title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra is a multi-ethnic province. The Malay people are regarded as the natives of the east coast of the province, while the west coast of the province is mainly inhabited by the Batak ("Pakpak", "Angkola" and "Mandailing" groups). The central highlands region around Lake Toba is predominantly inhabited by another "Batak" groups ("Toba", "Simalungun" and "Karo"). The Nias people are natives to "Nias Island" and its surrounding islets. With the opening of tobacco plantations in East Sumatra during the colonial era, the colonial government employed many contract labourers for plantations, they were mainly Chinese, Javanese and Indian migrants, who were majority does not returned after end contract and decided to stay in the province. The recent rapid urbanisation also attract neigbouring people from Aceh, Riau and West Sumatera, which is the Acehnese and Minangkabau people presents, all these ethnic groups, with different background, tradition, and religion live together in harmony.


title: North Sumatra

text: During the Dutch rule, North Sumatra was a government called the "Gouvernement van Sumatra" with an area covering the entire island of Sumatra, led by a governor based in the city of Medan. After independence, in the first session of the Regional National Committee (KND), Sumatra Province was then divided into three sub-provinces. With the issuance of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia (R.I.) No. 10 of 1948 on April 15, 1948, it was stipulated that Sumatra was divided into three provinces, each of which had the right to regulate and manage its own household, namely: North Sumatra Province, Central Sumatra Province, and South Sumatra Province. April 15, 1948 was later designated as the anniversary of the Province of North Sumatra.


title: North Sumatra

text: Prehistoric relics in North Sumatra shows that the oldest population has the following characteristics: Austro Melanesoid traits. Based on the types of artifacts that was founded, it is evident that their dispersal took place on prehistoric times, namely in the Mesolithic era (Middle stoned-age). Its spread to the eastern part of Indonesia to the island of Papua, while to the west the traces are in North Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. Austro-Melanesoid people especially in the western part, namely in North Sumatra live their life from snails and clams. The shells were broken at the ends and sucked the contents, over time the shells became hills that we now find in some places in North Sumatra. Apparently for centuries they discard the shells until it becomes a pile of rubbish that by experts call it kyokken moddinger (kitchen waste), some of the clam hill was founded in "Saentis", "Hinai", "Tanjung Beringin" and several areas along Deli-Langkat shore and river banks.


title: North Sumatra

text: Around the year I 000 BC came the second wave movement of the population of mainland Southeast Asia. They belong to the head of the Young Malays or Deutero Malays. They settled on the coast and made a living from fishing in the sea or cultivating the marshy land into agricultural lands. Their villages are scattered along the big rivers that flow to the east coast of North Sumatra such as Besitang, Wampu, Asahan, Barumun and so on. The rivers mean a lot to traffic and fishing. At the mouth of the river grew larger villages, and became the center of government or Kingdoms. Based on the relics of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) in North Sumatra, cultural relics were found, including finely honed stone axes, bone tools, and painting materials.


title: North Sumatra

text: Linguistic and archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesian speakers first reached Sumatra from Taiwan and the Philippines through Borneo or Java about 2,500 years ago, and the Batak probably descended from these settlers. While the archaeology of southern Sumatra testifies to the existence of neolithic settlers, it seems that the northern part of Sumatra was settled by agriculturalists at a considerably later stage.


title: North Sumatra

text: New genetic research has found that the Nias people of came from the Austronesian peoples. The ancestors of the Nias people are also thought to have come from Taiwan through the Philippines 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.


title: North Sumatra

text: Ten years of researching involving blood samples of 440 Nias people in 11 villages in Nias island showed the Y-chromosome and DNA mitochondria of the Nias people are very similar to the Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino peoples.


title: North Sumatra

text: The eastern coastal area of North Sumatra is located on the shores of the Straits of Melaka. The strait since the beginning of centuries has been widely visited, both by Hindus and by Chinese, with largest proof that has been founded is the "Situs Kota Cina" or Chinese Town site in Hamparan Perak. Meanwhile, at that time there was known trading port in western coast of Tapanuli that attracted middle age era traders, named as Barus, people are increasingly interested in the name Barus, because its camphor that was popular as Ancient Egypt comodities. A kingdom in North Sumatra that is mentioned in the Tanjoore information from 1030 issued by Rajendra Chola. The king recorded the names of the states he defeated in one expedition to conquer Srivijaya. States that he mentions Sriwijaya are, "Pannai, Malayur, Kendara," and Panai Kingdom according to "NJ.Krom" is a state that until now still marked on the banks of the river whose name is the same as the name the country, the Panai river. Furthermore, the Negarakertagama Kingdom by Mpu Prapanca from the 14th century find several names of countries found in North Sumatra, namely "Pane, Haru, Mandailing, Tamiang, Lawas", and "Barus". The places are mainly defeated to Majapahit.


title: North Sumatra

text: The Earliest Kingdom that was presence in eastern coast of North Sumatera are Aru Kingdom in the 13th to the 16th century. In its heyday the kingdom was a formidable maritime power, and was able to control the northern part of the Malacca strait. The kingdom was initially established as a Karo polity. The indigenous population practiced native animism as well as Hinduism. During the 13th century Islam came to be practiced alongside the existing faiths. Aru's capital was located close to present-day Medan city and Deli Serdang. The people of the kingdom are believed to have been descendants of the Karo people from the interior of North Sumatra.


title: North Sumatra

text: The Batakland (the area that was closed to Lake Toba) may be first mentioned in Zhao Rugua's 13th-century "Description of the Barbarous Peoples", which refers to a 'Ba-ta' dependency of Srivijaya. The "Suma Oriental", of the 15th century, also refers to the "Kingdom of Bata", bounded by Pasai and the Aru kingdom, the batak mainly practism animism and cannibalism at that time, it was remain untouched and isolated from foreign culture and kingdoms like Srivijaya and Majapahit. Although being isolated, the Toba people are established it own kingdoms even though it was only limited in villages only, the kingdom in the Bataklands was divided into several kingdoms, which often also entered into ties for defense purposes, but each member was actually free from the ties of higher power. Of the many kingdoms, the position of the "King of Bakkara" or known as "Sisingamangaraja" is considered more important. This more important position is due to customs and traditions which regard the area as the place of origin of the Batak people. The same thing happened to Nias people in Nias Island, the island remain isolated during its early era although its people already civilized since stone-age era as farming, cultivating, carvings, shamanism and paganism already introduced into the island naturally.


title: North Sumatra

text: Around the year 1500 in east coast of Sumatra, there were several kingdoms, namely the "Nagur, Aru, Panai", and "Batangiou" kingdoms. In the hinterland of Tapanuli the growth of the kingdom came from each of the pushers. Each bus was a small kingdom consisting of a single farm-owning family. In the area around the sixteenth century a kingdom began to emerge which was founded by the Descendants of "Sisingamangaraja". This kingdom gradually expanded its influenced throughout "Tapanuli" to "Angkola, Mandailing", even to "Dairi". Thus in the 16th century in North Sumatra there were three largest kingdom, namely "Nagur", the Batak kingdom under the rule of King "Sisingamangaraja", and "Aru". The wars that prevailed between the three kingdoms made it easy for outside influences to enter, for example from Aceh, Melaka, Portuguese, Siak, and Minangkabau. The Sulatanate of Aceh succeeded bringing islamization in eastern coast, as in other parts Padri War succeeded spreaded islam into southern Tapanauli kingdom. As the result, the three big kingdom split into several small kingdoms and sultanate such as Deli, Serdang, Asahan, Langkat Sultanate, "Maropat", "Lingga" kingdom and many more.


title: North Sumatra

text: Malacca fell to the Dutch East India Company or known as VOC in 1641. This also affected trade in the coastal areas of North Sumatra because the VOC stopped the role of trade in Malacca and shifted to Batavia. For the North Sumatra area, it also resulted in more and more Arab, Chinese, Indian traders who came to this area bringing their merchandise to Aceh. After Britain gained a position on the island of Penang, the British began to trade in this area. Until the nineteenth century, British trade with the east coast of Sumatra was very developed. In the 19th century there were important changes in this area due to the entry of Dutch influence. Prior to the nineteenth century, Dutch power was concentrated on the island of Java, and several places in the Moluccas. But in the nineteenth century the Dutch began to pay attention to areas outside Java, including North Sumatra. Since the handover of Indonesia to the Dutch in the 1814 Convention of London which was renewed in the 1824 Treaty of London, almost all of Indonesia part that was recognized by the British as an area changed to Dutch influence. However, the UK continues to strive for positions in several places that are considered important for trade, including several parts of Sumatra and in Kalimantan.


title: North Sumatra

text: In the late 18th century, majority Sultanates of East Sumatra, English concession of Tapanauli has fallen into colonial parts of Dutch East Indies, meanwhile shortly the ducth tries to invade Toba, Karo Highland, Nias and Silindung area by the help of missionary and Christianization, most known missionary at that time was Nommensen, he was successed spread [chrsitianization without leaving local culture, this was also the first time Christianity spreaded into North Sumatera. The invasion of the Dutch into Batakland get resistance from the Sisingamangaraja XII that headed into a war within 30 years, but at the end, it was slowly fallen to the colonial and he was killed in 1907. After the Dutch were able to break the resistance of Sisingamangaraja XII in the Bataklands, it was practically North Sumatra


title: North Sumatra

text: was under the power and influence of the Dutch East Indies government based in Batavia. As colonialism, the dutch begin to set up new plantation such as Deli Maatschappij, "London Sumatera" and others within east coast, as worker shortage, the Dutch begin imported labour worker from outter areas within Sumatera that majority hailing from Java Island, Southern China and Southern India, there was the first big wave migration of Javanese, Chinese, and Indian into North Sumatera that still exist until today. A government of Dutch occupated of North Sumatra named "Gouvernement van Sumatra" with the area covering the whole of the island of Sumatra, was headed by a governor who was based in the city of Medan.


