title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana's first fight in the United States was against Victor Ortíz, that took place on June 27, 2009, for the Interim WBA super lightweight title. Ortiz entered the fight with an eight-fight knockout streak. Both Ortiz and Maidana were knocked down in the first round. Ortiz knocked Maidana to the canvas twice in the second round. Ortiz suffered a cut in the fifth round and was knocked down in the sixth. The fight was stopped when the ringside physician would not let Ortiz continue to fight. Many in the boxing media, including HBO, chastised Ortiz for not wanting to continue in the fight.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: After his fight with Ortiz, it was rumoured that Maidana would face British boxer, and WBA super lightweight champion, Amir Khan, who won the title after defeating Andreas Kotelnik. However, Khan opted for Paulie Malignaggi as his next opponent. As a result, Maidana was scheduled to fight on 27 March 2010, against Victor Cayo, whose record, at that time, was 24–0 with 75% of victories coming by way of knockout. Maidana knocked out the undefeated Cayo in the sixth round to retain his interim WBA super lightweight title and improve his record to 28–1, with 27 knockouts.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: After failing to secure a fight with Timothy Bradley, Maidana fought and defeated DeMarcus Corley in August 2010. Despite knocking Corley down in the seventh round, Maidana had to go the distance for only the third time in his career, eventually securing the victory via unanimous decision 117–110, 117–110, and 115–112. Even with the knockdown, many believed the fight was close. By round 11, Maidana was tired and both fighters traded in the final round.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Before his fight with Corley, Maidana accused Khan and trainer Freddie Roach of "hypocrisy" and called out Khan in an interview:


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Khan was looking for a good opponent to challenge him for his WBA title. One of his possible opponents was lightweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez decided not to move up in weight and stayed at lightweight. Maidana then stated his intention to fight Khan: "Stop looking for possible opponents for next Khan 11 December in England. Stop looking for lightweight boxers and face the real 140-pounders. I'll go to Khan's home soil to take the other portion of the WBA title that belongs to me." The fight was confirmed on 16 September to take place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on 11 December. Khan was reported to earn at least $1.5 million compared to Maidana who had a purse of $550,000.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Khan successfully defended his title for the third time against Maidana. Khan knocked Maidana down with a combination of 2 body shots in the first round. Maidana was saved by the bell but somehow regained composure and continued to battle on. Khan dominated the scoring until tiring around round 7. Maidana rallied and midway through round 10 stunned Khan with a heavy right hand. Maidana landed a series of follow up uppercuts and rights but could not drop Khan. Khan then rallied to win rounds 11 and 12 to solidify a unanimous points decision. The scores were 114–111, 114–111, and 113–112. Khan was open to a rematch. Khan landed 273 of 603 punches thrown (45%) and Maidana landed 156 of 767 thrown (20%). The fight was awarded Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: On 10 February 2011, Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer announced that a deal was reached for Maidana to next fight former three-weight world champion Érik Moralez (51-6, 35 KOs) on 9 April at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV billed as 'Action Heroes'.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In the first round, Maidana came out with ferocity as expected and proceeded to batter his older opponent around the ring. He landed multiple power punches, including an uppercut that opened a huge swelling over Morales' left eye which worsened over the course of the fight, and when the Mexican walked back to his corner having taken a large amount of punishment in the opening three minutes most observers felt their predictions were being fulfilled. The one-sided nature of the bout continued for the next couple of rounds, but then at the end of the third round Morales begin to fight back and landed a hard combination to the head of Maidana and the tide began to turn. From the fourth round onwards and although he was effectively fighting with one eye, Morales gave as good as he got and was landing the cleaner more effective shots, albeit occasionally being swarmed by the sheer number of punches being landed in return by the relentless Maidana. The fight became a see-saw affair and then, in the eighth round, Morales hit Maidana with a huge left hook that almost stopped the Argentine. The next couple of rounds continued in this fashion, with Maidana using his strength and stamina to bully Morales and the Mexican using his sharper punching and ring intelligence to land effective counters and combinations. The fight was fast turning into a modern classic. In the championship rounds, Morales seemed to tire and Maidana took advantage, overwhelming him with his strength and punishing the ageing warrior continually to the head and body. Maidana finished the fight much the stronger of the two and his late surge gave him the win on the scorecards, 116–112 twice with the third judge scoring the fight a draw, 114–114. Most of the 7,154 fans in attendance booed the decision. ESPN scored the fight 114–114.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana was scheduled to defend his title 27 August 2011, against Robert Guerrero, but Guerrero suffered a shoulder injury less than two weeks before the fight. On 8 September, Russian boxer Petr Petrov (29-2-2, 13 KOs) was selected as Maidana's homecoming opponent for 23 September at Sociedad Alemana de Villa Ballester in Buenos Aires, which would also mark the bout as his first defence of the WBA (Regular) title. Petrov came into the bout having never been stopped as a professional. Breidis Prescott, who was scheduled to fight Paul McCloskey in September in a title eliminator, stated he would have put himself forward to replace Guerrero, and knocked Maidana out. Maidana became the first boxer to stop Petrov inside the distance and successfully retained his WBA title in round 4 of a one-sided fight. Petrov was in survival mode from the opening bell, trying to clinch. By round 3, Maidana began to see his punches land more and eventually dropped Petrov in round 4. Petrov got up and became a more defensive fighter for the remainder of the round until the final 30 seconds when Maidana landed a barrage of punches against the ropes, dropping Petrov again. The referee began the count, but almost immediately waived the count.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In December 2011 it was announced that Maidana would move up to welterweight to fight former WBC and IBF light welterweight champion Devon Alexander, who was also moving up in weight, on 25 February 2012, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri in a 10-round bout. Alexander was the betting favourite going into the bout. Maidana seemed uncomfortable in his first fight at the new weight as Alexander dominated the fight and went on to win a lopsided unanimous decision. The three judges scored the fight 100–90, 100–90, and 99–91 for Alexander. Alexander landed 168 punches compared to the 93 landed by Maidana. Speaking of the loss, Maidana said, "I was slower. He was very fast and complicated."


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In July 2012, Showtime announced that Maidana would fight Jesus Soto Karass (26-7-3, 17 KOs) on the Saul Álvarez vs. Josesito Lopez undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 15 September. Maidana won the fight by eighth-round TKO in a back-and-forth slugfest. Both boxers started off fast while trading blows. Maidana looked to set up his attack behind a jab. Midway through the fight, Maidana began to tire and Karass took over. In round 7, Maidana finally had a point taken off for continuing to hit on the break. Maidana landed a right hand, dropping Karass. In round 8, Maidana continued to attack Karass against the ropes before referee Kenny Bayliss stopped the fight. According to CompuBox Stats, Maidana landed 213 of 539 punches thrown (40%) and Karass landed 179 of his 748 thrown.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: On 29 November, it was announced that, whilst waiting for a big fight, Maidana would fight the largely unknown Mexican boxer Martin Ángel Martínez (13-3-1, 9 KOs) on 12 December at the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires, for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental welterweight title. In front of over 7,000 local fans, Maidana won the fight by KO in the third round. Maidana started off slow, but picked up the pace in round 2 before landing a powerful left hook to body, dropping Martínez for the full 10 count. Maidana stated his intention to fight Paulie Malignaggi or Robert Guerrero next.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana scored a TKO over welterweight contender Josesito Lopez in the sixth round of a 9 June 2013 fight. Maidana had injured his hip in the second round and Lopez capitalized, tagging his opponent with hard shots. Maidana was able to reverse the tide and hurt Lopez with an overhand right in the sixth round that dropped him to the canvas. Lopez later said that Maidana is the hardest puncher he ever faced.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In October 2013, it was announced that Adrien Broner would make his first defense of the WBA welterweight title against Maidana. Originally scheduled as a PPV fight, Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime Sports announced it would take place on regular Showtime on 14 December. The fight was due to take place at the MGM Grand arena, but later move to the Alamodome in San Antonio. Broner had stated before the fight that he did not take training camp seriously for the Malignaggi fight, and that he was going to make a statement in his first defense. There was a crowd of 11,312 at the Alamodome, with Broner a 5 to 1 betting favorite. From the opening bell, Maidana swarmed Broner, punishing him to the body and the head. In the second round, a left hook sent Broner down for the first time in his career. Broner recovered and seemed to be on the verge of taking control over a tiring Maidana, but a right to the body followed by a left hook to the head once again put Broner down in round 8. Following the knockdown, Maidana had a point deducted for a headbutt. Maidana punished Broner for the remainder of the fight, winning the fight via unanimous decision and giving Broner his first loss as a professional. The judges scored the fight 115–110, 116–109, and 117–109 in favour of Maidana. Maidana had now won four consecutive fights under the tutelage of boxing trainer Robert Garcia. Broner immediately left the ring following the announcement. Fans booed and threw drinks at Broner as he made his way back to his dressing room.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Broner later apologized, saying, "I'm sorry for running out on all the fans after my fight. That was wrong of me as a fighter." Maidana said he was open to a rematch if it made sense. Broner later said, "I'll tell you one thing: Make a rematch. I don't need a warm-up fight. I want a rematch." Maidana landed 269 of 964 total punches (28%) and 231 of 663 power shots (35%). Broner connected on 149 of 400 total punches (37%) and 122 of 292 power shots (42%). Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza announced the fight drew 1.3 million viewers, putting it as the third-highest rated fight for the network since it began keeping track of individual fights in 2009.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Broner exercised his contractual rematch clause on 15 January 2014 to fight Maidana in a rematch. He told ESPN, "My mind is set on war. I had a bad night. He was the better man that night, but he didn't beat me. He outhustled me. I respect everything. I respect him. But I'm ready to go back to war and get my belt back." After Maidana beat Broner, he became a candidate to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on 3 May on Showtime PPV. The other close candidate was Amir Khan. Maidana's manager Sebastian Contursi believed his fighter deserved a big money fight. ESPN reported the rematch could take place in April 2014 in California at the StubHub Center or again at the Alamodome.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In February 2014, despite interest in a bout with Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced that he would fight Maidana on 3 May 2014, in a unification bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena, with Mayweather's WBC and "The Ring" welterweight titles at stake, as well as Maidana's WBA (Super) welterweight title. Maidana won the WBA title in December 2013 against Mayweather protégé, Adrien Broner. Mayweather tweeted the news the day after his 37th birthday. The Barclays Center in Brooklyn also made a case to showcase the fight. Mayweather explained why he chose Maidana, "Marcos Maidana's last performance immediately brought him to my attention. He is an extremely skilled fighter who brings knockout danger to the ring. I think this is a great fight for me and he deserves the opportunity to see if he can do what 45 others have tried to do before him – beat me." Maidana was a 12-to-1 underdog going into the fight.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In front of a sold-out crowd of 16,268, in what was one of his toughest fights, Mayweather won the bout via majority decision, with scores of 114–114, 117–111, and 116–112. Maidana came out aggressive and maintained that stance throughout the fight forcing Mayweather to engage. CompuBox revealed that Mayweather was hit more times than any of his previous 38 bouts that have been covered by them. Mayweather landed 230 of his 426 punches thrown (54%) while Maidana landed 221 of 858 (26%). Many times in the fight Maidana threw shots at different angles, forcing Mayweather against the ropes. According to Mayweather in the post fight interview, Maidana's aggressive approach made him change his style of fighting.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana was guaranteed a purse of $1.5 million, which would also include TV revenue from his native Argentina and PPV share. Mayweather earned a minimum $32 million. There were calls for an immediate rematch. Mayweather said, "He put pressure on me and that's when I decided to fight differently," Mayweather said. "I stood there and fought him. He's a good fighter, I take nothing away from him [...] This was a tough, competitive fight. This is what fans want to see. "I want to give fans an exciting fight. Normally, I box and move. Tonight, I gave fans an exciting fight." Maidana felt he won the fight, believing he gave Mayweather his toughest fight ever. Speaking through a translator, he said, "I definitely think I won. Floyd had never been hit by a man before. I had to change the gloves [after a last-minute problem with his original gloves on Friday] and I still gave him a great fight."


