title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah, a prosperous seaport throughout the nineteenth century, was the Confederacy's sixth most populous city and the prime objective of General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea. Early on December 21, 1864, local authorities negotiated a peaceful surrender to save Savannah from destruction, and Union troops marched into the city at dawn.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah was named for the Savannah River, which probably derives from variant names for the Shawnee, a Native American people who migrated to the river in the 1680s. The Shawnee destroyed another Native people, the Westo, and occupied their lands at the head of the Savannah River's navigation on the fall line, near present-day Augusta. These Shawnee, whose Native name was "Ša·wano·ki" (literally, "southerners"), were known by several local variants, including Shawano, Savano, Savana and Savannah. Another theory is that the name Savannah refers to the extensive marshlands surrounding the river for miles inland, and is derived from the English term "savanna," a kind of tropical grassland, which was borrowed by the English from Spanish "sabana" and used in the Southern Colonies. (The Spanish word comes from the Taino word "zabana".) Still other theories suggest that the name Savannah originates from Algonquian terms meaning not only "southerners" but perhaps "salt."


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah lies on the Savannah River, approximately upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water (5.15%). Savannah is the primary port on the Savannah River and the largest port in the state of Georgia. It is also located near the U.S. Intracoastal Waterway. Georgia's Ogeechee River flows toward the Atlantic Ocean some south of downtown Savannah, and forms the southern city limit.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah is prone to flooding, due to abundant rainfall, an elevation at just above sea level, and the shape of the coastline, which poses a greater surge risk during hurricanes. The city currently uses five canals. In addition, several pumping stations have been built to help reduce the effects of flash flooding.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah's climate is classified as humid subtropical (Köppen "Cfa"). In the Deep South, this is characterized by long and almost tropical summers and short, mild winters. Savannah records few days of freezing temperatures each year (and has rare snowfall). Due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, Savannah rarely experiences temperatures as extreme as those in Georgia's interior. Nevertheless, the extreme temperatures have officially ranged from , on July 20, 1986 and July 12, 1879, down to during the January 1985 Arctic outbreak.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Seasonally, Savannah tends to have hot and humid summers with frequent (but brief) thunderstorms that develop in the warm and tropical air masses, which are common. Although summers in Savannah are frequently sunny, half of Savannah's annual precipitation falls during the months of June through September. Average dewpoints in summer range from . Winters in Savannah are mild and sunny with average daily high temperatures of in January. November and December are the driest months recorded at Savannah–Hilton Head International Airport. Each year Savannah reports 21 days on average with low temperatures below freezing, though in some years fewer than 10 nights will fall below freezing, and the city has even gone an entire winter season (that of 1879-80) without recording a freeze. Although decades might pass between snowfall events, Savannah has experienced snow on rare occasions, most notably in December 1989, when up to was recorded in one day in parts of the city.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah is at risk for hurricanes, particularly of the Cape Verde type of storms that take place during the peak of the season. Because of its location in the Georgia Bight (the arc of the Atlantic coastline in Georgia and northern Florida) as well as the tendency for hurricanes to re-curve up the coast, Savannah has a lower risk of hurricanes than some other coastal cities such as Charleston, South Carolina. Savannah was seldom affected by hurricanes during the 20th century, with one exception of being hit by Hurricane David in 1979. However, the historical record shows that the city was frequently affected during the second half of the 19th century. The most prominent of these storms was the 1893 Sea Islands hurricane, which killed at least 2,000 people. (This estimate may be low, as deaths among the many impoverished rural African Americans living on Georgia's barrier islands may not have been reported.)


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah was most recently affected by an active 2016 hurricane season, including Hurricane Matthew (which made a partial eyewall landfall), and was brushed by Hurricane Irma in 2017.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The first meteorological observations in Savannah probably occurred at Oglethorpe Barracks circa 1827, continuing intermittently until 1850 and resuming in 1866. The Signal Service began observations in 1874, and the National Weather Service has kept records of most data continually since then; since 1948, Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport has served as Savannah's official meteorological station. Annual records (dating back to 1950) from the airport's weather station are available on the web.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah is a city of diverse neighborhoods. More than 100 distinct neighborhoods can be identified in six principal areas of the city: Downtown (Landmark Historic District and Victorian District), Midtown, Southside, Eastside, Westside, and Southwest/West Chatham (recently annexed suburban neighborhoods).


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Besides the Savannah Historic District, one of the nation's largest, five other historic districts have been formally demarcated:


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Savannah's official 2020 population was 147,780, up from the official 2010 count of 136,286 residents. The Census Bureau's official 2020 population of the Savannah metropolitan area—defined by the Census Bureau as Bryan, Chatham, and Effingham counties—was 404,798, up 16.45% from the 2010 Census population of 347,611. Savannah is also the largest principal city of the Savannah–Hinesville–Statesboro–Jesup Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area that includes the Savannah and Hinesville Metropolitan Statistical Areas as well as the Statesboro and Jesup Micropolitan Statistical Areas. The official 2020 population of this area was 597,465, up from 525,844 at the 2010 Census.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 147,780 people, 53,371 households, and 29,496 families residing in the city.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In the official 2010 census of Savannah, there were 136,286 people, 52,615 households, and 31,390 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 57,437 dwelling units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 55.04% Black, 38.03% White, 2.00% Asian, 0.03% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 2.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.07% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 32.6% of the population in 2010, compared to 46.2% in 1990.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: There were 51,375 households, out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.2% were married couples living together, 21.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.13.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In the city, the age distribution was as follows: 25.6% were under the age of 18, 13.2% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The median income for a household in the city was $29,038, and the median income for a family was $36,410. Males had a median income of $28,545 versus $22,309 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,921. About 17.7% of families and 21.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.4% of those under age 18 and 15.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah adopted a council-manager form of government in 1954. The city council consists of the mayor and eight aldermen, six of whom are elected from one of six aldermanic districts, with each district electing one member. The other two members and the mayor are elected at-large.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The council levies taxes, enacts ordinances, adopts the annual budget, and appoints the City Manager. The City Manager enacts the policies and programs established by council, recommends an annual budget and work programs, appoints bureau and department heads, and exercises general supervision and control over all employees of the city.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 2003 Savannah and Chatham County voted to merge their city and county police departments. The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department was established on January 1, 2005, after the Savannah Police Department and Chatham County Police Department merged.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In February 2018, the city and county governments ended the police department merger. This reestablished both the Savannah Police Department and the Chatham County Police Department, and they now operate as two separate agencies. The departments have a number of specialty units, including K-9, SWAT, Bomb Squad, Marine Patrol, Dive, Air Support and Mounted Patrol. The 9-1-1 Communications Dispatch Center handles all 9-1-1 calls for service within the county and city, including fire and EMS. The Savannah Fire Department serves the City of Savannah, and there are separate municipal firefighting organizations elsewhere in Chatham County.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Lester Jackson (D) and Ben Watson (R) represent the Savannah area in the Georgia State Senate. Derek Mallow (D), Ron Stephens (R), Edna Jackson (D) and Jesse Petrea (R) represent the area in the Georgia House of Representatives.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Agriculture was essential to Savannah's economy during its first two centuries. Silk and indigo production, both in demand in England, were early export commodities. By 1767, almost a ton of silk per year was exported to England.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Georgia's mild climate offered perfect conditions for growing cotton, which became the dominant commodity after the American Revolution. Its production under the plantation system and shipment through the Port of Savannah helped the city's European immigrants to achieve wealth and prosperity.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In the nineteenth century, the Port of Savannah became one of the most active in the United States, and Savannahians had the opportunity to consume some of the world's finest goods, imported by foreign merchants. Savannah's port has always been a mainstay of the city's economy. In the early years of the United States, goods produced in the New World had to pass through Atlantic ports such as Savannah's before they could be shipped to England.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah's first hotel, City Hotel, was completed in 1821. It also housed the city's first United States Post Office branch.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The Port of Savannah, manufacturing, the military, and tourism have become Savannah's four major economic drivers in the twenty-first century. In 2006, the Savannah Area Convention & Visitors Bureau reported over 6.85 million tourists to the city during the year. By 2011, the Bureau reported that the number of tourists the city attracted increased to 12.1 million. Lodging, dining, entertainment, and tourist-related transportation account for over $2 billion in tourist spending per year and employ over 17,000.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: For years, Savannah was the home of Union Camp, which housed the world's largest paper mill. The plant is now owned by International Paper, and it remains one of Savannah's largest employers. Savannah is also home to the Gulfstream Aerospace company, maker of private jets, as well as various other large industrial interests. TitleMax is headquartered in Savannah. Morris Multimedia, a newspaper and television company, is also based in Savannah.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 2000, JCB, the third-largest producer of construction equipment in the world and the leading manufacturer of backhoes and telescopic handlers, built its North American headquarters in Chatham County near Savannah in Pooler on I-95 near Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Between 2009 and 2017, Savannah was North America's fourth-largest port for shipping container traffic. In 2019, the port continues to see record growth with a reported 4.5 million, 20-foot equivalent container units being moved in the fiscal year.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Beyond its architectural significance as being the nation's largest, historically restored urban area, the city of Savannah has a rich and growing performing arts scene, offering cultural events throughout the year.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah's architecture, history, and reputation for Southern charm and hospitality are internationally known. The city's former promotional name was "Hostess City of the South," a phrase still used by the city government. An earlier nickname was "the Forest City", in reference to the large population of live oak trees that flourish in the Savannah area. These trees were especially valuable in shipbuilding during the 19th century. In 2019, Savannah attracted 14.8 million visitors from across the country and around the world. Savannah's downtown area is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The city's location offers visitors access to the coastal islands and the Savannah Riverfront, both popular tourist destinations. Tybee Island, formerly known as "Savannah Beach", is the site of the Tybee Island Light Station, the first lighthouse on the southern Atlantic coast. Other picturesque towns adjacent to Savannah include the shrimping village of Thunderbolt and three residential areas that began as summer resort communities for Savannahians: Beaulieu, Vernonburg, and the Isle of Hope.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The Savannah International Trade & Convention Center is located on Hutchinson Island, across from downtown Savannah and surrounded by the Savannah River. The Belles Ferry connects the island with the mainland, as does the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The Georgia Historical Society, an independent educational and research institution, has a research center in Savannah. The research center's library and archives hold the oldest collection of materials related to Georgia history.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah has consistently been named one of "America's Favorite Cities" by ""Travel + Leisure"." In 2012, the magazine rated Savannah highest in "Quality of Life and Visitor Experience." Savannah was also ranked first for "Public Parks and Outdoor Access," visiting in the Fall, and as a romantic escape. Savannah was also named as America's second-best city for "Cool Buildings and Architecture," behind only Chicago.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah is noted for its 22 squares, small parks arranged along five historic streets running north to south. Each street has from three to five squares. The squares vary in size and character, from the formal fountain and monuments of the largest, Johnson, to the playgrounds of the smallest, Crawford. Elbert, Ellis, and Liberty Squares are classified as the three "lost squares," destroyed in the course of urban development during the 1950s. Elbert and Liberty Squares were paved over to make way for a realignment of U.S. highway 17, while Ellis Square was demolished to build the City Market parking garage. The city restored Ellis Square after razing the parking garage. The garage has been rebuilt as an underground facility, the Whitaker Street Parking Garage, and it opened in January 2009. The restored Ellis Square opened in March 2010. Separate efforts are now under way to revive Elbert and Liberty Squares.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Franklin Square is the site of Savannah's Haitian Monument, which commemorates the heroic efforts of the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue in the 1779 Siege of Savannah and for an independent America. One of the few black regiments to fight for the American side in the Revolutionary War, the soldiers were recruited from present-day Haiti, until 1804 the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Chippewa Square honors the Battle of Chippawa during the War of 1812. It features a large statue of James Oglethorpe, the city's founder. In popular culture, the square is the location of the park bench seen in the 1994 film "Forrest Gump" from which the title character dispenses wisdom to others waiting for a bus.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Because both Calhoun Square (the official name until 2022) and Whitefield Square were named for prominent slaveholders, a movement was begun in 2021 to rename them Sankofa Square and Jubilee Square, respectively.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Founded in 1733, with the establishment of the Georgia colony, Christ Church (Episcopal) is the longest continuous Christian congregation in Georgia. Early rectors include the Methodist evangelists John Wesley and George Whitefield. Located on the original site on Johnson Square, Christ Church continues as an active congregation.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The Independent Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1755, is located near Chippewa Square. The church's current sanctuary (its third) dates from the early 1890s.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The First Bryan Baptist Church is an African American church that was organized by Andrew Bryan in 1788. The site was purchased in 1793 by Bryan, a former slave who had also purchased his freedom. The first structure was erected there in 1794. By 1800, the congregation was large enough to split: those at Bryan Street took the name of First African Baptist Church, and Second and Third African Baptist churches were also established. The current sanctuary of First Bryan Baptist Church was constructed in 1873.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 1832, a controversy over doctrine caused the First African Baptist congregation at Bryan Street to split. Some members left, taking with them the name of First African Baptist Church. In 1859, the members of this new congregation (most of whom were slaves) built their current church building on Franklin Square.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 1874, the St. Benedict the Moor Church was founded in Savannah, the first African-American Catholic church in Georgia, and one of the oldest in the Southeast.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The oldest standing house of worship is First Baptist Church (1833), located on Chippewa Square. Other historic houses of worship in Savannah include: Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Roman Catholic), Temple Mickve Israel (the third oldest synagogue in the U.S.), and St. John's Church (Episcopal).