title: North Sumatra

text: On March 13, 1942, The Japanese troops entered Medan. They came by bicycle. The Grand Mosque are used as the first fortress. The troops landed on the east coast of Deli Serdang ("Pantai Cermin") while in the Tapanuli, they're began to occupied via Sibolga. Then with just in short time the Japanese army was able to occupy important cities in North Sumatra, resistance from the Dutch were almost none at all. When the Japanese army occupied North Sumatra, the leader of the Japanese Armed Forces was centered in Bukittinggi. Since thatofficially the center of the Dutch government which was domiciled in Medan has been moved to Bukittinggi, the occupation was lasted for 3 years. In 1945 the Japanese occupation thus officially ended with Japanese surrender in the Pacific and two days later Sukarno declared Indonesian Independence; Indonesian forces spent the next four years fighting the Dutch for independence.


title: North Sumatra

text: After independence, the first session of the National Committee of Regions (KND), Sumatra was then divided into three sub-provinces namely North Sumatra, Central Sumatra and South Sumatra. North Sumatra province itself was an amalgamation of three administrative regions called Residencies namely: the Residency of Aceh, the East Sumatra Residency, and the Residency of Tapanuli.


title: North Sumatra

text: With the publication of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia (R.I.) No. 10 Year 1948 on April 15, 1948, it was determined that Sumatra was divided into three provinces, each of which has the right to organize and manage their own household, namely: North Sumatra, Central Sumatra Province, and South Sumatra Province. The date of 15 April 1948 was subsequently determined as the anniversary of North Sumatra Province.


title: North Sumatra

text: In 1946, there was known of social revolution of East Sumatra, it was began on 3 March 1946. Across 25 "native states", many sultanates were overthrown and mass killing of members of the aristocratic families were performed by armed "pergerakan" groups (Indonesian nationalists). To the opportunistic "pergerakan" militants (especially Communist Party of Indonesia members Xarim MS and Luat Siregar), the revolutionary movement was seen as one of the means for East Sumatra to be freed from colonial overlordship and to join the larger Indonesian National Revolution. Participants of the revolution were believed to be provoked by leaders to kill aristocrats and create violence. These belligerents had three prime objectives: to eliminate the sultans and aristocrats (who were seen as Dutch allies), to seize their wealth (as sources of funding for the Indonesian independence campaign) and to eliminate the region's feudal social structure. The revolution brought about the formation of the State of East Sumatra, which was dissolved when the region became part of the Indonesian republic.


title: North Sumatra

text: The East Sumatra Union ("Persatuan Sumatera Timur") had been formed in 1938 by the westernized Malay elites to reassert Malay and Simalungun ethnic interests through support from the Dutch. With the support of these Malays, the Dutch attempted to establish a federal Indonesia consisting of a Dutch-supported State of East Sumara (). The threat felt by the Chinese also motivated them to co-operate with the Malay aristocrats, most of the Simalungun rajas, some Karo chieftains and the Dutch in creating the NST. Dr Tengku Mansur (a member of the Asahan royal family) was selected as head of state and the NST lasted from December 1947 to August 1950. While the Dutch wanted the NST to be seen as an orderly and progressive alternative to the republic, the western-educated aristocrats saw NST as a bastion for their own ethnic interests. The NST began to disintegrate as soon as Dutch military support was withdrawn. The short-lived state was viewed with suspicion, and Dr Tengku Mansur eventually surrendered authority to the republic in August 1950. Consequently, East Sumatra was merged into a larger province of North Sumatra, where it has remained till today.


title: North Sumatra

text: In early 1949, the reorganization of government took place in Sumatra, with the decision of the Government Emergency R.I. No. 22 / Govt / Emergency Government on May 17, 1949, which abolished the post of Governor of North Sumatra. Furthermore, the Government Emergency Decree R.I. on December 17, 1949, established the Province of Aceh and Tapanuli Province / East Sumatra. Then, with a Government Regulation in lieu of Law No. 5 Year 1950 on August 14, 1950, such provisions were lifted and reshaped North Sumatra Province.


title: North Sumatra

text: Following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference in late 1949, the Dutch withdrew military support from the State of East Sumatra and its local authority began to collapse. Dr. Mansur entered into negotiations with Mohammad Hatta to reunify East Sumatra with the Republic of Indonesia in May, 1950. East Sumatra merged with Tapanuli to become the province of North Sumatra on August 15, 1950.


title: North Sumatra

text: Act R.I. No. 24 of 1956, promulgated on December 7, 1956, established an autonomous Aceh Province, independent of the Province of North Sumatra.


title: North Sumatra

text: The province of North Sumatra stretches across the island of Sumatra, between the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca. It borders the province of Aceh on the northwest and Riau and West Sumatra in the southeast. It has an area of 72,981  km. The province contains a broad, low plain along the Strait of Malacca on which the provincial capital, Medan, is located. In the south and west, the land rises to the mountain range that runs the length of Sumatra; the mountains here are dominated by Lake Toba, formed from the caldera of an ancient volcano. Several large islands in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra are currently part of North Sumatra, most notably Nias Island and the Batu Islands.


title: North Sumatra

text: There are 419 islands in North Sumatra province. The outer islands include the island of Simuk (Nias), and the island of Berhala in the Strait of Sumatra (Malacca).


title: North Sumatra

text: The Nias archipelago consists of the main island of that name and other smaller islands in the vicinity, located off the coast of western Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The administration center is located in Gunung Sitoli.


title: North Sumatra

text: The Batu Islands consist of 51 islands including four major islands: Sibuasi, Pini, Tanahbala, Tanahmasa. Pulautelo is the administrative center on the island of Sibuasi. The Batu Islands are located to the southeast of the island of Nias. Other islands in North Sumatra are Imanna, Pasu, Bawa, Hamutaia, Batumakalele, Lego, Masa, Bau, Simaleh, Makole, Jake, and Sigata, Wunga.


title: North Sumatra

text: Half of provinces are high plateau that runs by Bukit Barisan mountains range, mainly around central to western coastal of provinces, the tallest mountain in the provinces is Mount Sinabung with elevation around 2,460 mdpl, and it is the most active volcano in the region. Activities of the mountain (cracks where steam, gas, and lava are emitted) were last observed at the summit in 1912; recent documented events include an eruption in the early hours of 29 August 2010 and eruptions in September and November 2013, January, February and October 2014. Another volcano nearby are Mount Sibayak with 2,181 mdpl, the mountain produce crystalline sulfur, which was mined on a small scale in the past. Seepage of sulfurous gases has also caused acidic discolouration of the small crater lake, both of the volcanoes are located in the Karo highland.


title: North Sumatra

text: Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption estimated at VEI 8 that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, representing a climate-changing event. Recent advances in dating methods suggest a more accurate identification of 74,000 years ago as the date. It is the largest-known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, it had global consequences for human populations; it killed most humans living at that time and is believed to have created a population bottleneck in central east Africa and India, which affects the genetic make-up of the human worldwide population to the present. More recent studies have cast doubt on this theory and found no evidence of substantial changes in population.


title: North Sumatra

text: It has been accepted that the eruption of the Toba Caldera led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide decrease in temperature between , and up to in higher latitudes. Additional studies in Lake Malawi in East Africa show significant amounts of ash being deposited from the Toba Caldera eruptions, even at that great distance, but little indication of a significant climatic effect in East Africa.


title: North Sumatra

text: In North Sumatra, there are currently two national parks, the Gunung Leuser National Park and Batang Gadis National Park. According to the Ministerial Decree, No. 44 of 2005, the forest area in North Sumatra today covers 3,742,120 hectares (ha), which consists of a Natural Reserve Area/Natural Conservation Area covering an area of 477,070 ha, 1,297,330 ha of protected forest, 879,270 ha of limited production forest, 1,035,690 ha of permanent production forest, and 52,760 ha of production forest that can be converted.


title: North Sumatra

text: However, the figure above is only de jure. In reality, the forests are not as large as the figures suggest. A lot of the forests are damaged, due to encroachment and illegal logging. So far, over 206,000 ha of forests in Sumatra has experienced changes in function. As many as 163,000 ha were converted to plantations and 42,900 ha were transmigration areas.


title: North Sumatra

text: The administrative center of North Sumatra is located in the city Medan, governed by a governor. Earlier, North Sumatra was included in a single Sumatra province when Indonesia became independent in 1945. In 1950, North Sumatra Province was formed including the former residencies of East Sumatra, Tapanuli, and Aceh. In 1956, Aceh split off to form a separate Aceh Province.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra is currently subdivided into 25 regencies and 8 autonomous cities (formerly municipalities). When originally created as a province with its current boundaries, it was composed of 11 regencies and 6 cities, but 14 new regencies and 2 new cities were created between 1998 and 2008. All these are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 1 May 2010 census, the 1 May 2015 Intermediate census, and the 2020 census, together with their official estimates for mid 2021. These in turn are sub-divided into 444 districts, which in turn are further sub-divided into 6,110 villages. With proposals under consideration to create three new provinces from parts of the present North Sumatra, these regencies and cities are grouped below according to the putative new province in which they are situated:


title: North Sumatra

text: This region contains the substantial island of Nias and various small offshore islands, including the Batu Islands to the south. Originally it comprised a single Nias Regency, but on 25 February 2003 the southern part of the island (including the Batu Islands) was split off to form a separate South Nias Regency. On 29 October 2008 two new regencies - North Nias and West Nias - together with the city of Gunungsitoli, were split off from the remainder of Nias Regency.


title: North Sumatra

text: This region comprises the southwestern part of the province on the island of Sumatra. When the province was created, it comprised 4 regencies (Dairi, North Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli and South Tapanuli) and the city of Sibolga. Two new regencies were formed on 23 November 1998 - Mandailing Natal from part of South Tapanuli Regency, and Toba Samosir from part of North Tapanuli Regency. The city of Padang Sidempuan was split off from South Tapanuli Regency on 21 June 2001. Two further regencies were formed on 25 February 2003 - Humbang Hasundutan from part of North Tapanuli Regency, and Pakpak Bharat from part of Dairi Regency. A new Samosir Regency was created from part of Toba Samosir Regency on 18 December 2003 (more recently, the remaining part of this regency was renamed Toba Regency). Another two regencies were created on 17 July 2007 - Padang Lawas and North Padang Lawas, both from parts of South Tapanuli Regency.


