title: Economically Weaker Section

text: On October 21, 2019, the Kerala Cabinet decided to amend the State and Subordinate Service Rules and implement the EWS scheme. The Cabinet noted that the implementation did not affect the existing reservation categories. A panel headed by the retired judge, KS Sasidharan Nair, was appointed by the government to set the criteria for EWS in the state. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Welfare Party of India and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam had come out against the move. After studying the report, the government implemented its suggestions after some modifications. Under this, eligibility for EWS was changed for higher education and jobs in the state of Kerala.


title: Economically Weaker Section

text: In June 2021, the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra announced that the Maratha Community can now avail benefits under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota.


title: Economically Weaker Section

text: Two schemes that are specifically designed for the EBCs and MEBCs are the Post-Matric Scholarship & Interest Subsidy on Educational Loans for overseas Studies.


title: Center of mass

text: In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may be applied to cause a linear acceleration without an angular acceleration. Calculations in mechanics are often simplified when formulated with respect to the center of mass. It is a hypothetical point where the entire mass of an object may be assumed to be concentrated to visualise its motion. In other words, the center of mass is the particle equivalent of a given object for application of Newton's laws of motion.


title: Center of mass

text: In the case of a single rigid body, the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body, and if the body has uniform density, it will be located at the centroid. The center of mass may be located outside the physical body, as is sometimes the case for hollow or open-shaped objects, such as a horseshoe. In the case of a distribution of separate bodies, such as the planets of the Solar System, the center of mass may not correspond to the position of any individual member of the system.


title: Center of mass

text: The center of mass is a useful reference point for calculations in mechanics that involve masses distributed in space, such as the linear and angular momentum of planetary bodies and rigid body dynamics. In orbital mechanics, the equations of motion of planets are formulated as point masses located at the centers of mass. The center of mass frame is an inertial frame in which the center of mass of a system is at rest with respect to the origin of the coordinate system.


title: Center of mass

text: The concept of center of gravity or weight was studied extensively by the ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse. He worked with simplified assumptions about gravity that amount to a uniform field, thus arriving at the mathematical properties of what we now call the center of mass. Archimedes showed that the torque exerted on a lever by weights resting at various points along the lever is the same as what it would be if all of the weights were moved to a single point—their center of mass. In his work "On Floating Bodies", Archimedes demonstrated that the orientation of a floating object is the one that makes its center of mass as low as possible. He developed mathematical techniques for finding the centers of mass of objects of uniform density of various well-defined shapes.


title: Center of mass

text: Other ancient mathematicians who contributed to the theory of the center of mass include Hero of Alexandria and Pappus of Alexandria. In the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, work by Guido Ubaldi, Francesco Maurolico, Federico Commandino, Evangelista Torricelli, Simon Stevin, Luca Valerio, Jean-Charles de la Faille, Paul Guldin, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens, Louis Carré, Pierre Varignon, and Alexis Clairaut expanded the concept further.


title: Center of mass

text: The center of mass is the unique point at the center of a distribution of mass in space that has the property that the weighted position vectors relative to this point sum to zero. In analogy to statistics, the center of mass is the mean location of a distribution of mass in space.


title: Center of mass

text: In the case of a system of particles , each with mass that are located in space with coordinates , the coordinates R of the center of mass satisfy the condition


title: Center of mass

text: If the mass distribution is continuous with the density ρ(r) within a solid "Q", then the integral of the weighted position coordinates of the points in this volume relative to the center of mass R over the volume V is zero, that is


title: Center of mass

text: If a continuous mass distribution has uniform density, which means ρ is constant, then the center of mass is the same as the centroid of the volume.


title: Center of mass

text: The coordinates R of the center of mass of a two-particle system, "P" and "P", with masses "m" and "m" is given by


title: Center of mass

text: Let the percentage of the total mass divided between these two particles vary from 100% "P" and 0% "P" through 50% "P" and 50% "P" to 0% "P" and 100% "P", then the center of mass R moves along the line from "P" to "P". The percentages of mass at each point can be viewed as projective coordinates of the point R on this line, and are termed barycentric coordinates. Another way of interpreting the process here is the mechanical balancing of moments about an arbitrary point. The numerator gives the total moment that is then balanced by an equivalent total force at the center of mass. This can be generalized to three points and four points to define projective coordinates in the plane, and in space, respectively.


title: Center of mass

text: For particles in a system with periodic boundary conditions two particles can be neighbours even though they are on opposite sides of the system. This occurs often in molecular dynamics simulations, for example, in which clusters form at random locations and sometimes neighbouring atoms cross the periodic boundary. When a cluster straddles the periodic boundary, a naive calculation of the center of mass will be incorrect. A generalized method for calculating the center of mass for periodic systems is to treat each coordinate, "x" and "y" and/or "z", as if it were on a circle instead of a line. The calculation takes every particle's "x" coordinate and maps it to an angle,


title: Center of mass

text: where "x" is the system size in the "x" direction and formula_8. From this angle, two new points formula_9 can be generated, which can be weighted by the mass of the particle formula_10 for the center of mass or given a value of 1 for the geometric center:


title: Center of mass

text: In the formula_12 plane, these coordinates lie on a circle of radius 1. From the collection of formula_13 and formula_14 values from all the particles, the averages formula_15 and formula_16 are calculated.


title: Center of mass

text: These values are mapped back into a new angle, formula_18, from which the "x" coordinate of the center of mass can be obtained:


title: Center of mass

text: The process can be repeated for all dimensions of the system to determine the complete center of mass. The utility of the algorithm is that it allows the mathematics to determine where the "best" center of mass is, instead of guessing or using cluster analysis to "unfold" a cluster straddling the periodic boundaries. If both average values are zero, formula_20, then formula_18 is undefined. This is a correct result, because it only occurs when all particles are exactly evenly spaced. In that condition, their "x" coordinates are mathematically identical in a .


title: Center of mass

text: A body's center of gravity is the point around which the resultant torque due to gravity forces vanishes. Where a gravity field can be considered to be uniform, the mass-center and the center-of-gravity will be the same. However, for satellites in orbit around a planet, in the absence of other torques being applied to a satellite, the slight variation (gradient) in gravitational field between closer-to (stronger) and further-from (weaker) the planet can lead to a torque that will tend to align the satellite such that its long axis is vertical. In such a case, it is important to make the distinction between the center-of-gravity and the mass-center. Any horizontal offset between the two will result in an applied torque.


title: Center of mass

text: It is useful to note that the mass-center is a fixed property for a given rigid body (e.g. with no slosh or articulation), whereas the center-of-gravity may, in addition, depend upon its orientation in a non-uniform gravitational field. In the latter case, the center-of-gravity will always be located somewhat closer to the main attractive body as compared to the mass-center, and thus will change its position in the body of interest as its orientation is changed.


title: Center of mass

text: In the study of the dynamics of aircraft, vehicles and vessels, forces and moments need to be resolved relative to the mass center. That is true independent of whether gravity itself is a consideration. Referring to the mass-center as the center-of-gravity is something of a colloquialism, but it is in common usage and when gravity gradient effects are negligible, center-of-gravity and mass-center are the same and are used interchangeably.


title: Center of mass

text: In physics the benefits of using the center of mass to model a mass distribution can be seen by considering the resultant of the gravity forces on a continuous body. Consider a body Q of volume V with density ρ(r) at each point r in the volume. In a parallel gravity field the force f at each point r is given by,


title: Center of mass

text: where dm is the mass at the point r, g is the acceleration of gravity, and formula_23 is a unit vector defining the vertical direction.


title: Center of mass

text: which means the resultant torque T = 0. Because the resultant torque is zero the body will move as though it is a particle with its mass concentrated at the center of mass.


title: Center of mass

text: By selecting the center of gravity as the reference point for a rigid body, the gravity forces will not cause the body to rotate, which means the weight of the body can be considered to be concentrated at the center of mass.


title: Center of mass

text: The linear and angular momentum of a collection of particles can be simplified by measuring the position and velocity of the particles relative to the center of mass. Let the system of particles "P", "i" = 1, ..., "n" of masses "m" be located at the coordinates r with velocities v. Select a reference point R and compute the relative position and velocity vectors,


title: Center of mass

text: where "m" is the total mass of all the particles, p is the linear momentum, and L is the angular momentum.


title: Center of mass

text: The law of conservation of momentum predicts that for any system not subjected to external forces the momentum of the system will remain constant, which means the center of mass will move with constant velocity. This applies for all systems with classical internal forces, including magnetic fields, electric fields, chemical reactions, and so on. More formally, this is true for any internal forces that cancel in accordance with Newton's Third Law.


title: Center of mass

text: The experimental determination of a body's centre of mass makes use of gravity forces on the body and is based on the fact that the centre of mass is the same as the centre of gravity in the parallel gravity field near the earth's surface.


title: Center of mass

text: The center of mass of a body with an axis of symmetry and constant density must lie on this axis. Thus, the center of mass of a circular cylinder of constant density has its center of mass on the axis of the cylinder. In the same way, the center of mass of a spherically symmetric body of constant density is at the center of the sphere. In general, for any symmetry of a body, its center of mass will be a fixed point of that symmetry.


title: Center of mass

text: An experimental method for locating the center of mass is to suspend the object from two locations and to drop plumb lines from the suspension points. The intersection of the two lines is the center of mass.


title: Center of mass

text: The shape of an object might already be mathematically determined, but it may be too complex to use a known formula. In this case, one can subdivide the complex shape into simpler, more elementary shapes, whose centers of mass are easy to find. If the total mass and center of mass can be determined for each area, then the center of mass of the whole is the weighted average of the centers. This method can even work for objects with holes, which can be accounted for as negative masses.


