AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
The Atlantic slave trade began in the very early 1500s. Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic) was the first place to transport African slaves in the Americas. The dying of Indigenous people in the island, caused the Spanish to quickly grant permission from Spain to use slaves to work the plantations. In 1510, the first sizable ship consisted of 250 Black Latinos (Spanish-speaking men ), 8 years later, African born slaves arrived in massive numbers. The slave and black population was so big that they would out-number whites from 9 out of 10. The first major slave revolt took place in Dominican Republic's hills in 1522. These Maroons were originally from the senegambian region of Africa; of which most were Muslims of the Wolof nation. Many centuries later the Maroon populations became so large that the only way whites could travel would be in large armed groups. Most of the Maroon populations established themselves in mostly in rivers, hills/mountains, coastal and in caves. The Congolese people were known to be very aggressive and naturally strong, they and many of the Mandingas, Wolofs, and Fulanis was the main ethnicity to have been born in Maroon villages.
From the neighboring country, Haitians have also had an influence in the growing population in Dominican Republic. It's estimated that is around 800,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Haitians make a large minority in the country anywhere from 4-6%. Among the Afro-Haitian population, they originated among the Ewe and Fon tribes of present-day Benin and Togo West Africa.
Since the then Spanish Haiti (now Dominican Republic) was occupied by Haiti, slavery was abolished from the island to this day. Enslaved Africans that lived in the then Santo Domingo colony tended to come from the Bantu/Congolese (majority-wise especially the Bakongo), Akan, Yoruba, Igbo, Ewe, Fon, Mandinga, Wolof-Fulanis and Others. The Congolese-Bakongo tribes has had the most dominant culteral impact in the Dominican today.
As Dominican slaves came from predominately West-Central Africa, many of their customs survived based-on memory and myths, along with religion, names, words, music, language etc. Known survived religions are the Regla de palo, Arara, Dominican Vudu, Santería etc. Many villages among the Dominican Republic have kept their African languages among their descendants. Recongnized African languages spoken by Dominicans are the Lucumi language which is practically the Yoruba language with very few Spanish words, the Kikongo language is still spoken, especially in places like Villa Mella, Dajabon, Altagracia, and Monte Plata. Merengue is the typical music of the Dominican Republic. Typical Dominican foods such as Mangu (mashed plantains) is of African origin.
Pig in a poke
Pig in a poke is an English idiom which means a kind of deceptive trick. It is a blind bargain.
The phrase is about something which is offered for sale in a manner which hides its true value. The idiom means a purchase which turns out not to be what the seller claimed it was.
The term was first used in the Middle Ages. At this time, it was common to sell meat or small animals in cloth bags or sacks called a "poke".
Sometimes people simply bought the "poke" without looking inside; and sometimes people who thought they were buying pork or a small pig were surprised to find they had been sold something else.
The idiom "pig in a poke" is about what happens when someone does not look to see what is being bought or sold.
The idiom "pig in a poke" is used to describe something which is purchased without the buyer being aware of its true nature or value.
The phrase can also be applied to accepting an idea or plan without a full understanding of it. In other words, it is about starting a course of action without knowing the relevant facts.
Many other European languages have a version of this phrase, but many are translated as a warning not to buy a cat in a bag. -
The Labors of Herakles
The Labors of Herakles is a series of tasks performed by the Greek hero Herakles () as a penance for a terrible crime he committed. These tasks required great strength and courage. For the most part, they involved killing fierce animals and horrible monsters. The Labors were said to have been devised by Hera, the goddess of marriage. She hated Herakles because he was a bastard son of her husband Zeus. She hoped these tasks would kill him. Herakles however performed them with great success, and, in the process, became very famous. The Labors of Herakles probably had their origin in the religious and magical practices of prehistoric man. They are the subject of ancient and modern art.
Mortals die, but gods live forever. Herakles was part mortal, part god. His father was the god Zeus and his mother was the mortal Alkmene. Zeus' wife Hera was the goddess of marriage. She hated Herakles because he was one of her husband's bastards. She tried many times to kill him, even when he was a baby. He lived in spite of Hera's persecution and hatred, and did many great deeds as a young man.
Herakles married Megara, the daughter of a king. They became the parents of several children. Hera caused Herakles to go mad and to kill his family. The priestess of Delphi ordered Herakles to serve his cousin King Eurystheus of Tiryns as a penance for this crime. Eurystheus would present a series of tasks to Herakles. These tasks were said to have been designed by Hera herself in the hope that they would kill Herakles.
There is no definite order for the Labors. Most of the time, however, the order is: Nemean Lion, Lernean Hydra, Cerynitian Hind, Erymanthian Boar, Augean Stables, Stymphalian Birds, Cretan Bull, Mares of Diomedes, Girdle of Hippolyta, Cattle of Geryon, Apples of the Hesperides, and Kerberos. The order here is that of the sculptures called metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. These sculptures (made about 460–450 BC) were placed high on the outside of the temple in a frieze. Their order was described by the ancient Greek geographer, Pausanias. Some of these metopes are used in this article to illustrate the Labors. The first group of six metopes are from the west end of the temple. The second group of six are from the east end. Some of the illustrations here are taken from Greek vase paintings. The Labors of Herakles became the subject of much ancient and modern art, and even movies like "Hercules" (1958) starring Steve Reeves and the Walt Disney animated movie "Hercules" (1997).
