title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's prominence grew in 647 when the Caliph Osman made it a major port for Indian Ocean trade routes, channelling goods to Mecca, and to serve Muslim travelers for Islamic pilgrimage. Since those times, Jeddah has served as the gateway for millions of pilgrims who have arrived in Saudi Arabia, traditionally by sea and recently by air. With a population of about 4,697,000 people as of 2021, Jeddah is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest city in Hejaz, the second-largest city in the Saudi Arabia (after the capital Riyadh), and the ninth-largest in the Middle East. It also serves as the administrative centre of the OIC. Jeddah Islamic Port, on the Red Sea, is the thirty-sixth largest seaport in the world and the second-largest and second-busiest seaport in the Middle East (after Dubai's Port of Jebel Ali).


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, to the east, while Medina, the second-holiest city, is to the north. Economically, Jeddah is focusing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was ranked fourth in the Africa, Middle East, and 'stan countries region in the Innovation Cities Index in 2009.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is one of the Saudi Arabia's primary resort cities and was named a Beta world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC). Given the city's close proximity to the Red Sea, fishing and seafood dominate the food culture unlike other parts of the country. In Arabic, the city's motto is "Jeddah Ghair", which translates to "Jeddah is different". The motto has been widely used among both locals as well as foreign visitors. The city is widely perceived as the most liberal city in Saudi Arabia and is a popular tourist destination in the region.


title: Jeddah

text: There are at least two etymologies of "Jeddah", according to Jeddah Ibn Al-Qudaa'iy, the chief of the Quda'a clan. The more common account has it that the name is derived from "Jaddah", the Arabic word for "grandmother". According to eastern folk belief, the Tomb of Eve, considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah.


title: Jeddah

text: The Maghrebi traveler Ibn Battuta visited Jeddah during his world trip in around 1330. He wrote the name of the city into his diary as "Jiddah".


title: Jeddah

text: The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other branches of the British government formerly used the older spelling of "Jedda", contrary to other English-speaking usages, but in 2007, it changed to the spelling "Jeddah".


title: Jeddah

text: T. E. Lawrence felt that any transcription of Arabic names into English was arbitrary. In his book, "Revolt in the Desert", Jeddah is spelled in three different ways on the first page alone.


title: Jeddah

text: On official Saudi maps and documents, the city name is transcribed "Jeddah", which is now the prevailing usage.


title: Jeddah

text: Traces of early activity in the area are testified by some Thamudic inscriptions that were excavated in Wadi Briman (), east of the city, and Wadi Boweb (), northwest of the city. The oldest Mashrabiya found in Jeddah dates back to the pre-Islamic era.


title: Jeddah

text: Some believe that Jeddah had been inhabited before Alexander the Great, who had a naval expedition to the Red Sea, by fishermen in the Red Sea, who considered it a center from which they sailed out into the sea as well as a place for relaxation and well-being. According to the Ministry of Hajj, Jeddah has been settled for more than 2500 years.


title: Jeddah

text: Excavations in the old city have been interpreted as that Jeddah was founded as a fishing hamlet by the Yemeni Quda'a tribe (), who left central Yemen to settle in Makkah after the collapse of Sad (dam) Marib Dam in Yemen in 115 BC.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah first achieved prominence around AD 647, when the third Muslim Caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan, turned it into a port making it the port of Makkah instead of Al Shoaib port southwest of Mecca.


title: Jeddah

text: The Umayyads inherited the entire Rashidun Caliphate including Hejaz and ruled from 661AD to 750AD. In AD 702 Jeddah was briefly occupied by pirates from the Kingdom of Axum. However, Jeddah remained a key civilian harbor, serving fishermen and pilgrims travelling by sea for the Hajj. It is also believed that Sharifdom of Mecca, an honorary Viceroy to the holy land, was first appointed in this period of the Islamic Caliphate . Jeddah has been established as the main city of the historic Hijaz province and a historic port for pilgrims arriving by sea to perform their Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.


title: Jeddah

text: In 750, in the Abbasid Revolution, the Abbasids successfully took control of almost the whole Umayyad Empire, excluding Morocco (Maghrib) and Spain (Al-Andalus). From 876, Jeddah and the surrounding area became the object of wars between the Abbasids and the Tulunids of Egypt, who at one point gained control of the emirates of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Hejaz. The power struggle between the Tulunid Governors and the Abbasids over Hejaz lasted for nearly 25 years, until the Tulunids finally withdrew from Arabia in 900 AD.


title: Jeddah

text: In 930 AD, the main Hejazi cities of Medina, Mecca and Taif were heavily sacked by the Qarmatians. It is probable, though not historically confirmed, that Jeddah itself was attacked by Qarmatians.


title: Jeddah

text: Soon after, in early 935, the Ikhshidids, the new power in Egypt, took control of the Hejaz region. There are no historical records that detail the Ikhshidid rule of Hejaz. At this point in time, Jeddah was still unfortified and without walls.


title: Jeddah

text: In 969 AD, the Fatimids from Algeria took control in Egypt from the Ikhshidid Governors of Abbasids and expanded their empire to the surrounding regions, including The Hijaz and Jeddah. The Fatimids developed an extensive trade network in both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Their trade and diplomatic ties extended all the way to China and its Song Dynasty, which eventually determined the economic course of Tihamah during the High Middle Ages.


title: Jeddah

text: After Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1171, he proclaimed himself sultan of Egypt, after dissolving the Fatimid Caliphate upon the death of al-Adid, thus establishing the Ayyubid dynasty. Ayyubid conquests in Hejaz included Jeddah, which joined the Ayyubid Empire in 1177 during the leadership of Sharif Ibn Abul-Hashim Al-Thalab (1094–1201). During their relatively short-lived tenure, the Ayyubids ushered in an era of economic prosperity in the lands they ruled and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world. This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in the region by constructing numerous "madrasas" (Islamic schools) in their major cities. Jeddah attracted Muslim sailors and merchants from Sindh, Southeast Asia and East Africa, and other distant regions.


title: Jeddah

text: In 1254, following events in Cairo and the dissolution of the Ayyubid Empire, Hejaz became a part of the Mamluk Sultanate.


title: Jeddah

text: The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, having found his way around the Cape and obtained pilots from the coast of Zanzibar in AD 1497, pushed his way across the Indian Ocean to the shores of Malabar and Calicut, attacked fleets that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the Red Sea, and struck terror into the surrounding potentates. The Princes of Gujarat and Yemen turned for help to Egypt. Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri accordingly fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels under the Governor of Jeddah, Hussein the Kurd (aka. Mirocem). Jeddah was soon fortified with a wall, using forced labor, as a harbor of refuge from the Portuguese, allowing Arabia and the Red Sea to be protected.


title: Jeddah

text: In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, during the reign of Selim I.


title: Jeddah

text: The Ottomans rebuilt the weak walls of Jeddah in 1525 following the defense of the city against the Lopo Soares de Albergaria's Armada at the Siege of Jeddah (1517). The new stone wall included six watchtowers and six city gates. They were constructed to defend against the Portuguese attack. Of the six gates, the Gate of Mecca was the eastern gate and the Gate of Al-Magharibah, facing the port, was the western gate. The Gate of Sharif faced south. The other gates were the Gate of Al-Bunt, Gate of Al-Sham (also called Gate of Al-Sharaf), and Gate of Medina, facing north. The Turks also built The Qishla of Jeddah, a small castle for the city soldiers. In the 19th century, these seven gates were minimized into four giant gates with four towers. These giant gates were the Gate of Sham to the north, the Gate of Mecca to the east, the Gate of Sharif to the south, and the Gate of Al-Magharibah on the seaside.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah became a direct Ottoman Eyalet, while the remaining Hejaz under Sharif Barakat II became a Vassal state to the Ottoman Empire 8 years after the Siege of Jeddah in 1517.


title: Jeddah

text: Parts of the city wall still survive today in the old city. Even though the Portuguese were successfully repelled from the city, fleets in the Indian Ocean were at their mercy. This was evidenced by the Battle of Diu. The Portuguese soldiers' cemetery can still be found within the old city today and is referred to as the site of the Christian Graves.


title: Jeddah

text: Ahmed Al-Jazzar, the Ottoman military man mainly known for his role in the Siege of Acre, spent the earlier part of his career at Jeddah. In Jeddah in 1750, he killed some seventy rioting nomads in retaliation for the killing of his commander, Abdullah Beg, earning him the nickname "Jezzar" (butcher).


title: Jeddah

text: On 15 June 1858, rioting in the city, believed to have been instigated by a former police chief in reaction to British policy in the Red Sea, led to the massacre of 25 Christians, including the British and French consuls, members of their families, and wealthy Greek merchants. The British frigate , anchored at port, bombarded the city for two days in retaliation.


title: Jeddah

text: In 1802, Nejdi forces conquered both Mecca and Jeddah from the Ottomans. When Sharif Ghalib Efendi informed Sultan Mahmud II of this, the Sultan ordered his Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha to retake the city. Muhammad Ali successfully regained the city in the Battle of Jeddah in 1813.


title: Jeddah

text: During World War I, Sharif Hussein bin Ali declared a revolt against the Ottoman Empire, seeking independence from the Ottoman Turks and the creation of a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.


title: Jeddah

text: King Hussein declared the Kingdom of Hejaz. Later, Hussein was involved in a war with Ibn Saud, who was the Sultan of Nejd. Hussein abdicated following the fall of Mecca, in December 1924, and his son Ali bin Hussein became the new king.


title: Jeddah

text: A few months later, Ibn Saud, whose clan originated in the central Nejd province, conquered Medina and Jeddah via an agreement with Jeddans following the Second Battle of Jeddah. He deposed Ali bin Hussein, who fled to Baghdad, eventually settling in Amman, Jordan, where his descendants became part of its Hashemite royalty.


title: Jeddah

text: As a result, Jeddah came under the sway of the Al-Saud dynasty in December 1925. In 1926, Ibn Saud added the title King of Hejaz to his position of Sultan of Nejd. Today, Jeddah has lost its historical role in peninsular politics after Jeddah fell within the new province of Makkah, whose provincial capital is the city of Mecca.