title: Center of mass

text: A direct development of the planimeter known as an integraph, or integerometer, can be used to establish the position of the centroid or center of mass of an irregular two-dimensional shape. This method can be applied to a shape with an irregular, smooth or complex boundary where other methods are too difficult. It was regularly used by ship builders to compare with the required displacement and center of buoyancy of a ship, and ensure it would not capsize.


title: Center of mass

text: An experimental method to locate the three-dimensional coordinates of the center of mass begins by supporting the object at three points and measuring the forces, F, F, and F that resist the weight of the object, formula_31 (formula_32 is the unit vector in the vertical direction). Let r, r, and r be the position coordinates of the support points, then the coordinates R of the center of mass satisfy the condition that the resultant torque is zero,


title: Center of mass

text: The three-dimensional coordinates of the center of mass are determined by performing this experiment twice with the object positioned so that these forces are measured for two different horizontal planes through the object. The center of mass will be the intersection of the two lines L and L obtained from the two experiments.


title: Center of mass

text: Engineers try to design a sports car so that its center of mass is lowered to make the car handle better, which is to say, maintain traction while executing relatively sharp turns.


title: Center of mass

text: The characteristic low profile of the U.S. military Humvee was designed in part to allow it to tilt farther than taller vehicles without rolling over, by ensuring its low center of mass stays over the space bounded by the four wheels even at angles far from the horizontal.


title: Center of mass

text: The center of mass is an important point on an aircraft, which significantly affects the stability of the aircraft. To ensure the aircraft is stable enough to be safe to fly, the center of mass must fall within specified limits. If the center of mass is ahead of the forward limit, the aircraft will be less maneuverable, possibly to the point of being unable to rotate for takeoff or flare for landing. If the center of mass is behind the aft limit, the aircraft will be more maneuverable, but also less stable, and possibly unstable enough so as to be impossible to fly. The moment arm of the elevator will also be reduced, which makes it more difficult to recover from a stalled condition.


title: Center of mass

text: For helicopters in hover, the center of mass is always directly below the rotorhead. In forward flight, the center of mass will move forward to balance the negative pitch torque produced by applying cyclic control to propel the helicopter forward; consequently a cruising helicopter flies "nose-down" in level flight.


title: Center of mass

text: The center of mass plays an important role in astronomy and astrophysics, where it is commonly referred to as the "barycenter". The barycenter is the point between two objects where they balance each other; it is the center of mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other. When a moon orbits a planet, or a planet orbits a star, both bodies are actually orbiting a point that lies away from the center of the primary (larger) body. For example, the Moon does not orbit the exact center of the Earth, but a point on a line between the center of the Earth and the Moon, approximately 1,710 km (1,062 miles) below the surface of the Earth, where their respective masses balance. This is the point about which the Earth and Moon orbit as they travel around the Sun. If the masses are more similar, e.g., Pluto and Charon, the barycenter will fall outside both bodies.


title: Center of mass

text: Knowing the location of the center of gravity when rigging is crucial, possibly resulting in severe injury or death if assumed incorrectly. A center of gravity that is at or above the lift point will most likely result in a tip-over incident. In general, the further the center of gravity below the pick point, the more safe the lift. There are other things to consider, such as shifting loads, strength of the load and mass, distance between pick points, and number of pick points. Specifically, when selecting lift points, it's very important to place the center of gravity at the center and well below the lift points.


title: Center of mass

text: In kinesiology and biomechanics, the center of mass is an important parameter that assists people in understanding their human locomotion. Typically, a human's center of mass is detected with one of two methods: the reaction board method is a static analysis that involves the person lying down on that instrument, and use of their static equilibrium equation to find their center of mass; the segmentation method relies on a mathematical solution based on the physical principle that the summation of the torques of individual body sections, relative to a specified axis, must equal the torque of the whole system that constitutes the body, measured relative to the same axis.


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanjana Sanghi (born 2 September 1996) is an Indian actress and model who mainly works in Hindi films. She made her acting debut as a child artist in the 2011 film "Rockstar". She later appeared in cameo roles in "Hindi Medium" and "Fukrey Returns".


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanghi is most known for her first lead role in the Sushant Singh Rajput starrer "Dil Bechara" where she was seen as a terminal cancer patient.


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanjana Sanghi was born on 2 September 1996 in Delhi, India to businessman Sandeep Sanghi and homemaker Shagun. She has a brother, Sumer. She studied at Modern School in Delhi and then completed her graduation in Journalism and Mass communication from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi in 2017.


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanghi made her acting debut in Imtiaz Ali's romantic drama film Rockstar in 2011. She was cast by Mukesh Chhabra after he saw her performing on stage at her school. In 2016, she played student in Jai's classroom in "Baar Baar Dekho". In 2017, she played Katty in "Fukrey Returns" and the younger role of Saba Qamar in "Hindi Medium".


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: In 2018, she was chosen as the female lead for "Dil Bechara", starring alongside Sushant Singh Rajput in the adaptation of "The Fault in Our Stars". The film released in 2020 on Disney+Hotstar. In 2021, she appeared in Guru Randhawa's music video 'Mehendi Wale Haath'.


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanghi will next feature in Kapil Verma's action drama "Om: The Battle Within" alongside Aditya Roy Kapur. The movie is slated for release 1 July 2022. She will also appear as the lead in Dinesh Vijan's "Munjha" and will be seen in the road trip film "Dhak Dhak".


title: Sanjana Sanghi

text: Sanghi has also appeared in advertisements for companies like Tanishq, Cadbury, Aircel, Coca-Cola, Myntra and Dabur.


title: British Indians

text: British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian origin as well as Indians who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians comprise about 1.4 million people in the UK, making them the single largest visible ethnic minority population in the country. They make up the largest subgroup of British Asians and are one of the largest Indian communities in the Indian diaspora, mainly due to the Indian–British relations (including historical links such as India having been part of the British Empire and still being part of the Commonwealth of Nations). The British Indian community is the sixth largest in the Indian diaspora, behind the Indian communities in the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Nepal. The majority of British Indians are of Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and Malayali descent, with smaller Tamil, Telugu, Konkani, and Marathi communities.


title: British Indians

text: Rishi Sunak, who is of Punjabi Hindu descent, is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 25th October 2022.


title: British Indians

text: People from India have settled in Great Britain since the East India Company (EIC) recruited lascars to replace vacancies in their crews on East Indiamen whilst on voyages in India. Initially these were men from the Indo-Portuguese or Luso-Asian communities of the subcontinent, including men from Bombay, Goa, Cochin, Madras and the Hugli River in Bengal. Later Bengali Muslims and men from Ratnagiri were hired. Many were then unable to obtain passage back due to the price and had no alternative than to settle in London. There were also some "ayahs", domestic servants and nannies of wealthy British families, who accompanied their employers back to Britain when their stay in South Asia came to an end. British soldiers would also sometimes marry Indian women and send their children back to Britain, although the wife often did not accompany them. Indian wives of British soldiers would sometimes ask for passage home after being divorced or widowed if they did accompany their children. In 1835, the husband (a British soldier serving in His Majesty's 1st Foot Regiment) of Bridget Peter, a native of Madras, passed away. She petitioned the Directors from Chelsea Hospital 'in a state of destitution' to pay for her return to India. They agreed to pay to return her and her three children.


title: British Indians

text: The first Western educated Indian to travel to Europe and live in Britain was I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim cleric, munshi and diplomat to the Mughal Empire who arrived in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim during the reign of King George III. He wrote of his experiences and travels in his Persian book, "Shigurf-nama-i-Wilayat" (or 'Wonder Book of Europe'). This is also the earliest record of literature by a British Indian. Also during the reign of George III, the "hookah-bardar" (hookah servant/preparer) of James Achilles Kirkpatrick was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the "Prince of Sylhet". The man was waited upon by the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King.


title: British Indians

text: The Navigation Act of 1660 restricted the employment of non-English sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships. Baptism records in East Greenwich suggest that a small number of young Indians from the Malabar Coast were being recruited as house servants at the end of the 17th century, and records of the EIC also suggest that Indo-Portuguese cooks from Goa were retained by captains from voyage to voyage. In 1797, 13 were buried in the parish of St Nicholas at Deptford.


title: British Indians

text: During the 19th century, the East India Company brought thousands of Indian "lascars", scholars and workers (who were largely Bengali and/or Muslim) to Britain largely to work on ships and in ports. Some of whom settled down and took local British wives, partly due to a lack of Indian women in Britain and also abandonment due to restrictions on South Asian crew members being employed on British ships such as the Navigation Acts. It is estimated 8,000 Indians (a proportion being lascar sailors) lived in Britain permanently prior to the 1950s. Due to the majority of early Asian immigrants being "lascar" seamen, the earliest Indian communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomet, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostanee Coffee House. He is also valued for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom. By the mid-19th century, more than 40,000 Indian seamen, diplomats, scholars, soldiers, officials, tourists, businessmen and students had travelled to Britain, the majority of them being seamen working on ships, Lascars lodged in British ports in between voyages. Most Indians during this period would visit or reside in Britain temporarily, returning to India after months or several years, bringing back knowledge about Britain in the process.


