title: Landing Craft Utility

text: They transport rolling and tracked vehicles, containers, and outsized and general cargo from ships offshore to shore, as well as to areas that cannot be reached by oceangoing vessels (coastal, harbor, and intercoastal waterways). It can be self-deployed or transported aboard a float-on/float-off vessel. It is classed for full ocean service and one-man engine room operations and is built to U.S. Coast Guard standards. The vessel can sustain a crew of 2 warrant officers and 11 enlisted personnel for up to 18 days, and 10,000 miles. This class is also equipped with an aft anchor to assist in retracting from the beach.


title: Landing Craft Utility

text: The LCU 1700-class boats are destined to replace the existing LCU 1610-class of amphibious landing craft on a one-to-one basis. The LCU-1700 is 139 feet long, can reach speeds of 11 knots, has a range of 1,200 nautical miles at 8 knots, and has accommodations for a mixed gender crew of 14. It can carry two M1A1 tanks, or 350 combat troops, or 170 short tons of cargo. The contract announcement noted that the LCU 1700s will recapitalize the LCU fleet as a similarly rugged steel craft (to the LCU 1610) with a design life of 30 years. The similarities of these two classes of ships will help the US Navy to improve efficiency and reduce cost of the training programs, operations and overall ownership cost. The craft will enter, exit and be transported in well decks of current and programmed U.S. Navy amphibious warfare ships, for design purposes defined by the dimensions of LHD, LPD, LSD and LHA classes without ship alterations, while transporting loads up to 11 feet high above the craft’s vehicle deck. The contract was awarded to Swiftships in 2018, to design and build the prototype and up to 32 vessels. Work is being performed in Morgan City, Louisiana, and is expected to be completed by November 2023.


title: Landing Craft Utility

text: "Cap'n Fatso" is the second book in a series of three by Daniel V. Gallery that feature Boatswain's Mate First Class John "Fatso" Gioninni. Fatso is the commander of an LCU that, while on a special supply errand for his LSD's captain, is left behind in the Mediterranean Sea when the whole Sixth Fleet unexpectedly leaves for Vietnam. Through a series of accidents and misunderstandings Fatso and his crew are left without orders or attachment to any fleet and decide to "search the Mediterranean Sea for the Sixth Fleet". Hilarity ensues when they play practical jokes on the Russian fleet and make an "official" visit to Israel during the Six-Day War.


The 2016 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Michigan voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Michigan has 16 electoral votes in the Electoral College.


title: 2016 United States presidential election in Michigan

text: In the general election, Trump unexpectedly won Michigan by a narrow margin of 0.23%, with 47.50% of the total votes over Clinton's 47.27%. This is the narrowest margin of victory in Michigan's history in presidential elections, as well as the narrowest margin of any state in the 2016 election. Michigan was the last state to be called in the 2016 election with many networks calling its result around 2 weeks afterward. All of Michigan's 16 Electoral College votes were thus assigned to Trump. Trump's victory in Michigan was attributed to overwhelming and underestimated support from working-class voters, a demographic group that had previously tended to vote for the Democratic candidate. By winning Michigan, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since George H. W. Bush in 1988. Michigan also became one of eleven states to vote for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 which Hillary Clinton lost.


text: Michigan weighed in for this election as 2.32 points more Republican than the national average. This was the first time that Michigan voted to the right of the nation since 1988. This was the first time since 1976 that it voted more than 2 points to the right of the country as a whole and when the Democratic nominee won the popular vote without Michigan. It was also the only time since 1976 in which Michigan voted to the right of Nevada.


text: The 2016 Michigan Democratic presidential primary was held on March 8 in the U.S. state of Michigan as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election. On the same day, the Republican Party held primaries in four states, including their own Michigan primary. Bernie Sanders' narrow win was one of the largest upsets in American political history, with polling before the primary showing him trailing Hillary Clinton by an average of 21.4 points.


text: The eleventh debate was held on March 3, 2016, at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was the third debate to air on Fox News Channel. "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier, "The Kelly File" anchor Megyn Kelly and "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace served as moderators. It led into the Maine, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, and Hawaii contests. Fox announced that in order for candidates to qualify, they must have at least 3 percent support in the five most recent national polls by March 1 at 5 pm. Ben Carson said on March 2 he would not be attending the debate.


text: Although won by Democratic candidates in every election since 1992, sometimes by decisive margins, in 2016 Michigan was considered a swing state and received much attention from Republican party candidate Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton's campaign was confident they would win the state, and projected a 5-point win up until election day. Trump was able to win the state for the first time since George H. W. Bush won it in 1988, albeit by a narrow 0.23% margin of victory. On Election Day, "Detroit Free Press" had prematurely called the state for Clinton at 9:15pm before retracting the call three hours later, an error which had been common in many sources at the 2000 election, in the states of Florida and New Mexico. Donald Trump's upset victory highlighted Michigan's new status as a swing state, being bitterly contested in the 2020 election, when former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden narrowly flipped it back into the Democratic column. Trump's State Campaign was run by Scott Hagerstrom (State Director), CJ Galdes (Deputy State Director), Christopher Morris (Field Director), and Tia Jurkiw (Events Coordinator).


text: Except for losing one poll in August 2015, and tying with Trump in a poll in September 2015, Clinton won every pre-election poll with margins between 4 and 12 points until November 2016. In late October 2016, Clinton's lead narrowed significantly towards the election. Trump also won the last poll conducted on election day 49% to 47%. The average of the last three polls had Clinton leading Trump 47.6% to 45%. Ultimately, Trump's win here was an extreme surprise.


text: The Michigan Board of Canvassers certified Trump's lead of 10,704 votes over Clinton, a 0.23% margin, on November 28. The deadline to request a recount was then set for November 30 at 2:00 p.m. That same day, Green Party candidate Jill Stein's campaign requested a hand recount, but the recount was halted December 1 after the state received an objection from Trump representatives. The objection was rejected by Michigan's Bureau of Elections on December 2, and a federal judge ordered the recount to start again on December 5. Finally, the recount was halted on December 7 after a federal judge issued an order to Michigan's Board of Elections, thus making Trump's win official.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The original literary source for ' was ' ("The Prison"), a farce by German playwright Julius Roderich Benedix that premiered in Berlin in 1851. On 10 September 1872, a three-act French vaudeville play by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, "", loosely based on the Benedix farce, opened at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. Meilhac and Halévy had provided several successful libretti for Offenbach and "Le Réveillon" later formed the basis for the 1926 silent film "So This Is Paris", directed by Ernst Lubitsch.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: Meilhac and Halévy's play was soon translated into German by Karl Haffner (1804–1876), at the instigation of Max Steiner, as a non-musical play for production in Vienna. The French custom of a New Year's Eve "réveillon", or supper party, was not considered to provide a suitable setting for the Viennese theatre, so it was decided to substitute a ball for the "réveillon". Haffner's translation was then passed to the playwright and composer Richard Genée, who had provided some of the lyrics for Strauss's "Der Karneval in Rom" the year before, and he completed the libretto.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The operetta premiered on 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna and has been part of the regular repertoire ever since.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: It was performed in New York under Rudolf Bial at the Stadt Theatre on 21 November 1874. The German première took place at Munich's Gärtnerplatztheater in 1875. "Die Fledermaus" was sung in English at London's Alhambra Theatre on 18 December 1876, with its score modified by Hamilton Clarke.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: When the operetta came to Paris in 1877 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, as "La Tzigane", with Ismaël and Zulma Bouffar in the cast, it was not a success; only in 1904, with Meilhac and Halevy's original roles names and the words adapted by Paul Ferrier to the music (with Max Dearly and Ève Lavallière in the cast) did it find success in Paris and enter the repertoire there.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The first London performance in German did not take place until 1895. According to the archivist of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, "Twenty years after its production as a lyric opera in Vienna, [composer and conductor Gustav] Mahler raised the artistic status of Strauss's work by producing it at the Hamburg Opera House [...] all the leading opera houses in Europe, notably Vienna and Munich, have brightened their regular repertoire by including it for occasional performance."


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The role of Eisenstein was originally written for a tenor but is now frequently sung by a baritone. The role of Orlofsky is a trouser role, usually performed by a mezzo-soprano, sometimes by a countertenor and occasionally – an octave lower – by a tenor.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The party of act 2 allows productions to insert a variety of additional entertainment acts, such as music, comedy, or dance. The lengthy drunken soliloquy by Frosch (a comedy speaking role) in act 3 also permits variety in performance.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: Gabriel von Eisenstein, a Viennese man-about-town, has been sentenced to eight days in prison for insulting an official, partially due to the incompetence of his attorney, Dr. Blind. Adele, Eisenstein's maid, receives a forged letter, allegedly from her sister who is in the company of the ballet, but actually written by Falke, inviting her to Prince Orlofsky's ball. She pretends the letter says that her aunt is very sick, and asks her mistress Rosalinde (Eisenstein's wife) for an evening off ("Da schreibt meine Schwester Ida"/"My sister Ida writes to me"). Falke, Eisenstein's friend, arrives to invite him to the ball (Duet: "Komm mit mir zum Souper"/"Come with me to the souper"). Together, they recall a practical joke which Eisenstein played on Falke a few years ago, for which Falke is secretly planning a light-hearted revenge in kind. Eisenstein bids farewell to Adele and his wife Rosalinde, pretending he is going to prison (Trio: "O Gott, wie rührt mich dies!"/"Oh dear, oh dear, how sorry I am") but really intending to postpone jail for one day and have fun at the ball.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: After Eisenstein leaves, Rosalinde is visited by her former lover, the singing teacher Alfred, who serenades her ("Täubchen, das entflattert ist"/"Dove that has escaped"). Frank, the governor of the prison, arrives to take Eisenstein to jail, and finds Alfred instead. In order not to compromise Rosalinde, Alfred agrees to pretend to be Eisenstein and to accompany Frank. (Finale, drinking song: "Glücklich ist, wer vergisst"/"Happy is he who forgets" followed by Rosalinde's defence when Frank arrives: "Mit mir so spät im tête-à-tête"/"In tête-à-tête with me so late," and Frank's invitation: "Mein schönes, großes Vogelhaus"/"My beautiful, large bird-cage.")


