and the first with a decentralised fan base, which led it to win a record of five consecutive Italian championships (the first four under the management of Carlo Carcano) and form the core of the Italy national team during the Vittorio Pozzo's era, including the 1934 world champion squad, with star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti, among others.
Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance. After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed honorary president. The club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58: Welshman John Charles and Italian Argentine Omar Sívori, playing alongside longtime member Giampiero Boniperti. That season saw Juventus awarded with the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten league titles. In the same season, Sívori became the first ever player at the club to win the European Footballer of the Year. The following season, they beat Fiorentina to complete their first league and cup double, winning Serie A and Coppa Italia. Boniperti retired in 1961 as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions, a club record which stood for 45 years.
During the rest of the decade, the club won the league just once more in 1966–67. However, the 1970s saw Juventus further solidify their strong position in Italian football. Under former player Čestmír Vycpálek, they won the "scudetto" in 1971–72 and 1972–73, with players such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio and José Altafini breaking through. During the rest of the decade, they won the league twice more, with defender Gaetano Scirea contributing significantly. The later win was under Giovanni Trapattoni, who also led the club to their first ever major European title (the UEFA Cup) in 1977 and helped the club's domination continue on into the early part of the 1980s. During Trapattoni's tenure, many Juventus players also formed the backbone of the Italy national team during Enzo Bearzot's successful managerial era, including the 1978 World Cup, UEFA Euro 1980 and 1982 world champion squads.
The Trapattoni era was highly successful in the 1980s and the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984. This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a second golden star to their shirt, thus becoming the only Italian club to achieve this. Around this time, the club's players were attracting considerable attention and Paolo Rossi was named European Footballer of the Year following his contribution to Italy's victory in the 1982 World Cup, where he was named Player of the Tournament.
Frenchman Michel Platini was also awarded the European Footballer of the Year title for three years in a row in 1983, 1984 and 1985, which is a record. Juventus are the first and one of the only two clubs to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years. It was Platini who scored the winning goal in the 1985 European Cup Final against Liverpool, but this was marred by a tragedy which changed European football. That year, Juventus became the first club in the history of European football to have won all three major UEFA competitions and, after their triumph in the Intercontinental Cup, the club also became the first, and thus far, the only in association football history, to have won all possible , an achievement that it revalidated with the title won in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985–86, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to contend with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs, Milan and Internazionale, won Italian championships. However, Juventus did win a Coppa Italia-UEFA Cup double in 1990 under the guidance of former club legend Dino Zoff. In 1990, Juventus also moved into their new home, the Stadio delle Alpi, which was built for the 1990 World Cup. Despite the arrival of Italian star Roberto Baggio later that year for a world record transfer fee, the early 1990s under Luigi Maifredi and subsequently Trapattoni once again also saw little success for Juventus, as they only managed to win the UEFA Cup in 1993.
Marcello Lippi took over as Juventus manager at the start of the 1994–95 campaign. His first season at the helm of the club was a successful one, as Juventus recorded their first Serie A championship title since the mid-1980s, as well as the Coppa Italia. The crop of players during this period featured Ciro Ferrara, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and a young Alessandro Del Piero. Lippi led Juventus to their first Supercoppa Italiana and the Champions League the following season, beating Ajax on penalties after a 1–1 draw in which Fabrizio Ravanelli scored for Juventus.
The club did not rest long after winning the European Cup: more highly regarded players were brought into the fold in the form of Zinedine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi and Edgar Davids. At home, Juventus won the 1996–97 and 1997–98 Serie A titles, as well as the 1996 UEFA Super Cup and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup. Juventus reached the 1997 and 1998 Champions League finals during this period, but lost out to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.
After a two-and-a-half-season absence, Lippi returned to the club in 2001, following his replacement Carlo Ancelotti's dismissal, signing big name players such as Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedvěd and Lilian Thuram, helping the team to two more "scudetto" titles during the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons. Juventus were also part of an all Italian Champions League final in 2003, but lost out to Milan on penalties after the game ended in a 0–0 draw. At the conclusion of the following season, Lippi was appointed as the Italy national team's head coach, bringing an end to one of the most fruitful managerial spells in Juventus' history.
Fabio Capello was appointed as Juventus' coach in 2004 and led the club to two more consecutive Serie A first places. In May 2006, Juventus became one of the five clubs linked to the Calciopoli scandal. In July, Juventus was placed at the bottom of the league table and relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history. The club was also stripped of the 2005 title won under Capello, while the 2006 title, after a period "sub judice", was assigned to Inter Milan.
Many key players left following their relegation to Serie B, including Lillian Thuram, star striker Zlatan Ibrahimović and defensive stalwart Fabio Cannavaro. However, other big name players such as Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedvěd remained to help the club return to Serie A, while youngsters from the Primavera (youth team), such as Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio, were integrated into the first team. Juventus won the "Cadetti" (Serie B championship) and gained promotion straight back up to the top division as league winners after the 2006–07 season, as captain Del Piero claimed the top scorer award with 21 goals.
As early as 2010, Juventus considered challenging the stripping of their "scudetto" from 2005 and the non-assignment of the 2006 title, dependent on the results of trials connected to the 2006 scandal. When former general manager Luciano Moggi's conviction in criminal court in connection with the scandal was partially written off by the Supreme Court on 23 March 2015, the club sued the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for €443 million for damages caused by their 2006 relegation. FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio offered to discuss reinstatement of the lost "scudetti" in exchange for Juventus dropping the lawsuit. On 9 September 2015, the Supreme Court released a 150-page document that explained its final ruling of the case: despite that Moggi's remaining charges were cancelled without a new trial, due to statute of limitations, the court confirmed that Moggi was actively involved in the sporting fraud which was intended to favour Juventus and increase his own personal benefits. Eventually, in 2016 the TAR tribunal rejected the request of compensation promoted by Juventus. On 15 March 2017, Moggi's lifetime ban was definitively confirmed on final appeal.
After returning to Serie A in the 2007–08 season, Juventus appointed Claudio Ranieri as manager. They finished in third place in their first season back in the top flight and qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round in the preliminary stages. Juventus reached the group stages, where they beat Real Madrid in both home and away legs, before losing in the knockout round to Chelsea. Ranieri was sacked following a string of unsuccessful results and Ciro Ferrara was appointed as manager on a temporary basis for the last two games of the 2008–09 season, before being subsequently appointed as the manager for the 2009–10 season.
Ferrara's stint as Juventus manager, however, proved to be unsuccessful, with Juventus knocked out of Champions League and Coppa Italia, as well as just lying on the sixth place in the league table at the end of January 2010, leading to the dismissal of Ferrara and the naming of Alberto Zaccheroni as caretaker manager. Zaccheroni could not help the side improve, as Juventus finished the season in seventh place in Serie A. For the 2010–11 season, Jean-Claude Blanc was replaced by Andrea Agnelli as the club's president. Agnelli's first action was to replace Zaccheroni and director of sport Alessio Secco with Sampdoria manager Luigi Delneri and director of sport Giuseppe Marotta. However, Delneri failed to improve their fortunes and was dismissed. Former player and fan favourite Antonio Conte, fresh after winning promotion with Siena, was named as Delneri's replacement. In September 2011, Juventus relocated to the new Juventus Stadium.
With Conte as manager, Juventus went unbeaten for the entire 2011–12 Serie A season. Towards the second half of the season, the team was mostly competing with northern rivals Milan for first place in a tight contest. Juventus won the title on the 37th matchday after beating Cagliari 2–0 and Milan losing to Internazionale 4–2. After a 3–1 win in the final matchday against Atalanta, Juventus became the first team to go the season unbeaten in the current 38-game format. Other noteworthy achievements included the biggest away win (5–0 at Fiorentina), best defensive record (20 goals conceded, fewest ever in the current league format) in Serie A and second best in the top six European leagues that year. In 2013–14, Juventus won a third consecutive "scudetto" with a record 102 points and 33 wins. The title was the 30th official league championship in the club's history. They also achieved the semi-finals of Europa League, where they were eliminated at home against ten-man Benfica's "catenaccio", missing the final at the Juventus Stadium.
In 2014–15, Massimiliano Allegri was appointed as manager, with whom Juventus won their 31st official title, making it a fourth-straight, as well as achieving a record tenth Coppa Italia for the double. The club also beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League 3–2 on aggregate to face Barcelona in the final in Berlin for the first time since the 2002–03 Champions League. Juventus lost the final to Barcelona 3–1 after an early fourth-minute goal from Ivan Rakitić, followed by an Álvaro Morata equalizer in the 55th minute. Then Barcelona took the lead again with a goal from Luis Suárez in the 70th minute, followed by a final minute goal by Neymar as Juventus were caught out on the counterattack. On 14 December 2015, Juventus won the Serie A Football Club of the Year award for the 2014–15 season, the fourth time in succession. On 25 April 2016, the club won their fifth-straight title (and 32nd overall) since last winning five-straight between 1930 and 1931 and 1934–35, after second place Napoli lost to Roma to give Juventus mathematical certainty of the title with three games to spare; last losing to Sassuolo on 25 October 2015, which left them in 12th place, before taking 73 points of a possible 75. On 21 May, the club then won the Coppa Italia for the 11th time and their second-straight title, becoming the first team in Italy's history to complete Serie A and Coppa Italia doubles in back-to-back seasons.
On 17 May 2017, Juventus won their 12th Coppa Italia title in a 2–0 win over Lazio (the first team to win three consecutive championships). Four days later on 21 May, Juventus became the first team to win six consecutive Serie A titles. On 3 June 2017, Juventus reached a second Champions League Final in three years, but were defeated 1–4 by defending champions Real Madrid—a stampede in Turin happened ten minutes before the end of the match. On 9 May 2018, Juventus won their 13th Coppa Italia title, and fourth in a row, in a 4–0 win over Milan, extending the all-time record of successive Coppa Italia titles. Four days later on 13 May, Juventus secured their seventh consecutive Serie A title, extending the all-time record of successive triumphs in the competition. In July 2018, Juventus broke the record for a fee paid for a player over 30 years old and the record for a fee paid by an Italian club by purchasing the 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for €112 million, or £99.2 million. On 20 April 2019, Juventus secured their eighth consecutive Serie A title, further extending the all-time record of successive triumphs in the competition.
Juventus have played in black and white striped shirts, with white shorts, sometimes black shorts since 1903. Originally, they played in pink shirts with a black tie. The father of one of the players made the earliest shirts, but continual washing faded the colour so much that in 1903 the club sought to replace them. Juventus asked one of their team members, Englishman John Savage, if he had any contacts in England who could supply new shirts in a colour that would better withstand the elements. He had a friend who lived in Nottingham, who being a Notts County supporter, shipped out the black and white striped shirts to Turin. Juventus have worn the shirts ever since, considering the colours to be aggressive and powerful.
Juventus's official emblem has undergone different and small modifications since the 1920s. The previous modification of the Juventus badge took place in 2004, when the emblem of the team changed to a black-and-white oval shield of a type used by Italian ecclesiastics. It is divided in five vertical stripes: two white stripes and three black stripes, inside which are the following elements, while in its upper section the name of the society superimposed on a white convex section, over golden curvature (gold for honour). The white silhouette of a charging bull is in the lower section of the oval shield, superimposed on a black old French shield and the charging bull is a symbol of the "comune" of Turin. There is also a black silhouette of a mural crown above the black spherical triangle's base. This is a reminiscence to Augusta Tourinorum, the old city of the Roman era which the present capital of Piedmont region is its cultural heiress.
In January 2017, president Andrea Agnelli announced the most recent change to the Juventus badge, revealing a video showing the introduction of the new badge. The badge shows the word Juventus on top, with two capital Js shown together in different fonts with a small opening between them to almost make a bigger J. Agnelli said that the badge reflects "the Juventus way of living". Juventus was the first team in association football history to adopt a star, who added one above their badge in 1958 to represent their tenth Italian Football Championship and Serie A title, and has since become popularized with other clubs as well.
In the past, the convex section of the emblem had a blue colour (another symbol of Turin) and it was concave in shape. The old French shield and the mural crown, also in the lower section of the emblem, had a considerably greater size. The two "Golden Stars for Sport Excellence" were located above the convex and concave section of Juventus' emblem. During the 1980s, the club emblem was the blurred silhouette of a zebra, alongside the two golden stars with the club's name forming an arc above.
Juventus unofficially won their 30th league title in 2011–12, but a dispute with the FIGC, which stripped Juventus of their 2004–05 "and" 2005–06 titles due to their involvement in a 2006 Italian football scandal, left their official total at 28. They elected to wear no stars at all the following season. Juventus won their 30th title in 2013–14 and thus earned the right to wear their third star, but club president Andrea Agnelli stated that the club suspended the use of the stars until another team wins their 20th championship, thus having the right to wear two stars, "to emphasise Juventus' superiority". However, for the 2015–16 season, Juventus reintroduced the stars and added the third star to their jersey as well with new kit manufacturers Adidas, in addition to the Coppa Italia badge for winning their tenth Coppa Italia the previous season. For the 2016–17 season, Juventus re-designed their kit with a different take on the trademark black and white stripes. For the 2017–18 season, Juventus introduced the J shaped logo onto the kits.
In September 2015, Juventus officially announced a new project called JKids for its junior supporters on its website. Along with this project, Juventus also introduced a new mascot to all its fans which is called J. J is a cartoon-designed zebra, black and white stripes with golden edge piping on its body, golden shining eyes, and three golden stars on the front of its neck. J made its debut at Juventus Stadium on 12 September 2015.
During its history, the club has acquired a number of nicknames, "la Vecchia Signora" (the Old Lady) being the best example. The "old" part of the nickname is a pun on Juventus which means "youth" in Latin. It was derived from the age of the Juventus star players towards the middle of the 1930s. The "lady" part of the nickname is how fans of the club affectionately referred to it before the 1930s. The club is also nicknamed "la Fidanzata d'Italia" (the Girlfriend of Italy), because over the years it has received a high level of support from Southern Italian immigrant workers (particularly from Naples and Palermo), who arrived in Turin to work for FIAT since the 1930s. Other nicknames include; "[La] Madama" (Piedmontese for: Madam), "i bianconeri" (the black-and-whites), "le zebre" (the zebras) in reference to Juventus' colours. "I gobbi" (the hunchbacks) is the nickname that is used to define Juventus supporters, but is also used sometimes for team's players. The most widely accepted origin of "gobbi" dates to the fifties, when the "bianconeri" wore a large jersey. When players ran on the field, the jersey, which had a laced opening at the chest, generated a bulge over the back (a sort of parachute effect), making the players look hunchbacked.
The official anthem of Juventus is "Juve (storia di un grande amore)", or "Juve (story of a great love)" in English, written by Alessandra Torre and Claudio Guidetti, in the version of the singer and musician Paolo Belli composed in 2007. In 2016, a documentary film called "Black and White Stripes: The Juventus Story" was produced by the La Villa brothers about Juventus. On 16 February 2018, the first three episodes of a docu-series called "", which followed the club throughout the season, by spending time with the players behind the scenes both on and off the field, was released on Netflix; the other three episodes were released on 6 July 2018.