title: Jeddah

text: From 1928 to 1932, the new Khuzam Palace was built as the new residence of King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah. The palace lies south of the old walled city and was constructed under the supervision of the engineer Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. After 1963, the palace was used as a royal guest house; since 1995, it has housed the Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography.


title: Jeddah

text: The remaining walls and gates of the old city were demolished in 1947. A fire in 1982 destroyed some ancient buildings in the old town center, called Al-Balad, but much is still preserved. A house-by-house survey of the old districts was made in 1979, showing that some 1000 traditional buildings still existed, though the number of structures with great historic value was far less. In 1990, a Jeddah Historical Area Preservation Department was founded.


title: Jeddah

text: The modern city has expanded wildly beyond its old boundaries. The built-up area expanded mainly to the north along the Red Sea coastline, reaching the new airport during the 1990s and since edging its way around it toward the Ob'hur Creek, some from the old city center.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is located in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal plain (called Tihamah). Jeddah lies in the Hijazi Tihama () region which is in the lower Hijaz mountains. Historically, politically and culturally, Jeddah was a major city of Hejaz Vilayet, the Kingdom of Hejaz and other regional political entities according to Hijazi history books. It is the 100th largest city in the world by land area.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah features an arid climate ("BWh") under Koppen's climate classification, with a tropical temperature range. Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Jeddah retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from at dawn to in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are extremely hot, often breaking the mark in the afternoon and dropping to in the evening. Summers are also quite steamy, with dew points often exceeding , particularly in September. Rainfall in Jeddah is generally sparse, and usually occurs in small amounts in November and December. Heavy thunderstorms are common in winter. The thunderstorm of December 2008 was the largest in recent memory, with rain reaching around . The lowest temperature ever recorded in Jeddah was on February 10, 1993. The highest temperature ever recorded in Jeddah was on June 22, 2010, which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Saudi Arabia.


title: Jeddah

text: Dust storms happen in summer and sometimes in winter, coming from the Arabian Peninsula's deserts or from North Africa. Occasionally, the dust storms accompany thunderstorms.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah has long been a port city. Even before being designated the port city for Mecca, Jeddah was a trading hub for the region. In the 19th century, goods such as mother-of-pearl, tortoise shells, frankincense, and spices were routinely exported from the city. Apart from this, many imports into the city were destined for further transit to the Suez, Africa, or Europe. Many goods passing through Jeddah could not even be found in the city or even in Arabia.


title: Jeddah

text: All of the capitals of the Middle East and North Africa are within two hours flying distance of Jeddah, making it the second commercial center of the Middle East after Dubai.


title: Jeddah

text: Also, Jeddah's industrial district is the fourth largest industrial city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jubail and Yanbu.


title: Jeddah

text: King Abdullah Street is one of the most important streets in Jeddah and runs from King Fahd Road by the waterfront in the west of Jeddah to the eastern end of the city. It is famous for hosting numerous corporate offices and commercial developments. It will be near the HSR Entrance in Jeddah central train station which connects Jeddah with Makkah, AL-Madinah, and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). And it also has the tallest flagpole in the world at a height of 170 m (558 ft). This road also faced a catastrophe in 2011 when it was submerged with rainwater.


title: Jeddah

text: Tahaliyah Street is an important fashion and shopping street in central Jeddah. It contains many upscale departments and high fashion brands stores as well as boutiques. It has been renamed "Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Road" by the government, but this official name is not widely used. It also has many fine dining options.


title: Jeddah

text: Madinah Road is a historically significant street in Jeddah. It links the Southern districts with the North and contains the Main offices of several companies and showrooms. The northern end of the road links to the King Abdul Aziz Int'l Airport, which is a contributing factor to heavy traffic on this road at most times during the day.


title: Jeddah

text: Most citizens are Sunni Muslims. The government, courts, and civil and criminal laws enforce a moral code established by Shari'ah. A very small minority of Saudi citizens are Shia Muslims, and there is also a large foreign workforce.


title: Jeddah

text: The city has over 1,300 mosques. The law does not allow other religions' buildings, books, icons, and expressions of faith. However, private religious observance not involving Muslims nor offending public order and morality is tolerated.


title: Jeddah

text: Since the 7th century, Jeddah has hosted millions of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world on their way to Hajj. This merge with pilgrims has a major impact on the society, religion, and economy of Jeddah.


title: Jeddah

text: Some dishes are native to the Hejaz, like Saleeg and Mabshūr () is a white-rice dish, cooked in broth, often made with chicken instead of lamb meat. Jeddah cuisine is popular as well and dishes like, Foul, Shorabah Hareira (Hareira soup), Mugalgal, Madhbi (chicken grilled on stone), Madfun (literally meaning "buried"), Magloobah, Kibdah, Manzalah (usually eaten at Eid ul-Fitr), Magliya (a local version of falafel) and Saiyadyia which can be acquired in many traditional restaurants around the city, such as Althamrat, Abo-Zaid, Al-Quarmooshi, Ayaz, and Hejaziyat.


title: Jeddah

text: Some were imported from other Saudi regions like Kabsa from Najd, Arīka () and Ma'sūb () from the southern Saudi region. Other Dishes were imported from other cultures through Saudis of different origins, like Mantu, Yaghmush () and Ruz Bukhāri () from Central Asia, Burēk and Šurēk and Kabab almīru () from Turkey and the Balkans, Mandi from Yemen, Mutabbag () from Yemen-Malaysia, Biryāni and Kābli () rice dishes from South Asia.


title: Jeddah

text: The most popular local fast-food chain, begun in 1974, is Albaik, with branches in Jeddah and the neighboring cities of Makkah, Madinah and Yanbu. Their main dish is broasted (broiled and roasted) chicken, commonly known by Jeddawis as "Broast", and a variety of seafood.The popular fast food chain recently opened branches in Riyadh. Dammam, Buraidah, Bahrain, and Dubai in the UAE.


title: Jeddah

text: During the oil boom in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was a focused civic effort led by the then city's mayor Mohamed Said Farsi to bring art to Jeddah's public areas. As a result, Jeddah contains a large number of modern open-air sculptures and works of art, typically situated in roundabouts, making the city one of the largest open-air art galleries in the world. Sculptures include works by Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Hubert Minnebo and Victor Vasarely. They often depict traditional Saudi items such as coffee pots, incense burners, palm trees, etc. The fact that Islamic tradition prohibits the depiction of living creatures, notably the human form, has made for some very creative, as well as bizarre, modern art. These include a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of concrete with several cars protruding from it at odd angles and a monumental sculpture by Aref Rayess called "Swords of God (Soyuf Allah)". At the interchange between Al-Madinah Road, King Abdulaziz Road, and Prince Abullah Al-Faisal Road, there are large sculptures of camels that are the center of a very dangerous roundabout. The camel bodies are not full; they are broken up to prevent it portraying living creatures, which is against Wahhabi belief.


title: Jeddah

text: There are about a dozen museums or collections in Jeddah, with varied educational aims and professionalism. These include the Jeddah Regional Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography run by the Deputy Ministry of Antiquities and Museums, the Jeddah Municipal Museum, the Nasseef House, the Humane Heritage Museum, the private Abdul Rauf Hasan Khalil Museum and the private Arts Heritage Museum.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah has been selected as a place for the annual Red Sea International Film Festival that will be held in 2020.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah hosts an annual international book fair called Jeddah international book fair. It is the second largest book fair in Saudi Arabia, and it was first held in 2015. The book fair is held annually in early December.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah Season is a part of the Saudi government's Saudi Seasons initiatives that aims at launching a high-level tourism activities in Saudi Arabia. The first version of the season has been held in June–July 2019. Around 150 activities and events have been organized in five destinations in Jeddah. As Saudi Seasons 2019 aims at shedding the light on the diverse Saudi culture and heritage. Jeddah was chosen because it is one of the most culturally-rich Saudi cities with a history that spans over 3,000 years. Most of Jeddah Season's events and activities have been held at King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah's historical area, Al-Hamra Corniche, and the Jeddah Waterfront.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah Season aim to make Jeddah the most preferred tourist destination in the world and the best season of Saudi Seasons.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is served by four major Arabic-language newspapers, "Asharq Al-Awsat", "Al Madina", "Okaz", and "Al Bilad", as well as two major English-language newspapers, the "Saudi Gazette" and "Arab News". "Okaz" and "Al-Madina" are the primary newspapers of Jeddah and some other Saudi cities, with over a million readers; their focus is mainly local.


title: Jeddah

text: Internet blogs specifically informative of the locality are abundant in Jeddah, catering mostly to the widespread expatriate population. Of these are constituted websites that have garnered international acclaim for informativeness, such as Jeddah Blog, the recipient of the Bronze Expat Blog Award in 2012 and the Gold Award in 2013 and is among Feedspot's Top 100 Middle East blogs. Other amateur websites catering to specific topics in the region exist as well.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah represents the largest radio and television market in Saudi Arabia. Television stations serving the city area include Saudi TV1, Saudi TV2, Saudi TV Sports, Al Ekhbariya, the ART channels network and hundreds of cable, satellite, and other specialty television providers.


title: Jeddah

text: The Jeddah region's distinctive speech pattern is called the Hejazi dialect; it is among the most recognizable accents within the Arabic language.


title: Jeddah

text: The Old City known as Al-Balad with its traditional multistory buildings and merchant houses, that often still belong to the families that inhabited them before the oil-era, has lost ground to more modern developments. Nonetheless, the Old City contributes to Hejazi's cultural identity. Since it has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status, in 2014, several traditional buildings have been restored and made open to the public. In 2019, the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, has issued a royal decree that orders The Ministry of Culture to restore 50 historical buildings in Jeddah. Several historic mosques from different eras are located in al-Balad, as well as one of oldest museums in the city, called Bayt Naseef or Naseef house, displaying local furniture and interior design of the past 150 years, approximately.