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Among the historic homes that have been preserved are: the Olde Pink House, the Sorrel–Weed House, Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace, the Davenport House Museum, the Green–Meldrim House, the Owens–Thomas House, the William Scarbrough House, and the Wormsloe plantation of Noble Jones. Mercer Williams House, the former home of Jim Williams in Monterey Square, is the main location of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Opulent buildings that succumbed to fire include the mansions at Bonaventure Plantation and Greenwich Plantation.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Colonial Park Cemetery was the city's principal burial ground for much of the eighteenth century, when Georgia was a British colony. Laurel Grove Cemetery, with the graves of many Confederate soldiers and African American slaves, was Savannah's chief municipal cemetery during the nineteenth century. Bonaventure Cemetery is a former plantation and the final resting place for some illustrious Savannahians. Also located in Savannah are the Mordecai Sheftall Cemetery and the Levi Sheftall Family Cemetery, which both date back to the second half of the eighteenth century.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Fort Jackson (named for the Georgia politician James Jackson, not Andrew Jackson) lies on the Savannah River, one mile east of Savannah's Historic District. Built between 1808 and 1812 to protect the city from attack by sea, it was one of several Confederate forts defending Savannah from Union forces during the Civil War. Fort Pulaski National Monument, located on Cockspur Island, east of Savannah, preserves the largest fort protecting the city during the war. The Union Army bombarded Fort Pulaski in April 1862 with the aid of a new rifled cannon. Confederate troops soon surrendered, and the cannon effectively rendered all brick fortifications obsolete.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Various centers for shopping exist about the city including Abercorn Common, Savannah Historic District, Oglethorpe Mall, Savannah Mall and Abercorn Walk.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Portions of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile-long (5,000 kilometer) system of trails from Maine to Florida, run through Savannah.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah hosts four colleges and universities offering bachelor's, master's, and professional or doctoral degree programs: Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah State University, and South University. In addition, Georgia Tech Savannah offers certificate programs, and Georgia Southern University has a satellite campus in the downtown area. Savannah Technical College, a two-year technical institution and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a marine science research institute of the University of Georgia located on the northern end of Skidaway Island, offer educational programs as well. Savannah is also the location of Ralston College, a liberal arts college founded in 2010.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Mercer University began a four-year doctor of medicine program in August 2008 at Memorial University Medical Center. Mercer, with its main campus in Macon, received additional state funding in 2007 to expand its existing partnership with Memorial by establishing a four-year medical school in Savannah (the first in southern Georgia). Third- and fourth-year Mercer students have completed two-year clinical rotations at Memorial since 1996; approximately 100 residents are trained each year in a number of medical practices. The expanded program opened in August 2008 with 30 first-year students.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 2012, Savannah Law School opened in the historic Candler building on Forsyth Park. The school is fully ABA-accredited and offers full-time as well as part-time programs leading to the juris doctor degree. In early 2018, however, the administration announced that the school would close at the end of the spring semester.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah is also home to most of the schools in the Chatham County school district, the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Notable secondary schools in Savannah-Chatham County include the following. (Public schools are indicated with an asterisk.)


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Oatland Island Wildlife Center of Savannah is also a part of Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. An environmental education center, it serves thousands of students from schools throughout the Southeastern United States. Located east of Savannah on a marsh island, it features a Native Animal Nature Trail that winds through maritime forest, salt marsh, and freshwater wetlands. Along the trail, visitors can observe native animals, such as Florida panthers, Eastern timber wolves, and alligators in their natural habitat.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah's major television stations are WSAV-TV, channel 3 (NBC); WTOC-TV, channel 11 (CBS); WJCL, channel 22 (ABC); and WTGS, channel 28 (Fox). Two PBS member stations serve the city: WVAN (channel 9), part of Georgia Public Broadcasting; and WJWJ-TV (channel 16), part of SCETV.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: "The Georgia Gazette" was the Georgia colony's first newspaper and was published in Savannah beginning April 7, 1763. Today the "Savannah Morning News" is Savannah's only remaining daily newspaper. It first appeared on January 15, 1850 as the "Daily Morning News". Both the "Savannah Tribune" and the "Savannah Herald" are weekly newspapers with a focus on the city's African-American community. "Connect Savannah" is a free weekly newspaper focused on local news, culture and music.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: "The Coastal Buzz" is the metro area's only media company dedicated to "positive news." It is owned by Positive Life Media.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is located off Interstate 95 west of Savannah. The airlines serving this airport year-round are Allegiant Air, American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta, Delta Connection, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Express. Air Canada Express, Frontier Airlines, Sun County Airlines and United Airlines offer seasonal services only.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Amtrak operates a passenger terminal at Savannah for its "Palmetto" and "Silver Service" trains, which run between New York City and Miami. (Three southbound and three northbound trains make daily stops at the Savannah terminal).