After the first two years (1897 and 1898), during which Juventus played in the Parco del Valentino and Parco Cittadella, their matches were held in the Piazza d'Armi Stadium until 1908, except in 1905 (the first year of the "scudetto") and in 1906, years in which it played at the Corso Re Umberto.
From 1909 to 1922, Juventus played their internal competitions at Corso Sebastopoli Camp before moving the following year to Corso Marsiglia Camp, where they remained until 1933, winning four league titles. At the end of 1933, they began to play at the new Stadio Mussolini stadium inaugurated for the 1934 World Championships. After the Second World War, the stadium was renamed as Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo. Juventus played home matches at the ground for 57 years, a total of 890 league matches. The team continued to host training sessions at the stadium until July 2003.
From 1990 until the 2005–06 season, the Torinese side contested their home matches at Stadio delle Alpi, built for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, although in very rare circumstances the club played some home games in other stadia such as Renzo Barbera at Palermo, Dino Manuzzi at Cesena and the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza at Milan.
In August 2006, Juventus returned to play in the Stadio Comunale, then known as Stadio Olimpico, after the restructuring of the stadium for the 2006 Winter Olympics onward. In November 2008, Juventus announced that they would invest around €120 million to build a new ground, the Juventus Stadium, on the site of delle Alpi. Unlike the old ground, there is not a running track and instead the pitch is only 7.5 metres away from the stands. The capacity is 41,507. Work began during spring 2009 and the stadium was opened on 8 September 2011, ahead of the start of the 2011–12 season. Since 1 July 2017, the Juventus Stadium is known commercially as the Allianz Stadium of Turin until 30 June 2030.
Juventus is the best-supported football club in Italy, with over 12 million fans or "tifosi", which represent approximately 34% of the total Italian football fans according to a research published in September 2016 by Italian research agency Demos & Pi, as well as one of the most supported football clubs in the world, with over 300 million supporters (41 million in Europe alone), particularly in the Mediterranean countries to which a large number of Italian diaspora have emigrated. The Torinese side has fan clubs branches across the globe.
Demand for Juventus tickets in occasional home games held away from Turin is high, suggesting that Juventus have stronger support in other parts of the country. Juventus is widely and especially popular throughout mainland Southern Italy, Sicily and Malta, leading the team to have one of the largest followings in its away matches, more than in Turin itself.
Juventus have significant rivalries with two main clubs. Their traditional rivals are fellow Turin club Torino; matches between the two sides are known as the "Derby della Mole" (Turin Derby). The rivalry dates back to 1906 as Torino was founded by break-away Juventus players and staff. Their most high-profile rivalry is with Internazionale, another big Serie A club located in Milan, the capital of the neighbouring region of Lombardy. Matches between these two clubs are referred to as the "Derby d'Italia" (Derby of Italy) and the two regularly challenge each other at the top of the league table, hence the intense rivalry. Until the Calciopoli scandal which saw Juventus forcibly relegated, the two were the only Italian clubs to have never played below Serie A. Notably, the two sides are the first and the second most supported clubs in Italy and the rivalry has intensified since the later part of the 1990s; reaching its highest levels ever post-"Calciopoli", with the return of Juventus to Serie A.
The rivalry with A.C. Milan is a rivalry between the two most titled teams in Italy. The challenge confronts also two of the clubs with greater basin of supporters as well as those with the greatest turnover and stock market value in the country. The match-ups between Milan and Juventus, is regarded as the championship of Serie A, and both teams were often fighting for the top positions of the standings, sometimes even decisive for the award of the title. They also have rivalries with Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli.
The Juventus youth set-up has been recognised as one of the best in Italy for producing young talents. While not all graduates made it to the first team, many have enjoyed successful careers in the Italian top flight. Under long-time coach Vincenzo Chiarenza, the "Primavera" (Under-20) squad enjoyed one of its successful periods, winning all age-group competitions from 2004 to 2006. Like Dutch club Ajax and many Premier League clubs, Juventus operates several satellite clubs and football schools outside of the country (i.e. United States, Canada, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Switzerland) and numerous camps in the local region to expand talent scouting.
The youth system is also notable for its contribution to the Italian national senior and youth teams. 1934 World Cup winner Gianpiero Combi, 1936 Gold Medal and 1938 World Cup winner Pietro Rava, Giampiero Boniperti, Roberto Bettega, 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi and more recently Claudio Marchisio and Sebastian Giovinco are a number of former graduates who have gone on to make the first team and full Italy squad.
Juventus have had numerous chairmen ( or ) over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been corporate managers that were nominated by the owners. On top of chairmen, there were several living former chairmen, that were nominated as the honorary chairmen ().
Below is a list of Juventus managers from 1923, when the Agnelli family took over and the club became more structured and organised, until the present day.
Italy's most successful club of the 20th century and the most successful club in the history of Italian football, Juventus have won the Italian League Championship, the country's premier football club competition and organised by Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (LNPA), a record 35 times and have the record of consecutive triumphs in that tournament (eight, between 2011–12 and 2018–19). They have also won the Coppa Italia, the country's primary single-elimination competition, a record 13 times, becoming the first team to retain the trophy successfully with their triumph in the 1959–60 season, and the first to win it in three consecutive seasons from the 2014–15 season to the 2016–17 season, and went on to win it a fourth consecutive time in 2017–18. In addition, the club holds the record for Supercoppa Italiana wins with eight, the most recent coming in 2018.
Overall, Juventus have won 67 official competitions, more than any other Italian club: 56 domestic trophies (which is also a record) and 11 official international competitions, making them, in the latter case, the second most successful Italian club in European competition. The club is fifth in Europe and eleventh in the world with the most international titles won officially recognised by their respective association football confederation and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). In 1977, the Torinese side become the first in Southern Europe to have won the UEFA Cup and the first—and only to date—in Italian football history to achieve an international title with a squad composed by national footballers. In 1993, the club won its third competition's trophy, an unprecedented feat in the continent until then and the most for an Italian club. Juventus was also the first Italian club to achieve the title in the European Super Cup, having won the competition in 1984 and the first European club to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1985, since it was restructured by Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL)'s organizing committee five years beforehand.
The club has earned the distinction of being allowed to wear three Golden Stars () on its shirts representing its league victories, the tenth of which was achieved during the 1957–58 season, the 20th in the 1981–82 season and the 30th in the 2013–14 season. Juventus were the first Italian team to have achieved the national double four times (winning the Italian top tier division and the national cup competition in the same season), in the 1959–60, 1994–95, 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. In the 2015–16 season, Juventus won the Coppa Italia for the 11th time and their second-straight title, becoming the first team in Italy's history to complete Serie A and Coppa Italia doubles in back-to-back seasons; Juventus would go on to win another two consecutive doubles in 2016–17 and 2017–18.
The club is unique in the world in having won all official confederation competitions and they have received, in recognition to winning the three major UEFA competitions—first case in the history of the European football and the only one to be reached with the same coach— The UEFA Plaque by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on 12 July 1988.
The Torinese side was placed seventh—but the top Italian club—in the FIFA's century ranking of the best clubs in the world on 23 December 2000 and nine years later was ranked second best club in Europe during the 20th Century based on a statistical study series by International Federation of Football History & Statistics, the highest for an Italian club in both.
Juventus have been proclaimed World's Club Team of the Year twice (1993 and 1996) and was ranked in 3rd place—the highest ranking of any Italian club—in the All-Time Club World Ranking (1991–2009 period) by the IFFHS.
Alessandro Del Piero holds Juventus' official appearance record of 705 appearances. He took over from Gaetano Scirea on 6 April 2008 against Palermo. He also holds the record for Serie A appearances with 478. Including all official competitions, Del Piero is the all-time leading goalscorer for Juventus, with 290—since joining the club in 1993. Giampiero Boniperti, who was the all-time topscorer since 1961 comes in second in all competitions with 182. In the 1933–34 season, Felice Borel scored 31 goals in 34 appearances, setting the club record for Serie A goals in a single season. Ferenc Hirzer is the club's highest scorer in a single season with 35 goals in 26 appearances in the 1925–26 season (record of Italian football). The most goals scored by a player in a single match is 6, which is also an Italian record. This was achieved by Omar Sívori in a game against Internazionale in the 1960–61 season.
The first ever official game participated in by Juventus was in the Third Federal Football Championship, the predecessor of Serie A, against Torinese in a Juventus loss 0–1. The biggest victory recorded by Juventus was 15–0 against Cento, in the second round of the Coppa Italia in the 1926–27 season. In the league, Fiorentina and Fiumana were famously on the end of Juventus' biggest championship wins, with both beaten 11–0 in the 1928–29 season. Juventus' heaviest championship defeats came during the 1911–12 and 1912–13 seasons: they were against Milan in 1912 (1–8) and Torino in 1913 (0–8).
The signing of Gianluigi Buffon in 2001 from Parma cost Juventus €52 million (100 billion lire), making it the then-most expensive transfer for a goalkeeper of all-time until 2018. On 20 March 2016, Buffon set a new Serie A record for the longest period without conceding a goal (974 minutes) in the "Derby della Mole" during the 2015–16 season. On 26 July 2016, Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuaín became the third highest football transfer of all-time and highest ever transfer for an Italian club, at the time, when he was signed by Juventus for €90 million from Napoli. On 8 August 2016, Paul Pogba returned to his first club, Manchester United, for an all-time record for highest football transfer fee of €105 million, surpassing the former record holder Gareth Bale. The sale of Zinedine Zidane from Juventus to Real Madrid of Spain in 2001 was the world football transfer record at the time, costing the Spanish club around €77.5 million (150 billion lire). On 10 July 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo became the highest ever transfer for an Italian club with his €100 million transfer from Real Madrid.
Overall, Juventus are the club that has contributed the most players to the Italy national team in history, being the only Italian club that has contributed players to every Italy national team since the 2nd FIFA World Cup. Juventus have contributed numerous players to Italy's World Cup campaigns, these successful periods principally have coincided with two golden ages of the Turin club's history, referred as "Quinquennio d'Oro" (The Golden Quinquennium), from 1931 until 1935, and "Ciclo Leggendario" (The Legendary Cycle), from 1972 to 1986.
Below are a list of Juventus players who represented the Italy national team during World Cup winning tournaments.
Two Juventus players have won the golden boot award at the World Cup with Italy, Paolo Rossi in 1982 and Salvatore Schillaci in 1990. As well as contributing to Italy's World Cup winning sides, two Juventus players Alfredo Foni and Pietro Rava, represented Italy in the gold medal winning squad at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Three Juventus players represented their nation during the 1968 European Football Championship win for Italy: Sandro Salvadore, Ernesto Càstano and Giancarlo Bercellino.
The Torinese club has also contributed to a lesser degree to the national sides of other nations. Zinédine Zidane and captain Didier Deschamps were Juventus players when they won the 1998 World Cup with France, as well as Blaise Matuidi in the 2018 World Cup, making it as the association football club which supplied the most globally (25). Three Juventus players have also won the European Football Championship with a nation other than Italy, Luis del Sol won it in 1964 with Spain, while the Frenchmen Michel Platini and Zidane won the competition in 1984 and 2000 respectively.
Since 27 June 1967, Juventus Football Club has been a "società per azioni" (S.p.A.) and since 3 December 2001 the Torinese side is listed on the Borsa Italiana. As of 31 December 2015, the Juventus' shares are distributed between 63.8% to EXOR N.V., the Agnelli family's holding (a company of the Giovanni Agnelli and C.S.a.p.a Group), 5.0% to Lindsell Train Ltd. and 31.2% to other shareholders.(<2.0%) As of 5 July 2016, Lindsell Train Ltd. increased its holding to 10% and then Exor S.P.A decreased to 60.0%. Since 2012, Jeep became the new sponsor of Juventus, a car brand acquired by FIAT after the 2000s global financial crisis.
Along with Lazio and Roma, Juventus is one of only three Italian clubs quoted on Borsa Italiana (Italian stock exchange); it also has a secondary listing on Borsa Italiana's sister stock exchange, the London Stock Exchange. Juventus was also the only association football club in the country member of STAR (Segment of Stocks conforming to High Requirements, Italian: "Segmento Titoli con Alti Requisiti"), one of the main market segment in the world. However, Juventus had to move from the STAR segment to MTA market due to 2011 financial results.
The club's training ground was owned by Campi di Vinovo S.p.A, controlled by Juventus Football Club S.p.A. to 71.3%. In 2003, the club bought the lands from the subsidiary and later the company was dissolved. Since then, Juventus has not had any subsidiary.
From 1 July 2008, the club has implemented a safety management system for employees and athletes in compliance with the requirements of international OHSAS 18001:2007 regulation and a Safety Management System in the medical sector according to the international ISO 9001:2000 resolution.
The club is one of the founders of the European Club Association (ECA), which was formed after the dissolution of the G-14, an international group of Europe's most elite clubs of which Juventus were also a founding member.
According to the Deloitte Football Money League, a research published by consultants Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu on 17 January 2014, Juventus are the ninth-highest earning football club in the world with an estimated revenue of €272.4 million, the most for an Italian club. The club is also ranked ninth on Forbes' list of the most valuable football clubs in the world with an estimate value of US$850 million (€654 million), making them the second richest association football club in Italy.
Juventus re-capitalized on 28 June 2007, increasing €104,807,731.60 of share capital. The team made an aggregate net loss in the following seasons (2006 to date): –€927,569 (2006–07), –€20,787,469 (2007–08), net income €6,582,489 (2008–09) and net loss €10,967,944 (2009–10). After an unaudited €43,411,481 net loss was recorded in the first nine months of 2010–11 season, the board of directors announced that a capital increase of €120 million was planned, scheduled to submit to the extraordinary shareholder's meeting in October. Eventually, the 2010–11 season net loss was €95,414,019. In the 2012–13 season, Juventus continued to recover from recent seasons' net losses thanks to the biggest payment in UEFA's Champions League 2012–13 revenue distribution, earning €65.3 million. Despite being knocked out in the quarterfinal stage, Juventus took the lion's share thanks to the largesse of the Italian national TV market and the division of revenues with the only other Italian team making the competition's final phase, Milan. Confirming the trend of marked improvement in net result, the 2013–14 financial year closed with a loss of €6.7 million, but with the first positive operating income since 2006. In the 2014–15 season, by the excellent sports results achieved (the fourth year in a row of Serie A titles, the tenth Coppa Italia title and playing the Champions League final), net income reached €2.3 million. Compared to the loss of €6.7 million last year, 2014–15 showed a positive change of €9 million and returned to a profit after six years since 2008–09. As Italy's famous pink sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, produced its annual list of salaries in Serie A, there was one headline that stuck out above all the rest .CR7 that has elevated Juve's total spend. The Old Lady has no less than nine players earning €6 million or more per season compared to just three who take home more than that figure in the entirety of the rest of the league. Their struggles in selling players during the previous transfer window has also served to increase their overall spend on wages. Juve tried and failed to sell Paulo Dybala, Sami Khedira, Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic in the summer, players who cost the club €26.8 million per season in salaries.
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors | en.wikipedia.org | Juventus F.C. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16415 |
16417 | Jan Długosz
Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first historian.
