title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The median income for a household in the city was $32,663, and the median income for a family was $40,995. Males had a median income of $31,300 versus $21,592 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,445. About 9.1% of families and 13.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: During the 1900 census, efforts by local officials, business leaders, and other city boosters to show rapid growth led to double-counting. The actual population in 1900 is believed to be closer to 75,000-80,000.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Saint Joseph has a vibrant and diversified local economy. The local area supports a large food processing industry. Bio-fuels, meat and grains processing, candies, and various other products well known throughout North America are made in Saint Joseph. With this specific industry come other associated packaging and food processing equipment suppliers that employ many more persons.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Saint Joseph is at the center of the Kansas City Animal Health Triangle, which extends from Manhattan, KS to Columbia, MO. With this advantageous location, Saint Joseph is home to several Animal Health Pharmaceutical, Animal Nutrition, and associated research facilities. Other agricultural products including herbicides for crop production are produced in St. Joseph.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Transit America Services, a subsidiary of Herzog, provides conductors and other railway technical positions for transit rail systems nationwide. Herzog Contracting, parent company to Transit America, is based in the city and provides construction services, rail equipment, rail testing, and signaling services to freight and transit systems throughout North America and the Caribbean. Attached is a list of the largest employers in St. Joseph, MO. Other privately held manufacturing companies are also top employers but they do not publicly disclose employment numbers. Saint Joseph has the 3rd largest manufacturing economy in Missouri, after Saint Louis and Kansas City. In June 2019, total employment in the St. Joseph Metropolitan Area was 65,099 persons.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph is home to several retail areas, many of which are grouped along Belt Highway on the city's east side. East Hills Mall is located at North Belt Highway and Frederick Boulevard. The mall opened in 1965, was expanded in 1988, and was renovated in 2001 with a far more extensive renovation in 2008 and 2009. Developed in 2005, the Shoppes at North Village is concentrated along North Belt Highway between approximately Cook and County Line roads. This serves as a regional shopping destination. Other shopping districts include Belt Center, Hy-Vee Shopping Center, Hillcrest Plaza, East Ridge Village, and Woodlawn Shopping Center. Saint Joseph's trade area encompasses parts of NE Kansas, NW Missouri, SE Nebraska, and SW Iowa.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The St. Joseph School District operates three public high schools, four public middle schools and 16 public elementary schools in St. Joseph. There are three private grade schools, a private high school and a private K-12 Christian school. Two new elementary schools (Oak Grove and Carden Park) have been constructed, and both opened by the 2014–15 academic year. In addition, there is an active home education community that serves the city and surrounding areas. In higher education, St. Joseph is the home of a regional public university as well as a public university outreach center, a public technical school and a private technical school.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph has a four-branch public library system. The system is overseen by the Library Board which consists of nine members appointed by the mayor, with city council approval, for three-year terms. The Downtown Library, located in downtown St. Joseph, houses the administrative offices for the library system. Carnegie Library and Washington Park Library are neighborhood branches that serve communities in the North and South ends of the city. East Hills Library is the largest branch, located off Interstate 29, which serves the greater St. Joseph area. Downtown Library and Carnegie Library were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and 1990 respectively.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: The St. Joseph Transit is publicly owned and provides bus service. Rosecrans Memorial Airport is a joint municipal/military owned airport for general aviation. It is the home of the 139th Airlift Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard, and does not have commercial service. The nearest commercial airport is Kansas City International Airport, which is approximately 35 miles (56 km) to the south.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Numerous parks, golf courses, sports complexes, skate parks, a water park, a riverwalk along the Missouri River, and a small conservation area can be found throughout St. Joseph proper. The city is also nationally known for its parkway system, which is accompanied by an urban trail system. Two of the city's largest parks are Krug Park and Hyde Park; these respectively anchor the parkway and urban trail on the north and south. A dog park has been added to the parkway system near Corby Pond.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: St. Joseph currently ranks 201st largest designated market area out of 210 media markets in the United States (as ranked by Nielsen Media Research); the market covers six counties in northwestern Missouri (Holt, Worth, Nodaway, Andrew, DeKalb and Buchanan) and Doniphan County in northeastern Kansas. The St. Joseph area has three low-power and two full-power television stations, and ten radio stations. News-Press & Gazette, a media corporation, is headquartered in Saint Joseph. They have interests in numerous television, radio, and newspaper markets throughout the Midwestern and Western United States.


title: St. Joseph, Missouri

text: Due to its proximity to Kansas City, stations from that market serve as default affiliate of MyNetworkTV (KSMO-TV/Kansas City) and default member station of PBS (KCPT/Kansas City) due to the lack of stations of either network licensed to the market. ABC affiliate KQTV had long been the only major commercial station in St. Joseph, but in June 2012, the locally based News-Press & Gazette Company signed-on KNPN-LD as a Fox affiliate, KBJO-LD as a CW+ affiliate, and KNPG-LD as a Telemundo affiliate. This in turn was followed by the conversions of KBJO-LD to NBC affiliate KNPG-LD in November 2016 (retaining the CW+ as a LD2 subchannel), and the original KNPG-LD (which assumed the KBJO-LD call letters) to CBS affiliate KCJO-LD in June 2017, ending out-of-market reliance for major network programming.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: The Harbin Z-9 (NATO reporting name "Haitun", for Dolphin) is a Chinese military utility helicopter with civilian variants. It is a licensed variant of the French Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, and is manufactured by Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: The first Z-9 flew in 1981, and was built in China from components supplied by Aérospatiale as part of a production patent bought on 15 October 1980. On 16 January 1992, the indigenous variant Z-9B, constructed with 70% Chinese-made parts, flew successfully. The flight test was completed in November 1992 and the design was finalized a month later. Z-9B production began in 1993 and entered PLA service in 1994.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: The Z-9B features an 11-blade Fenestron faired-in tail rotor with wider-chord, all-composite blades replacing the 13-blade used in the original AS365N. As a light tactical troop transport, the Z-9 has the capacity to transport 10 fully armed soldiers. Generally the Z-9 is identical to the AS365N Dauphin, though later variants of the Z-9 incorporate more composite materials to increase structural strength and lower radar signature.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: The helicopter has a four-blade main rotor, with two turboshaft engines mounted side by side on top of the cabin with engine layout identical to the AS365N. The Z-9 teardrop-shaped body features a tapered boom to the tail fin, with rounded nose and stepped-up cockpit, retractable gear, and all flat bottom.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: In 2002, Harbin obtained Chinese certification for the new H410A variant of the Z-9, which features more powerful Turbomeca Arriel 2C turboshaft engines; Eurocopter issued official objections to Harbin's decision to continue production in spite of the license-production agreement having expired, leading to a period of highly sensitive international negotiations to resolve the dispute.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: An armed variant has been fielded by the PLA since the early 1990s as the WZ-9 or Z-9W, with pylons fitted for anti-tank missiles. These helicopters lack the maneuverability and survivability of a proper attack helicopter, and merely provide a stopgap during the development of the WZ-10. The latest armed version, the Z-9W, was introduced in 2005 and has night attack capabilities, with an under-nose low-light TV and infra-red observing and tracking unit.


title: Harbin Z-9

text: The naval version introduced in the 1990s is known as the Z-9C. As well as SAR and ASW duties, the Z-9C can be fitted with an X-band KLC-1 surface search radar to detect surface targets beyond the range of shipborne radar systems.


title: Golden Sun

text: The original two games, "Golden Sun" and "", were released in 2001 and 2002, respectively, for the Game Boy Advance platform. A third game, "", was released for the Nintendo DS platform in 2010. In "Golden Sun", the player plays as protagonist Isaac and his companions as they set off into the world of Weyard to prevent a group of anti-heroes from releasing a mysterious power called "Alchemy" to the world. "Golden Sun: The Lost Age" follows the plight of the surviving members from the previous game's antagonists as they continue to pursue the release of Alchemy by means of lighting four elemental lighthouses. "" takes place thirty years later and follows the path of the descendants of the previous two games' heroes as they navigate a world adapting to the presence of Alchemy.


title: Golden Sun

text: The series has received a generally favorable reception by critics. The first "Golden Sun" game has been widely lauded as among the best games for the Game Boy Advance, with the first game receiving Nintendo Power's Best GBA Game of 2001 and ranking in IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever, as number 94. "" performed even better than its predecessor, ranking 78 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever. "Dark Dawn", while still scoring highly on Metacritic's aggregation of critic scores, was less well received. Sales figures for the first two "Golden Sun" games exceeded one million in the United States and Japan, a figure that "Dark Dawn" failed to exceed.


title: Golden Sun

text: Games in the "Golden Sun" series are set in the fictional world of Weyard, a flat and vaguely circular plane whose oceans perpetually spill off the edge of the world's entire perimeter into what seems to be an endless abyss. The first two installments, "Golden Sun" and "The Lost Age", center around two groups of magically-attuned "adepts" who are alternately charged with achieving and preventing the release of a potentially destructive power known as Alchemy on the world. The force of Alchemy was prevalent in Weyard's ancient past, allowing for the development of great civilizations, but this eventually gave way to worldwide conflict that had subsided only with the sealing away of Alchemy. The keys to unlocking Alchemy, four magic jewels named the Elemental Stars, have been hidden within the mountain shrine, Mt. Aleph, which in turn has been guarded by the town of Vale at the mountain's base over the ages. The third installment, "Dark Dawn", chronicles the events of Weyard thirty years after the return of Alchemy and the struggles the world's inhabitants face while adapting to their new reality.