title: British Indians

text: The 1931 Census of India estimated that there were at least 2,000 Indian students in English and Scottish Universities at the time, from an estimated, and overwhelmingly male population of 9,243 South Asians on the British mainland, of which 7,128 resided in England and Wales, two thousand in Scotland, with a thousand in Northern Ireland, and 1 on the Isle of Man. Their origins were recorded as:


title: British Indians

text: In 1932, the Indian National Congress survey of "all Indians outside India" (which included modern Pakistani and Bangladeshi territories) estimated that there were 7,128 Indians living in the United Kingdom, which included students, lascars, and professionals such as doctors. The resident Indian population of Birmingham was recorded at 100 by 1939. By 1945 it was 1,000.


title: British Indians

text: Following the Second World War and the breakup of the British Empire, Indian migration to the UK increased through the 1950s and 1960s. This was partly due to the British Nationality Act 1948, which enabled migration from the Commonwealth with very few limits. In 1950 there were probably fewer than 20,000 non-white residents in Britain, almost all born overseas. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed. In addition, much of the subsequent growth in the British Indian community has come from the births of second- and third-generation Indian Britons.


title: British Indians

text: By the early 21st century, the British Indian community had grown to number over one million. According to the 2001 UK Census, 1,053,411 Britons had full Indian ethnicity (representing 1.8% of the UK's population). An overwhelming majority of 99.3% resided in England (in 2008 the figure is thought to be around 97.0%). In the nine-year period between 2001 and 2010, the number of Indian-born people in the UK has increased in size by 43% from 467,634 to around 669,000 (an increase of over 200,000).


title: British Indians

text: According to the 2021 Census, Indians in England & Wales enumerated 1,864,318, or 3.1% of the population.


title: British Indians

text: The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded 1,451,862 residents of Indian ethnicity, accounting for 2.3 per cent of the total UK population (not including those of mixed ethnic backgrounds). The equivalent figure from the 2001 Census was 1,053,411 (1.8 per cent of the total UK population).


title: British Indians

text: People born in India are the UK's largest foreign-born population, totalling an estimated 880,000 in 2020.


title: British Indians

text: According to the 2011 census, the cities with the most Indian-born residents are London (262,247), Leicester (37,224), Birmingham (27,206) and Wolverhampton (14,955).


title: British Indians

text: In the 2001 UK Census, Indians in the UK were most likely to have responded to code 41 - Indian or Indian British. Indian was one of only five sub categories in the UK census which represents a nation (along with Irish, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Chinese).


title: British Indians

text: India is a diverse nation composed of many ethnic groups. This is reflected in the British Indian community although there are several ethnic groups that number considerably more than others. Gujaratis account for 45 percent of Indians living in the UK while the Indian Punjabis account for about 40 per cent of Indians living in the UK, based on data for England and Wales. Tamils and Indian Bengalis are among the other large subgroups of British Indians. Alongside Punjabis and Gujaratis, there are also significant numbers of Tamils. There is a large community of Goans in Swindon, with smaller communities in Hayes and Cranford. There are significant numbers of British Indians originating from Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.


title: British Indians

text: The table below shows the distribution of British Indians people in the United Kingdom. The figures for all countries, regions, cities and boroughs are based on the 2011 census. 42.9% of people from the Indian ethnic group were born in the UK. 41.9% were born in Southern Asia and 11.1% were born in South and Eastern Africa (for example, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania). Indian people born in South and Eastern Africa were more clustered than those born in the UK or Southern Asia, with 11.0% living in Harrow and 10.6% living in Leicester.


title: British Indians

text: Indians number over half a million in London, which is the city's single largest non-white ethnic group. Indians have a significant impact on the culture of the British capital. Within London, Southall, Hounslow, Brent, Croydon, Redbridge, Ealing, Barnet, Tooting, Harrow and Wembley, the latter of which is one of the few places outside India where Indians make up the largest ethnic group (almost 4 times larger than the White British population). There are more Indians in the British capital than in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal combined. The Indian Overseas Congress UK is an organisation of the Indian diaspora in the UK, affiliated to the Indian National Congress (Congress (I)), and formed in 1969.


title: British Indians

text: Leicester is set to soon become the UK's first ethnic minority-majority city and Indians make up by far the largest ethnic group besides the White British. At 18.7% of the local population in 2009, Leicester has one of the highest percentages of Indians per head of the population of any local authority in the UK. According to the 2001 UK Census, 14.74% of Leicester's population were Hindu and 4.21% Sikh. Gujarati is the primary language of 16% of the city's residents, 3% Punjabi and 2% Urdu. Other smaller but common language groups include Hindi and Bengali.


title: British Indians

text: Most Indians live in west Birmingham in areas such as Handsworth, Harborne. Punjabi is the most spoken Indian language in Birmingham with some Urdu and Bengali speakers.


title: British Indians

text: Slough has the largest Sikh community in the UK as a borough, with about 11 percent of the people in Slough being Sikhs. There is also has a large Hindu population, (7 percent) and a significant Muslim population from India. The most common non-English languages in Slough are Punjabi and Polish (with both at 6 percent), followed by Urdu with a bit of Bengali, Hindi and Tamil.


title: British Indians

text: Wolverhampton is home to the second largest Sikh community after Slough with 9.10 percent of the population are Sikhs. Hindu communities can be found with 3.70 percent are Hindus. The most spoken language is Punjabi and then Gujarati for Indians in Wolverhampton. Majority of the Indians there live in south Wolverhampton but are scattered almost everywhere


title: British Indians

text: There are Indian communities in the UK's overseas territories, such as the communities in Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Montserrat. The majority of the community in Gibraltar originated in Hyderabad, and came as merchants after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1870; many others migrated as workers after the closure of the frontier with Spain in 1969 to replace Spanish ones.


title: British Indians

text: According to the 2011 Census, the religious breakdown of Indians in England and Wales can be seen in the table below. Although the plurality of British Indians are Hindu, the UK is home to the second largest Sikh community outside India. Notable Hindu temples include BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London (the largest Hindu temple outside India), Bhaktivedanta Manor, Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Skanda Vale, Sree Ganapathy Temple, Wimbledon and Tividale Tirupathy Balaji Temple. Notable Gurdwaras in the country include: Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick and Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jatha. There are also significant numbers of Muslim and Christian British Indians as well as Ravidassia community with their main temple (Bhawan) in Handsworth, Birmingham. One of the largest Christian British Indian community is that of Catholic Goans, mainly from East Africa, but also directly from Goa, and from Aden, Pakistan and the countries of the Persian Gulf. The UK is also home to one of the largest Ravidassia communities outside India; this was first recognised by 2011 Census.


title: British Indians

text: Sikhs are also supporting separate Sikh monitoring in the 2011 census, Virendra Sharma MP met with representatives from the Sikh community to lobby parliament in November 2009 stating "It is vital that the Office for National Statistics recognise the importance of the Sikh community and provide this monitoring at the next Census".


title: British Indians

text: The British Council, Indian High Commission and UK government named 2017 the ‘UK India Year of Culture’, which was launched by the Queen. The year it was held was significant as it marked 70 years of Indian Independence from the British Raj. Its aim was to celebrate the relationship between the two nations through cultural events, exhibitions and activities organised in both countries throughout the year. The Nehru Centre is the cultural wing of the High Commission of India in the UK which was established in 1992.


title: British Indians

text: Indian cuisine is extremely popular in the United Kingdom. The hybrid dish chicken tikka masala, which likely originated from Punjab, India, has been called a national dish. The first exclusively Indian restaurant was the Hindoostanee Coffee House which opened in 1810. Curry gained popularity in the UK in the 1940s and 1950s.


title: British Indians

text: There are around 9,000 Indian restaurants located across the UK, which equates to approximately one per 7,000 people. The popularity of the Indian curry in the UK was mainly made by South Indians, Bangladeshi, and Punjabi restaurateurs, where 85 percent of Indian restaurants in the UK are in fact owned by Bangladeshi Sylheti Bengalis.


title: British Indians

text: Over 2 million Britons eat at Indian restaurants in the UK every week, with a further 3 million cooking at least one Indian based meal at home during the week. Veeraswamy, located on Regent Street in London, is the oldest surviving Indian restaurant in the UK, having opened in 1926. Veeraswamy is believed to be the origin of combining a curry and a pint of beer.


title: British Indians

text: Seven Indian restaurants have a Michelin Star - six of which are located in London including Veeraswamey, with the only Michelin rated restaurant outside of London based in Birmingham - Opheem.


title: British Indians

text: Notable British Indian films include "Bend It Like Beckham", whose story revolves around British Indian life, and "Slumdog Millionaire", a British drama film set in Mumbai starring British Indian actor Dev Patel in the lead role. The latter has won four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA Awards and eight Academy Awards. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", a British film set in India, was nominated for two Golden Globes and one BAFTA, grossing US$31 million at the end of the UK run. Besides British-produced Indian-based films, there are many Bollywood productions which have been filmed in the UK, including "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge", "Yaadein", "Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham" and "Jab Tak Hai Jaan". The following is a partial list of films based on British Indian life, British films shot in India or with an Indian theme or has British Indian actors:


title: British Indians

text: Indian influence on British popular music dates back to the development of raga rock by British rock bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; several Beatles songs (such as "Within You Without You") also featured London-based Indian musicians. Today, British Indian musicians exist in almost every field and genre. Notable British Indian Bhangra acts include Panjabi MC, Rishi Rich, Juggy D, Jay Sean, DCS, and Sukshinder Shinda. World-famous award-winning singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury (a former member of the rock band Queen) was born on the island of Zanzibar to Parsi parents, originally from the Gujarat area of India. Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) and his family fled when he was 17 years old due to the Zanzibar Revolution; he remains not only one of the most famous British Indian musicians of all time, but one of the most famous British musicians. Other world-famous British Indian musicians include Biddu, who produced a number of worldwide disco hits such as "Kung Fu Fighting", one of the best-selling singles of all time having sold eleven million records worldwide, and Apache Indian, who also had worldwide hits such as "Boom Shack-A-Lak". Jay Sean, whose parents immigrated to the United Kingdom from the Punjab region, is the first solo British Asian artist to reach the #1 spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 with his single "Down" selling more than four million copies in the United States, making him "the most successful male UK urban artist in US chart history." Other contemporary British Indian singers include S-Endz and BRIT Award-nominated Nerina Pallot.