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Public transit throughout the region is assured by Chatham Area Transit (CAT). There are 17 fixed routes, plus the CAT's dot (downtown transportation) system, which provides fare-free bus service on the Forsyth Loop and Downtown Loop, as well as free passage to and from Hutchinson Island via the Savannah Belles Ferry.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The total number of violent crimes in the Savannah-Chatham County reporting area ran just above 1,000 per year from 2003 through 2006. In 2007, however, the total number of violent crimes jumped to 1,163. Savannah-Chatham has recorded between 20 and 25 homicides each year since 2005.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 2007, Savannah-Chatham recorded a sharp increase in home burglaries but a sharp decrease in larcenies from parked automobiles. During the same year, statistics show a 29 percent increase in arrests for Part 1 crimes.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: An additional increase in burglaries occurred in 2008 with 2,429 residential burglaries reported to Savannah-Chatham police that year. That reflects an increase of 668 incidents from 2007. In 2007, there were 1,761 burglaries, according to metro police data.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: In 2009, 11,782 crimes were reported to metro police — 753 fewer than in 2008. Within that 2009 number is a 12.2 percent decrease in violent crimes when compared with 2008. Property crimes saw a 5.3 percent decline, which included a 5.2 percent reduction in residential burglary. In 2008, residential burglary was up by almost 40 percent. While some violent crimes increased in 2009, crimes like street robbery went down significantly. In 2009, 30 homicides were reported, four more than the year before. Also, 46 rapes were reported, nine more than the year before. In the meantime, street robbery decreased by 23 percent. In 2008, metro police achieved a 90 percent clearance rate for homicide cases, which was described as exceptional by violent crimes unit supervisors. In 2009, the department had a clearance rate of 53 percent, which police attributed to outstanding warrants and grand jury presentations.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: The SCMPD provide the public with up-to-date crime report information through an online mapping service. This information can be found here. 2015 saw a dramatic increase in the number of violent crimes, including at least 54 deaths due to gun violence, a number not seen since the early 1990s. The first quarter of 2018 saw crime trending downward, compared to 2017.


title: Savannah, Georgia

text: Savannah's unincorporated suburbs within Chatham County include several located on urbanized barrier islands east of the city.


title: Speedtest.net

text: Speedtest.net, also known as Speedtest by Ookla, is a web service that provides free analysis of Internet access performance metrics, such as connection data rate and latency. It is the flagship product of Ookla, a web testing and network diagnostics company founded in 2006, and based in Seattle, Washington, United States.


title: Speedtest.net

text: The service measures the data throughput ("speed") and latency ("connection delay") of an Internet connection against one of around 11,000 geographically dispersed servers (as of August 2021). Each test measures the data rate for the download direction, i.e. from the server to the user computer, and the upload data rate, i.e. from the user's computer to the server. The tests are performed within the user's web browser or within apps. , over 21 billion speed tests have been completed.


title: Speedtest.net

text: Tests were previously performed using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) at Layer 7 of the OSI model. To further improve accuracy, Speedtest.net now performs tests via direct Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) sockets and uses a custom protocol for communication between servers and clients.


title: Speedtest.net

text: The site also offers detailed statistics based on test results. This data has been used by numerous publications in the analysis of Internet access data rates around the world.


title: Speedtest.net

text: The owner and operator of Speedtest.net, Ookla, was established in 2006 by partners Mike Apgar and Doug Suttles. Suttles suggested the name Ookla because he already owned the Ookla.com domain name in honor of his pet cat, who was in turn named for a character on the TV series "Thundarr the Barbarian". The domain speedtest.net has been used to host a speed test since 2000, speedtest.net only became known to the general public after the acquisition by Ookla in 2006.


title: Speedtest.net

text: As of 2011, Ookla claimed 80% market share and was one of the top 1000 most popular websites. At the time, Ookla derived its revenue primarily from fees paid by companies to license custom speed test and proprietary testing software. Clients reportedly included media companies like CNN and Disney, and telecommunications providers like AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink.


title: Speedtest.net

text: Speedtest.net started as a Flash based broadband speed test service. Ookla took years to port the speed test from Flash to HTML5. The new HTML5 based speed test went out of beta on January 9, 2018.


title: Speedtest.net

text: In 2016, Speedtest began releasing market reports for different countries and cities, providing raw statistics regarding download and upload speeds for the past year for ISPs and mobile carriers. It also includes analysis of the current ISP and mobile markets of the respective country and breakdowns by region and city. ISPs and mobile carriers are ranked by their geographic performance.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: "Düsseldörp" ; archaic ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a population of 617,280.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf is located at the confluence of two rivers: the Rhine and the Düssel, a small tributary. The "-dorf" suffix means "village" in German (English cognate: "thorp"); its use is unusual for a settlement as large as Düsseldorf. Most of the city lies on the right bank of the Rhine. Düsseldorf lies in the centre of both the Rhine-Ruhr and the Rhineland Metropolitan Region. It neighbours the Cologne Bonn Region to the south and the Ruhr to the north. It is the largest city in the German Low Franconian dialect area (closely related to Dutch).


title: Düsseldorf

text: Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world. Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's fourth-busiest airport, serving as the most important international airport for the inhabitants of the densely populated Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area. Düsseldorf is an international business and financial centre, renowned for its fashion and trade fairs, and is headquarters to one Fortune Global 500 and two DAX companies. Messe Düsseldorf organises nearly one fifth of premier trade shows. As second largest city of the Rhineland, Düsseldorf holds Rhenish Carnival celebrations every year in February/March, the Düsseldorf carnival celebrations being the third most popular in Germany after those held in Cologne and Mainz.


title: Düsseldorf

text: There are 22 institutions of higher education in the city including the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, the university of applied sciences (Hochschule Düsseldorf), the academy of arts (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, whose members include Joseph Beuys, Emanuel Leutze, August Macke, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, and Andreas Gursky), and the university of music (Robert-Schumann-Musikhochschule Düsseldorf). The city is also known for its influence on electronic/experimental music (Kraftwerk) and its Japanese community. Düsseldorf is classified as a GaWC Beta+ world city.


title: Düsseldorf

text: When the Roman Empire was strengthening its position throughout Europe, a few Germanic tribes clung on in marshy territory off the eastern banks of the Rhine. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd farming or fishing settlement could be found at the point where the small river Düssel flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Düsseldorf grew.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The first written mention of Düsseldorf (then called "Dusseldorp" in the local Low Rhenish dialect) dates back to 1135. Under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa the small town of Kaiserswerth to the north of Düsseldorf became a well-fortified outpost, where soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement on the Rhine. Kaiserswerth eventually became a suburb of Düsseldorf in 1929. In 1186, Düsseldorf came under the rule of the Counts of Berg. 14 August 1288 is one of the most important dates in the history of Düsseldorf. On this day the sovereign Count Adolf VIII of Berg granted the village on the banks of the Düssel town privileges. Before this, a bloody struggle for power had taken place between the Archbishop of Cologne and the count of Berg, culminating in the Battle of Worringen.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The Archbishop of Cologne's forces were wiped out by the forces of the count of Berg who were supported by citizens and farmers of Cologne and Düsseldorf, paving the way for Düsseldorf's elevation to city status, which is commemorated today by a monument on the Burgplatz. The custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin of the cartwheeling children. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger) represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest. After this battle the relationship between the four cities deteriorated, because they were commercial rivals; it is often said that there is a kind of hostility between the citizens of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Today, it finds its expression mainly in a humorous form (especially during the Rhineland "Karneval") and in sports.


title: Düsseldorf

text: A market square sprang up on the banks of the Rhine and the square was protected by city walls on all four sides. In 1380, the dukes of Berg moved their seat to the town and Düsseldorf was made regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. During the following centuries several famous landmarks were built, including the . In 1609, the ducal line of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died out, and after a virulent struggle over succession, Jülich and Berg fell to the Wittelsbach Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg, who made Düsseldorf their main domicile, even after they inherited the Electorate of the Palatinate, in 1685, becoming now Prince-electors as Electors Palatine.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Under the art-loving Johann Wilhelm II (r. 1690–1716), a vast art gallery with a huge selection of paintings and sculptures, were housed in the "Stadtschloss" (city castle). After his death, the city fell on hard times again, especially after Elector Charles Theodore inherited Bavaria and moved the electoral court to Munich. With him he took the art collection, which became part of what is now the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Destruction and poverty struck Düsseldorf after the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon made Berg a Grand Duchy and Düsseldorf its capital. Johann Devaranne, a leader of Solingen's resistance to Napoleon's conscription decrees, was executed here in 1813. After Napoleon's defeat, the whole Rhineland including Berg was given to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. The Rhine Province's parliament was established in Düsseldorf. By the mid-19th century, Düsseldorf enjoyed a revival thanks to the Industrial Revolution as the city boasted 100,000 inhabitants by 1882; the figure doubled in 1892.


title: Düsseldorf

text: During World War I the Royal Naval Air Service (RNS) undertook the first Entente strategic bombing missions on 22 September 1914, when it bombed the Zeppelin bases in Düsseldorf.


title: Düsseldorf

text: In 1920, Düsseldorf became the centre of the General Strike. On 15 April 1920, 45 delegates of the German Miners Union were murdered by the Freikorps.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The Rabbi of the Düsseldorf Jewish Community fled to the Netherlands and died in KZ Auschwitz in 1943. The city was a target of strategic bombing during World War II, particularly during the RAF bombing campaign in 1943 when over 700 bombers were used in a single night. Raids continued late into the war. As part of the campaign against German oil facilities, the RAF raid of 20–21 February on the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of the city halted oil production there. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Düsseldorf in mid-April 1945. The United States 97th Infantry Division easily captured the city on 18 April 1945, after the local German Resistance group launched Aktion Rheinland.