A large and dangerous lion was terrorizing the people and animals near the city of Nemea. Weapons of iron, bronze, or stone could not pierce the lion's thick hide (skin). Eurystheus ordered Herakles to kill and skin this lion.
Herakles went to the region of Nemea and stayed with a poor man named Molorchos at Kleonai. Molorchos' son had been killed by this lion. Molorchos wanted to sacrifice his only ram to Herakles, but Herakles asked him to wait thirty days. If he did not return within thirty days, the ram was to be sacrificed to him as a hero. If he returned within thirty days, the ram was to be sacrificed to Zeus the Deliverer.
Herakles found the lion outside its lair on Mount Tretos. His arrows and sword were useless against the beast. He hit the lion with his club and the animal went into his lair. Herakles blocked one of the two openings to the cavern with nets, then entered the cavern. He wrestled the lion and choked it to death. The lion bit off one of his fingers. He returned to Molorchos' hovel with the lion's carcass on his back. The two men sacrificed to Zeus.
When Herakles presented the dead animal to Eurystheus, the king was disgusted. He ordered Herakles to leave such things outside the gates of Tiryns in the future. Eurystheus then put a large bronze jar underground. This was the place where he would hide whenever Herakles returned to the city with some trophy of his Labors. Zeus put the lion among the stars as the constellation Leo.
In the future, Eurystheus would only communicate with Herakles through Kopreus, his dungman. Herakles skinned the lion with one of its own claws. He wore the skin as a kind of armor and the lion's skull as a helmet. Euripides wrote in his play "Herakles":"First he cleared the grove of Zeus of a lion, and put its skin upon his back, hiding his yellow hair in its fearful tawny gaping jaws."
The origin of the Nemean Lion is not certain. Some say he was the son of either Typhon or the Chimera and the dog Orthros. Some say the moon goddess Selene gave birth to the lion and let it fall to Earth near a two-mouthed cave at Nemea. She set it against the people because they had failed to properly observe her worship. Some say that Hera had Selene create the lion from sea foam and that Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, carried it to Nemea. Others say the lion was the son of the snake goddess Echidna and her son, the dog Orthos. This would make the lion a brother to the Sphinx of Thebes. Hera was said to have brought the lion from the eastern land of the Arimoi and to have released it near Nemea.
The Hydra ("water-snake") was a monster with many heads. She lived beneath a plane tree near the spring called Amymone. This spring was near the seaside city of Lerna. She was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and the sister of Kerebos. Hera raised the Hydra to torment Herakles. The Hydra had a dog-like body. Its breath was poisonous. The head in the middle of the monster was immortalit could not die. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to kill this monster. Herakles and his nephew Iolaos (the son of his brother Iphicles) drove to the swamp near Lerna in Herakles' war chariot. Iolaos was Heracles' charioteer and his lover.
Athena told Herakles to force the monster from the swamp with fire arrows. He did, but the monster twisted itself about his feet. He beat the heads with his club, but crushing one head only caused others to erupt. A great crab crawled from the swamp to help the Hydra. It bit Herakles in the foot. He crushed its shell. Herakles called Iolaos for his help and cut the Hydra's heads off with his sword. Iolaos sealed the neck stumps with torches so other heads could not grow in their place.
The Hydra was at last killed. Herakles cut off the immortal head and buried it under a heavy stone in the road. He dipped his arrowheads in the Hydra's poisonous blood. They became deadly. Back in Tiryns, Eurystheus would not count this adventure as a Labor because Herakles had had his nephew's help. He added another Labor to the list. Hera set the crab in the sky as a constellation. The river Anigrus in Elis stank because the Hydra's poison was washed from the arrows Heracles used to kill the centaur Nessus in its waters.
The Stymphalian Birds were man-eating birds living on the shores of Lake Stymphalos in north-eastern Arcadia. The birds were sacred to Ares, the god of war. Their feces poisoned the land and crops would not grow. The birds attacked men with their bronze beaks and claws. They could rain down their sharp bronze feathers to kill men and their animals.
Herakles failed to drive them off with his arrows. Athena gave him a set of metal castanets (or a rattle) made by the blacksmith of the gods, Hephaestus. Herakles climbed to a rocky place over the lake and made so much noise with the castanets that the birds flew as far as the Isle of Ares in the Black Sea. Herakles was able to kill many of them with his arrows as they flew away.
Some say the birds were women. Artemis Stymphalia ruled the swamps about the lake. Her temple there had pictures of young girls with the feet of birds. These girls lured men to their deaths in the swamps. They were said to be the daughters of Stymphalos and Ornis. These two were killed by Herakles when they would not give him food, drink, and a place to rest.