title: British Indians

text: British Indians have also contributed to British literature. Well known examples include author Salman Rushdie who won the Booker Prize in 1981. More contemporary contributions come from authors including Nikesh Shukla who is the editor of the 2016 collection of essays "The Good Immigrant", which explores the experience of immigrant and ethnic minority life in the United Kingdom from their perspective, including contributions from other British Indians Nish Kumar and Himesh Patel. The Harry Potter series, by British author JK Rowling, also features two notable characters who are presumed to be of Indian Marathi descent - Padma and Parvati Patil.


title: British Indians

text: British Artist F. N. Souza was one of the first Indian artists to work in Britain after the war. Together with Avinash Chandra they were the first British Indian artists to be included in the national collection at the Tate. In 1962, the <nowiki>"</nowiki>Festival of India<nowiki>"</nowiki> - a six-month celebration of Indian culture and art - was held across a number of prestigious galleries and museums in London and was called "most comprehensive collection of Indian painting and sculpture ever assembled anywhere" by the New York Times. The Indian Painters Collective (IPC) was formed in London in 1963. They created the first artistic body of its kind outside of India and achieve the first group showing of Indian artists in the UK. In 1978 IPC was renamed Indian Artists UK (IAUK) with the desire to establish an Indian Academy of Visual Arts in Britain. Sir Anish Kapoor is a British sculptor who came to prominence in the 1980s and later went onto win the Turner Prize in 2002.


title: British Indians

text: Neelam Gill is the first British Indian model to feature as a high fashion model. Supriye Lele is a British Indian fashion designer who blends her heritage into her work. Priya Ahluwalia is a British designer of Indian descent and the founder of menswear brand Ahluwalia and was given the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. In March 2020, Ahluwalia was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 European Arts and Culture list. Mandeep and Hardeep Chohan, twin sisters of Indian origin jointly own fashion label, Nom de Mode, which draws inspiration from their roots.


title: British Indians

text: Long-running British soap operas such as "Coronation Street", "EastEnders", "Emmerdale" and "Hollyoaks" have all had significant numbers of Indian characters, while shorter British series such as "The Jewel in the Crown" and "Skins" also feature British Indian characters. By far the most notable British Indian television shows are "Goodness Gracious Me" and "The Kumars at No. 42", a talk show that stars many famous British Indian actors including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim which originally aired on the BBC. British Indian actors not only have a strong presence in the UK, but also in the United States, where Parminder Nagra, Naveen Andrews and Kunal Nayyar (who are all Britons of Indian origin) have found fame in "ER", "Lost", "The Big Bang Theory" and "Desperate Housewives" respectively, though Nagra is the only one to portray an actual British citizen of Indian descent. Dr Ranj is a British Indian TV host best known as a celebrity dancer on "Strictly Come Dancing", and co-creating and presenting the CBeebies show "Get Well Soon".


title: British Indians

text: There are dozens of TV channels aimed at the British Indian community available on Satellite and Cable, which include:


title: British Indians

text: The BBC Asian Network is a radio station available across the United Kingdom which is aimed predominantly at Britons of South Asian origin under 35 years of age. Besides this popular station there are only a few other national radio stations for or run by the British Indian community — including Sunrise and Yarr Radios. Regional British Indian stations include Asian Sound of Manchester, Hindu Sanskar and Sabras Radios of Leicester, Kismat Radio of London, Radio XL of Birmingham and Sunrise Radio Yorkshire based in Bradford (which itself has a much larger Pakistani than Indian community).


title: British Indians

text: David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre was the first British politician of Indian descent to win a seat in parliament; he was elected to represent the Sudbury constituency in July 1841, but was removed in April 1842 due to bribery in the election. Dadabhai Naoroji was the second British Indian politician to win a seat in parliament; he was elected as a Liberal MP for Finsbury in 1892.


title: British Indians

text: British Indians have historically tended to vote for the Labour Party, due to strong links with local party branches and a degree of community voting, but it has been argued that the assimilation of younger British Indians and the consequent weakening of community bonds and parental political ties, this relationship has started to break down. The Conservative Party's modernisation and efforts to attract British Indian voters have also contributed to changing political affiliations.


title: British Indians

text: The Ethnic Minority British Election Study estimated that 61 per cent of British Indians voted Labour in the 2010 general election, 24 per cent Conservative and 13 per cent Liberal Democrat. A 2019 analysis by the Runnymede Trust estimated that, in the 2010 general election, 57 per cent of British Indians voted for the Labour Party and 30 per cent voted for the Conservative Party. Academic research in the build-up to the 2015 general election indicated that 69 per cent of British Indians supported Labour and 24 per cent the Conservatives.


title: British Indians

text: In 2015, the safest Conservative Party seat in the UK was given to a British Indian, Rishi Sunak. Shami Chakrabarti, who was born to Indian immigrant parents, is one of a few British Indian life peers. Others include Lord Desai who is of Gujarati descent.


title: British Indians

text: In the 2015 general election, approximately 57.5 per cent of British Indians voted for Labour and 31 per cent voted for the Conservatives. In the 2017 general election, approximately 58 per cent of British Indians voted for Labour, while 40 per cent of British Indians voted for the Conservatives. According to the same report, British Indians were more likely than most other ethnic minorities to vote for Brexit, although 65 per cent to 67 per cent of British Indians voted to remain in the European Union.


title: British Indians

text: During the 2019 United Kingdom general election, The "Times of India" reported that supporters of Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were actively campaigning for the Tories in 48 marginal seats, and the "Today" programme reported that it had seen WhatsApp messages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative. Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the UK election. The Hindu Council UK has been strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is "anti-Hindu" and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions in the disputed territory of Kashmir.


title: British Indians

text: Sophia Duleep Singh was a suffragette of Indian origin. A number of organisations exist that have been established by British Indians to promote and advocate for issues important to Indian Britons. These include the India League (formally established in 1928), which was a Britain-based organisation whose aim was to campaign for the full independence and self-governance of India. It has more recently (in 2020) been resurrected as the 1928 Institute; its new objectives include 'being a think-tank which examines the views of Indians in the UK'. It received publicity for its aim to be conduct the first ever survey of British Indian Census to collate data around Britain's estimated 1.5 million British Indians. The Indian Workers' Association (IWA) is a political organisation in Great Britain consisting of Indian immigrants to Britain and their descendants. IWA branches are organised in some major cities such as Birmingham and London. It fought for better working and living standards, it also lobbied for Indian independence and campaigned on issues such as racism and on civil liberties.


title: British Indians

text: A number of British Hindus still adhere to the caste system and still seek marriage with individuals who are of similar caste categories. There have been several incidents involving abuse of low caste British Hindus, known as Dalits, by higher caste individuals in schools and workplaces.


title: British Indians

text: According to a study published by Oxford University 1500 girls are missing from birth records in England and Wales over a 15-year period from 1990 to 2005. The vast majority of the abortions are carried out in India reports suggest that abortions rejected on the NHS would force some British Indians to travel to India for the procedure. There have also been cases where British Indian doctors who would pass on details to their patients about clinics abroad which offer sex selective screening and abortion for women who have passed the 24-week abortion limit in the United Kingdom.


title: British Indians

text: Starting in the late 1960s and peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, Indians and other racial minority groups living in the United Kingdom were the victims of racist violence and they were often subjected to physical violence by supporters of far-right, anti-immigration and racist political parties such as the National Front (NF) and the British National Party (BNP). The political organisation Indian Workers' Association was one of many organisations which helped to oppose racist attacks. In 1976 the Rock Against Racism political and cultural movement was formed as a reaction to racist attacks that were happening on the streets of the United Kingdom.


title: British Indians

text: Verbal discrimination has become somewhat more common after the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, even though extremists who committed these atrocities have little to nothing to do with the British Indian community. A notable example of anti-Indian sentiment in the UK is the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy which received significant media coverage. Contestants Jade Goody (who was mixed race), Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were all seen to have been mocking Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty because of her accent. They also persisted in making fun of general parts of Indian culture. Channel 4 screened the arguments between the contestants, which received over 50,000 complaints. The controversy generated over 300 newspaper articles in Britain, 1,200 in English language newspapers around the globe, 3,900 foreign language news articles, and 22,000 blog postings on the internet.


title: British Indians

text: Another example of discrimination is the Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972 (a decision made by the President of Uganda to ethnically cleanse the country) which led to tens of thousands of East African Indians coming to the UK to start a new life, the majority of them already had British passports, due to Uganda at that time being part of the British Empire.


title: British Indians

text: Other examples of discrimination towards British Indians in the mainstream population include the case of 27-year-old Chetankumar Meshram, a call centre trainer from Northampton who was compensated £5,000 after his boss told him he was to be replaced by a better English speaker. Also Meena Sagoo, 42 is demanding over £100,000 after she and a fellow employee of the ING Bank of Sri Lankan heritage were called The Kumars at No. 42 (after the popular TV comedy show of the same name). The same bank has been noted to have paid out £20,000 to a worker of Chinese origin who also claimed racial harassment.