title: Düsseldorf

text: In 1946, Düsseldorf was made capital of the new federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation guided Düsseldorf's economic growth.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf lies at the centre of the Lower Rhine basin, where the delta of the Düssel flows into the Rhine. The city lies on the east side of the Rhine, except District 4 (Oberkassel, Niederkassel, Heerdt and Lörick).


title: Düsseldorf

text: Across the Rhine, the city of Neuss stands on the delta of the Erft. Düsseldorf lies southwest of the Ruhr urban area, and in the middle of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf is built entirely on alluvium, mud, sand, clay and occasionally gravel. The highest point in Düsseldorf is the top of Sandberg in the far eastern part of the city (Hubbelrath borough) at . The lowest point is at the far northern end in Wittlaer borough where the Schwarzbach enters the Rhine, with an average elevation of .


title: Düsseldorf

text: The following districts and cities border Düsseldorf (clockwise starting from the north): the City of Duisburg, the District of Mettmann (Ratingen, Mettmann, Erkrath, Hilden, Langenfeld, and Monheim), and the District of Neuss (Dormagen, Neuss, and Meerbusch).


title: Düsseldorf

text: The city has an oceanic climate (Köppen: "Cfb", mild in relation to East Germany). Like the rest of the lower Rhineland, Düsseldorf experiences moderate winters with little snowfall and mild to warm summers. The average annual temperature is with an average yearly precipitation of . The dominant wind direction is from the west with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7–9 mph), with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s (8–10.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter.


title: Düsseldorf

text: With a population of 612,178 within the city boundaries (31 December 2015), Düsseldorf is Germany's seventh largest city. Its population surpassed the threshold of 100,000 inhabitants during the height of industrialisation in 1882, and peaked at just over 705,000 in 1962. The city then began to lose residents with many moving into neighbouring municipalities. However, since the late 1990s, the city's population has been slowly rising again.


title: Düsseldorf

text: A total of 109,883 (18%) of Düsseldorf's population are foreigners (31 December 2008), the majority of whom come from within Europe (81,742). The largest national minorities are Turks, Greeks, and Poles. Düsseldorf and its surroundings have the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 people). Düsseldorf has the third-largest Jewish community in Germany, with about 7,000 members.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Since 1975, Düsseldorf is divided into ten administrative boroughs. Each borough ("Stadtbezirk") has its own elected borough council (Bezirksvertretung) and its own borough mayor (Bezirksvorsteher). The borough councils are advisory only. Each borough is further subdivided into quarters ("Stadtteile"). There are 50 quarters in Düsseldorf.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The current Mayor of Düsseldorf is Stephan Keller of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who was elected in 2020.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:


title: Düsseldorf

text: The Düsseldorf city council ("Düsseldorfer Stadtrat") governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf has become one of the top telecommunications centres in Germany. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone and E-Plus, Düsseldorf leads the German mobile phone market. There are many foreign information and communication technology companies in Düsseldorf such as Huawei, NTT, Ericsson, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. There are 18 internet service providers located in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are two airlines with headquarters in the city: Eurowings and formerly independent LTU International.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Many of the internet companies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400 advertising agencies in Düsseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group, Grey Global Group and Publicis. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, TBWA, and DDB. There are also about 200 publishing houses in Düsseldorf.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Peek & Cloppenburg (fashion); Uniper (electricity generation); L'Oréal Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty); Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); Metro (wholesale, retail); Ceconomy (retail); Esprit Holdings (fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf); BASF Personal Care & Nutrition (formerly Cognis – chemicals, headquarter in Monheim near Düsseldorf, but production mainly in Düsseldorf).


title: Düsseldorf

text: Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and Japan. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European headquarters in Düsseldorf – so many that Düsseldorf has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, after London and Paris.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The "Kö", which stands for Königsallee ("King's Avenue"), is a shopping destination. Some jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries have their stores here. The Kö has among the highest rents for retail and office space in Germany.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The city is an important financial center. More than 30,000 people work for the financial and insurance sector in Düsseldorf. There are around 170 national and international financial institutions, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of Germany's eight stock exchanges. HSBC has its German headquarter in Düsseldorf and employs 3.000 people. NRW.BANK is a development bank of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the largest state development bank in Germany. NRW.BANK was spun off from WestLB in 2002. Today Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have major branches in Düsseldorf with about 2.000 employees. Düsseldorf is also the most important German financial center for Japanese credit institutions. MUFG Bank, SMBC and Mizuho have their German headquarters in Düsseldorf. Also Santander has its German headquarters in the Düsseldorf region. Some major insurance companies like ERGO, a subsidiary of Munich Re, and ARAG are located in the city. Several other major financial service companies have their headquarters in the city.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Important newspapers and journals such as "Handelsblatt", "Rheinische Post", "Wirtschaftswoche", "Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt" and "VDI-Nachrichten" are published in Düsseldorf. Almost all of these papers are available online. Renowned filmmaking companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise, the Riech Group, and TV channels such as WDR and QVC are located in Düsseldorf. The "Film- und Medienstiftung NRW" foundation supports the production of film and new media.


title: Düsseldorf

text: With regard to movies and movie theatres in Düsseldorf, moviegoers are able to view movies in a range of different languages. Many mainstream movies are shown in English, Spanish, French, and German.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf Airport, also referred to as Rhein-Ruhr Airport, is located north of the city centre and can easily be reached by train or the S-Bahn urban railway. There is a long-distance train station served by regional and national services, which is linked to the airport by the SkyTrain, an automatic people mover. Another station situated under the terminal building carries the S-Bahn line (S11) to Düsseldorf Central Station, and to Cologne as well as a few selected night services.


title: Düsseldorf

text: After those of Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's third largest commercial airport, with 25.5 million passengers annually (2019). The airport offers 180 destinations on 4 continents, and is served by 70 airlines. The airport buildings were partly destroyed by a devastating fire caused by welding works in 1996, killing 17 people. It was completely rebuilt and the Skytrain installed.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The city is a major hub in the Deutsche Bahn (DB) railway network. More than 1,000 trains stop in Düsseldorf daily. Düsseldorf Central Station at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is located in Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte. Several Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn lines connect Düsseldorf to other cities of Rhine-Ruhr. Local Düsseldorf Straßenbahn and light rail Düsseldorf Stadtbahn traffic, as well as local bus traffic, is carried out by the city-owned Rheinbahn which operates within the VRR public transport system. The light rail system also serves neighbouring cities and is partially operated underground. The Central Station and the Airport Station (Flughafen-Bahnhof) are connected to the national and European high-speed systems (Intercity/Eurocity, IC/EC and InterCityExpress).


title: Düsseldorf

text: In Düsseldorf there are 1320 officially licensed Taxis. According to the regulations, the cars are always in ivory colour. On the back window you always find a black number on a yellow patch. Credit card payment has to be accepted at the Taxi stands at Airport of Düsseldorf.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The supply of taxis in Düsseldorf is over the German average. Two taxi organisations cover the market. "Taxi-Düsseldorf" offers more than 1180 cabs in different sizes for max. 8 Passengers. The smaller one is "Rhein-Taxi" with more than 120 cabs. It is obligatory to carry out any journeys to destinations in the city and directly neighbouring cities.


title: Düsseldorf

text: In addition to stationary car sharing, where vehicles must be returned to their original location after use, one-way carsharing vehicles have also been available for hire since 2012. These vehicles, which can be parked anywhere where parking is normally allowed within Düsseldorf, can be rented from Car2go, Greenwheels, Stadtmobil and DriveNow.


title: Düsseldorf

text: North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of autobahns in Germany and Düsseldorf is directly accessible via the A3, A44, A46, A52, A57, A59 and A524.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf is connected to some national and international cycling paths, including EV15 The Rhine Cycle Route.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The city of Düsseldorf is a member of the German North Rhine-Westphalia District, Municipality and City Friends of Pedestrians and Cyclists Working Group, who bestowed upon Düsseldorf the title of "Friend of Cyclists City" in 2007, although the city still has a few gaps in the network of cycle paths in the eyes of many of its citizens.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Elector Jan Wellem and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici of Tuscany, were patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Heinrich Heine, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997 and who originally had a proposed memorial in the city dedicated to him; Clara and Robert Schumann; and as Felix Mendelssohn, are the most prominent artists related to the city, which is home to a distinguished Academy of Fine Arts.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and avant-garde, classical and glamorous. The world-famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper am Rhein (opera), and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (theatre), artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf is well known for its Altbier, a hoppy beer which translates as "old [style] beer", a reference to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer. The name "altbier" first appeared in the 19th century to differentiate the beers of Düsseldorf from the new pale lager that was gaining a hold on Germany.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Brewers in Düsseldorf used the pale malts that were used for the modern pale lagers, but retained the old ("alt") method of using warm fermenting yeasts. The first brewery to use the name Alt was Schumacher which opened in 1838. The founder, Mathias Schumacher, allowed the beer to mature in cool conditions in wooden casks for longer than normal, and laid the foundation for the modern alt – amber coloured and lagered. The result is a pale beer that has some of the lean dryness of a lager but with fruity notes as well.