title: Jeddah

text: The city has many popular resorts, including Durrat Al-Arus, Al-Nawras Mövenpick resort at the Red Sea Corniche, Crystal Resort, Radisson Blu, The Signature Al Murjan Beach Resort, Al Nakheel Village, Sands, and Sheraton Abhur. Many are renowned for their preserved Red Sea marine life and offshore coral reefs.


title: Jeddah

text: One of two consulates of the United States of America in Saudi Arabia is located in Jeddah, along with the consulates for 67 other countries such as Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Italy, Russia and Mainland China. Some of the other consulates present include, countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League states.


title: Jeddah

text: Historical Jeddah is situated on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. From the 7th century AD, it was established as a major port for Indian Ocean trade routes, channeling goods to Mecca. It was also the gateway for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca who arrived by sea. These twin roles saw the city develop into a thriving multicultural center, characterized by a distinctive architectural tradition, including tower houses built in the late 19th century by the city's mercantile elites, and combining Red Sea coastal coral building traditions with influences and crafts from along the trade routes.


title: Jeddah

text: Within a defensive wall that was built during Ottoman rule, the old city of Jeddah, Al-Balad, was divided into districts, or "Haras", where business and trade centered around traditional "souks", or market places, and "khans", covered markets that were generally connected to shops.


title: Jeddah

text: Located in the North East, this district was named after Abdulkarim Al-Barzangi, a Hijazi rebel who was crucified by the Ottomans, some of its landmarks are:


title: Jeddah

text: Founded by Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil in 1996, this museum not only presents the rich Islamic cultural heritage of the city but also its pre-Islamic history that goes back to 2500 years; it traces the various civilizations that inhabited the region. Located in the downtown district, it boasts of large collection of items and artifacts belonging to the Ottoman Turks and the fishermen tribes who were the first inhabitants of the region.


title: Jeddah

text: King Fahd's Fountain was built in the 1980s, can be seen from a great distance and, at , is the highest water jet in the world according to the Guinness World Records. The fountain was donated to the City of Jeddah by the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, after whom it was named.


title: Jeddah

text: Sometimes referred to as the floating mosque because of it being built above water, this fascinating mix of the old architecture and the new was built in 1985. It is a popular spot among tourists and natives looking to lounge by the seaside.


title: Jeddah

text: Is a new stadium launched in 2014, located north of Jeddah, is used mostly for football, reaching a full capacity of 62,241 spectators. It is the largest stadium in Jeddah, and the second-largest in Saudi Arabia.


title: Jeddah

text: The largest mosque in the city. Built in 1987, it displays beautiful Islamic architecture and was built by Egyptian architect Abdel Wahed El Wakil.


title: Jeddah

text: Built-in 1983 and believed to be the highest tower in Saudi Arabia during the 1980s, with a height of over , the National Commercial Bank was Saudi Arabia's first bank.


title: Jeddah

text: The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development financing institution. It was founded by the first conference of Finance Ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), convened 18 December 1973. The bank officially began its activities on 20 October 1975.


title: Jeddah

text: This is the headquarters of the metropolitan area of Jeddah. The municipality's new building is going to be not only Jeddah's tallest but is also going to dethrone the Burj Khalifa.


title: Jeddah

text: This proposed tower, formerly known as the Kingdom Tower, is being built in Jeddah by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and will stand tall. Upon its completion, it will be the tallest skyscraper in the world. The building has been scaled down from its initial proposal, since the ground proved unsuitable for a building that tall, to a height of at least (the exact height is being kept private while in development, similar to the Burj Khalifa), which, at about one kilometer (), would still make it by far the tallest building or structure in the world to date, standing at least taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Construction began in April 2013 and there was steady progress, but in January 2018, building owner JEC halted structural concrete work with the tower about one-third completed due to labor issues with a contractor following the 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge. JEC had said they planned to restart construction in 2020.


title: Jeddah

text: King Road Tower is a commercial and office building, the external walls of which are used to show commercials. The building also has a helipad on its roof. King Road Tower has the largest LED display in the world on its walls.


title: Jeddah

text: Al Jawharah Tower is a residential high-rise under construction. It became the third-tallest structure in Jeddah when completed in 2014.


title: Jeddah

text: The King Abdullah Square on the intersection of Andalus Road with King Abdullah Road had the world's tallest flagpole. It is high and the Saudi flag atop it weighs . On the 84th Saudi Arabia National Day, September 23, 2014, the flagpole hoisted a huge Saudi flag before a crowd of thousands. The flagpole succeeded Dushanbe Flagpole as the tallest flagpole in the world until 26 December 2021, when the Cairo Flagpole in Cairo, Egypt was erected at a height of 201.952 m (662.57 ft).


title: Jeddah

text: Bab Makkah, also known as Makkah Gate, is a limestone coral gateway that leads into the historic Al-Balad district of Jeddah.


title: Jeddah

text: The Mecca Gate, named the "Quran Gate", is located 60 km outside Jeddah on the Makkah Mukkarram road of the Jeddah - Mecca Highway. It is the entrance to Mecca and the birthplace of Muhammad. The gate signifies the boundary of the Haram area of the city of Mecca, where non-Muslims are prohibited to enter. The gate was designed in 1979 by Egyptian architect Samir Elabd for the architectural firm IDEA Center. The structure is that of a book, representing the Quran, sitting on a "rehal", or book stand.


title: Jeddah

text: The new waterfront was inaugurated in November 2017, by Makkah Governor, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal.It spans an area of on the Red Sea. It has many facilities including swimming beaches, huts, floating marina dock, washrooms, restaurants, parks, dancing fountains, playgrounds, and access to wifi.


title: Jeddah

text: This project of developing JW (Jeddah Waterfront) has been awarded as Jeddah Innovation Award of the year 1439H in the field of government innovation, by the province of Jeddah.


title: Jeddah

text: , Jeddah had 849 public and private schools for male students and another 1,179 public and private schools for female students. The medium of instruction in both public and private schools is typically Arabic, with emphasis on English as a second language. However, some private schools administered by foreign entities conduct classes in English. These include 10+ Indian schools following the CBSE board of education system, several Pakistani and Bangladeshi schools as well. , Jeddah also had four Philippine international schools, with two more scheduled to open shortly afterward.


title: Jeddah

text: The central library at King Abdulaziz University (main branch) is a five-story building that has a large collection of Arabic and English language books, rare books, and documents as well as access to several online databases. It is open for public access and allows the borrowing of books after requesting a library card. Saturdays are dedicated to female visitors.


title: Jeddah

text: King Abdul Aziz Public Library is a philanthropic institution that was founded and supported by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, chairman of its board of directors. Established in 1985, the library was officially opened by the King on 27 February 1987. It emphasizes Islamic and Arabic heritage and history of the Kingdom. The library is divided into three branches (men's, women's, and children's).


title: Jeddah

text: The limited number of libraries is criticized by the public. As a result, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has approved the King Abdullah Project for the Development of Public Libraries, and approximately SAR150 million is budgeted to be spent.


title: Jeddah

text: In April 2014, Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdullah Abdulaziz opened a new public library in Jeddah by Makkah Governor, under the name of King Fahd Public Library.


title: Jeddah

text: King Fahd Public Library was built over an area of within the main Campus of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah. it includes a diverse collection of books and reference material classified into three sections to meet the needs and wants of a wide range of readership. Spaces have been set apart for youths, children and women.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is the home of the two largest well-known football clubs teams, Al-Ittihad Club and Al-Ahli Saudi FC. Both teams play their league matches at King Abdullah Stadium, which is located northern part of Jeddah near King Abdelaziz Airport.


title: Jeddah

text: The city is home to the 2015 Saudi Arabian basketball Champion Al-Ittihad Jeddah, which plays its home games in the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Basketball Arena.


title: Jeddah

text: On 5 November 2020, it was announced that Jeddah will host the round of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a street circuit, winding through the Jeddah Corniche along the Red Sea, north of the main part of the city. The race debuted on 5 December 2021, and is scheduled to be held in the city until 2025.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is served by King Abdulaziz International Airport. The airport has four passenger terminals. One is the Hajj Terminal, a special outdoor terminal covered by large white tents, which was constructed to handle the more than two million pilgrims who pass through the airport during the Hajj season. The Southern Terminal is used by Saudia and Flynas (both based in Saudi Arabia), while the Northern Terminal serves foreign airlines. A plan for the extension of the airport is being developed. The Royal Terminal is a special terminal reserved for VIPs, foreign kings and presidents, and the Saudi royal family. A portion of the airport, King Abdullah Air Base, was used by Coalition B-52 heavy bombers during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.


title: Jeddah

text: Before King Abdulaziz Airport opened in 1981, Kandara Airport served Jeddah. It was at Kandara, a neighborhood very near the town center. However, the old Jeddah airport experienced heavy congestions, especially during Hajj seasons. After the airport became defunct, the area was redeveloped for housing.


title: Jeddah

text: The Jeddah Seaport is the 32nd busiest seaport in the world . It handles the majority of Saudi Arabia's commercial movement.


title: Jeddah

text: Jeddah is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the Upper Adriatic region with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe.


title: Jeddah

text: Highway 40, which begins in Jeddah, connects the city to Mecca, Riyadh and Dammam on the east coast. Jeddah does not have any rapid transit system, but the Haramain High Speed Rail Project provides a connection to Mecca and Medina. There is a contracted plan to build an extensive light metro system known as the Jeddah Metro, throughout the city, originally by 2020. Jeddah's main highways run parallel to each other.


title: Jeddah

text: The city is challenged by pollution, weak sewage systems, a weak storm drain system that led to massive floodings, heavy traffic, epidemics, and water shortages.


title: Jeddah

text: Air pollution is a problem for Jeddah, particularly on hot summer days. The city has experienced bush fires, landfill fires, and pollution from the two industrial zones in the north and the south of the metropolitan area. A water treatment factory and the seaport also contribute to water pollution. Much of the seafront, however, is considered to be safe and clean. Ramboll has acted as Environmental Consultant on the Jeddah Environmental Impact Assessment as well as the Jeddah Environmental Social Masterplan.


