title: P. W. Botha

text: At age 30, Botha was elected head of the National Party Youth in 1946, and two years later was elected to the House of Assembly as representative of George in the southern Cape Province in the general election which saw the beginning of the National Party's 46-year tenure in power. His opponent in the 1948 election was JP Marais from the United Party. In 1958 Botha was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs by Hendrik Verwoerd, and in 1961 was appointed to the new Department of Coloured Affairs and became Minister of Community Development. In 1966, Botha was appointed Minister of Defence by Verwoerd and served under the government of John Vorster, upon Verwoerd's murder later that year. Under his 14 years in charge of the ministry, the South African Defence Force (SADF) reached a zenith, at times consuming 20% of the national budget, compared to 1.3% in 1968, and was involved in the South African Border War. When Vorster resigned following allegations of his involvement in the Muldergate Scandal in 1978, Botha was elected as his successor by the National Party caucus, besting the electorate's favourite, 45-year-old Foreign Minister Pik Botha. In the final internal ballot, he beat Connie Mulder, the scandal's namesake, in a 78–72 vote.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha was keen to promote constitutional reform, and hoped to implement a form of federal system in South Africa that would allow for greater "self-rule" for black homelands (or Bantustans), while still retaining the supremacy of a white central government, and foremost expand the rights of Coloureds (South Africans of mixed ancestry) and Asians in order to widen support for the government. Upon enacting the reforms, he remarked in the House of Assembly; ""We must adapt or die"."


title: P. W. Botha

text: Upon becoming Prime Minister, Botha retained the defence portfolio until October 1980, when he appointed SADF Chief General Magnus Malan, his successor. From his ascension to the cabinet, Botha pursued an ambitious military policy designed to increase South Africa's military capability. He sought to improve relations with the West – especially the United States – but with mixed results. He argued that the preservation of the apartheid government, though unpopular, was crucial to stemming the tide of African Communism, which had made in-roads into neighbouring Angola and Mozambique after these two former Portuguese colonies obtained independence.


title: P. W. Botha

text: As Prime Minister and later State President, Botha's greatest parliamentary opponents were Harry Schwarz and Helen Suzman of the Progressive Federal Party until 1987, when his former cabinet colleague Andries Treurnicht's new Conservative Party became the official opposition on a strictly anti-concessionist agenda.


title: P. W. Botha

text: In 1977, as Minister of Defence, Botha began a secret nuclear weapons program, which culminated in the manufacture of six nuclear bombs, destroyed only in the early 1990s. He remained steadfast in South Africa's administration of neighbouring territory South-West Africa, particularly while there was a presence of Cuban troops in Angola to the north. Botha was responsible for introducing the notorious Koevoet police counter-insurgency unit. He was also instrumental in building the SADF's strength, adding momentum to establishing units such as 32 Battalion. South African intervention, with support of the rebel UNITA movement (led by Dr. Jonas Savimbi, a personal friend), in the Angolan Civil War continued until the late 1980s, terminating with the Tripartite Accord. To maintain the nation's military strength, a very strict draft was implemented to enforce compulsory military service for white South African men.


title: P. W. Botha

text: In 1983, Botha proposed a new constitution, which was then put to a vote of the white population. Though it did not implement a federal system as established in 1961, it implemented what was ostensibly a power-sharing agreement with Coloureds and Indians. The new constitution created two new houses of parliament alongside the existing, white-only House of Assembly—the House of Representatives for Coloureds and the House of Delegates for Indians. The three chambers of the new Tricameral Parliament had sole jurisdiction over matters relating to their respective communities. Legislation affecting "general affairs," such as foreign policy and race relations, had to pass all three chambers after consideration by joint standing committees.


title: P. W. Botha

text: The plan included no chamber or system of representation for the black majority. Each Black ethno-linguistic group was allocated a 'homeland' which would initially be a semi-autonomous area. However, blacks were legally considered citizens of the Bantustans, not of South Africa, and were expected to exercise their political rights there. Bantustans were expected to gradually move towards a greater state of independence with sovereign nation status being the final goal. During Botha's tenure, Ciskei, Bophutatswana and Venda all achieved nominal nationhood. These new countries, set up within the borders of South Africa, never gained international recognition, and economically all remained heavily dependent on South Africa. Over half of the Bantustans, most notably KwaZulu led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, rejected independence due to their leaders' commitment to opposing Apartheid from within.


title: P. W. Botha

text: The new constitution also changed the executive branch from the parliamentary system that had been in place in one form or another since 1910, to a presidential system. The prime minister's post was abolished, and its functions were merged with those of the state president, which became an executive post with sweeping powers. He was elected by an electoral college whose members were elected by the three chambers of the Parliament. The state president and cabinet had sole jurisdiction over "general affairs." Disputes between the three chambers regarding "general affairs" were resolved by the President's Council, composed of members from the three chambers and members directly appointed by the state president. In practice, the composition of the President's Council and the electoral college made it impossible for the Coloured and Indian chambers to outvote the white chamber on any substantive matter, even if they voted as a bloc. Thus, the real power remained in white hands—and in practice, in the hands of Botha's National Party, which commanded a large majority in the white chamber.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Though the new constitution was criticised by the black majority for failing to grant them any formal role in government, many international commentators praised it as a "first step" in what was assumed to be a series of reforms. On 14 September 1984, Botha was elected as the first state president under the newly approved constitution.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Implementing the presidential system was seen as a key step in consolidating Botha's personal power. In previous years, he had succeeded in getting a number of strict laws that limited freedom of speech through parliament, and thus suppressed criticism of government decisions.


title: P. W. Botha

text: In many western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom (where the Anti-Apartheid Movement was based) and the Commonwealth, there was much debate over the imposition of economic sanctions in order to weaken Botha and undermine the white regime. By the late 1980s – as foreign investment in South Africa declined – disinvestment began to have a serious effect on the nation's economy.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha undertook some superficial changes to apartheid practices. He legalised interracial marriage and miscegenation, both completely banned since the late 1940s. The constitutional prohibition on multiracial political parties was lifted. He also relaxed the Group Areas Act, which barred non-whites from living in certain areas. In 1988, a new law created "Open Group Areas" or racially mixed neighbourhoods but these neighbourhoods had to receive a Government permit, had to have the support of the local whites immediately concerned, and had to be an upper-class neighbourhood in a major city in order to be awarded a permit. In 1983, the aforementioned constitutional reforms granted limited political rights to "Coloureds" and "Indians". Botha also became the first South African government leader to authorise contacts with Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress (ANC).


title: P. W. Botha

text: Even these meager reforms went too far for a group of NP hardliners, led by former Education Minister Andries Treurnicht. In 1982, the group broke away to form the Conservative Party. However, they did not even begin to meet the demands of the opposition. In the face of rising discontent and violence, Botha refused to cede political power to blacks and imposed greater security measures against anti-apartheid activists. Botha also refused to negotiate with the ANC.


title: P. W. Botha

text: In 1985, Botha delivered the Rubicon speech, a policy address in which he refused to give in to demands by the black population, including the release of Mandela. Botha's defiance of international opinion further isolated South Africa, leading to economic sanctions and a rapid decline in the value of the rand. The following year, when the United States introduced the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, Botha declared a nationwide state of emergency. He is famously quoted during this time as saying, "This uprising will bring out the beast in us".


title: P. W. Botha

text: As economic and diplomatic actions against South Africa increased, civil unrest spread amongst the black population, supported by the ANC and neighbouring black-majority governments. On 16 May 1986, Botha publicly warned neighbouring states against engaging in "unsolicited interference" in South Africa's affairs. Four days later, Botha ordered air strikes against selected targets in Lusaka, Harare, and Gaborone, including the offices of exiled ANC activists. Botha charged that these raids were just a "first installment" and showed that "South Africa has the capacity and the will to break the [ANC]."


title: P. W. Botha

text: In spite of the concessions made by Botha, the apartheid years under his leadership were by far the most brutal. Thousands were detained without trial during Botha's presidency, while others were tortured and killed. The TRC found Botha responsible for gross violations of human rights. He was also found to have directly authorised "unlawful activity which included killing." Botha declined to apologise for apartheid. In a 2006 interview to mark his 90th birthday, he suggested that he had no regrets about the way he had run the country. Botha denied that he had ever considered black South Africans to be in any way inferior to whites, but conceded that "some" whites did hold that view. He also claimed that the racial segregation laws of apartheid "started in Lord Milner’s time" and the National Party merely inherited them; however, Botha conceded that the Afrikaner population had been "happy to perpetuate [apartheid]", as many of them "were, and some of them still are... 'racists at heart'".