title: Düsseldorf

text: There are five pub-breweries in Düsseldorf which brew Altbier on the premises: Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel, Uerige and Brauerei Kürzer. Four of the five are in the historic centre of Düsseldorf (Altstadt); the other (Schumacher), between the Altstadt and Düsseldorf Central railway station (Hauptbahnhof), also maintains an establishment in the Altstadt, Im Goldenen Kessel, across the street from Schlüssel.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Each (except Brauerei Kürzer) produces a special, secret, seasonal "Sticke" version in small quantities, though the names vary: Schlüssel spells it "Stike", without the "c", while Schumacher calls its special beer "Latzenbier", meaning "slat beer", possibly because the kegs from which it was poured had been stored on raised shelves. Füchschen's seasonal is its Weihnachtsbier (Christmas beer), available in bottles starting mid-November, and served in the brewpub on Christmas Eve.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Since the 1950s the "Kom(m)ödchen" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany. The city's best-known contribution to the culture of modern popular music is the influential avant-garde electronic band Kraftwerk. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians, Kraftwerk is internationally known as the most significant band in the history of post-war German music and as pioneers in electronic music. Other influential musical groups originating from Düsseldorf include Neu!, formed in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, after their split from Kraftwerk, and La Düsseldorf, also formed by Dinger in 1976 shortly after Neu! disbanded. Both groups had a significant influence on a variety of subsequent rock, post-punk, and electronic music artists.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Internationally known power metal band Warlock was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Its frontwoman, Doro Pesch, had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since Warlock ended. The punk band Die Toten Hosen, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany Westernhagen and Heino come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F. was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers Die Krupps in 1980. Another famous formation is Fehlfarben. Founded in the late 1970s by Peter Hein, Frank Fenstermacher, Kurt Dahlke and Michael Kemner.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf appears in several songs, including "Düsseldorf" by the British indie band Teleman and "Wärst du doch in Düsseldorf geblieben" by Danish singer Dorthe Kollo.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf has been the fashion capital of Germany for decades (it is also a major cultural center for the art and fashion scenes). Berlin, Germany's 'fashion capital' until 1945, lost its position because of its special location within the Soviet occupation zone. After the monetary reform of June 20, 1948, fashionable clothes trends gained importance. Igedo organised fashion shows staged in Düsseldorf starting in March 1949.


title: Düsseldorf

text: There are a number of schools dedicated to fashion design in Düsseldorf, among them "Akademie Mode & Design" (), "Design Department", and "Mode Design College".


title: Düsseldorf

text: One of the biggest cultural events in Düsseldorf is the "Karneval" (also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its climax on "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. "Karneval" ends on "Aschermittwoch" (Ash Wednesday).


title: Düsseldorf

text: The "Düsseldorfer Radschläger" ("boy who does cartwheels") is said to be the city's oldest tradition. The symbol of the cartwheeler can be found on souvenirs and various things in Düsseldorf have cartwheelers to thank for their names.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The tradition cannot be linked to one specific historical event. Instead, there are several stories surrounding the beginnings of the Düsseldorf cartwheelers. Probably the most well known version is the Battle of Worringen. In the battle of 1288, Count Adolf devastatingly defeated the Archbishop of Cologne. As a consequence of this victory, Düsseldorf obtained town privileges. Inhabitants, especially children, ran joyfully on the streets and performed cartwheels.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Another story talks about a wedding procession during which one of the wheels of the wedding carriage broke. In order to fend off the threat of bad luck, a boy supposedly jumped up to the carriage, took hold of the wheel and thus became a living part of the wheel. Whether the story is about the marriage of Jan Wellem and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici or the wedding of Margravine Jakobea of Baden and Johann Wilhelm is debatable.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Another story gives an account of the wedding between Margrave Jacobe von Baden and Johann Wilhelm, in 1585. According to legend, she felt miserable about her marriage, but the cartwheelers who displayed their skills next to her carriage were able to make her smile. Numerous travelers were attracted to the city by great exhibitions – the forerunner of today's fairs – between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. During this time the children who did cartwheels found out that it was a profitable source of income. The bourgeoisie accepted this in good humour as a symbolic act of local patriotism. In the beginning the lads shouted ""för eene Penning schlage ich das Rad“" (a cartwheel for a penny). The Jan Wellem monument returned to Düsseldorf at the end of the Second World War. The procession was accompanied by torches, fanfares and cartwheeling boys.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Cartwheelers can be found at several fountains within the city and near many small landmarks. The most famous is Cartwheeler's Fountain in "Burgplatz" () with an inscription of a quote by Hans Müller-Schlösser: ""Radschläger wolle mer blieve, wie jeck et de Minschen och drieve"" (We will always remain cartwheelers, however crazy it drives people.) The fountain was designed by Alfred Zschorsch in 1954 and donated by "Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges", which is a club devoted to the maintenance of local and regional traditions. There are other cartwheelers that decorate storm drains and the door knocker on the Church of Lambertus, designed by Friedrich Becker. He created the cartwheeler in front of the Schadow Arcades.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The tradition has been kept alive by the "Alde Düsseldorfer Bürgergesellschaft von 1920 e. V.", a society founded in 1920, which organized the first cartwheeler competition on 17 October 1937. This event has been held annually since 1971 in cooperation with the "Stadtsparkasse" (a local bank). Formerly held in the "Königsallee", it has taken place since 2006 on the "Rheinwerft", near the old part of town. This is a fixed date in the city’s calendar of events. About 500 boys regularly participate in the event and girls have also taken part since 1971. In an art project "Radschläger-Kunst" (Cartwheeler Art) launched in 2001, over 100 cartwheeler sculptures were designed by various artists. The door knocker on the Church of Lambertus served as a model for the sculptures that are high, wide and deep. They were positioned around the city centre. Some of the sculptures have been auctioned off to companies and private owners.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Every Christmas, the city of Düsseldorf uses the city centre to host one of the largest Christmas gatherings in Germany. The Christmas festival occurs every year from 17 November until 23 December. This Christmas fest brings Düsseldorf a large portion of tourism every year as many people from nearby areas come to the city to drink mulled wine and hot chocolate and watch craftsman blow glass and create art. The event contains many small wooden buildings all clustered in the middle of the city for all the citizens to enjoy. The event, to many visitors, has an old European feel, but is very lively.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Traditional meals in the region are Rheinischer Sauerbraten (a beef roast and sometimes horse marinated for a few days in vinegar and spices served with gravy and raisins) and Heaven and Earth (Himmel und Äd; black pudding with stewed apples mixed with mashed potatoes). In winter the people like to eat Muscheln Rheinischer Art (Rhenish-style mussels) as well as Reibekuchen (fried potato pancake served with apple sauce). Also a special meal: Düsseldorfer Senfrostbraten (Steaks roasted with Düsseldorf mustard on top).


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf is known for its strong Dijon-like mustard served in a traditional pot called "Mostertpöttche", which was eternalised in a still life by Vincent van Gogh in 1884.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The Rhine Metropolis is one of the most diverse areas in terms of culinary diversity. Düsseldorf, with the third largest Japanese community in Europe, not only provides a wide range of culinary cuisine but also has a solid foundation of Authentic Asian food in the city. Düsseldorf's exceptional culinary cuisine has been recognized and visited by the Worldwide leading travel guide of Lonely Planet. Along with a broad range of diverse cultural cuisine, Düsseldorf is also home to various Michelin starred restaurants that are world renowned.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Halve Hahn – this dish is made from a half a double rye roll, which is another of the specialties of Düsseldorf, buttered, with a thick slice of aged Gouda cheese, onions, mustard, ground paprika and sour pickles.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Himmel un Aad – a dish of mashed potatoes and apples along with slices of blutwurst. Caramelized onions are usually served with this meal.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Reibekuchen is another famous dish from Düsseldorf; this dish is usually drizzled with Rübensyrup (beet syrup) and is served on pumpernickel slices along with applesauce.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The "Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf" is a German Literary award donated by the City of Düsseldorf in Northrhine-Westphalia. The Prize for Literature in support of the City of Düsseldorf is awarded since 1972 by the Council of the City due to the decisions of the courts.


title: Düsseldorf

text: The "Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf" is given once a year to artists and groups, especially to the areas of poetry, writing, review and translation.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf and Cologne have had a "fierce regional rivalry". The rivalry includes carnival parades, football, ice hockey and beer. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch while people in Düsseldorf prefer Altbier. Some Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne and Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love-hate relationship".


title: Düsseldorf

text: Düsseldorf's main football team Fortuna Düsseldorf won the 1933 German championship, the German Cup in 1979 and 1980, and were finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1979. They currently play in the 2. Bundesliga, after being relegated from the Bundesliga in 2020. They play their matches in the Merkur Spiel-Arena (formerly known as the 'ESPIRIT arena'), a multi-functional stadium with a capacity of 54,500. Düsseldorf was one of nine host cities for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, and the Rochusclub Düsseldorf has hosted the tennis World Team Cup from 1978 till 2012.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Other sports in Düsseldorf are ice hockey (the Düsseldorfer EG which play in the new ISS-Dome) and American football. The Düsseldorf Panther are one of the most successful teams in Germany with six German Bowl titles and the Eurobowl victory in 1995. In addition the Junior-Team is the most successful youth department in Germany with fifteen Junior Bowl victories. Rhine Fire Düsseldorf was an established team of the NFL Europe and won the World Bowl two times in 1998 and 2000. Düsseldorf has a successful rugby union team (Düsseldorf Dragons), who as of 2017/18 play in the western division of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby.


title: Düsseldorf

text: Table tennis is also played (Borussia Düsseldorf – the most successful team in Germany with Timo Boll), as are handball (HSG Düsseldorf), basketball (Düsseldorf Giants), baseball (Düsseldorf Senators) and dancing (Rot-Weiß Düsseldorf). Düsseldorf also has a Cricket team, the Düsseldorf Blackcaps, who play in the regional NRW league.