Jan Długosz is best known for his "Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae" ("Annals or Chronicles of the Famous Kingdom of Poland") in 12 volumes and in Latin language, covering events in southeastern Europe, but also in Western Europe, from 965 to 1480, the year he died. Długosz combined features of Medieval chronicles with elements of humanistic historiography. For writing the history of the Kingdom of Poland, Długosz also used Ruthenian (Russian) chronicles including those that did not survive to our times (among which there could have been used the Kyiv collection of chronicles of the 11th century in the Przemysl's edition around 1100 and the Przemysl episcopal collections of 1225-40).
His work was first printed in 1701–1703. It was originally printed at the Jan Szeliga printing house in Dobromyl financed by Jan Szczęsny Herburt. Whenever Jan Długosz bothers to mention himself in the book, he writes of himself in the third person. He belonged to the Wieniawa coat-of-arms.
Długosz was a canon at Kraków, educated at the University of Krakow. He was sent by King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland on diplomatic missions to the Papal and Imperial courts, and was involved in the King's negotiations with the Teutonic Knights during the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) and at the peace negotiations.
In 1434, Długosz's uncle, the first pastor at Kłobuck, appointed him to take over his position as canon of St. Martin church there. The town was in the Opole territory of Silesia, but had recently been conquered by Władysław II Jagiełło. Długosz stayed until 1452 and while there, founded the canonical monastery.
In 1450, Długosz was sent by Queen Sophia of Halshany and King Casimir to conduct peace negotiations between John Hunyadi and the Bohemian noble Jan Jiskra of Brandýs, and after six days' of talks convinced them to sign a truce.
In 1455 in Kraków, a fire spread which destroyed much of the city and the castle, but which spared Długosz's house.
In 1461 a Polish delegation which included Długosz met with emissaries of George of Podebrady in Bytom, Silesia. After six days of talks, they concluded an alliance between the two factions. In 1466 Długosz was sent to the legate of Wrocław, in order to attempt to obtain assurance that the legate was not biased in favor of the Teutonic Knights. He was successful, and was in 1467 entrusted with tutoring the king's son.
Długosz declined the offer of the Archbishopric of Prague, but shortly before his death was nominated Archbishop of Lwów. This nomination was only confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV on 2 June 1480, two weeks after his death.
His work "Banderia Prutenorum" of 1448 is his description of the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, which took place between villages of Grunwald and Stębark.
At some point in his life Długosz loosely translated Wigand of Marburg's "Chronica nova Prutenica" from Middle High German into Latin, however with many mistakes and mixup of names and places. | en.wikipedia.org | Jan Długosz | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16417 |
16419 | Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga (), also known as Hedwig (; 1373/4 – 17 July 1399), was the first female monarch of the Kingdom of Poland, reigning from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife Elizabeth of Bosnia. Jadwiga was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, but she had more close forebears among the Polish Piasts. In 1997 she was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1375 it was planned that she would eventually marry William of Austria, and she lived in Vienna from 1378 to 1380. Jadwiga's father is thought to have regarded her and William as his favoured successors in Hungary after the 1379 death of her eldest sister, Catherine, since the Polish nobility had that same year pledged their homage to Louis' second daughter, Mary, and Mary's fiancé, Sigismund of Luxemburg. However, Louis died, and in 1382, at her mother's insistence, Mary was crowned "King of Hungary". Sigismund of Luxemburg tried to take control of Poland, but the Polish nobility countered that they would be obedient to a daughter of King Louis only if she settled in Poland. Queen Elizabeth then chose Jadwiga to reign there, but did not send her to Kraków to be crowned. During the interregnum, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, became a candidate for the Polish throne. The nobility of Greater Poland favored him and proposed that he marry Jadwiga. However, Lesser Poland's nobility opposed him and persuaded Queen Elizabeth to send Jadwiga to Poland.
Jadwiga was crowned "king" in Poland's capital, Kraków, on 16 October 1384. Her coronation either reflected the Polish nobility's opposition to her intended husband, William, becoming king without further negotiation, or simply emphasized her status as queen regnant. With her mother's consent, Jadwiga's advisors opened negotiations with Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was still a pagan, concerning his potential marriage to Jadwiga. Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo, pledging to convert to Roman Catholicism and to promote his pagan subjects' conversion. Meanwhile, William hastened to Kraków, hoping to marry his childhood fiancée Jadwiga, but in late August 1385 the Polish nobles expelled him. Jogaila, who took the baptismal name Władysław, married Jadwiga on 15 February 1386. Legend says that she had agreed to marrying him only after lengthy prayer, seeking divine inspiration.
Jogaila, now in Polish styled Władysław Jagiełło, was crowned King of Poland on 4 March 1386. As Jadwiga's co-ruler, Jagiełło worked closely with his wife. After rebellious nobles of the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia had imprisoned her mother and sister, she marched into the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which had been under Hungarian rule, and persuaded most of the inhabitants to become subjects of the Polish Crown. She mediated between her husband's quarreling kin, and between Poland and the Teutonic Knights. After her sister Mary died in 1395, Jadwiga and Jagiełło laid claim to Hungary against the widowed Sigismund of Luxemburg, but the Hungarian lords failed to support them.
Jadwiga was born in Buda, the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. She was the third and youngest daughter of Louis I, King of Hungary and Poland, and his second wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Both her grandmothers were Polish princesses, connecting her to the native Piast dynasty of Poland. Historian Oscar Halecki concluded that Jadwiga's "genealogical tree clearly shows that [she] had more Polish blood than any other". She was probably born between 3 October 1373 and 18 February 1374. She was named after her distant ancestor, Saint Hedwig of Silesia, who was especially venerated in the Hungarian royal court at the time of her birth.
King Louis, who had not fathered any sons, wanted to ensure his daughters' right to inherit his realms. Therefore, European royals regarded his three daughters as especially attractive brides. Leopold III, Duke of Austria, proposed his eldest son, William, to Jadwiga already on 18 August 1374. The envoys of the Polish nobles acknowledged that one of Louis's daughters would succeed him in Poland after he confirmed and extended their liberties in the Privilege of Koszyce on 17 September 1374. They took an oath of loyalty to Catherine on Louis's demand.
Louis agreed to give Jadwiga in marriage to William of Austria on 4 March 1375. The children's "sponsalia de futuro", or "provisional marriage", was celebrated at Hainburg on 15 June 1378. The ceremony established the legal framework for the consummation of the marriage without any further ecclesiastical act as soon as they both reached the age of maturity. Duke Leopold agreed that Jadwiga would only receive Treviso, a town which was to be conquered from the Republic of Venice, as dowry from her father. After the ceremony, Jadwiga stayed in Austria for almost two years; she mainly lived in Vienna.
Catherine died in late 1378. Louis persuaded the most influential Polish lords to swear an oath of loyalty to her younger sister, Mary, in September 1379. She was betrothed to Sigismund of Luxemburg, a great-grandson of Casimir the Great, who had been Louis's predecessor on the Polish throne. The "promised marriage" of Jadwiga and William was confirmed at their fathers' meeting in Zólyom (now Zvolen in Slovakia) on 12 February 1380. Hungarian lords also approved the document, implying that Jadwiga and William were regarded as her father's successors in Hungary.
A delegation of the Polish lords and clergy paid formal homage to Sigismund of Luxemburg as their future king on 25 July 1382. The Poles believed that Louis planned also to persuade the Hungarian lords and prelates to accept Jadwiga and William of Austria as his heirs in Hungary. However, he died on 11 September 1382. Jadwiga was present at her father's death bed.
Jadwiga's sister, Mary, was crowned "king" of Hungary five days after their father's death. With the ceremony, their ambitious mother secured the right to govern Hungary on her twelve-year-old daughter's behalf instead of Mary's fiancé, Sigismund. Sigismund could not be present at Mary's coronation, because Louis had sent him to Poland to crush a rebellion. After he learnt of Louis's death, he adopted the title "Lord of the Kingdom of Poland", demanding oaths of loyalty from the towns in Lesser Poland. On 25 November, the nobles of Greater Poland assembled at Radomsko and decided to obey nobody but the daughter of the late king as she would settle in Poland. On their initiative, the noblemen of Lesser Poland passed a similar agreement in Wiślica on 12 December. Queen Elizabeth sent her envoys to the assembled lords and forbade them to swear an oath of loyalty to anyone other than one of her daughters, thus invalidating the oath of loyalty that the Polish noblemen had sworn to Sigismund on the late King Louis's demand.
Both Elizabeth's daughters had been engaged to foreign princes (Sigismund and William, respectively) unpopular in Poland. Polish lords who were opposed to a foreign monarch regarded the members of the Piast dynasty as possible candidates to the Polish throne. Queen Elizabeth's uncle Władysław the White had already attempted to seize Poland during Louis's reign. However, he had taken monastic vows and settled in a Benedictine abbey in Dijon in Burgundy. Antipope Clement VII, whom King Louis had refused to recognize against Pope Urban VI, released Władysław from his vows, but he did not leave his monastery. Meanwhile, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, appeared as a more ambitious candidate. He was especially popular among the nobility and townspeople of Greater Poland.
Queen Elizabeth's representatives released the Poles from their oath of fidelity that their representatives had sworn to Mary at an assembly in Sieradz in February 1383. The envoys also announced that she was willing to send Jadwiga to be crowned instead, on condition that she return to Buda after her coronation to live there until her twelfth birthday. The Polish lords accepted the proposal, but they soon realized that thereby the interregnum would be extended by a further three years. At a new meeting in Sieradz, most noblemen were ready to elect Siemowit of Masovia king on 28 March. They proposed that Siemowit should marry Jadwiga. A member of the influential Tęczyński family, Jan, convinced them to postpone Siemowit's election. The noblemen agreed to wait for Jadwiga until 10 May, stipulating that she was to live in Poland after her coronation. They also demanded that Dobrzyń and Gniewków (two fiefdoms which her father had granted to Vladislaus II of Opole), and "Ruthenia" (that had passed to Hungary in accordance with a previous treaty) be restored to the Polish Crown.
Meanwhile, Jan Tęczyński and his allies, including , seem to have started negotiations with Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Siemowit's supporters however, tried to enter Kraków in the retinue of Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, in May, but the townspeople closed the gates of the city before their arrival. Jadwiga had not arrived in Poland by the stipulated date (10 May). Her mother's envoys stated that the spring floods had hindered Jadwiga's progress over the Carpathian Mountains.
Siemowit of Mazovia took up arms and advanced as far as Kalisz. His supporters assembled in Sieradz in August in order to elect him king, but Archbishop Bodzanta refused to perform his coronation. In a meeting in Kassa, Queen Elizabeth promised the delegates of the Polish provinces to send Jadwiga to Poland before November. The queen mother and the Poles also agreed that if either Jadwiga or Mary died childless, her kingdom would pass to her surviving sister. Siemowit having laid siege to Kalisz, Queen Elizabeth sent Sigismund of Luxemburg at the head of an "improvised army" to Lesser Poland. Siemowit failed to take Kalisz, but news about the appalling behaviour of Sigismund's soldiers increased Sigismund's unpopularity in Poland. Sędziwój Pałuka, who was the castellan of Kalisz and "starosta" of Kraków, led a delegation to Zadar in Dalmatia to negotiate with Queen Elizabeth, but she had him imprisoned instead. She sent Hungarian soldiers to Poland to garrison them in Wawel Castle in Kraków, but Pałuka escaped and successfully obstructed her soldiers entering the castle.
At a general assembly in Radomsko in early March, the delegates of all the Polish provinces and towns decided to elect Siemowit king, if Jadwiga did not come to Poland within two months. They set up a provisional government, stipulating that only the "community of lords and citizens" had the authority to administer Poland during the interregnum. Queen Elizabeth, who was only informed of the decision by an informal message, realized that she could not any longer postpone Jadwiga's coronation and so sent her to Poland. The exact date of Jadwiga's arrival is unknown, because the main source for the history of Poland during this periodJan of Czarnków's chronicle ended prior to this event.
The interregnum that followed Louis's death and caused such internal strife came to an end with Jadwiga's arrival in Poland. A large crowd of clerics, noblemen and burghers gathered at Kraków "to greet her with a display of affection", according to the 15th-century Polish historian, Jan Długosz. Nobody protested when Archbishop Bodzanta crowned her on 16 October 1384. According to traditional scholary consensus, Jadwiga was crowned "king". Thereby, as Robert W. Knoll proposes, the Polish lords prevented her eventual spouse from adopting the same title without their consent. Stephen C. Rowell, who says that sources that contradict the traditional view outnumber those verifying it, suggests that sporadic contemporaneous references to Jadwiga as "king" only reflect that she was not a queen consort, but a queen regnant.
Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, , Bishop of Kraków, Dobrogost of Nowy Dwór, Bishop of Poznań, and Duke Vladislaus II of Opole were Jadwiga's most trusted advisers during the first years of her reign. According to a widely accepted scholarly theory, Jadwiga, who was still a minor, was "a mere tool" to her advisers. However, Halecki refutes this view, contending that Jadwiga matured quickly and her personality, especially her charm and kindness, only served to strengthen her position. Already in late 1384 she intervened on Duke Vladislaus's behalf to reconcile him with her mother's favourite, Nicholas I Garai.
The Polish lords did not want to accept Jadwiga's fourteen-year-old fiancé, William of Habsburg, as their sovereign. They thought that the inexperienced William and his Austrian kinsmen could not safeguard Poland's interests against its powerful neighbours, especially the Luxemburgs which controlled Bohemia and Brandenburg, and had a strong claim on Hungary. According to Halecki, the lords of Lesser Poland were the first to suggest that Jadwiga should marry the pagan duke Jogaila of Lithuania.
Jogaila sent his envoysincluding his brother, Skirgaila, and a German burgher from Riga, Hanul to Kraków to request Jadwiga's hand in January 1385. Jadwiga refused to answer, stating only that her mother would decide. Jogaila's two envoys left for Hungary and met Queen Elizabeth. She informed them that "she would allow whatever was advantageous to Poland and insisted that her daughter and the prelates and nobles of the Kingdom had to do what they considered would benefit Christianity and their kingdom", according to Jan Długosz's chronicle. The nobles from Kraków, Sandomierz and Greater Poland assembled in Kraków in June or July and the "majority of the more sensible" voted for the acceptance of Jogaila's marriage proposal.
In the meantime, William's father, Leopold III hurried to Buda in late July 1385, demanding the consummation of the marriage between William and Jadwiga before 16 August. Queen Elizabeth confirmed the previous agreements about the marriage, ordering Vladislaus II of Opole to make preparations for the ceremony. According to canon law, Jadwiga's marriage sacrament could only be completed before her twelfth birthday if the competent prelate testified her precocious maturity. Demetrius, Archbishop of Esztergom, issued the necessary document. William went to Kraków in the first half of August, but his entry to Wawel Castle was barred. Długosz states that Jadwiga and William would only be able to meet in the nearby Franciscan convent.
Contemporary or nearly contemporaneous records of the completion of the marriage between William and Jadwiga are contradictory and unclear. The official accounts of the municipal authorities of Kraków record that on 23 August 1385 an amnesty was granted to the prisoners in the city jail on the occasion of the celebration of the Queen's marriage. On the other hand, a contemporary Austrian chronicle, the "Continuatio Claustroneubuzgis" states that the Poles had tried to murder William before he consummated the marriage. In the next century, Długosz states that William was "removed in a shameful and offensive manner and driven from the castle" after he entered "the Queen's bedchamber"; but the same chronicler also mentions that Jadwiga was well aware that "many people knew she had for a fortnight shared her bed with Duke William and that there had been physical consummation".