title: Golden Sun

text: In the "Golden Sun" games, players guide a cast of characters as they journey through a fantasy-themed world, interact with other characters, battle monsters, acquire increasingly powerful magic spells and equipment, and take part in a building, predefined narrative. Much of the game's time spent outside of battle takes place in dungeons, caves, and other locales, which generally require the player to find items that grant the bearer new forms of "Psynergy", or magical spells, in order to solve the puzzles integrated into their layout. To complete these puzzles, players must either push pillars to construct negotiable paths between elevated areas, climb up and rappel down cliffs or obtain a special item to progress through the story and game world. Outside of these dungeons and locales, the player must traverse through a large world map as they navigate between forests, rivers, mountain ranges, seas, and oceans.


title: Golden Sun

text: A key element in in-game exploration is the strategic use of the extensive pool of Psynergy spells available, which can be used both for battle and for solving puzzles in the game's locales. A portion of the game's Psynergy can only be used in combat; conversely, many spells are only used in the game's overworld and non-battle scenarios. At the same time, there are Psynergy spells can be used in both situations; for example, the "Whirlwind" spell that can be used to damage enemies in battle is also used out of battle to clear away overgrown foliage that may block the player's path. The player gains more Psynergy spells as the game progresses, both through leveling up and the acquisition of special Psynergy-bestowing items, and with each "utility" Psynergy spell the party gains access to more locations and secrets hidden in the game world.


title: Golden Sun

text: Regarding battle, "Golden Sun" games contain both random monster encounters, featuring randomly selected enemies, and compulsory battles involving set enemies, which advance the story. When a battle begins, a separate screen is brought up where the player's party and enemy party face-off on opposing sides. During a battle, the characters and the background rotate to give a pseudo-3D effect. Players can attack enemies directly using a variety of weapons and offensive Psynergy spells, or by summoning Djinn, powerful other-worldly entities that enhance an attached character's hit points, Psynergy points, and other statistics, as well as determining what Psynergy the character is able to perform. Djinn can be set to standby, where players forfeit stat enhancements in order to unleash a powerful one-time attack where the player summons an elemental monster to inflict damage on every enemy.


title: Golden Sun

text: Three years prior to the start of the game's main story, Saturos and Menardi raid Mt. Aleph with the intent to steal the Elemental Stars, but fail to solve the riddles guarding them and are driven away by the mountain's trap, a magically generated thunderstorm and rock slide.


title: Golden Sun

text: Three years later, Isaac, Garet, and Jenna join Kraden on his research trip to Mt. Aleph and manage to solve the shrine's puzzles and retrieve the Elemental Stars. They are ambushed by Saturos and Menardi, along with Felix, a previous resident of Vale who was kidnapped during the storms three years earlier. They kidnap Jenna and Kraden and take three of the four Elemental Stars and depart to light the four lighthouses and release Alchemy on the world. Isaac's party is joined by two other young adepts named Ivan and Mia, and together they pursue Saturos' party in a lengthy chase and journey that spans two continents, climaxing in a fierce battle that leads to Saturos and Menardi's death.


title: Golden Sun

text: With Saturos and Menardi dead, Felix convinces Jenna and Kraden to join him on a quest to complete Saturos' original objective to activate the two remaining lighthouses that he failed to light. Joined by new companions Sheba and Piers, Felix and his party embark on an epic expedition while pursued by Isaac's party. Eventually, Felix's party is able to achieve entrance into a legendary, secluded Atlantis-like society named Lemuria far out in the ocean. When they convene with Lemuria's ancient king, Hydros, they learn about Alchemy's true nature: it is the sustenance of Weyard's very life force, and its absence over the past ages has caused the world's continents to decrease in size and parts of the world to collapse into the abyss. Armed with this new information, Felix manages to persuade Isaac and his party to join them, and together they fulfill the goal of releasing Alchemy and preventing Weyard's eventual decay.


title: Golden Sun

text: Thirty years after Isaac and his party of adepts return the power of Alchemy to Weyard, continents have shifted, new countries have emerged, and new species have appeared. However, Psynergy Vortexes, which suck the elemental Psynergy from both the land and the power-wielding Adepts, are appearing all over Weyard. The original games' heroes' descendants – Matthew, Karis, Rief, and Tyrell – set out to solve the mystery of the vortexes, and face a world adapting to the constant presence of psynergy.


title: Golden Sun

text: The game begins with Tyrell accidentally crashing one of Ivan's inventions, a Soarwing, so Isaac sends him out with Matthew and Karis to retrieve a feather of the mountain roc to build a new one. After meeting up with Kraden, Rief, and Nowell, they are ambushed by villains Blados, Chalis, and Arcanus and the party is separated. As Matthew's party travels across Weyard to reunite with Kraden and Nowell, they encounter a deadly eclipse heralded by the lighting of Luna Tower, causing suffering and destruction across the world. They manage to activate an ancient machine known as the Apollo's Lens to end the eclipse, and return home to discover a large Psynergy Vortex sitting ominously near their home.


title: Golden Sun

text: The "Golden Sun" games were created by the Takahashi Brothers, consisting of Hiroyuki Takahashi and Shugo Takahashi, and produced by Camelot Software Planning. According to co-creator Shugo Takahashi, the series was conceived as a way for Nintendo to compete against Sony's PlayStation console, which dominated the role-playing game market at the time. As a handheld title, "Golden Sun" was originally planned as a single game, but due to both the hardware limitations of putting the entire game on a single Game Boy Advance cartridge and the developers' own desire for what they wanted to do with the game, it was expanded to become two successive games, "Golden Sun" and "". The Takahashi Brothers had previously designed "Shining Force III", where the story involved playing through the perspectives of both the "good" side and the "bad" side of the characters. Thinking that it was an effective way of conveying the full story of a fictional game world, they incorporated elements of this storytelling methodology into the two-game setup of the "Golden Sun" series, having the player control the "good guys" in "Golden Sun" and members of the antagonistic party in "The Lost Age".


title: Golden Sun

text: Originally, Camelot planned to create a single title instead of a series, and in the extremely early stages of their project they had created a game design document for the one "Golden Sun" game to be on the Nintendo 64 console. When it became apparent the N64 was to be superseded by the GameCube, Camelot shifted their focus to making a game on the handheld Game Boy Advance.


title: Golden Sun

text: "Golden Sun" games generally have longer development cycles than their peer games on similar consoles due to the series' complex gameplay mechanisms and storylines. "Golden Sun", the first game in the series, underwent a development cycle of between twelve and eighteen months by Camelot Software Planning, which is considered a long period of time for the development of a handheld video game, and was described as a "testament" to the positive results a long development cycle can bring to a game. It was shown in early, playable form at the Nintendo Spaceworld Expo in Japan in August 2000. North American previewers received the game a few weeks before the release, and IGN noted that the experience of developing "Shining Force" for Sega helped Camelot develop a gripping RPG for the handheld.


title: Golden Sun

text: "" was first revealed to Japan in early 2002, with the magazine "Famitsu" being the first publication to review the game. "The Lost Age" was highly anticipated; it topped IGN's list of Game Boy Advance "Most Wanted" games for 2003. The North American version of the game was playable at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2002, and IGN noted that the opening of the game did away with the slow opening sequence of "Golden Sun", introducing the characters in between the action. GameSpot previewed a localized copy of "The Lost Age" in February 2003, and noted that the game built on its predecessor's graphics engine, with "the environments in the game featuring rich detail with little touches— such as birds that fly off as you approach."


title: Golden Sun

text: "" was first revealed and introduced at the Nintendo E3 2009 conference by Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime, as a series that "went dark six years ago" but has since been revisited and polished up for the Nintendo DS. The game received a larger development team than previous installments, giving the team luxuries such as visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites for inspiration.


title: Golden Sun

text: In an interview with Nintendo Gamer in June 2012, series producer Hiroyuki Takahashi spoke about the possibility of a fourth Golden Sun game; "A big reason for us making RPGs comes from the requests from all the people who have enjoyed our RPGs in the past. Perhaps if there are enough Nintendo users asking for another game in the "Golden Sun" series, then this will naturally lead to the development of such a game."


title: Golden Sun

text: The series' original music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, and his score for the first game in his series was his first attempt at composing music for the Game Boy Advance. The new technology offered by the console encouraged Sakuraba to attempt new styles, resulting in subtle rock influences in the series' music The collection of orchestral pieces that Sakuraba contributed to the series include an overworld theme, several battle themes that play during fight sequences, and a variety of individual themes for the games' various towns and other locales. Sakuraba returned to score both "The Lost Age" and "Dark Dawn", with the latter released on a new platform with updated hardware. According to Sakuraba, the "sound design" for "Dark Dawn" was different and he preferred the music in the first two games. He has also expressed a desire for an official soundtrack release of the series' music.


title: Golden Sun

text: Sakuraba also contributed songs to two games in the "Super Smash Bros." franchise, among which two were adapted from his works in "The Lost Age" and "Dark Dawn".


title: Golden Sun

text: Elements from the "Golden Sun" games have made appearances in other media. Isaac, the main protagonist of the original "Golden Sun" game, is an unlockable "Assist Trophy" character in the Nintendo fighting game "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". When he is summoned during battle by an Assist Trophy item, Isaac uses Psynergy to conjure a large hand three times in succession to shove the player's opponents off the stage. Should enemies attempt to evade, Isaac will turn in sync to attack a selected opponent. In addition, a medley of music from "The Lost Age" was selected to be on "Brawl"'s soundtrack. The game's sequel, "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U", did not feature Isaac but "The Lost Age" medley was featured along with the world map theme from "Dark Dawn". However, "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" marks Isaac's return to the series as an Assist Trophy, where he now is able to use more advanced tactics in battle and can now be fought, and a costume inspired by him for the Mii Swordfighter was developed. The game also features characters from all 3 titles as "spirits" including the adult Isaac from "Dark Dawn". Despite his absence as a playable character currently in the game, he is generally ranked as one of the most requested characters in Smash's history.