title: Düsseldorf

text: It has about 30,000 students and a wide range of subjects in natural sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, philosophy, social sciences, arts, languages, medicine, pharmacy, economy and the law.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West is a 1985 epic novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, classified under the Western, or sometimes the anti-Western, genre. McCarthy's fifth book, it was published by Random House.


title: Blood Meridian

text: In a loosely historical context the narrative follows a fictional teenager referred to as "the kid," with the bulk of the text devoted to his experiences with the Glanton gang, a historical group of scalp hunters who massacred Indigenous Americans and others in the United States–Mexico borderlands from 1849 to 1850 for bounty, pleasure, and eventually out of nihilistic habit. The role of antagonist is gradually filled by Judge Holden, a physically massive, highly educated, preternaturally skilled member of the gang who is extremely pale and completely bald from head to toe.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Although the novel initially received lukewarm critical and commercial reception, it has since become highly acclaimed and is widely recognized as McCarthy's magnum opus and one of the greatest American novels of all time. Some have labelled it the Great American Novel. There have been multiple attempts to adapt the novel into a film, but none have succeeded.


title: Blood Meridian

text: The novel tells the story of a teenaged runaway referred to only as "the kid", who was born in Tennessee during the famously active Leonids meteor shower of 1833. He first meets the enormous, pale, hairless Judge Holden at a religious revival in a tent in Nacogdoches, Texas, at which Holden falsely accuses the preacher of raping children and goats, inciting the audience to attack him.


title: Blood Meridian

text: After a violent encounter with a bartender establishes the kid as a formidable fighter, he joins a party of ill-equipped U.S. Army irregulars on a filibustering mission led by a Captain White. White's group is overwhelmed by an accompanying group of hundreds of Comanche warriors, and few of them survive. Arrested as a filibuster in Chihuahua, the kid is set free when his acquaintance Toadvine tells the authorities they will make useful Indian hunters. They join Glanton and his gang, among them Holden, and the bulk of the novel is devoted to detailing their activities and conversations. Though originally tasked with protecting locals from marauding Apaches, the gang devolves into the outright murder of unthreatening Indians, unprotected Mexican villages, and eventually even the Mexican army and anyone else who crosses their path.


title: Blood Meridian

text: According to the kid's new companion Ben Tobin, an "ex-priest", the Glanton gang first met Judge Holden while fleeing for their lives from a much larger Apache group. In the middle of a blasted desert, they found Holden sitting on an enormous boulder, where he seemed to be waiting for the gang. They agreed to follow his leadership, and he took them to an extinct volcano where he instructed them on how to manufacture gunpowder, enough to give them the advantage against the Apaches. When the kid remembers seeing Holden in Nacogdoches, Tobin tells the kid that each man in the gang claims to have met the judge at some point before joining the Glanton Gang.


title: Blood Meridian

text: After months of marauding, the gang crosses into U.S. territory, where they eventually set up a systematic and brutal robbing operation at a ferry on the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona. Local Yuma (Quechan) Indians are at first approached to help the gang wrest control of the ferry from its original owners, but Glanton's gang betrays and slaughters them. After a while, the Yumas attack and kill most of the gang. The kid, Toadvine, and Tobin are among the survivors who flee into the desert, though the kid takes an arrow in the leg. The kid and Tobin head west, and come across Holden, who first negotiates, then threatens them for their gun and possessions. Holden shoots Tobin in the neck, and the wounded pair hide among bones by a desert creek. Tobin repeatedly urges the kid to fire upon Holden. The kid does so, but misses his mark.


title: Blood Meridian

text: The survivors continue their travels, ending up in San Diego. The kid is separated from Tobin and is subsequently imprisoned. Holden visits the kid in jail, and tells him that he has told the jailers "the truth": that the kid alone was responsible for the end of the Glanton gang. The kid is released on recognizance and seeks a doctor to treat his wound. While recovering from the "spirits of ether", he hallucinates the judge visiting him along with a curious man who forges coins. The kid recovers and seeks out Tobin, with no luck. He makes his way to Los Angeles, where Toadvine and another member of the Glanton gang, David Brown, are hanged for their crimes.


title: Blood Meridian

text: In 1878 the kid, now in his mid-40s and referred to as "the man", makes his way to Fort Griffin, Texas. At a saloon he meets the judge, who seems not to have aged in the intervening years. Holden calls the kid "the last of the true," and the pair talk. Holden declares that the kid has arrived at the saloon for "the dance" – the dance of violence, war, and bloodshed that the judge had so often praised. The kid disputes Holden's ideas, telling the judge "You aint nothin," and, noting the performing bear at the saloon, states, "even a dumb animal can dance." Afterwards, the kid goes to an outhouse under another meteor shower. In the outhouse, he is surprised by the naked judge, who "gathered him in his arms against his immense and terrible flesh." Later, two men open the door to the outhouse and can only gaze in awed horror at what they see, one of them stating "Good God almighty." The last paragraph finds the judge back in the saloon, dancing and playing fiddle among the drunkards and the prostitutes, saying that he will never die. The fate of the kid is left unstated.


title: Blood Meridian

text: In the epilogue, a man is augering lines of holes across the prairie, perhaps for fence posts. The man sparks a fire in each of the holes, and an assortment of wanderers trail behind him.


title: Blood Meridian

text: A major theme is the warlike nature of man. Critic Harold Bloom praised "Blood Meridian" as one of the best 20th century American novels, "worthy of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick"," but admitted that his "first two attempts to read through "Blood Meridian" failed, because [he] flinched from the overwhelming carnage". Caryn James argued that the novel's violence was a "slap in the face" to modern readers cut off from brutality. Terrence Morgan thought the effect of the violence initially shocking but then waned until the reader was desensitized. Billy J. Stratton contends that the brutality is the primary mechanism through which McCarthy challenges binaries and promotes his revisionist agenda. Lilley argues that many critics struggle with the fact that McCarthy does not use violence for "jury-rigged, symbolic plot resolutions . . . In McCarthy's work, violence tends to be just that; it is not a sign or symbol of something else." Others have noted that McCarthy depicts characters of all backgrounds as evil, in contrast to contemporary "revisionist theories that make white men the villains and Indians the victims."


title: Blood Meridian

text: Three epigraphs open the book: quotations from French writer Paul Valéry, from German Christian mystic Jacob Boehme, and a 1982 news clipping from the "Yuma Sun" reporting the claim of members of an Ethiopian archeological excavation that a fossilized skull three hundred millennia old seemed to have been scalped. Regarding the meaning of the epigraphs, D. H. Evans writes that


title: Blood Meridian

text: The narrative closes with ambiguity pertaining to the final state of the kid, or the man. Since the book portrays violence in explicit detail this allusive portrayal has caused comment.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Given the judge's history and other details in the text, presumably the judge rapes the man before killing him. Alternatively, perhaps the point is that readers can never know.


title: Blood Meridian

text: David Vann argues that the setting of the American southwest which the Gang traverses is representative of hell. Vann claims that the Judge's kicking of a head is an allusion to Dante's similar action in the "Inferno".


title: Blood Meridian

text: The second of the three epigraphs which introduce the novel, taken from the "Gnostic" mystic Jacob Boehme, has incited varied discussion. The quote from Boehme is:


title: Blood Meridian

text: No specific conclusions have been reached about its interpretation nor relevance to the novel. Critics agree that there are Gnostic elements in "Blood Meridian", but they disagree on the precise meaning and implication of those elements.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Leo Daugherty argues that "Gnostic thought is central to Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"", (Daugherty, 122) specifically the Persian-Zoroastrian-Manichean branch of Gnosticism. He describes the novel as a "rare coupling of Gnostic 'ideology' with the 'affect' of Hellenic tragedy by means of depicting how power works in the making and erasing of culture, and of what the human condition amounts to when a person opposes that power and thence gets introduced to fate." Daugherty sees Holden as an archon and the kid as a "failed "pneuma"." He says that the kid feels a "spark of the alien divine."


title: Blood Meridian

text: Daugherty further contends that the violence of the novel can best be understood through a Gnostic lens. "Evil" as defined by the Gnostics was a far larger, more pervasive presence in human life than the rather tame and "domesticated" Satan of Christianity. As Daugherty writes, "For [Gnostics], evil was simply everything that "is", with the exception of bits of spirit imprisoned here. And what they saw is what we see in the world of "Blood Meridian"."


title: Blood Meridian

text: However, Barcley Owens argues that while there are undoubtedly Gnostic qualities to the novel, Daugherty's arguments are "ultimately unsuccessful," because Daugherty fails to adequately address the pervasive violence and because he overstates the kid's goodness.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Douglas Canfield asserts that theodicy is the central theme of "Blood Meridian". James Wood took a similar position, recognizing as a recurrent theme in the novel the issue of the general justification of metaphysical goodness in the presence of evil. Chris Dacus expressed his preference for discussing the theme of theodicy in its eschatological terms in comparison to the theological scene of the last judgment. This preference for reading theodicy as an eschatological theme was further affirmed by Harold Bloom in his recurrent phrase of referring to the novel as "The Authentic Apocalyptic Novel."


title: Blood Meridian

text: McCarthy began writing "Blood Meridian" in the mid-1970s. In a letter sent around 1979 he said that he had not touched "Blood Meridian" in six months out of frustration. Nonetheless significant parts of the final book were written in one go, "including the astonishing 'legion of horribles' passage". McCarthy worked on the novel while living on the money from his 1981 MacArthur Fellows grant. It was his first attempt at a western and his first novel set in the Southwestern United States, a change from the Appalachian settings of his earlier work.