On the night when William entered the queen's bedchamber, a group of Polish noblemen broke into the castle, forcing William to flee, according to Długosz. After this humiliation, Długosz continues, Jadwiga decided to leave Wawel and join William, but the gate of the castle was locked. She called for "an axe and [tried] to break it open", but Dymitr of Goraj convinced her to return to the castle. Oscar Halecki says that Długosz's narrative "cannot be dismissed as a romantic legend"; Robert I. Frost writes that it is a "tale, almost certainly apocryphal". There is no doubt, however, that William of Austria was forced to leave Poland.
Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in August 1385, promising Queen Elizabeth's representatives and the Polish lords' envoys that he would convert to Catholicism, together with his pagan kinsmen and subjects, if Jadwiga married him. He also pledged to pay 200,000 florins to William of Habsburg in compensation. William never accepted it. Two days after the Union of Krewo, the Teutonic Knights invaded Lithuania.
The "Aeltere Hochmeisterchronik" and other chronicles written in the Knights' territory accused the Polish prelates and lords of forcing Jadwiga to accept Jogaila's offer. According to a Polish legend, Jadwiga agreed to marry Jogaila due to divine inspiration during her long prayers before a crucifix in Wawel Cathedral. Siemowit IV of Mazovia resigned his claim to Poland in December.
The Polish lords' envoys informed Jogaila that they would obey him if he married Jadwiga on 11 January 1386. Jogaila went to Lublin where a general assembly unanimously declared him "king and lord of Poland" in early February. Jogaila went on to Kraków where he was baptized, receiving the Christian name, Władysław, in Wawel Cathedral on 15 February. Three days later, 35-year-old Władysław-Jogaila married 12-year-old Jadwiga. Władysław-Jogaila styled himself as "dominus et tutor regni Poloniae" ("lord and guardian of the Kingdom of Poland") in his first charter issued after the marriage.
Archbishop Bodzanta crowned Władysław-Jogaila king on 4 March 1386. Poland was transformed into a diarchya kingdom ruled over by two sovereigns. Jadwiga and her husband did not speak a common language, but they cooperated closely in their marriage. She accompanied him to Greater Poland to appease the local lords who were still hostile to him. The royal visit caused damage to the peasants who lived in the local prelates' domains, but Jadwiga persuaded her husband to compensate them, saying: "We have, indeed, returned the peasants' cattle, but who can repair their tears?", according to Długosz's chronicle. A court record of her order to the judges in favour of a peasant also shows that she protected the poor.
Pope Urban VI sent his legate, Maffiolus de Lampugnano, to Kraków to enquire about the marriage of the royal couple. Lampugnano did not voice any objections, but the Teutonic Knights started a propaganda campaign in favour of William of Habsburg. Queen Elizabeth pledged to assist Władysław-Jogaila against his enemies on 9 June 1386, but Hungary had sunken into anarchy. A group of Slavonian lords captured and imprisoned Jadwiga's mother and sister on 25 July. The rebels murdered Queen Elizabeth in January 1387. A month later, Jadwiga marched at the head of Polish troops to Ruthenia where all but one of the governors submitted to her without opposition.
Duke Vladislaus of Opole also had a claim on Ruthenia but could not convince King Wenceslaus of Germany to intervene on his behalf. Jadwiga confirmed the privileges of the local inhabitants and promised that Ruthenia would never again be separated from the Polish Crown. After the reinforcements that Władysław-Jogaila sent from Lithuania arrived in August, Halych, the only fortress to resist, also surrendered. Władysław-Jogaila also came to Ruthenia in September. Voivode Petru II of Moldavia visited the royal couple and paid homage to them in Lviv on 26 September. Władysław-Jogaila confirmed the privileges that Jadwiga had granted the Ruthenians in October. She also instructed her subjects to show the same respect for her husband as for herself: in a letter addressed to the burghers of Kraków in late 1387, she stated that her husband was their "natural lord".
On William's demand, Pope Urban VI initiated a new investigation about the marriage of Jadwiga and Władysław-Jogaila. They sent Bishop Dobrogost of Poznań to Rome to inform the pope of the Christianization of Lithuania. In his letter to Bishop Dobrogost, Pope Urban jointly mentioned the royal couple in March 1388, which implied that he had already acknowledged the legality of their marriage. However, Gniewosz of Dalewice, who had been William of Habsburg's supporter, spread rumours about secret meetings between William and Jadwiga in the royal castle. Jadwiga took a solemn oath before Jan Tęczyński, stating that she had only had marital relations with Władysław-Jogaila. After all witnesses confirmed her oath, Gniewosz of Dalewice confessed that he had lied. She did not take vengeance on him.
Jadwiga's brother-in-law, Sigismund, who had been crowned King of Hungary, started negotiations with the Teutonic Knights about partitioning Poland in early 1392. Jadwiga met Mary in Stará Ľubovňa in May and returned to Kraków only in early July. She most probably accompanied her husband to Lithuania, according to Oscar Halecki, because she was far from Kraków till the end of August. On 4 August, Władysław-Jogaila's cousin, Vytautas, who had earlier fled from Lithuania to the Teutonic Knights, paid homage to Władysław-Jogaila near Lida in Lithuania on 4 August.
Negotiations between Sigismund and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Konrad von Wallenrode, continued with the mediation of Vladislaus of Opole. However, Hungary's southern border was exposed to Ottoman incursions, preventing Sigismund from taking military measures against Poland. Wallenrode died on 25 July 1393. His successor, Konrad von Jungingen, opened negotiations with the Poles. During the discussions, Pope Boniface IX's legate, John of Messina, supported the Poles.
Jadwiga was a skilful mediator, famed for her impartiality and intelligence. She went to Lithuania to reconcile her brother-in-law, Skirgaila, with Vytautas in October 1393. Relations between Poland and Hungary remained tense. Sigismund invaded Moldavia, forcing Stephen I of Moldavia to accept his suzerainty in 1394. Soon after the Hungarian troops left Moldavia, Stephen sent his envoys to Jadwiga and Jogaila, promising to assist Poland against Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Teutonic Knights.
On 17 May 1395, Mary died after a riding accident. According to the 1383 agreement between their mother and the Polish lords, Jadwiga was her childless sister's heir in Hungary. Vlad I of Wallachia, a Hungarian vassal, issued an act of submission on 28 May, acknowledging Jadwiga and her husband as Mary's legitimate successors. The widowed king's close supporter, Stibor of Stiboricz, expelled Vlad from Wallachia. Władysław-Jogaila gathered his troops on the Polish-Hungarian border, but , Palatine of Hungary, and , Archbishop of Esztergom, stopped his invasion of Hungary. In September, Konrad von Jungingen told the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire that the union of Poland, Lithuania and Hungary under Władysław-Jogaila's rule would endanger Christendom. However, most of Sigismund's opponents, who were especially numerous in Croatia, supported the claim of Ladislaus of Naples, the last male member of the Capetian House of Anjou. On 8 September, the most influential Hungarian lords declared that they would not support any change in government while Sigismund was far from Hungary fighting against the Ottoman Turks. Before the end of the year, peace negotiations between the representatives of Hungary and Poland ended with an agreement. Jadwiga adopted the title "heir to Hungary", but she and her husband took no further action against Sigismund.
The relationship between Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights remained tense. Jadwiga and her Polish advisers invited the Grand Master, Konrad von Jungingen, to Poland to open new negotiations in June 1396. Conflicts with Vladislaus of Opole and Siemowit of Masovia, who had not given up their claims to parts of Ruthenia and Cuyavia, also intensified. To demonstrate that the territories were under Jadwiga's direct control, Władysław-Jogaila granted the Duchy of Belz (in Ruthenia) and Cuyavia to her in early 1397. However, Jadwiga and her Polish advisers wanted to avoid a war with the Teutonic Order. In response, Władysław-Jogaila replaced most Polish "starostas" (aldermen) in Ruthenia with local Orthodox noblemen. According to German sources, Władysław-Jogaila and Vytautas jointly asked Pope Boniface IX to sanction Vytautas' coronation as king of Lithuania and Ruthenia.
Jadwiga and Jungingen met in Włocławek in the middle of June, but they did not reach a compromise. The Teutonic Order entrusted Vladislaus of Opole with the task of representing their claims to Dobrzyń against Jadwiga. Jadwiga and her husband met Sigismund of Hungary, who had returned there after his catastrophic defeat in the Battle of Nicopolis, on 14 July. They seem to have reached a compromise, because Sigismund offered to mediate between Poland, Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights. On Jadwiga's request, Wenceslaus of Bohemia granted permission for the establishment of a college for Lithuanian students in Prague on 20 July 1397. Jadwiga, who had spent "many sleepless nights" thinking of this project, according to herself, issued a charter of establishment for the college on 10 November.
She opened new negotiations with the Teutonic Knights, but Konrad von Jungingen dispatched a simple knight to meet her in May 1398. Władysław-Jogaila's cousin Vytautas also entered into negotiations with the Teutonic Knights because he wanted to unite Lithuania and Ruthenia under his rule and to receive a royal crown from the Holy See. According to the chronicle of John of Posilge, who was an official of the Teutonic Order, Jadwiga sent a letter to Vytautas, reminding him to pay the annual tribute that Władysław-Jogaila had granted her as dower. Offended by Jadwiga's demand, Vytautas sought the opinion of the Lithuanian and Ruthenian lords who refused Jadwiga's claim to a tribute. On 12 October 1398, he signed a peace treaty with the Teutonic Knights, without referring to Władysław-Jogaila's right to confirm it. Oscar Halecki says that Posilge's "sensational story" is either an invention based on gossip or a guess by the chronicler.
Jadwiga was childless for over a decade, which, according to chronicles written in the Teutonic lands, caused conflicts between her and her husband. She became pregnant in late 1398 or early 1399. Sigismund, King of Hungary, came to Kraków in early March to negotiate for a campaign to defend Wallachia against the Ottoman Turks. Vytautas, in order to bolster his authority over the Rus' principalities, decided to launch an expedition against Timur, who had subdued the Golden Horde. According to Jan Długosz's chronicle, Jadwiga warned the Polish noblemen not to join Vytautas' campaign because it would end in failure. Halecki says that the great number of Polish knights who joined Vytautas's expedition proves that Długosz's report is not reliable.
On the occasion of the expected birth to the royal couple, Jogaila's cousin Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, sent expensive gifts, including a silver cradle, to the royal court on behalf of himself and his wife, Anna. The first horoscopes written for Jadwiga's and Jogaila's child predicted a son in mid-September 1398. However, a girl was delivered on 22 June 1399 at Wawel Castle. Reports of the time stated that the child was born prematurely. According to the horoscope, she was actually born slightly late. However, a due date of 18 June would rule out the suspicion of pregnancy as early as mid-September.
The newborn princess was named Elizabeth Bonifacia (, ), after Jadwiga's mother and Pope Boniface IX who, in a letter of 5 May 1399, had agreed to be godfather under the condition that the infant be called Boniface or Bonifacia. She was baptised by Piotr Wysz Radoliński, Bishop of Kraków. However, the infant died after only three weeks, on 13 July 1399. Jadwiga, too, was on her deathbed. Stanisław of Skarbimierz expressed hope that she would survive, describing her as the spiritual mother of the poor, weak, and ill of Poland. She advised her husband to marry Anna of Cilli, Casimir the Great's granddaughter, and died on 17 July 1399, four days after her newborn daughter.
Jadwiga and her daughter were buried together in Wawel Cathedral, on 24 August 1399, as stipulated in the Queen's last will. On 12 July 1949, 550 years later, their tomb was opened; nothing remained of the child's soft cartilage.
The following family tree illustrates Jadwiga's connection to her notable relatives. Kings of Poland are colored blue.
Two leading historians, Oscar Halecki and S. Harrison Thomson, agree that Jadwiga was one of the greatest rulers of Poland, comparable to Bolesław the Brave and Casimir the Great. Her marriage to Władysław-Jogaila enabled the union of Poland and Lithuania, establishing a large state in East Central Europe. Jadwiga's decision to marry the 'elderly' Władysław-Jogaila instead of her beloved fiancé, William of Habsburg, has often been described as a sacrifice for her country in Polish historiography. Her biographers emphasize Jadwiga's efforts to preserve the peace with the Teutonic Order, which enabled Poland to make preparations for a decisive war against the Knights. Jadwiga's childless death weakened Władysław-Jogaila's position, because his claim to Poland was based on their marriage. Six days after her funeral, Władysław-Jogaila left Poland for Ruthenia, stating that he was to return to Lithuania after his wife's death. The Polish lords sent their envoys to Lviv to open negotiations with him. The delegates took new oaths of loyalty to him, confirming his position as king. On the lords' demand, he agreed to marry Anna of Cilli. Their wedding was celebrated on 29 January 1402.
Jadwiga's cultural and charitable activities were of exceptional value. She established new hospitals, schools and churches, and restored older ones. Jadwiga promoted the use of vernacular in church services, especially the singing of hymns in Polish. The Scriptures were translated into Polish on her order.
Casimir the Great had already in 1364 established the University of Kraków, but it did not survive his death. Władysław-Jogaila and Jadwiga jointly asked Pope Boniface IX to sanction the establishment of a faculty of theology in Kraków. The pope granted their request on 11 January 1397. Jadwiga bought houses along a central street of Kraków for the university. However, the faculty was only set up a year after Jadwiga's death: Władysław-Jogaila issued the charter for the reestablished university on 26 July 1400. In accordance with Jadwiga's last will, the restoration of the university was partially financed through the sale of her jewellery.
Oscar Halecki writes that Jadwiga transmitted to the nations of East Central Europe the "universal heritage of the "respublica Christiana", which in the West was then waning, but in East Central Europe started flourishing and blending with the pre-Renaissance world". She was closely related to the saintly 13th-century princesses, venerated in Hungary and Poland, including Elizabeth of Hungary and her nieces, Kinga and Yolanda, and Salomea of Poland. She was born to a family famed for its religious zeal. She attended Mass every day. In accordance with her family's tradition, Jadwiga was especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An inscription engraved on her request on a precious chalice, which was placed in the Wawel Cathedral, asked Our Lady to place Poland under her protection.
Jadwiga was venerated in Poland soon after her death. Stanisław of Skarbimierz states that she had been "the most Christian queen" in his sermon composed for her funeral. Paul of Zator referred to the wax figures placed by her grave. Sermons written in the early 15th century emphasized that Jadwiga had been a representative of the traditional virtues of holy women, such as mercy and benevolence. Jadwiga's contribution to the restoration of the University of Kraków was also mentioned by early 15th-century scholars.
Numerous legends about miracles were recounted to justify her sainthood. The two best-known are those of "Jadwiga's cross" and "Jadwiga's foot":
Jadwiga often prayed before a large black crucifix hanging in the north aisle of Wawel Cathedral. During one of these prayers, the Christ on the cross is said to have spoken to her. The crucifix, "Saint Jadwiga's cross", is still there, with her relics beneath it. Because of this event, she is considered a medieval mystic. According to another legend, Jadwiga took a piece of jewellery from her foot and gave it to a poor stonemason who had begged for her help. When the king left, he noticed her footprint in the plaster floor of his workplace, even though the plaster had already hardened before her visit. The supposed footprint, known as "Jadwiga's foot", can still be seen in one of Kraków's churches.