title: Jeddah

text: On 6 December 2004, a group of five men associated with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda (Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula) conducted a mid-day attack on the U.S. Consulate, which killed five Consulate workers. The group was led by Fayez ibn Awwad Al-Jeheni, a former member of the Saudi religious police. Two other assailants were subsequently identified by the Saudi authorities as residents of Jeddah's Al-Jamia suburb and other slums on Saudi Arabia's increasingly urbanized west coast. Buildings were attacked, hostages taken and used as human shields, and the U.S. and non-U.S. staff were under siege, although the chancery/consular section building itself was never penetrated. Closed-circuit video feeds documented that the Saudi security personnel assigned to protect the facility fled when the vehicle holding the terrorists pulled up to the front gate and ran past the Delta barrier. Inside the compound, however, an armed Saudi security guard employed by the embassy shot and killed one terrorist before being fatally shot himself.


title: Jeddah

text: The attackers spread and ignited a flammable liquid on the front of the chancery building, and opened fire on the front doors, both of which actions did not have any penetrating effect. The Consulate's U.S. Marines released tear gas in front of the chancery building, but the terrorists had already left that location. More than an hour later, Saudi special forces made it through traffic and, along with others from their unit who arrived in a helicopter, fought to retake the compound. Two of the terrorists were killed in the final fight, with another dying later in hospital and the final militant being captured alive. Four Saudi special forces and a further 10 hostages were wounded in the crossfire.


title: Jeddah

text: The five Foreign Service National employees who died during the terrorist attack were Ali Yaslem Bin Talib, Imad e-Deen Musa Ali, Romeo de la Rosa, Mohammed Baheer Uddin, and Jaufar Sadik. The casualties came from Yemen, Sudan, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka.


title: Jeddah

text: The attack underscores the ongoing vulnerabilities of Westerners to threats, terrorist actions, and the environs. In a communiqué posted in online publications such as "Sawt al-Jihad" (Voice of Jihad) and "Mu'askar al-Battar" (Al-Battar Training Camp), Al-Qaeda hinted at the symbolic nature of the U.S. Consulate attack, stating: "Know that the Mujahideen are determined to continue on their path, and they will not be weakened by what has happened to them."


title: Jeddah

text: Terrorist activities have persisted from 2004 to the present day. In 2004 there was an unsuccessful shooting attack on a U.S. Marine visiting the Saudi American Bank and an attempt to simultaneously explode car bombs at Saudi American Bank and Saudi British Bank branches in Jeddah on the anniversary of the 2001 "9-11" terrorist attacks on the U.S. On 26 August 2012, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry announced that terrorists were arrested in Jeddah who had been preparing explosives for attacks within the kingdom.


title: Jeddah

text: In 2022, the Houthis launched a missile attack to an Aramco facility near the Jeddah circuit, where the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was held.


title: Jeddah

text: Roads and highways within and exiting the city are frequently clogged with traffic. Mass transit is rare and planning is nascent; most Jeddawi adults have at least one car. Motorcycles are rare on the roads, further impacting the traffic patterns. Days immediately preceding and following the holy days are particularly noisome and cost hundreds of thousands of man-hours because of traffic jams. The Saudi Gazette reports that there is a plan in the works to tackle the traffic issue. A reported 3 billion Saudi Riyals will be put into constructing flyovers and underpasses in an effort to expedite traffic. The plan is scheduled to take about five years from its start to finish.


title: Jeddah

text: Prior to the construction of a waste treatment plant, Jeddah's wastewater was disposed of by either discharge into the sea or via absorption into deep underground pits. As the city grew, a proper waste management plant was created and the built-up part of the city was connected with a sewer system by the 1970s. However, even with the ever-increasing population, the original sewer system has hardly been expanded. The original plant cannot cope with the amount of waste inundating it daily. As a result, some untreated sewage is discharged directly into the sea and the entire northern part of the city remains completely unconnected to the sewage system, instead of relying on septic tanks. This has been responsible for a large number of sewage tankers.


title: Jeddah

text: In late 2011, a storm drainage system was built in the south Jeddah area (similar to that of the Los Angeles storm drain) to reduce the risk of floods.


title: Jeddah

text: On 25 November 2009, heavy floods affected the city and other areas of Makkah Province. The floods were described by civil defence officials as the worst in 27 years. , 77 people were reported to have been killed, and more than 350 were missing. Some roads were under a meter (three feet) of water on 26 November, and many of the victims were believed to have drowned in their cars. At least 3,000 vehicles were swept away or damaged. The death toll was expected to rise as flood waters receded, allowing rescuers to reach stranded vehicles.


title: Jeddah

text: On 26 January 2011, again, heavy floods affected the city and other areas of Makkah Province. The cumulative rainfall exceeded the recorded in four hours during the 25 November 2009 flash floods. Streets including Palestine Street, Madinah Road, and Wali Al-Ahad Street were either flooded or jammed with traffic. Cars were seen floating in some places. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told local newspaper "Arab News" that East Jeddah was swamped and floodwater was rushing west towards the Red Sea, turning streets into rivers once again.


title: Jeddah

text: On 17 November 2015, heavy floods affected the city. Streets affected by the flood include Palestine Street, Madinah Road, and many others. Cars were seen burning, and many trees fell as a result of the violent flood. 3 deaths were also reported. 2 of the fatalities (including a child) were hit by lightning while crossing a street.


title: Jeddah

text: On 21 November 2017, heavy floods affected the city once more and Jeddah Islamic Port stopped operations for about 3 hours. Jeddah police received 11,000 phone calls on 911 from people enquiring about alternative roads and weather conditions. There were 250 reports of electrocution. Five people were electrocuted, two died.


title: Jeddah

text: On 24 November 2022, heavy floods affected mainly in Jeddah. Jeddah was heavily damaged from the flood and cause more than thousands of cars to be damaged by the flood and caused power outage to most of the city and the flood was approximately 1-2 meters high. Which caused flights delayed and school closed and 2 people killed.


title: Elk

text: The elk (Cervus canadensis), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common name of "elk" is open to confusion, as "elk" is the name used in British English for the larger "Alces alces", with similar names used by other European languages (German "Elch", Swedish "älg", and French "élan"). In North America, the common name for "Alces alces" is "moose". The name "wapiti" is sometimes used for "Cervus canadensis", which derives from the Shawnee and Cree word "waapiti", meaning 'white rump'.


title: Elk

text: Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Male elk have large antlers which they shed each year. Males also engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rut, including posturing, antler wrestling (sparring), and "bugling", a loud series of vocalizations that establishes dominance over other males and attracts females. Although it is currently native to North America and central/eastern Asia, it had a much wider distribution in the past. Populations were present across Eurasia into Western Europe during the Late Pleistocene and survived into the early Holocene in southern Sweden and the Alps; the extinct Merriam's elk subspecies ranged into Mexico. The elk has adapted well to countries where it has been introduced, including Argentina and New Zealand. Its adaptability may in fact threaten endemic species and the ecosystems into which it has been introduced.


title: Elk

text: Elk are susceptible to a number of infectious diseases, some of which can be transmitted to livestock. Efforts to eliminate infectious diseases from elk populations, largely by vaccination, have had mixed success. Some cultures revere the elk as having spiritual significance. In parts of Asia, antlers and their velvet are used in traditional medicines. Elk are hunted as a game species. Their meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken. Elk were long believed to belong to a subspecies of the European red deer ("Cervus elaphus"), but evidence from many mitochondrial DNA genetic studies beginning in 1998 shows that the two are distinct species. Key morphological differences that distinguish "C. canadensis" from "C. elaphus" are the former's wider rump patch and paler-hued antlers.


title: Elk

text: By the 17th century, "Alces alces" (called "elk" in Europe) had long been extirpated from the British Isles, and the meaning of the word "elk" to English-speakers became rather vague, acquiring a meaning similar to "large deer". The name "wapiti" is from the Shawnee and Cree word "waapiti" (in Cree syllabics: or ), meaning "white rump". There is a subspecies of wapiti in Mongolia called the Altai wapiti ("Cervus canadensis sibiricus"), also known as the Altai maral.


title: Elk

text: According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the etymology of the word "elk" is "of obscure history". In Classical Antiquity, the European "Alces alces" was known as and , words probably borrowed from a Germanic language or another language of northern Europe. By the 8th century, during the Early Middle Ages, the moose was known as derived from the Proto-Germanic: "*elho-", "*elhon-" and possibly connected with the . Later, the species became known in Middle English as "elk", "elcke", or "elke", appearing in the Latinized form "alke", with the spelling "alce" borrowed directly from . Noting that "elk" "is not the normal phonetic representative" of the Old English "elch", the "Oxford English Dictionary" derives "elk" from , itself from .


title: Elk

text: The American "Cervus canadensis" was recognized as a relative of the red deer ("Cervus elaphus") of Europe, and so "Cervus canadensis" was referred to as "red deer" Richard Hakluyt, in his 1584 "Discourse Concerning Western Planting", mentioned the continent's plentiful red deer (). Similarly, John Smith's 1616 "A Description of New England" referred to red deer. Sir William Talbot's 1672 English translation of John Lederer's Latin "Discoveries" likewise called the species "Red Deer", but noted in parentheses that they were "for their unusual largeness improperly termed Elks by ignorant people". Both Thomas Jefferson's 1785 "Notes on the State of Virginia" and David Bailie Warden's 1816 "Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the United States" used "red deer" to refer to "Cervus canadensis"..


title: Elk

text: Members of the genus "Cervus" (and hence early relatives or possible ancestors of the elk) first appear in the fossil record 25 million years ago, during the Oligocene in Eurasia, but do not appear in the North American fossil record until the early Miocene. The extinct Irish elk ("Megaloceros") was not a member of the genus "Cervus" but rather the largest member of the wider deer family (Cervidae) known from the fossil record.


title: Elk

text: Until recently, red deer and elk were considered to be one species, "Cervus elaphus", with over a dozen subspecies. But mitochondrial DNA studies conducted in 2004 on hundreds of samples from red deer and elk subspecies and other species of the "Cervus" deer family, strongly indicate that elk, or wapiti, should be a distinct species, namely "Cervus canadensis". DNA evidence validates that elk are more closely related to Thorold's deer and even sika deer than they are to the red deer.