The Cretan Bull rose from the sea. Poseidon, god of the sea, intended King Minos to sacrifice the bull, but it was so handsome that Minos kept it for himself. He sent it to mate with his cows, then sacrificed another bull to Poseidon. The god was angry and caused Minos' wife, Queen Pasiphaë, to develop a sexual desire for the animal.
She mated with it and gave birth to a son. This son was the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. The Cretan Bull went mad. Heracules captured it by throwing a rope about its head and about a leg. Some say he wrestled it, or stunned it with his club.
Minos let Heracules take the bull to Greece. Eurystheus wanted to give the bull to Hera but she would not take it because Heracules had captured it. She let it go and it wandered about Greece. Theseus of Athens finally captured it and sacrificed it to Athena, or some say, Apollo. The bull had spent its days in Crete destroying crops and belching fire.
When Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, was a child, she saw five hinds (female deer) grazing near the Anaurus River in Thessaly. Each was as large as a bull, each had hooves of bronze, and all had antlers of gold. She caught four of them, and used them to pull her chariot. The fifth escaped the goddess and lived on the Keryneian Hill in Arkadia. Hera planned to use this hind against Herakles someday.
Eurystheus ordered Herakles to catch this hind and bring it alive to Tiryns. The danger in this Labor lay in pursuing the hind through wild lands from which no hunter ever returned. Herakles hunted the hind for a year, chasing it through Istria and the Land of the Hyperboreans. The hind took refuge on Mount Artemision. Herakles let fly an arrow that pinned the hind's forelegs (front legs) together without drawing blood. He put the hind on his shoulders and took her back to Tiryns.
Artemis and Apollo stopped Herakles on his way to Tiryns. On some vases, Apollo is seen trying to forcibly take the hind from Herakles. Herakles however lay the blame for the theft on Eurystheus. Artemis accepted this plea and allowed him to pass. Some say Herakles used a net to capture the hind or captured her when she was asleep under a tree.
Eurystheus' daughter Admete was a priestess of Hera. She wanted the Golden Girdle (belt) of Hippolyte, the Queen of the Amazons. This girdle had been a gift to Hippolyte from her father, Ares, the god of war. The Amazons were all related to Ares. They hated men and mated only to make more female warriors. Baby boys were killed or crippled. The lives of these women were devoted to war.
Herakles and friends sailed to their land of Pontos on the Black Sea. The Amazons lived at the mouth of the Thermodon River. Hippolyte welcomed Herakles. She fell in love with his muscles and his great fame. She promised him the girdle as a love token. Hera disguised herself as an Amazon. She whispered among others that Herakles was going to kidnap the Queen. The Amazons charged Herakles' ship on horseback. Herakles killed Hippolyte, and took the girdle. Many Amazons were killed.
Some say Hippolyte would not part with the girdle. Herakles threw her from her horse and threatened her with his club. She would not ask for mercy. Herakles killed her. Some say Hippolyte's sister Melanippe was taken prisoner. She was ransomed with the girdle. Some say Hippolyte herself was taken prisoner and ransomed with the girdle. Others say Theseus took Hippolyte prisoner and gave the girdle to Herakles. Herakles gave the girdle to Eurystheus, who gave it to Admete.
A large and dangerous boar was living on Mount Erymanthos. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to catch this boar. On Mount Erymanthos, Herakles forced the boar from the wood with his shouts. He then drove the boar into deep snow and jumped on its back. He put the boar in chains, placed it on his shoulders, and took it to Eurystheus. The king was so scared he hid in his bronze jar. Herakles left the boar in the market square of Tiryns. He then joined the Argonauts on the Quest for the Golden Fleece.
Mount Erymanthos took its name from a son of Apollo. Aphrodite blinded him because he saw her taking a bath. Apollo was angry. He turned himself into a boar and killed her boyfriend Adonis.
Eurystheus ordered Herakles to bring him the Horses of King Diomedes of Thrace. King Diomedes' horses were savage man-eaters, and were fed on the flesh of Diomedes' innocent guests. Herakles and his friends sailed to the coast of Thrace. Having found the stables of Diomedes, they killed the king's servants. They then put Diomedes before the horses. The animals tore him to pieces and ate him. The horses grew calm after feeding, and were led to the ship. Herakles sent them to Eurystheus.
Diomedes was the son of Ares, the god of war, and the king of the Bistones, a Thracian tribe of warlike people. While travelling in connection with this Labor, Herakles visited King Admetos. His wife Alcestis had just died. Herakles wrestled Death for Alcestis and he won. Alcestis was returned to life. This event is the basis for Euripides' play "Alcestis". Eurystheus dedicated the savage horses to Hera. They were said to have bred into the age of Alexander the Great.
Another story says Herakles captured the horses and drove them to his ship. Diomedes and his men chased the thieves. Herakles and his friends left the ship to fight the king and his men. The horses of Diomedes were left in the care of Abderos, Herakles' male lover. The horses ate him. Herakles built the city of Abdera in his memory. It was after this Labor that Herakles joined the Quest for the Golden Fleece. He dropped out of the search when his lover Hylas was lost on a strange island. Some say Herakles went on to Kolchis and rejoined the Quest. Others say he returned to Tiryns and the Labors.