title: P. W. Botha

text: State President Botha's loss of influence can be directly attributed to decisions taken at the Ronald Reagan/Mikhail Gorbachev summit of the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union in Moscow (29 May – 1 June 1988) that paved the way to resolving the problem of Namibia which, according to foreign minister Pik Botha, was destabilising the region and "seriously complicating" the major issue which South Africa itself would shortly have to face. Soviet military aid would cease and Cuban troops be withdrawn from Angola as soon as South Africa complied with UN Security Council Resolution 435 by relinquishing control of Namibia and allowing UN-supervised elections there. The Tripartite Agreement, which gave effect to the Reagan/Gorbachev summit decisions, was signed at UN headquarters in New York on 22 December 1988 by representatives of Angola, Cuba and South Africa.


title: P. W. Botha

text: On 18 January 1989, Botha (then aged 73) suffered a mild stroke which prevented him from attending a meeting with Namibian political leaders on 20 January 1989. Botha's place was taken by acting president J. Christiaan Heunis. On 2 February 1989, Botha resigned as leader of the National Party (NP), anticipating his nominee – finance minister Barend du Plessis – would succeed him. Instead, the NP's parliamentary caucus selected as leader education minister F. W. de Klerk, who moved quickly to consolidate his position within the party as a reformist, while hardliners supported Botha. In March 1989, the NP elected De Klerk as state president but Botha refused to resign, saying in a television address that the constitution entitled him to remain in office until March 1990 and that he was even considering running for another five-year term. Following a series of acrimonious meetings in Cape Town, and five days after UNSCR 435 was implemented in Namibia on 1 April 1989, Botha and De Klerk reached a compromise: Botha would retire after the parliamentary elections in September, allowing de Klerk to take over as state president.


title: P. W. Botha

text: However, Botha abruptly resigned from the state presidency on 14 August 1989, complaining that he had not been consulted by De Klerk over his scheduled visit to see President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia:


title: P. W. Botha

text: De Klerk was sworn in as acting state president on 14 August 1989 and the following month was nominated by the electoral college to succeed Botha in a five-year term as state president. De Klerk soon announced the removal of legislation against anti-apartheid groups – including the African National Congress – and the release of Nelson Mandela. De Klerk's term saw the dismantling of the apartheid system and negotiations that eventually led to South Africa's first racially inclusive democratic elections on 27 April 1994.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha and his wife Elize retired to their home, "Die Anker", in the town of Wilderness, from the city of George and located on the Indian Ocean coast of the Western Cape. Elize died in 1997, and he later married Barbara Robertson, a legal secretary 25 years his junior, on 22 June 1998.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha remained largely out of sight of the media and it was widely believed that he remained opposed to many of F. W. de Klerk's reforms. He resigned from the Afrikaner Broederbond.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha refused to testify at the new government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up to expose apartheid-era crimes and chaired by his cultural and political nemesis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The TRC found that he had ordered the 1988 bombing of the South African Council of Churches headquarters in Johannesburg. In August 1998, he was fined and given a suspended jail sentence for his refusal to testify on human rights violations and violence sanctioned by the State Security Council (SSC) which he, as president until 1989, had directed.


title: P. W. Botha

text: In June 1999, Botha successfully appealed to the High Court against his conviction and sentence. The Court's ruling by Judge Selikowitz (with Judge Foxcroft concurring) found that the notice served on Botha to appear before the TRC was technically invalid.


title: P. W. Botha

text: Botha died of a heart attack at his home in Wilderness on Tuesday 31 October 2006, aged 90. His death was met with magnanimity by many of his former opponents. Former President Nelson Mandela was reported as saying "while to many Mr. Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country".


title: P. W. Botha

text: President Thabo Mbeki announced that flags would be flown at half mast to mark the death of a former head of state. The offer of a state funeral was declined by Botha's family, and a private funeral was held on 8 November in the town of George, where Botha's body was buried. Mbeki attended the funeral.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in South Korea face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT individuals. While male and female same-sex sexual activity is legal in South Korea, marriage or other forms of legal partnership are not available to same-sex partners. South Korea also does not provide any anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Homosexuality remains quite taboo in South Korean society. Homosexuality is not specifically mentioned in either the South Korean Constitution or in the Civil Penal Code, although article 3 of the "National Human Rights Commission Of Korea Act" includes sexual orientation as one of the protected classes. Transgender or non-binary people are excluded from military service.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Transgender people are allowed to undergo sex reassignment surgery in South Korea after the age of 20, and can change their gender information on official documents. Harisu is South Korea's first transgender entertainer, and in 2002 became the second person in South Korea to legally change sex.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Gay and lesbian Koreans still face difficulties at home and work, and many prefer not to reveal their sexual orientation to family, friends or co-workers out of fear of discrimination and being ostracized.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In August 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the government to allow "Beyond the Rainbow" (), an LGBT rights foundation, to register as a charity with the Ministry of Justice. Without official registration, the foundation was unable to receive tax-deductible donations and operate in full compliance with the law. In 2014, the South Korean Government voted in favor of a symbolic United Nations resolution aimed at combating discrimination against LGBT people.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Although there is very little mention of homosexuality in Korean literature or traditional historical accounts, several members of the nobility and Buddhist monks have been known to either profess their attraction to members of the same sex or else be actively involved with them.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: During the Silla Dynasty, several noble men and women are known to have engaged in homosexual activity and express their love for a person of the same sex. Among these is King Hyegong. In addition, the "hwarang" (Hangul: 화랑; Hanja: 花郞), also known as the Flowering Knights or the Flowering Boys, were an elite group of male Silla warriors, famous for their homoeroticism and femininity. The "Samguk yusa", a collection of Korean legends, folktales and historical accounts, contains verses that reveal the homosexual nature of the "hwarang".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: During the Goryeo Dynasty, King Mokjong (980–1009) and King Gongmin (1325–1374) are both on record as having kept several "wonchung" ("male lovers") in their courts as "little-brother attendants" ("chajewhi") who served as sexual partners. After the death of his wife, King Gongmin even went so far as to create a ministry whose sole purpose was to seek out and recruit young men from all over the country to serve in his court. Others including King Chungseon had long-term relationships with men. Those who were in same-sex relationships were referred to as "yongyang jichong", whose translation has been subject to argument, but is generally viewed as meaning the "dragon and the sun".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In the Joseon Era, several noblemen and noblewomen are known to have had same-sex sexual relations, including Royal Noble Consort Sun-bin Bong who was the second consort of Munjong of Joseon and King Sejong's daughter-in-law who was banished after it was discovered that she was sleeping with one of her maids. During this period, there were travelling theater groups known as "namsadang" which included underaged males called "midong" ("beautiful boys"). The troupes provided "various types of entertainment, including band music, song, masked dance, circus, and puppet plays," sometimes with graphic representations of same-sex intercourse. The "namsandang" were further separated in two groups; the "butch" members (숫동모, "sutdongmo") and the "queens" (여동모, "yeodongmo", or 암동모, "amdongmo").