title: North Sumatra

text: The region comprises the northeastern part of the province on the island of Sumatra. It now covers ten regencies and five cities, but originally there were just six regencies. The new regency of Serdang Bedagai was formed on 18 December 2003 from part of Deli Serdang Regency, and the new regency of Batubara was formed on 2 January 2007 from part of Asahan Regency. Two further regencies were formed on 24 June 2008 - North Labuhanbatu and South Labuhanbatu - both from parts of Labuhanbatu Regency.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra recorded a population of 12,985,075 in the 2010 national census, making the 4th most populous province in Indonesia, with a sex ratio of 99.59 men per 100 women. The 2015 Intermediate census gave a total of 13,923,262, while the 2020 census gave a total of 14,799,361, and the official estimate for mid 2021 is 14,936,148.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra is a multi-ethnic province. The "Malay" people are regarded as the majority people of the east coast of the province, while the west coast of the province is mainly inhabited by the "Batak" ("Pakpak", "Angkola" and "Mandailing" groups). The central region around "Lake Toba" to the northern "Karo highland" is predominantly inhabited by other "Batak" groups ("Toba", "Simalungun" and "Karo"). The "Nias" people are indigenous to "Nias Island" and its surrounding islets. With the opening of tobacco plantations in East Sumatra during the colonial era, the colonial government employed many contract labourers for plantations, they were mainly "Chinese, Javanese" and "Indian" migrants, who were majority does not returned after end contract and decided to stay in North Sumatera. The rapid urbanisation in the province also attract neigbouring people from Aceh, Riau and West Sumatera, which is the "Aceh" and "Minangkabau" people presents.


title: North Sumatra

text: Bataks make up 44.95% of the population, including the Batak Karo and Mandailing. The Javanese come second with 30.62%, the Malays add up to 5.92% and the ethnic Chinese comprise 5.75%. The Nias people make up around 4.10% and the rest are Minangkabau (2.66%), Acehnese (1.07%), ethnic Indian (1.00%) and other ethnic groups (1.15%)


title: North Sumatra

text: In general, the widely used language is Indonesian. The Malays around Deli Serdang and Langkat mostly speak the Malay language, which is similar to the Peraknese Malay language. The Javanese people, especially around rural and plantation areas, use Javanese in daily conversation, while the urban Javanese mostly speak Indonesian.


title: North Sumatra

text: The Batak people speak Bataknese, which is divided into four dialects (Silindung, Samosir, Humbang and Toba). The Batak Karo people use the Karo language, and the Batak Mandailing people around South Tapanauli, Padang Lawas and Mandailing Natal speak the Mandailing language. The Nias language is spoken among the Nias people.


title: North Sumatra

text: Mostly ethnic Chinese in North Sumatra are fluent in Hokkien, with small communities speaking Cantonese, Hainanese and Mandarin unlike their counterpart in other part of Indonesia. Most Indians in and around Medan speak Tamil and Punjabi. The Acehnese people speak the Aceh and Gayo languages.


title: North Sumatra

text: More than 95 percent of all residents are either Muslim or Christian; the remainder are Buddhists, Hindus, or follow folk religions such as Confucians, Parmalim, and Taoists. These are the recognized religions of North Sumatra:


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra hosted various ethnics, religion and tradition, the cultures of North Sumatra mainly based by Batak, Malay and Nias, as the homeland of them respective ethnics, with adding other cultures such as Chinese, Indian and Javanese. The culture are often promoted as tourism agenda by the province and national government as to show to the public that North Sumatra has differences culture and tradition but united as one part of provinces.


title: North Sumatra

text: The music that is usually played depends on the traditional ceremonies held, but is more dominant with the drums. As in the Coastal Ethnic (), there are a musical instruments that called as "Sikambang".


title: North Sumatra

text: The Batak Toba, Pakpak and Simalungun tribes have a musical instrument called "Gondang" which is usually sounded during traditional ceremonies in marriage, death, and so on. Meanwhile, the Mandailing and Angkola Batak tribes have musical instruments similar to the gondang, namely "Gordang Sambilan". The Malays in the East Coast have the same musical instruments as the Malays in general, such as the accordion, the Malay drum (kompang) and the violin. Meanwhile, in Tanah Karo, there are Kulcapi and "Gendang" musical instruments which are commonly used to accompany the "Landek" or "Guro Guro Aron" dance.


title: North Sumatra

text: In the field of fine arts that stands out is the traditional house architecture which is a combination of the results of sculpture and carving as well as the results of handicrafts. Traditional house architecture is found in various forms of ornament. In general, the shape of the traditional house building in the Batak traditional group symbolizes "buffalo standing upright" (). This is even clearer by decorating the top of the roof with buffalo heads.


title: North Sumatra

text: The traditional house of the Batak Toba ethnic, Ruma Batak, stands strong and majestic and is still commonly found in Samosir and Lake Toba area. The Batak Karo traditional house looks big and taller than other traditional houses. The roof is made of palm fiber and is usually supplemented with smaller triangular roofs called "ayo-ayo rumah", "Jambur" and "tersek". With soaring multi-layered roofs, Karo's house has a distinctive shape compared to other traditional houses that only have one roof in North Sumatra, there are still several villages in Karo highland that still reserve traditional house and buildings, like in "Lingga". The shape of the traditional house in the Batak Simalungun area is quite attractive. The traditional house complex in "Pematang Purba" village consists of several buildings, namely the "Rumah Bolon", "Balai Bolon", drying rack, taboo hall of need, and mortar. The prominent Mandailing buildings are called "Bagas Gadang" (house of Namora Natoras) and "Sopo Godang" (customary consultation hall).


title: North Sumatra

text: Malay traditional houses in North Sumatra are not much different from Malay houses in other provinces, only the green and yellow color is more dominant.


title: North Sumatra

text: The traditional dance repertoire includes various types. Some are magical, in the form of sacred dances, and some are just entertainment in the form of profane dances. In addition to traditional dances which are part of traditional ceremonies, sacred dances are usually danced by dayu-datu. Included in this type of dance are teacher dances and stick dances. Datu danced while swinging a magic stick called Tunggal Panaluan.


title: North Sumatra

text: Profane dance is usually a young social dance that is danced at a happy party. Tortor is danced at the wedding ceremony. Usually danced by the audience including the bride and young people. These youth dances, for example "morah-morah, parakut, sipajok, patam-patam" and "kebangkiung". Magical dances, such as the "Nasiaran Tortor Dance, Tunggal Panaluan Tortor Dance". This magical dance is usually performed with great solemnity.


title: North Sumatra

text: Besides Batak dances, there are also Malay dances such as "Serampang XII, Gundala-Gundala and Landek" dance from Karo Highlands, "Moyo" and "Maena" dance from Nias


title: North Sumatra

text: In addition to architecture, weaving is an interesting craft art from the Batak tribe. Examples of this weave are ulos cloth and songket cloth. Ulos is a traditional Batak cloth used in wedding ceremonies, death, building houses, arts, etc. Ulos cloth is made of cotton or hemp yarn. Ulos colors are usually black, white, and red which have certain meanings. While other colors are symbols of the variety of life. In the Pakpak tribe there is a weave known as "oles". Usually the base color of the ointment is black-brown or white. In the Karo tribe there is a weave known as "uis". Usually uis base colors are dark blue and reddish. In the west coast community there is a woven fabric known as "Songket Barus". Usually the basic color of this craft is Dark Red or Yellow Gold.


title: North Sumatra

text: "Batubara Malay Songket" is one of the typical crafts of the East Coast that has been worldwide. Songket Batu Bara has its own characteristics, this can be seen from: The process of making songket still uses wooden looms in the traditional way, but still has good quality, thus this songket is not inferior to songket produced with today's sophisticated machines. The Batubara songket also has a variety of unique motifs such as: Bamboo shoots, Mangosteen flowers, Cempaka flowers, Caul buds, "Tolak Betikam", and Fighting Dragons. The Batu Bara songket woven has an attractive design and a high cultural artistic value.


title: North Sumatra

text: Typical food in North Sumatra varies greatly, depending on the region. It is the only provinces in Sumatra island and may one of provinces in Indonesia that has serves non-halal based food such as pork and alcohol, as around 40 percent of provinces are not muslims. Saksang and Babi panggang karo are very familiar to those who carry out parties or home cooking. For example, in the Pakpak Dairi area, "Pelleng" is a typical food with very spicy spices. Tne characteristic of Batak cuisine is its preference to andaliman ("Zanthoxylum acanthopodium") as the main spice. That is why andaliman in Indonesia sometimes dubbed as "Batak pepper"., in the Batak land itself there is "dengke naniarsik" which is fish that is fried without using coconut. For taste, Batak land is heaven for lovers of coconut milk and spicy food. "Pasituak Natonggi" or money to buy sweet palm wine is a very familiar term there, describing how close palm wine or "nira" is to their lives. Batak people are majority Christian — unlike neighboring Muslim-majority ethnic groups such as Aceh and Minang — Christian Batak people are not restricted to Islamic halal dietary law.


title: North Sumatra

text: Many of the Batak's popular meals are made of pork as well as dishes made from unusual ingredients, such as dog meat or blood, however there are also halal batak dishes, mostly chicken, beef, lamb, mutton, and freshwater fishes, with large population of Batak Muslim, especially among Mandailing people, they made their own dishes such as "Sayur daun ubi tumbuk" or mashed-cassava leaves soup, "Pora-pora", "Salai ikan", "Pakkat" and others. Batak culinary centers are located in towns of Batak highlands, such as the town of Kabanjahe and Berastagi in Tanah Karo area. While some towns around the Lake Toba offers freshwater fish dishes such as carp arsik. The Northern Sumatra capital of Medan is also a Batak cuisine hotspot where numerous of "Lapo" (Batak eating restaurant) can be found anywhere across the province, it even expanded into neighbouring provinces such as Riau, Riau Islands, even capital Jakarta and neighbouring country like in Penang, Malaysia and Singapore.