title: Blood Meridian

text: In 1974 McCarthy moved from his native Tennessee to El Paso, Texas to immerse himself in the culture and geography of the American Southwest. He taught himself Spanish, which many of the characters of "Blood Meridian" speak. McCarthy conducted considerable research to write the book. Critics have repeatedly demonstrated that even brief and seemingly inconsequential passages of "Blood Meridian" rely on historical evidence. The book has been described as "as close to history as novels generally get".


title: Blood Meridian

text: The Glanton gang segments are based on Samuel Chamberlain's account of the group in his memoir "My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue". Chamberlain rode with John Joel Glanton and his company between 1849 and 1850. Judge Holden is described in Chamberlain's account but is otherwise unknown. Chamberlain writes:


title: Blood Meridian

text: McCarthy's judge was added to his manuscript in the late 1970s, a "grotesque patchwork of up-river Kurtz and Milton's Satan" and Chamberlain's account.


title: Blood Meridian

text: McCarthy followed the Glanton Gang's trail through Mexico multiple times and noted topography and fauna. He studied such topics as homemade gunpowder to accurately depict the judge's creation from volcanic rock.


title: Blood Meridian

text: McCarthy's writing style involves many unusual or archaic words, dialogue in Spanish, no quotation marks for dialogue, and no apostrophes to signal most contractions. McCarthy told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that he prefers "simple declarative sentences" and that he uses capital letters, periods, an occasional comma, a colon for setting off a list, but never semicolons. He believes there is no reason to "blot the page up with weird little marks". "The New York Times" described McCarthy's prose in "Blood Meridian" as "Faulknerian". Describing events of extreme violence, McCarthy's prose is sparse yet expansive, with an often biblical quality and frequent religious references.


title: Blood Meridian

text: "Blood Meridian" initially received little recognition, but has since been recognized as a masterpiece and one of the greatest works of American literature. Some have called it the Great American Novel. American literary critic Harold Bloom praised "Blood Meridian" as one of the 20th century's finest novels. Aleksandar Hemon has called it "possibly the greatest American novel of the past 25 years". David Foster Wallace named it one of the five most underappreciated American novels since 1960 and "[p]robably the most horrifying book of this [20th] century, at least [in] fiction."


title: Blood Meridian

text: "Time" magazine included "Blood Meridian" in its "Time 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". In 2006 "The New York Times" conducted a poll of writers and critics regarding the most important works in American fiction from the previous 25 years, and "Blood Meridian" was a runner-up.


title: Blood Meridian

text: There has been no consensus in the interpretation of the novel, and it has been said that the work "seems designed to elude interpretation". One scholar has described "Blood Meridian" as: Nonetheless academics and critics have suggested that "Blood Meridian" is nihilistic or strongly moral, a satire of the western genre or a savage indictment of Manifest Destiny. Harold Bloom called it "the ultimate western". J. Douglas Canfield described it as "a grotesque "Bildungsroman" in which we are denied access to the protagonist's consciousness almost entirely". Richard Selzer declared that McCarthy "is a geniusalso probably somewhat insane." Critic Steven Shaviro wrote:


title: Blood Meridian

text: Since the novel's release many have noted its cinematic potential. "The New York Times" 1985 review noted that the novel depicted "scenes that might have come off a movie screen". There have been attempts to create a motion picture adaptation of "Blood Meridian", but all have failed during the development or pre-production stages. A common perception is that the story is "unfilmable" due to its unrelenting violence and dark tone. In an interview with "The Wall Street Journal" in 2009 McCarthy denied this notion, with his perspective being that it would be "very difficult to do and would require someone with a bountiful imagination and a lot of balls. But the payoff could be extraordinary."


title: Blood Meridian

text: Screenwriter Steve Tesich first adapted "Blood Meridian" into a screenplay in 1995. In the late 1990s Tommy Lee Jones acquired the film adaptation rights to the story and subsequently rewrote Tesich's screenplay with the idea of directing and playing a role in it. The production could not move forward due to film studios avoiding the project's overall violence.


title: Blood Meridian

text: Following the end of production for "Kingdom of Heaven" in 2004 screenwriter William Monahan and director Ridley Scott entered discussions with producer Scott Rudin for adapting "Blood Meridian" with Paramount Pictures financing. In a 2008 interview with "Eclipse Magazine" Scott confirmed that the screenplay had been written, but that the extensive violence was proving to be a challenge for film standards. This later led to Scott and Monahan leaving the project, resulting in another abandoned adaptation.


title: Blood Meridian

text: By early 2011 James Franco was considering adapting "Blood Meridian", along with a number of other William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy novels. After being persuaded by Andrew Dominik to adapt the novel, Franco shot 25 minutes of test footage starring Scott Glenn, Mark Pellegrino, Luke Perry, and Dave Franco. For undisclosed reasons, Rudin denied further production of the film. On May 5, 2016, "Variety" revealed that Franco was negotiating with Rudin to write and direct an adaptation to be brought to the Marché du Film, starring Russell Crowe, Tye Sheridan, and Vincent D'Onofrio. However, it was reported later that day that the project dissolved due to issues with the film rights.


title: ZEE5

text: ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Android, iOS, Smart TVs, among other devices. ZEE5 claimed 56 million monthly active users in December 2019.


title: ZEE5

text: Ozee was an Indian digital online platform that was launched in February 2016 by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. As of 14 February 2018, the service has been integrated into ZEE5. It aired shows from all of the Zee channel bouquets such as Zee TV, & TV, Zee Café. It aired Zindagi shows exclusively since Zindagi went Ozee-exclusive. The platform was ad-supported and also free of cost no matter what device used. It was shutdown due to ZEE5.


title: ZEE5

text: ZEE5 has subsumed Zee's existing video streaming platforms: Ozee (advertising-based) and DittoTV (subscription-based), comes with 1 lakh (1 hundred thousand) hours of content including exclusive originals, Indian and international movies and TV shows, music, live television, health and lifestyle videos in 12 regional languages.


title: ZEE5

text: The platform started streaming web series in 2018 with "Nanna Koochi" (Telugu)", America Mappillai" (Tamil) and "Dhatt Tere Ki" (Hindi). In the same year, the platform also introduced another web series titled, "Kallachirippu" which was produced by popular filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj, and "Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone", a biographical web series on Sunny Leone.


title: ZEE5

text: In 2018, ZEE5 was launched with original shows such as "Nanna Koochi," "America Mappillai, Life Sahi Hai and Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone'."


title: ZEE5

text: In July 2019, ZEE5 and ALTBalaji announce content alliance – ZEE5 subscribers will get seamless access to ALTBalaji's originals in addition to existing ZEE5 content.


title: ZEE5

text: All the shows owned by Zee TV were telecast on ZEE5. Music videos were in a separate section of the site; and it offered a wide collection of movies. Channels on-air on ZEE5 before integration with Zee included those broadcast as: Zee TV, & TV (Hindi), Zee Keralam (Malayalam), Zee Marathi (Marathi), Zee Sarthak (Odia), Zee Kannada (Kannada), Zee Telugu (Telugu), Zee Bangla (Bengali), Zee Punjabi (Punjabi), Zee Tamil (Tamil), Zee Ganga (Bhojpuri) and Zee Café (English). Entertainment Channels not on ZEE5 included: Zee Anmol (old series taken from Zee TV), Zee Yuva (old series taken from Zee Marathi and Zee Yuva).


title: ZEE5

text: HiPi is a video sharing social platform for Indian audiences where users can record and upload their own videos and can also view and engage with the videos shared by other people. Users can access the platform on the ZEE5 App for free.


title: ZEE5

text: The service has been launched in every country, lastly in the United States on June 22, 2021. ZEE5 has launched Ad Suite which has Ad Vault, Ampli5, Play5 and Wishbox. ZEE5 is also available for free on Vodafone Play (a streaming service of Vodafone Idea) and Airtel Xstream (a streaming service of Bharti Airtel). Vodafone Idea joined ZEE5 and formed a new channel known as ZEE5 Theater which airs original movies and shows of ZEE5 exclusively available on vodafone play and the Idea mobile and TV app.


title: ZEE5

text: The platform also offers a mobile app on all platforms, and it has partnered with global tech giants like Applicaster, Lotame, Talamoos and A.I. video enhancement startup Minute.ly to provide enhanced UI/UX and improved application performance.


title: Agamemnon

text: In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; "Agamémnōn") was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra and the father of Iphigenia, Electra, Laodike (Λαοδίκη), Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy, either by his wife's lover Aegisthus or by his wife herself.


title: Agamemnon

text: His name in Greek, Ἀγαμέμνων, means "very steadfast", "unbowed" or "resolute". The word comes from *Ἀγαμέδμων ("*Agamédmōn") from ἄγαν, "very much" and μέδομαι, "think on".


title: Agamemnon

text: In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Agamemnon was described as ". . .blond, large, and powerful. He was eloquent, wise, and noble, a man richly endowed."