In yet another legend, Jadwiga was taking part in a Corpus Christi Day procession when a coppersmith's son drowned by falling into a river. Jadwiga threw her mantle over the boy's body, and he regained life.
On 8 June 1979 Pope John Paul II prayed at her sarcophagus; and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments officially affirmed her beatification on 8 August 1986.
The Pope went on to canonize Jadwiga in Kraków on 8 June 1997.
Queen Jadwiga is the main character of the third season of Polish historical TV series Korona królów (The Crown of the Kings). She is played by Dagmara Bryzek. Child Jadwiga is played by Natalia Wolska and Amelia Zawadzka.
Jadwiga appears as the leader of the Polish civilization in the turn-based strategy game Civilization VI, specialising in religion and territorial expansion. | en.wikipedia.org | Jadwiga of Poland | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16419 |
16421 | Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located in Merritt Island, Florida, is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and operate facilities on each other's property.
Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from CCAFS, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.
Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.
There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped across the center's . Among the unique facilities at KSC are the tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.
The military had been performing launch operations since 1949 at what would become Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth tall, thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.
NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional . The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.
On November 29, 1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under . Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the "Kennedy Space Center" name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site "Cape Kennedy Air Force Station".
Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is long and roughly wide, covering . KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Because much of the installation is a restricted area and only nine percent of the land is developed, the site also serves as an important wildlife sanctuary; Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore are other features of the area. Center workers can encounter bald eagles, American alligators, wild boars, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, the endangered Florida panther and Florida manatees.
From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.
On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of "Columbia" on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.
In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.
KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when "Challenger" completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.
After 24 successful shuttle flights, "Challenger" was torn apart 73 seconds after the launch of STS-51-L on January 28, 1986; the first shuttle launch from Pad 39B and the first U.S. crewed launch failure, killing the seven crew members. An O-ring seal in the right booster rocket failed at liftoff, leading to subsequent structural failures. Flights resumed on September 29, 1988, with STS-26 after modifications to many aspects of the shuttle program.
On February 1, 2003, "Columbia" and her crew of seven were lost during re-entry over Texas during the STS-107 mission (the 113th shuttle flight); a vehicle breakup triggered by damage sustained during launch from Pad 39A on January 16, when a piece of foam insulation from the orbiter's external fuel tank struck the orbiter's left-wing. During reentry, the damage created a hole allowing hot gases to melt the wing structure. Like the "Challenger" disaster, the resulting investigation and modifications interrupted shuttle flight operations at KSC for more than two years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005.
The shuttle program experienced five main engine shutdowns at LC-39, all within four seconds before launch; and one Abort to Orbit, STS-51-F on July 29, 1985. Shuttle missions during nearly 30 years of operations included deploying satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science and technology experiments, visits to the Russian MIR space station, construction and servicing of the International Space Station, deployment and servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope and serving as a space laboratory. The shuttle was retired from service in July 2011 after 135 launches.
On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.
Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).
Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Air Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded CCAFS launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.
All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on CCAFS started transferring from NASA to air force management.
In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight in the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.
In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. CCAFS and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on CCAFS.
As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch on board the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.
From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.
Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.
The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:
The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now CCAFS). Located as KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.
Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. A new Headquarters Building is under construction as a part of the Central Campus consolidation and the first phase is expected to be complete in 2017.
The center operated its own short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.
Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle in history, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).
Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.
Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was tall and in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.
The complex includes:
Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.
As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.
It was announced on May 29, 2015 that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, to be designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, is slated to open sometime late 2016.
In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) will be relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.
NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:
There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle "Atlantis", Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building. KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.
Florida's peninsular shape and temperature contrasts between land and ocean provide ideal conditions for electrical storms, earning Central Florida the reputation as "lightning capital of the United States". This makes extensive lightning protection and detection systems necessary to protect employees, structures and spacecraft on launch pads. On November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 was struck by lightning just after lift-off from Pad 39A, but the flight continued safely. The most powerful lightning strike recorded at KSC occurred at LC-39B on August 25, 2006, while shuttle "Atlantis" was being prepared for STS-115. NASA managers were initially concerned that the lightning strike caused damage to "Atlantis", but none was found.
On September 7, 2004, Hurricane Frances directly hit the area with sustained winds of and gusts up to , the most damaging storm to date. The Vehicle Assembly Building lost 1,000 exterior panels, each x in size. This exposed of the building to the elements. Damage occurred to the south and east sides of the VAB. The shuttle's Thermal Protection System Facility suffered extensive damage. The roof was partially torn off and the interior suffered water damage. Several rockets on display in the center were toppled. Further damage to KSC was caused by Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.
The conservative estimate by NASA is that the Space Center will experience 5 to 8 inches of sea level rise by the 2050s. Launch Complex 39A, the site of the Apollo 11 launch, is the most vulnerable to flooding, and has a 14% annual risk of flooding beginning in 2020.
Since KSC's formation, ten NASA officials have served as directors, including three former astronauts (Crippen, Bridges and Cabana):
When KSC separated from Marshall Space Flight Center in July 1962, it took 375 employees with it.
In May 1965, KSC had 7,000 employees and contractors move from rented space in Cocoa Beach to the new Merritt Island facilities. The peak number of persons working on center was 26,000 in 1968 (3,000 were civil servants). In 1970, President Nixon announced intent to reduce cost of space operations and major cuts occurred at KSC. By 1974, KSC's workforce was down to 10,000 employees (2,408 civil servants).
A total of 13,100 people worked at the center as of 2011. Approximately 2,100 are employees of the federal government; the rest are contractors. The average annual salary for an on-site worker in 2008 was $77,235.
The end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, preceded by the cancellation of Constellation Program in 2010, produced a significant downsizing of the KSC workforce similar to that experienced at the end of the Apollo program in 1972. As part of this downsizing, 6,000 contractors lost their jobs at the Center during 2010 and 2011.
In addition to being frequently featured in documentaries, Kennedy Space Center has been portrayed on film many times. Some studio movies have even gained access and filmed scenes within the gates of the space center. If extras are needed in those scenes, space center employees are recruited (employees use personal time during filming). Films with scenes at KSC include:
Several television shows have had KSC as one of the primary settings, though not necessarily with any scenes filmed on center:
British-Irish band One direction has also filmed their music video for Drag Me Down at KSC. | en.wikipedia.org | Kennedy Space Center | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16421 |
16422 | Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, and jazz, Mitchell's songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment, and joy. She has received many accolades, including nine Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. "Rolling Stone" called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic has stated, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century".
Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and throughout western Canada, before busking in the streets and nightclubs of Toronto, Ontario. In 1965, she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were covered by other folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album, "Song to a Seagull", in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock", helped define an era and a generation. Her 1971 album "Blue" is often cited as one of the best albums of all time; it was rated the 30th best album ever made in "Rolling Stone"s list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2000, "The New York Times" chose "Blue" as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". In 2017, NPR ranked "Blue" number 1 on a list of Greatest Albums Made By Women. Mitchell's fifth album, "For the Roses", was released in 1972. She then switched labels and began exploring more jazz-influenced melodic ideas, by way of lush pop textures, on 1974's "Court and Spark", which featured the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris" and became her best-selling album.
Around 1975, Mitchell's vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to more of a wide-ranging contralto. Her distinctive piano and open-tuned guitar compositions also grew more harmonically and rhythmically complex as she explored jazz, melding it with influences of rock and roll, R&B, classical music and non-western beats. In the late 1970s, she began working closely with noted jazz musicians, among them Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, as well as Charles Mingus, who asked her to collaborate on his final recordings. She later turned again toward pop, embraced electronic music, and engaged in political protest. In 2002, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.
Mitchell is the sole producer credited on most of her albums, including all her work in the 1970s. A blunt critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th, and reportedly last, album of original songs in 2007. With roots in visual art, Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers. She describes herself as a "painter derailed by circumstance".
Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada, the daughter of Myrtle Marguerite (McKee) and William Andrew Anderson. Her mother's ancestors were Scottish and Irish; her father was from a Norwegian family that possibly had some Sámi ancestry. Her mother was a teacher, while her father was a Royal Canadian Air Force flight lieutenant who instructed new pilots at RCAF Station Fort Macleod. She later moved with her parents to various bases in western Canada. After the end of World War II her father began working as a grocer, and her family moved to Saskatchewan, at first living in towns such as Maidstone and North Battleford, before settling in the city of Saskatoon when Mitchell was 11 She later sang about her small-town upbringing in several of her songs, including "Song for Sharon".
At school Mitchell struggled; her main interest was painting. During this time she briefly studied classical piano.
At age 9, Mitchell contracted polio in an epidemic and was hospitalised for weeks. Following this incident she focused on her creative talent, and considered a singing or dancing career for the first time. By 9, she was a smoker; she denies claims that smoking has affected her voice. At 11, she moved with her family to the city of Saskatoon, which she considers her hometown. She responded badly to formal education, preferring a freethinking outlook. One unconventional teacher did manage to make an impact on her, stimulating her to write poetry; her first album includes a dedication to him. In Grade 12, she dropped out (she later continued with her studies) and hung out downtown with a rowdy set until she decided that she was getting too close to the criminal world.
At this time, country music began to eclipse rock, and Mitchell wanted to play the guitar. As her mother disapproved of its hillbilly associations, she settled initially for the ukulele. Eventually she taught herself guitar from a Pete Seeger songbook. Polio had weakened her left hand, so she devised alternative tunings to compensate; she later used these tunings to create non-standard approaches to harmony and structure in her songwriting.
Mitchell started singing with her friends at bonfires around Waskesiu Lake, northwest of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Her first paid performance was on October 31, 1962, at a Saskatoon club that featured folk and jazz performers. At 18, she widened her repertoire to include her favorite performers, such as Édith Piaf and Miles Davis. Although she never performed jazz herself in those days, Mitchell and her friends sought out gigs by jazz musicians. Mitchell said, "My jazz background began with one of the early Lambert, Hendricks and Ross albums." That album, "The Hottest New Group in Jazz", was hard to find in Canada, she says. "So I saved up and bought it at a bootleg price. I considered that album to be my Beatles. I learned every song off of it, and I don't think there is another album anywhere—including my own—on which I know every note and word of every song."
But art was still her chief passion at this stage. When she finished high school at Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon, she took art classes at the Saskatoon Technical Collegiate with abstract expressionist painter Henry Bonli and then left home to attend the Alberta College of Art in Calgary for the 1963–64 school year. Here she felt disillusioned about the high priority given to technical skill over free-class creativity, and felt out of step with the trend toward pure abstraction and the tendency to move into commercial art. After a year, at age 20, she dropped out of school, a decision that much displeased her parents, who could remember the Great Depression and valued education highly.
She continued to play gigs as a folk musician on weekends at her college and at a local hotel. Around this time she took a $15-a-week job in a Calgary coffeehouse called The Depression Coffee House, "singing long tragic songs in a minor key". She sang at hootenannies and made appearances on some local TV and radio shows in Calgary. In 1964, at the age of 20, she told her mother that she intended to be a folk singer in Toronto, and she left western Canada for the first time in her life, heading east for Ontario. On the three-day train ride there, Mitchell wrote her first song, "Day After Day". She stopped at the Mariposa Folk Festival to see Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Saskatchewan-born Cree folk singer who had inspired her. A year later, Mitchell too played Mariposa, her first gig for a major audience, and years later, Sainte-Marie herself covered Mitchell's work.
Lacking the $200 needed for musicians' union fees, Mitchell managed a few gigs at the Half Beat and the Village Corner in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood, but she mostly played non-union gigs "in church basements and YMCA meeting halls". Rejected from major folk clubs, she resorted to busking, while she "worked in the women's wear section of a downtown department store to pay the rent." During this era, she lived in a rooming house, directly across the hall from poet Duke Redbird. Without a lot of name recognition, Mitchell also began to realize each city's folk scene tended to accord veteran performers the exclusive right to play their signature songs — despite not having written the songs — which Mitchell found insular, contrary to the egalitarian ideal of folk music. She found her best traditional material was already other singers' property and would no longer pass muster. She said, "You'd come into a town and you'd be told, you can't sing that, you can't sing that." She resolved to write her own songs.
In late 1964, Mitchell discovered that she was pregnant by her Calgary ex-boyfriend Brad MacMath. She later wrote, "[he] left me three months pregnant in an attic room with no money and winter coming on and only a fireplace for heat. The spindles of the banister were gap-toothed - fuel for last winter's occupants." In February 1965, she gave birth to a baby girl. Unable to provide for the baby, she placed her daughter, Kelly Dale Anderson, for adoption. The experience remained private for most of Mitchell's career, although she alluded to it in several songs, such as "Little Green," which she performed in the 1960s and recorded eventually for the 1971 album "Blue". In "Chinese Cafe", from the 1982 album "Wild Things Run Fast", Mitchell sang, "Your kids are coming up straight / My child's a stranger / I bore her / But I could not raise her." These lyrics did not receive wide attention at the time.
The existence of Mitchell's daughter was not publicly known until 1993, when a roommate from Mitchell's art-school days in the 1960s sold the story of the adoption to a tabloid magazine. By that time, Mitchell's daughter, renamed Kilauren Gibb, had already begun a search for her biological parents. Mitchell and her daughter met in 1997. After the reunion, Mitchell said that she lost interest in songwriting, and she later identified her daughter's birth and her inability to take care of her as the moment when her songwriting inspiration had really begun. When she could not express herself to the person she wanted to talk to, she became attuned to the whole world, and she began to write personally.
Sometime in late April 1965, Joni left Canada for the first time; she traveled with New York City born American folk singer Charles Scott 'Chuck' Mitchell to the US, where the two began playing music together. Joni, 21 years old, married Chuck in an official ceremony in his hometown in June 1965 and took his surname. She said, "I made my dress and bridesmaids' dresses. We had no money... I walked down the aisle brandishing my daisies."
While living at the Verona apartments in Detroit's Cass Corridor, Chuck and Joni were regular performers at area coffee houses, including the Chess Mate on Livernois, near Six Mile Road; the Alcove bar, near Wayne State University; the Rathskeller, a restaurant on the campus of the University of Detroit; and the Raven Gallery in Southfield. She began playing and composing songs in alternative guitar tunings taught to her by a fellow musician, Eric Andersen, in Detroit. Oscar Brand featured her several times on his CBC television program "Let's Sing Out" in 1965 and 1966. The marriage and partnership of Joni and Chuck Mitchell dissolved in early 1967, and Joni moved to New York City to follow her musical path as a solo artist. She played venues up and down the East Coast, including Philadelphia, Boston, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She performed frequently in coffeehouses and folk clubs and, by this time creating her own material, became well known for her unique songwriting and her innovative guitar style.