title: Golden Sun

text: The characters from the first "Golden Sun" game also appear in a self-published doujinshi manga titled "Golden Sun 4-Koma Gag Battle", drawn by various artists and published by Kobunsha. It was released four months after the first game came out and is not officially sanctioned by Camelot. As a result, the manga was only released in Japan.


title: Golden Sun

text: The original game sold 740,000 copies in the United States and 338,000 in Japan, while "The Lost Age" sold 437,000 and 249,000 units in the United States and Japan, respectively. In total, both games sold 1.65 million and 1.12 million respectively, with European sales contributing 572,000 and 434,000. By the end of 2012, two years after its release, "Dark Dawn" only sold 80,000 units in Japan.


title: Golden Sun

text: The series was met with many positive reviews. Reviewers praised the series' vibrant graphics, high-quality sound, and varied, refined RPG gameplay, with particular optimism on the Djinn-based gameplay system and Battle aspect despite the fact that the original two games were limited to the 32-bit cartridge. "GamePro" raved that "Golden Sun" was "A huge, fantastic, creative, and wickedly fun RPG that doesn't seem to care that it's 'just' on a GBA," while they praised that "The Lost Age"'s eye-popping magic effects are beautiful even by console standards. IGN, meanwhile, praised the plot's intricate structure, saying that it "has been so tightly integrated into every ounce of the adventure... such a rich and deep plot that it's almost easy to get lost if you're not paying attention." 1UP praised "Dark Dawn" as being a huge step forward in terms of pacing and graphics compared to the previous games.


title: Golden Sun

text: Critics complained that the combat system lacked "smart" combat; if an enemy is killed before other party members attack it, those members switch to defense instead of intelligently attacking the remaining enemies. They also took issue to the long opening sequences in both games that "alienated new players" and "confused them by swamping them with new characters". In addition, some faulted "Golden Sun" for still relying on the traditional "wander around, get into a random battle, win battle, wander around, random battle, etc." theme evident in many role-playing games. 1UP faulted Camelot for being unwilling to "trim its fat", and noted that all three games in the series "tend to ramble on anytime dialogue boxes start to show up. Its heroes and villains have an uncanny knack for saying incredibly simple things with about three or four times the words they actually need to convey those ideas." Game Informer noted that the difficulty of "Dark Dawn" was greatly dumbed down compared to previous installments and complained that "characters level up at blazing speeds" while the djinn make "even the longest boss battles a cakewalk."


title: Golden Sun

text: In 2001, "Golden Sun" won the Nintendo Power Award for best Game Boy Advance game of the year. "Golden Sun" was ranked 94 and "The Lost Age" was ranked 78 on IGN's Readers Choice Top 100 games ever. In 2007, "Golden Sun" was named 24th best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan, and its Game of the Month for April 2003 due to its "amazing graphics and sound presentation, as well as a quest that lasts for more than thirty hours."


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangladesh and southern plains of Nepal. The region is named after the Indus and the Ganges rivers and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The plain is bound on the north by the Himalayas, which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the Deccan Plateau. On the west rises the Iranian Plateau. Many developed cities like Delhi, Dhaka, Kolkata, Lahore and Karachi are located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The region is known for the Indus Valley civilization, which was responsible for the birth of ancient culture of the Indian subcontinent. The flat and fertile terrain has facilitated the repeated rise and expansion of various empires, including the Maurya Empire, Kushan Empire, Gupta Empire, Pala Empire, Imperial Kannauj,Dogra Dynasty, Delhi Sultanates, the Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire – all of which had their demographic and political centers in the Indo-Gangetic plain. During the Vedic and Epic eras of Indian history, this region was referred to as "Aryavarta" (Land of the Aryans). According to "Manusmṛti" (2.22), 'Aryavarta' is "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern Sea (Bay of Bengal) to the Western Sea (Arabian Sea)". The region is also referred to historically as "Hindustan" or the Land of the Hindus.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The name ‘Hindustan’ (हिन्दुस्तान) is Persian; it means literally ‘country of the Hindus/Indians’. Its first member, "Hindu" (हिन्दु), was borrowed from the Sanskrit word "sindhu" (सिन्धु) m./f. ‘river’, while "stān" is a cognate of the Sanskrit word "sthāna" (स्थान) n. ‘a place’.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The term was later used to refer to the whole of the Indian subcontinent. The term "Hindustani" is also used to refer to the people, music, and culture of the region.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: In 12th Century Much of Indo-Gangetic Plain were ruled by the Rajputs. Most Prominent of them were Chauhans of Ajmer along with Gahadavals Or Rathores of Varanasi and many petty Rajput kingdoms. Rajput as a separate caste also emerge in Indian social structure around Ghurid Invasions of India.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: In 1191, the Rajput king of Ajmer and Delhi, Prithviraj Chauhan, unified several Rajput states and decisively defeated the invading army of Shihabuddin Ghori near Tarroari in the First Battle of Tarain.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Shihabuddin returned, and in spite of being outnumbered, decisively defeated the Rajput Confederacy of Prithviraj on the same battlefield in the Second Battle of Tarain. Prithviraj fled the battleground but was captured shortly from battle site and executed. Malesi a Kachwaha Rajput of Jaipur lead last stand for Rajputs against Ghurids after Prithviraj escape.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The defeat of Rajputs marks a watershed moment in Medieval India's history as it not only shattered Rajput powers in the Indo-Gangetic Plain but also firmly established a Muslim presence.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Following the battle, the Delhi Sultanate became prominent in the region and collapse of organised Rajput resistance in northern India led to Muslim control of the region within a generation.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The Indo-Gangetic Plain is divided into two drainage basins by the Delhi Ridge; the western part drains to the Indus, and the eastern part consists of the Ganga–Brahmaputra drainage systems. This divide is only 350 metres above sea level, causing the perception that the Indo-Gangetic Plain appears to be continuous from Sindh in the west to Bengal and Assam in the east.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: A thin strip between the foothills of the Himalayas and the plain, the Bhabar is a region of porous ground consisting of boulders and pebbles that have washed down from the mountains. It is not suitable for crops and is forested. The streams disappear underground here.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The many tributaries of the Indus river and the Ganga river divide the plain into "doabs", tongues of land that extend to where the tributaries meet. Close to the rivers is "khadar" land of new alluvium that is subject to flooding. Above the flood limit, "bangar" land is older alluvium deposited in the middle Pleistocene.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The annual rainfall increases from west towards the east. The Lower Ganges Plains and the Assam Valley are more verdant than the middle Ganga plain. The lower Ganga is centered in West Bengal, from which it flows into Bangladesh. After joining the Jamuna, a distributary of Brahmaputra, both rivers form the Ganges Delta. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River and flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, before crossing into Bangladesh.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Some geographers subdivide the Indo-Gangetic Plain into several parts: the Gujarat, Sindh, Punjab, Doab, Rohilkhand, Awadh, Bihar, Bengal and Assam regions.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The fertile Terai region is spread across Southern Nepal and Northern India along the foothills of the Himalayas. The rivers encompassed are the Beas, the Chambal, the Chenab, the Ganga, the Gomti, the Indus, the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. The soil is rich in silt, making the plain one of the most intensely farmed areas of the world. Even rural areas here are densely populated.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The Indus–Ganga plains, also known as the "Great Plains", are large floodplains of the Indus, Ganga and the Brahmaputra river systems. They run parallel to the Himalaya mountains, from Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the west to Assam in the east and draining most of Northern and Eastern India. The plains encompass an area of and vary in width through their length by several hundred kilometres. The major rivers of this system are the Ganga and the Indus along with their tributaries; Beas, Yamuna, Gomti, Ravi, Chambal, Sutlej and Chenab.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The Indus-Ganga belt is the world's most extensive expanse of uninterrupted alluvium formed by the deposition of silt by the numerous rivers. The plains are flat and mostly treeless, making it conducive for irrigation through canals. The area is also rich in ground water sources. The plains are the world's most intensely farmed areas. The main crops grown are rice and wheat that are grown in rotation. Others include maize, sugarcane and cotton. The Indo-Gangetic plains rank among the world's most densely populated areas with a total population exceeding 400 million.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Until recent history, the open grasslands of the Indus-Ganga Plain were inhabited by several large species of animal. The open plains were home to large numbers of herbivores which included all three of the Asian rhinoceros (Indian rhinoceros, Javan rhinoceros, Sumatran rhinoceros). The open grasslands were in many ways similar to the landscape of modern Africa. Gazelle, buffalo, rhinos, elephants, lions, and hippo roamed the grasslands as they do in Africa today. Large herds of Indian elephants, gazelles, antelopes and horses lived alongside several species of wild cattle including the now-extinct aurochs. In the forested areas there were several species of wild pig, deer and muntjac. In the wetter regions close to the Ganga, there would have been large herds of water buffalo grazing on the riverbanks along with extinct species of hippopotamus.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: So many large animals would have supported a large population of predators as well. Indian wolves, dholes, striped hyenas, Asiatic cheetahs and Asiatic lions would have hunted large game on the open plains, while Bengal tigers and leopards would stalk prey in the surrounding woods and sloth bears hunt for termites in both of these areas. In the Ganges there were large concentrations of gharial, mugger crocodile and river dolphin controlling fish stocks and the occasional migrating herd crossing the river.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Farming on the Indus-Ganga Plain primarily consists of rice and wheat grown in crop rotation. Other crops include maize, millets, barley, sugarcane, and cotton.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The main source of rainfall is the southwest monsoon which is normally sufficient for general agriculture. The many rivers flowing out of the Himalayas provide water for major irrigation works.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Due to a rapidly growing population (as well as other factors), this area is considered at high risk for water shortages in the future.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: The area constitutes the land between the Brahmaputra River and the Aravalli Range. The Ganga and other rivers such as the Yamuna, the Ghaghara and the Chambal River flow through the area.