title: Elk

text: Elk and red deer produce fertile offspring in captivity, and the two species have freely inter-bred in New Zealand's Fiordland National Park. The cross-bred animals have resulted in the disappearance of virtually all pure elk blood from the area. Key morphological differences that distinguish "C. canadensis" from "C. elaphus" are the former's wider rump patch and paler-hued antlers.


title: Elk

text: There are numerous subspecies of elk described, with six from North America and four from Asia, although some taxonomists consider them different ecotypes or races of the same species (adapted to local environments through minor changes in appearance and behavior). Populations vary in antler shape and size, body size, coloration and mating behavior. DNA investigations of the Eurasian subspecies revealed that phenotypic variation in antlers, mane and rump patch development are based on "climatic-related lifestyle factors".


title: Elk

text: Of the six subspecies of elk known to have inhabited North America in historical times, four remain, including the Roosevelt's ("C. canadensis roosevelti"), tule ("C. canadensis nannodes"), Manitoban ("C. canadensis manitobensis") and Rocky Mountain elk ("C. canadensis nelsoni"). The eastern elk ("C. canadensis canadensis") and Merriam's elk ("C. canadensis merriami") subspecies have been extinct for at least a century.


title: Elk

text: Four subspecies described in Asia include the Altai wapiti ("C. canadensis sibiricus") and the Tianshan wapiti ("C. canadensis songaricus"). Two distinct subspecies found in China, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula and Siberia are the Manchurian wapiti ("C. canadensis xanthopygus") and the Alashan wapitis ("C. canadensis alashanicus"). The Manchurian wapiti is darker and more reddish in coloration than the other populations. The Alashan wapiti of north central China is the smallest of all subspecies, has the lightest coloration and is the least studied.


title: Elk

text: Recent DNA studies suggest that there are no more than three or four subspecies of elk. All American forms, aside from possibly the tule and Roosevelt's elk, seem to belong to one subspecies ("Cervus canadensis canadensis"). Even the Siberian elk ("Cervus canadensis sibiricus") are more or less identical to the American forms and therefore may belong to this subspecies, too. However, the Manchurian wapiti ("Cervus canadensis xanthopygus") is clearly distinct from the Siberian forms, but not distinguishable from the Alashan wapiti. The Chinese forms (the Sichuan deer, Kansu red deer, and Tibetan red deer) also belong to the wapiti, and were not distinguishable from each other by mitochondrial DNA studies. These Chinese subspecies are sometimes treated as a distinct species, namely the Central Asian red deer ("Cervus hanglu"), which also includes the Kashmir stag.


title: Elk

text: Elk have thick bodies with slender legs and short tails. They have a shoulder height of with a nose-to-tail length of . Males are larger and weigh while females weigh . The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk ("C. c. roosevelti"), found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington, and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Roosevelt elk have been introduced into Alaska, where the largest males are estimated to weigh up to . More typically, male Roosevelt elk weigh around , while females weigh . Male tule elk weigh while females weigh . The whole weights of adult male Manitoban elk range from . Females have a mean weight of . The elk is the second largest extant species of deer, after the moose.


title: Elk

text: Antlers are made of bone, which can grow at a rate of per day. While actively growing, a soft layer of highly vascularized skin known as velvet covers and protects them. This is shed in the summer when the antlers have fully developed. Bull elk typically have around six tines on each antler. The Siberian and North American elk carry the largest antlers while the Altai wapiti has the smallest. Roosevelt bull antlers can weigh . The formation and retention of antlers are testosterone-driven. In late winter and early spring, the testosterone level drops, which causes the antlers to shed.


title: Elk

text: During the fall, elk grow a thicker coat of hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter. Both male and female North American elk grow thin neck manes; females of other subspecies may not. By early summer, the heavy winter coat has been shed. Elk are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. All elk have small and clearly defined rump patches with short tails. They have different coloration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with gray or lighter coloration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish, darker coat in the summer. Subspecies living in arid climates tend to have lighter colored coats than do those living in forests. Most have lighter yellow-brown to orange-brown coats in contrast to dark brown hair on the head, neck, and legs during the summer. Forest-adapted Manchurian and Alashan wapitis have red or reddish-brown coats with less contrast between the body coat and the rest of the body during the summer months. Calves are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, and lose them by the end of summer. Adult Manchurian wapiti may retain a few orange spots on the back of their summer coats until they are older. This characteristic has also been observed in the forest-adapted European red deer.


title: Elk

text: Elk are among the most gregarious deer species. During the summer group size can reach 400 individuals. For most of the year, adult males and females are segregated into different herds. Female herds are larger while bulls form small groups and may even travel alone. Young bulls may associate with older bulls or female groups. Male and female herds come together during the mating season, which may begin in late August. Males try to intimidate rivals by vocalizing and displaying with their antlers. If neither bull backs down, they engage in antler wrestling, sometimes sustaining serious injuries.


title: Elk

text: Bulls have a loud, high-pitched, whistle-like vocalization known as "bugling", which advertise the male's fitness over great distances. Unusual for a vocalization produced by a large animal, buglings can reach a frequency of 4000 Hz. This is achieved by blowing air from the glottis through the nasal cavities. Elk can produce deeper pitched (150 Hz) sounds using the larynx. Cows produce an alarm bark to alert other members of the herd to danger, while calves will produce a high-pitched scream when attacked.


title: Elk

text: Female elk have a short estrus cycle of only a day or two, and matings usually involve a dozen or more attempts. By the autumn of their second year, females can produce one and, very rarely, two offspring. Reproduction is most common when cows weigh at least . Dominant bulls follow groups of cows during the rut from August into early winter. A bull will defend his harem of 20 cows or more from competing bulls and predators. Bulls also dig holes in the ground called wallows, in which they urinate and roll their bodies. A male elk's urethra points upward so that urine is sprayed almost at a right angle to the penis. The urine soaks into their hair and gives them a distinct smell which attracts cows.


title: Elk

text: A bull interacts with cows in his harem in two ways: herding and courtship. When a female wanders too far away from the harem's range, the male will rush ahead of her, block her path and aggressively rush her back to the harem. Herding behavior is accompanied by a stretched out and lowered neck and the antlers laid back. A bull may get violent and hit the cow with his antlers. During courtship, the bull is more peaceful and approaches her with his head and antlers raised. The male signals his intention to test the female for sexual receptivity by flicking his tongue. If not ready, a cow will lower her head and weave from side to side while opening and closing her mouth. The bull will stop in response in order not to scare her. Otherwise, the bull will copiously lick the female and then mount her.


title: Elk

text: Younger, less dominant bulls, known as "spike bulls" because their antlers have not yet forked, will harass unguarded cows. These bulls are impatient and will not perform any courtship rituals and will continue to pursue a female even when she signals him to stop. As such, they are less reproductively successful, and a cow may stay close to the big bull to avoid harassment. Dominant bulls are intolerant of spike bulls and will chase them away from their harems.


title: Elk

text: The gestation period is eight to nine months and the offspring weigh around . When the females are near to giving birth, they tend to isolate themselves from the main herd, and will remain isolated until the calf is large enough to escape predators. Calves are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, and they lose their spots by the end of summer. After two weeks, calves are able to join the herd, and are fully weaned at two months of age. Elk calves are as large as an adult white-tailed deer by the time they are six months old. Elk will leave their natal (birth) ranges before they are three years old. Males disperse more often than females, as adult cows are more tolerant of female offspring from previous years. Elk live 20 years or more in captivity but average 10 to 13 years in the wild. In some subspecies that suffer less predation, they may live an average of 15 years in the wild.


title: Elk

text: As is true for many species of deer, especially those in mountainous regions, elk migrate into areas of higher altitude in the spring, following the retreating snows, and the opposite direction in the fall. Hunting pressure impacts migration and movement. During the winter, they favor wooded areas for the greater availability of food to eat. Elk do not appear to benefit from thermal cover. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem elk herds comprise as many as 40,000 individuals. During the spring and fall, they take part in the longest elk migration in the continental U.S., traveling as much as between summer and winter ranges. The Teton herd consists of between 9,000 and 13,000 elk and they spend winters on the National Elk Refuge, having migrated south from the southern portions of Yellowstone National Park and west from the Shoshone and Bridger–Teton National Forests.


title: Elk

text: Elk are ruminants and therefore have four-chambered stomachs. Unlike white-tailed deer and moose, which are chiefly browsers, elk are similar to cattle in that they are primarily grazers. But like other deer, they also browse. Elk have a tendency to do most of their feeding in the mornings and evenings, seeking sheltered areas in between feedings to digest. Their diets vary somewhat depending on the season, with native grasses being a year-round supplement, tree bark being consumed in winter, and forbs and tree sprouts during the summer. Elk consume an average of of vegetation daily. Particularly fond of aspen sprouts which rise in the spring, elk have had some impact on aspen groves which have been declining in some regions where elk exist. Range and wildlife managers conduct surveys of elk pellet groups to monitor populations and resource use.


title: Elk

text: Predators of elk include wolves, coyotes, brown and black bears, cougars, and Siberian tigers. Coyote packs mostly prey on elk calves, though they can sometimes take a winter- or disease-weakened adult. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes Yellowstone National Park, bears are the most significant predators of calves while healthy bulls have never been recorded to be killed by bears and such encounters can be fatal for bears. The killing of cows in their prime is more likely to affect population growth than the killing of bulls or calves.


title: Elk

text: Elk may avoid predation by switching from grazing to browsing. Grazing puts an elk in the compromising situation of being in an open area with its head down, leaving it unable to see what is going on in the surrounding area. Living in groups also lessens the risk of an individual falling to predation. Large bull elk are less vulnerable and can afford to wander alone, while cows stay in larger groups for protection for their calves. Bulls are more vulnerable to predation by wolves in late winter, after they have been weakened by months of chasing females and fighting. Males that have recently lost their antlers are more likely to be preyed upon.