Folk singer Tom Rush had met Mitchell in Toronto and was impressed with her songwriting ability. He took "Urge for Going" to the popular folk artist Judy Collins, but she was not interested in the song at the time, so Rush recorded it himself. Country singer George Hamilton IV heard Rush performing it and recorded a hit country version. Other artists who recorded Mitchell's songs in the early years were Buffy Sainte-Marie ("The Circle Game"), Dave Van Ronk ("Both Sides Now"), and eventually Judy Collins ("Both Sides Now", a top ten hit for her, and "Michael from Mountains", both included on her 1967 album "Wildflowers"). Collins also covered "Chelsea Morning", another recording that eclipsed Mitchell's own commercial success early on.
While Mitchell was playing one night in the Gaslight South, a club in Coconut Grove, Florida, David Crosby walked in and was immediately struck by her ability and her appeal as an artist. He took her back to Los Angeles, where he set about introducing her and her music to his friends. Soon she was being managed by Elliot Roberts, who, after being urged by Buffy Sainte-Marie, had first seen her play in a Greenwich Village coffee house. He had a close business association with David Geffen. Roberts and Geffen were to have important influences on her career. Eventually she was signed to the Warners-affiliated Reprise label by talent scout Andy Wickham. Crosby convinced Reprise to let Mitchell record a solo acoustic album without the folk-rock overdubs in vogue at that time, and his clout earned him a producer's credit in March 1968, when Reprise released her debut album, known either as "Joni Mitchell" or "Song to a Seagull".
Mitchell toured steadily to promote the LP. The tour helped create eager anticipation for Mitchell's second LP, "Clouds", which was released in April 1969. This album contained Mitchell's own versions of some of her songs already recorded and performed by other artists: "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", and "Tin Angel". The covers of both LPs, including a self-portrait on "Clouds", were designed and painted by Mitchell, a blending of her painting and music that she continued throughout her career.
In March 1970, "Clouds" produced her first Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance. The following month, Reprise released her third album, "Ladies of the Canyon". Mitchell's sound was already beginning to expand beyond the confines of acoustic folk music and toward pop and rock, with more overdubs, percussion, and backing vocals, and for the first time, many songs composed on piano, which became a hallmark of Mitchell's style in her most popular era. Her own version of "Woodstock", slower than the cover by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, was performed solo on a Wurlitzer electric piano. The album also included the already-familiar song "The Circle Game" and the environmental anthem "Big Yellow Taxi", with its now-famous line, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
"Ladies of the Canyon" was an instant smash on FM radio and sold briskly, eventually becoming Mitchell's first gold album (selling over a half million copies). She made a decision to stop touring for a year and just write and paint, yet she was still voted "Top Female Performer" for 1970 by "Melody Maker", a leading UK pop music magazine. On the April 1971 release of James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon" album, Mitchell is credited with backup vocals on the track "You've Got a Friend". The songs she wrote during the months she took off for travel and life experience appeared on her next album, "Blue", released in June 1971. Comparing Joni Mitchell's talent to his own, David Crosby said, "By the time she did "Blue", she was past me and rushing toward the horizon".
"Blue" was an almost instant critical and commercial success, peaking in the top 20 in the Billboard Album Charts in September and also hitting the British Top 3. The lushly produced "Carey" was the single at the time, but musically, other parts of "Blue" departed further from the sounds of "Ladies of the Canyon". Simpler, rhythmic acoustic parts allowed a focus on Mitchell's voice and emotions ("All I Want", "A Case of You"), while others such as "Blue", "River" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" were sung to her rolling piano accompaniment. Her most confessional album, Mitchell later said of "Blue", "I have, on occasion, sacrificed myself and my own emotional makeup, ... singing 'I'm selfish and I'm sad', for instance. We all suffer for our loneliness, but at the time of "Blue", our pop stars never admitted these things." In its lyrics, the album was regarded as an inspired culmination of her early work, with depressed assessments of the world around her serving as counterpoint to exuberant expressions of romantic love (for example, in "California"). Mitchell later remarked, "At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong."
Mitchell decided to return to the live stage after the great success of "Blue", and she presented new songs on tour which appeared on her next album, her fifth, "For the Roses". The album was released in October 1972 and immediately zoomed up the charts. She followed with the single, "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio", which peaked at No. 25 in the Billboard Charts in February 1973.
"Court and Spark", released in January 1974, saw Mitchell begin the flirtation with jazz and jazz fusion that marked her experimental period ahead. "Court and Spark" went to No. 1 on the Cashbox Album Charts. The LP made Mitchell a widely popular act for perhaps the only time in her career, on the strength of popular tracks such as the rocker "Raised on Robbery", which was released right before Christmas 1973, and "Help Me", which was released in March of the following year, and became Mitchell's only Top 10 single when it peaked at No. 7 in the first week of June. "Free Man in Paris" was another hit single and staple in her catalog.
While recording "Court and Spark", Mitchell had tried to make a clean break with her earlier folk sound, producing the album herself and employing jazz/pop fusion band the L.A. Express as what she called her first real backing group. In February 1974, her tour with the L.A. Express began, and they received rave notices as they traveled across the United States and Canada during the next two months. A series of shows at L.A.'s Universal Amphitheater on August 14–17 were recorded for a live album. In November, Mitchell released that album, "Miles of Aisles", a two-record set including all but two songs from the L.A. concerts (one selection each from the Berkeley Community Theatre, on March 2, and the L.A. Music Center, on March 4, were also included in the set). The live album slowly moved up to No. 2, matching "Court and Spark"s chart peak on Billboard. "Big Yellow Taxi", the live version, was also released as a single and did reasonably well (she released another version of the song in 2007).
In January 1975, "Court and Spark" received four nominations for Grammy Awards, including Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for which Mitchell was the only woman nominated. She won only the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals.
Mitchell went into the studio in early 1975 to record acoustic demos of some songs that she had written since the "Court and Spark" tour. A few months later she recorded versions of the tunes with her band. Her musical interests were now diverging from both the folk and the pop scene of the era, toward less structured, more jazz-inspired pieces, with a wider range of instruments. The new song cycle was released in November 1975 as "The Hissing of Summer Lawns". On "The Jungle Line", she made an early effort at sampling a recording of African musicians, something that became more commonplace among Western rock acts in the 1980s. "In France They Kiss on Main Street" continued the lush pop sounds of "Court and Spark", and efforts such as the title song and "Edith and the Kingpin" chronicled the underbelly of suburban lives in Southern California.
During 1975, Mitchell also participated in several concerts in the Rolling Thunder Revue tours featuring Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and in 1976 she performed as part of "The Last Waltz" by the Band. In January 1976, Mitchell received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the album "The Hissing of Summer Lawns", though the Grammy went to Linda Ronstadt.
In early 1976, Mitchell traveled with friends who were driving cross country to Maine. Afterwards, she drove back to California alone and composed several songs during her journey which featured on her next album, 1976's "Hejira". She stated that "This album was written mostly while I was traveling in the car. That's why there were no piano songs ..." "Hejira" was arguably Mitchell's most experimental album so far, due to her ongoing collaborations with jazz virtuoso bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius on several songs, namely the first single, "Coyote", the atmospheric "Hejira", the disorienting, guitar-heavy "Black Crow", and the album's last song "Refuge of the Roads". The album climbed to No. 13 on the Billboard Charts, reaching gold status three weeks after release, and received airplay from album oriented FM rock stations. Yet "Coyote", backed with "Blue Motel Room", failed to chart on the Hot 100. "Hejira" "did not sell as briskly as Mitchell's earlier, more "radio-friendly" albums, [but] its stature in her catalogue has grown over the years". Mitchell herself believes the album to be unique. In 2006 she said, "I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on "Hejira" could only have come from me."
In mid-1977, Mitchell began work on new recordings that became her first double studio album. Close to completing her contract with Asylum Records, Mitchell felt that this album could be looser in feel than any album she'd done in the past. She invited Pastorius back, and he brought with him fellow members of jazz fusion pioneers Weather Report, including drummer Don Alias and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Layered, atmospheric compositions such as "Overture/Cotton Avenue" featured more improvisatory collaboration, while "Paprika Plains" was a 16-minute epic that stretched the boundaries of pop, owing more to Mitchell's memories of childhood in Canada and her study of classical music. "Dreamland" and "The Tenth World", featuring Chaka Khan on backing vocals, were percussion-dominated tracks. Other songs continued the jazz-rock-folk collisions of "Hejira". Mitchell also revived "Jericho", written years earlier (a version is found on her 1974 live album) but never recorded in a studio setting.
"Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" was released in December 1977. The album received mixed reviews but still sold relatively well, peaking at No. 25 in the US and going gold within three months. The cover of the album created its own controversy: Mitchell was featured in several photographs, including one where she was in blackface, wearing a curly afro wig, a white suit and vest, and dark sunglasses. The character, whom she called Art Nouveau, was based on a pimp who, she says, once complimented her while walking down an LA street – and was a symbol of her turn toward jazz and streetwise lyrics.
A few months after the release of "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter", Mitchell was contacted by the esteemed jazz composer, bandleader and bassist Charles Mingus, who had heard the orchestrated song "Paprika Plains", and wanted her to work with him. She began a collaboration with Mingus, who died before the project was completed in 1979. She finished the tracks, and the resulting album, "Mingus", was released in June 1979, though it was poorly received in the press. Fans were confused over such a major change in Mitchell's overall sound, and though the album topped out at No. 17 on the Billboard album charts—a higher placement than "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"—"Mingus" still fell short of gold status, making it her first album since the 1960s to not sell at least a half-million copies.
Mitchell's tour to promote "Mingus" began in August 1979 in Oklahoma City and concluded six weeks later with five shows at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre and one at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, where she recorded and filmed the concert. It was her first tour in several years, and with Pastorius, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, and other members of her band, Mitchell also performed songs from her other jazz-inspired albums. When the tour ended she began a year of work, turning the tapes from the Santa Barbara County Bowl show into a two-album set and a concert film, both to be called "Shadows and Light". Her final release on Asylum Records and her second live double-album, it was released in September 1980, and made it up to No. 38 on the Billboard Charts. A single from the LP, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?", Mitchell's duet with The Persuasions (her opening act for the tour), bubbled under on Billboard, just missing the Hot 100.
For a year and a half, Mitchell worked on the tracks for her next album.
While the album was being readied for release, her friend David Geffen, founder of Asylum Records, decided to start a new label, Geffen Records. Still distributed by Warner Bros. (who controlled Asylum Records), Geffen negated the remaining contractual obligations Mitchell had with Asylum and signed her to his new label. "Wild Things Run Fast" (1982) marked a return to pop songwriting, including "Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody", which incorporated the chorus and parts of the melody of the famous The Righteous Brothers hit, and "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care", a remake of the Elvis chestnut, which charted higher than any Mitchell single since her 1970s sales peak when it climbed to No. 47 on the charts. The album peaked on the Billboard Charts in its fifth week at No. 25.
During this period she recorded with bassist and sound engineer Larry Klein, whom she married in 1982 (the marriage lasted 12 years).
In early 1983, Mitchell began a world tour, visiting Japan, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia and then going back to the United States. A performance from the tour was videotaped and later released on home video (and later DVD) as "Refuge of the Roads". As 1984 ended, Mitchell was writing new songs, when she received a suggestion from Geffen that perhaps an outside producer with experience in the modern technical arenas that they wanted to explore might be a worthy addition. British synthpop performer and producer Thomas Dolby was brought on board. Of Dolby's role, Mitchell later commented: "I was reluctant when Thomas was suggested because he had been asked to produce the record [by Geffen], and would he consider coming in as just a programmer and a player? So on that level we did have some problems ... He may be able to do it faster. He may be able to do it better, but the fact is that it then wouldn't really be my music."
The album that resulted, "Dog Eat Dog", released in October 1985, turned out to be only a moderate seller, peaking at No. 63 on Billboard's Top Albums Chart, Mitchell's lowest chart position since her first album peaked at No. 189 almost eighteen years before. One of the songs on the album, "Tax Free", created controversy by lambasting "televangelists" and what she saw as a drift to the religious right in American politics. "The churches came after me", she wrote, "they attacked me, though the Episcopalian Church, which I've seen described as the only church in America which actually uses its head, wrote me a letter of congratulation."
Mitchell continued experimenting with synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers for the recordings of her next album, 1988's "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm". She also collaborated with artists including Willie Nelson, Billy Idol, Wendy & Lisa, Tom Petty, Don Henley, Peter Gabriel, and Benjamin Orr of the Cars. The album's first official single, "My Secret Place", was in fact a duet with Gabriel, and just missed the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song "Lakota" was one of many songs on the album to take on larger political themes, in this case the Wounded Knee incident, the deadly battle between Native American activists and the FBI on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the previous decade. Musically, several songs fit into the trend of world music popularized by Gabriel during the era. Reviews were mostly favorable towards the album, and the cameos by well-known musicians brought it considerable attention. "Chalk Mark" ultimately improved on the chart performance of "Dog Eat Dog", peaking at No. 45.
In 1990, Mitchell, who by then rarely performed live anymore, participated in Roger Waters' "The Wall Concert in Berlin". She performed the song "Goodbye Blue Sky" and was also one of the performers on the concert's final song "The Tide Is Turning" along with Waters, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison and Paul Carrack.
Throughout the first half of 1990, Mitchell recorded songs that appeared on her next album. She delivered the final mixes for the new album to Geffen just before Christmas, after trying nearly a hundred different sequences for the songs. The album "Night Ride Home" was released in March 1991. In the United States, it premiered on Billboard's Top Album charts at No. 68, moving up to No. 48 in its second week, and peaking at No. 41 in its sixth week. In the United Kingdom, the album premiered at No. 25 on the album charts. Critically, it was better received than her 1980s work and seemed to signal a move closer to her acoustic beginnings, along with some references to the style of "Hejira". This album was also Mitchell's first since Geffen Records was sold to MCA Inc., meaning that "Night Ride Home" was her first album not to be initially distributed by WEA (now Warner Music Group).
To wider audiences, the real "return to form" for Mitchell came with 1994's Grammy-winning "Turbulent Indigo". While the recording period also saw the divorce of Mitchell and bassist Larry Klein, their marriage having lasted almost 12 years, "Indigo" was seen as Mitchell's most accessible set of songs in years. Songs such as "Sex Kills", "Sunny Sunday", "Borderline" and "The Magdalene Laundries" mixed social commentary and guitar-focused melodies for "a startling comeback". The album won two Grammy awards, including Best Pop Album, and it coincided with a much-publicized resurgence in interest in Mitchell's work by a younger generation of singer-songwriters.
In 1996, Mitchell agreed to release a greatest "Hits" collection when label Reprise also allowed her a second album, called "Misses", to include some of the lesser known songs from her career. "Hits" charted at No. 161 in the US, but made No. 6 in the UK. Mitchell also included on "Hits", for the first time on an album, her first recording, a version of "Urge for Going" which preceded "Song to a Seagull" but was previously released only as a B-side.
Two years later, Mitchell released her final set of "original" new work before nearly a decade of other pursuits, 1998's "Taming the Tiger". She promoted "Tiger" with a return to regular concert appearances, including a co-headlining tour with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.
On the album, Mitchell had played a custom guitar equipped with a Roland hexaphonic pickup which connected to a Roland VG-8 modeling processor. The device allowed Mitchell to play any of her many alternate tunings without having to re-tune the guitar. The guitar's output, through the VG-8, was transposed to any of her tunings in real-time.
