title: Kingdom of Kush

text: King Kashta ("the Kushite") peacefully became King of Upper Egypt, while his daughter, Amenirdis, was appointed as Divine Adoratrice of Amun in Thebes. Piye invaded Lower Egypt in the eighth century BC, establishing the Kushite-ruled Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Piye's daughter, Shepenupet II, was also appointed Divine Adoratrice of Amun. The monarchs of Kush ruled Egypt for over a century until the Assyrian conquest, finally being expelled by the Egyptian Psamtik I in the mid-seventh century BC. Following the severing of ties with Egypt, the Kushite imperial capital was located at Meroë, during which time it was known by the Greeks as Aethiopia.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: From the third century BC to the third century AD, northern Nubia would be invaded and annexed by Egypt. Ruled by the Macedonians and Romans for the next 600 years, this territory would be known in the Greco-Roman world as Dodekaschoinos. It was later taken back under control by the fourth Kushite king Yesebokheamani. The Kingdom of Kush persisted as a major regional power until the fourth century AD when it weakened and disintegrated from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions, and invasions and conquest by the Noba people. The city of Meroë was captured and pillaged by the Kingdom of Aksum, marking the end of the kingdom and its dissolution into the three polities of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia. Sometime after this event, the kingdom of Alodia would gain control of the southern territory of the former Meroitic empire including parts of Eritrea.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Long overshadowed by its more prominent Egyptian neighbor, archaeological discoveries since the late 20th century have revealed Kush to be an advanced civilization in its own right. The Kushites had their own unique language and script; maintained a complex economy based on trade and industry; mastered archery; and developed a complex, urban society with uniquely high levels of female participation.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The native name of the Kingdom was recorded in Egyptian as "", likely pronounced or in Middle Egyptian, when the term was first used for Nubia, based on the New Kingdom-era Akkadian transliteration of the genitive "kūsi".


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: It is also an ethnic term for the native population who initiated the kingdom of Kush. The term is also displayed in the names of Kushite persons, such as King Kashta (a transcription of "kꜣš-tꜣ" "(one from) the land of Kush"). Geographically, Kush referred to the region south of the first cataract in general. Kush also was the home of the rulers of the 25th Dynasty.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The name "Kush", since at least the time of Josephus, has been connected with the biblical character Cush, in the Hebrew Bible (), son of Ham (Genesis 10:6). Ham had four sons named: Cush, Put, Canaan, and Mizraim (Hebrew name for Egypt). According to the Bible, Nimrod, a son of Cush, was the founder and king of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar (Gen 10:10). The Bible also makes reference to someone named Cush who is a Benjamite (Psalms 7:1, KJV).


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia" (in parts of present-day northern and central Sudan), and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of several Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Mentuhotep II, the 21st century BC founder of the Middle Kingdom, is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and 31st years of his reign. This is the earliest Egyptian reference to "Kush"; the Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom. Under Thutmose I, Egypt made several campaigns south.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Egyptians ruled Kush in the New kingdom beginning when the Egyptian King Thutmose I occupied Kush and destroyed its capital, Kerma.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: This eventually resulted in their annexation of Nubia . Around 1500 BC, Nubia was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. After the conquest, Kerma culture was increasingly Egyptianized, yet rebellions continued for 220 years until . Nubia nevertheless became a key province of the New Kingdom, economically, politically, and spiritually. Indeed, major pharaonic ceremonies were held at Jebel Barkal near Napata. As an Egyptian colony from the 16th century BC, Nubia ("Kush") was governed by an Egyptian Viceroy of Kush.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Resistance to the early eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian rule by neighboring Kush is evidenced in the writings of Ahmose, son of Ebana, an Egyptian warrior who served under Nebpehtrya Ahmose (1539–1514 BC), Djeserkara Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC), and Aakheperkara Thutmose I (1493–1481 BC). At the end of the Second Intermediate Period (mid-sixteenth century BC), Egypt faced the twin existential threats—the Hyksos in the North and the Kushites in the South. Taken from the autobiographical inscriptions on the walls of his tomb-chapel, the Egyptians undertook campaigns to defeat Kush and conquer Nubia under the rule of Amenhotep I (1514–1493 BC). In Ahmose's writings, the Kushites are described as archers, "Now after his Majesty had slain the Bedoin of Asia, he sailed upstream to Upper Nubia to destroy the Nubian bowmen." The tomb writings contain two other references to the Nubian bowmen of Kush. By 1200 BC, Egyptian involvement in the Dongola Reach was nonexistent.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Egypt's international prestige had declined considerably towards the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Its historical allies, the inhabitants of Canaan, had fallen to the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BC), and then the resurgent Neo-Assyrian Empire (935–605 BC). The Assyrians, from the tenth century BC onwards, had once more expanded from northern Mesopotamia, and conquered a vast empire, including the whole of the Near East, and much of Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus and early Iron Age Iran.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: With the disintegration of the New Kingdom around 1070 BC, "Kush" became an independent kingdom centered at Napata in modern northern Sudan. This more-Egyptianized "Kingdom of Kush" emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt. The extent of cultural/political continuity between the Kerma culture and the chronologically succeeding Kingdom of Kush is difficult to determine. The latter polity began to emerge around 1000 BC, 500 years after the end of the Kingdom of Kerma.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Kush rulers were regarded as guardians of the state religion and were responsible for maintaining the houses of the gods. Some scholars believe the economy in the Kingdom of Kush was a redistributive system. The state would collect taxes in the form of surplus produce and would redistribute to the people. Others believe that most of the society worked on the land and required nothing from the state and did not contribute to the state. Northern Kush seems to have been more productive and wealthier than the Southern area.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Dental trait analysis of fossils dating from the Meroitic period in Semna, in northern Nubia near Egypt, found that they displayed traits similar to those of populations inhabiting the Nile, Horn of Africa, and Maghreb. Traits from mesolithic and southern Nubia around Meroe however indicated a closer affinity with other sub-Saharan dental records. It is indicative of a north–south gradient along the Nile river.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: By the eighth century BC, the new Kushite kingdom emerged from the Napata region of the upper Dongola Reach. The first Napatan king, Alara founded the Napatan, or 25th, Kushite dynasty at Napata in Nubia, now Sudan. Alara dedicated his sister to the cult of Amun at the rebuilt Kawa temple, while temples were also rebuilt at Barkal and Kerma. A Kashta stele at Elephantine, places the Kushites on the Egyptian frontier by the mid-eighteenth century. This first period of the kingdom's history, the 'Napatan', was succeeded by the 'Meroitic', when the royal cemeteries relocated to Meroë around 300 BC.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Alara's successor Kashta extended Kushite control north to Elephantine and Thebes in Upper Egypt. Kashta's successor Piye seized control of Lower Egypt around 727 BC. Piye's 'Victory Stela', celebrating these campaigns between 728 and 716 BC, was found in the Amun temple at Jebel Barkal. He invaded an Egypt fragmented into four kingdoms, ruled by King Peftjauawybast, King Nimlot, King Iuput II, and King Osorkon IV.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Why the Kushites chose to enter Egypt at this crucial point of foreign domination is subject to debate. Archaeologist Timothy Kendall offers his own hypotheses, connecting it to a claim of legitimacy associated with Jebel Barkal. Kendall cites the Victory Stele of Piye at Jebel Barkal, which states that "Amun of Napata granted me to be ruler of every foreign country," and "Amun in Thebes granted me to be ruler of the Black Land (Kmt)". According to Kendall, "foreign lands" in this regard seems to include Lower Egypt while "Kmt" seems to refer to a united Upper Egypt and Nubia.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Piye's successor, Shabataka, defeated the Saite kings of northern Egypt between 711 and 710 BC and installed himself as king in Memphis. He then established ties with Sargon II. Piye's son, Taharqa's army undertook successful military campaigns, as attested by the "list of conquered Asiatic principalities" from the Mut temple at Karnak and "conquered peoples and countries (Libyans, Shasu nomads, Phoenicians?, Khor in Palestine)" from Sanam temple inscriptions. Imperial ambitions of the Mesopotamian based Assyrian Empire made war with the 25th dynasty inevitable. In 701 BC, Taharqa and his army aided Judah and King Hezekiah in withstanding a siege by King Sennacherib of the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9). There are various theories (Taharqa's army, disease, divine intervention, Hezekiah's surrender) as to why the Assyrians failed to take the city and withdrew to Assyria. Historian László Török mentions that Egypt's army "was beaten at Eltekeh" under Taharqa's command, but "the battle could be interpreted as a victory for the double kingdom", since Assyria did not take Jerusalem and "retreated to Assyria.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The power of the 25th Dynasty reached a climax under Taharqa. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. New prosperity revived Egyptian culture. Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. The Nubian pharaohs built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom. The Kushites developed their own script, the Meroitic alphabet, which was influenced by Egyptian writing systems , although it appears to have been wholly confined to the royal court and major temples.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Taharqa initially defeated the Assyrians when war broke out in 674 BC. Yet, in 671 BC, the Assyrian King Esarhaddon started the Assyrian conquest of Egypt, took Memphis, and Taharqo retreated to the south, while his heir and other family members were taken to Assyria as prisoners. However, the native Egyptian vassal rulers installed by Esarhaddon as puppets were unable to effectively retain full control, and Taharqa was able to regain control of Memphis. Esarhaddon's 669 BC campaign to once more eject Taharqa was abandoned when Esarhaddon died in Palestine on the way to Egypt. Yet, Esarhaddon's successor, Ashurbanipal, did defeat Taharqa, and Taharqa died soon after in 664 BC.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Taharqa's successor, Tantamani sailed north from Napata, through Elephantine, and to Thebes with a large army to Thebes, where he was "ritually installed as the king of Egypt." From Thebes, Tantamani began his reconquest and regained control of Egypt, as far north as Memphis. Tantamani's dream stele states that he restored order from the chaos, where royal temples and cults were not being maintained. After defeating Sais and killing Assyria's vassal, Necho I, in Memphis, "some local dynasts formally surrendered, while others withdrew to their fortresses. Tantamani proceeded north of Memphis, invading Lower Egypt and, besieged cities in the Delta, a number of which surrendered to him. The Assyrians, who had a military presence in the Levant, then sent a large army southwards in 663 BC. Tantamani was routed, and the Assyrian army sacked Thebes to such an extent it never truly recovered. Tantamani was chased back to Nubia, but his control over Upper Egypt endured until c. 656 BC. At this date, a native Egyptian ruler, Psamtik I son of Necho, placed on the throne as a vassal of Ashurbanipal, took control of Thebes. The last links between Kush and Upper Egypt were severed after hostilities with the Saite kings in the 590s BC.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Kushites used the animal-driven water wheel to increase productivity and create a surplus, particularly during the Napatan-Meroitic Kingdom.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Herodotus mentioned an invasion of Kush by the Achaemenid ruler Cambyses (). By some accounts Cambyses succeeded in occupying the area between the first and second Nile cataract, however Herodotus mentions that "his expedition failed miserably in the desert." Achaemenid inscriptions from both Egypt and Iran include Kush as part of the Achaemenid empire. For example, the DNa inscription of Darius I () on his tomb at Naqsh-e Rustam mentions "Kūšīyā" (Old Persian cuneiform: 𐎤𐎢𐏁𐎡𐎹𐎠, pronounced "Kūshīyā") among the territories being "ruled over" by the Achaemenid Empire. Derek Welsby states "scholars have doubted that this Persian expedition ever took place, but... archaeological evidence suggests that the fortress of Dorginarti near the second cataract served as Persia's southern boundary."