title: British Indians

text: Another form of discrimination towards British Indians is stereotyping, one example is British Asians stereotyped as being the majority of newsagent and convenience store shopkeepers, the stereotype "Paki shop". This stereotype was made fun of in the television and radio sketches of Goodness Gracious Me by four British Indian comedy actors. In the comedy sketch Little Britain, a British Indian character called Meera continuously receives racist comments from weight loss advisor Marjorie Dawes who always makes it known that she does not understand a word of what Meera says, although it is completely obvious to the surrounding people and the viewer.


title: British Indians

text: A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2007 found that British Indians have among the lowest poverty rates among different ethnic groups in Britain, second only to white British. Of the different ethnic groups, Bangladeshis (65%), Pakistanis (55%) and black Africans (45%) had the highest poverty rates; black Caribbeans (30%), Indians (25%), white Other (25%) and white British (20%) had the lowest rates.


title: British Indians

text: According to official UK Government figures from 2018, British Indians had the highest employment rate of all ethnic minorities at 76%; the overall employment rate in the UK is 75%, with the employment rate for White British people also standing at 76%. The unemployment rate of British Indians was 4% in 2018, the lowest of all ethnic minorities. The overall unemployment rate in the UK in 2018 was 4%, with the unemployment rate for White British people also standing at 4%.


title: British Indians

text: Sikhs are on average the wealthiest Indians, and the second wealthiest religious group after Jewish people, in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000.


title: British Indians

text: The National Equality Panel report in 2012 found that British Indian households are second wealthiest among major British ethnic groups. Their total median wealth is about £204,000 coming close second to white British:


title: British Indians

text: Among the working-age population, with pensions thus excluded, British Indians have the highest median total wealth at £178,980:


title: British Indians

text: According to official figures, British Indians have the highest average pay levels in the UK among all ethnic groups:


title: British Indians

text: UK Government figures also demonstrate that British Indians have the highest proportion of workers in professional and managerial occupations, out of all ethnic groups in the UK:


title: British Indians

text: According to official UK Government statistics, British Indian pupils have a high average level of academic performance. 77% of British Indian pupils attained A* to C grades in English and Maths in the 2015–16 academic year, second only to Chinese pupils, of whom 83% attained A* to C grades in English and Maths.


title: British Indians

text: At A-Level, in the 2016–17 academic year, 15.3% of British Indian pupils achieved at least 3 'A' grades at A-Level, with only the British Chinese ethnic group (24.8%) achieving the same benchmark at a higher rate.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The term "serf", in the sense of an unfree peasant of tsarist Russia, is the usual English-language translation of () which meant an unfree person who, unlike a slave, historically could be sold only with the land to which they were "attached". Peter I ended slavery in Russia in 1723. Contemporary legal documents, such as "Russkaya Pravda" (12th century onwards), distinguished several degrees of feudal dependency of peasants.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between Russian peasants and nobility in the 17th century. Serfdom most commonly existed in the central and southern areas of the Tsardom of Russia and, from 1721, of the subsequent Russian Empire. Serfdom in Little Russia (parts of today central Ukraine), and other Cossack lands, in the Urals and in Siberia generally occurred rarely until, during the reign of Catherine the Great (r. 1762–1796), it spread to Ukraine; noblemen began to send their serfs into Cossack lands in an attempt to harvest their extensive untapped natural resources.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Only the Russian state and Russian noblemen had the legal right to own serfs, but in practice commercial firms sold Russian serfs as slaves – not only within Russia but even abroad (especially into Persia and the Ottoman Empire) as "students or servants". Those "students and servants" were in fact owned by rich people, sometimes even by rich serfs, who were not noblemen. Emperor Nicholas I banned the trade in African slaves in 1842, though there were almost no Russians who participated in it, but Russian serfs were still sold and bought.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Emperor Alexander I () wanted to reform the system but moved cautiously, liberating serfs in Estonia, Livonia (both 1816) and Courland (1817) only. New laws allowed all classes (except the serfs) to own land, a privilege previously confined to the nobility.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Emperor Alexander II abolished serfdom in the emancipation reform of 1861, a few years later than Austria and other German states. Scholars have proposed multiple overlapping reasons to account for the abolition, including fear of a large-scale revolt by the serfs, the government's financial needs, changing cultural sensibilities, and the military's need for soldiers.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The term , or () means "Russian peasant" when it is used in English. This word was borrowed from Russian into Western languages through translations of 19th-century Russian literature, describing Russian rural life of those times, and where the word "muzhik" was used to mean the most common rural dweller – a peasant – but this was only a narrow contextual meaning.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The origins of serfdom in Russia (, ) may be traced to the 12th century, when the exploitation of the so-called zakups on arable lands (, ) and corvée smerds (Russian term for corvée is , ) was the closest to what is now known as serfdom. According to the "Russkaya Pravda", a princely smerd had limited property and personal rights and his escheat was given to the prince.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: In the 13th to 15th centuries, feudal dependency applied to a significant number of peasants, but serfdom as we know it was still not a widespread phenomenon. In the mid-15th century the right of certain categories of peasants in some votchinas to leave their master was limited to a period of one week before and after Yuri's Day (November 26). The Sudebnik of 1497 officially confirmed this time limit as universal for everybody and also established the amount of the "break-away" fee called (). The legal code of Ivan III of Russia, Sudebnik (1497), strengthened the dependency of peasants, statewide, and restricted their mobility. The Russians persistently battled against the successor states of the Golden Horde, chiefly the Khanate of Crimea. Annually the Russian population of the borderland suffered from Tatar invasions and slave raids and tens of thousands of noblemen protected the southern borderland (a heavy burden for the state), which slowed its social and economic development and expanded the taxation of peasantry.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The Sudebnik of 1550 increased the amount of pozhiloye and introduced an additional tax called (, or transportation fee), in case a peasant refused to bring the harvest from the fields to his master. A temporary (, or forbidden years) and later an open-ended prohibition for peasants to leave their masters was introduced by the ukase of 1597 under the reign of Boris Godunov, which took away the peasants' right to free movement around Yuri's Day, binding the vast majority of the Russian peasantry in full serfdom. These also defined the so-called fixed years (, ), or the 5-year time frame for search of the runaway peasants. In 1607, a new ukase defined sanctions for hiding and keeping the runaways: the fine had to be paid to the state and pozhiloye – to the previous owner of the peasant.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The Sobornoye Ulozhenie (, "Code of Law") of 1649 gave serfs to estates, and in 1658, flight was made a criminal offense. Russian landowners eventually gained almost unlimited ownership over Russian serfs. The landowner could transfer the serf without land to another landowner while keeping the serf's personal property and family; however, the landowner had no right to kill the serf. About four-fifths of Russian peasants were serfs according to the censuses of 1678 and 1719; free peasants remained only in the north and north-east of the country.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Most of the dvoryane (nobles) were content with the long time frame for search of the runaway peasants. The major landowners of the country, however, together with the dvoryane of the south, were interested in a short-term persecution due to the fact that many runaways would usually flee to the southern parts of Russia. During the first half of the 17th century the dvoryane sent their collective petitions (, ) to the authorities, asking for the extension of the "fixed years". In 1642, the Russian government established a 10-year limit for search of the runaways and 15-year limit for search for peasants taken away by their new owners.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The "Sobornoye Ulozhenie" introduced an open-ended search for those on the run, meaning that all of the peasants who had fled from their masters after the census of 1626 or 1646–1647 had to be returned. The government would still introduce new time frames and grounds for search of the runaways after 1649, which applied to the peasants who had fled to the outlying districts of the country, such as regions along the border abatises called () (ukases of 1653 and 1656), Siberia (ukases of 1671, 1683 and 1700), Don (1698) etc. The dvoryane constantly demanded that the search for the runaways be sponsored by the government. The legislation of the second half of the 17th century paid much attention to the means of punishment of the runaways.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Serfdom was hardly efficient; serfs and nobles had little incentive to improve the land. However, it was politically effective. Nobles rarely challenged the tsar for fear of provoking a peasant uprising. Serfs were often given lifelong tenancy on their plots, so they tended to be conservative as well. The serfs took little part in uprisings against the empire as a whole; it was the Cossacks and nomads who rebelled initially and recruited serfs into rebel armies. But many landowners died during serf uprisings against them. The revolutions of 1905 and 1917 happened after serfdom's abolition.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: There were numerous rebellions against this bondage, most often in conjunction with Cossack uprisings, such as the uprisings of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606–07), Stenka Razin (1667–71), Kondraty Bulavin (1707–09) and Yemelyan Pugachev (1773–75). While the Cossack uprisings benefited from disturbances among the peasants, and they in turn received an impetus from Cossack rebellion, none of the Cossack movements were directed against the institution of serfdom itself. Instead, peasants in Cossack-dominated areas became Cossacks during uprisings, thus escaping from the peasantry rather than directly organizing peasants against the institution. Rich Cossacks owned serfs themselves. Between the end of the Pugachev rebellion and the beginning of the 19th century, there were hundreds of outbreaks across Russia, and there was never a time when the peasantry was completely quiescent.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: As a whole, serfdom both came and remained in Russia much later than in other European countries. Slavery remained a legally recognized institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter the Great abolished slavery and converted the slaves into serfs. This was relevant more to household slaves because Russian agricultural slaves were formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Formal conversion to serf status and the later ban on the sale of serfs without land did not stop the trade in household slaves; this trade merely changed its name. The private owners of the serfs regarded the law as a mere formality. Instead of "sale of a peasant" the papers would advertise "servant for hire" or similar.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: By the eighteenth century, the practice of selling serfs without land had become commonplace. Owners had absolute control over their serfs' lives, and could buy, sell and trade them at will, giving them as much power over serfs as Americans had over chattel slaves, though owners did not always choose to exercise their powers over serfs to the fullest extent.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The official estimate is that 23 million Russians were privately owned, 18.3 million were in state ownership and another 900,000 serfs were under the Tsar's patronage () before the Great Emancipation of 1861.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: One particular source of indignation in Europe was "Kolokol" published in London, England (1857–65) and Geneva (1865–67). It collected many cases of horrendous physical, emotional and sexual abuse of the serfs by the landowners.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Peter III created two measures in 1762 that influenced the abolition of serfdom. He ended mandatory military service for nobles with the abolition of compulsory noble state service. This provided a rationale to end serfdom. Second, was the secularization of the church estates, which transferred its peasants and land to state jurisdiction. In 1775 measures were taken by Catherine II to prosecute estate owners for the cruel treatment of serfs. These measures were strengthened in 1817 and the late 1820s. There were even laws that required estate owners to help serfs in time of famine, which included grain to be kept in reserve. These policies failed to aid famines in the early nineteenth century due to estate owner negligence.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Tsar Alexander I and his advisors quietly discussed the options at length. Obstacles included the failure of abolition in Austria and the political reaction against the French Revolution. Cautiously, he freed peasants from Estonia and Latvia and extended the right to own land to most classes of subjects, including state-owned peasants, in 1801 and created a new social category of "free agriculturalist", for peasants voluntarily emancipated by their masters, in 1803. The great majority of serfs were not affected.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The Russian state also continued to support serfdom due to military conscription. The conscripted serfs dramatically increased the size of the Russian military during the war with Napoleon. With a larger military Russia achieved victory in the Napoleonic Wars and Russo-Persian Wars; this did not change the disparity between Russia and Western Europe, who were experiencing agricultural and industrial revolutions. Compared to Western Europe it was clear that Russia was at an economic disadvantage. European philosophers during the Age of Enlightenment criticized serfdom and compared it to medieval labor practices which were almost non-existent in the rest of the continent. Most Russian nobles were not interested in change toward western labor practices that Catherine the Great proposed. Instead they preferred to mortgage serfs for profit. Napoleon did not touch serfdom in Russia. What the reaction of the Russian peasantry would have been if he had lived up to the traditions of the French Revolution, bringing liberty to the serfs, is an intriguing question. In 1820, 20% of all serfs were mortgaged to state credit institutions by their owners. This was increased to 66% in 1859.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Bourgeois were allowed to own serfs 1721–62 and 1798–1816; this was to encourage industrialisation. In 1804, 48% of Russian factory workers were serfs, 52% in 1825. Landless serfs rose from 4.14% in 1835 to 6.79% in 1858. They received no land in the emancipation. Landlords deliberately increased the number of domestic serfs when they anticipated serfdom's demise. In 1798, Ukrainian landlords were banned from selling serfs apart from land. In 1841, landless nobles were banned also.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Increasingly in the 18th century Russian peasants were escaping from Russia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (where once harsh serfdom conditions were improving) in significant enough numbers to become a major concern for the Russian Government and sufficient to play a role in its decision to partition the Commonwealth (one of the reasons Catherine II gave for the partition of Poland was the fact that thousands of peasants escaped from Russia to Poland to seek a better fate".) Until the partitions solved this problem, Russian armies raided territories of the Commonwealth, officially to recover the escapees, but in fact kidnapping many locals.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: In 1816, 1817, and 1819 serfdom was abolished in Estland, Courland, and Livonia respectively. However all the land stayed in noble hands and labor rent lasted till 1868. It was replaced with landless laborers and sharecropping ("halbkörner"). Landless workers had to ask permission to leave an estate.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The nobility was too weak to oppose the emancipation of the serfs. In 1820 a fifth of the serfs were mortgaged, half by 1842. By 1859, a third of noble's estates and two thirds of their serfs were mortgaged to noble banks or the state. The nobility was also weakened by the scattering of their estates, lack of primogeniture, and the high turnover and mobility from estate to estate.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The Tsar's aunt Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna played a powerful role backstage in the years 1855 to 1861. Using her close relationship with her nephew Alexander II, she supported and guided his desire for emancipation, and helped mobilize the support of key advisors.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: In 1861 Alexander II freed all serfs in a major agrarian reform, stimulated in part by his view that "it is better to liberate the peasants from above" than to wait until they won their freedom by risings "from below".