Geryon was a very strong giant with three bodies, six hands, and three heads. He was the King of Tartessus in Spain. He had wings, and the picture on his shield was an eagle. He lived on an island called Erytheia. This island was far to the west in Okeanos, the river that circles the Earth. At night, the Sun sailed upon this river in a Golden Cup.
Geryon had large herds of cattle. They were watched over by Eurytion, Geryon's servant, and a huge two-headed dog named Orthrus, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. King Eurystheus ordered Herakles to capture Geryon's cattle.
Herakles crossed the Libyan desert. At the narrow channel that separates Europe and Africa, he built the Pillars of Herakles. The Sun was hot and Herakles threatened to shoot him with his bow and arrows. The Sun asked him not to do this. Herakles agreed. He borrowed the Sun's Golden Cup and sailed away in it. The Titan Oceanus tested Herakles' seamanship by causing violent waves. Herakles threatened to shoot Oceanus, too. Oceanus calmed the waves. Some say Herakles sailed in an urn and used his lion skin as a sail.
On Geryon's island, Herakles killed the two-headed dog Orthos and the servant Eurytion, who tried to help the dog. Herakles was driving the cattle to the Golden Cup when Geryon appeared, ready to fight. Herakles shot him down and sailed away with the cattle. Herakles had many adventures on his return to Greece. On the Greek coast, Hera sent gadflies to drive the herd of cattle far and wide. Herkales managed to round-up a few and these he presented to Eurystheus. He sacrificed them to Hera.
Hera received golden apples as a gift when she married. She planted them in her garden far to the west near Mount Atlas. It was on this mountain that the Titan Atlas held the sky on his shoulders. He was being punished for having joined the other Titans in making war on Zeus. When Hera heard his daughters were stealing from the garden, she sent a one hundred-headed dragon called Ladon to the garden to protect the apples. Three nymphs called the Hesperides also guarded the apples.
Eurystheus wanted Herakles to bring him three golden apples. Herakles set off. The river god Nereus refused to give him directions and changed his shape again and again. Herakles tied him to a tree until he told the way. In the Caucasus, Herakles freed the Titan Prometheus, the fire-bringer, from his chains. Prometheus warned Herakles not to pick the apples himself, but to ask someone else to do it.
Herakles asked Atlas to pick the apples. The Titan agreed, but only if Herakles would kill the dragon and then take the sky on his shoulders. Herakles killed the dragon and took the sky on his shoulders. Atlas picked the apples but refused to take the sky again. He liked being free. Herakles tricked him. He asked Atlas to take the sky — only for a moment — while he put a cushion on his shoulders. Atlas took the sky. Herakles took the apples and headed for Tiryns. Eurystheus did not know what to do with the apples. He gave them to Herakles. Athena returned the apples to the garden, because they did, after all, belong to the gods.
Eurystheus ordered Herakles to bring him Kerberos, a three-headed dog-like monster with a dragon's tail and a mane of poisonous snakes. It guarded the entrance to the Underworld. The three heads could see the past, present, and future. Some say they represented birth, youth, and old age. Kerberos allowed the dead to enter the Underworld, but anyone who tried to leave was eaten. Kerberos was the offspring of Echidna, a monster part woman/part snake, and Typhon, a fire-breathing giant. Kerberos' brother was the two-headed dog Orthrus.
Herakles' first step was to undergo the Mysteries of Eleusis. These rites would protect him in the land of the dead. They would also cleanse him of the massacre of the Centaurs. Athena and Hermes guided Herakles into the Underworld. He was ferried across the River Styx in Charon's boat. On the opposite shore, he met the Gorgon, Medusa. She was a harmless phantom and he passed her without trouble. He met Meleagros and offered to marry his sister, Deianeira. Eventually, he did. When Herakles asked Hades for Kerberos, Hades allowed him to take the monster, but only if he could do so without using his weapons. Herakles wrestled the monster and choked it. Once the monster had yielded, he led it away.
As they neared the Earth's surface, Kerberos tossed his three heads because he hated the sunlight. His spit flew in all directions. From that spit grew the poisonous plant, aconite. When Heracles arrived in Tiryns, Eurystheus was performing a sacrifice. The king gave the best cuts of meat to his relatives and only a slave's portion of meat to Herakles. Herakles was furious with this insult and killed Eurystheus' three sons. Eurystheus was terrified when presented with Kerberos and hid in his bronze jar. Herakles took Kerberos back to the Underworld. Another account says the monster escaped. This Labor is the twelfth and last Labor in some accounts.
King Augeias of Elis lived on the west coast of the Peloponnese. He was a son of Helios, the sun god. It was said that the rays of the sun shone in his eyes. Augeias had many cattle. His animals were always healthy, and gave birth to many young. His stables had not been cleaned in years and were thick with animal waste. The valleys were also full of waste. The smell of this waste poisoned the land. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to clean the stables in a day. He liked the thought of Herakles doing such dirty work.