title: North Sumatra

text: The North Sumatra's Malay cuisine are same with another Malays region, meals such as Nasi lemak (called as "Nasi Gurih"), Bubur pedas, Lemang and dodol are main most known food from Medan and east coast. The Chinese has quite a lot contributed into province's cuisine, many type of meals and cakes such as Cha Sio, " Tau Kua He Ci", Popia, Bakpao, "Teng-Teng", "Chai Pao", "Roti Kacang" and Bika ambon are popular elsewhere in Indonesia. Indian in the province add more varieties by brought several meals such as Martabak, Roti canai, Putu bambu and Mie rebus. The Minangkabau and Acehnese making it complete by brought Nasi padang and Mie Aceh, these all food and cuisine can be found easily in every part in the province.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra is rich in natural resources such as natural gas in the area of Tandam, Binjai and petroleum in Pangkalan Brandan, Langkat which has been explored since the days of the Dutch East Indies. Besides that, in Kuala Tanjung, Asahan, there are the company named PT Inalum (abbreviated of "Indonesia Aluminium") that engaged in ore mining and smelting of aluminium which is the only one in Southeast Asia.


title: North Sumatra

text: The rivers that disgorge in the mountains around Lake Toba is also a natural resource that is potential enough to be an exploited to resource of hydropower plants. "Asahan hydropower" which is the largest hydropower plant in Sumatra Island is located on Porsea in Toba Samosir Regency.


title: North Sumatra

text: Moreover, in the mountains there are many geothermal hot spots were very likely to be developed as a source of thermal energy or steam that can then be transformed into electrical energy.


title: North Sumatra

text: The province is famous for its plantation area, until now, the plantation economy of the province remains to be excellent. The plantations are managed by private companies and the state. SOE Plantation area is located in North Sumatra, among others PT Perkebunan Nusantara II (PTPN II), PTPN IV and PTPN III.


title: North Sumatra

text: Besides North Sumatra is also famous for its plantation area. Until now, the plantation economy of the province remains to be excellent. The plantations are managed by private companies also the state. North Sumatra produces rubber, cocoa, tea, palm oil, coffee, cloves, coconut, cinnamon, and tobacco. The plantation is spread in East coast area such as Deli Serdang, Serdang Bedagai Langkat, Simalungun, Asahan, Labuhan Batu, and also around west coast: Central and South Tapanuli. Plantations, especially palm oil, are important for sourcing reticulated and blood pythons, the skins of which are a major export product


title: North Sumatra

text: Sumatra Mandheling and Sumatra Lintong coffee beans are grown in North Sumatra and largely exported to the United States. Mandheling is named after the similarly spelt Mandailing people located in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The name is the result of a misunderstanding by the first foreign purchaser of the variety, and no coffee is actually produced in the "Mandailing region". Lintong on the other hand, is named after the Lintong district, also located in North Sumatra.


title: North Sumatra

text: In addition to national banks, state banks and international banks, currently there are 61 units of Credited Peoples Banks (BPR) and 7 Credited Sharia Bank (BPRS). Data from Bank Indonesia showed, in January 2006, the Third Party Funds (TPF), which absorbed BPR reached Rp253,366,627,000 (around US$19 million) and loans reached Rp260.152.445.000 (around US$19.5 million). While assets reached Rp340,880,837,000 (US$25.5 million).


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra has several industrial sites, mainly around Deli Serdang. Medan Industrial Area () stands for KIM is the main industrial complex in Medan.


title: North Sumatra

text: Sei Mangkei Industrial Area, also known as Sei Mangkei – Integrated Sustainable Palm Oil Cluster (SM-ISPOIC), is located in Simalungun Regency and was formally opened on 12 June 2010. Four companies have joined in this area, with investment costs totaling up to Rp1.5 trillion ($176 million). In April 2011, three other companies also joined in the Sei Mangkei area. They are Procter & Gamble Co for making CPO derivatives of cosmetic raw materials, Ferrostaal AG and Fratelli Gianazza SpA.


title: North Sumatra

text: The increasingly higher economic performance of Sumatra and Java means that North Sumatran exports will be experiencing rapid growth. In 2004, the size of the foreign exchange sector had reached $4.24 billion, up 57.7% from 2003.


title: North Sumatra

text: Coffee exports from North Sumatra reached a record high of 46,290 tonnes with Japan as the main export destination countries during the last five years. Sumatran coffee exports are also listed as the top 10 highest export products with a value of US$3.25 million or 47200.8 tons from January to October 2005.


title: North Sumatra

text: Of the garment sector, garment exports tend to fall in January 2006. The results of special apparel industry down 42.59% from US$1,066,124 in 2005, to US$2,053 in 2006 in the same month.


title: North Sumatra

text: Import export performance of some industrial products showed a decline. Namely furniture fell 22.83% from US$558,363 (2005) to US$202,630 (2006), plywood down 24.07 percent from US$19,771 to US$8,237, misteric acid down 27.89% from US$115,362 into US$291,201, stearic acid dropped 27.04% from US$792,910 to US$308,020, and soap noodles down 26% from US$689,025 to US$248,053.


title: North Sumatra

text: Export performance of agricultural imports also decreased the essential oil dropped 18 percent from US$162,234 to US$773,023, seafood / shrimp, coconut oil and robusta coffee also dropped quite dramatically to 97 per cent. Some commodities were increased (a value of over US $ Million) is cocoa, horticulture, arabica coffee, palm oil, natural rubber, seafood (non shrimp). For the results of the molding industry, vehicle tires and rubber gloves.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra has lots of travel destinations. According to Ministry of Tourism, North Sumatra is ranked on the top 10 most visited province in Indonesia. There are various kinds of tourist destinations that could be found throughout the province, Berastagi is best known as a hilly place with a cooler temperature as the whole province is in tropical region. Lake Toba is also a popular travel destination. Toba is a large volcanic lake which has an island inside of it, Samosir Island. Nias Island and other several islands nearby named Batu Islands is a popular spot for surfing. The capital itself, Medan, has many places of interest, mainly for its historical sites. The city is also known for its variety of cuisine. The list below is the most known places of interest in North Sumatra:


title: North Sumatra

text: The modern Kualanamu International Airport was opened on July 25, 2013, and is located almost 40 kilometres from Medan. The airport replaces the old Polonia International Airport. It serves flights to several Indonesian and Malaysian cities, along with flights to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia. In passenger numbers, Kualanamu is the fifth largest airport in Indonesia.


title: North Sumatra

text: North Sumatra has an international seaport at Belawan, near Medan and is now preparing to have a new seaport at Kuala Tanjung, in Batubara Regency, for about Rp1 trillion ($114 million) budget.


title: North Sumatra

text: In North Sumatra, there is 2098.05 kilometres down a state-road, which pertained only steady 1095.70 kilometres or 52.22 percent and 418.60 kilometres or 19.95 percent in a state of being, remaining in a state of disrepair. While of 2752.41 kilometres of provincial roads, which is in a state of steady length 1237.60 kilometres or 44.96 per cent, while in a state of being 558.46 kilometres, or 20.29 percent. As damaged roads length 410.40 kilometres, or 14.91 percent, and the damaged length 545.95 kilometres, or 19.84 percent.


title: North Sumatra

text: There are 28 km toll road (expressway) in named as Belmera Toll Road, the first toll road in Medan, connecting from Belawan to Tanjungmorawa, passing east side of the city, the government also on has built a 62 km Medan–Kualanamu–Tebing Tinggi Toll Road and 17 km Medan–Binjai Toll Road. A project to built toll road from Tebing Tinggi to Parapat and also from Tebing Tinggi to Kisaran and Kisaran to Rantauprapat down south to Bagan Batu, Riau also in proportion, meanwhile in the north, a toll project connecting Binjai to Aceh's eastern city, Langsa and up to Banda Aceh are also on going. There are under discussion to build Medan inner ring-road toll road, including a elevated tollway above Deli River to accelerate city traffic.


title: North Sumatra

text: "Regional Division I North Sumatra and Aceh" or "Divre I" is regional railway from Aceh to North Sumatra operated by Kereta Api Indonesia, but only in-operation railway are from Binjai to Medan (Sri Lelawangsa), Medan to Pematangsiantar (Siantar Express), Medan to Tanjungbalai (Putri Deli) and Medan to Rantau Parapat (Sribilah), there are an underconstruction rail way to Banda Aceh in Aceh province also to Pekanbaru, Riau province. Medan also has it first airport rail link in Indonesia, called Kualanamu Airport Rail Link. It connects the city to Kualanamu Airport.


title: Process capability index

text: The process capability index, or process capability ratio, is a statistical measure of process capability: the ability of an engineering process to produce an output within specification limits. The concept of process capability only holds meaning for processes that are in a state of statistical control. This means it cannot account for deviations which are not expected, such as misaligned, damaged, or worn equipment. Process capability indices measure how much "natural variation" a process experiences relative to its specification limits, and allows different processes to be compared to how well an organization controls them. Somewhat counterintuitively, higher index values indicate better performance, with zero indicating high deviation.


title: Process capability index

text: A company produces axles with nominal diameter 20 mm on a lathe. As no axle can be made to "exactly" 20 mm, the designer specifies the maximum admissible deviations (called tolerances or specification limits). For instance, the requirement could be that axles need to be between 19.9 and 20.2 mm. The process capability index is a measure for how likely it is that a produced axle satisfies this requirement. The index pertains to statistical (natural) variations only. These are variations that naturally occur without a specific cause. Errors not addressed include operator errors, or play in the lathe's mechanisms resulting in a wrong or unpredictable tool position. If errors of the latter kinds occur, the process is not in a state of statistical control. When this is the case, the process capability index is meaningless.


title: Process capability index

text: If the upper and lower specification limits of the process are USL and LSL, the target process mean is T, the estimated mean of the process is formula_1 and the estimated variability of the process (expressed as a standard deviation) is formula_2, then commonly accepted process capability indices include:


title: Process capability index

text: Process capability indices are constructed to express more desirable capability with increasingly higher values. Values near or below zero indicate processes operating off target (formula_1 far from T) or with high variation.


title: Process capability index

text: Fixing values for minimum "acceptable" process capability targets is a matter of personal opinion, and what consensus exists varies by industry, facility, and the process under consideration. For example, in the automotive industry, the Automotive Industry Action Group sets forth guidelines in the Production Part Approval Process, 4th edition for recommended C minimum values for critical-to-quality process characteristics. However, these criteria are debatable and several processes may not be evaluated for capability just because they have not properly been assessed.