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Serfdom was abolished in 1861, but its abolition was achieved on terms not always favorable to the peasants and served to increase revolutionary pressures. Between 1864 and 1871 serfdom was abolished in Georgia. In Kalmykia serfdom was abolished only in 1892.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The serfs had to work for the landlord as usual for two years. The nobles kept nearly all the meadows and forests, had their debts paid by the state while the ex serfs paid 34% over the market price for the shrunken plots they kept. This figure was 90% in the northern regions, 20% in the black earth region but zero in the Polish provinces. In 1857, 6.79% of serfs were domestic, landless servants who stayed landless after 1861. Only Polish and Romanian domestic serfs got land. 90% of the serfs who got larger plots were in Congress Poland where the Tsar wanted to weaken the . The rest were in the barren north and in Astrakhan. In the whole Empire, peasant land declined 4.1%, 13.3% outside the ex Polish zone and 23.3% in the 16 black earth provinces. These redemption payments were not abolished till January 1, 1907.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: A 2018 study in the "American Economic Review" found "substantial increases in agricultural productivity, industrial output, and peasants' nutrition in Imperial Russia as a result of the abolition of serfdom in 1861".


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: In Russia, the terms () or (), refer to the obligatory work that the serfs performed for the landowner on his portion of the land (the other part of the land, usually of a poorer quality, the peasants could use for themselves). Sometimes the terms are loosely translated by the term "corvée". While no official government regulation to the extent of existed, a 1797 ukase by Paul I of Russia described a of three days a week as normal and sufficient for the landowner's needs.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The Russian Orthodox Church had many rules regarding marriage that were strictly observed by the population. For example, marriage was not allowed to take place during times of fasting, the eve or day of a holiday, during the entire week of Easter, or for two weeks after Christmas. Before the abolition of serfdom in 1861, marriage was strictly prohibited on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Because of these firm rules most marriages occurred in the months of January, February, October, and November. After the emancipation the most popular marrying months were July, October, and November.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Imperial laws were very particular with the age in which serfs could marry. The minimum age to marry was 13 years old for women, and 15 for men. After 1830 the female and male ages were raised to 16 and 18 respectively. To marry over the age of 60, the serf had to receive permission, but marriage over the age of 80 was forbidden. The Church also did not approve marriages with large age differences.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Landowners were interested in keeping all of their serfs and not losing workers to marriages on other estates. Prior to 1812 serfs were not allowed to marry serfs from other estates. After 1812 the rules relaxed slightly, but in order for a family to give their daughter to a husband in another estate they had to apply and present information to their landowner ahead of time. If a serf wanted to marry a widow, then emancipation and death certificates were to be handed over and investigated for authenticity by their owner before a marriage could take place.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Before and after the abolition of serfdom, Russian peasant families were patriarchal. Marriage was important for families economically and socially. Parents were in charge of finding suitable spouses for their children in order to help the family. The bride's parents were concerned with the social and material benefits they would gain in the alliance between the two families. Some also took into consideration their daughter's future quality of life and how much work would be required of her. The groom's parents would be concerned about economical factors such as the size of the dowry as well as the bride's decency, modesty, obedience, ability to do work, and family background. Upon marriage, the bride came to live with her new husband and his family, so she needed to be ready to assimilate and work hard.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Serfs looked highly upon early marriage because of increased parental control. At a younger age there is less chance of the individual falling in love with someone other than whom his or her parents chose. There is also increased assurance of chastity, which was more important for women than men. The average age of marriage for women was around 19 years old.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: During serfdom, when the head of the house was being disobeyed by their children they could have the master or landowner step in. After the emancipation of serfs in 1861, the household patriarch lost some of his power, and could no longer receive the landowner's help. The younger generations now had the freedom to work off their estates; some even went to work in factories. These younger peasants had access to newspapers and books, which introduced them to more radical ways of thinking. The ability to work outside of the household gave the younger peasants independence as well as a wage to do with what they wanted. Agricultural and domestic jobs were a group effort, so the wage went to the family. The children who worked industrial jobs gave their earnings to their family as well, but some used it as a way to gain a say in their own marriages. In this case some families allowed their sons to marry whom they chose as long as the family was in similar economic standing as their own. No matter what, parental approval was required in order to make a marriage legal.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: According to a study completed in the late 1890s by the ethnographer Olga Petrovna Semyonova-Tian-Shanskaia, husband and wife had different duties in the household. In regards to ownership, the husband assumed the property plus any funds required to make additions to the property. Additions included fence, barns, and wagons. While primary purchasing power belonged to the husband, the wife was expected to buy certain items. She was also expected to buy household items such as bowls, plates, pots, barrels and various utensils. Wives were also required to purchase cloth and make clothes for the family by spinning and using a dontse. Footwear was the husband's responsibility - he made bast shoes and felt boots for the family. As for crops, it was expected for men to sow and women to harvest. A common crop harvested by serfs in the Black Earth Region was flax. Husbands owned most of the livestock, such as pigs and horses. Cows were the property of the husband, but were usually in the wife's possession. Chickens were considered to be the wife's property, while sheep was common property for the family. The exception was when the wife owned sheep through a dowry ().