Herakles went to Elis. He did not tell Augeias that Eurystheus had ordered him to clean the stables.Instead, he made a bargain with Augeias. He promised to clean the stables if Augeias would give him some of his cattle. The bargain was made. Augeias' son Phyleos acted as witness. Herakles set to work. First, he made two holes in the stone foundation of the stables. Then he changed the paths of the Alpheios and Peneios Rivers. The rivers were made to flow through one hole and out the other. This is how the stables were washed clean.
Augeias learned from Eurystheus' servant Copreus that Eurystheus had ordered Herakles to clean the stables. He would not respect the bargain he had made with Herakles. Herakles took the case to court. Phyleos was called to court and told the truth about the bargain. Augeias was so angry he drove his son and Herakles out of the land. Back in Tiryns, Eurystheus said that the Labor did not count because Herakles had made a bargain with Augeias. Eurystheus also thought that the river gods had really done the work.
This Labor was the last one presented in the frieze on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. It was important to the Greeks because one day Herakles made war on Augeias and defeated him. Herakles then laid out the Olympian sanctuary in the land of King Augeias and started the Olympic Games. It was said that Menedemus of Elis gave Herakles advice on this Labor and that the hero had the help of his nephew Iolaos. While Augeias and Herakles were making their bargain, Phaeton, one of Augeias' twelve white bulls, charged Herakles. These white bulls guarded all the cattle against wild animals. Phaeton thought the hero was a lion. Herakles forced the bull to the Earth by twisting its horn. Herakles was going to get Augeias' daughter as part of the bargain, but he did not. This was given as one reason for making war later on Augeias. He was also going to become Augeias' slave if the work was not done in one day.
Melkinthorpe
Sundarbans National Park
The Sunderban National Park is a National Park, tiger reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve in the Sunderban delta. It is in the Indian state of West Bengal. This area is densely covered by mangrove forests. It is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. It is also home to a variety of bird, reptile and invertebrate species, including the salt-water crocodile. On May 4, 1984 it was made a National Park.
There are seven main rivers and many watercourses forming a network of channels at this delta. They all run southward towards the sea. The coastal area has many mudflats. They are the right environment for mangroves.
The mangrove vegetation of Sundarbans has 64 plant species. They can withstand estuarine conditions and large amounts of saline. In the month of April and May the flaming red leaves of the genwa ("Excoecaria agallocha") the crab-like red flowers of the kankra ("Bruguiera gymnorrhiza") and the yellow flowers of khalsi ("Aegiceras corniculatum") can be seen. Some of the other commonly found plants and trees in the park are dhundal (or cannonball mangrove, "Xylocarpus granatum"), passur ("Xylocarpus mekongensis"), garjan ("Rhizophora" spp.), sundari ("Heritiera fomes") and goran ("Ceriops decandra").
The Sundarbans forest is home to more than 400 tigers. The Royal Bengal Tigers have developed a unique characteristic of swimming in the saline waters. They are famous for their man-eating tendencies. Tigers can be seen on the river banks sunbathing between November and February.
Apart from the Bengal tiger there are also many fishing cats, leopard cats, macaques, wild boar, Indian grey mongoose, fox, jungle cat, flying fox, pangolin, chital.
Some of the birds commonly found in this region are red junglefowls, spot-billed pelicans, great egrets, cormorants, seagulls, common kingfishers, peregrine falcons, woodpeckers, northern pintails, and whistling teals.
Some of the fish and amphibians found in the park are Sawfish, Butter Fish, Electric rays, Silver carp, Star Fish, Common Carp, King Crabs, Prawn, Shrimps, Gangetic Dolphins, Skipping Frogs, Common Toads and Tree Frogs.
The Sundarbans National Park houses a large number of reptiles as well, including estuarine crocodiles, chameleons, monitor lizards, turtles, including Olive Ridley, hawksbill, and green turtles. Snakes include pythons, King Cobras, rat snakes, Russell's vipers, Dog Faced Water Snakes, Chequered Killbacks, and Common Kraits.
The endangered species that live in the Sundarbans are Royal Bengal Tiger, Saltwater Crocodile, River Terrapin, Olive Ridley Turtle, Gangetic dolphin, Ground Turtle, Hawks Bill Turtle and Mangrove horseshoe crab.
In 2001, Sunderban became a Biosphere Reserve. The ecosystem is recognized as part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
Brampton, Eden
Maulds Meaburn
Kirkby Stephen
William's Green
William's Green is a hamlet in Kersey, Babergh, Suffolk, England.
Acton, Suffolk
Acton is a village and civil parish in Babergh, Suffolk, England. In 2001, there were 1,800 people living in Acton.
Calais Street
Boxted
Cockfield, Suffolk
Bower House Tye
Ash Street
Harkstead
René François Ghislain Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist. He was well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.
Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut. Little is known about Magritte's early life. He began lessons in drawing in 1910. On 12 March 1912, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Sambre.