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The spread of Neo-Confucianism in South Korea shaped the moral system, the way of life, and social relations of Korean society. Neo-Confucianism emphasizes strict obedience to the social order and the family unit, which referred to a husband and wife. Homosexuality and same-sex relationships were viewed as disturbing this system and thus were perceived as "deviant" or "immoral". Since the 1910s, Neo-Confucianism has lost a lot of influence, though still today Confucian ideas and practices significantly define South Korean culture and society.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Same-sex marriages and civil unions are not legally recognized in South Korea. In October 2019, the Government of South Korea announced it would recognize the same-sex spouses of foreign diplomats, but it would not recognize the same-sex spouses of South Korean diplomats who serve overseas.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In October 2014, some members of the Democratic Party introduced a bill to recognize same-sex partnerships to the National Assembly. However, the bill was never brought to a vote.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In July 2015, actor Kim Jho Gwangsoo and his partner Kim Seung-Hwan filed a lawsuit seeking legal status for their marriage. The lawsuit was rejected by the Seoul Western District Court in May 2016 and by an appeals court in December 2016. The couple subsequently announced that they would bring their case to the Supreme Court.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In May 2019, Kim Gyu-Jin married her wife in a Manhattan marriage bureau, New York City to obtain a marriage registration. Then they had a factory wedding in Seoul in November. In May 2020, to celebrate the 1st wedding anniversary, Kim Gyu-Jin and her spouse filed a marriage registration with the Jongno-Gu Office but received the notice of non-repair. She shared her same-sex marriage experiences on her blog 'Living as an openly queer in Korea'. After this, she interviewed her experiences including KBS, a Korean national broadcaster on prime time. Another is on the main news page of KakaoTalk, South Korea's leading messaging app. The article received about 10,000 comments, 80 percent of which were negative, she said. Some people told the couple to “Get out of Korea.” Others worried that society and families would fall apart on a tide of lesbian weddings. Some replies were intensely malicious and threatening. After consulting a lawyer, and pushing the police to talk to portal sites, she sued the 100 most malicious commentators.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In January 2021, Seoul's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced it will propose changes to civil and welfare regulations so that single parents and unmarried, cohabitating partners can become legal families. A ministry official, however, said that the reform would only apply to heterosexual couples. "There hasn't been any discussion nor even a consideration about same-sex couples," the official, who was not authorized to speak with the media and asked for anonymity, wrote in an email.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The "National Human Rights Commission Act" (), enacted in 2001, established the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK). Under South Korean law, the NHRCK is an independent commission for protecting, advocating, and promoting human rights. The "National Human Rights Commission Act" explicitly includes sexual orientation as an anti-discrimination ground. When discriminatory acts are found to have occurred, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea may conduct investigations on such acts and recommend non-binding relief measures, disciplinary actions or report them to the authorities.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: South Korea's anti-discrimination law, however, does not prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the years, a repeated cycle of anti-discrimination legislation has been proposed and abandoned. An anti-discrimination bill was submitted in 2007 by the Ministry of Justice, but a movement of opposition arose and led to the bill being abandoned. In 2013, a bill to include sexual orientation, religion and political ideology to the country's anti-discrimination law was introduced. It received fierce opposition from conservative groups. During the 17th National Assembly, an anti-discrimination bill was sponsored by the late Roh Hoe-chan. Another bill was sponsored by former lawmaker Kwon Young-gil during the 18th National Assembly. Both bills were dropped before any debate had taken place. During the 19th National Assembly, former lawmakers Kim Han-gil and Choi Won-sik sponsored bills only to withdraw them after encountering objections. In 2019, the National Assembly failed to hold a debate on comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. Objections to the anti-discrimination bills come chiefly from conservative Protestants. During the 20th National Assembly, lawmaker Kim Tae-heum (Liberty Korea Party) presented a bill that would have removed the category of sexual orientation from the "National Human Rights Commission Act". In 2019, politician Ahn Sang-soo introduced another bill to repeal the protection for sexual orientation in the "National Human Rights Commission Act" and to restrict legal recognition of gender to a biological basis. The bill was supported by 40 of the Assembly's 300 MPs, drawing criticism and protests from LGBT advocates and Amnesty International.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: As of 2019, the Justice Party planned to prepare a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill. A 2014 poll found that 85% of South Koreans believed gay people should be protected from discrimination. According to a more recent poll, conducted in 2017 by Gallup Korea, 90% of South Koreans said they supported equal employment opportunities for LGBT people.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: On 23 December, in a special report issued by the National Human Rights Commission, President Moon Jae-in stressed the need for equality legislation. While acknowledging there is some opposition to the enactment of an anti-discrimination law, Moon said he expects the National Assembly to actively discuss such legislation in the near future. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Human Rights Committee have recommended the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation. As a presidential candidate in 2012, Moon cited a comprehensive anti-discrimination act as one of the top 10 priorities of his human rights policy. Since taking office in 2017, Moon has been reluctant to enact such legislation amid opposition from within his governing Democratic Party of Korea.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Currently, 15 local governments in South Korea have enacted anti-discrimination policies and provisions (not laws) that include sexual orientation. This includes five first-level subdivisions: South Gyeongsang Province, Seoul, Jeju Province, North Chungcheong Province and South Chungcheong Province.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: South Gyeongsang Province enacted anti-discrimination policies in March 2010. The policy states that "citizens shall not be discriminated, without reasonable grounds, on the grounds of sex, religion, disability, age, social status, region of origin, state of origin, ethnic origin, physical condition such as appearance, medical history, marital status, political opinion, and sexual orientation".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Seoul passed regional policies aimed at combatting discrimination on the grounds mentioned in the "National Human Rights Commission Act" in September 2012. The passage of this policy received fierce and violent opposition from conservative groups.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Similarly, both Jeju Province and North Chungcheong Province passed similar policies in October 2015 banning discrimination on the grounds mentioned in the "National Human Rights Commission Act". South Chungcheong Province followed suit in October 2018.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Several second-level jurisdictions have also enacted anti-discrimination provisions that cover sexual orientation. These are:


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Gyeonggi Province banned bullying against students on the basis of their sexual orientation in October 2010. Gwangju followed suit in October 2011, and Seoul in January 2012. Seoul's ordinance on the protection of children and youth also includes gender identity, thereby protecting transgender students from discrimination. North Jeolla Province enacted an ordinance banning bullying against "sexual minorities" in January 2013.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: There is growing debate and discussing in South Gyeongsang Province, Incheon, and Busan for the passage of a similar law.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In addition, other symbolic protections for "sexual minorities". Police officers and Coast Guard personnel are forbidden from outing an LGBT person against their own will.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In November 2017, the city of Geoje passed a policy that prohibits broadcasting agencies from spreading information encouraging discrimination against "sexual minorities". Hongcheon County and Gangneung followed suit in November and December 2018, respectively.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Furthermore, several activist groups and coalitions have been created within the South Korean LGBT community to advocate for human rights for LGBT people. For example, the "Rainbow Action against Sexual Minority Discrimination," otherwise known as "Rainbow Action," is a coalition of several non-governmental organizations that work to promote and expand LGBT rights in Korea. Rainbow Action works to address several issues within the Korean community including perspectives on conversion therapy, HIV-related stigma, hate crimes, intersex persons, and more.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The Constitution of South Korea prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, and social status. According to the Ministry of Justice, the term "social status" includes LGBT people. However, there are no remedies for LGBT victims of discrimination nor are these "protections" enforced.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In January 2022, a South Korean same-sex couple was refused health care insurance benefits by a lower court - because the spouse was "not of the opposite sex". The ruling is subject to a possible awaiting appeal in higher courts.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Article 92-6 of the 1962 Military Criminal Act forbids “anal intercourse” and “any other indecent acts” between military personnel, and carries a punishment of up to two years in prison. In April 2022, the Supreme Court found that the law cannot be applied to consensual acts that occur off-base during off-duty hours. Activists have called for the Constitutional Court to rule the law unconstitutional.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Military service is mandatory for all male citizens in South Korea. Enlistees are drafted through the Military Manpower Administration (MMA; ) which administers a "psychology test" at the time of enlistment that includes several questions regarding the enlistee's sexual preferences. Homosexual military members in active duty are categorized as having a "personality disorder" or "behavioral disability" and can either be institutionalized or dishonorably discharged.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In 2017, Amnesty International accused the military of engaging in a "gay witch hunt" to expose and punish gay personnel, by criminally charging 32 military personnel for "sodomy or other disgraceful conduct", including sentencing a gay soldier to six months imprisonment for having consensual sex with another gay soldier in a private place.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In January 2020, staff sergeant Byun Hui-su was dismissed from the military for her transgender status and undergoing sex reassignment surgery.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Within the military, homosexuality is an explicit crime with up to 2 years imprisonment. In April 2022, the highest ordinary court of South Korea made a legal ruling allowing military service members to have gay sex – "provided that they are off base barracks and/or off duty".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The Supreme Court of Korea has ruled that in order for a person to be eligible for a sex change operation they must be over 20 years of age, single, and without children. In the case of male-to-female gender reassignment operations, the person must prove issues related to draft resolved by either serving or being exempted. On 22 June 2006, however, the Supreme Court ruled that transgender individuals who had undergone successful sex reassignment surgery have the right to declare their new sex in all legal documents. This includes the right to request a correction of their gender-on-file in all public and government records such as the census registry. In March 2013, the Seoul Western District Court ruled that five female-to-male transgender individuals can be registered as male without undergoing sex reassignment surgery. On 16 February 2017, the Cheongju District Court ruled that a male-to-female transgender individual could be registered as a female without undergoing surgery.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In March 2021, South Korea's first transgender soldier named Byun, who was forcibly discharged after having gender reassignment surgery, has been found dead. The Defense Ministry classified her loss of male genitals as a mental or physical handicap, and a military panel ruled in early 2020 that she would be compulsorily discharged.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Some reports indicate that the country's transgender population is estimated to be around 1,000–1,200 people.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In Korea, intersex people are largely ignored or marginalized because of the lack of familiarity with the term "intersex" itself and because of the general stigma that surrounds intersex people. As a result, intersex people are faced with a lack of access to medical services and some are even pushed to getting "genital normalizing surgery" without informed consent. This concept of medicalizing intersex people is still very prevalent in Korea and perpetuates the social diagnosis of intersex people as "diseased" or having to receive surgical "normalization." To mitigate these problems, in October 2015, South Korea joined the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) and have started increasing the number of articles and information on intersex people that are published nationwide to increase general knowledge about intersex people.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: According to a 2016 survey, 16.1% of LGBT people who had come out were recommended to undergo conversion therapy. Of these, 65.4% said it had a harmful impact on their lives, with 94% experiencing psychological trauma. A 2017 survey further reported that 58% of LGBT individuals who experienced conversion therapy in the past are still negatively affected by it in the present. Furthermore, studies have shown that 40% of LGBT respondents have claimed to have experienced homophobic statements or discriminatory treatment by counselors for conversion therapy.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: South Korea forbids people who have had sex "with certain high-risk individuals" within the past one year to donate blood. These rules apply equally to all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The official guidelines urge people to not donate for the purposes of finding out if they have AIDS.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The Korean word for "homosexual" is "dongseongaeja" (, "same-sex lover"). A less politically correct term is "dongseongyeonaeja" (Hangul: 동성연애자; Hanja: 同性戀愛者). South Korean homosexuals, however, make frequent use of the term "ibanin" (Hangul: 이반인; Hanja: 異般人 also 二般人) which can be translated as "different type person", and is usually shortened to "iban" (Hangul: 이반; Hanja: 異般). The word is a direct play on the word "ilban-in" (Hangul: 일반인; Hanja: 一般人) meaning "normal person" or "ordinary person". In addition, English loanwords are used in South Korea to describe LGBT people. These words are simple transliterations of English words into hangul: lesbian is "lejeubieon" or "yeoseongae" (Hangul: 레즈비언 or 여성애; Hanja: 女性愛), gay is "gei" or "namseongae" (Hangul: 게이 or 남성애; Hanja: 男性愛), queer is "kuieo" (Hangul: 퀴어), transgender is "teuraenseujendeo" (Hangul: 트랜스젠더), and bisexual is "yangseongaeja" (Hangul: 양성애자; Hanja: 兩性愛者).