title: Die Fledermaus

text: It transpires that Falke, with Prince Orlofsky's permission, is using the ball as a way of getting revenge on Eisenstein. Some time before, after a costume-party, Eisenstein had abandoned Falke, very drunk and dressed in a bat-costume, in the center of town, exposing him to ridicule the next day. As part of his scheme, Falke has invited Frank, Adele, and Rosalinde to come the ball, all concealing their identities as well. Rosalinde pretends to be a masked Hungarian countess, Eisenstein goes by the name "Marquis Renard," Frank is "Chevalier Chagrin," and Adele, who has borrowed one of Rosalinde's dresses without permission, pretends she is an actress.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The ball is in progress (Chorus: "Ein Souper heut' uns winkt"/"A souper is before us") and the Prince welcomes his guests ("Ich lade gern mir Gäste ein"/"I love to invite my friends"). Eisenstein is introduced to Adele, but is confused as to who she really is because of her striking resemblance to his maid. ("Mein Herr Marquis"/"My lord marquis," sometimes referred to as "Adele's Laughing Song"). Frank arrives. He and Eisenstein, who are both posing as Frenchmen, attempt to conceal their identities by repeating common French phrases to each other, to Orlofsky's great amusement. Since neither actually knows French, both are fooled. As the party progresses, they both experience alcohol-induced good-feeling and manly camaraderie for each other.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: Then Falke introduces the masked Rosalinde to the company. She convinces everyone that she is Hungarian by singing the "Czardas", a sentimental dancing-song ("Klänge der Heimat"/"Sounds from home"). During an amorous tête-à-tête, Eisenstein tries unsuccessfully to persuade the mystery-woman to unmask. She succeeds in extracting a valuable watch from her husband's pocket, something which she can use in the future as evidence of his impropriety. (Watch duet: "Dieser Anstand, so manierlich"/"Her bearing, so well-mannered"). In a rousing finale, Orlofsky makes a toast to champagne, and the company celebrates (The Champagne song: "Im Feuerstrom der Reben"/"In the fire stream of the grape"; followed by the canon: "Brüderlein, Brüderlein und Schwesterlein"/"Brothers, brothers and sisters" and the waltz finale, "Ha, welch ein Fest, welche Nacht voll Freud'!"/"Ha, what joy, what a night of delight.") Eisenstein and Frank dash off as the clock strikes six in the morning.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: The next morning they all find themselves at the prison where the confusion increases and is compounded by the jailer, Frosch, who has profited by Warden Frank's absence to become gloriously drunk. Alfred, still in jail in Eisenstein's place, irritates the other prisoners by singing operatic arias.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: Adele arrives to ask the Chevalier Chagrin (actually Frank) to sponsor her career as an actress, but Frank is not wealthy enough to do this (Melodrama; Couplet of Adele: "Spiel' ich die Unschuld vom Lande"/"If I play the innocent peasant maid"). Meanwhile, Alfred asks Frosch to summon Dr. Blind to help get him released; Frank agrees to allow this and Dr. Blind arrives. Eisenstein enters and says he has come to serve his sentence. He is surprised when Frank tells him that his cell is already occupied by a man who claims to be Eisenstein and whom Frank had arrested in Eisenstein's apartment. Frank further tells Eisenstein that the man he arrested was singing amorous songs to Rosalinde at the time of his arrest, and warmly kissed her goodbye. Enraged, Eisenstein takes Dr. Blind's wig and glasses in order to disguise himself and confront the impersonator Alfred, who Eisenstein now believes has cuckolded him. Rosalinde enters. Eisenstein takes off his disguise and accuses her of being unfaithful to him with Alfred. Eisenstein, Rosalinde, and Alfred sing a trio in which Eisenstein angrily claims the right of vengeance (Trio: "Ja, ich bin's, den ihr betrogen...Ra-ra-ra-ra-Rache will ich!"/"I'm the one who was mistreated...Ve-ve-ve-ve-vengeance is mine!"). However, Rosalinde produces his watch, and he realizes that the Hungarian mystery-woman he tried to seduce at Orlofsky's party was actually Rosalinde in disguise and that he, not she, is at fault.


title: Die Fledermaus

text: Falke enters with all the guests from the party and explains that the whole thing was payback for Eisenstein's practical joke on him three years before. Eisenstein is delighted by the prank, and he begs Rosalinde to forgive him for his attempted infidelity. Rosalinde refuses at first, and threatens to divorce him, but Eisenstein tells her that his misbehavior was caused by the champagne. She accepts this explanation and immediately forgives him unconditionally. Orlofsky promises to finance Adele's acting career, and the company joyfully reprises the "Champagne song" from act 2.


title: Skate punk

text: Skate punk (also known as skatecore and skate rock) is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a more melodic genre of punk rock in the 1990s similar to pop punk. Since then, it has predominately featured fast tempos, lead guitar playing (including guitar riffs and guitar solos), fast drumming, and singing (sometimes including vocal harmonies). Occasionally, skate punk also combines the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore with the catchy hooks of pop-punk.


title: Skate punk

text: 1970s and early 1980s punk rock bands like Buzzcocks, Descendents, Adolescents, Black Flag, and Circle Jerks paved the way for skate punk. Skate punk was pioneered in the 1980s by bands such as the Big Boys, Suicidal Tendencies, and JFA. Many early skate punk bands are part of the hardcore punk movement nardcore, which emerged in Oxnard, California. Skate punk band Bad Religion started the more melodic style of skate punk in 1988 with the band's influential album "Suffer". This melodic style of skate punk continued in the 1990s with several skate punk bands emerging at the time. In the 1990s, skate punk changed into a more melodic punk rock genre with bands like NOFX, Lagwagon, Pennywise, Face to Face, and No Use for a Name.


title: Skate punk

text: Skate punk broke into the mainstream during the 1990s with bands such as the Offspring and Blink-182. Other bands, like NOFX, Pennywise, Face to Face, MxPx and Bad Religion, achieved underground to moderate success. Many skate punk bands' songs were featured in "Tony Hawk's" video games, a video game series that sold millions. Punk's popularity continued in the early 2000s with many bands continuing to make albums that received a lot of attention. During the 2010s, later skate punk bands such as Trash Boat, Cerebral Ballzy, and Trash Talk, achieved underground success through the influence of previous skate punk bands.


title: Skate punk

text: Skate punk is also known as skate rock and skatecore. Noted by AllMusic for having "high-energy", skate punk features fast tempos. Many of the 1980s skate punk bands were hardcore punk bands. In the 1990s, it changed and was played by bands that sounded more like pop punk and standard punk rock than hardcore punk.


title: Skate punk

text: Also a skater subculture, skate punk's origins go back to skate culture and surf culture. Author Sharon M. Hannon noted skate punk is known for "its fast guitars, driving bass lines, and surf music–style drums". According to Mark Lepage of "Spin" magazine, it often has a "double-time hup-two-three-four beat". Skate punk music often features singing and vocal harmonies. "Rolling Stone" described skate punk as "a sort of pop hardcore". Some skate punk music has lyrics that are about humor - "mostly of the smartass variety".


title: Skate punk

text: Much skate punk music features lead guitar playing, guitar riffs, and sometimes guitar solos. Skate punk is described by AllMusic as having "thrashier guitars" than regular punk rock. Blast beats and fast drumming are very common in skate punk. Skate punk features the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore, occasionally combining them with the catchy hooks of pop punk. Some skate punk bands play other genres of music; pop punk, funk metal, and hardcore punk are genres that are noted for being played by some skate punk bands. Skate punk paved the way for third-wave ska. Some skate punk bands, including NOFX and the Suicide Machines, also play ska punk. Some skate punk bands, including Suicidal Tendencies and Excel, also play thrash metal or crossover thrash.


title: Skate punk

text: California punk bands like Black Flag, Adolescents, and Circle Jerks paved the way for skate punk with their "fast and raw" music, "which replicated the feel of skating." 1970s punk bands like the Buzzcocks and 1980s punk bands like The Descendents made fast and catchy punk rock songs about teenage confusion, and also combined the aggression and speed of hardcore punk with melodies.


title: Skate punk

text: Originally derived from hardcore punk, skate punk began in the early 1980s. The Big Boys and JFA are considered pioneers of skate punk. Bands such as Gang Green, Suicidal Tendencies, The Faction, Rich Kids on LSD, Tales of Terror, Agression, Drunk Injuns and NOFX were among the first wave of skate punk bands. Johnny Loftus of AllMusic described early skate punk music as "a confluence of punk's anger and simplicity, the furious speed of hardcore, and defiantly smart-assed machismo". Many early skate punk bands are part of the hardcore punk movement nardcore, which emerged in Oxnard, California. Popular among skateboarders, 1980s hardcore punk bands with connections to skateboarding culture were labeled as "skate punk" - the origin of the term. Early skate punk bands are noted for creating the connection between punk rock and skateboarding. Mörizen "Mofo" Föche, vocalist of Drunk Injuns and former employee of the magazine "Thrasher", is "often credited with first coining the term 'skate-punk'." Bad Religion's 1988 album "Suffer" is seen by many as a highly influential landmark album in the skate punk genre. "Suffer" helped start the melodic style of skate punk that continued in the 1990s.