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon was a descendant of Pelops, son of Tantalus. According to the common story (as told in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer), Agamemnon and his younger brother Menelaus were the sons of Atreus, king of Mycenae, and Aerope, daughter of the Cretan king Catreus. However, according to another tradition, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus' son Pleisthenes, with their mother being Aerope, Cleolla, or Eriphyle. In this tradition, Pleisthenes dies young, with Agamemnon and Menelaus being raised by Atreus. Agamemnon had a sister Anaxibia (or Astyoche) who married Strophius, the son of Crisus.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon's father, Atreus, murdered the sons of his twin brother Thyestes and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes' adultery with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter, Pelopia, and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus' children. Aegisthus murdered Atreus, restored Thyestes to the throne, and took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with his father. During this period, Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta.


title: Agamemnon

text: There they respectively married Tyndareus' daughters Clytemnestra and Helen. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra, and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father's kingdom. He extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon's family history had been tarnished by murder, incest, and treachery, consequences of the heinous crime perpetrated by his ancestor, Tantalus, and then of a curse placed upon Pelops, son of Tantalus, by Myrtilus, whom he had murdered. Thus misfortune hounded successive generations of the House of Atreus, until atoned by Orestes in a court of justice held jointly by humans and gods.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon gathered the reluctant Greek forces to sail for Troy. In order to recruit Odysseus, who was feigning madness so as to not have to go to war, Agamemnon sent Palamedes, who threatened to kill Odysseus' infant son Telemachus. Odysseus was forced to stop acting mad in order to save his son and joined the assembled Greek forces. Preparing to depart from Aulis, a port in Boeotia, Agamemnon's army incurred the wrath of the goddess Artemis. There are several reasons throughout myth for her wrath: in Aeschylus' play "Agamemnon", Artemis is angry for the young men who will die at Troy, whereas in Sophocles' "Electra", Agamemnon has slain an animal sacred to Artemis, and subsequently boasted that he was Artemis' equal in hunting. Misfortunes, including a plague and a lack of wind, prevented the army from sailing. Finally, the prophet Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be propitiated by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia.


title: Agamemnon

text: Classical dramatizations differ on how willing either father or daughter was to this fate; some include such trickery as claiming she was to be married to Achilles, but Agamemnon did eventually sacrifice Iphigenia. Her death appeased Artemis, and the Greek army set out for Troy. Several alternatives to the human sacrifice have been presented in Greek mythology. Other sources, such as "Iphigenia at Aulis", say that Agamemnon was prepared to kill his daughter, but that Artemis accepted a deer in her place, and whisked her away to Tauris in the Crimean Peninsula. Hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate.


title: Agamemnon

text: During the war, but before the events of the "Iliad", Odysseus contrived a plan to get revenge on Palamedes for threatening his son’s life. By forging a letter from Priam, king of the Trojans, and caching some gold in Palamedes tent, Odysseus had Palamedes accused of treason, and Agamemnon ordered him stoned to death.


title: Agamemnon

text: The "Iliad" tells the story about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the final year of the war. In book 1, following one of the Achaean Army's raids, Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, one of Apollo's priests, was taken as a war prize by Agamemnon. Chryses pleaded with Agamemnon to free his daughter but was met with little success. Chryses then prayed to Apollo for the safe return of his daughter, which Apollo responded to by unleashing a plague over the Achaean Army. After learning from the Prophet Calchas that the plague could be dispelled by returning Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon reluctantly agreed (but first berated Calchas for previously forcing Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia) and released his prize. However, as compensation for his lost prize, Agamemnon demanded a new prize. He stole an attractive slave called Briseis, one of the spoils of war, from Achilles. This created a rift between Achilles and Agamemnon, causing Achilles to withdraw from battle and refuse to fight.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon then received a dream from Zeus telling him to rally his forces and attack the Trojans in book 2. After several days of fighting, including duels between Menelaus and Paris, and between Ajax and Hector, the Achaeans were pushed back to the fortifications around their ships. In book 9, Agamemnon, having realized Achilles's importance in winning the war against the Trojan Army, sent ambassadors begging for Achilles to return, offering him riches and the hand of his daughter in marriage. Achilles refused, only being spurred back into action when Patroclus was killed in battle by Hector, eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. In book 19 Agamemnon reconciled with Achilles, giving him the offered rewards for returning to the war, before Achilles went out to turn back the Trojans and duel Hector. After Hector's death, Agamemnon assisted Achilles in performing Patroclus' funeral in book 23. Agamemnon volunteered for the javelin throwing contest, one of the games being held in Patroclus' honor, but his skill with the javelin is so well known that Achilles awarded him the prize without contest.


title: Agamemnon

text: Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon was a representative of "kingly authority". As commander-in-chief, he summoned the princes to the council and led the army in battle. His chief fault was his overwhelming haughtiness; an over-exalted opinion of his position that led him to insult Chryses and Achilles, thereby bringing great disaster upon the Greeks.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War. During the fighting, Agamemnon killed Antiphus and fifteen other Trojan soldiers, according to one source. In the "Iliad" itself, he is shown to slaughter hundreds more in Book 11 during his "aristea," loosely translated to "day of glory", which is the most similar to Achilles' "aristea" in Book 21. They both are compared to lions and destructive fires in battle, their hands are described as "splattered with gore" and "invincible," the Trojans flee to the walls, they both are appealed to by one of their victims, they are both avoided by Hector, they both are wounded in the arm or hand, and they both kill the one who wounded them. Even before his "aristea," Agamemnon is considered to be one of the three best warriors on the Greek side, as proven when Hector challenges any champion of the Greek side to fight him in Book 7, and Agamemnon (along with Diomedes and Ajax the Greater) is one of the three Hector most wishes to fight out of the nine strongest Greek warriors who volunteer.


title: Agamemnon

text: According to Sophocles's "Ajax," after Achilles had fallen in battle Agamemnon and Menelaus award Achilles armor to Odysseus. This angers Ajax, who feels he is the now the strongest among the Achaean warriors and so deserves the armor. Ajax considers killing them, but is driven to madness by Athena and instead slaughters the herdsmen and cattle that had not yet been divided as spoils of war. He then commits suicide in shame for his actions. As Ajax dies he curses the sons of Atreus (Agamemnon and Menelaus), along with the entire Achaean army. Agamemnon and Menelaus consider leaving Ajax's body to rot, denying him a proper burial, but are convinced otherwise by Odysseus and Ajax's half-brother Teucer. After the capture of Troy, Cassandra, the doomed prophetess and daughter of Priam, fell to Agamemnon's lot in the distribution of the prizes of war.


title: Agamemnon

text: After a stormy voyage, Agamemnon and Cassandra land in Argolis, or, in another version, are blown off course and land in Aegisthus's country. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, has taken Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, as a lover. When Agamemnon comes home he is slain by Aegisthus (in the oldest versions of the story) or by Clytemnestra. According to the accounts given by Pindar and the tragedians, Agamemnon is slain in a bath by his wife alone, after being ensnared by a blanket or a net thrown over him to prevent resistance.


title: Agamemnon

text: In Homer's version of the story in the "Odyssey", Aegisthus ambushes and kills Agamemnon in a feasting hall under the pretense of holding a feast in honor of Agamemnon's return home from Troy. Clytemnestra also kills Cassandra. Her jealousy of Cassandra, and her wrath at the sacrifice of Iphigenia and at Agamemnon's having gone to war over Helen of Troy, are said to be the motives for her crime.


title: Agamemnon

text: Aegisthus and Clytemnestra then rule Agamemnon's kingdom for a time, Aegisthus claiming his right of revenge for Atreus's crimes against Thyestes (Thyestes then crying out "thus perish all the race of Pleisthenes!", thus explaining Aegisthus' action as justified by his father's curse). Agamemnon's son Orestes later avenges his father's murder, with the help or encouragement of his sister Electra, by murdering Aegisthus and Clytemnestra (his own mother), thereby inciting the wrath of the Erinyes (English: the Furies), winged goddesses who track down wrongdoers with their hounds' noses and drive them to insanity.


title: Agamemnon

text: Agamemnon's family history is rife with misfortune, born from several curses contributing to the miasma around the family. The curse begins with Agamemnon's great-grandfather Tantalus, who is in Zeus's favor until he tries to feed his son Pelops to the gods in order to test their omniscience, as well as stealing some ambrosia and nectar. Tantalus is then banished to the underworld, where he stands in a pool of water that evaporates every time he reaches down to drink, and above him is a fruit tree whose branches are blown just out of reach by the wind whenever he reaches for the fruit. This begins the cursed house of Atreus, and his descendants would face similar or worse fates.


title: Agamemnon

text: Later, using his relationship with Poseidon, Pelops convinces the god to grant him a chariot so he may beat Oenomaus, king of Pisa, in a race, and win the hand of his daughter Hippodamia. Myrtilus, who in some accounts helps Pelops win his chariot race, attempts to lie with Pelops's new bride Hippodamia. In anger, Pelops throws Myrtilus off a cliff, but not before Myrtilus curses Pelops and his entire line. Pelops and Hippodamia have many children, including Atreus and Thyestes, who are said to have murdered their half-brother Chrysippus. Pelops banishes Atreus and Thyestes to Mycanae, where Atreus becomes king. Thyestes later conspires with Atreus's wife, Aerope, to supplant Atreus, but they are unsuccessful. Atreus then kills Thyestes' son and cooks him into a meal which Thyestes eats, and afterwards Atreus taunts him with the hands and feet of his now dead son. Thyestes, on the advice of an oracle, then has a son with his own daughter Pelopia. Pelopia tries to expose the infant Aegisthus, but he is found by a shepherd and raised in the house of Atreus. When Aegisthus reaches adulthood Thyestes reveals the truth of his birth, and Aegithus then kills Atreus.