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Kushite civilization continued for several centuries. According to Welsby, "throughout the Saite, Persian, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods, the Kushite rulers—the descendants of the XXVth Dynasty pharaohs, and the guardians of the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal—could have pressed their 'legitimate' claim for control of Egypt and they thus posed a potential threat to the rulers of Egypt." Aspelta moved the capital to Meroë, considerably farther south than Napata, possibly c. 591 BC, just after the sack of Napata by Psamtik II. Martin Meredith states the Kushite rulers chose Meroë, between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts, because it was on the fringe of the summer rainfall belt, and the area was rich in iron ore and hardwood for iron working. The location also afforded access to trade routes to the Red Sea. The Kush traded iron products with the Romans, in addition to gold, ivory and slaves. Yet, the Butana plain was stripped of its forests, leaving behind slag piles.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: In about 300 BC the move to Meroë was made more complete when the monarchs began to be buried there, instead of at Napata. One theory is that this represents the monarchs breaking away from the power of the priests at Napata. According to Diodorus Siculus, a Kushite king, "Ergamenes", defied the priests and had them slaughtered. This story may refer to the first ruler to be buried at Meroë with a similar name such as Arqamani, who ruled many years after the royal cemetery was opened at Meroë. During this same period, the Kushite authority may have extended some 1,500 km along the Nile River valley from the Egyptian frontier in the north to areas far south of modern Khartoum and probably also substantial territories to the east and west.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: There is no record of conflict between the Kushites and Ptolemies. However, there was a serious revolt at the end of Ptolemy IV, around 204 BC, and the Kushites likely tried to interfere in Ptolemaic affairs. It has been suggested that this led to Ptolemy V defacing the name of Arqamani on inscriptions at Philae. "Arqamani constructed a small entrance hall to the temple built by Ptolemy IV at selchis and constructed a temple at Philae to which Ptolemy contributed an entrance hall." There is evidence of Ptolemaic occupation as far south as the second cataract, but recent finds at Qasr Ibrim, such as "the total absence of Ptolemaic pottery" have cast doubts on the effectiveness of the occupation. Dynastic struggles led to the Ptolemies abandoning the area, so "the Kushites reasserted their control...with Qasr Ibrim occupied" (by the Kushites) and other locations perhaps garrisoned.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: According to Welsby, after the Romans assumed control of Egypt, they negotiated with the Kushites at Philae and drew the southern border of Roman Egypt at Aswan. Theodor Mommsen and Welsby state the Kingdom of Kush became a client Kingdom, which was similar to the situation under Ptolemaic rule of Egypt. Kushite ambition and excessive Roman taxation are two theories for a revolt that was supported by Kushite armies. The ancient historians, Strabo and Pliny, give accounts of the conflict with Roman Egypt.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Strabo describes a war with the Romans in the first century BC. According to Strabo, the Kushites "sacked Aswan with an army of 30,000 men and destroyed imperial statues...at Philae." A "fine over-life-size bronze head of the emperor Augustus" was found buried in Meroe in front of a temple. After the initial victories of Kandake (or "Candace") Amanirenas against Roman Egypt, the Kushites were defeated and Napata sacked. Remarkably, the destruction of the capital of Napata was not a crippling blow to the Kushites and did not frighten Candace enough to prevent her from again engaging in combat with the Roman military. In 22 BC, a large Kushite force moved northward with intention of attacking Qasr Ibrim.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Alerted to the advance, Gaius Petronius, prefect of Roman Egypt, again marched south and managed to reach Qasr Ibrim and bolster its defenses before the invading Kushites arrived. Welsby states after a Kushite attack on Primis (Qasr Ibrim), the Kushites sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace settlement with Petronius. The Kushites succeeded in negotiating a peace treaty on favorable terms. Trade between the two nations increased and the Roman Egyptian border being extended to "Hiera Sykaminos (Maharraqa)." This arrangement "guaranteed peace for most of the next 300 years" and there is "no definite evidence of further clashes."


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: It is possible that the Roman emperor Nero planned another attempt to conquer Kush before his death in AD 68. Nero sent two centurions upriver as far as Bahr el Ghazal River in 66 AD in an attempt to discover the source of the Nile, per Seneca, or plan an attack, per Pliny. Kush began to fade as a power by the first or second century AD, sapped by the war with the Roman province of Egypt and the decline of its traditional industries. However, there is evidence of third century AD Kushite Kings at Philae in demotic and inscription. It has been suggested that the Kushites reoccupied lower Nubia after Roman forces were withdrawn to Aswan. Kushite activities led others to note "a de facto Kushite control of that area (as far north as Philae) for part of the third century AD. Thereafter, it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. In the mid-4th century, Kush attacked Axum, perhaps in a dispute over the region's ivory trade. Axum responded with a large force, sacking Meroe and leading the civilization to go in decline. Christianity began to gain over the old pharaonic religion and by the mid-sixth century AD the Kingdom of Kush was dissolved.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Meroitic language was spoken in Meroë and Sudan during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BC). It became extinct about 400 AD. It is uncertain to which language family the Meroitic language is related. Kirsty Rowan suggests that Meroitic, like the Egyptian language, belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family. She bases this on its sound inventory and phonotactics, which she argues are similar to those of the Afro-Asiatic languages and dissimilar from those of the Nilo-Saharan languages.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Claude Rilly proposes that Meroitic, like the Nobiin language, belongs to the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan family, based in part on its syntax, morphology, and known vocabulary.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: In the Napatan Period Egyptian hieroglyphs were used: at this time writing seems to have been restricted to the court and temples. From the second century BC, there was a separate Meroitic writing system. The language was written in two forms of the Meroitic alphabet: Meroitic Cursive, which was written with a stylus and was used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is not well understood due to the scarcity of bilingual texts. The earliest inscription in Meroitic writing dates from between 180 and 170 BC. These hieroglyphics were found engraved on the temple of Queen Shanakdakhete. Meroitic Cursive is written horizontally, and reads from right to left. This was an alphabetic script with 23 signs used in a hieroglyphic form (mainly on monumental art) and in a cursive form. The latter was widely used; so far some 1,278 texts using this version are known (Leclant 2000). The script was deciphered by Griffith, but the language behind it is still a problem, with only a few words understood by modern scholars. It is not as yet possible to connect the Meroitic language with other known languages. For a time, it was also possibly used to write the Old Nubian language of the successor Nubian kingdoms.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The natives of the Kingdom of Kush developed a type of water wheel or scoop wheel, the saqiyah, named kolē by the Kush. The saqiyah was developed during the Meroitic period to improve irrigation. The introduction of this machine had a decisive influence on agriculture especially in Dongola as this wheel lifted water 3 to 8 meters with much less expenditure of labor and time than the shaduf, which was the previous chief irrigation device in the kingdom. The shaduf relied on human energy but the saqiyah was driven by buffalos or other animals. The people of Kerma, ancestors to the Kushites, built bronze kilns through which they manufactured objects of daily use such as razors, mirrors and tweezers.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Kushites developed a form of reservoir, known as a hafir, during the Meroitic period. Eight hundred ancient and modern hafirs have been registered in the Meroitic town of Butana.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The functions of hafirs were to catch water during the rainy season for storage, to ensure water is available for several months during the dry season as well as supply drinking water, irrigate fields, and water cattle. The Great Hafir, or Great Reservoir, near the Lion Temple in Musawwarat es-Sufra is a notable hafir built by the Kushites. It was built to retain the rainfall of the short, wet season. It is 250 m in diameter and 6.3 m deep.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Bloomeries and blast furnaces could have been used in metalworking at Meroë. Early records of bloomery furnaces dated at least to seventh and sixth century BC have been discovered in Kush. It is known that the ancient bloomeries that produced metal tools for the Kushites produced a surplus for sale.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Tetracycline was being used by Nubians, based on bone remains between 350 AD and 550 AD. The antibiotic was in wide commercial use only in the mid 20th century. The theory states that earthen jars containing grain used for making beer contained the bacterium streptomyces, which produced tetracycline. Although Nubians were not aware of tetracycline, they could have noticed that people fared better by drinking beer. According to Charlie Bamforth, a professor of biochemistry and brewing science at the University of California, Davis, he said "They must have consumed it because it was rather tastier than the grain from which it was derived. They would have noticed people fared better by consuming this product than they were just consuming the grain itself."