title: Skate punk

text: As skate punk became more popular during the 1990s, it changed into a more melodic genre. During this time, some bands experienced mainstream success and were featured at events such as the Warped Tour, which started in 1995. Prominent skate punk bands of the 1990s include Consumed, Good Riddance, Strung Out, NOFX, Goldfinger, Lagwagon, Guttermouth, No Use for a Name, Face to Face, Slick Shoes, MxPx, Unwritten Law, Ten Foot Pole, Screeching Weasel, Bad Religion, the Offspring, and Pennywise.


title: Skate punk

text: Skate punk broke into the mainstream in 1994. The Offspring's album "Smash", released in 1994, launched the band into the mainstream. "Smash", certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sold at least 6.3 million copies in the United States and at least 5 million copies outside the United States. NOFX's 1994 album "Punk in Drublic" was eventually certified gold by the RIAA on May 5, 2000. Unlike other 1990s punk rock bands, NOFX never signed to a major record label. Also, NOFX has not given permission for its music videos to be played on channels like MTV and VH1. Explaining this decision NOFX member said: "We made the 'Leave It Alone' video, and we decided not to send it to MTV. We just didn't want to be a part of that machine, of that punk wave. I think it's one of the best decisions we've ever made." California skate punk band Face to Face had local success with their song "Disconnected", which was played often on California radio station KROQ-FM. With "Disconnected" constantly playing on KROQ-FM, Face to Face's 1995 album "Big Choice" sold more than 100,000 copies.


title: Skate punk

text: Other skate punk bands achieved underground to moderate success. Pennywise's 1993 album "Unknown Road" sold 100,000 copies within two years, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and helped bring the band underground popularity. Bad Religion's 1994 album "Stranger Than Fiction" was certified gold by the RIAA on March 4, 1998. "Stranger Than Fiction" song "21st Century (Digital Boy)" peaked at number 11 on the Alternative Songs chart on December 24, 1994 and the song's music video was played a lot on MTV. Although "Ixnay on the Hombre" by the Offspring did not achieve the same sales as the Offspring's album "Smash", "Ixnay on the Hombre" by the Offspring was certified platinum by the RIAA in April 1997. As of November 1998, the album sold at least 3 million copies worldwide and, as of August 2015, the album sold 1.4 million copies in the United States. In June 1997, Blink-182 released its album "Dude Ranch". It was certified gold by the RIAA in February 1998, and was certified platinum by the RIAA in November 1999. Scott Heisel of "Alternative Press" described "Dude Ranch" as "a killer skate-punk record". "Dude Ranch" single "Dammit" was a hit. It peaked at number 61 on "Billboard" Hot 100 Airplay chart, received heavy radio airplay, and was played a lot by MTV. In 1998, the Offspring released their album "Americana", which was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA. MxPx began to receive underground attention in 1996 with the band's third album "Life in General", which sold 89,000 copies within two years, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and helped the band's first two albums, "Pokinatcha" (1994) and "Teenage Politics" (1995), sell 50,000 combined. The song "Chick Magnet" received limited play on MTV and M2. MxPx released its fourth album "Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo", which was certified gold by the RIAA in January 2000.


title: Skate punk

text: The skateboarding video game series "Tony Hawk's" featured music by many skate punk bands, including Lagwagon, Guttermouth, the Vandals, Suicidal Tendencies, Millencolin, Bad Religion, and Consumed. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" was one of the top-selling video games for PlayStation in November 1999. Quickly after being released, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2", released in 2000, was the PlayStation title for two consecutive weeks. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" quickly sold 1,000,000 copies. The sales of the video game reached 5,300,000 copies in the United States. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3", released in 2001, sold about 2,100,000 copies in the United States. As skate punk achieved success in the 1990s, record labels like Epitaph Records and Fat Wreck Chords signed numerous punk bands.


title: Skate punk

text: During the 2010s, there was an emergence of skate punk bands influenced by older skate punk bands. These bands include Trash Talk, FIDLAR, Trash Boat and Cerebral Ballzy. Many of them attracted cult followings by promoting their music on the Internet. Many of these bands, including Trash Talk and Cerebral Ballzy, are influenced by hardcore punk and speed metal. FIDLAR is influenced by skate punk bands Blink-182 and the Offspring. and achieved underground and moderate success; their self-titled album debuted at number five on "Billboard" Top Heatseekers chart.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: "Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 as their debut and lead single from their first album, "World Clique" (1990). Written and produced by the band, it was a hit in many countries, reaching number-one in Australia and on both the Canadian "RPM" and US "Billboard" dance charts. Today it is widely recognized as a classic of its genre.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: Though the album version was not recorded until 1990, the song was originally written in the late 1980s; it was performed live as early as 1989. The backing track was built around many samples, primarily the main riff from Herbie Hancock's track "Bring Down the Birds" from the "Blowup" soundtrack and Vernon Burch's "Get Up", which provided the drum track and also formed the basis for the breakdown featuring a slide whistle. Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins provided guest vocals, and the rap is provided by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: AllMusic editor Ned Raggett wrote in his review of "World Clique", "Its reputation may rest on only one hit single -- but what a hit. 'Groove Is in the Heart' defined the summer of 1990 on radio and MTV with its delicious combination of funk, modern dance sheen, and Lady Miss Kier's smart, sharp diva ways. Add in guest vocals and bass from Bootsy Collins (a pity his hilarious video cameo wasn't represented here), brass from the original Horny Horns duo of Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, and a smooth mid-song rap from A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, and the results sounded good then and now." Bill Coleman from "Billboard" commented, "Sometimes you can believe the hype. Hot New York City underground dance trio more than lives up to prerelease push with this sizzling groove'n'sample funk jam, kicked into gear by the sultry and charismatic vocal presence of future diva Lady Miss Kier." He also added, ""Groove" is, well, very groovy. A house-paced track with a hip-hop sensibility." Matt Stopera and Brian Galindo from "BuzzFeed" noted that it is a "perfect little slice of the early '90s New York club scene." Bevan Hannan from "The Canberra Times" described the song as "good fun".


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: David Giles from "Music Week" said it's a "fine single". He added, "Pure Seventies funk with a Nineties groove." Helen Mead from "NME" stated that it is "playfully funky". The magazine also called it a "pretty faultless collage of G-Funk, Daisy Age hip-hop, salsa and dippy disco." A reviewer from "People Magazine" noted it as "hopping". Ross Grady from "The Rice Thresher" said it is "one of the creamiest slabs of vinyl ever to come from the house music scene." "Slant Magazine" ranked the song third in its 100 Greatest Dance Songs list, adding: "No song delivered the group's world-conscious Word as colorfully and open-heartedly as 'Groove Is in the Heart,' which flew up the Billboard charts while goosing stuffed shirts." Caroline Sullivan from "Smash Hits" wrote that the "ripping floor filler" has "got the samples and twiddly electronoises so necessary for dancefloor success nowadays, but there's also a hummable melody and sense of humour about it all." "NME" and "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll named "Groove Is in the Heart" the best single released in the year 1990.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: An immediate smash in nightclubs, the song went to number-one on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart and also hit number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It peaked at number-one for one week in Australia in November 1990, while it reached number two in New Zealand.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In the UK, the record was equally popular and was released as a double A-side with "What Is Love", and, with the UK single released with the subtitle "peanut butter mix" (because the single was heavily edited and completely omitted the contributions by Bootsy Collins and Q-Tip), it eventually reached number two during September 1990. Its placing second was due to a rule instituted in the UK Singles Chart in the 1980s, which settled any "ties" over chart positions due to equal sales: the single with sales that had increased most from the previous week would reside above the other, controversially giving "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band the top place. Following complaints from Deee-Lite's record company, WEA, the rule, of which this song had been the only victim, was scrapped and joint positions were once again allowed. However, it turned out that the 2,595 panel sales that both records achieved for this week of September 15, 1990, had been rounded up, with chart compilers Gallup later releasing the data that showed that the Steve Miller Band hit was indeed a fraction ahead (selling about eight copies more than Deee-Lite). "The Joker" spent a second week at the number-one spot and thereafter convincingly outsold "Groove Is in the Heart".


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In Europe, the single managed to climb into the top 10 also in Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, where it hit number five in September 1990. Additionally, it was a top 20 hit in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, while it peaked within the top 30 in Austria. It earned a gold record in the US, after 500,000 singles were sold. In Australia and the UK, it earned a platinum record, when 70,000 and 600,000 units, respectively, were sold.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In 2003, "Q Magazine" ranked "Groove Is in the Heart" at number 323 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". "VH1" placed it at No. 67 in their list of "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" in 2007. "Pitchfork" named it the 59th best track of the 1990s. They wrote: "With their sass-tastic frontwoman and kitsched-to-death fashion sense, Deee-Lite probably seemed like a good bet at a time when pop's future was still up for grabs. If you were a kid in the 'burbs, they almost resembled a Daisy Age hip-hop group (the day-glo/flower-power look, the Q-Tip guest rap) as much as a house act (a strange urban subculture we had little access to in junior high)."