title: Process capability index

text: Since the process capability is a function of the specification, the Process Capability Index is only as good as the specification. For instance, if the specification came from an engineering guideline without considering the function and criticality of the part, a discussion around process capability is useless, and would have more benefits if focused on what are the real risks of having a part borderline out of specification. The loss function of Taguchi better illustrates this concept.


title: Process capability index

text: However where a process produces a characteristic with a capability index greater than 2.5, the unnecessary precision may be expensive.


title: Process capability index

text: The mapping from process capability indices, such as C, to measures of process fallout is straightforward. Process fallout quantifies how many defects a process produces and is measured by DPMO or PPM. Process yield is the complement of process fallout and is approximately equal to the area under the probability density function formula_5 if the process output is approximately normally distributed.


title: Process capability index

text: In the long term, processes can shift or drift significantly (most control charts are only sensitive to changes of 1.5σ or greater in process output). If there was a 1.5 sigma shift 1.5σ off of target in the processes (see Six Sigma), it would then produce these relationships:


title: Process capability index

text: Because processes can shift or drift significantly long term, each process would have a unique sigma shift value, thus process capability indices are less applicable as they require statistical control.


title: Process capability index

text: Consider a quality characteristic with target of 100.00 μm and upper and lower specification limits of 106.00 μm and 94.00 μm respectively. If, after carefully monitoring the process for a while, it appears that the process is in control and producing output predictably (as depicted in the run chart below), we can meaningfully estimate its mean and standard deviation.


title: Process capability index

text: The fact that the process is running off-center (about 1σ below its target) is reflected in the markedly different values for C, C, C, and C.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Waylon Joseph Smithers Jr., usually referred to as Mr. Smithers or simply Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom "The Simpsons", voiced by Harry Shearer. He first appeared in "Homer's Odyssey", although his voice could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the consummate executive and personal assistant of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's owner Mr. Burns, and is usually treated unfairly.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Smithers' loyalty and devotion to Mr. Burns was inspired from how numerous Fox executives and staff members acted towards Barry Diller. Smithers' first name (Waylon) was derived from that of puppeteer Wayland Flowers. The idea for Smithers' ambiguous sexual orientation came from Sam Simon. He proposed that Smithers should be gay and have an undying love for Mr. Burns. Smithers was colorized in his first appearance as black with blue hair. Matt Groening, in an interview with TMZ, said that this was a mistake but the producers did not have enough money to correct it.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Smithers is the loyal, obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr. Burns, and the relationship between the two is a frequent running gag. In many ways, Smithers represents the stereotype of a closeted gay man. Numerous allusions and double entendres about his homosexuality are made, though some of the show's producers instead interpret him as a "Burns-sexual". In the season 27 (2016) episode "The Burns Cage", he officially came out as gay.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Mr. Smithers is Mr. Burns' devoted executive assistant. His father, Waylon Smithers Sr., worked for Burns until he died of radiation poisoning after saving Springfield from a potential nuclear meltdown when Smithers was a baby. Smithers began thinking of Mr. Burns as his commander shortly after his birth. Up until 2016, he was not openly gay, but most people knew he was homosexual before he came out. It was revealed in a flashback that he was married to a woman once, but the two split up when Mr. Burns came between them. Smithers is shown to have a passionate and deep love for Mr. Burns, and his sexual orientation has been characterized by the writers of the show as "Burns-sexual". Despite the eccentric love for his boss, Smithers appears to be one of the few people at the power plant who is seemingly competent at their job (or 2,800 smaller jobs in Smithers' case) as opposed to the lazy, oafish underlings such as Homer Simpson and the senile Mr. Burns, who is often out of touch with the modern times. "He deserves his time," says the writer of "The Simpsons" about Smithers' gay love story in 2021.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Mr. Burns remained largely ignorant of Smithers' devoted adoration, much to Smithers' frustration. Mr. Burns himself has been involved with several women and, in "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", Smithers is noticeably disgusted when Mr. Burns starts looking for a female companion. Burns, for his part, views Smithers as somewhat of a lackey, albeit a highly valued one for his competence. He has "rewarded" Smithers' devotion with the future "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies. Smithers has been shown to be somewhat dependent on his relationship with Burns. In "Homer the Smithers", Mr. Burns orders Smithers to take a vacation and Homer Simpson is hired as a temporary replacement. When Homer loses his temper and punches Mr. Burns in the face, Mr. Burns learns to become self-reliant and this results in Smithers being fired. Smithers decides that he needs to be Mr. Burns' assistant and eventually gets his job back. In the season 27 episode "The Burns Cage", Smithers attempts to admit his love to Burns, who interrupts to reaffirm his contempt for his assistant.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Smithers' official job at the power plant appears to be that of executive assistant, which he says is "actually about 2,800 smaller jobs", responsible for monitoring employee attendance, and is often a disciplinarian and has won dozens of employee-of-the-month awards. He has often hinted at wanting to be promoted to the position of executive vice president, but Burns has repeatedly squashed this dream, while whimsically bestowing the vice presidency on a dog. Smithers has the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the world, and is the president of the Malibu Stacy fan club. In "Werking Mom", Smithers makes a silent cameo as a drag queen named 'The Mysterious Waylon'.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Mr. Smithers was partly based on how numerous Fox executives and staff members acted towards Barry Diller. The idea for Smithers' orientation was pitched by Sam Simon, who proposed that Smithers should be gay, but the writers should never draw too much attention to it and should try to keep it in the back of their heads. Jay Kogen said "Originally he was gay and black...But we thought it was too much so we just kept him gay." The script for "Blood Feud" originally featured Smithers saying "Just leave me enough to get home to my wife and kids", but the line had to be cut for time. Smithers is voiced by Harry Shearer, who is also the voice of Mr. Burns. Shearer is often able to perform dialogue between the two characters in one take. Dan Castellaneta occasionally fills in for Shearer at table reads and voices Smithers. The name Waylon, coined by Mike Reiss, was first used in "I Married Marge" and comes from the puppeteer Wayland Flowers.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Smithers made his first appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", which was the third episode of the first season, although he can be heard over a speaker in "The Simpsons" series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". In his first visual appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was mistakenly animated with the wrong color and was made darker than most characters by Gyorgyi Peluce, the color stylist. David Silverman has claimed that Smithers was always intended to be "Mr Burns' white sycophant", and the staff thought it "would be a bad idea to have a black subservient character" and so switched him to his intended color for his next episode. Silverman retconned this error by saying that Smithers had a tan from a recent holiday in the Caribbean. The first appearance of a yellow Smithers was "There's No Disgrace Like Home", the fourth episode of the first season.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Mr. Smithers' relationship with Mr. Burns has long been a running gag on "The Simpsons". Smithers is an obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr. Burns. There have often been strong hints about Smithers' true feelings for his boss, with one of the earliest references being in the season one episode "The Telltale Head". Smithers' sexual orientation has often come into question, with some fans claiming he is a "Burns-sexual" and only attracted to his boss, while others maintain that he is gay. During the Bill Oakley/Josh Weinstein era, they still tried to keep his sexuality unspoken and there was debate among the writers about his orientation. Al Jean, who thinks of Smithers as being a "Burns-sexual", felt that had Mr. Burns been a woman, then Smithers would not be gay. David Silverman, a former supervising director has said, "[Smithers] seems to be focused on one particular human, as opposed to anything beyond that. [Rather than being gay], he's sort of 'Burns-sexual'." In a 2006 study conducted by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, it was determined that nine of the 679 lead and supporting characters on scripted broadcast television were gay or lesbian, but Smithers was not included. A list published in 2008 by the same organization included Smithers; Patty Bouvier, Marge Simpson's lesbian sister, was included on both lists.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: The debate is referenced in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", when the episode host, Troy McClure is answering viewer questions, and one that is asked is "What is the real deal with Mr. Burns' assistant Smithers? You know what I'm talking about." A montage of various clips that shows Smithers' lust for Mr. Burns follows, and in the end, McClure says "as you can see, the real deal with Waylon Smithers is that he's Mr. Burns' assistant. He's in his early forties, is unmarried, and currently resides in Springfield. Thanks for writing!"


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Several of the allusions to Smithers' sexuality have turned into battles with the network censors. For example, in Smithers' fantasy of a naked Mr. Burns popping out of a birthday cake in "Rosebud", the censors had not wanted Mr. Burns to be naked. Another example is "Marge Gets a Job", which has a dream sequence where Smithers is sleeping and Burns flies through a window. The sequence shows Burns flying towards him and Smithers looking happy, but originally it went on for a few seconds longer. It had to be trimmed down due to scenes that showed "Mr. Burns land[ing] in a particular position on Smithers' anatomy". There were also issues with "the lump in his bed", which the animators said had been drawn as his knee, but the censors had misinterpreted.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: In the second season, the writers started to enjoy writing about Smithers and Burns' relationship, and the writers often pitched episodes with them as the focus, but many never came to fruition.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Mostly in the early seasons, Smithers had a catchphrase, which comes from a recurring joke that Mr. Burns never remembers who Homer Simpson is. Smithers and Burns would watch Homer (usually over a security camera feed) and Burns would ask, "Who is that man?", to which Smithers would reply, "That's Homer Simpson, sir, one of your [drones, organ banks, carbon blobs, etc.] from sector 7G." Burns would invariably respond, "Simpson, eh?"