It was around this time that critics also began to notice a real change in Mitchell's voice, particularly on her older songs; the singer later admitted to feeling the same way, explaining that "I'd go to hit a note and there was nothing there". While her more limited range and huskier vocals have sometimes been attributed to her smoking (she was described by journalist Robin Eggar as "one of the world's last great smokers"), Mitchell believes that the changes in her voice that became noticeable in the 1990s were due to other problems, including vocal nodules, a compressed larynx, and the lingering effects of having had polio. In an interview in 2004, she denied that "my terrible habits" had anything to do with her more limited range and pointed out that singers often lose the upper register when they pass fifty. In addition, she contended that in her opinion her voice became a more interesting and expressive alto range when she could no longer hit the high notes, let alone hold them like she did in her youth.
The singer's next two albums featured no new songs and, Mitchell has said, were recorded to "fulfill contractual obligations", but on both she attempted to make use of her new vocal range in interpreting familiar material. "Both Sides Now" (2000) was an album composed mostly of covers of jazz standards, performed with an orchestra, featuring orchestral arrangements by Vince Mendoza. The album also contained remakes of "A Case of You" and the title track "Both Sides, Now", two early hits transposed down to Mitchell's now dusky, soulful alto range. It received mostly strong reviews and spawned a short national tour, with Mitchell accompanied by a core band featuring Larry Klein on bass plus a local orchestra on each tour stop. Its success led to 2002's "Travelogue", a collection of re-workings of her previous songs with lush orchestral accompaniments.
Mitchell stated at the time that "Travelogue" would be her final album. In a 2002 interview with "Rolling Stone", she voiced discontent with the current state of the music industry, describing it as a "cesspool". Mitchell expressed her dislike of the record industry's dominance and her desire to control her own destiny, possibly by releasing her own music over the Internet.
During the next few years, the only albums Mitchell released were compilations of her earlier work. In 2003, her Geffen recordings were collected in a remastered four-disc box set, "The Complete Geffen Recordings", including notes by Mitchell and three previously unreleased tracks. A series of themed compilations of songs from earlier albums were also released: "The Beginning of Survival" (2004), "Dreamland" (2004), and "Songs of a Prairie Girl" (2005), the last of which collected the threads of her Canadian upbringing and which she released after accepting an invitation to the Saskatchewan Centennial concert in Saskatoon. The concert, which featured a tribute to Mitchell, was also attended by Queen Elizabeth II. In the "Prairie Girl" liner notes, she writes that the collection is "my contribution to Saskatchewan's Centennial celebrations".
In the early 1990s, Mitchell signed a deal with Random House to publish an autobiography. In 1998 she told "The New York Times" that her memoirs were "in the works", that they would be published in as many as four volumes, and that the first line would be "I was the only black man at the party." In 2005, Mitchell said that she was using a tape recorder to get her memories "down in the oral tradition".
Although Mitchell stated that she would no longer tour or give concerts, she has made occasional public appearances to speak on environmental issues. Mitchell divides her time between her longtime home in Los Angeles, and the property in Sechelt, British Columbia, that she has owned since the early 1970s. "L.A. is my workplace", she said in 2006, "B.C. is my heartbeat". According to interviews, today she focuses mainly on her visual art, which she does not sell and displays only on rare occasions.
In an interview with the "Ottawa Citizen" in October 2006, Mitchell "revealed that she was recording her first collection of new songs in nearly a decade", but gave few other details. Four months later, in an interview with "The New York Times", Mitchell said that the forthcoming album, titled "Shine", was inspired by the war in Iraq and "something her grandson had said while listening to family fighting: 'Bad dreams are good—in the great plan.'" Early media reports characterized the album as having "a minimal feel ... that harks back to [Mitchell's] early work" and a focus on political and environmental issues.
In February 2007, Mitchell returned to Calgary and served as an advisor for the Alberta Ballet Company premiere of "The Fiddle and the Drum", a dance choreographed by Jean Grand-Maître to both new and old songs. She worked with the French-Canadian TV director Mario Rouleau, well known for work in art and dance for television, such as Cirque du Soleil. She also filmed portions of the rehearsals for a documentary that she is working on. Of the flurry of recent activity she quipped, "I've never worked so hard in my life."
In mid-2007, Mitchell's official fan-run site confirmed speculation that she had signed a two-record deal with Starbucks' Hear Music label. "Shine" was released by the label on September 25, 2007, debuting at number 14 on the Billboard 200 album chart, her highest chart position in the United States since the release of "Hejira" in 1976, over thirty years previously, and at number 36 on the United Kingdom albums chart.
On the same day, Herbie Hancock, a longtime associate and friend of Mitchell's, released "", an album paying tribute to Mitchell's work. Among the album's contributors were Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen, and Mitchell herself, who contributed a vocal to the re-recording of "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" (originally on her album "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm"). On February 10, 2008, Hancock's recording won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. It was the first time in 43 years that a jazz artist took the top prize at the annual award ceremony. In accepting the award, Hancock paid tribute to Mitchell as well as to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. At the same ceremony Mitchell won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Pop Performance for the opening track, "One Week Last Summer", from her album "Shine".
In a 2010 interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Mitchell was quoted as saying that singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, with whom she had worked closely in the past, was a fake and a plagiarist. The controversial remark was widely reported by other media. Mitchell did not explain the contention further, but several media outlets speculated that it may have related to the allegations of plagiarism surrounding some lyrics on Dylan's 2006 album "Modern Times". In a 2013 interview with Jian Ghomeshi, she was asked about the comments and responded by denying that she had made the statement while mentioning the allegations of plagiarism that arose over the lyrics to Dylan's 2001 album "Love and Theft" in the general context of the flow and ebb of the creative process of artists.
Mitchell has said that she has Morgellons syndrome, and in 2010 said she planned to leave the music industry to work toward giving more credibility to people diagnosed with Morgellons.
In 2015, Mitchell had a brain aneurysm, which required her to undergo physical therapy, and take part in daily rehabilitation. Mitchell made her first public appearance following the aneurysm when she attended a Chick Corea concert in Los Angeles in August 2016. She has made a few other appearances, and in November 2018, David Crosby said that she was learning to walk again. On November 7, 2018 Mitchell attended "Both Sides Now - Joni 75, a Birthday Celebration" in Los Angeles. To celebrate her 75th birthday a select group of artists, among them James Taylor, Graham Nash, Seal and Kris Kristofferson, interpreted songs written by Mitchell.
On June 25, 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Joni Mitchell among hundreds of artists whose master tape recordings were reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
While some of Mitchell's most popular songs were written on piano, almost every song she composed on the guitar uses an open, or non-standard, tuning; she has written songs in some 50 tunings, playing what she has called "Joni's weird chords". The use of alternative tunings allows guitarists to produce accompaniment with more varied and wide-ranging textures. Her right-hand picking/strumming technique has evolved over the years from an initially intricate picking style, typified by the guitar songs on her first album, to a looser and more rhythmic style, sometimes incorporating percussive "slaps".
In 1995, Mitchell's friend Fred Walecki, proprietor of Westwood Music in Los Angeles, developed a solution to alleviate her continuing frustration with using multiple alternative tunings in live settings. Walecki designed a Stratocaster-style guitar to function with the Roland VG-8 virtual guitar, a system capable of configuring her numerous tunings electronically. While the guitar itself remained in standard tuning, the VG-8 encoded the pickup signals into digital signals which were then translated into the altered tunings. This allowed Mitchell to use one guitar on stage, while an off-stage tech entered the preprogrammed tuning for each song in her set.
Mitchell was also highly innovative harmonically in her early work (1966–72), incorporating modality, chromaticism, and pedal points. On her 1968 debut album "Song to a Seagull", Mitchell used both quartal and quintal harmony in "Dawntreader" and quintal harmony in "Seagull".
In 2003 "Rolling Stone" named her the 72nd greatest guitarist of all time; she was the highest-ranked woman on the list.
Mitchell's approach to music struck a chord with many female listeners. In an era dominated by the stereotypical male rock star, she presented herself as "multidimensional and conflicted ... allow[ing] her to build such a powerful identification among her female fans". Mitchell asserted her desire for artistic control throughout her career, and still holds the publishing rights for her music. She has disclaimed the notion that she is a "feminist"; in a 2013 interview she rejected the label, stating, "I'm not a feminist. I don't want to get a posse against men. I'd rather go toe-to-toe; work it out." David Shumway notes that Mitchell "became the first woman in popular music to be recognized as an artist in the full sense of that term... Whatever Mitchell's stated views of feminism, what she represents more than any other performer of her era is the new prominence of women's perspectives in cultural and political life."
Mitchell's work has had an influence on many other artists, including Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Harry Styles, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gabrielle Aplin, Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Marillion members Steve Hogarth and Steve Rothery, their former vocalist and lyricist Fish, Paul Carrack, and Haim. Madonna has also cited Mitchell as the first female artist that really spoke to her as a teenager; "I was really, really into Joni Mitchell. I knew every word to "Court and Spark"; I worshipped her when I was in high school. "Blue" is amazing. I would have to say of all the women I've heard, she had the most profound effect on me from a lyrical point of view."
Several artists have had success covering Mitchell's songs. Judy Collins's 1967 recording of "Both Sides, Now" reached No. 8 on Billboard charts and was a breakthrough in the career of both artists (Mitchell's own recording did not see release until two years later, on her second album "Clouds"). This is Mitchell's most-covered song by far, with over 1,200 versions recorded at latest count. Hole also covered "Both Sides, Now" in 1991 on their debut album, "Pretty on the Inside", retitling it "Clouds", with the lyrics altered by frontwoman Courtney Love. Pop group Neighborhood in 1970 and Amy Grant in 1995 scored hits with covers of "Big Yellow Taxi", the third-most covered song in Mitchell's repertoire (with over 300 covers). Recent releases of this song have been by Counting Crows in 2002 and Nena in 2007. Janet Jackson used a sample of the chorus of "Big Yellow Taxi" as the centerpiece of her 1997 hit single "Got 'Til It's Gone", which also features rapper Q-Tip saying "Joni Mitchell never lies". "River", from Mitchell's album "Blue" became the second-most covered song of Mitchell's in 2013 as many artists chose it for their holiday albums. Rap artists Kanye West and Mac Dre have also sampled Mitchell's vocals in their music. In addition, Annie Lennox has covered "Ladies of the Canyon" for the B-side of her 1995 hit "No More I Love You's". Mandy Moore covered "Help Me" in 2003. In 2004 singer George Michael covered her song "Edith and the Kingpin" for a radio show. "River" has been one of the most popular songs covered in recent years, with versions by Dianne Reeves (1999), James Taylor (recorded for television in 2000, and for CD release in 2004), Allison Crowe (2004), Rachael Yamagata (2004), Aimee Mann (2005), and Sarah McLachlan (2006). McLachlan also did a version of "Blue" in 1996, and Cat Power recorded a cover of "Blue" in 2008. Other Mitchell covers include the famous "Woodstock" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Eva Cassidy, and Matthews Southern Comfort; "This Flight Tonight" by Nazareth; and well-known versions of "A Case of You" by Tori Amos, Michelle Branch, Jane Monheit, Prince, Diana Krall, James Blake, and Ana Moura. A 40th anniversary version of "Woodstock" was released in 2009 by Nick Vernier Band featuring Ian Matthews (formerly of Matthews Southern Comfort). Fellow Canadian singer k.d. lang recorded two of Mitchell's songs ("A Case of You" and "Jericho") for her 2004 album "Hymns of the 49th Parallel" which is composed entirely of songs written by Canadian artists.
Prince's version of "A Case of U" appeared on "A Tribute to Joni Mitchell", a 2007 compilation released by Nonesuch Records, which also featured Björk ("The Boho Dance"), Caetano Veloso ("Dreamland"), Emmylou Harris ("The Magdalene Laundries"), Sufjan Stevens ("Free Man in Paris") and Cassandra Wilson ("For the Roses"), among others.
Several other songs reference Joni Mitchell. The song "Our House" by Graham Nash refers to Nash's two-year affair with Mitchell at the time that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded the "Déjà Vu" album. Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" was said to be written about Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's infatuation with Mitchell, a claim that seems to be borne out by the fact that, in live performances, Plant often says "Joni" after the line "To find a queen without a king, they say she plays guitar and cries and sings". Jimmy Page uses a double dropped D guitar tuning similar to the alternative tunings Mitchell uses. The Sonic Youth song "Hey Joni" is named for Mitchell. Alanis Morissette also mentions Mitchell in one of her songs, "Your House". British folk singer Frank Turner mentions Mitchell in his song "Sunshine State". The Prince song "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" contains the lyric – " 'Oh, my favorite song' she said – and it was Joni singing 'Help me I think I'm falling' ". "Lavender" by Marillion was partly influenced by "going through parks listening to Joni Mitchell", according to vocalist and lyricist Fish, and she was later mentioned in the lyrics of their song "Montreal" from "Sounds That Can't Be Made". John Mayer makes reference to Mitchell and her "Blue" album in his song "Queen of California", from his 2012 album "Born and Raised". The song contains the lyric "Joni wrote "Blue" in a house by the sea".
In 2003, playwright Bryden MacDonald launched "When All the Slaves Are Free", a musical revue based on Mitchell's music.
Mitchell's music and poems have deeply influenced the French painter Jacques Benoit's work. Between 1979 and 1989 Benoit produced sixty paintings, corresponding to a selection of fifty of Mitchell's songs.
Maynard James Keenan of the American progressive rock band Tool has cited Mitchell as an influence, claiming that her influence is what allows him to "soften [staccato, rhythmic, insane mathematical paths] and bring [them] back to the center, so you can listen to it without having an eye-ache." A Perfect Circle, another band featuring Keenan as lead vocalist, recorded a rendition of Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum" on their 2004 album "eMOTIVe", a collection of anti-war cover songs.
Despite her prominence among the young musicians of the 1960s and 1970s, and her writing of "Woodstock" (the eponymous concert at which she did not perform because her manager thought it was more advantageous to appear on "The Dick Cavett Show"), she did not align herself with the Baby Boom era's protest movements or its cultural manifestation, the associated 1960s counter-culture. She has said that the parents of the boomers were unhappy, and "out of it came this liberated, spoiled, selfish generation into the costume ball of free love, free sex, free music, free, free, free, free we're so free. And Woodstock was the culmination of it." But "I was not a part of that," she explained in an interview. "I was not a part of the anti-war movement, either. I played in Fort Bragg. I went the Bob Hope route [i.e., touring to entertain military personnel] because I had uncles who died in the war, and I thought it was a shame to blame the boys who were drafted."
Mitchell's home country of Canada has bestowed several honours on her. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in 1996. Mitchell received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000. In 2002 she became only the third popular Canadian singer-songwriter (Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen being the other two), to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. She received an honorary doctorate in music from McGill University in 2004. In January 2007 she was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Saskatchewan Recording Industry Association bestowed upon Joni their Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. In June 2007 Canada Post featured Mitchell on a postage stamp.
Mitchell has received nine Grammy Awards during her career (eight competitive, one honorary), the first in 1969 and the most recent in 2016. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, with the citation describing her as "one of the most important female recording artists of the rock era" and "a powerful influence on all artists who embrace diversity, imagination and integrity".