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In 2011, "The Guardian" featured the song on their "A history of modern music: Dance". In April 2017 the single was re-released on pink vinyl, as part of Record Store Day with remixes of "What Is Love?" on the B-Side. "BuzzFeed" listed the song number three in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" list in 2017.


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In 2018, "Time Out" listed the song number 23 in their list of "The 100 best party songs", adding: "In this tale of New York's anything-is-possible East Village of the late '80s, a trio of candy-coloured club kids – Super DJ Dmitri, Lady Miss Kier and Towa Tei – decide to form a band. The threesome (with a little help from ringers Q-Tip, Maceo Parker and Bootsy Collins) come up with 'Groove Is in the Heart', a sweetly innocent percolator of a tune that, against all odds, becomes the worldwide club smash of 1990. True story!"


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: In 2021, "Rolling Stone" ranked the "Groove Is in the Heart" at 233 in its updated list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, calling it "a collage across different generations of funkateers."


title: Groove Is in the Heart

text: American retail chain Target Corporation used the song, as performed by Charli XCX with Questlove and Black Thought from the Roots, in a series of 2015 television advertisements.


title: History of NATO

text: The history of NATO begins in the immediate aftermath of World War II when British diplomacy set the stage to contain the Soviet Union and to stop the expansion of soviet power in Europe. The United Kingdom and France signed, in 1947, the Treaty of Dunkirk, a defensive pact, which was expanded in 1948 with the Treaty of Brussels to add the three Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) and committed them to collective defense against an armed attack for fifty years. The British worked with Washington to expand the alliance into NATO in 1949, adding the United States and Canada as well as Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. West Germany joined in 1955 and Spain joined in 1982.


title: History of NATO

text: The structure of NATO evolved throughout the Cold War and its aftermath. An integrated military structure for NATO was first established in 1950 as it became clear that NATO would need to enhance its defences for the longer term against a potential Soviet attack. In April 1951, Allied Command Europe and its headquarters (SHAPE) were established; later, four subordinate headquarters were added in Northern and Central Europe, the Southern Region, and the Mediterranean.


title: History of NATO

text: From the 1950s to 2003, the Strategic Commanders were the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT).


title: History of NATO

text: The Treaty of Brussels was a mutual defense treaty against the Soviet threat at the start of the Cold War. It was signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom and was the precursor to NATO. The Soviet threat became immediate with the Berlin Blockade in 1948, leading to the creation of a multinational defense organization, the Western Union Defence Organisation, in September 1948. However, the parties were too weak militarily to counter the Soviet Armed Forces. In addition, the communist 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état had overthrown a democratic government, and British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin reiterated that the best way to prevent another Czechoslovakia was to evolve a joint Western military strategy. He got a receptive hearing in the United States, especially with the American anxiety over Italy and the Italian Communist Party.


title: History of NATO

text: In 1948, European leaders met with US defense, military, and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. The talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, and the United States signed on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states, as well as the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". Popular support for the treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, anti-membership riot in March 1949. The creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism, which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation.


title: History of NATO

text: The members agreed that an armed attack against any of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. Consequently, they agreed that if an armed attack occurred, each of them, in the exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense, would assist the member being attacked and take such action as it deemed necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor. Although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. That differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which clearly states that the response is military in nature. NATO members are nonetheless assumed to aid the attacked member militarily. The treaty was later clarified to include both the member's territory and their "vessels, forces or aircraft" north of the Tropic of Cancer, including some overseas departments of France.


title: History of NATO

text: The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, which, in many cases, meant European countries adopting US practices. Roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements (STANAG) codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved. The 7.62×51mm NATO rifle cartridge was thus introduced in the 1950s as a standard firearm cartridge among many NATO countries. Fabrique Nationale de Herstal's FAL, which used the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, was adopted by 75 countries, including many outside NATO. Also, aircraft marshaling signals were standardized so that any NATO aircraft could land at any NATO base. Other standards such as the NATO phonetic alphabet have made their way beyond NATO into civilian use.


title: History of NATO

text: The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 was crucial for NATO, as it raised the apparent threat of all Communist countries working together and forced the alliance to develop concrete military plans. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) was formed to direct forces in Europe and began work under Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower in January 1951. In September 1950, the NATO Military Committee called for an ambitious buildup of conventional forces to meet the Soviets and reaffirmed that position at the February 1952 meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Lisbon. The conference, seeking to provide the forces necessary for NATO's Long-Term Defence Plan, called for an expansion to 96 divisions. However, that requirement was dropped the following year to roughly 35 divisions, with heavier use to be made of nuclear weapons. At this time, NATO could call on about 15 ready divisions in Central Europe and another 10 in Italy and Scandinavia. Also at Lisbon, the post of Secretary General of NATO as the organization's chief civilian was created, and Lord Ismay was eventually appointed to the post.


title: History of NATO

text: In September 1952, the first major NATO maritime exercises began. Exercise Mainbrace brought together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway. Other major exercises that followed included Exercise Grand Slam and Exercise Longstep, naval and amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Italic Weld, a combined air-naval-ground exercise in northern Italy, Grand Repulse, involving the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR), the Netherlands Corps and Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE), Monte Carlo, a simulated atomic air-ground exercise involving the Central Army Group, and Weldfast, a combined amphibious landing exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving American, British, Greek, Italian, and Turkish naval forces.


title: History of NATO

text: Greece and Turkey also joined the alliance in 1952, which forced a series of controversial negotiations, mainly between United States and Britain, over how to bring both countries into the military command structure. While that overt military preparation was going on, covert stay-behind arrangements initially made by the Western European Union to continue resistance after a successful Soviet invasion, including Operation Gladio, were transferred to NATO control. Ultimately, unofficial bonds began to grow between NATO's armed forces, such as the NATO Tiger Association and competitions such as the Canadian Army Trophy for tank gunnery.


title: History of NATO

text: In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. The NATO countries, fearing that the Soviet Union's motive was to weaken the alliance, ultimately rejected that proposal. On 17 December 1954, the North Atlantic Council approved MC 48, a key document in the evolution of NATO nuclear thought. MC 48 emphasized that NATO had to use atomic weapons from the outset of a war with the Soviet Union, whether or not the Soviets chose to use them first. That gave SACEUR the same prerogatives for automatic use of nuclear weapons that existed for the commander-in-chief of the US Strategic Air Command.


title: History of NATO

text: The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955 was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard Lange, then the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister. A major reason was that German manpower was necessary to have enough conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion. One of the immediate results of West German entry was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, which was signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany, thereby delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War.


title: History of NATO

text: Three major exercises were held concurrently in the northern autumn of 1957. Operation Counter Punch, Operation Strikeback, and Operation Deep Water were the most ambitious military undertaking for the alliance so far, involving more than 250,000 men, 300 ships, and 1,500 aircraft operating from Norway to Turkey.


title: History of NATO

text: NATO's unity was breached early in its history with a crisis occurring during Charles de Gaulle's presidency of France. De Gaulle protested the strong role of the United States in NATO and what he perceived as a special relationship between it and the United Kingdom. In a memorandum sent to US President Dwight Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 17 September 1958, he argued for the creation of a tripartite directorate, which would put France on an equal footing with the US and the UK.


title: History of NATO

text: Considering the response to be unsatisfactory, de Gaulle began constructing an independent defense force for his country. He wanted to give France, in the event of an East German incursion into West Germany, the option of coming to a separate peace with the Eastern bloc, instead of being drawn into a larger war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. In February 1959, France withdrew its Mediterranean Fleet from NATO command, and it later banned the stationing of foreign nuclear weapons on French soil. That caused the United States to transfer 300 military aircraft out of France and to return control of the air force bases that it had operated in France since 1950 to the French by 1967.


title: History of NATO

text: Though France showed solidarity with the rest of NATO during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, de Gaulle continued his pursuit of an independent defense by removing France's Atlantic and English Channel fleets from NATO command. In 1966, all French armed forces were removed from NATO's integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were asked to leave France. The withdrawal forced the relocation of SHAPE from Rocquencourt, near Paris, to Casteau, Belgium, by 16 October 1967. France remained a member of the alliance and committed to the defense of Europe from possible Warsaw Pact attack with its own forces stationed in West Germany throughout the Cold War. A series of secret accords between the US and French officials, the Lemnitzer–Ailleret Agreements, detailed how French forces would dovetail back into NATO's command structure if East-West hostilities broke out.


title: History of NATO

text: When de Gaulle announced his decision to withdraw from the integrated NATO command, US President Lyndon Johnson suggested that when de Gaulle "comes rushing down like a locomotive on the track, why the Germans and ourselves, we just stand aside and let him go on by, then we are back together again."


title: History of NATO

text: That vision came true when France announced its return to full participation at the 2009 Strasbourg–Kehl summit.


title: History of NATO

text: During most of the Cold War, NATO's watch against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact did not actually lead to direct military action. On 1 July 1968, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons opened for signature. NATO argued that its nuclear sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty since US forces controlled the weapons until a decision was made to go to war when the treaty would no longer be controlling. Few states then knew of the NATO nuclear sharing arrangements, which were not challenged. In May 1978, NATO countries officially defined two complementary aims of the Alliance: to maintain security and pursue détente. That was supposed to mean matching defenses at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw Pact's offensive capabilities without spurring a further arms race.