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Homosexuality remains quite taboo in South Korean society. The World Values Survey of 2005 to 2009 had shown that Korea was the second most-hostile country towards homosexuals among 17 countries surveyed. This lack of visibility is also reflected in the low profile maintained by the few gay clubs in South Korea. There are a few in metropolitan areas, mostly in the foreign sector of Itaewon (especially in the section known as "Homo-hill"). However, Jong-no has been known to cater to non-Western clientele and has various gay-friendly shops, cafés, and gay-focused NGOs. A recent 2017 study insinuated the growth of a "gay lifestyle" community in Jong-no, a popular area in Seoul, where LGBT individuals feel safe in semi-heteronormative places. Though the study only looked at a well-known café, the famous Gay Bean, there are many other places in the Jong-no area that are considered straight but are growing increasingly welcoming of non-straight individuals.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In recent years, the combination of taboo, consumer capitalism, and gay-led gentrification (the so-called "gaytrification effect") of the Itaewon area has pushed new gay commercialization outside of Itaewon, while isolating those places remaining.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Young LGBT people in South Korea often face bullying and discrimination. A 2014 survey conducted by the GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation revealed that 54% of LGBT Korean youths reported being harassed previously by their classmates and fellow students. Students interviewed by Human Rights Watch described being excluded and ostracized, being targeted online, or being physically harassed. A 22-year-old lesbian woman recalled that once her sexual orientation became known at her secondary school, she was singled out for harassment and the students criticized her saying: ‘You are homosexual, you’re dirty.’ A 22-year-old gay man, recalled that classmates in middle school used “gay” as a slur, targeting boys who were perceived to be gay. A 17-year-old girl recalled classmates saying that homosexuals should die. Students were also targeted if they were seen to be socializing too closely or intimately with same-sex peers. Although many studies focus on discrimination that LGBT youths experience, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is not only faced by adolescents in Korea, but also by adults. A 2018 study revealed that 22.6% of LGB adults and 51.5% of transgender adults in Korea faced harsh discrimination and unfair treatment within the past year. Similarly, surveys conducted on LGBT adults in Korea reveal that the proportion of bisexual and lesbian women who reported having depressive symptoms was significantly higher than heterosexual women in Korea. A 2022 study also revealed that those who had past experience with bullying and discrimination because of their sexual identity had 1.65 times more occurrences of unrestful and poor sleep quality compared to those that have not faced discrimination against their sexual identity. Unhealthy sleep is known to perpetuate stress and depressive symptoms and thus we can infer that LGBT people who face discrimination are at higher risk of depression and stress/anxiety.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: A 2017 study exploring the rates of suicide ideation and attempts within Korean LGBT adolescents revealed that those youth who identified as homosexual or bisexual reported highest rates of suicidal ideation and medically serious attempts. Further, studies of suicide risk among youth revealed that LGBT youth in Korea experience extreme forms of bullying and discrimination that gives rise to higher rates of suicide attempts and risks.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Opposition to LGBT rights comes mostly from Christian sectors of the country (especially Protestants). In recent years, in part due to growing support for homosexuality and same-sex relationships from South Korean society at large, conservative groups have organised public events and marches against LGBT rights, as well counter-protests to pride parades, usually with signs urging LGBT people to "repent from their sins". These marches have been attended by thousands and by various politicians.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: South Korea's first gay-themed magazine, "Buddy", launched in 1998, and several popular gay-themed commercials have also aired.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Paving the way for television was the 2005 South Korean film "The King and the Clown," a gay-themed movie based on a court affair between a king and his male jester. The movie became the highest-grossing in Korean film history, surpassing both "Silmido" and "Taegukgi". The Korean title for "The King and the Clown" is "왕의 남자" which translates as ""The King's Man"" with the implication that it refers to the man as being the King's lover. Other recent movies include the 2008 film "A Frozen Flower" () and "No Regret" () by celebrated director Leesong hee-il, which starred at the 2006 Busan International Film Festival.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Mainstream Korean television shows have begun to feature gay characters and themes. In 2010, the soap opera "Life Is Beautiful" () premiered on SBS broadcast TV, becoming the first prime-time drama to explore a gay male couple's relationship as their unwitting families set them up on dates with women. That same year, "Personal Taste" (, also "Personal Preference") was broadcast on MBC and revolved around a straight man who pretends to be gay to become a woman's roommate. Before these was "Coming Out", which debuted on cable channel tvN in late-night in 2008, in which a gay actor and straight actress counseled gays with publicly acknowledging their sexual orientation.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Openly LGBT entertainment figures include model and actress Harisu, a trans woman who makes frequent appearances on television. Actor Hong Seok-cheon, after coming out in 2000 and being fired from his job, has since returned to his acting career. He has appeared in several debate programs in support of gay rights.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Popular actor Kim Ji-hoo, who was openly gay, died of suicide by hanging on 8 October 2008. Police attributed his suicide to public prejudice against homosexuality.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: "The Daughters of Bilitis", a KBS Drama Special about the lives of lesbian women, aired on 7 August 2011. Immediately after it aired, internet message boards lit up with outraged protesters who threatened to boycott the network. The production crew eventually shut down the online re-run service four days after the broadcast.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: "XY She", a KBS Joy cable talk show about male-to-female (MTF) transgender individuals, was virtually cancelled after its first episode due to public opposition. The network cited concern over attacks on MCs and other cast-members as the official reason for cancellation.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In 2013, movie director Kim Jho Kwang-soo and his partner Kim Seung-hwan became the first South Korean gay couple to publicly wed, although it was not a legally recognized marriage.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In 2016, a Christian broadcasting company was sanctioned by the Korea Communications Standards Commission for broadcasting an anti-LGBTI interview on a radio program, in which the interviewee claimed that, if an "anti-discrimination law for LGBTI people" is passed, "pedophilia, bestiality, etc. will be legalized" and that South Korea "will become stricken with unspeakable diseases such as AIDS".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In March 2016, the K-pop girl group Mercury debuted with member Choi Han-bit, a transgender model, actress, and now singer. In January 2018, singer Holland became the first openly gay K-pop idol in South Korea to debut, releasing his song "Neverland".


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In 2017, the film "Method" was released. The film talks about a gay relationship between an actor and an idol. In 2020, the television series "Itaewon Class" began airing. The show prominently features a transgender supporting character played by actress Lee Joo-young, as well as cameo appearances by Hong Seok-cheon.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In January 2022, the zombie-themed Netflix series "All Of Us Are Dead" was released. One of the central characters, named Park Mi-Jin, is shown to have a crush on her friend Jang Ha-ri, another female. While the relationship hasn't officially happened thus far, it's still very possible for it to be official.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The Seoul Queer Culture Festival, also known as the "Korea Queer Culture Festival" or simply "Seoul Pride", is the largest LGBT event in the country. It was first held in 2000 when only 50 attended and turnout has increased every year since then. In 2015, following protests by conservative Christian groups, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency banned the event citing public safety concerns and traffic disruption as the reasons. The decision was overturned by the Seoul Administrative Court, allowing the parade to take place, which saw around 20,000 people participating. In 2016, there were 50,000 attendees. In July 2017, an estimated 85,000 people (according to the organizers) marched in the streets of Seoul in support of LGBT rights. Ahead of the 2018 event, around 220,000 people signed an online petition demanding that officials act to prevent the festival from taking place. However, the 2018 Seoul Pride parade took place and was attended by an estimated 120,000 people. In July 2019, conservative Christian groups again tried to block the festival, arguing that it "would be harmful to children and it would infringe on their rights". A court rejected their application as nonsensical. Days later, the 20th edition of the festival was held with approximately 150,000 participants.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Daegu has been holding annual pride marches since 2009, and Busan held its first pride event on 23 September 2017. In 2018, during the second gay pride in Busan, some 2,000 police officials were deployed to keep the event violence-free, and to protect the event's 15,000 attendees from violent anti-gay protesters. Gwangju and Jeju also held their first LGBT events in 2017. Gwangju's was a counter-protest to an anti-LGBT rally. The city organised its first official pride event the following year. Other cities, including Incheon and Jeonju, held their first pride events in 2018. Incheon officials initially denied permission to hold the LGBT event, citing a lack of parking. Organizers lodged an appeal and vowed to march irrespectively. The event took place and ended in violence after about 1,000 Christian protestors began violently attacking the participants. In April 2019, organizers of the gay pride event in Incheon filed charges against several Christian pastors who violently disrupted the event. They also lodged complaints with South Korea's national human rights body accusing police of inaction.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In May 2018, the first drag parade in South Korea took place with dozens attending the incident-free protest march in the capital Seoul.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In 2020, three cities gave up holding Queer Culture Festival due to COVID-19. The new media startup 'Dotface' held a queer parade online. People participated by making their avatars through dotface's homepage and uploading the avatars on Instagram with hashtag #우리는없던길도만들지 #온라인퀴퍼 (online Queer Parade).