Magritte's earliest paintings, which date from about 1915, were Impressionistic in style. From 1916 to 1918, he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He studied under Constant Montald. The paintings he made in the years 1918–1924 were influenced by Futurism and by the offshoot of Cubism practiced by Metzinger. Most of his works of this period are female nudes.
In 1922, Magritte married Georgette Berger From December 1920 until September 1921, Magritte was in the Belgian army Leopoldsburg. In 1922–1923, he worked as a draughtsman in a wallpaper factory. He was a poster and advertisement designer until 1926. In 1926, Magritte made his first surreal painting, "The Lost Jockey" ("Le jockey perdu"). His first exhibition was in Brussels in 1927. Critics did not like his paintings.
In 1927 he moved to Paris where he became friends with André Breton. He returned to Brussels in 1930 and resumed working in advertising. He and his brother, Paul, formed an agency which earned him a living wage.
Surrealist patron Edward James let Magritte stay rent free in his London home and paint.
During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II he stayed in Brussels. During 1947–48 he painted in a provocative and crude Fauve style. During this time, Magritte supported himself through making fake Picassos, Braques and Chiricos. Later he printed forged banknotes. At the end of 1948, he returned to the style and themes of his prewar surrealistic art.
His work was exhibited in the United States in New York in 1936. It was shown again at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992.
Magritte died of pancreatic cancer in Brussels on 15 August 1967.
The Magritte Museum opened to the public on 30 May 2009 in Brussels. It is in the five-level neo-classical Hotel Altenloh. The museum shows about 200 original Magritte paintings, drawings and sculptures. The museum also includes Magritte’s experiments with photography from 1920 on and the short surrealist movies he made from 1956 on.
Luc Tuymans (born 1958) is an artist who lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Tuymans is said to be one of the most influential painters working today.
Tuymans was born in Mortsel, Belgium. He began his studies at the Sint-Lukasinstituut in Brussels in 1976. He then studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels, Belgium (1979–1980) and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium (1980–1982). He stopped painting in 1982 and began studying art history at the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels (1982–6). The Belgian government gave him the title of Commander, Order of Leopold in 2007. He is married to Venezuelan artist Carla Arocha.
Tuymans represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale in 2001. He has been the focus of several retrospectives at various international institutions, including the Műcsarnok Kunsthalle in Budapest, Hungary; Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany; the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Poland; the Tate Modern, London, England (2004); Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal; Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva, Switzerland (both 2006); and, most recently (2011) the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. The artist’s first U.S. retrospective opened in September 2009 at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, and travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
Work by the artist is in the public collections of various museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium; Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg; Museum fuer Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and the Tate Gallery, London.
In 2005, "Sculpture" (2000), part of Tuymans' "Mwana Kitoko: Beautiful White Man" series, was sold at Christie's New York, for $1,472,000.
Victor Horta
Victor, Baron Horta (6 January 1861 - 8 September 1947) was a Belgian architect and designer. John Julius Norwich said he was "undoubtedly the key European Art Nouveau architect." Horta is one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture. Some people say his Hôtel Tassel in Brussels was the first time the style was used on architecture.
In 1932 King Albert I of Belgium gave Horta the title of Baron for his services to architecture. Four of the buildings he designed are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Horta had a great interest in music since childhood. In 1873 he went to study musical theory at the Ghent Conservatory. He was removed for bad behaviour. He then joined the Department of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent instead. In 1878 Horta left for Paris. He found work with architect and designer Jules Debuysson in Montmartre. There he was inspired by the impressionist and pointillist artists, and also by the possibilities of working in iron and glass.
When Horta's father died in 1880, he returned to Belgium and moved to Brussels. He married his first wife. He studied architecture at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. In Brussels Horta made a friendship with Paul Hankar. He became an assistant for his professor Alphonse Balat, architect to Leopold II of Belgium. Together they designed the royal Greenhouses of Laeken, Horta's first work to use glass and iron.
In 1884 Horta won the first Prix Godecharle to be awarded for Architecture.
By 1885 Horta worked on his own. He was commissioned to design three houses. The same year he also joined the Central Society of Belgian Architecture. Over the next few years he was in a number of competitions for public work. He worked with sculptors (notably his friend Godefroid Devresse) on statuary and even tombs. He won a number of prizes. He thought the forms he made were highly practical and not artistic.
During this period, Horta joined the freemasons. This gave him many clients when he returned to designing houses and shops in 1893.
Horta was appointed Head of Graphic Design for Architecture at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1892. He became Professor of Architecture in 1893. He worked there until 1911.
Many of Horta's buildings were destroyed. However, several of Horta’s buildings are still standing in Brussels. Most notable are the "Magasins Waucquez", formerly a department store, now the Brussels Comic Book Museum and four of his private houses ("hôtels"), which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Henry van de Velde
Henry Clemens Van de Velde (3 April 1863, Antwerp – 15 October 1957, Zürich) was a Belgian painter, architect and interior designer. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar he is one of the main founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany.