title: Indo-Gangetic Plain

text: Because it is not fully possible to define the boundaries of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, it is also difficult to give an exact list of which administrative areas are part of the plain.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin of Boulogne (1060s – 2April 1118), was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100, and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine and married a Norman noblewoman, Godehilde of Tosny. He received the County of Verdun in 1096, but he soon joined the crusader army of his brother Godfrey of Bouillon and became one of the most successful commanders of the First Crusade.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: While the main crusader army was marching across Asia Minor in 1097, Baldwin and the Norman Tancred launched a separate expedition against Cilicia. Tancred tried to capture Tarsus in September, but Baldwin forced him to leave it, which gave rise to an enduring conflict between them. Baldwin seized important fortresses in the lands to the west of the Euphrates with the assistance of local Armenians. Thoros of Edessa invited him to come to Edessa to fight against the Seljuks. Taking advantage of a riot against Thoros, Baldwin seized the town and established the first Crusader state on 10March 1098. To strengthen his rule, the widowed Baldwin married an Armenian ruler's daughter (who is now known as Arda). He supplied the main crusader army with food during the siege of Antioch. He defended Edessa against Kerbogha, the governor of Mosul, for three weeks, preventing him from reaching Antioch before the crusaders captured it.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Godfrey of Bouillon, whom the crusaders had elected their first ruler in Jerusalem, died in 1100. Daimbert, the Latin patriarch, and Tancred offered Jerusalem to Tancred's uncle, Bohemond I of Antioch. Godfrey's retainers took possession of the town and urged Baldwin to claim Godfrey's inheritance. Since a Muslim ruler had captured Bohemond, Baldwin marched to Jerusalem meeting little resistance. The Patriarch crowned him king in Bethlehem on 25December. He captured Arsuf and Caesarea in 1101, Acre in 1104, Beirut in 1110, and Sidon in 1111, with the assistance of Genoese and Venetian fleets and of several smaller crusader groups, but all his attempts to capture Ascalon and Tyre failed. After his victory at the third battle of Ramla in 1105, the Egyptians launched no further major campaigns against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin helped Bertrand, Count of Toulouse, to capture Tripoli in 1109. Being the only crowned monarch in the Latin East, Baldwin claimed suzerainty over other crusader rulers. Baldwin II of Edessa and Bertrand swore fealty to him. Tancred, who ruled the Principality of Antioch, also obeyed his summons. Baldwin supported Baldwin II and Tancred against Kerbogha's successor, Mawdud, who launched a series of campaigns against Edessa and Antioch in the early 1110s. He erected fortresses in Oultrejordainthe territory to the east of the Jordan Riverto control the caravan routes between Syria and Egypt. He died during a campaign against Egypt.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Born some time after 1060, Baldwin was the third son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine. Being his parents' youngest son, he was intended for a career in the Church. He studied the liberal arts and held prebends in the cathedrals of Cambrai, Rheims and Liège. For reasons that are unknown, and at an unspecified time, he abandoned his church career and became a knight. The historian John France says that Baldwin most probably realised that the Gregorian Reform had diminished his chance to seize rich benefices. Historian Susan B. Edgington, on the other hand, proposes that Baldwin preferred a secular career because his childless brother, Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lotharingia, had taken ill suddenly, giving Baldwin a chance to inherit his duchy.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin married a Norman noblewoman, Godehilde of Tosny, whose family owned land and property in both Normandy and England. Baldwin and his wife most probably settled in the court of his eldest brother, Eustace III of Boulogne. Eustace and Baldwin jointly fought for their brother, Godfrey, against Albert III, Count of Namur, and Theoderic, Bishop of Verdun, at Stenay in 1086. Godfrey mentioned Baldwin in most of his charters of grant, indicating that Baldwin was regarded as his designated heir. Baldwin regularly visited the fortress of his wife's family at Conches-en-Ouche.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont on 27November 1095. Godfrey of Bouillon decided to join the military campaign and sold or mortgaged his inherited domains to raise funds. One of his domains, the County of Verdun, was seized by Richer, Bishop of Verdun, who soon granted it to Baldwin. The dissolution of Godfrey's allodial lands deprived all future dukes of the basis of their authority in Lower Lotharingia, which facilitated Baldwin's decision to take the Cross. Eustace III of Boulogne also joined the crusade. According to a letter from Pope Urban, only the army that Peter the Hermit had mustered for the People's Crusade outnumbered the three brothers' force.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin departed for the crusade with Godfrey's army on 15August 1096. His wife and children accompanied him, suggesting that he had decided not to return to his homeland. The crusaders stopped at Tulln an der Donau before reaching the frontier of Hungary in September. Godfrey left Baldwin in charge of his troops during his conference with Coloman of Hungary, to discuss the conditions of the crusaders' march across the country. He agreed to hand over Baldwin, along with Baldwin's wife and retainers, as hostages, to ensure their troops' good conduct. Baldwin and Godehilde were released soon after the crusaders left Hungary. They entered the Byzantine Empire near Belgrade in late November.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The crusaders reached Constantinople on 23December 1096. The Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos demanded an oath of allegiance from their leaders and imposed a blockade on their camp to enforce it. Baldwin made raids against the districts outside the walls of Constantinople, compelling Alexios to lift the blockade. The Emperor also agreed to hand over his son and heir, John II Comnenus, as a hostage, who was entrusted to Baldwin's care.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Since the crusaders continued to resist the emperor's demand, the Byzantines reduced the fodder and food supplied to them. Baldwin again attacked the suburbs and killed or captured dozens of Pecheneg guards. The crusaders realised that they could not defeat the imperial army and so yielded to the emperor's demand. Their commanders (including Godfrey and Baldwin) swore fealty to Alexios and pledged that they would cede all conquered lands that the Seljuk Turks had seized from the Byzantines to the emperor's representatives. The crusaders were transferred to a camp established on the road between Chalcedon and Nicomedia in Asia Minor, but Godfrey and Baldwin soon returned to Constantinople to be present when the commanders of a new crusader army did homage to Alexios. When a knight sat on the emperor's throne during the ceremony, Baldwin "took him by the hand and made him rise" and severely reprimanded him.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: After the crusaders defeated Kilij Arslan, the Seljuk Sultan of Rûm, in the Battle of Dorylaeum on 1July 1097, Baldwin and the Italo-Norman leader Tancred broke away from the main body of the army. They marched as far as Heraclea, where they again joined their fellows around 15 August. The crusaders became exhausted during their long march across Asia Minor and most of their horses died. To secure a supply of food and forage, Baldwin and Tancred were sent to the fertile plains of Cilicia. There they could count on the support of the local Armenians, especially as Baldwin had already been befriended by an Armenian nobleman, Bagrat.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin and Tancred led two separate contingents. Tancred was the first to leave Heraclea, accompanied by 100–200 troops; Baldwin and his 300 knights departed around 15September. Tancred arrived at Tarsusan important center of commerce in Ciliciaon 21September. He persuaded the Seljuk garrison of Tarsus to raise his flag on the citadel, even before his troops were granted access to the town. Baldwin reached Tarsus on the following day. The Turks replaced Tancred's banner with Baldwin's flag and allowed Baldwin to take possession of two towers. Heavily outnumbered by Baldwin's troops, Tancred decided not to fight for the town and rode off. Shortly thereafter, about 300 Norman knights arrived, but Baldwin denied entry to them, which enabled the Turks to attack and murder the Normans during the night. Baldwin's own men blamed him for their fate and massacred the remnants of the Seljuk garrison. Fearful of vengeance, Baldwin took shelter in a tower, but finally convinced his soldiers of his innocence. A pirate captain, Guynemer of Boulogne, sailed up the Berdan River to Tarsus and swore fealty to Baldwin. He hired Guynemer's men to garrison Tarsus and continued his campaign.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Tancred had meanwhile seized the prosperous town of Mamistra. Baldwin reached the town on around 30September. One of the most prominent Italian Norman crusaders, Richard of Salerno, wanted to take revenge for the Normans who had perished at Tarsus, which caused a skirmish between the soldiers of Baldwin and Tancred. This was the first occasion when crusaders fought against each other. After one or two men were killed and many more were injured or captured on both sides, Baldwin and Tancred made peace and Baldwin left Mamistra. He joined the main army at Marash, but Bagrat persuaded him to launch a campaign towards the River Euphrates across a region densely populated by Armenians. About 80–100 knights accompanied him when he again left the main army on 17October.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The Armenians regarded Baldwin as a liberator. Two Armenian chiefs, Fer and Nicusus, joined him soon after he started his campaign. The local population massacred the Seljuk garrisons and officials, or forced them to flee. The Seljuks' fear of the crusaders contributed to Baldwin's success. He seized two important fortresses, Ravendel and Turbessel, without a fight before the end of 1097. He made Bagrat the governor of Ravendel, and appointed Fer to administer Turbessel.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The Armenian lord of Edessa, Thoros, sent envoysthe Armenian bishop of Edessa and twelve leading citizensto Baldwin in early 1098, seeking his assistance against the nearby Seljuk rulers. Being the first town to convert to Christianity, Edessa had played an important role in Christian history. Before departing for Edessa, Baldwin ordered the arrest of Bagrat, whom Fer had accused of secret correspondence with the Seljuks. Bagrat was tortured and forced to surrender Ravendel. Baldwin left for Edessa in early February, but troops sent by Balduk, the emir of Samosata, or Bagrat prevented him from crossing the Euphrates. His second attempt was successful and he reached Edessa on 20 February. Baldwin did not want to serve Thoros as a mercenary. The Armenian townspeople feared that he was planning to leave the town, so they persuaded Thoros to adopt him. Alone among the contemporary historians of the First Crusade, Albert of Aix claims that the local customs of adoption required Thoros to take Baldwin under his shirt. Strengthened by troops from Edessa, Baldwin raided Balduk's territory and placed a garrison in a small fortress near Samosata.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Unlike the majority of the Armenians, Thoros adhered to the Orthodox Church, which made him unpopular among his Monophysite subjects. Shortly after Baldwin's return from campaign, the local nobles started plotting against Thoros, possibly with Baldwin's consent (as is stated by contemporary chronicler Matthew of Edessa). A riot broke out in the town, forcing Thoros to take refuge in the citadel. Baldwin pledged to save his adoptive father, but when the rioters broke into the citadel on 9March and murdered both Thoros and his wife, he did nothing to help them. On the following day, after the townspeople acknowledged Baldwin as their ruler (or "doux"), he assumed the title of Count of Edessa, and so established the first Crusader state.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The Seljuks had captured Edessa from the Byzantines in 1087, but Alexios did not demand that Baldwin hand over the town. Historian Christopher MacEvitt argues that the local population did not regard Baldwin's ascension as "a change in regime, but the replacement of one strongman with vague Byzantine ties with another of the same ilk". The acquisition of Ravendel, Turbessel and Edessa strengthened the position of the main crusader army during the siege of Antioch, which was taking place at the same time. The fertile lands along the Euphrates secured a supply of food for the crusaders. The three fortresses also hindered the movement of the Seljuk troops towards Syria and Palestine.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin had to use his diplomatic skills to secure his rule in Edessa, because his retinue was small. He married the daughter of an Armenian lord named Taftoc, according to William of Tyre, and encouraged his retainers to marry local women. Thoros' rich treasury enabled him to employ mercenaries and to buy Samosata from Balduk. Baldwin and Balduk's treaty about the transfer of Samosata was the first friendly arrangement between a crusader leader and a Muslim ruler. Balduk settled in Edessa.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: An Artuqid emir, Belek Ghazi, hired Baldwin to suppress a revolt in Saruj. When the Muslim burghers of the town approached Balduk to come to their rescue, Balduk hurried to Saruj, but it soon became apparent that his retinue was too small to resist a siege and both he and the townspeople yielded to Baldwin. Baldwin demanded Balduk's wife and children as hostages, but Balduk refused to hand them over to him, for which Baldwin had him captured and executed.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin granted the "usufruct" of Turbessel and Ravendel to his brother Godfrey, to secure his and his retainers' accommodation during the siege of Antioch. The continued support that Baldwin provided his brother with increased his brother's standing within the crusade army, proofing crucial during the crusade as food was many times scarce. Kerbogha, the governor of Mosul, gathered a large army to relieve the town. During his march towards Antioch, Kerbogha did not wish to risk allowing the crusaders to hold Edessa. He besieged Edessa for three weeks in May, but could not capture it. His delay enabled the crusaders to capture Antioch on 3June 1098. Antioch became the capital of a new Crusader state, the Principality of Antioch, with Tancred's uncle, Bohemond of Taranto, as its first prince.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin levied high taxes, which made him unpopular among his native subjects. He also ignored the local nobles' advice and granted property to his retainers and other crusaders who moved to Edessa. A dozen Armenian chiefs plotted against Baldwin in December, and approached the nearby Seljuk emirs for assistance, but Baldwin learnt of the conspiracy and ordered the arrest of the conspirators. The two ringleaders were mutilated in accordance with Byzantine laws, but the others were allowed to redeem themselves for large fees. Nevertheless, Baldwin continued to appoint Armenian noblemen to important offices. He made the Armenian Abu'l-Garib the commander of Bijerik, an important fort controlling the road between Edessa and Turbessel.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The main crusader army captured Jerusalem on 15July 1099. A week later, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected ruler of the city, but chose not to be crowned king. Baldwin decided to complete his pilgrimage and left Edessa for Jerusalem in November. At Buluniyas, he joined the pilgrims who had departed Antioch with Bohemond I and the papal legate, Daimbert of Pisa. Attacks by Muslim troops, fatigue and diseases caused heavy casualties during the journey, but most of the pilgrims reached Jerusalem on 21December. Four days later, Daimbert was elected and installed as the new Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. The new patriarch confirmed Godfrey and Bohemond in the possession of their lands, but no similar ceremony was recorded in connection with Baldwin. Baldwin and Bohemond left Jerusalem on 1January 1100. Duqaq, the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, sent forces to attack them, but the crusaders routed the Seljuk troops near Baalbek. Baldwin arrived back in Edessa in February.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Godfrey died unexpectedly on 18July 1100. He had extracted oaths from Daimbert and other leading crusaders that they "would not confer the throne on anyone except his brothers or one of his blood", according to Albert of Aix. Warner of Grez, Godfrey's most influential retainer, took possession of the Tower of David in Jerusalem to secure control of the city. Although Warner soon died, two other members of Godfrey's court, Geldemar Carpenel and Arnulf of Chocques, sent a delegation to Baldwin, urging him to come to Jerusalem.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: To prevent Baldwin from seizing Godfrey's realm, Daimbert and Tancred sought assistance from Bohemond I of Antioch. Daimbert sent a letter to him, stating that Baldwin's rule would "bring about the downfall of the church and the destruction of Christianity itself", according to later chronicler William of Tyre. Bohemond, however, was captured by the Danishmend Gazi Gümüshtigin in the hills near Melitene around 15August. Baldwin hurried to Melitene and pursued the Danishmend for three days, but he was unable to rescue Bohemond. After his return, the Armenian lord of Melitene, Gabriel, swore fealty to him. Baldwin appointed fifty knights to defend the town.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: News of Godfrey's death reached Edessa shortly after Baldwin's return from Melitene. His chaplain, Fulcher of Chartres, noticed that Baldwin "grieved somewhat over the death of his brother, but rejoiced more over his inheritance". To finance his journey to Jerusalem, Baldwin seized gold and silver from his subjects. He appointed his relative, Baldwin of Le Bourcq, his successor in the county and Le Bourcq swore fealty to him.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: About 200 knights and 300–700 foot-soldiers accompanied Baldwin when he left Edessa on 2October 1100. He spent four days in Antioch, but did not accept the local inhabitants' plea for him to administer the principality during Bohemond's captivity. Duqaq of Damascus wanted to ambush him on the narrow road near the mouth of the Nahr al-Kalb River. The qadi of Tripoli secretly warned Baldwin, which enabled him to defeat the attack and rout the Damascene troops. Tancred hurried to Jerusalem to persuade the garrison to surrender the town to him, but he was barred from the town.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin reached Jerusalem around 9November. Daimbert withdrew to a monastery on Mount Zion, and the townspeople stopped Baldwin outside the walls and ceremoniously accompanied him to the Holy Sepulchre. Albert of Aix's sporadic references suggest that Baldwin adopted the title of prince. Baldwin first raided the environs of Ascalon, which was still held by the Egyptians, then launched a punitive expedition against the bandits who had their headquarters in the caves near Jerusalem. He made an incursion across the River Jordan before returning to Jerusalem on 21 December.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin was reconciled with Daimbert who agreed to anoint and crown him king. The ceremony took place in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. Thereafter Baldwin was most frequently styled king. For instance, a charter of grant in 1104 referred to him as "Baldwin, king of Judea and Jerusalem, and defensor of the Holiest Sepulchre of our Lord, Jesus Christ". In most of his charters, he also emphasised that he was Godfrey's lawful heir.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: When Geldemar Carpenel laid claim to Haifa, stating that Tancred had arbitrarily seized it, Baldwin summoned Tancred to Jerusalem, but Tancred did not recognise him as the lawful monarch. They agreed to meet at a river near Jaffa, but their meeting did not result in compromise. The conflict was resolved when Tancred was invited to Antioch to administer the principality on Bohemond's behalf. Before leaving for Antioch in March, Tancred renounced his domains in Palestine, but also stipulated that the same domains should be granted in fief to him if he were to leave Antioch within fifteen months. Baldwin gave Haifa to Geldemar and the Galilee to Hugh of Fauquembergues.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: A new papal legate, Maurice of Porto, came to Jerusalem in early March 1101. After Baldwin accused Daimbert of treachery and convinced Maurice to suspend him on 15April, Daimbert had to bribe Baldwin with 300 bezants to persuade the legate to restore him to his office. The towns along the coast which were still under Egyptian ruleArsuf, Caesarea, Acre and Tyresent gifts to Baldwin to secure his benevolence.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Always in need of funds, Baldwin concluded an alliance with the commanders of a Genoese fleet, offering commercial privileges and booty to them in the towns that he would capture with their support. They first attacked Arsuf, which surrendered without resistance on 29 April, securing a safe passage for the townspeople to Ascalon. The Egyptian garrison at Caesarea resisted, but the town fell on 17May. Baldwin's soldiers pillaged Caesarea and massacred the majority of the adult local population. The Genoese received one third of the booty, but Baldwin did not grant areas in the captured towns to them.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: While Baldwin and the Genoese were besieging Caesarea, the Egyptian vizier, Al-Afdal Shahanshah, started mustering troops at Ascalon. Baldwin moved his headquarters to nearby Jaffa and fortified Ramla to hinder any attempt at a surprise attack against Jerusalem. He demanded more funds from Daimbert to cover the costs of this defense, but the patriarch refused. During a passionate debate in the presence of the papal legate, Daimbert stated that Baldwin should not "presume to make tributary and servant the holy Church". The legate persuaded Daimbert to promise that he would "maintain thirty soldiers by a money agreement", but the patriarch failed to raise the promised amount.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The lightly armed and undisciplined Egyptian army approached Ramla in early September. The much smaller, but experienced and well-equipped crusader forces were the first to attack, at dawn on 7September. At least two of the five or six crusader corps were almost annihilated during the first phase of the battle, but Baldwin persuaded the remnants of his army to launch a fresh attack, surprising the Egyptians. After a short resistance, they fled in panic, pursued by the crusaders as far as Ascalon.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia, sent money to Daimbert, partially for the recruitment of soldiers, but Daimbert retained the whole sum. After learning of this embezzlement, Baldwin convinced the papal legate to dismiss Daimbert in late 1101. Daimbert fled first to Jaffa, then to Tancred in Antioch. The vacancy enabled Baldwin to freely use the patriarch's rich treasury.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Stephen, Count of Blois, Hugh of Lusignan and other survivors of the catastrophic crusade of the previous year came to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem in 1102. Shortly thereafter, a strong Egyptian army invaded the kingdom. On 17 May, and against all advice, Baldwin and a force of about 500 horsemen that included dozens of new crusaders, rode out to meet the Egyptians. In this second battle fought at Ramla, the Egyptians were the victors, and they forced Baldwin and his men to take refuge in Ramla. Baldwin escaped from the fortress before the Egyptians laid siege to it, leaving his troops to be killed or captured. He fled to Arsuf, after which an English pirate, Godric, took him to Jaffa, although the Egyptian army had blockaded it from the land. He went to Jerusalem to gather new troops and returned to Jaffa with more than 100 horsemen. However, only the arrival of a fleet filled with hundreds of English, French and German pilgrims forced the Egyptians to lift the siege on 27May. Baldwin wrote to Alexios I Komnenos, urging him not to obstruct their journey.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: During the siege of Jaffa, Baldwin had sent envoys to Antioch and Edessa, seeking assistance from Tancred and Baldwin II. They arrived only after the Egyptians' withdrawal. Tancred tried to persuade the new papal legate, Robert of St Eusebio, to restore Daimbert, but Baldwin convinced Robert to discuss the issue with the local bishops and abbots. After the prelates unanimously stated that Daimbert had almost provoked a civil war and had abused his ecclesiastic authority, the legate allowed them to elect a pious priest, Evremar, as patriarch.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin laid siege to Acre in April 1103, but an Egyptian fleet relieved the town. He launched a raid against the bandits who had settled on Mount Carmel, but he was wounded in the kidneys and did not recover until the end of the year. After a fleet of Genoese and Pisan ships arrived at Haifa in April 1104, Baldwin made an alliance with their commanders and again besieged Acre. The town surrendered on 26May after Baldwin promised a free passage to those who wanted to move to Ascalon, but the Italian sailors plundered the wealthy emigrants and killed many of them. Baldwin wanted to punish the Genoese, but the patriarch mediated a reconciliation and Baldwin had to grant one-third of the town to them. Acre had always been the most important port of trade between Syria and Europe, and the harbour dues generated significant revenues for him.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Duqaq's death on 14June led to internal conflict in Damascus. The atabeg (or regent) Toghtekin emerged as the ruler, but faced strong opposition. Baldwin promised to support Duqaq's young brother Irtash against Toghtekin. His intervention brought about a rapprochement between the Sunnite Toghtekin and the Shiite Al-Afdal. After Egyptian horsemen and foot soldiers invaded the kingdom from the south, and Syrian mounted archers from the west in August 1105, Baldwin assembled the largest crusader army since the beginning of his reign. At his request, Patriarch Evremar displayed the True Cross before the army to strengthen the crusaders' self-confidence. They inflicted a decisive defeat on the Egyptian and Syrian armies at Ramla on 27August.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The Egyptians failed to launch any major military campaigns against the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but they did continually raid Baldwin's southern frontier. They massacred hundreds of pilgrims near Jaffa and defeated the governor of the town while Baldwin was fighting against Damascene troops in Galilee in October 1106. In 1107 the Egyptians attacked Hebron, but Baldwin forced them to lift the siege. The Egyptian raids did not prevent Baldwin from pursuing an expansionist policy. He compelled the governor of Sidon to pay a large tribute for a two-year truce in early 1106. Early the following year, he made a raid into Oultrejordain and forced the enemy to destroy a fortress recently built by Damascene troops to control the caravan routes. In August 1108 Baldwin and a band of Italian adventurers laid siege to Sidon, but the arrival of an Egyptian fleet and Turkish horsemen from Damascus forced him to abandon the siege. In late 1108, he concluded a ten-year truce with Toghtekin in exchange for one-third of state revenues from the northern regions of Oultrejordain.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Bertrand, Count of Toulouse came to Syria to claim the lands that his father, Raymond of Saint Gilles, had conquered around Tripoli. Bertrand's cousin, William Jordan, who had ruled these lands since Raymond's death, refused to cede them to him. Bertrand sought Baldwin's assistance, while William Jordan secured Tancred's support. Tancred had already outraged Baldwin II of Edessa through refusing to abandon Turbessel. Baldwin convoked an assembly to put an end to the crusader leaders' conflicts. Since neither Tancred nor Jordan were his vassals, he summoned them in the name of the "whole church of Jerusalem" to the castle of Mount Pilgrim near Tripoli. At the assembly in June 1109, Tancred agreed to abandon Turbessel in return for his restoration to his old domains in the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Galilee, Haifa and the Temple of the Lord). Tancred did not take possession of his old domain, which remained under Baldwin's control. Raymond's inheritance was distributed between Bertrand and Jordan, with Bertrand swearing fealty to Baldwin, and Jordan to Tancred.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: The crusader leaders united their forces to complete the conquest of Tripoli begun by Raymond. On 26June, the Egyptian governor, Sharaf ad-Daulah, offered to surrender the town if a safe passage for those who wanted to leave the town was guaranteed. Baldwin accepted the offer, but he could not prevent the Genoese from killing all those inhabitants whom they could capture. Two-thirds of the town was granted to Bertrand of Toulouse who again took an oath of fealty to Baldwin. Baldwin captured Beirut on 13May 1110, with the assistance of Bertrand and a Genoese fleet. He was again unable to prevent a general massacre of the townspeople.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Mawdud, the atabeg of Mosul, and his allies invaded the County of Edessa during the siege of Beirut. After the fall of Beirut, Baldwin and Bertrand hurried to Edessa to fight against the invaders. Baldwin II of Edessa accused Tancred of having incited the Muslim rulers to take actions against him. Regarding himself as the leader of all the Crusaders, Baldwin ordered Tancred to join the campaign and make peace with Baldwin II, otherwise he would declare Tancred the enemy of Christianity. Since most crusaders supported the king, Tancred had no choice but to obey. The incident strengthened Baldwin's suzerainty over Edessa. After the new reconciliation, the crusaders pursued Mawdud, but rumours about Muslim attacks against Antioch and Jerusalem forced them to stop the campaign. Before leaving the county, Baldwin suggested that the Christian (mainly Armenian) peasants should be transferred to the lands west of the Euphrates, because the Seljuk rulers had frequently raided the eastern regions. While the peasants were gathering at a ferry on the river, Mawdud made a sudden raid and massacred most of them.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Sigurd I of Norwaythe first king to visit the Kingdom of Jerusalemhad meanwhile landed at Acre. Baldwin made an alliance with him and they laid siege to Sidon in October 1110. An Egyptian fleet routed the Norwegians, but the Doge of Venice, Ordelafo Faliero, and his fleet soon joined the crusaders and the town capitulated on 5December. Baldwin spared the lives of the townspeople and many of them moved to Tyre and Damascus. The following year Baldwin marched to Ascalon: to prevent a siege the Egyptian governor of the town, Shams al-Khalīfa, promised to pay 70,000 dinars as a tribute and allowed crusader troops into the citadel. However, the townspeople rose up against al-Khalīfa in July and his Berber guards joined the rioters, murdering him and the crusader troops.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Mawdud launched a new expedition against the northern crusader states in August. At Tancred's request, Baldwin mustered his troops and hurried to the North. Bertrand of Tripoli, Baldwin II of Edessa and the Armenian rulers also came to fight against Mawdud, who was compelled to return to Mosul in the autumn. Shortly thereafter, Baldwin attacked a caravan that was travelling from Tyre to Damascus, carrying with it the city's most precious possessions, and was able to carry off the rich cargo. In late November, he laid siege to Tyre, although he had no supporting fleet. He was still besieging the town when a Byzantine embassy arrived. The Byzantines tried to persuade him to join a coalition against Tancred, while he wanted to secure their assistance against Tyre. They could not reach a compromise, but Izz al-Mulk, the Egyptian governor of Tyre, persuaded Toghtekin to come to the rescue of the besieged town. Toghtekin compelled Baldwin to lift the siege and withdraw to Acre in April 1112.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin made an incursion against Damascene territory in 1113. Mawdud and an Artuqid emir, Ayaz, who came to assist Toghtekin against the crusaders, routed Baldwin in the Battle of al-Sannabra in late June, forcing him to seek assistance from the new rulers of Tripoli and Antioch, Pons and Roger. Toghtekin, Mawdud and Ayaz invaded Galilee, but they did not risk attacking Tiberias after the arrival of the troops from Tripoli and Antioch. Toghtekin and Mawdud returned to Damascus where an Assassin murdered Mawdud in late September. The Seljuk sultan, Muhammad I Tapar, sent a large army to northern Syria in spring 1115. In an attempt to maintain the equilibrium in the region, Toghtekin soon sought reconciliation with the crusaders. He made an alliance with the crusader rulers, and their coalition forced the Seljuk troops to withdraw without a fight.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: With the pressure on the northern regions diminished, Baldwin was able to again deal with the Egyptians, who had already approached Jerusalem in 1113, and made a fresh attempt to capture Jaffa in 1115. Baldwin led an expedition across the Jordan and ordered the construction of the castle of Montreal in the autumn of 1115. The following year, he returned to the region and marched as far as Akaba on the Red Sea. After the local inhabitants fled from the town, Baldwin constructed castles in the town and on a nearby island and left a garrison in both fortresses. The three strongholdsMontreal, Eilat and Grayesecured the control of the caravan routes between Syria and Egypt. They also enabled Baldwin to continuously survey the movements of the Egyptian troops. From the Red Sea coast, Baldwin hastened to Tyre and began the construction of a new fortress, known as Scandelion Castle, at the Ladder of Tyre, which completed the blockade of the town from the mainland.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin fell seriously ill in late 1116. Thinking that he was dying, he ordered that all his debts be paid off and he started to distribute his money and goods, but he recovered at the start of the following year. To strengthen the defence of the southern frontier, he launched an expedition against Egypt in March 1118. He seized Farama on the Nile Delta without a fight as the townspeople had fled in panic before he reached the town. The late 12th-century Muslim historian Ibn Zafar al Siqilli wrote that Baldwin ordered the mosques in the town to be levelled. Baldwin's retainers urged him to attack Cairo, but the old wound that he had received in 1103 suddenly re-opened.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Dying, Baldwin was carried back as far as Al-Arish on the frontier of the Fatimid Empire. On his deathbed, he named Eustace III of Boulogne as his successor, but also authorised the barons to offer the throne to Baldwin of Edessa or "someone else who would rule the Christian people and defend the churches", if his brother did not accept the crown. Baldwin died on 2April 1118. In accordance with his last wishes, his cook, Addo, removed his intestines and preserved his body in salt, so as to secure a burial in Jerusalem. He was buried in the Calvary Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre next to Godfrey of Bouillon five days later, on Palm Sunday.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Fulcher of Chartres described Baldwin as his subjects' "shield, strength and support; their right arm; the terror of his enemies." The Muslim historian, Ali ibn al-Athir, who completed his chronicle a century after Baldwin's death, thought that "al-Bardawil" had started the First Crusade. Presenting a fictional correspondence between Baldwin and Roger I of Sicily, al-Athir claimed that Baldwin had initially wanted to conquer Ifriqiya, but Roger, who wanted to secure the territory for himself, talked him into attacking Jerusalem.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Among modern historians, Thomas Asbridge states that Baldwin was one of the commanders of the First Crusade "whose skill, ambition and devotion drove the enterprise, and by turns threatened to rip it apart". Christopher Tyerman emphasises that Baldwin was a talented military commander and a clever politician, who "established a stable kingdom with defined and defensible borders". Amin Maalouf also concludes that Baldwin was the "principal architect of the occupation" of the Holy Land by the crusaders. Maalouf attributes Baldwin's success primarily to the "incorrigible fragmentation of the Arab world", which made the crusaders a "genuine regional power". Historian Christopher MacEvitt proposes that Baldwin was "adept at navigating the complexities of a world of competing local warlords", because the "political landscape" of his homeland, with its castellans dominating the countryside, was "not so different".


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin's earliest extant charters were issued in the early 1100s, but the establishment of a chancery took years. Initially, clerics from Baldwin's homeland compiled the royal documents. The first chancellor, Pagan, was appointed only in 1115. Pagan had come to the Holy Land in the entourage of Baldwin's third wife, Adelaide del Vasto.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin's wife Godehilde, the daughter of Raoul II of Tosny and Isabella of Montfort-l'Amaury, died during the First Crusade around 15October 1097. Historian Malcolm Barber argues that her death "may have been the decisive event that persuaded" Baldwin "to seek out a lordship in the East". According to the historians Steven Runciman and Christopher MacEvitt, Baldwin and Godehilde had children who did not long survive her, but historian Alan V. Murray emphasises that no primary source states that Baldwin fathered children. According to Murray, Runciman was wrong when he translated William of Tyre's words about Baldwin's ""familia"" as a reference to his family, because William of Tyre was referring to Baldwin's household.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Uncertainty surrounds the name and family of his second wife, whom he married in the summer of 1098. Modern historians call her Arda and associate her father with Tathoul of Marash. Her father promised a dowry of 60,000 bezants and also pledged that she would inherit his lands, but he actually paid off only 7,000 bezants to Baldwin. The marriage was childless. Baldwin banished her to the convent of St Anne in Jerusalem before 1109, but she was soon allowed to move to Constantinople. Although they were separated, the marriage was never annulled.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Baldwin's third wife, Adelaide, was the wealthy widow of Roger I of Sicily. Her first husband died in 1102 and she acted as regent for their minor sons until the end of 1111. She was more than forty years old when the marriage was proposed in 1112. According to William of Tyre, Baldwin wanted to marry her because he had learnt of her wealth, and even agreed to make her son, Roger II of Sicily, his heir in Jerusalem. She landed at Palestine in August 1113, accompanied by hundreds of soldiers and bringing her rich dowry. Their marriage was bigamous, because Baldwin's second wife was still alive. After recovering from a serious illness in late 1116, Baldwin accepted clerical advice and sent an indignant Adelaide home. She sailed for Sicily on 25 April 1117. Her humiliation outraged Roger II so much that he denied all support to the Kingdom of Jerusalem during his lifetime.


title: Baldwin I of Jerusalem

text: Summarising Baldwin's marriages, historian Jonathan Phillips concludes that Baldwin "regarded women as useful sources of financial and political advancement but little else". Decades after Baldwin's death, William of Tyre wrote that Baldwin was "said to have struggled with weakness of the flesh", but only a few of his "body-servants" were aware of this. Historians Hans Eberhard Mayer, Christopher Tyerman and Malcolm Barber agree that William of Tyre most probably referred to Baldwin's homosexuality. Tyerman adds that a converted Muslim was one of Baldwin's lovers, but he betrayed Baldwin during the siege of Sidon. He proposed that the defenders of the town kill the king, but Baldwin was warned in advance. On the other hand, Susan B. Edgington states that there is "little evidence to support" the theories about Baldwin's homosexuality, emphasizing that his contemporaries made no reference to it.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Adolescent sexuality is a stage of human development in which adolescents experience and explore sexual feelings. Interest in sexuality intensifies during the onset of puberty, and sexuality is often a vital aspect of teenagers' lives. Sexual interest may be expressed in a number of ways, such as flirting, kissing, masturbation, or having sex with a partner. Sexual interest among adolescents, as among adults, can vary greatly, and is influenced by cultural norms and mores, sex education, as well as comprehensive sexuality education provided, sexual orientation, and social controls such as age-of-consent laws.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Sexual activity in general is associated with various risks and this is heightened by the unfamiliar excitement of sexual arousal, the attention connected to being sexually attractive, and the new level of physical intimacy and psychological vulnerability created by sexual encounters. The risks of sexual intercourse include unwanted pregnancy and contracting a sexually transmitted infection such as HIV/AIDS, which can be reduced with availability and use of a condom or adopting other safe sex practices. Contraceptives specifically reduce the chance of teenage pregnancy.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: The risks are higher for young adolescents because their brains are not neurally mature. Several brain regions in the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex and in the hypothalamus that are deemed important for self-control, delayed gratification, risk analysis, and appreciation are not fully mature. The prefrontal cortex area of the human brain is not fully developed until the early 20s or about age 25. Partially, because of this, young adolescents are generally less equipped than adults to make sound decisions and anticipate consequences of sexual behavior, although brain imaging and behavioral correlation studies in teens have been criticized for not being causative.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Adolescent sexuality begins at puberty. The sexual maturation process produces sexual interest and stimulates thought processes. Subsequent sexual behavior starts with the secretion of hormones from the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland. These hormones target the sexual organs and begin their maturation. Increasing levels of androgen and estrogen have an effect on the thought processes of adolescents and have been described as being in the minds "of almost all adolescents a good deal of the time".


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Though most female adolescents begin their sexual maturation process in normal, predictable ways, there may be concerns by parents and clinicians if the following become evident:


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: One study from 1996 documented the interviews of a sample of junior high school students in the United States. The girls were less likely to state that they ever had sex than adolescent boys. Among boys and girls who had experienced sexual intercourse, the proportion of girls and boys who had recently had sex and were regularly sexually active was the same. Those conducting the study speculated that fewer girls say they have ever had sex because girls viewed teenage parenthood as more of a problem than boys. Girls were thought to be more restricted in their sexual attitudes; they were more likely than boys to believe that they would be able to control their sexual urges. Girls had a more negative association in how being sexually active could affect their future goals. In general, girls said they felt less pressure from peers to begin having sex, while boys reported feeling more pressure.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: A later study questioned the attitudes of adolescents. When asked about abstinence, many girls reported they felt conflicted. They were trying to balance maintaining a good reputation with trying to maintain a romantic relationship and wanting to behave in adult-like ways. Boys viewed having sex as social capital. Many boys believed that their male peers who were abstinent would not as easily climb the social ladder as sexually active boys. Some boys said that for them, the risks that may come from having sex were not as bad as the social risks that could come from remaining abstinent.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In the United States, federally mandated programs started in 1980 and promoted adolescent abstinence from sexual intercourse, which resulted in teens turning to oral sex, which about a third of teens considered a form of abstinence in a study.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Until their first act of sexual intercourse, adolescents generally see virginity in one of the following ways: as a gift, a stigma, or a normal step in development. Girls typically think of virginity as a gift, while boys think of virginity as a stigma. In interviews, girls said that they viewed giving someone their virginity as like giving them a very special gift. Because of this, they often expected something in return such as increased emotional intimacy with their partners or the virginity of their partner. However, they often felt disempowered because of this; they often did not feel like they actually received what they expected in return and this made them feel like they had less power in their relationship. They felt that they had given something up and did not feel like this action was recognized.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Thinking of virginity as a stigma disempowered many boys because they felt deeply ashamed and often tried to hide the fact that they were virgins from their partners, which for some resulted in their partners teasing them and criticizing them about their limited sexual techniques. The girls who viewed virginity as a stigma did not experience this shaming. Even though they privately thought of virginity as a stigma, these girls believed that society valued their virginity because of the stereotype that women are sexually passive. This, they said, made it easier for them to lose their virginity once they wanted to because they felt society had a more positive view on female virgins and that this may have made them sexually attractive. Thinking of losing virginity as part of a natural developmental process resulted in less power imbalance between boys and girls because these individuals felt less affected by other people and were more in control of their individual sexual experience. Adolescent boys, however, were more likely than adolescent girls to view their loss of virginity as a positive aspect of their sexuality because it is more accepted by peers.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In 2002, a survey was conducted in European nations about the sexual behavior of teenagers. In a sample of 15-year-olds from 24 countries, most participants self-reported that they had not experienced sexual intercourse. Among those who were sexually active, the majority (82.3%) had used contraception at last intercourse.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: A nationally representative Danish study found that teenage girls who use the most common form of birth control pills, combination birth control pills with both estrogen and progestin, are 80% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant than girls who were not taking birth control. Girls who take progestin-only pills are 120% more likely. The risk of depression is tripled for teenage girls who use non-oral forms of hormonal contraception.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Lucia O'Sullivan and her colleagues studied adolescent sexual functioning: they compared an adolescent sample with an adult sample and found no significant differences between them. Desire, satisfaction and sexual functioning were generally high among their sample of participants (aged 15–21). Additionally, no significant gender differences were found in the prevalence of sexual dysfunction.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In terms of problems with sexual functioning mentioned by participants in this study, the most common problems listed for males were experiencing anxiety about performing sexually (81.4%) and premature ejaculation (74.4%). Other common problems included issues becoming erect and difficulties with ejaculation. Generally, most problems were not experienced on a chronic basis. Common problems for girls included difficulties with sexual climax (86.7%), not feeling sexually interested during a sexual situation (81.2%), unsatisfactory vaginal lubrication (75.8%), anxiety about performing sexually (75.8%) and painful intercourse (25.8%). Most problems listed by the girls were not persistent problems. However, inability to experience orgasm seemed to be an issue that was persistent for some participants.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: The authors detected four trends during their interviews: sexual pleasure increased with the amount of sexual experience the participants had; those who had experienced sexual difficulties were typically sex-avoidant; some participants continued to engage in regular sexual activity even if they had low interest; and lastly, many experienced pain when engaging in sexual activity if they experienced low arousal.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Another study found that it was not uncommon for adolescent girls in relationships to report they felt little desire to engage in sexual activity when they were in relationships. However, many girls engaged in sexual activity even if they did not desire it, in order to avoid what they think might place strains on their relationships. The researcher states that this may be because of society's pressure on girls to be "good girls"; the pressure to be "good" may make adolescent girls think they are not supposed to feel desire like boys do. Even when girls said they did feel sexual desire, they said that they felt like they were not supposed to, and often tried to cover up their feelings. This is an example of how societal expectations about gender can impact adolescent sexual functioning.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: There are gender differences in the giving and receiving of oral sex. One study demonstrated that young men expected to receive oral sex more than young women expected to receive it. With 43% of men and 20% of women expecting to receive it. Additionally more young men reported having oral-penis contact over oral-vulva contact with a different gender. Young men also receive more frequent oral sex than young women. One study with U.S. college students reported 62% of female participants were more likely to report giving oral sex more than they received it. However similar proportions of young men and women report having experienced oral sex.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: The average age Brazilians lose their virginity is 17.4 years of age, the second-lowest number in the countries researched (first was Austria), according to the 2007 research finding these results, and they also ranked low at using condoms at their first time, at 47.9% (to the surprise of the researchers, people of lower socioeconomic status were far more likely to do so than those of higher ones). 58.4% of women reported that it was in a committed relationship, versus solely 18.9% of men (traditional Mediterranean cultures-descended mores tend to enforce strongly about male sexual prowess equating virility and female quality being chastity and purity upon marriage), and scored among the countries where people have the most positive feelings about their first time, feeling pleasure and more mature afterwards (versus the most negative attitudes coming from Japan).


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In another research, leading the international ranking, 29.6% of Brazilian men lost their virginity before age 15 (versus 8.8% of women), but the average is really losing virginity at age 16.5 and marrying at age 24 for men, and losing virginity at age 18.5 and marrying at age 20 for women. These do not differ much from national figures. In 2005, 80% of then adolescents lost their virginity before their seventeenth birthday, and about 1 in each 5 new children in the country were born to an adolescent mother, where the number of children per women is solely 1.7 in average, below the natural replacement and the third lowest in independent countries of the Americas, after Canada and Cuba.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: A 2013 report through national statistics of students of the last grade before high school, aged generally (86%) 13–15, found out 28.7% of them already had lost their virginity, with both demographics of 40.1% of boys and 18.3% of girls having reduced their rate since the last research, in 2009, that found the results as 30.5% overall, 43.7% for boys and 18.7% for girls. Further about the 2013 research, 30.9% of those studying in public schools were already sexually initiated, versus 18% in private ones; 24.7% of sexually initiated adolescents did not use a condom in their most recent sexual activity (22.9% of boys, 28.2% of girls), in spite of at the school environment 89.1% of them receiving orientation about STDs, 69.7% receiving orientation of where to acquire condoms for free (as part of a public health campaign from the Brazilian government) and 82.9% had heard of other forms of contraceptive methods.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: One group of Canadian researchers found a relationship between self-esteem and sexual activity. They found that students, especially girls, who were verbally abused by teachers or rejected by their peers were more likely than other students to have sex by the end of the Grade 7. The researchers speculate that low self-esteem increases the likelihood of sexual activity: "low self-esteem seemed to explain the link between peer rejection and early sex. Girls with a poor self-image may see sex as a way to become 'popular', according to the researchers".


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In India there is growing evidence that adolescents are becoming more sexually active. It is feared that this will lead to an increase in spread of HIV/AIDS among adolescents, increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, and give rise to conflict between contemporary social values. Adolescents have relatively poor access to health care and education. With cultural norms opposing extramarital sexual behavior, R.S. Goyal fears "these implications may acquire threatening dimensions for the society and the nation".


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Sexual relationships outside marriage are not uncommon among teenage boys and girls in India. In a random study of 100 couples, the best predictor of whether or not a girl would be having sex is if her friends were engaging in the same activities. For those girls whose friends were having a physical relationship with a boy, 84.4% were engaging in the same behavior. Only 24.8% of girls whose friends were not having a physical relationship had one themselves. In urban areas, 25.2% of girls have had intercourse and in rural areas 20.9% have. Better indicators of whether or not girls were having sex were their employment and school status. Girls who were not attending school were 14.2% (17.4% v. 31.6%) more likely to be having sex; for girls who were employed this number was 14.4% (36.0% v. 21.6%).


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: In the Indian sociocultural milieu girls have less access to parental love, schools, opportunities for self-development and freedom of movement than boys do. It has been argued that they may rebel against this lack of access or seek out affection through physical relationships with boys. While the data reflects trends to support this theory, it is inconclusive. The freedom to communicate with adolescent boys was restricted for girls regardless of whether they lived in an urban or rural setting, and regardless of whether they went to school or not. More urban girls than rural girls discussed sex with their friends. Those who did not may have felt "the subject of sexuality in itself is considered an 'adult issue' and a taboo or it may be that some respondents were wary of revealing such personal information."


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Among Indian girls, Goyal claims that "misconceptions about sex, sexuality and sexual health were large. However, adolescents having sex relationships were somewhat better informed about the sources of spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS." While 40% of sexually active girls were aware that condoms could help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce the likelihood of pregnancy, only 10.5% used a condom during the last time they had intercourse.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: According to Advocates for Youth, the United States' teen pregnancy rate is over four times as much as it is in the Netherlands. In comparison, in the documentary, "Let's Talk About Sex", a photographer named James Houston travels from Los Angeles to D.C. and to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he contrasts European and American attitudes about sex. From the HIV rates to the contemplations of teen parenthood in America, Houston depicts a society in which America and the Netherlands differ.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Most Dutch parents practice vigilant leniency, in which they have a strong familial bond and are open to letting their children make their own decisions.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: "Gezelligheid" is a term used by many Dutch adolescents to describe their relationship with their family. The atmosphere is open and there is little that is not discussed between parents and children.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Amy Schalet, author of "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex" discusses in her book how the practices of Dutch parents strengthen their bonds with their children. Teenagers feel more comfortable about their sexuality and engage in discussion with their parents about it. A majority of Dutch parents feel comfortable allowing their teenagers to have their significant other spend the night.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Adolescent girls and boys who are attracted to others of the same sex are strongly affected by their surroundings in that adolescents often decide to express their sexualities or keep them secret depending on certain factors in their societies. These factors affect girls and boys differently. If girls’ schools and religions are against same sex attractions, they pose the greatest obstacles to girls who experience same sex attractions. These factors were not listed as affecting boys as much. The researchers suggest that maybe this is because not only are some religions against same-sex attraction, but they also encourage traditional roles for women and do not believe that women can carry out these roles as lesbians. Schools may affect girls more than boys because strong emphasis is placed on girls to date boys, and many school activities place high importance on heterosexuality (such as cheerleading). Additionally, the idea of not conforming to typical male gender roles inhibited many boys from openly expressing their same-sex attraction. The worry of conforming to gender roles did not inhibit girls from expressing their same-gender preferences as much, because society is generally more flexible about their gender expression.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Researchers such as Lisa Diamond are interested in how some adolescents depart from the socially constructed norms of gender and sexuality. She found that some girls, when faced with the option of choosing "heterosexual", "same-sex attracted" or "bisexual", preferred not to choose a label because their feelings do not fit into any of those categories.


title: Adolescent sexuality

text: Adolescents have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) when compared to older groups. Sexually active adolescents are more likely to believe that they will not contract a sexually transmitted infection than adults. Adolescents are more likely to have an infected partner and less likely to receive health care when an STI is suspected. They are also less likely to comply with the treatment for an STI. Coinfection is common among adolescents.