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: A 19th-century report noted: "Every Russian peasant, male and female, wears cotton clothes. The men wear printed shirts and trousers, and the women are dressed from head to foot in printed cotton also."


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: By the mid-19th century, peasants composed a majority of the population, and according to the census of 1857, the number of private serfs was 23.1 million out of 62.5 million citizens of the Russian empire, 37.7% of the population.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: The exact numbers, according to official data, were: entire population ; peasantry of all classes ; state peasants ; peasants on the lands of proprietors ; peasants of the appanages and other departments . State peasants were considered personally free, but their freedom of movement was restricted.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: Russian serfdom depended entirely on the traditional and extensive technology of the peasantry. Yields remained low and stationary throughout most of the 19th century. Any increase in income drawn from agriculture was largely through increasing land area and extensive grain raising by means of exploitation of the peasant labor, that is, by burdening the peasant household still further.


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: >55%: Kaluga Kyiv Kostroma Kutais Minsk Mogilev Nizhny Novgorod Podolia Ryazan Smolensk Tula Vitebsk Vladimir Volhynia Yaroslavl


title: Serfdom in Russia

text: In the Central Black Earth Region 70–77% of the serfs performed labour services (), the rest paid rent (). Owing to the high fertility, 70% of Russian cereal production in the 1850s was here. In the seven central provinces, 1860, 67.7% of the serfs were on .


title: Plovdiv

text: Plovdiv (, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the cultural capital of Bulgaria and was the European Capital of Culture in 2019. It is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center. Plovdiv joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.


title: Plovdiv

text: Plovdiv is situated in a fertile region of south-central Bulgaria on the two banks of the Maritsa River. The city has historically developed on seven syenite hills, some of which are high. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to in Bulgaria as "The City of the Seven Hills". There is evidence of habitation in the area dating back to the 6th millennium BCE, when the first Neolithic settlements were established. The city was subsequently a local Thracian settlement, later being conquered and ruled also by Persians, Ancient Macedonians, Celts, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians (Thracians, Bulgars, Slavic tribes, etc.), Crusaders, and Ottoman Turks.


title: Plovdiv

text: Philippopolis was founded as a "polis" by the father of Alexander the Great, Philip the Great (), the king of ancient Macedonia, settling there both Thracians and 2,000 Macedonians and Greeks in 342 BCE. Control of the city alternated between the Macedonian kingdom and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom during the Hellenistic period; the Macedonian king Philip V () reoccupied the city in 183 BCE and his successor Perseus () held the city with the Odrysians until the Roman Republic conquered the Macedonian kingdom in 168 BCE. Philippopolis became the capital of the Roman province of Thracia. The city was at the centre of the road network of inland Thrace, and the strategic "Via Militaris" was crossed by several other roads at the site, leading to the Danube, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius () built a new wall around the city.


title: Plovdiv

text: In Late Antiquity, Philippopolis was an important stronghold, but was sacked in 250 during the Crisis of the Third Century, after the Siege of Philippopolis by the Goths led by Cniva. After this the settlement contracted, though it remained a major city, with the city walls rebuilt and new Christian basilicas and Roman baths constructed in the 4th century. The city was again sacked by the Huns in 441/442, and the walls were again rebuilt. Roman Philippopolis resisted another attack, by the Avars in the 580s, after the walls were renewed yet again by Justinian the Great ().


title: Plovdiv

text: In the Middle Ages, Philippopolis fell to the Bulgars of the First Bulgarian Empire in 863, during the reign of Boris I (), having been briefly abandoned by the Christian inhabitants in 813 during a dispute with the "khan" Krum (). During the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars, the emperor Basil the Bulgar-Slayer () used Philippopolis as a major strategic fortification, governed by the "protospatharios" Nikephoros Xiphias. In the middle 11th century, the city was attacked by the Pechenegs, who occupied it briefly around 1090. The city continued to prosper, with the walls restored in the 12th century, during which the historian and politician Niketas Choniates was its governor and the physician Michael Italikos was its metropolitan bishop. According to the Latin historian of the Fourth Crusade, Geoffrey of Villehardouin, Philippopolis was the third largest city in the Byzantine Empire, after Constantinople (Istanbul) and Thessalonica (Thessaloniki). It suffered damage from the armies passing through the city during the Crusades as well as from sectarian violence between the Eastern Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox and Paulician denominations. The city was destroyed by Kaloyan of Bulgaria () in 1206 and rebuilt thereafter. In 1219, the city became the capital of the Crusader Duchy of Philippopolis, part of the Latin Empire. The Second Bulgarian Empire recovered the city in 1263, but lost it to Byzantine control before recapturing it in 1323. The Ottoman Empire conquered Philippopolis () in 1363 or 1364. During the 500 years of Ottoman rule, Filibe served as one of the important commercial and transportation nodes in the Ottoman Balkans. It also played a role as an administrative centre of various sanjaks and eyalets.


title: Plovdiv

text: On 4 January 1878, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Plovdiv was taken away from Ottoman rule by the Russian army. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, when it became the capital of the autonomous Ottoman region of Eastern Rumelia. In 1885, Plovdiv and Eastern Rumelia joined Bulgaria.


title: Plovdiv

text: There are many preserved ruins such as the ancient Plovdiv Roman theatre, a Roman odeon, a Roman aqueduct, the Plovdiv Roman Stadium, the archaeological complex Eirene, and others. Plovdiv is host to a huge variety of cultural events such as the International Fair Plovdiv, the international theatrical festival "A stage on a crossroad", the TV festival "The golden chest", and many more novel festivals, such as Night/Plovdiv in September, Kapana Fest, and Opera Open. The oldest American educational institution outside the United States, the American College of Sofia, was founded in Plovdiv in 1860 and later moved to Sofia.


title: Plovdiv

text: On 5 September 2014, Plovdiv was selected as the Bulgarian host of the European Capital of Culture 2019 alongside the Italian city of Matera. This happened with the help of the Municipal Foundation "Plovdiv 2019″, a non-government organization, which was established in 2011 by Plovdiv's City Council whose main objectives were to develop and to prepare Plovdiv's bid book for European Capital of Culture in 2019.


title: Plovdiv

text: Plovdiv has been given various names throughout its long history. The Odrysian capital "Odryssa" () is suggested to have been modern Plovdiv by numismatic research or Odrin.


title: Plovdiv

text: The Greek historian Theopompus mentioned it in the 4th century BCE as a town named "Poneropolis" ( "town of villains") in pejorative relation to the conquest by king Philip II of Macedon who is said to have settled the town with 2,000 men who were false-accusers, sycophants, lawyers, and other possible disreputables. According to Plutarch, the town was named by this king after he had populated it with a crew of rogues and vagabonds, but this is possibly a folk name that did not actually exist. The names "Dulon polis" ( "slaves' town") and possibly "Moichopolis" ( "adulterer's town") likely have similar origins.


title: Plovdiv

text: The city has been called "Philippopolis" ( ; , in modern Greek, "Philippoupoli" ) or "the city of Philip", from Greek "Philippos" "horse-lover", most likely in honor of Philip II of Macedon after his death or in honor of Philip V, as this name was first mentioned in the 2nd century BCE by Polybius in connection with the campaign of Philip V. "Philippopolis" was identified later by Plutarch and Pliny as the former "Poneropolis". Strabo identified Philip II's settlement of most "evil, wicked" (Gr. πονηροτάτους "ponerotatous") as Calybe (Kabyle), whereas Ptolemy considered the location of Poneropolis different than the rest.


title: Plovdiv

text: "Kendrisia" () was an old name of the city. Its earliest recorded use is on an artifact mentioning that king Beithys, priest of the Syrian goddess, brought gifts to Kendriso Apollo; the deity is recorded to be named multiple times after different cities. Later Roman coins mentioned the name which is possibly derived from Thracian god Kendriso who is equated with Apollo, the cedar forests, or from the Thracian tribe artifacts known as the kendrisi. Another assumed name is the 1st century CE "Tiberias" in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius, under whom the Odrysian Kingdom was a client of Rome. After the Romans had taken control of the area, the city was named in , meaning "The Three Hills", and mentioned in the 1st century by Pliny. At times the name was "Ulpia", "Flavia", "Julia" after the Roman families.


title: Plovdiv

text: Ammianus Marcellinus wrote in the 4th century CE that the then city had been the old "Eumolpias"/"Eumolpiada," (), the oldest name chronologically. It was named after the mythical Thracian king Eumolpos, son of Poseidon or Jupiter, who may have founded the city around 1200 BCE or 1350 BCE. It is also possible that it was named after the Vestal Virgins in the temples – evmolpeya.


title: Plovdiv

text: In the 6th century CE, Jordanes wrote that the former name of the city was "Pulpudeva" () and that Philip the Arab named the city after himself. This name is most likely a Thracian oral translation of the other as it kept all consonants of the name Philip + deva (city). Although the two names sound similar, they may not share the same origin as Odrin and Adrianople do, and "Pulpudeva" may have predated the other names meaning "lake city" in Thracian. Since the 9th century CE the Slavic name began to appear as "Papaldiv/n, Plo(v)div, Pladiv, Pladin, Plapdiv, Plovdin," which originate from "Pulpudeva". As a result, the name has lost any meaning. In British English the Bulgarian variant "Plòvdiv" has become prevalent after World War I. The Crusaders mentioned the city as "Prineople", "Sinople" and "Phinepople". The Ottomans called the city "Filibe", a corruption of "Philip", in a document from 1448.