Van de Velde studied painting in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat and in Paris under Carolus-Duran. As a young painter he was influenced by Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. He used a neo-impressionist style. In 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX". During this period he made a lasting friendship with the painter Théo van Rysselberghe and the sculptor Constantin Meunier.
In 1892 he stopped painting. Instead he worked on the arts of decoration and interior design. His own house, "Bloemenwerf" in Ukkel, was his first try at architecture. He also made interiors and furniture for the art gallery "L'Art Nouveau" of Samuel Bing in Paris in 1895. This gave the movement its first name as Art Nouveau.
Around the turn of the century, he designed Villa Leuring in the Netherlands, and Villa Esche in Chemnitz, two works that show his Art Nouveau style in architecture. He also designed the interior of the Folkwang Museum in Hagen. In 1905 he was asked by the Grand Duke of Weimar to make the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar.
Although a Belgian, Van de Velde would play an important role in the German Werkbund. This group was made to help improve and promote German design by making close relations between industry and designers. He went against Hermann Muthesius at the Werkbund meeting of 1914. Their debate marked the history of Modern Architecture. Van de Velde wanted individuality of artists while Hermann Muthesius wanted standardization.
During World War I, Van de Velde, as a foreign national, was made to leave Weimar. During this period, he mentored the great Belgian architect, Victor Bourgeois.
During World War I, he lived in Switzerland and in the Netherlands. He designed the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. From 1926 to 1936, Van de Velde was professor at Ghent University.
Super Bowl XX
Super Bowl XX was the 20th Super Bowl played. The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome on January 26, 1986. The game was between the 15-1 Chicago Bears of the NFC and the 11-5 New England Patriots of the AFC. The game's national anthem was performed by Wynton Marsalis and the halftime show was played by Up With People. The Bears won their first Super Bowl 46-10, but did not go to the White House because of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. In 2010, the Bears did go to the White House, even though Walter Payton and Dave Duerson did not attend due to their deaths.
The game started badly for the Bears when Walter Payton fumbled the ball and New England got the ball. Kicker Tony Franklin then scored first for the Patriots. Later, the Bears scored when Kevin Butler kicked 2 field goals, and then Matt Suhey scored. In the 2nd quarter, Jim McMahon scored a touchdown, and then Butler kicked another field goal. The Bears then scored 3 touchdowns in the third quarter, and New England would finally score a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan was sacked in the end zone for 2 points.
The Super Bowl MVP of the game was Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who had 1½ sacks—part of the Bears scoring a Super Bowl-high 7 sacks—and 2 forced fumbles.
Nippon Maru
"Nippon Maru" was built in Kobe in 1930. It was a training ship for the cadets of the Japanese merchant marine.
The ship became a museum in 1984.
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (17 February 1820 - 6 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist.
Vieuxtemps was born in Verviers, Belgium. He received his first violin instruction from his father and a local teacher. He gave his first public performance at the age of six, playing a concerto by Pierre Rode. Soon he was giving concerts in surrounding cities, including Liège and Brussels. He met the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot in Brussels. He then began to study with Bériot. In 1829, Bériot took him to Paris. He had to return to Belgium the next year because of the July Revolution and Bériot's marriage to his mistress Maria Malibran. Back in Brussels, Vieuxtemps developed his violin technique on his own. He began playing with Pauline Viardot. A tour of Germany in 1833 brought friendship with Louis Spohr and with Robert Schumann. During the following decade he visited various European cities. He impressed audiences and famous musicians such as Hector Berlioz and Paganini.
Vieuxtemps wanted to become a composer as well. He took lessons with the respected Simon Sechter in Vienna and spent the winter of 1835–1836 studying composition with Anton Reicha in Paris. His first violin concerto, later published as Concerto No. 2, dates from this time.
Vieuxtemps continued to compose with great success and perform throughout Europe. He played with the pianist Sigismond Thalberg in the United States. He was particularly admired in Russia. He lived there between 1846 and 1851 as a court musician of Tsar Nicholas I and soloist in the Imperial Theatre. He founded the violin school of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 1871, he returned to Belgium to be a Professor at the Brussels Conservatory.
A paralytic stroke disabled his right arm two years later. He moved to Paris again. Although he seemed to be slowly recovering from his stroke, another one in 1879 ended his career as a violinist for good. He spent his last years in a sanatorium in Mustapha Supérieur, Algeria. He continued to compose.
Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe (16 July 1858 – 12 May 1931) was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor. He was born in Liège. He was called "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tzar". His brother was pianist and composer Théo Ysaÿe.
Ysaÿe began violin lessons at age five with his father. At seven he entered the Conservatoire at Liège studying with Désiré Heynberg. When he was twelve, Henri Vieuxtemps took an interest in his talent. He arranged for Ysaÿe to study with Henryk Wieniawski.
After his graduation from the Royal Conservatory of Liège, Ysaÿe was the principal violin of the Benjamin Bilse beer-hall orchestra. This orchestra later became the Berlin Philharmonic. Many musicians of note and influence came regularly to hear this orchestra and Ysaÿe in particular. Some of these musicians were Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein. Rubinstein asked for Ysaÿe to be released from his contract to go with him on tour.