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Based on engraved plans of Meroitic King Amanikhabali's pyramids, Nubians had a sophisticated understanding of mathematics as they appreciated the harmonic ratio. The engraved plans is indicative of much to be revealed about Nubian mathematics. The ancient Nubians also established a system of geometry which they used in creating early versions of sun clocks. During the Meroitic period in Nubian history, the Nubians used a trigonometric methodology similar to the Egyptians.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: During the siege of Hermopolis in the eighth century BC, siege towers were built for the Kushite army led by Piye, in order to enhance the efficiency of Kushite archers and slingers.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: After leaving Thebes, Piye's first objective was besieging Ashmunein. He gathered his army after their lack of success so far, and undertook the personal supervision of operations including the erection of a siege tower from which Kushite archers could fire down into the city.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Early shelters protecting sappers armed with poles trying to breach mud-brick ramparts gave way to battering rams.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Bowmen were the most important force components in the Kushite military. Ancient sources indicate that Kushite archers favored one-piece bows that were between six and seven feet long, with so powerful a draw strength that many of the archers used their feet to bend their bows. However, composite bows were also used in their arsenal. Greek historian Herodotus indicated that primary bow construction was of seasoned palm wood, with arrows made of cane. Kushite arrows were often poisoned-tipped.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Elephants were occasionally used in warfare during the Meroitic period, as seen in the war against Rome around 20 BC.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: During the Bronze Age, Nubian ancestors of the Kingdom of Kush built speoi (a speos is a temple or tomb cut into a rock face) between 3700 and 3250 BC. This greatly influenced the architecture of the New Kingdom of Egypt.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Tomb monuments were one of the more recognizable expressions of Kushite architecture. Uniquely Kushite tomb monuments were found from the beginning of the empire, at el Kurru, to the decline of the kingdom. These monuments developed organically from Middle Nile (e.g. A-group) burial types. Tombs became progressively larger during the 25th dynasty, culminating in Taharqa's underground rectangular building with "aisles of square piers...the whole being cut from the living rock." Kushites also created pyramids, mud-brick temples (deffufa), and masonry temples. Kushites borrowed much from Egypt, as it relates to temple design. Kushite temples were quite diverse in their plans, except for the Amun temples which all have the same basic plan. The Jebel Barkal and Meroe Amun temples are exceptions with the 150 m long Jebel Barkal being "by far the largest 'Egyptian' temple ever built in Nubia." Temples for major Egyptian deities were built on "a system of internal harmonic proportions" based on "one or more rectangles each with sides in the ratio of 8:5" Kush also invented Nubian vaults.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: Piye is thought to have constructed the first true pyramid at el Kurru. Pyramids are "the archetypal tomb monument of the Kushite royal family" and found at "el Kurru, Nuri, Jebel Barkal, and Meroe." The Kushite pyramids are smaller with steeper sides than northern Egyptian pyramids. The Kushites are thought to have copied the pyramids of New Kingdom elites, as opposed to Old and Middle Kingdom pharaohs. Kushite housing consisted mostly of circular timber huts with some apartment houses with several two-room apartments. The apartment houses likely accommodated extended families.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: The Kushites built a stone-paved road at Jebel Barkal, are thought to have built piers/harbors on the Nile river, and many wells.


title: Kingdom of Kush

text: On account of the Kingdom of Kush's proximity to Ancient Egypt — the first cataract at Elephantine usually being considered the traditional border between the two polities — and because the 25th dynasty ruled over both states in the eighth century BC, from the Rift Valley to the Taurus mountains, historians have closely associated the study of Kush with Egyptology, in keeping with the general assumption that the complex sociopolitical development of Egypt's neighbors can be understood in terms of Egyptian models. As a result, the political structure and organization of Kush as an independent ancient state has not received as thorough attention from scholars, and there remains much ambiguity especially surrounding the earliest periods of the state. Edwards has suggested that the study of the region could benefit from increased recognition of Kush as a state in its own right, with distinct cultural conditions, rather than merely as a secondary state on the periphery of Egypt.


title: Second Cold War

text: are terms that refer to heightened political, social, ideological, informational, and military tensions in the 21st century. The term is used in the context of the tensions between the United States and China. It is also used to describe such tensions between the United States and Russia, the primary successor state of the former Soviet Union, which was one of the major parties of the original Cold War until its dissolution in 1991. Furthermore, the term is used to describe tensions in multilateral relations between two or more groups of nations. Some commentators have used the term as a comparison to the original Cold War. Some other commentators have either doubted that tension would lead to another "cold war" or have discouraged using the term to refer to any current tensions.


title: Second Cold War

text: Academic Gordon H. Chang in 2007 used the term "Cold War II" to refer to the Cold War period after the 1972 meeting in China between US President Richard Nixon and Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong.


title: Second Cold War

text: In May 1998, George Kennan described the US Senate vote to expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as "the beginning of a new cold war", and predicted that "the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies".


title: Second Cold War

text: The journalist Edward Lucas wrote in 2008 that a new cold war between Russia and the West had already begun.


title: Second Cold War

text: In his op-ed for "The Straits Times", Kor Kian Beng wrote that the phrase "new Cold War" between US-led allies versus Beijing and Moscow did not gain traction in China at first. This changed in 2016 after the United States announced its plan to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) in South Korea against North Korea, but China and Russia found the advanced anti-missile system too close for comfort. The US also supported a tribunal ruling against China in favor of the Philippines in the South China Sea. Afterwards, the term "new Cold War" appeared in Chinese media more often. Analysts believe this does not reflect China's desire to pursue such a strategy but precautions should still be in place in order to lower the chances of any escalation.


title: Second Cold War

text: In June 2019, University of Southern California (USC) professors Steven Lamy and Robert D. English agreed that the "new Cold War" would distract political parties from bigger issues such as globalization, global warming, global poverty, increasing inequality, and far-right populism. However, Lamy said that the new Cold War had not yet begun, while English said that it already had. English further said that China poses a far greater threat than Russia in cyberwarfare but not as much as far-right populism does from within liberal states like the US.


title: Second Cold War

text: In his September 2021 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, US President Joe Biden said that the US is "not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs." Biden further said that the US would cooperate "with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges," despite "intense disagreement in other areas, because we'll all suffer the consequences of our failure."


title: Second Cold War

text: In early May 2022, Hoover Institution senior fellow Niall Ferguson said at the Milken Institute Global Conference that "Cold War II began some time ago". He also said "Cold War II is different, though, because in Cold War II, China's the senior partner, and Russia's the junior partner", and "in Cold War II, the first hot war breaks out in Europe, rather than Asia." Later in the same month, David Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, used the term to state his opposition to a proposed cooperation agreement between China and ten island nations, by claiming it could create a "new 'cold war' between China and the west."


title: Second Cold War

text: A journalist Michael Hirsh in June 2022 used the term "[global] Cold War" to refer to tensions between leaders of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and China and its ally Russia, both countries striving to challenge the US's role as a superpower. Hirsh further cited growing tensions between the US and China as one of the causes of the newer Cold War alongside NATO's speech about China's "systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security". He further cited Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as one of factors of the newer Cold War's rise.


title: Second Cold War

text: In July 2022, James Traub used the term while discussing how the ideas of the Non-Aligned Movement, a forum of neutral countries organized during the original Cold War, can be used to understand the reaction of democratic countries in the developing world to current tensions. In the same month France, the United States and Russia scheduled high-level, multi-country diplomatic visits in Africa. An article reporting on these trips used the term "new Cold War" in relation to what "some say is the most intense competition for influence [in Africa] since the [original] Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: An article published in the July 2022 issue of the journal "Intereconomics" linked the possible "beginning of a new cold war between the


title: Second Cold War

text: West and the East" with "the rebirth of a new era of conflict, the end of the late 20th century unipolar international security architecture under the hegemony of the United States, [and] the end of globalisation".