title: Plovdiv

text: Plovdiv is located on the banks of the Maritsa river, southeast of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The city is in the southern part of the "Plain of Plovdiv", an alluvial plain that forms the western portion of the Upper Thracian Plain. From there, the peaks of the Sredna Gora mountain range rise to the northwest, the Chirpan Heights to the east, and the Rhodope mountains to the south. Originally, Plovdiv's development occurred south of Maritsa, with expansion across the river taking place only within the last 100 years. Modern Plovdiv covers an area of , less than 0.1% of Bulgaria's total area. It is the most densely populated city in Bulgaria, with 3,769 inhabitants per km.


title: Plovdiv

text: Inside the city proper are six syenite hills. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were seven syenite hills, but one (Markovo tepe) was destroyed. Three of them are called the Three Hills ( "Trihalmie"), the others are called the Hill of the Youth (, "Mladezhki halm"), the Hill of the Liberators (, "Halm na osvoboditelite"), and the Hill of Danov (, "Danov halm").


title: Plovdiv

text: Plovdiv has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa") with considerable humid continental influences. There are four distinct seasons with large temperature jumps between seasons.


title: Plovdiv

text: Summer (mid-May to late September) is hot, moderately dry and sunny, with July and August having an average high of . Plovdiv sometimes experiences very hot days which are typical in the interior of the country. Summer nights are mild.


title: Plovdiv

text: Autumn starts in late September; days are long and relatively warm in early autumn. The nights become chilly by September. The first frost usually occurs by November.


title: Plovdiv

text: Winter is normally cold and snow is common. The average number of days with snow coverage in Plovdiv is 15. The average depth of snow coverage is , and the maximum is normally , but some winters coverage can reach or more. The average January temperature is .


title: Plovdiv

text: Spring begins in March and is cooler than autumn. The frost season ends in March. The days are mild and relatively warm in mid-spring.


title: Plovdiv

text: The average relative humidity is 73% and is highest in December at 86% and the lowest in August at 62%. The total precipitation is and is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest months of the year are May and June, with an average precipitation of , and the driest month is August, with an average precipitation of .


title: Plovdiv

text: Gentle winds (0 to 5 m/s) are predominant in the city with wind speeds of up to 1 m/s, representing 95% of all winds during the year. Mists are common in the cooler months, especially along the banks of the Maritsa. On average there are 33 days with mist during the year.


title: Plovdiv

text: The history of the region spans more than eight millennia. Numerous nations have left their traces on the cultural layers of the city. The earliest signs of habitation in the territory of Plovdiv date as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. Plovdiv has settlement traces including necropolises dating from the Neolithic era (roughly 6000–5000 BCE) like the mounds Yasa Tepe 1 in the Philipovo district and Yasa Tepe 2 in Lauta park. Archaeologists have discovered fine pottery and objects of everyday life on Nebet Tepe from as early as the Chalcolithic era, showing that at the end of the 4th millennium BCE, there was already an established settlement there which was continuously inhabited since then. Thracian necropolises dating back to the 2nd–3rd millennium BCE have been discovered, while the Thracian town was established between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BCE.


title: Plovdiv

text: The town was a fort of the independent local Thracian tribe Bessi. In 516 BCE during the rule of Darius the Great, Thrace was included in the Persian empire. In 492 BCE, the Persian general Mardonius subjugated Thrace again, and it nominally became a vassal of Persia until 479 BCE and the early rule of Xerxes I. The town became part of the Odrysian kingdom (460 BCE – 46 CE), a Thracian tribal union. The town was conquered by Philip II of Macedon, and the Odrysian king was deposed in 342 BCE. Ten years after the Macedonian invasion, the Thracian kings started to exercise power again after the Odrysian Seuthes III had re-established their kingdom under Macedonian suzerainty as a result of a successful revolt against Alexander the Great's rule resulting in a stalemate. The Odrysian kingdom gradually overcame the Macedonian suzerainty, while the city was destroyed by the Celts as part of the Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe, most likely in the 270s BCE. In 183 BCE, Philip V of Macedon conquered the city, but shortly after, the Thracians re-conquered it.


title: Plovdiv

text: In 72 BCE, the city was seized by the Roman general Marcus Lucullus but was soon restored to Thracian control. In 46 CE, the city was finally incorporated into the Roman Empire by emperor Claudius; it served as the capital of the province of Thrace. Although it was not the capital of the Province of Thrace, the city was the largest and most important centre in the province. As such, the city was the seat of the Union of Thracians. In those times, the Via Militaris (or Via Diagonalis), the most important military road in the Balkans, passed through the city. The Roman times were a period of growth and cultural excellence. The ancient ruins tell a story of a vibrant, growing city with numerous public buildings, shrines, baths, theatres, a stadium, and the only developed ancient water supply system in Bulgaria. The city had an advanced water system and sewerage. In 179 a second wall was built to encompass Trimontium which had already extended out of the Three hills into the valley. Many of those are still preserved and can be seen by tourists. Today only a small part of the ancient city has been excavated.


title: Plovdiv

text: In 250 the city was captured and looted after the Battle of Philippopolis by the Goths, led by their ruler Cniva. Many of its citizens, 100,000 according to Ammianus Marcellinus, died or were taken captive. It took a century and hard work to recover the city. However, it was destroyed again by Attila's Huns in 441–442 and by the Goths of Teodoric Strabo in 471.


title: Plovdiv

text: An ancient Roman inscription written in Ancient Greek dated to 253 – 255 AD were discovered in the Great Basilica. The inscription refers to the Dionysian Mysteries and also mentions Roman Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. It has been found on a large stele which was used as construction material during the building of the Great Basilica.


title: Plovdiv

text: The Slavs had fully settled in the area by the middle of the 6th century. This was done peacefully as there are no records for their attacks. With the establishment of Bulgaria in 681, Philippoupolis, the name of the city then, became an important border fortress of the Byzantine Empire. It was captured by Khan Krum in 812, but the region was fully incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire in 834 during the reign of Khan Malamir. It was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in 855–856 for a short time until it was returned to Boris I of Bulgaria. From Philippopolis, the influence of dualistic doctrines spread to Bulgaria forming the basis of the Bogomil heresy. The city remained in Bulgarian hands until 970. However, the city is described at the time of Constantine VII in the 10th century as being within the Byzantine province (theme of Macedonia). Philippopolis was captured by the Byzantines in 969, shortly before it was sacked by the ruler of Rus' Sviatoslav I of Kiev who impaled 20,000 citizens. Before and after the Rus' massacre, the city was settled by Paulician heretics transported from Syria and Armenia to serve as military settlers on the European frontier with Bulgaria. Aime de Varennes in 1180 encountered the singing of Byzantine songs in the city that recounted the deeds of Alexander the Great and his predecessors over 1300 years before.


title: Plovdiv

text: Byzantine rule was interrupted by the Third Crusade (1189–1192) when the army of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa conquered Philippopolis. Ivanko was appointed as the governor of the Byzantine Theme of Philippopolis in 1196, but between 1198 and 1200 separated it from Byzantium in a union with Bulgaria. The Latin Empire conquered Philippopolis in 1204, and there were two short interregnum periods as the city was twice occupied by Kaloyan of Bulgaria before his death in 1207. In 1208, Kaloyan's successor Boril was defeated by the Latins in the Battle of Philippopolis. Under Latin rule, Philippopolis was the capital of the Duchy of Philippopolis, which was governed by Renier de Trit and later on by Gerard de Strem. The city was possibly at times a vassal of Bulgaria or Venice. Ivan Asen II conquered the duchy finally in 1230 but the city had possibly been conquered earlier. Afterwards, Philippopolis was conquered by Byzantium. According to some information, by 1300 Philippopolis was a possession of Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria. It was conquered from Byzantium by George Terter II of Bulgaria in 1322. Andronikos III Palaiologos unsuccessfully besieged the city, but a treaty restored Byzantine rule once again in 1323. In 1344 the city and eight other cities were surrendered to Bulgaria by the regency for John V Palaiologos as the price for Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria's support in the Byzantine civil war of 1341–47.


title: Plovdiv

text: In 1364 the Ottoman Turks under Lala Shahin Pasha seized Plovdiv. According to other data, Plovdiv was not an Ottoman possession until the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, after which, the citizens and the Bulgarian army fled leaving the city without resistance. Refugees settled in Stanimaka. During the Ottoman Interregnum in 1410, Musa Çelebi conquered the city killing and displacing inhabitants. The city was the centre of the Rumelia Eyalet from 1364 until 1443, when it was replaced by Sofia as the capital of Rumelia. Plovdiv served as a sanjak centre within Rumelia between 1443 and 1593, the sanjak centre in Silistra Eyalet between 1593 and 1826, the sanjak centre in Eyalet of Adrianople between 1826 and 1867, and the sanjak centre of Edirne Vilayet between 1867 and 1878. During that period, Plovdiv was one of the major economic centers in the Balkans, along with Istanbul (Constantinople), Edirne, Thessaloniki, and Sofia. The richer citizens constructed beautiful houses, many of which can still be seen in the architectural reserve of Old Plovdiv. From the early 15th century till the end of 17th century the city was predominantly inhabited by Muslims.


title: Plovdiv

text: Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Filibe (as the city was known at that time) was a focal point for the Bulgarian national movement and survived as one of the major cultural centers for Bulgarian culture and tradition.