title: History of NATO

text: On 12 December 1979, in light of a build-up of Warsaw Pact nuclear capabilities in Europe, ministers approved the deployment of US GLCM cruise missiles and Pershing II theatre nuclear weapons in Europe. The new warheads were also meant to strengthen the West's negotiating position regarding nuclear disarmament. That policy was called the Dual Track policy. Similarly, in 1983 and 1984, responding to the stationing of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in Europe, NATO deployed modern Pershing II missiles tasked to hit military targets such as tank formations in the event of war. That action led to peace movement protests throughout Western Europe, and support for their deployment wavered, as many doubted whether the push for deployment could be sustained.


title: History of NATO

text: The membership of the organization was then largely static. In 1974, as a consequence of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military command structure but, with Turkish co-operation, was readmitted in 1980. The Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina did not result in NATO involvement because Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that collective self-defense is applicable only to attacks on member state territories north of the Tropic of Cancer.


title: History of NATO

text: On 30 May 1982, NATO gained a new member when the newly-democratic Spain joined the alliance, as was confirmed by referendum in 1986. At the peak of the Cold War, 16 member nations maintained an approximate strength of 5,252,800 active militaries, including as many as 435,000 forward-deployed US forces, under a command structure that reached a peak of 78 headquarters, organized into four echelons.


title: History of NATO

text: The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the "de facto" main adversary of NATO and caused a strategic re-evaluation of NATO's purpose, nature, tasks, and focus on the continent of Europe. The shift started, with the 1990 signing in Paris of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe between NATO and the Soviet Union, which mandated specific military reductions across the continent, which continued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. European countries then accounted for 34 percent of NATO's military spending; by 2012, that had fallen to 21 percent. NATO also began a gradual expansion to include countries of Central and Eastern Europe and extended its activities into political and humanitarian situations that had not been thought of as NATO concerns.


title: History of NATO

text: An expansion of NATO came with German reunification on 3 October 1990, when the former East Germany became part of the Federal Republic of Germany and of the alliance. That had been agreed in the Two Plus Four Treaty earlier that year. To secure Soviet approval of a united Germany remaining in NATO, it was agreed that foreign troops and nuclear weapons would not be stationed in the east. There was no formal commitment in the agreement not to expand NATO to the east, but there are diverging views on whether negotiators gave informal commitments regarding further NATO expansion. Jack Matlock, the American ambassador to the Soviet Union during its final years, said that the West gave a "clear commitment" not to expand, and declassified documents indicate that Soviet negotiators had the impression that NATO membership was off the table for countries such as Czechoslovakia, Hungary, or Poland. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the West German foreign minister, said in a conversation with Eduard Shevardnadze, "For us, however, one thing is certain: NATO will not expand to the east." In 1996, Gorbachev wrote in his "Memoirs" that "during the negotiations on the unification of Germany they gave assurances that NATO would not extend its zone of operation to the east," and he repeated that view in an interview in 2008. However, in 2014 Gorbachev stated the opposite: "The topic of 'NATO expansion' was not discussed at all [in 1990], and it wasn't brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility. Western leaders didn't bring it up, either." According to Robert Zoellick, a US State Department official involved in the Two Plus Four negotiating process, that appears to be a misperception, and no formal commitment regarding enlargement was made. Harvard University historian Mark Kramer also rejects that an informal agreement existed. Memorandums published by the National Security Archive in 2017 indicate that multiple assurances against NATO expansion were indeed made to Soviet leaders at the highest levels in 1990 and 1991.


title: History of NATO

text: As part of restructuring, NATO's military structure was cut back and reorganized, with new forces such as the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps established. The changes brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union on the military balance in Europe were recognized in the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, which was signed by 30 countries in 1999, ratified by Russia in 2000, but never ratified by any NATO member, and therefore never came into effect. The policies of French President Nicolas Sarkozy resulted in a major reform of France's military position, culminating with the return to full membership on 4 April 2009, which also included France rejoining the NATO Military Command Structure but maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent.


title: History of NATO

text: Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up, like the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative, and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 1998, the NATO–Russia Permanent Joint Council was established. On 8 July 1997, three former communist countries (Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland) were invited to join NATO, which was accepted by all three, with Hungarian acceptance being endorsed in a referendum in which 85.3% of voters supported joining NATO.


title: History of NATO

text: Czech President Vaclav Havel welcomed the expansion: "Never have we been part of such a broad, solid and binding security alliance, which at the same time respects in its essence the sovereignty and will of our nation." Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek also welcomed the expansion: "Poland forever returns where she has always belonged: the free world." Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi stated that the expansion showed that Hungary was returning "to her natural habitat." The expansion was also welcomed by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who stated that the expansion would do "for Europe's east what NATO has already helped to do for Europe's west: steadily and systematically, we will continue erasing – without replacing – the line drawn in Europe by Stalin's bloody boot."


title: History of NATO

text: The expansion was criticized in the US by some policy experts as a "policy error of historic proportions." According to George F. Kennan, an American diplomat and former advocate of the containment policy, the decision "may be expected to have an adverse effect on the development of Russian democracy; to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations, to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking."


title: History of NATO

text: Membership went on expanding with the accession of seven more Central and Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague summit and joined NATO on 29 March 2004, shortly before the 2004 Istanbul summit. Slovenian membership was endorsed in a referendum in which 66.02% of voters supported joining. The entry of Romania into NATO is particularly notable as it put the strategic Focșani Gate under NATO control.


title: History of NATO

text: New NATO structures were also formed while old ones were abolished. In 1997, NATO reached agreement on a significant downsizing of its command structure from 65 headquarters to 20. The NATO Response Force (NRF) was launched at the 2002 Prague summit on 21 November, the first summit in a former Comecon country. On 19 June 2003, a further restructuring of the NATO military commands began as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic were abolished and a new command, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), was established in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) became the Headquarters of Allied Command Operations (ACO). ACT is responsible for driving transformation (future capabilities) in NATO while ACO is responsible for current operations. In March 2004, NATO's Baltic Air Policing began, which supported the sovereignty of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia by providing jet fighters to react to any unwanted aerial intrusions. Eight multinational jet fighters are based in Lithuania, the number of which was increased from four in 2014. Also at the 2004 Istanbul summit, NATO launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative with four Persian Gulf nations.


title: History of NATO

text: The 2006 Riga summit was held in Riga, Latvia, and highlighted the issue of energy security. It was the first NATO summit to be held in a country that had been part of the old Soviet Union. At the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO agreed to the accession of Croatia and Albania, both of which joined NATO in April 2009. Ukraine and Georgia were also told that they could eventually become members. The issue of Georgian and Ukrainian membership in NATO prompted harsh criticism from Russia, as did NATO plans for a missile defence system. Studies for the system had begun in 2002, with negotiations centered on anti-ballistic missiles being stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic. Though NATO leaders gave assurances that the system was not targeting Russia, Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev criticized the system as a threat.


title: History of NATO

text: In 2009, US President Barack Obama proposed using the ship-based Aegis Combat System, but the plan still includes stations being built in Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Romania, and Poland. NATO will also maintain the "status quo" in its nuclear deterrent in Europe by upgrading the targeting capabilities of the "tactical" B61 nuclear bombs stationed there and deploying them on the stealthier Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. On 15 June 2016, NATO officially recognized cyberwarfare as an operational domain of war, just like land, sea, and aerial warfare. That means that any cyber attack on NATO members can trigger Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Likewise, on 4 December 2019, NATO additionally recognized space warfare as an operational domain of war.


title: History of NATO

text: Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO on 5 June 2017, amid strong objections from Russia. On 27 March 2020, North Macedonia became the 30th and newest member after a dispute about its name had been resolved with Greece.


title: History of NATO

text: The 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea led to strong condemnation by NATO nations, and Poland invoked Article 4 in meetings. At the 2014 Wales summit, the leaders of NATO's member states formally committed for the first time spend the equivalent of at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defence by 2024, which was previously only an informal guideline. In February 2015, NATO committed to forming a new "spearhead" force of 5000 troops at bases in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.


title: History of NATO

text: NATO did not condemn the 2016–present purges in Turkey. As a result of the Turkish invasion of Kurdish-inhabited areas in Syria, Turkey's intervention in Libya and the Cyprus–Turkey maritime zones dispute, there are signs of a schism between Turkey and other NATO members. On 1 August 2018, the US Department of Treasury sanctioned two senior Turkish government ministers who were involved in the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the US behavior would force Turkey to look for new friends and allies. The US–Turkey dispute appears to be one of the most serious diplomatic crisis between the NATO allies in years.


title: History of NATO

text: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led eight NATO countries—Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia—to trigger Article 4. The North Atlantic Council issued a statement in which it condemned the invasion "in the strongest possible terms". Elements of the NATO Response Force were activated for the first time in NATO's history. In March, NATO leaders met at Brussels for an extraordinary summit which also involved Group of Seven and European Union leaders. NATO member states agreed to establish four additional battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The aircraft carrier USS "Harry S. Truman" and its carrier strike group were placed under the command of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO, marking the first time an entire US carrier group was placed under NATO command since the Cold War.


title: History of NATO

text: The Defence Planning Committee was a former senior decision-making body on matters relating to the integrated military structure of the Alliance. It was dissolved after a major committee review in June 2010, with its responsibilities absorbed by the North Atlantic Council.