title: Waylon Smithers

text: In September 2015, it was confirmed by Jean that Smithers would come out to Mr. Burns in a season 27 episode. The episode, "The Burns Cage", was broadcast the following April and saw Smithers unsuccessfully try to move on from Burns. A writer for British progressive magazine the "New Statesman" felt that the episode was a retcon, making a serious story about the character's homosexuality instead of the previous jokes and innuendo that were now considered homophobic.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: In 2004, "The Simpsons" producers announced that one of their characters was going to come out of the closet. Speculation on who it would be was printed in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada (even claiming Smithers' "sexual orientation was about the worst-kept secret in Springfield") as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, (the "Irish Independent" called Smithers "too obvious" a choice), and the United Kingdom. Despite Matt Groening joking that it would be Homer, the "Boston Herald" calculated the odds of several characters being gay, with Smithers at a million to one. PlanetOut Inc. hosted an online poll in the weeks prior to the episode to determine based on "cartoon gaydar" who was gay on the Simpsons, with 97% of the respondents choosing Smithers. Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at the site said of the poll, "We've never had such an avalanche of people voting in any of our polls as we did on The Simpsons." It was Patty Bouvier who came out.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: In a 2007 article, "Entertainment Weekly" named Smithers the 16th-greatest sidekick of all time. They have also described Smithers and Mr. Burns as being "TV's most functional dysfunctional couple". "Star News Online" named "Smithers' fey way" as one of the 400 reasons why they loved "The Simpsons". In a 2003 article, "Entertainment Weekly" named the two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", in which Smithers was prominently featured, the series' 25th-best episode. Gay.com ranked Smithers as the sixth-gayest cartoon character.


title: Waylon Smithers

text: Smithers was made into an action figure, and four different versions were included as part of the "World of Springfield" toy line. The first shows Smithers in his normal attire with a picture of Mr. Burns at his feet and was released in 2000 as part of "wave two". The second, released in 2002 as part of "wave ten", is called "resort Smithers" and shows him dressed as he was at the resort in the episode "Homer the Smithers". In 2003, a series of figures exclusive to "Electronics Boutique" was released, and a set of one Mr. Burns figure and two different Smithers toys based on the episode "Rosebud" were included. One, called "Bobo Smithers" shows Smithers dressed as Mr. Burns' teddy bear Bobo; and the other, known as "future Smithers", shows him as a robotic dog. A "future Burns" was included in the set as a companion to "future Smithers" and depicts Burns as a robot as he appeared at the end of the episode.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Alpha Condé (N'Ko: ; born 4 March 1938) is a Guinean politician who served as the fourth president of Guinea from 2010 to 2021.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé spent decades in opposition to a succession of regimes in Guinea, unsuccessfully running against President Lansana Conté in the 1993 and 1998 presidential elections and leading the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), an opposition party. Standing again in the 2010 presidential election, Condé was elected president in a second round of voting. Upon his election, he said he would strengthen Guinea as a democracy and fight corruption.


title: Alpha Condé

text: When Condé took office in December 2010, he became the first freely elected president in the country's history. He was reelected in 2015 with about 58% of the vote, and again in 2020 with 59.5% after a constitutional referendum which allowed Condé to "reset" his term limit and seek two more terms. The move had been controversial and sparked massive protests before and after the referendum, which were brutally repressed. Condé's critics have claimed there was fraud in the 2015 and 2020 elections. On 30 January 2017, Condé succeeded Chad's Idriss Déby as head of the African Union. He was succeeded by Rwandan President Paul Kagame on 28 January 2018. On 5 September 2021, the Guinea Armed Forces arrested Condé and overthrew him.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé left for France at the age of 15. He was active in the National Union of Higher Education (SNESUP), the Association of Guinean Students in France (AEGF), and the Federation of Black African Students in France (FEANF), of which he was claimed to be the Executive Coordinator of African National Groups (GN) from 1967 to 1975, overseeing the activities of the Directorate of FEANF.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé claimed to have written a master's thesis in political science, "Le P.D.G. et le peuple de Guinée", in 1965.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé won 18 percent of the vote in Guinea's first multiparty presidential election, held on 19 December 1993. Lansana Conté, who had been president since a 1984 "coup d'état", won the election with 51.7 percent of the vote. Condé's supporters alleged fraud in this election after the Supreme Court nullified results in the Kankan and Siguiri prefectures, where Condé had received more than 60 percent of the vote. Condé's supporters retorted with intimidation, ballot stuffing and violence in the Kankan and Siguiri prefectures resulting in the Supreme Court nullifying the results in those prefectures. In the 1998 presidential election, Condé ran again and received 17.6 percent of the vote, placing third behind Conté (56.1 percent) and Mamadou Boye Bâ (24.6 percent). On 16 December, two days after the poll, Condé was arrested and charged with trying to leave the country illegally; he was also charged with attempting to recruit forces to destabilize the government.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Controversy during his detention focused on whether he could be represented by foreign as well as domestic lawyers, and whether defense lawyers were being given full access to him in jail. Condé's trial, initially scheduled to begin in September 1999, did not begin until April 2000. Condé, along with 47 co-defendants, was charged with hiring mercenaries, planning to assassinate President Conté, and upsetting the state's security. Defense lawyers began by calling for the judge to immediately release their clients, then quit, saying that under the circumstances they could not properly make a defense. The trial was thus delayed several times, during which time Condé refused to speak in court, and his co-defendants denied all of the charges. The trial finally continued in August, and in mid-September Condé was sentenced to jail for five years.


title: Alpha Condé

text: However, Condé was released in May 2001 when he was pardoned by President Conté, with the condition that he was prohibited from engaging in political activities. Following his release, he left Guinea for France, returning in July 2005. Upon his return, some reports indicated that he intended to organize the RPG for the municipal elections held in late 2005, but later stated his intention to boycott them.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Following Conté's death and the 23 December 2008 military coup, Condé met with Moussa Dadis Camara, the President of the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), on 27 December 2008. After the meeting, Condé said that the members of the CNDD junta were "patriots". Condé lobbied the CNDD junta to arrest and jail Condé's political rivals. Later, however, Condé opposed the junta after failing to push the CNDD junta to intimidate and disqualify Condé's political rivals. Moussa Dadis Camara publicly exposed Condé's request to commit anti-democratic and anti-constitutional acts on his behalf.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé stood again in the June–November 2010 presidential election. During the first round, he received 18 percent of the votes, while Cellou Dalein Diallo placed first with over 40 percent. On 15 November 2010 Condé was declared the winner of the second round with 52.5 percent. Imogen Rose-Smith from "Institutional Investor" said that his win was "surprising" given his "poor results" in previous elections and in the first round of this election.


title: Alpha Condé

text: After he was elected, Condé attempted to improve the mining law in Guinea, in order to reduce corruption in the sector and increase the country's benefit.


title: Alpha Condé

text: According to various documents that were allegedly leaked to the international NGO Global Witness, mining company Sable Mining was involved in helping Condé win the 2010 election in return for mining rights in the country. Global Witness reported that Sable Supported Condé's election campaign, organized logistics and strategic meetings, offered to loan him a helicopter, and paid bribe money to his son, Alpha Mohammed Condé, in order to secure mining permits in a number of areas, including Mount Nimba. In an email allegedly sent from Alpha Mohammed Condé to Sable in August 2010, he said that backing his father's campaign "will make my dad all the more comfortable to support our business partnerships".


title: Alpha Condé

text: On 19 July 2011, the presidential residence was shelled, resulting in the death of a presidential guard and the injuries of two others. Condé survived the alleged assassination attempt. A former army chief and a member of the presidential guard were arrested hours after the two attacks on his house. The President later spoke to the country saying that "My house was attacked last night, but I congratulate the presidential guard who fought heroically from 3:10 until 5:00 before backup arrived." He also added that his plans for reform would not fail.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Three days later at least 41 soldiers were arrested for the assassination attempt. A government official said that many of those arrested had ties to the country's previous military rulers.


title: Alpha Condé

text: The United Nations reacted by saying that there was a greater need for military reforms in Guinea. The UN Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said that the assault showed "weaknesses remain in Guinea's defence and security systems [and] reinforces the UN's determination to support the country's military reforms. I saw the damage...[the attack] clearly intended to kill the president."


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé received criticism during week-long protests and violence in late February and early March 2013, after opposition supporters took to the streets of Conakry to peacefully protest against his attempts to rig the 2013 parliamentary election. The opposition coalition withdrew from the electoral process in mid-February, mainly due to Condé's insistence on using a South African firm, Waymark Infotech, to draw up the registered voter list to his political party's benefit.


title: Alpha Condé

text: The ensuing violence resulted in at least twenty deaths and hundreds injured due to Condé's security forces who used live ammunition to disperse the peaceful protesters.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Voting finally took place on 28 September. Local and international observers stated that the process was significantly flawed, stating that they observed ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and minors casting votes. These organizational problems and irregularities led to a three-week delay in the announcement of the election results, which in turn led to further tension. Regional UN and EU representatives intervened and strongly recommended that the situation be addressed peacefully via the legal system.


title: Alpha Condé

text: On 17 October 2015, Condé was selected for a second term and given 57.85 percent of the vote, an outright majority in the first round of voting. The election was marred by fraud and mismanagement. Cellou Dalein Diallo, who received the majority the vote, rejected the results because the vote had been rigged by Condé's government. Condé's government resorted again in intimidating voters, ballot stuffing, permitting minors to vote, altering the electoral map, and violence against the opposition supporters. However, the opposition did not file an official appeal. Condé was sworn in for his second term on 14 December 2015.


title: Alpha Condé

text: In 2016, French news organization FRANCE 24 released audio recordings that appear to prove that the mining company Rio Tinto paid Guinean government official and close acquaintance of the president a sum of $10.5 million for mining rights in the Simandou mine. President Condé says that de Combret acted alone. Audio recordings do not implicate the president as there is no indication in it that he was not simply demanding down payment on the $700 million contract on behalf of the government with no payoff involved. Rio Tinto admitted to the payment in November 2016.


title: Alpha Condé

text: The 2019–2020 Guinean protests were a series of bloody protests and mass civil unrest in Guinea against the rule of Conde that first broke out on 14 October 2019 against constitutional changes. During the violent clashes, over 90 people may have lost their lives.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé won a third term in October 2020 presidential election, with 59.5% of the vote. Condé stated that a March 2020 constitutional referendum allowed him to run despite a two-term limit. The opposition rejected the results because of allegations of fraud, and violent protests erupted across the country.


title: Alpha Condé

text: On 5 September 2021, Condé was captured and overthrown by the military during the 2021 Guinean coup d'état. Promising to change the political landscape of Guinea, the military's Special Forces dissolved the constitution and shut the country’s land and air borders. Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the Special Forces, said that government corruption and mismanagement precipitated the coup.