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2022, an analysis article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz used the term to refer to the US's "open confrontation with Russia and China". The article continues on to discuss the impact of the current situation on Israel, concluding that "in the new Cold War, [Israel] cannot allow itself to be neutral." In the same month, Katrina vanden Heuvel used the term while cautioning against what she perceived as a "reflexive bipartisan embrace of a new Cold War" against Russia and China among US politicians.


title: Second Cold War

text: In September 2022, a Greek civil engineer and politician Anna Diamantopoulou further stated, despite unity of NATO members, "the West has lost much of its normative power," citing her "meetings with politicians from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East." She further stated that the West will risk losing "a new cold war" unless it overcomes challenges that would give Russia and China a greater world advantage. She further gave suggestions to the Western powers, including the European Union.


title: Second Cold War

text: have used the term (occasionally using the term "Pacific Cold War") to refer to tensions between the United States and China in the 2000s and 2010s.


title: Second Cold War

text: Donald Trump, who was inaugurated as US president on 20 January 2017, had repeatedly said during his presidential campaign that he considered China a threat, a stance that heightened speculations of the possibility of a "new cold war with China".


title: Second Cold War

text: Claremont McKenna College professor Minxin Pei said that Trump's election win and "ascent to the presidency" may increase chances of the possibility.


title: Second Cold War

text: In March 2017, a self-declared socialist magazine "Monthly Review" said, "With the rise of the Trump administration, the new Cold War with Russia has been put on hold", and also said that the Trump administration has planned to shift from Russia to China as its main competitor.


title: Second Cold War

text: In July 2018, Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado he believed China under paramount leader and general secretary Xi Jinping, while unwilling to go to war, was waging a "quiet kind of cold war" against the United States, seeking to replace the US as the leading global power. He further elaborated: "What they're waging against us is fundamentally a cold war — a cold war not like we saw during [the] Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition".


title: Second Cold War

text: In October 2018, a Hong Kong's Lingnan University professor Zhang Baohui told "The New York Times" that a speech by United States Vice-president Mike Pence at the Hudson Institute "will look like the declaration of a new Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: In January 2019, Robert D. Kaplan of the Center for a New American Security wrote that "it is nothing less than a new cold war: The constant, interminable Chinese computer hacks of American warships’ maintenance records, Pentagon personnel records, and so forth constitute war by other means. This situation will last decades and will only get worse".


title: Second Cold War

text: In February 2019, Joshua Shifrinson, an associate professor from Boston University, criticised the concerns about tensions between China and the US as "overblown", saying that the relationship between the two countries are different from that of the US–Soviet Union relations during the original Cold War, that factors of heading to another era of bipolarity are uncertain, and that ideology play a less prominent role between China and the US.


title: Second Cold War

text: In June 2019, academic Stephen Wertheim called President Trump a "xenophobe" and criticised Trump's foreign policy toward China for heightening risks of a new Cold War, which Wertheim wrote "could plunge the United States back into gruesome proxy wars around the world and risk a still deadlier war among the great powers."


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2019, Yuan Peng of the China Institute of International Studies said that the financial crisis of 2007–2008 "initiated a shift in the global order." Yuan predicted the possibility of the new cold war between both countries and their global power competition turning "from 'superpower vs. major power' to 'No. 1 vs. No. 2'." On the other hand, scholar Zhu Feng said that their "strategic competition" would not lead to the new Cold War. Zhu said that the US–China relations have progressed positively and remained "stable", despite disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait and US President Trump's aggressive approaches toward China.


title: Second Cold War

text: In January 2020, columnist and historian Niall Ferguson opined that China is one of the major players of this Cold War, whose powers are "economic rather than military", and that Russia's role is "quite small".


title: Second Cold War

text: Ferguson also wrote: "[C]ompared with the 1950s, the roles have been reversed. China is now the giant, Russia the mean little sidekick. China under Xi remains strikingly faithful to the doctrine of Marx and Lenin. Russia under Putin has reverted to Tsarism." Ferguson further wrote that this Cold War is different from the original Cold War because the US "is so intertwined with China" at the point where "decoupling" is as others argued "a delusion" and because "America's traditional allies are much less eager to align themselves with Washington and against Beijing." He further wrote that the new Cold War "shifted away from trade to technology" when both the US and China signed their Phase One trade deal. In a February 2020 interview with "The Japan Times", Ferguson suggested that, to "contain China", the US "work intelligently with its Asian and European allies", as the US had done in the original Cold War, rather than on its own and perform something more effective than "tariffs, which are a very blunt instrument." He also said that the US under Trump has been "rather poor" at making foreign relations.


title: Second Cold War

text: On May 24, 2020, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that relations with the US were on the "brink of a new Cold War" after it was fuelled by tensions over the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Second Cold War

text: In June 2020, Boston College political scientist Robert S. Ross wrote that the US and China "are destined to compete [but] not destined for violent conflict or a cold war." In July, Ross said that the Trump "administration would like to fully decouple from China. No trade, no cultural exchanges, no political exchanges, no cooperation on anything that resembles common interests."


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2020, a La Trobe University professor Nick Bisley wrote that the US–China rivalry "will be no Cold War" but rather will "be more complex, harder to manage, and last much longer." He further wrote that comparing the old Cold War to the ongoing rivalry "is a risky endeavour."


title: Second Cold War

text: In September 2020, the UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the increasing tensions between the US under Trump and China under Xi were leading to "a Great Fracture" which would become costly to the world. Xi Jinping replied by saying that "China has no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot one with any country."


title: Second Cold War

text: In March 2021, Columbia University professor Thomas J. Christensen wrote that the cold war between the US and China "is unlikely" in comparison to the original Cold War, citing China's prominence in the "global production chain" and absence of the authoritarianism vs. liberal democracy dynamic. Christensen further advised those concerned about the tensions between the two nations to research China's role in the global economy and its "foreign policy toward international conflicts and civil wars" between liberal and authoritarian forces. He further noted newly elected US President Joe Biden's planned different approach from predecessor Donald Trump.


title: Second Cold War

text: In September 2021, former Portuguese defence and foreign minister Paulo Portas described the announcement of the AUKUS security pact and the ensuing unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the signatories (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and France (which has several territories in the Indo-Pacific) as a possible formal starting point of a new Cold War.


title: Second Cold War

text: On 7 November 2021, President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated that the US does not pursue system change in China anymore,


title: Second Cold War

text: marking a clear break from the China policy pursued by previous US administrations. Sullivan said that the US is not seeking a new Cold War with China, but is looking for a system of peaceful coexistence.


title: Second Cold War

text: In November 2021, Hal Brands and Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis wrote in their "Foreign Affairs" article that China and the US have been entering "a new cold war", meaning "a protracted international rivalry, for cold wars in this sense are as old as history itself." Brands and Gaddis further wrote that this has not been ""the" Cold War" and that "the context is quite different". Both authors differentiated the "Soviet–American Cold War" from the "Sino-American cold war".


title: Second Cold War

text: According to a poll done by Morning Consult, only 15 percent of US respondents and 16 percent of Chinese respondents think the countries are in a cold war, with most rather categorizing it as a competition.


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemning US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. This statement demanded, among other things, that the US "not seek a 'new Cold War'".


title: Second Cold War

text: Following a November 2022 meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali, Biden told reporters that "there need not be a new Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: In a December 8, 2022 statement to the press announcing the creation of the United States House Select Committee on China, Speaker of the House of Representatives-elect Kevin McCarthy wrote that "China and the US are locked in a cold war."


title: Second Cold War

text: Sources disagree as to whether a period of global tension analogous to the Cold War is possible in the future,


title: Second Cold War

text: while others have used the term to describe the ongoing renewed tensions, hostilities, and political rivalries that intensified dramatically in 2014 between Russia, the United States and their respective allies.


title: Second Cold War

text: Sources opposed to the term argue that while new tensions between Russia and the West have similarities with those during the Cold War, there are also major differences,


title: Second Cold War

text: and provide Russia with new avenues for exerting influence, such as in Belarus and Central Asia, which have not seen the type of direct military action in which Russia engaged in less cooperative former Soviet states like Ukraine and the Caucasus region.


title: Second Cold War

text: In June 2014, the Macedonian Ministry of Defense published an article asserting that the term "Cold War II" was as a misnomer.


title: Second Cold War

text: In February 2016, at the Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO and Russia were "not in a cold-war situation but also not in the partnership that we established at the end of the Cold War", while Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking of what he called NATO's "unfriendly and opaque" policy on Russia, said "One could go as far as to say that we have slid back to a new Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: In October 2016 and March 2017, Stoltenberg said that NATO did not seek "a new Cold War" or "a new arms race" with Russia.


title: Second Cold War

text: In February 2016, a Higher School of Economics university academic and Harvard University visiting scholar Yuval Weber wrote on "E-International Relations" that "the world is not entering Cold War II", asserting that the current tensions and ideologies of both sides are not similar to those of the original Cold War, that situations in Europe and the Middle East do not destabilise other areas geographically, and that Russia "is far more integrated with the outside world than the Soviet Union ever was".


title: Second Cold War

text: In September 2016, when asked if he thought the world had entered a new cold war, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, argued that current tensions were not comparable to the Cold War. He noted the lack of an ideological divide between the United States and Russia, saying that conflicts were no longer ideologically bipolar.


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2016, Daniel Larison of "The American Conservative" magazine wrote that tensions between Russia and the United States would not "constitute a 'new Cold War'" especially between democracy and authoritarianism, which Larison found more limited than and not as significant in 2010s as that of the Soviet-Union era. Andrew Kuchins, an American political scientist and Kremlinologist speaking in December 2016, believed the term was "unsuited to the present conflict" as it may be more dangerous than the Cold War.


title: Second Cold War

text: In August 2017, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied claims that the US and Russia were having another cold war, despite ongoing tensions between the two countries and newer US sanctions against Russia. A University of East Anglia graduate student Oliver Steward and the Casimir Pulaski Foundation senior fellow Stanisław Koziej in 2017 attributed Zapad 2017 exercise, a military exercise by Russia, as part of the new Cold War.


title: Second Cold War

text: In March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Megyn Kelly in an interview: "My point of view is that the individuals that have said that a new Cold War has started are not analysts. They do propaganda." Michael Kofman, a senior research scientist at the CNA Corporation and a fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute said that the new cold war for Russia "is about its survival as a power in the international order, and also about holding on to the remnants of the Russian empire". Lyle Goldstein, a research professor at the US Naval War College claims that the situations in Georgia and Ukraine "seemed to offer the requisite storyline for new Cold War". Also in March 2018, Harvard University professors Stephen Walt and then Odd Arne Westad


title: Second Cold War

text: criticised application of the term to increasing tensions between the Russia and the West as "misleading", "distract[ing]", and too simplistic to describe the more complicated contemporary international politics.