title: History of NATO

text: The ..Office of the Secretary-General [is] directed by an Executive Secretary, Captain R.D. Coleridge (UK), who is also Secretary to the Council. He is responsible for supervising the general processing of the work of the Council and their committees, including the provision of all secretarial assistance, as well as supervision of the administrative services of the Staff/Secretariat itself. Thus the Secretariat provides secretaries to all the Council's principal committees and working groups - apart from those of a strictly technical nature - and ensures coordination between them... On the Staff side, there are three main divisions corresponding to the three principal aspects of NATO's work, each under an Assistant Secretary-General. Ambassador Sergio Fenoaltea (Italy) heads the Political Affairs Division, M. Rene Sergent (France) the Economics and Finance Division, and Mr. Lowell P. Weicker (USA) the Production and Logistics Division. The Divisions' tasks are to prepare, in close touch with delegations, proposed action in their respective fields for consideration by the appropriate committee or by the Council. In addition to the main divisions, there are three other offices working directly to the Secretary-General. These are the Office of Statistics (Mr. Loring Wood of the USA), the Financial Comptroller's Office (M. A. J. Bastin of Belgium), and the Division of Information (Mr. Geoffrey Parsons, Jr. of the USA). The Information Division, besides providing material about NATO for the use of member governments, (it does not engage in independent operations), is also the press and public relations branch of the civilian authority.


title: History of NATO

text: The Strategic Commanders were the former Major NATO Commanders, who sat atop a command hierarchy consisting of Major Subordinate Commanders (MSCs), Principal Subordinate Commanders (PSCs), and Sub-PSCs. The Military Committee had an executive body, the Standing Group, made up of representatives from France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Standing Group was abolished during the major reform of 1967 that resulted from France's departure from the NATO Military Command Structure.


title: History of NATO

text: A key step in establishing the NATO Command Structure was the North Atlantic Council's selection of General Dwight Eisenhower as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in December 1950. After Eisenhower arrived in Paris in January 1951, he and the other members of the multinational Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Planning Group immediately began to devise a structure for the new Allied Command Europe. NATO official documents state, "The cornerstone of the NATO Military Command Structure was laid... when the North Atlantic Council approved D.C. 24/3 on 18 December 1951." They quickly decided to divide Allied Command Europe into three regions: Allied Forces Northern Europe, containing Scandinavia, the North Sea, and the Baltic; Allied Forces Central Europe, and Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), covering Italy and the Mediterranean. SHAPE was established at Rocquencourt, west of Paris.


title: History of NATO

text: The British post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role as NATO Commander in Chief of Allied Forces Mediterranean in charge of all forces assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean Area. The British made strong representations in discussions regarding the Mediterranean NATO command structure since they wished to retain their direction of NATO naval command in the Mediterranean to protect their sea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and the Far East.


title: History of NATO

text: In 1952, after Greece and Turkey joined NATO Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) was created in Izmir, Turkey, under a US Army General because of the geographic distance of both countries from the LANDSOUTH headquarters as well as political disagreements over which nation should be the overall commander for its ground forces.


title: History of NATO

text: With the establishment of Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) on 30 January 1952, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic joined the previously created Supreme Allied Commander Europe as one of the alliance's two Major NATO Commanders. A third was added when Allied Command Channel was established on 21 February 1952 to control the English Channel and North Sea area and deny them to the enemy and to protect the sea lanes of communication. The establishment of this post and the agreement that it was to be filled by the British Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was part of the compromise that allowed an American officer to take up the SACLANT post. Previously Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth had controlled multinational naval operations in the area under WUDO auspices. In due course, the CINCHAN role was assumed by the British Commander-in-Chief Fleet.


title: History of NATO

text: In 1966, when French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew French forces from the military command structure, NATO's headquarters was forced to move to Belgium. SHAPE was moved to Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe was moved from the Chateau de Fontainebleau, near Paris to Brunssum, in the Netherlands.


title: History of NATO

text: By June 1991, it was clear that Allied Forces Central Europe, a Major Subordinate Command, could be reduced, with the Soviet threat disappearing. Six multinational corps were to replace the previous eight. Announcements in June 1991 presaged main defensive forces consisting of six multinational corps. Two were to be under German command, one with a US division, one under Belgian command with a pending offer of a U.S. brigade, one under U.S. command with a German division, one under joint German-Danish command (LANDJUT), and one under Dutch command. The new German IV Corps was to be stationed in eastern German and was not to be associated with the NATO structure.


title: History of NATO

text: On July 1, 1994, the Alliance disestablished Allied Command Channel but retained many of its subordinate structures after the reshuffling. Most of the headquarters were absorbed within ACE, particularly within the new Allied Forces Northwestern Europe.


title: History of NATO

text: From 1994 to 1999, ACE had three Major Subordinate Commands, AFNORTHWEST, AFCENT, and AFSOUTH. In 1995 NATO began a Long Term Study to examine post-Cold War strategy and structure. Recommendations from the study for a new, streamlined structure emerged in 1996. The European and Atlantic commands were to be retained, but the number of major commands in Europe was to be cut from three to two, Regional Command North Europe and Regional Command South Europe. Activation of the new RC SOUTH occurred in September 1999, and in March 2000 Headquarters AFNORTHWEST closed and the new RC NORTH was activated. The headquarters of the two Regional Commands were known as Regional Headquarters South (RHQ South) and RHQ NORTH respectively. Each was to supervise air, naval, and land commands for their region as well as a number of Joint Subregional Commands (JSRCs). Among the new JSRCs was Joint Headquarters Southwest, which was activated in Madrid in September 1999.


title: History of NATO

text: Prior to the reorganization, the NATO website listed 43 different agencies and organizations and five project committees/offices as of 15 May 2008. including:


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions ("vertical transhumance"), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Generally only the herds travel, with a certain number of people necessary to tend them, while the main population stays at the base. In contrast, "horizontal transhumance" is more susceptible to being disrupted by climatic, economic, or political change.


title: Transhumance

text: Traditional or fixed transhumance has occurred throughout the inhabited world, particularly Europe and western Asia. It is often important to pastoralist societies, as the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yogurt and cheese) may form much of the diet of such populations. In many languages there are words for the higher summer pastures, and frequently these words have been used as place names: e.g. hafod in Wales and shieling in Scotland, or alp in German-speaking regions of Switzerland.


title: Transhumance

text: The word "transhumance" comes from French and derives from the Latin words 'across' and 'ground'. Transhumance developed on every inhabited continent. Although there are substantial cultural and technological variations, the underlying practices for taking advantage of remote seasonal pastures are similar.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance is a "form of pastoralism or nomadism". Khazanov categorizes nomadic forms of pastoralism into five groups as follows: "pure pastoral nomadism", "semi-nomadic pastoralism", "semi-sedentary pastoralism", "distant-pastures husbandry" and "seasonal transhumance". Eickelman does not make a distinction between transhumant pastoralism and seminomadism, but he clearly distinguishes between nomadic pastoralism and seminomadism.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance was practised in Europe in prehistoric times. Isotope studies of the bones of livestock show that animals were sometimes moved seasonally.


title: Transhumance

text: Hill people develop indigenous knowledge and must have survived over generations by acquiring sufficient skills to thrive in hill and mountain regions. Most drovers are conversant with subsistence agriculture, Pastoralism as well as forestry and frozen water and fast-stream management There have been many prehistoric climate change events which impacted such cultures


title: Transhumance

text: In the Balkans, the Greek Sarakatsani, Eastern Romance (Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians) and Turkish Yörük peoples traditionally spent summer months in the mountains and returned to lower plains in the winter. When the area was part of the Austro-Hungary and Ottoman Empires, borders between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia were relatively unobstructed. In summer, some groups went as far north as the Balkan Mountains, and they would spend the winter on warmer plains in the vicinity of the Aegean Sea.


title: Transhumance

text: The Morlach or Karavlachs were a population of Eastern Romance shepherds ("ancestors" of the Istro-Romanians) who lived in the Dinaric Alps (western Balkans in modern use), constantly migrating in search of better pastures for their sheep flocks. But as national states appeared in the area of the former Ottoman Empire, new state borders were developed that divided the summer and winter habitats of many of the pastoral groups. These prevented easy movement across borders, particularly at times of war, which have been frequent.


title: Transhumance

text: In most parts of Wales, farm workers and sometimes the farmer would spend the summer months at a hillside summer house, or (), where the livestock would graze. During the late autumn the farm family and workers would drive the flocks down to the valleys, and stay at the main residence or ().


title: Transhumance

text: This system of transhumance has generally not been practised for almost a century; it continued in Snowdonia after it ceased elsewhere in Wales, and remnants of the practice can still be found in rural farming communities in the region to this day. Both "Hafod" and "Hendref" survive in Wales as place names and house names and in one case as the name of a raw milk cow cheese (Hafod). Today, cattle and sheep that summer on many hill farms are still transported to lowland winter pastures, but by truck rather than being driven overland.


title: Transhumance

text: In many hilly and mountainous areas of Scotland, agricultural workers spent summer months in bothies or "shielings" ( in Scottish Gaelic). Major drovers' roads in the eastern part of Scotland include the Cairnamounth, Elsick Mounth and Causey Mounth. This practice has largely stopped, but was practised within living memory in the Hebrides and in the Scottish Highlands. Today much transhumance is carried out by truck, with upland flocks being transported under agistment to lower-lying pasture during winter.


title: Transhumance

text: Evidence exists of transhumance being practised in England since at least mediaeval times, from Cornwall in the south-west, through to the north of England. In the Lake District, hill sheep breeds, such as the Herdwick and Swaledale are moved between moor and valley in summer and winter respectively. This led to a trait and system known as "hefting", whereby sheep and flock remain in the farmer's allotted area (heaf) of the commons, which is still practised. However, it is likely to have been undertaken on a much smaller scale than elsewhere in Europe.