title: Alpha Condé

text: Condé was released from military detention and was sent to the residence of his wife, Djene Kaba Condé, in Conakry; she thanked the military junta for releasing her husband and "guaranteeing him treatment worthy of his rank".


title: Alpha Condé

text: On December 9, 2022, the US Treasury published a list of more than forty personalities targeted by sanctions for acts of corruption and human rights violations. Among the targets of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the financial control body of the Treasury Department is Alpha Condé..


title: Uzziah

text: Uzziah (; "‘Uzzīyyāhū", meaning "my strength is Yah"; ; ), also known as Azariah (; "‘Azaryā"; ; ), was the tenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and one of Amaziah's sons. () Uzziah was 16 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 52 years. The first 24 years of his reign were as a co-regent with his father, Amaziah.


title: Uzziah

text: William F. Albright dates Uzziah's reign to 783–742 BC. Edwin R. Thiele's chronology has Uzziah becoming coregent with his father Amaziah in 792/791 BCE and sole ruler of Judah after his father's death in 768/767 BCE. Uzziah was struck with leprosy for disobeying God (, ). Thiele dates Uzziah's being struck with leprosy to 751/750 BCE, at which time his son Jotham took over the government, with Uzziah living on until 740/739 BCE. Pekah became king of Israel in the last year of Uzziah's reign.


title: Uzziah

text: Uzziah is referred to several times in the Hebrew Bible as "Azariah". According to Catholic theologian James F. Driscoll, the second form of his name is most likely the result of a copyist's error.


title: Uzziah

text: Uzziah took the throne at age 16 and reigned for about 52 years. His reign was "the most prosperous excepting that of Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon." In the earlier part of his reign, under the influence of a prophet named Zechariah, he was faithful to God and "did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord" (; ).


title: Uzziah

text: In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. According to 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah conquered the Philistines and the Arabians and received tribute from the Ammonites. He fortified the country, organized and equipped the army, and personally engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a vigorous and able ruler, and "his name spread abroad, even to the entrance of Egypt" ().


title: Uzziah

text: Then his pride led to his downfall. He entered the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the high priest saw this as an attempt to usurp the prerogatives of the priests and confronted him with a band of eighty priests, saying, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense." (). In the meantime a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face, insomuch that the leprosy (Hebrew: "tzaraath") seized upon him immediately (Josephus Flavius, Antiquities IX 10:4). Uzziah was suddenly struck with leprosy before he had offered the incense (), and he was driven from the Temple and compelled to reside in "a separate house" until his death (, 27; ). The government was turned over to his son Jotham (), a coregency that lasted for the last 11 years of Uzziah's life (751/750 to 740/739 BC).


title: Uzziah

text: He was buried in a separate grave "in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings" (; ). "That lonely grave in the royal necropolis would eloquently testify to coming generations that all earthly monarchy must bow before the inviolable order of the divine will, and that no interference could be tolerated with that unfolding of the purposes of God..." (Dr. Green's "Kingdom of Israel").


title: Uzziah

text: Archaeological findings from Mesopotamia — in the form of Assyrian correspondence and administrative texts discovered at Nimrud and sculptures from the royal palaces of Nineveh — indicate close ties between Assyria and Judah between the reigns of Uzziah and Manasseh and are evidence that Uzziah was contemporary with Tiglath-Pileser III. A highly fragmentary portion of Tiglath-Pileser's annals mention the king "Azaria'u" of "Ya'uda", seemingly "Azariah of Judah", which some have stated is a reference to Uzziah; however, the prevailing opinion that Uzziah's mentions as "Azariah" in the Hebrew Bible are the result of a later copyist error casts doubt that the official annals of the Assyrian kingdom would have (or even "could" have) referred to the king by this name.


title: Uzziah

text: Uzziah's name appears in two unprovenanced iconic stone seals discovered in 1858 and 1863. The first is inscribed "l’byw ‘bd / ‘zyw", "[belonging] to ’Abiyah, minister of ‘Uziyah", and the second (rev.) "lšbnyw ‘ / bd ‘zyw", "[belonging] to Shubnayah, minister of ‘Uziyah." If genuine, they are the first concrete reference to the ancient king.


title: Uzziah

text: In 1931, an archaeological find, known as the Uzziah Tablet was discovered by Professor E.L. Sukenik of the Hebrew University. He came across the artifact in the collection of the Russian Orthodox Eleona convent (Convent of the Ascension) from the Mount of Olives, put together by Byzantologist and cleric, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin). The provenance of the tablet previous to this remains unknown and was not documented by the convent. The inscription on the tablet is written in an Aramaic dialect very similar to Biblical Aramaic. According to its script, it is dated to around 30–70 CE, around 700 years after the supposed death of Uzziah of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Nevertheless, the inscription is translated, "Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah. Not to be opened." It is open to debate whether this tablet really was part of the tomb of King Uzziah or simply a later creation. It may be that there was a later reburial of Uzziah during the Second Temple period.


title: Uzziah

text: A major earthquake is referred to in the book of the prophet Amos. Amos dates his prophecy to "two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel" (, NIV). Over 200 years later, the prophet Zechariah predicted a future earthquake from which the people would flee as they fled in the days of Uzziah (). Geologists believe they have found evidence of this major earthquake in sites throughout Israel and Jordan. The geologists write:


title: Uzziah

text: Masonry walls best display the earthquake, especially walls with broken ashlars, walls with displaced rows of stones, walls still standing but leaning or bowed, and walls collapsed with large sections still lying course-on-course. Debris at six sites (Hazor, Deir 'Alla, Gezer, Lachish, Tell Judeideh, and 'En Haseva) is tightly confined stratigraphically to the middle of the 8th-century B.C., with dating errors of ~30 years... The earthquake was at least magnitude 7.8, but likely was 8.2... This severe geologic disaster has been linked historically to a speech delivered at the city of Bethel by a shepherd-farmer named Amos of Tekoa."


title: Uzziah

text: An exact date for this earthquake would be of considerable interest to archaeologists and historians, because it would allow a synchronization of the earthquake at all the sites affected by it in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Currently, the stratigraphic evidence at Gezer dates the earthquake at 760 BC, plus or minus 25 years, while Yadin and Finkelstein date the earthquake level at Hazor to 760 BC based on stratigraphic analysis of the destruction debris. Similarly, Ussishkin dates the "sudden destruction" level at Lachish to approximately 760 BC. A report in 2019 by geologists studying layers of sediment on the floor of the Dead Sea further confirms the occurrence of this particular seismic event.


title: Uzziah

text: Amos says that the earthquake was in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam (II), son of Jehoash king of Israel. The reference to Jeroboam II is helpful in restricting the date of Amos' vision, more so than the reference to Uzziah's long reign of 52 years. According to Thiele's widely accepted chronology, Jeroboam II began a coregency with his father in 793/792, became sole regent in 782/781, and died in late summer or the fall of 753 BC. Assuming that the prophecy took place after Uzziah became sole regent in 768/767, Amos' prophecy can be dated to some time after that and some time before Jeroboam's death in 753 BC, with the earthquake two years after that. These dates are consistent with the dates given by the archaeologists above for the earthquake. They are inconsistent with the tradition, found in Josephus and the Talmud but not in the Bible, that the earthquake occurred when Uzziah entered the Temple to offer incense, accepting that the beginning of the Uzziah/Jotham coregency began sometime in the six-month period after Nisan 1 of 750 BC.


title: Uzziah

text: The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri (in the fall) and that of Israel in Nisan (in the spring). Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Uzziah, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of the beginning of his sole reign to some time between Nisan 1 of 767 BCE and the day before Tishri 1 of the same year.


title: Uzziah

text: Some writers object to the use of coregencies in determining the dates of the kings of Judah and Israel, saying that there should be explicit reference to coregencies if they existed. Since there is no word for "coregency" in Biblical Hebrew, an explicit mention using this word is not found. In the case of Uzziah, however, the statement that after he was stricken with leprosy, his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land () is a fairly straightforward indication of what in modern terms is called a coregency. Coregencies are well attested in Egypt, and in giving the year of their reign, the timelines of the pharaohs do not relate whether it is measured from a coregency. Egyptologists must determine the existence of a coregency from a comparison of chronological data, just as Thiele and those who have followed him have done from the chronological data of Scripture.


title: Uzziah

text: Not all of the coregencies for the kings of Judah and Israel are as easy to identify as the Uzziah/Jotham coregency indicated by 2 Kings 15:5, but those who ignore coregencies in constructing the history of this time have failed to produce any chronology for the period that has found widespread acceptance. After noting how David set a pattern by setting his son Solomon on the throne before his death, Nadav Na'man writes, "When taking into account the permanent nature of the co-regency in Judah from the time of Joash, one may dare to conclude that dating the co-regencies accurately is indeed the key for solving the problems of biblical chronology in the eighth century BC"


title: Uzziah

text: The dates given in the infobox below are those of Thiele, except the starting date for the Amaziah/Uzziah coregency is taken as one year later than that given by Thiele, following Leslie McFall. This implies that Uzziah's 52 years are to be taken in a non-accession sense, which was Thiele's general practice for coregencies, but which he did not follow in the case of Uzziah.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Willson Eduardo Contreras (born May 13, 1992) is a Venezuelan professional baseball catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Contreras made his MLB debut in 2016 and was a member of the 2016 World Series champions. Contreras was voted as a starter in the MLB All-Star Game in 2018, 2019, and 2022. He signed with the Cardinals as a free agent after the 2022 season.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Contreras was born on May 13, 1992, in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, to Olga and William Contreras. He was the middle child of three, with an older brother, Willmer, and a younger brother, William. Willson and William would play baseball in the street as children by using a crumpled piece of paper as a ball. At the age of 16, Contreras began attending a baseball academy in Venezuela run by the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB).