When Ysaÿe was twenty-seven years old, he was recommended as a soloist for one of the Concerts Colonne in Paris. This was the start of his great success as a concert artist. The next year, Ysaÿe received a professorship at the Brussels Conservatoire. During his time as professor at the Conservatoire, Ysaÿe continued to tour the world. This included all of Europe, Russia, and the United States.
He had physical problems that affected his hands. As these grew worse, Ysaÿe turned more to teaching, conducting and an early love, composition. In 1918, he accepted the music director's position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He stayed until 1922.
In 1931, suffering from diabetes, Eugène Ysaÿe died in his house in Brussels.
Ysaÿe was married twice. His first marrriage, on 29 September 1886, was to Louise Bourdeau de Coutrai. They had three sons.
After Louise's death in 1924 he married a pupil of his, Jeanette Dincin. She was 44 years younger than him. Ysaÿe met her in 1922 while conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra. She cared for him in his ailing years.
Eugène Ysaÿe was close friends with Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. He taught her the violin. His widow took over the royal teaching after his death. The queen began a competition in his honor.
Ysaÿe was also a friend of Claude Debussy. They would trade letters.
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux (21 March 1921–16 October 1986) was a Belgian violinist and pianist.
Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium. His grandfather urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4. He trained on violin and piano with the Fernand Quintet at the Charleroi Conservatory. He took first prize at the age of 11. He received his first few major awards before reaching the age of 20. He took the Henry Vieuxtemps and François Prume prizes in 1939, and the Prix de Virtuosité from the Belgian government in 1940. During this time he also studied composition privately in Paris with the famous Romanian violinist George Enescu.
His debut was made in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. Then in Britain with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1945. Following his British debut, he was made professor of violin at the Royal Conservatory, where he had once studied. His playing often brought comparisons to another great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe and also to Pablo de Sarasate of Spain.
One of his greatest joys in life was his partnership with the pianist Clara Haskil, the Romanian-born Swiss classical pianist. Sometimes the two would switch instruments for a different perspective and relationship. Grumiaux was left with a professional and personal loss when she died from a fall at a train station, on the way to a concert with him.
In 1973 he was knighted baron by King Baudouin for his services to music.
Despite a having diabetes, Grumiaux continued a schedule of recording and concert performances, mostly in Western Europe. He died of a sudden stroke in Brussels in 1986 at the age of 65.
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He is well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century.
He worked as a bandleader, as a sideman, and has been on dozens of movie soundtracks. In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.
He is perhaps best-known to the American public for whistling the melody in commercials for Old Spice cologne.
Thielemans started his career as a guitar player. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and others. In 1949 and 1950 he was in European tours with Benny Goodman. He made his first record in Paris with fellow band member, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. In 1951 he became a band member of the Bobbejaan Schoepen.
He moved to the US in 1952. He was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars and worked with Miles Davis and Dinah Washington. He played and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Jaco Pastorius, Peggy Lee, The George Shearing Quintet, Quincy Jones, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, The Happenings, Astrud Gilberto, Shirley Horn, Elis Regina and others.
A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette" where he used whistling and guitar in unison. First recorded by Toots in 1962, with words added by Norman Gimbel the song became a major worldwide hit. His harmonica playing can also be heard in movies such as "Midnight Cowboy", "Jean de Florette", "Sugarland Express", "The Yakuza", "Turkish Delight", "The Getaway", "French Kiss", "Dunderklumpen". His music was also in TV programs, including "Sesame Street", the Belgian TV series "Witse", and the Dutch TV series "Baantjer". He made the music for the 1974 Swedish movie "Dunderklumpen!". He also voiced the animated character Pellegnillot.
His whistling and harmonica playing can be heard on Old Spice radio and TV commercials that have been made over the years. During the 1980s he performed with bassist and composer/bandleader Jaco Pastorius. In 1983 he was on Billy Joel's album "An Innocent Man", and his trademark harmonica can be heard on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone." A year later, he appeared on the Julian Lennon song "Too Late For Goodbyes" from the album "Valotte". In 1984, he recorded the final album of Billy Eckstine (I Am A Singer). In 1998 he released a French style album titled "Chez Toots". It included "Les Moulins De Mon Coeur (The Mills of my Heart)" featuring guest singer Johnny Mathis.
Apart from his popularity as a musician, he was well liked for his modesty and kind demeanor. In 2001 Thielemans was ennobled a baron by King Albert II of Belgium.
Jacques Brel (8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer-songwriter. He was widely said to be a master of the modern chanson. Although he recorded most of his songs in French, he became a major influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers. Some of these were David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and Rod McKuen. English translations of his songs were recorded by many top performers in the United States. These include Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, the Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Scott Walker, and Andy Williams. In French-speaking countries, Brel was also a successful actor, appearing in ten movies. He also directed two movies. "Le Far West" was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Brel died of lung cancer. He has sold over 25 million records worldwide. He is the third best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time.
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