title: Elk

text: At least 53 species of protist and animal parasites have been identified in elk. Most of these parasites seldom lead to significant mortality among wild or captive elk. "Parelaphostrongylus tenuis" (brainworm or meningeal worm) is a parasitic nematode known to affect the spinal cord and brain tissue of elk and other species, leading to death. The definitive host is the white-tailed deer, in which it normally has no ill effects. Snails and slugs, the intermediate hosts, can be inadvertently consumed by elk during grazing. The liver fluke "Fascioloides magna" and the nematode "Dictyocaulus viviparus" are also commonly found parasites that can be fatal to elk. Since infection by either of these parasites can be lethal to some commercial livestock species, their presence in elk herds is of some concern.


title: Elk

text: Chronic wasting disease, transmitted by a misfolded protein known as a prion, affects the brain tissue in elk, and has been detected throughout their range in North America. First documented in the late 1960s in mule deer, the disease has affected elk on game farms and in the wild in a number of regions. Elk that have contracted the disease begin to show weight loss, changes in behavior, increased watering needs, excessive salivation and urinating and difficulty swallowing, and at an advanced stage, the disease leads to death. No risks to humans have been documented, nor has the disease been demonstrated to pose a threat to domesticated cattle. In 2002, South Korea banned the importation of elk antler velvet due to concerns about chronic wasting disease.


title: Elk

text: The Gram-negative bacterial disease brucellosis occasionally affects elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the only place in the U.S. where the disease is still known to exist, though this can extend out to the Bighorn Mountains. In domesticated cattle, brucellosis causes infertility, abortions, and reduced milk production. It is transmitted to humans as undulant fever, producing influenza-like symptoms that may last for years. Though bison are more likely to transmit the disease to other animals, elk inadvertently transmitted brucellosis to horses in Wyoming and cattle in Idaho. Researchers are attempting to eradicate the disease through vaccinations and herd-management measures, which are expected to be successful. Nevertheless, research has been ongoing since 2002, and a successful vaccine has yet to be developed .


title: Elk

text: A recent necropsy study of captive elk in Pennsylvania attributed the cause of death in 33 of 65 cases to either gastrointestinal parasites (21 cases, primarily "Eimeria" sp. and "Ostertagia" sp.) or bacterial infections (12 cases, mostly pneumonia).


title: Elk

text: Elk hoof disease was first noticed in the state of Washington in the late 1990s in the Cowlitz River basin, with sporadic reports of deformed hooves. Since then, the disease has spread rapidly with increased sightings throughout southwest Washington and into Oregon. The disease is characterised by deformed, broken, or missing hooves and leads to severe lameness in elk. The primary cause is not known, but it is associated with treponeme bacteria, which are known to cause digital dermatitis in commercial livestock. The mode of transmission is also not known, but it appears to be highly contagious among elk. Studies are being undertaken by government departments to determine how to halt or eliminate the disease.


title: Elk

text: The elk ranges from central Asia though to Siberia and east Asia and in North America. They can be found in open deciduous woodlands, boreal forests, upland moors, mountainous areas and grasslands. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) list the species as least-concern species. The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America. During the Late Pleistocene their range was much more extensive, being distributed across Eurasia, with remains being found as far west as France. These populations are most closely related to modern Asian populations of the elk. Their range collapsed at the start of the Holocene, possibly because they were specialized to cold periglacial tundra-steppe habitat. When this environment was replaced largely by closed forest the red deer might have outcompeted the elk. Relictual populations survived into the early Holocene (until around 3000 years ago) in southern Sweden and the Alps, where the environment remained favorable.


title: Elk

text: As of 2014, population figures for all North American elk subspecies were around one million. Prior to the European colonization of North America, there were an estimated 10 million on the continent.


title: Elk

text: There are many past and ongoing examples of reintroduction into areas of the US. Elk were reintroduced in Michigan in 1918 after going extinct in 1875. The Rocky Mountain elk subspecies was reintroduced by hunter-conservation organizations into the Appalachian region of the U.S. where the now extinct eastern elk once lived. Since the late 1990s, they were reintroduced and recolonized in the states of Wisconsin, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia. In the state of Kentucky, the elk population in 2022 had increased to over 15,000 animals. In 2016, a male elk, likely from the Smoky Mountains population, was sighted in South Carolina for the first time in nearly 300 years. Since 2015, elk have also been reintroduced in a number of other states, including Pennsylvania, Missouri, and introduced to the islands of Etolin and Afognak in Alaska. Reintroduction of the elk into Ontario began in the early 20th century and is ongoing with limited success.


title: Elk

text: Elk and red deer were introduced to Argentina in the early 20th century. There they are now considered an invasive species, encroaching on Argentinian ecosystems where they compete for food with the indigenous Chilean huemul and other herbivores. This negative impact on native animal species has led the IUCN to identify the elk as one of the world's 100 worst invaders.


title: Elk

text: The introduction of deer to New Zealand began in the middle of the 19th century, and current populations are primarily European red deer, with only 15 percent being elk. There is significant hybridization of elk with red deer. These deer have had an adverse impact on forest regeneration of some plant species, as they consume more palatable species, which are replaced with those that are less favored by the elk. The long-term impact will be an alteration of the types of plants and trees found, and in other animal and plant species dependent upon them. As in Chile and Argentina, the IUCN has declared that red deer and elk populations in New Zealand are an invasive species.


title: Elk

text: Elk have played an important role in the cultural history of a number of peoples. Neolithic petroglyphs from Asia depict antler-less female elk, which have been interpreted as symbolizing life and sustenance. They were also frequently overlaid with boats and associated with rivers, suggesting they also represented paths to the underworld. Petroglyphs of elk were carved into cliffs by the Ancestral Puebloans of the southwestern U.S. hundreds of years ago. The elk was of particular importance to the Lakota and played a spiritual role in their society. The male elk was admired for its ability to attract mates, and Lakota men will play a courting flute imitating a bugling elk to attract women. Men used elks' antlers as love charms and wore clothes decorated with elk images.


title: Elk

text: The Rocky Mountain elk is the official state animal for Utah. An image of an elk and a moose appear on the state seal and flag of Michigan. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.) chose the elk as its namesake because a number of its attributes seemed appropriate for cultivation by members of the fraternity. Jewel encrusted, gold mounted elk teeth are prized possession of many members of the B.P.O.E..


title: Elk

text: Although breakdown figures for each game species are not available in the 2006 National Survey from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunting of wild elk is most likely the primary economic impact.


title: Elk

text: While elk are not generally harvested for meat production on a large scale, some restaurants offer the meat as a specialty item and it is also available in some grocery stores. The meat has a taste somewhere between beef and venison and is higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, and chicken. Elk meat is a good source of iron, phosphorus and zinc.


title: Elk

text: A male elk can produce of antler velvet annually and on ranches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand, it is collected and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is used in medicine. Some cultures consider velvet to be an aphrodisiac. However, consuming velvet from elk in North America may be risky since velvet from animals infected with chronic wasting disease may contain prions that could result in a human getting variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.


title: Elk

text: Antlers are also used in artwork, furniture and other novelty items. All Asian subspecies, along with other deer, have been raised for their antlers in central and eastern Asia by Han Chinese, Turkic peoples, Tungusic peoples, Mongolians, and Koreans. Elk farms are relatively common in North America and New Zealand. Native Americans have used elk hides for tepee covering, clothing and footwear.


title: Elk

text: Since 1967, the Boy Scouts of America have assisted employees at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming by collecting the antlers which are shed each winter. They are then auctioned, with 80% of the proceeds returned to the refuge. In 2010, of antlers were auctioned, bringing in over $46,000.


title: Winx Club

text: Winx Club is an animated series co-produced by Rainbow SpA and later Nickelodeon. It was created by Italian animator Iginio Straffi. The show is set in a magical universe that is inhabited by fairies, witches, and other mythical creatures. The main character is a fairy warrior named Bloom, who enrolls at Alfea College to train and hone her skills. The series uses a serial format that has an ongoing storyline. It premiered on 28 January 2004, becoming a ratings success in Italy and on Nickelodeon networks internationally.


title: Winx Club

text: Iginio Straffi initially outlined the show's plot to last three seasons. He chose to continue the story for a fourth season in 2009. Around this time, "Winx Club"s popularity attracted the attention of the American media company Viacom, owner of Nickelodeon. Viacom purchased 30% of the show's animation studio, RainbowSpA, and Nickelodeon began producing a revival series. Production on the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons was divided between Rainbow and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. To attract an American audience, Viacom assembled a voice cast of Nickelodeon actors (including Elizabeth Gillies and Ariana Grande), invested in advertising for the series, and inducted "Winx Club" into Nickelodeon's franchise of Nicktoons.


title: Winx Club

text: Beginning in 2010, episodes of "Winx Club" have been jointly written with Nickelodeon's American team. Nickelodeon's writers aim to make the series multicultural and appealing toward viewers from different countries. In 2019, Straffi commented on his near-decade of collaboration with Nickelodeon, saying that "the know-how of Rainbow and the know-how of Nickelodeon are very complementary; the sensibilities of the Americans, with our European touch." The continued partnership between Rainbow and Nickelodeon on "Winx Club" has led to the development of more co-productions, including "Club 57" in 2019, on which much of "Winx Club"s staff worked.


title: Winx Club

text: The series was subject to budget cuts in 2014, during its seventh season. The 3D computer-generated segments and Hollywood voice actors were deemed too costly to keep using. The seventh season eventually premiered on Nickelodeon's worldwide channels in 2015. After a four-year hiatus, an eighth season premiered in 2019. At Straffi's decision, this season was retooled for a preschool target audience. Most of the show's longtime crew members were not called back to work on season 8. Straffi stepped away from the series at this time, shifting his focus to "Club 57" and other live-action projects. A live-action adaptation of "Winx Club" for young adults, titled "", premiered in 2021.