title: Second Cold War

text: In October 2018, Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told Deutsche Welle that the new Cold War would make the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and other Cold War-era treaties "irrelevant because they correspond to a totally different world situation." In February 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the withdrawal from the INF treaty would not lead to "a new Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: Russian news agency TASS reported the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying "I don't think that we should talk about a new Cold War", adding that the US development of low-yield nuclear warheads (the first of which entered production in January 2019)


title: Second Cold War

text: In 2013, Michael Klare compared in RealClearPolitics tensions between Russia and the West to the ongoing proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Oxford Professor Philip N. Howard argued that a new cold war was being fought via the media, information warfare, and cyberwar.


title: Second Cold War

text: and even a "proto-world war". In January 2016, senior UK government officials were reported to have registered their growing fears that "a new cold war" was now unfolding in Europe: "It really is a new Cold War out there. Right across the EU we are seeing alarming evidence of Russian efforts to unpick the fabric of European unity on a whole range of vital strategic issues".


title: Second Cold War

text: In April 2018, relations deteriorated over a potential US-led military strike in Middle East after the Douma chemical attack in Syria, which was attributed to the Syrian Army by rebel forces in Douma, and poisoning of the Skripals in the UK. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, told a meeting of the UN Security Council that "the Cold War was back with a vengeance". He suggested the dangers were even greater, as the safeguards that existed to manage such a crisis "no longer seem to be present".


title: Second Cold War

text: Dmitri Trenin supported Guterres' statement, but added that it began in 2014 and had been intensifying since, resulting in US-led strikes on the Syrian government on 13 April 2018.


title: Second Cold War

text: In February 2022, journalist Marwan Bishara held the US and Russia responsible for pursuing "their own narrow interests", including then-US President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel as well as Putin's 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and for "pav[ing] the way for, well, another Cold War".


title: Second Cold War

text: The term "Cold War II" gained currency and relevance as tensions between Russia and the West escalated throughout the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine followed by the Russian military intervention and especially the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014. By August 2014, both sides had implemented economic, financial, and diplomatic sanctions upon each other: virtually all Western countries, led by the US and European Union, imposed punitive measures on Russia, which introduced retaliatory measures.


title: Second Cold War

text: In 2014, notable figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev warned, against the backdrop of a confrontation between Russia and the West over the Russo-Ukrainian War,


title: Second Cold War

text: that the world was on the brink of a new cold war, or that it was already occurring. The American political scientist Robert Legvold also believes it started in 2013 during the Ukraine crisis. Others argued that the term did not accurately describe the nature of relations between Russia and the West.


title: Second Cold War

text: In October 2016, John Sawers, a former MI6 chief, said he thought the world was entering an era that was possibly "more dangerous" than the Cold War, as "we do not have that focus on a strategic relationship between Moscow and Washington".


title: Second Cold War

text: Similarly, Igor Zevelev, a fellow at the Wilson Center, said that "it's not a Cold War [but] a much more dangerous and unpredictable situation".


title: Second Cold War

text: In January 2017, a former US Government adviser Molly K. McKew said at "Politico" that the US would win a new cold war.


title: Second Cold War

text: "The New Republic" editor Jeet Heer dismissed the possibility as "equally troubling[,] reckless threat inflation, wildly overstating the extent of Russian ambitions and power in support of a costly policy", and too centred on Russia while "ignoring the rise of powers like China and India". Heer also criticised McKew for suggesting the possibility.


title: Second Cold War

text: Jeremy Shapiro, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution, wrote in his blog post at "RealClearPolitics", referring to the US–Russia relations: "A drift into a new Cold War has seemed the inevitable result".


title: Second Cold War

text: Speaking to the press in Berlin on 8 November 2019, a day before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo warned of the dangers posed by Russia and China and specifically accused Russia, "led by a former KGB officer once stationed in Dresden", of invading its neighbours and crushing dissent. Jonathan Marcus of the BBC opined that Pompeo's words "appeared to be declaring the outbreak of a second [Cold War]".


title: Second Cold War

text: In February 2022, journalist H. D. S. Greenway cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine and 4 February joint statement between Russia and China (under Putin and Xi Jinping) as one of the signs that Cold War II had officially begun.


title: Second Cold War

text: In March 2022, Yale historian Arne Westad and Harvard historian Fredrik Logevall in a videotelephony conversation asserted "that the global showdown over Ukraine" would "not signal a second Cold War". Furthermore, Westad said that Putin's words about Ukraine resembled, which Harvard journalist James F. Smith summarized, "some of the colonial racial arguments of imperial powers of the past, ideas from the late 19th and early 20th century rather than the Cold War."


title: Second Cold War

text: In June 2022, journalist Gideon Rachman asserted the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the start of a second Cold War.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The name "Lakshadweep" means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Laccadive Islands are just one part of the archipelago of no more than a hundred islands. Malayalam is the primary as well as the widely spoken native language in the territory. The islands form the smallest union territory of India and their total surface area is just . The lagoon area covers about , the territorial waters area and the exclusive economic zone area . The region forms a single Indian district with 10 subdivisions. Kavaratti serves as the capital of the Union Territory and the region comes under the jurisdiction of Kerala High Court. The islands are the northernmost of the Lakshadweep–Maldives–Chagos group of islands, which are the tops of a vast undersea mountain range, the Chagos-Lakshadweep Ridge. The Lakshadweep originally consisted of 36 islands; however, due to the Parali 1 island being submerged in water due to sea erosion, 35 islands remain.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The islands were also mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka stories of the sixth century BCE. Islam was established in the region when Muslims arrived around the seventh century. During the medieval period, the region was ruled by the Chera dynasty, the Chola dynasty, and finally the Kingdom of Kannur. The Catholic Portuguese arrived around 1498 but were expelled by 1545. The region was then ruled by the Muslim house of Arakkal, who were vassals to the Kolathiri Rajas of Kannur, followed by Tipu Sultan. On his death in 1799, most of the region passed on to the British and with their departure, the Union Territory was formed in 1956.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Ten of the islands are inhabited. At the 2011 Indian census, the population of the Union Territory was 64,473. The majority of the indigenous population is Muslim and most of them belong to the Shafi school of the Sunni sect. The islanders are ethnically similar to the Malayali people of the nearest Indian state of Kerala. Most of the population speaks Malayalam with Dhivehi being the most spoken language in Minicoy island. Jeseri dialect is spoken in the inhabited islands of archipelago, namely Amindivi and Laccadive Islands, with an exception of the southernmost island of Minicoy, where the Mahl dialect is used. The Ponnani script of Malayalam was used to write Jeseri until the British Raj. The culture is almost similar to that of Mappilas in the nearest mainland state of Kerala. The islands are served by an airport on Agatti Island. The main occupation of the people is fishing and coconut cultivation, with tuna being the main item of export.


title: Lakshadweep

text: As the islands have no aboriginal inhabitants, scholars have suggested different histories for the settlement of these islands. Archaeological evidence supports the existence of human settlement in the region around 1500 BCE. The islands have long been known to sailors, as indicated by an anonymous reference from the first century CE to the region in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. There are references to the control of the islands by the Cheras in the Sangam "Patiṟṟuppattu". Local traditions and legends attribute the first settlement on these islands to the period of Cheraman Perumal, the last Chera king of Kerala. The oldest inhabited islands in the group are Amini, Kalpeni Andrott, Kavaratti, and Agatti.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Archaeological evidence suggests that Buddhism prevailed in the region during the fifth and sixth centuries CE. The local legends attribute the history of Islam here to the Legend of Cheraman Perumals, the last Chera king of Kerala, who left for pilgrimage from the island of Dharmadom near Kannur to Mecca. However, the legend is not substantiated. According to popular tradition, Islam was brought to Lakshadweep by Ubaidullah in 661 CE. His grave is located on the island of Andrott.


title: Lakshadweep

text: During the 11th century, the islands came under the rule of the Late Cholas when the Cholas conquered parts of Kerala and subsequently the islands came under the Kingdom of Kannur. The islands had an important role in the Indian Ocean trade during the medieval period as it was located in the principal trade route which connected the Middle East with Malabar Coast, Ceylon, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia).


title: Lakshadweep

text: In the 16th century, the Portuguese ruled the seas between Ormus and the Malabar Coast and south to Ceylon. As early as 1498 when the Vasco da Gama arrived at Kozhikode during the Age of Discovery, they took control of the archipelago (called Laquedivas by them), later on to exploit coir production, until the islanders expelled them in 1545. In the mid 16th century all the inhabited islands of the Lakshadweep were conferred as "jagir" on the ruling family of the Cannanore Kingdom (Arakkal Kingdom) by the Chirakkal or Kolattiri Raja in order to grant protection from the Portuguese. The Arakkal kingdom had jurisdiction over Laccadive and Amindivi groups of islands, in addition to the city of Kannur. The islands are also mentioned in great detail in the stories of the Arab traveller Ibn Batuta.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The Aminidivi group of islands (Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlath, and Bitra) came under the rule of Tipu Sultan in 1787. They were passed to British control after the Third Anglo-Mysore War and were attached to Kasaragod Taluk of South Canara. The rest of the islands (Agatti, Andrott, Minicoy, Kavaratti, Kalpeni, and Bangaram) remained under the suzerainty of the Arakkal family of Kannur in return for a payment of annual tribute. The British took over the administration of those islands for nonpayment of arrears. These islands were attached to the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. Later it was placed under Kozhikode Taluk.


title: Lakshadweep

text: On 1 November 1956, during the reorganization of Indian states, the Lakshadweep islands were separated from Malabar District and organised into a separate union territory for administrative purposes. The new territory was called Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands before adopting the Lakshadweep name on 1 November 1973. The headquarters of the new union territory remained at Kozhikode for nearly a decade until 1964. In 1964, the seat of administrator of the islands was shifted to Kavaratti.