title: Marcos Maidana

text: The fight generated around 900,000 viewers although exact figures were not released by Showtime. The revenue of PPV sale amounted to $58 million.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: On 10 July 2014, Mayweather made the announcement that a rematch with Maidana (35–4, 31 KOs) was confirmed. The fight was to take place on 13 September 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with Mayweather's WBA (Super), WBC and "The Ring" welterweight titles at stake, as well as Mayweather's WBC light middleweight title. The fight was billed as "Mayhem".


title: Marcos Maidana

text: In front of 16,144 at the MGM Grand, Mayweather defeated Maidana via unanimous decision. Unlike the first fight, Mayweather came out better prepared for Maidana's style. The final judges' scores were 115–112, 116–111, and 116–111. ESPN scored it wider for Mayweather at 119–108. Despite a moment at the end of round 3 where Maidana rocked Floyd, Mayweather did not allow Maidana to land any overhand right, with the punch stats showing Maidana connecting 128 of 572 shots (22%). Mayweather had 51% connect rate landing 166 of 326.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: A bizarre moment occurred in round 8, whilst in a headlock, Maidana appeared to have bitten Mayweather's left hand. Mayweather explained this in the post fight, "I didn't know what it was. Something happened and then my fingers were numb. After the eighth round my fingers were numb. I could only use my other hand. He bit me. I realized he bit me. We were tangled in the middle of the ring and all of a sudden I felt something on my left hand." Maidana denied the bite, "Maybe he thinks I'm a dog, but I never bit him. He was rubbing my eyes that round. He may have had his glove in my mouth, but I never bit him." After round 9, Maidana appeared to be confused as he started walking towards the wrong corner. Mayweather immediately ran towards him to point to his corner, much to the amusement of the crowd. Maidana was unhappy with the final verdict and thought he won the fight, "If the judges want to give the fight to fighters that run, they can give it to him. I was attacking all the time. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that I was the aggressor. I kept my plan to be aggressive but he kept holding and pushing. I don't want to waste my time with a third fight. I trained with all my heart to get this type of result. This is not fair. There's not reason for another fight." For the sequel, Mayweather earned a minimum of $32 million and Maidana earned a career high $3 million.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: The fight did well on PPV, a reported 925,000 households bought the fight, generating $60 million. The live gate grossed nearly $15 million, putting it at number 5 in the top 35 boxing gates.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: On 9 August 2016, Maidana officially announced his retirement from professional boxing at the age of 33, allegedly moving into an advisory role. Maidana wrote in a letter addressed to boxing friends on social media: "After a long time out of the ring and after giving it a lot of thought since my last fight I've decided to hang up the gloves for good. Probably my decision would not surprise much as I had given hints of it in the last few months. But at this time I am making it official." Maidana finished with a career record of 35 wins in 40 fights, 31 wins coming by way of knockout and 5 decision losses.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Marcos Maidana was scheduled to face 25 year old Youtuber Yao Cabrera on March, 26th 2022 at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Dubai in United Arab Emirates. It's been 7 years since Maidana was last in the ring, On September 13th 2014 against Floyd Mayweather in the rematch and Maidana is now 38.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana said that he is of indigenous descent. He said that he liked the "Chino" nickname, and said that he was not going to change it. Maidana said that he would support his son if he wanted to become a boxer, though he does not want him to be one.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In biology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. A dominant higher-ranking individual is sometimes called an alpha, and the submissive lower-ranking individual a beta. Different types of interactions can result in dominance depending on the species, including ritualized displays of aggression or direct physical violence. In social living groups, members are likely to compete for access to limited resources and mating opportunities. Rather than fighting each time they meet, relative rank is established between individuals of the same sex, with higher-ranking individuals often gaining more access to resources and mates. Based on repetitive interactions, a social order is created that is subject to change each time a dominant animal is challenged by a subordinate one.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Dominance is an individual's preferential access to resources over another based on coercive capacity based on strength, threat, and intimidation, compared to prestige (persuasive capacity based on skills, abilities, and knowledge). A dominant animal is one whose sexual, feeding, aggressive, and other behaviour patterns subsequently occur with relatively little influence from other group members. Subordinate animals are opposite; their behaviour is submissive, and can be relatively easily influenced or inhibited by other group members.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: For many animal societies, an individual's position in the dominance hierarchy corresponds with their opportunities to reproduce.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In hierarchically social animals, dominant individuals may exert control over others. For example, in a herd of feral goats it is a large male that is dominant and maintains discipline and coherence of the flock. He leads the group but shares leadership on a foraging expedition with a mature she-goat who will normally outlast a succession of dominant males. However, earlier work showed that leadership orders in goats was not related to age or dominance. In sheep, position in a moving flock is highly correlated with social dominance, but there is no definite study to show consistent voluntary leadership by an individual. In birds, dominant individuals preferentially select higher perches to put themselves in the best position to detect and avoid predators, as well as to display their dominance to other members of their own species. It has been suggested that decision-taking about the actions of the group is commonly dissociated from social dominance.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Given the benefits and costs of possessing a high rank within a hierarchical group, there are certain characteristics of individuals, groups, and environments that determine whether an individual will benefit from a high rank. These include whether or not high rank gives them access to valuable resources such as mates and food. Age, intelligence, experience, and physical fitness can influence whether or not an individual deems it worthwhile to pursue a higher ranking in the hierarchy, which often comes at the expense of conflict. Hierarchy results from interactions, group dynamics, and sharing of resources, so group size and composition affect the dominance decisions of high-ranking individuals. For example, in a large group with many males, it may be difficult for the highest-ranking male to dominate all the mating opportunities, so some mate sharing probably exists. These opportunities available to subordinates reduce the likelihood of a challenge to the dominant male: mating is no longer an all-or-nothing game and the sharing is enough to placate most subordinates. Another aspect that can determine dominance hierarchies is the environment. In populations of Kenyan vervet monkeys, high-ranking females have higher foraging success when the food resources are clumped, but when food is distributed throughout an area they lose their advantage, because subordinate females can acquire food with less risk of encountering a dominant female.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: A benefit to high ranking individuals is increased foraging success and access to food resources. During times of water shortage the highest-ranking vervet females have greater access than subordinates females to water in tree holes. In chacma baboons, the high-ranking males have the first access to vertebrate prey that has been caught by the group, and in yellow baboons the dominant males feed for longer without being interrupted.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In many bird species, the dominant individuals have higher rates of food intake. Such species include dark-eyed juncos and oystercatchers. The dominant individuals in these groups fill themselves up first and fill up more quickly, so they spend less time foraging, which reduces the risk of predation. Thus they have increased survival because of increased nutrition and decreased predation.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In primates, a well-studied group, high rank brings reproductive success, as seen in a 1991 meta-analysis of 32 studies. A 2016 study determined that higher status increased reproductive success amongst men, and that this did not vary by type of subsistence (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture). This contradicts the "egalitarian hypothesis", which predicts that status would affect reproductive success more amongst foragers than amongst nonforagers.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: High-ranking bonnet macaque males have more access to fertile females and consequently partake in most of the matings within the group; in one population, three males were responsible for over 75% of matings. In this population, males often vary in rank. As their rank improves, they gain more exclusive time with fertile females; when their rank decreases, they get less time. In many primates, including bonnet macaques and rhesus monkeys, the offspring of high-ranking individuals have better fitness and thus an increased rate of survival. This is most likely a function of two factors. The first is that high-ranking males mate with high-ranking females. Assuming their high rank is correlated with higher fitness and fighting ability, this trait will be conferred to their offspring. The second factor is that higher-ranking parents probably provide better protection to their offspring and thus ensure higher survival rates. Amongst rhesus macaques, higher ranking males sired more offspring, though the alpha male was never the one to sire the most offspring, with that instead being a high-ranking but not top male. The complex relationship between rank and reproduction in this species is likely explained by the fact that rhesus macaques queue, rather than fight, for dominance, meaning that the alpha male is not necessarily the strongest or most attractive male.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In rodents, the highest-ranking male frequently sires the most offspring. The same pattern is found in most carnivores, such as the dwarf mongoose. The dwarf mongoose lives in a social system with one dominant pair. The dominant female produces all or almost all of the offspring in the living group, and the dominant male has first access to her during her oestrus period. In red deer, the males who experienced winter dominance, resulting from greater access to preferred foraging sites, had higher ability to get and maintain larger harems during the mating season.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In many monogamous bird species, the dominant pairs tend to get the best territories, which in turn promote offspring survival and adult health. In dunnocks, a species of birds that experiences many mating systems, sometimes individuals will form a group that will have one dominant male who achieves all of the mating in the group.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In the monogynous bee species "Melipona subnitida", the queen seeks to maintain reproductive success by preventing workers from caring for their cells, pushing or hitting them using her antennae. Workers display aggression towards males, claiming priority over the cells when males try to use them to place eggs.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: There are costs to being of a high rank in a hierarchical group which offset the benefits. The most common costs to high-ranking individuals are higher metabolic rates and higher levels of stress hormones. In great tits and pied flycatchers, high-ranking individuals experience higher resting metabolic rates and therefore need to consume more food in order to maintain fitness and activity levels compared to subordinates in their groups. The energetic costs of defending territory, mates, and other resources can be very consuming and cause high-ranking individuals, who spend more time in these activities, to lose body mass over long periods of dominance. Therefore, their physical condition decreases the longer they spend partaking in these high-energy activities, and they lose rank as a function of age.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In wild male baboons, the highest ranking male, also known as the alpha, experiences high levels of both testosterone and glucocorticoid, which indicates that high-ranking males undergo higher levels of stress which reduces fitness. Reduced health and longevity occurs because these two hormones have immunosuppressant activity, which reduces survival and presents opportunities for parasitic infestation and other health risks. This reduced fitness due to the alpha position results in individuals maintaining high rank for shorter periods of time and having an overall reduced health and longevity from the physical strain and costs of the position.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: The interpersonal complementarity hypothesis suggests that obedience and authority are reciprocal, complementary processes. That is, it predicts that one group member's behaviours will elicit a predictable set of actions from other group members. Friendly behaviours are predicted to be met with friendly behaviours, and hostile behaviours are predicted to be reciprocated with similar, hostile behaviours. When an individual acts in a dominant, authoritative manner in a group, this behaviour tends to prompt submissive responses from other group members. Similarly, when group members display submissive behaviour, others feel inclined to display dominant behaviours in return. Tiedens and Fragale (2003) found that hierarchical differentiation plays a significant role in liking behaviour in groups. Individuals prefer to interact with other group members whose power, or status behaviour complements their own. That is to say, group members who behave submissively when talking to someone who appears to be in control are better liked, and similarly individuals who display dominant behaviours (e.g., taking charge, issuing orders) are more liked when interacting with docile, subservient individuals.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: There are a number of benefits to being subordinate. Subordination is beneficial in agonistic conflicts where rank predicts the outcome of a fight. Less injury will occur if subordinate individuals avoid fighting with higher-ranking individuals who would win a large percentage of the time - knowledge of the pecking order keeps both parties from incurring the costs of a prolonged fight. In hens it has been observed that both dominants and subordinates benefit from a stable hierarchical environment because fewer challenges means more resources can be dedicated to laying eggs. In groups of highly related individuals, kin selection may influence the stability of hierarchical dominance. A subordinate individual closely related to the dominant individual may benefit more genetically by assisting the dominant individual to pass on their genes.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Alpha male savanna baboons have high levels of testosterone and stress; over a long period of time, this can lead to decreased fitness. The lowest ranking males also had high stress levels, suggesting that it is the beta males that gain the most fitness, avoiding stress but receiving some of the benefits of moderate rank. The mating tactics of savanna baboons are correlated with their age. Older, subordinate males form alliances to combat higher-ranking males and get access to females.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Fighting with dominant males is a risky behavior that may result in defeat, injury or even death. In bighorn sheep, however, subordinates occasionally win a fight for a female, and they father 44% of the lambs born in the population. These sheep live in large flocks, and dominance hierarchies are often restructured each breeding season.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Burying beetles, which have a social order involving one dominant male controlling most access to mates, display a behavior known as sneak copulation. While one male at a carcass has a 5:1 mating advantage, subordinate males will tempt females away from the carcass with pheromones and attempt to copulate, before the dominant male can drive them forcefully away. In flat lizards, young males take advantage of their underdeveloped secondary sex characteristics to engage in sneak copulations. These young males mimic all the visual signs of a female lizard in order to successfully approach a female and copulate without detection by the dominant male. This strategy does not work at close range because the chemical signals given off by the sneaky males reveal their true nature, and they are chased out by the dominant.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Subordinate individuals suffer a range of costs from dominance hierarchies, one of the most notable being reduced access to food sources. When a resource is obtained dominant individuals are first to feed as well as taking the longest time. Subordinates also lose out in shelter and nesting sites. Brown hyenas, which display defined linear dominance in both sexes, allow subordinate males and females decreased time of feeding at a carcass. In toque monkeys subordinates are often displaced from feeding sites by dominant males. Additionally, they are excluded from sleeping sites, and they suffer reduced growth and increased mortality.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Subordinate individuals often demonstrate a huge reproductive disadvantage in dominance hierarchies. Among brown hyenas, subordinate females have less opportunity to rear young in the communal den, and thus had decreased survival of offspring when compared to high-ranking individuals. Subordinate males have far less copulations with females compared to the high-ranking males. In African wild dogs which live in social packs separated into male and female hierarchies, top ranking alpha females have been observed to produce 76-81% of all litters.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Subordinate animals engage in a number of behaviors in order to outweigh the costs of low rank. Dispersal is often associated with increased mortality and subordination may decrease the potential benefits of leaving the group. In the red fox it has been shown that subordinate individuals, given the opportunity to desert, often do not due to the risk of death and the low possibility that they would establish themselves as dominant members in a new group.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Animal decisions regarding involvement in conflict are defined by the interplay between the costs and benefits of agonistic behaviors. When initially developed, game theory, the study of optimal strategies during pair-wise conflict, was grounded in the false assumption that animals engaged in conflict were of equal fighting ability. Modifications, however, have provided increased focus on the differences between the fighting capabilities of animals and raised questions about their evolutionary development. These differences are believed to determine the outcomes of fights, their intensity, and animal decisions to submit or continue fighting. The influence of aggression, threats, and fighting on the strategies of individuals engaged in conflict has proven integral to establishing social hierarchies reflective of dominant-subordinate interactions.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: As expected, the individual who emerges triumphant is rewarded with the dominant status, having demonstrated their physical superiority. However, the costs incurred to the defeated, which include loss of reproductive opportunities and quality food, can hinder the individual's fitness. In order to minimize these losses, animals generally retreat from fighting or displaying fighting ability unless there are obvious cues indicating victory. These often involve characteristics that provide an advantage during agonistic behavior, such as size of body, displays, etc. Red stags, for example, engage in exhausting roaring contests to exhibit their strength. However, such an activity would impose more costs than benefits for unfit stags, and compel them to retreat from the contest. Larger stags have also been known to make lower-frequency threat signals, acting as indicators of body size, strength, and dominance.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Engaging in agonistic behavior can be very costly and thus there are many examples in nature of animals who achieve dominance in more passive ways. In some, the dominance status of an individual is clearly visible, eliminating the need for agonistic behavior. In wintering bird flocks, white-crowned sparrows display a unique white plumage; the higher the percentage of the crown that consists of white feathers, the higher the status of the individual. For other animals, the time spent in the group serves as a determinant of dominance status. Rank may also be acquired from maternal dominance rank. In rhesus monkeys, offspring gain dominance status based on the rank of the mother—the higher ranked the mother, the higher ranked the offspring will be (Yahner). Similarly, the status of a male Canada goose is determined by the rank of his family. Although dominance is determined differently in each case, it is influenced by the relationships between members of social groups.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Individuals with greater hierarchical status tend to displace those ranked lower from access to space, to food and to mating opportunities. Thus, individuals with higher social status tend to have greater reproductive success by mating more often and having more resources to invest in the survival of offspring. Hence, hierarchy serves as an intrinsic factor for population control, ensuring adequate resources for the dominant individuals and thus preventing widespread starvation. Territorial behavior enhances this effect.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: The suppression of reproduction by dominant individuals is the most common mechanism that maintains the hierarchy. In eusocial mammals this is mainly achieved by aggressive interactions between the potential reproductive females. In eusocial insects, aggressive interactions are common determinants of reproductive status, such as in the bumblebee "Bombus bifarius", the paper wasp "Polistes annularis" and in the ants "Dinoponera australis" and "D. quadriceps". In general, aggressive interactions are ritualistic and involve antennation (drumming), abdomen curling and very rarely mandible bouts and stinging. The winner of the interaction may walk over the subordinated, that in turn assumes a prostrated posture. To be effective, these regulatory mechanisms must include traits that make an individual rank position readily recognizable by its nestmates. The composition of the lipid layer on the cuticle of social insects is the clue used by nestmates to recognize each other in the colony, and to discover each insect's reproductive status (and rank). Visual cues may also transmit the same information. Paper wasps "Polistes dominulus" have individual "facial badges" that permit them to recognize each other and to identify the status of each individual. Individuals whose badges were modified by painting were aggressively treated by their nestmates; this makes advertising a false ranking status costly, and may help to suppress such advertising.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Other behaviors are involved in maintaining reproductive status in social insects. The removal of a thoracic sclerite in "Diacamma" ants inhibits ovary development; the only reproductive individual of this naturally queenless genus is the one that retains its sclerite intact. This individual is called a gamergate, and is responsible for mutilating all the newly emerged females, to maintain its social status. Gamergates of "Harpegnathos saltator" arise from aggressive interactions, forming a hierarchy of potential reproductives.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In the honey bee "Apis mellifera", a pheromone produced by the queen mandibular glands is responsible for inhibiting ovary development in the worker caste. "Worker policing" is an additional mechanism that prevents reproduction by workers, found in bees and ants. Policing may involve oophagy and immobilization of workers who lay eggs. In some ant species such as the carpenter ant "Camponotus floridanus", eggs from queens have a peculiar chemical profile that workers can distinguish from worker laid eggs. When worker-laid eggs are found, they are eaten. In some species, such as "Pachycondyla obscuricornis", workers may try to escape policing by shuffling their eggs within the egg pile laid by the queen.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Modulation of hormone levels after hibernation may be associated with dominance hierarchies in the social order of the paper wasp ("Polistes dominulus").


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: This depends on the queen (or foundress), possibly involving specific hormones. Laboratory experiments have shown that when foundresses are injected with juvenile hormone, responsible for regulating growth and development in insects including wasps, the foundresses exhibit an increase in dominance. Further, foundresses with larger corpora allata, a region of the female wasp brain responsible for the synthesis and secretion of juvenile hormone, are naturally more dominant.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: A follow-up experiment utilized 20-hydroxyecdysone, an ecdysone known to enhance maturation and size of oocytes. The size of the oocytes plays a significant role in establishing dominance in the paper wasp. Foundresses treated with 20-hydroxyecdysone showed increased dominance compared to those treated with juvenile hormone, so 20-hydroxyecdysone may play a larger role in establishing dominance (Roseler "et al.", 1984). Subsequent research however, suggests that juvenile hormone is implicated, though only on certain individuals. When injected with juvenile hormone, larger foundresses showed more mounting behaviors than smaller ones, and more oocytes in their ovaries.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Naked mole-rats ("Heterocephalus glaber") similarly have a dominance hierarchy dependent on the highest ranking female (queen) and her ability to suppress critically important reproductive hormones in male and female sub-dominants. In sub-dominant males, it appears that luteinizing hormone and testosterone are suppressed, while in females it appears that the suppression involves the entire suppression of the ovarian cycle. This suppression reduces sexual virility and behavior and thus redirects the sub-dominant's behavior into helping the queen with her offspring, though the mechanisms of how this is accomplished are debated. Former research suggests that primer pheromones secreted by the queen cause direct suppression of these vital reproductive hormones and functions however current evidence suggests that it is not the secretion of pheromones which act to suppress reproductive function but rather the queen's extremely high levels of circulating testosterone, which cause her to exert intense dominance and aggressiveness on the colony and thus "scare" the other mole-rats into submission. Research has shown that removal of the queen from the colony allows the reestablishment of reproductive function in sub-dominant individuals. To see if a priming pheromone secreted by the queen was indeed causing reproductive suppression, researchers removed the queen from the colony but did not remove her bedding. They reasoned that if a primer pheromones were on the bedding then the sub-dominant's reproductive function should continue to be suppressed. Instead however, they found that the sub-dominants quickly regained reproductive function even in the presence of the queen's bedding and thus it was concluded that primer pheromones do not seem to play a role in suppressing reproductive function.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Glucocorticoids, signaling molecules which stimulate the fight or flight response, may be implicated in dominance hierarchies. Higher ranking individuals tend to have much higher levels of circulating glucocorticoids than subdominant individuals, the opposite of what had been expected. Two core hypotheses attempt to explain this.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: The first suggests that higher ranking individuals exert more energy and thus need higher levels of glucocorticoids to mobilize glycogen for energy use. This is supported by the fact that when food availability is low, cortisol levels increase within the dominant male. The second suggests that elevated stress hormones are a result of social factors, particularly when the hierarchy is in transition, perhaps resulting in increased aggression and confrontation. As a result, the dominant individual fights more and has elevated glucocorticoids during this period. Field studies of olive baboons in Kenya seem to support this, as dominant individuals had lower cortisol levels in a stable hierarchy than did subdominant individuals, but the reverse was true at unstable times.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Several areas of the brain contribute to hierarchical behavior in animals. One of the areas that has been linked with this behavior is the prefrontal cortex, a region involved with decision making and social behavior. High social rank in a hierarchical group of mice has been associated with increased excitability in the medial prefrontal cortex of pyramidal neurons, the primary excitatory cell type of the brain. High ranking macaques have a larger rostral prefrontal cortex in large social groups. Neuroimaging studies with computer stimulated hierarchal conditions showed increased activity in the ventral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, one processing judgment cues and the other processing status of an individual. Other studies have determined that lesions to the prefrontal cortex (when the area is severed to disrupt functioning to observe its role in behavior) led to deficits in processing social hierarchy cues, suggesting this area is important in regulating this information. Although the prefrontal cortex has been implicated, there are other downstream targets of the prefrontal cortex that have also been linked in maintaining this behavior. This includes the amygdala through lesion studies in rats and primates which led to disruption in hierarchy, and can affect the individual negatively or positively depending on the subnuclei that is targeted. Additionally, the dorsal medial PFC-medial dorsal thalamus connection has been linked with maintenance of rank in mice. Another area that has been associated is the dorsal raphe nucleus, the primary serotonergic nuclei (a neurotransmitter involved with many behaviors including reward and learning). In manipulation studies of this region, there were changes in fighting and affiliative behavior in primates and crustaceans.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Female-biased dominance occurs rarely in mammals. It occurs when all adult males exhibit submissive behavior to adult females in social settings. These social settings are usually related to feeding, grooming, and sleeping site priority. It is observed consistently in hyenas, lemurs and the bonobo. The ring-tailed lemur is observed to be the most prominent model of female dominance.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In lemurs, no single hypothesis fully explains female social dominance at this time and all three are likely to play a role. Adult female lemurs have increased concentrations of androgens when they transition from non-breeding to breeding seasons, increasing female aggression. Androgens are greater in pregnant female lemurs, which suggests that organizational androgens might influence the developing offspring. Organizational androgens play a role in "explaining female social dominance" in ring-tailed lemurs, as androgens are associated with aggressive behavior in young females. Females that were "exposed to greater concentrations of maternal [androstenedione] late in fetal development were less likely to be aggressed against postnatally, whereas females that were...exposed to greater concentrations of maternal [testosterone]...were more likely to receive aggression postnatally." Dominance rank in female chimpanzees is correlated with reproductive success. Although a high rank is an advantage for females, clear linear hierarchies in female chimpanzees have not been detected. In "masculinized" female mammals like the spotted hyena ("Crocuta crocuta"), androgens (i.e. specifically, androstenedione and testosterone) are "implicated in the organization and activation of...nonreproductive behavioral traits, including aggression, social dominance, rough-and-tumble play, and scent marking" For aggressively dominant female meerkats ("Suricata suricatta"), they have "exceptionally high concentrations" of androgens, "particularly during gestation".


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: The concept of dominance, originally called "pecking order", was described in birds by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe in 1921 under the German terms "Hackordnung" or "Hackliste" and introduced into English in 1927. In his 1924 German-language article, he noted that "defense and aggression in the hen is accomplished with the beak". This emphasis on pecking led many subsequent studies on fowl behaviour to use it as a primary observation; however, it has been noted that roosters tend to leap and use their claws in conflicts.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Wild and feral chickens form relatively small groups, usually including no more than 10 to 20 individuals. It has been shown that in larger groups, which is common in farming, the dominance hierarchy becomes less stable and aggression increases.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Dominance hierarchies are found in many species of bird. For example, the blue-footed booby brood of two chicks always has a dominance hierarchy due to the asynchronous hatching of the eggs. One egg is laid four days before the other, and incubation starts immediately after laying, so the elder chick is hatched four days before the younger chick and has a four-day head start on growth. The elder, stronger chick almost always becomes the dominant chick. During times of food shortage, the dominant chick often kills the subordinate chick by either repeatedly pecking or by ousting the younger chick from the nest. The brood hierarchy makes it easier for the subordinate chick to die quietly in times of food scarcity, which provides an efficient system for booby parents to maximize their investment.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In insect societies, only one to few individuals members of a colony can reproduce, whereas the other colony members have their reproductive capabilities suppressed. This conflict over reproduction in some cases results in a dominance hierarchy. Dominant individuals in this case are known as queens and have the obvious advantage of performing reproduction and benefiting from all the tasks performed by their subordinates, the worker caste (foraging, nest maintenance, nest defense, brood care and thermal regulation). According to Hamilton's rule, the reproduction costs of the worker caste are compensated by the contribution of workers to the queen's reproductive success, with which they share genes. This is true not only for the popular social insects (ants, termites, some bees and wasps), but also for the naked mole-rat "Heterocephalus glaber". In a laboratory experiment, Clarke and Faulkes (1997) demonstrated that reproductive status in a colony of "H. glaber" was correlated with the individual's ranking position within a dominance hierarchy, but aggression between potential reproductives only started after the queen was removed.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: The social insects mentioned above, excluding termites, are haplodiploid. Queen and workers are diploid, but males develop from haploid genotypes. In some species, suppression of ovary development is not totally achieved in the worker caste, which opens the possibility of reproduction by workers. Since nuptial flights are seasonal and workers are wingless, workers are almost always non-breeders, and (as gamergate ants or laying worker bees) can only lay unfertilised eggs. These eggs are in general viable, developing into males. A worker that performs reproduction is considered a "cheater" within the colony, because its success in leaving descendants becomes disproportionally larger, compared to its sisters and mother. The advantage of remaining functionally sterile is only accomplished if every worker assume this "compromise". When one or more workers start reproducing, the "social contract" is destroyed and the colony cohesion is dissolved. Aggressive behavior derived from this conflict may result in the formation of hierarchies, and attempts of reproduction by workers are actively suppressed. In some wasps, such as "Polistes fuscatus", instead of not laying eggs, the female workers begin being able to reproduce, but once being under the presence of dominant females, the subordinate female workers can no longer reproduce.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In some wasp species such as Liostenogaster flavolineata there are many possible queens that inhabit a nest, but only one can be queen at a time. When a queen dies the next queen is selected by an age-based dominance hierarchy. This is also true in the species "Polistes instabilis", where the next queen is selected based on age rather than size. "Polistes exclamans" also exhibits this type of hierarchy. Within the dominance hierarchies of the "Polistes versicolor", however, the dominant-subordinate context in the yellow paper wasps is directly related to the exchange of food. Future foundresses within the nest compete over the shared resources of nourishment, such as protein. Unequal nourishment is often what leads to the size differences that result in dominant-subordinate position rankings. Therefore, if during the winter aggregate, the female is able to obtain greater access to food, the female could thus reach a dominant position.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In some species, especially in ants, more than one queen can be found in the same colony, a condition called polygyny. In this case, another advantage of maintaining a hierarchy is to prolong the colony lifespan. The top ranked individuals may die or lose fertility and "extra queens" may benefit from starting a colony in the same site or nest. This advantage is critical in some ecological contexts, such as in situations where nesting sites are limited or dispersal of individuals is risky due to high rates of predation. This polygynous behavior has also been observed in some eusocial bees such as "Schwarziana quadripunctata". In this species, multiple queens of varying sizes are present. The larger, physogastric, queens typically control the nest, though a "dwarf" queen will take its place in the case of a premature death.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Dominance hierarchies emerge as a result of intersexual and intrasexual selection within groups, where competition between individuals results in differential access to resources and mating opportunities. This can be mapped across a spectrum of social organization ranging from egalitarian to despotic, varying across multiple dimensions of cooperation and competition in between. Conflict can be resolved in multiple ways, including aggression, tolerance, and avoidance. These are produced by social decision-making, described in the "relational model" created by the zoologist Frans De Waal. In systems where competition between and within the sexes is low, social behaviour gravitates towards tolerance and egalitarianism, such as that found in woolley spider monkeys. In despotic systems where competition is high, one or two members are dominant while all other members of the living group are equally submissive, as seen in Japanese and rhesus macaques, leopard geckos, dwarf hamsters, gorillas, the cichlid "Neolamprologus pulcher", and African wild dog. Linear ranking systems, or "pecking orders", which tend to fall in between egalitarianism and despotism, follow a structure where every member of the group is recognized as either dominant or submissive relative to every other member. This results in a linear distribution of rank, as seen in spotted hyenas and brown hyenas.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Dominance and its organisation can be highly variable depending on the context or individuals involved.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: In European badgers, dominance relationships may vary with time as individuals age, gain or lose social status, or change their reproductive condition. Dominance may also vary across space in territorial animals as territory owners are often dominant over all others in their own territory but submissive elsewhere, or dependent on the resource. Even with these factors held constant, perfect dominance hierarchies are rarely found in groups of any great size, at least in the wild. Dominance hierarchies in small herds of domestic horses are generally linear hierarchies whereas in large herds the relationships are triangular. Dominance hierarchies can be formed at a very early age. Domestic piglets are highly precocious and within minutes of being born, or sometimes seconds, will attempt to suckle. The piglets are born with sharp teeth and fight to develop a teat order as the anterior teats produce a greater quantity of milk. Once established, this teat order remains stable with each piglet tending to feed from a particular teat or group of teats.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Dominance–subordination relationships can vary markedly between breeds of the same species. Studies on Merinos and Border Leicesters sheep revealed an almost linear hierarchy in the Merinos but a less rigid structure in the Border Leicesters when a competitive feeding situation was created.


title: Dominance hierarchy

text: Although many group-living animal species have a hierarchy of some form, some species have more fluid and flexible social groupings, where rank does not need to be rigidly enforced, and low-ranking group members may enjoy a wider degree of social flexibility. Some animal societies are "democratic", with low-ranking group members being able to influence which group member is leader and which one is not. Sometimes dominant animals must maintain alliances with subordinates and grant them favours to receive their support in order to retain their dominant rank. In chimpanzees, the alpha male may need to tolerate lower-ranking group members hovering near fertile females or taking portions of his meals. Other examples can include Muriqui monkeys. Within their groups, there is abundant food and females will mate promiscuously. Because of this, males gain very little in fighting over females who are, in turn, too large and strong for males to monopolize or control, so males do not appear to form especially prominent ranks between them, with several males mating with the same female in view of each other. This type of mating style is also present in manatees, removing their need to engage in serious fighting. Among female elephants, leadership roles are not acquired by sheer brute force, but instead through seniority, and other females can collectively show preferences for where the herd can travel. In hamadryas baboons, several high-ranking males will share a similar rank, with no single male being an absolute leader. Female bats also have a somewhat fluid social structure, in which rank is not strongly enforced. Bonobos are matriarchal, yet their social groups are also generally quite flexible, and serious aggression is quite rare between them. In olive baboons, certain animals are dominant in certain contexts, but not in others. Prime age male olive baboons claim feeding priority, yet baboons of any age or sex can initiate and govern the group's collective movements.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salome Zourabichvili (, ; born 18 March 1952) is a Franco-Georgian political figure and former diplomat who currently serves as the fifth President of Georgia, in office since December 2018. She is the first woman to be elected as Georgia's president, a position she will occupy for a term of six years. As a result of constitutional changes coming into effect in 2024, Zourabichvili is expected to be Georgia's last popularly elected president; all future heads of state are to be elected indirectly by a parliamentary college of electors.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Zourabichvili was born in Paris, France into a family of Georgian political refugees. She joined the French diplomatic service in the 1970s and went on to occupy a variety of increasingly senior diplomatic positions over three decades. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Ambassador of France to Georgia. In 2004, by mutual agreement between the presidents of France and Georgia, she accepted Georgian nationality and became the Foreign Minister of Georgia. During her tenure at the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), she negotiated a landmark treaty that led to the withdrawal of Russian forces from the undisputed parts of the Georgian mainland. She has also served at the UN Security Council’s Iran Sanctions Committee as the Coordinator of the Panel of Experts.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: After a falling out with Georgia's then president Mikheil Saakashvili, in 2006 Zourabichvili founded The Way of Georgia political party, which she led until 2010. Ultimately, she was elected to the Georgian Parliament in 2016 as an independent; she vacated her parliamentary seat after being sworn in as president. Zourabichvili ran in the 2018 Georgian presidential election as an independent candidate and prevailed in a run-off vote against the United National Movement nominee Grigol Vashadze. During her presidential campaign Zurabishvili was endorsed by the ruling Georgian Dream party; however, following the 2020–2021 Georgian political crisis, Zourabichvili became increasingly alienated from the Georgian government.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salome Zourabichvili was born into a family of Georgian emigrants that fled to France following the 1921 Red Army invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Her father, Levan Zourabichvili, a career engineer, serves for many years as chairman of the Georgian Association of France (AGF). Levan is the maternal grandson of Niko Nikoladze (1843-1928), a businessman, philanthropist and Georgian politician of the late 19th century who served as a member of the Social-Democratic Party and was an influential leader of the Georgian liberal intelligentsia during the Russian Empire.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Her mother Zeïnab Kedia (1921-2016) was a daughter of Melkisedek Kedia, head of the Security Service of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salome Zourabichvili has one brother, Othar Zourabichvili, a doctor, writer and chairman of the AGF since 2006. They are cousins of historian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, a member of the Académie Française, and philosopher François Zourabichvili.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salomé Nino Zourabichvili was born in Paris on 18 March 1952 and was raised within the Georgian community in France, settled between Paris and Leuville-sur-Orge since the 1921 fall of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Raised in a prominent emigrant family with close ties to the government in-exile of Georgia, the diaspora was the only contact she had in her childhood with the country, once stating:


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: At 8 years old, she met her first visitor from Georgia during a visit to Paris by a Georgian ballet troupe, a meeting held in secret because of the repressive nature of the Soviet authorities organizing the visit. In an interview with "The Washington Post", she said she felt comfortable "straddling the two cultures", attending French schools while going to the Georgian church of Paris on the weekends.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: At the age of 17, Salome Zourabichvili received "baccalauréat" results that allowed her "the privilege of a direct admission in the terrible preparatory year" of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in September 1969, a program out of which only half of participants reach the Institute after a year. In May1970, her final exam topic choice on "Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Europe between 1917 and 1923" guarantees her a spot at the Institute. Later in 2019, the school would describe her results on the topics on the "Rerum novarum", "Kulturkampf" and Alexander II's reforms as a "triumph", while a professor described her as a "very smart student who quickly learned the methodology and know-how of the program".


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In 1970, she joined the International Section of Sciences Po, a path toward the diplomatic service to which only a minority of the 4,000 students of the Institute accessed and only made of a third of women. She studied under a number of well-known French professors, such as historians Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, Louis Chevalier, her cousin Hélène Carrère d'Encausse and the international lawyer Suzanne Bastid, the latter two being the only women teaching at Sciences Po. Salome Zourabichvili concentrates focuses her studies on the Soviet world and graduates in July 1972.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In a letter of recommendation by Sciences Po Secretary-General René Henry-Gréard, the latter describes her as a student who, despite her "shyness", possesses "exceptional qualities" and predicts a great future for her. She joins Columbia University in 1972-1973 where Zbigniew Brzezinski, at the time director of the Trilateral Commission, trains her on Soviet politics and Cold War diplomacy.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: She has said that choosing a career in diplomacy was linked with hopes to one day being instrumental in helping Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salome Zourabichvili returned to Sciences Po in 2006, this time as a professor shortly after her departure as Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs. She works until 2014 at the Paris School of International Affairs, teaching the foreign policy of large powers, the post-Soviet world, the development of Eurasia since the fall of the USSR, and the causes for that fall. In that post, she academically analyzes the progress of the European Union in times of crisis. A student would later describe her classes as "encouraging important debates".


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: From a first marriage to Iranian-American World Bank economist Nicolas Gorjestani (himself of Georgian origin), she has two children: Kéthévane ("France 24" journalist) and Théïmouraz (a French diplomat). She married in 1993 as a second husband Janri Kashia, an influential Georgian writer and journalist who was a political refugee in France. Kashia died in 2012.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Salome Zourabichvili abandonned her studies to join the French diplomatic service in 1974. She quickly became a career diplomat and was sent as Third Secretary to the French Embassy in Rome until 1977, under the ambassadorships of Charles Lucet and François Puaux, after which she became Second Secretary to the Permanent Mission of France to the UN until 1980. Working under seasoned diplomat Jacques Leprette, she saw France twice preside the UN Security Council in October 1978 and January 1980.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: After returning to Paris where she worked as an officer of the Policy Planning Staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she went back to the United States in 1984 as First Secretary to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. under Ambassador Emmanuel de Margerie, working in the political and military section and focusing on US-Soviet affairs. It was during this posting that she visited for the first time Georgia in 1986, taking her mother with her. Between 1988 and 1989, she was sent to Vienna as First Secretary to the French Mission to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, leading the French negotiating team for the reduction of conventional forces.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In 1989-1992, she became Second Adviser to the French Embassy in Chad. Her term there coincides with the takeover of power by Idriss Déby in a coup d'état supported by France.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In 1992, Zourabichvili was appointed First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of France to NATO in Brussels, before becoming Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the Western European Union, still in Brussels, from 1993 to 1996.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In 1996 and 1997, she held the post of Technical Adviser at the Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. In 1997-1998, she was Inspector at the MFA, still in Paris, before she was appointed Under-Director of Strategic Affairs at the Management of Strategic Affairs, Security and Disarmament of the MFA, a post she leaves in 2001 to become director of International and Strategic Affairs at the General Secretariat of National Defense. She also works with the Bureau of Strategic Affairs of NATO.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Between 2003 and 2004, Salome Zourabichvili was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia nominated her as Minister of Foreign Affairs in his new government. Zourabichvili became the first woman to be appointed to this post in Georgia on 18 March 2004.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Zourabichvili was the Coordinator of the Panel of Experts assisting the UN Security Council’s Iran Sanctions Committee.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: As foreign minister of Georgia, Zourabichvili was the main negotiator of the agreement for the withdrawal of Russian military bases from the territory of Georgia, which was signed with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on 19 May 2005. During her tenure as Foreign Minister, the "New Group of Friends of Georgia" was created, bringing together Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Poland to help Georgia's aspirations towards NATO and foster European integration.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Zourabichvili was sacked by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli late on 19 October 2005 after a series of disputes with members of Parliament. She had also been heavily criticized by a number of Georgian ambassadors. Shortly before her dismissal was announced, Zourabichvili resigned from the French foreign service, which had continued to pay her a salary while she was minister, and announced that she would remain in Georgia to go into politics.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In November 2005, Zourabichvili set up the organization 'Salomé Zourabichvili’s Movement'. In January 2006 she announced the establishment of a new political party Georgia's Way, criticizing the country's "de facto one-party system." Although Zourabichvili enjoyed some degree of reputation in Georgia she was long unable to establish herself in the political field. At the city council elections in Tbilisi on 5 October 2006, only 2.77% of the constituency voted for her party. Six months before, an opinion poll conducted by the Georgian weekly "Kviris Palitra" suggested that she would garner 23.1% of the votes at presidential elections. Since October 2007, her party was part of the United Opposition alliance which nominated Zourabichvili as a Prospective Prime Minister in case of their candidate Levan Gachechiladze's victory in the January 2008 presidential election.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: As part of a 2009 campaign of the Georgian opposition to force President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign, Zourabichvili led a protest march together with three other prominent opposition figures – Nino Burjanadze, David Gamkrelidze and Eka Beselia – in Tbilisi on 26 March 2009.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 12 November 2010, Zourabichvili announced her withdrawal from the leadership of Georgia's Way. She was succeeded by Kakha Seturidze. After a two-year leave from politics, she publicly endorsed Georgian Dream ahead of the 2013 presidential elections. Shortly after, Georgia's Central Election Commission refused to register her as a presidential candidate due to her dual Georgian-French citizenship.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In the 8 October 2016 parliamentary elections Zourabichvili won a seat as an independent, representing the Mtatsminda district of Tbilisi. She became MP on 18 November. During her term as MP, She was Deputy chairwoman of parliamentary committee on Diaspora and Caucasus Issues.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 20 April 2017, on TV Pirveli, in Diana Trapaidze's Daily News, Zurabishvili said that "nothing is out of the question" about her participation in the 2018 presidential elections. [43]


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: "This big responsibility is not only my responsibility. I owe it to my ancestors and to all those who declared independence 100 years ago and then could not revive that independence."


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: It was during this period that speculation emerged that, despite her status as an independent candidate, she would likely be backed by the Georgian Dream team.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 16 August 2018, Zurabishvili officially launched her presidential campaign from the house-museum of her famous ancestor, Niko Nikoladze, in the village of Didi Jikhaishi, Imereti region. She outlined the main vision which she planned to implement as President of Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 23 August 2018, two months before the elections, Zurabishvili relinquished her French citizenship. This decree was signed by the Prime Minister of France and the Minister of Internal Affairs on the basis of Zurabishvili's application. She made a statement in this regard on August 30, noting that she had to renounce her French citizenship to participate in the presidential election. According to the Constitution of Georgia, dual citizens cannot hold the office of president, prime minister or Speaker of Parliament.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 9 September 2018, the Georgian Dream party announced its support for Zurabishvili's independent candidacy for the presidential elections, at a briefing by the Speaker of the Parliament, Irakli Kobakhidze, at the party's central office.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 23 October 2018, the presidential elections were held. Zurabishvili received 38.64% of the vote (615,572 votes) and secured a place in the second round of elections against the United Opposition candidate. [48] The Georgian media thought that as an independent presidential candidate she would withdraw her candidacy. On October 30, in her first public statement since the first round, Zurabishvili stated:


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: "I am ready for the second round, for the fight. I believe that you are well aware that today is not a choice between two candidates or two parties, but a choice between two Georgias. We are on the side of the truth, the future of Europe and Georgia."


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: The second round of the presidential election was held on November 28. Zurabishvili received 59.52% of the vote (1,147,625 votes), defeating her opponent Grigol Vasadze to become the first female president in the history of Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On December 16, the inauguration of the 5th President of Georgia was held at the Erekle II Palace in Telavi. Zurabishvili wore a white and red ensemble, the colors of the Georgian flag, to the ceremony, designed by Jaba Diasamidze, a Georgian designer working in France. The president-elect was taken to the palace by car, and her children - Teimuraz and Ketevan Gorgestani - drove her to the red carpet.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: The event was attended by a total of 1800 guests. According to the decision of the organizers, all guests, except those with health problems, stood on their feet. Among those present at the inauguration were the 4th President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili and his wife, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, the President of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan, the former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and representatives of other delegations.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: As president, Zourabichvili inherited a new Constitution that entered into force the day of her inauguration and which significantly removed several powers from the Presidency, concentrating them within Parliament and the Prime Minister's Office. However, this did not stop her from using her position to call for historically-important decisions, including a new investigation into the controversial death of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the country's first president, in 1993.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Zurabishvili's first annual report as President was presented to the 9th convocation of Parliament on 6 March 2019. [120] The European Georgia faction did not attend the president's speech. In her speech, Zurabishvili focused on her visits abroad.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 20 April 2021, Zurabishvili hosted an official dinner in honor of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. Representatives of the ruling team as well as the opposition parties who signed the Charles Michel document were present at the dinner at the Presidential Palace. The dinner was attended by EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzel and US Ambassador Kelly Degnan. By signing the document of Charles Michel, the representatives of the opposition and the government made political concessions.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 10 March 2020, President Zurabishvili canceled scheduled visits to Bulgaria, Belgium, and Ukraine due to the coronavirus threat. [142] On March 21 of the same year, she declared a state of emergency in the country. The state of emergency was to last for a month, although on 21 April 2020, the president signed an extension until May 21.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: On 22 December 2020, Zurabishvili hosted Hans Kluge, Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, at the Orbeliani Palace. During the meeting, the health measures taken by Georgia during the pandemic and issues related to the COVID-19 vaccine were discussed. On 26 January 2021, Zurabishvili met with Toivo Klaar, Co-Chair of the Geneva International Talks, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: As President of Georgia, Zurabishvili has visited many countries where she has represented her homeland and advocated for its interests, and met with foreign leaders. On 25 September 2019, Zurabishvili addressed the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. In her speech, she spoke about the occupation, the ongoing political processes in Georgia, healthcare and climate change.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In January 2020 she visited Belgium, and in February she visited France and Afghanistan. She has also visited the leaders of Ukraine, Armenia, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Azerbaijan and many other countries.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Popular opinion in Georgia hardened against Russia in the wake of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and on 3 March together with Moldova the country made a formal application to the EU for membership. The chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze called for EU bodies to review application "in an emergency manner and to make the decision to grant Georgia the status of an EU membership candidate", while Zurabishvili said "You can try to frighten countries but that doesn’t mean you change their orientation, that you change their determination to keep their independence."


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: During an interview with DW News in May 2022, Zourabichvili stated that Georgia was in full compliance with the international financial sanctions on Russia and wanted a "quicker and shorter path towards integration" into NATO and the EU. She remarked that both France under Macron and Germany under Scholz had shifted their stance which ante-dated the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War and now embraced expansionary policies.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Zourabichvili announced during the presidential campaign that, if elected, she would not work from the Avlabari Presidential Palace, opened in 2009 during the Presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili. After her election, she met with the outgoing fourth President in the Avlabari Palace, but her administration moved into the Orbeliani Palace on Atoneli street in Central Tbilisi. On 18 December 2018 she visited the Atoneli residence for the first time. The media met her at the entrance, emphasising the fact that she walked to the office.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Besides moving to the smaller residence, Zourabichvili's office faced significant budget cutbacks. According to the 2019 budget, funding for the presidential administration is being reduced by just over ₾ 3.5 million. As a result, the vast majority of former employees were fired with only 60 of them remaining in administration.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Changes have also led to abolishing the presidential fund which amounted to ₾5 million and funded scholarships, educational programs and various other projects. This decision has been widely criticized with former President Giorgi Margvelashvili and former First Lady Maka Chichua campaigning for it to remain.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: As the first popularly elected woman president of Georgia, Zourabichvili has advocated for women's rights and equality through social media and from political tribunes. She has organised a number of meetings and attended conferences aiming for the empowerment of women and young girls. On October 5th 2019, she hosted a meeting of women leaders from Georgia, Belgium and France, later saying on Twitter: "The role of women in our society is crucial and their contribution to our political, cultural, entrepreneurial and educational circles is key to our development."


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Amid the controversy around the 2019 Tbilisi Pride Parade, Zourabichvili said: “I am everyone’s president, regardless of sexual orientation or religious affiliation. No human should be discriminated against. I must also emphasize that our country is dealing with enough controversies and doesn’t need any further provocation from any side of the LGBTQ debate." This comment was met with criticism by LGBTQ organizations across the country, as well as some members of the civil society. Tbilisi Pride co-founder Tamaz Sozashvili wrote: "How can she consider peaceful citizens and aggressive fundamentalists as equal sides?" She made no response to the criticism.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: Following attacks on the offices of Tbilisi Pride by anti-LGBT protesters on July 5, 2021, in which a number of journalists, activists and passersby were injured, Zourabichvili condemned the violence and visited injured journalists in hospital. She subsequently tweeted:


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: "Violence is unacceptable. I condemn today’s events and any form of violence over difference of ideas or gender identity. Everyone has the constitutional right to express their opinion. I call on all to act within the Constitution and not provoke violence through radical actions.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In June 2022, Zourabichvili condemned the homophobic protest by far-right groups in front of the EU delegation offices in Tbilisi.


title: Salome Zourabichvili

text: In the course of the 2008 Georgian presidential election, Zourabichvili and many other opposition politicians voiced support for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Bagrationi dynasty, which the Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II, had advocated.


title: Sendai

text: In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the , lasting through most of December.


title: Sendai

text: On 11 March 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake, which triggered a destructive tsunami.


title: Sendai

text: Although the Sendai area was inhabited as early as 20,000 years ago, the history of Sendai as a city begins from 1600, when the "daimyō" Date Masamune relocated. Masamune was not happy with his previous stronghold, Iwadeyama, which was located in the northern portion of his territories and was difficult to access from Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Sendai was an ideal location, being in the centre of Masamune's newly defined territories, upon the major road from Edo. Tokugawa Ieyasu gave Masamune permission to build a new castle in Aobayama after the Battle of Sekigahara. The previous ruler of the Sendai area had used a castle located on Aobayama. At this time Sendai was written as ("a thousand generations"), because a temple with a used to be located in Aobayama. Masamune changed the "kanji" to "", which later became "" (literally: "hermit/wizard" plus "platform/plateau" or figuratively, "hermit on a platform/high ground"). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180–157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this "kanji" so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit.


title: Sendai

text: Masamune ordered the construction of Sendai Castle in December 1600 and the construction of the surrounding castle town in 1601. The grid plan roads in modern-day central Sendai are based upon his plans.


title: Sendai

text: The first railway line between Sendai and Tokyo, now the Tōhoku Main Line, opened in 1887, bringing the area within a day's travel from Tokyo for the first time in history. Tohoku Imperial University, the region's first university, was founded in Sendai in 1907 and became the first Japanese university to admit female students in 1913.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai was incorporated as a city on 1 April 1889, with the post-Meiji restoration creation of the modern municipalities system following the abolition of the han system. At the time of incorporation, the city's area was and its population was 86,000. The city grew, however, through seven annexations that occurred between 1928 and 1988. The city became a designated city on 1 April 1989; the city's population exceeded one million in 1999.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai was considered to be one of Japan's greenest cities, mostly because of its great numbers of trees and plants. Sendai became known as The City of Trees before the Meiji Restoration, after the feudal Sendai Domain encouraged residents to plant trees in their gardens. As a result, many houses, temples, and shrines in central Sendai had , which were used as resources for wood and other everyday materials.


title: Sendai

text: In 1925, the Senseki Line to Sendai Station became the first underground railway segment in Japan, preceding the opening of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (Asia's first subway line) by two years.


title: Sendai

text: The 2nd Infantry Division was known as the "Sendai Division" as it was based in Sendai, and recruited locally. During the Second World War it was involved in many different campaigns, but one of the most important was the Battle of Guadalcanal. During the bombing of Sendai during World War II by the United States on 10 July 1945, much of the historic center of the city was burned, with 2,755 inhabitants killed and 11,933 houses destroyed in the city.


title: Sendai

text: Following World War II, the city was rebuilt, and Sendai became a vital transportation and logistics hub for the Tōhoku region with the construction of major arteries such as the Tōhoku Expressway and Tōhoku Shinkansen.


title: Sendai

text: In the early 1950s, the United States Army, Japan operated Camp Schimmelpfennig and Camp Sendai in the city.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai has been subject to several major earthquakes in recent history, including the 1978 Miyagi earthquake, which was a catalyst for the development of Japan's current earthquake resistance standards, and the 2005 Miyagi earthquake. Most recently, the coastal area of Sendai, including Sendai Airport, was severely damaged in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami reportedly reached as far as Wakabayashi Ward Office, from the coastline. Thousands were killed, and countless more were injured and/or made homeless. Sendai's port was heavily damaged and temporarily closed, reopening on 16 April 2011.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai is located at lat. 38°16'05" north, long. 140°52'11" east. The city's area is , and stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Ōu Mountains, which are the east and west borders of Miyagi Prefecture. As a result, the city's geography is quite diverse. Eastern Sendai is a plains area, the center of the city is hilly, and western areas are mountainous. The highest point in the city is Mount Funagata which stands above sea level. Unique among Japan's large coastal cities, Sendai's city core is built on a terrace at elevation.


title: Sendai

text: The Sendai basin area is (the mountainous area is , the plain area is and the water body is ). The basin consists of urban areas, paddy fields and forests. The mid and upstream areas have forests. The Natori River flows through the area and reaches Sendai Bay after .


title: Sendai

text: The flows through Sendai. The river is well known as a symbol of Sendai, especially because it appears in the lyrics of Aoba-jō Koi-uta (青葉城恋唄; literally, "The Aoba Castle Love Song"), a popular song sung by Muneyuki Satō. Aoba Castle was built close to the river to use the river as a natural moat. The river frequently flooded until the 1950s, but dams and levees constructed in the 1960s and 1970s have made such floods rare.


title: Sendai

text: Most mountains in Sendai are dormant volcanoes, much older than the more famous Mount Zaō and Naruko volcanoes in nearby municipalities. However, many hot springs can be found in the city, indicating hydrothermal activity. The Miyagi Oki earthquake occurs offshore Sendai once every 25 to 40 years. The 7.2 magnitude 2005 Miyagi earthquake, which occurred on August 16, 2005, had an epicenter close to the "Miyagi Oki" earthquake area. However, the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion concluded that it was not the "Miyagi Oki" earthquake, saying "...the recent event is not thought to be this earthquake. This is because the magnitude of the earthquake was small, and the source area, which was estimated from the aftershock distribution and seismic waves, didn't cover the whole expected source region. Although, the recent event ruptured a part of the focal region of the expected earthquake." In 2011, the 9.0 magnitude 2011 Tōhoku earthquake occurred offshore Sendai, resulting in a devastating tsunami.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai has five wards ("ku"), which were created when it became a designated city in 1989. The city consciously avoided names that included directions (e.g., north , center ) when it chose names for the new wards.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa"), which features warm and wet summers, and cool and dry winters. Sendai summers are not as hot as Tokyo to the south, while the winters are much milder than Sapporo to the north, but retains significant seasonal differences in temperature and rainfall. Extremes range from . Of Japan's prefectural capitals, Sendai experiences the fewest days of extreme temperatures (highs outside ) at 19.6 per year, compared to Tokyo's average of 49.


title: Sendai

text: Winters are cool and relatively dry, with January temperatures averaging . Snowfall is much lower than cities on the Sea of Japan coast, such as Niigata and Tottori. Summers are very warm and much of the year's precipitation is delivered at this time, with an August average of . The city is rarely hit by typhoons, and experiences only 6 days with more than of rainfall on average. Sendai's monsoon season usually begins in late April to early October, which is later than in most cities in Japan. During this season, cold winds from the Okhotsk air mass, called "Yamase", blow in and depress daytime highs.


title: Sendai

text: In 2020 the city had an estimated population of 1,091,407 and a population density of 1,400 persons per km. The city's total area was 786.30 km. Most people in the city at this time lived in urban areas close to train and subway stations. The 2000 National Census revealed that 88.5% of the city's population (892,252 people) lived in a 129.69 km area, which is 16.6% of the city's total area. The population density in this area was 6,879.9 persons per km, more than 5 times higher than the city's average population density at that time, 1,286.6 persons per km. Approximately 10,000 people in Sendai were non-Japanese citizens.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai had 525,828 households in 2020. The average household had approximately 2.07 members. The average household was becoming smaller every year, because single-member households were increasing. At this time Sendai had more people in their early 50s and in their 20s and early 30s than in other age groups. This is a result of the first and second baby booms in Japan, and university students. The average age in Sendai is 38.4, which makes the city one of the youngest major cities in Japan.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai's political system is similar to other cities in Japan, because the Local Autonomy Law makes all municipalities uniform in terms of organization and power. However, Sendai is a designated city, so it has the same jurisdiction as prefectures in some areas.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature. The Sendai City Assembly members are elected from 5 elective districts, which correspond to the city's 5 wards. The number of assembly members allocated to each ward is based upon population. As of May 2005, the city has 60 assembly members; 17 from Aoba Ward, 11 from Miyagino, 8 from Wakabayashi, 13 from Taihaku, and 11 from Izumi. The City Assembly elects an Assembly Chairperson and Vice Chairperson. Sendai has two vice mayors, who are not elected by the populace. Miyagi contributes 24 seats to the Miyagi Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Miyagi 1st district and the Miyagi 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai is the center of the Tōhoku region's economy, and is the base of the region's logistics and transportation. The GDP in Greater Sendai, Sendai Metropolitan Employment Area (1.6 million people), is US$61.7 billion in 2010. Sendai city by itself has a nominal GDP of approximately US$50 billion as of 2015. The city's economy heavily relies upon retail and services – the two industries provide approximately two thirds of the employment and close to half of the establishments.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai is frequently called a branch-office economy, because very few major companies are headquartered in the city. Various authorities are cooperating to alleviate this problem, primarily by encouraging high-tech ventures from Tohoku University, which is well known for its science and engineering departments. There are also incentives for startups available from the prefectural government.


title: Sendai

text: Tohoku Electric Power, a major regional supplier of electric power, has its headquarters in Sendai and also operates the Shin-Sendai Thermal Power Station located within the city.


title: Sendai

text: Sendai's economic growth rate has stabilized since the 2011 Japan earthquake. The growth rate was only 0.4% in 2011 after the quake created economic turmoil in coastal areas. The year after, in 2012 the rate spiked to 10.4% after reconstruction efforts. It has since fallen to a closer trend to what is expected of 3.7% in 2013.


title: Sendai

text: The city is served by Sendai Airport (located in neighboring Natori), which has international flights to several countries, and the Port of Sendai. A rail link to Sendai began service on March 18, 2007.


title: Sendai

text: JR East's Sendai Station is the main transport hub for the city. The station is served by seven JR lines and is a major station on the Tōhoku and Akita Shinkansen lines. An underground passage connects the station to the Sendai Subway. The subway has two lines— Namboku ("north-south") and Tōzai ("east-west") with a total of 30 stations. When completed in 2015, Yagiyama station became the highest-elevated subway station in the country at 136.4 meters.


title: Sendai

text: In addition to the public bus system, a loop bus called Loople runs between tourism hotspots around the city.


title: Sendai

text: The Tōhoku Expressway runs north–south through western Sendai, and is connected to other highways, such as the Sendai-Nambu Road, Sendai-Tobu Road, Sanriku Expressway (Sendai-Matsushima Road), and Sendai Hokubu Road.


title: Sendai

text: The most well-known streets in Sendai, and , are both lined with Japanese zelkovas. These are symbols of "The City of Trees". Jozenji-Dori has a promenade and a few sculptures. It is a place of relaxation. Many events and festivals, such as the Sendai Pageant of Starlight and the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival, take place on Jozenji-Dori and in . Aoba-Dori is the main business road in Sendai. Other major roads in the city include Hirose-Dori (ginkgo), and Higashi-Nibancho-Dori.


title: Sendai

text: The most famous festival in Sendai is Tanabata, which attracts more than 2 million visitors every year and is the largest Tanabata Festival in Japan. It is relatively quiet compared to other traditional Japanese festivals, because its main attractions are intricate Tanabata decorations.


title: Sendai

text: The Aoba Matsuri Festival follows more typical Japanese festival traditions, with a mikoshi, floats, a samurai parade, and traditional dancing.


title: Sendai

text: Local people burn their New Year decorations and pray for health in the new year during the Dontosai Festival, the oldest festival in Miyagi Prefecture.


title: Sendai

text: Various contemporary festivals also take place in Sendai, such as the Jōzenji Streetjazz Festival, the Michinoku Yosakoi Festival, and the Sendai Pageant of Starlight. The Jōzenji Streetjazz Festival is one of the largest amateur music festivals in Japan. It began as a jazz festival in 1991, but soon began to accept applications from all genres. The Michinoku Yosakoi festival is a dance festival, derived from the Yosakoi Festival that takes place in Kōchi. Trees in downtown Sendai are decorated with lights during the Sendai Pageant of Starlights. The event provided the idea for the Festival of Lights annually held in Riverside, Sendai's sister city. In 2005, the streets were lit up with one million miniature bulbs.