In 1995, Mitchell received Billboard's Century Award. In 1996, she was awarded the Polar Music Prize. In 1997, Mitchell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but did not attend the ceremony.
In tribute to Mitchell, the TNT network presented an all-star celebration at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on April 6, 2000. Mitchell's songs were sung by many performers, including James Taylor, Elton John, Wynonna Judd, Bryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Krall, and Richard Thompson. Mitchell herself ended the evening with a rendition of "Both Sides, Now" with a 70-piece orchestra. The version was featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Love Actually".
In 2008, Mitchell was ranked 42nd on "Rolling Stone"s "100 greatest singers" list and in 2015 she was ranked ninth on their list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.
On February 12, 2010, "Both Sides, Now" was performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver.
To celebrate Mitchell's 70th birthday, the 2013 Luminato Festival in Toronto held a set of tribute concerts entitled "Joni: A Portrait in Song – A Birthday Happening Live" at Massey Hall on June 18 and 19. Performers included Rufus Wainwright, Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, and rare performances by Mitchell herself.
Due to health problems she could not attend the San Francisco gala in May 2015 to receive the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2018, Mitchell was honoured by the city of Saskatoon, when two plaques were erected to commemorate her musical beginnings in Saskatoon. One was installed by the Broadway Theatre beside the former Louis Riel Coffee House, where Mitchell played her first paid gig. A second plaque was installed at River Landing, near the Remai Modern art gallery and Persephone Theatre performing arts centre. As well, the walkway along Spadina Crescent between Second and Third Avenues was formally named the "Joni Mitchell Promenade".
In 2020, Mitchell received the Les Paul Award, becoming the first woman to do so. | en.wikipedia.org | Joni Mitchell | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16422 |
16425 | Justus
Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism, probably arriving with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601. Justus became the first Bishop of Rochester in 604, and attended a church council in Paris in 614.
Following the death of King Æthelberht of Kent in 616, Justus was forced to flee to Gaul, but was reinstated in his diocese the following year. In 624 Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury, overseeing the despatch of missionaries to Northumbria. After his death he was revered as a saint, and had a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury.
Justus was a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England by Pope Gregory I. Almost everything known about Justus and his career is derived from the early 8th-century "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" of Bede. As Bede does not describe Justus' origins, nothing is known about him prior to his arrival in England. He probably arrived in England with the second group of missionaries, sent at the request of Augustine of Canterbury in 601. Some modern writers describe Justus as one of the original missionaries who arrived with Augustine in 597, but Bede believed that Justus came in the second group. The second group included Mellitus, who later became Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury.
If Justus was a member of the second group of missionaries, then he arrived with a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church". A 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, Thomas of Elmham, claimed that there were a number of books brought to England by that second group still at Canterbury in his day, although he did not identify them. An investigation of extant Canterbury manuscripts shows that one possible survivor is the St. Augustine Gospels, now in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Manuscript (MS) 286.
Augustine consecrated Justus as a bishop in 604, over a province including the Kentish town of Rochester. The historian Nicholas Brooks argues that the choice of Rochester was probably not because it had been a Roman-era bishopric, but rather because of its importance in the politics of the time. Although the town was small, with just one street, it was at the junction of Watling Street and the estuary of the Medway, and was thus a fortified town. Because Justus was probably not a monk (he was not called that by Bede), his cathedral clergy was very likely non-monastic too.
A charter purporting to be from King Æthelberht, dated 28 April 604, survives in the "Textus Roffensis", as well as a copy based on the Textus in the 14th-century "Liber Temporalium". Written mostly in Latin but using an Old English boundary clause, the charter records a grant of land near the city of Rochester to Justus' church. Among the witnesses is Laurence, Augustine's future successor, but not Augustine himself. The text turns to two different addressees. First, Æthelberht is made to admonish his son Eadbald, who had been established as a sub-ruler in the region of Rochester. The grant itself is addressed directly to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of the church, a usage parallelled by other charters in the same archive.
Historian Wilhelm Levison, writing in 1946, was sceptical about the authenticity of this charter. In particular, he felt that the two separate addresses were incongruous and suggested that the first address, occurring before the preamble, may have been inserted by someone familiar with Bede to echo Eadbald's future conversion (see below). A more recent and more positive appraisal by John Morris argues that the charter and its witness list are authentic because it incorporates titles and phraseology that had fallen out of use by 800.
Æthelberht built Justus a cathedral church in Rochester; the foundations of a nave and chancel partly underneath the present-day Rochester Cathedral may date from that time. What remains of the foundations of an early rectangular building near the southern part of the current cathedral might also be contemporary with Justus or may be part of a Roman building.
Together with Mellitus, the Bishop of London, Justus signed a letter written by Archbishop Laurence of Canterbury to the Irish bishops urging the native church to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionaries, such as Dagan, had refused to share meals with the missionaries. Although the letter has not survived, Bede quoted from parts of it.
In 614, Justus attended the Council of Paris, held by the Frankish king, Chlothar II. It is unclear why Justus and Peter, the abbot of Sts Peter and Paul in Canterbury, were present. It may have been just chance, but historian James Campbell has suggested that Chlothar summoned clergy from Britain to attend in an attempt to assert overlordship over Kent. The historian N. J. Higham offers another explanation for their attendance, arguing that Æthelberht sent the pair to the council because of shifts in Frankish policy towards the Kentish kingdom, which threatened Kentish independence, and that the two clergymen were sent to negotiate a compromise with Chlothar.
A pagan backlash against Christianity followed Æthelberht's death in 616, forcing Justus and Mellitus to flee to Gaul. The pair probably took refuge with Chlothar, hoping that the Frankish king would intervene and restore them to their sees, and by 617 Justus had been reinstalled in his bishopric by the new king. Mellitus also returned to England, but the prevailing pagan mood did not allow him to return to London; after Laurence's death, Mellitus became Archbishop of Canterbury. According to Bede, Justus received letters of encouragement from Pope Boniface V (619–625), as did Mellitus, although Bede does not record the actual letters. The historian J. M. Wallace-Hadrill assumes that both letters were general statements of encouragement to the missionaries.
Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, receiving his pallium—the symbol of the jurisdiction entrusted to archbishops—from Pope Boniface V, following which Justus consecrated Romanus as his successor at Rochester. Boniface also gave Justus a letter congratulating him on the conversion of King "Aduluald" (probably King Eadbald of Kent), a letter which is included in Bede's "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum". Bede's account of Eadbald's conversion states that it was Laurence, Justus' predecessor at Canterbury, who converted the King to Christianity, but the historian D. P. Kirby argues that the letter's reference to Eadbald makes it likely that it was Justus. Other historians, including Barbara Yorke and Henry Mayr-Harting, conclude that Bede's account is correct, and that Eadbald was converted by Laurence. Yorke argues that there were two kings of Kent during Eadbald's reign, Eadbald and Æthelwald, and that Æthelwald was the "Aduluald" referred to by Boniface. Yorke argues that Justus converted Æthelwald back to Christianity after Æthelberht's death.
Justus consecrated Paulinus as the first Bishop of York, before the latter accompanied Æthelburg of Kent to Northumbria for her marriage to King Edwin of Northumbria. Bede records Justus as having died on 10 November, but does not give a year, although it is likely to have between 627 and 631. After his death, Justus was regarded as a saint, and was given a feast day of 10 November. The ninth century Stowe Missal commemorates his feast day, along with Mellitus and Laurence. In the 1090s, his remains were translated, or ritually moved, to a shrine beside the high altar of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. At about the same time, a "Life" was written about him by Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, as well as a poem by Reginald of Canterbury. Other material from Thomas of Elmham, Gervase of Canterbury, and William of Malmesbury, later medieval chroniclers, adds little to Bede's account of Justus' life. | en.wikipedia.org | Justus | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16425 |
16426 | John Eccles (neurophysiologist)
Sir John Carew Eccles (27 January 1903 – 2 May 1997) was an Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin.
Eccles was born in Melbourne, Australia. He grew up there with his two sisters and his parents: William and Mary Carew Eccles (both teachers, who home schooled him until he was 12). He initially attended Warrnambool High School (now Warrnambool College) (where a science wing is named in his honour), then completed his final year of schooling at Melbourne High School. Aged 17, he was awarded a senior scholarship to study medicine at the University of Melbourne. As a medical undergraduate, he was never able to find a satisfactory explanation for the interaction of mind and body; he started to think about becoming a neuroscientist. He graduated (with first class honours) in 1925, and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study under Charles Scott Sherrington at Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1929.
In 1937 Eccles returned to Australia, where he worked on military research during World War II. During this time Eccles was the director of Kanematsu Institute at Sydney Medical School, he and Bernard Katz gave research lectures at the University of Sydney, strongly influencing its intellectual environment. After the war, he became a professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. From 1952 to 1962 he worked as a professor at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) of the Australian National University. The Eccles Institute of Neuroscience is headquartered in a new wing of the JCSMR building, constructed with the assistance of a $63M grant from the Commonwealth Government and completed in March 2012.
In the early 1950s, Eccles and his colleagues performed the research that would lead to his receiving the Nobel Prize. To study synapses in the peripheral nervous system, Eccles and colleagues used the stretch reflex as a model, which is easily studied because it consists of only two neurons: a sensory neuron (the muscle spindle fibre) and the motor neuron. The sensory neuron synapses onto the motor neuron in the spinal cord. When a current is passed into the sensory neuron in the quadriceps, the motor neuron innervating the quadriceps produced a small excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP). When a similar current is passed through the hamstring, the opposing muscle to the quadriceps, an inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) is produced in the quadriceps motor neuron. Although a single EPSP was not enough to fire an action potential in the motor neuron, the sum of several EPSPs from multiple sensory neurons synapsing onto the motor neuron can cause the motor neuron to fire, thus contracting the quadriceps. On the other hand, IPSPs could subtract from this sum of EPSPs, preventing the motor neuron from firing.
Apart from these seminal experiments, Eccles was key to a number of important developments in neuroscience. Until around 1949, Eccles believed that synaptic transmission was primarily electrical rather than chemical. Although he was wrong in this hypothesis, his arguments led him and others to perform some of the experiments which proved chemical synaptic transmission. Bernard Katz and Eccles worked together on some of the experiments which elucidated the role of acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter in the brain.
He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1958 in recognition of services to physiological research.
He won the Australian of the Year Award in 1963, the same year he won the Nobel Prize.
In 1964 he became an honorary member to the American Philosophical Society, and in 1966 he moved to the United States to work at the Institute for Biomedical Research in Chicago. Unhappy with the working conditions there, he left to become a professor at the University at Buffalo from 1968 until he retired in 1975. After retirement, he moved to Switzerland and wrote on the mind-body problem.
In 1981, Eccles became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.
In 1990 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in recognition of service to science, particularly in the field of neurophysiology. He died in 1997 in Tenero-Contra, Locarno, Switzerland.
In "The Understanding of the Brain" (1973), Eccles summarises his philosophy: "Now before discussing brain function in detail I will at the beginning give an account of my philosophical position on the so-called 'brain-mind problem' so that you will be able to relate the experimental evidence to this philosophical position. I have written at length on this philosophy in my book "Facing Reality". In Fig. 6-1 you will be able to see that I fully accept the recent philosophical achievements of Sir Karl Popper with his concept of three worlds. I was a dualist, now I am a trialist! Cartesian dualism has become unfashionable with many people. They embrace monism to escape the enigma of brain-mind interaction with its perplexing problems. But Sir Karl Popper and I are interactionists, and what is more, "trialist interactionists"! The three worlds are very easily defined. I believe that in the classification of Fig. 6-1 there is nothing left out. It takes care of everything that is in existence and in our experience. All can be classified in one or other of the categories enumerated under Worlds 1, 2 and 3.
Fig. 6-1, Three Worlds
"In Fig. 6-1, World 1 is the world of physical objects and states. It comprises the whole cosmos of matter and energy, all of biology including human brains, and all artifacts that man has made for coding information, as for example, the paper and ink of books or the material base of works of art. World 1 is the total world of the materialists. They recognise nothing else. All else is fantasy.
"World 2 is the world of states of consciousness and subjective knowledge of all kinds. The totality of our perceptions comes in this world. But there are several levels. In agreement with Polten, I tend to recognise three kinds of levels of World 2, as indicated in Fig. 6-2, but it may be more correct to think of it as a spectrum.
FIG. 6-2, World of Consciousness
"The first level (outer sense) would be the ordinary perceptions provided by all our sense organs, hearing and touch and sight and smell and pain. All of these perceptions are in World 2, of course: vision with light and colour; sound with music and harmony; touch with all its qualities and vibration; the range of odours and tastes, and so on. These qualities do not exist in World 1, where correspondingly there are but electromagnetic waves, pressure waves in the atmosphere, material objects, and chemical substances.
"In addition there is a level of "inner sense", which is the world of more subtle perceptions. It is the world of your emotions, of your feelings of joy and sadness and fear and anger and so on. It includes all your memory, and all your imaginings and planning into the future. In fact there is a whole range of levels which could be described at length. All the subtle experiences of the human person are in this inner sensory world. It is all private to you but you can reveal it in linguistic expression, and by gestures of all levels of subtlety.
"Finally, at the core of World 2 there is the "self" or "pure ego", which is the basis of our unity as an experiencing being throughout our whole lifetime.
"This World 2 is our "primary reality". Our conscious experiences are the basis of our knowledge of World 1, which is thus a world of "secondary reality", a derivative world. Whenever I am doing a scientific experiment, for example, I have to plan it cognitively, all in my thoughts, and then consciously carry out my plan of action in the experiment. Finally I have to look at the results and evaluate them in thought. For example, I have to see the traces of the oscilloscope and their photographic records or hear the signals on the loudspeaker. The various signals from the recording equipment have to be received by my sense organs, transmitted to my brain, and so to my consciousness, then appropriately measured and compared before I can begin to think about the significance of the experimental results. We are all the time, in every action we do, incessantly playing backwards and forwards between World 1 and World 2.
"And what is World 3? As shown in Fig. 6-1 it is the whole world of culture. It is the world that was created by man and that reciprocally made man. This is my message in which I follow Popper unreservedly. The whole of language is here. All our means of communication, all our intellectual efforts coded in books, coded in the artistic and technological treasures in the museums, coded in every artefact left by man from primitive times—this is World 3 right up to the present time. It is the world of civilisation and culture. Education is the means whereby each human being is brought into relation with World 3. In this manner he becomes immersed in it throughout life, participating in the heritage of mankind and so becoming fully human. World 3 is the world that uniquely relates to man. It is the world which is completely unknown to animals. They are blind to all of World 3. I say that without any reservations. This is then the first part of my story.
"Now I come to consider the way in which the three worlds interact..."
Despite these words, in his late book "How the Self Controls Its Brain", Eccles proposed a dualistic mechanism of mind.
Eccles had nine children. Eccles married Irene Miller Eccles (1904-2002) in 1928 and divorced in 1968. After his divorce in 1968, Eccles married Helena Táboríková; a fellow neuropsychologist and M.D. of Charles University. The two often collaborated in research and they remained married until his death. Eccles died on 2 May 1997 in his home of Contra, Switzerland. He was buried in Contra, Switzerland. | en.wikipedia.org | John Eccles (neurophysiologist) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16426 |
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