title: Lakshadweep

text: To safeguard India's vital shipping lanes to the Middle East, and the growing relevance of the islands in security considerations, an Indian Navy base, INS Dweeprakshak, was commissioned on Kavaratti island.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep is an archipelago of twelve atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks, with a total of about thirty-nine islands and islets. The reefs are in fact also atolls, although mostly submerged, with only small unvegetated sand cays above the high-water mark. The submerged banks are sunken atolls. Almost all the atolls have a northeast–southwest orientation with the islands lying on the eastern rim, and a mostly submerged reef on the western rim, enclosing a lagoon. It has ten inhabited islands, 17 uninhabited islands, attached islets, four newly formed islets and five submerged reefs.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The main islands are Kavaratti, Agatti, Minicoy, and Amini. The total population of the territory is 64,473 according to the 2011 census. Agatti has an airport with direct flights from Kochi.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The Aminidivi subgroup of islands (consisting of Amini, Keltan, Chetlat, Kadamat, Bitra, and Perumal Par) and the Laccadive subgroup of islands (comprising mainly Androth, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Pitti, and Suheli Par), both subgroups having a submarine connection between them through Pitti Bank. Together with Minicoy Island, a lonely atoll located at the southern end of the 200-km-broad Nine Degree Channel, they form the Coral Islands of India in the Arabian Sea. All these islands have been built up by corals and have fringing coral reefs very close to their shores.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The Lakshadweep Archipelago, together with the Maldives and the Chagos, forms the Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests ecoregion. It has over 600 species of marine fishes, 78 species of corals, 82 species of seaweed, 52 species of crabs, 2 species of lobsters, 48 species of gastropods, 12 species of bivalves, 101 species of birds. It is one of the four coral reef regions in India. The corals are a major attraction for the tourist. Pitti Island, is an important breeding place for sea turtles and for a number of pelagic birds such as the brown noddy ("Anous stolidus"), lesser crested tern ("Sterna bengalensis)" and greater crested tern ("Sterna bergii"). The island has been declared a bird sanctuary. Cetacean diversity off the Lakshadweep Islands and in adjacent areas is higher than other areas although a lack of scientific study results in poor understanding and conservation promoting. These include various whales (e.g. pygmy blue, Bryde's, sperm), smaller cetaceans (e.g. orca, pilot whale) and dolphins.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The region does not have a rich flora and almost all the plants can be found on the mainland of India. There is also an absence of forest in the region. Nearly 400 species of flowering plants have been documented, including three species of sea grasses "Cymodocea isoetifolia", "Syringodium isoetifolium" and "Thalassia hemprichii", other angiosperms as "Pandanus", "Heliotropium foertherianum", "Tournefortia argentea" and "Pemphis acidula" as well as fungi, algae, lichens are also found. The common flora of the coral sands include coconut groves and coastal shrubs as "Pemphis acidula", "Cordia subcordata", "Scaevola taccada", "Thespesia populnea", "Suriana maritima", "Dodonaea viscosa", "Guettarda speciosa" and seaweeds such as sea lettuces, "Codium" and "Hypena".


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep is one of India's eight union territories. The islands constitute a single Indian district, and are governed by an administrator appointed by the President of India under article 239 of the constitution. The current administrator is Praful Khoda Patel. There are ten sub-divisions of the territory. In Minicoy and Agatti the Sub Division is under a Deputy Collector while in the remaining eight islands developmental activities are coordinated by Sub Divisional Officers. The Collector cum Development Commissioner who is also the District Magistrate oversees matters coming under district administration, such as revenue, land settlement, law and order. The District Magistrate is assisted by one Additional District Magistrate and Ten Executive Magistrates with respect to enforcement of law and order. Administrator in his capacity as Inspector General of Lakshadweep Police has command and control of the Lakshadweep Police. Administration Secretariat is in Kavaratti. For judiciary, the union territory corresponds to the Kerala High Court at Kochi along with a system of lower courts. The territory elects one member to the lower house of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha.


title: Lakshadweep

text: According to the 2011 census Lakshadweep has a population of 64,473, roughly equal in number to that of the Marshall Islands. This gives it a ranking of 627th among the 640 districts in India. Lakshadweep has an urban population of 50,332 (78%) and rural population of 14,141 (22%). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 6.23%. Lakshadweep has a sex ratio of 946 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 92.28%. Fertility rate in Lakshadweep is 1.4, which is way below the national average.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Most people of Lakshadweep are descendants of migrants from the Malabar Coast of southwest India and the islanders are ethnically similar to coastal Kerala's Malayali people. More than 93% of the indigenous population are Muslims, and the majority of them belong to the Shafi School of the Sunni Sect. The southernmost and second largest island of Minicoy has an ethnically Mahls population that are native to the Maldives.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The inhabitants of Lakshadweep were known to practice different religious customs. Then Islam was propounded by the Sheikh Ubaidullah.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The spread of Islam has contributed to the religious identity of Lakshadweep thus leaving Muslims as the majority of the population. Eid-ul-Fitr, Muharram, Eid-ul-Adha and Milad-un-Nabi are the prominent occasions when the people of the island gather in various mosques. The culture is almost similar to that of Mappilas in the nearest mainland state of Kerala.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Religious observance in Lakshadweep is characterized by certain festivals that are found in its core ethnic groups. Moulood is one such religious event when the islanders offer prayers to the divine power and eat in groups. The festival of Ratheeb is another uncommon occasion which originated in the Kavaratti region of Lakshadweep. The grave of Sheikh Kasim, one of the respected saints is praised during Ratheeb by the people of the island to gather his holy blessings.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The principal languages of Lakshadweep are Malayalam, Jeseri (Dweep Bhasha) and Mahl. The people of all the northern islands speak a dialect of Malayalam with the influence of Arabic similar to Arabi Malayalam. The people of Minicoy, the southernmost atoll, speak Mahl, a variant of Divehi language spoken in the Maldives. Jeseri (also known as Jesri or Dweep Bhasha) is a dialect of Malayalam, spoken in Lakshadweep. It is spoken on the islands of Chetlat, Bitra, Kiltan, Kadmat, Amini, Kavaratti, Androth, Agatti, and Kalpeni, in the archipelago of Lakshadweep. Each of these islands has its own dialect.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Malayalam with Malayalam script was introduced as the primary language of Lakshadweep during the British Raj, while previously a type of Arabic script, which is also known as Ponnani script or Arabi Malayalam script, was used for writing the language. The policy was continued by the Indian government. Malayalam serves as a link language on the islands including on the Mahl dominated Minicoy Island. The dances here include: Lava Dance, Kolkali Dance and Parichakli Dance.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep's gross territorial domestic product for 2004 is estimated at at current prices. There is little economic inequality in Lakshadweep and the poverty index is low. Coconut fibre extraction and production of fibre products is Lakshadweep's main industry. There are five coir fibre factories, five production demonstration centres and seven fibre curling units run by the government of India. These units produce coir fibre, coir yarn, curled fibre and corridor mattings.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep comprises the only coral atolls of the country. With a vast lagoon of , it has territorial waters of , Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of and coastal line of about . There is an estimation of about of tuna and tuna-like fishes and about an equal quantity of shark in the sea around Lakshadweep. Fishing is the main livelihood of the islanders, or else it is coconut fibre. Freshly caught tuna is processed by drying it in the sun after cooking and smoking. The resultant product, known as 'mas', are popular products exported from these islands to southeast Asian countries. Eleven workshops in the islands and two boat building yards cater to the needs of fishermen. There are 375 boats in operation in Lakshadweep.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Due to its isolation and scenic appeal, Lakshadweep was already known as a tourist attraction for Indians since 1974. This brings in significant revenue, which is likely to increase. Since such a small region cannot support industries, the government is actively promoting tourism as a means of income in Bangaram and Kadmat islands. Bangaram is projected to become a major destination for international tourism. Marine fauna are plentiful. Water sports activities such as scuba diving, wind surfing, snorkelling, surfing, kayaking, canoeing, water skiing, sportfishing, yachting and night sea voyages are popular activities among tourists. Tourists flock to these islands throughout the year, except during the southwest monsoon months when seas are extremely rough. The government has also proposed to set up two customs clearance check-in offices so that tourists can enter directly instead of getting permission from the nearest customs office in Kochi, which is from these islands. These will be the smallest customs offices in India. Tourism is expected to get a big boost after these offices open as the islands lie on one of the busiest cruise passages.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Tourists essentially need a permission to visit the islands; foreign nationals are not permitted to visit certain islands. According to the current alcohol laws of India, alcoholic beverage consumption is not permitted in the Lakshadweep Archipelago except on Bangaram Island.


title: Lakshadweep

text: To boost the economy, high-end tourism, tele-medicine, tele-education, fisheries, and others, the union government announced a project to install under-sea fiber optic cable for high-speed mobile and internet connectivity between Kochi and 11 islands of Lakshadweep including Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agati, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan and Kadmat. This project will be completed by May 2023.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Lakshadweep will receive its first statue of Mahatma Gandhi in connection with the celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birthday.


title: Lakshadweep

text: A low-temperature thermal desalination plant opened on Kavaratti in 2005, at a cost of 50 million (€922,000). The experimental plant, which uses the temperature difference between warm surface seawater and much colder seawater at depth to generate potable water as well as energy, was put in place to produce 100,000 litres/day of potable water from seawater. Production costs in 2005 were 220-250/m (€4.1-4.6/m); the cost was supposed to drop to 30-60/m (€0.55-1.11/m) with increased capacity.


title: Lakshadweep

text: The technology was developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology. It can be used to produce drinking water and also for power generation and air conditioning. In addition, the deep seawater contains extra nutrients for fish, an important source of food and income for the local population. The government plans to set up desalination plants with a capacity of 10 million litres/per day on all islands and coastal areas. In 2009, the NIOT announced plans to build plants on Minicoy, Agatti and Andrott.


title: Lakshadweep

text: Agatti Aerodrome on Agatti Island is the only airport in Lakshadweep. Alliance Air, a subsidiary of the state-owned carrier Air India, serves Agatti and flies to Kochi. Other islands are linked by the Pawan Hans helicopter


title: Lakshadweep

text: Six ships connect Kochi, Kozhikode (Beypore) and Lakshadweep: , MV "Amindivi", MV "Minicoy", MV "Arabian Sea", MV "Lakshadweep Sea" and MV "Bharath Seema". Boat/ferry service is available between islands.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: USS "Enterprise" (CV-6) was a carrier built for the United States Navy during the 1930s. She was the seventh U.S. Navy vessel of that name. Colloquially called "The Big E", she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. Launched in 1936, she was one of only three American carriers commissioned before World War II to survive the war (the others being and ). She participated in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other United States ship. These actions included the attack on Pearl Harbor — 18 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers of her air group arrived over the harbor during the attack; seven were shot down with eight airmen killed and two wounded, making her the only American aircraft carrier with men at Pearl Harbor during the attack and the first to sustain casualties during the Pacific War — the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, various other air-sea engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. "Enterprise" earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II, and was the most decorated U.S. ship of World War II. She was also the first American ship to sink a full-sized enemy warship after the Pacific War had been declared when her aircraft sank the Japanese submarine "I-70" on 10 December 1941. On three occasions during the war, the Japanese announced that she had been sunk in battle, inspiring her nickname "The Grey Ghost". By the end of the war, her planes and guns had downed 911 enemy planes, sunk 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Despite efforts made by the public after the war to turn "Enterprise" into a museum ship, "Enterprise" was ultimately scrapped from 1958 to 1960.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: The sixth carrier built for the United States Navy and the second of the , "Enterprise" was launched on 3 October 1936 at Newport News Shipbuilding, sponsored by Lulie Swanson, wife of Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, and commissioned on 12 May 1938 with Captain Newton H. White, Jr. in command. "Enterprise" sailed south on a shakedown cruise which took her to Rio de Janeiro. Captain Charles A. Pownall relieved White on 21 December. After her return, she operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean until April 1939, when she was ordered to duty in the Pacific.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" was one of fourteen ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar. Captain George D. Murray assumed command of the carrier on 21 March 1941. Based first at San Diego (where she was used in the filming of "Dive Bomber", starring Errol Flynn and Fred MacMurray) and then at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu after President Roosevelt ordered the Fleet to be "forward based," the carrier and her Air Group trained intensively and transported aircraft to American island bases in the Pacific. "Enterprise" and the other ships of Task Force 8 (TF 8) departed Pearl Harbor on 28 November 1941 to deliver Marine Fighter Squadron 211 (VMF-211) to Wake Island nearly due west. She was scheduled to return to Hawaii on 6 December 1941, but was delayed by the weather, and she was still at sea about west of Oahu at dawn on 7 December 1941.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" launched eighteen of her SBDs - the CAG's aircraft, 13 aircraft from Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6) and four aircraft from Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) - at dawn on 7 December to scout an arc extending from the northeast to southeast of the ship, and to land at Ford Island at Pearl Harbor after completing their search routes. As these aircraft arrived in pairs over Pearl Harbor, they were caught between attacking Japanese aircraft and defensive anti-aircraft fire from the ships and shore installations below. Seven SBDs were shot down, either from enemy action or friendly fire, with the loss of eight airmen killed and two wounded.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" received radio messages from Pearl Harbor reporting that the base was under attack, and she was later directed to launch an airstrike based on an inaccurate report of a Japanese carrier southwest of her location. The strike was launched around 17:00, consisting of six Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters of Fighting Squadron Six (VF-6), 18 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron Six (VT-6), and six SBDs of VB-6.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Unable to locate any targets, the torpedo and dive bombers returned to "Enterprise", but the six fighters were directed to divert to Hickam Field on Oahu. Although word of the planes' expected arrival had been broadcast to all ships and anti-aircraft units in the area, the appearance of the Wildcats in the night sky over Oahu triggered panic firing, which shot down three of them, killing their pilots, while a fourth aircraft ran out of fuel, forcing the pilot to bail out.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" pulled into Pearl Harbor for fuel and supplies on the evening of 8 December. Vice-Admiral William Halsey Jr., commander of Carrier Division 2, ordered every able-bodied man on board to help rearm and refuel "Enterprise"; this process normally took 24 hours to complete, but was completed this time within seven hours. She and the other ships of TF 8 sailed early the next morning to patrol against possible additional attacks on the Hawaiian Islands. Although the group encountered no Japanese surface ships, "Enterprise" aircraft sank at on 10 December 1941.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: During the last two weeks of December 1941, "Enterprise" and her escorts steamed west of Hawaii to cover the islands while two other carrier groups made a belated attempt to relieve Wake Island. After a brief layover at Pearl Harbor, "Enterprise" and her group sailed on 11 January 1942, protecting convoys reinforcing Samoa.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 16 January 1942, a TBD of VT-6, piloted by Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate and enlisted Naval Aviation Pilot Harold F. Dixon, got lost on patrol, ran out of fuel, and ditched. Dixon and his two crewmates, bombardier Anthony J. Pastula and gunner Gene Aldrich, survived for 34 days in a small rubber raft after their food and water were washed overboard, before drifting ashore on the atoll of Pukapuka, where the natives fed them and notified Allied authorities. The three men were then picked up by . Dixon was awarded the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism, exceptional determination, resourcefulness, skilled seamanship, excellent judgment and highest quality of leadership."


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 1 February 1942, "Enterprise"s Task Force 8 raided Kwajalein, Wotje, and Maloelap in the Marshall Islands, sinking three Japanese ships, damaging eight, and destroying numerous airplanes and ground facilities. "Enterprise" received only minor damage in the Japanese counterattack, as TF 8 retired to Pearl Harbor.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: The next month, "Enterprise", now part of Task Force 16, swept the central Pacific, attacking enemy installations on Wake and Marcus Islands.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: After minor alterations and repairs at Pearl Harbor, "Enterprise" and TF 16 departed on 8 April 1942 to rendezvous with her sister ship and sailed west, escorting "Hornet" on the mission to launch 16 Army B-25 Mitchells in the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo. While fighters from "Enterprise" flew combat air patrol, the B-25s launched on 18 April, and flew undetected the remaining to the target. The task force, its presence known to the enemy after a Japanese picket boat radioed a warning, reversed course and returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 April.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Five days later, "Enterprise" sortied toward the South Pacific to reinforce U.S. carriers operating in the Coral Sea. However, the Battle of the Coral Sea was over before "Enterprise" arrived. With "Hornet", she performed a feint towards Nauru and Banaba (Ocean) islands which caused the Japanese to delay Operation RY to seize the two islands, "Enterprise" returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May 1942, and began intensive preparation to meet the expected Japanese thrust at Midway Island.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 28 May, "Enterprise" departed Pearl Harbor as Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's flagship with orders "to hold Midway and inflict maximum damage on the enemy by strong attrition tactics". With "Enterprise" in TF 16 were "Hornet," six cruisers, ten destroyers and four oilers. On 30 May, Task Force 17 (TF 17), with Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in , left Pearl with two cruisers and six destroyers and rendezvoused with TF 16; as senior officer present, Rear Admiral Fletcher became "Officer in Tactical Command." Vice Admiral Halsey, the usual commander of TF 16 and senior to both Fletcher and Spruance, was medically ordered to remain in a naval hospital at Pearl Harbor due to stress-induced severe weight loss and severe psoriasis.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Each side launched air attacks during the day in a decisive battle. Though the forces were in contact until 7 June, by 10:45am on 4 June the outcome had been decided. Three Japanese carriers were burning and it was only a matter of time until a fourth was caught and knocked out. The Battle of Midway began on the morning of 4 June 1942, when four Japanese carriers, unaware of the presence of U.S. naval forces, launched attacks on Midway Island. Shortly after the first bomb fell on Midway, the first wave of planes (4 B-26B Marauders, 6 TBF-1 Avengers,11 SB2U-3s, 16 SBDs and 15 B-17s) from Midway Island attacked unsuccessfully. Several more groups attacked, again failing to damage their targets. Planes from the U.S. carriers attacked next. "Enterprise" torpedo bombers attacked first, scoring no hits and suffering heavy losses. Soon after, "Enterprise" dive bombers attacked and disabled the Japanese carriers and , leaving them ablaze, while "Yorktown" aircraft also bombed the , leaving her burning and dead in the water.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Within an hour, the remaining Japanese carrier, , launched air strikes that crippled "Yorktown" with three bombs and two torpedoes striking home during two separate attacks. In late afternoon, a mixed squadron of "Enterprise" and "Yorktown" bombers, flying from "Enterprise", disabled "Hiryu", leaving her burning. The following day "Enterprise" dive bombers alone sank the cruiser "Mikuma". While "Yorktown" and were the only American ships sunk, TF 16 and TF 17 lost a total of 113 planes, 61 of them in combat. Japanese losses were much higher: four carriers (all scuttled), one cruiser and 272 carrier aircraft with many of their highly experienced aircrews. Despite losses to her aircraft squadrons, "Enterprise" came through undamaged and returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June 1942.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Captain Arthur C. Davis relieved Murray on 30 June 1942. After a month of rest and overhaul, "Enterprise" sailed on 15 July 1942 for the South Pacific, where she joined TF 61 to support the amphibious landings in the Solomon Islands on 8 August. For the next two weeks, the carrier and her planes guarded seaborne communication lines southwest of the Solomons. On 24 August, a strong Japanese force was discovered some north of Guadalcanal, and TF 61 sent planes to the attack. In the ensuing Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the light carrier was sunk, and the Japanese troops intended for Guadalcanal were forced back. "Enterprise" suffered the most heavily of the American ships; three direct bomb hits and four near misses killed 74, wounded 95, and inflicted serious damage on the carrier. Quick, hard work by damage control parties patched her up so that she was able to return to Hawaii under her own power.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Repaired at Pearl Harbor from 10 September–16 October 1942, "Enterprise" embarked Air Group 10 in early October. This was the first time that the Grim Reapers of VF-10 deployed from "Enterprise" under commanding officer James H. Flatley, who became known as "Reaper Leader." She departed once more for the South Pacific, where with "Hornet" she formed TF 61, although Captain Osborne Hardison relieved Davis on 21 October. Five days later, "Enterprise" scout planes located a Japanese carrier force and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands was under way. "Enterprise" aircraft struck carriers and cruisers during the struggle, while the ship herself underwent intensive attack. Hit twice by bombs, "Enterprise" lost 44 men and had 75 wounded. Despite serious damage, she remained in action and took on board a large number of planes and crewmen from "Hornet" when that carrier was sunk. Though the American losses of a carrier and a destroyer were more severe than the Japanese loss of one light cruiser, the battle gave the Americans time to reinforce Guadalcanal against the next enemy onslaught, and nearby Henderson Field was therefore secure from the Japanese bombardment. The loss of "Hornet" meant "Enterprise" was now the only functioning (albeit damaged) U.S. carrier in the Pacific Theater. On one of the decks, the crew posted a sign: ""Enterprise" vs Japan."


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" reached Nouméa, New Caledonia on 30 October for repairs, but a new Japanese thrust at the Solomons demanded her presence and she sailed on 11 November, with repair crews from still working on board. Part of the repair crew were 75 Seabees from Company B of the 3rd Construction Battalion. This was due to a shortage of fleet repair resources. Underway with orders to engage the enemy, the Seabees focused on effecting repairs even during the forthcoming battle. The work was under the round-the-clock supervision of "Enterprise"s damage control officer, Lt. Cmdr. Herschel Albert Smith.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: The commanding officer of "Enterprise", Captain Osborne Bennett "Ozzie B" "Oby" Hardison, notified the Navy Department that "the emergency repairs accomplished by this skillful, well-trained, and enthusiastically energetic force have placed this vessel in condition for further action against the enemy." This remarkable job later won the praise of Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr., Commander South Pacific Area and the South Pacific Force, who sent a dispatch to the of the Seabee detachment stating, "Your commander wishes to express to you and the men of the Construction Battalion serving under you his appreciation for the services rendered by you in effecting emergency repairs during action against the enemy. The repairs were completed by these men with speed and efficiency. I hereby commend them for their willingness, zeal, and capability."


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 13 November, aviators from "Enterprise" helped to sink the , the first Japanese battleship lost during the war. When the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ended on 15 November 1942, "Enterprise" had shared in sinking sixteen ships and damaging eight more. The carrier returned to Nouméa on 16 November to complete her repairs.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Sailing again on 4 December, "Enterprise" trained out of Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, until 28 January 1943, when she departed for the Solomons area. On 30 January, her fighters flew combat air patrol for a cruiser–destroyer group during the Battle of Rennell Island. Despite the destruction of most of the attacking Japanese bombers by "Enterprise" planes, the heavy cruiser was sunk by aerial torpedoes.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Detached after the battle, the carrier arrived at Espiritu Santo on 1 February, and for the next three months operated out of that base, covering U.S. surface forces up to the Solomons. Captain Samuel Ginder assumed command of the ship on 16 April. "Enterprise" then steamed to Pearl Harbor where, on 27 May 1943, Admiral Chester Nimitz presented the ship with the first Presidential Unit citation awarded to an aircraft carrier.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: In the summer of 1943, with the new and carriers joining the American Pacific Fleet, "Enterprise" was temporarily relieved of duty, and on 20 July, she entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a much-needed overhaul. Over the course of several months, "Enterprise" received an extensive refit, which included, among other upgrades, new anti-aircraft weapons and an anti-torpedo blister that significantly improved her underwater protection. This mid-war refit is where she would receive her two iconic "6"s on her flight decks.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Captain Matthias Gardner relieved Ginder on 7 November. Back at Pearl Harbor on 6 November, "Enterprise" left four days later to provide close air support to the 27th Infantry Division landing on Makin Atoll, during the Battle of Makin, from 19–21 November 1943. On the night of 26 November, "Enterprise" introduced carrier-based night fighters to the Pacific when a three-plane team from the ship broke up a large group of land-based bombers attacking TG 50.2. Two of the three planes returned to the ship, with LCDR Edward "Butch" O'Hare the only casualty. After a heavy strike by aircraft of TF 50 against Kwajalein on 4 December, "Enterprise" returned to Pearl Harbor five days later.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: The carrier's next operation was with the Fast Carrier Task Force in softening up the Marshall Islands and supporting the landings on Kwajalein, from 29 January-3 February 1944. Then, "Enterprise" sailed, still with TF 58, to strike the Japanese naval base at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, on 17 February. Again "Enterprise" made aviation history, when she launched the first night radar bombing attack from a U.S. carrier. The twelve torpedo bombers in this strike achieved excellent results, accounting for nearly one-third of the 200,000 tons of shipping destroyed by aircraft.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Detached from TF 58 with escorts, "Enterprise" launched raids on Jaluit Atoll on 20 February, then steamed to Majuro and Espiritu Santo. Sailing on 15 March in TG 36.1, she provided air cover and close support for the landings on Emirau Island (19–25 March). The carrier rejoined TF 58 on 26 March, and for the next 12 days, joined in a series of strikes against the islands of Yap, Ulithi, Woleai, and Palau. After a week's rest and replenishment at Majuro, "Enterprise" sailed on 14 April to support landings in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea, and then hit Truk again from 29–30 April.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 6 June 1944, she and her companions of TG 58.3 sortied from Majuro to join the rest of TF 58 in attacking the Marianas Islands. Striking Saipan, Rota, and Guam from 11–14 June, "Enterprise" pilots gave direct support to the landings on Saipan on 15 June, and covered the troops ashore for the next two days.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Aware of a major Japanese attempt to break up the invasion of Saipan, Admiral Spruance, now Commander 5th Fleet, positioned TF 58 to meet the threat.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: On 19 June 1944, "Enterprise" was one of four carriers of Task Group 58.3 under the command of Rear Admiral John W. Reeves' during the largest carrier aircraft battle in history: the Battle of the Philippine Sea. For over eight hours, airmen of the United States and Imperial Japanese navies fought in the skies over TF 58 and the Marianas. Over the course of two days, a total of six American ships were damaged, and 130 planes and a total of 76 pilots and aircrew were lost. In sharp contrast, American carrier aircraft, with a major assist from U.S. submarines, sank three Japanese carriers (, , and ), and destroyed 426 carrier aircraft, losses from which Japanese naval aviation would never recover.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: "Enterprise" participated both in the defense of the fleet and in the subsequent early-evening strike against the Japanese task forces. During the chaotic after-dark recovery of the air strike, a fighter and a bomber came aboard simultaneously, but fortunately did not cause an accident. A planned midnight strike against the Japanese fleet by night-flying "Enterprise" pilots was cancelled because of the recovery and rescue operations required after the dusk attack. After the battle, "Enterprise" and her Task Group continued to provide air support for the invasion of Saipan through 5 July. She then sailed for Pearl Harbor and a month of rest and overhaul, during which she was painted in Measure 33/4Ab Dazzle camouflage. During this time, Gardner was replaced by Commander Thomas Hamilton on 10 July before he was relieved in his turn by Captain Cato Glover on 29 July. Back in action on 24 August, the carrier sailed with TF 38 in that force's aerial assault on the Volcano and Bonin Islands from 31 August – 2 September, and Yap, Ulithi, and the Palaus from 6–8 September.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: After operating west of the Palau Islands, "Enterprise" joined other units of TF 38 on 7 October and set course to the north. From 10–20 October, her aviators flew over Okinawa, Formosa, and the Philippines, blasting enemy airfields, shore installations, and shipping in preparation for the assault on Leyte. After supporting the Leyte landings on 20 October, "Enterprise" headed for Ulithi to replenish, but the approach of the Japanese fleet on 23 October called her back to action.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: In the Battle of Leyte Gulf (23–26 October), "Enterprise" planes struck all three groups of enemy forces, battering battleships and destroyers before the action ended. The carrier remained on patrol east of Samar and Leyte until the end of October, then retired to Ulithi for supplies. During November, her aircraft struck targets in the Manila area, and at the island of Yap. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 6 December 1944 and Glover was replaced by Captain Grover B. H. Hall on 14 December.


title: USS Enterprise (CV-6)

text: Sailing on 24 December for the Philippines, "Enterprise" carried an air group specially trained in night carrier operations; as the only carrier capable of night operations, she left Oahu with her hull code changed from CV to CV(N), the "N" representing "Night". She joined TG 38.5 and swept the waters north of Luzon and of the South China Sea during January 1945, striking shore targets and shipping from Formosa to Indo-China including an attack on Macau. After a brief visit to Ulithi, "Enterprise" joined TG 58.5 on 10 February 1945, and provided day and night combat air patrol for TF 58 as it struck Tokyo on 16–17 February.