title: Winx Club

text: The series follows the adventures of a group of girls known as the Winx, students at the Alfea College for Fairies, who turn into fairies to fight villains. The team is made up of Bloom, the red-haired leader with fire-based powers; Stella, the fairy of the Sun; Flora, the fairy of nature; Tecna, the fairy of technology; Musa, the fairy of music; and Aisha, the fairy of waves. The main male characters are called the Specialists, a group of students at the Red Fountain school who are also the Winx fairies' boyfriends. They include Bloom's fiancé Sky; Stella's fiancé Brandon; Flora's boyfriend Helia; Tecna's boyfriend Timmy; and Musa's boyfriend Riven. Unlike their female counterparts, the Specialists do not have magical powers and instead train how to fight using laser weapons. The Winx and Specialists' most common adversaries are a trio of witches named the Trix: Icy, Darcy, and Stormy, all former students of the Cloud Tower school.


title: Winx Club

text: "Winx Club" is set in a vast universe that has several dimensions. Most episodes take place in the Magic Dimension, which is closed off to ordinary people and inhabited by creatures from European mythology like fairies, witches, and monsters. The capital of this world is the city of Magix—which is located on the planet of the same name—where the three main magic schools are situated. The other planets of the Magic Dimension include Bloom's home planet Domino, Stella's home planet Solaria, Flora's home planet Lynphea, Tecna's home planet Zenith, Musa's home planet Melody, and Aisha's home planet Andros. Some episodes take place on Earth, where Bloom spent her childhood.


title: Winx Club

text: During the 1990s, comic artist Iginio Straffi noticed that most action cartoons focused on male heroes; at the time, he felt that the "cartoon world was devoid of female characters." Straffi hoped to introduce an alternative show with a female lead aged 16 to 18, as he wanted to "explore the psychological side" of the transition to adulthood. He decided to develop a pilot centred on the conflict between two rival colleges; one for fairies and another for witches. Straffi compared his original premise to "a sort of 'Oxford–Cambridge rivalry' in a magical dimension". In expanding the concept, Iginio Straffi drew his inspiration from Japanese manga and the comics of Sergio Bonelli.


title: Winx Club

text: Straffi's pilot, which was titled "Magic Bloom," featured the original five Winx members in attires like those of traditional European fairies. It was produced during a twelve-month development period that included animation tests, character studies, and market surveys. The animation attracted the interest of Rai Fiction, which paid for 25% of the production cost in exchange for Italian broadcast rights and a share of the series' revenue over 15 years. After holding test screenings of the pilot, however, Straffi was unhappy with the audience's unenthusiastic reaction to the characters' outdated clothing style and stated that the pilot did not satisfy him. In a 2016 interview, Straffi said the result "looked like just another Japanese-style cartoon ... but nothing like [the modern] "Winx"". He likened his feelings about the pilot to an "existential crisis" and chose to scrap the entire test animation despite an investment of over in the completed pilot.


title: Winx Club

text: To rework the concept, Straffi's team hired Italian fashion designers to restyle the show and give the characters a brighter, more modern appearance. Production of the restyled series began by 2002, and Rainbow estimated the episodes would be delivered to distributors by late 2003. The new name of the series ("Winx") was derived from the English word "wings". Straffi's aim was to appeal to both genders, including action sequences designed for male viewers and fashion elements for female viewers. At the October 2003 MIPCOM event, Rainbow screened the show's first episode to international companies. The first season had its world premiere on Italian television channel Rai 2 on 28 January 2004.


title: Winx Club

text: From the beginning of development, Iginio Straffi planned an overarching plot that would end after "a maximum" of 78 episodes. Straffi stated that the "Winx" saga "would not last forever" in 2007, and he intended the first movie ("") to resolve any plot points remaining from the third-season finale. In 2008, Straffi decided to extend the series, citing its increasing popularity.


title: Winx Club

text: In February 2011, the American company Viacom (owner of Nickelodeon) became a co-owner of the Rainbow studio; Viacom bought 30% of Rainbow for 62 million euros (US$83 million). Viacom originally planned to buy out the entire Rainbow studio but wanted to keep Iginio Straffi at the helm, leaving Straffi with 70%. Coinciding with the purchase, Viacom announced that Nickelodeon would team up with the original creator on an "all-new "Winx Club"" revival series. Viacom financed and staffed the revived series, dividing production between Viacom's Nickelodeon Animation Studio in the United States and Rainbow in Italy.


title: Winx Club

text: The revived series began with four special episodes that summarize the first two seasons of the original show, followed by the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. As the production team was divided between two countries, Nickelodeon released a statement commenting on how "Winx Club" was an unusual production for the company: "it's not our usual practice to co-produce cartoons; we make them by ourselves. But we strongly believe in "Winx"." Along with another brand revival ("Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"), "Winx Club" was officially inducted into Nickelodeon's franchise of Nicktoons, a brand that encompasses original animated productions created for the network. On each episode of the revived series, Nickelodeon approved scripts and all phases of animation. Nickelodeon brought on some of its long-time staff members, such as creative director Janice Burgess, and writers Sascha Paladino, Adam Peltzman, and Carin Greenberg.


title: Winx Club

text: On 7 April 2014, Rainbow and Nickelodeon announced their continuing partnership on the seventh season of "Winx Club", with a planned premiere date of 2015. Straffi said of the season: "It will be a privilege to partner once more with Nickelodeon on this." During this season's production, Rainbow was undergoing a multimillion-euro financial loss due to the box office failure of its film "Gladiators of Rome". This made them cut costs on "Winx Club", its most expensive show. The CGI-animated segments and California voice cast from the previous two seasons were deemed too costly to continue using for season 7. As with the previous two seasons, the copyright to season 7 is co-owned by Rainbow and Viacom. The first episode aired on 22 June 2015, on Nickelodeon in Asia, followed by its American broadcast on the Nick Jr. channel on 10 January 2016.


title: Winx Club

text: The president of Nickelodeon International, Pierluigi Gazzolo, was responsible for arranging the co-production partnership and became a member of Rainbow's board of directors (a role he continues to serve in, as of November 2019). In addition to financing the television series, Viacom provided the resources necessary to produce a . In 2019, Iginio Straffi commented on the two studios' near-decade of continued work together, saying that "the know-how of Rainbow and the know-how of Nickelodeon are very complementary; the sensibilities of the Americans, with our European touch." "Winx Club" opened the opportunity for Nickelodeon and Rainbow to collaborate on additional co-productions together, including various pilots from 2014 onward and "Club 57" in 2019.


title: Winx Club

text: The eighth season of the series was not produced immediately after the seventh. It followed a multiple-year hiatus and was not made as a direct continuation of the previous season. At Iginio Straffi's decision, Season 8 was heavily retooled to appeal to a preschool target audience.


title: Winx Club

text: For season 8, Rainbow's creative team restyled the characters to appear younger, hoping to increase the appeal toward preschoolers. The plot lines were simplified so that they could be understood by a younger audience. Most of the show's longtime crew members were not called back to work on this season, including art director Simone Borselli, who had designed the series' characters from season 1 to 7, and singer Elisa Rosselli, who had performed a majority of the songs. In another change from previous seasons, Nickelodeon's American team served as consultants rather than directly overseeing the episodes; at the time, Nickelodeon was instead working with Rainbow on a new co-production, "Club 57". Season 8 was also the first-ever season without the involvement of Rai Fiction.


title: Winx Club

text: Iginio Straffi made the decision to shift the show's intended audience after years of gradually aiming toward a younger demographic. In a 2019 interview, Straffi explained that decreasing viewership from older viewers and an increased audience of young children made this change a necessity. He elaborated that "the fans of the previous "Winx Club" say on social media that the new seasons are childish, but they don't know that we "had" to do that." Straffi stepped away from the series at this time and did not oversee season 8's production like he had for the previous installments. He instead shifted his focus to live-action projects aimed at older audiences: Nickelodeon's "Club 57" and "". Straffi explained that "the things we had to tone down [in season 8] have been emphasized in the live action–the relationships, the fights, the love stories." He added that he hopes that "Fate" will satisfy the "20-year-olds who still like to watch "Winx"."


title: Winx Club

text: The series' visuals are a mixture of Japanese anime and European elements, which Iginio Straffi calls "the trademark Rainbow style". The main characters' original designs were based on Straffi's original sketches and later updated to 3D CGI iterations. The main characters were modelled on celebrities popular at the turn of the 21st century. In a 2011 interview with "IO Donna", Straffi stated that Britney Spears served as an inspiration for Bloom, Cameron Diaz for Stella, Jennifer Lopez for Flora, Pink for Tecna, Lucy Liu for Musa, and Beyoncé for Aisha. This approach was part of Straffi's aim for the fairies to represent "the women of today."


title: Winx Club

text: A team of specialized artists designs the characters' expressions and outfits for each season. About 20 tables of expressions and positions from all angles are drawn for each character. The designers start to develop characters' costumes by creating collages from magazine clippings of recent fashion trends. Using these as references, they draw multiple outfits for each character. Simone Borselli, the series' art director, designed most of the characters' early-season clothing despite lacking a background in fashion design. When asked by an interviewer where his fashion intuition came from, Borselli responded, "From being gay."


title: Winx Club

text: The first stage in the production of an episode is developing its script, a process that can last 5–6 months. When the series began production, the writers were based entirely in Italy. After Viacom became a co-owner of Rainbow in 2011, Rainbow's group of 30 writers began collaborating with teams in both Italy and the United States. The international coordination, which has continued through 2019, intends to make scenarios depicted in the program multicultural and accessible to viewers from different countries. Episodes are written with two stories in mind: a longer narrative arc that lasts for tens of episodes and a subplot that concludes at the end of the 22-minute runtime. This episode structure was modelled on those of teen dramas and American comics. Themes written into the series include romance, the acquisition of maturity upon reaching adulthood, and (in the fifth season) nature conservation.


title: Winx Club

text: After the script and character designs have been approved, the screenplay is passed onto a group of storyboard artists. For each 22-minute episode, the artists prepare 450 pages of storyboards which are used to assemble an animatic. At this stage, dialogue and music are added to determine the length of each scene. In the original series (seasons 1–4), the characters' mouths were animated to match the Italian voice actors' lines; in the revived series, the mouth movements were matched to the English scripts. Episodes are worked on concurrently because each requires around two years of work to complete.