title: Willson Contreras

text: Contreras signed with the Chicago Cubs as an international free agent in 2009. He made his professional debut with the Dominican Summer League Cubs that year. He batted .205 in 29 games at age 17. In 2010, he batted .313 in 17 games at age 18 with them. In 2011 and 2012 he played with the Boise Hawks. Contreras spent 2013 with the Kane County Cougars, 2014 with the Daytona Cubs, and 2015 with the Tennessee Smokies. He was named the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year in 2015 after batting .333/.413/.478 with eight home runs. During his minor league career, he played the positions of catcher, first base, second base, third base, left field, and right field. The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster after the season.


title: Willson Contreras

text: The Cubs promoted Contreras to the major league team on June 17, 2016. On June 19, he hit a two-run home run on the first pitch of his first major-league at-bat after two pick-off attempts by the pitcher to first base, becoming the 30th player in the modern MLB era to do so. In his fifth game, he started at the first base position, and started in left field in his eighth game, establishing himself as a versatile player on the field. Contreras finished the 2016 regular season with 80 hits in 295 at-bats with 12 home runs, 35 RBIs and a .275 batting average.


title: Willson Contreras

text: In Game 4 of the 2016 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants with the Cubs having a 2–1 series lead, Contreras had a pinch-hit two-run single in the top of the ninth inning, tying the score at five. Contreras was forced at second by a Jason Heyward bunt but the Cubs scored the go-ahead run later that inning, sending them to the National League Championship Series. The Cubs won the 2016 World Series over the Cleveland Indians, giving the Cubs their first championship in 108 years. Contreras drove in a run with a double in the seventh game.


title: Willson Contreras

text: On April 2, 2017, Contreras was the Cubs' opening day starting catcher against the St. Louis Cardinals. After hitting five home runs in six games, he was selected as the National League's Player of the Week on August 8. On August 9, Contreras suffered a moderate hamstring strain while running to first base against the San Francisco Giants. At the time of the injury he was batting .274 with 93 hits in 339 at bats, hit 21 home runs and had 70 RBIs. Willson returned from the injury on September 10 as a pinch hitter. On September 15, 2017, Contreras was ejected and suspended one game for throwing his mask, which bounced and hit umpire Jordan Baker in the shins.


title: Willson Contreras

text: In 377 at-bats, Contreras finished the season with a .276 batting average, 104 hits, 21 home runs, five stolen bases and 74 RBIs.


title: Willson Contreras

text: On October 18, 2017, in Game Four of the NLCS, Contreras hit the longest postseason home run, at , since Statcast started recording such data in 2015.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Batting .287 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs, Contreras was voted to start in the 2018 All-Star Game, his first All-Star appearance. He finished his 2018 campaign batting .249 with ten home runs and 54 RBIs in 138 games.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Contreras had a fast start to the 2019 season, batting .315 with an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.069 into mid-May. On May 11, he had his first career walk-off hit, a solo shot off the Milwaukee Brewers' Burch Smith, ending a 15-inning marathon. Contreras and teammate Javier Baez were named starters for the National League in the 2019 All-Star game, but neither registered a hit. On August 3, Contreras strained his hamstring running to first base and was put on the 10-day injured list. He finished the 2019 season slashing .272/.355/.533 with 24 home runs and 64 RBIs over 105 games.


title: Willson Contreras

text: In the shortened 60-game season in 2020, Contreras played in 57 games with a batting line of .243/.356/.407 to go along with seven home runs and 26 RBI.


title: Willson Contreras

text: In 2021, Contreras slashed .237/.340/.438 with 21 home runs and 57 RBIs in 128 games. He also caught the first combined no-hitter in Cubs history against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 24.


title: Willson Contreras

text: In 2022, Contreras put up a slash of .243/.349/.466 alongside 55 RBIs and 22 home runs. He was selected to participate in the 2022 MLB All Star Game alongside his brother, William Contreras, becoming just the fifth pair of brothers to play in the same All Star Game in baseball history.


title: Willson Contreras

text: On December 9, 2022, Contreras signed a five-year, $87.5 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.


title: Willson Contreras

text: Contreras's younger brother, William Contreras, is also a catcher in MLB. Contreras married Andrea Villamizar on May 3, 2018. Contreras is a supporter of the Venezuelan opposition and Juan Guaidó.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: The Battle of Mohi (11 April 1241), also known as Battle of the Sajó River or Battle of the Tisza River, was the main battle between the Mongol Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary during the Mongol invasion of Europe. It took place at Muhi (then Mohi), southwest of the Sajó River. The battle resulted in a victory for the Mongols, who destroyed the Hungarian Royal army.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: The Mongols attacked the eastern side of Central Europe with five distinct armies. Two of them attacked through Poland in order to protect the flank from Polish cousins of Béla IV of Hungary, winning several victories. Most notably, they defeated the army of Duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia at Legnica. A southern army attacked Transylvania, defeated the voivod and crushed the Transylvanian armies. The main army led by Khan Batu and Subutai attacked Hungary through the fortified Verecke Pass and annihilated the army led by Denis Tomaj, the count palatine, on 12 March 1241, while the final army under Batu's brother Shiban marched in an arc north of the main force. Prior to the invasion, King Béla had personally supervised the construction of dense natural barriers along Hungary's eastern border, intending to slow the Mongol advance and obstruct their movement. However, the Mongols possessed specialized units who cleared the paths with great rapidity, removing the obstacles in just three days. Combined with the extreme speed of the Mongol advance, called "lightning" by a European observer, the Hungarians lacked time to properly group their forces.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: In 1223, the expanding Mongol Empire defeated a group of semi-allied Rus city states at the Kalka River using their famous tactic of the feigned retreat under Subutai and Jebe. This was part of their great cavalry raid to explore the lands beyond their knowledge under the direction of Genghis Khan.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: The defeated princes of Rus who were captured by the Mongols were crushed to death under a victory platform following the battle. At this time, the Mongols were purely an expeditionary force in Europe, and did not besiege major cities such as Kyiv until decades later, under the direction of Genghis Khan's son and successor, Ogedei.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: Hungary had tried to convert the Cumans to Christianity and expand its influence over them for several decades beforehand. The Hungarian king Béla IV even began to use the title "King of Cumania". When Cuman refugees (ca. 40,000 people) sought refuge in his kingdom after being crushed by the Mongols, it seemed that at least a portion of the Cumans had accepted Hungarian rule. The Mongols saw Hungary as a rival, and the Cuman migration to Hungary as a "casus belli". In their ultimatum, they also blamed Hungary for "missing envoys".


title: Battle of Mohi

text: The Mongolian threat appeared during a time of political turmoil in Hungary. Traditionally, the base of royal power consisted of vast estates owned as royal property. Under King Andrew II, donations of land to nobles by the crown reached a new peak: whole counties were donated. As Andrew II said, "The best measure of royal generosity is measureless". After Béla IV inherited his father's throne he began to reconfiscate Andrew's donations and to execute or expel his advisers. He also denied the nobles' right of personal hearings and accepted only written petitions to his chancellery. He even had the chairs of the council chamber taken away in order to force everybody to stand in his presence. His actions caused great disaffection among the nobles. The newly arrived and grateful Cumans gave the king more power (and increased prestige with the Church for converting them), but also caused more friction. The nomadic Cumans did not easily integrate with the settled Hungarians and the nobles were shocked that the king supported the Cumans in quarrels between the two.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: King Béla began to mobilise his army and ordered all of his troops, including the Cumans, to the city of Pest. Frederick II, Duke of Austria and Styria, also arrived there to help him. At this moment, the conflict between Cumans and Hungarians caused riots and the Cuman khan—who had been under the personal protection of the king—was murdered. Some sources mention the role of Duke Frederick in inciting this riot, but his true role is unknown. Another possibility is that Mongol spies helped spread rumors of the supposed Cuman-Mongol alliance to cause panic, similar to what the Mongols had done in the invasion of Khwarezm. The Cumans believed that they had been betrayed, and left the country to the south, pillaging all the way. The full mobilisation was unsuccessful; many contingents were unable to reach Pest; some were destroyed by Mongols before they arrived, some by renegade Cumans. Many nobles refused to take part in the campaign because they hated the king and desired his downfall. The loss of the Cumans was painful for Béla, because they were the one army in Europe who had experience fighting the Mongols.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: The Mongol vanguard reached Pest on 15 March and began to pillage the neighbouring area. King Béla forbade his men to attack them, as the Hungarian army was still unprepared. Even so, Duke Frederick attacked and defeated a minor raiding party and used this to attempt to smear Béla as a coward. After this "heroic" act, Duke Frederick returned home, abandoning his Hungarian rival. Meanwhile, the Mongols had destroyed several other Hungarian forces that were unable to link up with the main army in time. Ugrin Csák, Archbishop of Kalocsa, also tried to attack a Mongol contingent, but he was lured to a swamp and his armoured cavalry became irretrievably stuck in it. He barely escaped with his life. The army of the Count Palatine also was annihilated, as previously mentioned. The southern Mongol army also defeated another Hungarian force at Nagyvárad.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: Finally, the king decided to offer the Mongols battle, but they began to retreat. This affirmed the opinion of the nobles that the Mongols were not a threat and the king's behaviour was not cautious but cowardly. After a week of forced marches and frequent Mongol attacks, the Hungarian army, a collection of varied Hungarian forces, reached the flooded River Sajó. The size of the Hungarian army is unknown. The closest hard evidence comes from the Epternacher Notiz, a contemporary account of the battle by a German chronicler which reported that the Hungarians lost 10,000 men, suggesting their whole army was around that size. For the Mongols, the closest hard evidence comes from the works of Rashid al-Din, drawing on Mongol sources, which report that the Mongol force for the entire Central European invasion was 40,000 horsemen, of which only a portion were actually at Mohi.


title: Battle of Mohi

text: For their part the Mongols claimed their enemy outnumbered them, with Juvaini (drawing on Mongol sources) reporting that the Mongol reconnaissance force (10,000 men) estimated the Hungarian army was twice as numerous as the Mongol army. However, a clearly exaggerated estimate of 400,000 for the Hungarian army was provided, implying 200,000 Mongol troops. Juvaini's wording also implied that the Hungarian host was mostly mounted. Hungarian chroniclers claimed that the Mongols were superior numerically many times over, though they also give unlikely figures, with one chronicler stating that the Mongols invaded with 500,000 troops.