title: Transhumance

text: In Ireland, transhumance is known as "booleying". Transhumance pastures were known as , , , and . These names survive in many place names such as Buaile h'Anraoi in Kilcommon parish, Erris, North Mayo, where the landscape still clearly shows the layout of the rundale system of agriculture. The livestock, usually cattle, was moved from a permanent lowland village to summer pastures in the mountains. The appearance of "Summerhill" () in many place names also bears witness to the practice. This transfer alleviated pressure on the growing crops and provided fresh pasture for the livestock. Mentioned in the Brehon Laws, booleying dates back to the Early Medieval period or even earlier. The practice was widespread in the west of Ireland up until the time of the Second World War. Seasonal migration of workers to Scotland and England for the winter months superseded this ancient system, together with more permanent emigration to the USA.


title: Transhumance

text: In Southern Italy, and especially in the regions of Molise, Apulia and Abruzzo, the practice of driving herds to upland pastures in summer dates from time immemorial and has had a long documented history until the 1950s and 1960s with the advent of alternative road transport. Drovers' roads, or , up to wide and more than long, permitted the passage and grazing of herds, principally sheep, and attracted regulation by law and the establishment of a mounted police force as far back as the 17th century. The tratturi remain public property and subject to conservation by the law protecting cultural heritage. The Molise region candidates the tratturi to the UNESCO as a world heritage.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance is historically widespread throughout much of Spain, particularly in the regions of Castile, Leon and Extremadura, where nomadic cattle and sheep herders travel long distances in search of greener pastures in summer and warmer climatic conditions in winter. Spanish transhumance is the origin of numerous related cultures in the Americas such as the cowboys of the United States and the Gauchos of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.


title: Transhumance

text: A network of droveways, or , crosses the whole peninsula, running mostly south-west to north-east. They have been charted since ancient times, and classified according to width; the standard is between wide, with some (meaning "royal droveways") being wide at certain points. The land within the droveways is publicly owned and protected by law.


title: Transhumance

text: In some high valleys of the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountains, transhumant herding has been the main, or only, economic activity. Regulated passes and pasturage have been distributed among different valleys and communities according to the seasonal range of use and community jurisdiction. Unique social groups associated with the transhumant lifestyle are sometimes identified as a remnant of an older ethnic culture now surviving in isolated minorities, such as the "Pasiegos" in Cantabria, "Agotes" in Navarre, and "Vaqueiros de alzada" in Asturias and León.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance in the Pyrenees involves relocation of livestock (cows, sheep, horses) to high mountains for summer months, because farms in the lowland are too small to support a larger herd all year round. The mountain period starts in late May or early June, and ends in early October. Until the 1970s, transhumance was used mainly for dairy cows, and cheese-making was an important activity in the summer months. In some regions, nearly all members of a family decamped to higher mountains with their cows, living in rudimentary stone cabins for the summer grazing season. That system, which evolved during the Middle Ages, lasted into the 20th century. It declined and broke down under pressure from industrialisation, as people left the countryside for jobs in cities. However, the importance of transhumance continues to be recognised through its celebration in popular festivals.


title: Transhumance

text: The Mont Perdu / Monte Perdido region of the Pyrenees has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by virtue of its association with the transhumance system of agriculture.


title: Transhumance

text: In Scandinavia, transhumance is practised to a certain extent; however, livestock are transported between pastures by motorised vehicles, changing the character of the movement. The Sami people practise transhumance with reindeer by a different system than is described immediately below.


title: Transhumance

text: The common mountain or forest pasture used for transhumance in summer is called or / . The same term is used for a related mountain cabin, which was used as a summer residence. In summer (usually late June), livestock is moved to a mountain farm, often quite distant from a home farm, to preserve meadows in valleys for producing hay. Livestock is typically tended during the summer by girls and younger women, who also milk and make cheese. Bulls usually remain at the home farm. As autumn approaches and grazing is exhausted, livestock is returned to the farm.


title: Transhumance

text: In Sweden, this system was predominantly used in Värmland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Hälsingland, Medelpad and Ångermanland.


title: Transhumance

text: The practice was common throughout most of Norway, due to its highly mountainous nature and limited areas of lowland for cultivation.


title: Transhumance

text: While previously many farms had their own seters, it is more usual for several farmers to share a modernised common seter (). Most of the old seters have been left to decay or are used as recreational cabins.


title: Transhumance

text: The name for the common mountain pasture in most Scandinavian languages derives from the Old Norse term . In Norwegian, the term is or ; in Swedish, . The place name appears in Sweden in several forms as and , and as a suffix: -, -, - and -. Those names appear extensively across Sweden with a centre in the Mälaren basin and in Östergötland. The surname "Satter" is derived from these words.


title: Transhumance

text: In the heartland of the Swedish transhumance region, the most commonly used term is or (the word is also used for small storage houses and the like; it has evolved in English as "booth"); in modern Standard Swedish, .


title: Transhumance

text: The oldest mention of in Norway is in "Heimskringla", the saga of Olaf II of Norway's travel through Valldal to Lesja.


title: Transhumance

text: In the heavily forested Caucasus and Pontic mountain ranges, various peoples still practice transhumance to varying degrees. During the relatively short summer, wind from the Black Sea brings moist air up the steep valleys, which supports fertile grasslands at altitudes up to , and a rich tundra at altitudes up to . Traditionally, villages were divided into two, three or even four distinct settlements (one for each season) at different heights of a mountain slope. Much of this rural life came to an end during the first half of the 20th century, as the Kemalist and later Soviet governments tried to modernise the societies and stress urban development, rather than maintaining rural traditions.


title: Transhumance

text: In the second half of the 20th century, migration for work from the Pontic mountains to cities in Turkey and western Europe, and from the northern Caucasus to Moscow, dramatically reduced the number of people living in transhumance. It is estimated, however, that tens of thousands of rural people still practice these traditions in villages on the northern and southwestern slopes of the Caucasus, in the lesser Caucasus in Armenia, and in the Turkish Black Sea region.


title: Transhumance

text: Some communities continue to play out ancient migration patterns. For example, the Pontic Greeks visit the area and the monastery Sumela in the summer. Turks from cities in Europe have built a summer retreat on the former "yayla" grazing land.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance related to sheep farming is still practised in Georgia. The shepherds with their flocks have to cross the high Abano Pass from the mountains of Tusheti to the plains of Kakheti. Up until the dissolution of Soviet Union they intensively used the Kizlyar plains of Northern Dagestan for the same purpose.


title: Transhumance

text: The central Afghan highlands of Afghanistan, which surround the Koh-i-Baba and continue eastward into the Hindu Kush range, there are very cold winters, and short and cool summers. These highlands have mountain pastures during summer (), watered by many small streams and rivers. There are also pastures available during winter in the neighboring warm lowlands (), which makes the region ideal for seasonal transhumance. The Afghan Highlands contain about 225,000 km (87,000 sq mi) of summer pasture, which is used by both settled communities and nomadic pastoralists like the Pashtun Kuchis. Major pastures in the region include the Nawur pasture in northern Ghazni Province (whose area is about 600 km at elevation of up to 3,350 m), and the Shewa pasture and the Little Pamir in eastern Badakhshan Province. The Little Pamir pasture, whose elevation is above , is used by the Afghan Kyrgyz to raise livestock.


title: Transhumance

text: In Nuristan, the inhabitants live in permanent villages surrounded by arable fields on irrigated terraces. Most of the livestock are goats. They are taken up to a succession of summer pastures each spring by herdsmen while most of the villagers remain behind to irrigate the terraced fields and raise millet, maize, and wheat; work mostly done by the women. In the autumn after the grain and fruit harvest, livestock are brought back to spend the winter stall–fed in stables.


title: Transhumance

text: Jammu and Kashmir in India has the world's highest transhumant population as per the survey conducted by a team led by Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, IAS, Secretary to Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Tribal Affairs Department. The 1st Survey of Transhumance in 2021 captured details of 6,12,000 members of ethnic tribal communities viz Gujjars, Bakkerwals, Gaddis and Sippis. The survey helped for development and welfare planning for these communities notified as Scheduled tribes under the Constitution of India. Subsequent to the survey a number of flagship initiatives have been launched by the Government for their welfare and development especially in sectors like healthcare, veterinary services, education, livelihood and transportation support for migration. The transhumance in Jammu and Kasshmir mostly vertical while some families in plains of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts also practice lateral or horizontal transhumance. More than 85% of migratory tranhumant population moves within the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir while remaining 15% undertakes the inter-state movement to neighbouring Punjab State and Ladakh Union territory. Gujjars - the migratory tribal - also sparsly inhabit several areas in the parts of Paunjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand States. Gujjar-Bakkerwal tribe represents the highest transhumant population in the world which accounts for nearly 98% of transhumant population in Jammu and Kashmir. The Bhotiya communities of Uttarakhand historically practiced transhumance. They would spend the winter months at low altitude settlements in the Himalayan foothills, gathering resources to trade in Tibet over summer. In summer, they would move up to high-altitude settlements along various river valleys. Some people would stay back at these settlements to cultivate farms; some would head to trade marts across high mountain passes into western Tibet, while some others would practice nomadic pastoralism. This historic way of life came to an abrupt halt due to the closure of the Sino-Indian border following the Sino-Indian War of 1962. In the decades following this war, transhumance as a way of life rapidly declined among the Bhotiya people.


