title: Global financial system

text: The parity grid was derived from parities each participating country established for its currency with all other currencies in the system, denominated in terms of ECUs. The weights within the ECU changed in response to variances in the values of each currency in its basket. Under the ERM, if an exchange rate reached its upper or lower limit (within a 2.25% band), both nations in that currency pair were obligated to intervene collectively in the foreign exchange market and buy or sell the under- or overvalued currency as necessary to return the exchange rate to its par value according to the parity matrix. The requirement of cooperative market intervention marked a key difference from the Bretton Woods system. Similarly to Bretton Woods however, EMS members could impose capital controls and other monetary policy shifts on countries responsible for exchange rates approaching their bounds, as identified by a divergence indicator which measured deviations from the ECU's value. The central exchange rates of the parity grid could be adjusted in exceptional circumstances, and were modified every eight months on average during the systems' initial four years of operation. During its twenty-year lifespan, these central rates were adjusted over 50 times.


title: Global financial system

text: The Uruguay Round of GATT multilateral trade negotiations took place from 1986 to 1994, with 123 nations becoming party to agreements achieved throughout the negotiations. Among the achievements were trade liberalization in agricultural goods and textiles, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, and agreements on intellectual property rights issues. The key manifestation of this round was the Marrakech Agreement signed in April 1994, which established the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO is a chartered multilateral trade organization, charged with continuing the GATT mandate to promote trade, govern trade relations, and prevent damaging trade practices or policies. It became operational in January 1995. Compared with its GATT secretariat predecessor, the WTO features an improved mechanism for settling trade disputes since the organization is membership-based and not dependent on consensus as in traditional trade negotiations. This function was designed to address prior weaknesses, whereby parties in dispute would invoke delays, obstruct negotiations, or fall back on weak enforcement. In 1997, WTO members reached an agreement which committed to softer restrictions on commercial financial services, including banking services, securities trading, and insurance services. These commitments entered into force in March 1999, consisting of 70 governments accounting for approximately 95% of worldwide financial services.


title: Global financial system

text: Financial integration among industrialized nations grew substantially during the 1980s and 1990s, as did liberalization of their capital accounts. Integration among financial markets and banks rendered benefits such as greater productivity and the broad sharing of risk in the macroeconomy. The resulting interdependence also carried a substantive cost in terms of shared vulnerabilities and increased exposure to systemic risks. Accompanying financial integration in recent decades was a succession of deregulation, in which countries increasingly abandoned regulations over the behavior of financial intermediaries and simplified requirements of disclosure to the public and to regulatory authorities. As economies became more open, nations became increasingly exposed to external shocks. Economists have argued greater worldwide financial integration has resulted in more volatile capital flows, thereby increasing the potential for financial market turbulence. Given greater integration among nations, a systemic crisis in one can easily infect others.


title: Global financial system

text: The 1980s and 1990s saw a wave of currency crises and sovereign defaults, including the 1987 Black Monday stock market crashes, 1992 European Monetary System crisis, 1994 Mexican peso crisis, 1997 Asian currency crisis, 1998 Russian financial crisis, and the 1998–2002 Argentine peso crisis. These crises differed in terms of their breadth, causes, and aggravations, among which were capital flights brought about by speculative attacks on fixed exchange rate currencies perceived to be mispriced given a nation's fiscal policy, self-fulfilling speculative attacks by investors expecting other investors to follow suit given doubts about a nation's currency peg, lack of access to developed and functioning domestic capital markets in emerging market countries, and current account reversals during conditions of limited capital mobility and dysfunctional banking systems.


title: Global financial system

text: Following research of systemic crises that plagued developing countries throughout the 1990s, economists have reached a consensus that liberalization of capital flows carries important prerequisites if these countries are to observe the benefits offered by financial globalization. Such conditions include stable macroeconomic policies, healthy fiscal policy, robust bank regulations, and strong legal protection of property rights. Economists largely favor adherence to an organized sequence of encouraging foreign direct investment, liberalizing domestic equity capital, and embracing capital outflows and short-term capital mobility only once the country has achieved functioning domestic capital markets and established a sound regulatory framework. An emerging market economy must develop a credible currency in the eyes of both domestic and international investors to realize benefits of globalization such as greater liquidity, greater savings at higher interest rates, and accelerated economic growth. If a country embraces unrestrained access to foreign capital markets without maintaining a credible currency, it becomes vulnerable to speculative capital flights and sudden stops, which carry serious economic and social costs.


title: Global financial system

text: Countries sought to improve the sustainability and transparency of the global financial system in response to crises in the 1980s and 1990s. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was formed in 1974 by the G-10 members' central bank governors to facilitate cooperation on the supervision and regulation of banking practices. It is headquartered at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland. The committee has held several rounds of deliberation known collectively as the Basel Accords. The first of these accords, known as Basel I, took place in 1988 and emphasized credit risk and the assessment of different asset classes. Basel I was motivated by concerns over whether large multinational banks were appropriately regulated, stemming from observations during the 1980s Latin American debt crisis. Following Basel I, the committee published recommendations on new capital requirements for banks, which the G-10 nations implemented four years later. In 1999, the G-10 established the Financial Stability Forum (reconstituted by the G-20 in 2009 as the Financial Stability Board) to facilitate cooperation among regulatory agencies and promote stability in the global financial system. The Forum was charged with developing and codifying twelve international standards and implementation thereof.


title: Global financial system

text: The Basel II accord was set in 2004 and again emphasized capital requirements as a safeguard against systemic risk as well as the need for global consistency in banking regulations so as not to competitively disadvantage banks operating internationally. It was motivated by what were seen as inadequacies of the first accord such as insufficient public disclosure of banks' risk profiles and oversight by regulatory bodies. Members were slow to implement it, with major efforts by the European Union and United States taking place as late as 2007 and 2008. In 2010, the Basel Committee revised the capital requirements in a set of enhancements to Basel II known as Basel III, which centered on a leverage ratio requirement aimed at restricting excessive leveraging by banks. In addition to strengthening the ratio, Basel III modified the formulas used to weight risk and compute the capital thresholds necessary to mitigate the risks of bank holdings, concluding the capital threshold should be set at 7% of the value of a bank's risk-weighted assets.


title: Global financial system

text: In February 1992, European Union countries signed the Maastricht Treaty which outlined a three-stage plan to accelerate progress toward an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The first stage centered on liberalizing capital mobility and aligning macroeconomic policies between countries. The second stage established the European Monetary Institute which was ultimately dissolved in tandem with the establishment in 1998 of the European Central Bank (ECB) and European System of Central Banks. Key to the Maastricht Treaty was the outlining of convergence criteria that EU members would need to satisfy before being permitted to proceed. The third and final stage introduced a common currency for circulation known as the Euro, adopted by eleven of then-fifteen members of the European Union in January 1999. In doing so, they disaggregated their sovereignty in matters of monetary policy. These countries continued to circulate their national legal tenders, exchangeable for euros at fixed rates, until 2002 when the ECB began issuing official Euro coins and notes. , the EMU comprises 17 nations which have issued the Euro, and 11 non-Euro states.


title: Global financial system

text: Following the market turbulence of the 1990s financial crises and September 11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001, financial integration intensified among developed nations and emerging markets, with substantial growth in capital flows among banks and in the trading of financial derivatives and structured finance products. Worldwide international capital flows grew from $3 trillion to $11 trillion U.S. dollars from 2002 to 2007, primarily in the form of short-term money market instruments. The United States experienced growth in the size and complexity of firms engaged in a broad range of financial services across borders in the wake of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999 which repealed the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, ending limitations on commercial banks' investment banking activity. Industrialized nations began relying more on foreign capital to finance domestic investment opportunities, resulting in unprecedented capital flows to advanced economies from developing countries, as reflected by global imbalances which grew to 6% of gross world product in 2007 from 3% in 2001.


title: Global financial system

text: The global financial crisis precipitated in 2007 and 2008 shared some of the key features exhibited by the wave of international financial crises in the 1990s, including accelerated capital influxes, weak regulatory frameworks, relaxed monetary policies, herd behavior during investment bubbles, collapsing asset prices, and massive deleveraging. The systemic problems originated in the United States and other advanced nations. Similarly to the 1997 Asian crisis, the global crisis entailed broad lending by banks undertaking unproductive real estate investments as well as poor standards of corporate governance within financial intermediaries. Particularly in the United States, the crisis was characterized by growing securitization of non-performing assets, large fiscal deficits, and excessive financing in the housing sector. While the real estate bubble in the U.S. triggered the financial crisis, the bubble was financed by foreign capital flowing from many countries. As its contagious effects began infecting other nations, the crisis became a precursor for the global economic downturn now referred to as the Great Recession. In the wake of the crisis, total volume of world trade in goods and services fell 10% from 2008 to 2009 and did not recover until 2011, with an increased concentration in emerging market countries. The global financial crisis demonstrated the negative effects of worldwide financial integration, sparking discourse on how and whether some countries should decouple themselves from the system altogether.


title: Global financial system

text: In 2009, a newly elected government in Greece revealed the falsification of its national budget data, and that its fiscal deficit for the year was 12.7% of GDP as opposed to the 3.7% espoused by the previous administration. This news alerted markets to the fact that Greece's deficit exceeded the eurozone's maximum of 3% outlined in the Economic and Monetary Union's Stability and Growth Pact. Investors concerned about a possible sovereign default rapidly sold Greek bonds. Given Greece's prior decision to embrace the euro as its currency, it no longer held monetary policy autonomy and could not intervene to depreciate a national currency to absorb the shock and boost competitiveness, as was the traditional solution to sudden capital flight. The crisis proved contagious when it spread to Portugal, Italy, and Spain (together with Greece these are collectively referred to as the PIGS). Ratings agencies downgraded these countries' debt instruments in 2010 which further increased the costliness of refinancing or repaying their national debts. The crisis continued to spread and soon grew into a European sovereign debt crisis which threatened economic recovery in the wake of the Great Recession. In tandem with the IMF, the European Union members assembled a €750 billion bailout for Greece and other afflicted nations. Additionally, the ECB pledged to purchase bonds from troubled eurozone nations in an effort to mitigate the risk of a banking system panic. The crisis is recognized by economists as highlighting the depth of financial integration in Europe, contrasted with the lack of fiscal integration and political unification necessary to prevent or decisively respond to crises. During the initial waves of the crisis, the public speculated that the turmoil could result in a disintegration of the eurozone and an abandonment of the euro. German Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble called for the expulsion of offending countries from the eurozone. Now commonly referred to as the Eurozone crisis, it has been ongoing since 2009 and most recently began encompassing the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis.


title: Global financial system

text: The balance of payments accounts summarize payments made to or received from foreign countries. Receipts are considered credit transactions while payments are considered debit transactions. The balance of payments is a function of three components: transactions involving export or import of goods and services form the current account, transactions involving purchase or sale of financial assets form the financial account, and transactions involving unconventional transfers of wealth form the capital account. The current account summarizes three variables: the trade balance, net factor income from abroad, and net unilateral transfers. The financial account summarizes the value of exports versus imports of assets, and the capital account summarizes the value of asset transfers received net of transfers given. The capital account also includes the official reserve account, which summarizes central banks' purchases and sales of domestic currency, foreign exchange, gold, and SDRs for purposes of maintaining or utilizing bank reserves.


title: Global financial system

text: Because the balance of payments sums to zero, a current account surplus indicates a deficit in the asset accounts and vice versa. A current account surplus or deficit indicates the extent to which a country is relying on foreign capital to finance its consumption and investments, and whether it is living beyond its means. For example, assuming a capital account balance of zero (thus no asset transfers available for financing), a current account deficit of £1 billion implies a financial account surplus (or net asset exports) of £1 billion. A net exporter of financial assets is known as a borrower, exchanging future payments for current consumption. Further, a net export of financial assets indicates growth in a country's debt. From this perspective, the balance of payments links a nation's income to its spending by indicating the degree to which current account imbalances are financed with domestic or foreign financial capital, which illuminates how a nation's wealth is shaped over time. A healthy balance of payments position is important for economic growth. If countries experiencing a growth in demand have trouble sustaining a healthy balance of payments, demand can slow, leading to: unused or excess supply, discouraged foreign investment, and less attractive exports which can further reinforce a negative cycle that intensifies payments imbalances.


title: Global financial system

text: A country's external wealth is measured by the value of its foreign assets net of its foreign liabilities. A current account surplus (and corresponding financial account deficit) indicates an increase in external wealth while a deficit indicates a decrease. Aside from current account indications of whether a country is a net buyer or net seller of assets, shifts in a nation's external wealth are influenced by capital gains and capital losses on foreign investments. Having positive external wealth means a country is a net lender (or creditor) in the world economy, while negative external wealth indicates a net borrower (or debtor).


title: Global financial system

text: Nations and international businesses face an array of financial risks unique to foreign investment activity. Political risk is the potential for losses from a foreign country's political instability or otherwise unfavorable developments, which manifests in different forms. Transfer risk emphasizes uncertainties surrounding a country's capital controls and balance of payments. Operational risk characterizes concerns over a country's regulatory policies and their impact on normal business operations. Control risk is born from uncertainties surrounding property and decision rights in the local operation of foreign direct investments. Credit risk implies lenders may face an absent or unfavorable regulatory framework that affords little or no legal protection of foreign investments. For example, foreign governments may commit to a sovereign default or otherwise repudiate their debt obligations to international investors without any legal consequence or recourse. Governments may decide to expropriate or nationalize foreign-held assets or enact contrived policy changes following an investor's decision to acquire assets in the host country. Country risk encompasses both political risk and credit risk, and represents the potential for unanticipated developments in a host country to threaten its capacity for debt repayment and repatriation of gains from interest and dividends.


title: Global financial system

text: Each of the core economic functions, consumption, production, and investment, have become highly globalized in recent decades. While consumers increasingly import foreign goods or purchase domestic goods produced with foreign inputs, businesses continue to expand production internationally to meet an increasingly globalized consumption in the world economy. International financial integration among nations has afforded investors the opportunity to diversify their asset portfolios by investing abroad. Consumers, multinational corporations, individual and institutional investors, and financial intermediaries (such as banks) are the key economic actors within the global financial system. Central banks (such as the European Central Bank or the U.S. Federal Reserve System) undertake open market operations in their efforts to realize monetary policy goals. International financial institutions such as the Bretton Woods institutions, multilateral development banks and other development finance institutions provide emergency financing to countries in crisis, provide risk mitigation tools to prospective foreign investors, and assemble capital for development finance and poverty reduction initiatives. Trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization, Institute of International Finance, and the World Federation of Exchanges attempt to ease trade, facilitate trade disputes and address economic affairs, promote standards, and sponsor research and statistics publications.


title: Global financial system

text: Explicit goals of financial regulation include countries' pursuits of financial stability and the safeguarding of unsophisticated market players from fraudulent activity, while implicit goals include offering viable and competitive financial environments to world investors. A single nation with functioning governance, financial regulations, deposit insurance, emergency financing through discount windows, standard accounting practices, and established legal and disclosure procedures, can itself develop and grow a healthy domestic financial system. In a global context however, no central political authority exists which can extend these arrangements globally. Rather, governments have cooperated to establish a host of institutions and practices that have evolved over time and are referred to collectively as the international financial architecture. Within this architecture, regulatory authorities such as national governments and intergovernmental organizations have the capacity to influence international financial markets. National governments may employ their finance ministries, treasuries, and regulatory agencies to impose tariffs and foreign capital controls or may use their central banks to execute a desired intervention in the open markets.


title: Global financial system

text: Some degree of self-regulation occurs whereby banks and other financial institutions attempt to operate within guidelines set and published by multilateral organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or the Bank for International Settlements (particularly the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Committee on the Global Financial System). Further examples of international regulatory bodies are: the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established to coordinate information and activities among developed countries; the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) which coordinates the regulation of financial securities; the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) which promotes consistent insurance industry supervision; the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering which facilitates collaboration in battling money laundering and terrorism financing; and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) which publishes accounting and auditing standards. Public and private arrangements exist to assist and guide countries struggling with sovereign debt payments, such as the Paris Club and London Club. National securities commissions and independent financial regulators maintain oversight of their industries' foreign exchange market activities. Two examples of supranational financial regulators in Europe are the European Banking Authority (EBA) which identifies systemic risks and institutional weaknesses and may overrule national regulators, and the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC) which reviews financial regulatory issues and publishes policy recommendations.


title: Global financial system

text: Research and academic institutions, professional associations, and think-tanks aim to observe, model, understand, and publish recommendations to improve the transparency and effectiveness of the global financial system. For example, the independent non-partisan World Economic Forum facilitates the Global Agenda Council on the Global Financial System and Global Agenda Council on the International Monetary System, which report on systemic risks and assemble policy recommendations. The Global Financial Markets Association facilitates discussion of global financial issues among members of various professional associations around the world. The Group of Thirty (G30) formed in 1978 as a private, international group of consultants, researchers, and representatives committed to advancing understanding of international economics and global finance.


title: Global financial system

text: The IMF has reported that the global financial system is on a path to improved financial stability, but faces a host of transitional challenges borne out by regional vulnerabilities and policy regimes. One challenge is managing the United States' disengagement from its accommodative monetary policy. Doing so in an elegant, orderly manner could be difficult as markets adjust to reflect investors' expectations of a new monetary regime with higher interest rates. Interest rates could rise too sharply if exacerbated by a structural decline in market liquidity from higher interest rates and greater volatility, or by structural deleveraging in short-term securities and in the shadow banking system (particularly the mortgage market and real estate investment trusts). Other central banks are contemplating ways to exit unconventional monetary policies employed in recent years. Some nations however, such as Japan, are attempting stimulus programs at larger scales to combat deflationary pressures. The Eurozone's nations implemented myriad national reforms aimed at strengthening the monetary union and alleviating stress on banks and governments. Yet some European nations such as Portugal, Italy, and Spain continue to struggle with heavily leveraged corporate sectors and fragmented financial markets in which investors face pricing inefficiency and difficulty identifying quality assets. Banks operating in such environments may need stronger provisions in place to withstand corresponding market adjustments and absorb potential losses. Emerging market economies face challenges to greater stability as bond markets indicate heightened sensitivity to monetary easing from external investors flooding into domestic markets, rendering exposure to potential capital flights brought on by heavy corporate leveraging in expansionary credit environments. Policymakers in these economies are tasked with transitioning to more sustainable and balanced financial sectors while still fostering market growth so as not to provoke investor withdrawal.


title: Global financial system

text: The global financial crisis and Great Recession prompted renewed discourse on the architecture of the global financial system. These events called to attention financial integration, inadequacies of global governance, and the emergent systemic risks of financial globalization. Since the establishment in 1945 of a formal international monetary system with the IMF empowered as its guardian, the world has undergone extensive changes politically and economically. This has fundamentally altered the paradigm in which international financial institutions operate, increasing the complexities of the IMF and World Bank's mandates. The lack of adherence to a formal monetary system has created a void of global constraints on national macroeconomic policies and a deficit of rule-based governance of financial activities. French economist and Executive Director of the World Economic Forum's Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, Marc Uzan, has pointed out that some radical proposals such as a "global central bank or a world financial authority" have been deemed impractical, leading to further consideration of medium-term efforts to improve transparency and disclosure, strengthen emerging market financial climates, bolster prudential regulatory environments in advanced nations, and better moderate capital account liberalization and exchange rate regime selection in emerging markets. He has also drawn attention to calls for increased participation from the private sector in the management of financial crises and the augmenting of multilateral institutions' resources.


title: Global financial system

text: The Council on Foreign Relations' assessment of global finance notes that excessive institutions with overlapping directives and limited scopes of authority, coupled with difficulty aligning national interests with international reforms, are the two key weaknesses inhibiting global financial reform. Nations do not presently enjoy a comprehensive structure for macroeconomic policy coordination, and global savings imbalances have abounded before and after the global financial crisis to the extent that the United States' status as the steward of the world's reserve currency was called into question. Post-crisis efforts to pursue macroeconomic policies aimed at stabilizing foreign exchange markets have yet to be institutionalized. The lack of international consensus on how best to monitor and govern banking and investment activity threatens the world's ability to prevent future global financial crises. The slow and often delayed implementation of banking regulations that meet Basel III criteria means most of the standards will not take effect until 2019, rendering continued exposure of global finance to unregulated systemic risks. Despite Basel III and other efforts by the G20 to bolster the Financial Stability Board's capacity to facilitate cooperation and stabilizing regulatory changes, regulation exists predominantly at the national and regional levels.


title: Global financial system

text: Former World Bank Chief Economist and former Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Joseph E. Stiglitz referred in the late 1990s to a growing consensus that something is wrong with a system having the capacity to impose high costs on a great number of people who are hardly even participants in international financial markets, neither speculating on international investments nor borrowing in foreign currencies. He argued that foreign crises have strong worldwide repercussions due in part to the phenomenon of moral hazard, particularly when many multinational firms deliberately invest in highly risky government bonds in anticipation of a national or international bailout. Although crises can be overcome by emergency financing, employing bailouts places a heavy burden on taxpayers living in the afflicted countries, and the high costs damage standards of living. Stiglitz has advocated finding means of stabilizing short-term international capital flows without adversely affecting long-term foreign direct investment which usually carries new knowledge spillover and technological advancements into economies.


title: Global financial system

text: American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker has argued that the lack of global consensus on key issues threatens efforts to reform the global financial system. He has argued that quite possibly the most important issue is a unified approach to addressing failures of systemically important financial institutions, noting public taxpayers and government officials have grown disillusioned with deploying tax revenues to bail out creditors for the sake of stopping contagion and mitigating economic disaster. Volcker has expressed an array of potential coordinated measures: increased policy surveillance by the IMF and commitment from nations to adopt agreed-upon best practices, mandatory consultation from multilateral bodies leading to more direct policy recommendations, stricter controls on national qualification for emergency financing facilities (such as those offered by the IMF or by central banks), and improved incentive structures with financial penalties.


title: Global financial system

text: Governor of the Bank of England and former Governor of the Bank of Canada Mark Carney has described two approaches to global financial reform: shielding financial institutions from cyclic economic effects by strengthening banks individually, and defending economic cycles from banks by improving systemic resiliency. Strengthening financial institutions necessitates stronger capital requirements and liquidity provisions, as well as better measurement and management of risks. The G-20 agreed to new standards presented by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at its 2009 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The standards included leverage ratio targets to supplement other capital adequacy requirements established by Basel II. Improving the resiliency of the global financial system requires protections that enable the system to withstand singular institutional and market failures. Carney has argued that policymakers have converged on the view that institutions must bear the burden of financial losses during future financial crises, and such occurrences should be well-defined and pre-planned. He suggested other national regulators follow Canada in establishing staged intervention procedures and require banks to commit to what he termed "living wills" which would detail plans for an orderly institutional failure.


title: Global financial system

text: At its 2010 summit in Seoul, South Korea, the G-20 collectively endorsed a new collection of capital adequacy and liquidity standards for banks recommended by Basel III. Andreas Dombret of the Executive Board of Deutsche Bundesbank has noted a difficulty in identifying institutions that constitute systemic importance via their size, complexity, and degree of interconnectivity within the global financial system, and that efforts should be made to identify a group of 25 to 30 indisputable globally systemic institutions. He has suggested they be held to standards higher than those mandated by Basel III, and that despite the inevitability of institutional failures, such failures should not drag with them the financial systems in which they participate. Dombret has advocated for regulatory reform that extends beyond banking regulations and has argued in favor of greater transparency through increased public disclosure and increased regulation of the shadow banking system.


title: Global financial system

text: President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee William C. Dudley has argued that a global financial system regulated on a largely national basis is untenable for supporting a world economy with global financial firms. In 2011, he advocated five pathways to improving the safety and security of the global financial system: a special capital requirement for financial institutions deemed systemically important; a level playing field which discourages exploitation of disparate regulatory environments and beggar thy neighbour policies that serve "national constituencies at the expense of global financial stability"; superior cooperation among regional and national regulatory regimes with broader protocols for sharing information such as records for the trade of over-the-counter financial derivatives; improved delineation of "the responsibilities of the home versus the host country" when banks encounter trouble; and well-defined procedures for managing emergency liquidity solutions across borders including which parties are responsible for the risk, terms, and funding of such measures.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: Princess Zahra Aga Khan (born 18 September 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland) is the eldest child of Aga Khan IV and his first wife, Princess Salimah Aga Khan.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: Princess Zahra attended Le Rosey School in Switzerland and received her undergraduate degree cum laude in Development Studies from Harvard University (AB’94). She also completed a four-month program at Massachusetts General Hospital to enhance her understanding of healthcare systems and the delivery of advanced medical care, and an Executive Finance course at IMD in Lausanne.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: Princess Zahra Aga Khan is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and also sits on the board of several of its affiliated structures, including the Aga Khan Foundation, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance and the Aga Khan Schools. She also serves as a Trustee of the Aga Khan University.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: She has policy and management responsibility for the Health, Education, and Planning and Building Services Companies of the AKDN and their institutions, working in more than a dozen countries in the Developing World. She is also involved at the strategic level with other agencies of the AKDN, working in the areas of social and economic development.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: Princess Zahra is a board member of the Global Centre for Pluralism, sits in the France Galop Committee and serves as the President of the Consiglio Direttivo of Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: She married British businessman and former model Mark Boyden, an Anglican, in a civil ceremony on 21 June 1997. The wedding was held at the Chateau de Chantilly near Paris, in the presence of guests including King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain, and Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. The couple divorced in 2005.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: Like her father, Princess Zahra is a fan of thoroughbred horse racing and has begun racing horses in her own name, the owner-breeder of the Prix Vermeille winner Mandesha.


title: Zahra Aga Khan

text: On October 10, 2019, the Roy M. Huffington Award was presented to Princess Zahra by the Asia Society Texas Center. The Award recognizes leaders who have been a major force on the international stage.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic selection. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The eleven-plus was once used throughout England and Wales, but is now only used in counties and boroughs in England that offer selective schools instead of comprehensive schools. Also known as the transfer test, it is especially associated with the Tripartite System which was in use from 1944 until it was phased out across most of the UK by 1976.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The examination tests a student's ability to solve problems using a test of verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, with most tests now also offering papers in mathematics and English. The intention was that the eleven-plus should be a general test for intelligence (cognitive ability) similar to an IQ test, but by also testing for taught curriculum skills it is evaluating academic ability developed over previous years, which implicitly indicates how supportive home and school environments have been.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Introduced in 1944, the examination was used to determine which type of school the student should attend after primary education: a grammar school, a secondary modern school, or a technical school. The base of the Tripartite System was the idea that skills were more important than financial resources in determining what kind of schooling a child should receive: different skills required different schooling.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and a functional strand, was established in the 1940s. Prevailing educational thought at the time was that testing was an effective way to discover the strand to which a child was most suited. The results of the exam would be used to match children's secondary schools to their abilities and future career needs.


title: Eleven-plus

text: When the system was implemented, technical schools were not available on the scale envisaged. Instead, the Tripartite System came to be characterised by fierce competition for places at the prestigious grammar schools. As such, the eleven-plus took on a particular significance. Rather than allocating according to need or ability, it became seen as a question of passing or failing. This led to the exam becoming widely resented by some although strongly supported by others.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The structure of the eleven-plus varied over time, and among the different counties which used it. Usually, it consisted of three papers:


title: Eleven-plus

text: Most children took the eleven-plus in their final year of primary school: usually at age 10 or 11. In Berkshire and Buckinghamshire it was also possible to sit the test a year early – a process named the "ten-plus"; later, the Buckinghamshire test was called the "twelve-plus" and taken a year later than usual.


title: Eleven-plus

text: In Northern Ireland, pupils were awarded grades in the following ratios to pupils sitting the exam: A (25%), B1 (5%), B2 (5%), C1 (5%), C2 (5%), D (55%) and there was no official distinction between pass grades and fail grades.


title: Eleven-plus

text: There are 163 remaining grammar schools in various parts of England, and 67 in Northern Ireland. In counties in which vestiges of the Tripartite System still survive, the eleven-plus continues to exist. Today it is generally used as an entrance test to a specific group of schools, rather than a blanket exam for all pupils, and is taken voluntarily. For more information on these, see the main article on grammar schools.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Eleven-plus and similar exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components:


title: Eleven-plus

text: Eleven-plus tests take place in September of children's final primary school year with results provided to parents in October to allow application for secondary schools. In Lincolnshire children will sit the Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. In Buckinghamshire children sit tests in Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and Non-Verbal reasoning. In Kent, where the eleven-plus test is more commonly known as the Kent Test, children sit all four of the above disciplines; however the Creative Writing, which falls as part the English test, will only be used in circumstances of appeal. In the London Borough of Bexley from September 2008, following a public consultation, pupils sitting the Eleven-Plus exam are only required to do a Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning paper. In Essex, where the examination is optional, children sit Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English. Other areas use different combinations. Some authorities/areas operate an opt-in system, while others (such as Buckinghamshire) operate an opt-out system where all pupils are entered unless parents decide to opt out. In the North Yorkshire, Harrogate/York area, children are only required to sit two tests: Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Independent schools in England generally select children at the age of 13, using a common set of papers known as the Common Entrance Examination About ten do select at eleven; using papers in English, Mathematics and Science. These also have the Common entrance exam name.


title: Eleven-plus

text: England has 164 grammar schools, 85% of which are academies at liberty to set their own individual admissions criteria including the type of entrance tests they set and what weighting is given to each one. Schools frequently form consortia to set a common test or get the local authority to administer it but despite this there might be about 70 different 11+ tests set each year across the country meaning it is no longer possible to talk about the eleven plus test as a single entity.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The actual marks from these tests, referred to as "raw" marks, are never disclosed, instead parents are given "Standard Age Scores" (SAS). A standard score shows how well the individual has performed relative to the mean (average) score for the "population" although the term "population" is open to interpretation. GL Assessment, who set the majority of 11+ tests, say it should be, "a very large, representative sample of students usually across the UK"; however, grammar schools may "standardise" their tests against just those children who apply to them in a given year, as this enables them to match supply to demand.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Test results follow a normal distribution resulting in the familiar bell curve which reliably predicts how many test takers gain each different score. For example, only 15.866% score more than one standard deviation above the mean (+1σ generally represented as 115 SAS) as can be seen by adding up the proportions in this graph based on the original provided by M. W. Toews).


title: Eleven-plus

text: By "standardising" on just the cohort of applicants, a school with for example, 100 places which regularly gets 800 applications can set a minimum pass mark of 115 which selects approximately 127 applicants filling all of the places and leaving about 27 on the waiting list. The downside of this "local standardisation", as it has been called, is parents are frequently unaware that their children are being judged as much by the standard of other applicants as their own abilities.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Another issue with the lack of national standards in testing is it prevents any comparison "between" schools. Public perception may be that only pupils who are of "grammar school standard" are admitted to grammar schools; however, other information such as the DfE league tables calls into question the existence of any such "standard". Competition for places at Sutton Grammar School is extremely fierce with, according to an online forum over 2,500 applicants in 2016. Official statistics show 100% of those admitted to Sutton Grammar School have, "high prior attainment at the end of key stage 2", compared to only 44% of those who attend Skegness Grammar School. The Grammar Schools Heads Association's Spring 2017 newsletter says the government are considering a national selection test which would remove the lack of consistency between different 11+ tests.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Between them, GL and CEM earn an estimated £2.5m annually from setting and marking the 11+ tests. Releasing the raw marks would bring some clarity to the admissions process but attempts to do so have generally been unsuccessful. GL have used the fact that they are not covered by Freedom of Information legislation to withhold information made for information relating to the 11+ exams used by Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, who stated, "Our examination provider, GL Assessment Limited (GL) is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) as it is not a public body.“, whilst their main rival CEM successfully argued in court that, "one of the benefits of its 11+ testing is that it is 'tutor proof'” and releasing the raw marks would undermine this unique selling point.


title: Eleven-plus

text: When a standard score is calculated the results is a negative value for any values below the mean. As it would seem very strange to be given a negative score Goldstein and Fogelman (1974) explain, "It is common to 'normalise' the scores by transforming them to give a distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15." Thus a normalised SAS of 100 indicates the mean (average) achievement whilst a score of 130 would be two standard deviations above the mean. A score achieved by only 2.2% of the "population". Most, but not all, authorities normalise follow this convention. The following table showing the normalisation values used by some for 2017 entry (tests taken in 2016).


title: Eleven-plus

text: The system in Northern Ireland differed from that in England. The last eleven-plus was held in November 2008. A provision in the Education Order (NI) 1997 states that "the Department may issue and revise guidance as it thinks appropriate for admission of pupils to grant-aided schools". Citing this on 21 January 2008, Northern Ireland's Education Minister Caitríona Ruane passed new guidelines regarding post-primary progression as regulation rather than as legislation. This avoided the need for the proposals to be passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly, where cross-party support for the changes did not exist. Some schools, parents and political parties object to the new legal framework. As a result, many post-primary schools are setting their own entrance examinations.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The 11-plus was a result of major changes which took place in English and Welsh education in the years up to 1944. In particular, the Hadow Report of 1926 called for the division of primary and secondary education to take place on the cusp of adolescence at 11 or 12. The implementation of this break by the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Thus testing at 11 emerged largely as a historical accident, without other specific reasons for testing at that age.


title: Eleven-plus

text: The test, composed of Maths, English and Verbal Reasoning could not be passed by 10-year-olds who had not been trained for the test. A former highmaster of Manchester Grammar School asserted on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze that no child who had not seen the verbal reasoning tests that formed the basis of the 11-plus before attempting them would have a "hope in hell" of passing them, and he had dispensed with the 11-plus as "worthless". Instead he used personal interviews. Children in school were drilled in the 11-plus until it was "coming out of their ears". Families had to play the system, little booklets were available from local newsagents that showed how to pass the exam and contained many past papers with all the answers provided, which the children then learned by rote.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Criticism of the 11-plus arose on a number of grounds, though many related more to the wider education system than to academic selection generally or the 11-plus specifically. The proportions of schoolchildren gaining a place at a grammar school varied by location and sex. 35% of pupils in the South West of England secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire. In some areas, because of the continuance of single-sex schooling in those areas, there were sometimes fewer places for girls than for boys. Some areas were coeducational and had equal number of places for each sex.


title: Eleven-plus

text: Critics of the 11-plus also claimed that there was a strong class bias in the exam. JWB Douglas, studying the question in 1957, found that children on the borderline of passing were more likely to get grammar school places if they came from middle-class families. For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were far easier for middle-class children to answer than for those from less wealthy or less educated backgrounds. In response, the 11-plus was redesigned during the 1960s to be more like an IQ test. However, even after this modification, grammar schools were largely attended by middle-class children while secondary modern schools were attended by mostly working-class children. By testing cognitive skills the child's innate ability is evaluated as a predictor to future academic performance and is largely independent of background and support . The problem lies with the testing of academic subjects, such as Maths and English, where a child from a working class background with a less supportive school and less educated parents is being measured on their learning environment instead of potential to succeed .


title: Eleven-plus

text: Passing – or not passing – the 11-plus was a "defining moment in many lives", with education viewed as "the silver bullet for enhanced social mobility." Richard Hoggart claimed in 1961 that "what happens in thousands of homes is that the 11-plus examination is identified in the minds of parents, not with 'our Jimmy is a clever lad and he's going to have his talents trained', but 'our Jimmy is going to move into another class, he's going to get a white-collar job' or something like that."


title: John Burgoyne

text: General John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British general, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several battles, most notably during the Portugal Campaign of 1762.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Burgoyne is best known for his role in the American Revolutionary War. He designed an invasion scheme and was appointed to command a force moving south from Canada to split away New England and end the rebellion. Burgoyne advanced from Canada but his slow movement allowed the Americans to concentrate their forces. Instead of coming to his aid according to the overall plan, the British Army in New York City moved south to capture Philadelphia. Burgoyne fought two small battles near Saratoga but was surrounded by American forces and, with no relief in sight, surrendered his entire army of 6,200 men on 17 October 1777. His surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, "was a great turning point of the war, because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory." France had been supplying the North American colonists since the spring of 1776. Burgoyne and his officers returned to England; the enlisted men became prisoners of war. Burgoyne came under sharp criticism when he returned to London, and never held another active command.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Burgoyne was also an accomplished playwright, known for his works such as "The Maid of the Oaks" and "The Heiress", but his plays never reached the fame of his military career. He served as a member of the House of Commons for many years, sitting for the seats of Midhurst and Preston.


title: John Burgoyne

text: John Burgoyne was born in Sutton, Bedfordshire on 24 February 1722, son of Army officer Captain John Burgoyne (died 1768; son of Sir John Burgoyne, 3rd Baronet), of Sherbourne, Warwickshire, and Anna Maria, daughter of Charles Burneston, a wealthy Hackney merchant. There were rumours that Burgoyne was in fact the illegitimate son of Lord Bingley, who was his godfather. When Bingley died in 1731, his will specified that Burgoyne was to inherit his estate if his daughters had no male issue.


title: John Burgoyne

text: From the age of 10, Burgoyne attended the prestigious Westminster School, as did many British army officers of the time such as Thomas Gage, with whom Burgoyne would later serve. Burgoyne was athletic and outgoing and enjoyed life at the school where he made numerous important friends, in particular Lord James Strange. In August 1737, Burgoyne purchased a commission in the Horse Guards, a fashionable cavalry regiment. They were stationed in London and his duties were light, allowing him to cut a figure in high society. He soon acquired the nickname "Gentleman Johnny" and became well known for his stylish uniforms and general high living which saw him run up large debts. In 1741 Burgoyne sold his commission, possibly to settle gambling debts.


title: John Burgoyne

text: The outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession led to an expansion in the size of the British Army. In April 1745, Burgoyne joined the newly raised 1st Royal Dragoons as a cornet, a commission he did not have to pay for as it was newly created. In April 1745, he was promoted to lieutenant. In 1747, Burgoyne managed to scrape the money together to purchase a captaincy. The end of the war in 1748 cut off any prospect of further active service.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Through his friendship with Lord Strange, Burgoyne came to know Strange's sister, Lady Charlotte Stanley, the daughter of Lord Derby, one of Britain's leading politicians. After Derby refused permission for Burgoyne to marry Charlotte, they eloped together and married without his permission in April 1751. An outraged Derby cut his daughter off without a penny. Unable to support his wife otherwise, Burgoyne again sold his commission, raising £2,600, which they lived off for the next few years.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In October 1751, Burgoyne and his new wife went to live in continental Europe travelling through France and Italy. While in France, Burgoyne met and befriended the Duc de Choiseul who would later become the Foreign Minister and directed French policy during the Seven Years War. While in Rome, Burgoyne had his portrait painted by the British artist Allan Ramsay. In late 1754, Burgoyne's wife gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth, who was to prove to be the couple's only child. In the hope that a granddaughter would soften Derby's opposition to their marriage, the Burgoynes returned to Britain in 1755. Lord Strange interceded on their behalf with Derby, who soon changed his mind and accepted them back into the family. Burgoyne soon became a favourite of Derby, who used his influence to boost Burgoyne's prospects.


title: John Burgoyne

text: A month after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, Burgoyne bought a commission in the 11th Dragoons. In 1758, he became captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream Guards.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In 1758, he participated in several expeditions against the French coast. During this period he was instrumental in introducing light cavalry into the British Army. The two regiments then formed were commanded by George Augustus Eliott (afterwards Lord Heathfield) and Burgoyne. This was a revolutionary step, and Burgoyne was a pioneer in the early development of British light cavalry. Burgoyne admired independent thought amongst common soldiers, and encouraged his men to use their own initiative, in stark contrast to the established system employed at the time by the British army.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In 1761, he sat in parliament for Midhurst, and in the following year he served as a brigadier-general in Portugal which had just entered the war. Burgoyne won particular distinction by leading his cavalry in the capture of Valencia de Alcántara and of Vila Velha de Ródão following the Battle of Valencia de Alcántara, compensating for the Portuguese loss of Almeida. This played a major part in repulsing a large Spanish force bent on invading Portugal.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In 1768, he was elected to the House of Commons for Preston, and for the next few years he occupied himself chiefly with his parliamentary duties, in which he was remarkable for his general outspokenness and, in particular, for his attacks on Lord Clive, who was at the time considered the nation's leading soldier. He achieved prominence in 1772 by demanding an investigation of the East India Company alleging widespread corruption by its officials. At the same time, he devoted much attention to art and drama (his first play, "The Maid of the Oaks", was produced by David Garrick in 1775).


title: John Burgoyne

text: In the army, he had been promoted to major-general. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he was appointed to a command, and arrived in Boston in May 1775, a few weeks after the first shots of the war had been fired. He participated as part of the garrison during the Siege of Boston, although he did not see action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, in which the British forces were led by William Howe and Henry Clinton. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities, he returned to England long before the rest of the garrison, which evacuated the city in March 1776.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In 1776, he was at the head of the British reinforcements that sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and relieved Quebec City, which was under siege by the Continental Army. He led forces under General Guy Carleton in the drive that chased the Continental Army from the province of Quebec. Carleton then led the British forces onto Lake Champlain, but was, in Burgoyne's opinion, insufficiently bold when he failed to attempt the capture of Fort Ticonderoga after winning the naval Battle of Valcour Island in October.


title: John Burgoyne

text: The following year, having convinced King George III and his government of Carleton's faults, Burgoyne was given command of the British forces charged with gaining control of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River valley. The plan, largely of his own creation, was for Burgoyne and his force to cross Lake Champlain from Quebec and capture Ticonderoga before advancing on Albany, New York, where they would rendezvous with another British army under General Howe coming north from New York City, and a smaller force that would come down the Mohawk River valley under Barry St. Leger. This would divide New England from the southern colonies, and, it was believed, make it easier to end the rebellion.


title: John Burgoyne

text: From the beginning, Burgoyne was vastly overconfident. Leading what he believed was an overwhelming force, he saw the campaign largely as a stroll that would make him a national hero who had saved the rebel colonies for the crown. Before leaving London, he had wagered Charles James Fox 10 pounds that he would return victorious within a year. He refused to heed more cautious voices, both British and American, that suggested a successful campaign using the route he proposed was impossible, as the failed attempt the previous year had shown.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Underlining the plan was the belief that Burgoyne's aggressive thrust from Quebec would be aided by the movements of two other large British forces under Generals Howe and Clinton, who would support the advance. However, Lord Germain's orders dispatched from London were not clear on this point, with the effect that Howe took no action to support Burgoyne, and Clinton moved from New York too late and in too little strength to be any great help to Burgoyne.


title: John Burgoyne

text: As a result of this miscommunication, Burgoyne ended up conducting the campaign single-handedly. He was not yet aware that he would not be gaining additional support, and was still reasonably confident of success. Having amassed an army of over 7,000 troops in Quebec, Burgoyne was also led to believe by reports that he could rely on the support of large numbers of Native Americans and American Loyalists who would rally to the flag once the British came south. Even if the countryside was not as pro-British as expected, much of the area between Lake Champlain and Albany was underpopulated anyway, and Burgoyne was skeptical any major enemy force could gather there.


title: John Burgoyne

text: The campaign was initially successful. Burgoyne gained possession of the vital outposts of Fort Ticonderoga (for which he was made a lieutenant general) and Fort Edward, but, pushing on, decided to break his communications with Quebec, and was eventually hemmed in by a superior force led by American Major General Horatio Gates. Several attempts to break through the enemy lines were repulsed at Saratoga in September and October 1777. Benedict Arnold played a significant role in those battles. His aide-de-camp Sir Francis Clerke was killed on 15 October. On 17 October 1777, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army, numbering 5,800. This was the greatest victory the American forces had up to that point in the Revolutionary War, and it proved to be the turning point in the war, as France entered into an alliance with the American Patriots.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Rather than an outright unconditional surrender, Burgoyne had agreed to a convention that involved his men surrendering their weapons, and returning to Europe with a pledge not to return to North America. Burgoyne had been most insistent on this point, even suggesting he would try to fight his way back to Quebec if it was not agreed. Soon afterwards the Continental Congress repudiated the treaty and imprisoned the remnants of the army in Massachusetts and Virginia, where they were sometimes maltreated. This was widely seen as revenge for the poor treatment that prisoners-of-war of the Continental Army had received while imprisoned.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Following Saratoga, the indignation in Britain against Burgoyne was great. He returned at once, with the leave of the American general, to defend his conduct and demanded but never obtained a trial. He was deprived of his regiment and the governorship of Fort William in Scotland, which he had held since 1769. Following the defeat, France recognised the United States and entered the war on 6 February 1778, transforming it into a global conflict.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Although Burgoyne at the time was widely held to blame for the defeat, historians have over the years shifted responsibility for the disaster at Saratoga to Lord Germain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Germain had overseen the overall strategy for the campaign and had significantly neglected to order General Howe to support Burgoyne's invasion, instead leaving him to believe that he was free to launch his own attack on Philadelphia.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Previously Burgoyne had been a Tory-leaning supporter of the North government but following his return from Saratoga he began to associate with the Rockingham Whigs. In 1782 when his political friends came into office, Burgoyne was restored to his rank, given the colonelcy of the King's Own Royal Regiment, made commander-in-chief in Ireland and appointed a privy councillor. After the fall of the Rockingham government in 1783, Burgoyne withdrew more and more into private life. His last public service was his participation in the Impeachment of Warren Hastings. He died quite unexpectedly on 4 August 1792 at his home in Mayfair, after having been seen the previous night at the theatre in apparent good health. Burgoyne is buried in Westminster Abbey, in the North Walk of the Cloisters.


title: John Burgoyne

text: After the death of his wife in 1776, Burgoyne had four children by his mistress Susan Caulfield; one was Field Marshal John Fox Burgoyne, father of Hugh Talbot Burgoyne, VC.


title: John Burgoyne

text: In his time Burgoyne was a notable playwright, writing a number of popular plays. The most notable were "The Maid of the Oaks" (1774) and "The Heiress" (1786). He assisted Richard Brinsley Sheridan in his production of "The Camp", which he may have co-authored. He also wrote the libretto for William Jackson's only successful opera "The Lord of the Manor" (1780). He also wrote a translated semi-opera version of Michel-Jean Sedaine's work "Richard Coeur de lion" with music by Thomas Linley the elder for the Drury Lane Theatre where it was very successful in 1788. Had it not been for his role in the American War of Independence, Burgoyne would most likely be foremost remembered today as a dramatist.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Burgoyne has often been portrayed by historians and commentators as a classic example of the marginally competent aristocratic British general who acquired his rank through political connections rather than ability. Despite this, accounts of those that served under him, particularly that of Corporal Roger Lamb, noted that Burgoyne 'shunned no danger; his presence and conduct animated the troops (for they greatly loved their general)'. Accounts of the lavish lifestyle he maintained on the Saratoga campaign, combined with a gentlemanly bearing and his career as a playwright led less-than-friendly contemporaries to caricature him, as historian George Billias writes, "a buffoon in uniform who bungled his assignments badly". Much of the historical record, Billias notes, is based upon these characterisations. Billias opines that Burgoyne was a ruthless and risk-taking general with a keen perception of his opponents, and also a perceptive social and political commentator.


title: John Burgoyne

text: Burgoyne has made appearances as a character in historical and alternative history fiction. He appears as a character in George Bernard Shaw's play "The Devil's Disciple" and its 1959 and 1987 film adaptions, portrayed by Laurence Olivier and Ian Richardson respectively. Historical novels by Chris Humphreys that are set during the Saratoga campaign also feature him, while alternate or mystical history versions of his campaign are featured in "For Want of a Nail" by Robert Sobel and the 1975 CBS Radio Mystery Theater play "Windandingo".


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Limburg (, ; or "Wes-Limburg" ; , ) is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Region of Flanders, one of the three main political and cultural sub-divisions of modern-day Belgium.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Limburg is located west of the Meuse (), which separates it from the similarly-named Dutch province of Limburg. To the south it shares a border with the French-speaking province of Liège, with which it also has historical ties. To the north and west are the old territories of the Duchy of Brabant. Today these are the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant and Antwerp to the west, and the Dutch province of North Brabant to the north.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The province of Limburg has an area of which comprises three arrondissements ("arrondissementen" in Dutch) containing 44 municipalities. Among these municipalities are the current capital Hasselt, Sint-Truiden, Genk, and Tongeren, the only Roman city in the province, and regarded as the oldest city of Belgium. As of January 2019, Limburg has a population of 874,048.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The municipality of Voeren is geographically detached from Limburg and the rest of Flanders, with the Netherlands to the north and the Walloon province of Liège to the south. This municipality was established by the municipal reform of 1977 and on 1 January 2008 with its six villages had a total population of 4,207. Its total area is .


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The name Limburg was not applied to the territory of Belgian Limburg until the 19th century. Instead, the territory broadly coincides with that of the medieval County of Loon, which was one of the main parts of the Prince-bishopric of Liège. In the late-18th century, following the French Revolution and the Campaign in the Low Countries, the region became part of the newly created Lower Meuse Department of the French First Republic (later the First French Empire), along with a significant part of what would become Dutch Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: After the defeat of the French empire and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, this department was reconstituted into the Province of Limburg as part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The new name had its own medieval history, being associated with the extinct Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital at nearby Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian province of Liège. The new Dutch monarchy chose this name because it desired to recreate the prestigious old title in a new Duchy of Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Because of the Belgian revolution in 1830, this province of Limburg was divided in 1839 by the Treaty of London; the western portion being recognised as a province of the newly-formed Kingdom of Belgium, while the eastern portion remained part of the Netherlands as the modern Dutch Province of Limburg. Both parts retained the name they had been given by the Dutch monarchy after the defeat of France.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The first wave of people who brought farming and pottery technology from the Middle East to northern Europe was the LBK culture, which originated in central Europe and reached a geographical limit in the fertile southern Haspengouw part of Limburg about 5000 BC, only to die out about 4000 BC. A later wave from central Europe, the Michelsburg culture, arrived about 3500 BC and shared a similar fate. Pottery technology had however apparently been taken up by local tribes of the Swifterbant culture, who remained present throughout.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The area became permanently agricultural only in the Bronze Age with the Urnfield culture around 1200 BC, followed by the possibly related Halstatt and La Tène material cultures, which are generally associated with Celts. Under these cultures the population increased in the region, and it is also during this period that Indo-European languages are thought to have arrived. Although these new technologies and languages once again arrived from the direction of Germany, they can partly be traced back to peoples who arrived in Europe from the direction of Ukraine and southern Russia around 2000 BC, and had a similar impact across the continent.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Caesar gave the first surviving written description of the area and described its people as the "Germani cisrhenani". He described them as allies of the Belgae and Treveri, and believed that they had ancestral links with their neighbours on the east side of the Rhine. Somewhat earlier, it seems that Poseidonius had also mentioned these same Germani, saying that they roasted meat in separate joints, and drank milk and unmixed wine. Caesar noted several peoples within the "Germani" group, the most important of which were the Eburones who fought against Julius Caesar under their leaders Ambiorix and Cativolcus. Apart from the "Germani", somewhere to the west of the Eburones (possibly outside Limburg) were the Aduatuci, who Caesar reported to be the descendants of the Cimbri and Teutones who had migrated around Europe some generations before Caesar.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Under Roman imperial rule, the area became home to the Tungri. Tacitus equated these Tungri to the earlier "Germani cisrhenani", and noted that the use of the name "Germani" had been expanded in Roman times to cover a larger grouping of similar tribes, particularly those in Germany east of the Rhine. The Tungri are generally accepted to have been speakers of a Germanic language, but modern historians disagree over the extent to which they descend from new immigrants who came from over the Rhine after Caesar. Notably, the Tungri participated on the Roman side in the Revolt of the Batavi against Roman rule, which was a major event in this region. In the north of Limburg during Roman times lived the Texandri.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The site of the fort where Caesar's soldiers encamped was called Aduatuca. This was apparently a general word for a fort, associated not only with the Eburones, but also the Aduatuci, and the later Tungri. The Roman city established in Belgian Limburg was referred to as "Aduatuca Tungrorum" meaning "Aduatuca of the Tungri". Today this has become "Tongeren", in the southeast of Belgian Limburg, and it was the capital of a Roman administrative region called the ""Civitas Tungrorum"". Under the Romans, the Tungri "civitas" was first a part of Gallia Belgica, and later split out with the more militarized border regions between it and the Rhine, to become Germania Inferior, which was later converted into Germania Secunda.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: In late Roman and early medieval times, the northern or "Kempen" part of Belgian Limburg became depopulated and uncultivated. This area, still known then by its Roman name as Texandria. It was settled by incoming Salian Franks from the north, who were under pressure from Saxons. The southern or "Haspengouw" part of Belgian Limburg remained more heavily Romanised, and eventually became a core land of the Frankish empires. By the 9th century, the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, who had lands in and around Belgian Limburg, ruled an empire that included much of Western Europe.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Early Christianity was established earliest in the Romanised south-eastern corner of Limburg, around Tongeren, and missionaries went north from there to convert the Franks. The church capital moved to nearby Maastricht and then Liège, this was the area of activity of St Servatius and later Lambert of Maastricht. The archbishops became responsible for a very large territory stretching up to the delta of the river Maas. Another early saint in the south of Limburg was St Trudo, whose name survives in one of the major towns in southern Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The Frankish empire contained several smaller kingdoms which were divided between members of the royal family. Limburg was part of the central Austrasian kingdom which lay between the parts which would become France and Germany. A version of these divisions was eventually fixed in the 9th century when this Middle Kingdom came to be known as Lotharingia after its first king, Lothair II. During the 10th-century the region slowly came under the permanent control of Eastern Francia, which was to become the Holy Roman Empire. In the period around 881 and 882 the areas along the Maas and in the Haspengouw were plundered by Vikings, who established a base at Asselt on the Maas, today in Roermond in Dutch Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Belgian Limburg corresponds closely to the medieval territory of the County of Loon (French "Looz") which starts to appear in records only in the 11th and 12th centuries. This county originally centred on the fortified town of Borgloon, which was originally simply known as Loon. Although the exact details are unclear today, from an early time Loon was subservient, not only spiritually but also politically, to the powerful Prince-Bishopric of Liège. When the male line of the counts ended with Louis IV in 1336, the bishops began to take direct control, and the last claimant to that inheritance, Arnold of Rumigny, count of Chiny gave up his claim.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Loon, and the rest of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, were not joined politically with the rest of what would become Belgium until the French revolution. Nevertheless, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries the population of Loon was constantly and badly affected by the large-scale international wars of the neighbouring Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic, including the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and even the Brabant Revolution. During this period the region's episcopal government was often unable to maintain law and order, and the economy of the area was often desperately bad, affected by plundering soldiers and gangs of thieves such as the "Bokkenrijders". Nevertheless, the population contained strongly conservative Catholic elements, and not only supported the conservative Brabant revolution, but also rebelled unsuccessfully against the revolutionary French regime in the Peasants' War of 1798.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The modern Limburg region, containing the Belgian and Dutch provinces of that name, were first united within one province while under the power of revolutionary France, and later the Napoleonic empire, but then under the name of the French department of the Lower Meuse (Maas). After Napoleon's defeat, a united Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, containing modern Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. While it kept many of the French provincial boundaries, the first king, William I, insisted that the name be changed to the "Province of Limburg", based on the name of the medieval Duchy of Limburg. The only part of Belgian or Dutch Limburg which was really in the Duchy of Limburg is the extreme east of Voeren, the villages of Teuven and Remersdaal, and these only became part of Belgian Limburg in 1977.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: After the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the province of Limburg was at first almost entirely under Belgian rule, but the status of both Limburg and Luxembourg became unclear. During the "Ten days campaign", 2–12 August 1831, Dutch armies entered Belgium and took control of several Belgian cities in order to negotiate from a stronger position. Several Belgian militias and armies were easily defeated including the Belgian Army of the Meuse near Hasselt, on 8 August. The French and British intervened, leading to a ceasefire.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: After a Conference in London, they signed a treaty in 1839 and established after that both Limburg and Luxemburg would be split between the two states. That happened; Limburg was split into so-called "Dutch" Limburg and "Belgian" Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Belgian Limburg became officially Flemish when Belgium was divided into language areas in 1962. In the case of Voeren, surrounded by French speaking parts of Belgium, and having a significant population of French speakers, this was not without controversy.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The centre of Belgian Limburg is crossed east to west by the river Demer and the Albert Canal, which run similar paths. The Demer's drainage basin covers most of the central and southern part of the province, except for the southeastern corner, where the Jeker (in French: "(le) Geer") runs past Tongeren and into the river Maas (in French: "(la) Meuse") at Maastricht.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The eastern border of the province corresponds to the western bank of the Maas, which originates in France. Its drainage basin includes not only the Jeker but most of the northern part of Belgian Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The south of the province is the northern part of the Hesbaye region (in Dutch: "Haspengouw"), with fertile soils, farming and fruit-growing, and historically the higher population density. The hilliness increases in the southeast, including the detached Voeren part of Limburg.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: North of the river Demer and the Albert Canal is part of the Campine (in Dutch: "(de) Kempen") region, with sandy soils, heathlands, and forests. This area was relatively less populated, until coal-mining started in the 19th century, attracting immigration from other areas, including Mediterranean countries.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: As in all Flemish provinces, the official language is Dutch, but two municipalities, Herstappe and Voeren, are to a certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with their citizens. They are two of the municipalities with language facilities in Belgium.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Several variations of Limburgish are also still actively used, these being a diverse group of dialects which share features in common with both German and Dutch. "Limburg mijn Vaderland" is the official anthem of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg, and has versions in various dialects of Limburgish, varying from accents closer to standard Dutch in the west, to more distinctive dialects near the Maas. Outside of the two Limburgs related dialects or languages are found stretched out towards the nearby Ruhr valley region of Germany. And there are also related dialects around Aachen in Germany as well as in the extreme northeast of the mainly French-speaking province of Liège.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Limburg is close to Germany and Wallonia, and because of the natural political, cultural and economics links, French and German have long been important second languages in the area.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: English has also now become a language which is widely understood and used in business and cultural activities, and is supplanting French in this regard.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Veldeke, the medieval property of the family of Hendrik van Veldeke, was near Hasselt, along the river Demer, to the west of Kuringen.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 28.7 billion € in 2018. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 29,000 € or 96% of the EU27 average in the same year.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: In the economic field tourism is being actively promoted with publicized attractions including Limburg's claim to be a "Bicycle Paradise" ("Fietsparadijs"). There's also the possibility to walk in nature reserves, such as the "High Kempen National Park".


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: In the south, the Haspengouw (Hesbaye), predominantly situated in Limburg, is now Belgium's major area for fruit growing. In Limburg more than 50% of Belgium's fruit production is grown.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Coal mining has been an important industry in the 20th century, but has now ended in this province. Nevertheless, it has laid the basis for a more complex modern economy and community. In the 20th century, Limburg became a centre for the secondary sector, attracting Ford, who had a major production centre in Genk that closed in December 2014, and the electronics company Philips, who had a major operation in Kiewit.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Many areas such as Genk continue to have a lot of heavy and chemical industry, but emphasis has moved towards encouraging innovation. The old Philips plant is now the site of a Research Campus, and the Hasselt University in Diepenbeek has a science park attached to it. Similarly, the site of the coal mine in Genk is now Thor Park, where Energyville, a research hub of the KU Leuven, VITO, imec, and UHasselt.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The region today promotes itself as a centre for trade in the heart of industrialised Europe. It is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, which represents a partnership between this province and neighbouring provinces in Germany, the Netherlands and Wallonia.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: Like the rest of Belgium, association football (soccer) and cycling, including cyclocross, are dominant sports, and tennis has gained a high prominence. Limburg is also home to Limburg United, one of the country's top professional basketball teams. The team plays its home games in the "Sporthal Alverberg".


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: The first governor of united Limburg (including the province of Limburg in the Netherlands) was Charles de Brouckère, from 1815, after the Battle of Waterloo until 1828. He was followed by Maximilien de Beeckman who governed the united province until 1830, when the Belgian revolution began and division of Limburg began, first with the separation of Maastricht. The splitting of Dutch and Belgian Limburg was completed by 1839.


title: Limburg (Belgium)

text: There were also breaks in the sequence of governors in the First World War and at the end of the Second World War. The following list contains all governors of the province of Limburg since the Second World War.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The Bay of Plenty () is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. The Bay of Plenty Region, governed by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, incorporates several large islands in the bay, in addition to the mainland area. Called "Te Moana-a-Toi" (the Sea of Toi) in the Māori language after Toi, an early ancestor, the name 'Bay of Plenty' was bestowed by James Cook in 1769 when he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Māori villages there, in stark contrast to observations he had made earlier in Poverty Bay.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: According to local Māori traditions, the Bay of Plenty was the landing point of several migration canoes that brought Māori settlers to New Zealand. These include the "Mātaatua", "Nukutere", "Tākitimu", "Arawa" and "Tainui" canoes. Many of the descendent iwi maintain their traditional homelands ("rohe") in the region, including Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tai, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau, Te Arawa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pūkenga. Māori named the bay "Te Moana-a-Toi" (the Sea of Toi) after Toi, an early ancestor of the "Mātaatua" tribes. Early Māori settlement also gave rise to many of the town and city names used today.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The first recorded European contact came when James Cook sailed through the Bay of Plenty in 1769. Cook noted the abundance of food supplies, in comparison to Poverty Bay further back along the eastern coast of the North Island. Further reports of European contact are scarce prior to the arrival of missionary Samuel Marsden to the Tauranga area in 1814. Bay whaling stations operated in the bay during the 19th century.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: During the 1820s and 1830s, northern iwi including Ngā Puhi invaded the Bay of Plenty during their campaign throughout the North Island, fighting local Māori tribes in what became known as the Musket Wars. However, the 1830s and 1840s saw increased contact between Bay of Plenty Māori and Europeans through trade, although few Europeans settled in the region. Missionary activity in the region also increased during this time. In 1853, New Zealand was subdivided into provinces, with the Bay of Plenty incorporated into Auckland Province.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Conflict returned to the Bay of Plenty during the 1860s with the New Zealand Wars. Initially this stemmed from Tauranga iwi supporting the Waikato iwi in their conflict with the government. In retaliation, British Crown and government-allied Māori forces attacked the Tauranga iwi, including at the famous Battle of Gate Pā in 1864. Further conflict with the government arose in 1865 when German missionary Carl Völkner and interpreter James Fulloon were killed by local Māori at Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne, respectively. The ensuing conflict resulted in the confiscation of considerable land from several Bay of Plenty iwi by the government.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Confiscation of Māori land deprived local iwi of economic resources (among other things), and also provided land for expanding European settlement. The government established fortified positions, including at Tauranga, Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki. European settlers arrived throughout the latter half of the 19th century, establishing settlements in Katikati, Te Puke and the Rangitaiki area. In 1876, settlements were incorporated into counties following the nationwide dissolution of the provincial system. Initial settlements in the region struggled: the climate was ill-suited to sheep farming and the geography was inaccessible, further hindered by a lack of infrastructure. By the end of the century the population had started to dwindle. But after experimenting with different crops, settlers found success with dairy production. Dairy factories sprang up across the Bay of Plenty in the 1900s, with butter and cheese feeding economic prosperity throughout the early 20th century; local Māori continued to live on the fringe of this prosperity. Timber also became a major export in the 1950s, as kiwifruit did later.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The present Bay of Plenty region was formed in 1989 after a nationwide review and shakeup of top-level local government in New Zealand. The new region incorporated the former counties of Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: On 5 October 2011, the MV Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef in the bay causing a large oil spill, described as New Zealand's worst ever environmental disaster.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: A volcanic eruption occurred on White Island at 14:11 on 9 December 2019, which resulted in twenty fatalities and twenty-seven injuries, most suffering severe burns. Forty-seven people were reportedly on the island when it erupted. A second eruption closely followed the first.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The region is subdivided into territorial authorities, which include the Western Bay of Plenty District, Tauranga City, Whakatane District, Kawerau District and Ōpōtiki District, as well as parts of Rotorua District and the town of Rangitaiki in Taupo District.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Bay of Plenty Regional Council is responsible for overseeing regional land use, environmental management and civil defence in the region.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Public health in New Zealand is broken into regions. The Bay of Plenty and Lakes district health boards have public health provided by Toi Te Ora – Public Health.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The Bay of Plenty region covers of land and of coastal marine area. It extends along the eastern coast of the North Island, from the base of the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. The region extends 12 nautical miles from the mainland coastline, and also extends from the coastlines of several islands in the bay, notably Mayor Island/Tuhua, Motiti Island, Whale Island and the active volcano of Whakaari/White Island. It extends inland to the sparsely populated forest lands around Rotorua and Murupara.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The geographical bay is defined by 259 km of open coastline used for economic, recreational and cultural purposes. The coastline from Waihi Beach in the west to Opape is defined as sandy coast, while the coast from Opape to Cape Runaway is rocky shore. Sizeable harbours are located at Tauranga, Whakatāne and Ohiwa. Major estuaries include Maketu, Little Waihi, Whakatāne, Waiotahe and Waioeka/Otara. Eight major rivers empty into the bay from inland catchments, including the Wairoa, Kaituna, Tarawera, Rangitaiki, Whakatane, Waioeka, Motu and Raukokore rivers.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Much of the central part of the region lies within the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which extends from the centre of the North Island northwards to Whakaari/White Island. Volcanic mountains and lakes, geothermal areas and geological fault lines all dot the landscape. The geothermal region around Rotorua is a major tourist site, while many hot springs in the region are used as swimming areas. The geothermal field near Kawerau is the site of a geothermal power plant that will reportedly meet up to one third of residential and industrial electricity demand in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Whakaari/White Island, the site of a former sulfur-mining operation, is an active volcanic island popular with tourists. The eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 and the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake were two disasters related to geological activity in the volcanic plateau.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Prominent volcanic cones in the region include Mount Maunganui, Mount Tarawera and Mount Edgecumbe/Putauaki. These features also have cultural significance to local Māori. The Kaimai and Mamaku mountain ranges lie at the western border of the region. Swamp land was formerly concentrated around a number of rivers, but much of this was dredged in the early part of the 20th century to increase land for settlement and other uses. Large native and foreign (planted) forest areas are found in the inland parts of the region. The Kaingaroa Forest is the world's largest planted forest, comprising radiata pine mainly used for timber.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The bay contains numerous islands, notably the active volcano Whakaari / White Island. Whakaari/White Island (; also known as just White Island) is an active andesite stratovolcano situated in the Bay of Plenty. It is New Zealand's most active cone volcano, and has been built up by continuous volcanic activity over the past 150,000 years. The nearest mainland towns are Whakatāne and Tauranga. The island has been in a nearly continuous stage of releasing volcanic gas at least since it was sighted by James Cook in 1769. Whakaari erupted continually from December 1975 until September 2000, marking the world's longest historic eruption episode, according to GeoNet, and also in 2012, 2016, and 2019.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The island is roughly circular, about in diameter, and rises to a height of above sea level. It covers an area of approximately . The exposed island is only the peak of a much larger submarine volcano, which rises up to above the nearby seafloor. Sulphur was mined on the island until the 1930s. Ten miners were killed in 1914 when part of the crater wall collapsed.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The main activities on the island now include guided tours and scientific research. Access to the island is allowed only as a member of a tour run by a registered tour operator.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The Waimangu Geyser – to be seen 1900–1904 – erupted frequently, was the most powerful geyser in the world and killed 4 people in 1903.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Bay of Plenty Region covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Bay of Plenty Region had a population of 308,499 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 40,758 people (15.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 51,120 people (19.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 110,919 households. There were 150,366 males and 158,133 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female. The median age was 40.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 64,182 people (20.8%) aged under 15 years, 53,832 (17.4%) aged 15 to 29, 133,386 (43.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 57,096 (18.5%) aged 65 or older.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Although some people objected to giving their religion, 49.9% had no religion, 34.6% were Christian, 1.1% were Hindu, 0.3% were Muslim, 0.5% were Buddhist and 6.6% had other religions.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Of those at least 15 years old, 43,086 (17.6%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 46,263 (18.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,100, compared with $31,800 nationally. 35,295 people (14.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 114,264 (46.8%) people were employed full-time, 37,503 (15.4%) were part-time, and 10,926 (4.5%) were unemployed.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The Bay of Plenty is the fifth-most populous region in New Zealand, accounting for % of the national population.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: The coast is dotted with several sizeable settlements, the largest of which is the conurbation of the city of Tauranga and its neighbour Mount Maunganui in the west. The town of Whakatāne is located in the centre of the coast. Other towns of note include Waihi Beach, Katikati, Maketu, Pukehina Beach and Ōpōtiki.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Most of the population along the coast is concentrated in the western and central parts of the shore; the eastern part is sparsely populated hill country. The region has the third-highest regional population density in New Zealand, with only the 11th-largest land area. The major population centres are Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatāne.


title: Bay of Plenty

text: Significant horticultural, forestry and tourism industries are well established in the region. However, the Bay of Plenty is the third-most economically deprived region in New Zealand, with the eastern districts being among the least economically developed in the country. However, in 2011 Business & Economic Research Limited (BERL) identified the Bay of Plenty as one of the top performing regions in economic development, ranking second behind Auckland. It had the highest employment and GDP growth for 2011 and had the fastest growing medium term GDP. Tauranga, the region's largest commercial centre, was named New Zealand's top city for economic performance for the 2011 year.