title: Winx Club

text: At the beginning of the first season, the production team worked from Rainbow's original headquarters in Recanati. In 2006, Straffi opened a second studio in Rome for computer-animated projects. During the fifth and sixth seasons, 3D CGI sequences were incorporated into the series for the first time, animated at the studio in Rome. According to the Rainbow CGI animators, the animation of the characters' hair in underwater scenes was particularly difficult, and it was animated separately from the characters.


title: Winx Club

text: In Italy, the series' voice actors include Letizia Ciampa (Bloom), Perla Liberatori (Stella), Ilaria Latini (Flora), Domitilla D'Amico (Tecna), Gemma Donati (Musa), and Laura Lenghi (Aisha). According to Ilaria Latini, the characters were cast before the character designs were finalized and the actors were shown black-and-white sketches of their roles. The actors record their lines in Rome. Seasons 1–4 were animated to match the Italian voices. Starting with season 5, the animation was synchronized to match the English scripts.


title: Winx Club

text: The 2011 specials introduced a new cast of Hollywood voice actors. Iginio Straffi himself helped to choose the voices of the main characters, and the actors recorded their lines at the Atlas Oceanic studio in Burbank, California. Molly Quinn voiced the lead role of Bloom, and at first, she tried out a cartoony voice for her character. Nickelodeon advised her to use her real voice instead, saying, "No, we want voices of real girls this time around."


title: Winx Club

text: For the 2011 cast, Viacom hired popular actors whose names were advertised on-air to attract American viewers; these stars included Ariana Grande as Diaspro, Elizabeth Gillies as Daphne, Keke Palmer as Aisha, Matt Shively as Sky, and Daniella Monet as Mitzi. These actors provided voices for the first two "Winx" films and seasons three through six. In 2014, Viacom relocated the series' English cast to DuArt in New York City; this was done as a cost-cutting and time-saving measure since Rainbow was undergoing a significant financial loss at the time. Despite the change in voice actors, the series' animation continued to be matched to Nickelodeon and Rainbow's English scripts for the seventh season.


title: Winx Club

text: Original songs have been recorded in about 40 languages for the show. Frequent composers for the program include Michele Bettali, Stefano Carrara, Fabrizio Castania, and Maurizio D'Aniello. One of Nickelodeon's composers, Emmy and Grammy Award recipient Peter Zizzo, joined the team during Nickelodeon's joint production of the fifth season. His music is featured in the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. Each song takes between five and twelve months to complete. Many of the show's tracks are performed by Italian singer Elisa Rosselli, who started recording songs for "Winx" in 2007. Rosselli continued to produce music for the show (usually in collaboration with D'Aniello or Peter Zizzo from Nickelodeon) until its seventh season.


title: Winx Club

text: Nickelodeon created a few live-action music videos for "Winx Club" that were performed by stars from other Nick shows. One featured Elizabeth Gillies from "Victorious" (who also voiced Bloom's sister, Daphne) singing "We Are Believix." This song was released as a stand-alone single on iTunes. Another music video featured Cymphonique Miller from "How to Rock" singing "Winx, You're Magic Now." Miller also did a live performance of her "Winx" song at Nickelodeon's upfront presentation in Las Vegas.


title: Winx Club

text: "Winx Club" first premiered on the Italian television channel Rai 2 on 28 January 2004. Reruns later aired on Rai Gulp, a sister channel to Rai 2 aimed at children, shortly after the network launched in 2007. On 2 September 2010, Nickelodeon announced through a press release that they would be producing brand-new seasons with Rainbow. Nickelodeon debuted four one-hour specials (also co-produced with Rainbow) summarizing the first two seasons, the first of which premiered on their flagship American channel on 27 June 2011. With the exception of Italy, the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons launched on Nickelodeon channels domestically and internationally.


title: Winx Club

text: During the sixth season in 2014, episode premieres were moved from Rai 2 to Rai Gulp in Italy, and from Nickelodeon to Nick Jr. in the United States. The change to younger-skewing networks followed Rainbow's lowering of "Winx Club"s target demographic to a younger audience than the earlier seasons. The seventh season was jointly announced by Nickelodeon and Rainbow in April 2014 as part of their continuing partnership. The seventh season made its world premiere on Nickelodeon Greece on 24 May 2015, and the English version debuted on Nickelodeon Asia on 22 June 2015. It later premiered on Rai Gulp in Italy (21 September 2015) and Nick Jr. in the United States (10 January 2016).


title: Winx Club

text: By 2014, the show had been aired in over 150 countries. In 2019, after the Viacom-CBS merger announcement, Informa's "Television Business International" listed the show among the most important Viacom properties internationally. Third-party broadcasters that acquired the show included China's CCTV, Ireland's TG4, and 4Kids TV, the last of which aired the series in the United States until their broadcast agreement was permanently revoked by Rainbow in 2009. 4Kids censored and edited the original content in an attempt at localization. Iginio Straffi criticized these adjustments in a 2008 interview, saying, "The Winx fairies cannot talk about boys there. I think this removes something essential." Straffi wanted to launch the series in Japan, but he abandoned the idea due to the country's regulation that foreign content producers must pay for airtime.


title: Winx Club

text: In June 2022, Paramount (the rebranded name of ViacomCBS) launched a 24-hour "Winx Club" channel on their Pluto TV on-demand service. The channel is currently only available on the Spanish and French feeds.


title: Winx Club

text: Upon its debut, "Winx Club" was a ratings success. During its first season in 2004, the series became one of the highest-rated programs on Rai 2 with an average audience share of 17%. Among viewers 4–14 years old, the average share was 45%. In France and Belgium, the season reached a 56% share among 10 to 14-year-olds. According to Rai in 2009, the gender mix of "Winx Club" audience was nearly equal across the first three seasons; in the target demographic of 4–14 years of age, females represented only 3% more of the audience than males. The premiere of the fourth season set a record for an animated show's audience on Rai 2 with 500,000 viewers. In 2007, Iginio Straffi noted that there were lower ratings in English-speaking territories than in Europe at the time, which he surmised was due to cultural differences.


title: Winx Club

text: On 27 June 2011, the first special produced with Nickelodeon premiered on Nick U.S. to 2.278 million viewers. Each of the following three specials performed better than the previous ones, with the fourth ("The Shadow Phoenix") rating #1 in its time slot among viewers aged 2–11. During the first quarter of 2012, an average of 38.5 million viewers watched the series across nine of Nickelodeon's international outlets, a 60% increase from the fourth quarter of 2011. On Nickelodeon UK, "Winx Club" increased the network's ratings by 58% on its launch weekend in September 2011, ranking as the second-most-popular program on the channel and the most popular show with females aged 7–15. As of 2021, "Winx Club" is still broadcast daily on Nickelodeon UK's main network.


title: Winx Club

text: In a "New York Times" article, Bocconi University professor Paola Dubini stated that the themes and characters of "Winx Club" appealed to both the target audience and their parents. Dubini wrote that the fairies' "defined and different personalities" made them relatable to viewers. Common Sense Media reviewer Tara Swords gave the show a three-star review, calling it "an imaginative story with bold, take-charge heroines" while also arguing that the show is hindered by its design elements.


title: Winx Club

text: "Winx Club" has attracted academic interest for its presentation of gender roles. In the journal of Volgograd State University, Russian sociologists Georgiy Antonov and Elena Laktyukhina judged that female characters in the series are depicted as dominant, while males are shown to be passive. As examples of women adopting traditionally male roles, they listed the female fairies fighting for their boyfriends, saving them from enemies, and inviting them on dates, while at the same time having difficulty performing household duties like cooking and cleaning. Writing for , Zalina Dokhova and Tatiana Cheprakova stated that the series conveys "both positive and negative stereotypes", citing the opposite personalities of Stella and Aisha. They wrote that Stella's character incorporates stereotypically feminine passions for shopping and clothes, while Aisha represents a more realistic character with an interest in male-dominated sports.


title: Winx Club

text: Rhodes University professor Jeanne Prinsloo wrote in 2014 that "Winx Club" episodes "present complex narratives with active female protagonists and positive relationships that validate 'girl power'". In an interview with the newspaper "Corriere della Sera", psychotherapist highlighted positive aspects of the show, like friendship, guiding female viewers "away from supermodels to which the commercial world drags them". "IlSole 24 Ore" also wrote positively about the show's feminist themes, commending how the characters "expose narcissistic masculinity".


title: Winx Club

text: The characters' outfits caused some controversy in June 2017, when the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) fined Nickelodeon's Pakistani channel after it aired an episode where the Winx are shown in swimsuits.


title: Winx Club

text: "Winx Club" has been popular at fan conventions. For example, in 2012 and 2013, the series had a large presence at Nickelodeon's San Diego Comic-Con booth, where new collectibles were raffled off to fans. Nickelodeon made two exclusive dolls for the 2012 event (a silver Bloom and a gold Bloom) and two more for 2013 (Daphne in her nymph form and Bloom in her Harmonix form). In 2015, a four-day "Winx Club" fan gathering was held in Jesolo, where Nickelodeon installed a "Fan Wall" to display messages from worldwide fans. In October 2018, an exhibition for the series' fifteenth anniversary was held at Europe's largest comics festival, the Lucca Comics & Games convention in Tuscany.


title: Winx Club

text: Federico Vercellino of "Il Sole 24 Ore" described the series as "a destructive and constructive phenomenon" that introduced viewers to feminist stories about rebellious female characters. A 2019 study conducted for the "Corriere della Sera" reported that "Winx Club" was the fourth-most-popular Italian series outside of the country, with strong demand in Russia and the United States.


title: Winx Club

text: In 2018, Giovanna Gallo of "Cosmopolitan" stated that the program's characters have become "real icons of fashion" and noted the show's popularity with cosplayers, performance artists who wear costumes and accessories to represent the show's characters. "Winx Club" costumes were the focus of a second-season episode of "The Apprentice", in which Flavio Briatore challenged the show's teams to create three "Winx" outfits intended for females 25–35 years of age, which were to be submitted to the judgment of Iginio Straffi. "la Repubblica"s Marina Amaduzzi attributed the popularity of "Winx"-inspired fashion to fans' desire to emulate the characters, stating that "Winx fanatics dress, move and breathe like their heroines".