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: South Koreans have become significantly more accepting of homosexuality and LGBT rights in 2010 and the onward decade, even if conservative attitudes remain dominant. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 39% of people believed homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared to only 18% who held this view in 2007. South Korea recorded the most significant shift towards greater acceptance of homosexuality among the 39 countries surveyed worldwide. Significantly, there was a very large age gap on this issue: in 2013, 71% of South Koreans aged between 18 and 29 believed that homosexuality should be accepted, compared to only 16% of South Koreans aged 50 and over.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In April 2013, a Gallup poll, which was commissioned by a conservative Christian group, found that 25% of South Koreans supported same-sex marriage, while 67% opposed it and 8% did not know or refused to answer. However, a May 2013 Ipsos poll found that 26% of respondents were in favor of same-sex marriage and another 31% supported other forms of recognition for same-sex couples.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: A 2017 Gallup Korea poll found that 58% of Koreans were against same-sex marriage, while 34% supported it and 8% remained undecided. Another poll in December 2017 conducted by Gallup for MBC and the Speaker of the National Assembly reported that 41% of South Koreans thought that same-sex marriage should be allowed, 53% were against it.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Public support for same-sex marriage is growing rapidly. In 2010, 31% and 21% of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s, respectively, supported the legalization of same-sex marriages. In 2014, these numbers had almost doubled to 60% and 40%. Support among people over 60, however, remained relatively unchanged (14% to 15%). These numbers were published by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In February 2019, the "2018 Korea Social Integration Survey", which was conducted by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, revealed that those who said they "cannot accept homosexuals" fell below 50% for the first time in the survey's history. This percentage decreased from 62% in 2013 to 57% in 2017, to 49% in 2018. In 2018, the rest of those interviewed answered that they could accept them as either neighbors (31%), colleagues (15%), close friends (6%), or spouses (0.4%).


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: A 2020 Pew Research Center poll showed that 44% of South Koreans believed society should accept homosexuality. South Korea recorded the largest generational gap of the 34 countries surveyed, with 79% of 18–29-year-olds agreeing but only 23% of those aged 50 and over. Women (51%), the more educated (51%), those on the left of the political spectrum (67%), and the religiously unaffiliated (60%) were also more likely to agree.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: According to a poll in May 2021, 81% of the respondents said no to the question "Is it fair to fire a worker based on their sexuality?" and 12% said yes. In terms of marriage equality, 38% were in favour of same-sex marriage while 52% were against it.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In the 2008 legislative election, Choi Hyun-sook became the first openly LGBT parliamentary candidate in the country. As an openly lesbian candidate, she ran for the New Progressive Party. Her party did not win any seats during the election.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The United Future Party is opposed to LGBT rights, the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and same-sex marriage. Some of its members have made many public homophobic statements.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: Political support for LGBT rights is limited in South Korea due to the significant lobbying power exerted by conservative Christian groups. Support for LGBT rights is limited even from the otherwise Democratic Party of Korea and its leader, former human rights lawyer and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. During the 2017 presidential election, in which he emerged victorious, Moon stated that he opposed homosexuality, and that gay soldiers could undermine the Korean military. Moon faced criticism from gay rights advocates for his inconsistent position on minority rights, given that he was prepared to backtrack on previous support for civil unions and sacrifice LGBT rights in order to win votes from conservative Christian voters. Moon later said that he opposed same-sex marriage while also opposing discrimination against homosexual people. Only one of the 14 presidential candidates in 2017, the Justice Party's Sim Sang-jung, expressed clear support for LGBT rights and introducing discrimination protections for LGBT people.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: During South Korea's 2018 elections, openly transgender candidate Kim Ki-hong (김기홍) ran for a seat in the National Assembly of South Korea. Kim ran again under the Green Party Korea in 2020 for the National Assembly of South Korea. Due to transphobic abuse Kim endured during the campaign, they decided to end their life on February 24, 2021.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: During the 2019 Seoul Queer Culture Festival, the Justice Party and the Green Party participated in the event. Some members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also participated, including Keum Tae-sup. This is believed to be the first participation of the DPK at the event.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: In October 2019, speaking to Buddhist and Christian religious leaders, President Moon Jae-in said, "A national consensus should be the priority for same-sex marriage. However, regarding the human rights of sexual minorities, they should not be socially persecuted or discriminated against."


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The Government of South Korea practiced censorship of gay content websites from 2001 to 2003, through its "Information and Communications Ethics Committee" (정보통신윤리위원회), an official organ of the Ministry of Information and Communication. That practice has since been ended.


title: LGBT rights in South Korea

text: The South Korean Government has been criticized for the lack of protection for LGBT people. As of 2020, South Korea has no national law preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which places it at the bottom of the list of OECD countries in regard to LGBT rights. In addition, South Korea's aggressive track and test method to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in several LGBT South Koreans being outed by either the press or by the public government records related to testing. A cluster of cases was linked to a gay bar in Seoul in May 2020, with all of those in attendance having their personal characteristics, and in some cases also their occupation, released to the public. In a country with no protections, the idea of being listed in public government records as LGBT is "insurmountable" and can lead to "long-term negative social effects". Several LGBT people who had visited the bar decided not to report their positive COVID status. Government officials announced anonymous testing procedures later that month. Several COVID clusters were also linked to notoriously homophobic Christian churches or organizations.


title: Beige

text: Beige is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither bleached nor dyed, hence also the color of natural wool. It has come to be used to describe a variety of light tints chosen for their neutral or pale warm appearance.


title: Beige

text: "Beige" began to commonly be used as a term for a color in France beginning approximately 1855–60; the writer Edmond de Goncourt used it in the novel "La Fille Elisa" in 1877. The first recorded use of "beige" as a color name in English was in 1887.


title: Beige

text: Beige is notoriously difficult to produce in traditional offset CMYK printing because of the low levels of inks used on each plate; often it will print in purple or green and vary within a print run.


title: Beige

text: Cosmic latte is a name assigned in 2002 to the average color of the universe (derived from a sampling of the electromagnetic radiation from 200,000 galaxies), given by a team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University.


title: Beige

text: Cream is the color of the cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture with plants rich in yellow carotenoid pigments, some of which are incorporated into the cream, to give a yellow tone to white.


title: Beige

text: Unbleached silk is one of the Japanese traditional colors in use since beginning in 660 CE in the form of various dyes


title: Beige

text: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a color was first used in the "London Gazette" of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat with a Buff-colour'd lining".


title: Beige

text: The color desert sand may be regarded as a deep shade of beige. It is a pale tint of a color called "desert". The color name "desert" was first used in 1920.


title: Beige

text: In the 1960s the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) marketed desert sand–colored telephones for offices and homes. However, they described the color as "beige". It is therefore common for many people to refer to the color desert sand as "beige".


title: Beige

text: Originally in the 19th century and up to at least 1930, the color ecru meant exactly the same color as beige (i.e. the pale cream color shown above as beige), and the word is often used to refer to such fabrics as silk and linen in their unbleached state. Ecru comes from the French word "écru", which means literally "raw" or "unbleached".


title: Beige

text: Since at least the 1950s, however, the color ecru has been regarded as a different color from beige, presumably in order to allow interior designers a wider palette of colors to choose from.


title: Beige

text: Khaki was designated in the 1930 book "A Dictionary of Color", the standard for color nomenclature before the introduction of computers.


title: Beige

text: Light French beige is the color called "beige" on the pourpre.com website, a color list widely popular in France.


title: Beige

text: The for French beige are identical to café au lait and Tuscan tan, which were first recorded as color names in English in 1839 and 1926, respectively.


title: Beige

text: The for mode beige are identical to the color names drab, sand dune, and bistre brown, which were first recorded as color names in English, respectively, in 1686, 1925, and 1930.


title: Beige

text: Beige is sometimes used as a metaphor for something which is bland, boring or conventional. In this sense it is used in contradistinction to more vibrant and exciting (or more individual) colours.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the "Province of Massachusetts Bay". The lands of the settlement were in southern New England, with initial settlements on two natural harbors and surrounding land about apart—the areas around Salem and Boston, north of the previously established Plymouth Colony. The territory nominally administered by the Massachusetts Bay Colony covered much of central New England, including portions of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company, including investors in the failed Dorchester Company, which had established a short-lived settlement on Cape Ann in 1623. The colony began in 1628 and was the company's second attempt at colonization. It was successful, with about 20,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s. The population was strongly Puritan and was governed largely by a small group of leaders strongly influenced by Puritan teachings. It was the first slave-holding colony in New England, and its governors were elected by an electorate limited to freemen who had been formally admitted to the local church. As a consequence, the colonial leadership showed little tolerance for other religious views, including Anglican, Quaker, and Baptist theologies.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The colonists had good relationships with the local Indians; however, they did join their neighbor colonies in the Pequot War (1636–38) and King Philip's War (1675–78). After that, most of the Indians in southern New England made peace treaties with the colonists or were sold into slavery after King Philips's War (apart from the Pequot tribe, whose survivors were largely absorbed into the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes following the Pequot War).


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The Massachusetts Bay Colony was economically successful, trading with England, Mexico, and the West Indies. In addition to barter, transactions were done in English pounds, Spanish "pieces of eight", and wampum in the 1640s. A shortage of currency prompted the colony to call on the respected John Hull to establish a mint and serve as mintmaster and treasurer in 1652. The Hull Mint produced oak tree, willow tree, and pine tree shillings.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Political differences with England after the English Restoration led to the revocation of the colonial charter in 1684. King James II established the Dominion of New England in 1686 to bring all of the New England colonies under firmer crown control. The Dominion collapsed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony reverted to rule under its revoked charter until 1691, when a new charter was issued for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This new province combined the Massachusetts Bay territories with those of the Plymouth Colony and proprietary holdings on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Sir William Phips arrived in 1692 bearing the charter and formally took charge of the new province.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Before the arrival of European colonists on the eastern shore of New England, the area around Massachusetts Bay was the territory of several Algonquian-speaking peoples, including the Massachusetts, Nausets, and Wampanoags. The Pennacooks occupied the Merrimack River valley to the north, and the Nipmucs, Pocumtucs, and Mahicans occupied the western lands of Massachusetts, although some of those tribes were under tribute to the Mohawks, who were expanding aggressively from upstate New York. The total Indigenous population in 1620 has been estimated to be 7,000. This number was significantly larger as late as 1616; in later years, contemporaneous chroniclers interviewed Indigenous people who described a major pestilence which killed as many as two-thirds of the population. The land-use patterns of the Indigenous people included plots cleared for agricultural purposes and woodland territories for hunting game. Land divisions among the tribes were well understood.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: During the early 17th century, several European explorers charted the area, including Samuel de Champlain and John Smith. Plans began in 1606 for the first permanent British settlements on the east coast of North America. On April 10, 1606, King James I of England granted a charter forming two joint-stock companies. Neither of these corporations was given a name by this charter, but the territories were named as the "first Colony" and "second Colony", over which they were respectively authorized to settle and to govern. Under this charter, the "first Colony" and the "second Colony" were to be ruled by a Council composed of 13 individuals in each colony. The charter provided for an additional council of 13 persons named "Council of Virginia" which had overarching responsibility for the combined enterprise.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The "first Colony" ranged from the 34th- to 41st-degree latitude north; the "second Colony" ranged from the 38th- to 45th-degree latitude. (Note that the "first Colony" and the "second Colony" overlapped. The 1629 charter of Charles I asserted that the second Colony ranged from 40th to 48th degrees north latitude, which reduced the overlap.) Investors from London were appointed to govern over any settlements in the "first Colony"; investors from the "Town of Plimouth in the County of Devon" were appointed to govern over any settlements in the "second Colony". The London Company proceeded to establish Jamestown. The Plymouth Company under the guidance of Sir Ferdinando Gorges covered the more northern area, including New England, and established the Sagadahoc Colony in 1607 in Maine. The experience proved exceptionally difficult for the 120 settlers, however, and the surviving colonists abandoned the colony after only one year. Gorges noted that "there was no more speech of settling plantations in those parts" for a number of years. English ships continued to come to the New England area for fishing and trade with the Indigenous population.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: In December 1620, a group of English religious Separatists (later referred to as "the Pilgrims") established Plymouth Colony just to the south of Massachusetts Bay, seeking to preserve their cultural identity and attain religious freedom. Plymouth's colonists faced great hardships and earned few profits for their investors, who sold their interests to them in 1627. Edward Winslow and William Bradford were two of the colony's leaders and were likely the authors of a work published in England in 1622 called "Mourt's Relation". This book in some ways resembles a promotional tract intended to encourage further immigration. Plymouth Colony would remain separate from Massachusetts Bay Colony until the creation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: There were other attempts at colonies more closely tied to England in 1623 and 1624 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. Thomas Weston's Wessagusset Colony failed in under a year. An effort by Robert Gorges to establish an overarching civil and religious colonial structure for New England based in the same location likewise failed and most of the settlers left. Those families who remained after the departure of Gorges formed a permanent settlement the oldest in what would become Massachusetts Bay Colony


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company, with Thomas Gardner as its overseer. This company was originally organized through the efforts of Puritan minister John White (1575–1648) of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset. White has been called "the father of the Massachusetts Colony" because of his influence in establishing this settlement, even though he never emigrated. The Cape Ann settlement was not profitable, and the financial backers of the Dorchester Company terminated their support by the end of 1625. Their settlement was abandoned at present-day Gloucester, but a few settlers remained in the area, including Roger Conant, establishing a settlement a little further south at what is now Salem, near the village of the Naumkeag tribe.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Archbishop William Laud was a favorite advisor of King Charles I and a dedicated Anglican, and he sought to suppress the religious practices of Puritans and other nonconforming beliefs in England. The persecution of many Puritans in the 1620s led them to believe that religious reform would not be possible while Charles was king, and many decided to seek a new life in the New World.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: John White continued to seek funding for a colony. On 19 March 1627/8, the Council for New England issued a land grant to a new group of investors that included a few from the Dorchester Company. The land grant was for territory between the Charles River and Merrimack River that extended from "the Atlantick and westerne sea and ocean on the east parte, to the South sea on the west parte". The company to whom the grant was sold was styled "The New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay". The company elected Matthew Cradock as its first governor and immediately began organizing provisions and recruiting settlers.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The company sent approximately 100 new settlers with provisions to join Conant in 1628, led by Governor's Assistant John Endecott, one of the grantees. The next year, Naumkeag was renamed Salem and fortified by another 300 settlers led by Rev. Francis Higginson, one of the first ministers of the settlement. The first winters were difficult, with colonists struggling against starvation and disease, resulting in numerous deaths.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The company leaders sought a Royal Charter for the colony because they were concerned about the legality of conflicting land claims given to several companies (including the New England Company) for the little-known territories of the New World, and because of the increasing number of Puritans who wanted to join them. Charles granted the new charter on 4 March 1628/9, superseding the land grant and establishing a legal basis for the new English colony at Massachusetts, appointing Endecott as governor. It was not apparent whether Charles knew that the Company was meant to support the Puritan emigration, and he was likely left to assume that it was purely for business purposes, as was the custom. The charter omitted a significant clause: the location for the annual stockholders' meeting. Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629, whereupon the company's directors met to consider the possibility of moving the company's seat of governance to the colony. This was followed later that year by the Cambridge Agreement, in which a group of investors agreed to emigrate and work to buy out others who would not emigrate.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first English chartered colony whose board of governors did not reside in England. This independence helped the settlers to maintain their Puritan religious practices without interference from the king, Archbishop Laud, or the Anglican Church. The charter remained in force for 55 years; Charles II revoked it in 1684. Parliament passed legislation collectively called the Navigation Acts which attempted to prevent the colonists from trading with any nation other than England. Colonial resistance to those acts led King Charles to revoke the Massachusetts charter and consolidate all the colonies in New England, New York, and New Jersey into the Dominion of New England.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Territory claimed but never administered by the colonial government extended theoretically as far west as the Pacific Ocean. The Dutch colony of New Netherland disputed many of its territorial claims, arguing that they held rights to land beyond Rhode Island up to the western side of Cape Cod, under the jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony at the time.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: A flotilla of ships sailed from England beginning in April 1630, sometimes known as the Winthrop Fleet. They began arriving at Salem in June and carried more than 700 colonists, Governor John Winthrop, and the colonial charter. Winthrop delivered his famous sermon "City upon a Hill" either before or during the voyage.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Over the next ten years, about 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England to Massachusetts and the neighboring colonies during the Great Migration. Many ministers reacted to the repressive religious policies of England, making the trip with their congregations, among whom were John Cotton, Roger Williams, Thomas Hooker, and others. Religious divisions and the need for additional land prompted a number of new settlements that resulted in Connecticut Colony (by Hooker) and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (by Williams and others). Minister John Wheelwright was banished after the Antinomian controversy (like Anne Hutchinson), and he moved north to found Exeter, New Hampshire.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The advent of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in 1639 brought a halt to major migration, and a significant number of men returned to England to fight in the war. Massachusetts authorities were sympathetic to the Parliamentary cause and had generally positive relationships with the governments of the English Commonwealth and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. The colony's economy began to diversify in the 1640s, as the fur trading, lumber, and fishing industries found markets in Europe and the West Indies, and the colony's shipbuilding industry developed. The growth of a generation of people born in the colony and the rise of a merchant class began to slowly change the political and cultural landscape of the colony, even though its governance continued to be dominated by relatively conservative Puritans.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Colonial support for the Commonwealth created tension after the throne was restored to Charles II in 1660. Charles sought to extend royal influence over the colonies, which Massachusetts resisted along with the other colonies. For example, the Massachusetts Bay colony repeatedly refused requests by Charles and his agents to allow the Church of England to become established, and the New England colonies generally resisted the Navigation Acts, laws that restricted colonial trade to England alone.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The New England colonies were ravaged by King Philip's War (1675–76), when the Indigenous peoples of southern New England rose up against the colonists and were decisively defeated, although at great cost in life to all concerned. The Massachusetts frontier was particularly hard hit: several communities in the Connecticut and Swift River valleys were abandoned. By the end of the war, most of the Indigenous population of southern New England made peace treaties with the colonists.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: England had difficulty enforcing its laws and regulations in the Massachusetts Bay colony, as it was a joint-stock colony which was unlike the royal colonies and proprietary colonies that the English crown administered. Massachusetts Bay was largely self-governing with its own house of deputies, governor, and other self-appointed officers. The colony also did not keep its headquarters and oversight in London but moved them to the colony. The Massachusetts Bay colonists viewed themselves as something apart from their "mother country" of England because of this tradition of self-rule, coupled with the theocratic nature of New England Puritan society. The Puritan founders of Massachusetts and Plymouth saw themselves as having been divinely given their lands in the New World with a duty to implement and observe religious law.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: English colonists took control of New Netherland in 1664, and the crown sent royal commissioners to New England from the new Province of New York to investigate the status of the government and legal system of the colonies. These commissioners were to bring the New England colonies into a stronger connection with England, including allowing the crown to nominate the governor of the colony. The New England colonists refused, claiming that the King had no right to "supervise" Massachusetts Bay's laws and courts, and saying that they ought to continue as they were so long as they remained within the legal rights and privileges of their charter. The Commissioners asked that the colony pay its obligated 20 percent of all gold and silver found in New England, but the colonists responded that they were "not obligated to the king but by civility".


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Massachusetts Bay extended the right to vote only to Puritans, but the population of the colony was increasing and the non-Puritan population was growing along with it; thus, tensions and conflicts were growing concerning the future direction of the colony. Many wealthy merchants and colonists wished to expand their economic base and commercial interests and saw the conservative Puritan leadership as thwarting that. Even in Puritan society, the younger generation wished to liberalize society in a way that would help with commerce. Those who wanted Massachusetts Bay and New England to be a place for religious observance and theocracy were most hostile to any change in governance. The Crown learned of these divisions and sought to include non-Puritans in the leadership in the hope of managing the colony.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The charges of insubordination against the colony included denying the crown's authority to legislate in New England, asserting that Massachusetts Bay was governing in the Province of New Hampshire and Maine, and denying freedom of conscience. However, chief among the colonists' transgressions were the coining of money (the pine tree shilling) and their violations of the Navigation Acts, which had been passed by Parliament to regulate trade within the English colonial empire. These regulations determined whom the colonies could trade with and how trade could be conducted, and New England merchants were flaunting them by trading directly with European powers. This infuriated many English merchants, commercial societies, and Royal committees who petitioned the King for action, claiming that the New England colonists were hurting their trade. The Lords of Trade's complaints were so serious that the King sent Edward Randolph to Boston in an attempt to rein in and regulate the colony. When he arrived in Boston, he found a colonial government that refused to give in to the royal demands.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Randolph reported to London that the General Court of Massachusetts Bay claimed that the King had no right to interfere with their commercial dealings. In response, Randolph asked the crown to cut off all trade to and from the colony and asked that further regulations be put in place. The crown did not wish to enforce such a harsh measure and risk alienating the moderate members of New England society who supported England, so the British offered conciliatory measures if Massachusetts Bay followed the law. Massachusetts Bay refused, and the Lords of Trade became wary of the colony's charter; they petitioned the crown to either revoke it or amend it. Randolph was made head of Customs and Surveyor General of New England, with his office in Boston. Despite this increased pressure, the General Court established laws that allowed merchants to circumvent Randolph's authority. Adding to Randolph's frustration was his reliance on the Admiralty Court to rule on the laws that he was attempting to enforce. The moderate faction of the General Court was supportive of Randolph and the changes that the crown wished to make, but the conservatives remained too powerful and blocked any attempt to side with England. However, as the tensions mounted between the crown and Massachusetts Bay, and threats mounted of legal action against the colony, the General Court did pass laws that acknowledged certain English admiralty laws while still making allowance for self-governance.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Two delegates from Massachusetts Bay were sent to London to meet with the Lords of Trade when the crown threatened the colony with a "quo warranto". The Lords demanded a supplementary charter to alleviate problems, but the delegates were under orders that they could not negotiate any change with the Charter and this enraged the Lords. The "quo warranto" was issued immediately. The King feared that this would stir problems within the colony and attempted to reassure the colonists that their private interests would not be infringed upon. The declaration did create problems, however, and the confrontations increased between the moderates and conservatives. The moderates controlled the office of the Governor and the Council of Assistants, and the conservatives controlled the Assembly of Deputies. This political turmoil ended in a compromise with the deputies voting to allow the delegates in London to negotiate and defend the colonial charter.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: When the warrant arrived in Boston, the General Court voted on what course the colony should take. The two options were to immediately submit to royal authority and dismantle their government or to wait for the crown to revoke their charter and install a new governmental system. The General Court decided to wait out the crown. They lacked a legal basis to continue their government, yet it remained intact until its official revocation in 1686.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: James II of England united Massachusetts with the other New England colonies in the Dominion of New England in 1686. The dominion was governed by Sir Edmund Andros without any local representation beyond his own hand-picked councillors, and it was extremely unpopular throughout New England. Massachusetts authorities arrested Andros in April 1689 after the 1688 Glorious Revolution in England, and they re-established government under the forms of the vacated charter. However, dissenters from the Puritan rule argued that the government lacked a proper constitutional foundation, and some of its actions were resisted on that basis.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: King William III issued a charter in 1691, despite efforts by Massachusetts agents to revive the old colonial charter. It was chiefly negotiated by Increase Mather in his role as the colony's ambassador-extraordinary, unifying Massachusetts Bay with Plymouth Colony, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and territories that roughly encompass Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This new charter additionally extended voting rights to non-Puritans, an outcome that Mather had tried to avoid.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Life could be quite difficult in the early years of the colony. Many colonists lived in fairly crude structures, including dugouts, wigwams, and dirt-floor huts made using wattle and daub construction. Construction improved in later years, and houses began to be sheathed in clapboard, with thatch or plank roofs and wooden chimneys. Wealthier individuals would extend their house by adding a lean-to on the back, which allowed a larger kitchen (possibly with a brick or stone chimney including an oven), additional rooms, and a sleeping loft. These houses were the precursors to what is now called the saltbox style of architecture. Interiors became more elaborate in later years, with plaster walls, wainscoting, and potentially expensive turned woodwork in the most expensive homes.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Colonists arriving after the first wave found that the early towns did not have room for them. Seeking land of their own, groups of families would petition the government for land on which to establish a new town; the government would typically allow the group's leaders to select the land. These grants were typically about , and were located sufficiently near other towns to facilitate defense and social support. The group leaders would also be responsible for acquiring native title to the lands that they selected. By this means, the colony expanded into the interior, spawning settlements in adjacent territories as well.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The land within a town would be divided by communal agreement, usually allocating by methods that originated in England. Outside a town center, land would be allocated for farming, some of which might be held communally. Farmers with large plots of land might build a house near their properties on the outskirts of the town. A town center that was well laid out would be fairly compact, with a tavern, school, possibly some small shops, and a meeting house that was used for civic and religious functions. The meeting house would be the center of the town's political and religious life. Church services might be held for several hours on Wednesday and all day Sunday. Puritans did not observe annual holidays, especially Christmas, which they said had pagan roots. Annual town meetings would be held at the meeting house, generally in May, to elect the town's representatives to the general court and to transact other community business. Towns often had a village green, used for outdoor celebrations and activities such as military exercises of the town's trainband or militia.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Many of the early colonists who migrated from England came with some or all of their family. It was expected that individuals would marry fairly young and begin producing offspring. Infant mortality rates were comparatively low, as were instances of childhood death. Men who lost their wives often remarried fairly quickly, especially if they had children needing care. Older widows would also sometimes marry for financial security. It was also normal for older widowed parents to live with one of their children. Due to the Puritan perception of marriage as a civil union, divorce did sometimes occur and could be pursued by both genders.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Sexual activity was expected to be confined to marriage. Sex outside of marriage was considered fornication if neither partner was married, and adultery if one or both were married to someone else. Fornication was generally punished by fines and pressure to marry; a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child could also be fined. Adultery and rape were more serious crimes, and both were punishable by death. Rape, however, required more than one witness, and was therefore rarely prosecuted. Sexual activity between men was called sodomy, and was also punishable by death.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Within the marriage, the husband was typically responsible for supplying the family's financial needs, although it was not uncommon for women to work in the fields and to perform some home labor (for example, spinning thread or weaving cloth) to supplement the family income. Women were almost exclusively responsible for seeing to the welfare of the children.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Children were baptized at the local meeting house within a week of being born. The mother was usually not present because she was still recovering from the birth, and the child's name was usually chosen by the father. Names were propagated within the family, and names would be reused when infants died. If an adult died without issue, his (or her) name could be carried on when the siblings of the deceased named children in his or her memory.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Most children received some form of schooling, something which the colony's founders believed to be important for forming a proper relationship with God. Towns were obligated to provide education for their children, which was usually satisfied by hiring a teacher of some sort. The quality of these instructors varied, from minimally educated local people to Harvard-educated ministers.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The structure of the colonial government changed over the lifetime of the charter. The Puritans established a theocratic government limited to church members. Winthrop, Dudley, the Rev. John Cotton, and other leaders sought to prevent dissenting religious views, and many were banished because of differing religious beliefs, including Roger Williams of Salem and Anne Hutchinson of Boston, as well as unrepentant Quakers and Anabaptists. By the mid-1640s, Massachusetts Bay Colony had grown to more than 20,000 inhabitants.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The charter granted the general court the authority to elect officers and to make laws for the colony. Its first meeting in North America was held in October 1630, but it was attended by only eight freemen. They formed the first council of assistants and voted (contrary to the terms of the charter) that they should elect the governor and deputy from among themselves. The general court determined at the next session that it would elect the governor and deputy.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: An additional 116 settlers were admitted to the general court as freemen in 1631, but most of the governing and judicial power remained with the council of assistants. They also enacted a law specifying that only those men who "are members of some of the churches" in the colony were eligible to become freemen and gain the vote. This restriction was not changed until after the English Restoration. The process by which individuals became members of one of the colony's churches involved a detailed questioning by the church elders of their beliefs and religious experiences; as a result, only individuals whose religious views accorded with those of the church leadership were likely to become members and gain the ability to vote in the colony. After a protest over the imposition of taxes by a meeting of the council of assistants, the general court ordered each town to send two representatives known as deputies to meet with the court to discuss matters of taxation.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Questions of governance and representation arose again in 1634 when several deputies demanded to see the charter, which the assistants had kept hidden from public view. The deputies learned of the provisions that the general court should make all laws, and that all freemen should be members of the general court. They then demanded that the charter be enforced to the letter, which Governor Winthrop pointed out was impractical given the growing number of freemen. The parties reached a compromise and agreed that the general court would be made up of two deputies representing each town. Dudley was elected governor in 1634, and the general court reserved a large number of powers for itself, including those of taxation, distribution of land, and the admission of freemen.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: A legal case in 1642 brought about the separation of the council of assistants into an upper house of the general court. The case involved a widow's lost pig and had been overturned by the general court, but the assistants voted as a body to veto the general court's act. The consequence of the ensuing debate was that the general court voted in 1644 that the council of assistants would sit and deliberate separately from the general court (they had sat together until then), and both bodies must concur for any legislation to be passed. Judicial appeals were to be decided by a joint session, since otherwise the assistants would be in the position to veto attempts to overturn their own decisions.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: During 1641, the colony formally adopted the Massachusetts Body of Liberties which Nathaniel Ward compiled. This document consisted of 100 civil and criminal laws based upon the social sanctions recorded in the Bible. These laws formed the nucleus of colonial legislation until independence and contained some provisions later incorporated into the United States Constitution, such as the ideas of equal protection and double jeopardy.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Massachusetts Bay was the first colony to formalize laws concerning slavery with provision 91 of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties which developed protections for people unable to perform public service. Another law was developed to protect married women, children, and people with mental disabilities from making financial decisions. Colonial law differentiated among types of mental disabilities, classifying them as "distracted persons", "idiots", and "lunaticks". In 1693, "poor laws" enabled communities to use the estates of people with disabilities to defer the cost of community support of those individuals. Many of these laws remained until the American Revolution.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: Many behaviors were frowned upon culturally which modern sensibilities might consider relatively trivial actions, and some led to criminal prosecution. These included sleeping during church services, playing cards, and engaging in any number of activities on the Sabbath. Conversely, there were laws which reflected attitudes that are still endorsed by popular sensibilities in the 21st century US, against things such as smoking tobacco, abusing one's mother-in-law, profane dancing, and pulling hair. Children, newcomers, and people with disabilities were exempt from punishment for such infractions.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The colony's council of assistants sat as the final court of appeal and as the principal court for criminal issues of "life, limb, or banishment" and civil issues where the damages exceeded £100. Lesser offenses were heard in county courts or by commissioners appointed for hearing minor disputes. The lower courts were also responsible for issuing licenses and for matters such as probate. Juries were authorized to decide questions of both fact and law, although the court could decide if a jury failed to reach a decision. Sentences for offenses included fines and corporal punishments such as whipping and sitting in the stocks, with the punishments of banishment from the colony and death by hanging reserved for the most serious offenses. Evidence was sometimes based on hearsay and superstition. For example, the "ordeal of touch" was used in 1646 in which someone accused of murder is forced to touch the dead body; if blood appears, the accused is deemed guilty. This was used to convict and execute a woman accused of murdering her newborn child. Bodies of individuals hanged for piracy were sometimes gibbeted (publicly displayed) on harbor islands visible to seagoing vessels.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: One of the first to be executed in the colony was Dorothy Talbye, who was apparently delusional. She was hanged in 1638 for murdering her daughter, as the common law of Massachusetts made no distinction at the time between insanity (or mental illness) and criminal behavior. Midwife Margaret Jones was convicted of being a witch and hanged in 1648 after the condition of patients allegedly worsened in her care.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The colonial leadership was the most active in New England in the persecution of Quakers. In 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged in Boston for repeatedly defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. Dyer was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs. Executions ceased in 1661 when King Charles II explicitly forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: In 1643, Massachusetts Bay joined Plymouth Colony, Connecticut Colony, and New Haven Colony in the New England Confederation, a loose coalition organized primarily to coordinate military and administrative matters among the Puritan colonies. It was most active in the 1670s during King Philip's War. (New Hampshire had not yet been organized as a separate province, and both it and Rhode Island were excluded because they were not Puritan.)


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: In the 1600s, the colony was highly dependent on imports from England and was supported by the investments of a number of wealthy immigrants. Certain businesses were quick to thrive, notably shipbuilding, fisheries, and the fur and lumber trades. As early as 1632, ships built in the colony began trading with other colonies, England, and foreign ports in Europe. By 1660, the colony's merchant fleet was estimated at 200 ships and, by the end of the century, its shipyards were estimated to turn out several hundred ships annually. In the early years, the fleet principally carried fish to destinations from the West Indies to Europe. It was common for a merchant to ship dried fish to Portugal or Spain, pick up wine and oil for transport to England, and then carry finished goods from England or elsewhere back to the colony. This and other patterns of trade became illegal following the introduction of the Navigation Acts in 1651, turning colonial merchants who continued these trading patterns into "de facto" smugglers. Many colonial authorities were merchants or were politically dependent on them, and they opposed being required by the crown to collect duties imposed by those acts. In 1652, Massachusetts General Court established the "Hull Mint" established by John Hull and Robert Sanderson producing the pine tree shilling.


title: Massachusetts Bay Colony

text: The fur trade only played a modest role in the colony's economy because its rivers did not connect its centers well with the Indians who engaged in fur trapping. Timber began to take on an increasingly important role in the economy, especially for naval purposes, after conflicts between England and the Dutch depleted England's supplies of ship masts.