title: Transhumance

text: The Bakhtiari tribe of Iran still practised this way of life in the mid-20th century. All along the Zagros Mountains from Azerbaijan to the Arabian Sea, pastoral tribes move back and forth with their herds annually according to the seasons, between their permanent homes in the valley and one in the foothills.


title: Transhumance

text: The Qashqai (Kashkai) are a Turkic tribe of southern Iran, who in the mid-20th century still practised transhumance. The tribe was said to have settled in ancient times in the Province of Fars, near the Persian Gulf, and by the mid-20th century lived beyond the Makran mountains. In their yearly migrations for fresh pastures, the Kashkai drove their livestock from south to north, where they lived in summer quarters, known as , in the high mountains from April to October. They traditionally grazed their flocks on the slopes of the Kuh-e-Dinar, a group of mountains from , part of the Zagros chain.


title: Transhumance

text: In autumn the Kashkai broke camp, leaving the highlands to winter in warmer regions near Firuzabad, Kazerun, Jerrè, Farashband, on the banks of the Mond River. Their winter quarters were known as . The migration was organised and controlled by the Kashkai Chief. The tribes avoided villages and towns, such as Shiraz and Isfahan, because their large flocks, numbering seven million head, could cause serious damage.


title: Transhumance

text: In the 1950s, the Kashkai tribes were estimated to number 400,000 people in total. There have been many social changes since that time.


title: Transhumance

text: Examples of fixed transhumance are found in the North Governorate of Lebanon. Towns and villages located in the Qadisha valley are at an average altitude of . Some settlements, like Ehden and Kfarsghab, are used during summer periods from the beginning of June until mid-October. Inhabitants move in October to coastal towns situated at an average of above sea level. The transhumance is motivated by agricultural activities (historically by the mulberry silkworm culture). The main crops in the coastal towns are olive, grape and citrus. For the mountain towns, the crops are summer fruits, mainly apples and pears. Other examples of transhumance exist in Lebanon.


title: Transhumance

text: In Kyrgyzstan, transhumance practices, which never ceased during the Soviet period, have undergone a resurgence in the difficult economic times following independence in 1991. Transhumance is integral to Kyrgyz national culture. The people use a wool felt tent, known as the yurt or , while living on these summer pastures. It is symbolised on their national flag. Those shepherds prize a fermented drink made from mare's milk, known as the . A tool used in its production is the namesake for Bishkek, the country's capital city.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance practices are found in temperate areas, above ≈ in the Himalaya–Hindu Kush area (referred to below as Himalaya); and the cold semi-arid zone north of the Himalaya, through the Tibetan Plateau and northern China to the Eurasian Steppe.


title: Transhumance

text: Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan all have vestigial transhumance cultures. The Bamar people of Myanmar were transhumance prior to their arrival to the region. In Mongolia, transhumance is used to avoid livestock losses during harsh winters, known as "zuds". For regions of the Himalaya, transhumance still provides mainstay for several near-subsistence economiesfor example, that of Zanskar in northwest India, Van Gujjars and Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir in India, Kham Magar in western Nepal and Gaddis of Bharmaur region of Himachal Pradesh. In some cases, the distances travelled by the people with their livestock may be great enough to qualify as nomadic pastoralism.


title: Transhumance

text: In Australia, which has a large station (i.e., ranch) culture, stockmen provide the labour to move the herds to seasonal pastures.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumant grazing is an important aspect of the cultural heritage of the Australian Alps, an area of which has been included on the Australian National Heritage List. Colonists started using this region for summer grazing in the 1830s, when pasture lower down was poor. The practice continued during the 19th and 20th centuries, helping make pastoralism in Australia viable. Transhumant grazing created a distinctive way of life that is an important part of Australia's pioneering history and culture. There are features in the area that are reminders of transhumant grazing, including abandoned stockman's huts, stock yards and stock routes.


title: Transhumance

text: The Berber people of North Africa were traditionally farmers, living in mountains relatively close to the Mediterranean coast, or oasis dwellers. However, the Tuareg and Zenaga of the southern Sahara practice nomadic transhumance. Other groups, such as the Chaouis, practised fixed transhumance.


title: Transhumance

text: In rural areas, the Somali and Afar of Northeast Africa also traditionally practice nomadic transhumance. Their pastoralism is centred on camel husbandry, with additional sheep and goat herding.


title: Transhumance

text: The classic, "fixed" transhumance is practiced in the Ethiopian Highlands. During the cropping season the lands around the villages are not accessible for grazing. For instance, farmers with livestock in Dogu'a Tembien organise annual transhumance, particularly towards remote and vast grazing grounds, deep in valleys (where the grass grows early due to temperature) or mountain tops. Livestock will stay there overnight (transhumance) with children and a few adults keeping them.


title: Transhumance

text: The Pokot community are semi-nomadic pastoralists who are predominantly found in northwestern Kenya and Amudat district of Uganda. The community practices nomadic transhumance, with seasonal movement occurring between grasslands of Kenya (North Pokot sub-county) and Uganda (Amudat, Nakapiripirit and Moroto districts) (George Magak Oguna, 2014).


title: Transhumance

text: The Maasai are semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania who have transhumance cultures that revolve around their cattle.


title: Transhumance

text: "Fulani" is the Hausa word for the pastoral peoples of Nigeria belonging to the "Fulbe" migratory ethnic group. The "Fulani" rear the majority of Nigeria's cattle, traditionally estimated at 83% pastoral, 17% village cattle and 0.3% peri-urban).


title: Transhumance

text: Cattle fulfil multiple roles in agro-pastoralist communities, providing meat, milk and draught power while sales of stock generate income and provide insurance against disasters. They also play a key role in status and prestige and for cementing social relationships such as kinship and marriage. For pastoralists, cattle represent the major household asset.


title: Transhumance

text: Pastoralism, as a livelihood, is coming under increased pressure across Africa, due to changing social, economic, political and environmental conditions. Prior to the 1950s, a symbiotic relationship existed between pastoralists, crop farmers and their environment with pastoralists practising transhumance. During the dry season, pastoralists migrated to the southern parts of the Guinea savannah zone, where there was ample pasture and a lower density of crop farmers. In the wet season, these areas faced high challenge from African animal trypanosomiasis transmitted by tsetse flies, so pastoralists would migrate to visit farmlands within the northern Sudan savannah zone, supplying dairy products to the local farming community. Reciprocally, the farming community supplied pastoralists with grain, and after the harvest, cattle were permitted to graze on crop residues in fields leaving behind valuable manure.


title: Transhumance

text: In Southern Angola, several peoples, chiefly the Ovambo and part of the Nyaneka-Khumbi, have cultures that are entirely organised according to the practice of transhumance.


title: Transhumance

text: The traditional economy of the Basotho in Lesotho is based on rearing cattle. They practise a seasonal migration between valley and high plateaus of the Maloti (basalt mountains of Lesotho). Pressure on pasture land has increased due to increases in population, as well as construction of large storage dams in these mountains to provide water to South Africa's arid industrial heartland. Growing pressure on pastures is contributing to degradation of sensitive grasslands and could contribute to sedimentation in man-made lakes. The traditional transhumance pattern has become modified.


title: Transhumance

text: In South Africa the transhumance lifestyle of the Nama clan of the Khoikhoi continues in the Richtersveld, a montane-desert located close to the Atlantic coast in the northwestern area of the country. In this area, people move seasonally (three or four times per annum) with their herds of sheep and goats. Transhumance is based on small family units, which use the same camps each year.


title: Transhumance

text: A portable, dome tent, called a (Afrikaans for "mat house") or (meaning "rush house" in Nama) is a feature of Khoikhoi culture. These dwellings are used in their seasonal camps in the Richtersveld. It consists of a frame traditionally covered with rush mats. In the 21st century, the people sometimes use a variety of manufactured materials. In recognition of its significance, the Richtersveld has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Transhumance

text: In the southern Appalachians of the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, settlers often pastured livestock, especially sheep, on grassy bald mountain tops where wild oats predominate. Historians have speculated that these "balds" are remnants of ancient bison grazing lands (which were possibly maintained by early native peoples of North America). In the absence of transhumance, these balds have been becoming covered by forest since the late 20th century. It is unclear whether efforts will be made to preserve these historic managed ecosystems.


title: Transhumance

text: Transhumance, in most cases relying on use of public land, continues to be an important ranching practice in the western United States. In the northern areas, this tradition was based on moving herds to higher ground with the greening of highland pastures in spring and summer. These uplands are part of large public lands, often under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service. In the winter, herds use lowland steppe or desert, also often government land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.


title: Transhumance

text: In California and Texas, a greater proportion of the range is held as private land, due to differing historical development of these areas. The general pattern is that in summer, ranch families, hired shepherds, or hired cowboys travel to the mountains and stay in a line camp during the summer. They may also visit the upland ranch regularly, using trailers to transport horses for use in the high country.


title: Transhumance

text: Traditionally in the American West, shepherds spent most of the year with a sheep herd, searching for the best forage in each season. This type of shepherding peaked in the late nineteenth century. Cattle and sheep herds are generally based on private land, although this may be a small part of the total range when all seasons are included. Some farmers who raised sheep recruited Basque shepherds to care for the herds, including managing migration between grazing lands. Workers from Peru, Chile (often Native Americans), and Mongolia have now taken shepherd roles; the Basque have bought their own ranches or moved to urban jobs. Shepherds take the sheep into the mountains in the summer (documented in the 2009 film "Sweetgrass") and out on the desert in the winter, at times using crop stubble and pasture on private land when it is available. There are a number of different forms of transhumance in the United States: