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+The Yangtze or Yangzi (English:  /ˈjæŋtsi/ or /ˈjɑːŋtsi/) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows 6,300 km (3,900 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the sixth-largest river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population.[7]
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+The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.[8][9] In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.[10]
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+The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze sturgeon, but also was the home of the extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji) and Chinese paddlefish.[11] In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution,[12] agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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+Because the source of the Yangtze was not ascertained until modern times, the Chinese have given different names to lower and upstream sections of the river.[13][14]
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+Chang Jiang (长江; 長江) is the modern Chinese name for the lower 2,884 km (1,792 mi) of the Yangtze from its confluence with the Min River at Yibin in Sichuan to the river mouth at Shanghai.  Chang Jiang literally means the "Long River."  In Old Chinese, this stretch of the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江,[15] a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining the water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng, but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese[16]). Krong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as the Yue. Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon, all meaning "river," it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer kôngkea (water).[17]
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+By the Han dynasty, Jiang had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River" 大江 (Dàjiāng).  The epithet 長 (simplified version 长), means "long," was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period.[citation needed]
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+Various sections of Chang Jiang have local names. From Yibin to Yichang, the river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuan Jiang (川江; Chuān Jiāng) or "Sichuan River."
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+In Hubei, the river is also called the Jing Jiang (荆江; Jīngjiāng) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou.  In Anhui, the river takes on the local name Wan Jiang after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖).  And Yangzi Jiang (揚子江; 扬子江; Yángzǐjiāng) or the "Yangzi River," from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou. The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yangzi or Yangzijin (揚子 / 揚子津; Yángzǐ / Yángzǐjīn).[18] Europeans who arrived in the Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river.[13] The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou (Jiujiang).[19]
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+The Jinsha River (Chinese: 金沙江; lit.: 'Gold Dust[20] or Golden-Sanded River[21]') is the name for 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai.  From antiquity until the Ming dynasty, this stretch of the river was believed to be a tributary of the Yangtze while the Min River was thought to be the main course of the river above Yibin.  The name "Jinsha" originates in the Song dynasty when the river attracted large numbers of gold prospectors.  Gold prospecting along the Jinsha continues to this day.[22] Prior to the Song dynasty, other names were used including, for example Lújiāng (瀘江) from the Three Kingdoms period.[citation needed]
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+The Tongtian River (Chinese: 通天河; lit.: 'River Passing Through Heaven') describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence with the Dangqu River.  The name comes from a fabled river in the Journey to the West.  In antiquity, it was called the Yak River.  In Mongolian, this section is known as the Murui-ussu (lit. "Winding Stream").[23] and sometimes confused with the nearby Baishui.[14]
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+The Tuotuo River (沱沱河; Tuótuó Hé; 'Tearful River')[24] is the official headstream of the Yangtze, and flows 358 km (222 mi) from the glaciers of the Gar Kangri and the Geladandong Massifs in the Tanggula Mountains of southwestern Qinghai to the confluence with the Dangqu River to form the Tongtian River.  [26] In Mongolian, this section of the river known as the Ulaan Mörön or the "Red River."
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+The Tuotuo is one of three main headstreams of the Yangtze.  The Dangqu River (当曲, p Dāngqū) is the actual geographic headwater of the Yangtze.[27] The name is derived the Classical Tibetan for "Marsh River" (འདམ་ཆུ, w 'Dam Chu).  The Chumar River (楚玛尔河) is the Chinese name for the northern headwater of the Yangtze, which flows from the Hoh Xil Mountains in Qinghai into the Tongtian.  Chumar is Tibetan for the "Red River."
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+The river was called Quian (江) and Quianshui (江水) by Marco Polo[28] and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam,[29][30] all recording dialects which preserved forms of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng.[15] By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang; Dajiang, e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo,"[31] "Kyang Kew,"[32] "Kian-ku,"[33] and related names derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze (江口, p Jiāngkǒu) as the name of the river itself.
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+The name Blue River began to be applied in the 18th century,[29] apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu[35] or Min[37] and to analogy with the Yellow River,[38][39] but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang,[40][41] Jiangkou,[31] or Yangzijiang.[42] Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names[21][43] and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway.[43][44]
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+Matteo Ricci's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian."[45] The posthumous account's translation of the name as "Son of the Ocean"[45][46] shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the 'proper' 揚子江. Further, although railroads and the Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty, directing Liangjiang's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of the Yellow River's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into the ocean only a few hundred kilometres away from the mouth of the Yangtze.[21][33]) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name[47] as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang.[48] The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization. Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used.
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+The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai.[49] In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu (རྨ་ཆུ་, w rMa-chu, literally "Red River" or (perhaps "Wound-[like Red] River?")). The Tongtian is the Drichu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, w 'Bri Chu, literally "River of the Female Yak"; transliterated into Chinese as 直曲, p Zhíqū).
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+The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source."  Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains.  This source is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E / 33.42889°N 91.18250°E / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level.  The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong.[50] This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.[51] As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source.[50]
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+These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4,900 m (16,100 ft). In its descent to sea level, the river falls to an altitude of 305 m (1,001 ft) at Yibin, Sichuan, the head of navigation for riverboats, and to 192 m (630 ft) at Chongqing (Chungking). Between Chongqing and Yichang (I-ch'ang), at an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) and a distance of about 320 km (200 mi), it passes through the spectacular Yangtze Gorges, which are noted for their natural beauty but are dangerous to shipping.
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+It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges. Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain.
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+After entering Hubei, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River, bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi.
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+At the northern tip of Jiangxi, Lake Poyang, the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai.
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+Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County, where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.
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+The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene,[52] but this dating has been disputed.[by whom?][53][54]
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+The glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains, the traditional source of the Yangtze River
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+The Tuotuo River, a headwater stream of the Yangtze River, known in Tibetan as Maqu, or the "Red River"
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+The first turn of the Yangtze at Shigu (石鼓) in Yunnan, where the river turns 180 degrees from south- to north-bound
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+The Jinsha River in Yunnan
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+The Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang downstream from Shigu
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+Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
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+Wu Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
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+Xiling Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
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+The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by ocean-going vessels up 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from its mouth even before the Three Gorges Dam was built.[dubious  – discuss]
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+The Yangtze is flanked with metallurgical, power, chemical, auto, building materials and machinery industrial belts and high-tech development zones. It is playing an increasingly crucial role in the river valley's economic growth and has become a vital link for international shipping to the inland provinces. The river is a major transportation artery for China, connecting the interior with the coast.
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+The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. Traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.[55][56] River cruises several days long, especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area, are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in China.
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+Flooding along the river has been a major problem. The rainy season in China is May and June in areas south of Yangtze River, and July and August in areas north of it. The huge river system receives water from both southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season to extend from May to August. Meanwhile, the relatively dense population and rich cities along the river make the floods more deadly and costly. The most recent major floods were the 1998 Yangtze River Floods, but more disastrous were the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, which killed around 30,000 people.[57]
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+Although the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of the Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates, however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene (c. 11 Ma).[58] Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the present Red River.[59]
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+The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins of southern China and Japan.[60] Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago,[61] and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium  BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from the Longshan peoples of the North China Plain.[62] A study of Liangzhu remains found a high prevalence of haplogroup O1, linking it to Austronesian and Daic populations;[63] the same study found the rare haplogroup O3d at a Daxi site on the central Yangtze, indicates possible connection with the Hmong, although "only small traces" of haplogroup O3d remains in Hmong today.[64] What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the "Yue" people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth, cutting their hair short, tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves[65] – and were considered barbarous by the northerners.
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+The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures.[66] Later on it was the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. North Chinese people were active there from the Bronze Age.[67]
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+In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang, display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence from the 9th century BC. Traditional accounts[68] credit these changes to northern refugees (Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue, they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters, political institutions, and military technology, they were among the most powerful states during the later Zhou. In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu.[69]
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+Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of the Spring and Autumn period's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States' Four Lords. They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united the lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian. Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan, giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river.
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+The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated the region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Yangtze River the Xiang River to expand China into Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong, setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north.
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+From the Han dynasty, the region of the Yangtze River became more and more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of the Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods.[70] By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu, the northern part of Zhejiang, and the southeastern part of Anhui) provided ​1⁄3–​1⁄2 of the nation's revenues.
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+The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of the Jiangnan region south of the river (Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal, connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang, allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta.[71]
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+Historically, the Yangtze became the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Southern Song. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period.
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+The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars. In the Battle of Caishi of 1161, the ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin.[72][73] The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle from the same year.
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+Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of the time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing, though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in the periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49.
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+The first merchant steamer in China, the Jardine, was built to order for the firm of Jardine Matheson in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macau and Whampoa. However, after several trips, the Chinese authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, prohibited her entrance into the river. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary who personified gunboat diplomacy, decided to wage war on China mainly on the "suggestions" of Jardine Matheson[citation needed]. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the Royal Saxon, the British started the First Opium War. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military was vastly superior during the conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the Nemesis) were not only virtually indestructible using contemporary available weapons, but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern rifled muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing forces. After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been.
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+In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanking signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports.
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+The US, at the same time, wanting to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS Wachusett six hundred miles up the river to Hankow sometime in the 1860s, while the USS Ashuelot, a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Yichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy, a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos, an armed tug, was on Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankou, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. The cessation of bloodshed with the Taiping Rebellion, Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French Wars of the 1880s emerged with the Battle of Shipu having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze.
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+The China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Most of the company's ships were seized by Japan in 1941 and services did not resume until 1946. Robert Dollar was a later shipping magnate, who became enormously influential moving Californian and Canadian lumber to the Chinese and Japanese market.
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+Yichang, or Ichang, 1,600 km (990 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1,000 km (620 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level.
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+The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, which fell prey to the French fleet. The Chinese would rebuild its fleet, only to be ravaged by another war with Japan (1895), Revolution (1911) and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time.
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+Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer was better navigationally and the three gorges, described as an "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of the most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges.[74] Achibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take the vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes.  Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service.  In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it was restricted to native crafts.  In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade.  Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan, to tackle the gorges in 1898.  In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers.  Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot.[75] In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise.  Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess the Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command.  In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing.  Pioneer was sold to British Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha.  Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe.  On Suixing's maiden voyage, the vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze.  In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing.  Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun. Other Chinese vessels came onto the run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too.  Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915.  In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems.  He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River, a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction.  Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with the Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze.  Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson, Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919.  Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business.[76] Shutung was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping.[77] In 1921, when Captain Plant died tragically at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation.  The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots.  In 1924, a 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners.  One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English.  Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China.[78][79]
+
+Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd, a public company under the management of Jardine's. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtsze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. Jardine's established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were all destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years.[80]
+
+With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to sail navy ships into China's waters. The British, Americans, and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese waters: Austro-Hungarian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and German navy ships came to Shanghai and the treaty ports. The Japanese engaged in open warfare with the Chinese over conquest of the Chinese Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895, and with Russia over Qing Empire territory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Incidentally, both the French and Japanese navies were heavily involved in running opium and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseille and France (i.e. French Connection) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the U.S. or Europe.
+
+In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following an anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the Asiatic Fleet that year, which had been reestablished by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on July 1, 1911.
+
+After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to coal ship. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September where she wintered over owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze River steamer that damaged her bow.
+
+The Spanish boats were replaced in the 1920s by USS Luzon and USS Mindanao were the largest, USS Oahu and USS Panay next in size, and USS Guam and USS Tutuila the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the 20th century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanking incident of 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war. The Chiang Kai-shek's massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, U.S. Marines with tanks were landed. River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS Palos protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army.
+
+The British Royal Navy had a series of Insect-class gunboats which patrolled between Chungking and Shanghai. Cruisers and destroyers and Fly-class gunboats[citation needed] also patrolled. The most infamous incident was when Panay and HMS Bee in 1937, were dive-bombed by Japanese aeroplanes during the notorious Nanking massacre. The Westerners were forced to leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service. Probably the most curious incident involved HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War between Kuomintang and People's Liberation Army forces; and led to the award of the Dickin Medal to the ship's cat Simon.
+
+In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,437 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth.[81]
+
+Tens of millions of people live in the floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998.
+
+The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.[82][83] The Yangtze again flooded in 1935, causing great loss of life.
+
+From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in the middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at around 33,000, including those who died of plague in the aftermath of the disaster.
+
+The 1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze.[84]
+In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of the Yangtze River, resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $26 billion in economic loss.[85] Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected.[86] A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km2) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed.  The floods caused $26 billion in damages.[86]
+
+The 2016 China floods caused US$22 billion in damages.
+
+Beginning in the 1950s dams and thousands of kilometres of dikes were built for flood control, land reclamation, irrigation and for the control of diseases vectors such as blood flukes that caused Schistosomiasis. More than a hundred lakes were thus cut off from the main river.[87] There were gates between the lakes that could be opened during floods. However, farmers and settlements encroached on the land next to the lakes although it was forbidden to settle there. When floods came, it proved impossible to open the gates since it would have caused substantial destruction.[88] Thus the lakes partially or completely dried up. For example, Baidang Lake shrunk from 100 square kilometers (39 sq mi) in the 1950s to 40 square kilometers (15 sq mi) in 2005. Zhangdu Lake dwindled to one quarter of its original size. Natural fisheries output in the two lakes declined sharply. Only a few large lakes, such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, remained connected to the Yangtze. Cutting off the other lakes that had served as natural buffers for floods increased the damage done by floods further downstream. Furthermore, the natural flow of migratory fish was obstructed and biodiversity across the whole basin decreased dramatically. Intensive farming of fish in ponds spread using one type of carp who thrived in eutrophic water conditions and who feeds on algae, causing widespread pollution. The pollution was exacerbated by the discharge of waste from pig farms as well as of untreated industrial and municipal sewage.[87][89] In September 2012, the Yangtze river near Chongqing turned red from pollution.[90] The erection of the Three Gorges Dam has created an impassable "iron barrier" that has led to a great reduction in the biodiversity of the river. Yangtze sturgeon use seasonal changes in the flow of the river to signal when is it time to migrate. However, these seasonal changes will be greatly reduced by dams and diversions. Other animals facing immediate threat of extinction are the baiji dolphin, narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze alligator. These animals numbers went into freefall from the combined effects of accidental catches during fishing, river traffic, habitat loss and pollution. In 2006 the baiji dolphin became extinct; the world lost an entire genus.[91]
+
+The Yangtze River produces more ocean plastic pollution than any other, according to The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch environmental research foundation that focuses on ocean pollution. Together with 9 other rivers, the Yangtze transports 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans.[92][93]
+
+In 2002 a pilot program was initiated to reconnect lakes to the Yangtze with the objective to increase biodiversity and to alleviate flooding. The first lakes to be reconnected in 2004 were Zhangdu Lake, Honghu Lake, and Tian'e-Zhou in Hubei on the middle Yangtze. In 2005 Baidang Lake in Anhui was also reconnected.[89]
+
+Reconnecting the lakes improved water quality and fish were able to migrate from the river into the lake, replenishing their numbers and genetic stock. The trial also showed that reconnecting the lake reduced flooding. The new approach also benefitted the farmers economically. Pond farmers switched to natural fish feed, which helped them breed better-quality fish that can be sold for more, increasing their income by 30%. Based on the successful pilot project, other provincial governments emulated the experience and also reestablished connections to lakes that had previously been cut off from the river. In 2005 a Yangtze Forum has been established bringing together 13 riparian provincial governments to manage the river from source to sea.[94] In 2006 China's Ministry of Agriculture made it a national policy to reconnect the Yangtze River with its lakes. As of 2010, provincial governments in five provinces and Shanghai set up a network of 40 effective protected areas, covering 16,500 km2 (6,400 sq mi). As a result, populations of 47 threatened species increased, including the critically endangered Yangtze alligator. In the Shanghai area, reestablished wetlands now protect drinking water sources for the city. It is envisaged to extend the network throughout the entire Yangtze to eventually cover 102 areas and 185,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi). The mayor of Wuhan announced that six huge, stagnating urban lakes including the East Lake (Wuhan) would be reconnected at the cost of US$2.3 billion creating China's largest urban wetland landscape.[87][95]
+
+Until 1957, there were no bridges across the Yangtze River from Yibin to Shanghai.  For millennia, travelers crossed the river by ferry.  On occasions, the crossing may have been dangerous, as evidenced by the Zhong’anlun disaster (October 15, 1945).
+
+The river stood as a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China.  In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, at Hanyang and Pukou, and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train from Wuchang or Nanjing West.
+
+After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Soviet engineers assisted in the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual-use road-rail bridge, built from 1955 to 1957.  It was the first bridge across the Yangtze River.  The second bridge across the river that was built was a single-track railway bridge built upstream in Chongqing in 1959.  The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross the lower reaches of the Yangtze, in Nanjing.  It was built after the Sino-Soviet Split and did not receive foreign assistance.  Road-rail bridges were then built in Zhicheng (1971) and Chongqing (1980).
+
+Bridge-building slowed in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the 21st century.  The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1992 as part of the Beijing-Jiujiang Railway.  A second bridge in Wuhan was completed in 1995.  By 2005, there were a total of 56 bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai.  These include some of the longest suspension and cable-stayed bridges in the world on the Yangtze Delta: Jiangyin Suspension Bridge (1,385 m, opened in 1999), Runyang Bridge (1,490 m, opened 2005), Sutong Bridge (1,088 m, opened 2008).  The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued.  The city of Wuhan now has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze.
+
+A number of power line crossings have also been built across the river.
+
+Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge crossing Yangtze, was completed in 1957.
+
+The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a beam bridge, was completed in 1968.
+
+The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, an arch bridge, was completed in 1992.
+
+The Yichang Yangtze Highway Bridge, a suspension bridge near the Gezhouba Dam lock, was completed in 1996.
+
+The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, between Nantong and Suzhou, was one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world when it was completed in 2008.
+
+The Caiyuanba Bridge, an arch bridge in Chongqing, was completed in 2007.
+
+The cable-stayed Anqing Yangtze River Bridge at Anqing, was completed in 2005.
+
+Wuhan Metro Line 2 is the first underground rail line crossing the Yangtze River.
+
+As of 2007, there are two dams built on the Yangtze river: Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam.
+The Three Gorges Dam is the largest power station in the world by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW.
+Several dams are operating or are being constructed on the upper portion of the river, the Jinsha River.
+Among them, the Xiluodu Dam is the third largest power stations in the world, and the Baihetan Dam, planned to be commissioned in 2021, will be the second largest after the Three Gorges Dam.
+
+The Yangtze River has over 700 tributaries. The major tributaries (listed from upstream to downstream) with the locations of where they join the Yangtze are:
+
+The Huai River flowed into the Yellow Sea until the 20th century, but now primarily discharges into the Yangtze.
+
+Gan River in Jiangxi
+
+Han River in Hubei
+
+Lake Dongting and the Yuan, Zi, Li, and Xiang Rivers in Hunan
+
+Wu River in Guizhou
+
+Jialing River in eastern Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality
+
+Min River in central Sichuan
+
+Yalong River in western Sichuan
+
+The Yangtze River has a high species richness, including many endemics. A high percentage of these are seriously threatened by human activities.[96]
+
+As of 2011[update], 416 fish species are known from the Yangtze basin, including 362 that strictly are freshwater species. The remaining are also known from salt or brackish waters, such as the river's estuary or the East China Sea. This makes it one of the most species-rich rivers in Asia and by far the most species-rich in China (in comparison, the Pearl River has almost 300 fish species and the Yellow River 160).[96] 178 fish species are endemic to the Yangtze River Basin.[96] Many are only found in some section of the river basin and especially the upper reach (above Yichang, but below the headwaters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) is rich with 279 species, including 147 Yangtze endemics and 97 strict endemics (found only in this part of the basin). In contrast, the headwaters, where the average altitude is above 4,500 m (14,800 ft), are only home to 14 highly specialized species, but 8 of these are endemic to the river.[96] The largest orders in the Yangtze are Cypriniformes (280 species, including 150 endemics), Siluriformes (40 species, including 20 endemics), Perciformes (50 species, including 4 endemics), Tetraodontiformes (12 species, including 1 endemic) and Osmeriformes (8 species, including 1 endemic). No other order has more than four species in the river and one endemic.[96]
+
+Many Yangtze fish species have declined drastically and 65 were recognized as threatened in the 2009 Chinese red list.[97] Among these are three that are considered entirely extinct (Chinese paddlefish, Anabarilius liui liui and Atrilinea macrolepis), two that are extinct in the wild (Anabarilius polylepis, Schizothorax parvus), four that are critically endangered Euchiloglanis kishinouyei, Megalobrama elongata, Schizothorax longibarbus and Leiocassis longibarbus).[97][11] Additionally, both the Yangtze sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon are considered critically endangered by the IUCN. The survival of these two sturgeon may rely on the continued release of captive bred specimens.[98][99] Although still listed as critically endangered rather than extinct by both the Chinese red list and IUCN, recent reviews have found that the Chinese paddlefish is extinct.[100][101] Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2008 by ichthyologists failed to catch any, but two probable specimens were recorded with hydroacoustic signals.[102] The last definite record was an individual that was accidentally captured near Yibin in 2003 and released after having been radio tagged.[11] The Chinese sturgeon is the largest fish in the river and among the largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching a length of 5 m (16 ft); the extinct Chinese paddlefish reputedly reached as much as 7 m (23 ft), but its maximum size is labeled with considerable uncertainty.[103][104][105]
+
+The largest threats to the Yangtze native fish are overfishing and habitat loss (such as building of dams and land reclamation), but pollution, destructive fishing practices (such as fishing with dynamite or poison) and introduced species also cause problems.[96] About ​2⁄3 of the total freshwater fisheries in China are in the Yangtze Basin,[106] but a drastic decline in size of several important species has been recorded, as highlighted by data from lakes in the river basin.[96] In 2015, some experts recommend a 10-year fishing moratorium to allow the remaining populations to recover,[107] and in January 2020 China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze.[108] Dams present another serious problem, as several species in the river perform breeding migrations and most of these are non-jumpers, meaning that normal fish ladders designed for salmon are ineffective.[96] For example, the Gezhouba Dam blocked the migration of the paddlerfish and two sturgeon,[98][99][104] while also effectively splitting the Chinese high fin banded shark population into two[109] and causing the extirpation of the Yangtze population of the Japanese eel.[110] In an attempt of minimizing the effect of the dams, the Three Gorges Dam has released water to mimic the (pre-dam) natural flooding and trigger the breeding of carp species downstream.[111] In addition to dams already built in the Yangtze basin, several large dams are planned and these may present further problems for the native fauna.[111]
+
+While many fish species native to the Yangtze are seriously threatened, others have become important in fish farming and introduced widely outside their native range. A total of 26 native fish species of the Yangtze basin are farmed.[107] Among the most important are four Asian carp: grass carp, black carp, silver carp and bighead carp. Other species that support important fisheries include northern snakehead, Chinese perch, Takifugu pufferfish (mainly in the lowermost sections) and predatory carp.[96]
+
+Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to several seriously threatened species of large animals (in addition to fish): the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, baiji (Yangtze river dolphin), Chinese alligator, Yangtze giant softshell turtle and Chinese giant salamander. This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. In 2010, the Yangtze population of finless porpoise was 1000 individuals. In December 2006, the Yangtze river dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance.[113] In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze and was tentatively presumed to be a baiji.[114] However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, the baiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.[115] "Baijis were the last surviving species of a large lineage dating back seventy million years and one of only six species of freshwater dolphins." It has been argued that the extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin was a result of the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a project that has affected many species of animals and plant life found only in the gorges area.[116]
+
+Numerous species of land mammals are found in the Yangtze valley, but most of these are not directly associated with the river. Three exceptions are the semi-aquatic Eurasian otter, water deer and Père David's deer.[117]
+
+In addition to the very large and exceptionally rare Yangtze giant softshell turtle, several smaller turtle species are found in the Yangtze basin, its delta and valleys. These include the Chinese box turtle, yellow-headed box turtle, Pan's box turtle, Yunnan box turtle, yellow pond turtle, Chinese pond turtle, Chinese stripe-necked turtle and Chinese softshell turtle, which all are considered threatened.[119]
+
+More than 160 amphibian species are known from the Yangtze basin, including the world's largest, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.[120] It has declined drastically due to hunting (it is considered a delicacy), habitat loss and pollution.[118] The polluted Dian Lake, which is part of the upper Yangtze watershed (via Pudu River), is home to several highly threatened fish, but was also home to the Yunnan lake newt. This newt has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct.[121][122] In contrast, the Chinese fire belly newt from the lower Yangtze basin is one of the few Chinese salamander species to remain common and it is considered least concern by the IUCN.[122][123][124]
+
+The Yangtze basin contains a large number of freshwater crab species, including several endemics.[127] A particularly rich genus in the river basin is the potamid Sinopotamon.[128] The Chinese mitten crab is catadromous (migrates between fresh and saltwater) and it has been recorded up to 1,400 km (870 mi) up the Yangtze, which is the largest river in its native range.[126] It is a commercially important species in its native range where it is farmed,[125] but the Chinese mitten crab has also been spread to Europe and North America where considered invasive.[126]
+
+The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii, now an invasive species in large parts of the world, originates from the Yangtze.[129]

en/613.html.txt

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+
+
+Coordinates: 53°N 27°E / 53°N 27°E / 53; 27
+
+in Europe (dark grey)  –  [Legend]
+
+Belarus (/bɛləˈruːs/; Belarusian: Беларусь, IPA: [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Рэспубліка Беларусь, Russian: Республика Беларусь), formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.[7] It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested. Its major economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.[8] Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including the Principality of Polotsk (11th to 14th centuries), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire.
+
+In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, different states arose competing for legitimacy amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR) which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II.[9][10][11] During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources.[12] The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.[13] The parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991.[14] In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State.
+
+Alexander Lukashenko has served as the country's first president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled "Europe's last dictatorship" by some Western journalists,[15][16] on account of the country's poor human rights record and Lukashenko's self-described authoritarian style of government.[17][18][19] Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Elections under Lukashenko's rule have been widely criticized as unfair; and according to many countries and organizations, political opposition has been violently suppressed. Belarus is also the only country in Europe officially using the death penalty.[20][21][22] Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House, as "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, and is rated as the worst country for press freedom in Europe in the 2013–14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Belarus 157th out of 180 nations.[23]
+
+Over 70% of Belarus's population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas. More than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages: Belarusian and Russian. The Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The second-most widespread religion, Roman Catholicism, has a much smaller following; nevertheless, Belarus celebrates both Orthodox and Catholic versions of Christmas and Easter as national holidays.[24] Belarus is a member of the United Nations since its founding, the Commonwealth of Independent States, CSTO, EEU, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Belarus has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but nevertheless maintains a bilateral relationship with the Union, and likewise participates in two EU projects: the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative.
+
+The name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus', i.e., White Rus'. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus'.[25] An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.[26]
+
+An alternative explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population.[25][27] A third theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars (i.e., Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev) had been referred to as "White Rus'".[25]
+
+The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, thus Belarus is often referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia. The name first appeared in German and Latin medieval literature; the chronicles of Jan of Czarnków mention the imprisonment of Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his mother at "Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto" in 1381.[28] In some languages, including German, Afrikaans and Dutch, the country is generally called "White Russia" to this day (Weißrussland and Wit-Rusland respectively).[29][30]
+
+The Latin term "Alba Russia" was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming "Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo."[31] The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the late-16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey, who was known for his close contacts with the Russian Royal Court.[32] During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used "White Rus" to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[33]
+
+The term Belorussia (Russian: Белору́ссия, the latter part similar but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я, Russia) first rose in the days of the Russian Empire, and the Russian Tsar was usually styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", as Russia or the Russian Empire was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great, Little, and White.[34] This asserted that the territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian; in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the Russian people.[35]
+
+After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term "White Russia" caused some confusion, as it was also the name of the military force that opposed the red Bolsheviks.[36] During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness. In western Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period.[37]
+
+The term Byelorussia (its names in other languages such as English being based on the Russian form) was only used officially until 1991, when the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR decreed by law that the new independent republic should be called Republic of Belarus (Республика Беларусь spelled in Russian), and that its abridged form should be "Belarus". The law decreed that all the forms of the new term should be transliterated into other languages from their Belarusian language forms. The use of Byelorussian SSR and any abbreviations thereof were allowed from 1991 to 1993.[38] Conservative forces in the newly independent Belarus did not support the name change and opposed its inclusion in the 1991 draft of the Constitution of Belarus.[39]
+
+Accordingly, the name Byelorussia was replaced by Belarus in English.[40] Likewise, the adjective Belorussian or Byelorussian was replaced by Belarusian in English. Belarusian is closer to the original Belarusian term of bielaruski.[40] Belarusian intelligentsia in the Stalin era attempted to change the name from Byelorussia to a form of Krivia because of the supposed connection with Russia.[41] Some nationalists object to the name for the same reason.[42][43] Several local newspapers kept the old name of the country in Russian in their names, for example Komsomolskaya Pravda v Byelorussii, which is the localized publication of a popular Russian newspaper. Also, those who wish for Belarus to be reunited with Russia continue to use Belorussia.[43] Officially, the full name of the country is "Republic of Belarus" (Рэспубліка Беларусь, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus listen (help·info)).[38][44]
+
+From 5000 to 2000 BC, Bandkeramik cultures predominated. In addition, remains from the Dnieper-Donets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine.[45] Cimmerians and other pastoralists roamed through the area by 1,000 BC, and by 500 AD, Slavs had taken up residence, which was circumscribed by the Scythians who roamed its outskirts. Invaders from Asia, among whom were the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400–600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence.[46]
+
+The region that is now Belarus was first settled by Baltic tribes in the 3rd century. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over by Slavic tribes. The takeover was partially due to the lack of military coordination of the Balts but the gradual assimilation of the Balts into Slavic culture was peaceful in nature.[47]
+
+In the 9th century the territory of modern Belarus became part of Kievan Rus', a vast East Slavic state ruled by the Rurikid dynasty. Upon the death of Kievan Rus' ruler Yaroslav I the Wise, the state split into independent principalities.[48] Many early Rus' principalities were virtually razed or severely affected by a major Mongol invasion in the 13th century, but the lands of modern Belarus avoided the brunt of the invasion and eventually joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[49] There are no sources of military seizure, but the annals affirm the alliance and united foreign policy of Polotsk and Lithuania for decades.[50]
+
+Incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an economic, political and ethno-cultural unification of Belarusian lands.[51] Of the principalities held by the Duchy, nine of them were settled by a population that would eventually become Belarusian people.[52] During this time, the Duchy was involved in several military campaigns, including fighting on the side of Poland against the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410; the joint victory allowed the Duchy to control the northwestern borderlands of Eastern Europe.[53]
+
+The Muscovites, led by Ivan III of Moscow, began military campaigns in 1486 in an attempt to incorporate the lands of Kievan Rus', specifically the territories of modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.[54]
+
+On 2 February 1386, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were joined in a personal union through a marriage of their rulers.[55] This union set in motion the developments that eventually resulted in the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin.
+
+The Lithuanian nobles were forced to go for rapprochement because of the threat coming from Muscovy.
+To strengthen the independence in the format of the union, three editions of the Statutes of Lithuania were issued in the 16th century. 
+The third Article of the Statute establishes that all lands of Grand Duchy of Lithuania will be eternally in Grand Duchy of Lithuania and never enter as a part of other states. It allowed the right to own land within Grand Duchy of Lithuania to only its own families. Anyone from outside Duchy gaining rights to a property would actually own it only after swearing allegiance to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. These articles were aimed to defend the rights of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania nobility against Polish, Prussian and other aristocracy of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
+
+In the years following the union, the process of gradual Polonization of both Lithuanians and Ruthenians gained steady momentum. In culture and social life, both the Polish language and Catholicism became dominant, and in 1696, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the official language—with the Ruthenian language being banned from administrative use.[56] However, the Ruthenian peasants continued to speak their own language and remained faithful to the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church. Statutes were initially issued in Ruthenian language alone and later also in Polish. Around 1840 the Statutes were banned by the Russian tsar following the November Uprising. Modern Ukrainian lands used it until 1860s.
+
+The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795 with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial Russia, Prussia, and Austria.[57] The Belarusian territories acquired by the Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine II[58] were included into the Belarusian Governorate (Russian: Белорусское генерал-губернаторство) in 1796 and held until their occupation by the German Empire during World War I.[59]
+
+Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed. Policies of Polonization[60] changed by Russification,[61] which included the return to Orthodox Christianity of Belorusian Uniates. Belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school education with Samogitian literacy was allowed.[62]
+
+In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I prohibited use of the Belarusian language in public schools, campaigned against Belarusian publications and tried to pressure those who had converted to Catholicism under the Poles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, economic and cultural pressure exploded in a revolt, led by Konstanty Kalinowski. After the failed revolt, the Russian government reintroduced the use of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and no documents in Belarusian were permitted by the Russian government until 1905.[63]
+
+During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Belarus first declared independence under German occupation on 25 March 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic.[64][65] Immediately afterwards, the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.[66] The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic exists as a government in exile ever since then; in fact, it is currently the world's longest serving government in exile.[67]
+
+The Belarusian People's Republic was the first attempt to create an independent Belarusian state under name "Belarus". Despite significant efforts the state ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was continually dominated by the German Imperial Army and the Imperial Russian Army in World War I, and then the Bolshevik Red Army. It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of the state idea around the name "Belarus". The choice of the name was probably based on the fact that the educated core of the newly formed government was educated in the tsardom universities, with a corresponding education around the ideology of West-Russianism.[68]
+
+The Republic of Central Lithuania was a short-lived political entity, which was the last attempt to restore Lithuania in the historical confederacy state (it was also supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower). The republic was created in 1920 following the staged rebellion of soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under Lucjan Żeligowski. Centered on the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilna (Lithuanian: Vilnius, Polish: Wilno), for 18 months the entity served as a buffer state between Poland, upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area.[69] After a variety of delays, a disputed election took place on 8 January 1922, and the territory was annexed to Poland. Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing Belarusian schools and general disregard of Marshal Józef Piłsudski's confederation plans by Polish ally.[70] Years earlier interrogation report of 19-year-old revolutionary Pilsudski of 10 March 1887 indicated that he called himself a "belarusian, nobleman".[71]
+
+In 1919 a part of Belarus under Russian rule emerged as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR). Soon thereafter it merged to form the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR. The contested lands were divided between Poland and the Soviet Union after the war ended in 1921, and the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.[64][72] The western part of modern Belarus remained part of Poland.[73][74][75]
+
+In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet agricultural and economic policies, including collectivization and five-year plans for the national economy, led to famine and political repression.[76]
+
+In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. The Soviets invaded and annexed much of eastern Poland, which had been part of the country since the Peace of Riga two decades earlier. Much of the northern section of this area was added to the Byelorussian SSR, and now constitutes West Belarus.[9][10][11][77] The Soviet-controlled Byelorussian People's Council officially took control of the territories, whose populations consisted of a mixture of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews, on 28 October 1939 in Białystok. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The Brest Fortress, which had been annexed in 1939, at this time was subjected to one of the most destructive onslaughts that happened during the war. Statistically, the Byelorussian SSR was the hardest-hit Soviet republic in World War II; it remained in Nazi hands until 1944. During that time, Germany destroyed 209 out of 290 cities in the republic, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings.[12] The Germans' Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, or enslavement of most or all Belarusians for the purpose of providing more living space in the East for Germans.[78]
+
+Deaths are estimated to be over 1 million, the Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered.[12][79][80][81] The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971.[79] It was also after this conflict that the final borders of Belarus were set by Stalin when parts of Belarusian territory were given to the recently annexed Lithuania.[77]
+
+After the war, Belarus was among the 51 founding member states of the United Nations Charter and as such it was allowed an additional vote at the UN, on top of the Soviet Union's vote. Vigorous postwar reconstruction promptly followed the end of the war and the Byelorussian SSR became a major center of manufacturing in the western USSR, creating jobs and attracting ethnic Russians.[82] The borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in accord with the 1919-proposed Curzon Line.[59]
+
+Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences.[79] This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev continued his predecessor's cultural hegemony program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism."[79]
+
+In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR was exposed to significant nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in the neighboring Ukrainian SSR.[83]
+
+In June 1988, the archaeologist and leader of the Christian Conservative Party of the BPF Zyanon Paznyak discovered mass graves of victims executed in 1937–41 at Kurapaty, near Minsk.[83] Some nationalists contend that this discovery is proof that the Soviet government was trying to erase the Belarusian people, causing Belarusian nationalists to seek independence.[84]
+
+In March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR took place. Though the pro-independence Belarusian Popular Front took only 10% of the seats, the populace was content with the selection of the delegates.[85] Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27 July 1990 by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.
+
+With the support of the Communist Party, the country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991.[85] Stanislav Shushkevich, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on 8 December 1991 in Belavezhskaya Pushcha to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.[85]
+
+A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus.
+
+Two-round elections for the presidency on (24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994)[86] catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national prominence. He garnered 45% of the vote in the first round and 80%[85] in the second, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14% of the vote. Lukashenko was re-elected in 2001, in 2006, in 2010 and again in 2015. Western governments,[87] Amnesty International,[19] and Human Rights Watch[18] have criticized Lukashenko's authoritarian style of government.
+
+Since 2014, following years of embrace of Russian influence in the country, Lukashenko has pressed a revival of Belarusian identity, following the Russian annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine. For the first time, he delivered a speech in Belarusian (rather than Russian, which most Belarusians speak as their primary language), in which he said, "We are not Russian—we are Belarusians", and later encouraged the use of Belarusian. Trade disputes, a border dispute, and a much relaxed official attitude to dissident voices are all part of a weakening of the longtime warm relationship with Russia.[88]
+
+In 2019, Lukashenko had bilateral talks in Sochi with Russian president Vladimir Putin and declared that their two countries "could unite tomorrow, no problem."[89] An idea backed by Putin for years, observers have labeled the potential plan a scheme by Putin to remain in power beyond 2024.[90] However, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov explained that "Lukashenko will play tough to the public while trying to look weak in front of Putin," and the Carnegie Moscow Center's Artyom Shraibman suggested that "Moscow will most likely fail to find its base among Belarusians."[91]
+
+Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its extension from north to south is 560 km (350 mi), from west to east is 650 km (400 mi).[92] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land.[93] About 40% of Belarus is covered by forests.[94][95]
+
+Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus.[93] Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. The Neman flows westward towards the Baltic sea and the Pripyat flows eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper flows southward towards the Black Sea.[96]
+
+The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 metres (1,132 ft), and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90 m (295 ft).[93] The average elevation of Belarus is 160 m (525 ft) above sea level.[97] The climate features mild to cold winters, with average January minimum temperatures ranging from −4 °C (24.8 °F) in southwest (Brest) to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F).[98] Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm (21.7 to 27.6 in).[98] The country is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates.[93]
+
+Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay.[93] About 70% of the radiation from neighboring Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster entered Belarusian territory, and about a fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests in the southeastern regions) was affected by radiation fallout.[99] The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, especially through the use of caesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease soil levels of caesium-137.[100][101]
+
+Belarus borders five countries: Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, Russia to the north and the east, and Ukraine to the south. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus's borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine border in 2009.[102] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007.[103]
+
+Belarus is a presidential republic, governed by a president and the National Assembly. The term for each presidency is five years. Under the 1994 constitution, the president could serve for only two terms as president, but a change in the constitution in 2004 eliminated term limits.[105] Alexander Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus since 1994. In 1996, Lukashenko called for a controversial vote to extend the presidential term from five to seven years, and as a result the election that was supposed to occur in 1999 was pushed back to 2001. The referendum on the extension was denounced as a "fantastic" fake by the chief electoral officer, Viktar Hanchar, who was removed from the office for official matters only during the campaign.[106] The National Assembly is a bicameral parliament comprising the 110-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 64-member Council of the Republic (the upper house).[107]
+
+The House of Representatives has the power to appoint the prime minister, make constitutional amendments, call for a vote of confidence on the prime minister, and make suggestions on foreign and domestic policy.[108] The Council of the Republic has the power to select various government officials, conduct an impeachment trial of the president, and accept or reject the bills passed by the House of Representatives. Each chamber has the ability to veto any law passed by local officials if it is contrary to the constitution.[109]
+
+The government includes a Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister and five deputy prime ministers.[110] The members of this council need not be members of the legislature and are appointed by the president. The judiciary comprises the Supreme Court and specialized courts such as the Constitutional Court, which deals with specific issues related to constitutional and business law. The judges of national courts are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Council of the Republic. For criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court. The Belarusian Constitution forbids the use of special extrajudicial courts.[109]
+
+In the 2012 parliamentary election, 105 of the 110 members elected to the House of Representatives were not affiliated with any political party. The Communist Party of Belarus won 3 seats, and the Agrarian Party and Republican Party of Labour and Justice, one each.[111] Most non-partisans represent a wide scope of social organizations such as workers' collectives, public associations, and civil society organizations, similar to the composition of the Soviet legislature.[112]
+
+Neither the pro-Lukashenko parties, such as the Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party and the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, nor the People's Coalition 5 Plus opposition parties, such as the Belarusian People's Front and the United Civil Party of Belarus, won any seats in the 2004 elections. Groups such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) declared the election "un-free" because of the opposition parties' poor results and media bias in favor of the government.[113]
+
+In the 2006 presidential election, Lukashenko was opposed by Alaksandar Milinkievič, who represented a coalition of opposition parties, and by Alaksandar Kazulin of the Social Democrats. Kazulin was detained and beaten by police during protests surrounding the All Belarusian People's Assembly. Lukashenko won the election with 80% of the vote; the Russian Federation and the CIS deemed the vote open and fair[114] while the OSCE and other organizations called the election unfair.[115]
+
+After the December completion of the 2010 presidential election, Lukashenko was elected to a fourth straight term with nearly 80% of the vote in elections. The runner-up opposition leader Andrei Sannikov received less than 3% of the vote; independent observers criticized the election as fraudulent. When opposition protesters took to the streets in Minsk, many people, including most rival presidential candidates, were beaten and arrested by the state militia.[116] Many of the candidates, including Sannikov, were sentenced to prison or house arrest for terms which are mainly and typically over four years.[117][118] Six months later amid an unprecedented economic crisis, activists utilized social networking to initiate a fresh round of protests characterized by wordless hand-clapping.[119]
+
+The judicial system in Belarus lacks independence and is subject to political interference.[120] Corrupt practices such as bribery often took place during tender processes, and whistleblower protection and national ombudsman are lacking in Belarus's anti-corruption system.[121] However, there is a political will to fight against corruption in the government, and the government has made some progress in combating corruption, such as minimizing tax regulations in order to improve transparency in the tax office.[122]
+
+Lukashenko has described himself as having an "authoritarian ruling style".[105] Western countries have described Belarus under Lukashenko as a dictatorship; the government has accused the same Western powers of trying to oust Lukashenko.[123] The Council of Europe has barred Belarus from membership since 1997 for undemocratic voting and election irregularities in the November 1996 constitutional referendum and parliament by-elections.[124]
+
+The Belarusian government is also criticized for human rights violations and its persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.[19][18] In a testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny".[125] In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality".[126] The Viasna Human Rights Centre lists 11 political prisoners[127] currently detained in Belarus. Among them is the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, Vice President of International Federation for Human Rights and head of Viasna.[128]
+
+Lukashenko announced a new law in 2014 that will prohibit kolkhoz workers (around 9% of total work force) from leaving their jobs at will—a change of job and living location will require permission from governors. The law was compared with serfdom by Lukashenko himself.[129][130] Similar regulations were introduced for the forestry industry in 2012.[131]
+
+The Byelorussian SSR was one of the two Soviet republics that joined the United Nations along with the Ukrainian SSR as one of the original 51 members in 1945. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, under international law, Belarus became the internationally recognized successor state to the Byelorussian SSR, retaining its UN membership.
+
+Belarus and Russia have been close trading partners and diplomatic allies since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Belarus is dependent on Russia for imports of raw materials and for its export market.[132]
+
+The union of Russia and Belarus, a supranational confederation, was established in a 1996–99 series of treaties that called for monetary union, equal rights, single citizenship, and a common foreign and defense policy.[132] However, the future of the union has been placed in doubt because of Belarus's repeated delays of monetary union, the lack of a referendum date for the draft constitution, and a dispute over the petroleum trade.[132]
+
+On 11 December 2007, reports emerged that a framework for the new state was discussed between both countries.[133] On 27 May 2008, Belarusian President Lukashenko said that he had named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the "prime minister" of the Russia-Belarus alliance. The significance of this act was not immediately clear; some incorrectly speculated that Putin would become president of a unified state of Russia and Belarus after stepping down as Russian president in May 2008.[134]
+
+Belarus was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).[135] Belarus has trade agreements with several European Union member states (despite other member states' travel ban on Lukashenko and top officials),[136] including neighboring Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.[137] Travel bans imposed by the European Union have been lifted in the past in order to allow Lukashenko to attend diplomatic meetings and also to engage his government and opposition groups in dialogue.[138]
+
+Bilateral relations with the United States are strained because the U.S. Department of State supports various anti-Lukashenko non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and also because the Belarusian government has made it increasingly difficult for United States-based organizations to operate within the country.[139] Diplomatic relations remained tense, and in 2004, the United States passed the Belarus Democracy Act, which authorized funding for anti-government Belarusian NGOs, and prohibited loans to the Belarusian government, except for humanitarian purposes.[140] Despite this political friction, the two countries do cooperate on intellectual property protection, prevention of human trafficking, technology crime, and disaster relief.[141]
+
+Sino-Belarusian relations have improved,[142] strengthened by the visit of President Lukashenko to China in October 2005.[143] Belarus also has strong ties with Syria,[144] considered a key partner in the Middle East.[145] In addition to the CIS, Belarus is a member of the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation,[137] the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998,[146] and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As an OSCE member state, Belarus's international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.[147]
+
+Belarus is included in the European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer in economic and geopolitical terms.
+
+On 15 February 2016 the European Union announced the easing of sanctions against Belarus during a meeting by 28 EU foreign ministers at a regular session of the Council of the European Union.[148]
+
+Major General Andrei Ravkov heads the Ministry of Defence,[149] and Alexander Lukashenko (as president) serves as Commander-in-Chief.[109] The armed forces were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet Armed Forces on the new republic's territory. The transformation of the ex-Soviet forces into the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was completed in 1997, reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations.[150]
+
+Most of Belarus's service members are conscripts, who serve for 12 months if they have higher education or 18 months if they do not.[151] Demographic decreases in the Belarusians of conscription age have increased the importance of contract soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in 2001.[152] In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus's gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditure.[153]
+
+Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has participated in the Individual Partnership Program since 1997,[154] and Belarus provides refueling and airspace support for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.[155] Belarus first began to cooperate with NATO upon signing documents to participate in their Partnership for Peace Program in 1995.[156] However, Belarus cannot join NATO because it is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Tensions between NATO and Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential election in Belarus.[157]
+
+Belarus is divided into six regions (Belarusian: вобласць, Russian: о́бласть), which are named after the cities that serve as their administrative centers.[158]
+
+Each region has a provincial legislative authority, called a region council (Belarusian: абласны Савет Дэпутатаў, Russian: областно́й Сове́т Депутатов), which is elected by its residents, and a provincial executive authority called a region administration (Belarusian: абласны выканаўчы камітэт, Russian: областно́й исполнительный комите́т), whose chairman is appointed by the president.[159] Regions are further subdivided into raions, commonly translated as districts (Belarusian: раён, Russian: район).[158]
+
+Each raion has its own legislative authority, or raion council, (Belarusian: раённы Савет Дэпутатаў, Russian: районный Сове́т Депутатов) elected by its residents, and an executive authority or raion administration appointed by higher executive powers. The six regions are divided into 118 raions.[94]
+
+The city of Minsk is split into nine districts and enjoys special status as the nation's capital.[160] It is run by an executive committee and has been granted a charter of self-rule.[161]
+
+Regions (with administrative centers):
+
+Special administrative district:
+
+Belarus is the only European country still using capital punishment. The U.S. and Belarus were the only two of the 56 member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to have carried out executions during 2011.[162]
+
+In 2014 the share of manufacturing in GDP was 37%, more than two thirds of this amount falls on manufacturing industries. The number of people employed in industry is 32.7% of the working population. The growth rate is much lower than for the economy as a whole – about 1.9% in 2014. At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus was one of the world's most industrially developed states by percentage of GDP as well as the richest CIS member-state.[163]
+
+In 2015, 39.3% of Belarusians were employed by state-controlled companies, 57.2% were employed by private companies (in which the government has a 21.1% stake) and 3.5% were employed by foreign companies.[164] The country relies on Russia for various imports, including petroleum.[165][166] Important agricultural products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat.[167] In 1994, Belarus's main exports included heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy products.[168]
+Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia.
+
+In the 1990s, however, industrial production plunged due to decreases in imports, investment, and demand for Belarusian products from its trading partners.[169] GDP only began to rise in 1996;[170] the country was the fastest-recovering former Soviet republic in the terms of its economy.[171] In 2006, GDP amounted to US$83.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars (estimate), or about $8,100 per capita.[167] In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%.[167]
+
+Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, under Lukashenko's leadership, Belarus has maintained government control over key industries and eschewed the large-scale privatizations seen in other former Soviet republics.
+
+In 2006, Belarus's largest trading partner was Russia, accounting for nearly half of total trade, with the European Union the next largest trading partner, with nearly a third of foreign trade.[172][173] As of 2015[update], 38% of Belarusian exported goods go to Russia and 56% of imported goods come from Russia.[164]
+
+Due to its failure to protect labor rights, including passing laws forbidding unemployment or working outside of state-controlled sectors,[174] Belarus lost its EU Generalized System of Preferences status on 21 June 2007, which raised tariff rates to their prior most favored nation levels.[173] Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993.[175]
+
+The labor force consists of more than four million people, among whom women hold slightly more jobs than men.[164] In 2005, nearly a quarter of the population was employed by industrial factories. Employment is also high in agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education. The unemployment rate, according to government statistics, was 1.5% in 2005. There were 679,000 unemployed Belarusians, two-thirds of whom were women. The unemployment rate has been in decline since 2003, and the overall rate of employment is the highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995.[164]
+
+The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble. The currency was introduced in May 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble and it has undergone redenomination twice since then. The first coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27 December 1996.[176] The ruble was reintroduced with new values in 2000 and has been in use ever since.[177] As part of the Union of Russia and Belarus, both states have discussed using a single currency along the same lines as the Euro. This led to a proposal that the Belarusian ruble be discontinued in favor of the Russian ruble (RUB), starting as early as 1 January 2008. The National Bank of Belarus abandoned pegging the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble in August 2007.[178]
+
+A new currency, the new Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 code: BYN)[179] was introduced in July 2016, replacing the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 (10,000 old rubles = 1 new ruble). From 1 July until 31 December 2016, the old and new currencies were in parallel circulation and series 2000 notes and coins can be exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021.[179] This redenomination can be considered an effort to fight the high inflation rate.[180][181]
+
+The banking system of Belarus consists of two levels: Central Bank (National Bank of the Republic of Belarus) and 25 commercial banks.[182] On 23 May 2011, the Belarusian ruble depreciated 56% against the United States dollar. The depreciation was even steeper on the black market and financial collapse seemed imminent as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars, euros, durable goods, and canned goods.[183] On 1 June 2011, Belarus requested an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.[184][185]
+
+According to the National Statistical Committee, as of January 2016[update], the population is 9.49 million.[1] Ethnic Belarusians constitute 83.7% of Belarus's total population.[1] The next largest ethnic groups are: Russians (8.3%), Poles (3.1%), and Ukrainians (1.7%).[1]
+Belarus has a population density of about 50 people per square kilometer (127 per sq mi); 70% of its total population is concentrated in urban areas.[186] Minsk, the nation's capital and largest city, was home to 1,937,900 residents in 2015[update].[187] Gomel, with a population of 481,000, is the second-largest city and serves as the capital of the Homiel Voblast. Other large cities are Mogilev (365,100), Vitebsk (342,400), Hrodna (314,800) and Brest (298,300).[188]
+
+Like many other eastern European countries, Belarus has a negative population growth rate and a negative natural growth rate. In 2007, Belarus's population declined by 0.41% and its fertility rate was 1.22,[189] well below the replacement rate. Its net migration rate is +0.38 per 1,000, indicating that Belarus experiences slightly more immigration than emigration. As of 2015[update], 69.9% of Belarus's population is aged 14 to 64; 15.5% is under 14, and 14.6% is 65 or older. Its population is also aging; the median age of 30–34 is estimated to rise to between 60 and 64 in 2050.[190] There are about 0.87 males per female in Belarus.[189] The average life expectancy is 72.15 (66.53 years for men and 78.1 years for women).[189] Over 99% of Belarusians aged 15 and older are literate.[189]
+
+
+
+Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian;[191] Russian is the most common language used at home, used by 70% of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken at home by 23%.[192] Minorities also speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish.[193] Belarusian, although not as widely used as Russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5%.[192]
+
+According to the census of November 2011, 58.9% of all Belarusians adhered to some kind of religion; out of those, Eastern Orthodoxy (Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church) made up about 82%.[194] Roman Catholicism is practiced mostly in the western regions, and there are also different denominations of Protestantism.[195][196] Minorities also practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Neopaganism. Overall, 48.3% of the population is Orthodox Christian, 41.1% is not religious, 7.1% is Catholic and 3.3% follows other religions.[194]
+
+Belarus's Catholic minority is concentrated in the western part of the country, especially around Hrodna, is made up of a mixture of Belarusians and the country's Polish and Lithuanian minorities.[197] In a statement to the media regarding Belarusian-Vatican ties, President Lukashenko stated that Orthodox and Catholic believers are the "two main confessions in our country".[198]
+
+Belarus was once a major center of European Jews, with 10% of the population being Jewish. But since the mid-20th century, the number of Jews has been reduced by the Holocaust, deportation, and emigration, so that today it is a very small minority of less than one percent.[199] The Lipka Tatars, numbering over 15,000, are predominantly Muslims. According to Article 16 of the Constitution, Belarus has no official religion. While the freedom of worship is granted in the same article, religious organizations deemed harmful to the government or social order can be prohibited.[158]
+
+The Belarusian government sponsors annual cultural festivals such as the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk,[200] which showcases Belarusian performers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors. Several state holidays, such as Independence Day and Victory Day, draw big crowds and often include displays such as fireworks and military parades, especially in Vitebsk and Minsk.[201] The government's Ministry of Culture finances events promoting Belarusian arts and culture both inside and outside the country.
+
+Belarusian literature[202] began with 11th- to 13th-century religious scripture, such as the 12th-century poetry of Cyril of Turaw.[203]
+
+By the 16th century, Polotsk resident Francysk Skaryna translated the Bible into Belarusian. It was published in Prague and Vilnius sometime between 1517 and 1525, making it the first book printed in Belarus or anywhere in Eastern Europe.[204] The modern era of Belarusian literature began in the late 19th century; one prominent writer was Yanka Kupala. Many Belarusian writers of the time, such as Uładzimir Žyłka, Kazimir Svayak, Yakub Kolas, Źmitrok Biadula, and Maksim Haretski, wrote for Nasha Niva, a Belarusian-language paper published that was previously published in Vilnius but now is published in Minsk.[205]
+
+After Belarus was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the Soviet government took control of the Republic's cultural affairs. At first, a policy of "Belarusianization" was followed in the newly formed Byelorussian SSR. This policy was reversed in the 1930s, and the majority of prominent Belarusian intellectuals and nationalist advocates were either exiled or killed in Stalinist purges.[206] The free development of literature occurred only in Polish-held territory until Soviet occupation in 1939. Several poets and authors went into exile after the Nazi occupation of Belarus and would not return until the 1960s.[204]
+
+The last major revival of Belarusian literature occurred in the 1960s with novels published by Vasil Bykaŭ and Uladzimir Karatkievich. An influential author who devoted his work to awakening the awareness of the catastrophes the country has suffered, was Ales Adamovich. He was named by Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015, as "her main teacher, who helped her to find a path of her own".[207]
+
+Music in Belarus largely comprises a rich tradition of folk and religious music. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 19th century, Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko composed operas and chamber music pieces while living in Minsk. During his stay, he worked with Belarusian poet Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich and created the opera Sialanka (Peasant Woman). At the end of the 19th century, major Belarusian cities formed their own opera and ballet companies. The ballet Nightingale by M. Kroshner was composed during the Soviet era and became the first Belarusian ballet showcased at the National Academic Vialiki Ballet Theatre in Minsk.[208]
+
+After the Second World War, music focused on the hardships of the Belarusian people or on those who took up arms in defense of the homeland. During this period, Anatoly Bogatyrev, creator of the opera In Polesye Virgin Forest, served as the "tutor" of Belarusian composers.[209] The National Academic Theatre of Ballet in Minsk was awarded the Benois de la Dance Prize in 1996 as the top ballet company in the world.[209] Rock music has become increasingly popular in recent years, though the Belarusian government has attempted to limit the amount of foreign music aired on the radio in favor of traditional Belarusian music. Since 2004, Belarus has been sending artists to the Eurovision Song Contest.[210][211]
+
+Marc Chagall was born in Liozna (near Vitebsk) in 1887. He spent the World War I years in Soviet Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde and was a founder of the Vitebsk Arts College.[212][213]
+
+The traditional Belarusian dress originates from the Kievan Rus' period. Due to the cool climate, clothes were designed to preserve body heat and were usually made from flax or wool. They were decorated with ornate patterns influenced by the neighboring cultures: Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Russians, and other European nations. Each region of Belarus has developed specific design patterns.[214] One ornamental pattern common in early dresses currently decorates the hoist of the Belarusian national flag, adopted in a disputed referendum in 1995.[215]
+
+Belarusian cuisine consists mainly of vegetables, meat (particularly pork), and bread. Foods are usually either slowly cooked or stewed. Typically, Belarusians eat a light breakfast and two hearty meals later in the day. Wheat and rye breads are consumed in Belarus, but rye is more plentiful because conditions are too harsh for growing wheat. To show hospitality, a host traditionally presents an offering of bread and salt when greeting a guest or visitor.[216]
+
+Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since the 1994 Winter Olympics. Its National Olympic Committee has been headed by President Lukashenko since 1997.[217]
+
+Receiving heavy sponsorship from the government, ice hockey is the nation's second most popular sport after football. The national football team has never qualified for a major tournament; however, BATE Borisov has played in the Champions League. The national hockey team finished fourth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics following a memorable upset win over Sweden in the quarterfinals, and regularly competes in the World Championships, often making the quarterfinals. Numerous Belarusian players are present in the Kontinental Hockey League in Eurasia, particularly for Belarusian club HC Dinamo Minsk, and several have also played in the National Hockey League in North America. Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours include three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[218]
+
+Tennis player Victoria Azarenka became the first Belarusian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 2012.[219] She also won the gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Max Mirnyi, who holds ten Grand Slam titles in doubles.
+
+Other notable Belarusian sportspeople include cyclist Vasil Kiryienka, who won the 2015 Road World Time Trial Championship, and middle-distance runner Maryna Arzamasava, who won the gold medal in the 800m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.
+
+Belarus is also known for its strong rhythmic gymnasts. Noticeable gymnasts include Inna Zhukova, who earned silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liubov Charkashyna, who earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and Melitina Staniouta, Bronze All-Around Medalist of the 2015 World Championships. The Belorussian senior group earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
+
+Andrei Arlovski, who was born in Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, is a current UFC fighter and the former UFC heavyweight champion of the world.
+
+The state telecom monopoly, Beltelecom, holds the exclusive interconnection with Internet providers outside of Belarus. Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications (former Teleglobe), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISP's. Beltelecom is the only operator licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus.[220]
+
+Belarus has four UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with nine other countries).[221]
+
+In May 2020 it was reported that the country had one of Europe's highest per capita infection rates in the COVID-19 pandemic. President Lukashenko, campaigning for the August presidential election, had repeatedly played down the danger of the coronavirus, saying a lockdown would be "ineffective, unjustified and bad for business and society."[222] On 9 May a parade, to commemorate Victory in Europe Day, went ahead in the centre of  Minsk, with a concert and festive fireworks planned as part of the programme.[223]

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+
+
+The Yangtze or Yangzi (English:  /ˈjæŋtsi/ or /ˈjɑːŋtsi/) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows 6,300 km (3,900 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the sixth-largest river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population.[7]
+
+The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.[8][9] In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.[10]
+
+The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze sturgeon, but also was the home of the extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji) and Chinese paddlefish.[11] In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution,[12] agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
+
+Because the source of the Yangtze was not ascertained until modern times, the Chinese have given different names to lower and upstream sections of the river.[13][14]
+
+Chang Jiang (长江; 長江) is the modern Chinese name for the lower 2,884 km (1,792 mi) of the Yangtze from its confluence with the Min River at Yibin in Sichuan to the river mouth at Shanghai.  Chang Jiang literally means the "Long River."  In Old Chinese, this stretch of the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江,[15] a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining the water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng, but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese[16]). Krong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as the Yue. Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon, all meaning "river," it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer kôngkea (water).[17]
+
+By the Han dynasty, Jiang had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River" 大江 (Dàjiāng).  The epithet 長 (simplified version 长), means "long," was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period.[citation needed]
+
+Various sections of Chang Jiang have local names. From Yibin to Yichang, the river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuan Jiang (川江; Chuān Jiāng) or "Sichuan River."
+
+In Hubei, the river is also called the Jing Jiang (荆江; Jīngjiāng) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou.  In Anhui, the river takes on the local name Wan Jiang after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖).  And Yangzi Jiang (揚子江; 扬子江; Yángzǐjiāng) or the "Yangzi River," from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou. The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yangzi or Yangzijin (揚子 / 揚子津; Yángzǐ / Yángzǐjīn).[18] Europeans who arrived in the Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river.[13] The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou (Jiujiang).[19]
+
+The Jinsha River (Chinese: 金沙江; lit.: 'Gold Dust[20] or Golden-Sanded River[21]') is the name for 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai.  From antiquity until the Ming dynasty, this stretch of the river was believed to be a tributary of the Yangtze while the Min River was thought to be the main course of the river above Yibin.  The name "Jinsha" originates in the Song dynasty when the river attracted large numbers of gold prospectors.  Gold prospecting along the Jinsha continues to this day.[22] Prior to the Song dynasty, other names were used including, for example Lújiāng (瀘江) from the Three Kingdoms period.[citation needed]
+
+The Tongtian River (Chinese: 通天河; lit.: 'River Passing Through Heaven') describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence with the Dangqu River.  The name comes from a fabled river in the Journey to the West.  In antiquity, it was called the Yak River.  In Mongolian, this section is known as the Murui-ussu (lit. "Winding Stream").[23] and sometimes confused with the nearby Baishui.[14]
+
+The Tuotuo River (沱沱河; Tuótuó Hé; 'Tearful River')[24] is the official headstream of the Yangtze, and flows 358 km (222 mi) from the glaciers of the Gar Kangri and the Geladandong Massifs in the Tanggula Mountains of southwestern Qinghai to the confluence with the Dangqu River to form the Tongtian River.  [26] In Mongolian, this section of the river known as the Ulaan Mörön or the "Red River."
+
+The Tuotuo is one of three main headstreams of the Yangtze.  The Dangqu River (当曲, p Dāngqū) is the actual geographic headwater of the Yangtze.[27] The name is derived the Classical Tibetan for "Marsh River" (འདམ་ཆུ, w 'Dam Chu).  The Chumar River (楚玛尔河) is the Chinese name for the northern headwater of the Yangtze, which flows from the Hoh Xil Mountains in Qinghai into the Tongtian.  Chumar is Tibetan for the "Red River."
+
+The river was called Quian (江) and Quianshui (江水) by Marco Polo[28] and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam,[29][30] all recording dialects which preserved forms of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng.[15] By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang; Dajiang, e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo,"[31] "Kyang Kew,"[32] "Kian-ku,"[33] and related names derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze (江口, p Jiāngkǒu) as the name of the river itself.
+
+The name Blue River began to be applied in the 18th century,[29] apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu[35] or Min[37] and to analogy with the Yellow River,[38][39] but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang,[40][41] Jiangkou,[31] or Yangzijiang.[42] Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names[21][43] and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway.[43][44]
+
+Matteo Ricci's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian."[45] The posthumous account's translation of the name as "Son of the Ocean"[45][46] shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the 'proper' 揚子江. Further, although railroads and the Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty, directing Liangjiang's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of the Yellow River's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into the ocean only a few hundred kilometres away from the mouth of the Yangtze.[21][33]) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name[47] as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang.[48] The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization. Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used.
+
+The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai.[49] In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu (རྨ་ཆུ་, w rMa-chu, literally "Red River" or (perhaps "Wound-[like Red] River?")). The Tongtian is the Drichu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, w 'Bri Chu, literally "River of the Female Yak"; transliterated into Chinese as 直曲, p Zhíqū).
+
+The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source."  Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains.  This source is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E / 33.42889°N 91.18250°E / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level.  The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong.[50] This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.[51] As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source.[50]
+
+These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4,900 m (16,100 ft). In its descent to sea level, the river falls to an altitude of 305 m (1,001 ft) at Yibin, Sichuan, the head of navigation for riverboats, and to 192 m (630 ft) at Chongqing (Chungking). Between Chongqing and Yichang (I-ch'ang), at an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) and a distance of about 320 km (200 mi), it passes through the spectacular Yangtze Gorges, which are noted for their natural beauty but are dangerous to shipping.
+
+It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges. Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain.
+
+After entering Hubei, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River, bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi.
+
+At the northern tip of Jiangxi, Lake Poyang, the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai.
+
+Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County, where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.
+
+The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene,[52] but this dating has been disputed.[by whom?][53][54]
+
+The glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains, the traditional source of the Yangtze River
+
+The Tuotuo River, a headwater stream of the Yangtze River, known in Tibetan as Maqu, or the "Red River"
+
+The first turn of the Yangtze at Shigu (石鼓) in Yunnan, where the river turns 180 degrees from south- to north-bound
+
+The Jinsha River in Yunnan
+
+The Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang downstream from Shigu
+
+Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Wu Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Xiling Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by ocean-going vessels up 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from its mouth even before the Three Gorges Dam was built.[dubious  – discuss]
+
+The Yangtze is flanked with metallurgical, power, chemical, auto, building materials and machinery industrial belts and high-tech development zones. It is playing an increasingly crucial role in the river valley's economic growth and has become a vital link for international shipping to the inland provinces. The river is a major transportation artery for China, connecting the interior with the coast.
+
+The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. Traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.[55][56] River cruises several days long, especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area, are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in China.
+
+Flooding along the river has been a major problem. The rainy season in China is May and June in areas south of Yangtze River, and July and August in areas north of it. The huge river system receives water from both southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season to extend from May to August. Meanwhile, the relatively dense population and rich cities along the river make the floods more deadly and costly. The most recent major floods were the 1998 Yangtze River Floods, but more disastrous were the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, which killed around 30,000 people.[57]
+
+Although the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of the Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates, however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene (c. 11 Ma).[58] Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the present Red River.[59]
+
+The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins of southern China and Japan.[60] Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago,[61] and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium  BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from the Longshan peoples of the North China Plain.[62] A study of Liangzhu remains found a high prevalence of haplogroup O1, linking it to Austronesian and Daic populations;[63] the same study found the rare haplogroup O3d at a Daxi site on the central Yangtze, indicates possible connection with the Hmong, although "only small traces" of haplogroup O3d remains in Hmong today.[64] What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the "Yue" people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth, cutting their hair short, tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves[65] – and were considered barbarous by the northerners.
+
+The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures.[66] Later on it was the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. North Chinese people were active there from the Bronze Age.[67]
+
+In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang, display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence from the 9th century BC. Traditional accounts[68] credit these changes to northern refugees (Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue, they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters, political institutions, and military technology, they were among the most powerful states during the later Zhou. In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu.[69]
+
+Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of the Spring and Autumn period's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States' Four Lords. They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united the lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian. Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan, giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river.
+
+The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated the region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Yangtze River the Xiang River to expand China into Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong, setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north.
+
+From the Han dynasty, the region of the Yangtze River became more and more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of the Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods.[70] By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu, the northern part of Zhejiang, and the southeastern part of Anhui) provided ​1⁄3–​1⁄2 of the nation's revenues.
+
+The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of the Jiangnan region south of the river (Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal, connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang, allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta.[71]
+
+Historically, the Yangtze became the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Southern Song. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period.
+
+The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars. In the Battle of Caishi of 1161, the ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin.[72][73] The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle from the same year.
+
+Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of the time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing, though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in the periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49.
+
+The first merchant steamer in China, the Jardine, was built to order for the firm of Jardine Matheson in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macau and Whampoa. However, after several trips, the Chinese authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, prohibited her entrance into the river. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary who personified gunboat diplomacy, decided to wage war on China mainly on the "suggestions" of Jardine Matheson[citation needed]. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the Royal Saxon, the British started the First Opium War. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military was vastly superior during the conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the Nemesis) were not only virtually indestructible using contemporary available weapons, but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern rifled muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing forces. After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been.
+
+In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanking signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports.
+
+The US, at the same time, wanting to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS Wachusett six hundred miles up the river to Hankow sometime in the 1860s, while the USS Ashuelot, a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Yichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy, a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos, an armed tug, was on Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankou, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. The cessation of bloodshed with the Taiping Rebellion, Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French Wars of the 1880s emerged with the Battle of Shipu having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze.
+
+The China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Most of the company's ships were seized by Japan in 1941 and services did not resume until 1946. Robert Dollar was a later shipping magnate, who became enormously influential moving Californian and Canadian lumber to the Chinese and Japanese market.
+
+Yichang, or Ichang, 1,600 km (990 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1,000 km (620 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level.
+
+The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, which fell prey to the French fleet. The Chinese would rebuild its fleet, only to be ravaged by another war with Japan (1895), Revolution (1911) and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time.
+
+Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer was better navigationally and the three gorges, described as an "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of the most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges.[74] Achibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take the vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes.  Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service.  In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it was restricted to native crafts.  In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade.  Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan, to tackle the gorges in 1898.  In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers.  Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot.[75] In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise.  Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess the Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command.  In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing.  Pioneer was sold to British Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha.  Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe.  On Suixing's maiden voyage, the vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze.  In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing.  Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun. Other Chinese vessels came onto the run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too.  Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915.  In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems.  He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River, a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction.  Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with the Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze.  Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson, Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919.  Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business.[76] Shutung was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping.[77] In 1921, when Captain Plant died tragically at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation.  The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots.  In 1924, a 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners.  One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English.  Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China.[78][79]
+
+Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd, a public company under the management of Jardine's. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtsze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. Jardine's established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were all destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years.[80]
+
+With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to sail navy ships into China's waters. The British, Americans, and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese waters: Austro-Hungarian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and German navy ships came to Shanghai and the treaty ports. The Japanese engaged in open warfare with the Chinese over conquest of the Chinese Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895, and with Russia over Qing Empire territory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Incidentally, both the French and Japanese navies were heavily involved in running opium and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseille and France (i.e. French Connection) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the U.S. or Europe.
+
+In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following an anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the Asiatic Fleet that year, which had been reestablished by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on July 1, 1911.
+
+After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to coal ship. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September where she wintered over owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze River steamer that damaged her bow.
+
+The Spanish boats were replaced in the 1920s by USS Luzon and USS Mindanao were the largest, USS Oahu and USS Panay next in size, and USS Guam and USS Tutuila the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the 20th century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanking incident of 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war. The Chiang Kai-shek's massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, U.S. Marines with tanks were landed. River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS Palos protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army.
+
+The British Royal Navy had a series of Insect-class gunboats which patrolled between Chungking and Shanghai. Cruisers and destroyers and Fly-class gunboats[citation needed] also patrolled. The most infamous incident was when Panay and HMS Bee in 1937, were dive-bombed by Japanese aeroplanes during the notorious Nanking massacre. The Westerners were forced to leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service. Probably the most curious incident involved HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War between Kuomintang and People's Liberation Army forces; and led to the award of the Dickin Medal to the ship's cat Simon.
+
+In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,437 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth.[81]
+
+Tens of millions of people live in the floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998.
+
+The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.[82][83] The Yangtze again flooded in 1935, causing great loss of life.
+
+From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in the middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at around 33,000, including those who died of plague in the aftermath of the disaster.
+
+The 1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze.[84]
+In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of the Yangtze River, resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $26 billion in economic loss.[85] Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected.[86] A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km2) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed.  The floods caused $26 billion in damages.[86]
+
+The 2016 China floods caused US$22 billion in damages.
+
+Beginning in the 1950s dams and thousands of kilometres of dikes were built for flood control, land reclamation, irrigation and for the control of diseases vectors such as blood flukes that caused Schistosomiasis. More than a hundred lakes were thus cut off from the main river.[87] There were gates between the lakes that could be opened during floods. However, farmers and settlements encroached on the land next to the lakes although it was forbidden to settle there. When floods came, it proved impossible to open the gates since it would have caused substantial destruction.[88] Thus the lakes partially or completely dried up. For example, Baidang Lake shrunk from 100 square kilometers (39 sq mi) in the 1950s to 40 square kilometers (15 sq mi) in 2005. Zhangdu Lake dwindled to one quarter of its original size. Natural fisheries output in the two lakes declined sharply. Only a few large lakes, such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, remained connected to the Yangtze. Cutting off the other lakes that had served as natural buffers for floods increased the damage done by floods further downstream. Furthermore, the natural flow of migratory fish was obstructed and biodiversity across the whole basin decreased dramatically. Intensive farming of fish in ponds spread using one type of carp who thrived in eutrophic water conditions and who feeds on algae, causing widespread pollution. The pollution was exacerbated by the discharge of waste from pig farms as well as of untreated industrial and municipal sewage.[87][89] In September 2012, the Yangtze river near Chongqing turned red from pollution.[90] The erection of the Three Gorges Dam has created an impassable "iron barrier" that has led to a great reduction in the biodiversity of the river. Yangtze sturgeon use seasonal changes in the flow of the river to signal when is it time to migrate. However, these seasonal changes will be greatly reduced by dams and diversions. Other animals facing immediate threat of extinction are the baiji dolphin, narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze alligator. These animals numbers went into freefall from the combined effects of accidental catches during fishing, river traffic, habitat loss and pollution. In 2006 the baiji dolphin became extinct; the world lost an entire genus.[91]
+
+The Yangtze River produces more ocean plastic pollution than any other, according to The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch environmental research foundation that focuses on ocean pollution. Together with 9 other rivers, the Yangtze transports 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans.[92][93]
+
+In 2002 a pilot program was initiated to reconnect lakes to the Yangtze with the objective to increase biodiversity and to alleviate flooding. The first lakes to be reconnected in 2004 were Zhangdu Lake, Honghu Lake, and Tian'e-Zhou in Hubei on the middle Yangtze. In 2005 Baidang Lake in Anhui was also reconnected.[89]
+
+Reconnecting the lakes improved water quality and fish were able to migrate from the river into the lake, replenishing their numbers and genetic stock. The trial also showed that reconnecting the lake reduced flooding. The new approach also benefitted the farmers economically. Pond farmers switched to natural fish feed, which helped them breed better-quality fish that can be sold for more, increasing their income by 30%. Based on the successful pilot project, other provincial governments emulated the experience and also reestablished connections to lakes that had previously been cut off from the river. In 2005 a Yangtze Forum has been established bringing together 13 riparian provincial governments to manage the river from source to sea.[94] In 2006 China's Ministry of Agriculture made it a national policy to reconnect the Yangtze River with its lakes. As of 2010, provincial governments in five provinces and Shanghai set up a network of 40 effective protected areas, covering 16,500 km2 (6,400 sq mi). As a result, populations of 47 threatened species increased, including the critically endangered Yangtze alligator. In the Shanghai area, reestablished wetlands now protect drinking water sources for the city. It is envisaged to extend the network throughout the entire Yangtze to eventually cover 102 areas and 185,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi). The mayor of Wuhan announced that six huge, stagnating urban lakes including the East Lake (Wuhan) would be reconnected at the cost of US$2.3 billion creating China's largest urban wetland landscape.[87][95]
+
+Until 1957, there were no bridges across the Yangtze River from Yibin to Shanghai.  For millennia, travelers crossed the river by ferry.  On occasions, the crossing may have been dangerous, as evidenced by the Zhong’anlun disaster (October 15, 1945).
+
+The river stood as a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China.  In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, at Hanyang and Pukou, and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train from Wuchang or Nanjing West.
+
+After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Soviet engineers assisted in the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual-use road-rail bridge, built from 1955 to 1957.  It was the first bridge across the Yangtze River.  The second bridge across the river that was built was a single-track railway bridge built upstream in Chongqing in 1959.  The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross the lower reaches of the Yangtze, in Nanjing.  It was built after the Sino-Soviet Split and did not receive foreign assistance.  Road-rail bridges were then built in Zhicheng (1971) and Chongqing (1980).
+
+Bridge-building slowed in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the 21st century.  The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1992 as part of the Beijing-Jiujiang Railway.  A second bridge in Wuhan was completed in 1995.  By 2005, there were a total of 56 bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai.  These include some of the longest suspension and cable-stayed bridges in the world on the Yangtze Delta: Jiangyin Suspension Bridge (1,385 m, opened in 1999), Runyang Bridge (1,490 m, opened 2005), Sutong Bridge (1,088 m, opened 2008).  The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued.  The city of Wuhan now has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze.
+
+A number of power line crossings have also been built across the river.
+
+Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge crossing Yangtze, was completed in 1957.
+
+The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a beam bridge, was completed in 1968.
+
+The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, an arch bridge, was completed in 1992.
+
+The Yichang Yangtze Highway Bridge, a suspension bridge near the Gezhouba Dam lock, was completed in 1996.
+
+The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, between Nantong and Suzhou, was one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world when it was completed in 2008.
+
+The Caiyuanba Bridge, an arch bridge in Chongqing, was completed in 2007.
+
+The cable-stayed Anqing Yangtze River Bridge at Anqing, was completed in 2005.
+
+Wuhan Metro Line 2 is the first underground rail line crossing the Yangtze River.
+
+As of 2007, there are two dams built on the Yangtze river: Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam.
+The Three Gorges Dam is the largest power station in the world by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW.
+Several dams are operating or are being constructed on the upper portion of the river, the Jinsha River.
+Among them, the Xiluodu Dam is the third largest power stations in the world, and the Baihetan Dam, planned to be commissioned in 2021, will be the second largest after the Three Gorges Dam.
+
+The Yangtze River has over 700 tributaries. The major tributaries (listed from upstream to downstream) with the locations of where they join the Yangtze are:
+
+The Huai River flowed into the Yellow Sea until the 20th century, but now primarily discharges into the Yangtze.
+
+Gan River in Jiangxi
+
+Han River in Hubei
+
+Lake Dongting and the Yuan, Zi, Li, and Xiang Rivers in Hunan
+
+Wu River in Guizhou
+
+Jialing River in eastern Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality
+
+Min River in central Sichuan
+
+Yalong River in western Sichuan
+
+The Yangtze River has a high species richness, including many endemics. A high percentage of these are seriously threatened by human activities.[96]
+
+As of 2011[update], 416 fish species are known from the Yangtze basin, including 362 that strictly are freshwater species. The remaining are also known from salt or brackish waters, such as the river's estuary or the East China Sea. This makes it one of the most species-rich rivers in Asia and by far the most species-rich in China (in comparison, the Pearl River has almost 300 fish species and the Yellow River 160).[96] 178 fish species are endemic to the Yangtze River Basin.[96] Many are only found in some section of the river basin and especially the upper reach (above Yichang, but below the headwaters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) is rich with 279 species, including 147 Yangtze endemics and 97 strict endemics (found only in this part of the basin). In contrast, the headwaters, where the average altitude is above 4,500 m (14,800 ft), are only home to 14 highly specialized species, but 8 of these are endemic to the river.[96] The largest orders in the Yangtze are Cypriniformes (280 species, including 150 endemics), Siluriformes (40 species, including 20 endemics), Perciformes (50 species, including 4 endemics), Tetraodontiformes (12 species, including 1 endemic) and Osmeriformes (8 species, including 1 endemic). No other order has more than four species in the river and one endemic.[96]
+
+Many Yangtze fish species have declined drastically and 65 were recognized as threatened in the 2009 Chinese red list.[97] Among these are three that are considered entirely extinct (Chinese paddlefish, Anabarilius liui liui and Atrilinea macrolepis), two that are extinct in the wild (Anabarilius polylepis, Schizothorax parvus), four that are critically endangered Euchiloglanis kishinouyei, Megalobrama elongata, Schizothorax longibarbus and Leiocassis longibarbus).[97][11] Additionally, both the Yangtze sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon are considered critically endangered by the IUCN. The survival of these two sturgeon may rely on the continued release of captive bred specimens.[98][99] Although still listed as critically endangered rather than extinct by both the Chinese red list and IUCN, recent reviews have found that the Chinese paddlefish is extinct.[100][101] Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2008 by ichthyologists failed to catch any, but two probable specimens were recorded with hydroacoustic signals.[102] The last definite record was an individual that was accidentally captured near Yibin in 2003 and released after having been radio tagged.[11] The Chinese sturgeon is the largest fish in the river and among the largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching a length of 5 m (16 ft); the extinct Chinese paddlefish reputedly reached as much as 7 m (23 ft), but its maximum size is labeled with considerable uncertainty.[103][104][105]
+
+The largest threats to the Yangtze native fish are overfishing and habitat loss (such as building of dams and land reclamation), but pollution, destructive fishing practices (such as fishing with dynamite or poison) and introduced species also cause problems.[96] About ​2⁄3 of the total freshwater fisheries in China are in the Yangtze Basin,[106] but a drastic decline in size of several important species has been recorded, as highlighted by data from lakes in the river basin.[96] In 2015, some experts recommend a 10-year fishing moratorium to allow the remaining populations to recover,[107] and in January 2020 China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze.[108] Dams present another serious problem, as several species in the river perform breeding migrations and most of these are non-jumpers, meaning that normal fish ladders designed for salmon are ineffective.[96] For example, the Gezhouba Dam blocked the migration of the paddlerfish and two sturgeon,[98][99][104] while also effectively splitting the Chinese high fin banded shark population into two[109] and causing the extirpation of the Yangtze population of the Japanese eel.[110] In an attempt of minimizing the effect of the dams, the Three Gorges Dam has released water to mimic the (pre-dam) natural flooding and trigger the breeding of carp species downstream.[111] In addition to dams already built in the Yangtze basin, several large dams are planned and these may present further problems for the native fauna.[111]
+
+While many fish species native to the Yangtze are seriously threatened, others have become important in fish farming and introduced widely outside their native range. A total of 26 native fish species of the Yangtze basin are farmed.[107] Among the most important are four Asian carp: grass carp, black carp, silver carp and bighead carp. Other species that support important fisheries include northern snakehead, Chinese perch, Takifugu pufferfish (mainly in the lowermost sections) and predatory carp.[96]
+
+Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to several seriously threatened species of large animals (in addition to fish): the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, baiji (Yangtze river dolphin), Chinese alligator, Yangtze giant softshell turtle and Chinese giant salamander. This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. In 2010, the Yangtze population of finless porpoise was 1000 individuals. In December 2006, the Yangtze river dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance.[113] In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze and was tentatively presumed to be a baiji.[114] However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, the baiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.[115] "Baijis were the last surviving species of a large lineage dating back seventy million years and one of only six species of freshwater dolphins." It has been argued that the extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin was a result of the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a project that has affected many species of animals and plant life found only in the gorges area.[116]
+
+Numerous species of land mammals are found in the Yangtze valley, but most of these are not directly associated with the river. Three exceptions are the semi-aquatic Eurasian otter, water deer and Père David's deer.[117]
+
+In addition to the very large and exceptionally rare Yangtze giant softshell turtle, several smaller turtle species are found in the Yangtze basin, its delta and valleys. These include the Chinese box turtle, yellow-headed box turtle, Pan's box turtle, Yunnan box turtle, yellow pond turtle, Chinese pond turtle, Chinese stripe-necked turtle and Chinese softshell turtle, which all are considered threatened.[119]
+
+More than 160 amphibian species are known from the Yangtze basin, including the world's largest, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.[120] It has declined drastically due to hunting (it is considered a delicacy), habitat loss and pollution.[118] The polluted Dian Lake, which is part of the upper Yangtze watershed (via Pudu River), is home to several highly threatened fish, but was also home to the Yunnan lake newt. This newt has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct.[121][122] In contrast, the Chinese fire belly newt from the lower Yangtze basin is one of the few Chinese salamander species to remain common and it is considered least concern by the IUCN.[122][123][124]
+
+The Yangtze basin contains a large number of freshwater crab species, including several endemics.[127] A particularly rich genus in the river basin is the potamid Sinopotamon.[128] The Chinese mitten crab is catadromous (migrates between fresh and saltwater) and it has been recorded up to 1,400 km (870 mi) up the Yangtze, which is the largest river in its native range.[126] It is a commercially important species in its native range where it is farmed,[125] but the Chinese mitten crab has also been spread to Europe and North America where considered invasive.[126]
+
+The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii, now an invasive species in large parts of the world, originates from the Yangtze.[129]

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+
+The Yangtze or Yangzi (English:  /ˈjæŋtsi/ or /ˈjɑːŋtsi/) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows 6,300 km (3,900 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the sixth-largest river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population.[7]
+
+The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.[8][9] In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.[10]
+
+The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze sturgeon, but also was the home of the extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji) and Chinese paddlefish.[11] In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution,[12] agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
+
+Because the source of the Yangtze was not ascertained until modern times, the Chinese have given different names to lower and upstream sections of the river.[13][14]
+
+Chang Jiang (长江; 長江) is the modern Chinese name for the lower 2,884 km (1,792 mi) of the Yangtze from its confluence with the Min River at Yibin in Sichuan to the river mouth at Shanghai.  Chang Jiang literally means the "Long River."  In Old Chinese, this stretch of the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江,[15] a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining the water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng, but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese[16]). Krong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as the Yue. Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon, all meaning "river," it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer kôngkea (water).[17]
+
+By the Han dynasty, Jiang had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River" 大江 (Dàjiāng).  The epithet 長 (simplified version 长), means "long," was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period.[citation needed]
+
+Various sections of Chang Jiang have local names. From Yibin to Yichang, the river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuan Jiang (川江; Chuān Jiāng) or "Sichuan River."
+
+In Hubei, the river is also called the Jing Jiang (荆江; Jīngjiāng) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou.  In Anhui, the river takes on the local name Wan Jiang after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖).  And Yangzi Jiang (揚子江; 扬子江; Yángzǐjiāng) or the "Yangzi River," from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou. The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yangzi or Yangzijin (揚子 / 揚子津; Yángzǐ / Yángzǐjīn).[18] Europeans who arrived in the Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river.[13] The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou (Jiujiang).[19]
+
+The Jinsha River (Chinese: 金沙江; lit.: 'Gold Dust[20] or Golden-Sanded River[21]') is the name for 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai.  From antiquity until the Ming dynasty, this stretch of the river was believed to be a tributary of the Yangtze while the Min River was thought to be the main course of the river above Yibin.  The name "Jinsha" originates in the Song dynasty when the river attracted large numbers of gold prospectors.  Gold prospecting along the Jinsha continues to this day.[22] Prior to the Song dynasty, other names were used including, for example Lújiāng (瀘江) from the Three Kingdoms period.[citation needed]
+
+The Tongtian River (Chinese: 通天河; lit.: 'River Passing Through Heaven') describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence with the Dangqu River.  The name comes from a fabled river in the Journey to the West.  In antiquity, it was called the Yak River.  In Mongolian, this section is known as the Murui-ussu (lit. "Winding Stream").[23] and sometimes confused with the nearby Baishui.[14]
+
+The Tuotuo River (沱沱河; Tuótuó Hé; 'Tearful River')[24] is the official headstream of the Yangtze, and flows 358 km (222 mi) from the glaciers of the Gar Kangri and the Geladandong Massifs in the Tanggula Mountains of southwestern Qinghai to the confluence with the Dangqu River to form the Tongtian River.  [26] In Mongolian, this section of the river known as the Ulaan Mörön or the "Red River."
+
+The Tuotuo is one of three main headstreams of the Yangtze.  The Dangqu River (当曲, p Dāngqū) is the actual geographic headwater of the Yangtze.[27] The name is derived the Classical Tibetan for "Marsh River" (འདམ་ཆུ, w 'Dam Chu).  The Chumar River (楚玛尔河) is the Chinese name for the northern headwater of the Yangtze, which flows from the Hoh Xil Mountains in Qinghai into the Tongtian.  Chumar is Tibetan for the "Red River."
+
+The river was called Quian (江) and Quianshui (江水) by Marco Polo[28] and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam,[29][30] all recording dialects which preserved forms of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng.[15] By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang; Dajiang, e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo,"[31] "Kyang Kew,"[32] "Kian-ku,"[33] and related names derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze (江口, p Jiāngkǒu) as the name of the river itself.
+
+The name Blue River began to be applied in the 18th century,[29] apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu[35] or Min[37] and to analogy with the Yellow River,[38][39] but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang,[40][41] Jiangkou,[31] or Yangzijiang.[42] Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names[21][43] and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway.[43][44]
+
+Matteo Ricci's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian."[45] The posthumous account's translation of the name as "Son of the Ocean"[45][46] shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the 'proper' 揚子江. Further, although railroads and the Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty, directing Liangjiang's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of the Yellow River's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into the ocean only a few hundred kilometres away from the mouth of the Yangtze.[21][33]) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name[47] as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang.[48] The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization. Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used.
+
+The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai.[49] In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu (རྨ་ཆུ་, w rMa-chu, literally "Red River" or (perhaps "Wound-[like Red] River?")). The Tongtian is the Drichu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, w 'Bri Chu, literally "River of the Female Yak"; transliterated into Chinese as 直曲, p Zhíqū).
+
+The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source."  Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains.  This source is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E / 33.42889°N 91.18250°E / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level.  The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong.[50] This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.[51] As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source.[50]
+
+These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4,900 m (16,100 ft). In its descent to sea level, the river falls to an altitude of 305 m (1,001 ft) at Yibin, Sichuan, the head of navigation for riverboats, and to 192 m (630 ft) at Chongqing (Chungking). Between Chongqing and Yichang (I-ch'ang), at an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) and a distance of about 320 km (200 mi), it passes through the spectacular Yangtze Gorges, which are noted for their natural beauty but are dangerous to shipping.
+
+It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges. Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain.
+
+After entering Hubei, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River, bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi.
+
+At the northern tip of Jiangxi, Lake Poyang, the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai.
+
+Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County, where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.
+
+The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene,[52] but this dating has been disputed.[by whom?][53][54]
+
+The glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains, the traditional source of the Yangtze River
+
+The Tuotuo River, a headwater stream of the Yangtze River, known in Tibetan as Maqu, or the "Red River"
+
+The first turn of the Yangtze at Shigu (石鼓) in Yunnan, where the river turns 180 degrees from south- to north-bound
+
+The Jinsha River in Yunnan
+
+The Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang downstream from Shigu
+
+Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Wu Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Xiling Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by ocean-going vessels up 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from its mouth even before the Three Gorges Dam was built.[dubious  – discuss]
+
+The Yangtze is flanked with metallurgical, power, chemical, auto, building materials and machinery industrial belts and high-tech development zones. It is playing an increasingly crucial role in the river valley's economic growth and has become a vital link for international shipping to the inland provinces. The river is a major transportation artery for China, connecting the interior with the coast.
+
+The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. Traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.[55][56] River cruises several days long, especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area, are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in China.
+
+Flooding along the river has been a major problem. The rainy season in China is May and June in areas south of Yangtze River, and July and August in areas north of it. The huge river system receives water from both southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season to extend from May to August. Meanwhile, the relatively dense population and rich cities along the river make the floods more deadly and costly. The most recent major floods were the 1998 Yangtze River Floods, but more disastrous were the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, which killed around 30,000 people.[57]
+
+Although the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of the Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates, however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene (c. 11 Ma).[58] Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the present Red River.[59]
+
+The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins of southern China and Japan.[60] Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago,[61] and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium  BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from the Longshan peoples of the North China Plain.[62] A study of Liangzhu remains found a high prevalence of haplogroup O1, linking it to Austronesian and Daic populations;[63] the same study found the rare haplogroup O3d at a Daxi site on the central Yangtze, indicates possible connection with the Hmong, although "only small traces" of haplogroup O3d remains in Hmong today.[64] What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the "Yue" people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth, cutting their hair short, tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves[65] – and were considered barbarous by the northerners.
+
+The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures.[66] Later on it was the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. North Chinese people were active there from the Bronze Age.[67]
+
+In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang, display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence from the 9th century BC. Traditional accounts[68] credit these changes to northern refugees (Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue, they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters, political institutions, and military technology, they were among the most powerful states during the later Zhou. In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu.[69]
+
+Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of the Spring and Autumn period's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States' Four Lords. They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united the lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian. Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan, giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river.
+
+The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated the region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Yangtze River the Xiang River to expand China into Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong, setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north.
+
+From the Han dynasty, the region of the Yangtze River became more and more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of the Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods.[70] By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu, the northern part of Zhejiang, and the southeastern part of Anhui) provided ​1⁄3–​1⁄2 of the nation's revenues.
+
+The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of the Jiangnan region south of the river (Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal, connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang, allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta.[71]
+
+Historically, the Yangtze became the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Southern Song. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period.
+
+The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars. In the Battle of Caishi of 1161, the ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin.[72][73] The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle from the same year.
+
+Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of the time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing, though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in the periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49.
+
+The first merchant steamer in China, the Jardine, was built to order for the firm of Jardine Matheson in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macau and Whampoa. However, after several trips, the Chinese authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, prohibited her entrance into the river. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary who personified gunboat diplomacy, decided to wage war on China mainly on the "suggestions" of Jardine Matheson[citation needed]. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the Royal Saxon, the British started the First Opium War. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military was vastly superior during the conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the Nemesis) were not only virtually indestructible using contemporary available weapons, but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern rifled muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing forces. After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been.
+
+In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanking signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports.
+
+The US, at the same time, wanting to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS Wachusett six hundred miles up the river to Hankow sometime in the 1860s, while the USS Ashuelot, a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Yichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy, a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos, an armed tug, was on Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankou, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. The cessation of bloodshed with the Taiping Rebellion, Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French Wars of the 1880s emerged with the Battle of Shipu having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze.
+
+The China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Most of the company's ships were seized by Japan in 1941 and services did not resume until 1946. Robert Dollar was a later shipping magnate, who became enormously influential moving Californian and Canadian lumber to the Chinese and Japanese market.
+
+Yichang, or Ichang, 1,600 km (990 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1,000 km (620 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level.
+
+The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, which fell prey to the French fleet. The Chinese would rebuild its fleet, only to be ravaged by another war with Japan (1895), Revolution (1911) and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time.
+
+Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer was better navigationally and the three gorges, described as an "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of the most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges.[74] Achibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take the vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes.  Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service.  In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it was restricted to native crafts.  In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade.  Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan, to tackle the gorges in 1898.  In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers.  Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot.[75] In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise.  Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess the Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command.  In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing.  Pioneer was sold to British Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha.  Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe.  On Suixing's maiden voyage, the vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze.  In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing.  Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun. Other Chinese vessels came onto the run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too.  Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915.  In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems.  He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River, a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction.  Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with the Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze.  Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson, Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919.  Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business.[76] Shutung was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping.[77] In 1921, when Captain Plant died tragically at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation.  The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots.  In 1924, a 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners.  One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English.  Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China.[78][79]
+
+Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd, a public company under the management of Jardine's. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtsze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. Jardine's established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were all destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years.[80]
+
+With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to sail navy ships into China's waters. The British, Americans, and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese waters: Austro-Hungarian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and German navy ships came to Shanghai and the treaty ports. The Japanese engaged in open warfare with the Chinese over conquest of the Chinese Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895, and with Russia over Qing Empire territory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Incidentally, both the French and Japanese navies were heavily involved in running opium and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseille and France (i.e. French Connection) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the U.S. or Europe.
+
+In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following an anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the Asiatic Fleet that year, which had been reestablished by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on July 1, 1911.
+
+After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to coal ship. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September where she wintered over owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze River steamer that damaged her bow.
+
+The Spanish boats were replaced in the 1920s by USS Luzon and USS Mindanao were the largest, USS Oahu and USS Panay next in size, and USS Guam and USS Tutuila the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the 20th century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanking incident of 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war. The Chiang Kai-shek's massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, U.S. Marines with tanks were landed. River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS Palos protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army.
+
+The British Royal Navy had a series of Insect-class gunboats which patrolled between Chungking and Shanghai. Cruisers and destroyers and Fly-class gunboats[citation needed] also patrolled. The most infamous incident was when Panay and HMS Bee in 1937, were dive-bombed by Japanese aeroplanes during the notorious Nanking massacre. The Westerners were forced to leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service. Probably the most curious incident involved HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War between Kuomintang and People's Liberation Army forces; and led to the award of the Dickin Medal to the ship's cat Simon.
+
+In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,437 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth.[81]
+
+Tens of millions of people live in the floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998.
+
+The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.[82][83] The Yangtze again flooded in 1935, causing great loss of life.
+
+From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in the middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at around 33,000, including those who died of plague in the aftermath of the disaster.
+
+The 1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze.[84]
+In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of the Yangtze River, resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $26 billion in economic loss.[85] Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected.[86] A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km2) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed.  The floods caused $26 billion in damages.[86]
+
+The 2016 China floods caused US$22 billion in damages.
+
+Beginning in the 1950s dams and thousands of kilometres of dikes were built for flood control, land reclamation, irrigation and for the control of diseases vectors such as blood flukes that caused Schistosomiasis. More than a hundred lakes were thus cut off from the main river.[87] There were gates between the lakes that could be opened during floods. However, farmers and settlements encroached on the land next to the lakes although it was forbidden to settle there. When floods came, it proved impossible to open the gates since it would have caused substantial destruction.[88] Thus the lakes partially or completely dried up. For example, Baidang Lake shrunk from 100 square kilometers (39 sq mi) in the 1950s to 40 square kilometers (15 sq mi) in 2005. Zhangdu Lake dwindled to one quarter of its original size. Natural fisheries output in the two lakes declined sharply. Only a few large lakes, such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, remained connected to the Yangtze. Cutting off the other lakes that had served as natural buffers for floods increased the damage done by floods further downstream. Furthermore, the natural flow of migratory fish was obstructed and biodiversity across the whole basin decreased dramatically. Intensive farming of fish in ponds spread using one type of carp who thrived in eutrophic water conditions and who feeds on algae, causing widespread pollution. The pollution was exacerbated by the discharge of waste from pig farms as well as of untreated industrial and municipal sewage.[87][89] In September 2012, the Yangtze river near Chongqing turned red from pollution.[90] The erection of the Three Gorges Dam has created an impassable "iron barrier" that has led to a great reduction in the biodiversity of the river. Yangtze sturgeon use seasonal changes in the flow of the river to signal when is it time to migrate. However, these seasonal changes will be greatly reduced by dams and diversions. Other animals facing immediate threat of extinction are the baiji dolphin, narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze alligator. These animals numbers went into freefall from the combined effects of accidental catches during fishing, river traffic, habitat loss and pollution. In 2006 the baiji dolphin became extinct; the world lost an entire genus.[91]
+
+The Yangtze River produces more ocean plastic pollution than any other, according to The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch environmental research foundation that focuses on ocean pollution. Together with 9 other rivers, the Yangtze transports 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans.[92][93]
+
+In 2002 a pilot program was initiated to reconnect lakes to the Yangtze with the objective to increase biodiversity and to alleviate flooding. The first lakes to be reconnected in 2004 were Zhangdu Lake, Honghu Lake, and Tian'e-Zhou in Hubei on the middle Yangtze. In 2005 Baidang Lake in Anhui was also reconnected.[89]
+
+Reconnecting the lakes improved water quality and fish were able to migrate from the river into the lake, replenishing their numbers and genetic stock. The trial also showed that reconnecting the lake reduced flooding. The new approach also benefitted the farmers economically. Pond farmers switched to natural fish feed, which helped them breed better-quality fish that can be sold for more, increasing their income by 30%. Based on the successful pilot project, other provincial governments emulated the experience and also reestablished connections to lakes that had previously been cut off from the river. In 2005 a Yangtze Forum has been established bringing together 13 riparian provincial governments to manage the river from source to sea.[94] In 2006 China's Ministry of Agriculture made it a national policy to reconnect the Yangtze River with its lakes. As of 2010, provincial governments in five provinces and Shanghai set up a network of 40 effective protected areas, covering 16,500 km2 (6,400 sq mi). As a result, populations of 47 threatened species increased, including the critically endangered Yangtze alligator. In the Shanghai area, reestablished wetlands now protect drinking water sources for the city. It is envisaged to extend the network throughout the entire Yangtze to eventually cover 102 areas and 185,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi). The mayor of Wuhan announced that six huge, stagnating urban lakes including the East Lake (Wuhan) would be reconnected at the cost of US$2.3 billion creating China's largest urban wetland landscape.[87][95]
+
+Until 1957, there were no bridges across the Yangtze River from Yibin to Shanghai.  For millennia, travelers crossed the river by ferry.  On occasions, the crossing may have been dangerous, as evidenced by the Zhong’anlun disaster (October 15, 1945).
+
+The river stood as a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China.  In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, at Hanyang and Pukou, and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train from Wuchang or Nanjing West.
+
+After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Soviet engineers assisted in the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual-use road-rail bridge, built from 1955 to 1957.  It was the first bridge across the Yangtze River.  The second bridge across the river that was built was a single-track railway bridge built upstream in Chongqing in 1959.  The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross the lower reaches of the Yangtze, in Nanjing.  It was built after the Sino-Soviet Split and did not receive foreign assistance.  Road-rail bridges were then built in Zhicheng (1971) and Chongqing (1980).
+
+Bridge-building slowed in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the 21st century.  The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1992 as part of the Beijing-Jiujiang Railway.  A second bridge in Wuhan was completed in 1995.  By 2005, there were a total of 56 bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai.  These include some of the longest suspension and cable-stayed bridges in the world on the Yangtze Delta: Jiangyin Suspension Bridge (1,385 m, opened in 1999), Runyang Bridge (1,490 m, opened 2005), Sutong Bridge (1,088 m, opened 2008).  The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued.  The city of Wuhan now has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze.
+
+A number of power line crossings have also been built across the river.
+
+Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge crossing Yangtze, was completed in 1957.
+
+The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a beam bridge, was completed in 1968.
+
+The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, an arch bridge, was completed in 1992.
+
+The Yichang Yangtze Highway Bridge, a suspension bridge near the Gezhouba Dam lock, was completed in 1996.
+
+The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, between Nantong and Suzhou, was one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world when it was completed in 2008.
+
+The Caiyuanba Bridge, an arch bridge in Chongqing, was completed in 2007.
+
+The cable-stayed Anqing Yangtze River Bridge at Anqing, was completed in 2005.
+
+Wuhan Metro Line 2 is the first underground rail line crossing the Yangtze River.
+
+As of 2007, there are two dams built on the Yangtze river: Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam.
+The Three Gorges Dam is the largest power station in the world by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW.
+Several dams are operating or are being constructed on the upper portion of the river, the Jinsha River.
+Among them, the Xiluodu Dam is the third largest power stations in the world, and the Baihetan Dam, planned to be commissioned in 2021, will be the second largest after the Three Gorges Dam.
+
+The Yangtze River has over 700 tributaries. The major tributaries (listed from upstream to downstream) with the locations of where they join the Yangtze are:
+
+The Huai River flowed into the Yellow Sea until the 20th century, but now primarily discharges into the Yangtze.
+
+Gan River in Jiangxi
+
+Han River in Hubei
+
+Lake Dongting and the Yuan, Zi, Li, and Xiang Rivers in Hunan
+
+Wu River in Guizhou
+
+Jialing River in eastern Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality
+
+Min River in central Sichuan
+
+Yalong River in western Sichuan
+
+The Yangtze River has a high species richness, including many endemics. A high percentage of these are seriously threatened by human activities.[96]
+
+As of 2011[update], 416 fish species are known from the Yangtze basin, including 362 that strictly are freshwater species. The remaining are also known from salt or brackish waters, such as the river's estuary or the East China Sea. This makes it one of the most species-rich rivers in Asia and by far the most species-rich in China (in comparison, the Pearl River has almost 300 fish species and the Yellow River 160).[96] 178 fish species are endemic to the Yangtze River Basin.[96] Many are only found in some section of the river basin and especially the upper reach (above Yichang, but below the headwaters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) is rich with 279 species, including 147 Yangtze endemics and 97 strict endemics (found only in this part of the basin). In contrast, the headwaters, where the average altitude is above 4,500 m (14,800 ft), are only home to 14 highly specialized species, but 8 of these are endemic to the river.[96] The largest orders in the Yangtze are Cypriniformes (280 species, including 150 endemics), Siluriformes (40 species, including 20 endemics), Perciformes (50 species, including 4 endemics), Tetraodontiformes (12 species, including 1 endemic) and Osmeriformes (8 species, including 1 endemic). No other order has more than four species in the river and one endemic.[96]
+
+Many Yangtze fish species have declined drastically and 65 were recognized as threatened in the 2009 Chinese red list.[97] Among these are three that are considered entirely extinct (Chinese paddlefish, Anabarilius liui liui and Atrilinea macrolepis), two that are extinct in the wild (Anabarilius polylepis, Schizothorax parvus), four that are critically endangered Euchiloglanis kishinouyei, Megalobrama elongata, Schizothorax longibarbus and Leiocassis longibarbus).[97][11] Additionally, both the Yangtze sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon are considered critically endangered by the IUCN. The survival of these two sturgeon may rely on the continued release of captive bred specimens.[98][99] Although still listed as critically endangered rather than extinct by both the Chinese red list and IUCN, recent reviews have found that the Chinese paddlefish is extinct.[100][101] Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2008 by ichthyologists failed to catch any, but two probable specimens were recorded with hydroacoustic signals.[102] The last definite record was an individual that was accidentally captured near Yibin in 2003 and released after having been radio tagged.[11] The Chinese sturgeon is the largest fish in the river and among the largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching a length of 5 m (16 ft); the extinct Chinese paddlefish reputedly reached as much as 7 m (23 ft), but its maximum size is labeled with considerable uncertainty.[103][104][105]
+
+The largest threats to the Yangtze native fish are overfishing and habitat loss (such as building of dams and land reclamation), but pollution, destructive fishing practices (such as fishing with dynamite or poison) and introduced species also cause problems.[96] About ​2⁄3 of the total freshwater fisheries in China are in the Yangtze Basin,[106] but a drastic decline in size of several important species has been recorded, as highlighted by data from lakes in the river basin.[96] In 2015, some experts recommend a 10-year fishing moratorium to allow the remaining populations to recover,[107] and in January 2020 China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze.[108] Dams present another serious problem, as several species in the river perform breeding migrations and most of these are non-jumpers, meaning that normal fish ladders designed for salmon are ineffective.[96] For example, the Gezhouba Dam blocked the migration of the paddlerfish and two sturgeon,[98][99][104] while also effectively splitting the Chinese high fin banded shark population into two[109] and causing the extirpation of the Yangtze population of the Japanese eel.[110] In an attempt of minimizing the effect of the dams, the Three Gorges Dam has released water to mimic the (pre-dam) natural flooding and trigger the breeding of carp species downstream.[111] In addition to dams already built in the Yangtze basin, several large dams are planned and these may present further problems for the native fauna.[111]
+
+While many fish species native to the Yangtze are seriously threatened, others have become important in fish farming and introduced widely outside their native range. A total of 26 native fish species of the Yangtze basin are farmed.[107] Among the most important are four Asian carp: grass carp, black carp, silver carp and bighead carp. Other species that support important fisheries include northern snakehead, Chinese perch, Takifugu pufferfish (mainly in the lowermost sections) and predatory carp.[96]
+
+Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to several seriously threatened species of large animals (in addition to fish): the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, baiji (Yangtze river dolphin), Chinese alligator, Yangtze giant softshell turtle and Chinese giant salamander. This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. In 2010, the Yangtze population of finless porpoise was 1000 individuals. In December 2006, the Yangtze river dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance.[113] In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze and was tentatively presumed to be a baiji.[114] However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, the baiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.[115] "Baijis were the last surviving species of a large lineage dating back seventy million years and one of only six species of freshwater dolphins." It has been argued that the extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin was a result of the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a project that has affected many species of animals and plant life found only in the gorges area.[116]
+
+Numerous species of land mammals are found in the Yangtze valley, but most of these are not directly associated with the river. Three exceptions are the semi-aquatic Eurasian otter, water deer and Père David's deer.[117]
+
+In addition to the very large and exceptionally rare Yangtze giant softshell turtle, several smaller turtle species are found in the Yangtze basin, its delta and valleys. These include the Chinese box turtle, yellow-headed box turtle, Pan's box turtle, Yunnan box turtle, yellow pond turtle, Chinese pond turtle, Chinese stripe-necked turtle and Chinese softshell turtle, which all are considered threatened.[119]
+
+More than 160 amphibian species are known from the Yangtze basin, including the world's largest, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.[120] It has declined drastically due to hunting (it is considered a delicacy), habitat loss and pollution.[118] The polluted Dian Lake, which is part of the upper Yangtze watershed (via Pudu River), is home to several highly threatened fish, but was also home to the Yunnan lake newt. This newt has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct.[121][122] In contrast, the Chinese fire belly newt from the lower Yangtze basin is one of the few Chinese salamander species to remain common and it is considered least concern by the IUCN.[122][123][124]
+
+The Yangtze basin contains a large number of freshwater crab species, including several endemics.[127] A particularly rich genus in the river basin is the potamid Sinopotamon.[128] The Chinese mitten crab is catadromous (migrates between fresh and saltwater) and it has been recorded up to 1,400 km (870 mi) up the Yangtze, which is the largest river in its native range.[126] It is a commercially important species in its native range where it is farmed,[125] but the Chinese mitten crab has also been spread to Europe and North America where considered invasive.[126]
+
+The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii, now an invasive species in large parts of the world, originates from the Yangtze.[129]

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+
+The Yangtze or Yangzi (English:  /ˈjæŋtsi/ or /ˈjɑːŋtsi/) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows 6,300 km (3,900 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the sixth-largest river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population.[7]
+
+The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.[8][9] In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.[10]
+
+The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze sturgeon, but also was the home of the extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji) and Chinese paddlefish.[11] In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution,[12] agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
+
+Because the source of the Yangtze was not ascertained until modern times, the Chinese have given different names to lower and upstream sections of the river.[13][14]
+
+Chang Jiang (长江; 長江) is the modern Chinese name for the lower 2,884 km (1,792 mi) of the Yangtze from its confluence with the Min River at Yibin in Sichuan to the river mouth at Shanghai.  Chang Jiang literally means the "Long River."  In Old Chinese, this stretch of the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江,[15] a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining the water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng, but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese[16]). Krong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as the Yue. Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon, all meaning "river," it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer kôngkea (water).[17]
+
+By the Han dynasty, Jiang had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River" 大江 (Dàjiāng).  The epithet 長 (simplified version 长), means "long," was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period.[citation needed]
+
+Various sections of Chang Jiang have local names. From Yibin to Yichang, the river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuan Jiang (川江; Chuān Jiāng) or "Sichuan River."
+
+In Hubei, the river is also called the Jing Jiang (荆江; Jīngjiāng) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou.  In Anhui, the river takes on the local name Wan Jiang after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖).  And Yangzi Jiang (揚子江; 扬子江; Yángzǐjiāng) or the "Yangzi River," from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou. The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yangzi or Yangzijin (揚子 / 揚子津; Yángzǐ / Yángzǐjīn).[18] Europeans who arrived in the Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river.[13] The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou (Jiujiang).[19]
+
+The Jinsha River (Chinese: 金沙江; lit.: 'Gold Dust[20] or Golden-Sanded River[21]') is the name for 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai.  From antiquity until the Ming dynasty, this stretch of the river was believed to be a tributary of the Yangtze while the Min River was thought to be the main course of the river above Yibin.  The name "Jinsha" originates in the Song dynasty when the river attracted large numbers of gold prospectors.  Gold prospecting along the Jinsha continues to this day.[22] Prior to the Song dynasty, other names were used including, for example Lújiāng (瀘江) from the Three Kingdoms period.[citation needed]
+
+The Tongtian River (Chinese: 通天河; lit.: 'River Passing Through Heaven') describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence with the Dangqu River.  The name comes from a fabled river in the Journey to the West.  In antiquity, it was called the Yak River.  In Mongolian, this section is known as the Murui-ussu (lit. "Winding Stream").[23] and sometimes confused with the nearby Baishui.[14]
+
+The Tuotuo River (沱沱河; Tuótuó Hé; 'Tearful River')[24] is the official headstream of the Yangtze, and flows 358 km (222 mi) from the glaciers of the Gar Kangri and the Geladandong Massifs in the Tanggula Mountains of southwestern Qinghai to the confluence with the Dangqu River to form the Tongtian River.  [26] In Mongolian, this section of the river known as the Ulaan Mörön or the "Red River."
+
+The Tuotuo is one of three main headstreams of the Yangtze.  The Dangqu River (当曲, p Dāngqū) is the actual geographic headwater of the Yangtze.[27] The name is derived the Classical Tibetan for "Marsh River" (འདམ་ཆུ, w 'Dam Chu).  The Chumar River (楚玛尔河) is the Chinese name for the northern headwater of the Yangtze, which flows from the Hoh Xil Mountains in Qinghai into the Tongtian.  Chumar is Tibetan for the "Red River."
+
+The river was called Quian (江) and Quianshui (江水) by Marco Polo[28] and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam,[29][30] all recording dialects which preserved forms of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng.[15] By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang; Dajiang, e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo,"[31] "Kyang Kew,"[32] "Kian-ku,"[33] and related names derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze (江口, p Jiāngkǒu) as the name of the river itself.
+
+The name Blue River began to be applied in the 18th century,[29] apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu[35] or Min[37] and to analogy with the Yellow River,[38][39] but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang,[40][41] Jiangkou,[31] or Yangzijiang.[42] Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names[21][43] and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway.[43][44]
+
+Matteo Ricci's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian."[45] The posthumous account's translation of the name as "Son of the Ocean"[45][46] shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the 'proper' 揚子江. Further, although railroads and the Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty, directing Liangjiang's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of the Yellow River's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into the ocean only a few hundred kilometres away from the mouth of the Yangtze.[21][33]) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name[47] as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang.[48] The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization. Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used.
+
+The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai.[49] In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu (རྨ་ཆུ་, w rMa-chu, literally "Red River" or (perhaps "Wound-[like Red] River?")). The Tongtian is the Drichu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, w 'Bri Chu, literally "River of the Female Yak"; transliterated into Chinese as 直曲, p Zhíqū).
+
+The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source."  Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains.  This source is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E / 33.42889°N 91.18250°E / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level.  The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong.[50] This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.[51] As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source.[50]
+
+These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4,900 m (16,100 ft). In its descent to sea level, the river falls to an altitude of 305 m (1,001 ft) at Yibin, Sichuan, the head of navigation for riverboats, and to 192 m (630 ft) at Chongqing (Chungking). Between Chongqing and Yichang (I-ch'ang), at an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) and a distance of about 320 km (200 mi), it passes through the spectacular Yangtze Gorges, which are noted for their natural beauty but are dangerous to shipping.
+
+It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges. Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain.
+
+After entering Hubei, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River, bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi.
+
+At the northern tip of Jiangxi, Lake Poyang, the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai.
+
+Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County, where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.
+
+The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene,[52] but this dating has been disputed.[by whom?][53][54]
+
+The glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains, the traditional source of the Yangtze River
+
+The Tuotuo River, a headwater stream of the Yangtze River, known in Tibetan as Maqu, or the "Red River"
+
+The first turn of the Yangtze at Shigu (石鼓) in Yunnan, where the river turns 180 degrees from south- to north-bound
+
+The Jinsha River in Yunnan
+
+The Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang downstream from Shigu
+
+Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Wu Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+Xiling Gorge, one of the Three Gorges
+
+The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by ocean-going vessels up 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from its mouth even before the Three Gorges Dam was built.[dubious  – discuss]
+
+The Yangtze is flanked with metallurgical, power, chemical, auto, building materials and machinery industrial belts and high-tech development zones. It is playing an increasingly crucial role in the river valley's economic growth and has become a vital link for international shipping to the inland provinces. The river is a major transportation artery for China, connecting the interior with the coast.
+
+The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. Traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.[55][56] River cruises several days long, especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area, are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in China.
+
+Flooding along the river has been a major problem. The rainy season in China is May and June in areas south of Yangtze River, and July and August in areas north of it. The huge river system receives water from both southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season to extend from May to August. Meanwhile, the relatively dense population and rich cities along the river make the floods more deadly and costly. The most recent major floods were the 1998 Yangtze River Floods, but more disastrous were the 1954 Yangtze River Floods, which killed around 30,000 people.[57]
+
+Although the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of the Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates, however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene (c. 11 Ma).[58] Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the present Red River.[59]
+
+The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins of southern China and Japan.[60] Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago,[61] and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures, both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium  BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from the Longshan peoples of the North China Plain.[62] A study of Liangzhu remains found a high prevalence of haplogroup O1, linking it to Austronesian and Daic populations;[63] the same study found the rare haplogroup O3d at a Daxi site on the central Yangtze, indicates possible connection with the Hmong, although "only small traces" of haplogroup O3d remains in Hmong today.[64] What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the "Yue" people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth, cutting their hair short, tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves[65] – and were considered barbarous by the northerners.
+
+The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures.[66] Later on it was the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. North Chinese people were active there from the Bronze Age.[67]
+
+In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang, display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence from the 9th century BC. Traditional accounts[68] credit these changes to northern refugees (Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue, they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters, political institutions, and military technology, they were among the most powerful states during the later Zhou. In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu.[69]
+
+Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of the Spring and Autumn period's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States' Four Lords. They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united the lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian. Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan, giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river.
+
+The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated the region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Yangtze River the Xiang River to expand China into Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong, setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north.
+
+From the Han dynasty, the region of the Yangtze River became more and more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of the Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods.[70] By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu, the northern part of Zhejiang, and the southeastern part of Anhui) provided ​1⁄3–​1⁄2 of the nation's revenues.
+
+The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of the Jiangnan region south of the river (Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal, connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang, allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta.[71]
+
+Historically, the Yangtze became the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Southern Song. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period.
+
+The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars. In the Battle of Caishi of 1161, the ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin.[72][73] The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle from the same year.
+
+Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of the time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing, though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in the periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49.
+
+The first merchant steamer in China, the Jardine, was built to order for the firm of Jardine Matheson in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macau and Whampoa. However, after several trips, the Chinese authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, prohibited her entrance into the river. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary who personified gunboat diplomacy, decided to wage war on China mainly on the "suggestions" of Jardine Matheson[citation needed]. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the Royal Saxon, the British started the First Opium War. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military was vastly superior during the conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the Nemesis) were not only virtually indestructible using contemporary available weapons, but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern rifled muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing forces. After the British took Canton, they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been.
+
+In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of Nanking signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports.
+
+The US, at the same time, wanting to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS Wachusett six hundred miles up the river to Hankow sometime in the 1860s, while the USS Ashuelot, a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Yichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy, a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos, an armed tug, was on Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankou, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. The cessation of bloodshed with the Taiping Rebellion, Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French Wars of the 1880s emerged with the Battle of Shipu having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze.
+
+The China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Most of the company's ships were seized by Japan in 1941 and services did not resume until 1946. Robert Dollar was a later shipping magnate, who became enormously influential moving Californian and Canadian lumber to the Chinese and Japanese market.
+
+Yichang, or Ichang, 1,600 km (990 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1,000 km (620 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level.
+
+The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, which fell prey to the French fleet. The Chinese would rebuild its fleet, only to be ravaged by another war with Japan (1895), Revolution (1911) and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time.
+
+Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer was better navigationally and the three gorges, described as an "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of the most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges.[74] Achibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take the vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes.  Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service.  In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it was restricted to native crafts.  In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade.  Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan, to tackle the gorges in 1898.  In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers.  Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot.[75] In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise.  Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess the Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command.  In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing.  Pioneer was sold to British Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha.  Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe.  On Suixing's maiden voyage, the vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze.  In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing.  Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun. Other Chinese vessels came onto the run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too.  Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915.  In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems.  He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River, a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction.  Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with the Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze.  Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson, Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919.  Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business.[76] Shutung was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping.[77] In 1921, when Captain Plant died tragically at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation.  The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots.  In 1924, a 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners.  One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English.  Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China.[78][79]
+
+Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd, a public company under the management of Jardine's. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtsze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. Jardine's established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were all destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years.[80]
+
+With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to sail navy ships into China's waters. The British, Americans, and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese waters: Austro-Hungarian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian and German navy ships came to Shanghai and the treaty ports. The Japanese engaged in open warfare with the Chinese over conquest of the Chinese Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895, and with Russia over Qing Empire territory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Incidentally, both the French and Japanese navies were heavily involved in running opium and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseille and France (i.e. French Connection) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the U.S. or Europe.
+
+In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following an anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the Asiatic Fleet that year, which had been reestablished by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on July 1, 1911.
+
+After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to coal ship. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September where she wintered over owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze River steamer that damaged her bow.
+
+The Spanish boats were replaced in the 1920s by USS Luzon and USS Mindanao were the largest, USS Oahu and USS Panay next in size, and USS Guam and USS Tutuila the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the 20th century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the Nanking incident of 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war. The Chiang Kai-shek's massacre of the Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, U.S. Marines with tanks were landed. River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second USS Palos protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army.
+
+The British Royal Navy had a series of Insect-class gunboats which patrolled between Chungking and Shanghai. Cruisers and destroyers and Fly-class gunboats[citation needed] also patrolled. The most infamous incident was when Panay and HMS Bee in 1937, were dive-bombed by Japanese aeroplanes during the notorious Nanking massacre. The Westerners were forced to leave the Yangtze River with the Japanese takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service. Probably the most curious incident involved HMS Amethyst in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War between Kuomintang and People's Liberation Army forces; and led to the award of the Dickin Medal to the ship's cat Simon.
+
+In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,437 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth.[81]
+
+Tens of millions of people live in the floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998.
+
+The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.[82][83] The Yangtze again flooded in 1935, causing great loss of life.
+
+From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in the middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at around 33,000, including those who died of plague in the aftermath of the disaster.
+
+The 1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze.[84]
+In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of the Yangtze River, resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $26 billion in economic loss.[85] Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected.[86] A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km2) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed.  The floods caused $26 billion in damages.[86]
+
+The 2016 China floods caused US$22 billion in damages.
+
+Beginning in the 1950s dams and thousands of kilometres of dikes were built for flood control, land reclamation, irrigation and for the control of diseases vectors such as blood flukes that caused Schistosomiasis. More than a hundred lakes were thus cut off from the main river.[87] There were gates between the lakes that could be opened during floods. However, farmers and settlements encroached on the land next to the lakes although it was forbidden to settle there. When floods came, it proved impossible to open the gates since it would have caused substantial destruction.[88] Thus the lakes partially or completely dried up. For example, Baidang Lake shrunk from 100 square kilometers (39 sq mi) in the 1950s to 40 square kilometers (15 sq mi) in 2005. Zhangdu Lake dwindled to one quarter of its original size. Natural fisheries output in the two lakes declined sharply. Only a few large lakes, such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, remained connected to the Yangtze. Cutting off the other lakes that had served as natural buffers for floods increased the damage done by floods further downstream. Furthermore, the natural flow of migratory fish was obstructed and biodiversity across the whole basin decreased dramatically. Intensive farming of fish in ponds spread using one type of carp who thrived in eutrophic water conditions and who feeds on algae, causing widespread pollution. The pollution was exacerbated by the discharge of waste from pig farms as well as of untreated industrial and municipal sewage.[87][89] In September 2012, the Yangtze river near Chongqing turned red from pollution.[90] The erection of the Three Gorges Dam has created an impassable "iron barrier" that has led to a great reduction in the biodiversity of the river. Yangtze sturgeon use seasonal changes in the flow of the river to signal when is it time to migrate. However, these seasonal changes will be greatly reduced by dams and diversions. Other animals facing immediate threat of extinction are the baiji dolphin, narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze alligator. These animals numbers went into freefall from the combined effects of accidental catches during fishing, river traffic, habitat loss and pollution. In 2006 the baiji dolphin became extinct; the world lost an entire genus.[91]
+
+The Yangtze River produces more ocean plastic pollution than any other, according to The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch environmental research foundation that focuses on ocean pollution. Together with 9 other rivers, the Yangtze transports 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans.[92][93]
+
+In 2002 a pilot program was initiated to reconnect lakes to the Yangtze with the objective to increase biodiversity and to alleviate flooding. The first lakes to be reconnected in 2004 were Zhangdu Lake, Honghu Lake, and Tian'e-Zhou in Hubei on the middle Yangtze. In 2005 Baidang Lake in Anhui was also reconnected.[89]
+
+Reconnecting the lakes improved water quality and fish were able to migrate from the river into the lake, replenishing their numbers and genetic stock. The trial also showed that reconnecting the lake reduced flooding. The new approach also benefitted the farmers economically. Pond farmers switched to natural fish feed, which helped them breed better-quality fish that can be sold for more, increasing their income by 30%. Based on the successful pilot project, other provincial governments emulated the experience and also reestablished connections to lakes that had previously been cut off from the river. In 2005 a Yangtze Forum has been established bringing together 13 riparian provincial governments to manage the river from source to sea.[94] In 2006 China's Ministry of Agriculture made it a national policy to reconnect the Yangtze River with its lakes. As of 2010, provincial governments in five provinces and Shanghai set up a network of 40 effective protected areas, covering 16,500 km2 (6,400 sq mi). As a result, populations of 47 threatened species increased, including the critically endangered Yangtze alligator. In the Shanghai area, reestablished wetlands now protect drinking water sources for the city. It is envisaged to extend the network throughout the entire Yangtze to eventually cover 102 areas and 185,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi). The mayor of Wuhan announced that six huge, stagnating urban lakes including the East Lake (Wuhan) would be reconnected at the cost of US$2.3 billion creating China's largest urban wetland landscape.[87][95]
+
+Until 1957, there were no bridges across the Yangtze River from Yibin to Shanghai.  For millennia, travelers crossed the river by ferry.  On occasions, the crossing may have been dangerous, as evidenced by the Zhong’anlun disaster (October 15, 1945).
+
+The river stood as a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China.  In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, at Hanyang and Pukou, and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train from Wuchang or Nanjing West.
+
+After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Soviet engineers assisted in the design and construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual-use road-rail bridge, built from 1955 to 1957.  It was the first bridge across the Yangtze River.  The second bridge across the river that was built was a single-track railway bridge built upstream in Chongqing in 1959.  The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross the lower reaches of the Yangtze, in Nanjing.  It was built after the Sino-Soviet Split and did not receive foreign assistance.  Road-rail bridges were then built in Zhicheng (1971) and Chongqing (1980).
+
+Bridge-building slowed in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the 21st century.  The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1992 as part of the Beijing-Jiujiang Railway.  A second bridge in Wuhan was completed in 1995.  By 2005, there were a total of 56 bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai.  These include some of the longest suspension and cable-stayed bridges in the world on the Yangtze Delta: Jiangyin Suspension Bridge (1,385 m, opened in 1999), Runyang Bridge (1,490 m, opened 2005), Sutong Bridge (1,088 m, opened 2008).  The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued.  The city of Wuhan now has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze.
+
+A number of power line crossings have also been built across the river.
+
+Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the first bridge crossing Yangtze, was completed in 1957.
+
+The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a beam bridge, was completed in 1968.
+
+The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, an arch bridge, was completed in 1992.
+
+The Yichang Yangtze Highway Bridge, a suspension bridge near the Gezhouba Dam lock, was completed in 1996.
+
+The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, between Nantong and Suzhou, was one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world when it was completed in 2008.
+
+The Caiyuanba Bridge, an arch bridge in Chongqing, was completed in 2007.
+
+The cable-stayed Anqing Yangtze River Bridge at Anqing, was completed in 2005.
+
+Wuhan Metro Line 2 is the first underground rail line crossing the Yangtze River.
+
+As of 2007, there are two dams built on the Yangtze river: Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam.
+The Three Gorges Dam is the largest power station in the world by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW.
+Several dams are operating or are being constructed on the upper portion of the river, the Jinsha River.
+Among them, the Xiluodu Dam is the third largest power stations in the world, and the Baihetan Dam, planned to be commissioned in 2021, will be the second largest after the Three Gorges Dam.
+
+The Yangtze River has over 700 tributaries. The major tributaries (listed from upstream to downstream) with the locations of where they join the Yangtze are:
+
+The Huai River flowed into the Yellow Sea until the 20th century, but now primarily discharges into the Yangtze.
+
+Gan River in Jiangxi
+
+Han River in Hubei
+
+Lake Dongting and the Yuan, Zi, Li, and Xiang Rivers in Hunan
+
+Wu River in Guizhou
+
+Jialing River in eastern Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality
+
+Min River in central Sichuan
+
+Yalong River in western Sichuan
+
+The Yangtze River has a high species richness, including many endemics. A high percentage of these are seriously threatened by human activities.[96]
+
+As of 2011[update], 416 fish species are known from the Yangtze basin, including 362 that strictly are freshwater species. The remaining are also known from salt or brackish waters, such as the river's estuary or the East China Sea. This makes it one of the most species-rich rivers in Asia and by far the most species-rich in China (in comparison, the Pearl River has almost 300 fish species and the Yellow River 160).[96] 178 fish species are endemic to the Yangtze River Basin.[96] Many are only found in some section of the river basin and especially the upper reach (above Yichang, but below the headwaters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) is rich with 279 species, including 147 Yangtze endemics and 97 strict endemics (found only in this part of the basin). In contrast, the headwaters, where the average altitude is above 4,500 m (14,800 ft), are only home to 14 highly specialized species, but 8 of these are endemic to the river.[96] The largest orders in the Yangtze are Cypriniformes (280 species, including 150 endemics), Siluriformes (40 species, including 20 endemics), Perciformes (50 species, including 4 endemics), Tetraodontiformes (12 species, including 1 endemic) and Osmeriformes (8 species, including 1 endemic). No other order has more than four species in the river and one endemic.[96]
+
+Many Yangtze fish species have declined drastically and 65 were recognized as threatened in the 2009 Chinese red list.[97] Among these are three that are considered entirely extinct (Chinese paddlefish, Anabarilius liui liui and Atrilinea macrolepis), two that are extinct in the wild (Anabarilius polylepis, Schizothorax parvus), four that are critically endangered Euchiloglanis kishinouyei, Megalobrama elongata, Schizothorax longibarbus and Leiocassis longibarbus).[97][11] Additionally, both the Yangtze sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon are considered critically endangered by the IUCN. The survival of these two sturgeon may rely on the continued release of captive bred specimens.[98][99] Although still listed as critically endangered rather than extinct by both the Chinese red list and IUCN, recent reviews have found that the Chinese paddlefish is extinct.[100][101] Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2008 by ichthyologists failed to catch any, but two probable specimens were recorded with hydroacoustic signals.[102] The last definite record was an individual that was accidentally captured near Yibin in 2003 and released after having been radio tagged.[11] The Chinese sturgeon is the largest fish in the river and among the largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching a length of 5 m (16 ft); the extinct Chinese paddlefish reputedly reached as much as 7 m (23 ft), but its maximum size is labeled with considerable uncertainty.[103][104][105]
+
+The largest threats to the Yangtze native fish are overfishing and habitat loss (such as building of dams and land reclamation), but pollution, destructive fishing practices (such as fishing with dynamite or poison) and introduced species also cause problems.[96] About ​2⁄3 of the total freshwater fisheries in China are in the Yangtze Basin,[106] but a drastic decline in size of several important species has been recorded, as highlighted by data from lakes in the river basin.[96] In 2015, some experts recommend a 10-year fishing moratorium to allow the remaining populations to recover,[107] and in January 2020 China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze.[108] Dams present another serious problem, as several species in the river perform breeding migrations and most of these are non-jumpers, meaning that normal fish ladders designed for salmon are ineffective.[96] For example, the Gezhouba Dam blocked the migration of the paddlerfish and two sturgeon,[98][99][104] while also effectively splitting the Chinese high fin banded shark population into two[109] and causing the extirpation of the Yangtze population of the Japanese eel.[110] In an attempt of minimizing the effect of the dams, the Three Gorges Dam has released water to mimic the (pre-dam) natural flooding and trigger the breeding of carp species downstream.[111] In addition to dams already built in the Yangtze basin, several large dams are planned and these may present further problems for the native fauna.[111]
+
+While many fish species native to the Yangtze are seriously threatened, others have become important in fish farming and introduced widely outside their native range. A total of 26 native fish species of the Yangtze basin are farmed.[107] Among the most important are four Asian carp: grass carp, black carp, silver carp and bighead carp. Other species that support important fisheries include northern snakehead, Chinese perch, Takifugu pufferfish (mainly in the lowermost sections) and predatory carp.[96]
+
+Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to several seriously threatened species of large animals (in addition to fish): the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, baiji (Yangtze river dolphin), Chinese alligator, Yangtze giant softshell turtle and Chinese giant salamander. This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. In 2010, the Yangtze population of finless porpoise was 1000 individuals. In December 2006, the Yangtze river dolphin was declared functionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance.[113] In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze and was tentatively presumed to be a baiji.[114] However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, the baiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.[115] "Baijis were the last surviving species of a large lineage dating back seventy million years and one of only six species of freshwater dolphins." It has been argued that the extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin was a result of the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a project that has affected many species of animals and plant life found only in the gorges area.[116]
+
+Numerous species of land mammals are found in the Yangtze valley, but most of these are not directly associated with the river. Three exceptions are the semi-aquatic Eurasian otter, water deer and Père David's deer.[117]
+
+In addition to the very large and exceptionally rare Yangtze giant softshell turtle, several smaller turtle species are found in the Yangtze basin, its delta and valleys. These include the Chinese box turtle, yellow-headed box turtle, Pan's box turtle, Yunnan box turtle, yellow pond turtle, Chinese pond turtle, Chinese stripe-necked turtle and Chinese softshell turtle, which all are considered threatened.[119]
+
+More than 160 amphibian species are known from the Yangtze basin, including the world's largest, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.[120] It has declined drastically due to hunting (it is considered a delicacy), habitat loss and pollution.[118] The polluted Dian Lake, which is part of the upper Yangtze watershed (via Pudu River), is home to several highly threatened fish, but was also home to the Yunnan lake newt. This newt has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct.[121][122] In contrast, the Chinese fire belly newt from the lower Yangtze basin is one of the few Chinese salamander species to remain common and it is considered least concern by the IUCN.[122][123][124]
+
+The Yangtze basin contains a large number of freshwater crab species, including several endemics.[127] A particularly rich genus in the river basin is the potamid Sinopotamon.[128] The Chinese mitten crab is catadromous (migrates between fresh and saltwater) and it has been recorded up to 1,400 km (870 mi) up the Yangtze, which is the largest river in its native range.[126] It is a commercially important species in its native range where it is farmed,[125] but the Chinese mitten crab has also been spread to Europe and North America where considered invasive.[126]
+
+The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii, now an invasive species in large parts of the world, originates from the Yangtze.[129]

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+
+Yogurt (UK: /ˈjɒɡərt/; US: /ˈjoʊɡərt/,[1] from Turkish: yoğurt), also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt, is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk.[2] The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as yogurt cultures. The fermentation of lactose by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to give yogurt its texture and characteristic tart flavor.[2] Cow's milk is commonly available worldwide and, as such, is the milk most commonly used to make yogurt. Milk from water buffalo, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is also used to produce yogurt where available locally. The milk used may be homogenized or not. It may be pasteurized or raw. Each type of milk produces substantially different results.
+
+Yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria. In addition, other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are sometimes added during or after culturing yogurt. Some countries require yogurt to contain a certain amount of colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria; in China, for example, the requirement for the number of lactobacillus bacteria is at least 1 million CFU per milliliter.[3]
+
+To produce yogurt, milk is first heated, usually to about 85 °C (185 °F), to denature the milk proteins so that they do not form curds. After heating, the milk is allowed to cool to about 45 °C (113 °F).[4] The bacterial culture is mixed in, and that temperature of 45 °C is maintained for 4 to 12 hours to allow fermentation to occur.[5]
+
+The word is derived from Turkish: yoğurt,[6] and is usually related to the verb yoğurmak, "to knead", or "to be curdled or coagulated; to thicken".[6] It may be related to yoğun, meaning thick or dense. The sound ğ was traditionally rendered as "gh" in transliterations of Turkish from around 1615–1625.[6] In modern Turkish the letter ğ marks a diaeresis between two vowels, without being pronounced itself, which is reflected in some languages' versions of the word (e.g. Greek γιαούρτι giaoúrti, French yaourt, Romanian iaurt).
+
+In English, the several variations of the spelling of the word include yogurt, yoghurt, and to a lesser extent yoghourt or yogourt.[6]
+
+Analysis of the L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus genome indicates that the bacterium may have originated on the surface of a plant.[7] Milk may have become spontaneously and unintentionally exposed to it through contact with plants, or bacteria may have been transferred from the udder of domestic milk-producing animals.[8] The origins of yogurt are unknown, but it is thought to have been invented in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC.[9] In ancient Indian records, the combination of yogurt and honey is called "the food of the gods".[10] Persian traditions hold that "Abraham owed his fecundity and longevity to the regular ingestion of yogurt".[11]
+
+The cuisine of ancient Greece included a dairy product known as oxygala (οξύγαλα) which was similar to yogurt.[12][13][14][15] Galen (AD 129 – c. 200/c. 216) mentioned that oxygala was consumed with honey, similar to the way thickened Greek yogurt is eaten today.[15][14] The oldest writings mentioning yogurt are attributed to Pliny the Elder, who remarked that certain "barbarous nations" knew how "to thicken the milk into a substance with an agreeable acidity".[16] The use of yogurt by medieval Turks is recorded in the books Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk by Mahmud Kashgari and Kutadgu Bilig by Yusuf Has Hajib written in the 11th century.[17][18] Both texts mention the word "yogurt" in different sections and describe its use by nomadic Turks.[17][18] The earliest yogurts were probably spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria in goat skin bags.[19]
+
+Some accounts suggest that Mughal Indian emperor Akbar's cooks would flavor yogurt with mustard seeds and cinnamon.[20] Another early account of a European encounter with yogurt occurs in French clinical history: Francis I suffered from a severe diarrhea which no French doctor could cure. His ally Suleiman the Magnificent sent a doctor, who allegedly cured the patient with yogurt.[20][21] Being grateful, the French king spread around the information about the food that had cured him.
+
+Until the 1900s, yogurt was a staple in diets of people in the Russian Empire (and especially Central Asia and the Caucasus), Western Asia, South Eastern Europe/Balkans, Central Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. Stamen Grigorov (1878–1945), a Bulgarian student of medicine in Geneva, first examined the microflora of the Bulgarian yogurt. In 1905, he described it as consisting of a spherical and a rod-like lactic acid-producing bacteria. In 1907, the rod-like bacterium was called Bacillus bulgaricus (now Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus). The Russian Nobel laureate and biologist Ilya Mechnikov, from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, was influenced by Grigorov's work and hypothesized that regular consumption of yogurt was responsible for the unusually long lifespans of Bulgarian peasants.[22] Believing Lactobacillus to be essential for good health, Mechnikov worked to popularize yogurt as a foodstuff throughout Europe.
+
+Isaac Carasso industrialized the production of yogurt. In 1919, Carasso, who was from Ottoman Salonika, started a small yogurt business in Barcelona, Spain, and named the business Danone ("little Daniel") after his son. The brand later expanded to the United States under an Americanized version of the name: Dannon. Yogurt with added fruit jam was patented in 1933 by the Radlická Mlékárna dairy in Prague.[23]
+
+Yogurt was introduced to the United States in the first decade of the twentieth century, influenced by Élie Metchnikoff's The Prolongation of Life; Optimistic Studies (1908); it was available in tablet form for those with digestive intolerance and for home culturing.[24] It was popularized by John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where it was used both orally and in enemas,[25] and later by Armenian immigrants Sarkis and Rose Colombosian, who started "Colombo and Sons Creamery" in Andover, Massachusetts in 1929.[26][27]
+
+Colombo Yogurt was originally delivered around New England in a horse-drawn wagon inscribed with the Armenian word "madzoon" which was later changed to "yogurt", the Turkish language name of the product, as Turkish was the lingua franca between immigrants of the various Near Eastern ethnicities who were the main consumers at that time. Yogurt's popularity in the United States was enhanced in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was presented as a health food by scientists like Hungarian-born bacteriologist Stephen A. Gaymont.[28] Plain yogurt still proved too sour for the American palate and in 1966 Colombo Yogurt sweetened the yogurt and added fruit preserves, creating "fruit on the bottom" style yogurt. This was successful and company sales soon exceeded $1 million per year.[29] By the late 20th century, yogurt had become a common American food item and Colombo Yogurt was sold in 1993 to General Mills, which discontinued the brand in 2010.[30]
+
+In 2017, the average American ate 13.7 pounds of yogurt and that figure has been declining since 2014.
+
+Sale of yogurt was down 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending in February 2019.  The decline of Greek-style yogurt has allowed Icelandic style yogurt to gain a foothold in the United States with sales of the Icelandic style yogurt increasing 24 percent in 2018 to $173 million.[31]
+
+Yogurt (plain yogurt from whole milk) is 81% water, 9% protein, 5% fat, and 4% carbohydrates, including 4% sugars (table). A 100-gram amount provides 406 kilojoules (97 kcal) of dietary energy. As a proportion of the Daily Value (DV), a serving of yogurt is a rich source of vitamin B12 (31% DV) and riboflavin (23% DV), with moderate content of protein, phosphorus, and selenium (14 to 19% DV; table).
+
+Tilde (~) represents missing or incomplete data.  
+The above shows little difference exists between whole milk and yogurt made from whole milk with respect to the listed nutritional constituents.
+
+Because it may contain live cultures, yogurt is often associated with probiotics, which have been postulated as having positive effects on immune, cardiovascular or metabolic health.[34][35][36] However, to date high-quality clinical evidence has been insufficient to conclude that consuming yogurt lowers the risk of diseases or otherwise improves health.[37][needs update]
+
+Dahi is a yogurt from the Indian subcontinent, known for its characteristic taste and consistency. The word dahi seems to be derived from the Sanskrit word dadhi ("sour milk"), one of the five elixirs, or panchamrita, often used in Hindu ritual. Sweetened dahi (mishti doi or meethi dahi) is common in eastern parts of India, made by fermenting sweetened milk. While cow's milk is currently the primary ingredient for yogurt, goat and buffalo milk were widely used in the past, and valued for the fat content (see buffalo curd).
+
+Dadiah or dadih is a traditional West Sumatran yogurt made from water buffalo milk, fermented in bamboo tubes.[38] Yogurt is common in Nepal, where it is served as both an appetizer and dessert. Locally called dahi, it is a part of the Nepali culture, used in local festivals, marriage ceremonies, parties, religious occasions, family gatherings, and so on. One Nepalese yogurt is called juju dhau, originating from the city of Bhaktapur. In Tibet, yak milk (technically dri milk, as the word yak refers to the male animal) is made into yogurt (and butter and cheese) and consumed.
+
+In Northern Iran, Mâst Chekide is a variety of kefir yogurt with a distinct sour taste. It is usually mixed with a pesto-like water and fresh herb purée called delal. Common appetizers are spinach or eggplant borani, Mâst-o-Khiâr with cucumber, spring onions and herbs, and Mâst-Musir with wild shallots. In the summertime, yogurt and ice cubes are mixed together with cucumbers, raisins, salt, pepper and onions and topped with some croutons made of Persian traditional bread and served as a cold soup. Ashe-Mâst is a warm yogurt soup with fresh herbs, spinach and lentils. Even the leftover water extracted when straining yogurt is cooked to make a sour cream sauce called kashk, which is usually used as a topping on soups and stews.
+
+Matsoni is a Georgian yogurt in the Caucasus and Russia. Tarator and Cacık are cold soups made from yogurt during summertime in eastern Europe. They are made with ayran, cucumbers, dill, salt, olive oil, and optionally garlic and ground walnuts. Tzatziki in Greece and milk salad in Bulgaria are thick yogurt-based salads similar to tarator.
+
+Khyar w Laban (cucumber and yogurt salad) is a dish in Lebanon and Syria. Also, a wide variety of local Lebanese and Syrian dishes are cooked with yogurt like "Kibbi bi Laban" Rahmjoghurt, a creamy yogurt with much higher fat content (10%) than many yogurts offered in English-speaking countries. Dovga, a yogurt soup cooked with a variety of herbs and rice, is served warm in winter or refreshingly cold in summer. Jameed, yogurt salted and dried to preserve it, is consumed in Jordan. Zabadi is the type of yogurt made in Egypt, usually from the milk of the Egyptian water buffalo. It is particularly associated with Ramadan fasting, as it is thought to prevent thirst during all-day fasting.[39]
+
+To offset its natural sourness, yogurt is also sold sweetened, sweetened and flavored or in containers with fruit or fruit jam on the bottom.[40] The two styles of yogurt commonly found in the grocery store are set-style yogurt and Swiss-style yogurt. Set-style yogurt is poured into individual containers to set, while Swiss-style yogurt is stirred prior to packaging. Either may have fruit added to increase sweetness.[40]
+
+Lassi is a common Indian beverage made from stirred liquified yogurt that is either salted or sweetened with sugar commonly, less commonly honey and combined with fruit pulp to create flavored lassi.[41] Consistency can vary widely, with urban and commercial lassis having uniform texture through being processed, whereas rural and rustic lassi has discernible curds or fruit pulp.[41]
+
+Large amounts of sugar – or other sweeteners for low-energy yogurts – are often used in commercial yogurt.[40][42] Some yogurts contain added modified starch,[43] pectin (found naturally in fruit) or gelatin to create thickness and creaminess. This type of yogurt may be marketed under the name Swiss-style, although it is unrelated to conventional Swiss yogurt. Some yogurts, often called "cream line", are made with whole milk which has not been homogenized so the cream rises to the top. In many countries, sweetened, flavored yogurt is common, typically sold in single-serving plastic cups.[40] Common flavors may include vanilla, honey, and toffee, and various fruits.[40][42] In the early 21st century, yogurt flavors inspired by desserts, such as chocolate or cheesecake, became common.[42] There is concern about the health effects of sweetened yogurt due to its high sugar content,[40] although research indicates that use of sugar in yogurt manufacturing has decreased since 2016 in response to WHO and government initiatives to combat obesity.[40][44]
+
+Strained yogurt has been strained through a filter, traditionally made of muslin and more recently of paper or non-muslin cloth. This removes the whey, giving a much thicker consistency.  Strained yogurt is made at home, especially if using skimmed milk which results in a thinner consistency.[45] Yogurt that has been strained to filter or remove the whey is known as Labneh in Middle Eastern countries. It has a consistency between that of yogurt and cheese. It may be used for sandwiches in Middle Eastern countries. Olive oil, cucumber slices, olives, and various green herbs may be added. It can be thickened further and rolled into balls, preserved in olive oil, and fermented for a few more weeks. It is sometimes used with onions, meat, and nuts as a stuffing for a variety of pies or kibbeh balls.
+
+Some types of strained yogurts are boiled in open vats first, so that the liquid content is reduced. The East Indian dessert, a variation of traditional dahi called mishti dahi, offers a thicker, more custard-like consistency, and is usually sweeter than western yogurts.[46] Strained yogurt is also enjoyed in Greece and is the main component of tzatziki (from Turkish "cacık"), a well-known accompaniment to gyros and souvlaki pita sandwiches: it is a yogurt sauce or dip made with the addition of grated cucumber, olive oil, salt and, optionally, mashed garlic. Srikhand, a dessert in India, is made from strained yogurt, saffron, cardamom, nutmeg and sugar and sometimes fruits such as mango or pineapple.
+
+In North America, strained yogurt is commonly called "Greek yogurt". Powdered milk is sometimes added in lieu of straining to achieve thickness. In Britain as "Greek-style yogurt". In Britain the name "Greek" may only be applied to yogurt made in Greece.[47]
+
+Ayran, doogh ("dawghe" in Neo-Aramaic) or dhallë is a yogurt-based, salty drink. It is made by mixing yogurt with water and (sometimes) salt.
+
+Borhani (or burhani) is a spicy yogurt drink from Bangladesh. It is usually served with kacchi biryani at weddings and special feasts. Key ingredients are yogurt blended with mint leaves (mentha), mustard seeds and black rock salt (Kala Namak). Ground roasted cumin, ground white pepper, green chili pepper paste and sugar are often added.
+
+Lassi is a yogurt-based beverage that is usually slightly salty or sweet, and may be commercially flavored with rosewater, mango or other fruit juice. Salty lassi is usually flavored with ground, roasted cumin and red chilies, may be made with buttermilk.
+
+An unsweetened and unsalted yogurt drink usually called simply jogurt is consumed with burek and other baked goods in the Balkans. Sweetened yogurt drinks are the usual form in Europe (including the UK) and the US, containing fruit and added sweeteners. These are typically called "drinkable yogurt". Also available are "yogurt smoothies", which contain a higher proportion of fruit and are more like smoothies.
+
+A variety of plant milk yogurts appeared in the 2000s, using soy milk, rice milk, and nut milks such as almond milk and coconut milk. These yogurts are suitable for vegans, people with intolerance to dairy milk, and those who prefer plant-based products.[48]
+
+Yogurt is made by heating milk to a temperature that denaturates its proteins (scalding), essential for making yogurt,[49] cooling it to a temperature that will not kill the live microorganisms that turn the milk into yogurt, inoculating certain bacteria (starter culture), usually Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, into the milk, and finally keeping it warm for several hours. The milk may be held at 85 °C (185 °F) for a few minutes, or boiled (giving a somewhat different result). It must be cooled to 50 °C (122 °F) or somewhat less, typically 40–46 °C (104–115 °F). Starter culture must then be mixed in well, and the mixture must be kept undisturbed and warm for some time, anywhere between 5 and 12 hours. Longer fermentation times produces a more acidic yogurt. The starter culture may be a small amount of live (not sterilized) existing yogurt or commercially available dried starter culture.
+
+Milk with a higher concentration of solids than normal milk may be used; the higher solids content produces a firmer yogurt. Solids can be increased by adding dried milk.[50] The yogurt-making process provides two significant barriers to pathogen growth, heat and acidity (low pH). Both are necessary to ensure a safe product. Acidity alone has been questioned by recent outbreaks of food poisoning by E. coli O157:H7 that is acid-tolerant. E. coli O157:H7 is easily destroyed by pasteurization (heating); the initial heating of the milk kills pathogens as well as denaturing proteins.[51] The microorganisms that turn milk into yogurt can tolerate higher temperatures than most pathogens, so that a suitable temperature not only encourages the formation of yogurt, but inhibits pathogenic microorganisms. Once the yogurt has formed it can, if desired, be strained to reduce the whey content and thicken it.
+
+Two types of yogurt are supported by the Codex Alimentarius for import and export.[52]
+
+Under US Food and Drug Administration regulations, milk must be pasteurized before it is cultured, and may optionally be heat treated after culturing to increase shelf life.[54] Most commercial yogurts in the United States are not heat treated after culturing, and contain live cultures.
+
+Yogurt with live cultures[55][56][57] is more beneficial than pasteurized yogurt.[58]
+
+Lactose intolerance is a condition in which people have symptoms due to the decreased ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) determined that lactose intolerance can be alleviated by ingesting live yogurt cultures (lactobacilli) that are able to digest the lactose in other dairy products.[58] The scientific review by EFSA enabled yogurt manufacturers to use a health claim on product labels, provided that the "yogurt should contain at least 108 CFU live starter microorganisms (Lactobacillus  delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus) per gram. The target population is individuals with lactose maldigestion."[58]
+
+Doogh is a savory yogurt-based beverage, traditionally served cold and is sometimes carbonated and seasoned with mint and salt.
+
+Skyr is an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt traditionally served cold with milk and a topping of sugar
+
+Raita is a condiment made with yogurt in the Indian subcontinent
+
+Dadiah in a market
+
+Plant milk yogurt
+
+Home yogurt maker
+
+A drinkable yogurt made from water buffalo milk

en/6136.html.txt

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+
+
+Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide animals with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. In higher organisms, the eye is a complex optical system which collects light from the surrounding environment, regulates its intensity through a diaphragm, focuses it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to form an image, converts this image into a set of electrical signals, and transmits these signals to the brain through complex neural pathways that connect the eye via the optic nerve to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain. Eyes with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system.[1] Image-resolving eyes are present in molluscs, chordates and arthropods.[2]
+
+The most simple eyes, pit eyes, are eye-spots which may be set into a pit to reduce the angles of light that enters and affects the eye-spot, to allow the organism to deduce the angle of incoming light.[1] From more complex eyes, retinal photosensitive ganglion cells send signals along the retinohypothalamic tract to the suprachiasmatic nuclei to effect circadian adjustment and to the pretectal area to control the pupillary light reflex.
+
+Complex eyes can distinguish shapes and colours. The visual fields of many organisms, especially predators, involve large areas of binocular vision to improve depth perception. In other organisms, eyes are located so as to maximise the field of view, such as in rabbits and horses, which have monocular vision.
+
+The first proto-eyes evolved among animals 600 million years ago about the time of the Cambrian explosion.[3] The last common ancestor of animals possessed the biochemical toolkit necessary for vision, and more advanced eyes have evolved in 96% of animal species in six of the ~35[a] main phyla.[1] In most vertebrates and some molluscs, the eye works by allowing light to enter and project onto a light-sensitive panel of cells, known as the retina, at the rear of the eye. The cone cells (for colour) and the rod cells (for low-light contrasts) in the retina detect and convert light into neural signals for vision. The visual signals are then transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. Such eyes are typically roughly spherical, filled with a transparent gel-like substance called the vitreous humour, with a focusing lens and often an iris; the relaxing or tightening of the muscles around the iris change the size of the pupil, thereby regulating the amount of light that enters the eye,[4] and reducing aberrations when there is enough light.[5] The eyes of most cephalopods, fish, amphibians and snakes have fixed lens shapes, and focusing vision is achieved by telescoping the lens—similar to how a camera focuses.[6]
+
+Compound eyes are found among the arthropods and are composed of many simple facets which, depending on the details of anatomy, may give either a single pixelated image or multiple images, per eye. Each sensor has its own lens and photosensitive cell(s). Some eyes have up to 28,000 such sensors, which are arranged hexagonally, and which can give a full 360° field of vision. Compound eyes are very sensitive to motion. Some arthropods, including many Strepsiptera, have compound eyes of only a few facets, each with a retina capable of creating an image, creating vision. With each eye viewing a different thing, a fused image from all the eyes is produced in the brain, providing very different, high-resolution images.
+
+Possessing detailed hyperspectral colour vision, the Mantis shrimp has been reported to have the world's most complex colour vision system.[7] Trilobites, which are now extinct, had unique compound eyes. They used clear calcite crystals to form the lenses of their eyes. In this, they differ from most other arthropods, which have soft eyes. The number of lenses in such an eye varied; however, some trilobites had only one, and some had thousands of lenses in one eye.
+
+In contrast to compound eyes, simple eyes are those that have a single lens. For example, jumping spiders have a large pair of simple eyes with a narrow field of view, supported by an array of other, smaller eyes for peripheral vision. Some insect larvae, like caterpillars, have a different type of simple eye (stemmata) which usually provides only a rough image, but (as in sawfly larvae) can possess resolving powers of 4 degrees of arc, be polarization-sensitive and capable of increasing its absolute sensitivity at night by a factor of 1,000 or more.[8] Some of the simplest eyes, called ocelli, can be found in animals like some of the snails, which cannot actually "see" in the normal sense. They do have photosensitive cells, but no lens and no other means of projecting an image onto these cells. They can distinguish between light and dark, but no more. This enables snails to keep out of direct sunlight.
+In organisms dwelling near deep-sea vents, compound eyes have been secondarily simplified and adapted to spot the infra-red light produced by the hot vents—in this way the bearers can spot hot springs and avoid being boiled alive.[9]
+
+There are ten different eye layouts—indeed every technological method of capturing an optical image commonly used by human beings, with the exceptions of zoom and Fresnel lenses, occur in nature.[1] Eye types can be categorised into "simple eyes", with one concave photoreceptive surface, and "compound eyes", which comprise a number of individual lenses laid out on a convex surface.[1] Note that "simple" does not imply a reduced level of complexity or acuity. Indeed, any eye type can be adapted for almost any behaviour or environment. The only limitations specific to eye types are that of resolution—the physics of compound eyes prevents them from achieving a resolution better than 1°. Also, superposition eyes can achieve greater sensitivity than apposition eyes, so are better suited to dark-dwelling creatures.[1] Eyes also fall into two groups on the basis of their photoreceptor's cellular construction, with the photoreceptor cells either being cilliated (as in the vertebrates) or rhabdomeric. These two groups are not monophyletic; the cnidaria also possess cilliated cells,
+[10] and some gastropods,[11] as well as some annelids possess both.[12]
+
+Some organisms have photosensitive cells that do nothing but detect whether the surroundings are light or dark, which is sufficient for the entrainment of circadian rhythms. These are not considered eyes because they lack enough structure to be considered an organ, and do not produce an image.[13]
+
+Simple eyes are rather ubiquitous, and lens-bearing eyes have evolved at least seven times in vertebrates, cephalopods, annelids, crustaceans and cubozoa.[14][failed verification]
+
+Pit eyes, also known as stemma, are eye-spots which may be set into a pit to reduce the angles of light that enters and affects the eye-spot, to allow the organism to deduce the angle of incoming light.[1] Found in about 85% of phyla, these basic forms were probably the precursors to more advanced types of "simple eyes". They are small, comprising up to about 100 cells covering about 100 µm.[1] The directionality can be improved by reducing the size of the aperture, by incorporating a reflective layer behind the receptor cells, or by filling the pit with a refractile material.[1]
+
+Pit vipers have developed pits that function as eyes by sensing thermal infra-red radiation, in addition to their optical wavelength eyes like those of other vertebrates (see infrared sensing in snakes). However, pit organs are fitted with receptors rather different to photoreceptors, namely a specific transient receptor potential channel (TRP channels) called TRPV1. The main difference is that photoreceptors are G-protein coupled receptors but TRP are ion channels.
+
+The resolution of pit eyes can be greatly improved by incorporating a material with a higher refractive index to form a lens, which may greatly reduce the blur radius encountered—hence increasing the resolution obtainable.[1] The most basic form, seen in some gastropods and annelids, consists of a lens of one refractive index. A far sharper image can be obtained using materials with a high refractive index, decreasing to the edges; this decreases the focal length and thus allows a sharp image to form on the retina.[1] This also allows a larger aperture for a given sharpness of image, allowing more light to enter the lens; and a flatter lens, reducing spherical aberration.[1] Such a non-homogeneous lens is necessary for the focal length to drop from about 4 times the lens radius, to 2.5 radii.[1]
+
+Heterogeneous eyes have evolved at least nine times: four or more times in gastropods, once in the copepods, once in the annelids, once in the cephalopods,[1] and once in the chitons, which have aragonite lenses.[15] No extant aquatic organisms possess homogeneous lenses; presumably the evolutionary pressure for a heterogeneous lens is great enough for this stage to be quickly "outgrown".[1]
+
+This eye creates an image that is sharp enough that motion of the eye can cause significant blurring. To minimise the effect of eye motion while the animal moves, most such eyes have stabilising eye muscles.[1]
+
+The ocelli of insects bear a simple lens, but their focal point always lies behind the retina; consequently, they can never form a sharp image. Ocelli (pit-type eyes of arthropods) blur the image across the whole retina, and are consequently excellent at responding to rapid changes in light intensity across the whole visual field; this fast response is further accelerated by the large nerve bundles which rush the information to the brain.[16] Focusing the image would also cause the sun's image to be focused on a few receptors, with the possibility of damage under the intense light; shielding the receptors would block out some light and thus reduce their sensitivity.[16]
+This fast response has led to suggestions that the ocelli of insects are used mainly in flight, because they can be used to detect sudden changes in which way is up (because light, especially UV light which is absorbed by vegetation, usually comes from above).[16]
+
+Some marine organisms bear more than one lens; for instance the copepod Pontella has three. The outer has a parabolic surface, countering the effects of spherical aberration while allowing a sharp image to be formed. Another copepod, Copilia, has two lenses in each eye, arranged like those in a telescope.[1] Such arrangements are rare and poorly understood, but represent an alternative construction.
+
+Multiple lenses are seen in some hunters such as eagles and jumping spiders, which have a refractive cornea: these have a negative lens, enlarging the observed image by up to 50% over the receptor cells, thus increasing their optical resolution.[1]
+
+In the eyes of most mammals, birds, reptiles, and most other terrestrial vertebrates (along with spiders and some insect larvae) the vitreous fluid has a higher refractive index than the air.[1] In general, the lens is not spherical. Spherical lenses produce spherical aberration. In refractive corneas, the lens tissue is corrected with inhomogeneous lens material (see Luneburg lens), or with an aspheric shape.[1] Flattening the lens has a disadvantage; the quality of vision is diminished away from the main line of focus. Thus, animals that have evolved with a wide field-of-view often have eyes that make use of an inhomogeneous lens.[1]
+
+As mentioned above, a refractive cornea is only useful out of water. In water, there is little difference in refractive index between the vitreous fluid and the surrounding water. Hence creatures that have returned to the water—penguins and seals, for example—lose their highly curved cornea and return to lens-based vision. An alternative solution, borne by some divers, is to have a very strongly focusing cornea.[1]
+
+An alternative to a lens is to line the inside of the eye with "mirrors", and reflect the image to focus at a central point.[1] The nature of these eyes means that if one were to peer into the pupil of an eye, one would see the same image that the organism would see, reflected back out.[1]
+
+Many small organisms such as rotifers, copepods and flatworms use such organs, but these are too small to produce usable images.[1] Some larger organisms, such as scallops, also use reflector eyes. The scallop Pecten has up to 100 millimetre-scale reflector eyes fringing the edge of its shell. It detects moving objects as they pass successive lenses.[1]
+
+There is at least one vertebrate, the spookfish, whose eyes include reflective optics for focusing of light. Each of the two eyes of a spookfish collects light from both above and below; the light coming from above is focused by a lens, while that coming from below, by a curved mirror composed of many layers of small reflective plates made of guanine crystals.[17]
+
+A compound eye may consist of thousands of individual photoreceptor units or ommatidia (ommatidium, singular). The image perceived is a combination of inputs from the numerous ommatidia (individual "eye units"), which are located on a convex surface, thus pointing in slightly different directions. Compared with simple eyes, compound eyes possess a very large view angle, and can detect fast movement and, in some cases, the polarisation of light.[18] Because the individual lenses are so small, the effects of diffraction impose a limit on the possible resolution that can be obtained (assuming that they do not function as phased arrays). This can only be countered by increasing lens size and number. To see with a resolution comparable to our simple eyes, humans would require very large compound eyes, around 11 metres (36 ft) in radius.[19]
+
+Compound eyes fall into two groups: apposition eyes, which form multiple inverted images, and superposition eyes, which form a single erect image.[20] Compound eyes are common in arthropods, annelids and some bivalved molluscs.[21] Compound eyes in arthropods grow at their margins by the addition of new ommatidia.[22]
+
+Apposition eyes are the most common form of eyes and are presumably the ancestral form of compound eyes. They are found in all arthropod groups, although they may have evolved more than once within this phylum.[1] Some annelids and bivalves also have apposition eyes. They are also possessed by Limulus, the horseshoe crab, and there are suggestions that other chelicerates developed their simple eyes by reduction from a compound starting point.[1] (Some caterpillars appear to have evolved compound eyes from simple eyes in the opposite fashion.)
+
+Apposition eyes work by gathering a number of images, one from each eye, and combining them in the brain, with each eye typically contributing a single point of information. The typical apposition eye has a lens focusing light from one direction on the rhabdom, while light from other directions is absorbed by the dark wall of the ommatidium.
+
+The second type is named the superposition eye. The superposition eye is divided into three types:
+
+The refracting superposition eye has a gap between the lens and the rhabdom, and no side wall. Each lens takes light at an angle to its axis and reflects it to the same angle on the other side. The result is an image at half the radius of the eye, which is where the tips of the rhabdoms are. This type of compound eye, for which a minimal size exists below which effective superposition cannot occur,[23] is normally found in nocturnal insects, because it can create images up to 1000 times brighter than equivalent apposition eyes, though at the cost of reduced resolution.[24] In the parabolic superposition compound eye type, seen in arthropods such as mayflies, the parabolic surfaces of the inside of each facet focus light from a reflector to a sensor array. Long-bodied decapod crustaceans such as shrimp, prawns, crayfish and lobsters are alone in having reflecting superposition eyes, which also have a transparent gap but use corner mirrors instead of lenses.
+
+This eye type functions by refracting light, then using a parabolic mirror to focus the image; it combines features of superposition and apposition eyes.[9]
+
+Another kind of compound eye, found in males of Order Strepsiptera, employs a series of simple eyes—eyes having one opening that provides light for an entire image-forming retina. Several of these eyelets together form the strepsipteran compound eye, which is similar to the 'schizochroal' compound eyes of some trilobites.[25] Because each eyelet is a simple eye, it produces an inverted image; those images are combined in the brain to form one unified image. Because the aperture of an eyelet is larger than the facets of a compound eye, this arrangement allows vision under low light levels.[1]
+
+Good fliers such as flies or honey bees, or prey-catching insects such as praying mantis or dragonflies, have specialised zones of ommatidia organised into a fovea area which gives acute vision. In the acute zone, the eyes are flattened and the facets larger. The flattening allows more ommatidia to receive light from a spot and therefore higher resolution. The black spot that can be seen on the compound eyes of such insects, which always seems to look directly at the observer, is called a pseudopupil. This occurs because the ommatidia which one observes "head-on" (along their optical axes) absorb the incident light, while those to one side reflect it.[26]
+
+There are some exceptions from the types mentioned above. Some insects have a so-called single lens compound eye, a transitional type which is something between a superposition type of the multi-lens compound eye and the single lens eye found in animals with simple eyes. Then there is the mysid shrimp, Dioptromysis paucispinosa. The shrimp has an eye of the refracting superposition type, in the rear behind this in each eye there is a single large facet that is three times in diameter the others in the eye and behind this is an enlarged crystalline cone. This projects an upright image on a specialised retina. The resulting eye is a mixture of a simple eye within a compound eye.
+
+Another version is a compound eye often referred to as "pseudofaceted", as seen in Scutigera.[27] This type of eye consists of a cluster of numerous ommatidia on each side of the head, organised in a way that resembles a true compound eye.
+
+The body of Ophiocoma wendtii, a type of brittle star, is covered with ommatidia, turning its whole skin into a compound eye. The same is true of many chitons. The tube feet of sea urchins contain photoreceptor proteins, which together act as a compound eye; they lack screening pigments, but can detect the directionality of light by the shadow cast by its opaque body.[28]
+
+The ciliary body is triangular in horizontal section and is coated by a double layer, the ciliary epithelium. The inner layer is transparent and covers the vitreous body, and is continuous from the neural tissue of the retina. The outer layer is highly pigmented, continuous with the retinal pigment epithelium, and constitutes the cells of the dilator muscle.
+
+The vitreous is the transparent, colourless, gelatinous mass that fills the space between the lens of the eye and the retina lining the back of the eye.[29] It is produced by certain retinal cells. It is of rather similar composition to the cornea, but contains very few cells (mostly phagocytes which remove unwanted cellular debris in the visual field, as well as the hyalocytes of Balazs of the surface of the vitreous, which reprocess the hyaluronic acid), no blood vessels, and 98–99% of its volume is water (as opposed to 75% in the cornea) with salts, sugars, vitrosin (a type of collagen), a network of collagen type II fibres with the mucopolysaccharide hyaluronic acid, and also a wide array of proteins in micro amounts. Amazingly, with so little solid matter, it tautly holds the eye.
+
+Photoreception is phylogenetically very old, with various theories of phylogenesis.[30] The common origin (monophyly) of all animal eyes is now widely accepted as fact. This is based upon the shared genetic features of all eyes; that is, all modern eyes, varied as they are, have their origins in a proto-eye believed to have evolved some 540 million years ago,[31][32][33] and the PAX6 gene is considered a key factor in this. The majority of the advancements in early eyes are believed to have taken only a few million years to develop, since the first predator to gain true imaging would have touched off an "arms race"[34] among all species that did not flee the photopic environment. Prey animals and competing predators alike would be at a distinct disadvantage without such capabilities and would be less likely to survive and reproduce. Hence multiple eye types and subtypes developed in parallel (except those of groups, such as the vertebrates, that were only forced into the photopic environment at a late stage).
+
+Eyes in various animals show adaptation to their requirements. For example, the eye of a bird of prey has much greater visual acuity than a human eye, and in some cases can detect ultraviolet radiation. The different forms of eye in, for example, vertebrates and molluscs are examples of parallel evolution, despite their distant common ancestry. Phenotypic convergence of the geometry of cephalopod and most vertebrate eyes creates the impression that the vertebrate eye evolved from an imaging cephalopod eye, but this is not the case, as the reversed roles of their respective ciliary and rhabdomeric opsin classes[35] and different lens crystallins show.[36]
+
+The very earliest "eyes", called eye-spots, were simple patches of photoreceptor protein in unicellular animals. In multicellular beings, multicellular eyespots evolved, physically similar to the receptor patches for taste and smell. These eyespots could only sense ambient brightness: they could distinguish light and dark, but not the direction of the light source.[1]
+
+Through gradual change, the eye-spots of species living in well-lit environments depressed into a shallow "cup" shape. The ability to slightly discriminate directional brightness was achieved by using the angle at which the light hit certain cells to identify the source. The pit deepened over time, the opening diminished in size, and the number of photoreceptor cells increased, forming an effective pinhole camera that was capable of dimly distinguishing shapes.[37] However, the ancestors of modern hagfish, thought to be the protovertebrate,[35] were evidently pushed to very deep, dark waters, where they were less vulnerable to sighted predators, and where it is advantageous to have a convex eye-spot, which gathers more light than a flat or concave one. This would have led to a somewhat different evolutionary trajectory for the vertebrate eye than for other animal eyes.
+
+The thin overgrowth of transparent cells over the eye's aperture, originally formed to prevent damage to the eyespot, allowed the segregated contents of the eye chamber to specialise into a transparent humour that optimised colour filtering, blocked harmful radiation, improved the eye's refractive index, and allowed functionality outside of water. The transparent protective cells eventually split into two layers, with circulatory fluid in between that allowed wider viewing angles and greater imaging resolution, and the thickness of the transparent layer gradually increased, in most species with the transparent crystallin protein.[38]
+
+The gap between tissue layers naturally formed a biconvex shape, an optimally ideal structure for a normal refractive index. Independently, a transparent layer and a nontransparent layer split forward from the lens: the cornea and iris. Separation of the forward layer again formed a humour, the aqueous humour. This increased refractive power and again eased circulatory problems. Formation of a nontransparent ring allowed more blood vessels, more circulation, and larger eye sizes.[38]
+
+Eyes are generally adapted to the environment and life requirements of the organism which bears them. For instance, the distribution of photoreceptors tends to match the area in which the highest acuity is required, with horizon-scanning organisms, such as those that live on the African plains, having a horizontal line of high-density ganglia, while tree-dwelling creatures which require good all-round vision tend to have a symmetrical distribution of ganglia, with acuity decreasing outwards from the centre.
+
+Of course, for most eye types, it is impossible to diverge from a spherical form, so only the density of optical receptors can be altered. In organisms with compound eyes, it is the number of ommatidia rather than ganglia that reflects the region of highest data acquisition.[1]:23–24 Optical superposition eyes are constrained to a spherical shape, but other forms of compound eyes may deform to a shape where more ommatidia are aligned to, say, the horizon, without altering the size or density of individual ommatidia.[39] Eyes of horizon-scanning organisms have stalks so they can be easily aligned to the horizon when this is inclined, for example, if the animal is on a slope.[26]
+
+An extension of this concept is that the eyes of predators typically have a zone of very acute vision at their centre, to assist in the identification of prey.[39] In deep water organisms, it may not be the centre of the eye that is enlarged. The hyperiid amphipods are deep water animals that feed on organisms above them. Their eyes are almost divided into two, with the upper region thought to be involved in detecting the silhouettes of potential prey—or predators—against the faint light of the sky above. Accordingly, deeper water hyperiids, where the light against which the silhouettes must be compared is dimmer, have larger "upper-eyes", and may lose the lower portion of their eyes altogether.[39] In the giant Antarctic isopod Glyptonotus a small ventral compound eye is physically completely separated from the much larger dorsal compound eye.[40] Depth perception can be enhanced by having eyes which are enlarged in one direction; distorting the eye slightly allows the distance to the object to be estimated with a high degree of accuracy.[9]
+
+Acuity is higher among male organisms that mate in mid-air, as they need to be able to spot and assess potential mates against a very large backdrop.[39] On the other hand, the eyes of organisms which operate in low light levels, such as around dawn and dusk or in deep water, tend to be larger to increase the amount of light that can be captured.[39]
+
+It is not only the shape of the eye that may be affected by lifestyle. Eyes can be the most visible parts of organisms, and this can act as a pressure on organisms to have more transparent eyes at the cost of function.[39]
+
+Eyes may be mounted on stalks to provide better all-round vision, by lifting them above an organism's carapace; this also allows them to track predators or prey without moving the head.[9]
+
+Visual acuity, or resolving power, is "the ability to distinguish fine detail" and is the property of cone cells.[41] It is often measured in cycles per degree (CPD), which measures an angular resolution, or how much an eye can differentiate one object from another in terms of visual angles. Resolution in CPD can be measured by bar charts of different numbers of white/black stripe cycles. For example, if each pattern is 1.75 cm wide and is placed at 1 m distance from the eye, it will subtend an angle of 1 degree, so the number of white/black bar pairs on the pattern will be a measure of the cycles per degree of that pattern. The highest such number that the eye can resolve as stripes, or distinguish from a grey block, is then the measurement of visual acuity of the eye.
+
+For a human eye with excellent acuity, the maximum theoretical resolution is 50 CPD[42] (1.2 arcminute per line pair, or a 0.35 mm line pair, at 1 m). A rat can resolve only about 1 to 2 CPD.[43] A horse has higher acuity through most of the visual field of its eyes than a human has, but does not match the high acuity of the human eye's central fovea region.[44]
+
+Spherical aberration limits the resolution of a 7 mm pupil to about 3 arcminutes per line pair. At a pupil diameter of 3 mm, the spherical aberration is greatly reduced, resulting in an improved resolution of approximately 1.7 arcminutes per line pair.[45] A resolution of 2 arcminutes per line pair, equivalent to a 1 arcminute gap in an optotype, corresponds to 20/20 (normal vision) in humans.
+
+However, in the compound eye, the resolution is related to the size of individual ommatidia and the distance between neighbouring ommatidia. Physically these cannot be reduced in size to achieve the acuity seen with single lensed eyes as in mammals. Compound eyes have a much lower acuity than vertebrate eyes.[46]
+
+"Colour vision is the faculty of the organism to distinguish lights of different spectral qualities."[47] All organisms are restricted to a small range of electromagnetic spectrum; this varies from creature to creature, but is mainly between wavelengths of 400 and 700 nm.[48]
+This is a rather small section of the electromagnetic spectrum, probably reflecting the submarine evolution of the organ: water blocks out all but two small windows of the EM spectrum, and there has been no evolutionary pressure among land animals to broaden this range.[49]
+
+The most sensitive pigment, rhodopsin, has a peak response at 500 nm.[50] Small changes to the genes coding for this protein can tweak the peak response by a few nm;[2] pigments in the lens can also filter incoming light, changing the peak response.[2] Many organisms are unable to discriminate between colours, seeing instead in shades of grey; colour vision necessitates a range of pigment cells which are primarily sensitive to smaller ranges of the spectrum. In primates, geckos, and other organisms, these take the form of cone cells, from which the more sensitive rod cells evolved.[50] Even if organisms are physically capable of discriminating different colours, this does not necessarily mean that they can perceive the different colours; only with behavioural tests can this be deduced.[2]
+
+Most organisms with colour vision can detect ultraviolet light. This high energy light can be damaging to receptor cells. With a few exceptions (snakes, placental mammals), most organisms avoid these effects by having absorbent oil droplets around their cone cells. The alternative, developed by organisms that had lost these oil droplets in the course of evolution, is to make the lens impervious to UV light—this precludes the possibility of any UV light being detected, as it does not even reach the retina.[50]
+
+The retina contains two major types of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells used for vision: the rods and the cones.
+
+Rods cannot distinguish colours, but are responsible for low-light (scotopic) monochrome (black-and-white) vision; they work well in dim light as they contain a pigment, rhodopsin (visual purple), which is sensitive at low light intensity, but saturates at higher (photopic) intensities. Rods are distributed throughout the retina but there are none at the fovea and none at the blind spot. Rod density is greater in the peripheral retina than in the central retina.
+
+Cones are responsible for colour vision. They require brighter light to function than rods require. In humans, there are three types of cones, maximally sensitive to long-wavelength, medium-wavelength, and short-wavelength light (often referred to as red, green, and blue, respectively, though the sensitivity peaks are not actually at these colours). The colour seen is the combined effect of stimuli to, and responses from, these three types of cone cells. Cones are mostly concentrated in and near the fovea. Only a few are present at the sides of the retina. Objects are seen most sharply in focus when their images fall on the fovea, as when one looks at an object directly. Cone cells and rods are connected through intermediate cells in the retina to nerve fibres of the optic nerve. When rods and cones are stimulated by light, they connect through adjoining cells within the retina to send an electrical signal to the optic nerve fibres. The optic nerves send off impulses through these fibres to the brain.[50]
+
+The pigment molecules used in the eye are various, but can be used to define the evolutionary distance between different groups, and can also be an aid in determining which are closely related—although problems of convergence do exist.[50]
+
+Opsins are the pigments involved in photoreception. Other pigments, such as melanin, are used to shield the photoreceptor cells from light leaking in from the sides.
+The opsin protein group evolved long before the last common ancestor of animals, and has continued to diversify since.[2]
+
+There are two types of opsin involved in vision; c-opsins, which are associated with ciliary-type photoreceptor cells, and r-opsins, associated with rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells.[51] The eyes of vertebrates usually contain ciliary cells with c-opsins, and (bilaterian) invertebrates have rhabdomeric cells in the eye with r-opsins. However, some ganglion cells of vertebrates express r-opsins, suggesting that their ancestors used this pigment in vision, and that remnants survive in the eyes.[51] Likewise, c-opsins have been found to be expressed in the brain of some invertebrates. They may have been expressed in ciliary cells of larval eyes, which were subsequently resorbed into the brain on metamorphosis to the adult form.[51] C-opsins are also found in some derived bilaterian-invertebrate eyes, such as the pallial eyes of the bivalve molluscs; however, the lateral eyes (which were presumably the ancestral type for this group, if eyes evolved once there) always use r-opsins.[51]
+Cnidaria, which are an outgroup to the taxa mentioned above, express c-opsins—but r-opsins are yet to be found in this group.[51] Incidentally, the melanin produced in the cnidaria is produced in the same fashion as that in vertebrates, suggesting the common descent of this pigment.[51]
+
+The structures of the eye labelled
+
+Another view of the eye and the structures of the eye labelled

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+Yogurt (UK: /ˈjɒɡərt/; US: /ˈjoʊɡərt/,[1] from Turkish: yoğurt), also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt, is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk.[2] The bacteria used to make yogurt are known as yogurt cultures. The fermentation of lactose by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to give yogurt its texture and characteristic tart flavor.[2] Cow's milk is commonly available worldwide and, as such, is the milk most commonly used to make yogurt. Milk from water buffalo, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is also used to produce yogurt where available locally. The milk used may be homogenized or not. It may be pasteurized or raw. Each type of milk produces substantially different results.
+
+Yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria. In addition, other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are sometimes added during or after culturing yogurt. Some countries require yogurt to contain a certain amount of colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria; in China, for example, the requirement for the number of lactobacillus bacteria is at least 1 million CFU per milliliter.[3]
+
+To produce yogurt, milk is first heated, usually to about 85 °C (185 °F), to denature the milk proteins so that they do not form curds. After heating, the milk is allowed to cool to about 45 °C (113 °F).[4] The bacterial culture is mixed in, and that temperature of 45 °C is maintained for 4 to 12 hours to allow fermentation to occur.[5]
+
+The word is derived from Turkish: yoğurt,[6] and is usually related to the verb yoğurmak, "to knead", or "to be curdled or coagulated; to thicken".[6] It may be related to yoğun, meaning thick or dense. The sound ğ was traditionally rendered as "gh" in transliterations of Turkish from around 1615–1625.[6] In modern Turkish the letter ğ marks a diaeresis between two vowels, without being pronounced itself, which is reflected in some languages' versions of the word (e.g. Greek γιαούρτι giaoúrti, French yaourt, Romanian iaurt).
+
+In English, the several variations of the spelling of the word include yogurt, yoghurt, and to a lesser extent yoghourt or yogourt.[6]
+
+Analysis of the L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus genome indicates that the bacterium may have originated on the surface of a plant.[7] Milk may have become spontaneously and unintentionally exposed to it through contact with plants, or bacteria may have been transferred from the udder of domestic milk-producing animals.[8] The origins of yogurt are unknown, but it is thought to have been invented in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC.[9] In ancient Indian records, the combination of yogurt and honey is called "the food of the gods".[10] Persian traditions hold that "Abraham owed his fecundity and longevity to the regular ingestion of yogurt".[11]
+
+The cuisine of ancient Greece included a dairy product known as oxygala (οξύγαλα) which was similar to yogurt.[12][13][14][15] Galen (AD 129 – c. 200/c. 216) mentioned that oxygala was consumed with honey, similar to the way thickened Greek yogurt is eaten today.[15][14] The oldest writings mentioning yogurt are attributed to Pliny the Elder, who remarked that certain "barbarous nations" knew how "to thicken the milk into a substance with an agreeable acidity".[16] The use of yogurt by medieval Turks is recorded in the books Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk by Mahmud Kashgari and Kutadgu Bilig by Yusuf Has Hajib written in the 11th century.[17][18] Both texts mention the word "yogurt" in different sections and describe its use by nomadic Turks.[17][18] The earliest yogurts were probably spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria in goat skin bags.[19]
+
+Some accounts suggest that Mughal Indian emperor Akbar's cooks would flavor yogurt with mustard seeds and cinnamon.[20] Another early account of a European encounter with yogurt occurs in French clinical history: Francis I suffered from a severe diarrhea which no French doctor could cure. His ally Suleiman the Magnificent sent a doctor, who allegedly cured the patient with yogurt.[20][21] Being grateful, the French king spread around the information about the food that had cured him.
+
+Until the 1900s, yogurt was a staple in diets of people in the Russian Empire (and especially Central Asia and the Caucasus), Western Asia, South Eastern Europe/Balkans, Central Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. Stamen Grigorov (1878–1945), a Bulgarian student of medicine in Geneva, first examined the microflora of the Bulgarian yogurt. In 1905, he described it as consisting of a spherical and a rod-like lactic acid-producing bacteria. In 1907, the rod-like bacterium was called Bacillus bulgaricus (now Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus). The Russian Nobel laureate and biologist Ilya Mechnikov, from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, was influenced by Grigorov's work and hypothesized that regular consumption of yogurt was responsible for the unusually long lifespans of Bulgarian peasants.[22] Believing Lactobacillus to be essential for good health, Mechnikov worked to popularize yogurt as a foodstuff throughout Europe.
+
+Isaac Carasso industrialized the production of yogurt. In 1919, Carasso, who was from Ottoman Salonika, started a small yogurt business in Barcelona, Spain, and named the business Danone ("little Daniel") after his son. The brand later expanded to the United States under an Americanized version of the name: Dannon. Yogurt with added fruit jam was patented in 1933 by the Radlická Mlékárna dairy in Prague.[23]
+
+Yogurt was introduced to the United States in the first decade of the twentieth century, influenced by Élie Metchnikoff's The Prolongation of Life; Optimistic Studies (1908); it was available in tablet form for those with digestive intolerance and for home culturing.[24] It was popularized by John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where it was used both orally and in enemas,[25] and later by Armenian immigrants Sarkis and Rose Colombosian, who started "Colombo and Sons Creamery" in Andover, Massachusetts in 1929.[26][27]
+
+Colombo Yogurt was originally delivered around New England in a horse-drawn wagon inscribed with the Armenian word "madzoon" which was later changed to "yogurt", the Turkish language name of the product, as Turkish was the lingua franca between immigrants of the various Near Eastern ethnicities who were the main consumers at that time. Yogurt's popularity in the United States was enhanced in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was presented as a health food by scientists like Hungarian-born bacteriologist Stephen A. Gaymont.[28] Plain yogurt still proved too sour for the American palate and in 1966 Colombo Yogurt sweetened the yogurt and added fruit preserves, creating "fruit on the bottom" style yogurt. This was successful and company sales soon exceeded $1 million per year.[29] By the late 20th century, yogurt had become a common American food item and Colombo Yogurt was sold in 1993 to General Mills, which discontinued the brand in 2010.[30]
+
+In 2017, the average American ate 13.7 pounds of yogurt and that figure has been declining since 2014.
+
+Sale of yogurt was down 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending in February 2019.  The decline of Greek-style yogurt has allowed Icelandic style yogurt to gain a foothold in the United States with sales of the Icelandic style yogurt increasing 24 percent in 2018 to $173 million.[31]
+
+Yogurt (plain yogurt from whole milk) is 81% water, 9% protein, 5% fat, and 4% carbohydrates, including 4% sugars (table). A 100-gram amount provides 406 kilojoules (97 kcal) of dietary energy. As a proportion of the Daily Value (DV), a serving of yogurt is a rich source of vitamin B12 (31% DV) and riboflavin (23% DV), with moderate content of protein, phosphorus, and selenium (14 to 19% DV; table).
+
+Tilde (~) represents missing or incomplete data.  
+The above shows little difference exists between whole milk and yogurt made from whole milk with respect to the listed nutritional constituents.
+
+Because it may contain live cultures, yogurt is often associated with probiotics, which have been postulated as having positive effects on immune, cardiovascular or metabolic health.[34][35][36] However, to date high-quality clinical evidence has been insufficient to conclude that consuming yogurt lowers the risk of diseases or otherwise improves health.[37][needs update]
+
+Dahi is a yogurt from the Indian subcontinent, known for its characteristic taste and consistency. The word dahi seems to be derived from the Sanskrit word dadhi ("sour milk"), one of the five elixirs, or panchamrita, often used in Hindu ritual. Sweetened dahi (mishti doi or meethi dahi) is common in eastern parts of India, made by fermenting sweetened milk. While cow's milk is currently the primary ingredient for yogurt, goat and buffalo milk were widely used in the past, and valued for the fat content (see buffalo curd).
+
+Dadiah or dadih is a traditional West Sumatran yogurt made from water buffalo milk, fermented in bamboo tubes.[38] Yogurt is common in Nepal, where it is served as both an appetizer and dessert. Locally called dahi, it is a part of the Nepali culture, used in local festivals, marriage ceremonies, parties, religious occasions, family gatherings, and so on. One Nepalese yogurt is called juju dhau, originating from the city of Bhaktapur. In Tibet, yak milk (technically dri milk, as the word yak refers to the male animal) is made into yogurt (and butter and cheese) and consumed.
+
+In Northern Iran, Mâst Chekide is a variety of kefir yogurt with a distinct sour taste. It is usually mixed with a pesto-like water and fresh herb purée called delal. Common appetizers are spinach or eggplant borani, Mâst-o-Khiâr with cucumber, spring onions and herbs, and Mâst-Musir with wild shallots. In the summertime, yogurt and ice cubes are mixed together with cucumbers, raisins, salt, pepper and onions and topped with some croutons made of Persian traditional bread and served as a cold soup. Ashe-Mâst is a warm yogurt soup with fresh herbs, spinach and lentils. Even the leftover water extracted when straining yogurt is cooked to make a sour cream sauce called kashk, which is usually used as a topping on soups and stews.
+
+Matsoni is a Georgian yogurt in the Caucasus and Russia. Tarator and Cacık are cold soups made from yogurt during summertime in eastern Europe. They are made with ayran, cucumbers, dill, salt, olive oil, and optionally garlic and ground walnuts. Tzatziki in Greece and milk salad in Bulgaria are thick yogurt-based salads similar to tarator.
+
+Khyar w Laban (cucumber and yogurt salad) is a dish in Lebanon and Syria. Also, a wide variety of local Lebanese and Syrian dishes are cooked with yogurt like "Kibbi bi Laban" Rahmjoghurt, a creamy yogurt with much higher fat content (10%) than many yogurts offered in English-speaking countries. Dovga, a yogurt soup cooked with a variety of herbs and rice, is served warm in winter or refreshingly cold in summer. Jameed, yogurt salted and dried to preserve it, is consumed in Jordan. Zabadi is the type of yogurt made in Egypt, usually from the milk of the Egyptian water buffalo. It is particularly associated with Ramadan fasting, as it is thought to prevent thirst during all-day fasting.[39]
+
+To offset its natural sourness, yogurt is also sold sweetened, sweetened and flavored or in containers with fruit or fruit jam on the bottom.[40] The two styles of yogurt commonly found in the grocery store are set-style yogurt and Swiss-style yogurt. Set-style yogurt is poured into individual containers to set, while Swiss-style yogurt is stirred prior to packaging. Either may have fruit added to increase sweetness.[40]
+
+Lassi is a common Indian beverage made from stirred liquified yogurt that is either salted or sweetened with sugar commonly, less commonly honey and combined with fruit pulp to create flavored lassi.[41] Consistency can vary widely, with urban and commercial lassis having uniform texture through being processed, whereas rural and rustic lassi has discernible curds or fruit pulp.[41]
+
+Large amounts of sugar – or other sweeteners for low-energy yogurts – are often used in commercial yogurt.[40][42] Some yogurts contain added modified starch,[43] pectin (found naturally in fruit) or gelatin to create thickness and creaminess. This type of yogurt may be marketed under the name Swiss-style, although it is unrelated to conventional Swiss yogurt. Some yogurts, often called "cream line", are made with whole milk which has not been homogenized so the cream rises to the top. In many countries, sweetened, flavored yogurt is common, typically sold in single-serving plastic cups.[40] Common flavors may include vanilla, honey, and toffee, and various fruits.[40][42] In the early 21st century, yogurt flavors inspired by desserts, such as chocolate or cheesecake, became common.[42] There is concern about the health effects of sweetened yogurt due to its high sugar content,[40] although research indicates that use of sugar in yogurt manufacturing has decreased since 2016 in response to WHO and government initiatives to combat obesity.[40][44]
+
+Strained yogurt has been strained through a filter, traditionally made of muslin and more recently of paper or non-muslin cloth. This removes the whey, giving a much thicker consistency.  Strained yogurt is made at home, especially if using skimmed milk which results in a thinner consistency.[45] Yogurt that has been strained to filter or remove the whey is known as Labneh in Middle Eastern countries. It has a consistency between that of yogurt and cheese. It may be used for sandwiches in Middle Eastern countries. Olive oil, cucumber slices, olives, and various green herbs may be added. It can be thickened further and rolled into balls, preserved in olive oil, and fermented for a few more weeks. It is sometimes used with onions, meat, and nuts as a stuffing for a variety of pies or kibbeh balls.
+
+Some types of strained yogurts are boiled in open vats first, so that the liquid content is reduced. The East Indian dessert, a variation of traditional dahi called mishti dahi, offers a thicker, more custard-like consistency, and is usually sweeter than western yogurts.[46] Strained yogurt is also enjoyed in Greece and is the main component of tzatziki (from Turkish "cacık"), a well-known accompaniment to gyros and souvlaki pita sandwiches: it is a yogurt sauce or dip made with the addition of grated cucumber, olive oil, salt and, optionally, mashed garlic. Srikhand, a dessert in India, is made from strained yogurt, saffron, cardamom, nutmeg and sugar and sometimes fruits such as mango or pineapple.
+
+In North America, strained yogurt is commonly called "Greek yogurt". Powdered milk is sometimes added in lieu of straining to achieve thickness. In Britain as "Greek-style yogurt". In Britain the name "Greek" may only be applied to yogurt made in Greece.[47]
+
+Ayran, doogh ("dawghe" in Neo-Aramaic) or dhallë is a yogurt-based, salty drink. It is made by mixing yogurt with water and (sometimes) salt.
+
+Borhani (or burhani) is a spicy yogurt drink from Bangladesh. It is usually served with kacchi biryani at weddings and special feasts. Key ingredients are yogurt blended with mint leaves (mentha), mustard seeds and black rock salt (Kala Namak). Ground roasted cumin, ground white pepper, green chili pepper paste and sugar are often added.
+
+Lassi is a yogurt-based beverage that is usually slightly salty or sweet, and may be commercially flavored with rosewater, mango or other fruit juice. Salty lassi is usually flavored with ground, roasted cumin and red chilies, may be made with buttermilk.
+
+An unsweetened and unsalted yogurt drink usually called simply jogurt is consumed with burek and other baked goods in the Balkans. Sweetened yogurt drinks are the usual form in Europe (including the UK) and the US, containing fruit and added sweeteners. These are typically called "drinkable yogurt". Also available are "yogurt smoothies", which contain a higher proportion of fruit and are more like smoothies.
+
+A variety of plant milk yogurts appeared in the 2000s, using soy milk, rice milk, and nut milks such as almond milk and coconut milk. These yogurts are suitable for vegans, people with intolerance to dairy milk, and those who prefer plant-based products.[48]
+
+Yogurt is made by heating milk to a temperature that denaturates its proteins (scalding), essential for making yogurt,[49] cooling it to a temperature that will not kill the live microorganisms that turn the milk into yogurt, inoculating certain bacteria (starter culture), usually Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, into the milk, and finally keeping it warm for several hours. The milk may be held at 85 °C (185 °F) for a few minutes, or boiled (giving a somewhat different result). It must be cooled to 50 °C (122 °F) or somewhat less, typically 40–46 °C (104–115 °F). Starter culture must then be mixed in well, and the mixture must be kept undisturbed and warm for some time, anywhere between 5 and 12 hours. Longer fermentation times produces a more acidic yogurt. The starter culture may be a small amount of live (not sterilized) existing yogurt or commercially available dried starter culture.
+
+Milk with a higher concentration of solids than normal milk may be used; the higher solids content produces a firmer yogurt. Solids can be increased by adding dried milk.[50] The yogurt-making process provides two significant barriers to pathogen growth, heat and acidity (low pH). Both are necessary to ensure a safe product. Acidity alone has been questioned by recent outbreaks of food poisoning by E. coli O157:H7 that is acid-tolerant. E. coli O157:H7 is easily destroyed by pasteurization (heating); the initial heating of the milk kills pathogens as well as denaturing proteins.[51] The microorganisms that turn milk into yogurt can tolerate higher temperatures than most pathogens, so that a suitable temperature not only encourages the formation of yogurt, but inhibits pathogenic microorganisms. Once the yogurt has formed it can, if desired, be strained to reduce the whey content and thicken it.
+
+Two types of yogurt are supported by the Codex Alimentarius for import and export.[52]
+
+Under US Food and Drug Administration regulations, milk must be pasteurized before it is cultured, and may optionally be heat treated after culturing to increase shelf life.[54] Most commercial yogurts in the United States are not heat treated after culturing, and contain live cultures.
+
+Yogurt with live cultures[55][56][57] is more beneficial than pasteurized yogurt.[58]
+
+Lactose intolerance is a condition in which people have symptoms due to the decreased ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) determined that lactose intolerance can be alleviated by ingesting live yogurt cultures (lactobacilli) that are able to digest the lactose in other dairy products.[58] The scientific review by EFSA enabled yogurt manufacturers to use a health claim on product labels, provided that the "yogurt should contain at least 108 CFU live starter microorganisms (Lactobacillus  delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus) per gram. The target population is individuals with lactose maldigestion."[58]
+
+Doogh is a savory yogurt-based beverage, traditionally served cold and is sometimes carbonated and seasoned with mint and salt.
+
+Skyr is an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt traditionally served cold with milk and a topping of sugar
+
+Raita is a condiment made with yogurt in the Indian subcontinent
+
+Dadiah in a market
+
+Plant milk yogurt
+
+Home yogurt maker
+
+A drinkable yogurt made from water buffalo milk

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+Yugoslavia (/ˌjuːɡoʊˈslɑːviə/; Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslavija / Југославија [juɡǒslaːʋija]; Slovene: Jugoslavija [juɡɔˈslàːʋija]; Macedonian: Југославија [juɡɔˈsɫavija];[A] lit. '"South Slavic Land"') was a country in Southeastern and Central Europe for most of the 20th century. It came into existence after World War I in 1918[B] under the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (it was formed from territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire) with the Kingdom of Serbia, and constituted the first union of the South Slavic people as a sovereign state, following centuries in which the region had been part of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. Peter I of Serbia was its first sovereign. The kingdom gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris.[2] The official name of the state was changed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929.
+
+Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance. In 1944 King Peter II, then living in exile, recognised it as the legitimate government. The monarchy was subsequently abolished in November 1945. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, when a communist government was established. It acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980. In 1963, the country was renamed again, as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).
+
+The six constituent republics that made up the SFRY were the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia. Serbia contained two Socialist Autonomous Provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which after 1974 were largely equal to the other members of the federation.[3][4] After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics' borders, at first into five countries, leading to the Yugoslav Wars. From 1993 to 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tried political and military leaders from the former Yugoslavia for war crimes, genocide, and other crimes committed during those wars.
+
+After the breakup, the republics of Montenegro and Serbia formed a reduced federative state, Serbia and Montenegro, known officially until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). This state aspired to the status of sole legal successor to the SFRY, but those claims were opposed by the other former republics. Eventually, it accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession[5] and in 2003 its official name was changed to Serbia and Montenegro. This state dissolved when Montenegro and Serbia each became independent states in 2006, while Kosovo proclaimed its independence from Serbia in 2008.
+
+The concept of Yugoslavia, as a single state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century and gained prominence through the Illyrian Movement of the 19th century. The name was created by the combination of the Slavic words "jug" (south) and "slaveni" (Slavs). Yugoslavia was the result of the Corfu Declaration, as a project of the Serbian Parliament in exile and the Serbian royal Karađorđević dynasty, who became the Yugoslav royal dynasty.
+
+The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia. It was commonly referred to at the time as the "Versailles state". Later, the government renamed the country leading to the first official use of Yugoslavia in 1929.
+
+On 20 June 1928, Serb deputy Puniša Račić shot at five members of the opposition Croatian Peasant Party in the National Assembly, resulting in the death of two deputies on the spot and that of leader Stjepan Radić a few weeks later.[6] On 6 January 1929, King Alexander I got rid of the constitution, banned national political parties and assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia.[7] He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. He imposed a new constitution and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931.[8] However, Alexander's policies later encountered opposition from other European powers stemming from developments in Italy and Germany, where Fascists and Nazis rose to power, and the Soviet Union, where Joseph Stalin became absolute ruler. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. In fact, Italy and Germany wanted to revise the international treaties signed after World War I, and the Soviets were determined to regain their positions in Europe and pursue a more active international policy.
+
+Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavia's historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas. The banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance. The effect of Alexander's dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity.[9] During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned. Communist ideas were banned also.
+
+The king was assassinated in Marseille during an official visit to France in 1934 by Vlado Chernozemski, an experienced marksman from Ivan Mihailov's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization with the cooperation of the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist revolutionary organisation. Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul.
+
+The international political scene in the late 1930s was marked by growing intolerance between the principal figures, by the aggressive attitude of the totalitarian regimes and by the certainty that the order set up after World War I was losing its strongholds and its sponsors were losing their strength. Supported and pressured by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Croatian leader Vladko Maček and his party managed the creation of the Banovina of Croatia (Autonomous Region with significant internal self-government) in 1939. The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations. The entire kingdom was to be federalised but World War II stopped the fulfillment of those plans.
+
+Prince Paul submitted to the fascist pressure and signed the Tripartite Pact in Vienna on 25 March 1941, hoping to still keep Yugoslavia out of the war. But this was at the expense of popular support for Paul's regency. Senior military officers were also opposed to the treaty and launched a coup d'état when the king returned on 27 March. Army General Dušan Simović seized power, arrested the Vienna delegation, exiled Paul, and ended the regency, giving 17-year-old King Peter full powers. Hitler then decided to attack Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, followed immediately by an invasion of Greece where Mussolini had previously been repelled.[10]
+
+At 5:12 AM on 6 April 1941, German, Italian and Hungarian forces invaded Yugoslavia.[11] The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) bombed Belgrade and other major Yugoslav cities. On 17 April, representatives of Yugoslavia's various regions signed an armistice with Germany in Belgrade, ending eleven days of resistance against the invading German forces.[12] More than 300,000 Yugoslav officers and soldiers were taken prisoner.[13]
+
+The Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia and split it up. The Independent State of Croatia was established as a Nazi satellite state, ruled by the fascist militia known as the Ustaše that came into existence in 1929, but was relatively limited in its activities until 1941. German troops occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as part of Serbia and Slovenia, while other parts of the country were occupied by Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy. From 1941–45, the Croatian Ustaše regime murdered around 500,000 people, 250,000 were expelled, and another 200,000 were forced to convert to Catholicism.
+
+From the start, the Yugoslav resistance forces consisted of two factions: the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and the royalist Chetniks, with the former receiving Allied recognition only at the Tehran conference (1943). The heavily pro-Serbian Chetniks were led by Draža Mihajlović, while the pan-Yugoslav oriented Partisans were led by Josip Broz Tito.
+
+The Partisans initiated a guerrilla campaign that developed into the largest resistance army in occupied Western and Central Europe. The Chetniks were initially supported by the exiled royal government and the Allies, but they soon focused increasingly on combating the Partisans rather than the occupying Axis forces. By the end of the war, the Chetnik movement transformed into a collaborationist Serb nationalist militia completely dependent on Axis supplies.[14] The highly mobile Partisans, however, carried on their guerrilla warfare with great success. Most notable of the victories against the occupying forces were the battles of Neretva and Sutjeska.
+
+On 25 November 1942, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia was convened in Bihać, modern day Bosnia and Herzegovina. The council reconvened on 29 November 1943, in Jajce, also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and established the basis for post-war organisation of the country, establishing a federation (this date was celebrated as Republic Day after the war).
+
+The Yugoslav Partisans were able to expel the Axis from Serbia in 1944 and the rest of Yugoslavia in 1945. The Red Army provided limited assistance with the liberation of Belgrade and withdrew after the war was over. In May 1945, the Partisans met with Allied forces outside former Yugoslav borders, after also taking over Trieste and parts of the southern Austrian provinces of Styria and Carinthia. However, the Partisans withdrew from Trieste in June of the same year under heavy pressure from Stalin, who did not want a confrontation with the other Allies.
+
+Western attempts to reunite the Partisans, who denied the supremacy of the old government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the émigrés loyal to the king led to the Tito-Šubašić Agreement in June 1944; however, Marshal Josip Broz Tito was in control and was determined to lead an independent communist state, starting as a prime minister.  He had the support of Moscow and London and led by far the strongest partisan force with 800,000 men.[15][16]
+
+The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims in Yugoslavia during World War II is 1,704,000. Subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić and Bogoljub Kočović showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million.
+
+On 11 November 1945, elections were held with only the Communist-led National Front appearing on the ballot, securing all 354 seats. On 29 November, while still in exile, King Peter II was deposed by Yugoslavia's Constituent Assembly, and the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was declared.[17] However, he refused to abdicate. Marshal Tito was now in full control, and all opposition elements were eliminated.[18]
+
+On 31 January 1946, the new constitution of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, modelled after the Soviet Union, established six republics, an autonomous province, and an autonomous district that were part of SR Serbia. The federal capital was Belgrade.  The policy focused on a strong central government under the control of the Communist Party, and on recognition of the multiple nationalities.[18] The flags of the republics used versions of the red flag or Slavic tricolor, with a red star in the centre or in the canton.
+
+Tito's regional goal was to expand south and take control of Albania and parts of Greece. In 1947, negotiations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria led to the Bled agreement, which proposed to form a close relationship between the two Communist countries, and enable Yugoslavia to start a civil war in Greece and use Albania and Bulgaria as bases. Stalin vetoed this agreement and it was never realised.  The break between Belgrade and Moscow was now imminent.[19]
+
+Yugoslavia solved the national issue of nations and nationalities (national minorities) in a way that all nations and nationalities had the same rights. However, most of the German minority of Yugoslavia, most of whom had collaborated during the occupation and had been recruited to German forces, were expelled towards Germany or Austria.[20]
+
+The country distanced itself from the Soviets in 1948 (cf. Cominform and Informbiro) and started to build its own way to socialism under the strong political leadership of Josip Broz Tito.
+
+All the Communist European Countries had deferred to Stalin and rejected the Marshall Plan aid in 1947. Tito, at first went along and rejected the Marshall plan. However, in 1948 Tito broke decisively with Stalin on other issues, making Yugoslavia an independent communist state. Yugoslavia requested American aid. American leaders were internally divided, but finally agreed and began sending money on a small scale in 1949, and on a much larger scale 1950–53. The American aid was not part of the Marshall plan.[21]
+
+Tito criticised both Eastern Bloc and NATO nations and, together with India and other countries, started the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, which remained the official affiliation of the country until it dissolved.
+
+In 1974, the two provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija (for the latter had by then been upgraded to the status of a province), as well as the republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, were granted greater autonomy to the point that Albanian and Hungarian became nationally recognised minority languages, and the Serbo-Croat of Bosnia and Montenegro altered to a form based on the speech of the local people and not on the standards of Zagreb and Belgrade. In Slovenia the recognized minorities were Hungarians and Italians.
+
+Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija formed a part of the Republic of Serbia but those provinces also formed part of the federation, which led to the unique situation that Central Serbia did not have its own assembly but a joint assembly with its provinces represented in it.
+
+On 7 April 1963, the nation changed its official name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito was named President for life. In the SFRY, each republic and province had its own constitution, supreme court, parliament, president and prime minister. At the top of the Yugoslav government were the President (Tito), the federal Prime Minister, and the federal Parliament (a collective Presidency was formed after Tito's death in 1980). Also important were the Communist Party general secretaries for each republic and province, and the general secretary of Central Committee of the Communist Party.
+
+Tito was the most powerful person in the country, followed by republican and provincial premiers and presidents, and Communist Party presidents. Slobodan Penezić Krcun, Tito's chief of secret police in Serbia, fell victim to a dubious traffic incident after he started to complain about Tito's politics. Minister of the interior Aleksandar Ranković lost all of his titles and rights after a major disagreement with Tito regarding state politics. Some influential ministers in government, such as Edvard Kardelj or Stane Dolanc, were more important than the Prime Minister.
+
+First cracks in the tightly governed system surfaced when students in Belgrade and several other cities joined the worldwide protests of 1968. President Josip Broz Tito gradually stopped the protests by giving in to some of the students' demands and saying that "students are right" during a televised speech. But in the following years, he dealt with the leaders of the protests by sacking them from university and Communist party posts.[22]
+
+A more severe sign of disobedience was so-called Croatian Spring of 1970 and 1971, when students in Zagreb organised demonstrations for greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy, followed by mass manifestations across Croatia. The regime stifled the public protest and incarcerated the leaders, but many key Croatian representatives in the Party silently supported this cause, lobbying within the Party ranks for a reorganisation of the country. As a result, a new Constitution was ratified in 1974, which gave more rights to the individual republics in Yugoslavia and provinces in Serbia.
+
+The Yugoslav federation was constructed against a double background: an inter-war Yugoslavia which had been dominated by the Serbian ruling class; and a war-time division of the country, as Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany split the country apart and endorsed an extreme Croatian nationalist faction called the Ustaše. A small faction of Bosniak nationalists joined the Axis forces and attacked Serbs while extreme Serb nationalists engaged in attacks on Bosniaks and Croats.
+
+Yugoslav Partisans took over the country at the end of the war and banned nationalism from being publicly promoted. Overall relative peace was retained under Tito's rule, though nationalist protests did occur, but these were usually repressed and nationalist leaders were arrested and some were executed by Yugoslav officials. However, the "Croatian Spring" protest in the 1970s was backed by large numbers of Croats who claimed that Yugoslavia remained a Serb hegemony and demanded that Serbia's powers be reduced.
+
+Tito, whose home republic was Croatia, was concerned over the stability of the country and responded in a manner to appease both Croats and Serbs: he ordered the arrest of the Croat protestors, while at the same time conceding to some of their demands. In 1974, Serbia's influence in the country was significantly reduced as autonomous provinces were created in ethnic Albanian-majority populated Kosovo and the mixed-populated Vojvodina.
+
+These autonomous provinces held the same voting power as the republics but unlike the republics, they could not legally separate from Yugoslavia. This concession satisfied Croatia and Slovenia, but in Serbia and in the new autonomous province of Kosovo, reaction was different. Serbs saw the new constitution as conceding to Croat and ethnic Albanian nationalists. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo saw the creation of an autonomous province as not being enough, and demanded that Kosovo become a constituent republic with the right to separate from Yugoslavia. This created tensions within the Communist leadership, particularly among Communist Serb officials who resented the 1974 constitution as weakening Serbia's influence and jeopardising the unity of the country by allowing the republics the right to separate.
+
+According to official statistics, from the 1950s to the early 1980s, Yugoslavia was among the fastest growing countries, approaching the ranges reported in South Korea and other miracle countries. The unique socialist system in Yugoslavia, where factories were worker cooperatives and decision-making was less centralized than in other socialist countries, may have led to the stronger growth. However, even if the absolute value of the growth rates was not as high as indicated by the official statistics, both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were characterized by surprisingly high growth rates of both income and education during the 1950s.
+
+The period of European growth ended after the oil price shock in 1970s. Following that, in Yugoslavia an economic crisis erupted, and that as a product of disastrous errors by Yugoslav governments, such as borrowing vast amounts of Western capital in order to fund growth through exports.[23] At the same time, Western economies went into recession, decreasing demand for Yugoslavian imports, creating a large debt problem.
+
+In 1989, according to official sources, 248 firms were declared bankrupt or were liquidated and 89,400 workers were laid off. During the first nine months of 1990 directly following the adoption of the IMF programme, another 889 enterprises with a combined work-force of 525,000 workers suffered the same fate. In other words, in less than two years "the trigger mechanism" (under the Financial Operations Act) had led to the layoff of more than 600,000 workers out of a total industrial workforce of the order of 2.7 million. An additional 20% of the work force, or half a million people, were not paid wages during the early months of 1990 as enterprises sought to avoid bankruptcy. The largest concentrations of bankrupt firms and lay-offs were in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. Real earnings were in a free fall and social programmes had collapsed; creating within the population an atmosphere of social despair and hopelessness. This was a critical turning point in the events to follow.
+
+Though the 1974 Constitution reduced the power of the federal government, Tito's authority substituted for this weakness until his death in 1980.
+
+After Tito's death on 4 May 1980, ethnic tensions grew in Yugoslavia. The legacy of the Constitution of 1974 was used to throw the system of decision-making into a state of paralysis, made all the more hopeless as the conflict of interests had become irreconcilable. The Albanian majority in Kosovo demanded the status of a republic in the 1981 protests in Kosovo while Serbian authorities suppressed this sentiment and proceeded to reduce the province's autonomy.[24]
+
+In 1986, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts drafted a memorandum addressing some burning issues concerning the position of Serbs as the most numerous people in Yugoslavia. The largest Yugoslav republic in territory and population, Serbia's influence over the regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina was reduced by the 1974 Constitution. Because its two autonomous provinces had de facto prerogatives of full-fledged republics, Serbia found that its hands were tied, for the republican government was restricted in making and carrying out decisions that would apply to the provinces. Since the provinces had a vote in the Federal Presidency Council (an eight-member council composed of representatives from the six republics and the two autonomous provinces), they sometimes even entered into coalition with other republics, thus outvoting Serbia. Serbia's political impotence made it possible for others to exert pressure on the 2 million Serbs (20% of the total Serbian population) living outside Serbia.
+
+Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milošević sought to restore pre-1974 Serbian sovereignty.  After Tito's death, Milosevic made his way to becoming the next superior figure and political official for Serbia.[25] Other republics, especially Slovenia and Croatia, denounced this move as a revival of greater Serbian hegemonism. Through a series of moves known as the "anti-bureaucratic revolution", Milošević succeeded in reducing the autonomy of Vojvodina and of Kosovo and Metohija, but both entities retained a vote in the Yugoslav Presidency Council. The very instrument that reduced Serbian influence before was now used to increase it: in the eight-member Council, Serbia could now count on four votes at a minimum: Serbia proper, then-loyal Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo.
+
+As a result of these events, ethnic Albanian miners in Kosovo organised the 1989 Kosovo miners' strike, which dovetailed into ethnic conflict between the Albanians and the non-Albanians in the province. At around 80% of the population of Kosovo in the 1980s, ethnic-Albanians were the majority.  With Milosevic gaining control over Kosovo in 1989, the original residency changed drastically leaving only a minimum amount of Serbians left in the region.[25] The number of Slavs in Kosovo (mainly Serbs) was quickly declining for several reasons, among them the ever-increasing ethnic tensions and subsequent emigration from the area. By 1999 the Slavs formed as little as 10% of the total population in Kosovo.
+
+Meanwhile, Slovenia, under the presidency of Milan Kučan, and Croatia supported the Albanian miners and their struggle for formal recognition. Initial strikes turned into widespread demonstrations demanding a Kosovan republic. This angered Serbia's leadership which proceeded to use police force, and later even the Federal Army was sent to the province by the order of the Serbia-held majority in the Yugoslav Presidency Council.
+
+In January 1990, the extraordinary 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was convened. For most of the time, the Slovene and Serbian delegations were arguing over the future of the League of Communists and Yugoslavia. The Serbian delegation, led by Milošević, insisted on a policy of "one person, one vote", which would empower the plurality population, the Serbs. In turn, the Slovenes, supported by Croats, sought to reform Yugoslavia by devolving even more power to republics, but were voted down. As a result, the Slovene and Croatian delegations left the Congress and the all-Yugoslav Communist party was dissolved.
+
+The constitutional crisis that inevitably followed resulted in a rise of nationalism in all republics: Slovenia and Croatia voiced demands for looser ties within the Federation.  Following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, each of the republics held multi-party elections in 1990. Slovenia and Croatia held the elections in April since their communist parties chose to cede power peacefully. Other Yugoslav republics—especially Serbia—were more or less dissatisfied with the democratisation in two of the republics and proposed different sanctions (e.g. Serbian "customs tax" for Slovene products) against the two, but as the year progressed, other republics' communist parties saw the inevitability of the democratisation process; in December, as the last member of the federation, Serbia held parliamentary elections which confirmed former communists' rule in this republic.
+
+The unresolved issues however remained. In particular, Slovenia and Croatia elected governments oriented towards greater autonomy of the republics (under Milan Kučan and Franjo Tuđman, respectively), since it became clear that Serbian domination attempts and increasingly different levels of democratic standards were becoming increasingly incompatible. Serbia and Montenegro elected candidates who favoured Yugoslav unity.
+
+The Croat quest for independence led to large Serb communities within Croatia rebelling and trying to secede from the Croat republic. Serbs in Croatia would not accept a status of a national minority in a sovereign Croatia, since they would be demoted from the status of a constituent nation of the entirety of Yugoslavia.
+
+The war broke out when the new regimes tried to replace Yugoslav civilian and military forces with secessionist forces. When, in August 1990, Croatia attempted to replace police in the Serb populated Croat Krajina by force, the population first looked for refuge in the Yugoslavian Army barracks, while the army remained passive. The civilians then organised armed resistance. These armed conflicts between the Croatian armed forces ("police") and civilians mark the beginning of the Yugoslav war that inflamed the region. Similarly, the attempt to replace Yugoslav frontier police by Slovene police forces provoked regional armed conflicts which finished with a minimal number of victims.[26]
+
+A similar attempt in Bosnia and Herzegovina led to a war that lasted more than three years (see below). The results of all these conflicts are almost complete emigration of the Serbs from all three regions, massive displacement of the populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishment of the three new independent states. The separation of Macedonia was peaceful, although the Yugoslav Army occupied the peak of the Straža mountain on the Macedonian soil.
+
+Serbian uprisings in Croatia began in August 1990 by blocking roads leading from the Dalmatian coast towards the interior almost a year before Croatian leadership made any move towards independence. These uprisings were more or less discreetly backed up by the Serb-dominated federal army (JNA). The Serbs in Croatia proclaimed "Serb autonomous areas", later united into the Republic of Serb Krajina. The federal army tried to disarm the territorial defence forces of Slovenia (republics had their local defence forces similar to the Home Guard) in 1990 but was not completely successful. Still, Slovenia began to covertly import arms to replenish its armed forces.
+
+Croatia also embarked upon the illegal import of arms, (following the disarmament of the republics' armed forces by the federal army) mainly from Hungary, and were under constant surveillance which produced a video of a secret meeting between the Croatian Defence minister Martin Špegelj and the two men, filmed by the Yugoslav counter-intelligence (KOS, Kontra-obavještajna služba). Špegelj announced that they were at war with the army and gave instructions about arms smuggling as well as methods of dealing with the Yugoslav Army's officers stationed in Croatian cities. Serbia and JNA used this discovery of Croatian rearmament for propaganda purposes. Guns were also fired from army bases through Croatia. Elsewhere, tensions were running high. In the same month, the Army leaders met with the Presidency of Yugoslavia in an attempt to get them to declare a state of emergency which would allow for the army to take control of the country. The army was seen as an arm of the Serbian government by that time so the consequence feared by the other republics was to be total Serbian domination of the union. The representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Vojvodina voted for the decision, while all other republics, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, voted against. The tie delayed an escalation of conflicts, but not for long.[26]
+
+Following the first multi-party election results, in the autumn of 1990, the republics of Slovenia and Croatia proposed transforming Yugoslavia into a loose confederation of six republics. By this proposal, republics would have right to self-determination. However Milošević rejected all such proposals, arguing that like Slovenes and Croats, the Serbs (having in mind Croatian Serbs) should also have a right to self-determination.
+
+On 9 March 1991, demonstrations were held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade, but the police and the military were deployed in the streets to restore order, killing two people. In late March 1991, the Plitvice Lakes incident was one of the first sparks of open war in Croatia. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), whose superior officers were mainly of Serbian ethnicity, maintained an impression of being neutral, but as time went on, they got more and more involved in state politics.
+
+On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia became the first republics to declare independence from Yugoslavia. The federal customs officers in Slovenia on the border crossings with Italy, Austria, and Hungary mainly just changed uniforms since most of them were local Slovenes. The following day (26 June), the Federal Executive Council specifically ordered the army to take control of the "internationally recognized borders", leading to the Ten-Day War. As Slovenia and Croatia fought towards independence,  the Serbian and Croatian forces indulged into a violent and perilous rivalry. [25]
+
+The Yugoslav People's Army forces, based in barracks in Slovenia and Croatia, attempted to carry out the task within the next 48 hours. However, because of misinformation given to the Yugoslav Army conscripts that the Federation was under attack by foreign forces and the fact that the majority of them did not wish to engage in a war on the ground where they served their conscription, the Slovene territorial defence forces retook most of the posts within several days with only minimal loss of life on both sides.
+
+There was a suspected incident of a war crime, as the Austrian ORF TV network showed footage of three Yugoslav Army soldiers surrendering to the territorial defence force, before gunfire was heard and the troops were seen falling down. However, none were killed in the incident. There were however numerous cases of destruction of civilian property and civilian life by the Yugoslav People's Army, including houses and a church. A civilian airport, along with a hangar and aircraft inside the hangar, was bombarded; truck drivers on the road from Ljubljana to Zagreb and Austrian journalists at the Ljubljana Airport were killed.
+
+A ceasefire was eventually agreed upon. According to the Brioni Agreement, recognised by representatives of all republics, the international community pressured Slovenia and Croatia to place a three-month moratorium on their independence.
+
+During these three months, the Yugoslav Army completed its pull-out from Slovenia, but in Croatia, a bloody war broke out in the autumn of 1991. Ethnic Serbs, who had created their own state Republic of Serbian Krajina in heavily Serb-populated regions resisted the police forces of the Republic of Croatia who were trying to bring that breakaway region back under Croatian jurisdiction. In some strategic places, the Yugoslav Army acted as a buffer zone; in most others it was protecting or aiding Serbs with resources and even manpower in their confrontation with the new Croatian army and their police force.
+
+In September 1991, the Republic of Macedonia also declared independence, becoming the only former republic to gain sovereignty without resistance from the Belgrade-based Yugoslav authorities. 500 US soldiers were then deployed under the UN banner to monitor Macedonia's northern borders with the Republic of Serbia. Macedonia's first president, Kiro Gligorov, maintained good relations with Belgrade and the other breakaway republics and there have to date been no problems between Macedonian and Serbian border police even though small pockets of Kosovo and the Preševo valley complete the northern reaches of the historical region known as Macedonia (Prohor Pčinjski part), which would otherwise create a border dispute if ever Macedonian nationalism should resurface (see VMRO). This was despite the fact that the Yugoslav Army refused to abandon its military infrastructure on the top of the Straža Mountain up to the year 2000.
+
+As a result of the conflict, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 721 on 27 November 1991, which paved the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.[27]
+
+In Bosnia and Herzegovina in November 1991, the Bosnian Serbs held a referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favour of forming a Serbian republic within the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and staying in a common state with Serbia and Montenegro. On 9 January 1992, the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb assembly proclaimed a separate "Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina". The referendum and creation of SARs were proclaimed unconstitutional by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and declared illegal and invalid. However, in February–March 1992, the government held a national referendum on Bosnian independence from Yugoslavia. That referendum was in turn declared contrary to the BiH and the Federal constitution by the federal Constitutional Court in Belgrade and the newly established Bosnian Serb government.
+
+The referendum was largely boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. The Federal court in Belgrade did not decide on the matter of the referendum of the Bosnian Serbs. The turnout was somewhere between 64–67% and 98% of the voters voted for independence. It was not clear what the two-thirds majority requirement actually meant and whether it was satisfied. The republic's government declared its independence on 5 April, and the Serbs immediately declared the independence of Republika Srpska. The war in Bosnia followed shortly thereafter.
+
+Various dates are considered the end of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia:
+
+As the Yugoslav Wars raged through Croatia and Bosnia, the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, which remained relatively untouched by the war, formed a rump state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1992. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia aspired to be a sole legal successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but those claims were opposed by the other former republics. The United Nations also denied its request to automatically continue the membership of the former state.[28] In 2000, Milosevic was prosecuted for atrocities committed in his ten-year rule in Serbia and the Yugoslav Wars.[25] Eventually, after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević from power as president of the federation in 2000, the country dropped those aspirations, accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession, and reapplied for and gained UN membership on 2 November 2000.[5] From 1992 to 2000, some countries, including the United States, had referred to the FRY as Serbia and Montenegro[29] as they viewed its claim to Yugoslavia's successorship as illegitimate.[30] In April 2001, the five successor states extant at the time drafted an Agreement on Succession Issues, signing the agreement in June 2001.[31][32] Marking an important transition in its history, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003.
+
+According to the Succession Agreement signed in Vienna on 29 June 2001, all assets of former Yugoslavia were divided between five successor states:[32]
+
+In June 2006, Montenegro became an independent nation after the results of a May 2006 referendum, therefore rendering Serbia and Montenegro no longer existent. After Montenegro's independence, Serbia became the legal successor of Serbia and Montenegro, while Montenegro re-applied for membership in international organisations. In February 2008, the Republic of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, leading to an ongoing dispute on whether Kosovo is a legally recognised state. Kosovo is not a member of the United Nations, but 115 states, including the United States and various members of the European Union, have recognised Kosovo as a sovereign state.
+
+In 2009, The Economist coined the term Yugosphere to describe the present-day physical areas that formed Yugoslavia, as well as its culture and influence.[clarification needed][35][36]
+
+The similarity of the languages and the long history of common life have left many ties among the peoples of the new states, even though the individual state policies of the new states favour differentiation, particularly in language. The Serbo-Croatian language is linguistically a single language, with several literary and spoken variants since the language of the government was imposed where other languages dominated (Slovenia, Macedonia). Now, separate sociolinguistic standards exist for the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian languages.
+
+Remembrance of the time of the joint state and its positive attributes is referred to as Yugonostalgia.
+Many aspects of Yugonostalgia refer to the socialist system and the sense of social security it provided. There are still people from the former Yugoslavia who self-identify as Yugoslavs; this identifier is commonly seen in demographics relating to ethnicity in today's independent states.
+
+Yugoslavia had always been a home to a very diverse population, not only in terms of national affiliation, but also religious affiliation. Of the many religions, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and Protestantism, as well as various Eastern Orthodox faiths, composed the religions of Yugoslavia, comprising over 40 in all. The religious demographics of Yugoslavia changed dramatically since World War II. A census taken in 1921 and later in 1948 show that 99% of the population appeared to be deeply involved with their religion and practices. With postwar government programs of modernisation and urbanisation, the percentage of religious believers took a dramatic plunge. Connections between religious belief and nationality posed a serious threat to the post-war Communist government's policies on national unity and state structure.[37]
+
+After the rise of communism, a survey taken in 1964 showed that just over 70% of the total population of Yugoslavia considered themselves to be religious believers. The places of highest religious concentration were that of Kosovo with 91% and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 83.8%. The places of lowest religious concentration were Slovenia 65.4%, Serbia with 63.7% and Croatia with 63.6%. Religious differences between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians alongside the rise of nationalism contributed to the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991.[37]

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+Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [a] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.
+
+Born in the village of Klushino near Gzhatsk (a town later renamed after him), in his youth Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy. He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base, near the Norwegian border, before his selection for the Soviet space programme with five other cosmonauts. Following his spaceflight, Gagarin became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was later named after him. He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet.
+
+Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Fearing for his life, Soviet officials permanently banned Gagarin from further spaceflights. After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy on 17 February 1968, he was allowed to fly regular aircraft. Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.
+
+Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm[3]—Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[4][b] Yuri was the third of four children. His older brother Valentin was born in 1924 and by the time Yuri was born was already helping with the cattle on the farm. His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936.[6][7]
+
+Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Soviet Union during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. On the land behind their house, the family were allowed to build a mud hut measuring approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft), where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[8] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[9][10] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[8]
+
+In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy, near Moscow,[9][10] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[11] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[11] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[9][10][12] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[10][12] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[8]
+
+In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the First Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[13][14] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[13] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[15] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[9]
+
+On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari Air Base close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[16] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[17] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space programme was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[16][18] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[16] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[17] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space programme.[16]
+
+Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[19] The commission limited their selection to pilots between 25 and 30 years old. The chief engineer of the programme Sergei Korolev also specified that candidates, to fit in the limited space in the Vostok capsule, should weigh less than 72 kg (159 lb) and be no taller than 1.70 metres (5 ft 7 in) in height;[20][21] Gagarin was 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) tall.[22]
+
+From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[19][c] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regimen involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympic Games.[23] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, over both land and water.[24]
+
+Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[25] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[26] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[27][d] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[29]
+
+As several of the candidates selected for the programme including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course programme at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the programme in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[30][31] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[29][32] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on 26 July – 5 August.[33][24] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:
+
+Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[25]
+
+The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[29] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok programme. The commission was tasked with ranking the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from commission.[26] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate for the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[26] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[34]
+
+In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.
+
+On 12 April 1961, at 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or cedar).[35] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:
+
+Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.
+Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[36][37]
+
+Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Поехали!)[e] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[40][41] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[42] Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth.[43]
+
+"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[44] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" ("Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[45] Gagarin was recognised as a qualified Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[17][45]
+
+At about 7,000 metres (23,000 ft), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute.[46] There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[47] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[48] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised its rules, and acknowledged that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[49]
+
+Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space programme and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to the World War II Victory Parades.[50]
+
+Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[51][52][53] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by officials from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[54] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[51][55] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[51][56] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries in the years following his flight.[57] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[58] Because of his popularity, US president John F. Kennedy barred Gagarin from visiting the United States.[39]
+
+In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[59] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[17] On 20 December, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the cosmonaut training facility.[60] Soviet officials, including Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[61] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[9][12]
+
+Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[59] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[62] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[63]
+
+The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[64] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[65] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[66] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[67] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[68] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[69] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[31][69][70]
+
+Gagarin was a keen sportsman and played ice hockey as a goal keeper.[71] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[72]
+
+In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[73] She was a medical technician who had graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[10][12][74] They were married on 7 November of the same year,[10] the same day Gagarin graduated from his flight school, and they had two daughters.[75][76] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[76] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[77][78] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[76] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[77][79] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[9][12]
+
+Some sources have said that Gagarin commented during his flight, "I don't see any God up here," though no such words appear in the verbatim record of his conversations with Earth stations during the spaceflight.[80] In a 2006 interview, Gagarin's friend Colonel Valentin Petrov stated that Gagarin never said these words and that the quote originated from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there".[81] Petrov also said Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Church as a child, and a 2011 Foma magazine article quoted the rector of the Orthodox Church in Star City saying, "Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house".[82]
+
+On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin.[83] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[84][85] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[86][87] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[86]
+
+The KGB's report, declassified in March 2003, dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[87] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[84] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[85]
+
+On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[88] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvred sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[89]
+
+Alexei Leonov, who was also a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[90] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second aircraft, an "unauthorized" Su-15, flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[91]
+
+According to some conspiracy theories, Gagarin's death was ordered by Brezhnev, who supposedly was jealous of Gagarin's popularity, overshadowing him at public events.[92][93][94][95][96]
+
+On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[97][98] Order of Lenin,[97] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[99] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[98] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[100] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[17]
+
+He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[101][102] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) the same year.[17] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[103]
+
+Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[104] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[17] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[105] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[106][107] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[108] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[109] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[57] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[110]
+
+The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[111] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[112] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[113]
+
+A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City was named on 30 April 1968.[114] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[115] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[116] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[117]
+
+In 1961 the Olympic sports training center in Chernihiv in Ukraine, was named Stadion Yuri Gagarin and the 25 May 1964, Gagarin in person attended the stadium.
+
+Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space programme's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the Moon's surface.[118][119] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[120][121] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi) wide crater on the far side was named after him.[122] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[123]
+
+Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Созвездье Гагарина, Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[124] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[40][124] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[125]
+
+Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[126] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[127]
+
+Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[128] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[129]
+
+In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[130] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with the fictional character James T. Kirk from Star Trek.[131] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[132]
+
+There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in the town named after him as well as in Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[133] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[134]
+
+In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[135] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[136]
+
+In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by Leonov, who is also an artist, and was a gift to Houston commissioned by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[137][138] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[139]
+
+In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[140][141] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[142]
+
+In August 2019, the Italian artist Jorit painted Gagarin's face on the facade of a twenty-story building in the district of Odintsovo, Russia.[143][144] The mural is the largest portrait of Gagarin in the world.[145]
+
+The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[146] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[147]
+
+The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his mission.[148][149]
+

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+
+
+Coordinates: 53°N 27°E / 53°N 27°E / 53; 27
+
+in Europe (dark grey)  –  [Legend]
+
+Belarus (/bɛləˈruːs/; Belarusian: Беларусь, IPA: [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Рэспубліка Беларусь, Russian: Республика Беларусь), formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.[7] It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested. Its major economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.[8] Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including the Principality of Polotsk (11th to 14th centuries), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire.
+
+In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, different states arose competing for legitimacy amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR) which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II.[9][10][11] During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources.[12] The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.[13] The parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991.[14] In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State.
+
+Alexander Lukashenko has served as the country's first president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled "Europe's last dictatorship" by some Western journalists,[15][16] on account of the country's poor human rights record and Lukashenko's self-described authoritarian style of government.[17][18][19] Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Elections under Lukashenko's rule have been widely criticized as unfair; and according to many countries and organizations, political opposition has been violently suppressed. Belarus is also the only country in Europe officially using the death penalty.[20][21][22] Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House, as "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, and is rated as the worst country for press freedom in Europe in the 2013–14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Belarus 157th out of 180 nations.[23]
+
+Over 70% of Belarus's population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas. More than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages: Belarusian and Russian. The Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The second-most widespread religion, Roman Catholicism, has a much smaller following; nevertheless, Belarus celebrates both Orthodox and Catholic versions of Christmas and Easter as national holidays.[24] Belarus is a member of the United Nations since its founding, the Commonwealth of Independent States, CSTO, EEU, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Belarus has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but nevertheless maintains a bilateral relationship with the Union, and likewise participates in two EU projects: the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative.
+
+The name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus', i.e., White Rus'. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus'.[25] An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.[26]
+
+An alternative explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population.[25][27] A third theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars (i.e., Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev) had been referred to as "White Rus'".[25]
+
+The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, thus Belarus is often referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia. The name first appeared in German and Latin medieval literature; the chronicles of Jan of Czarnków mention the imprisonment of Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his mother at "Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto" in 1381.[28] In some languages, including German, Afrikaans and Dutch, the country is generally called "White Russia" to this day (Weißrussland and Wit-Rusland respectively).[29][30]
+
+The Latin term "Alba Russia" was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming "Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo."[31] The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the late-16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey, who was known for his close contacts with the Russian Royal Court.[32] During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used "White Rus" to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[33]
+
+The term Belorussia (Russian: Белору́ссия, the latter part similar but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я, Russia) first rose in the days of the Russian Empire, and the Russian Tsar was usually styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", as Russia or the Russian Empire was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great, Little, and White.[34] This asserted that the territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian; in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the Russian people.[35]
+
+After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term "White Russia" caused some confusion, as it was also the name of the military force that opposed the red Bolsheviks.[36] During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness. In western Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period.[37]
+
+The term Byelorussia (its names in other languages such as English being based on the Russian form) was only used officially until 1991, when the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR decreed by law that the new independent republic should be called Republic of Belarus (Республика Беларусь spelled in Russian), and that its abridged form should be "Belarus". The law decreed that all the forms of the new term should be transliterated into other languages from their Belarusian language forms. The use of Byelorussian SSR and any abbreviations thereof were allowed from 1991 to 1993.[38] Conservative forces in the newly independent Belarus did not support the name change and opposed its inclusion in the 1991 draft of the Constitution of Belarus.[39]
+
+Accordingly, the name Byelorussia was replaced by Belarus in English.[40] Likewise, the adjective Belorussian or Byelorussian was replaced by Belarusian in English. Belarusian is closer to the original Belarusian term of bielaruski.[40] Belarusian intelligentsia in the Stalin era attempted to change the name from Byelorussia to a form of Krivia because of the supposed connection with Russia.[41] Some nationalists object to the name for the same reason.[42][43] Several local newspapers kept the old name of the country in Russian in their names, for example Komsomolskaya Pravda v Byelorussii, which is the localized publication of a popular Russian newspaper. Also, those who wish for Belarus to be reunited with Russia continue to use Belorussia.[43] Officially, the full name of the country is "Republic of Belarus" (Рэспубліка Беларусь, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus listen (help·info)).[38][44]
+
+From 5000 to 2000 BC, Bandkeramik cultures predominated. In addition, remains from the Dnieper-Donets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine.[45] Cimmerians and other pastoralists roamed through the area by 1,000 BC, and by 500 AD, Slavs had taken up residence, which was circumscribed by the Scythians who roamed its outskirts. Invaders from Asia, among whom were the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400–600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence.[46]
+
+The region that is now Belarus was first settled by Baltic tribes in the 3rd century. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over by Slavic tribes. The takeover was partially due to the lack of military coordination of the Balts but the gradual assimilation of the Balts into Slavic culture was peaceful in nature.[47]
+
+In the 9th century the territory of modern Belarus became part of Kievan Rus', a vast East Slavic state ruled by the Rurikid dynasty. Upon the death of Kievan Rus' ruler Yaroslav I the Wise, the state split into independent principalities.[48] Many early Rus' principalities were virtually razed or severely affected by a major Mongol invasion in the 13th century, but the lands of modern Belarus avoided the brunt of the invasion and eventually joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[49] There are no sources of military seizure, but the annals affirm the alliance and united foreign policy of Polotsk and Lithuania for decades.[50]
+
+Incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an economic, political and ethno-cultural unification of Belarusian lands.[51] Of the principalities held by the Duchy, nine of them were settled by a population that would eventually become Belarusian people.[52] During this time, the Duchy was involved in several military campaigns, including fighting on the side of Poland against the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410; the joint victory allowed the Duchy to control the northwestern borderlands of Eastern Europe.[53]
+
+The Muscovites, led by Ivan III of Moscow, began military campaigns in 1486 in an attempt to incorporate the lands of Kievan Rus', specifically the territories of modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.[54]
+
+On 2 February 1386, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were joined in a personal union through a marriage of their rulers.[55] This union set in motion the developments that eventually resulted in the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin.
+
+The Lithuanian nobles were forced to go for rapprochement because of the threat coming from Muscovy.
+To strengthen the independence in the format of the union, three editions of the Statutes of Lithuania were issued in the 16th century. 
+The third Article of the Statute establishes that all lands of Grand Duchy of Lithuania will be eternally in Grand Duchy of Lithuania and never enter as a part of other states. It allowed the right to own land within Grand Duchy of Lithuania to only its own families. Anyone from outside Duchy gaining rights to a property would actually own it only after swearing allegiance to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. These articles were aimed to defend the rights of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania nobility against Polish, Prussian and other aristocracy of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
+
+In the years following the union, the process of gradual Polonization of both Lithuanians and Ruthenians gained steady momentum. In culture and social life, both the Polish language and Catholicism became dominant, and in 1696, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the official language—with the Ruthenian language being banned from administrative use.[56] However, the Ruthenian peasants continued to speak their own language and remained faithful to the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church. Statutes were initially issued in Ruthenian language alone and later also in Polish. Around 1840 the Statutes were banned by the Russian tsar following the November Uprising. Modern Ukrainian lands used it until 1860s.
+
+The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795 with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial Russia, Prussia, and Austria.[57] The Belarusian territories acquired by the Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine II[58] were included into the Belarusian Governorate (Russian: Белорусское генерал-губернаторство) in 1796 and held until their occupation by the German Empire during World War I.[59]
+
+Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed. Policies of Polonization[60] changed by Russification,[61] which included the return to Orthodox Christianity of Belorusian Uniates. Belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school education with Samogitian literacy was allowed.[62]
+
+In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I prohibited use of the Belarusian language in public schools, campaigned against Belarusian publications and tried to pressure those who had converted to Catholicism under the Poles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, economic and cultural pressure exploded in a revolt, led by Konstanty Kalinowski. After the failed revolt, the Russian government reintroduced the use of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and no documents in Belarusian were permitted by the Russian government until 1905.[63]
+
+During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Belarus first declared independence under German occupation on 25 March 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic.[64][65] Immediately afterwards, the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.[66] The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic exists as a government in exile ever since then; in fact, it is currently the world's longest serving government in exile.[67]
+
+The Belarusian People's Republic was the first attempt to create an independent Belarusian state under name "Belarus". Despite significant efforts the state ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was continually dominated by the German Imperial Army and the Imperial Russian Army in World War I, and then the Bolshevik Red Army. It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of the state idea around the name "Belarus". The choice of the name was probably based on the fact that the educated core of the newly formed government was educated in the tsardom universities, with a corresponding education around the ideology of West-Russianism.[68]
+
+The Republic of Central Lithuania was a short-lived political entity, which was the last attempt to restore Lithuania in the historical confederacy state (it was also supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower). The republic was created in 1920 following the staged rebellion of soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under Lucjan Żeligowski. Centered on the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilna (Lithuanian: Vilnius, Polish: Wilno), for 18 months the entity served as a buffer state between Poland, upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area.[69] After a variety of delays, a disputed election took place on 8 January 1922, and the territory was annexed to Poland. Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing Belarusian schools and general disregard of Marshal Józef Piłsudski's confederation plans by Polish ally.[70] Years earlier interrogation report of 19-year-old revolutionary Pilsudski of 10 March 1887 indicated that he called himself a "belarusian, nobleman".[71]
+
+In 1919 a part of Belarus under Russian rule emerged as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR). Soon thereafter it merged to form the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR. The contested lands were divided between Poland and the Soviet Union after the war ended in 1921, and the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.[64][72] The western part of modern Belarus remained part of Poland.[73][74][75]
+
+In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet agricultural and economic policies, including collectivization and five-year plans for the national economy, led to famine and political repression.[76]
+
+In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. The Soviets invaded and annexed much of eastern Poland, which had been part of the country since the Peace of Riga two decades earlier. Much of the northern section of this area was added to the Byelorussian SSR, and now constitutes West Belarus.[9][10][11][77] The Soviet-controlled Byelorussian People's Council officially took control of the territories, whose populations consisted of a mixture of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews, on 28 October 1939 in Białystok. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The Brest Fortress, which had been annexed in 1939, at this time was subjected to one of the most destructive onslaughts that happened during the war. Statistically, the Byelorussian SSR was the hardest-hit Soviet republic in World War II; it remained in Nazi hands until 1944. During that time, Germany destroyed 209 out of 290 cities in the republic, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings.[12] The Germans' Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, or enslavement of most or all Belarusians for the purpose of providing more living space in the East for Germans.[78]
+
+Deaths are estimated to be over 1 million, the Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered.[12][79][80][81] The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971.[79] It was also after this conflict that the final borders of Belarus were set by Stalin when parts of Belarusian territory were given to the recently annexed Lithuania.[77]
+
+After the war, Belarus was among the 51 founding member states of the United Nations Charter and as such it was allowed an additional vote at the UN, on top of the Soviet Union's vote. Vigorous postwar reconstruction promptly followed the end of the war and the Byelorussian SSR became a major center of manufacturing in the western USSR, creating jobs and attracting ethnic Russians.[82] The borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in accord with the 1919-proposed Curzon Line.[59]
+
+Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences.[79] This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev continued his predecessor's cultural hegemony program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism."[79]
+
+In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR was exposed to significant nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in the neighboring Ukrainian SSR.[83]
+
+In June 1988, the archaeologist and leader of the Christian Conservative Party of the BPF Zyanon Paznyak discovered mass graves of victims executed in 1937–41 at Kurapaty, near Minsk.[83] Some nationalists contend that this discovery is proof that the Soviet government was trying to erase the Belarusian people, causing Belarusian nationalists to seek independence.[84]
+
+In March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR took place. Though the pro-independence Belarusian Popular Front took only 10% of the seats, the populace was content with the selection of the delegates.[85] Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27 July 1990 by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.
+
+With the support of the Communist Party, the country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991.[85] Stanislav Shushkevich, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on 8 December 1991 in Belavezhskaya Pushcha to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.[85]
+
+A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus.
+
+Two-round elections for the presidency on (24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994)[86] catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national prominence. He garnered 45% of the vote in the first round and 80%[85] in the second, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14% of the vote. Lukashenko was re-elected in 2001, in 2006, in 2010 and again in 2015. Western governments,[87] Amnesty International,[19] and Human Rights Watch[18] have criticized Lukashenko's authoritarian style of government.
+
+Since 2014, following years of embrace of Russian influence in the country, Lukashenko has pressed a revival of Belarusian identity, following the Russian annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine. For the first time, he delivered a speech in Belarusian (rather than Russian, which most Belarusians speak as their primary language), in which he said, "We are not Russian—we are Belarusians", and later encouraged the use of Belarusian. Trade disputes, a border dispute, and a much relaxed official attitude to dissident voices are all part of a weakening of the longtime warm relationship with Russia.[88]
+
+In 2019, Lukashenko had bilateral talks in Sochi with Russian president Vladimir Putin and declared that their two countries "could unite tomorrow, no problem."[89] An idea backed by Putin for years, observers have labeled the potential plan a scheme by Putin to remain in power beyond 2024.[90] However, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov explained that "Lukashenko will play tough to the public while trying to look weak in front of Putin," and the Carnegie Moscow Center's Artyom Shraibman suggested that "Moscow will most likely fail to find its base among Belarusians."[91]
+
+Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its extension from north to south is 560 km (350 mi), from west to east is 650 km (400 mi).[92] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land.[93] About 40% of Belarus is covered by forests.[94][95]
+
+Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus.[93] Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. The Neman flows westward towards the Baltic sea and the Pripyat flows eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper flows southward towards the Black Sea.[96]
+
+The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 metres (1,132 ft), and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90 m (295 ft).[93] The average elevation of Belarus is 160 m (525 ft) above sea level.[97] The climate features mild to cold winters, with average January minimum temperatures ranging from −4 °C (24.8 °F) in southwest (Brest) to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F).[98] Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm (21.7 to 27.6 in).[98] The country is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates.[93]
+
+Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay.[93] About 70% of the radiation from neighboring Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster entered Belarusian territory, and about a fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests in the southeastern regions) was affected by radiation fallout.[99] The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, especially through the use of caesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease soil levels of caesium-137.[100][101]
+
+Belarus borders five countries: Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, Russia to the north and the east, and Ukraine to the south. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus's borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine border in 2009.[102] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007.[103]
+
+Belarus is a presidential republic, governed by a president and the National Assembly. The term for each presidency is five years. Under the 1994 constitution, the president could serve for only two terms as president, but a change in the constitution in 2004 eliminated term limits.[105] Alexander Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus since 1994. In 1996, Lukashenko called for a controversial vote to extend the presidential term from five to seven years, and as a result the election that was supposed to occur in 1999 was pushed back to 2001. The referendum on the extension was denounced as a "fantastic" fake by the chief electoral officer, Viktar Hanchar, who was removed from the office for official matters only during the campaign.[106] The National Assembly is a bicameral parliament comprising the 110-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 64-member Council of the Republic (the upper house).[107]
+
+The House of Representatives has the power to appoint the prime minister, make constitutional amendments, call for a vote of confidence on the prime minister, and make suggestions on foreign and domestic policy.[108] The Council of the Republic has the power to select various government officials, conduct an impeachment trial of the president, and accept or reject the bills passed by the House of Representatives. Each chamber has the ability to veto any law passed by local officials if it is contrary to the constitution.[109]
+
+The government includes a Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister and five deputy prime ministers.[110] The members of this council need not be members of the legislature and are appointed by the president. The judiciary comprises the Supreme Court and specialized courts such as the Constitutional Court, which deals with specific issues related to constitutional and business law. The judges of national courts are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Council of the Republic. For criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court. The Belarusian Constitution forbids the use of special extrajudicial courts.[109]
+
+In the 2012 parliamentary election, 105 of the 110 members elected to the House of Representatives were not affiliated with any political party. The Communist Party of Belarus won 3 seats, and the Agrarian Party and Republican Party of Labour and Justice, one each.[111] Most non-partisans represent a wide scope of social organizations such as workers' collectives, public associations, and civil society organizations, similar to the composition of the Soviet legislature.[112]
+
+Neither the pro-Lukashenko parties, such as the Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party and the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, nor the People's Coalition 5 Plus opposition parties, such as the Belarusian People's Front and the United Civil Party of Belarus, won any seats in the 2004 elections. Groups such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) declared the election "un-free" because of the opposition parties' poor results and media bias in favor of the government.[113]
+
+In the 2006 presidential election, Lukashenko was opposed by Alaksandar Milinkievič, who represented a coalition of opposition parties, and by Alaksandar Kazulin of the Social Democrats. Kazulin was detained and beaten by police during protests surrounding the All Belarusian People's Assembly. Lukashenko won the election with 80% of the vote; the Russian Federation and the CIS deemed the vote open and fair[114] while the OSCE and other organizations called the election unfair.[115]
+
+After the December completion of the 2010 presidential election, Lukashenko was elected to a fourth straight term with nearly 80% of the vote in elections. The runner-up opposition leader Andrei Sannikov received less than 3% of the vote; independent observers criticized the election as fraudulent. When opposition protesters took to the streets in Minsk, many people, including most rival presidential candidates, were beaten and arrested by the state militia.[116] Many of the candidates, including Sannikov, were sentenced to prison or house arrest for terms which are mainly and typically over four years.[117][118] Six months later amid an unprecedented economic crisis, activists utilized social networking to initiate a fresh round of protests characterized by wordless hand-clapping.[119]
+
+The judicial system in Belarus lacks independence and is subject to political interference.[120] Corrupt practices such as bribery often took place during tender processes, and whistleblower protection and national ombudsman are lacking in Belarus's anti-corruption system.[121] However, there is a political will to fight against corruption in the government, and the government has made some progress in combating corruption, such as minimizing tax regulations in order to improve transparency in the tax office.[122]
+
+Lukashenko has described himself as having an "authoritarian ruling style".[105] Western countries have described Belarus under Lukashenko as a dictatorship; the government has accused the same Western powers of trying to oust Lukashenko.[123] The Council of Europe has barred Belarus from membership since 1997 for undemocratic voting and election irregularities in the November 1996 constitutional referendum and parliament by-elections.[124]
+
+The Belarusian government is also criticized for human rights violations and its persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.[19][18] In a testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny".[125] In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality".[126] The Viasna Human Rights Centre lists 11 political prisoners[127] currently detained in Belarus. Among them is the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, Vice President of International Federation for Human Rights and head of Viasna.[128]
+
+Lukashenko announced a new law in 2014 that will prohibit kolkhoz workers (around 9% of total work force) from leaving their jobs at will—a change of job and living location will require permission from governors. The law was compared with serfdom by Lukashenko himself.[129][130] Similar regulations were introduced for the forestry industry in 2012.[131]
+
+The Byelorussian SSR was one of the two Soviet republics that joined the United Nations along with the Ukrainian SSR as one of the original 51 members in 1945. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, under international law, Belarus became the internationally recognized successor state to the Byelorussian SSR, retaining its UN membership.
+
+Belarus and Russia have been close trading partners and diplomatic allies since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Belarus is dependent on Russia for imports of raw materials and for its export market.[132]
+
+The union of Russia and Belarus, a supranational confederation, was established in a 1996–99 series of treaties that called for monetary union, equal rights, single citizenship, and a common foreign and defense policy.[132] However, the future of the union has been placed in doubt because of Belarus's repeated delays of monetary union, the lack of a referendum date for the draft constitution, and a dispute over the petroleum trade.[132]
+
+On 11 December 2007, reports emerged that a framework for the new state was discussed between both countries.[133] On 27 May 2008, Belarusian President Lukashenko said that he had named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the "prime minister" of the Russia-Belarus alliance. The significance of this act was not immediately clear; some incorrectly speculated that Putin would become president of a unified state of Russia and Belarus after stepping down as Russian president in May 2008.[134]
+
+Belarus was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).[135] Belarus has trade agreements with several European Union member states (despite other member states' travel ban on Lukashenko and top officials),[136] including neighboring Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.[137] Travel bans imposed by the European Union have been lifted in the past in order to allow Lukashenko to attend diplomatic meetings and also to engage his government and opposition groups in dialogue.[138]
+
+Bilateral relations with the United States are strained because the U.S. Department of State supports various anti-Lukashenko non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and also because the Belarusian government has made it increasingly difficult for United States-based organizations to operate within the country.[139] Diplomatic relations remained tense, and in 2004, the United States passed the Belarus Democracy Act, which authorized funding for anti-government Belarusian NGOs, and prohibited loans to the Belarusian government, except for humanitarian purposes.[140] Despite this political friction, the two countries do cooperate on intellectual property protection, prevention of human trafficking, technology crime, and disaster relief.[141]
+
+Sino-Belarusian relations have improved,[142] strengthened by the visit of President Lukashenko to China in October 2005.[143] Belarus also has strong ties with Syria,[144] considered a key partner in the Middle East.[145] In addition to the CIS, Belarus is a member of the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation,[137] the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998,[146] and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As an OSCE member state, Belarus's international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.[147]
+
+Belarus is included in the European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer in economic and geopolitical terms.
+
+On 15 February 2016 the European Union announced the easing of sanctions against Belarus during a meeting by 28 EU foreign ministers at a regular session of the Council of the European Union.[148]
+
+Major General Andrei Ravkov heads the Ministry of Defence,[149] and Alexander Lukashenko (as president) serves as Commander-in-Chief.[109] The armed forces were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet Armed Forces on the new republic's territory. The transformation of the ex-Soviet forces into the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was completed in 1997, reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations.[150]
+
+Most of Belarus's service members are conscripts, who serve for 12 months if they have higher education or 18 months if they do not.[151] Demographic decreases in the Belarusians of conscription age have increased the importance of contract soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in 2001.[152] In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus's gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditure.[153]
+
+Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has participated in the Individual Partnership Program since 1997,[154] and Belarus provides refueling and airspace support for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.[155] Belarus first began to cooperate with NATO upon signing documents to participate in their Partnership for Peace Program in 1995.[156] However, Belarus cannot join NATO because it is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Tensions between NATO and Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential election in Belarus.[157]
+
+Belarus is divided into six regions (Belarusian: вобласць, Russian: о́бласть), which are named after the cities that serve as their administrative centers.[158]
+
+Each region has a provincial legislative authority, called a region council (Belarusian: абласны Савет Дэпутатаў, Russian: областно́й Сове́т Депутатов), which is elected by its residents, and a provincial executive authority called a region administration (Belarusian: абласны выканаўчы камітэт, Russian: областно́й исполнительный комите́т), whose chairman is appointed by the president.[159] Regions are further subdivided into raions, commonly translated as districts (Belarusian: раён, Russian: район).[158]
+
+Each raion has its own legislative authority, or raion council, (Belarusian: раённы Савет Дэпутатаў, Russian: районный Сове́т Депутатов) elected by its residents, and an executive authority or raion administration appointed by higher executive powers. The six regions are divided into 118 raions.[94]
+
+The city of Minsk is split into nine districts and enjoys special status as the nation's capital.[160] It is run by an executive committee and has been granted a charter of self-rule.[161]
+
+Regions (with administrative centers):
+
+Special administrative district:
+
+Belarus is the only European country still using capital punishment. The U.S. and Belarus were the only two of the 56 member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to have carried out executions during 2011.[162]
+
+In 2014 the share of manufacturing in GDP was 37%, more than two thirds of this amount falls on manufacturing industries. The number of people employed in industry is 32.7% of the working population. The growth rate is much lower than for the economy as a whole – about 1.9% in 2014. At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus was one of the world's most industrially developed states by percentage of GDP as well as the richest CIS member-state.[163]
+
+In 2015, 39.3% of Belarusians were employed by state-controlled companies, 57.2% were employed by private companies (in which the government has a 21.1% stake) and 3.5% were employed by foreign companies.[164] The country relies on Russia for various imports, including petroleum.[165][166] Important agricultural products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat.[167] In 1994, Belarus's main exports included heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy products.[168]
+Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia.
+
+In the 1990s, however, industrial production plunged due to decreases in imports, investment, and demand for Belarusian products from its trading partners.[169] GDP only began to rise in 1996;[170] the country was the fastest-recovering former Soviet republic in the terms of its economy.[171] In 2006, GDP amounted to US$83.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars (estimate), or about $8,100 per capita.[167] In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%.[167]
+
+Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, under Lukashenko's leadership, Belarus has maintained government control over key industries and eschewed the large-scale privatizations seen in other former Soviet republics.
+
+In 2006, Belarus's largest trading partner was Russia, accounting for nearly half of total trade, with the European Union the next largest trading partner, with nearly a third of foreign trade.[172][173] As of 2015[update], 38% of Belarusian exported goods go to Russia and 56% of imported goods come from Russia.[164]
+
+Due to its failure to protect labor rights, including passing laws forbidding unemployment or working outside of state-controlled sectors,[174] Belarus lost its EU Generalized System of Preferences status on 21 June 2007, which raised tariff rates to their prior most favored nation levels.[173] Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993.[175]
+
+The labor force consists of more than four million people, among whom women hold slightly more jobs than men.[164] In 2005, nearly a quarter of the population was employed by industrial factories. Employment is also high in agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education. The unemployment rate, according to government statistics, was 1.5% in 2005. There were 679,000 unemployed Belarusians, two-thirds of whom were women. The unemployment rate has been in decline since 2003, and the overall rate of employment is the highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995.[164]
+
+The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble. The currency was introduced in May 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble and it has undergone redenomination twice since then. The first coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27 December 1996.[176] The ruble was reintroduced with new values in 2000 and has been in use ever since.[177] As part of the Union of Russia and Belarus, both states have discussed using a single currency along the same lines as the Euro. This led to a proposal that the Belarusian ruble be discontinued in favor of the Russian ruble (RUB), starting as early as 1 January 2008. The National Bank of Belarus abandoned pegging the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble in August 2007.[178]
+
+A new currency, the new Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 code: BYN)[179] was introduced in July 2016, replacing the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 (10,000 old rubles = 1 new ruble). From 1 July until 31 December 2016, the old and new currencies were in parallel circulation and series 2000 notes and coins can be exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021.[179] This redenomination can be considered an effort to fight the high inflation rate.[180][181]
+
+The banking system of Belarus consists of two levels: Central Bank (National Bank of the Republic of Belarus) and 25 commercial banks.[182] On 23 May 2011, the Belarusian ruble depreciated 56% against the United States dollar. The depreciation was even steeper on the black market and financial collapse seemed imminent as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars, euros, durable goods, and canned goods.[183] On 1 June 2011, Belarus requested an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.[184][185]
+
+According to the National Statistical Committee, as of January 2016[update], the population is 9.49 million.[1] Ethnic Belarusians constitute 83.7% of Belarus's total population.[1] The next largest ethnic groups are: Russians (8.3%), Poles (3.1%), and Ukrainians (1.7%).[1]
+Belarus has a population density of about 50 people per square kilometer (127 per sq mi); 70% of its total population is concentrated in urban areas.[186] Minsk, the nation's capital and largest city, was home to 1,937,900 residents in 2015[update].[187] Gomel, with a population of 481,000, is the second-largest city and serves as the capital of the Homiel Voblast. Other large cities are Mogilev (365,100), Vitebsk (342,400), Hrodna (314,800) and Brest (298,300).[188]
+
+Like many other eastern European countries, Belarus has a negative population growth rate and a negative natural growth rate. In 2007, Belarus's population declined by 0.41% and its fertility rate was 1.22,[189] well below the replacement rate. Its net migration rate is +0.38 per 1,000, indicating that Belarus experiences slightly more immigration than emigration. As of 2015[update], 69.9% of Belarus's population is aged 14 to 64; 15.5% is under 14, and 14.6% is 65 or older. Its population is also aging; the median age of 30–34 is estimated to rise to between 60 and 64 in 2050.[190] There are about 0.87 males per female in Belarus.[189] The average life expectancy is 72.15 (66.53 years for men and 78.1 years for women).[189] Over 99% of Belarusians aged 15 and older are literate.[189]
+
+
+
+Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian;[191] Russian is the most common language used at home, used by 70% of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken at home by 23%.[192] Minorities also speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish.[193] Belarusian, although not as widely used as Russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5%.[192]
+
+According to the census of November 2011, 58.9% of all Belarusians adhered to some kind of religion; out of those, Eastern Orthodoxy (Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church) made up about 82%.[194] Roman Catholicism is practiced mostly in the western regions, and there are also different denominations of Protestantism.[195][196] Minorities also practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Neopaganism. Overall, 48.3% of the population is Orthodox Christian, 41.1% is not religious, 7.1% is Catholic and 3.3% follows other religions.[194]
+
+Belarus's Catholic minority is concentrated in the western part of the country, especially around Hrodna, is made up of a mixture of Belarusians and the country's Polish and Lithuanian minorities.[197] In a statement to the media regarding Belarusian-Vatican ties, President Lukashenko stated that Orthodox and Catholic believers are the "two main confessions in our country".[198]
+
+Belarus was once a major center of European Jews, with 10% of the population being Jewish. But since the mid-20th century, the number of Jews has been reduced by the Holocaust, deportation, and emigration, so that today it is a very small minority of less than one percent.[199] The Lipka Tatars, numbering over 15,000, are predominantly Muslims. According to Article 16 of the Constitution, Belarus has no official religion. While the freedom of worship is granted in the same article, religious organizations deemed harmful to the government or social order can be prohibited.[158]
+
+The Belarusian government sponsors annual cultural festivals such as the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk,[200] which showcases Belarusian performers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors. Several state holidays, such as Independence Day and Victory Day, draw big crowds and often include displays such as fireworks and military parades, especially in Vitebsk and Minsk.[201] The government's Ministry of Culture finances events promoting Belarusian arts and culture both inside and outside the country.
+
+Belarusian literature[202] began with 11th- to 13th-century religious scripture, such as the 12th-century poetry of Cyril of Turaw.[203]
+
+By the 16th century, Polotsk resident Francysk Skaryna translated the Bible into Belarusian. It was published in Prague and Vilnius sometime between 1517 and 1525, making it the first book printed in Belarus or anywhere in Eastern Europe.[204] The modern era of Belarusian literature began in the late 19th century; one prominent writer was Yanka Kupala. Many Belarusian writers of the time, such as Uładzimir Žyłka, Kazimir Svayak, Yakub Kolas, Źmitrok Biadula, and Maksim Haretski, wrote for Nasha Niva, a Belarusian-language paper published that was previously published in Vilnius but now is published in Minsk.[205]
+
+After Belarus was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the Soviet government took control of the Republic's cultural affairs. At first, a policy of "Belarusianization" was followed in the newly formed Byelorussian SSR. This policy was reversed in the 1930s, and the majority of prominent Belarusian intellectuals and nationalist advocates were either exiled or killed in Stalinist purges.[206] The free development of literature occurred only in Polish-held territory until Soviet occupation in 1939. Several poets and authors went into exile after the Nazi occupation of Belarus and would not return until the 1960s.[204]
+
+The last major revival of Belarusian literature occurred in the 1960s with novels published by Vasil Bykaŭ and Uladzimir Karatkievich. An influential author who devoted his work to awakening the awareness of the catastrophes the country has suffered, was Ales Adamovich. He was named by Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015, as "her main teacher, who helped her to find a path of her own".[207]
+
+Music in Belarus largely comprises a rich tradition of folk and religious music. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 19th century, Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko composed operas and chamber music pieces while living in Minsk. During his stay, he worked with Belarusian poet Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich and created the opera Sialanka (Peasant Woman). At the end of the 19th century, major Belarusian cities formed their own opera and ballet companies. The ballet Nightingale by M. Kroshner was composed during the Soviet era and became the first Belarusian ballet showcased at the National Academic Vialiki Ballet Theatre in Minsk.[208]
+
+After the Second World War, music focused on the hardships of the Belarusian people or on those who took up arms in defense of the homeland. During this period, Anatoly Bogatyrev, creator of the opera In Polesye Virgin Forest, served as the "tutor" of Belarusian composers.[209] The National Academic Theatre of Ballet in Minsk was awarded the Benois de la Dance Prize in 1996 as the top ballet company in the world.[209] Rock music has become increasingly popular in recent years, though the Belarusian government has attempted to limit the amount of foreign music aired on the radio in favor of traditional Belarusian music. Since 2004, Belarus has been sending artists to the Eurovision Song Contest.[210][211]
+
+Marc Chagall was born in Liozna (near Vitebsk) in 1887. He spent the World War I years in Soviet Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde and was a founder of the Vitebsk Arts College.[212][213]
+
+The traditional Belarusian dress originates from the Kievan Rus' period. Due to the cool climate, clothes were designed to preserve body heat and were usually made from flax or wool. They were decorated with ornate patterns influenced by the neighboring cultures: Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Russians, and other European nations. Each region of Belarus has developed specific design patterns.[214] One ornamental pattern common in early dresses currently decorates the hoist of the Belarusian national flag, adopted in a disputed referendum in 1995.[215]
+
+Belarusian cuisine consists mainly of vegetables, meat (particularly pork), and bread. Foods are usually either slowly cooked or stewed. Typically, Belarusians eat a light breakfast and two hearty meals later in the day. Wheat and rye breads are consumed in Belarus, but rye is more plentiful because conditions are too harsh for growing wheat. To show hospitality, a host traditionally presents an offering of bread and salt when greeting a guest or visitor.[216]
+
+Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since the 1994 Winter Olympics. Its National Olympic Committee has been headed by President Lukashenko since 1997.[217]
+
+Receiving heavy sponsorship from the government, ice hockey is the nation's second most popular sport after football. The national football team has never qualified for a major tournament; however, BATE Borisov has played in the Champions League. The national hockey team finished fourth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics following a memorable upset win over Sweden in the quarterfinals, and regularly competes in the World Championships, often making the quarterfinals. Numerous Belarusian players are present in the Kontinental Hockey League in Eurasia, particularly for Belarusian club HC Dinamo Minsk, and several have also played in the National Hockey League in North America. Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours include three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[218]
+
+Tennis player Victoria Azarenka became the first Belarusian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 2012.[219] She also won the gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Max Mirnyi, who holds ten Grand Slam titles in doubles.
+
+Other notable Belarusian sportspeople include cyclist Vasil Kiryienka, who won the 2015 Road World Time Trial Championship, and middle-distance runner Maryna Arzamasava, who won the gold medal in the 800m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.
+
+Belarus is also known for its strong rhythmic gymnasts. Noticeable gymnasts include Inna Zhukova, who earned silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liubov Charkashyna, who earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and Melitina Staniouta, Bronze All-Around Medalist of the 2015 World Championships. The Belorussian senior group earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
+
+Andrei Arlovski, who was born in Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, is a current UFC fighter and the former UFC heavyweight champion of the world.
+
+The state telecom monopoly, Beltelecom, holds the exclusive interconnection with Internet providers outside of Belarus. Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications (former Teleglobe), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISP's. Beltelecom is the only operator licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus.[220]
+
+Belarus has four UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland), and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with nine other countries).[221]
+
+In May 2020 it was reported that the country had one of Europe's highest per capita infection rates in the COVID-19 pandemic. President Lukashenko, campaigning for the August presidential election, had repeatedly played down the danger of the coronavirus, saying a lockdown would be "ineffective, unjustified and bad for business and society."[222] On 9 May a parade, to commemorate Victory in Europe Day, went ahead in the centre of  Minsk, with a concert and festive fireworks planned as part of the programme.[223]

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+
+
+Zachary David Alexander Efron (/ˈɛfrɒn/; born October 18, 1987)[2] is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). During this time, he also starred in the musical film Hairspray (2007) and the comedy film 17 Again (2009). Efron has since starred in the films New Year's Eve (2011), The Lucky One (2012), The Paperboy (2012), Neighbors (2014), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Baywatch (2017), The Greatest Showman (2017), Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019), and Scoob! (2020).
+
+Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California,[3] and later moved to Arroyo Grande, California. His father, David Efron, is an electrical engineer at a power station, and his mother, Starla Baskett, is a secretary who worked at the same power plant.[4][5] Efron has a brother, Dylan,[2] and had, as he has described, a "normal childhood" in a middle-class family.[6] His last name, "Efron" (אפרון), is a Jewish surname, taken from a Biblical place name.[7][8] Zac has described himself as Jewish,[9] though he was raised in an agnostic household and did not practice religion as a child.[10]
+
+Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, as well as that he was a class clown.[11] His father encouraged him to begin acting when Zac was eleven years old.[4] Efron subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school,[12] worked in the theater The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville,[6] and began taking singing lessons.[4] He performed in shows such as Gypsy; Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up; Little Shop of Horrors; and The Music Man. He was recommended to an agent in Los Angeles by his drama teacher, Robyn Metchik (the mother of actors Aaron Michael Metchik and Asher Metchik).[13][14] Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.[15]
+
+Efron graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2006[16] and was then accepted into the University of Southern California but did not enroll. He also attended Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, a community college located in Santa Maria, California, where he performed during the years of 2000 and 2001.[17]
+
+Efron began acting in the early 2000s with guest roles on several television series including Firefly,[18] ER, and The Guardian. In 2004, he began appearing as a recurring character in the first season of the WB series Summerland.[19][19] For the show's second season, which aired in 2005, he was promoted to the main cast. He also appeared in some films, including the Lifetime television film Miracle Run (2004), for which he earned a Young Artist Award nomination for his performance as one of two autistic twins.
+
+Efron's career reached a turning point with the teen musical television film High School Musical (2006), which premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2006. The film, which has been described as a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, saw Efron playing the male lead Troy Bolton, a high school basketball player who feels conflicted when he finds himself interested in participating in the school musical with Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a girl from the scholastic decathlon team. The film, which also starred Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, and Monique Coleman in pivotal roles, became a major success and helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences. The film's soundtrack was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA,[20] making it one of the best-selling albums of the year in the United States. Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that his voice had been blended with Drew Seeley's on the soundtrack, but Efron clarified that the songs (written for a tenor) were written before he was cast and therefore did not suit his more baritone vocal range. In his subsequent musical films, Efron did his own singing.
+
+Efron was next seen playing the role of Link Larkin in the musical comedy film Hairspray (2007), based on the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name. The film became a major commercial and critical success upon its release in July 2007. Later that year, he was seen reprising his role of Troy Bolton in High School Musical 2 (2007), which aired on the Disney Channel in August 2007.
+
+Efron reprised his role of Troy Bolton in High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008), the first film in the High School Musical franchise to receive a theatrical release. The film became a major blockbuster at the box office, and received mixed to positive reviews from critics. He followed this with the commercially successful comedy 17 Again (2009) about a 37-year-old man (Matthew Perry) who is transformed into his 17-year-old self (Efron) after a chance accident.
+
+Efron's next release was Richard Linklater's period drama Me and Orson Welles, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008 and received a wide release in late 2009. The film earned mostly positive reviews from critics. He next played the title role in the supernatural romantic drama Charlie St. Cloud (2010), which became a moderate success at the box office despite receiving mostly negative reviews from critics.
+
+Efron next appeared as a part of the large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's New Year's Eve (2011), which depicted a series of holiday vignettes of different groups of characters. The film received almost unanimously negative reviews from critics, but became a major success at the box office. He also played a supporting role in the critically successful Liberal Arts (2012), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012 and received a limited release later that year. He also starred alongside Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, David Oyelowo, and John Cusack in The Paperboy (2012), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and received a wider release later that year. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics.
+
+After lending his voice to the commercially successful computer-animated film The Lorax (2012), he appeared as the male lead in the romantic drama The Lucky One (2012), based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film became a major box office success despite negative reviews from critics. He also starred in the drama At Any Price, which premiered at the 2012 Venice International Film Festival, and the historical drama Parkland, which premiered at the 2013 Venice International Film Festival. Both of the films received mixed reviews from critics.
+
+Efron's first release of 2014 was the romantic comedy That Awkward Moment, on which he was also an executive producer. The film, which starred Efron alongside Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan as three bachelors in New York City, became a moderate commercial success despite receiving mostly negative reviews from critics.
+
+Later in 2014, Efron was seen in the adult comedy Neighbors (2014), co-starring Seth Rogen. The film revolved around a young couple, played by Rogen and Rose Byrne, who struggle to raise their baby daughter while living next to the house of a wild fraternity led by its president, played by Efron. The film became a major commercial success and earned mostly positive reviews from critics, who also added that Efron had successfully shed his "Disney kid" pretty boy image.[21]
+
+Efron's only release in 2015 was the moderately successful We Are Your Friends (2015), in which he played a struggling DJ. In January 2016, he starred alongside Robert De Niro in the adult comedy Dirty Grandpa, about a straitlaced young man who begrudgingly indulges his grandfather's unhinged personality by taking him on a vacation to Florida. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics for its crude humor, but became a commercial success upon its release. He subsequently co-starred with Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, and Chloë Grace Moretz in the comedy sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, which became a commercial and critical success upon its release in May 2016. The film followed the same couple (Rogen and Byrne) who team up with their former rival (Efron) to take down a hard-partying sorority led by a freshman (Moretz). His third 2016 comedy, released in July, was Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, in which he co-starred with Adam DeVine (playing siblings), as well as Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza.
+
+In 2017, Efron starred in Baywatch, an action comedy film version of the television series of the same name, released in May. The film features Dwayne Johnson and Efron with an ensemble cast, including Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Jon Bass, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Priyanka Chopra. Also in 2017, Efron had a supporting role in two biographical films released in December, The Disaster Artist, a comedy-drama directed by and starring James Franco, and, as Phillip, in the musical The Greatest Showman, opposite Hugh Jackman. Both were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.[22][23]
+
+In 2019, Efron played a drug-addled libertine in the Harmony Korine film The Beach Bum, opposite star Matthew McConaughey.[24] He also starred as serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, opposite Lily Collins as Bundy's girlfriend.[25] The film premiered at Sundance in early 2019 and was released by Netflix on May 3. Efron next voiced Fred Jones in Warner Bros.' 2020 Scooby-Doo animated film, Scoob!.[26]
+
+Efron will star with his brother in a survival reality series called Kill the Efrons, where the pair will be sent to remote parts of the world.[27] The mobile-only series will premiere in 2020, on Quibi.
+
+Efron was on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008 at number 92, with estimated earnings of $5.8 million from June 2007 to June 2008. In April 2009, his personal wealth equaled about $10 million.[28] In May 2015, Efron's net worth was $18 million.[29]
+
+People magazine reported in 2007 that Efron and Vanessa Hudgens began dating in 2005 during the filming of High School Musical,[30][31][32] although Us magazine reported, after the two broke up in December 2010, that they "met in 2005 while making the first High School Musical flick, and became a romantic item about two years later."[33] Efron began a romantic relationship with model and entrepreneur Sami Miró in September 2014. The couple split in April 2016.[34][35]
+
+Efron sought treatment in early 2013 after struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse. He has been sober since June 2013.[1] In November 2013, Efron had to have his jaw wired shut after breaking it in a fall at home.[36] In March 2014, Efron engaged in a fight with a homeless man in Skid Row. Law enforcement officials did not make any arrests because they viewed it as mutual combat.[37]
+
+In 2010, Efron started his own production company under Warner Bros., Ninjas Runnin' Wild.[38] The company played a part in the production of his films Dirty Grandpa, That Awkward Moment, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.[39] In 2019, Efron's brother Dylan, who also plays a role in the company, stated that Ninjas Runnin' Wild has started to produce more digital content in addition to their traditional film work.[40]
+
+Efron announced the creation of his YouTube channel in March 2019.[41] The video sharing platform hosts two weekly series.[42] "Off the Grid" follows Efron and his brother Dylan as they participate in outdoor activities and trips without electronic devices—with the exception of a video camera in order to document their experiences.[43] "Gym Time" spotlights fitness and nutrition, with Efron informing his viewers that he plans to "train with celebrities, athletes, and interesting people".[42][44] YouTube received backlash for promoting Efron's new channel in a post made from their official Twitter account. Fans accused the platform of promoting a mainstream celebrity's account, which they feared would overshadow lesser known creators and would make it more difficult for them to "break through."[45]
+
+Efron turned to transcendental meditation (TM) to help decompress after struggling to separate himself from his role as serial killer Ted Bundy in his movie. "I really love TM, transcendental meditation. I did TM on the way home. Not while driving, but when you're shooting a movie, one thing we can afford is a ride home, so on the way home I just do some TM and try to phase out of it."[46]
+
+In December 2019, Efron contracted a serious and potentially life-threatening illness, a "form of typhoid or similar bacterial infection", while filming his adventure series Killing Zac Efron in Papua New Guinea. He was flown to St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Australia and was treated before flying back home on Christmas Eve. He recovered without serious issue.[47][48][49][50]

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+
+
+Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th president of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Taylor previously was a career officer in the United States Army, rose to the rank of major general and became a national hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was preserving the Union, but he died sixteen months into his term, before making any progress on the status of slavery, which had been inflaming tensions in Congress.
+
+Taylor was born into a prominent family of plantation owners who moved westward from Virginia to Louisville, Kentucky in his youth. He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army in 1808 and made a name for himself as a captain in the War of 1812. He climbed the ranks establishing military forts along the Mississippi River and entered the Black Hawk War as a colonel in 1832. His success in the Second Seminole War attracted national attention and earned him the nickname "Old Rough and Ready". In 1845, during the annexation of Texas, President James K. Polk dispatched Taylor to the Rio Grande in anticipation of a battle with Mexico over the disputed Texas–Mexico border. The Mexican–American War broke out in April 1846, and Taylor defeated Mexican troops commanded by General Mariano Arista at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma and drove his troops out of Texas. Taylor then led his troops into Mexico, where they defeated Mexican troops commanded by Pedro de Ampudia at the Battle of Monterrey. Defying orders, Taylor led his troops further south and, despite being severely outnumbered, dealt a crushing blow to Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista. Taylor's troops were transferred to the command of Major General Winfield Scott, but Taylor retained his popularity.
+
+The Whig Party convinced the reluctant Taylor to lead their ticket in the 1848 presidential election, despite his unclear political tenets and lack of interest in politics. At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Scott and former Senator Henry Clay to take the nomination. He won the general election alongside New York politician Millard Fillmore, defeating Democratic Party candidates Lewis Cass and William Orlando Butler, as well as a third-party effort led by former president Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams, Sr. of the Free Soil Party. Taylor became the first president to be elected without having served in a prior political office.
+
+As president, Taylor kept his distance from Congress and his cabinet, even though partisan tensions threatened to divide the Union. Debate over the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession dominated the political agenda and led to threats of secession from Southerners. Despite being a Southerner and a slaveholder himself, Taylor did not push for the expansion of slavery, and sought sectional harmony above all other concerns. To avoid the issue of slavery, he urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, setting the stage for the Compromise of 1850. Taylor died suddenly of a stomach disease on July 9, 1850, with his administration having accomplished little aside from the ratification of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty. Fillmore served the remainder of his term. Historians and scholars have ranked Taylor in the bottom quartile of U.S. presidents, owing in part to his short term of office (16 months), and he has been described as "more a forgettable president than a failed one."[1]
+
+Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784, on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry. His birthplace may have been Hare Forest Farm, the home of his maternal grandfather William Strother, though this has not been determined with certainty.[2] He was the third of five surviving sons in his family (a sixth died in infancy) and had three younger sisters. His mother was Sarah Dabney (Strother) Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, had served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution.[3]
+
+Taylor was a descendant of Elder William Brewster, a Pilgrim leader of the Plymouth Colony, a Mayflower immigrant, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact; and Isaac Allerton Jr., a colonial merchant, colonel, and son of Mayflower Pilgrim Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster. Taylor's second cousin through that line was James Madison, the fourth president.[4] He was also a member of the famous Lee family of Virginia, and a third cousin once removed of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.[5]
+
+His family forsook their exhausted Virginia land, joined the westward migration and settled near future Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. Taylor grew up in a small woodland cabin until, with increased prosperity, his family moved to a brick house. The rapid growth of Louisville was a boon for Taylor's father, who by the start of the 19th century had acquired 10,000 acres (40 km2) throughout Kentucky, as well as 26 slaves to cultivate the most developed portion of his holdings. Taylor's formal education was sporadic because Kentucky's education system was just taking shape during his formative years.[6] His mother taught him to read and write,[7] and he later attended a school operated by Elisha Ayer, a teacher originally from Connecticut.[8] He also attended a Middletown, Kentucky academy run by Kean O'Hara, a classically trained scholar originally from Ireland, and the father of Theodore O'Hara.[9] Ayer recalled Taylor as a patient and quick learner, but his early letters showed a weak grasp of spelling and grammar,[10] as well as poor handwriting. All improved over time, though his handwriting was always difficult to read.[10]
+
+In June 1810, Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith, whom he had met the previous autumn in Louisville. "Peggy" Smith came from a prominent family of Maryland planters—she was the daughter of Major Walter Smith, who had served in the Revolutionary War.[11] The couple had six children:
+
+Margaret Smith Taylor
+
+Sarah [Knox] Taylor
+
+Richard Scott Taylor
+
+On May 3, 1808, Taylor joined the U.S. Army, receiving a commission as a first lieutenant of the Kentuckian Seventh Infantry Regiment.[18] He was among the new officers commissioned by Congress in response to the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, in which an American frigate had been boarded by the crew of a British warship, sparking calls for war.[19] Taylor spent much of 1809 in the dilapidated camps of New Orleans and nearby Terre aux Boeufs, in the Territory of Orleans. Under the command of James Wilkinson, the soldiers at Terre aux Boeufs suffered greatly from disease and lack of supplies, and Taylor was given an extended leave, returning to Louisville to recover.[20]
+
+Taylor was promoted to captain in November 1810. His army duties were limited at this time, and he attended to his personal finances. Over the next several years, he began to purchase a good deal of bank stock in Louisville.[21] He also bought a plantation in Louisville, as well as the Cypress Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi Territory. These acquisitions included slaves, rising in number to more than 200.[22][23] In July 1811 he was called to the Indiana Territory, where he assumed control of Fort Knox after the commandant fled. In a few weeks, he was able to restore order in the garrison, for which he was lauded by Governor William Henry Harrison.[24] Taylor was temporarily called to Washington to testify for Wilkinson as a witness in a court-martial, and so he did not take part in the November 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe against the forces of Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief.[25]
+
+During the War of 1812, in which U.S. forces battled the British Empire and its Indian allies, Taylor successfully defended Fort Harrison in Indiana Territory from an Indian attack commanded by Tecumseh. The September 1812 battle represented the first land victory of the war for the American forces, for which Taylor received wide praise, as well as a brevet (temporary) promotion to the rank of major. According to Eisenhower, this represented the first brevet ever awarded in United States history.[26] Later that year, Taylor joined General Samuel Hopkins as an aide on two expeditions—the first into the Illinois Territory and the second to the Tippecanoe battle site, where they were forced to retreat in the Battle of Wild Cat Creek.[27] Taylor moved his growing family to Fort Knox after the violence subsided.[citation needed]
+
+In the spring of 1814, he was called back into action under Brigadier General Benjamin Howard, and after Howard fell sick, Taylor led a 430-man expedition from St. Louis, up the Mississippi River. In the Battle of Credit Island, Taylor defeated Indian forces, but retreated after the Indians were joined by their British allies.[28] That October he supervised the construction of Fort Johnson near present-day Warsaw, Illinois, the last toehold of the U.S. Army in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Upon Howard's death a few weeks later, Taylor was ordered to abandon the fort and retreat to St. Louis. Reduced to the rank of captain when the war ended in 1815, he resigned from the army. He re-entered it a year later after gaining a commission as a major.[29]
+
+For two years, Taylor commanded Fort Howard at the Green Bay, Michigan Territory settlement, then he returned to Louisville and his family. In April 1819 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and dined with President James Monroe and General Andrew Jackson.[30] In late 1821, Taylor took the 7th Infantry to Natchitoches, Louisiana, on the Red River. On the orders of General Edmund P. Gaines, they set out to locate a new post more convenient to the Sabine River frontier. By the following March, Taylor had established Fort Jesup, at the Shield's Spring site southwest of Natchitoches.[citation needed]
+
+That November (1822) he was transferred to Baton Rouge[31] on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where he remained until February 1824.[32] He spent the next few years on recruiting duty. In late 1826, he was called to Washington, D.C., for work on an Army committee to consolidate and improve military organization. In the meantime Taylor acquired his first Louisiana plantation and decided to move with his family to their new home in Baton Rouge.[32]
+
+In May 1828, Taylor was called back to action, commanding Fort Snelling in Michigan Territory (now Minnesota) on the northern Mississippi River for a year, and then nearby Fort Crawford for a year. After some time on furlough, spent expanding his landholdings, Taylor was promoted to colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment in April 1832, when the Black Hawk War was beginning in the West.[33] Taylor campaigned under General Henry Atkinson to pursue and later defend against Chief Black Hawk's forces throughout the summer. The end of the war in August 1832 signaled the final Indian resistance to U.S. expansion in the area.[citation needed]
+
+During this period Taylor opposed the courtship of his 17-year-old daughter Sarah Knox Taylor with Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, the future President of the Confederate States of America. He respected Davis but did not wish his daughter to become a military wife, as he knew it was a hard life for families. Davis and Sarah Taylor married in June 1835 (when she was 21), but she died three months later of malaria contracted on a visit to Davis's sister's home in St. Francisville, Louisiana.[34]
+
+By 1837, the Second Seminole War was underway when Taylor was directed to Florida. He built Fort Gardiner and Fort Basinger as supply depots and communication centers in support of Major General Thomas S. Jesup’s campaign to penetrate deep into Seminole territory with large forces and trap the Seminoles and their allies in order to force them to fight or surrender. He engaged in battle with the Seminole Indians in the Christmas Day Battle of Lake Okeechobee, which was among the largest U.S.–Indian battles of the nineteenth century; as a result, he was promoted to brigadier general. In May 1838, Brig. Gen. Thomas Jesup stepped down and placed Taylor in command of all American troops in Florida, a position he held for two years—his reputation as a military leader was growing and he became known as "Old Rough and Ready."[35] Taylor was criticized for using bloodhounds in order to track Seminole.[22]
+
+After his long-requested relief was granted, Taylor spent a comfortable year touring the nation with his family and meeting with military leaders. During this period, he began to be interested in politics and corresponded with President William Henry Harrison. He was made commander of the Second Department of the Army's Western Division in May 1841. The sizable territory ran from the Mississippi River westward, south of the 37th parallel north. Stationed in Arkansas, Taylor enjoyed several uneventful years, spending as much time attending to his land speculation as to military matters.[36]
+
+In anticipation of the annexation of the Republic of Texas, which had established independence in 1836, Taylor was sent in April 1844 to Fort Jesup in Louisiana, and ordered to guard against attempts by Mexico to reclaim the territory.[37] There were more senior generals in the army who might have taken this important command, such as Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines. But both were known members of the Whig Party, and Taylor's apolitical reputation and friendly relations with Andrew Jackson made him the choice of Democratic President James K. Polk.[38] Polk directed him to deploy into disputed territory in Texas, "on or near the Rio Grande" near Mexico. Taylor chose a spot at Corpus Christi, and his Army of Occupation encamped there until the following spring in anticipation of a Mexican attack.[39]
+
+When Polk's attempts to negotiate with Mexico failed, Taylor's men advanced to the Rio Grande in March 1846, and war appeared imminent. Violence broke out several weeks later, when some of Captain Seth B. Thornton's men were attacked by Mexican forces north of the river.[40] Polk, learning of the Thornton Affair, told Congress in May that a war between Mexico and the U.S. had begun.[41] That same month, Taylor commanded American forces at the Battle of Palo Alto and the nearby Battle of Resaca de la Palma. Though greatly outnumbered, he defeated the Mexican "Army of the North" commanded by General Mariano Arista, and forced the troops back across the Rio Grande.[42] Taylor was later praised for his humane treatment of the wounded Mexican soldiers prior to the prisoner exchange with General Arista, giving them the same care as was given to American wounded. After tending to the wounded, he performed the last rites for the dead of both the American and Mexican soldiers killed during the battle.[43]
+
+These victories made him a popular hero, and in May 1846 Taylor received a brevet promotion to major general and a formal commendation from Congress.[44] In June, Taylor was promoted to the full rank of major general.[45] The national press compared him to George Washington and Andrew Jackson, both generals who had ascended to the presidency, although Taylor denied any interest in running for office. "Such an idea never entered my head," he remarked in a letter, "nor is it likely to enter the head of any sane person."[46]
+
+After crossing the Rio Grande, in September Taylor inflicted heavy casualties upon the Mexicans at the Battle of Monterrey, and captured that city in three days, despite its impregnable repute. Taylor was criticized for signing a "liberal" truce, rather than pressing for a large-scale surrender.[47] Polk had hoped that the occupation of Northern Mexico would induce the Mexicans to sell Alta California and New Mexico, but the Mexicans remained unwilling to part with so much territory. Polk sent an army under the command of Winfield Scott to besiege Veracruz, an important Mexican port city, while Taylor was ordered to remain near Monterrey. Many of Taylor's experienced soldiers were placed under the command of Scott, leaving Taylor with a smaller and less effective force. Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna intercepted a letter from Scott regarding Taylor's smaller force, and he moved north, intent on destroying Taylor's force before confronting Scott's army.[48]
+
+Learning of Santa Anna's approach, and refusing to retreat despite the Mexican army's greater numbers, Taylor established a strong defensive position near the town of Saltillo.[49] Santa Anna attacked Taylor with 20,000 men at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, leaving around 700 Americans dead or wounded at a cost of over 1,500 Mexican casualties.[b] Outmatched, the Mexican forces retreated, ensuring a "far-reaching" victory for the Americans.[53]
+
+In recognition of his victory at Buena Vista, on July 4, 1847, Taylor was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, the Virginia branch of which included his father as a charter member. Taylor also was made a member of the Aztec Club of 1847, Military Society of the Mexican War.[54] Taylor received three Congressional Gold Medals for his service in the Mexican-American War and remains the only person to have received the medal three times.[55]
+
+Taylor remained at Monterrey until late November 1847, when he set sail for home. While he spent the following year in command of the Army's entire western division, his active military career was effectively over. In December he received a hero's welcome in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, which set the stage for the 1848 presidential election.[56]
+
+Ulysses S. Grant served under Taylor in this war and had this to say about his style of leadership: "A better army, man for man, probably never faced an enemy than the one commanded by General Taylor in the earliest two engagements of the Mexican War."[57]
+
+General Taylor was not an officer to trouble the administration much with his demands but was inclined to do the best he could with the means given to him. He felt his responsibility as going no further. If he had thought that he was sent to perform an impossibility with the means given him, he would probably have informed the authorities of his opinion and left them to determine what should be done. If the judgment was against him he would have gone on and done the best he could with the means at hand without parading his grievance before the public. No soldier could face either danger or responsibility more calmly than he. These are qualities more rarely found than genius or physical courage. General Taylor never made any great show or parade, either of uniform or retinue. In dress he was possibly too plain, rarely wearing anything in the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer; but he was known to every soldier in his army, and was respected by all.[58]
+
+In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never publicly revealed his political beliefs before 1848 nor voted before that time.[59] He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that President Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in 1836.[59] He believed it was impractical to expand slavery into the western areas of the U.S., as neither cotton nor sugar (both were produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a plantation economy.[59] He was also a firm nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, he believed that secession was not a good way to resolve national problems.[59]
+
+Well before the American victory at Buena Vista, political clubs were formed which supported Taylor for president. His support was drawn from an unusually broad assortment of political bands, including Whigs and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, allies and opponents of national leaders such as Henry Clay and James K. Polk. By late 1846 Taylor's opposition to a presidential run began to weaken, and it became clear that his principles more closely resembled Whig orthodoxy.[60] As support for Taylor's candidacy grew, he continued to keep his distance from both parties, but made it clear that he would have voted for Whig Henry Clay in 1844 had he voted. In a widely publicized September 1847 letter, Taylor stated his positions on several issues. He did not favor chartering another national bank, favored a low tariff, and believed that the president should play no role in making laws. Taylor did believe that the president could veto laws, but only when they were clearly unconstitutional.[61] Many southerners believed that Taylor supported slavery and its expansion into the new territory absorbed from Mexico, and some were angered when Taylor suggested that if he were elected president he would not veto the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed against such an expansion.[59] This position did not enhance his support from activist antislavery elements in the Northern U.S., as these wanted Taylor to speak out strongly in support of the Proviso, not simply fail to veto it.[59] Most abolitionists did not support Taylor, since he was a slave-owner.[59]
+
+In February 1848, Taylor again announced that he would not accept either party's presidential nomination. Taylor's reluctance to identify himself as a Whig nearly cost him the party's presidential nomination, but Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky and other supporters finally convinced Taylor to declare himself a Whig.[61] Though Clay retained a strong following among the Whigs, Whig leaders like William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln were eager to support a war hero who could potentially replicate the success of the party's only other successful presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison.[62] At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Clay and Winfield Scott to receive the Whig nomination for president. For his vice presidential nominee the convention chose Millard Fillmore, a prominent New York Whig who had chaired the House Ways and Means Committee and had been a contender for Clay's vice presidential nominee in the 1844 election. Fillmore's selection was largely an attempt at reconciliation with northern Whigs, who were furious at the nomination of a slave-owning southerner; all factions of the party were dissatisfied with the final ticket.[63] Taylor continued to minimize his role in the campaign, preferring not to directly meet with voters or correspond regarding his political views. His campaign was skillfully directed by Crittenden, and bolstered by a late endorsement from Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.[64]
+
+Democrats were even less unified than the Whigs, as former Democratic President Martin Van Buren broke from the party and led the anti-slavery Free Soil Party's ticket. Van Buren won the support of many Democrats and Whigs who opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, but he took more votes from Democratic nominee Lewis Cass in the crucial state of New York.[65] Nationally, Taylor defeated Cass and Van Buren, taking 163 of the 290 electoral votes. In the popular vote, he took 47.3%, while Cass won 42.5% and Van Buren won 10.1%. Taylor would be the last Whig to be elected president and the last person elected to the U.S. presidency from neither the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, as well as the last Southerner to win a presidential election until Woodrow Wilson's election in 1912.[c]
+
+Taylor ignored the Whig platform, as historian Michael F. Holt explains:
+
+Taylor was equally indifferent to programs Whigs had long considered vital. Publicly, he was artfully ambiguous, refusing to answer questions about his views on banking, the tariff, and internal improvements. Privately, he was more forthright. The idea of a national bank "is dead, and will not be revived in my time." In the future the tariff "will be increased only for revenue"; in other words, Whig hopes of restoring the protective tariff of 1842 were vain. There would never again be surplus federal funds from public land sales to distribute to the states, and internal improvements "will go on in spite of presidential vetoes." In a few words, that is, Taylor pronounced an epitaph for the entire Whig economic program.[66]
+
+As president-elect, Taylor kept his distance from Washington, not resigning his Western Division command until late January 1849. He spent the months following the election formulating his cabinet selections. He was deliberate and quiet about his decisions, to the frustration of his fellow Whigs. While he despised patronage and political games, he endured a flurry of advances from office-seekers looking to play a role in his administration.[67]
+
+While he would not appoint any Democrats, Taylor wanted his cabinet to reflect the nation's diverse interests, and so apportioned the seats geographically. He also avoided choosing prominent Whigs, sidestepping such obvious selections as Clay. He saw Crittenden as a cornerstone of his administration, offering him the crucial seat of Secretary of State, but Crittenden insisted on serving out the Governorship of Kentucky to which he had just been elected. Taylor settled instead on Senator John M. Clayton of Delaware, a close associate of Crittenden's.[67]
+
+With Clayton's aid, Taylor chose the six remaining members of his cabinet. One of the incoming Congress's first actions would be to establish the Department of the Interior, so Taylor would be appointing that department's inaugural secretary. Thomas Ewing, who had previously served as a senator from Ohio and as Secretary of the Treasury under William Henry Harrison, accepted the patronage-rich position of Secretary of the Interior. For the position of Postmaster General, which also served as a center of patronage, Taylor chose Congressman Jacob Collamer of Vermont. After Horace Binney refused appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, Taylor chose another prominent Philadelphian in William M. Meredith. George W. Crawford, a former Governor of Georgia, accepted the position of Secretary of War, while Congressman William B. Preston of Virginia became Secretary of the Navy. Senator Reverdy Johnson of Maryland accepted appointment as Attorney General, and Johnson became one of the most influential members of Taylor's cabinet. Vice President Fillmore was not in favor with Taylor, and Fillmore was largely sidelined throughout Taylor's presidency.[68]
+
+Taylor began his trek to Washington in late January, a journey rife with bad weather, delays, injuries, sickness—and an abduction by a family friend. Taylor finally arrived in the nation's capital on February 24 and soon met with the outgoing President Polk.[69] The incumbent Democrat held a low opinion of Taylor, privately deeming him "without political information" and "wholly unqualified for the station" of president.[70] Taylor spent the following week meeting with political elites, some of whom were unimpressed with his appearance and demeanor. With less than two weeks until his inauguration, he met with Clayton and hastily finalized his cabinet.[71]
+
+Taylor's term as president began Sunday, March 4, but his inauguration was not held until the following day out of religious concerns.[d] His inauguration speech discussed the many tasks facing the nation, but presented a governing style of deference to Congress and sectional compromise instead of assertive executive action.[73] His speech also emphasized the importance of following President Washington's precedent in avoiding entangling alliances.[74] During the period after his inauguration, Taylor made time to meet with numerous office-seekers and other ordinary citizens who desired his attention. He also attended an unusual number of funerals, including services for former president Polk and Dolley Madison. According to Eisenhower, Taylor coined the phrase "First Lady" in his eulogy for Madison.[75] Throughout the summer of 1849, Taylor toured the northeastern U.S., to familiarize himself with a region of which he had seen little. He spent much of the trip plagued by gastrointestinal illness and returned to Washington by September.[76]
+
+As Taylor took office, Congress faced a battery of questions related to the Mexican Cession, acquired by the U.S. after the Mexican War and divided into military districts. It was unclear which districts would be established into states and which would become federal territories, while the question of their slave status threatened to bitterly divide Congress. Additionally, many in the South had grown increasingly angry about the aid that northerners had given to fugitive slaves. While a southern slaveowner himself, Taylor believed that slavery was economically infeasible in the Mexican Cession, and as such he opposed slavery in those territories as a needless source of controversy.[77] His major goal was sectional peace, preserving the Union through legislative compromise.[78] As the threat of Southern secession grew, he sided increasingly with antislavery northerners such as Senator William H. Seward of New York, even suggesting that he would sign the Wilmot Proviso to ban slavery in federal territories should such a bill reach his desk.[79]
+
+In Taylor's view, the best way forward was to admit California as a state rather than a federal territory, as it would leave the slavery question out of Congress's hands. The timing for statehood was in Taylor's favor, as the Gold Rush was well underway at the time of his inauguration, and California's population was exploding.[80] The administration dispatched Rep. Thomas Butler King to California, to test the waters and advocate on behalf of statehood, knowing that the Californians were certain to adopt an anti-slavery constitution. King found that a constitutional convention was already underway, and by October 1849, the convention unanimously agreed to join the Union—and to ban slavery within their borders.[81]
+
+The question of the New Mexico–Texas border was unsettled at the time of Taylor's inauguration. The territory newly won from Mexico was under federal jurisdiction, but the Texans claimed a swath of land north of Santa Fe and were determined to include it within their borders, despite having no significant presence there. Taylor sided with the New Mexicans' claim, initially pushing to keep it as a federal territory, but eventually supported statehood so as to further reduce the slavery debate in Congress. The Texas government, under newly instated governor P. Hansborough Bell, tried to ramp up military action in defense of the territory against the federal government, but was unsuccessful.[82]
+
+The Latter Day Saint settlers of modern-day Utah had established a provisional State of Deseret, an enormous swath of territory which had little hope of recognition by Congress. The Taylor administration considered combining the California and Utah territories but instead opted to organize the Utah Territory. To alleviate the Mormon population's concerns over religious freedom, Taylor promised they would have relative independence from Congress despite being a federal territory.[83]
+
+Taylor sent his only State of the Union report to Congress in December 1849. He recapped international events and suggested several adjustments to tariff policy and executive organization, but such issues were overshadowed by the sectional crisis facing Congress. He reported on California's and New Mexico's applications for statehood, and recommended that Congress approve them as written and "should abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of a sectional character".[84] The policy report was prosaic and unemotional, but ended with a sharp condemnation of secessionists. It had no effect on Southern legislators, who saw the admission of two free states as an existential threat, and Congress remained stalled.[85]
+
+Taylor and his Secretary of State, John M. Clayton, both lacked diplomatic experience, and came into office at a relatively uneventful time in American–international politics. Their shared nationalism allowed Taylor to devolve foreign policy matters to Clayton with minimal oversight, although no decisive foreign policy was established under their administration.[86] As opponents of the autocratic European order, they vocally supported German and Hungarian liberals in the revolutions of 1848, although they offered little in the way of aid.[87] A perceived insult from the French minister Guillaume Tell Poussin nearly led to a break in diplomatic relations until Poussin was replaced, and a reparation dispute with Portugal resulted in harsh words from the Taylor administration. In a more positive effort, the administration arranged for two ships to assist in the United Kingdom's search for a team of British explorers, led by John Franklin, who had gotten lost in the Arctic.[88] While previous Whig administrations had emphasized Pacific trade as an economic imperative, the Taylor administration took no major initiative in the Far East.[89]
+
+Throughout 1849 and 1850, they contended with Narciso López, the Venezuelan radical who led repeated filibustering expeditions in an attempt to conquer the island of Cuba. The annexation of Cuba was the object of fascination among many in the South, who saw in Cuba a potential new slave state, and López had several prominent Southern supporters.[90] López made generous offers to American military leaders to support him, but Taylor and Clayton saw the enterprise as illegal. They issued a blockade, and later, authorized a mass arrest of López and his fellows, although the group would eventually be acquitted.[91] They also confronted Spain, which had arrested several Americans on the charge of piracy, but the Spaniards eventually surrendered them to maintain good relations with the U.S.[92]
+
+Arguably the Taylor administration's definitive accomplishment in foreign policy was the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty of 1850, regarding a proposed inter-oceanic canal through Central America. While the U.S. and Britain were on friendly terms, and the construction of such a canal was decades away from reality, the mere possibility put the two nations in an uneasy position.[93] For several years, Britain had been seizing strategic points, particularly the Mosquito Coast on the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua. Negotiations were held with Britain that resulted in the landmark Clayton–Bulwer Treaty. Both nations agreed not to claim control of any canal that might be built in Nicaragua. The treaty promoted the development of an Anglo-American alliance; its completion was Taylor's last action as president.[94]
+
+Clay took a central role as Congress debated the slavery question. While his positions had some overlap with Taylor's, the president always maintained his distance from Clay. Historians disagree on his motivations for doing so.[95] With assistance from Daniel Webster, Clay developed his landmark proposal, the Compromise of 1850. The proposal allowed statehood for California, giving it independence on the slavery question, while the other territories would remain under federal jurisdiction. This would include the disputed parts of New Mexico, although Texas would be reimbursed for the territory. Slavery would be retained in the District of Columbia, but the slave trade would be banned. Meanwhile, a strict Fugitive Slave Law would be enacted, bypassing northern legislation which had restricted Southerners from retrieving runaway slaves.[96] Tensions flared as Congress negotiated and secession talks grew, culminating with a threat from Taylor to send troops into New Mexico to protect its border from Texas, with himself leading the army. Taylor also said that anyone "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico."[97] The omnibus law was a major step forward but ultimately could not pass, due to extremists on both sides.[98]
+
+No great compromise reached Taylor's desk during his presidency; instead, his last days were overshadowed by the Galphin affair. Before joining the Taylor cabinet, Secretary of War Crawford had served as a lawyer. He had been involved in a fifteen-year case, representing the descendants of a colonial trader whose services to the British crown had not been repaid at the time of the American Revolution. The British debt to George Galphin was to be assumed by the federal government, but Galphin's heirs only received payment on the debt's principal after years of litigation, and were unable to win an interest payment from the Polk administration. Treasury Secretary Meredith, with the support of Attorney General Johnson, finally signed off on the payment in April 1850. To the president's embarrassment, this payment included a legal compensation of nearly $100,000 to Crawford; two cabinet members had effectively offered a tremendous chunk of the public treasury to another. A House investigation cleared Crawford of any legal wrongdoing, but nonetheless expressed disapproval of his accepting the payment. Taylor, who had already been sketching out a re-organization of his cabinet, now had an unfolding scandal to complicate the situation.[99]
+
+On July 4, 1850, Taylor reportedly consumed copious amounts of raw fruit and iced milk while attending holiday celebrations during a fund-raising event at the Washington Monument, which was then under construction.[100] Over the course of several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment. His doctor "diagnosed the illness as cholera morbus, a flexible mid-nineteenth-century term for intestinal ailments as diverse as diarrhea and dysentery but not related to Asiatic cholera", the latter being a widespread epidemic at the time of Taylor's death.[101] The identity and source of Taylor's illness are the subject of historical speculation (see below), although it is known that several of his cabinet members had come down with a similar illness.[102]
+
+Fever ensued and Taylor's chance of recovery was small. On July 8, Taylor remarked to a medical attendant:
+
+I should not be surprised if this were to terminate in my death. I did not expect to encounter what has beset me since my elevation to the Presidency. God knows I have endeavored to fulfill what I conceived to be an honest duty. But I have been mistaken. My motives have been misconstrued, and my feelings most grossly outraged.[103]
+
+Despite treatment, Taylor died at 10:35 p.m. on July 9, 1850. He was 65 years old.[104] After his death, Vice President Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed Taylor's term, which ended on March 4, 1853. Soon after taking office, Fillmore signed into law the Compromise of 1850, which settled many of the issues faced by the Taylor administration.[105]
+
+Taylor was interred in the Public Vault of the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., from July 13, 1850, to October 25, 1850 (which was built in 1835 to hold remains of notables until either the grave site could be prepared or transportation arranged to another city). His body was transported to the Taylor family plot where his parents were buried on the old Taylor homestead plantation known as "Springfield" in Louisville, Kentucky.[citation needed]
+
+Because of his short tenure, Taylor is not considered to have strongly influenced the office of the Presidency or the United States.[107] Some historians believe that Taylor was too inexperienced with politics, at a time when officials needed close ties with political operatives.[107] Despite his shortcomings, the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty affecting relations with Great Britain in Central America is "recognized as an important step in scaling down the nation's commitment to Manifest Destiny as a policy."[107] While historical rankings of Presidents of the United States have generally placed Taylor in the bottom quarter of chief executives, most surveys tend to rank him as the most effective of the four presidents from the Whig Party.[citation needed]
+
+Taylor was the last president to own slaves while in office. He was the third of four Whig presidents,[g] the last being Fillmore, his successor. Taylor was also the second president to die in office, preceded by William Henry Harrison, who died while serving as president nine years earlier.[citation needed]
+
+In 1883, the Commonwealth of Kentucky placed a 50-foot monument topped by a life-sized statue of Taylor near his grave. By the 1920s, the Taylor family initiated the effort to turn the Taylor burial grounds into a national cemetery. The Commonwealth of Kentucky donated two adjacent parcels of land for the project, turning the half-acre Taylor family cemetery into 16 acres (65,000 m2). On May 5, 1926, the remains of President Taylor and his wife (who died in 1852) were moved to the newly constructed Taylor mausoleum, made of limestone with a granite base and marble interior, nearby. The cemetery property has been designated as the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.[citation needed]
+
+The US Post Office released the first postage stamp issue honoring Zachary Taylor on June 21, 1875, 25 years after his death. In 1938, Taylor would appear again on a US postage stamp, this time on the 12-cent Presidential Issue of 1938. Taylor's last appearance (to date, 2010) on a US postage stamp occurred in 1986, when he was honored on the AMERIPEX presidential issue. After Washington, Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln, Zachary Taylor was the fifth American president to appear on US postage.[108]
+
+He is the namesake for several entities and places around the United States, including:
+
+President Taylor was also the namesake for architect Zachary Taylor Davis.
+
+Almost immediately after his death, rumors began to circulate that Taylor was poisoned by pro-slavery Southerners, and similar theories persisted into the 21st century.[116][117] In 1978, Hamilton Smith based his assassination theory on the timing of drugs, the lack of confirmed cholera outbreaks, and other material.[118] In the late 1980s, Clara Rising, a former professor at the University of Florida, persuaded Taylor's closest living relative to agree to an exhumation so that his remains could be tested.[119] The remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the Kentucky Chief Medical Examiner on June 17, 1991. Samples of hair, fingernail, and other tissues were removed, and radiological studies were conducted. The remains were returned to the cemetery and reinterred, with appropriate honors, in the mausoleum.[120]
+
+Neutron activation analysis conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed no evidence of poisoning, as arsenic levels were too low.[120][121] The analysis concluded Taylor had contracted "cholera morbus, or acute gastroenteritis", as Washington had open sewers, and his food or drink may have been contaminated. Any potential for recovery was overwhelmed by his doctors, who treated him with "ipecac, calomel, opium, and quinine" at 40 grains per dose (approximately 2.6 grams), and "bled and blistered him too."[122] Political scientist Michael Parenti questions the traditional explanation for Taylor's death. Relying on interviews and reports by forensic pathologists, he argues that the procedure used to test for arsenic poisoning was fundamentally flawed.[123][124] A 2010 review concludes: "there is no definitive proof that Taylor was assassinated, nor would it appear that there is definitive proof that he was not."[125]
+
+General biographies
+
+Political history
+
+Genealogy
+
+Further reading
+
+
+

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+Coordinates: 3°S 24°E / 3°S 24°E / -3; 24
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (pronunciation (help·info) French: République démocratique du Congo [kɔ̃ɡo]), also known as Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, DRC (the official acronym), the DROC,[5] or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa. It was formerly called Zaire (1971–1997). It is, by area, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, the second-largest in all of Africa (after Algeria), and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of over 84 million,[6][7] the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world, as well as the fourth-most-populous in Africa, and the 16th-most-populous country in the world. Since 2015, the Eastern DR Congo has been the scene of an ongoing military conflict in Kivu.
+
+Centred on the Congo Basin, the territory of the DRC was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries. In the centre and east, the kingdoms of Luba and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century.
+
+In the 1870s, just before the onset of the Scramble for Africa, European exploration of the Congo Basin was carried out, first led by Henry Morton Stanley under the sponsorship of Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Berlin Conference in 1885 and made the land his private property, naming it the Congo Free State. During the Free State, his colonial military unit, the Force Publique, forced the local population to produce rubber. From 1885 to 1908, millions of the Congolese people died as a consequence of disease and exploitation. In 1908, Leopold, despite his initial reluctance, ceded the so-called Free State to  Belgium, thus it became known as the Belgian Congo.
+
+Congo achieved independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960 under the name Republic of the Congo. Congolese nationalist Patrice Lumumba was elected the first Prime Minister, while Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the first President. Conflict arose over the administration of the territory, which became known as the Congo Crisis. The provinces of Katanga, under Moïse Tshombe, and South Kasai attempted to secede. After the UN and Western governments refused his requests for aid and Lumumba stated that he was open to any country, including the Soviet Union, for assistance in the crisis, the US and Belgium became wary and oversaw his removal from office by Kasa-Vubu on 5 September and ultimate execution by Belgian-led Katangese troops on 17 January 1961.
+
+On 25 November 1965, Army Chief of Staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, who later renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko, officially came into power through a coup d'état. In 1971, he renamed the country Zaire. The country was run as a dictatorial one-party state, with his Popular Movement of the Revolution as the sole legal party. Mobutu's government received considerable support from the United States, due to its anti-communist stance during the Cold War. By the early 1990s, Mobutu's government began to weaken. Destabilisation in the east resulting from the 1994 Rwandan genocide and disenfranchisement among the eastern Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi) population led to a 1996 invasion led by Tutsi FPR-ruled Rwanda, which began the First Congo War.[1]
+
+On 17 May 1997, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a leader of Tutsi forces from the province of South Kivu, became President after Mobutu fled to Morocco, reverting the country's name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tensions between President Kabila and the Rwandan and Tutsi presence in the country led to the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003. Ultimately, nine African countries and around twenty armed groups became involved in the war,[8] which resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people.[9][10][11][12] The two wars devastated the country. President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards on 16 January 2001 and was succeeded eight days later  by his son Joseph, under whom human rights in the country remained poor and included frequent abuses such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties according to NGOs.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation with little widespread development. Besides the capital Kinshasa, the two next largest cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi are both mining communities. DR Congo's largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of DRC's exports in 2012. In 2016, DR Congo's level of human development was ranked 176th out of 187 countries by the Human Development Index.[13] As of 2018[update], around 600,000 Congolese have fled to neighbouring countries from conflicts in the centre and east of the DRC.[14] Two million children risk starvation, and the fighting has displaced 4.5 million people.[15] The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, African Union, and COMESA.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, which flows throughout the country. The Congo River is the world's deepest river and the world's second-largest river by discharge. The Comité d'études du haut Congo ("Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo"), established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876, and the International Association of the Congo, established by him in 1879, were also named after the river.[16]
+
+The Congo River itself was named by early European sailors after the Kingdom of Kongo and its Bantu inhabitants, the Kongo people, when they encountered them in the 16th century.[17][18] The word Kongo comes from the Kongo language (also called Kikongo). According to American writer Samuel Henry Nelson: "It is probable that the word 'Kongo' itself implies a public gathering and that it is based on the root konga, 'to gather' (trans[itive])."[19] The modern name of the Kongo people, Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been known in the past as, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire, before returning to its current name the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]
+
+At the time of independence, the country was named the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its neighbour the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville. With the promulgation of the Luluabourg Constitution on 1 August 1964, the country became the DRC, but was renamed to Zaire (a past name for the Congo River) on 27 October 1971 by President Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his Authenticité initiative.[20]
+
+The word Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzere ("river"), a truncation of nzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers").[21] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.[22]
+
+In 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo", but the change was not made.[23] The country's name was restored by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila following the fall of Mobutu in 1997.[24]
+
+The geographical area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 90,000 years ago, as shown by the 1988 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda, one of the oldest barbed harpoons ever found, believed to have been used to catch giant river catfish.[25][26]
+
+Bantu peoples reached Central Africa at some point during the first millennium BC, then gradually started to expand southward. Their propagation was accelerated by the adoption of pastoralism and of Iron Age techniques.
+The people living in the south and southwest were foraging groups, whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies. The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture. This led to the displacement of the hunter-gatherer groups in the east and southeast.
+The final wave of the Bantu expansion was complete by the 10th century, followed by the establishment of the Bantu kingdoms, whose rising populations soon made possible intricate local, regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in slaves, salt, iron and copper.
+
+Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. It was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding, mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip, who was well known to Stanley.[27]
+
+Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony.[28] In a succession of negotiations, Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the front organization Association Internationale Africaine, actually played one European rival against another.[citation needed]
+
+Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property. He named it the Congo Free State.[28] Leopold's regime began various infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the railway that ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), which took eight years to complete. Nearly all such infrastructure projects were aimed at making it easier to increase the assets which Leopold and his associates could extract from the colony.[29]
+
+In the Free State, colonists coerced the local population into producing rubber, for which the spread of automobiles and development of rubber tires created a growing international market. Rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country. To enforce the rubber quotas, the army, the Force Publique, was called in and made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives a matter of policy.[30]
+
+During the period of 1885–1908, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease. In some areas the population declined dramatically – it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River.[30]
+
+News of the abuses began to circulate. In 1904, the British consul at Boma in the Congo, Roger Casement was instructed by the British government to investigate. His report, called the Casement Report, confirmed the accusations of humanitarian abuses. The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold II to set up an independent commission of inquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report of abuses, concluding that the population of the Congo had been "reduced by half" during this period.[29] Determining precisely how many people died is impossible, as no accurate records exist.
+
+In 1908, the Belgian parliament, in spite of initial reluctance, bowed to international pressure (especially from the United Kingdom) and took over the Free State from King Leopold II.[31]
+
+On 18 October 1908, the Belgian parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. Executive power went to the Belgian minister of colonial affairs, assisted by a Colonial Council (Conseil Colonial) (both located in Brussels). The Belgian parliament exercised legislative authority over the Belgian Congo. In 1926 the colonial capital moved from Boma to Léopoldville, some 300 kilometres (190 mi) further upstream into the interior.
+
+The transition from the Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a break but it also featured a large degree of continuity. The last Governor-general of the Congo Free State, Baron Théophile Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo and the majority of Leopold II's administration with him.[32] Opening up the Congo and its natural and mineral riches to the Belgian economy remained the main motive for colonial expansion – however, other priorities, such as healthcare and basic education, slowly gained in importance.
+
+Colonial administrators ruled the territory and a dual legal system existed (a system of European courts and another one of indigenous courts, tribunaux indigènes). Indigenous courts had only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial administration.
+
+Records show that in 1936, 728 Belgian administrators ran the colony.[citation needed] The Belgian authorities permitted no political activity in the Congo whatsoever,[33] and the Force Publique, a locally-recruited army under Belgian command, put down any attempts at rebellion.
+
+The Belgian population of the colony increased from 1,928 in 1910 to nearly 89,000 in 1959.[citation needed]
+
+The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War I (1914–1918), an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East Africa (Tanganyika) turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian-Portuguese invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916 under the command of General Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting.
+
+After 1918, Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the previously German colony of Ruanda-Urundi. During World War II, the Belgian Congo provided a crucial source of income for the Belgian government-in-exile in London, and the Force Publique again participated in Allied campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces under the command of Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia in Asosa, Bortaï[34] and Saïo under Major-General Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert during the second East African Campaign.[35]
+
+In May 1960, a growing nationalist movement, the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) led by Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary elections. Patrice Lumumba thus became the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as the Republic of the Congo, on 24 June 1960. The parliament elected Joseph Kasavubu as President, of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party. Other parties that emerged included the Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA) led by Antoine Gizenga, and the Parti National du Peuple (PNP) led by Albert Delvaux and Laurent Mbariko.[36]
+
+The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name "République du Congo" ("Republic of Congo" or "Republic of the Congo" in English). As the neighboring French colony of Middle Congo (Moyen Congo) also chose the name "Republic of Congo" upon achieving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as "Congo-Léopoldville" and "Congo-Brazzaville", after their capital cities.
+
+Shortly after independence the Force Publique mutinied, and on 11 July the province of Katanga (led by Moïse Tshombe) and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership.[37][38] Most of the 100,000 Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the country,[39] opening the way for Congolese to replace the European military and administrative elite.[40]
+On 5 September 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office. Lumumba declared Kasavubu's action unconstitutional and a crisis between the two leaders developed.[41]
+
+Events set in motion by the U.S. and Belgium on 14 September removed Lumumba from office with forces loyal to Joseph Mobutu. On 17 January 1961, he was handed over to Katangan authorities and executed by Belgian-led Katangese troops.[42] An investigation by the Belgium's Parliament in 2001 found Belgium "morally responsible" for the murder of Lumumba, and the country has since officially apologised for its role in his death.[43]
+
+Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, a temporary government was led by technicians (the Collège des commissaires généraux). The secession ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces. Several short-lived governments, of Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula and Moise Tshombe, took over in quick succession.
+
+Lumumba had previously appointed Joseph Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army, Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC).[citation needed] Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Tshombe, Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to launch a coup. With financial support from the United States and Belgium, Mobutu paid his soldiers privately.[citation needed] The aversion of Western powers to communism and leftist ideology influenced their decision to finance Mobutu's quest to neutralize Kasavubu and Lumumba in a coup by proxy.[citation needed] A constitutional referendum the year before Mobutu's coup of 1965 resulted in the country's official name being changed to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo."[1] In 1971 Mobutu changed the name again, this time to "Republic of Zaire".[44][20]
+
+The new president had the staunch support of the United States because of his opposition to Communism; the US believed that his administration would serve as an effective counter to communist movements in Africa.[45] A single-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He periodically held elections in which he was the only candidate. Although relative peace and stability were achieved, Mobutu's government was guilty of severe human rights violations, political repression, a cult of personality and corruption.
+
+By late 1967 Mobutu had successfully neutralized his political opponents and rivals, either through co-opting them into his regime, arresting them, or rendering them otherwise politically impotent.[46] Throughout the late 1960s, Mobutu continued to shuffle his governments and cycle officials in and out of the office to maintain control. Kasa-Vubu's death in April 1969 ensured that no person with First Republic credentials could challenge his rule.[47] By the early 1970s, Mobutu was attempting to assert Zaire as a leading African nation. He traveled frequently across the continent while the government became more vocal about African issues, particularly those relating to the southern region. Zaire established semi-clientelist relationships with several smaller African states, especially Burundi, Chad, and Togo.[48]
+
+Corruption became so common the term "le mal Zairois" or "Zairian Sickness",[49] meaning gross corruption, theft and mismanagement, was coined, reportedly by Mobutu himself.[50] International aid, most often in the form of loans, enriched Mobutu while he allowed national infrastructure such as roads to deteriorate to as little as one-quarter of what had existed in 1960. Zaire became a kleptocracy as Mobutu and his associates embezzled government funds.
+
+In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism, starting on 1 June 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities: Léopoldville became Kinshasa (the country was now Congo-Kinshasa), Stanleyville became Kisangani, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Coquilhatville became Mbandaka. This renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s.
+
+In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire,[20] its fourth name change in eleven years and its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River.
+
+During the 1970s and 1980s, he was invited to visit the United States on several occasions, meeting with U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.[51] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union U.S. relations with Mobutu cooled, as he was no longer deemed necessary as a Cold War ally. Opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This atmosphere contributed to Mobutu's declaring the Third Republic in 1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be largely cosmetic. Mobutu continued in power until armed forces forced him to flee in 1997. "From 1990 to 1993, the United States facilitated Mobutu's attempts to hijack political change", one academic wrote, and "also assisted the rebellion of Laurent-Desire Kabila that overthrew the Mobutu regime."[52]
+
+By 1996, following the Rwandan Civil War and genocide and the ascension of a Tutsi-led government in Rwanda, Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe) fled to eastern Zaire and used refugee camps as a base for incursions against Rwanda. They allied with the Zairian Armed Forces (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire.[53]
+
+A coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Zaire to overthrow the government of Mobutu, and ultimately to control the mineral resources of Zaire,[citation needed] launching the First Congo War. The coalition allied with some opposition figures, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL). In 1997 Mobutu fled and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, named himself president, and reverted the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
+
+Kabila later requested that foreign military forces return to their own countries. He had concerns that the Rwandan officers running his army were plotting to give the presidency to a Tutsi who would report directly to Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.[citation needed] Rwandan troops retreated to Goma and launched a new Tutsi-led rebel military movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD) to fight Kabila, while Uganda instigated the creation of new rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), led by Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba.[citation needed] The two rebel movements, along with Rwandan and Ugandan troops, started the Second Congo War by attacking the DRC army in 1998. Angolan, Zimbabwean, and Namibian militaries entered the hostilities on the side of the government.
+
+Kabila was assassinated in 2001. His son Joseph Kabila succeeded him and called for multilateral peace talks. UN peacekeepers, MONUC, now known as MONUSCO, arrived in April 2001. In 2002 and 2003 Bemba intervened in the Central African Republic on behalf of its former president, Ange-Félix Patassé.[54] Talks led to a peace accord under which Kabila would share power with former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. A transitional government was set up until after the election. A constitution was approved by voters, and on 30 July 2006 DRC held its first multi-party elections. An election-result dispute between Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba turned into an all-out battle between their supporters in the streets of Kinshasa. MONUC took control of the city. A new election took place in October 2006, which Kabila won, and in December 2006 he was sworn in as President.
+
+Laurent Nkunda, a member of RCD-Goma, an RCD branch integrated to the army, defected along with troops loyal to him and formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which began an armed rebellion against the government, starting the Kivu conflict. They were believed[by whom?] to be again backed by Rwanda as a way to tackle the Hutu group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In March 2009, after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda, Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants. The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government in which it agreed to become a political party and to have its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.[55] In 2012 Bosco Ntaganda, the leader of the CNDP, and troops loyal to him, mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement, claiming the government violated the treaty.[56]
+
+In the resulting M23 rebellion, M23 briefly captured the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012.[57][58] Neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda, have been accused of arming rebels groups and using them as proxies to gain control of the resource-rich country, an accusation they deny.[59][60] In March 2013, the United Nations Security Council authorized the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade, the first offensive United Nations peacekeeping unit, to neutralize armed groups.[61] On 5 November 2013, M23 declared an end to its insurgency.[62]
+
+Additionally, in northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa with Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga's Mai Mai Kata Katanga briefly invading the provincial capital of Lubumbashi in 2013 and 400,000 persons displaced in the province as of 2013[update].[63] On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, respectively. In the northeast, Joseph Kony's LRA moved from their original bases in Uganda and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park.[64][65]
+
+In 2009, The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month[66] – estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000.[67] The death toll is due to widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under five years of age.[68] There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, of the destruction of property, of widespread sexual violence,[69] causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, and of other breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. One study found that more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.[70]
+
+The war in the Congo has been described as the bloodiest war since World War II.[71] On 8 December 2017, fourteen UN soldiers and five Congolese regular soldiers were killed in a rebel attack at Semuliki in Beni territory. The rebels were thought to be Allied Democratic Forces.[72] UN investigations confirmed that aggressor in the December attack.[73]
+
+According to the Human Rights Watch and the New York University-based Congo Research Group, armed troops in DRC’s eastern Kivu region have killed over 1,900 civilians and kidnapped at least 3,300 people since June 2017 to June 2019.[74]
+
+In 2015, major protests broke out across the country and protesters demanded that Joseph Kabila step down as President. The protests began after the passage of a law by the Congolese lower house that, if also passed by the Congolese upper house, would keep Kabila in power at least until a national census was conducted (a process which would likely take several years and therefore keep him in power past the planned 2016 elections, which he is constitutionally barred from participating in).
+
+This bill passed; however, it was gutted of the provision that would keep Kabila in power until a census took place. A census is supposed to take place, but it is no longer tied to when the elections take place. In 2015, elections were scheduled for late 2016 and a tenuous peace held in the Congo.[75]
+
+On 27 November Congolese foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda told the press no elections would be held in 2016, after 20 December, the end of president Kabila's term. In a conference in Madagascar, Tshibanda said that Kabila's government had "consulted election experts" from Congo, the United Nations and elsewhere, and that "it has been decided that the voter registration operation will end on July 31, 2017, and that election will take place in April 2018."[76] Protests broke out in the country on 20 December when Kabila's term in office ended. Across the country, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested.
+
+According to Jan Egeland, presently Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen, which receive much more attention. Women and children are abused sexually and "abused in all possible manners". Besides the conflict in North Kivu, violence has gone up in the Kasai region. The armed groups are after gold, diamonds, oil, and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally. There are also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play, as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections. He says people believe the situation in the DRC is "stably bad" but in fact, it has become much, much worse. "The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening".[77] Due to disruption of planting and harvesting caused by the conflict, the UN estimated in March 2018 that two million children risk starvation.[78]
+
+Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Joseph Kabila recruited former M23 fighters to put down country-wide protests over his refusal to step down from office at the end of his term. "M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo’s main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president," they said.[79]
+
+Fierce fighting has erupted in Masisi between government forces and a powerful local warlord, General Delta. The United Nations mission in the DRC is its largest and most expensive peacekeeping effort, but it shut down five UN bases near Masisi in 2017, after the US led a push to cut costs.[80]
+
+A tribal conflict erupted on 16–17 December 2018 at Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe Province, 400 km (250 miles) north of Kinshasa. Nearly 900 Banunu people from four villages were slaughtered by members of the Batende community in a deep-rooted rivalry over monthly tribal duties, land, fields and water resources. Some 100 Banunus fled to Moniende island in the Congo River, and another 16,000 to Makotimpoko District in the Republic of Congo. Military-style tactics were employed in the bloodbath, and some assailants were clothed in army uniforms. Local authorities and elements within the security forces were suspected of lending them support.[81]
+
+On 30 December the Democratic Republic of the Congo general election, 2018 was held. On 10 January 2019, the electoral commission announced opposition candidate Félix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential vote.[82] He was officially sworn in as President on 24 January 2019.[83] However, there were widespread suspicions that the results were rigged and that a deal had been made between Tshisekedi and Kabila. The Catholic Church said that the official results did not correspond to the information its election monitors had collected.[84] The government had also "delayed" the vote until March in some areas, citing the Ebola outbreak in Kivu as well as the ongoing military conflict. This was criticized as these regions are known as opposition strongholds.[85][86][87] In August 2019, six months after the inauguration of Félix Tshisekedi, a coalition government was announced.[88]
+
+A major measles outbreak in the country left nearly 5,000 dead in 2019.[89]
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and by Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda Province exclave of Angola. The country lies between latitudes 6°N and 14°S, and longitudes 12° and 32°E. It straddles the Equator, with one-third to the North and two-thirds to the South. The size of Congo, 2,345,408 square kilometres (905,567 sq mi), is slightly greater than the combined areas of Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, and Norway. It is the second-largest country in Africa by area, after Algeria.
+
+As a result of its equatorial location, the DRC experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 2,000 millimetres (80 in) in some places, and the area sustains the Congo Rainforest, the second-largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon. This massive expanse of lush jungle covers most of the vast, low-lying central basin of the river, which slopes toward the Atlantic Ocean in the west. This area is surrounded by plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River in the north. High, glaciated mountains (Rwenzori Mountains) are found in the extreme eastern region.[citation needed]
+
+The tropical climate also produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through, though they are not mutually exclusive. The name for the Congo state is derived in part from the river. The river basin (meaning the Congo River and all of its myriad tributaries) occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi). The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. Major tributaries include the Kasai, Sangha, Ubangi, Ruzizi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga.
+
+The sources of the Congo are in the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the western branch of the East African Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru. The river flows generally west from Kisangani just below Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwest, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River, and running into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool. Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons, collectively known as the Livingstone Falls, and runs past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean. The river also has the second-largest flow and the second-largest watershed of any river in the world (trailing the Amazon in both respects). The river and a 37 kilometres (23 mi) wide strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country's only outlet to the Atlantic.[citation needed]
+
+The Albertine Rift plays a key role in shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but due to the rift's tectonic activity, this area also experiences volcanic activity, occasionally with loss of life. The geologic activity in this area also created the African Great Lakes, three of which lie on the Congo's eastern frontier: Lake Albert (known during the Mobutu era as Lake Mobutu Sese Seko), Lake Kivu (Unknown until late 1712), Lake Edward (known during the Amin era as Lake Idi Amin Dada), and Lake Tanganyika. Lake Edward and Lake Albert are connected by the Semliki River.[citation needed]
+
+The Rift valley has exposed an enormous amount of mineral wealth throughout the south and east of the Congo, making it accessible to mining. Cobalt, copper, cadmium, industrial and gem-quality diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, and coal are all found in plentiful supply, especially in the Congo's southeastern Katanga region.[90]
+
+On 17 January 2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupted in Congo, with the lava running out at 64 km/h (40 mph) and 46 m (50 yd) wide. One of the three streams of extremely fluid lava flowed through the nearby city of Goma, killing 45 and leaving 120,000 homeless. Four hundred thousand people were evacuated from the city during the eruption. The lava poisoned the water of Lake Kivu, killing fish. Only two planes left the local airport because of the possibility of the explosion of stored petrol. The lava passed the airport but ruined the runway, trapping several airplanes. Six months after the 2002 eruption, nearby Mount Nyamuragira also erupted. Mount Nyamuragira then erupted in 2006 and again in January 2010.[91]
+
+World Wide Fund for Nature ecoregions located in the Congo include:
+
+World Heritage Sites located in Democratic Republic of Congo are:
+Virunga National Park (1979),
+Garamba National Park (1980),
+Kahuzi-Biega National Park (1980),
+Salonga National Park (1984) and
+Okapi Wildlife Reserve (1996).
+
+The country is currently divided into the city-province of Kinshasa and 25 other provinces.[1] The provinces are subdivided into 145 territories and 32 cities. Before 2015, the country had 11 provinces.[92]
+
+The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great biodiversity, including many rare and endemic species, such as the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, the African forest elephant, the mountain gorilla, the okapi and the white rhino. Five of the country's national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites: the Garumba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Virunga National Parks, and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most biodiverse African country.[93]
+
+The civil war and resulting in poor economic conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity. Many park wardens were either killed or could not afford to continue their work. All five sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage in Danger.
+
+Conservationists have particularly worried about primates. The Congo is inhabited by several great ape species: the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the bonobo (Pan paniscus), the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), and possibly the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla).[94] It is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild. Much concern has been raised about great ape extinction. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee, the bonobo and the gorilla, each of whose populations once numbered in the millions, have now dwindled down to only about 200,000 gorillas, 100,000 chimpanzees and possibly only about 10,000 bonobos.[95][96] Gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos are all classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union, as well as the okapi, which is also native to the area.
+
+Poaching for the exotic animal or ivory trade has been a persistent problem for species loss in the DRC, it has been made a necessity for some trying to escape poverty and a means of continuing the civil war for some rebel groups including the Lords Resistance army (LRA).[97] The Forest Elephant is particularly at risk due to the high cost of its ivory, especially in the Far East, due to this its population has reduced by 62% in 2002–2011[98] The main way this poaching for ivory can be reduced is through the hampering of the international demand for ivory, as this drives the trade.[98]
+
+The introduction of park guards and the implementation of eco-tourism in Virunga National park, a primary habitat for great apes, has allowed the endangered mountain gorilla population to jump over 1000, a 25% rise on 2010 numbers.[99] However, the study indicated that poaching is still an existing problem, with researchers finding 380 snares and park guards continually being ambushed and killed by poachers.[99]
+
+After a four-year interlude between two constitutions, with new political institutions established at the various levels of government, as well as new administrative divisions for the provinces throughout the country, a new constitution came into effect in 2006 and politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally settled into a stable presidential democratic republic.
+The 2003 transitional constitution[100] had established a parliament with a bicameral legislature, consisting of a Senate and a National Assembly.
+
+The Senate had, among other things, the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch was vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a President and four vice presidents. The President was also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The transitional constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers.[101]
+
+The 2006 constitution, also known as the Constitution of the Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It had concurrent authority, however, with the transitional constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials who emerged from the July 2006 elections. Under the new constitution, the legislature remained bicameral; the executive was concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government, led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party able to secure a majority in the National Assembly.
+
+The government – not the President – is responsible to the Parliament. The new constitution also granted new powers to the provincial governments, creating provincial parliaments which have oversight of the Governor and the head of the provincial government, whom they elect. The new constitution also saw the disappearance of the Supreme Court, which was divided into three new institutions. The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court is now held by the Constitutional Court.[102]
+
+Although located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).[103]
+
+Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the DRC, which he renamed Zaire, from 1965 to 1997. A relative explained how the government illicitly collected revenue: "Mobutu would ask one of us to go to the bank and take out a million. We'd go to an intermediary and tell him to get five million. He would go to the bank with Mobutu's authority and take out ten. Mobutu got one, and we took the other nine."[104] Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control, leading to an economic collapse in 1996.[105]
+
+Mobutu allegedly stole as much as US$4–5 billion while in office.[106] He was not the first corrupt Congolese leader by any means: "Government as a system of organized theft goes back to King Leopold II," noted Adam Hochschild in 2009.[107] In July 2009, a Swiss court determined that the statute of limitations had run out on an international asset recovery case of about $6.7 million of deposits of Mobutu's in a Swiss bank, and therefore the assets should be returned to Mobutu's family.[108]
+
+President Joseph Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.[109] However, in 2016 the Enough Project issued a report claiming that the Congo is run as a violent kleptocracy.[110]
+
+The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was initiated by Joseph Kabila in April 2004. The International Criminal Court prosecutor opened the case in June 2004.
+
+Child soldiers have been used on a large scale in DRC, and in 2011 it was estimated that 30,000 children were still operating with armed groups.[111]
+
+Instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and reported in the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the DRC in 2013[112] and six goods produced by the country's mining industry appear on the department's December 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.
+
+Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal.[113] The 2013–2014 DHS survey (pp. 299) found that 74.8% of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances.[114]
+
+The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2006 expressed concern that in the post-war transition period, the promotion of women's human rights and gender equality is not seen as a priority.[115][116] Mass rapes, sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the eastern part of the country.[117] The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the "rape capital of the world" and the prevalence of sexual violence there described as the worst in the world.[118][119]
+
+Female genital mutilation (FGM) is also practiced in DRC, although not on a large scale. The prevalence of FGM is estimated at about 5% of women.[120][121] FGM is illegal: the law imposes a penalty of two to five years of prison and a fine of 200,000 Congolese francs on any person who violates the "physical or functional integrity" of the genital organs.[122][123]
+
+In July 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC.[124] A phenomenon of "pendulum displacement" has developed, where people hasten at night to safety. According to Yakin Ertürk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women who toured eastern Congo in July 2007, violence against women in North and South Kivu included "unimaginable brutality". Ertürk added that "Armed groups attack local communities, loot, rape, kidnap women and children, and make them work as sexual slaves".[125] In December 2008, GuardianFilms of The Guardian released a film documenting the testimony of over 400 women and girls who had been abused by marauding militia.[126]
+
+In June 2010, Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold.[127] In June 2014, Freedom from Torture published reported rape and sexual violence being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women.[128] The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones.[128]
+
+In 2015, figures both inside and outside of the country, such as Filimbi and Emmanuel Weyi, spoke out about the need to curb violence and instability as the 2016 elections approached.[129][130]
+
+The global growth in demand for scarce raw materials and the industrial surges in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other developing countries require that developed countries employ new, integrated and responsive strategies for identifying and ensuring, on a continual basis, an adequate supply of strategic and critical materials required for their security needs.[131] Highlighting the DR Congo's importance to United States national security, the effort to establish an elite Congolese unit is the latest push by the U.S. to professionalize armed forces in this strategically important region.[132]
+
+There are economic and strategic incentives to bring more security to the Congo, which is rich in natural resources such as cobalt, a strategic and critical metal used in many industrial and military applications.[131] The largest use of cobalt is in superalloys, used to make jet engine parts. Cobalt is also used in magnetic alloys and in cutting and wear-resistant materials such as cemented carbides. The chemical industry consumes significant quantities of cobalt in a variety of applications including catalysts for petroleum and chemical processing; drying agents for paints and inks; ground coats for porcelain enamels; decolorant for ceramics and glass; and pigments for ceramics, paints, and plastics. The country possesses 80% of the world's cobalt reserves.[133]
+
+It is thought that due to the importance of cobalt for batteries for electric vehicles and stabilization of electric grids with large proportions of intermittent renewables in the electricity mix, the DRC could become an object of increased geopolitical competition.[131]
+
+In the 21st century, Chinese investment in the DRC and Congolese exports to China have grown rapidly. In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including DRC, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.[134]
+
+The Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) consist of about 144,000 personnel, the majority of whom are part of the land forces, also with a small air force and an even smaller navy. The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War and integrated many former rebel groups into its ranks. Due to the presence of undisciplined and poorly trained ex-rebels, as well as a lack of funding and having spent years fighting against different militias, the FARDC suffers from rampant corruption and inefficiency. The agreements signed at the end of the Second Congo War called for a new "national, restructured and integrated" army that would be made up of Kabila's government forces (the FAC), the RCD, and the MLC. Also stipulated was that rebels like the RCD-N, RCD-ML, and the Mai-Mai would become part of the new armed forces. It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Superieur de la Defense (Superior Defence Council) which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform, disarmament/demobilisation, and national defence policy. The FARDC is organised on the basis of brigades, which are dispersed throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese troops have been fighting the Kivu conflict in the eastern North Kivu region, the Ituri conflict in the Ituri region, and other rebellions since the Second Congo War. Besides the FARDC, the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, known as MONUSCO, is also present in the country with about 18,000 peacekeepers.
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[135]
+
+The Central Bank of the Congo is responsible for developing and maintaining the Congolese franc, which serves as the primary form of currency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2007, The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of Congo up to $1.3 billion in assistance funds over the following three years.[136] The Congolese government started negotiating membership in the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), in 2009.[137]
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.[138][139][140] The Congo has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper.[141][142]
+
+Despite such vast mineral wealth, the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The African country generated up to 70% of its export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s and was particularly hit when resource prices deteriorated at that time. By 2005, 90% of the DRC's revenues derived from its minerals (Exenberger and Hartmann 2007:10).[143] Congolese citizens are among the poorest people on Earth. DR Congo consistently has the lowest, or nearly the lowest, nominal GDP per capita in the world. The DRC is also one of the twenty lowest-ranked countries on the Corruption Perception Index.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, and a major producer of copper and diamonds.[144] The latter come from Kasai province in the west. By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga province (formerly Shaba), and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capability for metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world,[145] and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production.
+
+At independence in 1960, DRC was the second-most industrialized country in Africa after South Africa; it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector.[146] The First and Second Congo Wars began in 1996. These conflicts have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, increased external debt, and resulted in deaths of more than five million people from war and associated famine and disease. Malnutrition affects approximately two-thirds of the country's population.[citation needed]
+
+Foreign businesses have curtailed operations due to uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict, lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment. The war intensified the impact of such basic problems as an uncertain legal framework, corruption, inflation, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations.
+
+Conditions improved in late 2002, when a large portion of the invading foreign troops withdrew. A number of International Monetary Fund and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, and President Joseph Kabila began implementing reforms. Much economic activity still lies outside the GDP data. A United Nations Human Development Index report shows that the human development index of DRC is one of the worst the country has had in decades. Through 2011 the DRC had the lowest Human Development Index of the 187 ranked countries. It ranked lower than Niger, despite a higher margin of improvement than the latter country over 2010's numbers.[citation needed]
+
+The economy of DRC relies heavily on mining. However, the smaller-scale economic activity from artisanal mining occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data.[147] A third of the DRC's diamonds are believed to be smuggled out of the country, making it difficult to quantify diamond production levels.[148] In 2002, tin was discovered in the east of the country, but to date has only been mined on a small scale.[149] Smuggling of conflict minerals such as coltan and cassiterite, ores of tantalum and tin, respectively, helped to fuel the war in the Eastern Congo.[150]
+
+In September 2004, state-owned Gécamines signed an agreement with Global Enterprises Corporate (GEC), a company formed by the merger of Dan Gertler International (DGI) with Beny Steinmetz Global, to rehabilitate and operate the Kananga and Tilwezembe copper mines. The deal was ratified by presidential decree. In 2007, a World Bank report reviewed DR Congo's three biggest mining contracts, finding that the 2005 deals, including one with Global Enterprises Company, were approved with "a complete lack of transparency" (Mahtani, 3 January 2007).[151][152][153] Gertler and Steinmetz put GEC's 75% share in Komoto Oliveira Virgule (KOV), the project made of up of Tilwezembe and Kananga, along with the Kolwesi concentrator, into Nikanor plc. Registered in the Isle of Man, reached a market capitalization of $1.5 billion by 2007.[152] In February 2007, 22% of the Nikanor Mining company was owned by the Gertner Family Trust and 14% by Dan Gertler.[154] In January 2008 Katanga Mining acquired Nikanor for $452 million.[153]
+
+In April 2006, Gertler's DGI took a major stake in DEM Mining, a cobalt-copper mining, and services company based in Katanga.[152] In June 2006, Gertler bought Tremalt from the Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp for about $60 million. Tremalt had a half share in the Mukondo Mine. In 2007, Tremalt was owned by Prairie International Ltd, of which Dan Gertler's family trust was a major shareholder. Tremalt owned 80% of Savannah Mining, which held concessions C17 and C18 in Katanga Province and 50% of the Mukondo project. The other 50% of Mukondo was held by Boss Mining, which in turn was 80% owned by Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC). Boss Mining had rented and operated Bredenkamp's half of Mukondo. Gertler terminated this arrangement.[152]
+
+Katanga Mining Limited, a Swiss-owned company, owns the Luilu Metallurgical Plant, which has a capacity of 175,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt per year, making it the largest cobalt refinery in the world. After a major rehabilitation program, the company resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008.[155]
+
+In April 2013, anti-corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for $88 million from the mining sector, despite booming production and positive industrial performance. The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank.[156] Later in 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country's candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting, monitoring and independent audits, but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership.
+
+In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein[157] defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age," due to its cobalt resources, as essential to the lithium-ion batteries that drive electric vehicles.[158]
+
+Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been difficult. The terrain and climate of the Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast country. The DRC has more navigable rivers and moves more passengers and goods by boat and ferry than any other country in Africa, but air transport remains the only effective means of moving goods and people between many places within the country, especially in rural areas. Chronic economic mismanagement, political corruption and internal conflicts have led to long-term under-investment of infrastructure.
+
+Rail transportation is provided by the Congo Railroad Company (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo) and the Office National des Transports (Congo) (ONATRA) and the Office of the Uele Railways (Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles, CFU). Like much of the infrastructure in the Congo, the railways are poorly maintained, dirty, crowded and dangerous.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo has fewer all-weather paved highways than any country of its population and size in Africa — a total of 2,250 km (1,400 mi), of which only 1,226 km (762 mi) is in good condition (see below). To put this in perspective, the road distance across the country in any direction is more than 2,500 km (1,600 mi) (e.g. Matadi to Lubumbashi, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) by road). The figure of 2,250 km (1,400 mi) converts to 35 km (22 mi) of paved road per 1,000,000 of population. Comparative figures for Zambia and Botswana are 721 km (448 mi) and 3,427 km (2,129 mi) respectively.[159]
+
+Three routes in the Trans-African Highway network pass through DR Congo:
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo has thousands of kilometres of navigable waterways. Traditionally water transport has been the dominant means of moving around in approximately two-thirds of the country.
+
+As of June 2016[update], DR Congo had one major national airline (Congo Airways) that offered flights inside DR Congo. Congo Airways was based at Kinshasa's international airport. All air carriers certified by the DRC have been banned from European Union airports by the European Commission, due to inadequate safety standards.[160]
+
+Several international airlines service Kinshasa's international airport and a few also offer international flights to Lubumbashi International Airport.
+
+In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are both coal and crude oil resources that were mainly used domestically in 2008. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the infrastructure for hydro-electricity from the Congo River at the Inga dams.[161] The Democratic Republic of Congo also possesses 50% of Africa's forests and a river system that could provide hydro-electric power to the entire continent, according to a UN report on the country's strategic significance and its potential role as an economic power in central Africa.[162]
+
+The generation and distribution of electricity are controlled by Société nationale d'électricité (SNEL), but only 15% of the country has access to electricity.[163] The DRC is a member of three electrical power pools. These are SAPP (Southern African Power Pool), EAPP (East African Power Pool), CAPP (Central African Power Pool).
+
+Because of abundant sunlight, the potential for solar development is very high in the DRC. There are already about 836 solar power systems in the DRC, with a total power of 83 kW, located in Équateur (167), Katanga (159), Nord-Kivu (170), the two Kasaï provinces (170), and Bas-Congo (170). Also, the 148 Caritas network system has a total power of 6.31 kW.[164]
+
+In 2014, the literacy rate for the population between the ages of 15 and 49 was estimated to be 75.9% (88.1% male and 63.8% female) according to a DHS nationwide survey.[165] The education system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is governed by three government ministries: the Ministère de l'Enseignement Primaire, Secondaire et Professionnel (MEPSP), the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire (MESU) and the Ministère des Affaires Sociales (MAS). Primary education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not free or compulsory,[citation needed] even though the Congolese constitution says it should be (Article 43 of the 2005 Congolese Constitution).[166]
+
+As a result of the six-year civil war in the late 1990s—early 2000s, over 5.2 million children in the country did not receive any education.[167] Since the end of the civil war, the situation has improved tremendously, with the number of children enrolled in primary schools rising from 5.5 million in 2002 to 13.8 million in 2015, and the number of children enrolled in secondary schools rising from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2015 according to UNESCO.[168]
+
+Actual school attendance has also improved greatly in recent years, with primary school net attendance estimated to be 82.4% in 2014 (82.4% of children ages 6–11 attended school; 83.4% for boys, 80.6% for girls).[169]
+
+The hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo include the General Hospital of Kinshasa. DRC has the world's second-highest rate of infant mortality (after Chad). In April 2011, through aid from Global Alliance for Vaccines, a new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease was introduced around Kinshasa.[170]
+
+In 2012, it was estimated that about 1.1% of adults aged 15–49 were living with HIV/AIDS.[171] Malaria is also a problem.[172][173] Yellow fever also affects DRC.[174]
+
+Maternal health is poor in DRC. According to 2010 estimates, DRC has the 17th highest maternal mortality rate in the world.[175] According to UNICEF, 43.5% of children under five are stunted.[176]
+
+In May 2019, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in DRC surpassed 1,000.[177]
+
+The Congolese National Police (PNC) are the primary police force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[178]
+
+Over 200 ethnic groups populate the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of which the majority are Bantu peoples. Together, Mongo, Luba and Kongo peoples (Bantu) and Mangbetu-Azande peoples constitute around 45% of the population. The Kongo people are the largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.[183]
+
+In 2018, the United Nations estimated the country's population to be 84 million people,[6][7] a rapid increase from 39.1 million in 1992 despite the ongoing war.[184] As many as 250 ethnic groups have been identified and named. The most numerous people are the Kongo, Luba, and Mongo. About 600,000 Pygmies are the aboriginal people of the DR Congo.[185] Although several hundred local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is bridged both by widespread use of French and the national intermediary languages Kituba, Tshiluba, Swahili, and Lingala.
+
+Given the situation in the country and the condition of state structures, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable migration data. However, evidence suggests that DRC continues to be a destination country for immigrants, in spite of recent declines in their numbers. Immigration is very diverse in nature; refugees and asylum-seekers – products of the numerous and violent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region – constitute an important subset of the population. Additionally, the country's large mine operations attract migrant workers from Africa and beyond. There is also considerable migration for commercial activities from other African countries and the rest of the world, but these movements are not well studied.[186] Transit migration towards South Africa and Europe also plays a role.
+
+Immigration to the DRC has decreased steadily over the past two decades, most likely as a result of the armed violence that the country has experienced. According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of immigrants in the DRC has fallen from just over one million in 1960, to 754,000 in 1990, to 480,000 in 2005, to an estimated 445,000 in 2010. Official figures are unavailable, partly due to the predominance of the informal economy in the DRC. Data are also lacking on irregular immigrants, however given neighbouring countries' ethnic links to DRC nationals, irregular migration is assumed to be a significant phenomenon.[186]
+
+Figures for Congolese nationals abroad vary greatly depending on the source, from three to six million. This discrepancy is due to a lack of official, reliable data. Emigrants from the DRC are above all long-term emigrants, the majority of whom live in Africa and to a lesser extent in Europe; 79.7% and 15.3% respectively, according to estimated 2000 data. New destination countries include South Africa and various points en route to Europe. The DRC has produced a considerable number of refugees and asylum-seekers located in the region and beyond. These numbers peaked in 2004 when, according to UNHCR, there were more than 460,000 refugees from the DRC; in 2008, Congolese refugees numbered 367,995 in total, 68% of whom were living in other African countries.[186]
+
+Since 2003, more than 400,000 Congolese migrants have been expelled from Angola.[187]
+
+Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most recent survey, conducted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program in 2013-2014 indicated that Christians constituted 93.7% of the population (with Catholics making up 29.7%, Protestants 26.8%, and other Christians 37.2%). An indigenous religion, Kimbanguism, has the adherence of only 2.8%, while Muslims make up 1.2%.[188] Other recent estimates have found Christianity the majority religion, followed by 95.8% of the population according to a 2010 Pew Research Center[189] estimate, while the CIA World Factbook reports this figure to be 95.9%.[190] The proportion of followers of Islam is variously estimated from 1%[191] to 12% [192]
+
+There are about 35 million Catholics in the country[1] with six archdioceses and 41 dioceses.[193] The impact of the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo is difficult to overestimate. Schatzberg has called it the country's "only truly national institution apart from the state."[194] Its schools have educated over 60% of the nation's primary school students and more than 40% of its secondary students. The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals, schools, and clinics, as well as many diocesan economic enterprises, including farms, ranches, stores, and artisans' shops.[citation needed]
+
+Sixty-two Protestant denominations are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in Congo. It is often simply referred to as the Protestant Church, since it covers most of the DRC Protestants. With more than 25 million members, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.
+
+Kimbanguism was seen as a threat to the colonial regime and was banned by the Belgians. Kimbanguism, officially "the church of Christ on Earth by the prophet Simon Kimbangu", now has about three million members,[195] primarily among the Bakongo of Bas-Congo and Kinshasa.
+
+Islam has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century, when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory- and slave-trading purposes. Today, Muslims constitute approximately 1% of the Congolese population according to Pew research center. The majority are Sunni Muslims.
+
+The first members of the Baha'i Faith to live in the country came from Uganda in 1953. Four years later the first local administrative council was elected. In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly (national administrative council) was first elected. Though the religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s, due to misrepresentations of foreign governments, the ban was lifted by the end of the 1980s. In 2012 plans were announced to build a national Baha'i House of Worship in the country.[196]
+
+Traditional religions embody such concepts as monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups. The syncretic sects often merge elements of Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals and are not recognized by mainstream churches as part of Christianity. New variants of ancient beliefs have become widespread, led by US-inspired Pentecostal churches which have been in the forefront of witchcraft accusations, particularly against children and the elderly.[clarification needed][197] Children accused of witchcraft are sent away from homes and family, often to live on the street, which can lead to physical violence against these children.[198][clarification needed][199] There are charities supporting street children such as the Congo Children Trust.[200] The Congo Children Trust's flagship project is Kimbilio,[201] which works to reunite street children in Lubumbashi. The usual term for these children is enfants sorciers (child witches) or enfants dits sorciers (children accused of witchcraft). Non-denominational church organizations have been formed to capitalize on this belief by charging exorbitant fees for exorcisms. Though recently outlawed, children have been subjected in these exorcisms to often-violent abuse at the hands of self-proclaimed prophets and priests.[202]
+
+French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo. According to a 2014 OIF report, 33 million Congolese people (47% of the population) could read and write in French.[203] In the capital city Kinshasa, 67% of the population could read and write French, and 68.5% could speak and understand it.[204]
+
+Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, but only four have the status of national languages: Kituba ("Kikongo ya leta"), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some people speak these regional, or trade languages as first languages, most of the population speak them as a second language after their own tribal language. Lingala was the official language of the colonial army, the "Force Publique", under Belgian colonial rule, and remains to this day the predominant language in the armed forces. Since the recent rebellions, a good part of the army in the East also uses Swahili where it is prevalent.
+
+When the country was a Belgian colony, the Belgian colonizers instituted teaching and use of the four national languages in primary schools, making it one of the few African nations to have had literacy in local languages during the European colonial period. This trend was reversed after independence, when French became the sole language of education at all levels.[205] Since 1975, the four national languages have been reintroduced in the first two years of primary education, with French becoming the sole language of education from the third year onward, but in practice many primary schools in urban areas solely use French from the first year of school onward.[205]
+
+The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflects the diversity of its hundreds of ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country  — from the mouth of the River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the First and Second Congo Wars. Despite these pressures, the customs and cultures of the Congo have retained much of their individuality. The country's 81 million inhabitants (2016) are mainly rural. The 30% who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences.
+
+Another feature in Congo culture is its music. The DRC has its influences on Cuban music  rumba,originally kumba from Congo and merengue. And those two later give birth to soukous.[206] Other African nations produce music genres derived from Congolese soukous. Some of the African bands sing in Lingala, one of the main languages in the DRC. The same Congolese soukous, under the guidance of "le sapeur", Papa Wemba, have set the tone for a generation of young men always dressed up in expensive designer clothes. They came to be known as the fourth generation of Congolese music and mostly come from the former well-known band Wenge Musica [fr].
+
+Many sports are played in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including football, basketball, and rugby. The sports are played in numerous stadiums throughout the country, including the Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba.[207]
+As Zaire they have participated in the World Cup Football (Final stage) in 1974.
+
+Internationally, the country is especially famous for its professional basketball NBA and football players. Dikembe Mutombo is one of the best African basketball players to ever play the game. Mutombo is well known for humanitarian projects in his home country. Bismack Biyombo, Christian Eyenga, and Emmanuel Mudiay are others who gained significant international attention in basketball. Several Congolese players and players of Congolese descent—including strikers Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Bolasie, and Dieumerci Mbokani—have gained prominence in world football. DR Congo has twice won the African Cup of Nations football tournament.
+
+Newspapers of the DRC include L'Avenir, Radion Télévision Mwangaza, La Conscience [fr], L'Observateur [fr], Le Phare, Le Potentiel, Le Soft and LeCongolais.CD,[208] a web-based daily.[209] Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is the national broadcaster of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. RTNC currently broadcasts in Lingala, French, and English.
+
+Congolese authors use literature as a way to develop a sense of national consciousness amongst the Congo people. The tragic history of colonialism and war lead the Congolese people to settle in a place of complacency, accepting the culture that was forced upon them by Belgium.
+
+Modern Congolese literature began to emerge in the late 1950s. There are a few rare pieces of literature dated back to before WWI, but it was not until about 1954 that literature written in French made its appearance in the Congo. After gaining their independence from Belgium in the 1960s, new authors, such as Guy Menga and Jean Pierre Makouta-Mboukou, were inspired by older authors, such as Jean Malonga from Congo-Brazzaville, and used writing to bring attention to new issues affecting the Congo. The rise of female authors began in the 1970s introducing diversity to Congolese literature and support for gender empowerment. Many authors who have contributed to the success of Congolese literature are now living abroad due to economic and political issues.[210]
+
+Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie writes literature for the between generations of those who grew up in the Congo, during the time when they were colonised, fighting for independence and after. Yamusangie in an interview[211] said he felt the distance in literature and wanted to remedy that he wrote the novel, Full Circle, which is a story of a boy named Emanuel who in the beginning of the book feels a difference in culture among the different groups in the Congo and elsewhere.[212]
+
+Rais Neza Boneza, an author from the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote novels and poems to promote artistic expressions as a way to address and deal with conflicts.[213]
+
+These authors, along with others, used their platforms to bring awareness to the crises and conflicts that took place in the Congo.
+
+A dense tropical rainforest in the DRC's central river basin and eastern highlands is bordered on the east by the Albertine Rift (the western branch of Africa's Great Rift System). It includes several of Africa's Great Lakes.
+
+Major environmental issues
+
+DR Congo's major environmental issues include:
+
+Displaced refugees cause or are otherwise responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion and wildlife poaching. Another significant issue is environmental damage from the mining of minerals, especially diamonds, gold, and coltan – a mineral used to manufacture capacitors.
+
+The environmental problems associated with The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) affect its many endemic species of flora and fauna. The DRC has the world's second largest contiguous rain forest after the Amazon as well as other ecosystems including Savanna, swamps and flood plains. According to the World Wildlife Fund, these unique habitats and species make the DRC one of the most valuable yet vulnerable areas in the world for biodiversity, wildlife protection and rainforest sustainability.[215]
+
+Species loss has been cited as a problem in the DRC, brought about or exacerbated by reasons that include deforestation for mining, wood fuel, infrastructure or agriculture, war, illegal poaching and increased consumption of bush meat due to overpopulation and lack of food security.[216] Some attempts to combat species loss in countries such as the DRC are actions such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically SDG 15 Life on Land, the primary goals of which is to increase reforestation and biodiversity and reduce species loss, desertification, and illegal poaching.[217] One of the primary defences for species and habitat protection in the DRC is its system of national parks and reserves, which gives protected status to nearly 12% of the DRC's rainforest.[218] Five of these parks and reserves are UNESCO world heritage sites, including Africa’s first national park Virunga national park. All of these parks have been put on the World Heritage in Danger List.[219] Poor governance and low economic conditions have reduced the effectiveness of these protections, especially during war times.[218] The human cost of protecting these parks has also been high with 200 park ranger deaths in the past 20 years.[220] Virunga national park and Salongo National Park, both of which are UNESCO world heritage sites are currently being looked at for mining and oil exploration. The move would open 21.5% of the Virunga park for exploitation, this is highly criticised by animal rights activists as it would threaten the habitat of Mountain Gorillas and other endangered species.
+
+Between 2000 and 2014 the DRC lost an average of 570,000 hectares (0.2%) of rainforest to deforestation per year, with the highest amount of deforestation coming between 2011 and 2014.[221] Deforestation is the primary cause of biodiversity reduction and species loss globally, through habitat loss and fragmentation.[222] One of the goals of the SDG 15 is to reduce deforestation and encourage reforestation by 2020.
+
+The DRC has Africa’s largest rainforest, which is under the threat of deforestation through mining operations, agriculture, infrastructure and wood fuel. In the DRC 94% of wood taken from the rainforest is used for wood fuel, mainly due to poverty, lack of energy infrastructure and the decentralised nature of its population. To mitigate this aid agencies have tried to promote agro-forestry with fast growing trees to avoid over exploitation of the rainforests.[223] Other large drivers of deforestation include mining and conflict, during the Congo conflict deforestation by militia groups was high for wood fuel, small mining operations and illegal logging to fund their operations. However, conversely conflict reduced deforestation for large scale mining due to security instability.[218]
+
+One policy being attempted to reduce the deforestation and increase biodiversity in the DRC is the UN-REDD program, which uses emissions trading system so that developed nations can offset their carbon emissions by paying developing nations with rainforest to manage and conserve their forest.[224]
+
+Bush meat refers to any meat that is procured from the wild. Overpopulation and continual conflicts in the DRC have led to food shortages, which have therefore increased the use of bush meat. Although, data on bush meat use is not extensive, studies estimate 6 million tonnes of animals are taken for bush meat globally each year.[225] What animals are hunted are done so indiscriminately without thought of the importance of certain species that could be eco-system engineers or keystone species.[225]
+
+Bush meat is an important source of protein for millions in the DRC, especially in rural areas where it makes up 50-70% of meals. For some who cannot afford farmed produce it is a free meal.[226] A recent study in the DRC revealed that almost all of the animals are taken from the Congo each year, at 93% of all live animals there are in the forest are extracted for bush meat, whereas a sustainable rate would be 20%.[227] This is a huge amount compared to the Amazon where bush meat is hunted at only 3% the rate of the Congo.[227] the study reveals the only way to solve this is to find other food sources to feed people in the Congo Basin as bush meat is their only means of eating.[227] Another study showed that the species of bush meat in the meat markets of the DRC's third largest city Kisangani were primarily Artiodactyla at 40.06% of the carcasses sold then primates at 37.79% of carcasses sold.[228]
+
+Recently the prevalence of hunting for bush meat has declined because of the risk to hunters and butchers from the Ebola virus from specifically ape and bat meat.[229] Even though when the meat is cooked smoked or dried it kills the virus, business has dropped significantly with some hunters reporting as much of a reduction in sales of 80%.[229]
+
+There has been a war in the DRC in different levels of intensity since 1994 when the country was called Zaire.[230] Although what was known as Africa's World War had ended in 2003 the eastern part of the country still has ongoing skirmishes between rebel groups and government forces.[230] No other method has reduced species population so dramatically than conflict, when a militia reached the Garamba National Park in 1997, within three months half of the park's elephants, two thirds of the buffalo, and three quarters of its hippos vanished.[231] The reason conflict is so damaging to wildlife is the increased use of bush meat to feed soldiers, the prevalence of weapons, the lucrative industry of selling exotic animals and ivory as well as the general failure of law and order.[231] According to another study which was taken during the time of the civil war in the Okapi Faunal Reserve, there was a 50% reduction in the abundance of elephants and a vast change in the distribution of them to the more secluded areas of the park.[232]
+

en/6143.html.txt

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+Coordinates: 3°S 24°E / 3°S 24°E / -3; 24
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (pronunciation (help·info) French: République démocratique du Congo [kɔ̃ɡo]), also known as Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, DRC (the official acronym), the DROC,[5] or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa. It was formerly called Zaire (1971–1997). It is, by area, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, the second-largest in all of Africa (after Algeria), and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of over 84 million,[6][7] the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world, as well as the fourth-most-populous in Africa, and the 16th-most-populous country in the world. Since 2015, the Eastern DR Congo has been the scene of an ongoing military conflict in Kivu.
+
+Centred on the Congo Basin, the territory of the DRC was first inhabited by Central African foragers around 90,000 years ago and was reached by the Bantu expansion about 3,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Kongo ruled around the mouth of the Congo River from the 14th to 19th centuries. In the centre and east, the kingdoms of Luba and Lunda ruled from the 16th and 17th centuries to the 19th century.
+
+In the 1870s, just before the onset of the Scramble for Africa, European exploration of the Congo Basin was carried out, first led by Henry Morton Stanley under the sponsorship of Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Berlin Conference in 1885 and made the land his private property, naming it the Congo Free State. During the Free State, his colonial military unit, the Force Publique, forced the local population to produce rubber. From 1885 to 1908, millions of the Congolese people died as a consequence of disease and exploitation. In 1908, Leopold, despite his initial reluctance, ceded the so-called Free State to  Belgium, thus it became known as the Belgian Congo.
+
+Congo achieved independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960 under the name Republic of the Congo. Congolese nationalist Patrice Lumumba was elected the first Prime Minister, while Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the first President. Conflict arose over the administration of the territory, which became known as the Congo Crisis. The provinces of Katanga, under Moïse Tshombe, and South Kasai attempted to secede. After the UN and Western governments refused his requests for aid and Lumumba stated that he was open to any country, including the Soviet Union, for assistance in the crisis, the US and Belgium became wary and oversaw his removal from office by Kasa-Vubu on 5 September and ultimate execution by Belgian-led Katangese troops on 17 January 1961.
+
+On 25 November 1965, Army Chief of Staff Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, who later renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko, officially came into power through a coup d'état. In 1971, he renamed the country Zaire. The country was run as a dictatorial one-party state, with his Popular Movement of the Revolution as the sole legal party. Mobutu's government received considerable support from the United States, due to its anti-communist stance during the Cold War. By the early 1990s, Mobutu's government began to weaken. Destabilisation in the east resulting from the 1994 Rwandan genocide and disenfranchisement among the eastern Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi) population led to a 1996 invasion led by Tutsi FPR-ruled Rwanda, which began the First Congo War.[1]
+
+On 17 May 1997, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a leader of Tutsi forces from the province of South Kivu, became President after Mobutu fled to Morocco, reverting the country's name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tensions between President Kabila and the Rwandan and Tutsi presence in the country led to the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003. Ultimately, nine African countries and around twenty armed groups became involved in the war,[8] which resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people.[9][10][11][12] The two wars devastated the country. President Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards on 16 January 2001 and was succeeded eight days later  by his son Joseph, under whom human rights in the country remained poor and included frequent abuses such as forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and restrictions on civil liberties according to NGOs.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely rich in natural resources but has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation with little widespread development. Besides the capital Kinshasa, the two next largest cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi are both mining communities. DR Congo's largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of DRC's exports in 2012. In 2016, DR Congo's level of human development was ranked 176th out of 187 countries by the Human Development Index.[13] As of 2018[update], around 600,000 Congolese have fled to neighbouring countries from conflicts in the centre and east of the DRC.[14] Two million children risk starvation, and the fighting has displaced 4.5 million people.[15] The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, African Union, and COMESA.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is named after the Congo River, which flows throughout the country. The Congo River is the world's deepest river and the world's second-largest river by discharge. The Comité d'études du haut Congo ("Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo"), established by King Leopold II of Belgium in 1876, and the International Association of the Congo, established by him in 1879, were also named after the river.[16]
+
+The Congo River itself was named by early European sailors after the Kingdom of Kongo and its Bantu inhabitants, the Kongo people, when they encountered them in the 16th century.[17][18] The word Kongo comes from the Kongo language (also called Kikongo). According to American writer Samuel Henry Nelson: "It is probable that the word 'Kongo' itself implies a public gathering and that it is based on the root konga, 'to gather' (trans[itive])."[19] The modern name of the Kongo people, Bakongo was introduced in the early 20th century.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been known in the past as, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire, before returning to its current name the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]
+
+At the time of independence, the country was named the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its neighbour the Republic of the Congo-Brazzaville. With the promulgation of the Luluabourg Constitution on 1 August 1964, the country became the DRC, but was renamed to Zaire (a past name for the Congo River) on 27 October 1971 by President Mobutu Sese Seko as part of his Authenticité initiative.[20]
+
+The word Zaire is from a Portuguese adaptation of a Kikongo word nzere ("river"), a truncation of nzadi o nzere ("river swallowing rivers").[21] The river was known as Zaire during the 16th and 17th centuries; Congo seems to have replaced Zaire gradually in English usage during the 18th century, and Congo is the preferred English name in 19th-century literature, although references to Zaire as the name used by the natives (i.e. derived from Portuguese usage) remained common.[22]
+
+In 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo", but the change was not made.[23] The country's name was restored by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila following the fall of Mobutu in 1997.[24]
+
+The geographical area now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was populated as early as 90,000 years ago, as shown by the 1988 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda, one of the oldest barbed harpoons ever found, believed to have been used to catch giant river catfish.[25][26]
+
+Bantu peoples reached Central Africa at some point during the first millennium BC, then gradually started to expand southward. Their propagation was accelerated by the adoption of pastoralism and of Iron Age techniques.
+The people living in the south and southwest were foraging groups, whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies. The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture. This led to the displacement of the hunter-gatherer groups in the east and southeast.
+The final wave of the Bantu expansion was complete by the 10th century, followed by the establishment of the Bantu kingdoms, whose rising populations soon made possible intricate local, regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in slaves, salt, iron and copper.
+
+Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. It was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding, mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip, who was well known to Stanley.[27]
+
+Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony.[28] In a succession of negotiations, Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the front organization Association Internationale Africaine, actually played one European rival against another.[citation needed]
+
+Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property. He named it the Congo Free State.[28] Leopold's regime began various infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the railway that ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), which took eight years to complete. Nearly all such infrastructure projects were aimed at making it easier to increase the assets which Leopold and his associates could extract from the colony.[29]
+
+In the Free State, colonists coerced the local population into producing rubber, for which the spread of automobiles and development of rubber tires created a growing international market. Rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country. To enforce the rubber quotas, the army, the Force Publique, was called in and made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives a matter of policy.[30]
+
+During the period of 1885–1908, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease. In some areas the population declined dramatically – it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and smallpox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River.[30]
+
+News of the abuses began to circulate. In 1904, the British consul at Boma in the Congo, Roger Casement was instructed by the British government to investigate. His report, called the Casement Report, confirmed the accusations of humanitarian abuses. The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold II to set up an independent commission of inquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report of abuses, concluding that the population of the Congo had been "reduced by half" during this period.[29] Determining precisely how many people died is impossible, as no accurate records exist.
+
+In 1908, the Belgian parliament, in spite of initial reluctance, bowed to international pressure (especially from the United Kingdom) and took over the Free State from King Leopold II.[31]
+
+On 18 October 1908, the Belgian parliament voted in favour of annexing the Congo as a Belgian colony. Executive power went to the Belgian minister of colonial affairs, assisted by a Colonial Council (Conseil Colonial) (both located in Brussels). The Belgian parliament exercised legislative authority over the Belgian Congo. In 1926 the colonial capital moved from Boma to Léopoldville, some 300 kilometres (190 mi) further upstream into the interior.
+
+The transition from the Congo Free State to the Belgian Congo was a break but it also featured a large degree of continuity. The last Governor-general of the Congo Free State, Baron Théophile Wahis, remained in office in the Belgian Congo and the majority of Leopold II's administration with him.[32] Opening up the Congo and its natural and mineral riches to the Belgian economy remained the main motive for colonial expansion – however, other priorities, such as healthcare and basic education, slowly gained in importance.
+
+Colonial administrators ruled the territory and a dual legal system existed (a system of European courts and another one of indigenous courts, tribunaux indigènes). Indigenous courts had only limited powers and remained under the firm control of the colonial administration.
+
+Records show that in 1936, 728 Belgian administrators ran the colony.[citation needed] The Belgian authorities permitted no political activity in the Congo whatsoever,[33] and the Force Publique, a locally-recruited army under Belgian command, put down any attempts at rebellion.
+
+The Belgian population of the colony increased from 1,928 in 1910 to nearly 89,000 in 1959.[citation needed]
+
+The Belgian Congo was directly involved in the two world wars. During World War I (1914–1918), an initial stand-off between the Force Publique and the German colonial army in German East Africa (Tanganyika) turned into open warfare with a joint Anglo-Belgian-Portuguese invasion of German colonial territory in 1916 and 1917 during the East African Campaign. The Force Publique gained a notable victory when it marched into Tabora in September 1916 under the command of General Charles Tombeur after heavy fighting.
+
+After 1918, Belgium was rewarded for the participation of the Force Publique in the East African campaign with a League of Nations mandate over the previously German colony of Ruanda-Urundi. During World War II, the Belgian Congo provided a crucial source of income for the Belgian government-in-exile in London, and the Force Publique again participated in Allied campaigns in Africa. Belgian Congolese forces under the command of Belgian officers notably fought against the Italian colonial army in Ethiopia in Asosa, Bortaï[34] and Saïo under Major-General Auguste-Eduard Gilliaert during the second East African Campaign.[35]
+
+In May 1960, a growing nationalist movement, the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) led by Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary elections. Patrice Lumumba thus became the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as the Republic of the Congo, on 24 June 1960. The parliament elected Joseph Kasavubu as President, of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party. Other parties that emerged included the Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA) led by Antoine Gizenga, and the Parti National du Peuple (PNP) led by Albert Delvaux and Laurent Mbariko.[36]
+
+The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name "République du Congo" ("Republic of Congo" or "Republic of the Congo" in English). As the neighboring French colony of Middle Congo (Moyen Congo) also chose the name "Republic of Congo" upon achieving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as "Congo-Léopoldville" and "Congo-Brazzaville", after their capital cities.
+
+Shortly after independence the Force Publique mutinied, and on 11 July the province of Katanga (led by Moïse Tshombe) and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership.[37][38] Most of the 100,000 Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the country,[39] opening the way for Congolese to replace the European military and administrative elite.[40]
+On 5 September 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office. Lumumba declared Kasavubu's action unconstitutional and a crisis between the two leaders developed.[41]
+
+Events set in motion by the U.S. and Belgium on 14 September removed Lumumba from office with forces loyal to Joseph Mobutu. On 17 January 1961, he was handed over to Katangan authorities and executed by Belgian-led Katangese troops.[42] An investigation by the Belgium's Parliament in 2001 found Belgium "morally responsible" for the murder of Lumumba, and the country has since officially apologised for its role in his death.[43]
+
+Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, a temporary government was led by technicians (the Collège des commissaires généraux). The secession ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces. Several short-lived governments, of Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula and Moise Tshombe, took over in quick succession.
+
+Lumumba had previously appointed Joseph Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army, Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC).[citation needed] Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Tshombe, Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to launch a coup. With financial support from the United States and Belgium, Mobutu paid his soldiers privately.[citation needed] The aversion of Western powers to communism and leftist ideology influenced their decision to finance Mobutu's quest to neutralize Kasavubu and Lumumba in a coup by proxy.[citation needed] A constitutional referendum the year before Mobutu's coup of 1965 resulted in the country's official name being changed to the "Democratic Republic of the Congo."[1] In 1971 Mobutu changed the name again, this time to "Republic of Zaire".[44][20]
+
+The new president had the staunch support of the United States because of his opposition to Communism; the US believed that his administration would serve as an effective counter to communist movements in Africa.[45] A single-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He periodically held elections in which he was the only candidate. Although relative peace and stability were achieved, Mobutu's government was guilty of severe human rights violations, political repression, a cult of personality and corruption.
+
+By late 1967 Mobutu had successfully neutralized his political opponents and rivals, either through co-opting them into his regime, arresting them, or rendering them otherwise politically impotent.[46] Throughout the late 1960s, Mobutu continued to shuffle his governments and cycle officials in and out of the office to maintain control. Kasa-Vubu's death in April 1969 ensured that no person with First Republic credentials could challenge his rule.[47] By the early 1970s, Mobutu was attempting to assert Zaire as a leading African nation. He traveled frequently across the continent while the government became more vocal about African issues, particularly those relating to the southern region. Zaire established semi-clientelist relationships with several smaller African states, especially Burundi, Chad, and Togo.[48]
+
+Corruption became so common the term "le mal Zairois" or "Zairian Sickness",[49] meaning gross corruption, theft and mismanagement, was coined, reportedly by Mobutu himself.[50] International aid, most often in the form of loans, enriched Mobutu while he allowed national infrastructure such as roads to deteriorate to as little as one-quarter of what had existed in 1960. Zaire became a kleptocracy as Mobutu and his associates embezzled government funds.
+
+In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism, starting on 1 June 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities: Léopoldville became Kinshasa (the country was now Congo-Kinshasa), Stanleyville became Kisangani, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Coquilhatville became Mbandaka. This renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s.
+
+In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire,[20] its fourth name change in eleven years and its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River.
+
+During the 1970s and 1980s, he was invited to visit the United States on several occasions, meeting with U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.[51] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union U.S. relations with Mobutu cooled, as he was no longer deemed necessary as a Cold War ally. Opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This atmosphere contributed to Mobutu's declaring the Third Republic in 1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be largely cosmetic. Mobutu continued in power until armed forces forced him to flee in 1997. "From 1990 to 1993, the United States facilitated Mobutu's attempts to hijack political change", one academic wrote, and "also assisted the rebellion of Laurent-Desire Kabila that overthrew the Mobutu regime."[52]
+
+By 1996, following the Rwandan Civil War and genocide and the ascension of a Tutsi-led government in Rwanda, Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe) fled to eastern Zaire and used refugee camps as a base for incursions against Rwanda. They allied with the Zairian Armed Forces (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire.[53]
+
+A coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies invaded Zaire to overthrow the government of Mobutu, and ultimately to control the mineral resources of Zaire,[citation needed] launching the First Congo War. The coalition allied with some opposition figures, led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL). In 1997 Mobutu fled and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, named himself president, and reverted the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
+
+Kabila later requested that foreign military forces return to their own countries. He had concerns that the Rwandan officers running his army were plotting to give the presidency to a Tutsi who would report directly to Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.[citation needed] Rwandan troops retreated to Goma and launched a new Tutsi-led rebel military movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD) to fight Kabila, while Uganda instigated the creation of new rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), led by Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba.[citation needed] The two rebel movements, along with Rwandan and Ugandan troops, started the Second Congo War by attacking the DRC army in 1998. Angolan, Zimbabwean, and Namibian militaries entered the hostilities on the side of the government.
+
+Kabila was assassinated in 2001. His son Joseph Kabila succeeded him and called for multilateral peace talks. UN peacekeepers, MONUC, now known as MONUSCO, arrived in April 2001. In 2002 and 2003 Bemba intervened in the Central African Republic on behalf of its former president, Ange-Félix Patassé.[54] Talks led to a peace accord under which Kabila would share power with former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. A transitional government was set up until after the election. A constitution was approved by voters, and on 30 July 2006 DRC held its first multi-party elections. An election-result dispute between Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba turned into an all-out battle between their supporters in the streets of Kinshasa. MONUC took control of the city. A new election took place in October 2006, which Kabila won, and in December 2006 he was sworn in as President.
+
+Laurent Nkunda, a member of RCD-Goma, an RCD branch integrated to the army, defected along with troops loyal to him and formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which began an armed rebellion against the government, starting the Kivu conflict. They were believed[by whom?] to be again backed by Rwanda as a way to tackle the Hutu group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In March 2009, after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda, Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants. The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government in which it agreed to become a political party and to have its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.[55] In 2012 Bosco Ntaganda, the leader of the CNDP, and troops loyal to him, mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement, claiming the government violated the treaty.[56]
+
+In the resulting M23 rebellion, M23 briefly captured the provincial capital of Goma in November 2012.[57][58] Neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda, have been accused of arming rebels groups and using them as proxies to gain control of the resource-rich country, an accusation they deny.[59][60] In March 2013, the United Nations Security Council authorized the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade, the first offensive United Nations peacekeeping unit, to neutralize armed groups.[61] On 5 November 2013, M23 declared an end to its insurgency.[62]
+
+Additionally, in northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa with Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga's Mai Mai Kata Katanga briefly invading the provincial capital of Lubumbashi in 2013 and 400,000 persons displaced in the province as of 2013[update].[63] On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, respectively. In the northeast, Joseph Kony's LRA moved from their original bases in Uganda and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park.[64][65]
+
+In 2009, The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month[66] – estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000.[67] The death toll is due to widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under five years of age.[68] There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, of the destruction of property, of widespread sexual violence,[69] causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, and of other breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. One study found that more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.[70]
+
+The war in the Congo has been described as the bloodiest war since World War II.[71] On 8 December 2017, fourteen UN soldiers and five Congolese regular soldiers were killed in a rebel attack at Semuliki in Beni territory. The rebels were thought to be Allied Democratic Forces.[72] UN investigations confirmed that aggressor in the December attack.[73]
+
+According to the Human Rights Watch and the New York University-based Congo Research Group, armed troops in DRC’s eastern Kivu region have killed over 1,900 civilians and kidnapped at least 3,300 people since June 2017 to June 2019.[74]
+
+In 2015, major protests broke out across the country and protesters demanded that Joseph Kabila step down as President. The protests began after the passage of a law by the Congolese lower house that, if also passed by the Congolese upper house, would keep Kabila in power at least until a national census was conducted (a process which would likely take several years and therefore keep him in power past the planned 2016 elections, which he is constitutionally barred from participating in).
+
+This bill passed; however, it was gutted of the provision that would keep Kabila in power until a census took place. A census is supposed to take place, but it is no longer tied to when the elections take place. In 2015, elections were scheduled for late 2016 and a tenuous peace held in the Congo.[75]
+
+On 27 November Congolese foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda told the press no elections would be held in 2016, after 20 December, the end of president Kabila's term. In a conference in Madagascar, Tshibanda said that Kabila's government had "consulted election experts" from Congo, the United Nations and elsewhere, and that "it has been decided that the voter registration operation will end on July 31, 2017, and that election will take place in April 2018."[76] Protests broke out in the country on 20 December when Kabila's term in office ended. Across the country, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds were arrested.
+
+According to Jan Egeland, presently Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen, which receive much more attention. Women and children are abused sexually and "abused in all possible manners". Besides the conflict in North Kivu, violence has gone up in the Kasai region. The armed groups are after gold, diamonds, oil, and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally. There are also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play, as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections. He says people believe the situation in the DRC is "stably bad" but in fact, it has become much, much worse. "The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening".[77] Due to disruption of planting and harvesting caused by the conflict, the UN estimated in March 2018 that two million children risk starvation.[78]
+
+Human Rights Watch said in 2017 that Joseph Kabila recruited former M23 fighters to put down country-wide protests over his refusal to step down from office at the end of his term. "M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo’s main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president," they said.[79]
+
+Fierce fighting has erupted in Masisi between government forces and a powerful local warlord, General Delta. The United Nations mission in the DRC is its largest and most expensive peacekeeping effort, but it shut down five UN bases near Masisi in 2017, after the US led a push to cut costs.[80]
+
+A tribal conflict erupted on 16–17 December 2018 at Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe Province, 400 km (250 miles) north of Kinshasa. Nearly 900 Banunu people from four villages were slaughtered by members of the Batende community in a deep-rooted rivalry over monthly tribal duties, land, fields and water resources. Some 100 Banunus fled to Moniende island in the Congo River, and another 16,000 to Makotimpoko District in the Republic of Congo. Military-style tactics were employed in the bloodbath, and some assailants were clothed in army uniforms. Local authorities and elements within the security forces were suspected of lending them support.[81]
+
+On 30 December the Democratic Republic of the Congo general election, 2018 was held. On 10 January 2019, the electoral commission announced opposition candidate Félix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential vote.[82] He was officially sworn in as President on 24 January 2019.[83] However, there were widespread suspicions that the results were rigged and that a deal had been made between Tshisekedi and Kabila. The Catholic Church said that the official results did not correspond to the information its election monitors had collected.[84] The government had also "delayed" the vote until March in some areas, citing the Ebola outbreak in Kivu as well as the ongoing military conflict. This was criticized as these regions are known as opposition strongholds.[85][86][87] In August 2019, six months after the inauguration of Félix Tshisekedi, a coalition government was announced.[88]
+
+A major measles outbreak in the country left nearly 5,000 dead in 2019.[89]
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is located in central sub-Saharan Africa, bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and by Tanzania (across Lake Tanganyika), to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda Province exclave of Angola. The country lies between latitudes 6°N and 14°S, and longitudes 12° and 32°E. It straddles the Equator, with one-third to the North and two-thirds to the South. The size of Congo, 2,345,408 square kilometres (905,567 sq mi), is slightly greater than the combined areas of Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, and Norway. It is the second-largest country in Africa by area, after Algeria.
+
+As a result of its equatorial location, the DRC experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The annual rainfall can total upwards of 2,000 millimetres (80 in) in some places, and the area sustains the Congo Rainforest, the second-largest rain forest in the world after the Amazon. This massive expanse of lush jungle covers most of the vast, low-lying central basin of the river, which slopes toward the Atlantic Ocean in the west. This area is surrounded by plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, by mountainous terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River in the north. High, glaciated mountains (Rwenzori Mountains) are found in the extreme eastern region.[citation needed]
+
+The tropical climate also produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through, though they are not mutually exclusive. The name for the Congo state is derived in part from the river. The river basin (meaning the Congo River and all of its myriad tributaries) occupies nearly the entire country and an area of nearly 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi). The river and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. Major tributaries include the Kasai, Sangha, Ubangi, Ruzizi, Aruwimi, and Lulonga.
+
+The sources of the Congo are in the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank the western branch of the East African Rift, as well as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Mweru. The river flows generally west from Kisangani just below Boyoma Falls, then gradually bends southwest, passing by Mbandaka, joining with the Ubangi River, and running into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool). Kinshasa and Brazzaville are on opposite sides of the river at the Pool. Then the river narrows and falls through a number of cataracts in deep canyons, collectively known as the Livingstone Falls, and runs past Boma into the Atlantic Ocean. The river also has the second-largest flow and the second-largest watershed of any river in the world (trailing the Amazon in both respects). The river and a 37 kilometres (23 mi) wide strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country's only outlet to the Atlantic.[citation needed]
+
+The Albertine Rift plays a key role in shaping the Congo's geography. Not only is the northeastern section of the country much more mountainous, but due to the rift's tectonic activity, this area also experiences volcanic activity, occasionally with loss of life. The geologic activity in this area also created the African Great Lakes, three of which lie on the Congo's eastern frontier: Lake Albert (known during the Mobutu era as Lake Mobutu Sese Seko), Lake Kivu (Unknown until late 1712), Lake Edward (known during the Amin era as Lake Idi Amin Dada), and Lake Tanganyika. Lake Edward and Lake Albert are connected by the Semliki River.[citation needed]
+
+The Rift valley has exposed an enormous amount of mineral wealth throughout the south and east of the Congo, making it accessible to mining. Cobalt, copper, cadmium, industrial and gem-quality diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, and coal are all found in plentiful supply, especially in the Congo's southeastern Katanga region.[90]
+
+On 17 January 2002 Mount Nyiragongo erupted in Congo, with the lava running out at 64 km/h (40 mph) and 46 m (50 yd) wide. One of the three streams of extremely fluid lava flowed through the nearby city of Goma, killing 45 and leaving 120,000 homeless. Four hundred thousand people were evacuated from the city during the eruption. The lava poisoned the water of Lake Kivu, killing fish. Only two planes left the local airport because of the possibility of the explosion of stored petrol. The lava passed the airport but ruined the runway, trapping several airplanes. Six months after the 2002 eruption, nearby Mount Nyamuragira also erupted. Mount Nyamuragira then erupted in 2006 and again in January 2010.[91]
+
+World Wide Fund for Nature ecoregions located in the Congo include:
+
+World Heritage Sites located in Democratic Republic of Congo are:
+Virunga National Park (1979),
+Garamba National Park (1980),
+Kahuzi-Biega National Park (1980),
+Salonga National Park (1984) and
+Okapi Wildlife Reserve (1996).
+
+The country is currently divided into the city-province of Kinshasa and 25 other provinces.[1] The provinces are subdivided into 145 territories and 32 cities. Before 2015, the country had 11 provinces.[92]
+
+The rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo contain great biodiversity, including many rare and endemic species, such as the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, the African forest elephant, the mountain gorilla, the okapi and the white rhino. Five of the country's national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites: the Garumba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Virunga National Parks, and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most biodiverse African country.[93]
+
+The civil war and resulting in poor economic conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity. Many park wardens were either killed or could not afford to continue their work. All five sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage in Danger.
+
+Conservationists have particularly worried about primates. The Congo is inhabited by several great ape species: the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the bonobo (Pan paniscus), the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), and possibly the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla).[94] It is the only country in the world in which bonobos are found in the wild. Much concern has been raised about great ape extinction. Because of hunting and habitat destruction, the chimpanzee, the bonobo and the gorilla, each of whose populations once numbered in the millions, have now dwindled down to only about 200,000 gorillas, 100,000 chimpanzees and possibly only about 10,000 bonobos.[95][96] Gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos are all classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union, as well as the okapi, which is also native to the area.
+
+Poaching for the exotic animal or ivory trade has been a persistent problem for species loss in the DRC, it has been made a necessity for some trying to escape poverty and a means of continuing the civil war for some rebel groups including the Lords Resistance army (LRA).[97] The Forest Elephant is particularly at risk due to the high cost of its ivory, especially in the Far East, due to this its population has reduced by 62% in 2002–2011[98] The main way this poaching for ivory can be reduced is through the hampering of the international demand for ivory, as this drives the trade.[98]
+
+The introduction of park guards and the implementation of eco-tourism in Virunga National park, a primary habitat for great apes, has allowed the endangered mountain gorilla population to jump over 1000, a 25% rise on 2010 numbers.[99] However, the study indicated that poaching is still an existing problem, with researchers finding 380 snares and park guards continually being ambushed and killed by poachers.[99]
+
+After a four-year interlude between two constitutions, with new political institutions established at the various levels of government, as well as new administrative divisions for the provinces throughout the country, a new constitution came into effect in 2006 and politics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally settled into a stable presidential democratic republic.
+The 2003 transitional constitution[100] had established a parliament with a bicameral legislature, consisting of a Senate and a National Assembly.
+
+The Senate had, among other things, the charge of drafting the new constitution of the country. The executive branch was vested in a 60-member cabinet, headed by a President and four vice presidents. The President was also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The transitional constitution also established a relatively independent judiciary, headed by a Supreme Court with constitutional interpretation powers.[101]
+
+The 2006 constitution, also known as the Constitution of the Third Republic, came into effect in February 2006. It had concurrent authority, however, with the transitional constitution until the inauguration of the elected officials who emerged from the July 2006 elections. Under the new constitution, the legislature remained bicameral; the executive was concomitantly undertaken by a President and the government, led by a Prime Minister, appointed from the party able to secure a majority in the National Assembly.
+
+The government – not the President – is responsible to the Parliament. The new constitution also granted new powers to the provincial governments, creating provincial parliaments which have oversight of the Governor and the head of the provincial government, whom they elect. The new constitution also saw the disappearance of the Supreme Court, which was divided into three new institutions. The constitutional interpretation prerogative of the Supreme Court is now held by the Constitutional Court.[102]
+
+Although located in the Central African UN subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).[103]
+
+Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the DRC, which he renamed Zaire, from 1965 to 1997. A relative explained how the government illicitly collected revenue: "Mobutu would ask one of us to go to the bank and take out a million. We'd go to an intermediary and tell him to get five million. He would go to the bank with Mobutu's authority and take out ten. Mobutu got one, and we took the other nine."[104] Mobutu institutionalized corruption to prevent political rivals from challenging his control, leading to an economic collapse in 1996.[105]
+
+Mobutu allegedly stole as much as US$4–5 billion while in office.[106] He was not the first corrupt Congolese leader by any means: "Government as a system of organized theft goes back to King Leopold II," noted Adam Hochschild in 2009.[107] In July 2009, a Swiss court determined that the statute of limitations had run out on an international asset recovery case of about $6.7 million of deposits of Mobutu's in a Swiss bank, and therefore the assets should be returned to Mobutu's family.[108]
+
+President Joseph Kabila established the Commission of Repression of Economic Crimes upon his ascension to power in 2001.[109] However, in 2016 the Enough Project issued a report claiming that the Congo is run as a violent kleptocracy.[110]
+
+The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was initiated by Joseph Kabila in April 2004. The International Criminal Court prosecutor opened the case in June 2004.
+
+Child soldiers have been used on a large scale in DRC, and in 2011 it was estimated that 30,000 children were still operating with armed groups.[111]
+
+Instances of child labor and forced labor have been observed and reported in the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the DRC in 2013[112] and six goods produced by the country's mining industry appear on the department's December 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.
+
+Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal.[113] The 2013–2014 DHS survey (pp. 299) found that 74.8% of women agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances.[114]
+
+The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2006 expressed concern that in the post-war transition period, the promotion of women's human rights and gender equality is not seen as a priority.[115][116] Mass rapes, sexual violence and sexual slavery are used as a weapon of war by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and armed groups in the eastern part of the country.[117] The eastern part of the country in particular has been described as the "rape capital of the world" and the prevalence of sexual violence there described as the worst in the world.[118][119]
+
+Female genital mutilation (FGM) is also practiced in DRC, although not on a large scale. The prevalence of FGM is estimated at about 5% of women.[120][121] FGM is illegal: the law imposes a penalty of two to five years of prison and a fine of 200,000 Congolese francs on any person who violates the "physical or functional integrity" of the genital organs.[122][123]
+
+In July 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the situation in eastern DRC.[124] A phenomenon of "pendulum displacement" has developed, where people hasten at night to safety. According to Yakin Ertürk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women who toured eastern Congo in July 2007, violence against women in North and South Kivu included "unimaginable brutality". Ertürk added that "Armed groups attack local communities, loot, rape, kidnap women and children, and make them work as sexual slaves".[125] In December 2008, GuardianFilms of The Guardian released a film documenting the testimony of over 400 women and girls who had been abused by marauding militia.[126]
+
+In June 2010, Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased seventeenfold.[127] In June 2014, Freedom from Torture published reported rape and sexual violence being used routinely by state officials in Congolese prisons as punishment for politically active women.[128] The women included in the report were abused in several locations across the country including the capital Kinshasa and other areas away from the conflict zones.[128]
+
+In 2015, figures both inside and outside of the country, such as Filimbi and Emmanuel Weyi, spoke out about the need to curb violence and instability as the 2016 elections approached.[129][130]
+
+The global growth in demand for scarce raw materials and the industrial surges in China, India, Russia, Brazil and other developing countries require that developed countries employ new, integrated and responsive strategies for identifying and ensuring, on a continual basis, an adequate supply of strategic and critical materials required for their security needs.[131] Highlighting the DR Congo's importance to United States national security, the effort to establish an elite Congolese unit is the latest push by the U.S. to professionalize armed forces in this strategically important region.[132]
+
+There are economic and strategic incentives to bring more security to the Congo, which is rich in natural resources such as cobalt, a strategic and critical metal used in many industrial and military applications.[131] The largest use of cobalt is in superalloys, used to make jet engine parts. Cobalt is also used in magnetic alloys and in cutting and wear-resistant materials such as cemented carbides. The chemical industry consumes significant quantities of cobalt in a variety of applications including catalysts for petroleum and chemical processing; drying agents for paints and inks; ground coats for porcelain enamels; decolorant for ceramics and glass; and pigments for ceramics, paints, and plastics. The country possesses 80% of the world's cobalt reserves.[133]
+
+It is thought that due to the importance of cobalt for batteries for electric vehicles and stabilization of electric grids with large proportions of intermittent renewables in the electricity mix, the DRC could become an object of increased geopolitical competition.[131]
+
+In the 21st century, Chinese investment in the DRC and Congolese exports to China have grown rapidly. In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including DRC, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.[134]
+
+The Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) consist of about 144,000 personnel, the majority of whom are part of the land forces, also with a small air force and an even smaller navy. The FARDC was established in 2003 after the end of the Second Congo War and integrated many former rebel groups into its ranks. Due to the presence of undisciplined and poorly trained ex-rebels, as well as a lack of funding and having spent years fighting against different militias, the FARDC suffers from rampant corruption and inefficiency. The agreements signed at the end of the Second Congo War called for a new "national, restructured and integrated" army that would be made up of Kabila's government forces (the FAC), the RCD, and the MLC. Also stipulated was that rebels like the RCD-N, RCD-ML, and the Mai-Mai would become part of the new armed forces. It also provided for the creation of a Conseil Superieur de la Defense (Superior Defence Council) which would declare states of siege or war and give advice on security sector reform, disarmament/demobilisation, and national defence policy. The FARDC is organised on the basis of brigades, which are dispersed throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congolese troops have been fighting the Kivu conflict in the eastern North Kivu region, the Ituri conflict in the Ituri region, and other rebellions since the Second Congo War. Besides the FARDC, the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, known as MONUSCO, is also present in the country with about 18,000 peacekeepers.
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[135]
+
+The Central Bank of the Congo is responsible for developing and maintaining the Congolese franc, which serves as the primary form of currency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2007, The World Bank decided to grant the Democratic Republic of Congo up to $1.3 billion in assistance funds over the following three years.[136] The Congolese government started negotiating membership in the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), in 2009.[137]
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered one of the world's richest countries in natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$24 trillion.[138][139][140] The Congo has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper.[141][142]
+
+Despite such vast mineral wealth, the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The African country generated up to 70% of its export revenue from minerals in the 1970s and 1980s and was particularly hit when resource prices deteriorated at that time. By 2005, 90% of the DRC's revenues derived from its minerals (Exenberger and Hartmann 2007:10).[143] Congolese citizens are among the poorest people on Earth. DR Congo consistently has the lowest, or nearly the lowest, nominal GDP per capita in the world. The DRC is also one of the twenty lowest-ranked countries on the Corruption Perception Index.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, and a major producer of copper and diamonds.[144] The latter come from Kasai province in the west. By far the largest mines in the DRC are located in southern Katanga province (formerly Shaba), and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capability for metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world,[145] and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production.
+
+At independence in 1960, DRC was the second-most industrialized country in Africa after South Africa; it boasted a thriving mining sector and a relatively productive agriculture sector.[146] The First and Second Congo Wars began in 1996. These conflicts have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, increased external debt, and resulted in deaths of more than five million people from war and associated famine and disease. Malnutrition affects approximately two-thirds of the country's population.[citation needed]
+
+Foreign businesses have curtailed operations due to uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict, lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment. The war intensified the impact of such basic problems as an uncertain legal framework, corruption, inflation, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations.
+
+Conditions improved in late 2002, when a large portion of the invading foreign troops withdrew. A number of International Monetary Fund and World Bank missions met with the government to help it develop a coherent economic plan, and President Joseph Kabila began implementing reforms. Much economic activity still lies outside the GDP data. A United Nations Human Development Index report shows that the human development index of DRC is one of the worst the country has had in decades. Through 2011 the DRC had the lowest Human Development Index of the 187 ranked countries. It ranked lower than Niger, despite a higher margin of improvement than the latter country over 2010's numbers.[citation needed]
+
+The economy of DRC relies heavily on mining. However, the smaller-scale economic activity from artisanal mining occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data.[147] A third of the DRC's diamonds are believed to be smuggled out of the country, making it difficult to quantify diamond production levels.[148] In 2002, tin was discovered in the east of the country, but to date has only been mined on a small scale.[149] Smuggling of conflict minerals such as coltan and cassiterite, ores of tantalum and tin, respectively, helped to fuel the war in the Eastern Congo.[150]
+
+In September 2004, state-owned Gécamines signed an agreement with Global Enterprises Corporate (GEC), a company formed by the merger of Dan Gertler International (DGI) with Beny Steinmetz Global, to rehabilitate and operate the Kananga and Tilwezembe copper mines. The deal was ratified by presidential decree. In 2007, a World Bank report reviewed DR Congo's three biggest mining contracts, finding that the 2005 deals, including one with Global Enterprises Company, were approved with "a complete lack of transparency" (Mahtani, 3 January 2007).[151][152][153] Gertler and Steinmetz put GEC's 75% share in Komoto Oliveira Virgule (KOV), the project made of up of Tilwezembe and Kananga, along with the Kolwesi concentrator, into Nikanor plc. Registered in the Isle of Man, reached a market capitalization of $1.5 billion by 2007.[152] In February 2007, 22% of the Nikanor Mining company was owned by the Gertner Family Trust and 14% by Dan Gertler.[154] In January 2008 Katanga Mining acquired Nikanor for $452 million.[153]
+
+In April 2006, Gertler's DGI took a major stake in DEM Mining, a cobalt-copper mining, and services company based in Katanga.[152] In June 2006, Gertler bought Tremalt from the Zimbabwean businessman John Bredenkamp for about $60 million. Tremalt had a half share in the Mukondo Mine. In 2007, Tremalt was owned by Prairie International Ltd, of which Dan Gertler's family trust was a major shareholder. Tremalt owned 80% of Savannah Mining, which held concessions C17 and C18 in Katanga Province and 50% of the Mukondo project. The other 50% of Mukondo was held by Boss Mining, which in turn was 80% owned by Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC). Boss Mining had rented and operated Bredenkamp's half of Mukondo. Gertler terminated this arrangement.[152]
+
+Katanga Mining Limited, a Swiss-owned company, owns the Luilu Metallurgical Plant, which has a capacity of 175,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt per year, making it the largest cobalt refinery in the world. After a major rehabilitation program, the company resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008.[155]
+
+In April 2013, anti-corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for $88 million from the mining sector, despite booming production and positive industrial performance. The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank.[156] Later in 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country's candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting, monitoring and independent audits, but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership.
+
+In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein[157] defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age," due to its cobalt resources, as essential to the lithium-ion batteries that drive electric vehicles.[158]
+
+Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of Congo has always been difficult. The terrain and climate of the Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast country. The DRC has more navigable rivers and moves more passengers and goods by boat and ferry than any other country in Africa, but air transport remains the only effective means of moving goods and people between many places within the country, especially in rural areas. Chronic economic mismanagement, political corruption and internal conflicts have led to long-term under-investment of infrastructure.
+
+Rail transportation is provided by the Congo Railroad Company (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo) and the Office National des Transports (Congo) (ONATRA) and the Office of the Uele Railways (Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles, CFU). Like much of the infrastructure in the Congo, the railways are poorly maintained, dirty, crowded and dangerous.
+
+The Democratic Republic of the Congo has fewer all-weather paved highways than any country of its population and size in Africa — a total of 2,250 km (1,400 mi), of which only 1,226 km (762 mi) is in good condition (see below). To put this in perspective, the road distance across the country in any direction is more than 2,500 km (1,600 mi) (e.g. Matadi to Lubumbashi, 2,700 km (1,700 mi) by road). The figure of 2,250 km (1,400 mi) converts to 35 km (22 mi) of paved road per 1,000,000 of population. Comparative figures for Zambia and Botswana are 721 km (448 mi) and 3,427 km (2,129 mi) respectively.[159]
+
+Three routes in the Trans-African Highway network pass through DR Congo:
+
+The Democratic Republic of Congo has thousands of kilometres of navigable waterways. Traditionally water transport has been the dominant means of moving around in approximately two-thirds of the country.
+
+As of June 2016[update], DR Congo had one major national airline (Congo Airways) that offered flights inside DR Congo. Congo Airways was based at Kinshasa's international airport. All air carriers certified by the DRC have been banned from European Union airports by the European Commission, due to inadequate safety standards.[160]
+
+Several international airlines service Kinshasa's international airport and a few also offer international flights to Lubumbashi International Airport.
+
+In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are both coal and crude oil resources that were mainly used domestically in 2008. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the infrastructure for hydro-electricity from the Congo River at the Inga dams.[161] The Democratic Republic of Congo also possesses 50% of Africa's forests and a river system that could provide hydro-electric power to the entire continent, according to a UN report on the country's strategic significance and its potential role as an economic power in central Africa.[162]
+
+The generation and distribution of electricity are controlled by Société nationale d'électricité (SNEL), but only 15% of the country has access to electricity.[163] The DRC is a member of three electrical power pools. These are SAPP (Southern African Power Pool), EAPP (East African Power Pool), CAPP (Central African Power Pool).
+
+Because of abundant sunlight, the potential for solar development is very high in the DRC. There are already about 836 solar power systems in the DRC, with a total power of 83 kW, located in Équateur (167), Katanga (159), Nord-Kivu (170), the two Kasaï provinces (170), and Bas-Congo (170). Also, the 148 Caritas network system has a total power of 6.31 kW.[164]
+
+In 2014, the literacy rate for the population between the ages of 15 and 49 was estimated to be 75.9% (88.1% male and 63.8% female) according to a DHS nationwide survey.[165] The education system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is governed by three government ministries: the Ministère de l'Enseignement Primaire, Secondaire et Professionnel (MEPSP), the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire (MESU) and the Ministère des Affaires Sociales (MAS). Primary education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not free or compulsory,[citation needed] even though the Congolese constitution says it should be (Article 43 of the 2005 Congolese Constitution).[166]
+
+As a result of the six-year civil war in the late 1990s—early 2000s, over 5.2 million children in the country did not receive any education.[167] Since the end of the civil war, the situation has improved tremendously, with the number of children enrolled in primary schools rising from 5.5 million in 2002 to 13.8 million in 2015, and the number of children enrolled in secondary schools rising from 2.8 million in 2007 to 4.6 million in 2015 according to UNESCO.[168]
+
+Actual school attendance has also improved greatly in recent years, with primary school net attendance estimated to be 82.4% in 2014 (82.4% of children ages 6–11 attended school; 83.4% for boys, 80.6% for girls).[169]
+
+The hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo include the General Hospital of Kinshasa. DRC has the world's second-highest rate of infant mortality (after Chad). In April 2011, through aid from Global Alliance for Vaccines, a new vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease was introduced around Kinshasa.[170]
+
+In 2012, it was estimated that about 1.1% of adults aged 15–49 were living with HIV/AIDS.[171] Malaria is also a problem.[172][173] Yellow fever also affects DRC.[174]
+
+Maternal health is poor in DRC. According to 2010 estimates, DRC has the 17th highest maternal mortality rate in the world.[175] According to UNICEF, 43.5% of children under five are stunted.[176]
+
+In May 2019, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in DRC surpassed 1,000.[177]
+
+The Congolese National Police (PNC) are the primary police force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[178]
+
+Over 200 ethnic groups populate the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of which the majority are Bantu peoples. Together, Mongo, Luba and Kongo peoples (Bantu) and Mangbetu-Azande peoples constitute around 45% of the population. The Kongo people are the largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.[183]
+
+In 2018, the United Nations estimated the country's population to be 84 million people,[6][7] a rapid increase from 39.1 million in 1992 despite the ongoing war.[184] As many as 250 ethnic groups have been identified and named. The most numerous people are the Kongo, Luba, and Mongo. About 600,000 Pygmies are the aboriginal people of the DR Congo.[185] Although several hundred local languages and dialects are spoken, the linguistic variety is bridged both by widespread use of French and the national intermediary languages Kituba, Tshiluba, Swahili, and Lingala.
+
+Given the situation in the country and the condition of state structures, it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable migration data. However, evidence suggests that DRC continues to be a destination country for immigrants, in spite of recent declines in their numbers. Immigration is very diverse in nature; refugees and asylum-seekers – products of the numerous and violent conflicts in the Great Lakes Region – constitute an important subset of the population. Additionally, the country's large mine operations attract migrant workers from Africa and beyond. There is also considerable migration for commercial activities from other African countries and the rest of the world, but these movements are not well studied.[186] Transit migration towards South Africa and Europe also plays a role.
+
+Immigration to the DRC has decreased steadily over the past two decades, most likely as a result of the armed violence that the country has experienced. According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of immigrants in the DRC has fallen from just over one million in 1960, to 754,000 in 1990, to 480,000 in 2005, to an estimated 445,000 in 2010. Official figures are unavailable, partly due to the predominance of the informal economy in the DRC. Data are also lacking on irregular immigrants, however given neighbouring countries' ethnic links to DRC nationals, irregular migration is assumed to be a significant phenomenon.[186]
+
+Figures for Congolese nationals abroad vary greatly depending on the source, from three to six million. This discrepancy is due to a lack of official, reliable data. Emigrants from the DRC are above all long-term emigrants, the majority of whom live in Africa and to a lesser extent in Europe; 79.7% and 15.3% respectively, according to estimated 2000 data. New destination countries include South Africa and various points en route to Europe. The DRC has produced a considerable number of refugees and asylum-seekers located in the region and beyond. These numbers peaked in 2004 when, according to UNHCR, there were more than 460,000 refugees from the DRC; in 2008, Congolese refugees numbered 367,995 in total, 68% of whom were living in other African countries.[186]
+
+Since 2003, more than 400,000 Congolese migrants have been expelled from Angola.[187]
+
+Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most recent survey, conducted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program in 2013-2014 indicated that Christians constituted 93.7% of the population (with Catholics making up 29.7%, Protestants 26.8%, and other Christians 37.2%). An indigenous religion, Kimbanguism, has the adherence of only 2.8%, while Muslims make up 1.2%.[188] Other recent estimates have found Christianity the majority religion, followed by 95.8% of the population according to a 2010 Pew Research Center[189] estimate, while the CIA World Factbook reports this figure to be 95.9%.[190] The proportion of followers of Islam is variously estimated from 1%[191] to 12% [192]
+
+There are about 35 million Catholics in the country[1] with six archdioceses and 41 dioceses.[193] The impact of the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo is difficult to overestimate. Schatzberg has called it the country's "only truly national institution apart from the state."[194] Its schools have educated over 60% of the nation's primary school students and more than 40% of its secondary students. The church owns and manages an extensive network of hospitals, schools, and clinics, as well as many diocesan economic enterprises, including farms, ranches, stores, and artisans' shops.[citation needed]
+
+Sixty-two Protestant denominations are federated under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in Congo. It is often simply referred to as the Protestant Church, since it covers most of the DRC Protestants. With more than 25 million members, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.
+
+Kimbanguism was seen as a threat to the colonial regime and was banned by the Belgians. Kimbanguism, officially "the church of Christ on Earth by the prophet Simon Kimbangu", now has about three million members,[195] primarily among the Bakongo of Bas-Congo and Kinshasa.
+
+Islam has been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the 18th century, when Arab traders from East Africa pushed into the interior for ivory- and slave-trading purposes. Today, Muslims constitute approximately 1% of the Congolese population according to Pew research center. The majority are Sunni Muslims.
+
+The first members of the Baha'i Faith to live in the country came from Uganda in 1953. Four years later the first local administrative council was elected. In 1970 the National Spiritual Assembly (national administrative council) was first elected. Though the religion was banned in the 1970s and 1980s, due to misrepresentations of foreign governments, the ban was lifted by the end of the 1980s. In 2012 plans were announced to build a national Baha'i House of Worship in the country.[196]
+
+Traditional religions embody such concepts as monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups. The syncretic sects often merge elements of Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals and are not recognized by mainstream churches as part of Christianity. New variants of ancient beliefs have become widespread, led by US-inspired Pentecostal churches which have been in the forefront of witchcraft accusations, particularly against children and the elderly.[clarification needed][197] Children accused of witchcraft are sent away from homes and family, often to live on the street, which can lead to physical violence against these children.[198][clarification needed][199] There are charities supporting street children such as the Congo Children Trust.[200] The Congo Children Trust's flagship project is Kimbilio,[201] which works to reunite street children in Lubumbashi. The usual term for these children is enfants sorciers (child witches) or enfants dits sorciers (children accused of witchcraft). Non-denominational church organizations have been formed to capitalize on this belief by charging exorbitant fees for exorcisms. Though recently outlawed, children have been subjected in these exorcisms to often-violent abuse at the hands of self-proclaimed prophets and priests.[202]
+
+French is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is culturally accepted as the lingua franca facilitating communication among the many different ethnic groups of the Congo. According to a 2014 OIF report, 33 million Congolese people (47% of the population) could read and write in French.[203] In the capital city Kinshasa, 67% of the population could read and write French, and 68.5% could speak and understand it.[204]
+
+Approximately 242 languages are spoken in the country, but only four have the status of national languages: Kituba ("Kikongo ya leta"), Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Although some people speak these regional, or trade languages as first languages, most of the population speak them as a second language after their own tribal language. Lingala was the official language of the colonial army, the "Force Publique", under Belgian colonial rule, and remains to this day the predominant language in the armed forces. Since the recent rebellions, a good part of the army in the East also uses Swahili where it is prevalent.
+
+When the country was a Belgian colony, the Belgian colonizers instituted teaching and use of the four national languages in primary schools, making it one of the few African nations to have had literacy in local languages during the European colonial period. This trend was reversed after independence, when French became the sole language of education at all levels.[205] Since 1975, the four national languages have been reintroduced in the first two years of primary education, with French becoming the sole language of education from the third year onward, but in practice many primary schools in urban areas solely use French from the first year of school onward.[205]
+
+The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reflects the diversity of its hundreds of ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country  — from the mouth of the River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its centre, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the First and Second Congo Wars. Despite these pressures, the customs and cultures of the Congo have retained much of their individuality. The country's 81 million inhabitants (2016) are mainly rural. The 30% who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences.
+
+Another feature in Congo culture is its music. The DRC has its influences on Cuban music  rumba,originally kumba from Congo and merengue. And those two later give birth to soukous.[206] Other African nations produce music genres derived from Congolese soukous. Some of the African bands sing in Lingala, one of the main languages in the DRC. The same Congolese soukous, under the guidance of "le sapeur", Papa Wemba, have set the tone for a generation of young men always dressed up in expensive designer clothes. They came to be known as the fourth generation of Congolese music and mostly come from the former well-known band Wenge Musica [fr].
+
+Many sports are played in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including football, basketball, and rugby. The sports are played in numerous stadiums throughout the country, including the Stade Frederic Kibassa Maliba.[207]
+As Zaire they have participated in the World Cup Football (Final stage) in 1974.
+
+Internationally, the country is especially famous for its professional basketball NBA and football players. Dikembe Mutombo is one of the best African basketball players to ever play the game. Mutombo is well known for humanitarian projects in his home country. Bismack Biyombo, Christian Eyenga, and Emmanuel Mudiay are others who gained significant international attention in basketball. Several Congolese players and players of Congolese descent—including strikers Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Bolasie, and Dieumerci Mbokani—have gained prominence in world football. DR Congo has twice won the African Cup of Nations football tournament.
+
+Newspapers of the DRC include L'Avenir, Radion Télévision Mwangaza, La Conscience [fr], L'Observateur [fr], Le Phare, Le Potentiel, Le Soft and LeCongolais.CD,[208] a web-based daily.[209] Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is the national broadcaster of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. RTNC currently broadcasts in Lingala, French, and English.
+
+Congolese authors use literature as a way to develop a sense of national consciousness amongst the Congo people. The tragic history of colonialism and war lead the Congolese people to settle in a place of complacency, accepting the culture that was forced upon them by Belgium.
+
+Modern Congolese literature began to emerge in the late 1950s. There are a few rare pieces of literature dated back to before WWI, but it was not until about 1954 that literature written in French made its appearance in the Congo. After gaining their independence from Belgium in the 1960s, new authors, such as Guy Menga and Jean Pierre Makouta-Mboukou, were inspired by older authors, such as Jean Malonga from Congo-Brazzaville, and used writing to bring attention to new issues affecting the Congo. The rise of female authors began in the 1970s introducing diversity to Congolese literature and support for gender empowerment. Many authors who have contributed to the success of Congolese literature are now living abroad due to economic and political issues.[210]
+
+Frederick Kambemba Yamusangie writes literature for the between generations of those who grew up in the Congo, during the time when they were colonised, fighting for independence and after. Yamusangie in an interview[211] said he felt the distance in literature and wanted to remedy that he wrote the novel, Full Circle, which is a story of a boy named Emanuel who in the beginning of the book feels a difference in culture among the different groups in the Congo and elsewhere.[212]
+
+Rais Neza Boneza, an author from the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote novels and poems to promote artistic expressions as a way to address and deal with conflicts.[213]
+
+These authors, along with others, used their platforms to bring awareness to the crises and conflicts that took place in the Congo.
+
+A dense tropical rainforest in the DRC's central river basin and eastern highlands is bordered on the east by the Albertine Rift (the western branch of Africa's Great Rift System). It includes several of Africa's Great Lakes.
+
+Major environmental issues
+
+DR Congo's major environmental issues include:
+
+Displaced refugees cause or are otherwise responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion and wildlife poaching. Another significant issue is environmental damage from the mining of minerals, especially diamonds, gold, and coltan – a mineral used to manufacture capacitors.
+
+The environmental problems associated with The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) affect its many endemic species of flora and fauna. The DRC has the world's second largest contiguous rain forest after the Amazon as well as other ecosystems including Savanna, swamps and flood plains. According to the World Wildlife Fund, these unique habitats and species make the DRC one of the most valuable yet vulnerable areas in the world for biodiversity, wildlife protection and rainforest sustainability.[215]
+
+Species loss has been cited as a problem in the DRC, brought about or exacerbated by reasons that include deforestation for mining, wood fuel, infrastructure or agriculture, war, illegal poaching and increased consumption of bush meat due to overpopulation and lack of food security.[216] Some attempts to combat species loss in countries such as the DRC are actions such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically SDG 15 Life on Land, the primary goals of which is to increase reforestation and biodiversity and reduce species loss, desertification, and illegal poaching.[217] One of the primary defences for species and habitat protection in the DRC is its system of national parks and reserves, which gives protected status to nearly 12% of the DRC's rainforest.[218] Five of these parks and reserves are UNESCO world heritage sites, including Africa’s first national park Virunga national park. All of these parks have been put on the World Heritage in Danger List.[219] Poor governance and low economic conditions have reduced the effectiveness of these protections, especially during war times.[218] The human cost of protecting these parks has also been high with 200 park ranger deaths in the past 20 years.[220] Virunga national park and Salongo National Park, both of which are UNESCO world heritage sites are currently being looked at for mining and oil exploration. The move would open 21.5% of the Virunga park for exploitation, this is highly criticised by animal rights activists as it would threaten the habitat of Mountain Gorillas and other endangered species.
+
+Between 2000 and 2014 the DRC lost an average of 570,000 hectares (0.2%) of rainforest to deforestation per year, with the highest amount of deforestation coming between 2011 and 2014.[221] Deforestation is the primary cause of biodiversity reduction and species loss globally, through habitat loss and fragmentation.[222] One of the goals of the SDG 15 is to reduce deforestation and encourage reforestation by 2020.
+
+The DRC has Africa’s largest rainforest, which is under the threat of deforestation through mining operations, agriculture, infrastructure and wood fuel. In the DRC 94% of wood taken from the rainforest is used for wood fuel, mainly due to poverty, lack of energy infrastructure and the decentralised nature of its population. To mitigate this aid agencies have tried to promote agro-forestry with fast growing trees to avoid over exploitation of the rainforests.[223] Other large drivers of deforestation include mining and conflict, during the Congo conflict deforestation by militia groups was high for wood fuel, small mining operations and illegal logging to fund their operations. However, conversely conflict reduced deforestation for large scale mining due to security instability.[218]
+
+One policy being attempted to reduce the deforestation and increase biodiversity in the DRC is the UN-REDD program, which uses emissions trading system so that developed nations can offset their carbon emissions by paying developing nations with rainforest to manage and conserve their forest.[224]
+
+Bush meat refers to any meat that is procured from the wild. Overpopulation and continual conflicts in the DRC have led to food shortages, which have therefore increased the use of bush meat. Although, data on bush meat use is not extensive, studies estimate 6 million tonnes of animals are taken for bush meat globally each year.[225] What animals are hunted are done so indiscriminately without thought of the importance of certain species that could be eco-system engineers or keystone species.[225]
+
+Bush meat is an important source of protein for millions in the DRC, especially in rural areas where it makes up 50-70% of meals. For some who cannot afford farmed produce it is a free meal.[226] A recent study in the DRC revealed that almost all of the animals are taken from the Congo each year, at 93% of all live animals there are in the forest are extracted for bush meat, whereas a sustainable rate would be 20%.[227] This is a huge amount compared to the Amazon where bush meat is hunted at only 3% the rate of the Congo.[227] the study reveals the only way to solve this is to find other food sources to feed people in the Congo Basin as bush meat is their only means of eating.[227] Another study showed that the species of bush meat in the meat markets of the DRC's third largest city Kisangani were primarily Artiodactyla at 40.06% of the carcasses sold then primates at 37.79% of carcasses sold.[228]
+
+Recently the prevalence of hunting for bush meat has declined because of the risk to hunters and butchers from the Ebola virus from specifically ape and bat meat.[229] Even though when the meat is cooked smoked or dried it kills the virus, business has dropped significantly with some hunters reporting as much of a reduction in sales of 80%.[229]
+
+There has been a war in the DRC in different levels of intensity since 1994 when the country was called Zaire.[230] Although what was known as Africa's World War had ended in 2003 the eastern part of the country still has ongoing skirmishes between rebel groups and government forces.[230] No other method has reduced species population so dramatically than conflict, when a militia reached the Garamba National Park in 1997, within three months half of the park's elephants, two thirds of the buffalo, and three quarters of its hippos vanished.[231] The reason conflict is so damaging to wildlife is the increased use of bush meat to feed soldiers, the prevalence of weapons, the lucrative industry of selling exotic animals and ivory as well as the general failure of law and order.[231] According to another study which was taken during the time of the civil war in the Okapi Faunal Reserve, there was a 50% reduction in the abundance of elephants and a vast change in the distribution of them to the more secluded areas of the park.[232]
+

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+Coordinates: 15°S 30°E / 15°S 30°E / -15; 30
+
+Zambia (/ˈzæmbiə, ˈzɑːm-/), officially the Republic of Zambia (Tonga: Cisi ca Zambia; Nyanja: Dziko la Zambia), is a landlocked country in Southern-Central Africa[9] (although some sources consider it part of East Africa[10]). Its neighbours are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest, the core economic hubs of the country.
+
+Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. Following European explorers in the eighteenth century, the British colonised the region into the British protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. These were merged in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia. For most of the colonial period, Zambia was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.[11]
+
+On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from 1964 until 1991. Kaunda played a key role in regional diplomacy, cooperating closely with the United States in search of solutions to conflicts in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Angola, and Namibia.[12] From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with the UNIP as the sole legal political party under the motto "One Zambia, One Nation". Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, beginning a period of social-economic growth and government decentralisation. Levy Mwanawasa, Chiluba's chosen successor, presided over Zambia from January 2002 until his death on 19th August 2008 and is credited with campaigns to reduce corruption and increase the standard of living. After Mwanawasa's death, Rupiah Banda presided as Acting President before being elected President in 2008. Holding the office for only three years, Banda stepped down after his defeat in the 2011 elections by Patriotic Front party leader Michael Sata. Sata died on 28 October 2014, making him the second Zambian president to die in office.[13] Guy Scott served briefly as interim president until new elections were held on 20 January 2015,[14] in which Edgar Lungu was elected as the sixth President.
+
+Zambia is blessed with vast amounts of natural resources such as minerals, wildlife, forestry, freshwater and arable land. [15]In 2010, the World Bank named Zambia one of the world's fastest economically reformed countries.[16] The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is headquartered in Lusaka.
+
+The territory of what is now Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia from 1911. It was renamed Zambia at independence in 1964.
+The new name of Zambia was derived from the Zambezi river (Zambezi may mean "Grand River").[17]
+
+The area of modern Zambia is known to have been inhabited by the Khoisan until around AD 300, when migrating Bantu began to settle around these areas.[18] These early hunter-gatherer groups were later either annihilated or absorbed by subsequent more organised Bantu groups.
+
+Archaeological excavation work on the Zambezi Valley and Kalambo Falls show a succession of human cultures. In particular, ancient camping site tools near the Kalambo Falls have been radiocarbon dated to more than 36,000 years ago.
+
+The fossil skull remains of Broken Hill Man, dated between 300,000 and 125,000 years BC, further shows that the area was inhabited by early humans.[19]
+
+The early history of the peoples of modern Zambia can only be gleaned from knowledge passed down by generations through word of mouth.[20]
+
+In the 12th century, waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants arrived during the Bantu expansion. Among them, the Tonga people (also called Ba-Tonga, "Ba-" meaning "men") were the first to settle in Zambia and are believed to have come from the east near the "big sea". The Nkoya people also arrived early in the expansion, coming from the Luba–Lunda kingdoms in the southern parts of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola, followed by a much larger influx, especially between the late 12th and early 13th centuries[21]
+
+To the east, the Maravi Empire, also spanning the vast areas of Malawi and parts of modern northern Mozambique began to flourish under Kalonga.
+
+At the end of the 18th century, some of the Mbunda migrated to Barotseland, Mongu upon the migration of among others, the Ciyengele.[22][23] The Aluyi and their leader, the Litunga Mulambwa, especially valued the Mbunda for their fighting ability.
+
+In the early 19th century, the Nsokolo people settled in the Mbala district of Northern Province. During the 19th century, the Ngoni and Sotho peoples arrived from the south. By the late 19th century, most of the various peoples of Zambia were established in their current areas.
+
+The earliest recorded European to visit the area was the Portuguese explorer Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century. Lacerda led an expedition from Mozambique to the Kazembe region in Zambia (with the goal of exploring and to crossing Southern Africa from coast to coast for the first time),[24] and died during the expedition in 1798. The expedition was from then on led by his friend Francisco Pinto.[25] This territory, located between Portuguese Mozambique and Portuguese Angola, was claimed and explored by Portugal in that period.
+
+Other European visitors followed in the 19th century. The most prominent of these was David Livingstone, who had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 Cs": Christianity, Commerce, and Civilisation. He was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855, naming them the Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. He described them thus: "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight".[26]
+
+Locally the falls are known as "Mosi-o-Tunya" or "thundering smoke" in the Lozi or Kololo dialect. The town of Livingstone, near the Falls, is named after him. Highly publicised accounts of his journeys motivated a wave of European visitors, missionaries and traders after his death in 1873.[27]
+
+In 1888, the British South Africa Company (BSA Company), led by Cecil Rhodes, obtained mineral rights from the Litunga of the Lozi people, the Paramount Chief of the Lozi (Ba-rotse) for the area which later became Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia.[28]
+
+To the east, in December 1897 a group of the Angoni or Ngoni (originally from Zululand) rebelled under Tsinco, son of King Mpezeni, but the rebellion was put down,[29] and Mpezeni accepted the Pax Britannica. That part of the country then came to be known as North-Eastern Rhodesia. In 1895, Rhodes asked his American scout Frederick Russell Burnham to look for minerals and ways to improve river navigation in the region, and it was during this trek that Burnham discovered major copper deposits along the Kafue River.[30]
+
+North-Eastern Rhodesia and Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia were administered as separate units until 1911 when they were merged to form Northern Rhodesia, a British protectorate. In 1923, the BSA Company ceded control of Northern Rhodesia to the British Government after the government decided not to renew the Company's charter.
+
+In 1923, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a conquered territory which was also administered by the BSA Company, became a self-governing British colony. In 1924, after negotiations, the administration of Northern Rhodesia transferred to the British Colonial Office.
+
+In 1953, the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland grouped together Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (now Malawi) as a single semi-autonomous region. This was undertaken despite opposition from a sizeable minority of the population, who demonstrated against it in 1960–61.[31] Northern Rhodesia was the center of much of the turmoil and crisis characterizing the federation in its last years. Initially, Harry Nkumbula's African National Congress (ANC) led the campaign, which Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) subsequently took up.
+
+A two-stage election held in October and December 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislative council and an uneasy coalition between the two African nationalist parties. The council passed resolutions calling for Northern Rhodesia's secession from the federation and demanding full internal self-government under a new constitution and a new National Assembly based on a broader, more democratic franchise.[32]
+
+The federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963, and in January 1964, Kaunda won the only election for Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. The Colonial Governor, Sir Evelyn Hone, was very close to Kaunda and urged him to stand for the post. Soon after, there was an uprising in the north of the country known as the Lumpa Uprising led by Alice Lenshina – Kaunda's first internal conflict as leader of the nation.[33]
+
+Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964, with Kenneth Kaunda as the first president. At independence, despite its considerable mineral wealth, Zambia faced major challenges. Domestically, there were few trained and educated Zambians capable of running the government, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign expertise. This expertise was provided in part by John Willson CMG[34] There were over 70,000 Europeans resident in Zambia in 1964, and they remained of disproportionate economic significance.[35]
+
+Kaunda's endorsement of Patriotic Front guerrillas conducting raids into neighbouring (Southern) Rhodesia resulted in political tension and a militarisation of the border, leading to its closure in 1973.[36] The Kariba hydroelectric station on the Zambezi River provided sufficient capacity to satisfy the country's requirements for electricity, despite Rhodesian management.
+
+On 3 September 1978, civilian airliner, Air Rhodesia Flight 825, was shot down near Kariba by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). 18 people, including children, survived the crash only for most of them to be shot by militants of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomo. Rhodesia responded with Operation Gatling, an attack on Nkomo's guerilla bases in Zambia, in particular, his military headquarters just outside Lusaka; this raid became known as the Green Leader Raid. On the same day, two more bases in Zambia were attacked using air power and elite paratroops and helicopter-borne troops.[37]
+
+A railway (TAZARA – Tanzania Zambia Railways) to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, completed in 1975 with Chinese assistance, reduced Zambian dependence on railway lines south to South Africa and west through an increasingly troubled Portuguese Angola. Until the completion of the railway, Zambia's major artery for imports and the critical export of copper was along the TanZam Road, running from Zambia to the port cities in Tanzania. The Tazama oil pipeline was also built from Dar es Salaam to Ndola in Zambia.
+
+By the late 1970s, Mozambique and Angola had attained independence from Portugal. Rhodesia's predominantly white government, which issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, accepted majority rule under the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.[38]
+
+Civil strife in both Portuguese colonies and a mounting Namibian War of Independence resulted in an influx of refugees[39] and compounded transportation issues. The Benguela railway, which extended west through Angola, was essentially closed to Zambian traffic by the late 1970s. Zambia's support for anti-apartheid movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) also created security problems as the South African Defence Force struck at dissident targets during external raids.[40]
+
+In the mid-1970s, the price of copper, Zambia's principal export, suffered a severe decline worldwide. In Zambia's situation, the cost of transporting the copper great distances to the market was an additional strain. Zambia turned to foreign and international lenders for relief, but, as copper prices remained depressed, it became increasingly difficult to service its growing debt. By the mid-1990s, despite limited debt relief, Zambia's per capita foreign debt remained among the highest in the world.[41][42]
+
+In June 1990 riots against Kaunda accelerated. Many protesters were killed by the regime in breakthrough June 1990 protests.[43][44] In 1990 Kaunda survived an attempted coup, and in 1991 he agreed to reinstate multiparty democracy, having instituted one-party rule under the Choma Commission of 1972. Following multiparty elections, Kaunda was removed from office (see below).
+
+In the 2000s, the economy stabilised, attaining single-digit inflation in 2006–2007, real GDP growth, decreasing interest rates, and increasing levels of trade. Much of its growth is due to foreign investment in mining and to higher world copper prices. All this led to Zambia being courted enthusiastically by aid donors and saw a surge in investor confidence in the country.
+
+Politics in Zambia take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Zambia is both head of state and head of government in a pluriform[disambiguation needed] multi-party system. The government exercises executive power, while legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament.
+
+Zambia became a republic immediately upon attaining independence in October 1964. From 2011 to 2014, Zambia's president had been Michael Sata, until Sata died on 28 October 2014.[45]
+
+After Sata's death, Vice President Guy Scott, a Zambian of Scottish descent, became acting President of Zambia. On 24 January 2015, it was announced that Edgar Chagwa Lungu had won the election to become the 6th President in a tightly contested race. He won 48.33% of the vote, a lead of 1.66% over his closest rival, Hakainde Hichilema, with 46.67%.[46] 9 other candidates all got less than 1% each.
+
+After independence in 1964, the foreign relations of Zambia were mostly focused on supporting liberation movements in other countries in Southern Africa, such as the African National Congress and SWAPO. During the Cold War, Zambia was a member of the Non-Aligned Movement.
+
+The Zambian Defence Force (ZDF) consists of the Zambia Army (ZA), the Zambia Air Force (ZAF), and the Zambian National Service (ZNS). The ZDF is designed primarily against external threats.
+
+In 2019, Zambia signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[47]
+
+Zambia is divided into ten provinces, which are further divided into 117 districts, 156 constituencies and 1,281 wards.
+
+The government is sensitive to the opposition and other criticism and has been quick to prosecute critics using the legal pretext that they had incited public disorder. Libel laws are used to suppress free speech and the press.[48]
+
+Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both males and females in Zambia.[49][50] A 2010 survey revealed that only 2% of Zambians find homosexuality to be morally acceptable.[51]
+
+In December 2019, it was reported that United States Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Lewis Foote was "horrified" by Zambia's jailing of same-sex couple Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba. After an appeal failed and the couple was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Foote asked the Zambian government to review both the case and the country's anti-homosexuality laws. Foote faced a backlash and canceled public appearances after he was threatened on social media, and was subsequently recalled after President Lungu declared him Persona non grata.[52]
+
+Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa, with a tropical climate, and consists mostly of high plateaus with some hills and mountains, dissected by river valleys. At 752,614 km2 (290,586 sq mi) it is the 39th-largest country in the world, slightly smaller than Chile. The country lies mostly between latitudes 8° and 18°S, and longitudes 22° and 34°E.
+
+Zambia is drained by two major river basins: the Zambezi/Kafue basin in the center, west, and south covering about three-quarters of the country; and the Congo basin in the north covering about one-quarter of the country. A very small area in the northeast forms part of the internal drainage basin of Lake Rukwa in Tanzania.
+
+In the Zambezi basin, there are a number of major rivers flowing wholly or partially through Zambia: the Kabompo, Lungwebungu, Kafue, Luangwa, and the Zambezi itself, which flows through the country in the west and then forms its southern border with Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Its source is in Zambia but it diverts into Angola, and a number of its tributaries rise in Angola's central highlands. The edge of the Cuando River floodplain (not its main channel) forms Zambia's southwestern border, and via the Chobe River that river contributes very little water to the Zambezi because most are lost by evaporation.[53]
+
+Two of the Zambezi's longest and largest tributaries, the Kafue and the Luangwa, flow mainly in Zambia. Their confluences with the Zambezi are on the border with Zimbabwe at Chirundu and Luangwa town respectively. Before its confluence, the Luangwa River forms part of Zambia's border with Mozambique. From Luangwa town, the Zambezi leaves Zambia and flows into Mozambique, and eventually into the Mozambique Channel.
+
+The Zambezi falls about 100 metres (328 ft) over the 1.6 km (0.99 mi) wide Victoria Falls, located in the south-west corner of the country, subsequently flowing into Lake Kariba. The Zambezi valley, running along the southern border, is both deep and wide. From Lake Kariba going east, it is formed by grabens and like the Luangwa, Mweru-Luapula, Mweru-wa-Ntipa and Lake Tanganyika valleys, is a rift valley.
+
+The north of Zambia is very flat with broad plains. In the west the most notable being the Barotse Floodplain on the Zambezi, which floods from December to June, lagging behind the annual rainy season (typically November to April). The flood dominates the natural environment and the lives, society, and culture of the inhabitants and those of other smaller, floodplains throughout the country.
+
+In Eastern Zambia the plateau which extends between the Zambezi and Lake Tanganyika valleys is tilted upwards to the north, and so rises imperceptibly from about 900 m (2,953 ft) in the south to 1,200 m (3,937 ft) in the centre, reaching 1,800 m (5,906 ft) in the north near Mbala. These plateau areas of northern Zambia have been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as a large section of the Central Zambezian Miombo woodlands ecoregion.[54]
+
+Eastern Zambia shows great diversity. The Luangwa Valley splits the plateau in a curve north-east to south-west, extended west into the heart of the plateau by the deep valley of the Lunsemfwa River. Hills and mountains are found by the side of some sections of the valley, notably in its north-east the Nyika Plateau (2,200 m or 7,218 ft) on the Malawi border, which extend into Zambia as the Mafinga Hills, containing the country's highest point, Mafinga Central (2,339 m or 7,674 ft).[55]
+
+The Muchinga Mountains, the watershed between the Zambezi and Congo drainage basins, run parallel to the deep valley of the Luangwa River and form a sharp backdrop to its northern edge, although they are almost everywhere below 1,700 m (5,577 ft). Their culminating peak Mumpu is at the western end and at 1,892 m (6,207 ft) is the highest point in Zambia away from the eastern border region. The border of the Congo Pedicle was drawn around this mountain.
+
+The southernmost headstream of the Congo River rises in Zambia and flows west through its northern area firstly as the Chambeshi and then, after the Bangweulu Swamps as the Luapula, which forms part of the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Luapula flows south then west before it turns north until it enters Lake Mweru. The lake's other major tributary is the Kalungwishi River, which flows into it from the east. The Luvua River drains Lake Mweru, flowing out of the northern end to the Lualaba River (Upper Congo River).
+
+Lake Tanganyika is the other major hydrographic feature that belongs to the Congo basin. Its south-eastern end receives water from the Kalambo River, which forms part of Zambia's border with Tanzania. This river has Africa's second highest uninterrupted waterfall, the Kalambo Falls.
+
+Zambia is located on the plateau of Central Africa, between 1000 and 1600 m above sea level. The average altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) generally has a moderate climate. The climate of Zambia is tropical, modified by elevation. In the Köppen climate classification, most of the country is classified as humid subtropical or tropical wet and dry, with small stretches of semi-arid steppe climate in the south-west and along the Zambezi valley.
+
+There are two main seasons, the rainy season (November to April) corresponding to summer, and the dry season (May/June to October/November), corresponding to winter. The dry season is subdivided into the cool dry season (May/June to August), and the hot dry season (September to October/November). The modifying influence of altitude gives the country pleasant subtropical weather rather than tropical conditions during the cool season of May to August.[56] However, average monthly temperatures remain above 20 °C (68 °F) over most of the country for eight or more months of the year.
+
+There are 14 ecosystems in Zambia, classed into Forest, Thicket, Woodland, and Grassland vegetation types.
+
+Zambia has approximately 12,505 identified species—63% animal species, 33% plant species and 4% bacterial and microorganism species .
+
+There are an estimated 3,543 species of wild flowering plants, consisting of sedges, herbaceous plants and woody plants[57] . The Northern and North-Western parts of the country especially have the highest diversity of flowering plants. Approximately 53% of flowering plants are rare and occur throughout the country.[58]
+
+A total of 242 mammalian species exist, with most endemic ones occupying the woodland and grassland ecosystems. The Rhodesian giraffe and Kafue Lechwe are some of the well-known subspecies that are endemic to Zambia.[59]
+
+An estimated 757 bird species are known to exist, of which 600 are either resident or Afrotropic migrants; 470 breeds in the country; and 100 are non-breeding migrants. The Zambian barbet is a well-known species endemic to Zambia.
+
+Roughly 490 known fish species, belonging to 24 fish families have been reported in Zambia, with Lake Tanganyika having the highest number of diverse and endemic species[60].
+
+As of the 2010 Zambian census, Zambia's population was 13,092,666. Zambia is ethnically diverse, with 73 distinct tribes. During its occupation by the British between 1911 and 1963, the country attracted immigrants from Europe and the Indian subcontinent, the latter of whom came as laborers. While most Europeans left after the collapse of white minority rule, many Asians remained.
+
+In the first census—conducted on 7 May 1911—there were a total of 1,497 Europeans; 39 Asiatics and an estimated 820,000 Africans. Black Africans were not counted in the six censuses conducted in 1911, 1921, 1931, 1946, 1951, and 1956, prior to independence. By 1956 there were 65,277 Europeans; 5,450 Asiatics; 5,450 Coloureds and an estimated 2,100,000 Africans.
+
+In the 2010 population census, 99.2% were Black Africans and 0.8% consisted of major racial groups.
+
+Zambia is one of the most highly urbanised countries in sub-Saharan Africa with 44% of the population concentrated along the major transport corridors, while rural areas are sparsely populated. The fertility rate was 6.2 as of 2007[update] (6.1 in 1996, 5.9 in 2001–02).[61]
+
+The onset of industrial copper mining on the Copperbelt in the late 1920s triggered rapid urbanisation. Although urbanisation was overestimated during the colonial period, it was substantial.[62] Mining townships on the Copperbelt soon dwarfed existing centres of population and continued to grow rapidly following Zambian independence. Economic decline on the Copperbelt from the 1970s to the 1990s has altered patterns of urban development but the country's population remains concentrated around the railway and roads running south from the Copperbelt through Kapiri Mposhi, Lusaka, Choma and Livingstone.
+
+The population comprises approximately 73 ethnic groups,[64] most of which are Bantu-speaking. Almost 90% of Zambians belong to the nine main ethnolinguistic groups: the Nyanja-Chewa, Bemba,[65] Tonga,[66] Tumbuka,[67] Lunda, Luvale,[68] Kaonde,[69] Nkoya and Lozi.[70] In the rural areas, ethnic groups are concentrated in particular geographic regions. Many groups are small and not well known. However, all the ethnic groups can be found in significant numbers in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. In addition to the linguistic dimension, tribal identities are relevant in Zambia.[71] These tribal identities are often linked to family allegiance or to traditional authorities. The tribal identities are nested within the main language groups.[72]
+
+Immigrants, mostly British or South African, as well as some white Zambian citizens of British descent, live mainly in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt in northern Zambia, where they are either employed in mines, financial and related activities or retired. There were 70,000 Europeans in Zambia in 1964, but many have since left the country.[35]
+
+Zambia has a small but economically important Asian population, most of whom are Indians and Chinese. There are 13,000 Indians in Zambia. This minority group has a massive impact on the economy controlling the manufacturing sector. An estimated 80,000 Chinese are resident in Zambia.[73] In recent years, several hundred dispossessed white farmers have left Zimbabwe at the invitation of the Zambian government, to take up farming in the Southern province.[74][75]
+
+Zambia has a minority of coloureds of mixed race. During colonialism, segregation separated coloureds, blacks and whites in public places including schools, hospitals, and in housing. There has been an increase in interracial relationships due to Zambia's growing economy importing labor. Coloureds are not recorded on the census but are considered a minority in Zambia.
+
+According to the World Refugee Survey 2009 published by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Zambia had a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 88,900. The majority of refugees in the country came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (47,300 refugees from the DRC living in Zambia in 2007), Angola (27,100; see Angolans in Zambia), Zimbabwe (5,400) and Rwanda (4,900).[76]
+
+Beginning in May 2008, the number of Zimbabweans in Zambia began to increase significantly; the influx consisted largely of Zimbabweans formerly living in South Africa who were fleeing xenophobic violence there.[77] Nearly 60,000 refugees live in camps in Zambia, while 50,000 are mixed in with the local populations. Refugees who wish to work in Zambia must apply for permits which can cost up to $500 per year.[76]
+
+Zambia is a Christian nation according to the 1996 constitution,[79] but a wide variety of religious traditions exist. Traditional religious thoughts blend easily with Christian beliefs in many of the country's syncretic churches. About three-fourths of the population is Protestant while about 20% follow Roman Catholicism. Christian denominations include Catholicism, Anglicanism, Pentecostalism, New Apostolic Church, Lutheranism, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Branhamites, and a variety of Evangelical denominations.
+
+These grew, adjusted and prospered from the missionary settlements (Portuguese and Catholicism in the east from Mozambique) and Anglicanism (British influences) from the south. Except for some technical positions (e.g. physicians), Western missionary roles have been assumed by native believers. After Frederick Chiluba (a Pentecostal Christian) became president in 1991, Pentecostal congregations expanded considerably around the country.[80] Zambia has one of the largest percentage of Seventh-day Adventist per capita in the world, accounting for about 1 in 18 Zambians.[81] The Lutheran Church of Central Africa has over 11,000 members in the country.[82]
+
+Counting only active preachers, Jehovah's Witnesses in Zambia have over 204,000 adherents[83] with over 930,000 attending their annual observance of Christ's death in 2018. These have been preaching there since 1911.[84]
+
+One in 11 Zambians is a member of the New Apostolic Church.[85] With membership above 1,200,000 the Zambia district of the church is the third-largest after Congo East and East Africa (Nairobi).[86]
+
+The Bahá'í population of Zambia is over 160,000,[87] or 1.5% of the population. The William Mmutle Masetlha Foundation run by the Baha'i community is particularly active in areas such as literacy and primary health care. Approximately 1% of the population is Muslims, most of whom live in urban areas and play a large economic role in the country.[88] There are about 500 people who belong to the Ahmadiyya sect.[89] There is also a small Jewish community, composed mostly of Ashkenazis.
+
+The official language of Zambia is English, which is used for official business and instruction in schools. The main local language, especially in Lusaka, is Nyanja (Chewa), followed by Bemba. In the Copperbelt Bemba is the main language and Nyanja second. Bemba and Nyanja are spoken in the urban areas in addition to other indigenous languages which are commonly spoken in Zambia. These include Lozi, Kaonde, Tonga, Lunda and Luvale, which feature on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) local languages section. The total number of languages spoken in Zambia is 73[91].
+
+Urbanisation has had a dramatic effect on some of the indigenous languages, including the assimilation of words from other languages. Urban dwellers sometimes differentiate between urban and rural dialects of the same language by prefixing the rural languages with 'deep'.
+
+Most will thus speak Bemba and Nyanja in the Copperbelt; Nyanja is dominantly spoken in Lusaka and Eastern Zambia. English is used in official communications and is the language of choice at home among – now common – intertribal families. This evolution of languages has led to Zambian slang heard throughout Lusaka and other major cities. Portuguese has been introduced as a second language into the school curriculum due to the presence of a large Portuguese-speaking Angolan community.[93] French is commonly studied in private schools, while some secondary schools have it as an optional subject. A German course has been introduced at the University of Zambia (UNZA).
+
+The right to equal and adequate education for all is enshrined within the Zambian constitution.[94] The Education Act of 2011 regulates equal and quality education.[95] The Ministry of General Education effectively oversees the provision of quality education through policy and regulation of the education curriculum.
+
+Fundamentally, the aim of education in Zambia is to promote the full and well-rounded development of the physical, intellectual, social, affective, moral, and spiritual qualities of all learners. The education system has three core structures: Early childhood education and Primary education (Grades 1 – 7), Secondary education (Grades 8 – 12) and Tertiary education. Adult Literacy programs are available for semi-literate and illiterate individuals.
+
+The government's annual expenditure on education has increased over the years, increasing from 16.1% in 2006 to 20.2% in 2015.
+
+Zambia is experiencing a generalised HIV/AIDS epidemic, with a national HIV prevalence rate of 12.40% among adults.[97] The maternal mortality rate was 398 per 100,000 live births in 2014, compared to 591 in 2007. Over the same period, the under-5 mortality rate dropped to 75 from 119 per 1,000 live births. The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS for adults aged 15–49 decreased to 13 per cent in 2013/14, from 16 per cent in 2001/02.[98]
+
+Presently, Zambia averages between $7.5 billion and $8 billion of exports annually. [99] It totalled $9.1 billion worth of exports in 2018 [100] About 60.5% of Zambians live below the recognised national poverty line,[101] with rural poverty rates standing at about 77.9%[102] and urban rates at about 27.5%.[103] Unemployment and underemployment in urban areas are serious problems. Most rural Zambians are subsistence farmers.
+
+Zambia ranked 117th out of 128 countries on the 2007 Global Competitiveness Index, which looks at factors that affect economic growth.[105] Social indicators continue to decline, particularly in measurements of life expectancy at birth (about 40.9 years) and maternal mortality (830 per 100,000 pregnancies).[106]
+
+Zambia fell into poverty after international copper prices declined in the 1970s. The socialist regime made up for falling revenue with several abortive attempts at International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programs (SAPs). The policy of not trading through the main supply route and line of rail to the sea – the territory was known as Rhodesia (from 1965 to 1979), and now known as Zimbabwe – cost the economy greatly. After the Kaunda regime, (from 1991) successive governments began limited reforms. The economy stagnated until the late 1990s. In 2007 Zambia recorded its ninth consecutive year of economic growth. Inflation was 8.9%, down from 30% in 2000.[107]
+
+Zambia is still dealing with economic reform issues such as the size of the public sector, and improving Zambia's social sector delivery systems.[107] Economic regulations and red tape are extensive, and corruption is widespread. The bureaucratic procedures surrounding the process of obtaining licences encourages the widespread use of facilitation payments.[108] Zambia's total foreign debt exceeded $6 billion when the country qualified for Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) debt relief in 2000, contingent upon meeting certain performance criteria. Initially, Zambia hoped to reach the HIPC completion point, and benefit from substantial debt forgiveness, in late 2003. As of June of 2020, Zambia is set to default on its debt and the government announced its official intent to pursue a “liability management exercise.”[42]
+
+In January 2003, the Zambian government informed the International Monetary Fund and World Bank that it wished to renegotiate some of the agreed performance criteria calling for privatisation of the Zambia National Commercial Bank and the national telephone and electricity utilities. Although agreements were reached on these issues, subsequent overspending on civil service wages delayed Zambia's final HIPC debt forgiveness from late 2003 to early 2005, at the earliest. In an effort to reach HIPC completion in 2004, the government drafted an austerity budget for 2004, freezing civil service salaries and increasing the number of taxes. The tax hike and public sector wage freeze prohibited salary increases and new hires. This sparked a nationwide strike in February 2004.[109]
+
+The Zambian government is pursuing an economic diversification program to reduce the economy's reliance on the copper industry. This initiative seeks to exploit other components of Zambia's rich resource base by promoting agriculture, tourism, gemstone mining, and hydro-power. In July 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Zambia's President Edgar Lungu signed 12 agreements in capital Lusaka on areas ranging from trade and investment to tourism and diplomacy.[110][111]
+
+The Zambian economy has historically been based on the copper mining industry. The output of copper had fallen to a low of 228,000 metric tons in 1998 after a 30-year decline in output due to lack of investment, low copper prices, and uncertainty over privatisation. In 2002, following the privatisation of the industry, copper production rebounded to 337,000 metric tons. Improvements in the world copper market have magnified the effect of this volume increase on revenues and foreign exchange earnings.
+
+In 2003, exports of nonmetals increased by 25% and accounted for 38% of all export earnings, previously 35%. The Zambian government has recently[when?] been granting licenses to international resource companies to prospect for minerals such as nickel, tin, copper, and uranium.[112]
+IThe government of Zambia hopes that nickel will take over from copper as the country's top metallic export.[113] In 2009, Zambia was badly hit by the world economic crisis.[114]
+
+Agriculture plays a very important part in Zambia's economy providing many more jobs than the mining industry.
+A small number of white Zimbabwean farmers were welcomed into Zambia after their expulsion by Robert Mugabe, whose numbers had reached roughly 150 to 300 people as of 2004[update].[115][116] They farm a variety of crops including tobacco, wheat, and chili peppers on an estimated 150 farms. The skills they brought, combined with general economic liberalisation under the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, has been credited with stimulating an agricultural boom in Zambia. In 2004, for the first time in 26 years, Zambia exported more corn than it imported.[75]
+
+Zambia has some of nature's best wildlife and game reserves affording the country with abundant tourism potential. The North Luangwa, South Luangwa and Kafue National Parks have one of the most prolific animal populations in Africa. The Victoria Falls in the Southern part of the country is a major tourist attraction.
+
+With 73 ethnic groups, there is also a myriad of traditional ceremonies that take place every year.
+
+In 2009, Zambia generated 10.3 TWh of electricity and has been rated high in use of both Solar power and Hydroelectricity.[117] However, early 2015[update], Zambia began experiencing a serious energy shortage due to the poor 2014/2015 rain season, which resulted in low water levels at the Kariba dam and other major dams.[118] In September 2019, African Green Resources (AGR) announced that it would invest $150 million in 50 megawatt (MW) solar farm, along with irrigation dam and expanding the existing grain silo capacity by 80,000 tonnes.[119]
+
+Prior to the establishment of modern Zambia, the inhabitants lived in independent tribes, each with its own way of life. One of the results of the colonial era was the growth of urbanisation. Different ethnic groups started living together in towns and cities, influencing each other as well as adopting a lot of the European culture. The original cultures have largely survived in rural areas with some outside influence such as Christianity being widely practiced. In the urban setting, there is a continuous integration and evolution of these cultures to produce what is now called "Zambian culture".
+
+Traditional culture is very visible through colourful annual Zambian traditional ceremonies. Some of the more prominent are: Kuomboka and Kathanga (Western Province), Mutomboko (Luapula Province), Kulamba and Ncwala (Eastern Province), Lwiindi and Shimunenga (Southern Province), Lunda Lubanza (North Western), Likumbi Lyamize (North Western)[120], Mbunda Lukwakwa (North Western Province), Chibwela Kumushi (Central Province), Vinkhakanimba (Muchinga Province), Ukusefya Pa Ng'wena (Northern Province).
+
+Popular traditional arts are mainly in pottery, basketry (such as Tonga baskets), stools, fabrics, mats, wooden carvings, ivory carvings, wire craft, and copper crafts. Most Zambian traditional music is based on drums (and other percussion instruments) with a lot of singing and dancing. In the urban areas, foreign genres of music are popular, in particular Congolese rumba, African-American music and Jamaican reggae. Several psychedelic rock artists emerged in the 1970s to create a genre known as Zam-rock, including WITCH, Musi-O-Tunya, Rikki Ililonga, Amanaz, the Peace, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Blackfoot, and the Ngozi Family.
+
+The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services In Zambia is responsible for the Zambian News Agency, while there are also numerous media outlets throughout the country which include; television stations, newspapers, FM radio stations, and Internet news websites.
+
+Zambia declared its independence on the day of the closing ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first country ever to have entered an Olympic game as one country, and leave it as another. In 2016, Zambia participated for the thirteenth time in the Olympic games. Two medals were won. The medals were won successively in boxing and on the track. In 1984 Keith Mwila won a bronze medal in the light flyweight. In 1996 Samuel Matete won a silver medal in the 400-metre hurdles. Zambia has never participated in the Winter Olympics.
+
+Football is the most popular sport in Zambia, and the Zambia national football team has had its triumphant moments in football history. At the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the national team defeated the Italian national team with a score of 4–0. Kalusha Bwalya, Zambia's most celebrated football player, and one of Africa's greatest football players in history had a hat trick in that match. However, to this day, many pundits say the greatest team Zambia has ever assembled was the one that perished on 28 April 1993 in a plane crash at Libreville, Gabon. Despite this, in 1996, Zambia was ranked 15th on the official FIFA World Football Team rankings, the highest attained by any southern African team. In 2012, Zambia won the African Cup of Nations for the first time after losing in the final twice. They beat Côte d'Ivoire 8–7 in a penalty shoot-out in the final, which was played in Libreville, just a few kilometers away from the plane crash 19 years previously.[121]
+
+Rugby Union, boxing and cricket are also popular sports in Zambia. Notably, at one point in the early 2000s, the Australia and South Africa national rugby teams were captained by players born in the same Lusaka hospital, George Gregan and Corné Krige. Zambia boasts having the highest rugby poles in the world, located at Luanshya Sports Complex in Luanshya.[122]
+
+Rugby union in Zambia is a minor but growing sport. They are currently ranked 73rd by the IRB and have 3,650 registered players and three formally organised clubs.[123] Zambia used to play cricket as part of Rhodesia. Zambia has also strangely provided a shinty international, Zambian-born Eddie Tembo representing Scotland in the compromise rules Shinty/Hurling game against Ireland in 2008.[124]
+
+In 2011, Zambia was due to host the tenth All-Africa Games, for which three stadiums were to be built in Lusaka, Ndola, and Livingstone.[125] The Lusaka stadium would have a capacity of 70,000 spectators while the other two stadiums would hold 50,000 people each. The government was encouraging the private sector to get involved in the construction of the sports facilities because of a shortage of public funds for the project. Zambia later withdrew its bid to host the 2011 All-Africa Games, citing a lack of funds. Hence, Mozambique took Zambia's place as host.
+
+Zambia also produced the first black African (Madalitso Muthiya) to play in the United States Golf Open,[126] one of the four major golf tournaments.
+
+In 1989, the country's basketball team had its best performance when it qualified for the FIBA Africa Championship and thus finished as one of Africa's top ten teams.[127]
+
+In 2017, Zambia hosted and won the Pan-African football tournament U-20 African Cup of Nation for players age 20 and under.[128]
+
+Zambia's culture has been an integral part of their development post-independence such as the uprising of cultural villages and private museums. The music which introduced dance is part of their cultural expression and it embodies the beauty and spectacle of life in Zambia, from the intricacies of the talking drums to the Kamangu drum used to announce the beginning of Malaila traditional ceremony. Dance as a practice serves as a unifying factor bringing the people together as one.[129] [130]
+
+Zamrock is a musical genre that emerged in the 1970s, and has developed a cult following in the West. Zamrock has been described as mixing traditional Zambian music with heavy repetitive riffs similar to groups such as Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and Cream.[131][132] Notable groups in the genre include Rikki Ililonga and his band Musi-O-Tunya, WITCH, Chrissy "Zebby" Tembo, and Paul Ngozi and his Ngozi Family.[133][134]

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+Zeeland (/ˈziːlənd/, Dutch: [ˈzeːlɑnt] (listen); Zeeuws: Zeêland [ˈzɪə̯lɑnt]; historical English exonym Zealand) is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, borders North Brabant to the east and South Holland to the north, consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning "Sealand") and a strip bordering the Flemish provinces of East and West Flanders. Its capital is Middelburg with a population of 48,544[4] as of November 2019, the largest municipality in Zeeland is Terneuzen (pop. 54,589) Zeeland has two seaports; in Vlissingen and Terneuzen. Its area is 2,934 square kilometres (1,130 sq mi), of which 1,151 square kilometres (440 sq mi) is water, and it has a population of 383,689[2] as of November 2019.
+
+Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level. The last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity. In the summer, its beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especially German tourists. In some areas, the population can be two to four times higher during the high summer season. The coat of arms of Zeeland shows a lion half-emerged from water, and the text luctor et emergo (Latin for "I struggle and emerge").[5] The country of New Zealand was named after Zeeland after it was sighted by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
+
+Nehalennia is a mythological goddess of an ancient religion known around the province of Zeeland. Her worship dates back at least to the 2nd century BC,[6] and flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[6] She was possibly a regional god, either Celtic or pre-Germanic – but sources differ on the culture that first worshipped her. During the Roman era, her main function appeared to be the protection of travelers, especially seagoing travelers crossing the North Sea. Most of what is known about her mythology comes from the remains of carved stone offerings (votives) which have been dredged up from the Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt) since 1870. Two more Nehalennia offering stones have also been found in Cologne, Germany.[6]
+
+Zeeland was a contested area between the counts of Holland and Flanders until 1299, when the last count of Holland died. The Counts of Hainaut then gained control of the County of Zeeland, followed by the counts of Bavaria, Burgundy, and Habsburg. After 1585 Zeeland followed, as one of the 7 independent provinces, the fate of the Northern part of The Netherlands.
+
+In 1432 it became part of the Low Countries possessions of Philip the Good of Burgundy, the later Seventeen Provinces. Through marriage, the Seventeen Provinces became the property of the Habsburgs in 1477. In the Eighty Years' War, Zeeland was on the side of the Union of Utrecht, and became one of the United Provinces. The area now called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (or Zeelandic Flanders) was not part of Zeeland, but a part of the county of Flanders (still under Habsburg control) that was conquered by the United Provinces, hence called Staats-Vlaanderen (see: Generality Lands).
+
+After the French occupation (see département Bouches-de-l'Escaut) and the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, the present province Zeeland was formed.
+
+During World War II, Zeeland was occupied by Nazi Germany between June 1940 and November 1944.[5] In 1944, Zeeland was devastated by the Battle of the Scheldt and the Walcheren Landings, which brought about the Inundation of Walcheren,  between British and Canadian forces, and the occupying Germans.[7]
+
+The catastrophic North Sea flood of 1953, which killed over 1800 people in Zeeland, led to the construction of the protective Delta Works.
+
+The province of Zeeland is a large river delta situated at the mouth of several major rivers, namely Scheldt ('Schelde'), Rhine ('Rijn') and Meuse ('Maas'). Most of the province lies below sea level and was reclaimed from the sea by inhabitants over time. What used to be a muddy landscape, flooding at high tide and reappearing at low tide, became a series of small man-made hills that stayed dry at all times. The people of the province would later connect the hills by creating dikes, which led to a chain of dry land that later grew into bigger islands and gave the province its current shape. The shape of the islands has changed over time at the hands of both people and nature.
+
+The North Sea flood of 1953 inundated vast amounts of land that were only partially reclaimed. The subsequent construction of the Delta Works also changed the face of the province. The infrastructure, although very distinct by the number of bridges, tunnels and dams, has not shaped the geography of the province so much as the geography of the province has shaped its infrastructure. The dams, tunnels and bridges that are currently a vital part of the province's road system were constructed over the span of decades and came to replace old ferry lines. The final touch to this process came in 2003 when the Western Scheldt Tunnel was opened. It was the first solid connection between both banks of the Western Scheldt and ended the era of water separating the islands and peninsulas of Zeeland.
+
+Zeeland consists of several islands and peninsulas. These are, from north to south, Schouwen-Duiveland, Tholen, Noord-Beveland, Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland. It also includes a strip of land bordering the Belgian region of Flanders, the Zeelandic Flanders.
+
+The province of Zeeland has 13 municipalities:
+
+The largest cities are: Middelburg with 41,000 inhabitants; Vlissingen with 34,000; Goes with 27,000; and Terneuzen with 25,000.
+
+As of 1 January 2014, Zeeland has a population of 380,621[8] and a population density of 210/km2 (540/sq mi). It is the 12th most populous or least populous province and the 2nd least densely populated province of the Netherlands.
+
+Zeeland is mainly a Protestant region; Calvinism is dominant.
+
+There are also adherents of the Roman Catholic Church. After being long part of the vast Franco-Flemish Roman Catholic Diocese of Cambrai, Zeeland got its own bishopric, the Diocese of Middelburg, on 5 December 1559, which was suppressed in 1603, its territory being merged into the Apostolic Vicariate of Batavia, only to be 'restored' on March 22, 1803 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Breda, which was promoted to the present large (yet counting few faithful) Diocese of Breda, whose See is in the other part, western North Brabant, and enlarged further in 1955, gaining territory from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam.
+
+The States-Provincial (Provinciale Staten) of Zeeland are the provincial council, called the States of Zeeland.
+
+The Provincial-Executive (Gedeputeerde Staten) of Zeeland and the King's Commissioner (Commissaris van de Koning) of Zeeland are the provincial executive.
+
+Han Polman, member of D66, has been the King's Commissioner of Zeeland since 2013.
+
+As of the 2007 provincial election a coalition consisted of CDA, SGP, ChristianUnion and GreenLeft, with 20 of 39 seats.
+
+As of the 2011 provincial election a coalition consisted of VVD, PvdA, CDA and SGP, with 24 of 39 seats.
+
+As of the 2015 provincial election a coalition consisted of CDA, VVD, SGP and PvdA, with 22 of 39 seats.
+
+As of the 2019 provincial election the same coalition consists of CDA, VVD, SGP and PvdA, with 20 of 39 seats.
+
+The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 13.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 1.8% of the Netherlands economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 30,900 € or 102% of the EU27 average in the same year.[9]
+
+There is one passenger railway, here with municipalities and official station abbreviations:
+
+Vlissingen (vs, vss) – Middelburg (mdb, arn) – Goes (gs) – Kapelle (bzl) – Reimerswaal (krg, kbd, rb) – connecting to Bergen op Zoom (bgn) (Noord-Brabant).
+
+Bus connections (of Connexxion, except # 395) include:
+
+Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant and BN/De Stem are the regional daily newspapers in the province.
+
+The first westerners to sight New Zealand were captained by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642, although he did not land there. Tasman named it Staten Landt, believing it to be part of the land of that name off the coast of Argentina that is now known as Isla de los Estados. When that was shown not to be so, Dutch authorities named it Nova Zeelandia in Latin, Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch. The two major seafaring provinces of the Netherlands in its Golden Age were Holland and Zeeland, and the Dutch explorers originally named the largest landmass of Oceania and the two islands to the southeast Nieuw Holland and Nieuw Zeeland, respectively. The former was eventually replaced by the name Australia, but the name New Zealand remained in place for the latter. Captain James Cook of Britain later Anglicised the name to New Zealand and, after British settlers arrived in New Zealand, English became the main language.
+
+The city of Zeeland in the US state of Michigan was settled in 1847 by Dutchman Jannes van de Luyster and was incorporated in 1907. Flushing, a neighborhood within the borough of Queens, New York, is named after the city Flushing (Vlissingen in Dutch) in Zeeland. This dates from the period of the colony of New Netherland, when New York was still known as New Amsterdam. The Dutch colonies of Nieuw Walcheren and Nieuw Vlissingen, both on the Antillian island of Tobago, were both named after parts of Zeeland. The Canadian town of Zealand, New Brunswick, was named for the Zeeland birthplace of Dutchman Philip Crouse who settled in the area in 1789.[10]
+Zeeland, North Dakota is another town named for this province and whose earliest settlers were of Dutch heritage.
+
+Paramaribo, the capital and largest city of Suriname, has a Fort Zeelandia, the former Fort Willoughby during British colonization.
+
+Fort Zeelandia was a fortress built over ten years from 1624–1634 by the Dutch East India Company, in the town of Anping (Tainan) on the island of Formosa, present day Taiwan, during their 38-year rule over the western part of it.

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+
+Absolute zero is the lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value, taken as zero kelvins. The fundamental particles of nature have minimum vibrational motion, retaining only quantum mechanical, zero-point energy-induced particle motion. The theoretical temperature is determined by extrapolating the ideal gas law; by international agreement, absolute zero is taken as −273.15° on the Celsius scale (International System of Units),[1][2] which equals −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale (United States customary units or Imperial units).[3] The corresponding Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales set their zero points at absolute zero by definition.
+
+It is commonly thought of as the lowest temperature possible, but it is not the lowest enthalpy state possible, because all real substances begin to depart from the ideal gas when cooled as they approach the change of state to liquid, and then to solid; and the sum of the enthalpy of vaporization (gas to liquid) and enthalpy of fusion (liquid to solid) exceeds the ideal gas's change in enthalpy to absolute zero. In the quantum-mechanical description, matter (solid) at absolute zero is in its ground state, the point of lowest internal energy.
+
+The laws of thermodynamics indicate that absolute zero cannot be reached using only thermodynamic means, because the temperature of the substance being cooled approaches the temperature of the cooling agent asymptotically,[4] and a system at absolute zero still possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy, the energy of its ground state at absolute zero. The kinetic energy of the ground state cannot be removed.
+
+Scientists and technologists routinely achieve temperatures close to absolute zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity.
+
+At temperatures near 0 K (−273.15 °C; −459.67 °F), nearly all molecular motion ceases and ΔS = 0 for any adiabatic process, where S is the entropy. In such a circumstance, pure substances can (ideally) form perfect crystals as T → 0. Max Planck's strong form of the third law of thermodynamics states the entropy of a perfect crystal vanishes at absolute zero in which a perfect crystal is gone. The original Nernst heat theorem makes the weaker and less controversial claim that the entropy change for any isothermal process approaches zero as T → 0:
+
+The implication is that the entropy of a perfect crystal approaches a constant value.
+
+The Nerst postulate identifies the isotherm T = 0 as coincident with the adiabat S = 0, although other isotherms and adiabats are distinct. As no two adiabats intersect, no other adiabat can intersect the T = 0 isotherm. Consequently no adiabatic process initiated at nonzero temperature can lead to zero temperature. (≈ Callen, pp. 189–190)
+
+A perfect crystal is one in which the internal lattice structure extends uninterrupted in all directions. The perfect order can be represented by translational symmetry along three (not usually orthogonal) axes. Every lattice element of the structure is in its proper place, whether it is a single atom or a molecular grouping. For substances that exist in two (or more) stable crystalline forms, such as diamond and graphite for carbon, there is a kind of chemical degeneracy. The question remains whether both can have zero entropy at T = 0 even though each is perfectly ordered.
+
+Perfect crystals never occur in practice; imperfections, and even entire amorphous material inclusions, can and do get "frozen in" at low temperatures, so transitions to more stable states do not occur.
+
+Using the Debye model, the specific heat and entropy of a pure crystal are proportional to T 3, while the enthalpy and chemical potential are proportional to T 4. (Guggenheim, p. 111) These quantities drop toward their T = 0 limiting values and approach with zero slopes. For the specific heats at least, the limiting value itself is definitely zero, as borne out by experiments to below 10 K. Even the less detailed Einstein model shows this curious drop in specific heats. In fact, all specific heats vanish at absolute zero, not just those of crystals. Likewise for the coefficient of thermal expansion. Maxwell's relations show that various other quantities also vanish. These phenomena were unanticipated.
+
+Since the relation between changes in Gibbs free energy (G), the enthalpy (H) and the entropy is
+
+thus, as T decreases, ΔG and ΔH approach each other (so long as ΔS is bounded). Experimentally, it is found that all spontaneous processes (including chemical reactions) result in a decrease in G as they proceed toward equilibrium. If ΔS and/or T are small, the condition ΔG < 0 may imply that ΔH < 0, which would indicate an exothermic reaction. However, this is not required; endothermic reactions can proceed spontaneously if the TΔS term is large enough.
+
+Moreover, the slopes of the derivatives of ΔG and ΔH converge and are equal to zero at T = 0. This ensures that ΔG and ΔH are nearly the same over a considerable range of temperatures and justifies the approximate empirical Principle of Thomsen and Berthelot, which states that the equilibrium state to which a system proceeds is the one that evolves the greatest amount of heat, i.e., an actual process is the most exothermic one. (Callen, pp. 186–187)
+
+One model that estimates the properties of an electron gas at absolute zero in metals is the Fermi gas. The electrons, being Fermions, must be in different quantum states, which leads the electrons to get very high typical velocities, even at absolute zero. The maximum energy that electrons can have at absolute zero is called the Fermi energy. The Fermi temperature is defined as this maximum energy divided by Boltzmann's constant, and is of the order of 80,000 K for typical electron densities found in metals. For temperatures significantly below the Fermi temperature, the electrons behave in almost the same way as at absolute zero. This explains the failure of the classical equipartition theorem for metals that eluded classical physicists in the late 19th century.
+
+A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter of a dilute gas of weakly interacting bosons confined in an external potential and cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero. Under such conditions, a large fraction of the bosons occupy the lowest quantum state of the external potential, at which point quantum effects become apparent on a macroscopic scale.[5]
+
+This state of matter was first predicted by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein in 1924–25. Bose first sent a paper to Einstein on the quantum statistics of light quanta (now called photons). Einstein was impressed, translated the paper from English to German and submitted it for Bose to the Zeitschrift für Physik, which published it. Einstein then extended Bose's ideas to material particles (or matter) in two other papers.[6]
+
+Seventy years later, in 1995, the first gaseous condensate was produced by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman at the University of Colorado at Boulder NIST-JILA lab, using a gas of rubidium atoms cooled to 170 nanokelvins (nK)[7] (1.7×10−7 K).[8]
+
+A record cold temperature of 450 ± 80 picokelvins (pK) (4.5×10−10 K) in a BEC of sodium atoms was achieved in 2003 by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[9] The associated black-body (peak emittance) wavelength of 6,400 kilometers is roughly the radius of Earth.
+
+Absolute, or thermodynamic, temperature is conventionally measured in kelvins (Celsius-scaled increments) and in the Rankine scale (Fahrenheit-scaled increments) with increasing rarity. Absolute temperature measurement is uniquely determined by a multiplicative constant which specifies the size of the degree, so the ratios of two absolute temperatures, T2/T1, are the same in all scales. The most transparent definition of this standard comes from the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. It can also be found in Fermi–Dirac statistics (for particles of half-integer spin) and Bose–Einstein statistics (for particles of integer spin). All of these define the relative numbers of particles in a system as decreasing exponential functions of energy (at the particle level) over kT, with k representing the Boltzmann constant and T representing the temperature observed at the macroscopic level.[1]
+
+Temperatures that are expressed as negative numbers on the familiar Celsius or Fahrenheit scales are simply colder than the zero points of those scales. Certain systems can achieve truly negative temperatures; that is, their thermodynamic temperature (expressed in kelvins) can be of a negative quantity. A system with a truly negative temperature is not colder than absolute zero. Rather, a system with a negative temperature is hotter than any system with a positive temperature, in the sense that if a negative-temperature system and a positive-temperature system come in contact, heat flows from the negative to the positive-temperature system.[10]
+
+Most familiar systems cannot achieve negative temperatures because adding energy always increases their entropy. However, some systems have a maximum amount of energy that they can hold, and as they approach that maximum energy their entropy actually begins to decrease. Because temperature is defined by the relationship between energy and entropy, such a system's temperature becomes negative, even though energy is being added.[10] As a result, the Boltzmann factor for states of systems at negative temperature increases rather than decreases with increasing state energy. Therefore, no complete system, i.e. including the electromagnetic modes, can have negative temperatures, since there is no highest energy state,[citation needed] so that the sum of the probabilities of the states would diverge for negative temperatures. However, for quasi-equilibrium systems (e.g. spins out of equilibrium with the electromagnetic field) this argument does not apply, and negative effective temperatures are attainable.
+
+On 3 January 2013, physicists announced that for the first time they had created a quantum gas made up of potassium atoms with a negative temperature in motional degrees of freedom.[11]
+
+One of the first to discuss the possibility of an absolute minimal temperature was Robert Boyle. His 1665 New Experiments and Observations touching Cold, articulated the dispute known as the primum frigidum.[12] The concept was well known among naturalists of the time. Some contended an absolute minimum temperature occurred within earth (as one of the four classical elements), others within water, others air, and some more recently within nitre. But all of them seemed to agree that, "There is some body or other that is of its own nature supremely cold and by participation of which all other bodies obtain that quality."[13]
+
+The question whether there is a limit to the degree of coldness possible, and, if so, where the zero must be placed, was first addressed by the French physicist Guillaume Amontons in 1702, in connection with his improvements in the air thermometer. His instrument indicated temperatures by the height at which a certain mass of air sustained a column of mercury—the volume, or "spring" of the air varying with temperature. Amontons therefore argued that the zero of his thermometer would be that temperature at which the spring of the air was reduced to nothing. He used a scale that marked the boiling point of water at +73 and the melting point of ice at +​51 1⁄2, so that the zero was equivalent to about −240 on the Celsius scale.[14] Amontons held that the absolute zero cannot be reached, so never attempted to compute it explicitly.[15]
+The value of −240 °C, or "431 divisions [in Fahrenheit's thermometer] below the cold of freezing water"[16] was published by George Martine in 1740.
+
+This close approximation to the modern value of −273.15 °C[1] for the zero of the air thermometer was further improved upon in 1779 by Johann Heinrich Lambert, who observed that −270 °C (−454.00 °F; 3.15 K) might be regarded as absolute cold.[17]
+
+Values of this order for the absolute zero were not, however, universally accepted about this period. Pierre-Simon Laplace and Antoine Lavoisier, in their 1780 treatise on heat, arrived at values ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 below the freezing point of water, and thought that in any case it must be at least 600 below. John Dalton in his Chemical Philosophy gave ten calculations of this value, and finally adopted −3,000 °C as the natural zero of temperature.
+
+After James Prescott Joule had determined the mechanical equivalent of heat, Lord Kelvin approached the question from an entirely different point of view, and in 1848 devised a scale of absolute temperature that was independent of the properties of any particular substance and was based on Carnot's theory of the Motive Power of Heat and data published by Henri Victor Regnault.[18] It followed from the principles on which this scale was constructed that its zero was placed at −273 °C, at almost precisely the same point as the zero of the air thermometer.[14] This value was not immediately accepted; values ranging from −271.1 °C (−455.98 °F) to −274.5 °C (−462.10 °F), derived from laboratory measurements and observations of astronomical refraction, remained in use in the early 20th century.[19]
+
+With a better theoretical understanding of absolute zero, scientists were eager to reach this temperature in the lab.[20] By 1845, Michael Faraday had managed to liquefy most gases then known to exist, and reached a new record for lowest temperatures by reaching −130 °C (−202 °F; 143 K). Faraday believed that certain gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, were permanent gases and could not be liquefied.[21] Decades later, in 1873 Dutch theoretical scientist Johannes Diderik van der Waals demonstrated that these gases could be liquefied, but only under conditions of very high pressure and very low temperatures. In 1877, Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland succeeded in producing the first droplets of liquid air −195 °C (−319.0 °F; 78.1 K). This was followed in 1883 by the production of liquid oxygen −218 °C (−360.4 °F; 55.1 K) by the Polish professors Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski.
+
+Scottish chemist and physicist James Dewar and Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes took on the challenge to liquefy the remaining gases, hydrogen and helium. In 1898, after 20 years of effort, Dewar was first to liquefy hydrogen, reaching a new low-temperature record of −252 °C (−421.6 °F; 21.1 K). However, Kamerlingh Onnes, his rival, was the first to liquefy helium, in 1908, using several precooling stages and the Hampson–Linde cycle. He lowered the temperature to the boiling point of helium −269 °C (−452.20 °F; 4.15 K). By reducing the pressure of the liquid helium he achieved an even lower temperature, near 1.5 K. These were the coldest temperatures achieved on Earth at the time and his achievement earned him the Nobel Prize in 1913.[22] Kamerlingh Onnes would continue to study the properties of materials at temperatures near absolute zero, describing superconductivity and superfluids for the first time.
+
+The average temperature of the universe today is approximately 2.73 kelvins (−270.42 °C; −454.76 °F), based on measurements of cosmic microwave background radiation.[23][24]
+
+Absolute zero cannot be achieved, although it is possible to reach temperatures close to it through the use of cryocoolers, dilution refrigerators, and nuclear adiabatic demagnetization. The use of laser cooling has produced temperatures less than a billionth of a kelvin.[25] At very low temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero, matter exhibits many unusual properties, including superconductivity, superfluidity, and Bose–Einstein condensation. To study such phenomena, scientists have worked to obtain even lower temperatures.

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+Coordinates: 50°50′N 4°00′E / 50.833°N 4.000°E / 50.833; 4.000
+
+– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green)
+
+Belgium,[A] officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376 per square kilometre (970/sq mi). The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.
+
+Legally, Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds. It is divided into three highly autonomous regions:[10] the Flemish Region in the north, Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region. Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region, as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita.
+
+Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the French-speaking Community, which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians. A small German-speaking Community, numbering around one percent, exists in the East Cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), although French is the dominant language.[11] Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments.
+
+Historically, Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states that also included parts of northern France and western Germany. Its modern name is derived from the Latin word Belgium, used in Julius Caesar's "Gallic War", to describe the region in the period around 55 BCE.[12] From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, the area of Belgium was a prosperous and cosmopolitan center of commerce and culture. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Belgium served as the battleground between many European powers, earning the moniker the "Battlefield of Europe",[13] a reputation strengthened by both world wars. The country emerged in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, when it seceded from the Netherlands.
+
+Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution[14][15] and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.[16] The second half of the 20th century was marked by rising tensions between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking citizens  fueled by differences in language and culture and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Despite the reforms, tensions between the groups have remained, if not increased; there is significant separatism particularly among the Flemish; controversial language laws exist such as the municipalities with language facilities;[17] and the formation of a coalition government took 18 months following the June 2010 federal election, a world record.[18] Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders, which boomed after the war.[19]
+
+Belgium is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and its capital, Brussels, hosts the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, as well as one of two seats of the European Parliament (the other being Strasbourg). Belgium is also a founding member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD, and WTO, and a part of the trilateral Benelux Union and the Schengen Area. Brussels hosts the headquarters of many major international organizations such as NATO.[B]
+
+Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy. It has very high standards of living, quality of life,[20] healthcare,[21] education,[22] and is categorized as "very high" in the Human Development Index.[23] It also ranks as one of the safest or most peaceful countries in the world.[24]
+
+— Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1
+
+The Belgae were the inhabitants of the northernmost part of Gaul, which was significantly bigger than modern Belgium. Caesar used the word "Belgium" once, to refer to their region. Gallia Belgica, as it was more commonly called, became a Roman province as a result of his conquests. Areas closer to the Rhine frontier, including the eastern part of modern Belgium, eventually became part of the province of Germania Inferior, which interacted with Germanic tribes outside the empire. At the time when central government collapsed in the Western Roman Empire, the region of Belgium was inhabited by a mix of Frankish tribes and a more Romanized population. During the 5th century the area came under the rule of the Merovingian kings, who had already seized power in what is northern France. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire.
+
+The Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the Carolingian empire into three kingdoms, whose borders had a lasting impact on medieval political boundaries. Most of modern Belgium was in the Middle Kingdom, later known as Lotharingia. Only the coastal county of Flanders became part of West Francia, the predecessor of France. In 870 in the Treaty of Meersen, modern Belgium lands all became part of the western kingdom, and in 880 in the Treaty of Ribemont, Lotharingia came under the lasting control of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the lordships along the "March" (frontier) between the two great kingdoms maintained important connections.
+
+Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries.[27]
+Emperor Charles V extended the personal union of the Seventeen Provinces in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 and increased his influence over the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.[28]
+
+The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces (Belgica Foederata in Latin, the "Federated Netherlands") and the Southern Netherlands (Belgica Regia, the "Royal Netherlands"). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish (Spanish Netherlands) and the Austrian Habsburgs (Austrian Netherlands) and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of several more protracted conflicts during much of the 17th and 18th centuries involving France, including the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
+
+Following the campaigns of 1794 in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège—were annexed by the French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1814, after the abdication of Napoleon.
+
+In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the establishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress.[29][30] Since the installation of Leopold I as king on 21 July 1831, now celebrated as Belgium's National Day, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a laicist constitution based on the Napoleonic code.[31] Although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 (with plural voting until 1919) and for women in 1949.
+
+The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party, with the Belgian Labour Party emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognized as well. This recognition became official in 1898, and in 1967, the parliament accepted a Dutch version of the Constitution.[32]
+
+The Berlin Conference of 1885 ceded control of the Congo Free State to King Leopold II as his private possession. From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production.[33] Many Congolese were killed by Leopold's agents for failing to meet production quotas for ivory and rubber.[34] In 1908, this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo.[35] A Belgian commission in 1919 estimated that Congo's population was half what it was in 1879.[34]
+
+Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France, and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the Rape of Belgium due to German excesses. Belgium assumed control of the German colonies of Ruanda-Urundi (modern-day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and in 1924 the League of Nations mandated them to Belgium. In the aftermath of the First World War, Belgium annexed the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.
+
+German forces again invaded the country in May 1940, and 40,690 Belgians, over half of them Jews, were killed during the subsequent occupation and The Holocaust. From September 1944 to February 1945 the Allies liberated Belgium. After World War II, a general strike forced King Leopold III to abdicate in 1951, since many Belgians felt he had collaborated with Germany during the war.[36] The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis;[37] Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
+
+Belgium became one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and of the European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community, established in 1957. The latter has now become the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.
+
+Belgium shares borders with France (620 km), Germany (167 km), Luxembourg (148 km) and the Netherlands (450 km). Its total surface, including water area, is 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi). Before 2018, its total area was believed to be 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi). However, when the country's statistics were measured in 2018, a new calculation method was used. Unlike previous calculations, this one included the area from the coast to the low-water line, revealing the country to be 160 km2 (62 sq mi) larger in surface area than previously thought.[38][39] Its land area alone is 30,278 km2.[40][needs update] It lies between latitudes 49°30' and 51°30' N, and longitudes 2°33' and 6°24' E.[41]
+
+Belgium has three main geographical regions; the coastal plain in the northwest and the central plateau both belong to the Anglo-Belgian Basin, and the Ardennes uplands in the southeast to the Hercynian orogenic belt. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.[42]
+
+The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Further inland lies a smooth, slowly rising landscape irrigated by numerous waterways, with fertile valleys and the northeastern sandy plain of the Campine (Kempen). The thickly forested hills and plateaus of the Ardennes are more rugged and rocky with caves and small gorges. Extending westward into France, this area is eastwardly connected to the Eifel in Germany by the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the country's highest point at 694 m (2,277 ft).[43][44]
+
+The climate is maritime temperate with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), like most of northwest Europe.[45] The average temperature is lowest in January at 3 °C (37.4 °F) and highest in July at 18 °C (64.4 °F). The average precipitation per month varies between 54 mm (2.1 in) for February and April, to 78 mm (3.1 in) for July.[46] Averages for the years 2000 to 2006 show daily temperature minimums of 7 °C (44.6 °F) and maximums of 14 °C (57.2 °F) and monthly rainfall of 74 mm (2.9 in); these are about 1 °C and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values, respectively.[47]
+
+Phytogeographically, Belgium is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom.[48] According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Belgium belongs to the ecoregion of Atlantic mixed forests.[49]
+
+The territory of Belgium is divided into three Regions, two of which, the Flemish Region and Walloon Region, are in turn subdivided into provinces; the third Region, the Brussels Capital Region, is neither a province nor a part of a province.
+
+Belgium is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a federal parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives. The former is made up of 50 senators appointed by the parliaments of the communities and regions and 10 co-opted senators. Prior to 2014, most of the Senate's members were directly elected. The Chamber's 150 representatives are elected under a proportional voting system from 11 electoral districts. Belgium has compulsory voting and thus maintains one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world.[50]
+
+The King (currently Philippe) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government. The Council of Ministers is composed of no more than fifteen members. With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers is composed of an equal number of Dutch-speaking members and French-speaking members.[51]
+The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Napoleonic code. The Court of Cassation is the court of last resort, with the courts of appeal one level below.[52]
+
+Belgium's political institutions are complex; most political power is organized around the need to represent the main cultural communities.[53]
+Since about 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct components that mainly represent the political and linguistic interests of these communities.[54]
+The major parties in each community, though close to the political center, belong to three main groups: Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Social Democrats.[55]
+Further notable parties came into being well after the middle of last century, mainly around linguistic, nationalist, or environmental themes and recently smaller ones of some specific liberal nature.[54]
+
+A string of Christian Democrat coalition governments from 1958 was broken in 1999 after the first dioxin crisis, a major food contamination scandal.[56][57][58] A "rainbow coalition" emerged from six parties: the Flemish and the French-speaking Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens.[59] Later, a "purple coalition" of Liberals and Social Democrats formed after the Greens lost most of their seats in the 2003 election.[60]
+
+The government led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 to 2007 achieved a balanced budget, some tax reforms, a labor-market reform, scheduled nuclear phase-out and instigated legislation allowing more stringent war crime and more lenient soft drug usage prosecution. Restrictions on withholding euthanasia were reduced and same-sex marriage legalized. The government promoted active diplomacy in Africa[61] and opposed the invasion of Iraq.[62] It is the only country that does not have age restrictions on euthanasia.[63]
+
+Verhofstadt's coalition fared badly in the June 2007 elections. For more than a year, the country experienced a political crisis.[64] This crisis was such that many observers speculated on a possible partition of Belgium.[65][66][67] From 21 December 2007 until 20 March 2008 the temporary Verhofstadt III Government was in office. This coalition of the Flemish and Francophone Christian Democrats, the Flemish and Francophone Liberals together with the Francophone Social Democrats was an interim government until 20 March 2008.[68]
+
+On that day a new government, led by Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, the actual winner of the federal elections of June 2007, was sworn in by the king. On 15 July 2008 Leterme announced the resignation of the cabinet to the king, as no progress in constitutional reforms had been made.[68]
+In December 2008 he once more offered his resignation to the king after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas.[69] At this juncture, his resignation was accepted and Christian Democratic and Flemish Herman Van Rompuy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 30 December 2008.[70]
+
+After Herman Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent President of the European Council on 19 November 2009, he offered the resignation of his government to King Albert II on 25 November 2009. A few hours later, the new government under Prime Minister Yves Leterme was sworn in. On 22 April 2010, Leterme again offered the resignation of his cabinet to the king[71] after one of the coalition partners, the OpenVLD, withdrew from the government, and on 26 April 2010 King Albert officially accepted the resignation.[72]
+
+The Parliamentary elections in Belgium on 13 June 2010 saw the Flemish nationalist N-VA become the largest party in Flanders, and the Socialist Party PS the largest party in Wallonia.[73] Until December 2011, Belgium was governed by Leterme's caretaker government awaiting the end of the deadlocked negotiations for formation of a new government. By 30 March 2011 this set a new world record for the elapsed time without an official government, previously held by war-torn Iraq.[74] Finally, in December 2011 the Di Rupo Government led by Walloon socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was sworn in.
+
+The 2014 federal election (coinciding with the regional elections) resulted in a further electoral gain for the Flemish nationalist N-VA, although the incumbent coalition (composed of Flemish and French-speaking Social Democrats, Liberals, and Christian Democrats) maintains a solid majority in Parliament and in all electoral constituencies. On 22 July 2014, King Philippe nominated Charles Michel (MR) and Kris Peeters (CD&V) to lead the formation of a new federal cabinet composed of the Flemish parties N-VA, CD&V, Open Vld and the French-speaking MR, which resulted in the Michel Government. It is the first time N-VA is part of the federal cabinet, while the French-speaking side is represented only by the MR, which achieved a minority of the public votes in Wallonia.
+
+Following a usage which can be traced back to the Burgundian and Habsburg courts,[75] in the 19th century it was necessary to speak French to belong to the governing upper class, and those who could only speak Dutch were effectively second-class citizens.[76] Late that century, and continuing into the 20th century, Flemish movements evolved to counter this situation.[77]
+
+While the people in Southern Belgium spoke French or dialects of French, and most Brusselers adopted French as their first language, the Flemings refused to do so and succeeded progressively in making Dutch an equal language in the education system.[77] Following World War II, Belgian politics became increasingly dominated by the autonomy of its two main linguistic communities.[78] Intercommunal tensions rose and the constitution was amended to minimize the potential for conflict.[78]
+
+Based on the four language areas defined in 1962–63 (the Dutch, bilingual, French and German language areas), consecutive revisions of the country's constitution in 1970, 1980, 1988 and 1993 established a unique form of a federal state with segregated political power into three levels:[79][80]
+
+The constitutional language areas determine the official languages in their municipalities, as well as the geographical limits of the empowered institutions for specific matters.[81] Although this would allow for seven parliaments and governments when the Communities and Regions were created in 1980, Flemish politicians decided to merge both.[82] Thus the Flemings just have one single institutional body of parliament and government is empowered for all except federal and specific municipal matters.[C]
+
+The overlapping boundaries of the Regions and Communities have created two notable peculiarities: the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region (which came into existence nearly a decade after the other regions) is included in both the Flemish and French Communities, and the territory of the German-speaking Community lies wholly within the Walloon Region. Conflicts about jurisdiction between the bodies are resolved by the Constitutional Court of Belgium. The structure is intended as a compromise to allow different cultures to live together peacefully.[14]
+
+The Federal State's authority includes justice, defense, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy and public debt, and other aspects of public finances. State-owned companies include the Belgian Post Group and Belgian Railways. The Federal Government is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs.[83] The budget—without the debt—controlled by the federal government amounts to about 50% of the national fiscal income. The federal government employs around 12% of the civil servants.[84]
+
+Communities exercise their authority only within linguistically determined geographical boundaries, originally oriented towards the individuals of a Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education and the use of the relevant language. Extensions to personal matters less directly connected with language comprise health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, and so on.).[85]
+
+Regions have authority in fields that can be broadly associated with their territory. These include economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit and foreign trade. They supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies.[86]
+
+In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specifics. With education, for instance, the autonomy of the Communities neither includes decisions about the compulsory aspect nor allows for setting minimum requirements for awarding qualifications, which remain federal matters.[83] Each level of government can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. The treaty-making power of the Regions' and Communities' Governments is the broadest of all the Federating units of all the Federations all over the world.[87][88][89]
+
+Because of its location at the crossroads of Western Europe, Belgium has historically been the route of invading armies from its larger neighbors. With virtually defenseless borders, Belgium has traditionally sought to avoid domination by the more powerful nations which surround it through a policy of mediation. The Belgians have been strong advocates of European integration. Both the European Union and NATO are headquartered in Belgium.
+
+The Belgian Armed Forces have about 47,000 active troops. In 2019, Belgium's defense budget totaled €4.303 billion ($4.921 billion) representing .93% of its GDP.[90] They are organized into one unified structure which consists of four main components: Land Component, or the Army; Air Component, or the Air Force; Marine Component, or the Navy; Medical Component. The operational commands of the four components are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defense, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training, and to the Chief of Defense.[91]
+
+The effects of the Second World War made collective security a priority for Belgian foreign policy. In March 1948 Belgium signed the Treaty of Brussels and then joined NATO in 1948. However, the integration of the armed forces into NATO did not begin until after the Korean War.[92] The Belgians, along with the Luxembourg government, sent a detachment of battalion strength to fight in Korea known as the Belgian United Nations Command. This mission was the first in a long line of UN missions which the Belgians supported. Currently, the Belgian Marine Component is working closely together with the Dutch Navy under the command of the Admiral Benelux.
+
+Belgium's strongly globalized economy[93] and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helped make it the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007.[94][95] The economy is characterized by a highly productive work force, high GNP and high exports per capita.[96] Belgium's main imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, and oil products. Its main exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, and foodstuffs.[40]
+
+The Belgian economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature: a dynamic Flemish economy and a Walloon economy that lags behind.[14][97][D] One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports an open economy and the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate member economies. Since 1922, through the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market with customs and currency union.[98]
+
+Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 19th century.[99] Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century in the Sambre and Meuse valley and made Belgium one of the three most industrialized nations in the world from 1830 to 1910.[100][101] However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis, and the region experienced famine from 1846 to 1850.[102][103]
+
+After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced a serious decline.[104] In the 1980s and 1990s, the economic center of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[105]
+
+By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006[update], the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP.[106] In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the Euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average. By October 2010, this had grown to 8.5% compared to an average rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27).[107][108] From 1832 until 2002, Belgium's currency was the Belgian franc. Belgium switched to the euro in 2002, with the first sets of euro coins being minted in 1999. The standard Belgian euro coins designated for circulation show the portrait of the monarch (first King Albert II, since 2013 King Philippe).
+
+Despite an 18% decrease observed from 1970 to 1999, Belgium still had in 1999 the highest rail network density within the European Union with 113.8 km/1 000 km2. On the other hand, the same period, 1970–1999, has seen a huge growth (+56%) of the motorway network. In 1999, the density of km motorways per 1000 km2 and 1000 inhabitants amounted to 55.1 and 16.5 respectively and were significantly superior to the EU's means of 13.7 and 15.9.[109]
+
+From a biological resource perspective, Belgium has a low endowment: Belgium's biocapacity adds up to only 0.8 global hectares in 2016,[110] just about half of the 1.6 global hectares of biocapacity available per person worldwide.[111] In contrast, in 2016, Belgians used on average 6.3 global hectares of biocapacity - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they required about eight times as much biocapacity as Belgium contains. As a result, Belgium was running a biocapacity deficit of 5.5 global hectares per person in 2016.[110]
+
+Belgium experiences some of the most congested traffic in Europe. In 2010, commuters to the cities of Brussels and Antwerp spent respectively 65 and 64 hours a year in traffic jams.[112] Like in most small European countries, more than 80% of the airways traffic is handled by a single airport, the Brussels Airport. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge (Bruges) share more than 80% of Belgian maritime traffic, Antwerp being the second European harbor with a gross weight of goods handled of 115 988 000 t in 2000 after a growth of 10.9% over the preceding five years.[109][113] In 2016, the port of Antwerp handled 214 million tons after a year-on-year growth of 2.7%.[114]
+
+There is a large economic gap between Flanders and Wallonia. Wallonia was historically wealthy compared to Flanders, mostly due to its heavy industries, but the decline of the steel industry post-World War II led to the region's rapid decline, whereas Flanders rose swiftly. Since then, Flanders has been prosperous, among the wealthiest regions in Europe, whereas Wallonia has been languishing. As of 2007, the unemployment rate of Wallonia is over double that of Flanders. The divide has played a key part in the tensions between the Flemish and Walloons in addition to the already-existing language divide. Pro-independence movements have gained high popularity in Flanders as a consequence. The separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, for instance, is the largest party in Belgium.[115][116][117]
+
+Contributions to the development of science and technology have appeared throughout the country's history. The 16th century Early Modern flourishing of Western Europe included cartographer Gerardus Mercator, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens[118][119][120][121] and mathematician Simon Stevin among the most influential scientists.[122]
+
+Chemist Ernest Solvay[123] and engineer Zenobe Gramme (École industrielle de Liège)[124] gave their names to the Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo, respectively, in the 1860s. Bakelite was developed in 1907–1909 by Leo Baekeland. Ernest Solvay also acted as a major philanthropist and gave its name to the Solvay Institute of Sociology, the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry which are now part of the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1911, he started a series of conferences, the Solvay Conferences on Physics and Chemistry, which have had a deep impact on the evolution of quantum physics and chemistry.[125] A major contribution to fundamental science was also due to a Belgian, Monsignor Georges Lemaître (Catholic University of Louvain), who is credited with proposing the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927.[126]
+
+Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 1919, Corneille Heymans (University of Ghent) in 1938 and Albert Claude (Université libre de Bruxelles) together with Christian de Duve (Université catholique de Louvain) in 1974. François Englert (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013. Ilya Prigogine (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.[127] Two Belgian mathematicians have been awarded the Fields Medal: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994.[128][129]
+
+As of 1 January 2020, the total population of Belgium according to its population register was 11,492,641.[4] The population density of Belgium is 376/km2 (970/sq mi) as of January 2019, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world, and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe. The most densely populated province is Antwerp, the least densely populated province is Luxembourg. As of January 2019, the Flemish Region had a population of 6,589,069 (57.6% of Belgium), its most populous cities being Antwerp (523,248), Ghent (260,341) and Bruges (118,284). Wallonia had a population of 3,633,795 (31.8% of Belgium) with Charleroi (201,816), Liège (197,355) and Namur (110,939), its most populous cities. The Brussels Capital Region has 1,208,542 inhabitants (10.6% of Belgium) in the 19 municipalities, three of which have over 100,000 residents.[4]
+
+In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across Belgium was 1.64 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 4.87 children born per woman in 1873.[130] Belgium subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 41.5 years.[131]
+
+As of 2007[update], nearly 92% of the population had Belgian citizenship,[132] and other European Union member citizens account for around 6%. The prevalent foreign nationals were Italian (171,918), French (125,061), Dutch (116,970), Moroccan (80,579), Portuguese (43,509), Spanish (42,765), Turkish (39,419) and German (37,621).[133][134] In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685,000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695,000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State.[135][136]
+
+At the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed around 25% of the total population i.e. 2.8 million new Belgians.[137] Of these new Belgians, 1,200,000 are of European ancestry and 1,350,000[138] are from non-Western countries (most of them from Morocco, Turkey, and the DR Congo). Since the modification of the Belgian nationality law in 1984 more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship. The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Moroccans.[139] 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.[138]
+
+
+
+Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.[140]
+As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects.[141] However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 60% of the Belgian population are native speakers of Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French natively. French-speaking Belgians are often referred to as Walloons, although the French speakers in Brussels are not Walloons.[E]
+
+The total number of native Dutch speakers is estimated to be about 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while native French speakers number 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (or 85%) in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region.[F][142] The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.[143][144][145][146]
+
+Both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French have minor differences in vocabulary and semantic nuances from the varieties spoken respectively in the Netherlands and France. Many Flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. Walloon, considered either as a dialect of French or a distinct Romance language,[147][148] is now only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people. Walloon is divided into four dialects, which along with those of Picard,[149] are rarely used in public life and have largely been replaced by French.
+
+Since the country's independence, Roman Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics.[150] However Belgium is largely a secular country as the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. During the reigns of Albert I and Baudouin, the Belgian royal family had a reputation of deeply rooted Catholicism.[151]
+
+Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5% for Belgium in total; 3% in Brussels,[152] and 5.4% in Flanders. Church attendance in 2009 in Belgium was roughly half of the Sunday church attendance in 1998 (11% for the total of Belgium in 1998).[153] Despite the drop in church attendance, Catholic identity nevertheless remains an important part of Belgium's culture.[151]
+
+According to the Eurobarometer 2010,[154] 37% of Belgian citizens responded that they believe there is a God. 31% answered that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life-force. 27% answered that they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life-force. 5% did not respond. According to the Eurobarometer 2015, 60.7% of the total population of Belgium adhered to Christianity, with Roman Catholicism being the largest denomination with 52.9%. Protestants comprised 2.1% and Orthodox Christians were the 1.6% of the total. Non-religious people comprised 32.0% of the population and were divided between atheists (14.9%) and agnostics (17.1%). A further 5.2% of the population was Muslim and 2.1% were believers in other religions.[155] The same survey held in 2012 found that Christianity was the largest religion in Belgium, accounting for 65% of Belgians.[156]
+
+Symbolically and materially, the Roman Catholic Church remains in a favorable position.[151] Belgium officially recognizes three religions: Christianity (Catholic, Protestantism, Orthodox churches and Anglicanism), Islam and Judaism.[157]
+
+In the early 2000s, there were approximately 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (numbering some 18,000) is one of the largest in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is the primary language of a large Jewish community (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hasidic communities in New York, New Jersey, and Israel). In addition, most Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education.[158] There are several Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues (30 of which are in Antwerp) in the country.
+A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered to be a more religious region than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves religious and that 36% believed that God created the universe.[159] On the other hand, Wallonia has become one of Europe's most secular/least religious regions. Most of the French-speaking region's population does not consider religion an important part of their lives, and as much as 45% of the population identifies as irreligious. This is particularly the case in eastern Wallonia and areas along the French border.
+
+A 2008 estimate found that approximately 6% of the Belgian population (628,751 people) is Muslim.[160] Muslims constitute 23.6% of the population of Brussels, 4.9% of Wallonia and 5.1% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the major cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. The largest group of immigrants in Belgium are Moroccans, with 400,000 people. The Turks are the third largest group, and the second largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[139][161]
+
+The Belgians enjoy good health. According to 2012 estimates, the average life expectancy is 79.65 years.[40] Since 1960, life expectancy has, in line with the European average, grown by two months per year. Death in Belgium is mainly due to heart and vascular disorders, neoplasms, disorders of the respiratory system and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide). Non-natural causes of death and cancer are the most common causes of death for females up to age 24 and males up to age 44.[162]
+
+Healthcare in Belgium is financed through both social security contributions and taxation. Health insurance is compulsory. Health care is delivered by a mixed public and private system of independent medical practitioners and public, university and semi-private hospitals. Health care service are payable by the patient and reimbursed later by health insurance institutions, but for ineligible categories (of patients and services) so-called 3rd party payment systems exist.[162] The Belgian health care system is supervised and financed by the federal government, the Flemish and Walloon Regional governments; and the German Community also has (indirect) oversight and responsibilities.[162]
+
+For the first time in Belgian history, the first child was euthanized following the 2-year mark of the removal of the euthanization age restrictions. The child had been euthanized due to an incurable disease that was inflicted upon the child. Although there may have been some support for the euthanization there is a possibility of controversy due to the issue revolving around the subject of assisted suicide.[163][164] Excluding assisted suicide, Belgium has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe and one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world (exceeded only by Lithuania, South Korea, and Latvia).[165]
+
+Education is compulsory from 6 to 18 years of age for Belgians.[166] Among OECD countries in 2002, Belgium had the third highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in postsecondary education, at 42%.[167] Though an estimated 99% of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.[149][168] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Belgium's education as the 19th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.[169] Education being organized separately by each, the Flemish Community scores noticeably above the French and German-speaking Communities.[170]
+
+Mirroring the dual structure of the 19th-century Belgian political landscape, characterized by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is segregated within a secular and a religious segment. The secular branch of schooling is controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, while religious, mainly Catholic branch education, is organized by religious authorities, although subsidized and supervised by the communities.[171]
+
+Despite its political and linguistic divisions, the region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence on European art and culture. Nowadays, to a certain extent, cultural life is concentrated within each language Community, and a variety of barriers have made a shared cultural sphere less pronounced.[14][172][173] Since the 1970s, there are no bilingual universities or colleges in the country except the Royal Military Academy and the Antwerp Maritime Academy, no common media[174] and no single large cultural or scientific organization in which both main communities are represented.[175]
+
+Contributions to painting and architecture have been especially rich. The Mosan art, the Early Netherlandish,[176] the Flemish Renaissance and Baroque painting[177] and major examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture[178] are milestones in the history of art. While the 15th century's art in the Low Countries is dominated by the religious paintings of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, the 16th century is characterized by a broader panel of styles such as Peter Breughel's landscape paintings and Lambert Lombard's representation of the antique.[179] Though the Baroque style of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck flourished in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands,[180] it gradually declined thereafter.[181][182]
+
+During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Belgian painters emerged, including James Ensor and other artists belonging to the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux and René Magritte. The avant-garde CoBrA movement appeared in the 1950s, while the sculptor Panamarenko remains a remarkable figure in contemporary art.[183][184] Multidisciplinary artists Jan Fabre, Wim Delvoye and the painter Luc Tuymans are other internationally renowned figures on the contemporary art scene.
+
+Belgian contributions to architecture also continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, including the work of Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, who were major initiators of the Art Nouveau style.[185][186]
+
+The vocal music of the Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries and was an important contribution to Renaissance culture.[187] In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an emergence of major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux, while Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822. Contemporary popular music in Belgium is also of repute. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans and singer Jacques Brel have achieved global fame. Nowadays, singer Stromae has been a musical revelation in Europe and beyond, having great success. In rock/pop music, Telex, Front 242, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax and dEUS are well known. In the heavy metal scene, bands like Machiavel, Channel Zero and Enthroned have a worldwide fan-base.[188]
+
+Belgium has produced several well-known authors, including the poets Emile Verhaeren, Robert Goffin and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar, Hugo Claus and Amélie Nothomb. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé is the best known of Franco-Belgian comics, but many other major authors, including Peyo (The Smurfs), André Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe), Dupa (Cubitus), Morris (Lucky Luke), Greg (Achille Talon), Lambil (Les Tuniques Bleues), Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame.[189] Additionally, famous crime author Agatha Christie created the character Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, who has served as a protagonist in a number of her acclaimed mystery novels.
+
+Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen.[G] Other Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; well-known actors include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain; and successful films include Bullhead, Man Bites Dog and The Alzheimer Affair.[190] In the 1980s, Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts produced important fashion trendsetters, known as the Antwerp Six.[191]
+
+Folklore plays a major role in Belgium's cultural life: the country has a comparatively high number of processions, cavalcades, parades, 'ommegangs' and 'ducasses',[H] 'kermesse' and other local festivals, nearly always with an originally religious or mythological background. The Carnival of Binche with its famous Gilles and the 'Processional Giants and Dragons' of Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons are recognized by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.[192]
+
+Other examples are the Carnival of Aalst; the still very religious processions of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Virga Jesse Basilica in Hasselt and Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen; 15 August festival in Liège; and the Walloon festival in Namur. Originated in 1832 and revived in the 1960s, the Gentse Feesten have become a modern tradition. A major non-official holiday is the Saint Nicholas Day, a festivity for children and, in Liège, for students.[193]
+
+Many highly ranked Belgian restaurants can be found in the most influential restaurant guides, such as the Michelin Guide.[194] Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries with mayonnaise. Contrary to their name, french fries are claimed to have originated in Belgium, although their exact place of origin is uncertain. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".[195][196][197][I]
+
+Brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines, like Côte d'Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas and Godiva are famous, as well as independent producers such as Burie and Del Rey in Antwerp and Mary's in Brussels.[198] Belgium produces over 1100 varieties of beer.[199][200] The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer.[201][202][203]
+The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven.[204]
+
+Since the 1970s, sports clubs and federations are organized separately within each language community.[205] Association football is the most popular sport in both parts of Belgium; also very popular are cycling, tennis, swimming, judo[206] and basketball.[207]
+
+Belgians hold the most Tour de France victories of any country except France. They have also the most victories on the UCI Road World Championships. Philippe Gilbert is the 2012 world champion. Another modern well-known Belgian cyclist is Tom Boonen. With five victories in the Tour de France and numerous other cycling records, Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx is regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.[208] Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is considered one of the greatest in the history of association football.[209]
+
+Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships, and co-hosted the 2000 European Championships with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team reached first place in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November 2015.[210]
+
+Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both were Player of the Year in the Women's Tennis Association as they were ranked the number one female tennis player.
+The Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit hosts the Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver, Jacky Ickx, won eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished twice as runner-up in the Formula One World Championship. Belgium also has a strong reputation in, motocross with the riders Joel Robert, Roger De Coster, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and Stefan Everts among others.[211] Sporting events annually held in Belgium include the Memorial Van Damme athletics competition, the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, and a number of classic cycle races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp. The 1977 European Basketball Championship was held in Liège and Ostend.
+
+(Several editions in English, incl. (1997) 7th ed.)

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+
+
+Zeus[a] is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Indra, Dyaus and Thor.[6][7][8][9]
+
+Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus.[10] At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite.[13] Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses.[10]
+
+He was respected as an allfather who was chief of the gods[14] and assigned roles to the others:[15] "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence."[16][17] He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men".[18] Zeus' symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta)[19]  also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.
+
+The god's name in the nominative is Ζεύς (Zeús). It is inflected as follows: vocative: Ζεῦ (Zeû); accusative: Δία (Día); genitive: Διός (Diós); dative: Διί (Dií). Diogenes Laërtius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name Ζάς.[20]
+
+Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father").[21][22] The god is known under this name in the Rigveda (Vedic Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr),[23] deriving from the root *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").[21]
+Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[24]
+
+The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐀸, di-we and 𐀇𐀺, di-wo, written in the Linear B syllabic script.[25]
+
+Plato, in his Cratylus, gives a folk etymology of Zeus meaning "cause of life always to all things", because of puns between alternate titles of Zeus (Zen and Dia) with the Greek words for life and "because of".[26]  This etymology, along with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not supported by modern scholarship.[27][28]
+
+Diodorus Siculus wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was the cause of life (zen).[29][30] While Lactantius wrote that he was called Zeus and Zen, not because he is the giver of life, but because he was the first who lived of the children of Cronus.[31]
+
+Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father, an oracle that Rhea heard and wished to avert.
+
+When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children.  Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.[32]
+
+Varying versions of the story exist:
+
+After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus's stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Campe.
+
+As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus, his brothers and sisters, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans who fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.
+
+After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans who died (see also Penthus).
+
+Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.
+
+When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by human sacrifice and other signs of human decadence. He decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother Poseidon. After the flood, only Deucalion and Pyrrha remained.[33] This flood narrative is a common motif in mythology.[34]
+
+Throughout history Zeus has been depicted as using violence to get his way and terrorize humans. As god of the sky he has the power to hurl lightning bolts as a weapon. Since lightning is quite powerful and sometimes deadly, it is a bold sign when lightning strikes because it is known that Zeus most likely threw the bolt.[citation needed]
+
+The Iliad is a poem by Homer about the Trojan war and the battle over the City of Troy, in which Zeus plays a major part.
+
+Scenes in which Zeus appears include:[35][36]
+
+Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia, Eris, Enyo and Angelos as their daughters. In the section of the Iliad known to scholars as the Deception of Zeus, the two of them are described as having begun their sexual relationship without their parents knowing about it.[37] The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Metis, Themis, Eurynome and Mnemosyne.[38][39] Other relationships with immortals included Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see below) and with the young Ganymede (although he was mortal Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality).
+
+Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by talking incessantly, and when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.
+
+1The Greeks variously claimed that the Moires/Fates were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis or of primordial beings like Chaos, Nyx, or Ananke.
+
+2The Charites/Graces were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome but they were also said to be daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios and the naiad Aegle.
+
+3Some accounts say that Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus were born parthenogenetically.
+
+4According to one version, Athena is said to be born parthenogenetically.
+
+5Helen was either the daughter of Leda or Nemesis.
+
+6Tyche is usually considered a daughter of Aphrodite and Hermes.
+
+
+
+Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes  and was featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
+
+Aside from local epithets that simply designated the deity as doing something random at some particular place, the epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:
+
+Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:
+
+The major center where all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. Their quadrennial festival featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash, from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there.
+
+Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were no modes of worshipping Zeus precisely shared across the Greek world. Most of the titles listed below, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.
+
+With one exception, Greeks were unanimous in recognizing the birthplace of Zeus as Crete. Minoan culture contributed many essentials of ancient Greek religion: "by a hundred channels the old civilization emptied itself into the new", Will Durant observed,[98] and Cretan Zeus retained his youthful Minoan features. The local child of the Great Mother, "a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort",[99] whose Minoan name the Greeks Hellenized as Velchanos, was in time assumed as an epithet by Zeus, as transpired at many other sites, and he came to be venerated in Crete as Zeus Velchanos ("boy-Zeus"), often simply the Kouros.
+
+In Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. In the Hellenistic period a small sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Velchanos was founded at the Hagia Triada site of a long-ruined Minoan palace. Broadly contemporary coins from Phaistos show the form under which he was worshiped: a youth sits among the branches of a tree, with a cockerel on his knees.[100] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[101] Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[102]
+
+The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult and hymned as ho megas kouros, "the great youth". Ivory statuettes of the "Divine Boy" were unearthed near the Labyrinth at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans.[103] With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.
+
+The myth of the death of Cretan Zeus, localised in numerous mountain sites though only mentioned in a comparatively late source, Callimachus,[104] together with the assertion of Antoninus Liberalis that a fire shone forth annually from the birth-cave the infant shared with a mythic swarm of bees, suggests that Velchanos had been an annual vegetative spirit.[105]
+The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously, his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerus himself have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion.
+
+The epithet Zeus Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection[106] with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the ephebes who were the participants.[107] Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[108] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast.[109]
+
+According to Plato,[110]  a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.
+
+There is, however, the crucial detail that Lykaios or Lykeios (epithets of Zeus and Apollo) may derive from Proto-Greek *λύκη, "light", a noun still attested in compounds such as ἀμφιλύκη, "twilight", λυκάβας, "year" (lit. "light's course") etc. This, Cook argues, brings indeed much new 'light' to the matter as Achaeus, the contemporary tragedian of Sophocles, spoke of Zeus Lykaios as "starry-eyed", and this Zeus Lykaios may just be the Arcadian Zeus, son of Aether, described by Cicero. Again under this new signification may be seen Pausanias' descriptions of Lykosoura being 'the first city that ever the sun beheld', and of the altar of Zeus, at the summit of Mount Lykaion, before which stood two columns bearing gilded eagles and 'facing the sun-rise'. Further Cook sees only the tale of Zeus' sacred precinct at Mount Lykaion allowing no shadows referring to Zeus as 'god of light' (Lykaios).[111]
+
+Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a local Zeus who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Zeus Katachthonios ("under-the-earth") and Zeus Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented as snakes or in human form in visual art, or, for emphasis as both together in one image. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised altars.
+
+In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias, or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon. Ancient Molossian kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius. Strabo mention that at Tralles there was the Zeus Larisaeus.[112]
+
+In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men.  With the epithet Zeus Aetnaeus he was worshiped on Mount Aetna, where there was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor.[113] Other examples are listed below. As Zeus Aeneius or Zeus Aenesius, he was worshiped in the island of Cephalonia, where he had a temple on Mount Aenos.[114]
+
+Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus. In addition, some foreign oracles, such as Baʿal's at Heliopolis, were associated with Zeus in Greek or Jupiter in Latin.
+
+The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the second millennium BC onward, centered on a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches.[115] By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.
+
+Zeus' consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.
+
+The oracle of Ammon at the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War.[116]
+
+After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose in the Hellenistic imagination of a Libyan Sibyl.
+
+Zeus was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination (see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He, along with Dionysus, absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in Jerusalem.[118] Hellenizing Jews referred to this statue as Baal Shamen (in English, Lord of Heaven).[119]
+
+Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic sun god, Helios, who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus' eye,[120] or clearly implied as such. Hesiod, for instance, describes Zeus' eye as effectively the sun.[121] This perception is possibly derived from earlier Proto-Indo-European religion, in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye of *Dyḗus Pḥatḗr (see Hvare-khshaeta).[122]
+
+The Cretan Zeus Tallaios had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.[123]
+
+In Neoplatonism, Zeus' relation to the gods familiar from mythology is taught as the Demiurge or Divine Mind. Specifically within Plotinus's work the Enneads[124] and the Platonic Theology of Proclus.
+
+Zeus is mentioned in the New Testament twice, first in Acts 14:8–13: When the people living in Lystra saw the Apostle Paul heal a lame man, they considered Paul and his partner Barnabas to be gods, identifying Paul with Hermes and Barnabas with Zeus, even trying to offer them sacrifices with the crowd. Two ancient inscriptions discovered in 1909 near Lystra testify to the worship of these two gods in that city.[125] One of the inscriptions refers to the "priests of Zeus", and the other mentions "Hermes Most Great"" and "Zeus the sun-god".[126]
+
+The second occurrence is in Acts 28:11: the name of the ship in which the prisoner Paul set sail from the island of Malta bore the figurehead "Sons of Zeus" aka Castor and Pollux.
+
+The deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 6:1, 2 talks of King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who in his attempt to stamp out the Jewish religion, directed that the temple at Jerusalem be profaned and rededicated to Zeus (Jupiter Olympius).[127]
+
+Pistis Sophia, a Gnostic text discovered in 1773 and possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD alludes to Zeus. He appears there as one of five grand rulers gathered together by a divine figure named Yew, as the manuscript states.[128]
+
+Zeus was portrayed by Axel Ringvall in Jupiter på jorden, the first known film adaption to feature Zeus; Niall MacGinnis in Jason and the Argonauts[129][130] and Angus MacFadyen in the 2000 remake;[131] Laurence Olivier in the original Clash of the Titans,[132] and Liam Neeson in the 2010 remake,[133] along with the 2012 sequel Wrath of the Titans;[134][135] Rip Torn in the Disney animated feature Hercules[136] and Sean Bean in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010).[137]
+
+Zeus was portrayed by Anthony Quinn in the 1990s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys[138],  Corey Burton in the TV series Hercules and by  Hakeem Kae-Kazim in Troy: Fall of a City.[139]
+
+Zeus has been portrayed by Corey Burton in God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Ascension, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale & Kingdom Hearts 3[140][141] and Eric Newsome in Dota 2.
+
+Depictions of Zeus as a bull, the form he took when abducting Europa, are found on the Greek 2-euro coin and on the United Kingdom identity card for visa holders. Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University, has criticised this for its apparent celebration of rape.[142]
+
+Male
+     Female
+     Deity
+
+
+
+The abduction of Europa from Zeus
+
+Olympian assembly, from left to right: Apollo, Zeus and Hera
+
+The "Golden Man" Zeus statue
+
+Enthroned Zeus (Greek, c. 100 BC) - modeled after the Olympian Zeus by Pheidas (c. 430 BC)
+
+Zeus and Hera
+
+Zeus statue
+
+Zeus/Poseidon statue

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+
+
+Zeus[a] is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Indra, Dyaus and Thor.[6][7][8][9]
+
+Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus.[10] At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite.[13] Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses.[10]
+
+He was respected as an allfather who was chief of the gods[14] and assigned roles to the others:[15] "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence."[16][17] He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men".[18] Zeus' symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta)[19]  also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.
+
+The god's name in the nominative is Ζεύς (Zeús). It is inflected as follows: vocative: Ζεῦ (Zeû); accusative: Δία (Día); genitive: Διός (Diós); dative: Διί (Dií). Diogenes Laërtius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name Ζάς.[20]
+
+Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr ("Sky Father").[21][22] The god is known under this name in the Rigveda (Vedic Sanskrit Dyaus/Dyaus Pita), Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from the Proto-Indo-European vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr),[23] deriving from the root *dyeu- ("to shine", and in its many derivatives, "sky, heaven, god").[21]
+Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[24]
+
+The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐀸, di-we and 𐀇𐀺, di-wo, written in the Linear B syllabic script.[25]
+
+Plato, in his Cratylus, gives a folk etymology of Zeus meaning "cause of life always to all things", because of puns between alternate titles of Zeus (Zen and Dia) with the Greek words for life and "because of".[26]  This etymology, along with Plato's entire method of deriving etymologies, is not supported by modern scholarship.[27][28]
+
+Diodorus Siculus wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was the cause of life (zen).[29][30] While Lactantius wrote that he was called Zeus and Zen, not because he is the giver of life, but because he was the first who lived of the children of Cronus.[31]
+
+Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father, an oracle that Rhea heard and wished to avert.
+
+When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children.  Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.[32]
+
+Varying versions of the story exist:
+
+After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus's stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Campe.
+
+As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus, his brothers and sisters, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans who fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.
+
+After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans who died (see also Penthus).
+
+Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.
+
+When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by human sacrifice and other signs of human decadence. He decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother Poseidon. After the flood, only Deucalion and Pyrrha remained.[33] This flood narrative is a common motif in mythology.[34]
+
+Throughout history Zeus has been depicted as using violence to get his way and terrorize humans. As god of the sky he has the power to hurl lightning bolts as a weapon. Since lightning is quite powerful and sometimes deadly, it is a bold sign when lightning strikes because it is known that Zeus most likely threw the bolt.[citation needed]
+
+The Iliad is a poem by Homer about the Trojan war and the battle over the City of Troy, in which Zeus plays a major part.
+
+Scenes in which Zeus appears include:[35][36]
+
+Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia, Eris, Enyo and Angelos as their daughters. In the section of the Iliad known to scholars as the Deception of Zeus, the two of them are described as having begun their sexual relationship without their parents knowing about it.[37] The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Metis, Themis, Eurynome and Mnemosyne.[38][39] Other relationships with immortals included Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see below) and with the young Ganymede (although he was mortal Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality).
+
+Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by talking incessantly, and when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.
+
+1The Greeks variously claimed that the Moires/Fates were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis or of primordial beings like Chaos, Nyx, or Ananke.
+
+2The Charites/Graces were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome but they were also said to be daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite or of Helios and the naiad Aegle.
+
+3Some accounts say that Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus were born parthenogenetically.
+
+4According to one version, Athena is said to be born parthenogenetically.
+
+5Helen was either the daughter of Leda or Nemesis.
+
+6Tyche is usually considered a daughter of Aphrodite and Hermes.
+
+
+
+Zeus played a dominant role, presiding over the Greek Olympian pantheon. He fathered many of the heroes  and was featured in many of their local cults. Though the Homeric "cloud collector" was the god of the sky and thunder like his Near-Eastern counterparts, he was also the supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
+
+Aside from local epithets that simply designated the deity as doing something random at some particular place, the epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:
+
+Additional names and epithets for Zeus are also:
+
+The major center where all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. Their quadrennial festival featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash, from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animals sacrificed there.
+
+Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were no modes of worshipping Zeus precisely shared across the Greek world. Most of the titles listed below, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.
+
+With one exception, Greeks were unanimous in recognizing the birthplace of Zeus as Crete. Minoan culture contributed many essentials of ancient Greek religion: "by a hundred channels the old civilization emptied itself into the new", Will Durant observed,[98] and Cretan Zeus retained his youthful Minoan features. The local child of the Great Mother, "a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort",[99] whose Minoan name the Greeks Hellenized as Velchanos, was in time assumed as an epithet by Zeus, as transpired at many other sites, and he came to be venerated in Crete as Zeus Velchanos ("boy-Zeus"), often simply the Kouros.
+
+In Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. In the Hellenistic period a small sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Velchanos was founded at the Hagia Triada site of a long-ruined Minoan palace. Broadly contemporary coins from Phaistos show the form under which he was worshiped: a youth sits among the branches of a tree, with a cockerel on his knees.[100] On other Cretan coins Velchanos is represented as an eagle and in association with a goddess celebrating a mystic marriage.[101] Inscriptions at Gortyn and Lyttos record a Velchania festival, showing that Velchanios was still widely venerated in Hellenistic Crete.[102]
+
+The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing archaic Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult and hymned as ho megas kouros, "the great youth". Ivory statuettes of the "Divine Boy" were unearthed near the Labyrinth at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans.[103] With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.
+
+The myth of the death of Cretan Zeus, localised in numerous mountain sites though only mentioned in a comparatively late source, Callimachus,[104] together with the assertion of Antoninus Liberalis that a fire shone forth annually from the birth-cave the infant shared with a mythic swarm of bees, suggests that Velchanos had been an annual vegetative spirit.[105]
+The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously, his glory had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerus himself have not survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion.
+
+The epithet Zeus Lykaios ("wolf-Zeus") is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the archaic festival of the Lykaia on the slopes of Mount Lykaion ("Wolf Mountain"), the tallest peak in rustic Arcadia; Zeus had only a formal connection[106] with the rituals and myths of this primitive rite of passage with an ancient threat of cannibalism and the possibility of a werewolf transformation for the ephebes who were the participants.[107] Near the ancient ash-heap where the sacrifices took place[108] was a forbidden precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast.[109]
+
+According to Plato,[110]  a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. There were games associated with the Lykaia, removed in the fourth century to the first urbanization of Arcadia, Megalopolis; there the major temple was dedicated to Zeus Lykaios.
+
+There is, however, the crucial detail that Lykaios or Lykeios (epithets of Zeus and Apollo) may derive from Proto-Greek *λύκη, "light", a noun still attested in compounds such as ἀμφιλύκη, "twilight", λυκάβας, "year" (lit. "light's course") etc. This, Cook argues, brings indeed much new 'light' to the matter as Achaeus, the contemporary tragedian of Sophocles, spoke of Zeus Lykaios as "starry-eyed", and this Zeus Lykaios may just be the Arcadian Zeus, son of Aether, described by Cicero. Again under this new signification may be seen Pausanias' descriptions of Lykosoura being 'the first city that ever the sun beheld', and of the altar of Zeus, at the summit of Mount Lykaion, before which stood two columns bearing gilded eagles and 'facing the sun-rise'. Further Cook sees only the tale of Zeus' sacred precinct at Mount Lykaion allowing no shadows referring to Zeus as 'god of light' (Lykaios).[111]
+
+Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored a local Zeus who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Zeus Katachthonios ("under-the-earth") and Zeus Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented as snakes or in human form in visual art, or, for emphasis as both together in one image. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised altars.
+
+In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias, or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon. Ancient Molossian kings sacrificed to Zeus Areius. Strabo mention that at Tralles there was the Zeus Larisaeus.[112]
+
+In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men.  With the epithet Zeus Aetnaeus he was worshiped on Mount Aetna, where there was a statue of him, and a local festival called the Aetnaea in his honor.[113] Other examples are listed below. As Zeus Aeneius or Zeus Aenesius, he was worshiped in the island of Cephalonia, where he had a temple on Mount Aenos.[114]
+
+Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes, or various goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus. In addition, some foreign oracles, such as Baʿal's at Heliopolis, were associated with Zeus in Greek or Jupiter in Latin.
+
+The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the second millennium BC onward, centered on a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches.[115] By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.
+
+Zeus' consort at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione — whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.
+
+The oracle of Ammon at the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War.[116]
+
+After Alexander made a trek into the desert to consult the oracle at Siwa, the figure arose in the Hellenistic imagination of a Libyan Sibyl.
+
+Zeus was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated in the syncretic classical imagination (see interpretatio graeca) with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He, along with Dionysus, absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes erected a statue of Zeus Olympios in the Judean Temple in Jerusalem.[118] Hellenizing Jews referred to this statue as Baal Shamen (in English, Lord of Heaven).[119]
+
+Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic sun god, Helios, who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus' eye,[120] or clearly implied as such. Hesiod, for instance, describes Zeus' eye as effectively the sun.[121] This perception is possibly derived from earlier Proto-Indo-European religion, in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye of *Dyḗus Pḥatḗr (see Hvare-khshaeta).[122]
+
+The Cretan Zeus Tallaios had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.[123]
+
+In Neoplatonism, Zeus' relation to the gods familiar from mythology is taught as the Demiurge or Divine Mind. Specifically within Plotinus's work the Enneads[124] and the Platonic Theology of Proclus.
+
+Zeus is mentioned in the New Testament twice, first in Acts 14:8–13: When the people living in Lystra saw the Apostle Paul heal a lame man, they considered Paul and his partner Barnabas to be gods, identifying Paul with Hermes and Barnabas with Zeus, even trying to offer them sacrifices with the crowd. Two ancient inscriptions discovered in 1909 near Lystra testify to the worship of these two gods in that city.[125] One of the inscriptions refers to the "priests of Zeus", and the other mentions "Hermes Most Great"" and "Zeus the sun-god".[126]
+
+The second occurrence is in Acts 28:11: the name of the ship in which the prisoner Paul set sail from the island of Malta bore the figurehead "Sons of Zeus" aka Castor and Pollux.
+
+The deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 6:1, 2 talks of King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), who in his attempt to stamp out the Jewish religion, directed that the temple at Jerusalem be profaned and rededicated to Zeus (Jupiter Olympius).[127]
+
+Pistis Sophia, a Gnostic text discovered in 1773 and possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD alludes to Zeus. He appears there as one of five grand rulers gathered together by a divine figure named Yew, as the manuscript states.[128]
+
+Zeus was portrayed by Axel Ringvall in Jupiter på jorden, the first known film adaption to feature Zeus; Niall MacGinnis in Jason and the Argonauts[129][130] and Angus MacFadyen in the 2000 remake;[131] Laurence Olivier in the original Clash of the Titans,[132] and Liam Neeson in the 2010 remake,[133] along with the 2012 sequel Wrath of the Titans;[134][135] Rip Torn in the Disney animated feature Hercules[136] and Sean Bean in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010).[137]
+
+Zeus was portrayed by Anthony Quinn in the 1990s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys[138],  Corey Burton in the TV series Hercules and by  Hakeem Kae-Kazim in Troy: Fall of a City.[139]
+
+Zeus has been portrayed by Corey Burton in God of War II, God of War III, God of War: Ascension, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale & Kingdom Hearts 3[140][141] and Eric Newsome in Dota 2.
+
+Depictions of Zeus as a bull, the form he took when abducting Europa, are found on the Greek 2-euro coin and on the United Kingdom identity card for visa holders. Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University, has criticised this for its apparent celebration of rape.[142]
+
+Male
+     Female
+     Deity
+
+
+
+The abduction of Europa from Zeus
+
+Olympian assembly, from left to right: Apollo, Zeus and Hera
+
+The "Golden Man" Zeus statue
+
+Enthroned Zeus (Greek, c. 100 BC) - modeled after the Olympian Zeus by Pheidas (c. 430 BC)
+
+Zeus and Hera
+
+Zeus statue
+
+Zeus/Poseidon statue

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+
+
+Coordinates: 20°S 30°E / 20°S 30°E / -20; 30
+
+in the African Union (light blue)
+
+Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ, -wi/), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia,[12] is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 14 million[13][14] people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages,[3] with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most common.
+
+Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms like the most notably Rozvi and Mthwakazi kingdoms, as well as a major route for migration and trade. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890 where they first conquered Mashonaland which was a self Sovereign and later in 1893 they conquered Matabeleland after a fierce resistance by Matabele people through a war known as First Matabele War. In 1923 long after Mashonaland and Matabeleland were administered separately as Two States, The White Colonialists tabled a white only referendum which merged two Sovereignities of Mashonaland and Matabeleland into a one  self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia without the consent of black natives. In 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its then-government, and from which it withdrew in December 2003. The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It was once known as the "Jewel of Africa" for its great prosperity.[15][16][17]
+
+Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU–PF party won the elections following the end of white minority rule; he was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his resignation in 2017. Under Mugabe's authoritarian regime, the state security apparatus dominated the country and was responsible for widespread human rights violations.[18] Mugabe maintained the revolutionary socialist rhetoric of the Cold War era, blaming Zimbabwe's economic woes on conspiring Western capitalist countries.[19] Contemporary African political leaders were reluctant to criticise Mugabe, who was burnished by his anti-imperialist credentials, though Archbishop Desmond Tutu called him "a cartoon figure of an archetypal African dictator".[20] The country has been in economic decline since the 1990s, experiencing several crashes and hyperinflation along the way.
+
+On 15 November 2017, in the wake of over a year of protests against his government as well as Zimbabwe's rapidly declining economy, Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the country's national army in a coup d'état.[21][22] On 19 November 2017, ZANU–PF sacked Robert Mugabe as party leader and appointed former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.[23] On 21 November 2017, Mugabe tendered his resignation prior to impeachment proceedings being completed.[24] On 30 July 2018 Zimbabwe held its general elections,[25] which was won by the ZANU–PF party led by Emmerson Mnangagwa.[26] Nelson Chamisa who was leading the main opposition party MDC Alliance contested the election results and filed a petition to the Constitution Court of Zimbabwe.[27] The court confirmed Mnangagwa's victory, making him the newly elected president after Mugabe.[28][29]
+
+The name "Zimbabwe" stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, an ancient city in the country's south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that "Zimbabwe" derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as "houses of stones" (dzimba = plural of imba, "house"; mabwe = plural of bwe, "stone").[30][31][32] The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the modern-day province of Masvingo. Archaeologist Peter Garlake claims that "Zimbabwe" represents a contracted form of dzimba-hwe, which means "venerated houses" in the Zezuru dialect of Shona and usually references chiefs' houses or graves.[33]
+
+Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1898), Rhodesia (1965), and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). The first recorded use of "Zimbabwe" as a term of national reference dates from 1960 as a coinage by the black nationalist Michael Mawema,[34] whose Zimbabwe National Party became the first to officially use the name in 1961.[35] The term "Rhodesia"—derived from the surname of Cecil Rhodes, the primary instigator of British colonisation of the territory during the late 19th century—was perceived by African nationalists as inappropriate because of its colonial origin and connotations.[34]
+
+According to Mawema, black nationalists held a meeting in 1960 to choose an alternative name for the country, proposing names such as "Matshobana" and "Monomotapa" before his suggestion, "Zimbabwe", prevailed.[36] A further alternative, put forward by nationalists in Matabeleland, had been "Matopos", referring to the Matopos Hills to the south of Bulawayo.[35]
+
+It was initially unclear how the chosen term was to be used—a letter written by Mawema in 1961 refers to "Zimbabweland"[35] — but "Zimbabwe" was sufficiently established by 1962 to become the generally preferred term of the black nationalist movement.[34] In a 2001 interview, black nationalist Edson Zvobgo recalled that Mawema mentioned the name during a political rally, "and it caught hold, and that was that".[34] The black nationalist factions subsequently used the name during the Second Chimurenga campaigns against the Rhodesian government during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964–1979. Major factions in this camp included the Zimbabwe African National Union (led by Robert Mugabe from 1975), and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (led by Joshua Nkomo from its founding in the early 1960s).[citation needed]
+
+Archaeological records date human settlement of present-day Zimbabwe to at least 100,000 years ago[citation needed]. The earliest known inhabitants were probably San people, who left behind arrowheads and cave paintings. The first Bantu-speaking farmers arrived during the Bantu expansion around 2,000 years ago.[37][38]
+
+Societies speaking proto-Shona languages first emerged in the middle Limpopo valley in the 9th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands. The Zimbabwean plateau eventually became the centre of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th century. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, helping to develop the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the 11th century. This was the precursor to the Shona civilisations that would dominate the region during the 13th to 15th centuries, evidenced by ruins at Great Zimbabwe, near Masvingo, and by other smaller sites. The main archaeological site uses a unique dry stone architecture.
+
+The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first in a series of trading states which had developed in Zimbabwe by the time the first European explorers arrived from Portugal. These states traded gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass.[39]
+
+From about 1300 until 1600 the Kingdom of Zimbabwe eclipsed Mapungubwe. This Shona state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwe's stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdom's capital of Great Zimbabwe. From c. 1450 to 1760 Zimbabwe gave way to the Kingdom of Mutapa. This Shona state ruled much of the area of present-day Zimbabwe, plus parts of central Mozambique. It is known by many names including the Mutapa Empire, also known as Mwene Mutapa or Monomotapa as well as "Munhumutapa", and was renowned for its strategic trade routes with the Arabs and Portugal. The Portuguese sought to monopolise this influence and began a series of wars which left the empire in near collapse in the early 17th century.[39]
+
+As a direct response to increased European presence in the interior a new Shona state emerged, known as the Rozwi Empire (1684–1834). Relying on centuries of military, political and religious development, the Rozwi (meaning "destroyers") expelled the Portuguese from the Zimbabwean plateau[when?] by force of arms. They continued the stone-building traditions of the Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe kingdoms while adding muskets to their arsenal and recruiting a professional army to defend recent conquests.[citation needed]
+
+Around 1821 the Zulu general Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan successfully rebelled against King Shaka and established his own clan, the Ndebele. The Ndebele fought their way northwards into the Transvaal, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and beginning an era of widespread devastation known as the Mfecane. When Dutch trekboers converged on the Transvaal in 1836, they drove the tribe even further northward, with the assistance of Tswana Barolong warriors and Griqua commandos. By 1838 the Ndebele had conquered the Rozwi Empire, along with the other smaller Shona states, and reduced them to vassaldom.[40]
+
+After losing their remaining South African lands in 1840, Mzilikazi and his tribe permanently settled in the southwest of present-day Zimbabwe in what became known as Matabeleland, establishing Bulawayo as their capital. Mzilikazi then organised his society into a military system with regimental kraals, similar to those of Shaka, which was stable enough to repel further Boer incursions. Mzilikazi died in 1868; following a violent power struggle, his son Lobengula succeeded him.
+
+In the 1880s European colonists arrived with Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC, incorporated in 1888, chartered in 1889). In 1888 Rhodes obtained a concession for mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele peoples.[41][need quotation to verify]
+He presented this concession to persuade the government of the United Kingdom to grant a royal charter to the company over Matabeleland, and its subject states such as Mashonaland as well.[42]
+
+Rhodes used this document in 1890 to justify sending the Pioneer Column, a group of Europeans protected by well-armed British South Africa Police (BSAP) through Matabeleland and into Shona territory to establish Fort Salisbury (present-day Harare), and thereby establish company rule over the area. In 1893 and 1894, with the help of their new  Maxim guns, the BSAP would go on to defeat the Ndebele in the First Matabele War. Rhodes additionally sought permission to negotiate similar concessions covering all territory between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika, then known as "Zambesia".[42]
+
+In accordance with the terms of aforementioned concessions and treaties,[42] mass settlement was encouraged,[by whom?] with the British maintaining control over labour as well as over precious metals and other mineral resources.[43]
+
+In 1895 the BSAC adopted the name  "Rhodesia" for the territory, in honour of Rhodes. In 1898 "Southern Rhodesia" became the official name for the region south of the Zambezi,[44][45] which later adopted the name "Zimbabwe". The region to the north, administered separately, was later termed Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia). Shortly after Rhodes' the disastrous Rhodes-sponsored Jameson Raid (December 1895 - January 1896) on the South African Republic, the Ndebele rebelled against white rule, led by their charismatic religious leader, Mlimo. The Second Matabele War of 1896-1897 lasted in Matabeleland until 1896, when a British operation had Mlimo assassinated. Shona agitators staged unsuccessful revolts (known as Chimurenga) against company rule during 1896 and 1897.[citation needed]
+
+Following these failed insurrections,the Rhodes administration subdued the Ndebele and Shona groups and organised the land with a disproportionate bias favouring Europeans, thus displacing many indigenous peoples.[46]
+
+The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia on 12 September 1923.[47][48][49][50] Shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force.[49][51]
+
+Under the new constitution, Southern Rhodesia became a  self-governing  British colony, subsequent to a  1922 referendum. Rhodesians of all races served on behalf of the United Kingdom during the two World Wars in the early-20th century. Proportional to the white population, Southern Rhodesia contributed more per capita to both the First and Second World Wars than any other part of the Empire, including Britain itself.[52]
+
+In 1953, in the face of African opposition,[53] Britain consolidated the two Rhodesias with Nyasaland (Malawi) in the ill-fated Central African Federation, which Southern Rhodesia essentially dominated. Growing African nationalism and general dissent, particularly in Nyasaland, persuaded Britain to dissolve the Union in 1963, forming three separate divisions. While multiracial democracy was finally introduced to Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, however, Southern Rhodesians of European ancestry continued to enjoy minority rule.[46]
+
+Following Zambian independence (effective from October 1964), Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front (RF) government in Salisbury dropped the designation "Southern" in 1964 (once Northern Rhodesia had changed its name to Zambia, having the word Southern before the name Rhodesia became unnecessary and the country simply became known as Rhodesia afterwards). Intent on effectively repudiating the recently-adopted British policy of "no independence before majority rule", Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (commonly abbreviated to "UDI") from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965. This marked the first such course taken by a rebel British colony since the American declaration of 1776, which Smith and others indeed claimed provided a suitable precedent to their own actions.[52]
+
+After the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), the British government petitioned the United Nations for sanctions against Rhodesia pending unsuccessful talks with Smith's administration in 1966 and 1968. In December 1966, the organisation complied, imposing the first mandatory trade embargo on an autonomous state.[54] These sanctions were expanded again in 1968.[54]
+
+The United Kingdom deemed the Rhodesian declaration an act of rebellion, but did not re-establish control by force. A guerrilla war subsequently ensued when Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), supported actively by communist powers and neighbouring African nations, initiated guerrilla operations against Rhodesia's predominantly white government. ZAPU was supported by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and associated nations such as Cuba, and adopted a Marxist–Leninist ideology; ZANU meanwhile aligned itself with Maoism and the bloc headed by the People's Republic of China. Smith declared Rhodesia a republic in 1970, following the results of a referendum the previous year, but this went unrecognised internationally. Meanwhile, Rhodesia's internal conflict intensified, eventually forcing him to open negotiations with the militant communists.
+
+In March 1978, Smith reached an accord with three African leaders, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who offered to leave the white population comfortably entrenched in exchange for the establishment of a biracial democracy. As a result of the Internal Settlement, elections were held in April 1979, concluding with the United African National Council (UANC) carrying a majority of parliamentary seats. On 1 June 1979, Muzorewa, the UANC head, became prime minister and the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The Internal Settlement left control of the Rhodesian Security Forces, civil service, judiciary, and a third of parliament seats to whites.[55] On 12 June, the United States Senate voted to lift economic pressure on the former Rhodesia.
+
+Following the fifth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Lusaka, Zambia from 1 to 7 August in 1979, the British government invited Muzorewa, Mugabe, and Nkomo to participate in a constitutional conference at Lancaster House. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and reach an agreement on the terms of an independence constitution, and provide for elections supervised under British authority allowing Zimbabwe Rhodesia to proceed to legal independence.[56]
+
+With Lord Carrington, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, in the chair, these discussions were mounted from 10 September to 15 December in 1979, producing a total of 47 plenary sessions.[56] On 21 December 1979, delegations from every major interest represented reached the Lancaster House Agreement, effectively ending the guerrilla war.[57]
+
+On 11 December 1979, the Rhodesian House of Assembly voted 90 to nil to revert to British colonial status (the 'aye' votes included Ian Smith himself). The bill then passed the Senate and was assented to by the President. With the arrival of Lord Soames, the new Governor, just after 2 p.m. on 12 December 1979, Britain formally took control of Zimbabwe Rhodesia as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia, although on 13 December Soames declared that during his mandate the name Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia would continue to be used. Britain lifted sanctions on 12 December, and the United Nations on 16 December, before calling on its member states to do likewise on 21 December. Thus Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Angola and Botswana lifted sanctions on 22–23 December; Australia partly pre-empted this, lifting all but trade sanctions on 18 December, and trade sanctions on 21 December.[58]
+
+During the elections of February 1980, Robert Mugabe and the ZANU party secured a landslide victory.[59] Prince Charles, as the representative of Britain, formally granted independence to the new nation of Zimbabwe at a ceremony in Harare in April 1980.[60]
+
+Zimbabwe's first president after its independence was Canaan Banana in what was originally a mainly ceremonial role as Head of State. Robert Mugabe, leader of the ZANU party, was the country's first Prime Minister and Head of Government.[61]
+
+Opposition to what was perceived as a Shona takeover immediately erupted around Matabeleland. The Matabele unrest led to what has become known as Gukurahundi (Shona: "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains").[62] The Fifth Brigade, a North Korean-trained elite unit that reported directly to the Zimbabwean Prime Minister,[63] entered Matabeleland and massacred thousands of civilians accused of supporting "dissidents".[63][64]
+
+Estimates for the number of deaths during the five-year Gukurahundi campaign ranged from 3,750[65] to 80,000.[64]
+[66] Thousands of others were tortured in military internment camps.[67][68] The campaign officially ended in 1987 after Nkomo and Mugabe reached a unity agreement that merged their respective parties, creating the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF).[63][69][70]
+
+Elections in March 1990 resulted in another victory for Mugabe and the ZANU–PF party, which claimed 117 of the 120 contested seats.[71][72]
+
+During the 1990s, students, trade unionists, and other workers often demonstrated to express their growing discontent with Mugabe and ZANU–PF party policies. In 1996, civil servants, nurses, and junior doctors went on strike over salary issues.[73][74] The general health of the population also began to significantly decline; by 1997 an estimated 25% of the population had been infected by HIV in a pandemic that was affecting most of southern Africa.[75][76]
+
+Land redistribution re-emerged as the main issue for the ZANU–PF government around 1997. Despite the existence of a "willing-buyer-willing-seller" land reform programme since the 1980s, the minority white Zimbabwean population of around 0.6% continued to hold 70% of the country's most fertile agricultural land.[77]
+
+In 2000, the government pressed ahead with its Fast Track Land Reform programme, a policy involving compulsory land acquisition aimed at redistributing land from the minority white population to the majority black population.[78] Confiscations of white farmland, continuous droughts, and a serious drop in external finance and other supports led to a sharp decline in agricultural exports, which were traditionally the country's leading export-producing sector.[78] Some 58,000 independent black farmers have since experienced limited success in reviving the gutted cash crop sectors through efforts on a smaller scale.[79]
+
+President Mugabe and the ZANU–PF party leadership found themselves beset by a wide range of international sanctions.[80] In 2002, the nation was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations due to the reckless farm seizures and blatant election tampering.[81] The following year, Zimbabwean officials voluntarily terminated its Commonwealth membership.[82] The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZDERA) went into effect in 2002, creating a credit freeze of the Zimbabwean government through Section 4 C, Multilateral Financing Restriction. The bill was sponsored by Bill Frist, and co-sponsored by US senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Russ Feingold and Jesse Helms. Through ZDERA Section 4C, the Secretary of the Treasury is ordered to direct US Directors at the International Financial Institutions listed in Section 3, "to oppose and vote against-- (1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or (2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution."[83]
+
+By 2003, the country's economy had collapsed. It's estimated that up to a quarter of Zimbabwe's 11 million people had fled the country. Three-quarters of the remaining Zimbabweans were living on less than one US dollar a day.[84]
+
+Following elections in 2005, the government initiated "Operation Murambatsvina", an effort to crack down on illegal markets and slums emerging in towns and cities, leaving a substantial section of urban poor homeless.[85][86] The Zimbabwean government has described the operation as an attempt to provide decent housing to the population, although according to critics such as Amnesty International, authorities have yet to properly substantiate their claims.[87]
+
+On 29 March 2008, Zimbabwe held a presidential election along with a parliamentary election. The results of this election were withheld for two weeks, after which it was generally acknowledged that the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) had achieved a majority of one seat in the lower house of parliament.[citation needed]
+
+On 10 July 2008, Russia and China vetoed UN Zimbabwe sanctions pushed by Britain and the US.[88] The US drafted the file, which would have placed an arms embargo on Mugabe's regime. However, nine of 15 countries on the UN council opposed it, including Vietnam, South Africa, and Libya, which argued that Zimbabwe was not a 'threat to international peace and security.'[89]
+
+In late 2008, problems in Zimbabwe reached crisis proportions in the areas of living standards, public health (with a major cholera outbreak in December) and various basic affairs.[90] During this period NGOs took over from government as a primary provider of food during this period of food insecurity in Zimbabwe.[91]
+
+In September 2008, a power-sharing agreement was reached between Tsvangirai and President Mugabe, permitting the former to hold the office of prime minister. Due to ministerial differences between their respective political parties, the agreement was not fully implemented until 13 February 2009. By December 2010, Mugabe was threatening to completely expropriate remaining privately owned companies in Zimbabwe unless "western sanctions" were lifted.[92]
+
+A 2011 survey by Freedom House suggested that living conditions had improved since the power-sharing agreement.[93] The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated in its 2012–2013 planning document that the "humanitarian situation has improved in Zimbabwe since 2009, but conditions remain precarious for many people".[94]
+
+On 17 January 2013, Vice-President John Nkomo died of cancer at St Anne's Hospital, Harare at the age of 78.[95] A new constitution approved in the Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013 curtails presidential powers.[96]
+
+Mugabe was re-elected president in the July 2013 Zimbabwean general election which The Economist described as "rigged."[97] and the Daily Telegraph as "stolen".[98] The Movement for Democratic Change alleged massive fraud and tried to seek relief through the courts.[99] In a surprising moment of candour at the ZANU–PF congress in December 2014, President Robert Mugabe accidentally let slip that the opposition had in fact won the contentious 2008 polls by an astounding 73%.[100] After winning the election, the Mugabe ZANU–PF government re-instituted one party rule,[98] doubled the civil service and, according to The Economist, embarked on "misrule and dazzling corruption".[97] A 2017 study conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) concluded that due to the deterioration of government and the economy "the government encourages corruption to make up for its inability to fund its own institutions" with widespread and informal police roadblocks to issue fines to travellers being one manifestation of this.[101]
+
+In July 2016 nationwide protests took place regarding the economic collapse in the country,[102][103] and the finance minister admitted "Right now we literally have nothing."[97]
+
+In November 2017, the army led a coup d'état following the dismissal of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, placing Mugabe under house arrest. The army denied that their actions constituted a coup.[21][22] Mugabe resigned on 21 November 2017, after leading the country for 37 years. Although under the Constitution of Zimbabwe Mugabe should be succeeded by Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko, a supporter of Grace Mugabe, ZANU–PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke stated to the Reuters news agency that Mnangagwa would be appointed as president.[24]
+
+In December 2017 the website Zimbabwe News, calculating the cost of the Mugabe era using various statistics, said that at the time of independence in 1980, the country was growing economically at about five per cent a year, and had done so for quite a long time. If this rate of growth had been maintained for the next 37 years, Zimbabwe would have in 2016 a GDP of US$52 billion. Instead it had a formal sector GDP of only US$14 billion, a cost of US$38 billion in lost growth. The population growth in 1980 was among the highest in Africa at about 3.5 per cent per annum, doubling every 21 years. Had this growth been maintained, the population would have been 31 million. Instead, as of 2018, it is about 13 million. The discrepancies were believed to be partly caused by death from starvation and disease, and partly due to decreased fertility. The life expectancy has halved, and death from politically motivated violence sponsored by government exceeds 200,000 since 1980. The Mugabe government has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of at least three million Zimbabweans in 37 years.[104] According to World Food Programme, over two million people are facing starvation because of the recent droughts the country is going through.[105]
+
+Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa, lying between latitudes 15° and 23°S, and longitudes 25° and 34°E. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east and northeast. Its northwest corner is roughly 150 meters from Namibia, nearly forming a four-nation quadripoint. Most of the country is elevated, consisting of a central plateau (high veld) stretching from the southwest northwards with altitudes between 1,000 and 1,600 m. The country's extreme east is mountainous, this area being known as the Eastern Highlands, with Mount Nyangani as the highest point at 2,592 m.[citation needed]
+
+The highlands are known for their natural environment, with tourist destinations such as Nyanga, Troutbeck, Chimanimani, Vumba and Chirinda Forest at Mount Selinda. About 20% of the country consists of low-lying areas, (the low veld) under 900m. Victoria Falls, one of the world's biggest and most spectacular waterfalls, is located in the country's extreme northwest and is part of the Zambezi river.[106][107]
+
+Over geological time Zimbabwe has experienced two major post-Gondwana erosion cycles (known as African and post-African), and a very subordinate Plio-Pleistocene cycle.[108]
+
+Zimbabwe has a tropical climate with many local variations. The southern areas are known for their heat and aridity, parts of the central plateau receive frost in winter, the Zambezi valley is also known for its extreme heat and the Eastern Highlands usually experience cool temperatures and the highest rainfall in the country. The country's rainy season generally runs from late October to March and the hot climate is moderated by increasing altitude. Zimbabwe is faced with recurring droughts. The most recent one began early in 2015 and lasted into 2016. In 2019, at least 55 elephants died because of the drought.[109] Severe storms are rare.[110]
+
+The country is mostly savannah, although the moist and mountainous eastern highlands support areas of tropical evergreen and hardwood forests. Trees found in these Eastern Highlands include teak, mahogany, enormous specimens of strangling fig, forest Newtonia, big leaf, white stinkwood, chirinda stinkwood, knobthorn and many others.
+
+In the low-lying parts of the country fever trees, mopane, combretum and baobabs abound. Much of the country is covered by miombo woodland, dominated by brachystegia species and others. Among the numerous flowers and shrubs are hibiscus, flame lily, snake lily, spider lily, leonotus, cassia, tree wisteria and dombeya. There are around 350 species of mammals that can be found in Zimbabwe. There are also many snakes and lizards, over 500 bird species, and 131 fish species.
+
+Large parts of Zimbabwe were once covered by forests with abundant wildlife. Deforestation and poaching has reduced the amount of wildlife. Woodland degradation and deforestation, due to population growth, urban expansion and lack of fuel, are major concerns[111] and have led to erosion and land degradation which diminish the amount of fertile soil. Local farmers have also been criticised by environmentalists for burning off vegetation to heat their tobacco barns.[112]
+
+Zimbabwe is a republic with a presidential system of government. The semi-presidential system was abolished with the adoption of a new constitution after a referendum in March 2013. Under the constitutional changes in 2005, an upper chamber, the Senate, was reinstated.[113] The House of Assembly is the lower chamber of Parliament. Former President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (commonly abbreviated ZANU–PF) has been the dominant political party in Zimbabwe since independence.[114]
+
+In 1987 then-prime minister Mugabe revised the constitution, abolishing the ceremonial presidency and the prime ministerial posts to form an executive president, a Presidential system. His ZANU party has won every election since independence, in the 1990 election the second-placed party, Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement, won only 20% of the vote.[115]
+
+During the 1995 parliamentary elections most opposition parties, including the ZUM, boycotted the voting, resulting in a near-sweep by the ruling party.[116] When the opposition returned to the polls in 2000, they won 57 seats, only five fewer than ZANU.[116]
+
+Presidential elections were again held in 2002 amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud.[117] The 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections were held on 31 March and multiple claims of vote rigging, election fraud and intimidation were made by the MDC and Jonathan Moyo, calling for investigations into 32 of the 120 constituencies.[118] Jonathan Moyo participated in the elections despite the allegations and won a seat as an independent member of Parliament.[citation needed]
+
+General elections were again held in Zimbabwe on 30 March 2008.[119] The official results required a run-off between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader; the MDC challenged these results, claiming widespread election fraud by the Mugabe government.[120]
+
+The run-off was scheduled for 27 June 2008. On 22 June, citing the continuing unfairness of the process and refusing to participate in a "violent, illegitimate sham of an election process", Tsvangirai pulled out of the presidential run-off, the ZEC held the run-off and President Mugabe received a landslide majority.[121]
+
+The MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai is now the majority in the Lower chamber of Parliament. The MDC split into two factions. One faction (MDC-M), now led by Arthur Mutambara contested the elections to the Senate, while the other, led by Tsvangirai, opposed to contesting the elections, stating that participation in a rigged election is tantamount to endorsing Mugabe's claim that past elections were free and fair. The opposition parties have resumed participation in national and local elections as recently as 2006. The two MDC camps had their congresses in 2006 with Tsvangirai being elected to lead MDC-T, which has become more popular than the other group.[122]
+
+Mutambara, a robotics professor and former NASA robotics specialist has replaced Welshman Ncube who was the interim leader of MDC-M after the split. Morgan Tsvangirai did not participate in the Senate elections, while the Mutambara faction participated and won five seats in the Senate. The Mutambara formation has been weakened by defections from MPs and individuals who are disillusioned by their manifesto. As of 2008[update], the Movement for Democratic Change has become the most popular, with crowds as large as 20,000 attending their rallies as compared to between 500–5,000 for the other formation.[122]
+
+On 28 April 2008, Tsvangirai and Mutambara announced at a joint news conference in Johannesburg that the two MDC formations were co-operating, enabling the MDC to have a clear parliamentary majority.[123][124] Tsvangirai said that Mugabe could not remain President without a parliamentary majority.[124] On the same day, Silaigwana announced that the recounts for the final five constituencies had been completed, that the results were being collated and that they would be published on 29 April.[125]
+
+In mid-September 2008, after protracted negotiations overseen by the leaders of South Africa and Mozambique, Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal which would see Mugabe retain control over the army. Donor nations have adopted a 'wait-and-see' attitude, wanting to see real change being brought about by this merger before committing themselves to funding rebuilding efforts, which are estimated to take at least five years. On 11 February 2009 Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister by President Mugabe.[126][127]
+
+In November 2008, the government of Zimbabwe spent US$7.3 million donated by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A representative of the organisation declined to speculate on how the money was spent, except that it was not for the intended purpose, and the government has failed to honour requests to return the money.[128]
+
+In February 2013, Zimbabwe's election chief, Simpson Mtambanengwe, resigned due to ill health. His resignation came months before the country's constitutional referendum and elections.[129]
+
+The Status of Zimbabwe politics has been thrown into question by a coup taking place in November 2017, ending Mugabe's 30 year presidential incumbency. Emmerson Mnangagwa was appointed president following this coup, and officially elected with 50.8% of the vote in the 2018 Zimbabwean general election, avoiding a run-off and making him the 3rd President of Zimbabwe.
+
+There are widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the Mugabe administration and the dominant party, the ZANU–PF.[131]
+
+In 2011, there were reports of 640 corpses having been recovered from the Monkey William Mine in Chibondo. They were allegedly authenticated by the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe and the Department of National Museums and Monuments who are leading the exhumation process as victims of the Ian Smith regime during the Rhodesian Bush War.[132][133] One body was identified as a ZANLA cadre, Cde Rauya, by the Fallen Heroes Trust Chief exhumer.[134]
+
+Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere admitted the remains were discovered in 2008, but claimed the remains were decades old despite clear evidence the exhumed skeletons still had hair and clothes. Solidarity Peace Trust said that the presence of soft tissues "is not necessarily an indicator that these bones entered the grave more recently, although it could be."[135]
+
+Journalists found a body in the mine with 'what appeared to be blood and fluids dripping onto the skulls below'. The opposition MDC called for research on all violence that included killings of its supporters during disputed elections in 2008. Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern that "international best practice on exhumations is not being adhered to ... [M]ishandling of these mass graves has serious implications on potential exhumations of other sites in Zimbabwe. Thousands of civilians were also killed in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the mid 1980s and are allegedly buried in mine shafts and mass graves in these regions", AI added.[135][136]
+
+According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International[137] and Human Rights Watch[138] the government of Zimbabwe violates the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law. In 2009, Gregory Stanton, then President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, stated there was "clear evidence that Mugabe government was guilty of crimes against humanity and that there was sufficient evidence of crimes against humanity to bring Mugabe to trial in front of the International Criminal Court.”[139]
+
+Male homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe. Since 1995, the government has carried out campaigns against both homosexual men and women.[140] President Mugabe has blamed gays for many of Zimbabwe's problems and viewed homosexuality as an "un-African" and immoral culture brought by European colonists and practised by only "a few whites" in his country.[141]
+
+Opposition gatherings are frequently the subject of brutal attacks by the police force, such as the crackdown on an 11 March 2007 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally and several others during the 2008 election campaign.[142]
+
+In the attacks of 2007, party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 49 other opposition activists were arrested and severely beaten by the police. After his release, Morgan Tsvangirai told the BBC that he suffered head injuries and blows to the arms, knees and back, and that he lost a significant amount of blood and hundreds were killed.[143]
+
+Police action was strongly condemned by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and the United States.[143] While noting that the activists had suffered injuries, but not mentioning the cause of them,[144] the Zimbabwean state-owned daily newspaper The Herald claimed the police had intervened after demonstrators "ran amok looting shops, destroying property, mugging civilians, and assaulting police officers and innocent members of the public". The newspaper argued that the opposition had been "willfully violating the ban on political rallies".[144]
+
+There are also abuses of media rights and access. The Zimbabwean government is accused of suppressing freedom of the press and freedom of speech.[137] It has been repeatedly accused of using the public broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, as a propaganda tool.[145] Newspapers critical of the government, such as the Daily News, closed after bombs exploded at their offices and the government refused to renew their licence.[146][147] BBC News, Sky News, and CNN were banned from filming or reporting from Zimbabwe. In 2009 reporting restrictions on the BBC and CNN were lifted.[148] Sky News continue to report on happenings within Zimbabwe from neighbouring countries like South Africa.[149][150]
+
+In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Zimbabwe, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.[151]
+
+The Zimbabwe Defence Forces were set up by unifying three insurrectionist forces – the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), and the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) – after the Second Chimurenga and Zimbabwean independence in 1980. The integration period saw the formation of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) as separate entities under the command of Rtd General Solomon Mujuru and Air Marshal Norman Walsh who retired in 1982, and was replaced by Air Marshal Azim Daudpota who handed over command to Rtd Air Chief Marshal Josiah Tungamirai in 1985.
+
+In December 2003, General Constantine Chiwenga, was promoted and appointed Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Lieutenant General P. V. Sibanda replaced him as Commander of the Army.[152]
+
+The ZNA has an active duty strength of 30,000. The Air Force has about 5,139 standing personnel.[153] The Zimbabwe Republic Police (includes Police Support Unit, Paramilitary Police) is part of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and numbers 25,000.[154]
+
+Following majority rule in early 1980, British Army trainers oversaw the integration of guerrilla fighters into a battalion structure overlaid on the existing Rhodesian armed forces. For the first year, a system was followed where the top-performing candidate became battalion commander. If he or she was from ZANLA, then his or her second-in-command was the top-performing ZIPRA candidate, and vice versa.[155] This ensured a balance between the two movements in the command structure. From early 1981, this system was abandoned in favour of political appointments, and ZANLA and ZANU fighters consequently quickly formed the majority of battalion commanders in the ZNA.[citation needed]
+
+The ZNA was originally formed into four brigades, composed of a total of 28 battalions. The brigade support units were composed almost entirely of specialists of the former Rhodesian Army, while unintegrated battalions of the Rhodesian African Rifles were assigned to the 1st, 3rd and 4th Brigades. The Fifth Brigade was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1988 after the demonstration of mass brutality and murder during the brigade's occupation of Matabeleland in what has become known as Gukurahundi (Shona: "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains"), the campaign which finished off Mugabe's liberation struggle.[62][156] The Brigade had been re-formed by 2006, with its commander, Brigadier-General John Mupande praising its "rich history".[157]
+
+Zimbabwe has a centralised government and is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status, for administrative purposes. Each province has a provincial capital from where government administration is usually carried out.[2]
+
+The names of most of the provinces were generated from the Mashonaland and Matabeleland divide at the time of colonisation: Mashonaland was the territory occupied first by the British South Africa Company Pioneer Column and Matabeleland the territory conquered during the First Matabele War. This corresponds roughly to the precolonial territory of the Shona people and the Matabele people, although there are significant ethnic minorities in most provinces. Each province is headed by a Provincial Governor, appointed by the President.[158]
+
+The provincial government is run by a Provincial Administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. Other government functions at provincial level are carried out by provincial offices of national government departments.[159]
+
+The provinces are subdivided into 59 districts and 1,200 wards (sometimes referred to as municipalities). Each district is headed by a District Administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. There is also a Rural District Council, which appoints a chief executive officer. The Rural District Council is composed of elected ward councillors, the District Administrator and one representative of the chiefs (traditional leaders appointed under customary law) in the district. Other government functions at district level are carried out by district offices of national government departments.[160]
+
+At the ward level there is a Ward Development Committee, comprising the elected ward councillor, the kraalheads (traditional leaders subordinate to chiefs) and representatives of Village Development Committees. Wards are subdivided into villages, each of which has an elected Village Development Committee and a Headman (traditional leader subordinate to the kraalhead).[161]
+
+Minerals, gold,[110] and agriculture are the main foreign exports of Zimbabwe. Tourism also plays a key role in its economy.[162]
+
+The mining sector remains very lucrative, with some of the world's largest platinum reserves being mined by Anglo American plc and Impala Platinum.[163] The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, are considered the biggest diamond find in over a century.[164] They have the potential to improve the fiscal situation of the country considerably, but almost all revenues from the field have disappeared into the pockets of army officers and ZANU–PF politicians.[165]
+
+In terms of carats produced, the Marange field is one of the largest diamond producing projects in the world,[166] estimated to produce 12 million carats in 2014 worth over $350 million.[167] Zimbabwe is the biggest trading partner of South Africa on the continent.[168]
+
+Taxes and tariffs are high for private enterprises, while state enterprises are strongly subsidised. State regulation is costly to companies; starting or closing a business is slow and costly.[169] Government spending was predicted to reach 67% of GDP in 2007.[170]
+
+Tourism was an important industry for the country, but has been failing in recent years. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force released a report in June 2007, estimating 60% of Zimbabwe's wildlife has died since 2000 due to poaching and deforestation. The report warns that the loss of life combined with widespread deforestation is potentially disastrous for the tourist industry.[171]
+
+The ICT sector of Zimbabwe has been growing at a fast pace. A report by the mobile internet browser company, Opera, in June/July 2011 has ranked Zimbabwe as Africa's fastest growing market.[172][173]
+
+Since 1 January 2002, the government of Zimbabwe has had its lines of credit at international financial institutions frozen, through US legislation called the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZDERA). Section 4C instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to direct directors at international financial institutions to veto the extension of loans and credit to the Zimbabwean government.[174] According to the United States, these sanctions target only seven specific businesses owned or controlled by government officials and not ordinary citizens.[175]
+
+Zimbabwe maintained positive economic growth throughout the 1980s (5% GDP growth per year) and 1990s (4.3% GDP growth per year). The economy declined from 2000: 5% decline in 2000, 8% in 2001, 12% in 2002 and 18% in 2003.[176] Zimbabwe's involvement from 1998 to 2002 in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy.[177] From 1999–2009, Zimbabwe saw the lowest ever economic growth with an annual GDP decrease of 6.1%.[178]
+
+The downward spiral of the economy has been attributed mainly to mismanagement and corruption by the government and the eviction of more than 4,000 white farmers in the controversial land confiscations of 2000.[179][180][181][182] The Zimbabwean government and its supporters attest that it was Western policies to avenge the expulsion of their kin that sabotaged the economy.[183]
+
+By 2005, the purchasing power of the average Zimbabwean had dropped to the same levels in real terms as 1953.[184] In 2005, the government, led by central bank governor Gideon Gono, started making overtures that white farmers could come back. There were 400 to 500 still left in the country, but much of the land that had been confiscated was no longer productive.[185] By 2016 there were about 300 farms owned by white farmers left out of the original 4,500. The farms left were either too remote or their owners had paid for protection or collaborated with the regime.[98]
+
+In January 2007, the government issued long-term leases to some white farmers.[186] At the same time, however, the government also continued to demand that all remaining white farmers, who were given eviction notices earlier, vacate the land or risk being arrested.[187][188] Mugabe pointed to foreign governments and alleged "sabotage" as the cause of the fall of the Zimbabwean economy, as well as the country's 80% formal unemployment rate.[189]
+
+Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the country's Central Statistical Office.[190] This represented a state of hyperinflation, and the central bank introduced a new 100 trillion dollar note.[191]
+
+On 29 January 2009, in an effort to counteract runaway inflation, acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that Zimbabweans will be permitted to use other, more stable currencies to do business, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar.[192] In an effort to combat inflation and foster economic growth the Zimbabwean dollar was suspended indefinitely on 12 April 2009.[193] In 2016 Zimbabwe allowed trade in the United States dollar and various other currencies such as the rand (South Africa), the pula (Botswana), the euro, and the Pound Sterling (UK).[194] In February 2019, RBZ Governor introduced a new local currency, the RTGS Dollar in a move to address some of the Zimbabwean economic and financial challenges.[195]
+
+After the formation of the Unity Government and the adoption of several currencies instead of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, the Zimbabwean economy rebounded. GDP grew by 8–9% a year between 2009 and 2012.[196] In November 2010, the IMF described the Zimbabwean economy as "completing its second year of buoyant economic growth".[197][198] By 2014, Zimbabwe had recovered to levels seen in the 1990s[196] but between 2012 and 2016 growth faltered.[199]
+
+Zimplats, the nation's largest platinum company, has proceeded with US$500 million in expansions, and is also continuing a separate US$2 billion project, despite threats by Mugabe to nationalise the company.[200] The pan-African investment bank IMARA released a favourable report in February 2011 on investment prospects in Zimbabwe, citing an improved revenue base and higher tax receipts.[201]
+
+In late January 2013, the Zimbabwean finance ministry reported that they had only $217 in their treasury and would apply for donations to finance the coming elections that is estimated to cost US$107 million.[202][203]
+
+As of October 2014, Metallon Corporation was Zimbabwe's largest gold miner.[204] The group is looking to increase its production to 500,000 troy ounces per annum by 2019.[204]
+
+Inflation in Zimbabwe was 42% in 2018.   In June 2019, the inflation rate reached 175%, leading to mass unrest across the country and in Harare.[205]
+
+Zimbabwe's commercial farming sector was traditionally a source of exports and foreign exchange, and provided 400,000 jobs. However, the government's land reform program badly damaged the sector, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products.[2] For example, between 2000 and 2016, annual wheat production fell from 250,000 tons to 60,000 tons, maize was reduced from two million tons to 500,000 tons and cattle slaughtered for beef fell from 605,000 to 244,000.[98] Coffee production, once a prized export commodity, came to a virtual halt after seizure or expropriation of white-owned coffee farms in 2000 and has never recovered.[206]
+
+For the past ten years, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been assisting Zimbabwe's farmers to adopt conservation agriculture techniques, a sustainable method of farming that can help increase yields. By applying the three principles of minimum soil disturbance, legume-based cropping and the use of organic mulch, farmers can improve infiltration, reduce evaporation and soil erosion, and build up organic soil content.[citation needed]
+
+Between 2005 and 2011, the number of smallholders practising conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe increased from 5,000 to more than 150,000. Cereal yields rose between 15 and 100 per cent across different regions.[207]
+
+Since the land reform programme in 2000, tourism in Zimbabwe has steadily declined. But in 2018, 2.6 million tourists arrived in Zimbabwe, which is the peak level till now.[208]
+
+In 2016, the total contribution of tourism to Zimbabwe was $1.1 billion (USD), or about 8.1% of Zimbabwe's GDP. It is expected to rise 1.4% in 2017. Employment in travel and tourism, as well as industries travel and tourism indirectly supports, was 5.2% of national employment and is expected to rise by 1.4% in 2017.[209]
+
+Several airlines pulled out of Zimbabwe between 2000 and 2007. Australia's Qantas, Germany's Lufthansa, and Austrian Airlines were among the first to pull out and in 2007 British Airways suspended all direct flights to Harare.[210][211] The country's flagship airline Air Zimbabwe, which operated flights throughout Africa and a few destinations in Europe and Asia, ceased operations in February 2012.[212][needs update] As of 2017, several major commercial airlines had resumed flights to Zimbabwe.
+
+Zimbabwe has several major tourist attractions. Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, which are shared with Zambia, are located in the north west of Zimbabwe. Before the economic changes, much of the tourism for these locations came to the Zimbabwe side but now Zambia is the main beneficiary. The Victoria Falls National Park is also in this area and is one of the eight main national parks in Zimbabwe,[213] the largest of which is Hwange National Park.
+
+The Eastern Highlands are a series of mountainous areas near the border with Mozambique. The highest peak in Zimbabwe, Mount Nyangani at 2,593 m (8,507 ft) is located here as well as the Bvumba Mountains and the Nyanga National Park. World's View is in these mountains and it is from here that places as far away as 60–70 km (37–43 mi) are visible and, on clear days, the town of Rusape can be seen.
+
+Zimbabwe is unusual in Africa in that there are a number of ancient ruined cities built in a unique dry stone style. Among the most famous of these are the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Masvingo. Other ruins include Khami Ruins, Zimbabwe, Dhlo-Dhlo and Naletale.
+
+The Matobo Hills are an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 km (22 mi) south of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe. The Hills were formed over 2,000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, then being eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'. They have become a tourist attraction due to their ancient shapes and local wildlife. Cecil Rhodes and other early white pioneers like Leander Starr Jameson are buried in these hills at a site named World's View.[214]
+
+Water supply and sanitation in Zimbabwe is defined by many small scale successful programs but also by a general lack of improved water and sanitation systems for the majority of Zimbabwe. According to the World Health Organization in 2012, 80% of Zimbabweans had access to improved, i.e. clean, drinking-water sources, and only 40% of Zimbabweans had access to improved sanitation facilities.[215] Access to improved water supply and sanitation is distinctly less in rural areas.[216]
+
+There are many factors which continue to determine the nature, for the foreseeable future, of water supply and sanitation in Zimbabwe.
+
+Three major factors are the severely depressed state of the Zimbabwean economy, the reluctance of foreign aid organisations to build and 
+finance infrastructure projects, and the political instability of the Zimbabwean state.[216][217]
+
+Zimbabwe has relatively well-developed national infrastructure and a long-standing tradition of promoting research and development (R&D), as evidenced by the levy imposed on tobacco-growers since the 1930s to promote market research.[218][219]
+
+The country also has a well-developed education system, with one in 11 adults holding a tertiary degree. Given the country's solid knowledge base and abundant natural resources, Zimbabwe has the potential to figure among the countries leading growth in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.[218][219]
+
+To do so, however, Zimbabwe will need to correct a number of structural weaknesses. For instance, it lacks the critical mass of researchers needed to trigger innovation. Although the infrastructure is in place to harness research and development to Zimbabwe's socio-economic development, universities and research institutions lack the financial and human resources to conduct research and the regulatory environment hampers the transfer of new technologies to the business sector. The economic crisis has precipitated an exodus of university students and professionals in key areas of expertise (medicine, engineering, etc.) that is of growing concern. More than 22% of Zimbabwean tertiary students were completing their degrees abroad in 2012, compared to a 4% average for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. In 2012, there were 200 researchers (head count) employed in the public sector, one-quarter of whom were women. This is double the continental average (91 in 2013) but only one-quarter the researcher density of South Africa (818 per million inhabitants). The government has created the Zimbabwe Human Capital Website to provide information for the diaspora on job and investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.[218][219]
+
+Despite the fact that human resources are a pillar of any research and innovation policy, the Medium Term Plan 2011–2015 did not discuss any explicit policy for promoting postgraduate studies in science and engineering. The scarcity of new PhDs in science and engineering fields from the University of Zimbabwe in 2013 was symptomatic of this omission.[218][219]
+
+Nor does the development agenda to 2018, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Economic Transformation, contain any specific targets for increasing the number of scientists and engineers, or the staffing requirements for industry and other productive sectors. In addition, the lack of co-ordination and coherence among governance structures has led to a multiplication of research priorities and poor implementation of existing policies.[218][219]
+
+The country's Second Science and Technology Policy was launched in June 2012, after being elaborated with UNESCO assistance. It replaces the earlier policy dating from 2002. The 2012 policy prioritises biotechnology, information and communication technologies (ICTs), space sciences, nanotechnology, indigenous knowledge systems, technologies yet to emerge and scientific solutions to emergent environmental challenges. The Second Science and Technology Policy also asserts the government commitment to allocating at least 1% of GDP to research and development, focusing at least 60% of university education on developing skills in science and technology and ensuring that school pupils devote at least 30% of their time to studying science subjects.[218][219]
+
+In 2014, Zimbabwe counted 21 publications per million inhabitants in internationally catalogued journals, according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded). This placed Zimbabwe sixth out of the 15 SADC countries, behind Namibia (59), Mauritius (71), Botswana (103) and, above all, South Africa (175) and the Seychelles (364). The average for sub-Saharan Africa was 20 scientific publications per million inhabitants, compared to a global average of 176 per million.[219]
+
+Zimbabwe's total population is 12.97 million.[7] According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the life expectancy for men was 56 years and the life expectancy for women was 60 years of age (2012).[220] In 2006 an association of doctors in Zimbabwe made calls for then-President Mugabe to make moves to assist the ailing health service.[221]
+The HIV infection rate in Zimbabwe was estimated to be 14% for people aged 15–49 in 2009.[222] UNESCO reported a decline in HIV prevalence among pregnant women from 26% in 2002 to 21% in 2004.[223]
+
+Some 85% of Zimbabweans are Christian; 62% of the population attends religious services regularly.[224] The largest Christian churches are Anglican, Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist[225] and Methodist.
+
+As in other African countries, Christianity may be mixed with enduring traditional beliefs. Ancestral worship is the most practised non-Christian religion, involving spiritual intercession; the mbira dzavadzimu, which means "voice of the ancestors", an instrument related to many lamellophones ubiquitous throughout Africa, is central to many ceremonial proceedings. Mwari simply means "God the Creator" (musika vanhu in Shona). Around 1% of the population is Muslim.[226]
+
+Bantu-speaking ethnic groups make up 98% of the population. The majority people, the Shona, comprise 70%. The Ndebele are the second most populous with 20% of the population.[227][228]
+
+The Ndebele descended from Zulu migrations in the 19th century and the other tribes with which they intermarried. Up to one million Ndebele may have left the country over the last five years, mainly for South Africa. Other Bantu ethnic groups make up the third largest with 2 to 5%: these are Venda, Tonga, Shangaan, Kalanga, Sotho, Ndau, Nambya, Tswana, Xhosa and Lozi.[228]
+
+Minority ethnic groups include white Zimbabweans, who make up less than 1% of the total population. White Zimbabweans are mostly of British origin, but there are also Afrikaner, Greek, Portuguese, French and Dutch communities. The white population dropped from a peak of around 278,000 or 4.3% of the population in 1975[229] to possibly 120,000 in 1999, and was estimated to be no more than 50,000 in 2002, and possibly much less. The 2012 census lists the total white population at 28,782 (roughly 0.22% of the population), one-tenth of its 1975 estimated size.[230] Most emigration has been to the United Kingdom (between 200,000 and 500,000 Britons are of Rhodesian or Zimbabwean origin), South Africa, Botswana, Zambia,[231] Mozambique,[232] Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Coloureds form 0.5% of the population, and various Asian ethnic groups, mostly of Indian and Chinese origin, are also 0.5%.[233]
+
+According to 2012 Census report, 99.7% of the population is of African origin.[234] Official fertility rates over the last decade were 3.6 (2002 Census),[235] 3.8 (2006)[236] and 3.8 (2012 Census).[234]
+
+The economic meltdown and repressive political measures in Zimbabwe have led to a flood of refugees into neighbouring countries. An estimated 3.4 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population, had fled abroad by mid-2007.[238] Some 3,000,000 of these left for South Africa and Botswana.[239]
+
+Apart from the people who fled into the neighbouring countries, there are approximately 36,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). There is no comprehensive survey,[240] although the following figures are available:
+
+The above surveys do not include people displaced by Operation Chikorokoza Chapera or beneficiaries of the fast-track land reform programme but who have since been evicted.[240]
+
+English is the main language used in the education and judiciary systems. The Bantu languages Shona and Ndebele are the principal indigenous languages of Zimbabwe. Shona is spoken by 70% of the population, Ndebele by 20%. Other minority Bantu languages include Venda, Tsonga, Shangaan, Kalanga, Sotho, Ndau and Nambya. Less than 2.5%, mainly the white and "coloured" (mixed race) minorities, consider English their native language.[243] Shona has a rich oral tradition, which was incorporated into the first Shona novel, Feso by Solomon Mutswairo, published in 1956.[244] English is spoken primarily in the cities, but less so in rural areas. Radio and television news now broadcast in Shona, Sindebele and English.[citation needed]
+
+Due to its large border with Mozambique, there is a large community of Portuguese speakers in Zimbabwe, mainly in the border areas with Mozambique and in major cities, such as Harare and Bulawayo.[245] Beginning in 2017, teaching Portuguese was included in secondary education of Zimbabwe.[246][247]
+
+Zimbabwe has 16 official languages and under the constitution, an Act of Parliament may prescribe other languages as officially recognised languages.[3]
+
+According to the 2017 Inter Censal Demography Survey by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency 69.2 per cent of Zimbabweans belong to Protestant Christianity, 8.0 per cent are Roman Catholic, in total 84.1 per cent follow one of the denominations of Christianity. 10.2 per cent of the population does not belong to any religion, while the 0.7 per cent is Muslim.[248][249]
+
+Zimbabwe has many different cultures which may include beliefs and ceremonies, one of them being Shona, Zimbabwe's largest ethnic group. The Shona people have many sculptures and carvings which are made with the finest materials available.[250]
+
+Zimbabwe first celebrated its independence on 18 April 1980.[251] Celebrations are held at either the National Sports Stadium or Rufaro Stadium in Harare. The first independence celebrations were held in 1980 at the Zimbabwe Grounds. At these celebrations, doves are released to symbolise peace and fighter jets fly over and the national anthem is sung. The flame of independence is lit by the president after parades by the presidential family and members of the armed forces of Zimbabwe. The president also gives a speech to the people of Zimbabwe which is televised for those unable to attend the stadium.[252] Zimbabwe also has a national beauty pageant, the Miss Heritage Zimbabwe contest which has been held annually ever since 2012.
+
+Traditional arts in Zimbabwe include pottery, basketry, textiles, jewellery and carving. Among the distinctive qualities are symmetrically patterned woven baskets and stools carved out of a single piece of wood. Shona sculpture has become better known after finding initial popularity in the 1940s.[citation needed] Most subjects of carved figures of stylised birds and human figures among others are made with sedimentary rocks such as soapstone, as well as harder igneous rocks such as serpentine and the rare stone verdite. Zimbabwean artefacts can be found in countries like Singapore, China and Canada. e.g. Dominic Benhura's statue in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
+
+Shona sculpture in has survived through the ages and the modern style is a fusion of African folklore with European influences. World-renowned Zimbabwean sculptors include Nicholas, Nesbert and Anderson Mukomberanwa, Tapfuma Gutsa, Henry Munyaradzi and Locardia Ndandarika. Internationally, Zimbabwean sculptors have managed to influence a new generation of artists, particularly Black Americans, through lengthy apprenticeships with master sculptors in Zimbabwe. Contemporary artists like New York sculptor M. Scott Johnson and California sculptor Russel Albans have learned to fuse both African and Afro-diasporic aesthetics in a way that travels beyond the simplistic mimicry of African Art by some Black artists of past generations in the United States.
+
+Several authors are well known within Zimbabwe and abroad. Charles Mungoshi is renowned in Zimbabwe for writing traditional stories in English and in Shona and his poems and books have sold well with both the black and white communities.[253] Catherine Buckle has achieved international recognition with her two books African Tears and Beyond Tears which tell of the ordeal she went through under the 2000 Land Reform.[254] The first Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, wrote two books – The Great Betrayal and Bitter Harvest. The book The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera won an award in the UK in 1979 and the Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing's first novel The Grass Is Singing, the first four volumes of The Children of Violence sequence, as well as the collection of short stories African Stories are set in Rhodesia. In 2013 NoViolet Bulawayo's novel We Need New Names was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel tells the story of the devastation and emigration caused by the brutal suppression of Zimbabwean civilians during the Gukurahundi in the early 1980s.[citation needed]
+
+Notable artists include Henry Mudzengerere and Nicolas Mukomberanwa. A recurring theme in Zimbabwean art is the metamorphosis of man into beast.[255] Zimbabwean musicians like Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi, the Bhundu Boys; Stella Chiweshe, Alick Macheso and Audius Mtawarira have achieved international recognition. Among members of the white minority community, Theatre has a large following, with numerous theatrical companies performing in Zimbabwe's urban areas.[256]
+
+Like in many African countries, the majority of Zimbabweans depend on a few staple foods. "Mealie meal", also known as cornmeal, is used to prepare sadza or isitshwala, as well as porridge known as bota or ilambazi. Sadza is made by mixing the cornmeal with water to produce a thick paste/porridge. After the paste has been cooking for several minutes, more cornmeal is added to thicken the paste.
+
+This is usually eaten as lunch or dinner, usually with sides such as gravy, vegetables (spinach, chomolia, or spring greens/collard greens), beans, and meat (stewed, grilled, roasted, or sundried). Sadza is also commonly eaten with curdled milk (sour milk), commonly known as "lacto" (mukaka wakakora), or dried Tanganyika sardine, known locally as kapenta or matemba. Bota is a thinner porridge, cooked without the additional cornmeal and usually flavoured with peanut butter, milk, butter, or jam.[257] Bota is usually eaten for breakfast.
+
+Graduations, weddings, and any other family gatherings will usually be celebrated with the killing of a goat or cow, which will be barbecued or roasted by the family.
+
+Even though the Afrikaners are a small group (10%) within the white minority group, Afrikaner recipes are popular. Biltong, a type of jerky, is a popular snack, prepared by hanging bits of spiced raw meat to dry in the shade.[258] Boerewors is served with sadza. It is a long sausage, often well-spiced, composed of beef rather than pork, and barbecued.[citation needed] As Zimbabwe was a British colony, some people there have adopted some colonial-era English eating habits. For example, most people will have porridge in the morning, as well as 10 o'clock tea (midday tea). They will have lunch, often leftovers from the night before, freshly cooked sadza, or sandwiches (which is more common in the cities). After lunch, there is usually 4 o'clock tea (afternoon tea), which is served before dinner. It is not uncommon for tea to be had after dinner.[citation needed]
+
+Rice, pasta, and potato-based foods (french fries and mashed potato) also make up part of Zimbabwean cuisine. A local favourite is rice cooked with peanut butter, which is taken with thick gravy, mixed vegetables and meat.[citation needed] A potpourri of peanuts known as nzungu, boiled and sundried maize, black-eyed peas known as nyemba, and bambara groundnuts known as nyimo makes a traditional dish called mutakura. Mutakura can also be the above ingredients cooked individually. One can also find local snacks, such as maputi (roasted/popped maize kernels similar to popcorn), roasted and salted peanuts, sugar cane, sweet potato, pumpkin, and indigenous fruits, such as horned melon, gaka, adansonia, mawuyu, uapaca kirkiana, mazhanje (sugar plum), and many others.[citation needed]
+
+Football (also known as soccer) is the most popular sport in Zimbabwe.[259] The Warriors have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations three times (2004, 2006, 2017), and won the Southern Africa championship on six occasions (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018) and the Eastern Africa cup once (1985). The team is ranked 115th in the world (Fifa World Rankings Nov 2018).
+
+Rugby union is a significant sport in Zimbabwe. The national side have represented the country at 2 Rugby World Cup tournaments in 1987 and 1991. The team are ranked 26 in the world by World Rugby.[260]
+
+Cricket also has a following among the white minority. It is one of twelve Test cricket playing nations and an ICC full member as well. Notable cricket players from Zimbabwe include Andy Flower, Heath Streak and Brendan Taylor.
+
+Zimbabwe has won eight Olympic medals, one in field hockey with the women's team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and seven by swimmer Kirsty Coventry, three at the 2004 Summer Olympics and four at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+
+Zimbabwe has also done well in the Commonwealth Games and All-Africa Games in swimming with Kirsty Coventry obtaining 11 gold medals in the different competitions.[261][262][263][264] Zimbabwe has also competed at Wimbledon and the Davis Cup in tennis, most notably with the Black family, which comprises Wayne Black, Byron Black and Cara Black. Zimbabwe has also done well in golf. The Zimbabwean Nick Price held the official World Number 1 status longer than any player from Africa has ever done in the 24-year history of the ranking.[265]
+
+Other sports played in Zimbabwe are basketball, volleyball, netball, and water polo, as well as squash, motorsport, martial arts, chess, cycling, polocrosse, kayaking and horse racing. However, most of these sports do not have international representatives but instead stay at a junior or national level.
+
+Zimbabwean professional rugby league players playing overseas are Masimbaashe Motongo and Judah Mazive.[266][267] Former players include now SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos who made an appearance for South Africa at the Super League World Nines and featured for the Sydney Bulldogs as well as Zimbabwe-born former Scotland rugby union international Scott Gray, who spent time at the Brisbane Broncos.[268]
+
+The media of Zimbabwe is now once again diverse, having come under tight restriction between 2002 and 2008 by the government during the growing economic and political crisis in the country. The Zimbabwean constitution promises freedom of the media and expression. Since the appointment of a new media and information minister in 2013 the media is facing less political interference and the supreme court has ruled some sections of the strict media laws as unconstitutional.[269] In July 2009 the BBC and CNN were able to resume operations and report legally and openly from Zimbabwe. CNN welcomed the move. The Zimbabwe Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity stated that, "the Zimbabwe government never banned the BBC from carrying out lawful activities inside Zimbabwe".[148] The BBC also welcomed the move saying, "we're pleased at being able to operate openly in Zimbabwe once again".[270]
+
+In 2010 the Zimbabwe Media Commission was established by the inclusive, power-sharing government. In May 2010 the Commission licensed three new privately owned newspapers, including the previously banned Daily News, for publication.[271] Reporters Without Borders described the decisions as a "major advance".[272] In June 2010 NewsDay became the first independent daily newspaper to be published in Zimbabwe in seven years.[273]
+
+ZBC's monopoly in the broadcasting sector was ended with the licensing of two private radio stations in 2012.[274]
+
+Since the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was passed, a number of privately owned news outlets were shut down by the government, including Daily News whose managing director Wilf Mbanga went on to form the influential The Zimbabwean.[275][276] As a result, many press organisations have been set up in both neighbouring and Western countries by exiled Zimbabweans. Because the internet is unrestricted, many Zimbabweans are allowed to access online news sites set up by exiled journalists.[277] Reporters Without Borders claims the media environment in Zimbabwe involves "surveillance, threats, imprisonment, censorship, blackmail, abuse of power and denial of justice are all brought to bear to keep firm control over the news."[275] The main published newspapers are The Herald and The Chronicle which are printed in Harare and Bulawayo respectively. The heavy-handedness on the media has progressively relaxed since 2009.
+
+In its 2019 report, Reporters Without Borders ranked the Zimbabwean media as 127th out of 180.[275] The government also bans many foreign broadcasting stations from Zimbabwe, including the CBC, Sky News, Channel 4, American Broadcasting Company, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Fox News. News agencies and newspapers from other Western countries and South Africa have also been banned from the country.
+
+It was in the Matabeleland region in Zimbabwe that, during the Second Matabele War, Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and Frederick Russell Burnham, the American-born Chief of Scouts for the British Army, first met and began their lifelong friendship.[278] In mid-June 1896, during a scouting patrol in the Matobo Hills, Burnham began teaching Baden-Powell woodcraft. Baden-Powell and Burnham discussed the concept of a broad training programme in woodcraft for young men, rich in exploration, tracking, fieldcraft, and self-reliance.[279] It was also during this time in the Matobo Hills that Baden-Powell first started to wear his signature campaign hat like the one worn by Burnham.[280]
+
+Scouting in the former Rhodesia and Nyasaland started in 1909 when the first Boy Scout troop was registered. Scouting grew quickly and in 1924 Rhodesia and Nyasaland sent a large contingent to the second World Scout Jamboree in Ermelunden, Denmark. In 1959, Rhodesia hosted the Central African Jamboree at Ruwa. In 2009, Scouts celebrated 100 years of Scouting in Zimbabwe and hundreds of Scouts camped at Gordon Park, a Scout campground and training area, as part of these celebrations.[281]
+
+Besides scouting, there are also leadership, life skills and general knowledge courses and training experiences mainly for schoolchildren ranging from pre-school to final year high school students and sometimes those beyond high school. These courses and outings are held at, for example, Lasting Impressions (Lasting Impressions ~Zimbabwe on YouTube), Far and Wide Zimbabwe (Far and wide.) and Chimanimani Outward Bound (Outwardbound Zimbabwe at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 June 2007)).
+
+The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird appears on the national flags and the coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (first on Rhodesian pound and then Rhodesian dollar). It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle.[282][283]
+
+The famous soapstone bird carvings stood on walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe, built, it is believed, sometime between the 13th and 16th centuries by ancestors of the Shona. The ruins, which gave their name to modern Zimbabwe, cover some 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and are the largest ancient stone construction in Zimbabwe.[284]
+
+Balancing Rocks are geological formations all over Zimbabwe. The rocks are perfectly balanced without other supports. They are created when ancient granite intrusions are exposed to weathering, as softer rocks surrounding them erode away. They are often remarked on and have been depicted on both the banknotes of Zimbabwe and the Rhodesian dollar banknotes. The ones found on the current notes of Zimbabwe, named the Banknote Rocks, are located in Epworth, approximately 14 km (9 mi) south east of Harare.[285] There are many different formations of the rocks, incorporating single and paired columns of 3 or more rocks. These formations are a feature of south and east tropical Africa from northern South Africa northwards to Sudan. The most notable formations in Zimbabwe are located in the Matobo National Park in Matabeleland.[286]
+
+The National Anthem of Zimbabwe is "Blessed be the Land of Zimbabwe" (Shona: "Simudzai Mureza wedu WeZimbabwe"; Northern Ndebele: "Kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe"). It was introduced in March 1994 after a nationwide competition to replace "Ishe Komborera Africa" as a distinctly Zimbabwean song. The winning entry was a song written by Professor Solomon Mutswairo and composed by Fred Changundega. It has been translated into all three of the main languages of Zimbabwe[286]
+
+At independence, the policies of racial inequality were reflected in the disease patterns of the black majority. The first five years after independence saw rapid gains in areas such as immunisation coverage, access to health care, and contraceptive prevalence rate.[287] Zimbabwe was thus considered internationally to have an achieved a good record of health development.[288]
+
+Zimbabwe suffered occasional outbreaks of acute diseases (such as plague in 1994). The gains on the national health were eroded by structural adjustment in the 1990s,[289] the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic[163] and the economic crisis since the year 2000. In 2006, Zimbabwe had one of the lowest life expectancies in the world according to UN figure—44 for men and 43 for women, down from 60 in 1990, but recovered to 60 in 2015.[290][291] The rapid drop was ascribed mainly to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Infant mortality rose from 6% in the late 1990s to 12.3% by 2004.[163] By 2016 HIV/AIDS prevalence had been reduced to 13.5%[290] compared to 40% in 1998.[196]
+
+The health system has more or less collapsed. At the end of November 2008, some operations at three of Zimbabwe's four major referral hospitals had shut down, along with the Zimbabwe Medical School, and the fourth major hospital had two wards and no operating theatres working.[292] Due to hyperinflation, those hospitals still open were not able to obtain basic drugs and medicines.[293] The situation changed drastically after the Unity Government and the introduction of the multi-currency system in February 2009 although the political and economic crisis also contributed to the emigration of the doctors and people with medical knowledge.[294]
+
+In August 2008 large areas of Zimbabwe were struck by the ongoing cholera epidemic. By December 2008 more than 10,000 people had been infected in all but one of Zimbabwe's provinces and the outbreak had spread to Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.[295][296] On 4 December 2008 the Zimbabwe government declared the outbreak to be a national emergency and asked for international aid.[297][298]
+
+By 9 March 2009 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 4,011 people had succumbed to the waterborne disease since the outbreak began in August 2008, and the total number of cases recorded had reached 89,018.[299] In Harare, the city council offered free graves to cholera victims.[300] There had been signs that the disease is abating, with cholera infections down by about 50% to around 4,000 cases a week.[299]
+
+The 2014 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Zimbabwe was 614[196] compared to 960 in 2010–11[196] and 232 in 1990. The under five mortality rate, per 1,000 births was 75 in 2014 (94 in 2009).[196] The number of midwives per 1,000 live births was unavailable in 2016 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women 1 in 42.[301]
+
+Source: UN World Population Prospects[302]
+
+Due to large investments in education since independence, Zimbabwe has the highest adult literacy rate in Africa which in 2013 was 90.70%.[303] This is lower than the 92% recorded in 2010 by the United Nations Development Programme[304][305] and the 97.0% recorded in the 2002 census, while still substantially higher than 80.4% recorded in the 1992 census.[306]
+
+The education department has stated that 20,000 teachers have left Zimbabwe since 2007 and that half of Zimbabwe's children have not progressed beyond primary school.[307]
+
+The wealthier portion of the population usually send their children to independent schools as opposed to the government-run schools which are attended by the majority as these are subsidised by the government. School education was made free in 1980, but since 1988, the government has steadily increased the charges attached to school enrolment until they now greatly exceed the real value of fees in 1980. The Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe maintains and operates the government schools but the fees charged by independent schools are regulated by the cabinet of Zimbabwe.
+
+Zimbabwe's education system consists of two years of pre-school, seven years of primary and six years of secondary schooling before students can enter university in the country or abroad. The academic year in Zimbabwe runs from January to December, with three terms, broken up by one month holidays, with a total of 40 weeks of school per year. National examinations are written during the third term in November, with "O" level and "A" level subjects also offered in June.[308]
+
+There are seven public (Government) universities as well as four church-related universities in Zimbabwe that are fully internationally accredited.[308] The University of Zimbabwe, the first and largest, was built in 1952 and is located in the Harare suburb of Mount Pleasant. Notable alumni from Zimbabwean universities include Welshman Ncube; Peter Moyo (of Amabhubesi); Tendai Biti, Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist; and Arthur Mutambara. Many of the politicians in the government of Zimbabwe have obtained degrees from universities in USA or other universities abroad.
+
+National University of Science and Technology (NUST) is the second largest public research university in Zimbabwe located in Bulawayo. It was established in 1991. The National University of Science and Technology strives to become a flourishing and reputable institution not only in Zimbabwe and in Southern Africa but also among the international fraternity of Universities. Its guidance, cultural values is the encouragement of all its members and society of those attitudes of fair mindedness, understanding, tolerance and respect for people and views which are essential for the attainment and maintenance of justice, peace and harmony at all times.
+
+Africa University is a United Methodist related university institution located in Manicaland which attracts students from at least 36 African countries. The institution has been growing steadily and has steady study material and learning facilities. 
+The highest professional board for accountants is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) with direct relationships with similar bodies in South Africa, Canada, the UK and Australia. A qualified Chartered Accountant from Zimbabwe is also a member of similar bodies in these countries after writing a conversion paper. In addition, Zimbabwean-trained doctors only require one year of residence to be fully licensed doctors in the United States. The Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE) is the highest professional board for engineers.
+
+Education in Zimbabwe became under threat since the economic changes in 2000 with teachers going on strike because of low pay, students unable to concentrate because of hunger and the price of uniforms soaring making this standard a luxury. Teachers were also one of the main targets of Mugabe's attacks because he thought they were not strong supporters.[309]
+
+Women in Zimbabwe are disadvantaged in many facets including economic, political, and social spheres, and experience Sex and Gender Based Violence.[310] A 2014 UN report found that deep rooted cultural issues, patriarchal attitudes, and religious practices negatively impacted women's rights and freedoms in the country.[310] These negative views toward women as well as societal norms impact the incentive for women to participate in the economy and hinder their economic production.[310] Zimbabwe's constitution passed in 2013 has provisions in it that provide incentive to achieve greater gender equality but the data shows that enforcement has been lax and adoption slow.[310] In December 2016 the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies conducted a case study to determine how to best implement effective policy to address issues such as gender violence and implementation of equality laws.[311] It was found that Sex and Gender Based Violence against women and girls was increasing in areas that had experienced disasters (floods, drought, disease) but could not quantify the extent of the increase.[311] Some of the obstacles in combating these issues are that there are economic barriers to declaring SGBV to be unacceptable as well as social barriers.[311] Additionally, governmental services which were installed to help educate the populace about these issues as well as provide services to victims are underfunded and unable to carry out their duties.[311] The UN also provided economic incentive to adopt policies which would discourage these practices which negatively impacted women in Zimbabwe.[312]
+
+Zimbabwean women face cultural and social adversity in their professional lives which impacts their educational attainment, professional development, and advancement.[313] In 2009 the South African Journal of Education found that although the majority of primary school teachers in their random sample size were qualified for advancement to administrative positions, none of them had applied for administrative openings.[313] The women did not see themselves as equals with their male counterparts and believed their role as a wife and mother superseded all other parts of their lives.[313] The women surveyed in this trial were also found to have low self-esteem, a possible correlation to their societal roles and gender stereotypes.[313] In 2016 the FAO found that only 60% of women participated in the economy in some form compared to 74.3% for their male counterparts.[314] Women also made up the majority of low education jobs, such as 70% of the agriculture work force, yet only made up 16.7% and 21% of local authority and managers in the private sector respectively.[314] In the public sector, women comprised 14% of the Zimbabwean House of Assembly and 33% of the Senate, despite the population ratio being 0.95 males per 1 female.[315][312] To address gender inequality in the economy, the UN supports policies which help increase the number of women in leadership roles, such as heads of schools, with increased funding in line with #3 of the outlined Millennium Development Goals.[312] Through these policies Zimbabwe has made gains in closing the gender gap in school enrolment: 50.5% of males are enrolled in secondary schools compared to 49.5% in females.[315]
+
+Zimbabwe experiences high rates of domestic and sexual violence; the Zimbabwe National Statistics Office shows that rates are increasing.[316] 21 rapes are reported per day in Zimbabwe - a rate of 0.12 rapes a day per 100,000 people. As not all rapes are reported, the actual number is likely higher. Reported rape increased 42% between 2010 and 2016.[316] Of all the violence against girls and women reported in Zimbabwe, 78% was inflicted by their spouse, father, or domestic partner.[316] UNICEF reports show that one in three girls that grow up in Zimbabwe experience sexual assault before turning 18, this is further exacerbated by cultural norms such as child marriage.[316] Young girls often run away with older men when their educational opportunities are limited or to escape a violent household.[316] These incidents of domestic violence or young girls running away with older men are usually not investigated by police as men are viewed as superior to women in Zimbabwean culture and their role as the dominant person in the relationship is to discipline their spouse, often violently.[316] There is an ingrained cultural norm that violence can be a show of power and love which makes ending domestic abuse in Zimbabwe difficult.[316] The Zimbabwe Women's Lawyers Association is an organisation that is assisting the implementation of the legal framework, as defined in the 2013 constitution, to help women. The association provides programmes which help educate women on their rights and provides them with opportunities as a way of combating domestic and sexual violence.[316]
+
+Women in Zimbabwe do not have proportional representation in the Zimbabwean lower and upper houses of Parliament holding 14% and 33% of seats respectively, despite being a slight majority of the population.[314] There are cultural and violence barriers women have to overcome to run for public office; they are seen as "loose and immoral", called prostitutes, claimed to want to be men, and their private lives are heavily scrutinised.[317] Women seeking to participate in the political landscape as candidates or voters cite violence as one of the main reasons they are dissuaded from participating.[317] Lack of financial resources and confidence in their abilities stops many young women from attempting to run as well as preconceived notions about women in politics creates an environment that limits their involvement and desire to be involved in politics.[318] Women also make up a disproportionate amount of the rural poor in Zimbabwe and make up 70% of the agricultural work force. The rural poor find it difficult to access information and materials in relation to politics as well as travel to polling stations and become registered to vote.[314][318] Collectively, women control 35% of parliamentary seats as a result of a provision of the 2013 constitution that mandated at least 30% of seats be occupied by women.[319] A 10-year extension is being considered to this mandate as it is only law until 2022 and equal representation according to population distribution has not yet been achieved.[319] A study by the Research and Advocacy Unit found that political parties in the country appoint women to "window dress" and not for their political advancement.[319]
+
+Women in Zimbabwean society and culture are often seen as inferior, treated as objects, and viewed in subordinate roles in history and philosophy.[320] Ubuntu, an African philosophy's spiritual aspect instills the belief that boys should be more valued than girls as boys pass on lineage and the belief system places high value in respecting ones ancestors.[320] A common expression used in court, "vakadzi ngavanyarare", translates to "women should keep quiet" and as a result women are not consulted in decision-making; they must implement the men's wishes.[320] The subordination of women in Zimbabwe and the cultural forces which dictate what they must be, have led to deaths and the sacrifice of professional advancement in order for them to fulfill their roles as wives, mothers, and subordinates.[313][320] Women are taught that they must never refuse their husbands sexual advances, even if they know they are infected with HIV from being unfaithful.[320] As a result of this practice, Zimbabwean women aged 15–49 have an HIV prevalence rate of 16.1% and make up 62% of the total population infected with HIV in that age group.[321]
+
+Fontein, Joost "Remaking Mutirikwi: Landscape, Water and belonging in Southern Zimbabwe" (2015), James Currey, BIEA Eastern African Series.
+
+Culture:Anglosphere

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+Coordinates: 20°S 30°E / 20°S 30°E / -20; 30
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+in the African Union (light blue)
+
+Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ, -wi/), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia,[12] is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 14 million[13][14] people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages,[3] with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most common.
+
+Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms like the most notably Rozvi and Mthwakazi kingdoms, as well as a major route for migration and trade. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890 where they first conquered Mashonaland which was a self Sovereign and later in 1893 they conquered Matabeleland after a fierce resistance by Matabele people through a war known as First Matabele War. In 1923 long after Mashonaland and Matabeleland were administered separately as Two States, The White Colonialists tabled a white only referendum which merged two Sovereignities of Mashonaland and Matabeleland into a one  self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia without the consent of black natives. In 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its then-government, and from which it withdrew in December 2003. The sovereign state is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It was once known as the "Jewel of Africa" for its great prosperity.[15][16][17]
+
+Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU–PF party won the elections following the end of white minority rule; he was the President of Zimbabwe from 1987 until his resignation in 2017. Under Mugabe's authoritarian regime, the state security apparatus dominated the country and was responsible for widespread human rights violations.[18] Mugabe maintained the revolutionary socialist rhetoric of the Cold War era, blaming Zimbabwe's economic woes on conspiring Western capitalist countries.[19] Contemporary African political leaders were reluctant to criticise Mugabe, who was burnished by his anti-imperialist credentials, though Archbishop Desmond Tutu called him "a cartoon figure of an archetypal African dictator".[20] The country has been in economic decline since the 1990s, experiencing several crashes and hyperinflation along the way.
+
+On 15 November 2017, in the wake of over a year of protests against his government as well as Zimbabwe's rapidly declining economy, Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the country's national army in a coup d'état.[21][22] On 19 November 2017, ZANU–PF sacked Robert Mugabe as party leader and appointed former Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.[23] On 21 November 2017, Mugabe tendered his resignation prior to impeachment proceedings being completed.[24] On 30 July 2018 Zimbabwe held its general elections,[25] which was won by the ZANU–PF party led by Emmerson Mnangagwa.[26] Nelson Chamisa who was leading the main opposition party MDC Alliance contested the election results and filed a petition to the Constitution Court of Zimbabwe.[27] The court confirmed Mnangagwa's victory, making him the newly elected president after Mugabe.[28][29]
+
+The name "Zimbabwe" stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, an ancient city in the country's south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that "Zimbabwe" derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as "houses of stones" (dzimba = plural of imba, "house"; mabwe = plural of bwe, "stone").[30][31][32] The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the modern-day province of Masvingo. Archaeologist Peter Garlake claims that "Zimbabwe" represents a contracted form of dzimba-hwe, which means "venerated houses" in the Zezuru dialect of Shona and usually references chiefs' houses or graves.[33]
+
+Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia (1898), Rhodesia (1965), and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). The first recorded use of "Zimbabwe" as a term of national reference dates from 1960 as a coinage by the black nationalist Michael Mawema,[34] whose Zimbabwe National Party became the first to officially use the name in 1961.[35] The term "Rhodesia"—derived from the surname of Cecil Rhodes, the primary instigator of British colonisation of the territory during the late 19th century—was perceived by African nationalists as inappropriate because of its colonial origin and connotations.[34]
+
+According to Mawema, black nationalists held a meeting in 1960 to choose an alternative name for the country, proposing names such as "Matshobana" and "Monomotapa" before his suggestion, "Zimbabwe", prevailed.[36] A further alternative, put forward by nationalists in Matabeleland, had been "Matopos", referring to the Matopos Hills to the south of Bulawayo.[35]
+
+It was initially unclear how the chosen term was to be used—a letter written by Mawema in 1961 refers to "Zimbabweland"[35] — but "Zimbabwe" was sufficiently established by 1962 to become the generally preferred term of the black nationalist movement.[34] In a 2001 interview, black nationalist Edson Zvobgo recalled that Mawema mentioned the name during a political rally, "and it caught hold, and that was that".[34] The black nationalist factions subsequently used the name during the Second Chimurenga campaigns against the Rhodesian government during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964–1979. Major factions in this camp included the Zimbabwe African National Union (led by Robert Mugabe from 1975), and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (led by Joshua Nkomo from its founding in the early 1960s).[citation needed]
+
+Archaeological records date human settlement of present-day Zimbabwe to at least 100,000 years ago[citation needed]. The earliest known inhabitants were probably San people, who left behind arrowheads and cave paintings. The first Bantu-speaking farmers arrived during the Bantu expansion around 2,000 years ago.[37][38]
+
+Societies speaking proto-Shona languages first emerged in the middle Limpopo valley in the 9th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands. The Zimbabwean plateau eventually became the centre of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th century. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, helping to develop the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in the 11th century. This was the precursor to the Shona civilisations that would dominate the region during the 13th to 15th centuries, evidenced by ruins at Great Zimbabwe, near Masvingo, and by other smaller sites. The main archaeological site uses a unique dry stone architecture.
+
+The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first in a series of trading states which had developed in Zimbabwe by the time the first European explorers arrived from Portugal. These states traded gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass.[39]
+
+From about 1300 until 1600 the Kingdom of Zimbabwe eclipsed Mapungubwe. This Shona state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwe's stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdom's capital of Great Zimbabwe. From c. 1450 to 1760 Zimbabwe gave way to the Kingdom of Mutapa. This Shona state ruled much of the area of present-day Zimbabwe, plus parts of central Mozambique. It is known by many names including the Mutapa Empire, also known as Mwene Mutapa or Monomotapa as well as "Munhumutapa", and was renowned for its strategic trade routes with the Arabs and Portugal. The Portuguese sought to monopolise this influence and began a series of wars which left the empire in near collapse in the early 17th century.[39]
+
+As a direct response to increased European presence in the interior a new Shona state emerged, known as the Rozwi Empire (1684–1834). Relying on centuries of military, political and religious development, the Rozwi (meaning "destroyers") expelled the Portuguese from the Zimbabwean plateau[when?] by force of arms. They continued the stone-building traditions of the Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe kingdoms while adding muskets to their arsenal and recruiting a professional army to defend recent conquests.[citation needed]
+
+Around 1821 the Zulu general Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan successfully rebelled against King Shaka and established his own clan, the Ndebele. The Ndebele fought their way northwards into the Transvaal, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and beginning an era of widespread devastation known as the Mfecane. When Dutch trekboers converged on the Transvaal in 1836, they drove the tribe even further northward, with the assistance of Tswana Barolong warriors and Griqua commandos. By 1838 the Ndebele had conquered the Rozwi Empire, along with the other smaller Shona states, and reduced them to vassaldom.[40]
+
+After losing their remaining South African lands in 1840, Mzilikazi and his tribe permanently settled in the southwest of present-day Zimbabwe in what became known as Matabeleland, establishing Bulawayo as their capital. Mzilikazi then organised his society into a military system with regimental kraals, similar to those of Shaka, which was stable enough to repel further Boer incursions. Mzilikazi died in 1868; following a violent power struggle, his son Lobengula succeeded him.
+
+In the 1880s European colonists arrived with Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC, incorporated in 1888, chartered in 1889). In 1888 Rhodes obtained a concession for mining rights from King Lobengula of the Ndebele peoples.[41][need quotation to verify]
+He presented this concession to persuade the government of the United Kingdom to grant a royal charter to the company over Matabeleland, and its subject states such as Mashonaland as well.[42]
+
+Rhodes used this document in 1890 to justify sending the Pioneer Column, a group of Europeans protected by well-armed British South Africa Police (BSAP) through Matabeleland and into Shona territory to establish Fort Salisbury (present-day Harare), and thereby establish company rule over the area. In 1893 and 1894, with the help of their new  Maxim guns, the BSAP would go on to defeat the Ndebele in the First Matabele War. Rhodes additionally sought permission to negotiate similar concessions covering all territory between the Limpopo River and Lake Tanganyika, then known as "Zambesia".[42]
+
+In accordance with the terms of aforementioned concessions and treaties,[42] mass settlement was encouraged,[by whom?] with the British maintaining control over labour as well as over precious metals and other mineral resources.[43]
+
+In 1895 the BSAC adopted the name  "Rhodesia" for the territory, in honour of Rhodes. In 1898 "Southern Rhodesia" became the official name for the region south of the Zambezi,[44][45] which later adopted the name "Zimbabwe". The region to the north, administered separately, was later termed Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia). Shortly after Rhodes' the disastrous Rhodes-sponsored Jameson Raid (December 1895 - January 1896) on the South African Republic, the Ndebele rebelled against white rule, led by their charismatic religious leader, Mlimo. The Second Matabele War of 1896-1897 lasted in Matabeleland until 1896, when a British operation had Mlimo assassinated. Shona agitators staged unsuccessful revolts (known as Chimurenga) against company rule during 1896 and 1897.[citation needed]
+
+Following these failed insurrections,the Rhodes administration subdued the Ndebele and Shona groups and organised the land with a disproportionate bias favouring Europeans, thus displacing many indigenous peoples.[46]
+
+The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia on 12 September 1923.[47][48][49][50] Shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force.[49][51]
+
+Under the new constitution, Southern Rhodesia became a  self-governing  British colony, subsequent to a  1922 referendum. Rhodesians of all races served on behalf of the United Kingdom during the two World Wars in the early-20th century. Proportional to the white population, Southern Rhodesia contributed more per capita to both the First and Second World Wars than any other part of the Empire, including Britain itself.[52]
+
+In 1953, in the face of African opposition,[53] Britain consolidated the two Rhodesias with Nyasaland (Malawi) in the ill-fated Central African Federation, which Southern Rhodesia essentially dominated. Growing African nationalism and general dissent, particularly in Nyasaland, persuaded Britain to dissolve the Union in 1963, forming three separate divisions. While multiracial democracy was finally introduced to Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, however, Southern Rhodesians of European ancestry continued to enjoy minority rule.[46]
+
+Following Zambian independence (effective from October 1964), Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front (RF) government in Salisbury dropped the designation "Southern" in 1964 (once Northern Rhodesia had changed its name to Zambia, having the word Southern before the name Rhodesia became unnecessary and the country simply became known as Rhodesia afterwards). Intent on effectively repudiating the recently-adopted British policy of "no independence before majority rule", Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (commonly abbreviated to "UDI") from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965. This marked the first such course taken by a rebel British colony since the American declaration of 1776, which Smith and others indeed claimed provided a suitable precedent to their own actions.[52]
+
+After the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), the British government petitioned the United Nations for sanctions against Rhodesia pending unsuccessful talks with Smith's administration in 1966 and 1968. In December 1966, the organisation complied, imposing the first mandatory trade embargo on an autonomous state.[54] These sanctions were expanded again in 1968.[54]
+
+The United Kingdom deemed the Rhodesian declaration an act of rebellion, but did not re-establish control by force. A guerrilla war subsequently ensued when Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), supported actively by communist powers and neighbouring African nations, initiated guerrilla operations against Rhodesia's predominantly white government. ZAPU was supported by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and associated nations such as Cuba, and adopted a Marxist–Leninist ideology; ZANU meanwhile aligned itself with Maoism and the bloc headed by the People's Republic of China. Smith declared Rhodesia a republic in 1970, following the results of a referendum the previous year, but this went unrecognised internationally. Meanwhile, Rhodesia's internal conflict intensified, eventually forcing him to open negotiations with the militant communists.
+
+In March 1978, Smith reached an accord with three African leaders, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who offered to leave the white population comfortably entrenched in exchange for the establishment of a biracial democracy. As a result of the Internal Settlement, elections were held in April 1979, concluding with the United African National Council (UANC) carrying a majority of parliamentary seats. On 1 June 1979, Muzorewa, the UANC head, became prime minister and the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe Rhodesia. The Internal Settlement left control of the Rhodesian Security Forces, civil service, judiciary, and a third of parliament seats to whites.[55] On 12 June, the United States Senate voted to lift economic pressure on the former Rhodesia.
+
+Following the fifth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Lusaka, Zambia from 1 to 7 August in 1979, the British government invited Muzorewa, Mugabe, and Nkomo to participate in a constitutional conference at Lancaster House. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and reach an agreement on the terms of an independence constitution, and provide for elections supervised under British authority allowing Zimbabwe Rhodesia to proceed to legal independence.[56]
+
+With Lord Carrington, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, in the chair, these discussions were mounted from 10 September to 15 December in 1979, producing a total of 47 plenary sessions.[56] On 21 December 1979, delegations from every major interest represented reached the Lancaster House Agreement, effectively ending the guerrilla war.[57]
+
+On 11 December 1979, the Rhodesian House of Assembly voted 90 to nil to revert to British colonial status (the 'aye' votes included Ian Smith himself). The bill then passed the Senate and was assented to by the President. With the arrival of Lord Soames, the new Governor, just after 2 p.m. on 12 December 1979, Britain formally took control of Zimbabwe Rhodesia as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia, although on 13 December Soames declared that during his mandate the name Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia would continue to be used. Britain lifted sanctions on 12 December, and the United Nations on 16 December, before calling on its member states to do likewise on 21 December. Thus Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Angola and Botswana lifted sanctions on 22–23 December; Australia partly pre-empted this, lifting all but trade sanctions on 18 December, and trade sanctions on 21 December.[58]
+
+During the elections of February 1980, Robert Mugabe and the ZANU party secured a landslide victory.[59] Prince Charles, as the representative of Britain, formally granted independence to the new nation of Zimbabwe at a ceremony in Harare in April 1980.[60]
+
+Zimbabwe's first president after its independence was Canaan Banana in what was originally a mainly ceremonial role as Head of State. Robert Mugabe, leader of the ZANU party, was the country's first Prime Minister and Head of Government.[61]
+
+Opposition to what was perceived as a Shona takeover immediately erupted around Matabeleland. The Matabele unrest led to what has become known as Gukurahundi (Shona: "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains").[62] The Fifth Brigade, a North Korean-trained elite unit that reported directly to the Zimbabwean Prime Minister,[63] entered Matabeleland and massacred thousands of civilians accused of supporting "dissidents".[63][64]
+
+Estimates for the number of deaths during the five-year Gukurahundi campaign ranged from 3,750[65] to 80,000.[64]
+[66] Thousands of others were tortured in military internment camps.[67][68] The campaign officially ended in 1987 after Nkomo and Mugabe reached a unity agreement that merged their respective parties, creating the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF).[63][69][70]
+
+Elections in March 1990 resulted in another victory for Mugabe and the ZANU–PF party, which claimed 117 of the 120 contested seats.[71][72]
+
+During the 1990s, students, trade unionists, and other workers often demonstrated to express their growing discontent with Mugabe and ZANU–PF party policies. In 1996, civil servants, nurses, and junior doctors went on strike over salary issues.[73][74] The general health of the population also began to significantly decline; by 1997 an estimated 25% of the population had been infected by HIV in a pandemic that was affecting most of southern Africa.[75][76]
+
+Land redistribution re-emerged as the main issue for the ZANU–PF government around 1997. Despite the existence of a "willing-buyer-willing-seller" land reform programme since the 1980s, the minority white Zimbabwean population of around 0.6% continued to hold 70% of the country's most fertile agricultural land.[77]
+
+In 2000, the government pressed ahead with its Fast Track Land Reform programme, a policy involving compulsory land acquisition aimed at redistributing land from the minority white population to the majority black population.[78] Confiscations of white farmland, continuous droughts, and a serious drop in external finance and other supports led to a sharp decline in agricultural exports, which were traditionally the country's leading export-producing sector.[78] Some 58,000 independent black farmers have since experienced limited success in reviving the gutted cash crop sectors through efforts on a smaller scale.[79]
+
+President Mugabe and the ZANU–PF party leadership found themselves beset by a wide range of international sanctions.[80] In 2002, the nation was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations due to the reckless farm seizures and blatant election tampering.[81] The following year, Zimbabwean officials voluntarily terminated its Commonwealth membership.[82] The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZDERA) went into effect in 2002, creating a credit freeze of the Zimbabwean government through Section 4 C, Multilateral Financing Restriction. The bill was sponsored by Bill Frist, and co-sponsored by US senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Russ Feingold and Jesse Helms. Through ZDERA Section 4C, the Secretary of the Treasury is ordered to direct US Directors at the International Financial Institutions listed in Section 3, "to oppose and vote against-- (1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or (2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution."[83]
+
+By 2003, the country's economy had collapsed. It's estimated that up to a quarter of Zimbabwe's 11 million people had fled the country. Three-quarters of the remaining Zimbabweans were living on less than one US dollar a day.[84]
+
+Following elections in 2005, the government initiated "Operation Murambatsvina", an effort to crack down on illegal markets and slums emerging in towns and cities, leaving a substantial section of urban poor homeless.[85][86] The Zimbabwean government has described the operation as an attempt to provide decent housing to the population, although according to critics such as Amnesty International, authorities have yet to properly substantiate their claims.[87]
+
+On 29 March 2008, Zimbabwe held a presidential election along with a parliamentary election. The results of this election were withheld for two weeks, after which it was generally acknowledged that the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) had achieved a majority of one seat in the lower house of parliament.[citation needed]
+
+On 10 July 2008, Russia and China vetoed UN Zimbabwe sanctions pushed by Britain and the US.[88] The US drafted the file, which would have placed an arms embargo on Mugabe's regime. However, nine of 15 countries on the UN council opposed it, including Vietnam, South Africa, and Libya, which argued that Zimbabwe was not a 'threat to international peace and security.'[89]
+
+In late 2008, problems in Zimbabwe reached crisis proportions in the areas of living standards, public health (with a major cholera outbreak in December) and various basic affairs.[90] During this period NGOs took over from government as a primary provider of food during this period of food insecurity in Zimbabwe.[91]
+
+In September 2008, a power-sharing agreement was reached between Tsvangirai and President Mugabe, permitting the former to hold the office of prime minister. Due to ministerial differences between their respective political parties, the agreement was not fully implemented until 13 February 2009. By December 2010, Mugabe was threatening to completely expropriate remaining privately owned companies in Zimbabwe unless "western sanctions" were lifted.[92]
+
+A 2011 survey by Freedom House suggested that living conditions had improved since the power-sharing agreement.[93] The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated in its 2012–2013 planning document that the "humanitarian situation has improved in Zimbabwe since 2009, but conditions remain precarious for many people".[94]
+
+On 17 January 2013, Vice-President John Nkomo died of cancer at St Anne's Hospital, Harare at the age of 78.[95] A new constitution approved in the Zimbabwean constitutional referendum, 2013 curtails presidential powers.[96]
+
+Mugabe was re-elected president in the July 2013 Zimbabwean general election which The Economist described as "rigged."[97] and the Daily Telegraph as "stolen".[98] The Movement for Democratic Change alleged massive fraud and tried to seek relief through the courts.[99] In a surprising moment of candour at the ZANU–PF congress in December 2014, President Robert Mugabe accidentally let slip that the opposition had in fact won the contentious 2008 polls by an astounding 73%.[100] After winning the election, the Mugabe ZANU–PF government re-instituted one party rule,[98] doubled the civil service and, according to The Economist, embarked on "misrule and dazzling corruption".[97] A 2017 study conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) concluded that due to the deterioration of government and the economy "the government encourages corruption to make up for its inability to fund its own institutions" with widespread and informal police roadblocks to issue fines to travellers being one manifestation of this.[101]
+
+In July 2016 nationwide protests took place regarding the economic collapse in the country,[102][103] and the finance minister admitted "Right now we literally have nothing."[97]
+
+In November 2017, the army led a coup d'état following the dismissal of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, placing Mugabe under house arrest. The army denied that their actions constituted a coup.[21][22] Mugabe resigned on 21 November 2017, after leading the country for 37 years. Although under the Constitution of Zimbabwe Mugabe should be succeeded by Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko, a supporter of Grace Mugabe, ZANU–PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke stated to the Reuters news agency that Mnangagwa would be appointed as president.[24]
+
+In December 2017 the website Zimbabwe News, calculating the cost of the Mugabe era using various statistics, said that at the time of independence in 1980, the country was growing economically at about five per cent a year, and had done so for quite a long time. If this rate of growth had been maintained for the next 37 years, Zimbabwe would have in 2016 a GDP of US$52 billion. Instead it had a formal sector GDP of only US$14 billion, a cost of US$38 billion in lost growth. The population growth in 1980 was among the highest in Africa at about 3.5 per cent per annum, doubling every 21 years. Had this growth been maintained, the population would have been 31 million. Instead, as of 2018, it is about 13 million. The discrepancies were believed to be partly caused by death from starvation and disease, and partly due to decreased fertility. The life expectancy has halved, and death from politically motivated violence sponsored by government exceeds 200,000 since 1980. The Mugabe government has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of at least three million Zimbabweans in 37 years.[104] According to World Food Programme, over two million people are facing starvation because of the recent droughts the country is going through.[105]
+
+Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southern Africa, lying between latitudes 15° and 23°S, and longitudes 25° and 34°E. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east and northeast. Its northwest corner is roughly 150 meters from Namibia, nearly forming a four-nation quadripoint. Most of the country is elevated, consisting of a central plateau (high veld) stretching from the southwest northwards with altitudes between 1,000 and 1,600 m. The country's extreme east is mountainous, this area being known as the Eastern Highlands, with Mount Nyangani as the highest point at 2,592 m.[citation needed]
+
+The highlands are known for their natural environment, with tourist destinations such as Nyanga, Troutbeck, Chimanimani, Vumba and Chirinda Forest at Mount Selinda. About 20% of the country consists of low-lying areas, (the low veld) under 900m. Victoria Falls, one of the world's biggest and most spectacular waterfalls, is located in the country's extreme northwest and is part of the Zambezi river.[106][107]
+
+Over geological time Zimbabwe has experienced two major post-Gondwana erosion cycles (known as African and post-African), and a very subordinate Plio-Pleistocene cycle.[108]
+
+Zimbabwe has a tropical climate with many local variations. The southern areas are known for their heat and aridity, parts of the central plateau receive frost in winter, the Zambezi valley is also known for its extreme heat and the Eastern Highlands usually experience cool temperatures and the highest rainfall in the country. The country's rainy season generally runs from late October to March and the hot climate is moderated by increasing altitude. Zimbabwe is faced with recurring droughts. The most recent one began early in 2015 and lasted into 2016. In 2019, at least 55 elephants died because of the drought.[109] Severe storms are rare.[110]
+
+The country is mostly savannah, although the moist and mountainous eastern highlands support areas of tropical evergreen and hardwood forests. Trees found in these Eastern Highlands include teak, mahogany, enormous specimens of strangling fig, forest Newtonia, big leaf, white stinkwood, chirinda stinkwood, knobthorn and many others.
+
+In the low-lying parts of the country fever trees, mopane, combretum and baobabs abound. Much of the country is covered by miombo woodland, dominated by brachystegia species and others. Among the numerous flowers and shrubs are hibiscus, flame lily, snake lily, spider lily, leonotus, cassia, tree wisteria and dombeya. There are around 350 species of mammals that can be found in Zimbabwe. There are also many snakes and lizards, over 500 bird species, and 131 fish species.
+
+Large parts of Zimbabwe were once covered by forests with abundant wildlife. Deforestation and poaching has reduced the amount of wildlife. Woodland degradation and deforestation, due to population growth, urban expansion and lack of fuel, are major concerns[111] and have led to erosion and land degradation which diminish the amount of fertile soil. Local farmers have also been criticised by environmentalists for burning off vegetation to heat their tobacco barns.[112]
+
+Zimbabwe is a republic with a presidential system of government. The semi-presidential system was abolished with the adoption of a new constitution after a referendum in March 2013. Under the constitutional changes in 2005, an upper chamber, the Senate, was reinstated.[113] The House of Assembly is the lower chamber of Parliament. Former President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (commonly abbreviated ZANU–PF) has been the dominant political party in Zimbabwe since independence.[114]
+
+In 1987 then-prime minister Mugabe revised the constitution, abolishing the ceremonial presidency and the prime ministerial posts to form an executive president, a Presidential system. His ZANU party has won every election since independence, in the 1990 election the second-placed party, Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement, won only 20% of the vote.[115]
+
+During the 1995 parliamentary elections most opposition parties, including the ZUM, boycotted the voting, resulting in a near-sweep by the ruling party.[116] When the opposition returned to the polls in 2000, they won 57 seats, only five fewer than ZANU.[116]
+
+Presidential elections were again held in 2002 amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud.[117] The 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections were held on 31 March and multiple claims of vote rigging, election fraud and intimidation were made by the MDC and Jonathan Moyo, calling for investigations into 32 of the 120 constituencies.[118] Jonathan Moyo participated in the elections despite the allegations and won a seat as an independent member of Parliament.[citation needed]
+
+General elections were again held in Zimbabwe on 30 March 2008.[119] The official results required a run-off between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader; the MDC challenged these results, claiming widespread election fraud by the Mugabe government.[120]
+
+The run-off was scheduled for 27 June 2008. On 22 June, citing the continuing unfairness of the process and refusing to participate in a "violent, illegitimate sham of an election process", Tsvangirai pulled out of the presidential run-off, the ZEC held the run-off and President Mugabe received a landslide majority.[121]
+
+The MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai is now the majority in the Lower chamber of Parliament. The MDC split into two factions. One faction (MDC-M), now led by Arthur Mutambara contested the elections to the Senate, while the other, led by Tsvangirai, opposed to contesting the elections, stating that participation in a rigged election is tantamount to endorsing Mugabe's claim that past elections were free and fair. The opposition parties have resumed participation in national and local elections as recently as 2006. The two MDC camps had their congresses in 2006 with Tsvangirai being elected to lead MDC-T, which has become more popular than the other group.[122]
+
+Mutambara, a robotics professor and former NASA robotics specialist has replaced Welshman Ncube who was the interim leader of MDC-M after the split. Morgan Tsvangirai did not participate in the Senate elections, while the Mutambara faction participated and won five seats in the Senate. The Mutambara formation has been weakened by defections from MPs and individuals who are disillusioned by their manifesto. As of 2008[update], the Movement for Democratic Change has become the most popular, with crowds as large as 20,000 attending their rallies as compared to between 500–5,000 for the other formation.[122]
+
+On 28 April 2008, Tsvangirai and Mutambara announced at a joint news conference in Johannesburg that the two MDC formations were co-operating, enabling the MDC to have a clear parliamentary majority.[123][124] Tsvangirai said that Mugabe could not remain President without a parliamentary majority.[124] On the same day, Silaigwana announced that the recounts for the final five constituencies had been completed, that the results were being collated and that they would be published on 29 April.[125]
+
+In mid-September 2008, after protracted negotiations overseen by the leaders of South Africa and Mozambique, Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal which would see Mugabe retain control over the army. Donor nations have adopted a 'wait-and-see' attitude, wanting to see real change being brought about by this merger before committing themselves to funding rebuilding efforts, which are estimated to take at least five years. On 11 February 2009 Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister by President Mugabe.[126][127]
+
+In November 2008, the government of Zimbabwe spent US$7.3 million donated by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A representative of the organisation declined to speculate on how the money was spent, except that it was not for the intended purpose, and the government has failed to honour requests to return the money.[128]
+
+In February 2013, Zimbabwe's election chief, Simpson Mtambanengwe, resigned due to ill health. His resignation came months before the country's constitutional referendum and elections.[129]
+
+The Status of Zimbabwe politics has been thrown into question by a coup taking place in November 2017, ending Mugabe's 30 year presidential incumbency. Emmerson Mnangagwa was appointed president following this coup, and officially elected with 50.8% of the vote in the 2018 Zimbabwean general election, avoiding a run-off and making him the 3rd President of Zimbabwe.
+
+There are widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the Mugabe administration and the dominant party, the ZANU–PF.[131]
+
+In 2011, there were reports of 640 corpses having been recovered from the Monkey William Mine in Chibondo. They were allegedly authenticated by the Fallen Heroes Trust of Zimbabwe and the Department of National Museums and Monuments who are leading the exhumation process as victims of the Ian Smith regime during the Rhodesian Bush War.[132][133] One body was identified as a ZANLA cadre, Cde Rauya, by the Fallen Heroes Trust Chief exhumer.[134]
+
+Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere admitted the remains were discovered in 2008, but claimed the remains were decades old despite clear evidence the exhumed skeletons still had hair and clothes. Solidarity Peace Trust said that the presence of soft tissues "is not necessarily an indicator that these bones entered the grave more recently, although it could be."[135]
+
+Journalists found a body in the mine with 'what appeared to be blood and fluids dripping onto the skulls below'. The opposition MDC called for research on all violence that included killings of its supporters during disputed elections in 2008. Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern that "international best practice on exhumations is not being adhered to ... [M]ishandling of these mass graves has serious implications on potential exhumations of other sites in Zimbabwe. Thousands of civilians were also killed in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the mid 1980s and are allegedly buried in mine shafts and mass graves in these regions", AI added.[135][136]
+
+According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International[137] and Human Rights Watch[138] the government of Zimbabwe violates the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law. In 2009, Gregory Stanton, then President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, stated there was "clear evidence that Mugabe government was guilty of crimes against humanity and that there was sufficient evidence of crimes against humanity to bring Mugabe to trial in front of the International Criminal Court.”[139]
+
+Male homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe. Since 1995, the government has carried out campaigns against both homosexual men and women.[140] President Mugabe has blamed gays for many of Zimbabwe's problems and viewed homosexuality as an "un-African" and immoral culture brought by European colonists and practised by only "a few whites" in his country.[141]
+
+Opposition gatherings are frequently the subject of brutal attacks by the police force, such as the crackdown on an 11 March 2007 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally and several others during the 2008 election campaign.[142]
+
+In the attacks of 2007, party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 49 other opposition activists were arrested and severely beaten by the police. After his release, Morgan Tsvangirai told the BBC that he suffered head injuries and blows to the arms, knees and back, and that he lost a significant amount of blood and hundreds were killed.[143]
+
+Police action was strongly condemned by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the European Union and the United States.[143] While noting that the activists had suffered injuries, but not mentioning the cause of them,[144] the Zimbabwean state-owned daily newspaper The Herald claimed the police had intervened after demonstrators "ran amok looting shops, destroying property, mugging civilians, and assaulting police officers and innocent members of the public". The newspaper argued that the opposition had been "willfully violating the ban on political rallies".[144]
+
+There are also abuses of media rights and access. The Zimbabwean government is accused of suppressing freedom of the press and freedom of speech.[137] It has been repeatedly accused of using the public broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, as a propaganda tool.[145] Newspapers critical of the government, such as the Daily News, closed after bombs exploded at their offices and the government refused to renew their licence.[146][147] BBC News, Sky News, and CNN were banned from filming or reporting from Zimbabwe. In 2009 reporting restrictions on the BBC and CNN were lifted.[148] Sky News continue to report on happenings within Zimbabwe from neighbouring countries like South Africa.[149][150]
+
+In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Zimbabwe, have signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.[151]
+
+The Zimbabwe Defence Forces were set up by unifying three insurrectionist forces – the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), and the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) – after the Second Chimurenga and Zimbabwean independence in 1980. The integration period saw the formation of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) as separate entities under the command of Rtd General Solomon Mujuru and Air Marshal Norman Walsh who retired in 1982, and was replaced by Air Marshal Azim Daudpota who handed over command to Rtd Air Chief Marshal Josiah Tungamirai in 1985.
+
+In December 2003, General Constantine Chiwenga, was promoted and appointed Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Lieutenant General P. V. Sibanda replaced him as Commander of the Army.[152]
+
+The ZNA has an active duty strength of 30,000. The Air Force has about 5,139 standing personnel.[153] The Zimbabwe Republic Police (includes Police Support Unit, Paramilitary Police) is part of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and numbers 25,000.[154]
+
+Following majority rule in early 1980, British Army trainers oversaw the integration of guerrilla fighters into a battalion structure overlaid on the existing Rhodesian armed forces. For the first year, a system was followed where the top-performing candidate became battalion commander. If he or she was from ZANLA, then his or her second-in-command was the top-performing ZIPRA candidate, and vice versa.[155] This ensured a balance between the two movements in the command structure. From early 1981, this system was abandoned in favour of political appointments, and ZANLA and ZANU fighters consequently quickly formed the majority of battalion commanders in the ZNA.[citation needed]
+
+The ZNA was originally formed into four brigades, composed of a total of 28 battalions. The brigade support units were composed almost entirely of specialists of the former Rhodesian Army, while unintegrated battalions of the Rhodesian African Rifles were assigned to the 1st, 3rd and 4th Brigades. The Fifth Brigade was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1988 after the demonstration of mass brutality and murder during the brigade's occupation of Matabeleland in what has become known as Gukurahundi (Shona: "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains"), the campaign which finished off Mugabe's liberation struggle.[62][156] The Brigade had been re-formed by 2006, with its commander, Brigadier-General John Mupande praising its "rich history".[157]
+
+Zimbabwe has a centralised government and is divided into eight provinces and two cities with provincial status, for administrative purposes. Each province has a provincial capital from where government administration is usually carried out.[2]
+
+The names of most of the provinces were generated from the Mashonaland and Matabeleland divide at the time of colonisation: Mashonaland was the territory occupied first by the British South Africa Company Pioneer Column and Matabeleland the territory conquered during the First Matabele War. This corresponds roughly to the precolonial territory of the Shona people and the Matabele people, although there are significant ethnic minorities in most provinces. Each province is headed by a Provincial Governor, appointed by the President.[158]
+
+The provincial government is run by a Provincial Administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. Other government functions at provincial level are carried out by provincial offices of national government departments.[159]
+
+The provinces are subdivided into 59 districts and 1,200 wards (sometimes referred to as municipalities). Each district is headed by a District Administrator, appointed by the Public Service Commission. There is also a Rural District Council, which appoints a chief executive officer. The Rural District Council is composed of elected ward councillors, the District Administrator and one representative of the chiefs (traditional leaders appointed under customary law) in the district. Other government functions at district level are carried out by district offices of national government departments.[160]
+
+At the ward level there is a Ward Development Committee, comprising the elected ward councillor, the kraalheads (traditional leaders subordinate to chiefs) and representatives of Village Development Committees. Wards are subdivided into villages, each of which has an elected Village Development Committee and a Headman (traditional leader subordinate to the kraalhead).[161]
+
+Minerals, gold,[110] and agriculture are the main foreign exports of Zimbabwe. Tourism also plays a key role in its economy.[162]
+
+The mining sector remains very lucrative, with some of the world's largest platinum reserves being mined by Anglo American plc and Impala Platinum.[163] The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, are considered the biggest diamond find in over a century.[164] They have the potential to improve the fiscal situation of the country considerably, but almost all revenues from the field have disappeared into the pockets of army officers and ZANU–PF politicians.[165]
+
+In terms of carats produced, the Marange field is one of the largest diamond producing projects in the world,[166] estimated to produce 12 million carats in 2014 worth over $350 million.[167] Zimbabwe is the biggest trading partner of South Africa on the continent.[168]
+
+Taxes and tariffs are high for private enterprises, while state enterprises are strongly subsidised. State regulation is costly to companies; starting or closing a business is slow and costly.[169] Government spending was predicted to reach 67% of GDP in 2007.[170]
+
+Tourism was an important industry for the country, but has been failing in recent years. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force released a report in June 2007, estimating 60% of Zimbabwe's wildlife has died since 2000 due to poaching and deforestation. The report warns that the loss of life combined with widespread deforestation is potentially disastrous for the tourist industry.[171]
+
+The ICT sector of Zimbabwe has been growing at a fast pace. A report by the mobile internet browser company, Opera, in June/July 2011 has ranked Zimbabwe as Africa's fastest growing market.[172][173]
+
+Since 1 January 2002, the government of Zimbabwe has had its lines of credit at international financial institutions frozen, through US legislation called the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZDERA). Section 4C instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to direct directors at international financial institutions to veto the extension of loans and credit to the Zimbabwean government.[174] According to the United States, these sanctions target only seven specific businesses owned or controlled by government officials and not ordinary citizens.[175]
+
+Zimbabwe maintained positive economic growth throughout the 1980s (5% GDP growth per year) and 1990s (4.3% GDP growth per year). The economy declined from 2000: 5% decline in 2000, 8% in 2001, 12% in 2002 and 18% in 2003.[176] Zimbabwe's involvement from 1998 to 2002 in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy.[177] From 1999–2009, Zimbabwe saw the lowest ever economic growth with an annual GDP decrease of 6.1%.[178]
+
+The downward spiral of the economy has been attributed mainly to mismanagement and corruption by the government and the eviction of more than 4,000 white farmers in the controversial land confiscations of 2000.[179][180][181][182] The Zimbabwean government and its supporters attest that it was Western policies to avenge the expulsion of their kin that sabotaged the economy.[183]
+
+By 2005, the purchasing power of the average Zimbabwean had dropped to the same levels in real terms as 1953.[184] In 2005, the government, led by central bank governor Gideon Gono, started making overtures that white farmers could come back. There were 400 to 500 still left in the country, but much of the land that had been confiscated was no longer productive.[185] By 2016 there were about 300 farms owned by white farmers left out of the original 4,500. The farms left were either too remote or their owners had paid for protection or collaborated with the regime.[98]
+
+In January 2007, the government issued long-term leases to some white farmers.[186] At the same time, however, the government also continued to demand that all remaining white farmers, who were given eviction notices earlier, vacate the land or risk being arrested.[187][188] Mugabe pointed to foreign governments and alleged "sabotage" as the cause of the fall of the Zimbabwean economy, as well as the country's 80% formal unemployment rate.[189]
+
+Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% in 1998, to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in August 2008 according to the country's Central Statistical Office.[190] This represented a state of hyperinflation, and the central bank introduced a new 100 trillion dollar note.[191]
+
+On 29 January 2009, in an effort to counteract runaway inflation, acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced that Zimbabweans will be permitted to use other, more stable currencies to do business, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar.[192] In an effort to combat inflation and foster economic growth the Zimbabwean dollar was suspended indefinitely on 12 April 2009.[193] In 2016 Zimbabwe allowed trade in the United States dollar and various other currencies such as the rand (South Africa), the pula (Botswana), the euro, and the Pound Sterling (UK).[194] In February 2019, RBZ Governor introduced a new local currency, the RTGS Dollar in a move to address some of the Zimbabwean economic and financial challenges.[195]
+
+After the formation of the Unity Government and the adoption of several currencies instead of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, the Zimbabwean economy rebounded. GDP grew by 8–9% a year between 2009 and 2012.[196] In November 2010, the IMF described the Zimbabwean economy as "completing its second year of buoyant economic growth".[197][198] By 2014, Zimbabwe had recovered to levels seen in the 1990s[196] but between 2012 and 2016 growth faltered.[199]
+
+Zimplats, the nation's largest platinum company, has proceeded with US$500 million in expansions, and is also continuing a separate US$2 billion project, despite threats by Mugabe to nationalise the company.[200] The pan-African investment bank IMARA released a favourable report in February 2011 on investment prospects in Zimbabwe, citing an improved revenue base and higher tax receipts.[201]
+
+In late January 2013, the Zimbabwean finance ministry reported that they had only $217 in their treasury and would apply for donations to finance the coming elections that is estimated to cost US$107 million.[202][203]
+
+As of October 2014, Metallon Corporation was Zimbabwe's largest gold miner.[204] The group is looking to increase its production to 500,000 troy ounces per annum by 2019.[204]
+
+Inflation in Zimbabwe was 42% in 2018.   In June 2019, the inflation rate reached 175%, leading to mass unrest across the country and in Harare.[205]
+
+Zimbabwe's commercial farming sector was traditionally a source of exports and foreign exchange, and provided 400,000 jobs. However, the government's land reform program badly damaged the sector, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products.[2] For example, between 2000 and 2016, annual wheat production fell from 250,000 tons to 60,000 tons, maize was reduced from two million tons to 500,000 tons and cattle slaughtered for beef fell from 605,000 to 244,000.[98] Coffee production, once a prized export commodity, came to a virtual halt after seizure or expropriation of white-owned coffee farms in 2000 and has never recovered.[206]
+
+For the past ten years, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been assisting Zimbabwe's farmers to adopt conservation agriculture techniques, a sustainable method of farming that can help increase yields. By applying the three principles of minimum soil disturbance, legume-based cropping and the use of organic mulch, farmers can improve infiltration, reduce evaporation and soil erosion, and build up organic soil content.[citation needed]
+
+Between 2005 and 2011, the number of smallholders practising conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe increased from 5,000 to more than 150,000. Cereal yields rose between 15 and 100 per cent across different regions.[207]
+
+Since the land reform programme in 2000, tourism in Zimbabwe has steadily declined. But in 2018, 2.6 million tourists arrived in Zimbabwe, which is the peak level till now.[208]
+
+In 2016, the total contribution of tourism to Zimbabwe was $1.1 billion (USD), or about 8.1% of Zimbabwe's GDP. It is expected to rise 1.4% in 2017. Employment in travel and tourism, as well as industries travel and tourism indirectly supports, was 5.2% of national employment and is expected to rise by 1.4% in 2017.[209]
+
+Several airlines pulled out of Zimbabwe between 2000 and 2007. Australia's Qantas, Germany's Lufthansa, and Austrian Airlines were among the first to pull out and in 2007 British Airways suspended all direct flights to Harare.[210][211] The country's flagship airline Air Zimbabwe, which operated flights throughout Africa and a few destinations in Europe and Asia, ceased operations in February 2012.[212][needs update] As of 2017, several major commercial airlines had resumed flights to Zimbabwe.
+
+Zimbabwe has several major tourist attractions. Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, which are shared with Zambia, are located in the north west of Zimbabwe. Before the economic changes, much of the tourism for these locations came to the Zimbabwe side but now Zambia is the main beneficiary. The Victoria Falls National Park is also in this area and is one of the eight main national parks in Zimbabwe,[213] the largest of which is Hwange National Park.
+
+The Eastern Highlands are a series of mountainous areas near the border with Mozambique. The highest peak in Zimbabwe, Mount Nyangani at 2,593 m (8,507 ft) is located here as well as the Bvumba Mountains and the Nyanga National Park. World's View is in these mountains and it is from here that places as far away as 60–70 km (37–43 mi) are visible and, on clear days, the town of Rusape can be seen.
+
+Zimbabwe is unusual in Africa in that there are a number of ancient ruined cities built in a unique dry stone style. Among the most famous of these are the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Masvingo. Other ruins include Khami Ruins, Zimbabwe, Dhlo-Dhlo and Naletale.
+
+The Matobo Hills are an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 km (22 mi) south of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe. The Hills were formed over 2,000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, then being eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'. They have become a tourist attraction due to their ancient shapes and local wildlife. Cecil Rhodes and other early white pioneers like Leander Starr Jameson are buried in these hills at a site named World's View.[214]
+
+Water supply and sanitation in Zimbabwe is defined by many small scale successful programs but also by a general lack of improved water and sanitation systems for the majority of Zimbabwe. According to the World Health Organization in 2012, 80% of Zimbabweans had access to improved, i.e. clean, drinking-water sources, and only 40% of Zimbabweans had access to improved sanitation facilities.[215] Access to improved water supply and sanitation is distinctly less in rural areas.[216]
+
+There are many factors which continue to determine the nature, for the foreseeable future, of water supply and sanitation in Zimbabwe.
+
+Three major factors are the severely depressed state of the Zimbabwean economy, the reluctance of foreign aid organisations to build and 
+finance infrastructure projects, and the political instability of the Zimbabwean state.[216][217]
+
+Zimbabwe has relatively well-developed national infrastructure and a long-standing tradition of promoting research and development (R&D), as evidenced by the levy imposed on tobacco-growers since the 1930s to promote market research.[218][219]
+
+The country also has a well-developed education system, with one in 11 adults holding a tertiary degree. Given the country's solid knowledge base and abundant natural resources, Zimbabwe has the potential to figure among the countries leading growth in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.[218][219]
+
+To do so, however, Zimbabwe will need to correct a number of structural weaknesses. For instance, it lacks the critical mass of researchers needed to trigger innovation. Although the infrastructure is in place to harness research and development to Zimbabwe's socio-economic development, universities and research institutions lack the financial and human resources to conduct research and the regulatory environment hampers the transfer of new technologies to the business sector. The economic crisis has precipitated an exodus of university students and professionals in key areas of expertise (medicine, engineering, etc.) that is of growing concern. More than 22% of Zimbabwean tertiary students were completing their degrees abroad in 2012, compared to a 4% average for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. In 2012, there were 200 researchers (head count) employed in the public sector, one-quarter of whom were women. This is double the continental average (91 in 2013) but only one-quarter the researcher density of South Africa (818 per million inhabitants). The government has created the Zimbabwe Human Capital Website to provide information for the diaspora on job and investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.[218][219]
+
+Despite the fact that human resources are a pillar of any research and innovation policy, the Medium Term Plan 2011–2015 did not discuss any explicit policy for promoting postgraduate studies in science and engineering. The scarcity of new PhDs in science and engineering fields from the University of Zimbabwe in 2013 was symptomatic of this omission.[218][219]
+
+Nor does the development agenda to 2018, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Economic Transformation, contain any specific targets for increasing the number of scientists and engineers, or the staffing requirements for industry and other productive sectors. In addition, the lack of co-ordination and coherence among governance structures has led to a multiplication of research priorities and poor implementation of existing policies.[218][219]
+
+The country's Second Science and Technology Policy was launched in June 2012, after being elaborated with UNESCO assistance. It replaces the earlier policy dating from 2002. The 2012 policy prioritises biotechnology, information and communication technologies (ICTs), space sciences, nanotechnology, indigenous knowledge systems, technologies yet to emerge and scientific solutions to emergent environmental challenges. The Second Science and Technology Policy also asserts the government commitment to allocating at least 1% of GDP to research and development, focusing at least 60% of university education on developing skills in science and technology and ensuring that school pupils devote at least 30% of their time to studying science subjects.[218][219]
+
+In 2014, Zimbabwe counted 21 publications per million inhabitants in internationally catalogued journals, according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded). This placed Zimbabwe sixth out of the 15 SADC countries, behind Namibia (59), Mauritius (71), Botswana (103) and, above all, South Africa (175) and the Seychelles (364). The average for sub-Saharan Africa was 20 scientific publications per million inhabitants, compared to a global average of 176 per million.[219]
+
+Zimbabwe's total population is 12.97 million.[7] According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the life expectancy for men was 56 years and the life expectancy for women was 60 years of age (2012).[220] In 2006 an association of doctors in Zimbabwe made calls for then-President Mugabe to make moves to assist the ailing health service.[221]
+The HIV infection rate in Zimbabwe was estimated to be 14% for people aged 15–49 in 2009.[222] UNESCO reported a decline in HIV prevalence among pregnant women from 26% in 2002 to 21% in 2004.[223]
+
+Some 85% of Zimbabweans are Christian; 62% of the population attends religious services regularly.[224] The largest Christian churches are Anglican, Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist[225] and Methodist.
+
+As in other African countries, Christianity may be mixed with enduring traditional beliefs. Ancestral worship is the most practised non-Christian religion, involving spiritual intercession; the mbira dzavadzimu, which means "voice of the ancestors", an instrument related to many lamellophones ubiquitous throughout Africa, is central to many ceremonial proceedings. Mwari simply means "God the Creator" (musika vanhu in Shona). Around 1% of the population is Muslim.[226]
+
+Bantu-speaking ethnic groups make up 98% of the population. The majority people, the Shona, comprise 70%. The Ndebele are the second most populous with 20% of the population.[227][228]
+
+The Ndebele descended from Zulu migrations in the 19th century and the other tribes with which they intermarried. Up to one million Ndebele may have left the country over the last five years, mainly for South Africa. Other Bantu ethnic groups make up the third largest with 2 to 5%: these are Venda, Tonga, Shangaan, Kalanga, Sotho, Ndau, Nambya, Tswana, Xhosa and Lozi.[228]
+
+Minority ethnic groups include white Zimbabweans, who make up less than 1% of the total population. White Zimbabweans are mostly of British origin, but there are also Afrikaner, Greek, Portuguese, French and Dutch communities. The white population dropped from a peak of around 278,000 or 4.3% of the population in 1975[229] to possibly 120,000 in 1999, and was estimated to be no more than 50,000 in 2002, and possibly much less. The 2012 census lists the total white population at 28,782 (roughly 0.22% of the population), one-tenth of its 1975 estimated size.[230] Most emigration has been to the United Kingdom (between 200,000 and 500,000 Britons are of Rhodesian or Zimbabwean origin), South Africa, Botswana, Zambia,[231] Mozambique,[232] Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Coloureds form 0.5% of the population, and various Asian ethnic groups, mostly of Indian and Chinese origin, are also 0.5%.[233]
+
+According to 2012 Census report, 99.7% of the population is of African origin.[234] Official fertility rates over the last decade were 3.6 (2002 Census),[235] 3.8 (2006)[236] and 3.8 (2012 Census).[234]
+
+The economic meltdown and repressive political measures in Zimbabwe have led to a flood of refugees into neighbouring countries. An estimated 3.4 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population, had fled abroad by mid-2007.[238] Some 3,000,000 of these left for South Africa and Botswana.[239]
+
+Apart from the people who fled into the neighbouring countries, there are approximately 36,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). There is no comprehensive survey,[240] although the following figures are available:
+
+The above surveys do not include people displaced by Operation Chikorokoza Chapera or beneficiaries of the fast-track land reform programme but who have since been evicted.[240]
+
+English is the main language used in the education and judiciary systems. The Bantu languages Shona and Ndebele are the principal indigenous languages of Zimbabwe. Shona is spoken by 70% of the population, Ndebele by 20%. Other minority Bantu languages include Venda, Tsonga, Shangaan, Kalanga, Sotho, Ndau and Nambya. Less than 2.5%, mainly the white and "coloured" (mixed race) minorities, consider English their native language.[243] Shona has a rich oral tradition, which was incorporated into the first Shona novel, Feso by Solomon Mutswairo, published in 1956.[244] English is spoken primarily in the cities, but less so in rural areas. Radio and television news now broadcast in Shona, Sindebele and English.[citation needed]
+
+Due to its large border with Mozambique, there is a large community of Portuguese speakers in Zimbabwe, mainly in the border areas with Mozambique and in major cities, such as Harare and Bulawayo.[245] Beginning in 2017, teaching Portuguese was included in secondary education of Zimbabwe.[246][247]
+
+Zimbabwe has 16 official languages and under the constitution, an Act of Parliament may prescribe other languages as officially recognised languages.[3]
+
+According to the 2017 Inter Censal Demography Survey by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency 69.2 per cent of Zimbabweans belong to Protestant Christianity, 8.0 per cent are Roman Catholic, in total 84.1 per cent follow one of the denominations of Christianity. 10.2 per cent of the population does not belong to any religion, while the 0.7 per cent is Muslim.[248][249]
+
+Zimbabwe has many different cultures which may include beliefs and ceremonies, one of them being Shona, Zimbabwe's largest ethnic group. The Shona people have many sculptures and carvings which are made with the finest materials available.[250]
+
+Zimbabwe first celebrated its independence on 18 April 1980.[251] Celebrations are held at either the National Sports Stadium or Rufaro Stadium in Harare. The first independence celebrations were held in 1980 at the Zimbabwe Grounds. At these celebrations, doves are released to symbolise peace and fighter jets fly over and the national anthem is sung. The flame of independence is lit by the president after parades by the presidential family and members of the armed forces of Zimbabwe. The president also gives a speech to the people of Zimbabwe which is televised for those unable to attend the stadium.[252] Zimbabwe also has a national beauty pageant, the Miss Heritage Zimbabwe contest which has been held annually ever since 2012.
+
+Traditional arts in Zimbabwe include pottery, basketry, textiles, jewellery and carving. Among the distinctive qualities are symmetrically patterned woven baskets and stools carved out of a single piece of wood. Shona sculpture has become better known after finding initial popularity in the 1940s.[citation needed] Most subjects of carved figures of stylised birds and human figures among others are made with sedimentary rocks such as soapstone, as well as harder igneous rocks such as serpentine and the rare stone verdite. Zimbabwean artefacts can be found in countries like Singapore, China and Canada. e.g. Dominic Benhura's statue in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
+
+Shona sculpture in has survived through the ages and the modern style is a fusion of African folklore with European influences. World-renowned Zimbabwean sculptors include Nicholas, Nesbert and Anderson Mukomberanwa, Tapfuma Gutsa, Henry Munyaradzi and Locardia Ndandarika. Internationally, Zimbabwean sculptors have managed to influence a new generation of artists, particularly Black Americans, through lengthy apprenticeships with master sculptors in Zimbabwe. Contemporary artists like New York sculptor M. Scott Johnson and California sculptor Russel Albans have learned to fuse both African and Afro-diasporic aesthetics in a way that travels beyond the simplistic mimicry of African Art by some Black artists of past generations in the United States.
+
+Several authors are well known within Zimbabwe and abroad. Charles Mungoshi is renowned in Zimbabwe for writing traditional stories in English and in Shona and his poems and books have sold well with both the black and white communities.[253] Catherine Buckle has achieved international recognition with her two books African Tears and Beyond Tears which tell of the ordeal she went through under the 2000 Land Reform.[254] The first Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, wrote two books – The Great Betrayal and Bitter Harvest. The book The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera won an award in the UK in 1979 and the Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing's first novel The Grass Is Singing, the first four volumes of The Children of Violence sequence, as well as the collection of short stories African Stories are set in Rhodesia. In 2013 NoViolet Bulawayo's novel We Need New Names was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel tells the story of the devastation and emigration caused by the brutal suppression of Zimbabwean civilians during the Gukurahundi in the early 1980s.[citation needed]
+
+Notable artists include Henry Mudzengerere and Nicolas Mukomberanwa. A recurring theme in Zimbabwean art is the metamorphosis of man into beast.[255] Zimbabwean musicians like Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi, the Bhundu Boys; Stella Chiweshe, Alick Macheso and Audius Mtawarira have achieved international recognition. Among members of the white minority community, Theatre has a large following, with numerous theatrical companies performing in Zimbabwe's urban areas.[256]
+
+Like in many African countries, the majority of Zimbabweans depend on a few staple foods. "Mealie meal", also known as cornmeal, is used to prepare sadza or isitshwala, as well as porridge known as bota or ilambazi. Sadza is made by mixing the cornmeal with water to produce a thick paste/porridge. After the paste has been cooking for several minutes, more cornmeal is added to thicken the paste.
+
+This is usually eaten as lunch or dinner, usually with sides such as gravy, vegetables (spinach, chomolia, or spring greens/collard greens), beans, and meat (stewed, grilled, roasted, or sundried). Sadza is also commonly eaten with curdled milk (sour milk), commonly known as "lacto" (mukaka wakakora), or dried Tanganyika sardine, known locally as kapenta or matemba. Bota is a thinner porridge, cooked without the additional cornmeal and usually flavoured with peanut butter, milk, butter, or jam.[257] Bota is usually eaten for breakfast.
+
+Graduations, weddings, and any other family gatherings will usually be celebrated with the killing of a goat or cow, which will be barbecued or roasted by the family.
+
+Even though the Afrikaners are a small group (10%) within the white minority group, Afrikaner recipes are popular. Biltong, a type of jerky, is a popular snack, prepared by hanging bits of spiced raw meat to dry in the shade.[258] Boerewors is served with sadza. It is a long sausage, often well-spiced, composed of beef rather than pork, and barbecued.[citation needed] As Zimbabwe was a British colony, some people there have adopted some colonial-era English eating habits. For example, most people will have porridge in the morning, as well as 10 o'clock tea (midday tea). They will have lunch, often leftovers from the night before, freshly cooked sadza, or sandwiches (which is more common in the cities). After lunch, there is usually 4 o'clock tea (afternoon tea), which is served before dinner. It is not uncommon for tea to be had after dinner.[citation needed]
+
+Rice, pasta, and potato-based foods (french fries and mashed potato) also make up part of Zimbabwean cuisine. A local favourite is rice cooked with peanut butter, which is taken with thick gravy, mixed vegetables and meat.[citation needed] A potpourri of peanuts known as nzungu, boiled and sundried maize, black-eyed peas known as nyemba, and bambara groundnuts known as nyimo makes a traditional dish called mutakura. Mutakura can also be the above ingredients cooked individually. One can also find local snacks, such as maputi (roasted/popped maize kernels similar to popcorn), roasted and salted peanuts, sugar cane, sweet potato, pumpkin, and indigenous fruits, such as horned melon, gaka, adansonia, mawuyu, uapaca kirkiana, mazhanje (sugar plum), and many others.[citation needed]
+
+Football (also known as soccer) is the most popular sport in Zimbabwe.[259] The Warriors have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations three times (2004, 2006, 2017), and won the Southern Africa championship on six occasions (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018) and the Eastern Africa cup once (1985). The team is ranked 115th in the world (Fifa World Rankings Nov 2018).
+
+Rugby union is a significant sport in Zimbabwe. The national side have represented the country at 2 Rugby World Cup tournaments in 1987 and 1991. The team are ranked 26 in the world by World Rugby.[260]
+
+Cricket also has a following among the white minority. It is one of twelve Test cricket playing nations and an ICC full member as well. Notable cricket players from Zimbabwe include Andy Flower, Heath Streak and Brendan Taylor.
+
+Zimbabwe has won eight Olympic medals, one in field hockey with the women's team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and seven by swimmer Kirsty Coventry, three at the 2004 Summer Olympics and four at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
+
+Zimbabwe has also done well in the Commonwealth Games and All-Africa Games in swimming with Kirsty Coventry obtaining 11 gold medals in the different competitions.[261][262][263][264] Zimbabwe has also competed at Wimbledon and the Davis Cup in tennis, most notably with the Black family, which comprises Wayne Black, Byron Black and Cara Black. Zimbabwe has also done well in golf. The Zimbabwean Nick Price held the official World Number 1 status longer than any player from Africa has ever done in the 24-year history of the ranking.[265]
+
+Other sports played in Zimbabwe are basketball, volleyball, netball, and water polo, as well as squash, motorsport, martial arts, chess, cycling, polocrosse, kayaking and horse racing. However, most of these sports do not have international representatives but instead stay at a junior or national level.
+
+Zimbabwean professional rugby league players playing overseas are Masimbaashe Motongo and Judah Mazive.[266][267] Former players include now SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos who made an appearance for South Africa at the Super League World Nines and featured for the Sydney Bulldogs as well as Zimbabwe-born former Scotland rugby union international Scott Gray, who spent time at the Brisbane Broncos.[268]
+
+The media of Zimbabwe is now once again diverse, having come under tight restriction between 2002 and 2008 by the government during the growing economic and political crisis in the country. The Zimbabwean constitution promises freedom of the media and expression. Since the appointment of a new media and information minister in 2013 the media is facing less political interference and the supreme court has ruled some sections of the strict media laws as unconstitutional.[269] In July 2009 the BBC and CNN were able to resume operations and report legally and openly from Zimbabwe. CNN welcomed the move. The Zimbabwe Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity stated that, "the Zimbabwe government never banned the BBC from carrying out lawful activities inside Zimbabwe".[148] The BBC also welcomed the move saying, "we're pleased at being able to operate openly in Zimbabwe once again".[270]
+
+In 2010 the Zimbabwe Media Commission was established by the inclusive, power-sharing government. In May 2010 the Commission licensed three new privately owned newspapers, including the previously banned Daily News, for publication.[271] Reporters Without Borders described the decisions as a "major advance".[272] In June 2010 NewsDay became the first independent daily newspaper to be published in Zimbabwe in seven years.[273]
+
+ZBC's monopoly in the broadcasting sector was ended with the licensing of two private radio stations in 2012.[274]
+
+Since the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) was passed, a number of privately owned news outlets were shut down by the government, including Daily News whose managing director Wilf Mbanga went on to form the influential The Zimbabwean.[275][276] As a result, many press organisations have been set up in both neighbouring and Western countries by exiled Zimbabweans. Because the internet is unrestricted, many Zimbabweans are allowed to access online news sites set up by exiled journalists.[277] Reporters Without Borders claims the media environment in Zimbabwe involves "surveillance, threats, imprisonment, censorship, blackmail, abuse of power and denial of justice are all brought to bear to keep firm control over the news."[275] The main published newspapers are The Herald and The Chronicle which are printed in Harare and Bulawayo respectively. The heavy-handedness on the media has progressively relaxed since 2009.
+
+In its 2019 report, Reporters Without Borders ranked the Zimbabwean media as 127th out of 180.[275] The government also bans many foreign broadcasting stations from Zimbabwe, including the CBC, Sky News, Channel 4, American Broadcasting Company, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Fox News. News agencies and newspapers from other Western countries and South Africa have also been banned from the country.
+
+It was in the Matabeleland region in Zimbabwe that, during the Second Matabele War, Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and Frederick Russell Burnham, the American-born Chief of Scouts for the British Army, first met and began their lifelong friendship.[278] In mid-June 1896, during a scouting patrol in the Matobo Hills, Burnham began teaching Baden-Powell woodcraft. Baden-Powell and Burnham discussed the concept of a broad training programme in woodcraft for young men, rich in exploration, tracking, fieldcraft, and self-reliance.[279] It was also during this time in the Matobo Hills that Baden-Powell first started to wear his signature campaign hat like the one worn by Burnham.[280]
+
+Scouting in the former Rhodesia and Nyasaland started in 1909 when the first Boy Scout troop was registered. Scouting grew quickly and in 1924 Rhodesia and Nyasaland sent a large contingent to the second World Scout Jamboree in Ermelunden, Denmark. In 1959, Rhodesia hosted the Central African Jamboree at Ruwa. In 2009, Scouts celebrated 100 years of Scouting in Zimbabwe and hundreds of Scouts camped at Gordon Park, a Scout campground and training area, as part of these celebrations.[281]
+
+Besides scouting, there are also leadership, life skills and general knowledge courses and training experiences mainly for schoolchildren ranging from pre-school to final year high school students and sometimes those beyond high school. These courses and outings are held at, for example, Lasting Impressions (Lasting Impressions ~Zimbabwe on YouTube), Far and Wide Zimbabwe (Far and wide.) and Chimanimani Outward Bound (Outwardbound Zimbabwe at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 June 2007)).
+
+The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird appears on the national flags and the coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (first on Rhodesian pound and then Rhodesian dollar). It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle.[282][283]
+
+The famous soapstone bird carvings stood on walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe, built, it is believed, sometime between the 13th and 16th centuries by ancestors of the Shona. The ruins, which gave their name to modern Zimbabwe, cover some 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and are the largest ancient stone construction in Zimbabwe.[284]
+
+Balancing Rocks are geological formations all over Zimbabwe. The rocks are perfectly balanced without other supports. They are created when ancient granite intrusions are exposed to weathering, as softer rocks surrounding them erode away. They are often remarked on and have been depicted on both the banknotes of Zimbabwe and the Rhodesian dollar banknotes. The ones found on the current notes of Zimbabwe, named the Banknote Rocks, are located in Epworth, approximately 14 km (9 mi) south east of Harare.[285] There are many different formations of the rocks, incorporating single and paired columns of 3 or more rocks. These formations are a feature of south and east tropical Africa from northern South Africa northwards to Sudan. The most notable formations in Zimbabwe are located in the Matobo National Park in Matabeleland.[286]
+
+The National Anthem of Zimbabwe is "Blessed be the Land of Zimbabwe" (Shona: "Simudzai Mureza wedu WeZimbabwe"; Northern Ndebele: "Kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe"). It was introduced in March 1994 after a nationwide competition to replace "Ishe Komborera Africa" as a distinctly Zimbabwean song. The winning entry was a song written by Professor Solomon Mutswairo and composed by Fred Changundega. It has been translated into all three of the main languages of Zimbabwe[286]
+
+At independence, the policies of racial inequality were reflected in the disease patterns of the black majority. The first five years after independence saw rapid gains in areas such as immunisation coverage, access to health care, and contraceptive prevalence rate.[287] Zimbabwe was thus considered internationally to have an achieved a good record of health development.[288]
+
+Zimbabwe suffered occasional outbreaks of acute diseases (such as plague in 1994). The gains on the national health were eroded by structural adjustment in the 1990s,[289] the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic[163] and the economic crisis since the year 2000. In 2006, Zimbabwe had one of the lowest life expectancies in the world according to UN figure—44 for men and 43 for women, down from 60 in 1990, but recovered to 60 in 2015.[290][291] The rapid drop was ascribed mainly to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Infant mortality rose from 6% in the late 1990s to 12.3% by 2004.[163] By 2016 HIV/AIDS prevalence had been reduced to 13.5%[290] compared to 40% in 1998.[196]
+
+The health system has more or less collapsed. At the end of November 2008, some operations at three of Zimbabwe's four major referral hospitals had shut down, along with the Zimbabwe Medical School, and the fourth major hospital had two wards and no operating theatres working.[292] Due to hyperinflation, those hospitals still open were not able to obtain basic drugs and medicines.[293] The situation changed drastically after the Unity Government and the introduction of the multi-currency system in February 2009 although the political and economic crisis also contributed to the emigration of the doctors and people with medical knowledge.[294]
+
+In August 2008 large areas of Zimbabwe were struck by the ongoing cholera epidemic. By December 2008 more than 10,000 people had been infected in all but one of Zimbabwe's provinces and the outbreak had spread to Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.[295][296] On 4 December 2008 the Zimbabwe government declared the outbreak to be a national emergency and asked for international aid.[297][298]
+
+By 9 March 2009 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 4,011 people had succumbed to the waterborne disease since the outbreak began in August 2008, and the total number of cases recorded had reached 89,018.[299] In Harare, the city council offered free graves to cholera victims.[300] There had been signs that the disease is abating, with cholera infections down by about 50% to around 4,000 cases a week.[299]
+
+The 2014 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Zimbabwe was 614[196] compared to 960 in 2010–11[196] and 232 in 1990. The under five mortality rate, per 1,000 births was 75 in 2014 (94 in 2009).[196] The number of midwives per 1,000 live births was unavailable in 2016 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women 1 in 42.[301]
+
+Source: UN World Population Prospects[302]
+
+Due to large investments in education since independence, Zimbabwe has the highest adult literacy rate in Africa which in 2013 was 90.70%.[303] This is lower than the 92% recorded in 2010 by the United Nations Development Programme[304][305] and the 97.0% recorded in the 2002 census, while still substantially higher than 80.4% recorded in the 1992 census.[306]
+
+The education department has stated that 20,000 teachers have left Zimbabwe since 2007 and that half of Zimbabwe's children have not progressed beyond primary school.[307]
+
+The wealthier portion of the population usually send their children to independent schools as opposed to the government-run schools which are attended by the majority as these are subsidised by the government. School education was made free in 1980, but since 1988, the government has steadily increased the charges attached to school enrolment until they now greatly exceed the real value of fees in 1980. The Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe maintains and operates the government schools but the fees charged by independent schools are regulated by the cabinet of Zimbabwe.
+
+Zimbabwe's education system consists of two years of pre-school, seven years of primary and six years of secondary schooling before students can enter university in the country or abroad. The academic year in Zimbabwe runs from January to December, with three terms, broken up by one month holidays, with a total of 40 weeks of school per year. National examinations are written during the third term in November, with "O" level and "A" level subjects also offered in June.[308]
+
+There are seven public (Government) universities as well as four church-related universities in Zimbabwe that are fully internationally accredited.[308] The University of Zimbabwe, the first and largest, was built in 1952 and is located in the Harare suburb of Mount Pleasant. Notable alumni from Zimbabwean universities include Welshman Ncube; Peter Moyo (of Amabhubesi); Tendai Biti, Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist; and Arthur Mutambara. Many of the politicians in the government of Zimbabwe have obtained degrees from universities in USA or other universities abroad.
+
+National University of Science and Technology (NUST) is the second largest public research university in Zimbabwe located in Bulawayo. It was established in 1991. The National University of Science and Technology strives to become a flourishing and reputable institution not only in Zimbabwe and in Southern Africa but also among the international fraternity of Universities. Its guidance, cultural values is the encouragement of all its members and society of those attitudes of fair mindedness, understanding, tolerance and respect for people and views which are essential for the attainment and maintenance of justice, peace and harmony at all times.
+
+Africa University is a United Methodist related university institution located in Manicaland which attracts students from at least 36 African countries. The institution has been growing steadily and has steady study material and learning facilities. 
+The highest professional board for accountants is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) with direct relationships with similar bodies in South Africa, Canada, the UK and Australia. A qualified Chartered Accountant from Zimbabwe is also a member of similar bodies in these countries after writing a conversion paper. In addition, Zimbabwean-trained doctors only require one year of residence to be fully licensed doctors in the United States. The Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE) is the highest professional board for engineers.
+
+Education in Zimbabwe became under threat since the economic changes in 2000 with teachers going on strike because of low pay, students unable to concentrate because of hunger and the price of uniforms soaring making this standard a luxury. Teachers were also one of the main targets of Mugabe's attacks because he thought they were not strong supporters.[309]
+
+Women in Zimbabwe are disadvantaged in many facets including economic, political, and social spheres, and experience Sex and Gender Based Violence.[310] A 2014 UN report found that deep rooted cultural issues, patriarchal attitudes, and religious practices negatively impacted women's rights and freedoms in the country.[310] These negative views toward women as well as societal norms impact the incentive for women to participate in the economy and hinder their economic production.[310] Zimbabwe's constitution passed in 2013 has provisions in it that provide incentive to achieve greater gender equality but the data shows that enforcement has been lax and adoption slow.[310] In December 2016 the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies conducted a case study to determine how to best implement effective policy to address issues such as gender violence and implementation of equality laws.[311] It was found that Sex and Gender Based Violence against women and girls was increasing in areas that had experienced disasters (floods, drought, disease) but could not quantify the extent of the increase.[311] Some of the obstacles in combating these issues are that there are economic barriers to declaring SGBV to be unacceptable as well as social barriers.[311] Additionally, governmental services which were installed to help educate the populace about these issues as well as provide services to victims are underfunded and unable to carry out their duties.[311] The UN also provided economic incentive to adopt policies which would discourage these practices which negatively impacted women in Zimbabwe.[312]
+
+Zimbabwean women face cultural and social adversity in their professional lives which impacts their educational attainment, professional development, and advancement.[313] In 2009 the South African Journal of Education found that although the majority of primary school teachers in their random sample size were qualified for advancement to administrative positions, none of them had applied for administrative openings.[313] The women did not see themselves as equals with their male counterparts and believed their role as a wife and mother superseded all other parts of their lives.[313] The women surveyed in this trial were also found to have low self-esteem, a possible correlation to their societal roles and gender stereotypes.[313] In 2016 the FAO found that only 60% of women participated in the economy in some form compared to 74.3% for their male counterparts.[314] Women also made up the majority of low education jobs, such as 70% of the agriculture work force, yet only made up 16.7% and 21% of local authority and managers in the private sector respectively.[314] In the public sector, women comprised 14% of the Zimbabwean House of Assembly and 33% of the Senate, despite the population ratio being 0.95 males per 1 female.[315][312] To address gender inequality in the economy, the UN supports policies which help increase the number of women in leadership roles, such as heads of schools, with increased funding in line with #3 of the outlined Millennium Development Goals.[312] Through these policies Zimbabwe has made gains in closing the gender gap in school enrolment: 50.5% of males are enrolled in secondary schools compared to 49.5% in females.[315]
+
+Zimbabwe experiences high rates of domestic and sexual violence; the Zimbabwe National Statistics Office shows that rates are increasing.[316] 21 rapes are reported per day in Zimbabwe - a rate of 0.12 rapes a day per 100,000 people. As not all rapes are reported, the actual number is likely higher. Reported rape increased 42% between 2010 and 2016.[316] Of all the violence against girls and women reported in Zimbabwe, 78% was inflicted by their spouse, father, or domestic partner.[316] UNICEF reports show that one in three girls that grow up in Zimbabwe experience sexual assault before turning 18, this is further exacerbated by cultural norms such as child marriage.[316] Young girls often run away with older men when their educational opportunities are limited or to escape a violent household.[316] These incidents of domestic violence or young girls running away with older men are usually not investigated by police as men are viewed as superior to women in Zimbabwean culture and their role as the dominant person in the relationship is to discipline their spouse, often violently.[316] There is an ingrained cultural norm that violence can be a show of power and love which makes ending domestic abuse in Zimbabwe difficult.[316] The Zimbabwe Women's Lawyers Association is an organisation that is assisting the implementation of the legal framework, as defined in the 2013 constitution, to help women. The association provides programmes which help educate women on their rights and provides them with opportunities as a way of combating domestic and sexual violence.[316]
+
+Women in Zimbabwe do not have proportional representation in the Zimbabwean lower and upper houses of Parliament holding 14% and 33% of seats respectively, despite being a slight majority of the population.[314] There are cultural and violence barriers women have to overcome to run for public office; they are seen as "loose and immoral", called prostitutes, claimed to want to be men, and their private lives are heavily scrutinised.[317] Women seeking to participate in the political landscape as candidates or voters cite violence as one of the main reasons they are dissuaded from participating.[317] Lack of financial resources and confidence in their abilities stops many young women from attempting to run as well as preconceived notions about women in politics creates an environment that limits their involvement and desire to be involved in politics.[318] Women also make up a disproportionate amount of the rural poor in Zimbabwe and make up 70% of the agricultural work force. The rural poor find it difficult to access information and materials in relation to politics as well as travel to polling stations and become registered to vote.[314][318] Collectively, women control 35% of parliamentary seats as a result of a provision of the 2013 constitution that mandated at least 30% of seats be occupied by women.[319] A 10-year extension is being considered to this mandate as it is only law until 2022 and equal representation according to population distribution has not yet been achieved.[319] A study by the Research and Advocacy Unit found that political parties in the country appoint women to "window dress" and not for their political advancement.[319]
+
+Women in Zimbabwean society and culture are often seen as inferior, treated as objects, and viewed in subordinate roles in history and philosophy.[320] Ubuntu, an African philosophy's spiritual aspect instills the belief that boys should be more valued than girls as boys pass on lineage and the belief system places high value in respecting ones ancestors.[320] A common expression used in court, "vakadzi ngavanyarare", translates to "women should keep quiet" and as a result women are not consulted in decision-making; they must implement the men's wishes.[320] The subordination of women in Zimbabwe and the cultural forces which dictate what they must be, have led to deaths and the sacrifice of professional advancement in order for them to fulfill their roles as wives, mothers, and subordinates.[313][320] Women are taught that they must never refuse their husbands sexual advances, even if they know they are infected with HIV from being unfaithful.[320] As a result of this practice, Zimbabwean women aged 15–49 have an HIV prevalence rate of 16.1% and make up 62% of the total population infected with HIV in that age group.[321]
+
+Fontein, Joost "Remaking Mutirikwi: Landscape, Water and belonging in Southern Zimbabwe" (2015), James Currey, BIEA Eastern African Series.
+
+Culture:Anglosphere

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+Zinedine Yazid Zidane (French pronunciation: ​[zinedin jazid zidan], Arabic: زين الدين يزيد زيدان‎; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French former professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of La Liga club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful managers in the world.[4][5][6][7] Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time,[8][9][10] Zidane was an elite playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique.[11][12] He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
+
+Zidane started his career at Cannes before establishing himself as one of the best players in the French Division 1 at Bordeaux. In 1996, he moved to Juventus where he won trophies including two Serie A titles. He moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee at the time of €77.5 million in 2001, which remained unmatched for the next eight years. In Spain, Zidane won several trophies, including a La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League. In the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final, he scored a left-foot volleyed winner which is considered to be one of the greatest goals in the competition's history.[13]
+
+Capped 108 times by France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice in the final, and was named to the All-Star Team. This triumph made him a national hero in France, and he received the Légion d'honneur in 1998. He won UEFA Euro 2000, and was named Player of the Tournament. He also received the Golden Ball for Player of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup, despite his infamous sending off in the final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. He retired as the fourth-most capped player in France history.
+
+In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players compiled by Pelé, and in the same year was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.[14] Zidane is one of eight players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.[15] He was the ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first Arab country to host the tournament.[16]
+
+After retiring as a player, Zidane transitioned into coaching, and began his head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla.[17] He remained in the position for two years before taking the helm of the first team in 2016.[18] In his initial two and a half seasons, Zidane became the first coach to win the Champions League three times consecutively, won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each, as well as a La Liga title and a Supercopa de España.[19] This success led to Zidane being named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017.[20] He resigned in 2018,[21][22] but returned to the club as manager in 2019,[23] and proceeded to win another La Liga and Supercopa de España title.[24]
+
+Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on 23 June 1972 in La Castellane, Marseille, in Southern France.[25] He is the youngest of five siblings. Zidane is a Muslim of Algerian Kabyle descent.[26][27] His parents, Smaïl and Malika, emigrated to Paris from the village of Aguemoune in the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie in northern Algeria in 1953 before the start of the Algerian War. The family, which had settled in the city's tough northern districts of Barbès and Saint-Denis, found little work in the region, and in the mid-1960s moved to the northern Marseille suburb of La Castellane in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille.[28]
+
+I have an affinity with the Arabic world. I have it in my blood, via my parents. I’m very proud of being French, but also very proud of having these roots and this diversity.
+
+His father worked as a warehouseman and nightwatchman at a department store, often on the night shift, while his mother was a housewife.[26] The family lived a reasonably comfortable life by the standards of the neighbourhood, which was notorious throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates.[27][30] Zidane credits his strict upbringing and his father as the "guiding light" in his career.[29]
+
+It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction in football, joining in at the age of five in football games that the neighbourhood's children played on the Place Tartane, an 80-by-12-yard plaza that served as the main square of the housing complex.[31] In July 2011, Zidane named former Marseille players Blaž Slišković, Enzo Francescoli and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols while growing up.[32][33] At the age of ten, Zidane got his first player's licence after joining the junior team of a local club from Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri.[34] After spending a year and a half at US Saint-Henri, Zidane joined SO Septèmes-les-Vallons when the Septèmes coach Robert Centenero convinced the club's Director to get Zidane.[34] Zidane stayed with Septèmes until the age of 14, at which time he was selected to attend a three-day training camp at the CREPS (Regional Centre for Sports and Physical Education) in Aix-en-Provence, one of several such footballing institutes run by the French Football Federation. It was here that Zidane was spotted by AS Cannes scout and former player Jean Varraud, who recommended him to the training centre director of the club.[11] As a 14 year old watching the 1986 World Cup, the performance of Diego Maradona left an indelible mark on him, with Zidane stating Maradona "was on another level".[35]
+
+—Jean Varraud, former player who discovered Zidane.[11]
+
+Zidane went to AS Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Having left his family to join Cannes, he was invited by Cannes Director Jean-Claude Elineau to leave the dormitory he shared with 20 other trainees and to come and stay with him and his family. Zidane later said that while living with the Elineaus he found equilibrium.[26]
+
+It was at Cannes where Zidane's first coaches noticed that he was raw and sensitive, prone to attack spectators who insulted his race or family.[36] His first coach, Jean Varraud, encouraged him to channel his anger and focus on his own game. Zidane spent his first weeks at Cannes mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who mocked his ghetto origins.[36] The occasional violence that he would display throughout his career was shaped by an internal conflict of being an Algerian-Frenchman suspended between cultures, and surviving the tough streets of La Castellane where he grew up.[36]
+
+Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes on 18 May 1989 in a French Division 1 match against Nantes.[37] He scored his first goal for the club on 10 February 1991[38] also against Nantes in a 2–1 win. After the match during a party for all the Cannes players, Zidane was given a car by Cannes chairman Alain Pedretti, who had promised him one the day he scored his first goal for the club.[39] On the pitch, Zidane displayed extraordinary technique on the ball, offering glimpses of the talent that would take him to the top of the world game.[11] In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing fourth in the league. This remains the club's highest finish in the top flight since getting relegated for the first time from the first division in the 1948–49 season.[40]
+
+Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup after beating Karlsruhe,[41][42] and finishing runner-up against Bayern Munich in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup,[42][43][44] in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which club owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"[45] Also towards the beginning of the 1996 season, according to football agent Barry Silkman, Zidane was offered to Newcastle United for £1.2 million, but the club turned down the offer after watching him, claiming that he was not good enough for the English First Division.[46] In 1996, Zidane received the award for Ligue 1 Player of the Year.[47]
+
+—Juventus teammate Edgar Davids on Zidane's ability.[48]
+
+After a series of stand out performances for both Bordeaux and France, Zidane had offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996, deciding on a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus during the close season.[49] Zidane's impact in Italy was immediate, winning the 1996–97 Serie A title and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup.[50] He was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year in his first season.[51] Zidane's growing status in the sport saw him chosen in a European XI to face a World XI – featuring a forward line of Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta – in December 1997.[52]
+
+As the playmaker at Juve, Zidane played just behind forward Alessandro Del Piero, with Del Piero recalling, "Zidane had an extraordinary talent, which contributed to his sole interest in helping the team. He was not a selfish player. He had a unique ability to be a great and to be a team player. I was lucky to play with him."[53] He lost in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund when he was unable to make an impression against the close marking of Paul Lambert.[54]
+
+The following season, Zidane scored seven goals in 32 matches in the league to help Juventus win the 1997–98 Serie A and thus retain the Scudetto. In Europe, Juventus made their third consecutive UEFA Champions League Final appearance, but lost the game 1–0 to Real Madrid. In 1998, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the Ballon d'Or. Juventus finished second in the 2000–01 Serie A, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, after Zidane was banned for head-butting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz.[55] In 2001, Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time.[51]
+
+In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire,[56][57] (about €77.5 million by fixed exchange rate; a reported 12.8 billion pesetas[58]) in instalments,[59] and signed a four-year contract. The latest addition to the Galácticos era of global stars signed by Real Madrid every year, in his first season at the club Zidane scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final, completing his personal quadruple.[60] The goal has been cited as one of the greatest in Champions League history.[61][62][63] The magnitude of the strike saw Zidane produce one of his most emotional goal celebrations as he ran towards the touchline with mouth wide open, screaming in delight.[64]
+
+—Alfredo Di Stéfano on Zidane after he was named World Player of the Year in 2003.[10]
+
+The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga, starring alongside Luís Figo in midfield, and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time.[65] In 2004, fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous 50 years in UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll.[14]
+
+While Zidane's final season of club football ended without a trophy, he enjoyed success on a personal note by scoring his first hat-trick, against Sevilla, in a 4–2 win in January 2006.[66] He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goalscorer and assists provider behind teammates Ronaldo and David Beckham respectively, with nine goals and ten assists in 28 games.[67] On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup,[68] played his farewell match and scored in a 3–3 draw with Villarreal. The squad wore commemorative shirts with ZIDANE 2001–2006 below the club logo. The 80,000 fans inside the Santiago Bernabéu held up a banner reading, "Thanks for the magic."[11]
+
+In 2012, Zidane featured for Madrid in an All Stars Match against Manchester United which resulted in a 3–2 win for Real. In April 2013, he was named by Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history."[69]
+
+Both France and Algeria consider Zidane a citizen. It was rumoured that coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied Zidane a position for the Algerian squad because he felt the young midfielder was not fast enough.[70] However, Zidane dismissed the rumour in a 2005 interview, saying that he would have been ineligible to play for Algeria because he had already played for France.[71]
+
+Zidane was a member of the French under-21 squad that won a bronze medal at the 1993 Mediterranean Games in Languedoc-Roussillon.[72]
+He earned his first cap with France as a substitute in a friendly against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994, which ended in a 2–2 draw after Zidane scored twice to help France erase a 2–0 deficit. After Eric Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 for assaulting a fan, Zidane took over the playmaker position.[73]
+
+Despite not being at his best during the tournament, France reached the last four. Zidane was not yet fully established in the French team and his level was quite average during the whole event, but he managed to score in the penalty shootout in both the quarter-final and semi-final. France was eliminated in the Euro 96 semi-finals in a penalty shootout against the Czech Republic.[74]
+
+The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in; the tournament was held in his home country, France. The French team won all three games in the group stage, with Zidane setting up Christophe Dugarry's goal in the opening match against South Africa from a corner, and contributing to Thierry Henry's opening goal in the second match against Saudi Arabia; however, Zidane was sent off in the latter match for a stamp on Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup Finals match.[76] Without their playmaker, France proceeded to win 1–0 in the round of sixteen game against Paraguay and, on his return to the side, defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals, with Zidane netting the first spot kick in the shoot-out.[77] France then defeated Croatia 2–1 in the semi-final. Although Zidane had played a role in the team's accomplishments, he had yet to score a goal at the World Cup.[76][78]
+
+Zidane and France went on to play against defending champions and favourites Brazil at the Stade de France in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final. France dominated Brazil from the kick-off, with Zidane scoring two similar goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Courtesy of Zidane's two goals, France went into the half-time break 2–0 up with one hand on the World Cup trophy.[11] Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time to seal the 3–0 win and France's first ever World Cup. Named man of the match, Zidane became an instant national hero and would receive the Légion d'honneur later that year.[75] More than one million people lined the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with celebrations centred around the Arc de Triomphe.[79][80]
+
+Two years later France won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974. Zidane finished with two goals, a bending free kick against Spain in the quarter-final and the golden goal in the semi-final against Portugal with a penalty.[81][82] UEFA named Zidane Player of the Tournament.[83]
+
+Zidane himself believes he was at his peak during the tournament, while the UEFA website states, "In Belgium and the Netherlands, Zidane dominated a major championship in a way no individual had managed since Diego Maradona in 1986. From the opening game against Denmark to the final against Italy, 'Zizou' shone brightly, casting a spell on his opponents with clever flicks, mesmerising stepovers, slaloming runs and masterful vision."[84]
+
+As reigning world and European champions, France entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea as favourites but a thigh injury sustained in a warm up match before the tournament prevented Zidane from playing in France's first two matches and without their talisman, the French team failed to score in either match. He was rushed back prematurely for the third game despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal; the worst performance by a defending champion in the history of the competition.[85]
+
+At Euro 2004, France topped their group with wins over England and Switzerland, before being knocked out in the quarter finals by eventual champions Greece in a surprise 1–0 loss.[86] In the opening match against England, Zidane scored a free kick and penalty in stoppage time to turn impending defeat into a 2–1 victory.[87][88] After France's elimination, Zidane announced his retirement from international football.[89]
+
+With the mass retirement of veteran key players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé and Lilian Thuram, France struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. At the urging of coach Raymond Domenech, Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain.[90] Zidane, along with Thuram and Makélélé, made his competitive return for France in a 3–0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005. The trio helped France rise from fourth place to win their qualifying group.[91] On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his hundredth cap for France in a 1–0 friendly win over Mexico, in what would also be his last match at the Stade de France. Zidane became France's fourth player to reach 100 caps, after Desailly, Thuram and Didier Deschamps.[92]
+
+France had a slow start to the 2006 Finals and, after being suspended for the third match of the group stage, Zidane returned to set up a goal for Patrick Vieira and score one himself in the second round match against Spain.[93] In the quarter-final France held Brazil to just one shot on goal in the rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane assisted Thierry Henry's deciding goal and was named Man of the Match by FIFA.[94][95] France faced Portugal in the semi-final and, as in Brussels six years earlier, Zidane's penalty kick decided the contest and sent France to another major final.[96][97]
+
+Having already announced he was to retire after the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of the 2005–06 season, the world of football already knew Zidane's second World Cup final was to be the last match of his career. Seven minutes into the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, Zidane put France ahead with a Panenka-style penalty kick which struck the crossbar and bounced just over the goal line[98] to become only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá, in addition to being tied for first place with Vavá, Pelé and Geoff Hurst with three World Cup final goals apiece. He almost scored a second goal during the first period of extra time but his header was saved by Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Zidane was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest,[99][100] so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3.[101] This marked the 14th overall expulsion of Zidane's career, and joined him with Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever to be sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments.[102] He also became the fourth player red-carded in a World Cup final, in addition to being the first sent off in extra time.[103] Zidane's actions made headlines all over the world, while in France Le Figaro called his head-butt "odious," and the front page of L'Equipe asked, "What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example for ever? ... How could that happen to a man like you?"[97] The day after the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.[104]
+
+—President of France, Jacques Chirac, pays tribute to Zidane in Paris after the 2006 World Cup.[97]
+
+Upon his return to France, the Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting "Zizou! Zizou!," and tributes were led by the French president Jacques Chirac.[97] Chirac's words reflected the feeling of the French public, with polls done in the immediate wake of the incident showing support for Zidane: 61% of French people said they had already forgiven him for his actions while 52% said they understood them.[97] According to French journalist Philippe Auclair, Zidane's performances in the knock-out rounds were "ranked among his finest in a blue shirt."[97] As the player of the tournament, Zidane had given the team hope, with the French daily newspaper Libération stating, "For a month, France was dreaming with Zidane."[97] Zidane remained an icon to the French public, and one French writer stated, "It's good for us to see our national hero is fallible."[97] It was later revealed through interviews that Marco Materazzi had insulted Zidane's sister, which led to Zidane's heightened anger and reaction.[105] In 2010, Zidane said that he would "rather die than apologize" to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final,[106] but also admitted that he "could never have lived with himself" had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.[107] He later said, "If you look at the fourteen red cards I had in my career, twelve of them were a result of provocation. This isn't justification, this isn't an excuse, but my passion, temper and blood made me react."[108]
+
+Following his red card in the final, Zidane retired from professional football and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision.[109] He was sentenced by FIFA to a three-match suspension for the red card.[110] He agreed to complete three days of community service with children in one of FIFA's humanitarian projects.[111] Zidane ended up tying with Brazil's Cafu for the record for most cards given in World Cup matches, with six.[112]
+
+Since his retirement, Zidane has regularly played for the Real Madrid Veterans team. He has also made several futsal appearances. In 2015 he played in a futsal tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during which an opposition player received a yellow card to much amusement for taking an in-match selfie with Zidane.[113] In an interview in June 2008, Zidane stated that he wanted to return to football, but that he had no immediate plans to do so.[114]
+
+On 1 June 2009, Zidane was announced as the advisor to the president after Florentino Pérez was named president of Real Madrid for the second time.[115] He, along with general director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza, were to be the key decisionmakers on the sporting side of the club.[115] After France's dismal campaign in the 2010 World Cup, Zidane said that he did not plan to move into coaching any time soon.[116]
+
+Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid committee announced in September 2010 that Zidane had been appointed as an ambassador for Qatar's attempt to host the 2022 World Cup.[117] After FIFA announced on 2 December 2010 that Qatar had won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup,[118] Zidane stated that he was "very pleased" with the outcome.[119] Zidane spoke of the message he was trying to convey in the campaign: "I was saying that football belonged to the whole world. I’m proud to have made my contribution to a new country getting the World Cup. Qatar and the entire Middle East as a whole deserves this event and that makes me happy. It's a victory for the Arab world."[16] Zidane has supported two Olympic bids for Paris, including the 2012 Summer Olympics which was narrowly won by London and later Paris' successful bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Paris will also be hosting the 2024 Summer Paralympics.[120]
+
+On 24 February 2007, before a crowd of 10,000 fans at a match in northern Thailand for the Keuydaroon children's AIDS charity, Zidane scored the first goal and set up the second for a Malaysian teammate as the match ended 2–2. The event raised ฿260,000 ($7,750). This money paid for the building of two schools and 16 three-bedroom houses.[121]
+
+On 19 November 2008, Zidane took part in the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Málaga, Spain, which also ended in a 2–2 draw; he went scoreless but set up his team's second goal. He and Ronaldo, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the United Nations Development Programme, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities.[122] Zidane, a UN Goodwill Ambassador since 2001, stated before the game that "everyone can do something to make the world a better place."[123]
+
+In June and July 2009, Zidane toured across Canada with stops in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Although billed as Zidane and "Friends", the likes of which included Fabien Barthez and Samuel Eto'o, the exhibition matches featured local players. Some proceeds were given to UNICEF.[124]
+
+On 6 June 2010, Zidane took part in the biennial charity event Soccer Aid. He played for the Rest of the World team, managed by former Liverpool and Celtic forward Kenny Dalglish against England alongside former Real Madrid teammate Luís Figo and Celtic legend Henrik Larsson. He played against former players such as Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer, as well as celebrities such as Hollywood actors Woody Harrelson, Mike Myers, Michael Sheen, chef Gordon Ramsay, actor Damian Lewis and singer Robbie Williams.[125] The match took place at Old Trafford, Manchester and was won by the Rest of the World for the first time, the winning penalty scored by Harrelson after a 2–2 draw.[125]
+
+On 2 June 2013, Zidane took part in a charity match played at Old Trafford as part of the Manchester United Legends vs. Real Madrid Legends reverse fixture. The first leg took place in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Part of a team that included the likes of Figo, Fernando Redondo and Manolo Sanchís, the fixture raised funds for the Manchester United Foundation.[126] The 12th Match against Poverty took place in Saint-Étienne, France on Monday 20 April 2015, where Ronaldo and Zidane teamed up with other football stars against past and present players of French Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Étienne. According to UNDP, "two-thirds of all proceeds will go towards helping the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone build back better from the Ebola epidemic."[127] In June 2018, Zidane reunited with his France 1998 World Cup winning teammates to play a charity game against an All-Star side which included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In a 3–2 win for France, Thierry Henry played a no-look one-two pass with Zidane before scoring, with Zidane then curling in a 25-yard free kick.[128]
+
+In November 2010, Zidane was appointed as a special adviser to Real Madrid's first team in response to an appeal made by then-Real Madrid coach José Mourinho for the former Real midfielder to work more closely with the team. In his new role, Zidane was expected to participate in Champions League events and functions and was also to travel with the first team on a regular basis and participate in pre-match gatherings, training sessions and meetings with the head coach.[129] In July 2011, it was announced that he would become Real Madrid's new sporting director.[130] In 2013, Zidane was appointed assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.[131]
+
+In June 2014, Real Madrid announced that Zidane would be the coach of Real Madrid's B team, Real Madrid Castilla.[17] On 29 August, the director of the Spanish National Football Coach Education Centre (CENAFE), Miguel Galán, reported Zidane for acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach without the necessary coaching badges.[132] According to Galán, "No one who has anything to do with the football world can be unaware that Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach this season. It is a fait accompli that has been widely accepted, as shown by media reports, and Real Madrid do not deny it."[132] While the official match report for Castilla's opening game in the Segunda División B lists Santiago Sánchez as the Los Blancos' head coach and Zidane as his assistant, Galán states, "This hierarchy only exists on paper. The truth is the exact opposite: Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach, while, with all due respect to him as a colleague, Mr Sánchez's role basically boils down to providing the badges."[132][133]
+
+On 4 January 2016, Real Madrid announced the dismissal of manager Rafael Benítez and on the same day Zidane was appointed the new manager of the club on a two-and-a-half-year deal.[134] His first match as the club's new manager took place five days later, when Real Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruña 5–0 in a La Liga match. In his first El Clásico as a manager, held on 2 April at the Camp Nou, Zidane led his club to a 2–1 win over Barcelona to end Barça's 39-match unbeaten run.[135]
+
+On 4 May, Zidane led Real Madrid to a place in the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final by beating Manchester City 1–0 on aggregate.[136] In La Liga, Real Madrid finished runners up, just one point behind Barcelona. In the Champions League final on 28 May, Real Madrid defeated fellow Madrid club Atlético Madrid in a penalty shootout to grab the 11th European Cup (La Undécima) in club history. Zidane became the seventh man to win the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) as both a player and a manager, the second man (after Miguel Muñoz) to win the trophy with Real Madrid as both a player and a manager, and the first French manager, except the French-Argentinian Helenio Herrera, to win the trophy.[137][138]
+
+In his first full-season as manager, Real Madrid recorded a club-record 16th consecutive La Liga victory by defeating Espanyol 2–0 away on 18 September 2016, overtaking their previous record of 15 set in 1960–61 and equalling the record of consecutive La Liga wins of Barcelona set in 2010–11.[139] On 18 December, Real Madrid defeated Japanese club Kashima Antlers 4–2 in the final of the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick.[140]
+
+On 12 January 2017, Madrid's draw against Sevilla FC in the second leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16 saw him win his 40th consecutive match without a loss – creating a new Spanish record, beating Luis Enrique's record of 39 matches undefeated with Barcelona.[141][142] Zidane later led Madrid to the La Liga title, their 33rd in history, by defeating Málaga 2–0.[143]
+
+On 3 June 2017, Zidane led Real Madrid to a 4–1 win against Italian side Juventus in the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final at Cardiff to grab the club's 12th European Cup (La Duodécima). This victory meant that Madrid were the first ever team to win the Champions League back-to-back, as well as recording Zidane's first double as coach, and the club's first since 1956–57.[144] With Real's Champions League victory, Zidane became only the second manager to win the European Cup in his first two seasons in management, alongside fellow Real Madrid manager José Villalonga.[145]
+
+He later won the 2017 UEFA Super Cup 2–1 against Manchester United on 8 August.[146] This meant Zidane was the first manager to win two UEFA Super Cups in a row since Arrigo Sacchi's Milan in 1990. Five days later, Real Madrid beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou 1–3 in the first leg of the 2017 Supercopa de España. Three days later, Real won the second leg 2–0, 5–1 on aggregate, while ending Barcelona's consecutive scoring record in El Clásico.[147] This title tied Zidane with Vicente del Bosque as the third most successful Real Madrid manager with 7 titles, one short of Luis Molowny, but still 7 away from Miguel Muñoz. This also meant, that at the time, Zidane had won as many titles in his managerial position in Real Madrid as games lost during his tenure. Zidane's success saw him named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017.[20] In December 2017, Zidane won his eighth trophy as manager when Real defeated Grêmio in the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.[148] On 26 May, Zidane won the Champions League for the third time in a row, beating Liverpool 3–1 in the final. He became one of three managers, alongside Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti, to win the European Cup three times, while also becoming the first manager to win the trophy in three consecutive seasons.[149]
+
+On 31 May, five days after the Champions League Final, Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid manager, citing the club's "need for change" as his rationale for departing.[21][22]
+
+Following some poor results for Real Madrid in the months following Zidane's departure – culminating in elimination from the Copa del Rey's semi-final stage at home to Barcelona, a league loss to the same opponent at the same venue which opened up a 12-point gap between the clubs, and an unexpected home 4–1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League which brought the long run of success in that competition to an end, all within the space of a week – his former teammate Santiago Solari (who himself had only been in the post for five months, after Julen Lopetegui's equally brief spell in charge) was dismissed and Zidane returned as the Real Madrid head coach on 11 March 2019, on a contract until summer 2022.[23][150]
+
+On 16 July 2020, Zidane won La Liga for the second time in his managerial career.[151] His collective mindset was hailed by international and Spanish media, as Real Madrid broke several records, including the number of scorers and maintaining their best league defensive record in 30 years, as 21 of his players managed to get on the scoresheet during the 2019–20 La Liga campaign.[152][153]
+
+—Pelé.[154]
+
+—Michel Platini.[9]
+
+Many authoritative voices have acclaimed Zidane's skills and importance in the history of football, such as Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who called Zidane "a monster" for his performance and abilities.[155] German coach Franz Beckenbauer stated, "Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player."[155] Italy manager Marcello Lippi, who also coached Zidane, opined, "I think Zidane is the greatest talent we've known in football these last twenty years."[155] Former England manager Kevin Keegan said, "You look at Zidane and think 'I've never seen a player quite like that.' What sets Zidane apart is the way he manipulates a football, buying himself space that isn't there. Add his vision and it makes him very special."[156] At the 1998 World Cup, Italian manager Cesare Maldini said, "I would give up five players to have Zidane in my squad."[157]
+
+In terms of ball retention he was probably the greatest player of all time, blessed with such grace and supernatural awareness that he could play a game of real-life Pac-Man and never be caught.
+
+Among his playing peers, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović commented, "Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the ten other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple."[159] David Beckham has described Zidane as "the greatest of all time",[160][161] Barcelona star Xavi has stated in a 2010 interview that Zidane was "best player in the '90s and early 2000s",[162] while Brazilian defender and former Madrid teammate Roberto Carlos has said of Zidane, "He is the best player I've seen. Supporters arrived earlier at the Bernabéu just to see him warm-up."[163] Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho stated, "Zidane is one of the best footballers of all time, one of my idols. He had such elegance and grace, a wonderful touch and superb vision."[164] Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard regards Zidane as "the best ever", and growing up he learned from his idol by "watching him on television and online for hours."[165][166]
+
+Displaying skills with an array of moves such as his signature La Roulette pirouette, step overs and close ball control, former Brazilian international Rivaldo stated, "His elegance of movement on the pitch and his skills are uncanny."[167] Journalist Sid Lowe wrote, "Zidane was football's answer to the Bolshoi Ballet. Zidane was elegance above all else."[168] In 2005, upon Zidane's return to the French national team, his teammate Thierry Henry stated, "In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team."[169] Zidane has been lauded by sportsmen outside football; having witnessed Zidane's goal against Deportivo La Coruña in January 2002, where he dragged the ball right then left, turning the defender inside out, before scoring with a left foot finish, basketball player Magic Johnson stated, "One of the most inspiring nights of my life. Zidane is a phenomenon."[170]
+
+Labelled a “flawed genius” by ESPN, Zidane possessed an exceptional first touch, and was also known for his dribbling skills, use of feints, elegance on the ball, and creativity.[171][172][173] He was capable of using either foot, despite being naturally right-footed.[174][175] His technique and co-ordination enabled him to execute shots and volleys with extreme power and precision, in particular from outside the penalty area;[9][176] he was also a free kick and penalty kick specialist.[177][178] A world-class offensive playmaker, Zidane's natural position was in a free role as a classic number 10 behind the strikers.[171][179][180] He was also capable of playing as a second striker,[181][182] or in a more withdrawn role in midfield, either as a central midfielder or deep-lying playmaker, due to his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking plays from deep with his vision and passing.[9][156][183][184] Thus, he was capable of both assisting and scoring goals, despite being neither the most prolific goalscorer nor the most productive creator throughout his career.[185] While not known for his heading ability, his height and physical strength also allowed him to be effective in the air, and saw him score several crucial headers throughout his career.[186] He also drew praise from his managers for his defensive work-rate.[172][179][187] Despite not being the quickest player, he possessed good agility and acceleration,[172][184][188][187] as well as exceptional balance and flair on the ball;[188][189] he also had an excellent positional sense[186] and oustanding spatial awareness.[190] Although he had a reserved and humble character, his former Juventus managers Lippi and Ancelotti also praised Zidane for being a team player, on whom his teammates could rely.[179] Notwithstanding the acclaim that Zidane received from pundits over his playing ability, he also drew criticism in the media over his temperament and discipline, and for his occasional violent conduct on the pitch, which led to instances in which disciplinary action was taken against him; he was also accused by some in the sport of drifting in and out of games, and of lacking leadership qualities, although he was able to establish himself as a consistent and decisive player, who was also an influential captain at international level throughout his career.[188][191]
+
+Zidane has been named FIFA World Player of the Year three times, a feat achieved only by Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.[192] In 2002, ESPN described Zidane as "the greatest player in the world in the world's biggest game".[170] In a 2002 FIFA poll, Zidane was selected in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team.[193] In 2004, he was voted UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years, and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[194] In a 2004 poll conducted by French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, Zidane was voted as "the most popular Frenchman of all time".[188] In 2014, in a poll carried out by French TV channel TF1, Zidane was voted as the best player in the history of the French league.[195] In 2016, in a study led by French newspaper Le Parisien, Zidane was named "best French player of all time".[196]
+
+Despite establishing himself as one of the most successful managers of his era and in the history of Real Madrid,[A] Zidane's time at Real Madrid was considered by some to be shadowed by a partial amount of luck.[B] However, Zidane's tactical philosophy, particularly his tactical flexibility, has been praised by many.[197][198][199][200] Zidane's tactical style, characterized by its formation flexibility and attacking football, as well as his ability to unite the dressing room, have been positively compared to Carlo Ancelotti's coaching method.[201][202][203] His use of in-game substitutions was particularly praised, as many of his substitutes led to victories, such as introducing Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez in order to provide pace and width against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League to overturn a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 victory. His introduction of Gareth Bale for similar reasons in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final also reaped similar rewards. It is also noted that his team focused on attacking through the flanks,[204] while he is credited for repopularising the 4–4–2 diamond formation in contemporary football.[205]
+
+On the other hand, some consider that Zidane's role was more focused in grinding out results and uniting the dressing room, rather than having a fixed tactical scheme.[206][207] Zidane emphasised the importance of players' physical levels and preferred to choose impactful players over a defined system.[208] During his time at Real Madrid, he used several formations, including the 4–3–3, the 4–2–3–1, the 4–4–2, and the 3–5–2,[209] in order to find the system that best suited his players, and has been credited with using "simple systems," "...so that his players have the freedom needed to prove their superiority."[210] As such, although he is not considered to be a tactical innovator, he has been praised for his balanced approach as a coach, and for having the leadership skills and personability to manage and motivate several world class players, create a good team environment, foster professional relationships, and a strong winning mentality; he has also demonstrated an ability to rotate players and get the best out his team, which has played a key role in his success. In 2019 he commented "You ask me about two players but what interests me is the group. Karim is important for the team, not just for his goals. Casemiro gives a lot of balance, but not only that. Everyone contributes something to the team in their own way on the field".[211] Regarding his managerial role at Real Madrid, Zidane commented in 2018: "When you work with high-quality players, they know how to manage those periods of games when you’re not playing well, and they get things back on track very quickly. My job was to keep people calm!"[212] Two of his main influences as a manager are his own former managers Marcello Lippi and Carlo Ancelotti.[201][213]
+
+Zidane has had endorsements with many companies, including Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Volvic and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in 2006, totalling €15 million ($20.4 million), which made him the sixth-highest paid footballer.[214][215] In 2004, Forbes magazine listed his earnings of $15.8 million for the previous 12 months.[216] In May 2010, Zidane appeared in a commercial for Louis Vuitton, indulging in a game of table football with Pelé and Diego Maradona.[217] Zidane features as the cover star of the Ultimate Edition of the FIFA video game FIFA 20.[218]
+
+In 2005, filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which follows Zidane during an entire match, filmed with 17 cameras. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai provided the soundtrack. The documentary was part of the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.[219]
+
+In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.[220] He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents and met with Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who gave him an official reception.[221] In 2012, Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final.[222]
+
+On 5 November 2006, Zidane appeared in the American animated sitcom Family Guy, seen headbutting an old lady in the episode "Saving Private Brian" as a parody of his headbutt on Materazzi.[223] The infamous headbutt has also been the subject of a lyrical essay by the Belgian novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint entitled La Mélancolie de Zidane (2006).[224]
+
+In 2010, footage of Zidane appeared in the "Waka Waka" music video by Shakira, which shows him celebrating France winning the 1998 World Cup.[225] In 2014, Australian sports presenter Les Murray collaborated with the band Vaudeville Smash and performed a Zidane tribute song, the accompanying video featuring four footballers performing ball tricks in Zidane masks, one of whom ends up headbutting a nightwatchman.[226][227] In 2016, Zidane was ranked one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan, which noted: "[Zidane's] modest character has endeared him to the wider public."[228]
+
+At the age of 17, Zidane met his future wife, Véronique Fernández (born in Aveyron of Spanish descent),[229] while playing for Cannes in the 1988–89 season. Married in 1994, they have four sons: Enzo Zidane Fernández (born 24 March 1995), Luca Zidane Fernández (born 13 May 1998),[230] Theo Zidane Fernández (born 18 May 2002),[231] and Elyaz Zidane Fernández (born 26 December 2005). As of 2019, Enzo is a midfielder for C.D. Aves, Luca is Racing Santander goalkeeper, Theo (midfielder) is in Juvenil A and Elyaz (defender) in Cadete B at the Real Madrid Academy.[232]
+
+On 12 July 2019, his elder brother Farid died of cancer at the age of 54.[233][234]
+
+A  Includes one appearance from the match against FIFA XI on 16 August 2000 which FIFA and the French Football Federation count as an official friendly match.[237]
+
+Bordeaux[11]
+
+Juventus[11]
+
+Real Madrid[11]
+
+France[11]
+
+Individual
+
+Real Madrid
+
+Individual

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+Zinedine Yazid Zidane (French pronunciation: ​[zinedin jazid zidan], Arabic: زين الدين يزيد زيدان‎; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French former professional football player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of La Liga club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful managers in the world.[4][5][6][7] Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time,[8][9][10] Zidane was an elite playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique.[11][12] He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
+
+Zidane started his career at Cannes before establishing himself as one of the best players in the French Division 1 at Bordeaux. In 1996, he moved to Juventus where he won trophies including two Serie A titles. He moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee at the time of €77.5 million in 2001, which remained unmatched for the next eight years. In Spain, Zidane won several trophies, including a La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League. In the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final, he scored a left-foot volleyed winner which is considered to be one of the greatest goals in the competition's history.[13]
+
+Capped 108 times by France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice in the final, and was named to the All-Star Team. This triumph made him a national hero in France, and he received the Légion d'honneur in 1998. He won UEFA Euro 2000, and was named Player of the Tournament. He also received the Golden Ball for Player of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup, despite his infamous sending off in the final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. He retired as the fourth-most capped player in France history.
+
+In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players compiled by Pelé, and in the same year was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.[14] Zidane is one of eight players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.[15] He was the ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first Arab country to host the tournament.[16]
+
+After retiring as a player, Zidane transitioned into coaching, and began his head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla.[17] He remained in the position for two years before taking the helm of the first team in 2016.[18] In his initial two and a half seasons, Zidane became the first coach to win the Champions League three times consecutively, won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each, as well as a La Liga title and a Supercopa de España.[19] This success led to Zidane being named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017.[20] He resigned in 2018,[21][22] but returned to the club as manager in 2019,[23] and proceeded to win another La Liga and Supercopa de España title.[24]
+
+Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on 23 June 1972 in La Castellane, Marseille, in Southern France.[25] He is the youngest of five siblings. Zidane is a Muslim of Algerian Kabyle descent.[26][27] His parents, Smaïl and Malika, emigrated to Paris from the village of Aguemoune in the Berber-speaking region of Kabylie in northern Algeria in 1953 before the start of the Algerian War. The family, which had settled in the city's tough northern districts of Barbès and Saint-Denis, found little work in the region, and in the mid-1960s moved to the northern Marseille suburb of La Castellane in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille.[28]
+
+I have an affinity with the Arabic world. I have it in my blood, via my parents. I’m very proud of being French, but also very proud of having these roots and this diversity.
+
+His father worked as a warehouseman and nightwatchman at a department store, often on the night shift, while his mother was a housewife.[26] The family lived a reasonably comfortable life by the standards of the neighbourhood, which was notorious throughout Marseille for its high crime and unemployment rates.[27][30] Zidane credits his strict upbringing and his father as the "guiding light" in his career.[29]
+
+It was in Castellane where Zidane had his earliest introduction in football, joining in at the age of five in football games that the neighbourhood's children played on the Place Tartane, an 80-by-12-yard plaza that served as the main square of the housing complex.[31] In July 2011, Zidane named former Marseille players Blaž Slišković, Enzo Francescoli and Jean-Pierre Papin as his idols while growing up.[32][33] At the age of ten, Zidane got his first player's licence after joining the junior team of a local club from Castellane by the name of US Saint-Henri.[34] After spending a year and a half at US Saint-Henri, Zidane joined SO Septèmes-les-Vallons when the Septèmes coach Robert Centenero convinced the club's Director to get Zidane.[34] Zidane stayed with Septèmes until the age of 14, at which time he was selected to attend a three-day training camp at the CREPS (Regional Centre for Sports and Physical Education) in Aix-en-Provence, one of several such footballing institutes run by the French Football Federation. It was here that Zidane was spotted by AS Cannes scout and former player Jean Varraud, who recommended him to the training centre director of the club.[11] As a 14 year old watching the 1986 World Cup, the performance of Diego Maradona left an indelible mark on him, with Zidane stating Maradona "was on another level".[35]
+
+—Jean Varraud, former player who discovered Zidane.[11]
+
+Zidane went to AS Cannes for a six-week stay, but ended up remaining at the club for four years to play at the professional level. Having left his family to join Cannes, he was invited by Cannes Director Jean-Claude Elineau to leave the dormitory he shared with 20 other trainees and to come and stay with him and his family. Zidane later said that while living with the Elineaus he found equilibrium.[26]
+
+It was at Cannes where Zidane's first coaches noticed that he was raw and sensitive, prone to attack spectators who insulted his race or family.[36] His first coach, Jean Varraud, encouraged him to channel his anger and focus on his own game. Zidane spent his first weeks at Cannes mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who mocked his ghetto origins.[36] The occasional violence that he would display throughout his career was shaped by an internal conflict of being an Algerian-Frenchman suspended between cultures, and surviving the tough streets of La Castellane where he grew up.[36]
+
+Zidane made his professional debut with Cannes on 18 May 1989 in a French Division 1 match against Nantes.[37] He scored his first goal for the club on 10 February 1991[38] also against Nantes in a 2–1 win. After the match during a party for all the Cannes players, Zidane was given a car by Cannes chairman Alain Pedretti, who had promised him one the day he scored his first goal for the club.[39] On the pitch, Zidane displayed extraordinary technique on the ball, offering glimpses of the talent that would take him to the top of the world game.[11] In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing fourth in the league. This remains the club's highest finish in the top flight since getting relegated for the first time from the first division in the 1948–49 season.[40]
+
+Zidane was transferred to Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1992–93 season, winning the 1995 Intertoto Cup after beating Karlsruhe,[41][42] and finishing runner-up against Bayern Munich in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup,[42][43][44] in four years with the club. He played a set of midfield combinations with Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry, which would become the trademark of both Bordeaux and the 1998 French national team. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish had expressed interest in signing both Zidane and Dugarry, to which club owner Jack Walker reportedly replied, "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"[45] Also towards the beginning of the 1996 season, according to football agent Barry Silkman, Zidane was offered to Newcastle United for £1.2 million, but the club turned down the offer after watching him, claiming that he was not good enough for the English First Division.[46] In 1996, Zidane received the award for Ligue 1 Player of the Year.[47]
+
+—Juventus teammate Edgar Davids on Zidane's ability.[48]
+
+After a series of stand out performances for both Bordeaux and France, Zidane had offers to join Europe's top clubs in the spring of 1996, deciding on a move to UEFA Champions League winners Juventus during the close season.[49] Zidane's impact in Italy was immediate, winning the 1996–97 Serie A title and the 1996 Intercontinental Cup.[50] He was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year in his first season.[51] Zidane's growing status in the sport saw him chosen in a European XI to face a World XI – featuring a forward line of Ronaldo and Gabriel Batistuta – in December 1997.[52]
+
+As the playmaker at Juve, Zidane played just behind forward Alessandro Del Piero, with Del Piero recalling, "Zidane had an extraordinary talent, which contributed to his sole interest in helping the team. He was not a selfish player. He had a unique ability to be a great and to be a team player. I was lucky to play with him."[53] He lost in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund when he was unable to make an impression against the close marking of Paul Lambert.[54]
+
+The following season, Zidane scored seven goals in 32 matches in the league to help Juventus win the 1997–98 Serie A and thus retain the Scudetto. In Europe, Juventus made their third consecutive UEFA Champions League Final appearance, but lost the game 1–0 to Real Madrid. In 1998, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the Ballon d'Or. Juventus finished second in the 2000–01 Serie A, but were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, after Zidane was banned for head-butting Hamburger SV player Jochen Kientz.[55] In 2001, Zidane was named Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year for the second time.[51]
+
+In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of 150 billion Italian lire,[56][57] (about €77.5 million by fixed exchange rate; a reported 12.8 billion pesetas[58]) in instalments,[59] and signed a four-year contract. The latest addition to the Galácticos era of global stars signed by Real Madrid every year, in his first season at the club Zidane scored a famous match-winning goal, a volley hit with his weaker foot, in Madrid's 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final, completing his personal quadruple.[60] The goal has been cited as one of the greatest in Champions League history.[61][62][63] The magnitude of the strike saw Zidane produce one of his most emotional goal celebrations as he ran towards the touchline with mouth wide open, screaming in delight.[64]
+
+—Alfredo Di Stéfano on Zidane after he was named World Player of the Year in 2003.[10]
+
+The next season, Zidane helped Real Madrid to win the 2002–03 La Liga, starring alongside Luís Figo in midfield, and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the third time.[65] In 2004, fans voted him as the best European footballer of the previous 50 years in UEFA's fiftieth-anniversary Golden Jubilee Poll.[14]
+
+While Zidane's final season of club football ended without a trophy, he enjoyed success on a personal note by scoring his first hat-trick, against Sevilla, in a 4–2 win in January 2006.[66] He ended the season for Real Madrid as their second highest goalscorer and assists provider behind teammates Ronaldo and David Beckham respectively, with nine goals and ten assists in 28 games.[67] On 7 May 2006, Zidane, who had announced his plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup,[68] played his farewell match and scored in a 3–3 draw with Villarreal. The squad wore commemorative shirts with ZIDANE 2001–2006 below the club logo. The 80,000 fans inside the Santiago Bernabéu held up a banner reading, "Thanks for the magic."[11]
+
+In 2012, Zidane featured for Madrid in an All Stars Match against Manchester United which resulted in a 3–2 win for Real. In April 2013, he was named by Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history."[69]
+
+Both France and Algeria consider Zidane a citizen. It was rumoured that coach Abdelhamid Kermali denied Zidane a position for the Algerian squad because he felt the young midfielder was not fast enough.[70] However, Zidane dismissed the rumour in a 2005 interview, saying that he would have been ineligible to play for Algeria because he had already played for France.[71]
+
+Zidane was a member of the French under-21 squad that won a bronze medal at the 1993 Mediterranean Games in Languedoc-Roussillon.[72]
+He earned his first cap with France as a substitute in a friendly against the Czech Republic on 17 August 1994, which ended in a 2–2 draw after Zidane scored twice to help France erase a 2–0 deficit. After Eric Cantona was handed a year-long suspension in January 1995 for assaulting a fan, Zidane took over the playmaker position.[73]
+
+Despite not being at his best during the tournament, France reached the last four. Zidane was not yet fully established in the French team and his level was quite average during the whole event, but he managed to score in the penalty shootout in both the quarter-final and semi-final. France was eliminated in the Euro 96 semi-finals in a penalty shootout against the Czech Republic.[74]
+
+The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup that Zidane participated in; the tournament was held in his home country, France. The French team won all three games in the group stage, with Zidane setting up Christophe Dugarry's goal in the opening match against South Africa from a corner, and contributing to Thierry Henry's opening goal in the second match against Saudi Arabia; however, Zidane was sent off in the latter match for a stamp on Fuad Anwar, becoming the first French player to receive a red card in a World Cup Finals match.[76] Without their playmaker, France proceeded to win 1–0 in the round of sixteen game against Paraguay and, on his return to the side, defeated Italy 4–3 on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals, with Zidane netting the first spot kick in the shoot-out.[77] France then defeated Croatia 2–1 in the semi-final. Although Zidane had played a role in the team's accomplishments, he had yet to score a goal at the World Cup.[76][78]
+
+Zidane and France went on to play against defending champions and favourites Brazil at the Stade de France in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final. France dominated Brazil from the kick-off, with Zidane scoring two similar goals, both headers from corner kicks taken by Emmanuel Petit and Youri Djorkaeff. Courtesy of Zidane's two goals, France went into the half-time break 2–0 up with one hand on the World Cup trophy.[11] Petit added a third goal deep in stoppage time to seal the 3–0 win and France's first ever World Cup. Named man of the match, Zidane became an instant national hero and would receive the Légion d'honneur later that year.[75] More than one million people lined the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with celebrations centred around the Arc de Triomphe.[79][80]
+
+Two years later France won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both the World Cup and the European Championship since West Germany in 1974. Zidane finished with two goals, a bending free kick against Spain in the quarter-final and the golden goal in the semi-final against Portugal with a penalty.[81][82] UEFA named Zidane Player of the Tournament.[83]
+
+Zidane himself believes he was at his peak during the tournament, while the UEFA website states, "In Belgium and the Netherlands, Zidane dominated a major championship in a way no individual had managed since Diego Maradona in 1986. From the opening game against Denmark to the final against Italy, 'Zizou' shone brightly, casting a spell on his opponents with clever flicks, mesmerising stepovers, slaloming runs and masterful vision."[84]
+
+As reigning world and European champions, France entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea as favourites but a thigh injury sustained in a warm up match before the tournament prevented Zidane from playing in France's first two matches and without their talisman, the French team failed to score in either match. He was rushed back prematurely for the third game despite not being fully fit, but could not prevent France from being ignominiously eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal; the worst performance by a defending champion in the history of the competition.[85]
+
+At Euro 2004, France topped their group with wins over England and Switzerland, before being knocked out in the quarter finals by eventual champions Greece in a surprise 1–0 loss.[86] In the opening match against England, Zidane scored a free kick and penalty in stoppage time to turn impending defeat into a 2–1 victory.[87][88] After France's elimination, Zidane announced his retirement from international football.[89]
+
+With the mass retirement of veteran key players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé and Lilian Thuram, France struggled to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. At the urging of coach Raymond Domenech, Zidane came out of retirement and was immediately reinstated as team captain.[90] Zidane, along with Thuram and Makélélé, made his competitive return for France in a 3–0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005. The trio helped France rise from fourth place to win their qualifying group.[91] On 27 May 2006, Zidane earned his hundredth cap for France in a 1–0 friendly win over Mexico, in what would also be his last match at the Stade de France. Zidane became France's fourth player to reach 100 caps, after Desailly, Thuram and Didier Deschamps.[92]
+
+France had a slow start to the 2006 Finals and, after being suspended for the third match of the group stage, Zidane returned to set up a goal for Patrick Vieira and score one himself in the second round match against Spain.[93] In the quarter-final France held Brazil to just one shot on goal in the rematch of the 1998 final. Zidane assisted Thierry Henry's deciding goal and was named Man of the Match by FIFA.[94][95] France faced Portugal in the semi-final and, as in Brussels six years earlier, Zidane's penalty kick decided the contest and sent France to another major final.[96][97]
+
+Having already announced he was to retire after the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of the 2005–06 season, the world of football already knew Zidane's second World Cup final was to be the last match of his career. Seven minutes into the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin, Zidane put France ahead with a Panenka-style penalty kick which struck the crossbar and bounced just over the goal line[98] to become only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pelé, Paul Breitner, and Vavá, in addition to being tied for first place with Vavá, Pelé and Geoff Hurst with three World Cup final goals apiece. He almost scored a second goal during the first period of extra time but his header was saved by Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Zidane was then sent off in the 110th minute of the game after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest,[99][100] so he did not participate in the penalty shootout which Italy won 5–3.[101] This marked the 14th overall expulsion of Zidane's career, and joined him with Cameroon's Rigobert Song as the only players ever to be sent off during two separate World Cup tournaments.[102] He also became the fourth player red-carded in a World Cup final, in addition to being the first sent off in extra time.[103] Zidane's actions made headlines all over the world, while in France Le Figaro called his head-butt "odious," and the front page of L'Equipe asked, "What should we tell our children, for whom you have become an example for ever? ... How could that happen to a man like you?"[97] The day after the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.[104]
+
+—President of France, Jacques Chirac, pays tribute to Zidane in Paris after the 2006 World Cup.[97]
+
+Upon his return to France, the Place de la Concorde in Paris was filled with thousands of fans waving flags and rhythmically chanting "Zizou! Zizou!," and tributes were led by the French president Jacques Chirac.[97] Chirac's words reflected the feeling of the French public, with polls done in the immediate wake of the incident showing support for Zidane: 61% of French people said they had already forgiven him for his actions while 52% said they understood them.[97] According to French journalist Philippe Auclair, Zidane's performances in the knock-out rounds were "ranked among his finest in a blue shirt."[97] As the player of the tournament, Zidane had given the team hope, with the French daily newspaper Libération stating, "For a month, France was dreaming with Zidane."[97] Zidane remained an icon to the French public, and one French writer stated, "It's good for us to see our national hero is fallible."[97] It was later revealed through interviews that Marco Materazzi had insulted Zidane's sister, which led to Zidane's heightened anger and reaction.[105] In 2010, Zidane said that he would "rather die than apologize" to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final,[106] but also admitted that he "could never have lived with himself" had he been allowed to remain on the pitch and help France win the match.[107] He later said, "If you look at the fourteen red cards I had in my career, twelve of them were a result of provocation. This isn't justification, this isn't an excuse, but my passion, temper and blood made me react."[108]
+
+Following his red card in the final, Zidane retired from professional football and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision.[109] He was sentenced by FIFA to a three-match suspension for the red card.[110] He agreed to complete three days of community service with children in one of FIFA's humanitarian projects.[111] Zidane ended up tying with Brazil's Cafu for the record for most cards given in World Cup matches, with six.[112]
+
+Since his retirement, Zidane has regularly played for the Real Madrid Veterans team. He has also made several futsal appearances. In 2015 he played in a futsal tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during which an opposition player received a yellow card to much amusement for taking an in-match selfie with Zidane.[113] In an interview in June 2008, Zidane stated that he wanted to return to football, but that he had no immediate plans to do so.[114]
+
+On 1 June 2009, Zidane was announced as the advisor to the president after Florentino Pérez was named president of Real Madrid for the second time.[115] He, along with general director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza, were to be the key decisionmakers on the sporting side of the club.[115] After France's dismal campaign in the 2010 World Cup, Zidane said that he did not plan to move into coaching any time soon.[116]
+
+Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid committee announced in September 2010 that Zidane had been appointed as an ambassador for Qatar's attempt to host the 2022 World Cup.[117] After FIFA announced on 2 December 2010 that Qatar had won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup,[118] Zidane stated that he was "very pleased" with the outcome.[119] Zidane spoke of the message he was trying to convey in the campaign: "I was saying that football belonged to the whole world. I’m proud to have made my contribution to a new country getting the World Cup. Qatar and the entire Middle East as a whole deserves this event and that makes me happy. It's a victory for the Arab world."[16] Zidane has supported two Olympic bids for Paris, including the 2012 Summer Olympics which was narrowly won by London and later Paris' successful bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Paris will also be hosting the 2024 Summer Paralympics.[120]
+
+On 24 February 2007, before a crowd of 10,000 fans at a match in northern Thailand for the Keuydaroon children's AIDS charity, Zidane scored the first goal and set up the second for a Malaysian teammate as the match ended 2–2. The event raised ฿260,000 ($7,750). This money paid for the building of two schools and 16 three-bedroom houses.[121]
+
+On 19 November 2008, Zidane took part in the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Málaga, Spain, which also ended in a 2–2 draw; he went scoreless but set up his team's second goal. He and Ronaldo, who collaborated in conceiving the yearly event to benefit the United Nations Development Programme, regularly captain their respective teams consisting of active footballers, other professional athletes and celebrities.[122] Zidane, a UN Goodwill Ambassador since 2001, stated before the game that "everyone can do something to make the world a better place."[123]
+
+In June and July 2009, Zidane toured across Canada with stops in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Although billed as Zidane and "Friends", the likes of which included Fabien Barthez and Samuel Eto'o, the exhibition matches featured local players. Some proceeds were given to UNICEF.[124]
+
+On 6 June 2010, Zidane took part in the biennial charity event Soccer Aid. He played for the Rest of the World team, managed by former Liverpool and Celtic forward Kenny Dalglish against England alongside former Real Madrid teammate Luís Figo and Celtic legend Henrik Larsson. He played against former players such as Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer, as well as celebrities such as Hollywood actors Woody Harrelson, Mike Myers, Michael Sheen, chef Gordon Ramsay, actor Damian Lewis and singer Robbie Williams.[125] The match took place at Old Trafford, Manchester and was won by the Rest of the World for the first time, the winning penalty scored by Harrelson after a 2–2 draw.[125]
+
+On 2 June 2013, Zidane took part in a charity match played at Old Trafford as part of the Manchester United Legends vs. Real Madrid Legends reverse fixture. The first leg took place in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Part of a team that included the likes of Figo, Fernando Redondo and Manolo Sanchís, the fixture raised funds for the Manchester United Foundation.[126] The 12th Match against Poverty took place in Saint-Étienne, France on Monday 20 April 2015, where Ronaldo and Zidane teamed up with other football stars against past and present players of French Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Étienne. According to UNDP, "two-thirds of all proceeds will go towards helping the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone build back better from the Ebola epidemic."[127] In June 2018, Zidane reunited with his France 1998 World Cup winning teammates to play a charity game against an All-Star side which included Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In a 3–2 win for France, Thierry Henry played a no-look one-two pass with Zidane before scoring, with Zidane then curling in a 25-yard free kick.[128]
+
+In November 2010, Zidane was appointed as a special adviser to Real Madrid's first team in response to an appeal made by then-Real Madrid coach José Mourinho for the former Real midfielder to work more closely with the team. In his new role, Zidane was expected to participate in Champions League events and functions and was also to travel with the first team on a regular basis and participate in pre-match gatherings, training sessions and meetings with the head coach.[129] In July 2011, it was announced that he would become Real Madrid's new sporting director.[130] In 2013, Zidane was appointed assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.[131]
+
+In June 2014, Real Madrid announced that Zidane would be the coach of Real Madrid's B team, Real Madrid Castilla.[17] On 29 August, the director of the Spanish National Football Coach Education Centre (CENAFE), Miguel Galán, reported Zidane for acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach without the necessary coaching badges.[132] According to Galán, "No one who has anything to do with the football world can be unaware that Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach this season. It is a fait accompli that has been widely accepted, as shown by media reports, and Real Madrid do not deny it."[132] While the official match report for Castilla's opening game in the Segunda División B lists Santiago Sánchez as the Los Blancos' head coach and Zidane as his assistant, Galán states, "This hierarchy only exists on paper. The truth is the exact opposite: Zidane is acting as Real Madrid Castilla's head coach, while, with all due respect to him as a colleague, Mr Sánchez's role basically boils down to providing the badges."[132][133]
+
+On 4 January 2016, Real Madrid announced the dismissal of manager Rafael Benítez and on the same day Zidane was appointed the new manager of the club on a two-and-a-half-year deal.[134] His first match as the club's new manager took place five days later, when Real Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruña 5–0 in a La Liga match. In his first El Clásico as a manager, held on 2 April at the Camp Nou, Zidane led his club to a 2–1 win over Barcelona to end Barça's 39-match unbeaten run.[135]
+
+On 4 May, Zidane led Real Madrid to a place in the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final by beating Manchester City 1–0 on aggregate.[136] In La Liga, Real Madrid finished runners up, just one point behind Barcelona. In the Champions League final on 28 May, Real Madrid defeated fellow Madrid club Atlético Madrid in a penalty shootout to grab the 11th European Cup (La Undécima) in club history. Zidane became the seventh man to win the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) as both a player and a manager, the second man (after Miguel Muñoz) to win the trophy with Real Madrid as both a player and a manager, and the first French manager, except the French-Argentinian Helenio Herrera, to win the trophy.[137][138]
+
+In his first full-season as manager, Real Madrid recorded a club-record 16th consecutive La Liga victory by defeating Espanyol 2–0 away on 18 September 2016, overtaking their previous record of 15 set in 1960–61 and equalling the record of consecutive La Liga wins of Barcelona set in 2010–11.[139] On 18 December, Real Madrid defeated Japanese club Kashima Antlers 4–2 in the final of the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick.[140]
+
+On 12 January 2017, Madrid's draw against Sevilla FC in the second leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16 saw him win his 40th consecutive match without a loss – creating a new Spanish record, beating Luis Enrique's record of 39 matches undefeated with Barcelona.[141][142] Zidane later led Madrid to the La Liga title, their 33rd in history, by defeating Málaga 2–0.[143]
+
+On 3 June 2017, Zidane led Real Madrid to a 4–1 win against Italian side Juventus in the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final at Cardiff to grab the club's 12th European Cup (La Duodécima). This victory meant that Madrid were the first ever team to win the Champions League back-to-back, as well as recording Zidane's first double as coach, and the club's first since 1956–57.[144] With Real's Champions League victory, Zidane became only the second manager to win the European Cup in his first two seasons in management, alongside fellow Real Madrid manager José Villalonga.[145]
+
+He later won the 2017 UEFA Super Cup 2–1 against Manchester United on 8 August.[146] This meant Zidane was the first manager to win two UEFA Super Cups in a row since Arrigo Sacchi's Milan in 1990. Five days later, Real Madrid beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou 1–3 in the first leg of the 2017 Supercopa de España. Three days later, Real won the second leg 2–0, 5–1 on aggregate, while ending Barcelona's consecutive scoring record in El Clásico.[147] This title tied Zidane with Vicente del Bosque as the third most successful Real Madrid manager with 7 titles, one short of Luis Molowny, but still 7 away from Miguel Muñoz. This also meant, that at the time, Zidane had won as many titles in his managerial position in Real Madrid as games lost during his tenure. Zidane's success saw him named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017.[20] In December 2017, Zidane won his eighth trophy as manager when Real defeated Grêmio in the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.[148] On 26 May, Zidane won the Champions League for the third time in a row, beating Liverpool 3–1 in the final. He became one of three managers, alongside Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti, to win the European Cup three times, while also becoming the first manager to win the trophy in three consecutive seasons.[149]
+
+On 31 May, five days after the Champions League Final, Zidane announced his resignation as Real Madrid manager, citing the club's "need for change" as his rationale for departing.[21][22]
+
+Following some poor results for Real Madrid in the months following Zidane's departure – culminating in elimination from the Copa del Rey's semi-final stage at home to Barcelona, a league loss to the same opponent at the same venue which opened up a 12-point gap between the clubs, and an unexpected home 4–1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League which brought the long run of success in that competition to an end, all within the space of a week – his former teammate Santiago Solari (who himself had only been in the post for five months, after Julen Lopetegui's equally brief spell in charge) was dismissed and Zidane returned as the Real Madrid head coach on 11 March 2019, on a contract until summer 2022.[23][150]
+
+On 16 July 2020, Zidane won La Liga for the second time in his managerial career.[151] His collective mindset was hailed by international and Spanish media, as Real Madrid broke several records, including the number of scorers and maintaining their best league defensive record in 30 years, as 21 of his players managed to get on the scoresheet during the 2019–20 La Liga campaign.[152][153]
+
+—Pelé.[154]
+
+—Michel Platini.[9]
+
+Many authoritative voices have acclaimed Zidane's skills and importance in the history of football, such as Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who called Zidane "a monster" for his performance and abilities.[155] German coach Franz Beckenbauer stated, "Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player."[155] Italy manager Marcello Lippi, who also coached Zidane, opined, "I think Zidane is the greatest talent we've known in football these last twenty years."[155] Former England manager Kevin Keegan said, "You look at Zidane and think 'I've never seen a player quite like that.' What sets Zidane apart is the way he manipulates a football, buying himself space that isn't there. Add his vision and it makes him very special."[156] At the 1998 World Cup, Italian manager Cesare Maldini said, "I would give up five players to have Zidane in my squad."[157]
+
+In terms of ball retention he was probably the greatest player of all time, blessed with such grace and supernatural awareness that he could play a game of real-life Pac-Man and never be caught.
+
+Among his playing peers, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović commented, "Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the ten other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple."[159] David Beckham has described Zidane as "the greatest of all time",[160][161] Barcelona star Xavi has stated in a 2010 interview that Zidane was "best player in the '90s and early 2000s",[162] while Brazilian defender and former Madrid teammate Roberto Carlos has said of Zidane, "He is the best player I've seen. Supporters arrived earlier at the Bernabéu just to see him warm-up."[163] Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho stated, "Zidane is one of the best footballers of all time, one of my idols. He had such elegance and grace, a wonderful touch and superb vision."[164] Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard regards Zidane as "the best ever", and growing up he learned from his idol by "watching him on television and online for hours."[165][166]
+
+Displaying skills with an array of moves such as his signature La Roulette pirouette, step overs and close ball control, former Brazilian international Rivaldo stated, "His elegance of movement on the pitch and his skills are uncanny."[167] Journalist Sid Lowe wrote, "Zidane was football's answer to the Bolshoi Ballet. Zidane was elegance above all else."[168] In 2005, upon Zidane's return to the French national team, his teammate Thierry Henry stated, "In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team."[169] Zidane has been lauded by sportsmen outside football; having witnessed Zidane's goal against Deportivo La Coruña in January 2002, where he dragged the ball right then left, turning the defender inside out, before scoring with a left foot finish, basketball player Magic Johnson stated, "One of the most inspiring nights of my life. Zidane is a phenomenon."[170]
+
+Labelled a “flawed genius” by ESPN, Zidane possessed an exceptional first touch, and was also known for his dribbling skills, use of feints, elegance on the ball, and creativity.[171][172][173] He was capable of using either foot, despite being naturally right-footed.[174][175] His technique and co-ordination enabled him to execute shots and volleys with extreme power and precision, in particular from outside the penalty area;[9][176] he was also a free kick and penalty kick specialist.[177][178] A world-class offensive playmaker, Zidane's natural position was in a free role as a classic number 10 behind the strikers.[171][179][180] He was also capable of playing as a second striker,[181][182] or in a more withdrawn role in midfield, either as a central midfielder or deep-lying playmaker, due to his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking plays from deep with his vision and passing.[9][156][183][184] Thus, he was capable of both assisting and scoring goals, despite being neither the most prolific goalscorer nor the most productive creator throughout his career.[185] While not known for his heading ability, his height and physical strength also allowed him to be effective in the air, and saw him score several crucial headers throughout his career.[186] He also drew praise from his managers for his defensive work-rate.[172][179][187] Despite not being the quickest player, he possessed good agility and acceleration,[172][184][188][187] as well as exceptional balance and flair on the ball;[188][189] he also had an excellent positional sense[186] and oustanding spatial awareness.[190] Although he had a reserved and humble character, his former Juventus managers Lippi and Ancelotti also praised Zidane for being a team player, on whom his teammates could rely.[179] Notwithstanding the acclaim that Zidane received from pundits over his playing ability, he also drew criticism in the media over his temperament and discipline, and for his occasional violent conduct on the pitch, which led to instances in which disciplinary action was taken against him; he was also accused by some in the sport of drifting in and out of games, and of lacking leadership qualities, although he was able to establish himself as a consistent and decisive player, who was also an influential captain at international level throughout his career.[188][191]
+
+Zidane has been named FIFA World Player of the Year three times, a feat achieved only by Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.[192] In 2002, ESPN described Zidane as "the greatest player in the world in the world's biggest game".[170] In a 2002 FIFA poll, Zidane was selected in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team.[193] In 2004, he was voted UEFA Best European Player of the Past 50 Years, and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[194] In a 2004 poll conducted by French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, Zidane was voted as "the most popular Frenchman of all time".[188] In 2014, in a poll carried out by French TV channel TF1, Zidane was voted as the best player in the history of the French league.[195] In 2016, in a study led by French newspaper Le Parisien, Zidane was named "best French player of all time".[196]
+
+Despite establishing himself as one of the most successful managers of his era and in the history of Real Madrid,[A] Zidane's time at Real Madrid was considered by some to be shadowed by a partial amount of luck.[B] However, Zidane's tactical philosophy, particularly his tactical flexibility, has been praised by many.[197][198][199][200] Zidane's tactical style, characterized by its formation flexibility and attacking football, as well as his ability to unite the dressing room, have been positively compared to Carlo Ancelotti's coaching method.[201][202][203] His use of in-game substitutions was particularly praised, as many of his substitutes led to victories, such as introducing Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez in order to provide pace and width against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League to overturn a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 victory. His introduction of Gareth Bale for similar reasons in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final also reaped similar rewards. It is also noted that his team focused on attacking through the flanks,[204] while he is credited for repopularising the 4–4–2 diamond formation in contemporary football.[205]
+
+On the other hand, some consider that Zidane's role was more focused in grinding out results and uniting the dressing room, rather than having a fixed tactical scheme.[206][207] Zidane emphasised the importance of players' physical levels and preferred to choose impactful players over a defined system.[208] During his time at Real Madrid, he used several formations, including the 4–3–3, the 4–2–3–1, the 4–4–2, and the 3–5–2,[209] in order to find the system that best suited his players, and has been credited with using "simple systems," "...so that his players have the freedom needed to prove their superiority."[210] As such, although he is not considered to be a tactical innovator, he has been praised for his balanced approach as a coach, and for having the leadership skills and personability to manage and motivate several world class players, create a good team environment, foster professional relationships, and a strong winning mentality; he has also demonstrated an ability to rotate players and get the best out his team, which has played a key role in his success. In 2019 he commented "You ask me about two players but what interests me is the group. Karim is important for the team, not just for his goals. Casemiro gives a lot of balance, but not only that. Everyone contributes something to the team in their own way on the field".[211] Regarding his managerial role at Real Madrid, Zidane commented in 2018: "When you work with high-quality players, they know how to manage those periods of games when you’re not playing well, and they get things back on track very quickly. My job was to keep people calm!"[212] Two of his main influences as a manager are his own former managers Marcello Lippi and Carlo Ancelotti.[201][213]
+
+Zidane has had endorsements with many companies, including Adidas, Lego, France Telecom, Orange, Audi, Volvic and Christian Dior. These sponsorship deals earned him €8.6 million on top of his €6.4 million Real Madrid salary in 2006, totalling €15 million ($20.4 million), which made him the sixth-highest paid footballer.[214][215] In 2004, Forbes magazine listed his earnings of $15.8 million for the previous 12 months.[216] In May 2010, Zidane appeared in a commercial for Louis Vuitton, indulging in a game of table football with Pelé and Diego Maradona.[217] Zidane features as the cover star of the Ultimate Edition of the FIFA video game FIFA 20.[218]
+
+In 2005, filmmakers Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon filmed a documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which follows Zidane during an entire match, filmed with 17 cameras. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai provided the soundtrack. The documentary was part of the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.[219]
+
+In November 2006, Zidane toured Bangladesh as the guest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.[220] He also visited the Algerian birthplace of his parents and met with Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who gave him an official reception.[221] In 2012, Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final.[222]
+
+On 5 November 2006, Zidane appeared in the American animated sitcom Family Guy, seen headbutting an old lady in the episode "Saving Private Brian" as a parody of his headbutt on Materazzi.[223] The infamous headbutt has also been the subject of a lyrical essay by the Belgian novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint entitled La Mélancolie de Zidane (2006).[224]
+
+In 2010, footage of Zidane appeared in the "Waka Waka" music video by Shakira, which shows him celebrating France winning the 1998 World Cup.[225] In 2014, Australian sports presenter Les Murray collaborated with the band Vaudeville Smash and performed a Zidane tribute song, the accompanying video featuring four footballers performing ball tricks in Zidane masks, one of whom ends up headbutting a nightwatchman.[226][227] In 2016, Zidane was ranked one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan, which noted: "[Zidane's] modest character has endeared him to the wider public."[228]
+
+At the age of 17, Zidane met his future wife, Véronique Fernández (born in Aveyron of Spanish descent),[229] while playing for Cannes in the 1988–89 season. Married in 1994, they have four sons: Enzo Zidane Fernández (born 24 March 1995), Luca Zidane Fernández (born 13 May 1998),[230] Theo Zidane Fernández (born 18 May 2002),[231] and Elyaz Zidane Fernández (born 26 December 2005). As of 2019, Enzo is a midfielder for C.D. Aves, Luca is Racing Santander goalkeeper, Theo (midfielder) is in Juvenil A and Elyaz (defender) in Cadete B at the Real Madrid Academy.[232]
+
+On 12 July 2019, his elder brother Farid died of cancer at the age of 54.[233][234]
+
+A  Includes one appearance from the match against FIFA XI on 16 August 2000 which FIFA and the French Football Federation count as an official friendly match.[237]
+
+Bordeaux[11]
+
+Juventus[11]
+
+Real Madrid[11]
+
+France[11]
+
+Individual
+
+Real Madrid
+
+Individual

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+A penis (plural penises or penes /-niːz/) is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation.[1] Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do not bear a penis in every animal species, and in those species in which the male does bear a so-called penis, the penises in the various species are not necessarily homologous.
+
+The term penis applies to many intromittent organs, but not to all. As an example, the intromittent organ of most cephalopoda is the hectocotylus, a specialized arm, and male spiders use their pedipalps. Even within the Vertebrata there are morphological variants with specific terminology, such as hemipenes.
+
+In most species of animals in which there is an organ that might reasonably be described as a penis, it has no major function other than intromission, or at least conveying the sperm to the female, but in the placental mammals the penis bears the distal part of the urethra, which discharges both urine during urination and semen during copulation.[2]
+
+
+
+Most male birds (e.g., roosters and turkeys) have a cloaca (also present on the female), but not a penis. Among bird species with a penis are paleognathes (tinamous and ratites)[3] and Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans).[4] A bird penis is different in structure from mammal penises, being an erectile expansion of the cloacal wall and being erected by lymph, not blood.[5] It is usually partially feathered and in some species features spines and brush-like filaments, and in flaccid state curls up inside the cloaca. The lake duck (also called Argentine blue-bill) has the largest penis in relation to body size of all vertebrates; while usually about half the body size (20 cm), a specimen with a penis 42.5 cm long is documented.
+
+While most male birds have no external genitalia, male waterfowl (Anatidae) have a phallus. Most birds mate with the males balancing on top of the females and touching cloacas in a "cloacal kiss"; this makes forceful insemination very difficult. The phallus that male waterfowl have evolved everts out of their bodies (in a clockwise coil) and aids in inseminating females without their cooperation.[6] The male waterfowl evolution of a phallus to forcefully copulate with females has led to counteradaptations in females in the form of vaginal structures called dead end sacs and clockwise coils. These structures make it harder for males to achieve intromission. The clockwise coils are significant because the male phallus everts out of their body in a counter-clockwise spiral; therefore, a clockwise vaginal structure would impede forceful copulation. Studies have shown that the longer a male's phallus is, the more elaborate the vaginal structures were.[6]
+
+The lake duck is notable for possessing, in relation to body length, the longest penis of all vertebrates; the penis, which is typically coiled up in flaccid state, can reach about the same length as the animal himself when fully erect, but is more commonly about half the bird's length.[7][8] It is theorized that the remarkable size of their spiny penises with bristled tips may have evolved in response to competitive pressure in these highly promiscuous birds, removing sperm from previous matings in the manner of a bottle brush. The lake duck has a corkscrew shaped penis.[9]
+
+Male and female emus are similar in appearance,[10] although the male's penis can become visible when it defecates.[11]
+
+The male tinamou has a corkscrew shaped penis, similar to those of the ratites and to the hemipenis of some reptiles. Females have a small phallic organ in the cloaca which becomes larger during the breeding season.[12]
+
+As with any other bodily attribute, the length and girth of the penis can be highly variable between mammals of different species.[13][14] In many mammals, the size of a flaccid penis is smaller than its erect size.
+
+A bone called the baculum or os penis is present in most mammals but absent in humans, cattle and horses.
+
+In mammals the penis is divided into three parts:[15]
+
+The internal structures of the penis consist mainly of cavernous, erectile tissue, which is a collection of blood sinusoids separated by sheets of connective tissue (trabeculae). Some mammals have a lot of erectile tissue relative to connective tissue, for example horses. Because of this a horse's penis can enlarge more than a bull's penis. The urethra is on the ventral side of the body of the penis. As a general rule, a mammal's penis is proportional to its body size, but this varies greatly between species – even between closely related ones. For example, an adult gorilla's erect penis is about 4 cm (1.5 in) in length; an adult chimpanzee, significantly smaller (in body size) than a gorilla, has a penis size about double that of the gorilla. In comparison, the human penis is larger than that of any other primate, both in proportion to body size and in absolute terms.[16]
+
+The penises of even-toed ungulates are curved in an S-shape when not erect.[17] In bulls, rams and boars, the sigmoid flexure of the penis straightens out during erection.[18]
+
+When mating, the tip of a male pronghorn's penis is often the first part to touch the female pronghorn.[19] The pronghorn's penis is about 5 inches (13 cm) long, and is shaped like an ice pick.[20] The front of a pronghorn's glans penis is relatively flat, while the back is relatively thick.[21] The male pronghorn usually ejaculates immediately after intromission.[22][23]
+
+The penis of a dromedary camel is covered by a triangular penile sheath opening backwards,[24] and is about 60 cm (24 in) long.[25][26] The camelmen often aid the male to enter his penis into the female's vulva, though the male is considered able to do it on his own. Copulation time ranges from 7 to 35 minutes, averaging 11–15 minutes.[27][28]
+
+
+
+Bulls have a fibro-elastic penis. Given the small amount of erectile tissue, there is little enlargement after erection. The penis is quite rigid when non-erect, and becomes even more rigid during erection. Protrusion is not affected much by erection, but more by relaxation of the retractor penis muscle and straightening of the sigmoid flexure.[29][15][30]
+
+The male genitalia of mouse deer are similar to those of pigs.[31] A boar's penis, which rotates rhythmically during copulation,[32] is about 18 inches (46 cm) long, and ejaculates about a pint of semen.[33] Wild boars have a roughly egg-sized sack near the opening of the penis, which collects urine and emits a sharp odour. The purpose of this is not fully understood.[34]
+
+A stag's penis forms an S-shaped curve when it is not erect, and is retracted into its sheath by the retractor penis muscle.[35] Some deer species spray urine on their bodies by urinating from an erect penis.[36] One type of scent-marking behavior in elk is known as "thrash-urination,[37][38] which typically involves palpitation of the erect penis.[38][39][40] A male elk's urethra points upward so that urine is sprayed almost at a right angle to the penis.[38] A sambar stag will mark himself by spraying urine directly in the face with a highly mobile penis, which is often erect during its rutting activities.[41] Red deer stags often have erect penises during combat.[42]
+
+
+
+Cetaceans' reproductive organs are located inside the body. Male cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) have two slits, the genital groove concealing the penis and one further behind for the anus.[43][44][45][46] Cetaceans have fibroelastic penises, similar to those of Artiodactyla.[47] The tapering tip of the cetacean penis is called the pars intrapraeputialis or terminal cone.[48] The blue whale has the largest penis of any organism on the planet, typically measuring 8–10 feet (2.4–3.0 m).[49] Accurate measurements are difficult to take because its erect length can only be observed during mating,[50] which occurs underwater. The penis on a right whale can be up to 2.7 m (8.9 ft) – the testes, at up to 2 m (6.6 ft) in length, 78 cm (2.56 ft) in diameter, and weighing up to 525 lb (238 kg), are also by far the largest of any animal on Earth.[51] 
+On at least one occasion, a dolphin towed bathers through the water by hooking his erect penis around them.[52] Between male bottlenose dolphins, homosexual behaviour includes rubbing of genitals against each other, which sometimes leads to the males swimming belly to belly, inserting the penis in the other's genital slit and sometimes anus.[53]
+
+Stallions (male horses) have a vascular penis. When non-erect, it is quite flaccid and contained within the prepuce (foreskin, or sheath).
+
+Tapirs have exceptionally long penises relative to their body size.[54][55][56][57] The glans of the Malayan tapir resembles a mushroom, and is similar to the glans of the horse.[58]  The penis of the Sumatran rhinoceros contains two lateral lobes and a structure called the processus glandis.[59]
+
+
+
+All members of Carnivora (except hyenas) have a baculum.[60] Canine penises have a structure at the base called the bulbus glandis.[61][62]
+
+During copulation, the spotted hyena inserts his penis through the female's pseudo-penis instead of directly through the vagina, which is blocked by the false scrotum and testes. Once the female retracts her clitoris, the male enters the female by sliding beneath her, an operation facilitated by the penis's upward angle.[63][64] The pseudo-penis closely resembles the male hyena's penis, but can be distinguished from the male's genitalia by its greater thickness and more rounded glans.[65] In male spotted hyenas, as well as females, the base of the glans is covered with penile spines.[66][67][68]
+
+Domestic cats have barbed penises, with about 120–150 one millimeter long backwards-pointing spines.[69] Upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which is a trigger for ovulation. Lions also have barbed penises.[70][71] Male felids urinate backwards by curving the tip of the glans penis backward.[62][72] When male cheetahs urine-mark their territories, they stand one meter away from a tree or rock surface with the tail raised, pointing the penis either horizontally backward or 60° upward.[73]
+
+The male fossa has an unusually long penis and baculum (penis bone), reaching to between his front legs when erect[74] with backwards-pointing spines along most of its length.[75] The male fossa has scent glands near the penis, with the penile glands emitting a strong odor.[74]
+
+The beech marten's penis is larger than the pine marten's, with the bacula of young beech martens often outsizing those of old pine martens.[76]
+
+Raccoons have penis bones which bend at a 90 degree angle at the tip.[77] The extrusibility of a raccoon's penis can be used to distinguish mature males from immature males.[78][79]
+
+Male walruses possess the largest penis bones of any land mammal, both in absolute size and relative to body size.[80][81]
+
+The adult male American mink's penis is 2.2 in (5.6 cm) long, and is covered by a sheath. The baculum is well-developed, being triangular in cross section and curved at the tip.[82]
+
+Males of Racey's pipistrelle bat have a long, straight penis with a notch between the shaft and the narrow, egg-shaped glans penis. Near the top, the penis is haired, but the base is almost naked. In the baculum (penis bone), the shaft is long and narrow and slightly curved.[83] The length of the penis and baculum distinguish P. raceyi from all comparably sized African and Malagasy vespertilionids.[84] In males, penis length is 9.6 to 11.8 mm (0.38 to 0.46 in) and baculum length is 8.8 to 10.0 mm (0.35 to 0.39 in).[85]
+
+Copulation by male greater short-nosed fruit bats is dorsoventral and the females lick the shaft or the base of the male's penis, but not the glans which has already penetrated the vagina. While the females do this, the penis is not withdrawn and research has shown a positive relationship between length of the time that the penis is licked and the duration of copulation. Post copulation genital grooming has also been observed.[86]
+
+The glans penis of the marsh rice rat is long and robust,[87] averaging 7.3 mm (0.29 in) long and 4.6 mm (0.18 in) broad, and the baculum (penis bone) is 6.6 mm (0.26 in) long.[88] As is characteristic of Sigmodontinae, the marsh rice rat has a complex penis, with the distal (far) end of the baculum ending in three digits.[89] The central digit is notably larger than those at the sides.[87] The outer surface of the penis is mostly covered by small spines, but there is a broad band of nonspinous tissue. The papilla (nipple-like projection) on the dorsal (upper) side of the penis is covered with small spines, a character the marsh rice rat shares only with Oligoryzomys and Oryzomys couesi among oryzomyines examined.[90] On the urethral process, located in the crater at the end of the penis,[91] a fleshy process (the subapical lobule) is present; it is absent in all other oryzomyines with studied penes except O. couesi and Holochilus brasiliensis.[92] The baculum is deeper than it is wide.[87]
+
+In Transandinomys talamancae, the outer surface of the penis is mostly covered by small spines, but there is a broad band of nonspinous tissue.[93]
+
+Some features of the accessory glands in the male genital region vary among oryzomyines. In Transandinomys talamancae,[94] a single pair of preputial glands is present at the penis. As is usual for sigmodontines, there are two pairs of ventral prostate glands and a single pair of anterior and dorsal prostate glands. Part of the end of the vesicular gland is irregularly folded, not smooth as in most oryzomyines.[95]
+
+In Pseudorhyzomys, the baculum (penis bone) displays large protuberances at the sides. In the cartilaginous part of the baculum, the central digit is smaller than those at the sides.[96]
+
+In Drymoreomys, there are three digits at the tip of the penis, of which the central one is the largest.[97]
+
+In Thomasomys ucucha the glans penis is rounded, short, and small and is superficially divided into left and right halves by a trough at the top and a ridge at the bottom.[98]
+
+The glans penis of a male cape ground squirrel is large with a prominent baculum.[99]
+
+Unlike other squirrel species, red squirrels have long, thin, and narrow penises, without a prominent baculum.[100][101]
+
+Winkelmann's mouse can easily be distinguished from its close relatives by the shape of its penis, which has a partially corrugated glans.[102]
+
+The foreskin of a capybara is attached to the anus in an unusual way, forming an anogenital invagination.[103]
+
+It has been postulated that the shape of the human penis may have been selected by sperm competition. The shape could have favored displacement of seminal fluids implanted within the female reproductive tract by rival males: the thrusting action which occurs during sexual intercourse can mechanically remove seminal fluid out of the cervix area from a previous mating.[104]
+
+The penile morphology of some types of strepsirrhine primates has provided information about their taxonomy.[105] Male galago species possess very distinctive penile morphology that can be used to classify species.[106][107][108]
+
+The northern greater galago penis is on average 18 mm (0.71 in) in length, with doubled headed or even tridentate spines pointing towards the body. They are less densely packed than in Otolemur crassicaudatus.[106][107][108] The penis of the ring-tailed lemur is nearly cylindrical in shape and is covered in small spines, as well as having two pairs of larger spines on both sides.[109]
+
+The adult male of each vervet monkey species has a pale blue scrotum and a red penis,[110][111] and male proboscis monkeys have a red penis with a black scrotum.[112]
+
+Male baboons and squirrel monkeys sometimes gesture with an erect penis as both a warning of impending danger and a threat to predators.[113][114] In male squirrel monkeys, this gesture is used for social communication.[115][115]
+
+The human penis is an external sex organ of  male humans. It is a reproductive, intromittent organ that additionally serves as the urinal duct. The main parts are the root of the penis (radix): It is the attached part, consisting of the bulb of penis in the middle and the crus of penis, one on either side of the bulb; the body of the penis (corpus); and the epithelium of the penis consists of the shaft skin, the foreskin, and the preputial mucosa on the inside of the foreskin and covering the glans penis.
+
+The human penis is made up of three columns of tissue: two corpora cavernosa lie next to each other on the dorsal side and one corpus spongiosum lies between them on the ventral side. The urethra, which is the last part of the urinary tract, traverses the corpus spongiosum, and its opening, known as the meatus /miːˈeɪtəs/, lies on the tip of the glans penis. It is a passage both for urine and for the ejaculation of semen.
+
+In males, the expulsion of urine from the body is done through the penis. The urethra drains the bladder through the prostate gland where it is joined by the ejaculatory duct, and then onward to the penis.
+
+An erection is the stiffening and rising of the penis, which occurs during sexual arousal, though it can also happen in non-sexual situations. Ejaculation is the ejecting of semen from the penis and is usually accompanied by orgasm. A series of muscular contractions delivers semen, containing male gametes known as sperm cells or spermatozoa, from the penis.
+
+The most common form of genital alteration is circumcision, the removal of part or all of the foreskin for various cultural, religious, and more rarely medical reasons. There is controversy surrounding circumcision.
+
+As of 2015[update], a systematic review of 15,521 men, and the best research to date on the topic, as the subjects were measured by health professionals, rather than self-measured, has concluded that the average length of an erect human penis is 13.12 cm (5.17 inches) long, while the average circumference of an erect human penis is 11.66 cm (4.59 inches).[116][117]
+
+Most marsupials, except for the two largest species of kangaroos and marsupial moles[118] (assuming the latter are true marsupials), have a bifurcated penis, separated into two columns, so that the penis has two ends corresponding to the females' two vaginas.[119]
+
+Monotremes and marsupial moles are the only mammals in which the penis is located inside the cloaca.[120][121]
+
+Male echidnas have a bilaterally symmetrical, rosette-like, four-headed penis.[122] During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two-branched reproductive tract. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal copulates.[123][124][125] When not in use, the penis is retracted inside a preputial sac in the cloaca. The male echidna's penis is 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long when erect, and its shaft is covered with penile spines.[126] The penis is nearly a quarter of his body length when erect.[127]
+
+The penis of the bush hyrax is complex and distinct from that of the other hyrax genera. It has a short, thin appendage within a cup-like glans penis and measures greater than 6 centimetres (2.4 in) when erect. Additionally, it has been observed that the bush hyrax also has a greater distance between the anus and preputial opening in comparison to other hyraxes.[128]
+
+An adult elephant has the largest penis of any land animal.[129][self-published source?] An elephant's penis can reach a length of 100 cm (39 in) and a diameter of 16 cm (6 in) at the base.[citation needed] It is S-shaped when fully erect and has a Y-shaped orifice.[130] During musth, a male elephant may urinate with his penis still in the sheath, which causes the urine to spray on the hind legs.[131][132] An elephant's penis is very mobile, being able to move independently of the male's pelvis,[133] and the penis curves forward and upward prior to mounting another elephant.[67]
+
+In giant anteaters, the (retracted) penis and testes are located internally between the rectum and urinary bladder.[134]
+
+When the male armadillo Chaetophractus villosus is sexually aroused, species determination is easier. Its penis can be as long as 35 millimetres (1.4 in), and usually remains completely withdrawn inside a skin receptacle.[135] Scientists conducting studies on the C. villosus penis muscles revealed this species' very long penis exhibits variability. During its waking hours, it remains hidden beneath a skin receptacle, until it becomes erect and it projects outside in a rostral direction.[136]
+
+Male turtles and crocodiles have a penis, while male specimens of the reptile order Squamata have two paired organs called hemipenes. Tuataras must use their cloacae for reproduction.[137] Due to evolutionary convergence, turtle and mammal penises have a similar structure.[138]
+
+In some fish, the gonopodium, andropodium, and claspers are intromittent organs (to introduce sperm into the female) developed from modified fins.
+
+The record for the largest penis size to body size ratio is held by the barnacle. The barnacle's penis can grow to up to forty times its own body length. This enables them to reach the nearest female for fertilization.
+
+A number of invertebrate species have independently evolved the mating technique of traumatic insemination where the penis penetrates the female's abdomen, thereby creating a womb into which it deposits sperm. This has been most fully studied in bed bugs.
+
+Some millipedes have penises.  In these species, the penis is simply one or two projections on underneath the third body segment that produce a spermatophore or sperm packet. The act of insemination, however, occurs through specialized legs called gonopods which collect the spermatophore and insert it into the female.
+
+In male insects, the structure analogous to a penis is known as aedeagus. The male copulatory organ of various lower invertebrate animals is often called the cirrus.[citation needed]
+
+The lesser water boatman's mating call, generated by rubbing the penis against the abdomen, is the loudest sound, relative to body size, in the animal kingdom.[139]
+
+In 2010, entomologist Charles Linehard described Neotrogla, a new genus of barkflies. Species of this genus have sex-reversed genitalia. Females have penis-like organs called gynosomes that are inserted into vagina-like openings of males during mating.[140]  In 2014, a detailed study of the insects reproductive habits led by Kazunori Yoshizawae confirmed that the organ functions similar to a penis – for example, it swells during sexual intercourse – and is used to extract sperm from the male.[141][142]
+
+The penis in most male Coleoid cephalopods is a long and muscular end of the gonoduct used to transfer spermatophores to a modified arm called a hectocotylus. That, in turn, is used to transfer the spermatophores to the female. In species where the hectocotylus is missing, the penis is long and able to extend beyond the mantle cavity and transfers the spermatophores directly to the female. Deepwater squid have the greatest known penis length relative to body size of all mobile animals, second in the entire animal kingdom only to certain sessile barnacles Penis elongation in Onykia ingens may result in a penis that is as long as the mantle, head and arms combined.[143][144] Giant squid of the genus Architeuthis are unusual in that they possess both a large penis and modified arm tips, although it is uncertain whether the latter are used for spermatophore transfer.[143]
+
+The word "penis" is taken from the Latin word for "tail". Some derive that from Indo-European *pesnis, and the Greek word πέος = "penis" from Indo-European *pesos. Prior to the adoption of the Latin word in English the penis was referred to as a "yard". The Oxford English Dictionary cites an example of the word yard used in this sense from 1379,[145] and notes that in his Physical Dictionary of 1684, Steven Blankaart defined the word penis as "the Yard, made up of two nervous Bodies, the Channel, Nut, Skin, and Fore-skin, etc."[146]
+
+As with nearly any aspect of the body involved in sexual or excretory functions, the penis is the subject of many slang words and euphemisms for it, a particularly common and enduring one being "cock". See WikiSaurus:penis for a list of alternative words for penis.
+
+The Latin word "phallus" (from Greek φαλλος) is sometimes used to describe the penis, although "phallus" originally was used to describe representations, pictorial or carved, of the penis.[147]
+
+Pizzles are represented in heraldry, where the adjective pizzled (or vilené[148]) indicates that part of an animate charge's anatomy, especially if coloured differently.

en/6157.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,493 @@
+
+
+The złoty (Polish: [ˈzwɔtɨ] (listen);[2] sign: zł; code: PLN) is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 grosz (gr).[a] The widely recognised English form of the currency is the Polish zloty.[3] It is the most traded currency in Central Europe and ranks 22nd in the foreign exchange market.[4][5][6]
+
+The word złoty is a masculine form of the Polish adjective 'golden', which closely relates with its name to the Dutch guilder, whereas the grosz subunit was based on Austrian groschen. It was officially introduced to replace its predecessor, the Polish marka, on 28 February 1919 and began circulation in 1924. The only body permitted to manufacture or mint złoty coins is Mennica Polska, founded in Warsaw on 10 February 1766.
+
+As a result of inflation in the early 1990s, the currency underwent redenomination. Thus, on 1 January 1995, 10,000 old złoty (PLZ) became one new złoty (PLN). Since then, the currency has been relatively stable, with an exchange rate fluctuating between 3 and 4 złoty for a United States dollar. Though Poland is a member of the European Union, nearly 60% of Poles are strongly against replacing the złoty with the euro.[7][8]
+
+The predecessors of the złoty were the Polish mark (grzywna) and the kopa. The grzywna was a currency that was equivalent to approximately 210 g of silver, in the 11th century. It was in use until sometime in the 14th century, when it gave way to the Kraków grzywna (approximately 198 g of silver). At the same time, first as a complement to the grzywna, and then as the main currency, came the grosz and the kopa. Poland made the grosz as an imitation of the Prague groschen; the idea of the kopa came from the Czechs as well. A grzywna was worth 48 grosz; a kopa cost 60 grosz.[9][10][11]
+
+The złoty (golden) is a traditional Polish currency unit dating back to the late Middle Ages. Initially, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the name was used for all kinds of foreign gold coins used in Poland, most notably Venetian and Hungarian ducats, (however, in provinces Volyn & Galicia the name for them were the золотий (zolotiy) - golden).[12] One złoty at the very beginning of their introduction cost 12–14 grosz; however, grosz had less and less silver as time passed. In 1496 the Sejm approved the creation of a national currency, the złoty, and its value was set at 30 grosz, a coin minted since 1347 and modelled on the Prague groschen, and a ducat (florin), whose value was ​1 1⁄2 złoty.[13] The 1:30 proportion stayed (​1⁄2 of a kopa), but the grosz became cheaper and cheaper, because the proportion of silver in the coin alloy diminished over time. In the beginning of the 16th century, 1 złoty was worth 32 grosz; by the middle of the same century it was 50 grosz;[14] by the reign of Sigismund III Vasa 1 złoty was worth 90 grosz while a ducat was worth 180 grosz.
+
+The name złoty (sometimes referred to as the florin) was used for a number of different coins, including the 30-grosz coin called the polski złoty, the czerwony złoty (red złoty) and the złoty reński (the Rhine guilder), which were in circulation at the time. However, the value of the Polish złoty dropped over time relative to these foreign coins, and it became a silver coin, with the foreign ducats eventually circulating at approximately 5 złoty.
+
+The matters were complicated by the extremely intricate system of coins, with denominations as low as ​ 1⁄3 grosz and as high as 12,960 grosz fit into one coin. There were no usual decimal denominations we use today: the system used 4, 6, 8, 9 and 18 grosz, which are now most uncommon. Moreover, there was no central mint, and, apart from Warsaw mint, there were the Gdańsk, Elbląg and Kurland (Riga) separate mints which did not produce the same denomination coins with the same materials. For example, the szeląg had 1.3g of copper while minted in either Kraków or Warsaw, but the local Gdańsk and Elbląg mints made it using only 0.63g of copper. This facilitated forgeries and wrought havoc in the Polish monetary system.
+
+Following the monetary reform carried out by King Stanisław II Augustus which aimed to simplify the system, the złoty became Poland's official currency and the exchange rate of 1 złoty to 30 copper grosz was confirmed. The king established the system which was based on the Cologne mark (233.855 g of pure silver). Each mark was divided into 10 Conventionsthaler of the Holy Roman Empire, and 1 thaler was worth 8 złoty (consequently, 1 złoty was worth 4 silver grosz). The system was in place until 1787. Two devaluations of the currency occurred in the years before the final partition of Poland.
+
+After the third partition of Poland, the name złoty existed only in Austrian and Russian lands. Prussia had introduced the mark instead.
+
+0.53 g(John II Casimir)
+
+1623 coins: silver(7.8%) alloy;
+
+1.3 g (boratynka)
+
+0.62 g(local coins, such as the Gdańsk grosz)
+
+In Kraków: either heavier with 50% silver or lighter with 37.5% silver.
+
+From 1766 copper.
+
+Stanisław II Augustus: 1.95 g
+
+(grosz miedziany from Stanisław II Augustus' reign)
+
+3.89 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+Sigismund II Augustus: silver
+
+Stanisław II: 58.7% silver alloy
+
+ca. 3.5 g (Sigismund II Augustus);
+
+3.4 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+some Gdańsk coins are copper
+
+1.53 g(Gdańsk trojak); 11.69 g(Stanisław Augustus)
+
+1.52 g(silver Gdańsk and Toruń trojak)
+
+55% silver alloy(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+5.51 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+2.94 g(Gdańsk and Elbląg szóstak);
+
+3.7 g(Kurland szóstak)
+
+4.32 g("Kingdom" szóstak); in 1794–1795 1.52 g
+
+7.31 g(Augustus III)
+
+5.84 g("Kingdom")
+
+6.1 g or 7.7 g (Gdańsk)
+
+Stanisław II Augustus' złoty - 4 grosze
+
+5.84 g("Kingdom") or 6.1 g(Gdańsk) tymf;
+
+złotówka gdańska: 9.85 g
+
+14.62 g(Augustus III reign);
+
+14.03 g, later 13.07 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+83.3% silver alloy(from 1766)
+
+98.6% gold alloy(1766–95)
+
+On 8 June 1794 the decision of the Polish Supreme Council offered to make the new banknotes as well as the coins. 13 August 1794 was the date when the złoty banknotes were released to public. At the day there was more than 6.65 million złoty given out by the rebels. There were banknotes with the denomination of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 złoty (dated as of 8 June 1794), as well as 5 and 10 grosz, and 1 and 4 złoty coins (later banknotes, dated as of 13 August of the same year. Table)
+
+However, it did not last for long: on 8 November, Warsaw was already held by Russia. Russians discarded all the banknotes and declared them invalid. Russian coins and banknotes replaced the Kościuszko banknotes, but the division on złoty and grosz stayed. This can be explained by the fact the Polish monetary system, even in the deep crisis, was better than the Russian stable one, as Poland used the silver standard for coins. That is why Mikhail Speransky offered to come to silver monometalism ("count on the silver ruble") in his work План финансов (Financial Plans, 1810) in Russia. He argued that: "... at the same time ... forbid any other account in Livonia and Poland, and this is the only way to unify the financial system of these provinces in the Russian system, and as well they will stop, at least, the damage that pulls back our finances for so long."
+
+The złoty remained in circulation after the Partitions of Poland and the Duchy of Warsaw issued coins denominated in grosz, złoty and talar (plurals talary and talarów), worth 6 złoty. Talar banknotes were also issued. In 1813, while Zamość was under siege, Zamość authorities issued 6 grosz and 2 złoty coins.
+
+On 19 November O.S. (1 December N.S.) 1815, the law regarding the monetary system of Congress Poland (in Russia) was passed, according to which the złoty stayed, but there was a fixed ratio of the ruble to the złoty: 1 złoty was worth 30 silver grosz, while 1 grosz was worth ​1⁄2 silver kopeck. From 1816, the złoty started being issued by the Warsaw mint, denominated in grosz and złoty in the Polish language, as well as the portrait of Alexander I and/or the Russian Empire's coat of arms:
+
+At the same time kopecks were permitted to be circulated in Congress Poland. In fact foreign coins circulated (of the Austrian Empire and Prussia), and the Polish złoty itself was effectively a foreign currency. The coins were as well used in the western part of the Russian Empire, legally from 1827 (decision of the State Council).
+
+In 1828 the Polish mint was allowed to print banknotes of denominations of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 złoty, on the condition of their guaranteed exchange for coins at the will of Saint Petersburg. That meant that there should have been silver coins that had the value of ​1⁄7 of banknotes in circulation.
+
+At the time of the November Uprising, the rebels released their own "rebellion money" – golden ducats and silver coins in the denomination of 2 and 5 złoty, with the revolutionary coat of arms, and the copper 3 and 10 grosz. The 1-złoty coin was as well released as a trial coin. The Polish bank, under the control of the rebels, having few precious metal resources in the reserves, released the 1 złoty banknote. They released the 5, 50 and 100 zł banknotes as well, all yellow. By August 1831 735 thousand złoty were released as banknotes. After the defeat of the uprising the decisions from 21 November (3 December) and 18 (30) December cancelled all the uprising monetary politics. All the coins were to be replaced by Russian coins, but it took a long time till the currency was circulating – only in 1838 was the usage of rebel money banned.
+
+At the same time the question arose about the future of the Polish złoty, as well as drastically limiting Polish banking autonomy. Russian finance minister Georg von Cancrin suggested to "value everything in rubles, not florins [złoty]".
+
+There was a problem, however. The monetary system in the Russian Empire was still severely unbalanced. Banknotes, for example, cost much less to produce than their denomination. For that reason, the decision was taken to show both currencies on coins, which was a rather mild punishment for the November Uprising. From 1832 on the Petersburg and Warsaw mints decided to start minting new double-denominated coins. The exchange rate was 1 złoty to 15 kopecks.
+
+In 1841 the main currency of Congress Poland became the Russian ruble.
+
+From 1842, the Warsaw mint already issued regular-type Russian coins along with some coins denominated in both grosz and kopecks. At that time the złoty-to-ruble ratio changed again: 1 ruble was now worth only 2 złoty.
+
+The Warsaw mint still issued three coin types: double currency coins (up to 1850), złoty and grosz (up to 1865), and the Russian Empire standard coins till 1865. From 1865 the Warsaw mint stopped making coins, and on 1 January 1868 the Warsaw mint was abolished.
+
+The banknotes were changed much faster, as no Polish banknote was in circulation (at least officially). The Polish Bank started issuing Russian banknotes, denominated only in rubles and valid only in Congress Poland. At the same time the national credit banknotes, made in St. Petersburg, could be used everywhere in the Empire as usual Russian banknotes, as well in Poland.
+
+Between 1835 and 1846, the Free City of Kraków also used a currency, the Kraków złoty, with the coins actually being made in Vienna. There were 5 and 10 grosz coins and 1 złoty coins. They were all the same: the obverse had the coat of arms and the writing: WOLNE MIASTO KRAKÓW ("Free City of Krakow"), the reverse had the nominal and the year of production.
+
+From 1850, the only currency issued for use in Congress Poland was the ruble consisting of Russian currency and notes of the Bank Polski. The monetary system of Congress Poland was unified with that of the Russian Empire following the failed January Uprising in 1863. However, the gold coins remained in use until the early 20th century, much like other gold coins of the era, most notably gold rubles (dubbed świnka, or "piggy") and sovereigns. Following the occupation of Congress Poland by Germany during World War I in 1917, the ruble was replaced by the marka (plurals marki and marek), a currency initially equivalent to the German Papiermark.
+
+New Poland started releasing new currency – Polish marks, after the defeat of the German Empire and Austro-Hungary. The first banknotes had either Tadeusz Kościuszko (5, 10, 100, 1000 marks) or Queen Jadwiga (10 and 500 marks). 1 and 20 marks also circulated, but they showed nobody on the banknotes.
+
+The Polish marka was extremely unstable because of the constant wars with its neighbours. Attempts to reduce the expenditures of Polish budget were vain – all the money gained went to conduct war with the USSR. To complicate the matters, those attempts did not please the elite, which ruled the country. The government's actions were not popular at all, so the taxes did not rise significantly, in order to avoid popular resentment. Even worse, the territories that made up Poland were rightly coined "the country of three parts", as each part of Poland developed differently during the 123 years after Stanisław II Augustus' abdication, with post-Prussian territories the best developed, and Austrian Galicia and Russian Kresy the worst.
+
+The last attempt to save the Polish marka was made in 1921, when Jerzy Michalski made out his own plan to raise taxes and reduce expenditure. The Sejm accepted it, albeit with many amendments. Realisation of that plan did not succeed, and it had only short-term influence.
+
+This disrupted the whole economy of Poland, and galloping inflation began. The ​1⁄2 marek and 5,000 marek banknotes became worthless in two years. As hyperinflation progressed, Poland came to print 1, 5 and 10 million mark banknotes. However, they were quickly almost valueless. 10 million marks cost only US$1.073 in January 1924. Immediate action was needed. Władysław Grabski was invited to stop the pending hyperinflation. As a result, the second Polish złoty was created.
+
+The złoty was reintroduced as Poland's currency by Grabski in 1924, following the hyperinflation and monetary chaos of the years following World War I. It replaced the marka at a rate of 1 złoty = 1,800,000 marek and was subdivided into 100 grosz, instead of 30 grosz, as it had been earlier. 1 złoty was worth 0.2903 grams of gold, and 1 US dollar cost 5.18 złoty. New coins had to be introduced, but were not immediately minted or in circulation. The temporary solution of the problem was ingenious. 500,000 marek banknote were cut in two, and on each side there were overstamps that showed they were 1 grosz "coins". Similarly 10,000,000 marek notes were divided and overprinted to make two "coins" each worth 5 grosz. This was an emergency measure to provide the population with a form of the new currency.
+
+When the second złoty was created, it was pegged to the US dollar. The Sejm was weak in its financial control. Yet political parties demanded the government spend more money than had been projected in the budget.
+
+The budget deficit ballooned and out-of-control inflation ensued. The government struggled to cut expenditures, and as a result often came into conflict with the Sejm. However, the government could not allow hyperinflation to reoccur. To achieve that, the government authorised issue of securities, which went along with the temporary "bilety zdawkowe" coins and złoty banknotes printed in 1919.
+
+orange
+
+15 July 1924
+
+printed/
+
+overprinted
+
+Sigismund's Column, in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw
+
+(lapsed 30 June 1930)
+
+By the end of 1925 the Polish government was unable to redeem the released securities. The Polish economy was on the brink of collapse.
+
+Despite the crisis, Grabski refused to accept foreign help, because he was concerned Poland would become dependent on the League of Nations. The Polish PM thought that after the złoty stabilised, foreign financiers would be persuaded to give credits and make investments on more favourable conditions than were recently on offer. However, deep-rooted lack of confidence in the Polish economy had made these expectations unrealisable. Grabski's government was forced to sell some of the country's property on unfavourable conditions, without any significant effects. Eventually, the złoty depreciated some 50% from its 1923 value and Grabski resigned as Prime Minister. However, renewed hyperinflation was averted.
+
+1928 1930-1939
+
+1930-1939
+
+1931 1934-1939
+
+Sowiński
+
+Poland's economy weakened further to the point it was evident that the system could no longer function. The crisis climaxed in November 1925 leading to the Sanacja coup d'état.
+
+In May 1926 a coup d'état was effected. It resulted in Józef Piłsudski becoming the authoritarian leader of Poland. Almost immediately the budget was stabilised. Tax incomes rose significantly, credits were received from the USA, and the Bank of Poland's policy came more strongly under the government's control. These developments prevented the Polish economy's further deterioration.
+
+As had happened earlier in the case of both Austria and Hungary, a special monitoring commission arrived in Poland to analyse the economic situation. The commission was headed by Edwin W. Kemmerer, an American economist and "money doctor".
+
+The złoty started to stabilise in 1926 (thanks chiefly to significant exports of coal), and was re-set on the dollar-złoty rate 50% higher than in 1924. Up to 1933 złoty was freely exchanged into gold and foreign currencies. Based on these developments, the government made the decision to adopt the gold standard for its currency.
+
+In 1924–1925 the banks experienced large capital outflows, but by 1926 people were investing actively in the banks. The economic progress built on increased demand for and exports of coal slowed down because of an over-valued złoty during 1927. As a result, imports became relatively cheaper as compared to exports, resulting in a negative Balance of Trade. Again, Poland plunged into crisis. Economic growth was weak from 1926 to 1929. The main reason for that was the decline of industry, which was influenced by declining demand for Polish items. The crisis deepened with the Great Crisis of 1929–1932 and lasted until the mid-30s.
+
+Poland entered another economic crisis, causing the government again to attempt reduction of its budget deficit by cutting public expenditure other than for military purposes. Despite cutting spending by a third, the deficit persisted. Tax income that should have been used to lead the country out of crisis was instead financing the debt burden. Money required to stimulate the economy was devoted by the government to creditors and foreign banks. Further spending cuts necessitated Poland importing less and exporting more. Import tariffs were increased again for foreign products, while subsidies were given to exporters.
+
+In 1935 Piłsudski died, and the power passed to the generals. They were very disturbed by the crisis. Poland was still an agrarian country with 61% of the population involved in 1931. To reform the economy, the government was thinking about further intervention. As a result, between 1935 and 1939, Poland nationalised its major industries, initiating the changes the communists completed after 1945. Volumes of produced goods output from state-owned factories exceeded expectations. The result was instant - the economy stabilised, and fears of further złoty devaluation reduced while rapid growth was seen. However, World War II abruptly terminated all prosperity. With the Soviet invasion from the east the government had to flee the country. Already in emigration, the government released new banknotes of the denomination of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 złoty which were dated by 15 or 20 August 1939 and were mostly cyan, blue or blue-green (with the exception of 1, 2, 10 and 100 złoty). These were printed in the USA but never released.
+
+Cities on top mean that some number of coins was minted in a specific city. Mass in grams, diameter in mm. 1 - From Latin: "Long live the rule of Republic". 2 - a) Coins from 1928(7.5 mln) have an error on milling: "SUPRMA..." b)Most of coins from 1932 were withdrawn and melted.
+
+(1924)
+
+(1924)
+
+5.2 mln
+
+(1925)
+
+1936
+
+1930-2
+
+1930-2
+
+1938
+
+100 in 10% silver alloy
+
+4,2(silver)
+
+5.6(silver)
+
+5.85(bronze)
+
+4.32(silver)
+
+12(silver)
+
+10(copper)
+
+5(gold)
+
+When German invaders established the General Government, they withdrew the 100 złoty banknotes from 1932 and 1934 and 500 złoty banknotes from 1919. The banknotes had to be accounted on the deposits of the people who gave them to the bank.
+
+The 100 złoty banknotes were overstamped in red with: "Generalgouvernement / für die besetzen polnischen Gebiete" (The General Government / for the occupied Polish territories). It was massively counterfeited.
+
+A little later the bank division of the Główny Zarząd Kas Kredytowych Rzeszy Niemieckiej was organized. It started to print the Reichsmarks, but later, on 15 December 1939, a decision came to create the new Bank Emisyjny (Emissary Bank) in Kraków, as the Bank Polski officials fled to Paris. It started working on 8 April 1940.
+
+In May 1940, old banknotes of 1924–1939 were overstamped by the new entity. Money exchange was limited per individual; the limits varied according to the status of the person. The fixed exchange rate 1 Reichsmark = 2 złoty was established. A new issue of notes appeared in 1940–1941. The General Government also issued coins (1, 5, 10 and 20 grosz in zinc, 50 grosz in nickel-plated iron or iron), using similar designs to earlier types but with cheaper metals (mainly zinc-copper alloy). 1, 5, 10 and 20 grosz coins were dated 1923 and 50 grosz were dated 1938.
+
+Banknotes were also issued, called unofficially "młynarki" (from the name of President Feliks Młynarski) or "krakowiaki" (from the place of release), in the denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 złoty. 1000 złoty did not come into public circulation at all, and only reconstructions survive (although shown below). The total amount of them was approximately 10,183 million złoty. An additional 20 million were manufactured by the conspiratory typography of the Union of Armed Struggle. From summer 1943 the Home Army received the złoty produced in Great Britain.
+
+(reconstruction)
+
+The advance of the Red Army meant the transition to communism, Poland being no exception.
+
+The first monetary reform of post-war Poland was conducted in 1944, when the initial series of banknotes of socialist Poland was released. This was essential for the recreation of the country, so the Polish Committee of National Liberation signed an act on 24 August 1944 introducing the banknotes. The older General Government banknotes were exchanged at par with the new ones. There were limits, however – 500 złoty only for an individual and 2000 złoty for the private enterprises and small manufacturers. The rest came onto the blocked bank accounts.
+
+The banknotes had a very simple design, with no people or buildings featured. They carried the name of the as yet unformed Narodowy Bank Polski (the National Bank of Poland). Printing was completed at the Goznak mint in Moscow. All the new banknotes of the series I (except for the 50 grosz, and 1000 złoty, which were only released later) had a faulty inscription, containing a russianism.
+
+On 15 January 1945 the National Bank of Poland was finally created. Its first monetary action was the printing of 1000 złoty banknote in the newly built Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych in Łódź. The first Communist series' banknotes were easy to counterfeit, so additional replacement banknotes were printed in 1946–1948. As 500 złoty banknote was very easy to counterfeit, it was fully withdrawn in 1946.
+
+The new (II and III) series were created from the graphic designs of Ryszard Kleczewski and Wacław Borowski.
+
+printed
+
+"The National Bank of Poland"
+
+inscription, date, coat of arms
+
+(3,503,000 zł)
+
+"The National Bank of Poland" inscription
+
+(37,450,000 zł)
+
+(405,915,000 zł)
+
+(220,050,000 zł)
+
+(2,293,740,000 zł)
+
+(1,317,100,000 zł)
+
+(7,123,700,000 zł)
+
+(9,893,500,000 zł)
+
+(by Ryszard
+
+Kleczewski)
+
+(19,000,000,000 zł)
+
+The IV series banknotes had a longer life. Mainly due to their underdeveloped security features, the first three series were taken out of circulation in line with legislation signed on 28 October 1950, covering the introduction of the new Polish złoty (PLZ). Older banknotes had to be exchanged within 8 days for the new series IV, which had been designed, printed and distributed in great secrecy.
+
+About in the same time, new coins were introduced, which circulated for more than four decades.
+
+In 1950, a new złoty (PLZ) was introduced, replacing all notes issued up to 1948 at a rate of one hundred to one, while all bank assets were re-denominated in the ratio 100:3. The new banknotes were dated in 1948, while the new coins were dated in 1949. Initially, by law with effect from 1950 1 złoty (zł) was made equal to 0.222168g of pure gold (Dziennik Ustaw 50, 459).
+
+As in all the Warsaw Bloc countries, Poland started nationalizing major industrial and manufacturing businesses. The necessary legislative act was signed in 1946. However, smaller enterprises remained in private hands, in contrast to the USSR. Despite this concession, the whole economy was under firm state control. In the agricultural sector, farmers (still the major source of Polish income) received additional lands from the government. These properties were the result of confiscations from the church, wealthy families as well from farmers who were targeted as counter revolutionaries to Soviet Communist rule.
+
+In the late 1940s, Polish currency became unstable. This was largely due to initial opposition to the new Soviet imposed government and made an already difficult economic situation worse. Eventually things changed and the złoty became stronger in 1948–1949.
+
+Beginning in 1950, the Soviet controlled government started implementing communist collectivization policy on a mass scale. Some farmers were grouped into newly created PGRs (State Agricultural Farms). Others supplied produce to the State for distribution and had to comply with obligatory centralized food deliveries (first of cereals, in 1951; and from 1952 on, of meat, potatoes and milk). Unable to compete with advantaged collective farms, privately owned and individually-run farms went bankrupt.  The State bought at extremely low prices designed to impoverish private farms.
+
+Agriculture might have been ruined in a few years if not for the death of President and latterly Secretary General of the Central Committee of the PUWP Bolesław Bierut under mysterious circumstances in 1956. The new government under Władysław Gomułka began relaxing the earlier years' hardline Stalinist policies. State Farms were reformed, enforced obligatory deliveries were reduced and State buying prices were raised. On the whole the structure was little different from that of 1949: industry was state-owned, while agricultural production was State directed but mostly in private hands.
+
+Serious reforms were proposed in the early 1970s by Edward Gierek, which aimed to improve the situation for ordinary citizens. Unfortunately, the government had inadequate funds to initiate these reforms. This explains Poland's growing financial indebtedness to the USSR and other Warsaw Bloc countries, promoting the view that "the investments will upgrade the Poland's potential, which will be aimed at export, so that the country will pay the interest and at the same time maintain a high industrial production". In fact, although the intention was to create employment, it never happened. Poland's debt burden grew too large, forming the main cause of further financial crisis. After a period of prosperity in 1971–1978, Poland entered into a very deep recession, which worsened over time as Poland was unable to meet debt interest obligations. The crisis was to last until 1994. The first indications of the crisis was obvious by the mid-70s, when there began a period of rampant inflation. Złoty devaluation continued. In 1980 Gierek's government was accused of corruption. He was removed from power in 1980.
+
+The first big strikes started in Gdańsk and GOP (Upper Silesian Industrial Area). These restricted industrial production which by then had become the main economic sector. The Communist government's inability to organize production to balance supply and demand resulted in shortages as well as wasteful surpluses. Debt and currency issuance was used to attempt to smooth over the swings and caused inflation and wild moves in interest rates and borrowing conditions. These chaotic market conditions caused by reactionary policies of Communist controls and mandates led to widespead food shortages and government imposed food rationing. martial law of 1981–83 was then imposed to attempt to oppress the public's outrage and desire for reform.
+
+By the early 80s inflation in Poland crossed into outright currency collapse (hyper inflation) – inflation estimated to be over 100% per annum in 1982, which is equivalent to a halving of the value of the currency over 1 year. It was reduced in the mid-80s to about 15% per annum, but was restarted again in late-80s.
+
+Poor economic productivity and a huge public debt burden did not create any salary and pension increases. By 1981 it was admitted that the situation was beyond management. In an effort to escape such situation, Poland started massively printing banknotes, without backing from increased economic output.  Thus, deliberately attempting hyper inflation throughout the 80s to resolve the economic stagnation. Banknotes denominated at 5,000 złoty were introduced in 1982, 10,000 złoty in 1988, 20,000 and 50,000 złoty in 1989, and 100,000, 200,000 and 500,000 złoty in 1990. Grosz coins were rendered worthless and coins were mostly made out of aluminum (with the exception of the commemorative ones).  The public debt burden doubled over the course of the 80s.
+
+Given the circumstances, the only solution appeared to be the liberalization of the economy. In 1988 Mieczysław Rakowski was forced to accept the possibility of transition of the state enterprises into private hands. In fact, as stated earlier, smaller enterprises were private, and 18% of GDP was made by private sector, additional 10% – by the cooperatives. These were not, however, the Soviet Perestroika cooperatives, but ones with limited experience in the market economy. These were ready to transfer to a market economy. The Communist authorities had to admit they had failed to manage the economy productively, which was another reason to introduce changes.
+
+Leszek Balcerowicz was behind the idea of shifting the economic basis from state-based to free-trade. To achieve this, the following were introduced:
+
+The worst years of the crisis began in 1988, when the level of inflation rose higher than 60% per annum. Inflation peaked in 1990, characterized as hyperinflation, as the monthly rate was higher than 50%. However, by December 1991 it decreased below 60% per annum, and by 1993 it firmly established below 40%. As a result, the złoty regained the confidence of foreign investors. The remaining issue was the re-denomination of the depreciated złoty.
+
+Diameter(Ø) shown in mm, mass in grams. 1 - Minted both in Budapest and Warsaw in numbers of 300,100,600 coins.
+
+1981-4
+
+Adam Mickiewicz
+
+In 1949, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 grosz and 1 złoty coins were issued. The first two denominations were minted only in 1949, the rest also later.
+
+In 1952, Poland's official name was changed from "Republic of Poland" to "People's Republic of Poland". Coins minted in 1949 featured the former name. The 5 grosz brass coin was withdrawn in 1956. The rest circulated until 1994.
+
+The 2, 5 and 10 złoty banknotes were withdrawn in the 1960s to be exchanged for coins.
+
+The coins from 1 grosz to 2 złoty were quite simple designs but the 5, 10 and 20 złoty coins featured people (5 złoty had a fisherman, 10 złoty had Copernicus, Mickiewicz with Prus on its obverse, and 20 złoty, most notably, Marceli Nowotko), until the 1980s. As the Polish złoty became cheaper over time, older coins were rendered worthless (however, they stayed in circulation), and the simple new coins were released only in złoty denominations. All the PRP and 1990 issued coins were withdrawn in 1994, as a result of the monetary reform conducted at that time.
+
+10,375(1974)
+
+1974
+
+50,000(1974)
+
+1974
+
+6(1984)
+
+208(1986)
+
+1983
+
+1986
+
+6(1984)
+
+107(1986)
+
+1983
+
+1986
+
+748,160(1983)
+
+1983
+
+1 - Means: Number with Tadeusz Kościuszko/Number with Józef Piłsudski/Number with Fryderyk Chopin.
+
+Type A: "ZŁ" far from "1" in denomination, with letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type B: "ZŁ" close to "1" in denomination, without letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type C: "ZŁ" close to "1" in denomination, with letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type D: other style of letter "S" in SOLIDARNOŚĆ
+
+50,000;
+
+100,000
+
+200,000
+
+złotych
+
+22(50,000)
+
+27(100,000)
+
+32(200,000)
+
+2.7(50,000)
+
+15.5(100,000)
+
+31.1(200,000)
+
+200,000: 3,001
+
+rest: 1,001 each type
+
+500,000;
+
+1,000,000 złotych
+
+39(500,000)
+
+65(1,000,000)
+
+62.6(500,000)
+
+373.2(1,000,000)
+
+Józef Piłsudski
+
+Frederyk Chopin(design as in silver coins)
+
+13/13/101
+
+500,000 złotych:
+
+12/16/16
+
+1,000,000 złotych:
+
+1/1/1
+
+manganese brass; centre - cupronickel
+
+side - 16 mm
+
+shape heptagonal
+
+The banknotes issued in 1948 were already stable version. They were taken out of circulation in 1978 completely.
+
+From 1974 the new banknotes featuring "Great Polish people", and comprising the fifth series, were issued. Previous series were withdrawn from circulation. However, the replacement banknotes rapidly lost their real value. New larger denominations were necessary and printed.
+
+In 1982, the 10 and 20 złoty banknotes were released instead of billon.
+
+The last banknote released in Polish People's Republic was 200,000 złoty note, issued on 1 December 1989, which, because of its inadequate security features, was withdrawn from circulation. Starting on 27 December 1989 new banknotes were issued in the name of "Rzeczpospolita Polska", i.e. omitting the word "Ludowa" (People's), and from the coat of arms were altered to show the eagle wearing a crown restoring the situation that existed before World War II.
+
+Banknotes of this series were redenominated at the rate of 10,000 PLZ to 1 PLN (new złoty). All the existing PLZ denominations were legal tender and exchangeable into the PLN until the date of each value's withdrawal. After 31 December 2010, no PLZ banknote could be exchanged into PLN.
+
+From 50,000 PLZ on, there were two versions released: older ones (dated differently) and the newer ones (all dated 16 November 1993). The older banknotes had less efficient security features than the new ones. Newer printings had the denomination printed in red which shone under ultraviolet light instead of the previous grey-blue (which did not).
+
+1 June 1979; 1 June 1982; 1 June 1986; 1 December 1988
+
+Between 1950 and 1990, a unit known as the złoty dewizowy (which may be roughly translated as the "foreign exchange złoty") was used as an artificial currency for calculation purposes only. It existed because at the time the złoty was not convertible (like most Warsaw Bloc currencies) and its official rate of exchange was set by the government. Additionally several exchange rates existed depending on the purpose of the transaction and who was exchanging; for example, złoty could be exchanged for, say, US dollars at one of several official exchange rates depending on what was to be bought with the hard currency and the entity that was buying. In reverse, it worked when an individual or a business had western currency earnings and wanted (or needed) to convert them into złoty. The exchange rate did not depend on the amount being converted. Visitors from countries outside of the Soviet Bloc were offered a particularly poor exchange rate. Concurrently, the private black-market exchange rate contrasted sharply with the official government exchange rate until the end of communist rule in 1989, when official rates were tied to market rates.
+
+There were special banknotes, denominated in cents and dollars (as the US dollar), which were legal tender only for goods imported to Poland. They were issued by two authorities only: Pekao S.A. (from 1 cent to $100) and Baltona (from 1979 for 1 cent to $20).
+
+From 1 January 1990, Polish złoty became a fully convertible currency, with market-set, rather than state-determined, rates against foreign currencies.
+
+On 17 July 1990 Władysław Baka (the then head of the National Bank of Poland) (NBP) stated that development work upon złoty denomination would start soon. At the same time PLN coins were minted (bearing dates 1990–1994) and released into circulation in 1995. This influenced the further process of money exchange in 1995, as exchanging low-value banknotes became considerably easier.
+
+The banknotes posed a bigger problem. In 1990, a new series of banknotes from 1 to 500 zł was created by Waldemar Andrzejewski, was proposed, but failed acceptance testing due to weak counterfeiting protection features. The designs featured buildings and structures from Greater Poland cities and proofs produced. Additionally 1,000 zł (Kalisz) and 2,000 zł (Biskupin) banknotes were proposed (but not essayed) to facilitate an exchange rate of 1 new zloty to 1000 old zlotys).
+
+mainly yellow
+
+At the same time, to conduct redenomination, the inflation had to be stable and below 10% per annum. Balcerowicz plan helped very much to achieve that in four years' time. On 11 May 1994 the Economical Committee of the Council of Ministers accepted the denominalization project from the NBP. The act allowing the project to come into force was ratified on 7 July 1994 (Dziennik Ustaw Nr 84, 386).
+
+At the same time, new banknotes were printed (dated 25 March 1994), which are still legal tender today. These feature the most prominent Polish monarchs. Their author is Andrzej Heidrich.
+
+Kraków drawing from a medieval book
+
+These designs were revealed to the public on 21 November 1994. The following day TVP, (Polish television), began publicising the designs on TV in a campaign that lasted until 1 January 1995 when the redenomination took place. 10,000 PLZ became 1 PLN. Unlike previous redenominations there were no restrictions on where the money was or who owned it.
+
+When the new Polish złoty (PLN) was released, it co-existed with the PLZ for two years. All prices had to be indicated in both PLZ and PLN. The priority was to take the low-denomination PLZ to convert them to coinage. After 31 December 1996, PLZ was no longer legal tender. Between then and 31 December 2010, any PLZ banknotes and could only be exchanged into PLN by the NBP, its affiliates, or any bank. The sum for exchange had to be the multiple of 100 PLZ, which were worth 0.01 PLN. As of 31 December 2009, NBP estimate that some 1,748,000,000,000 PLZ (178,400,000 PLN) had not yet been exchanged.
+
+There was one thing that did not change: the official name of the currency. Although the ISO 4217 was altered the relevant legislation made the point that the official name of the currency is still the złoty. New Polish złoty is an unofficial way to address the Polish currency (Dziennik Ustaw nr 50, 459, with later changes).
+
+1995
+
+1997-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1997-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1998-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1998-2005
+
+2007-15
+
+1996-2016
+
+1995
+
+2006
+
+2008-15
+
+2008-10
+
+2012-5
+
+the centre diameter: 12
+
+Ring: aluminium bronze
+
+2005-10
+
+2014-5
+
+the centre diameter: 16
+
+Centre: aluminium bronze
+
+1996
+
+2008-10
+
+2015
+
+Issue details of zloty and grosz coins are shown in the table below:[20]
+
+In 2012 new banknotes were printed, with added security features. They do not differ greatly from the first version (except for the 200zł note), but may be distinguished by the colour of the field with the watermark on the obverse. In the original banknotes, these correspond to the note's main colour, while they are white on the newer ones. Starting from 50 złoty, the new security features differ from those on the older banknotes. Newer banknotes also have some randomly arranged dots, which are part of the EURion constellation.
+
+A 500 złoty banknote will be also produced in this series, currently scheduled for introduction in February 2017.[21]
+
+Kraków drawing from a medieval book
+
+Poland has released commemorative banknotes since 2006. As of July 2018, nine have been issued. On 31 August 2018 the next 20 zloty commemorative note (100th Anniversary of Poland Regaining Independence) will be released by National Bank of Poland. It was also already announced that in 2019 next commemorative note will be released to commemorate 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW - Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych). It will be the first Polish commemorative banknote with an odd face value - 19 zloty.
+
+(mm)
+
+There are also very many commemorative coins (listed below). These are legal tender in all payments, but such use is not recommended by the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
+
+One of the conditions of Poland's joining the European Union in May 2004 obliges the country to eventually adopt the euro, though not at any specific date and only after Poland meets the necessary stability criteria. Serious discussions regarding joining the Eurozone have ensued.[24][25][26] However, article 227[27] of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland will need to be amended first,[28] so it was considered unlikely that Poland would adopt the euro before 2019.[29] Public opinion research by CBOS from March 2011 shows that 60% of Poles are against changing their currency. Only 32% of Poles want to adopt the euro, compared to 41% in April 2010.[30]
+
+The term złoty closely resembles zwoti, although the letter y in złoty is pronounced in a hard manner. The accurate pronunciation is [ˈzwɔtɨ]. There are two plural forms: złote (zwoteh [ˈzwɔtɛ]) and złotych (zwotikh [ˈzwɔtɨx]). The correct usage of the plural forms is as follows:[31]
+
+The rules are the same for larger numbers, e.g. 1,000,000 złotych (milion złotych); 1,000,002 złote (milion dwa złote); 1,000,011 złotych (milion jedenaście złotych); 1,000,024 złote (milion dwadzieścia cztery złote). Fractions should be rendered with złotego [zwɔˈtɛɡɔ] and grosza [ˈɡrɔʂa], e.g. 0.1 złotego; 2.5 złotego, etc. It is customary in Poland to use a space (non-breaking) for digit grouping (the "thousands separator") and a comma for separating fractions from whole numbers (1 000 000 złotych; 0,1 złotego); cf. decimal mark.
+
+Here one can find general rules for the declension of cardinal numerals (among others) in Polish; the classes one, few, many and other are złoty, złote, złotych, and złotego, respectively, for "złoty", and grosz, grosze, groszy, and grosza, respectively, for "grosz".

en/6158.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,493 @@
+
+
+The złoty (Polish: [ˈzwɔtɨ] (listen);[2] sign: zł; code: PLN) is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 grosz (gr).[a] The widely recognised English form of the currency is the Polish zloty.[3] It is the most traded currency in Central Europe and ranks 22nd in the foreign exchange market.[4][5][6]
+
+The word złoty is a masculine form of the Polish adjective 'golden', which closely relates with its name to the Dutch guilder, whereas the grosz subunit was based on Austrian groschen. It was officially introduced to replace its predecessor, the Polish marka, on 28 February 1919 and began circulation in 1924. The only body permitted to manufacture or mint złoty coins is Mennica Polska, founded in Warsaw on 10 February 1766.
+
+As a result of inflation in the early 1990s, the currency underwent redenomination. Thus, on 1 January 1995, 10,000 old złoty (PLZ) became one new złoty (PLN). Since then, the currency has been relatively stable, with an exchange rate fluctuating between 3 and 4 złoty for a United States dollar. Though Poland is a member of the European Union, nearly 60% of Poles are strongly against replacing the złoty with the euro.[7][8]
+
+The predecessors of the złoty were the Polish mark (grzywna) and the kopa. The grzywna was a currency that was equivalent to approximately 210 g of silver, in the 11th century. It was in use until sometime in the 14th century, when it gave way to the Kraków grzywna (approximately 198 g of silver). At the same time, first as a complement to the grzywna, and then as the main currency, came the grosz and the kopa. Poland made the grosz as an imitation of the Prague groschen; the idea of the kopa came from the Czechs as well. A grzywna was worth 48 grosz; a kopa cost 60 grosz.[9][10][11]
+
+The złoty (golden) is a traditional Polish currency unit dating back to the late Middle Ages. Initially, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the name was used for all kinds of foreign gold coins used in Poland, most notably Venetian and Hungarian ducats, (however, in provinces Volyn & Galicia the name for them were the золотий (zolotiy) - golden).[12] One złoty at the very beginning of their introduction cost 12–14 grosz; however, grosz had less and less silver as time passed. In 1496 the Sejm approved the creation of a national currency, the złoty, and its value was set at 30 grosz, a coin minted since 1347 and modelled on the Prague groschen, and a ducat (florin), whose value was ​1 1⁄2 złoty.[13] The 1:30 proportion stayed (​1⁄2 of a kopa), but the grosz became cheaper and cheaper, because the proportion of silver in the coin alloy diminished over time. In the beginning of the 16th century, 1 złoty was worth 32 grosz; by the middle of the same century it was 50 grosz;[14] by the reign of Sigismund III Vasa 1 złoty was worth 90 grosz while a ducat was worth 180 grosz.
+
+The name złoty (sometimes referred to as the florin) was used for a number of different coins, including the 30-grosz coin called the polski złoty, the czerwony złoty (red złoty) and the złoty reński (the Rhine guilder), which were in circulation at the time. However, the value of the Polish złoty dropped over time relative to these foreign coins, and it became a silver coin, with the foreign ducats eventually circulating at approximately 5 złoty.
+
+The matters were complicated by the extremely intricate system of coins, with denominations as low as ​ 1⁄3 grosz and as high as 12,960 grosz fit into one coin. There were no usual decimal denominations we use today: the system used 4, 6, 8, 9 and 18 grosz, which are now most uncommon. Moreover, there was no central mint, and, apart from Warsaw mint, there were the Gdańsk, Elbląg and Kurland (Riga) separate mints which did not produce the same denomination coins with the same materials. For example, the szeląg had 1.3g of copper while minted in either Kraków or Warsaw, but the local Gdańsk and Elbląg mints made it using only 0.63g of copper. This facilitated forgeries and wrought havoc in the Polish monetary system.
+
+Following the monetary reform carried out by King Stanisław II Augustus which aimed to simplify the system, the złoty became Poland's official currency and the exchange rate of 1 złoty to 30 copper grosz was confirmed. The king established the system which was based on the Cologne mark (233.855 g of pure silver). Each mark was divided into 10 Conventionsthaler of the Holy Roman Empire, and 1 thaler was worth 8 złoty (consequently, 1 złoty was worth 4 silver grosz). The system was in place until 1787. Two devaluations of the currency occurred in the years before the final partition of Poland.
+
+After the third partition of Poland, the name złoty existed only in Austrian and Russian lands. Prussia had introduced the mark instead.
+
+0.53 g(John II Casimir)
+
+1623 coins: silver(7.8%) alloy;
+
+1.3 g (boratynka)
+
+0.62 g(local coins, such as the Gdańsk grosz)
+
+In Kraków: either heavier with 50% silver or lighter with 37.5% silver.
+
+From 1766 copper.
+
+Stanisław II Augustus: 1.95 g
+
+(grosz miedziany from Stanisław II Augustus' reign)
+
+3.89 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+Sigismund II Augustus: silver
+
+Stanisław II: 58.7% silver alloy
+
+ca. 3.5 g (Sigismund II Augustus);
+
+3.4 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+some Gdańsk coins are copper
+
+1.53 g(Gdańsk trojak); 11.69 g(Stanisław Augustus)
+
+1.52 g(silver Gdańsk and Toruń trojak)
+
+55% silver alloy(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+5.51 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+2.94 g(Gdańsk and Elbląg szóstak);
+
+3.7 g(Kurland szóstak)
+
+4.32 g("Kingdom" szóstak); in 1794–1795 1.52 g
+
+7.31 g(Augustus III)
+
+5.84 g("Kingdom")
+
+6.1 g or 7.7 g (Gdańsk)
+
+Stanisław II Augustus' złoty - 4 grosze
+
+5.84 g("Kingdom") or 6.1 g(Gdańsk) tymf;
+
+złotówka gdańska: 9.85 g
+
+14.62 g(Augustus III reign);
+
+14.03 g, later 13.07 g(Stanisław II Augustus)
+
+83.3% silver alloy(from 1766)
+
+98.6% gold alloy(1766–95)
+
+On 8 June 1794 the decision of the Polish Supreme Council offered to make the new banknotes as well as the coins. 13 August 1794 was the date when the złoty banknotes were released to public. At the day there was more than 6.65 million złoty given out by the rebels. There were banknotes with the denomination of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 złoty (dated as of 8 June 1794), as well as 5 and 10 grosz, and 1 and 4 złoty coins (later banknotes, dated as of 13 August of the same year. Table)
+
+However, it did not last for long: on 8 November, Warsaw was already held by Russia. Russians discarded all the banknotes and declared them invalid. Russian coins and banknotes replaced the Kościuszko banknotes, but the division on złoty and grosz stayed. This can be explained by the fact the Polish monetary system, even in the deep crisis, was better than the Russian stable one, as Poland used the silver standard for coins. That is why Mikhail Speransky offered to come to silver monometalism ("count on the silver ruble") in his work План финансов (Financial Plans, 1810) in Russia. He argued that: "... at the same time ... forbid any other account in Livonia and Poland, and this is the only way to unify the financial system of these provinces in the Russian system, and as well they will stop, at least, the damage that pulls back our finances for so long."
+
+The złoty remained in circulation after the Partitions of Poland and the Duchy of Warsaw issued coins denominated in grosz, złoty and talar (plurals talary and talarów), worth 6 złoty. Talar banknotes were also issued. In 1813, while Zamość was under siege, Zamość authorities issued 6 grosz and 2 złoty coins.
+
+On 19 November O.S. (1 December N.S.) 1815, the law regarding the monetary system of Congress Poland (in Russia) was passed, according to which the złoty stayed, but there was a fixed ratio of the ruble to the złoty: 1 złoty was worth 30 silver grosz, while 1 grosz was worth ​1⁄2 silver kopeck. From 1816, the złoty started being issued by the Warsaw mint, denominated in grosz and złoty in the Polish language, as well as the portrait of Alexander I and/or the Russian Empire's coat of arms:
+
+At the same time kopecks were permitted to be circulated in Congress Poland. In fact foreign coins circulated (of the Austrian Empire and Prussia), and the Polish złoty itself was effectively a foreign currency. The coins were as well used in the western part of the Russian Empire, legally from 1827 (decision of the State Council).
+
+In 1828 the Polish mint was allowed to print banknotes of denominations of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 złoty, on the condition of their guaranteed exchange for coins at the will of Saint Petersburg. That meant that there should have been silver coins that had the value of ​1⁄7 of banknotes in circulation.
+
+At the time of the November Uprising, the rebels released their own "rebellion money" – golden ducats and silver coins in the denomination of 2 and 5 złoty, with the revolutionary coat of arms, and the copper 3 and 10 grosz. The 1-złoty coin was as well released as a trial coin. The Polish bank, under the control of the rebels, having few precious metal resources in the reserves, released the 1 złoty banknote. They released the 5, 50 and 100 zł banknotes as well, all yellow. By August 1831 735 thousand złoty were released as banknotes. After the defeat of the uprising the decisions from 21 November (3 December) and 18 (30) December cancelled all the uprising monetary politics. All the coins were to be replaced by Russian coins, but it took a long time till the currency was circulating – only in 1838 was the usage of rebel money banned.
+
+At the same time the question arose about the future of the Polish złoty, as well as drastically limiting Polish banking autonomy. Russian finance minister Georg von Cancrin suggested to "value everything in rubles, not florins [złoty]".
+
+There was a problem, however. The monetary system in the Russian Empire was still severely unbalanced. Banknotes, for example, cost much less to produce than their denomination. For that reason, the decision was taken to show both currencies on coins, which was a rather mild punishment for the November Uprising. From 1832 on the Petersburg and Warsaw mints decided to start minting new double-denominated coins. The exchange rate was 1 złoty to 15 kopecks.
+
+In 1841 the main currency of Congress Poland became the Russian ruble.
+
+From 1842, the Warsaw mint already issued regular-type Russian coins along with some coins denominated in both grosz and kopecks. At that time the złoty-to-ruble ratio changed again: 1 ruble was now worth only 2 złoty.
+
+The Warsaw mint still issued three coin types: double currency coins (up to 1850), złoty and grosz (up to 1865), and the Russian Empire standard coins till 1865. From 1865 the Warsaw mint stopped making coins, and on 1 January 1868 the Warsaw mint was abolished.
+
+The banknotes were changed much faster, as no Polish banknote was in circulation (at least officially). The Polish Bank started issuing Russian banknotes, denominated only in rubles and valid only in Congress Poland. At the same time the national credit banknotes, made in St. Petersburg, could be used everywhere in the Empire as usual Russian banknotes, as well in Poland.
+
+Between 1835 and 1846, the Free City of Kraków also used a currency, the Kraków złoty, with the coins actually being made in Vienna. There were 5 and 10 grosz coins and 1 złoty coins. They were all the same: the obverse had the coat of arms and the writing: WOLNE MIASTO KRAKÓW ("Free City of Krakow"), the reverse had the nominal and the year of production.
+
+From 1850, the only currency issued for use in Congress Poland was the ruble consisting of Russian currency and notes of the Bank Polski. The monetary system of Congress Poland was unified with that of the Russian Empire following the failed January Uprising in 1863. However, the gold coins remained in use until the early 20th century, much like other gold coins of the era, most notably gold rubles (dubbed świnka, or "piggy") and sovereigns. Following the occupation of Congress Poland by Germany during World War I in 1917, the ruble was replaced by the marka (plurals marki and marek), a currency initially equivalent to the German Papiermark.
+
+New Poland started releasing new currency – Polish marks, after the defeat of the German Empire and Austro-Hungary. The first banknotes had either Tadeusz Kościuszko (5, 10, 100, 1000 marks) or Queen Jadwiga (10 and 500 marks). 1 and 20 marks also circulated, but they showed nobody on the banknotes.
+
+The Polish marka was extremely unstable because of the constant wars with its neighbours. Attempts to reduce the expenditures of Polish budget were vain – all the money gained went to conduct war with the USSR. To complicate the matters, those attempts did not please the elite, which ruled the country. The government's actions were not popular at all, so the taxes did not rise significantly, in order to avoid popular resentment. Even worse, the territories that made up Poland were rightly coined "the country of three parts", as each part of Poland developed differently during the 123 years after Stanisław II Augustus' abdication, with post-Prussian territories the best developed, and Austrian Galicia and Russian Kresy the worst.
+
+The last attempt to save the Polish marka was made in 1921, when Jerzy Michalski made out his own plan to raise taxes and reduce expenditure. The Sejm accepted it, albeit with many amendments. Realisation of that plan did not succeed, and it had only short-term influence.
+
+This disrupted the whole economy of Poland, and galloping inflation began. The ​1⁄2 marek and 5,000 marek banknotes became worthless in two years. As hyperinflation progressed, Poland came to print 1, 5 and 10 million mark banknotes. However, they were quickly almost valueless. 10 million marks cost only US$1.073 in January 1924. Immediate action was needed. Władysław Grabski was invited to stop the pending hyperinflation. As a result, the second Polish złoty was created.
+
+The złoty was reintroduced as Poland's currency by Grabski in 1924, following the hyperinflation and monetary chaos of the years following World War I. It replaced the marka at a rate of 1 złoty = 1,800,000 marek and was subdivided into 100 grosz, instead of 30 grosz, as it had been earlier. 1 złoty was worth 0.2903 grams of gold, and 1 US dollar cost 5.18 złoty. New coins had to be introduced, but were not immediately minted or in circulation. The temporary solution of the problem was ingenious. 500,000 marek banknote were cut in two, and on each side there were overstamps that showed they were 1 grosz "coins". Similarly 10,000,000 marek notes were divided and overprinted to make two "coins" each worth 5 grosz. This was an emergency measure to provide the population with a form of the new currency.
+
+When the second złoty was created, it was pegged to the US dollar. The Sejm was weak in its financial control. Yet political parties demanded the government spend more money than had been projected in the budget.
+
+The budget deficit ballooned and out-of-control inflation ensued. The government struggled to cut expenditures, and as a result often came into conflict with the Sejm. However, the government could not allow hyperinflation to reoccur. To achieve that, the government authorised issue of securities, which went along with the temporary "bilety zdawkowe" coins and złoty banknotes printed in 1919.
+
+orange
+
+15 July 1924
+
+printed/
+
+overprinted
+
+Sigismund's Column, in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw
+
+(lapsed 30 June 1930)
+
+By the end of 1925 the Polish government was unable to redeem the released securities. The Polish economy was on the brink of collapse.
+
+Despite the crisis, Grabski refused to accept foreign help, because he was concerned Poland would become dependent on the League of Nations. The Polish PM thought that after the złoty stabilised, foreign financiers would be persuaded to give credits and make investments on more favourable conditions than were recently on offer. However, deep-rooted lack of confidence in the Polish economy had made these expectations unrealisable. Grabski's government was forced to sell some of the country's property on unfavourable conditions, without any significant effects. Eventually, the złoty depreciated some 50% from its 1923 value and Grabski resigned as Prime Minister. However, renewed hyperinflation was averted.
+
+1928 1930-1939
+
+1930-1939
+
+1931 1934-1939
+
+Sowiński
+
+Poland's economy weakened further to the point it was evident that the system could no longer function. The crisis climaxed in November 1925 leading to the Sanacja coup d'état.
+
+In May 1926 a coup d'état was effected. It resulted in Józef Piłsudski becoming the authoritarian leader of Poland. Almost immediately the budget was stabilised. Tax incomes rose significantly, credits were received from the USA, and the Bank of Poland's policy came more strongly under the government's control. These developments prevented the Polish economy's further deterioration.
+
+As had happened earlier in the case of both Austria and Hungary, a special monitoring commission arrived in Poland to analyse the economic situation. The commission was headed by Edwin W. Kemmerer, an American economist and "money doctor".
+
+The złoty started to stabilise in 1926 (thanks chiefly to significant exports of coal), and was re-set on the dollar-złoty rate 50% higher than in 1924. Up to 1933 złoty was freely exchanged into gold and foreign currencies. Based on these developments, the government made the decision to adopt the gold standard for its currency.
+
+In 1924–1925 the banks experienced large capital outflows, but by 1926 people were investing actively in the banks. The economic progress built on increased demand for and exports of coal slowed down because of an over-valued złoty during 1927. As a result, imports became relatively cheaper as compared to exports, resulting in a negative Balance of Trade. Again, Poland plunged into crisis. Economic growth was weak from 1926 to 1929. The main reason for that was the decline of industry, which was influenced by declining demand for Polish items. The crisis deepened with the Great Crisis of 1929–1932 and lasted until the mid-30s.
+
+Poland entered another economic crisis, causing the government again to attempt reduction of its budget deficit by cutting public expenditure other than for military purposes. Despite cutting spending by a third, the deficit persisted. Tax income that should have been used to lead the country out of crisis was instead financing the debt burden. Money required to stimulate the economy was devoted by the government to creditors and foreign banks. Further spending cuts necessitated Poland importing less and exporting more. Import tariffs were increased again for foreign products, while subsidies were given to exporters.
+
+In 1935 Piłsudski died, and the power passed to the generals. They were very disturbed by the crisis. Poland was still an agrarian country with 61% of the population involved in 1931. To reform the economy, the government was thinking about further intervention. As a result, between 1935 and 1939, Poland nationalised its major industries, initiating the changes the communists completed after 1945. Volumes of produced goods output from state-owned factories exceeded expectations. The result was instant - the economy stabilised, and fears of further złoty devaluation reduced while rapid growth was seen. However, World War II abruptly terminated all prosperity. With the Soviet invasion from the east the government had to flee the country. Already in emigration, the government released new banknotes of the denomination of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 złoty which were dated by 15 or 20 August 1939 and were mostly cyan, blue or blue-green (with the exception of 1, 2, 10 and 100 złoty). These were printed in the USA but never released.
+
+Cities on top mean that some number of coins was minted in a specific city. Mass in grams, diameter in mm. 1 - From Latin: "Long live the rule of Republic". 2 - a) Coins from 1928(7.5 mln) have an error on milling: "SUPRMA..." b)Most of coins from 1932 were withdrawn and melted.
+
+(1924)
+
+(1924)
+
+5.2 mln
+
+(1925)
+
+1936
+
+1930-2
+
+1930-2
+
+1938
+
+100 in 10% silver alloy
+
+4,2(silver)
+
+5.6(silver)
+
+5.85(bronze)
+
+4.32(silver)
+
+12(silver)
+
+10(copper)
+
+5(gold)
+
+When German invaders established the General Government, they withdrew the 100 złoty banknotes from 1932 and 1934 and 500 złoty banknotes from 1919. The banknotes had to be accounted on the deposits of the people who gave them to the bank.
+
+The 100 złoty banknotes were overstamped in red with: "Generalgouvernement / für die besetzen polnischen Gebiete" (The General Government / for the occupied Polish territories). It was massively counterfeited.
+
+A little later the bank division of the Główny Zarząd Kas Kredytowych Rzeszy Niemieckiej was organized. It started to print the Reichsmarks, but later, on 15 December 1939, a decision came to create the new Bank Emisyjny (Emissary Bank) in Kraków, as the Bank Polski officials fled to Paris. It started working on 8 April 1940.
+
+In May 1940, old banknotes of 1924–1939 were overstamped by the new entity. Money exchange was limited per individual; the limits varied according to the status of the person. The fixed exchange rate 1 Reichsmark = 2 złoty was established. A new issue of notes appeared in 1940–1941. The General Government also issued coins (1, 5, 10 and 20 grosz in zinc, 50 grosz in nickel-plated iron or iron), using similar designs to earlier types but with cheaper metals (mainly zinc-copper alloy). 1, 5, 10 and 20 grosz coins were dated 1923 and 50 grosz were dated 1938.
+
+Banknotes were also issued, called unofficially "młynarki" (from the name of President Feliks Młynarski) or "krakowiaki" (from the place of release), in the denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 złoty. 1000 złoty did not come into public circulation at all, and only reconstructions survive (although shown below). The total amount of them was approximately 10,183 million złoty. An additional 20 million were manufactured by the conspiratory typography of the Union of Armed Struggle. From summer 1943 the Home Army received the złoty produced in Great Britain.
+
+(reconstruction)
+
+The advance of the Red Army meant the transition to communism, Poland being no exception.
+
+The first monetary reform of post-war Poland was conducted in 1944, when the initial series of banknotes of socialist Poland was released. This was essential for the recreation of the country, so the Polish Committee of National Liberation signed an act on 24 August 1944 introducing the banknotes. The older General Government banknotes were exchanged at par with the new ones. There were limits, however – 500 złoty only for an individual and 2000 złoty for the private enterprises and small manufacturers. The rest came onto the blocked bank accounts.
+
+The banknotes had a very simple design, with no people or buildings featured. They carried the name of the as yet unformed Narodowy Bank Polski (the National Bank of Poland). Printing was completed at the Goznak mint in Moscow. All the new banknotes of the series I (except for the 50 grosz, and 1000 złoty, which were only released later) had a faulty inscription, containing a russianism.
+
+On 15 January 1945 the National Bank of Poland was finally created. Its first monetary action was the printing of 1000 złoty banknote in the newly built Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych in Łódź. The first Communist series' banknotes were easy to counterfeit, so additional replacement banknotes were printed in 1946–1948. As 500 złoty banknote was very easy to counterfeit, it was fully withdrawn in 1946.
+
+The new (II and III) series were created from the graphic designs of Ryszard Kleczewski and Wacław Borowski.
+
+printed
+
+"The National Bank of Poland"
+
+inscription, date, coat of arms
+
+(3,503,000 zł)
+
+"The National Bank of Poland" inscription
+
+(37,450,000 zł)
+
+(405,915,000 zł)
+
+(220,050,000 zł)
+
+(2,293,740,000 zł)
+
+(1,317,100,000 zł)
+
+(7,123,700,000 zł)
+
+(9,893,500,000 zł)
+
+(by Ryszard
+
+Kleczewski)
+
+(19,000,000,000 zł)
+
+The IV series banknotes had a longer life. Mainly due to their underdeveloped security features, the first three series were taken out of circulation in line with legislation signed on 28 October 1950, covering the introduction of the new Polish złoty (PLZ). Older banknotes had to be exchanged within 8 days for the new series IV, which had been designed, printed and distributed in great secrecy.
+
+About in the same time, new coins were introduced, which circulated for more than four decades.
+
+In 1950, a new złoty (PLZ) was introduced, replacing all notes issued up to 1948 at a rate of one hundred to one, while all bank assets were re-denominated in the ratio 100:3. The new banknotes were dated in 1948, while the new coins were dated in 1949. Initially, by law with effect from 1950 1 złoty (zł) was made equal to 0.222168g of pure gold (Dziennik Ustaw 50, 459).
+
+As in all the Warsaw Bloc countries, Poland started nationalizing major industrial and manufacturing businesses. The necessary legislative act was signed in 1946. However, smaller enterprises remained in private hands, in contrast to the USSR. Despite this concession, the whole economy was under firm state control. In the agricultural sector, farmers (still the major source of Polish income) received additional lands from the government. These properties were the result of confiscations from the church, wealthy families as well from farmers who were targeted as counter revolutionaries to Soviet Communist rule.
+
+In the late 1940s, Polish currency became unstable. This was largely due to initial opposition to the new Soviet imposed government and made an already difficult economic situation worse. Eventually things changed and the złoty became stronger in 1948–1949.
+
+Beginning in 1950, the Soviet controlled government started implementing communist collectivization policy on a mass scale. Some farmers were grouped into newly created PGRs (State Agricultural Farms). Others supplied produce to the State for distribution and had to comply with obligatory centralized food deliveries (first of cereals, in 1951; and from 1952 on, of meat, potatoes and milk). Unable to compete with advantaged collective farms, privately owned and individually-run farms went bankrupt.  The State bought at extremely low prices designed to impoverish private farms.
+
+Agriculture might have been ruined in a few years if not for the death of President and latterly Secretary General of the Central Committee of the PUWP Bolesław Bierut under mysterious circumstances in 1956. The new government under Władysław Gomułka began relaxing the earlier years' hardline Stalinist policies. State Farms were reformed, enforced obligatory deliveries were reduced and State buying prices were raised. On the whole the structure was little different from that of 1949: industry was state-owned, while agricultural production was State directed but mostly in private hands.
+
+Serious reforms were proposed in the early 1970s by Edward Gierek, which aimed to improve the situation for ordinary citizens. Unfortunately, the government had inadequate funds to initiate these reforms. This explains Poland's growing financial indebtedness to the USSR and other Warsaw Bloc countries, promoting the view that "the investments will upgrade the Poland's potential, which will be aimed at export, so that the country will pay the interest and at the same time maintain a high industrial production". In fact, although the intention was to create employment, it never happened. Poland's debt burden grew too large, forming the main cause of further financial crisis. After a period of prosperity in 1971–1978, Poland entered into a very deep recession, which worsened over time as Poland was unable to meet debt interest obligations. The crisis was to last until 1994. The first indications of the crisis was obvious by the mid-70s, when there began a period of rampant inflation. Złoty devaluation continued. In 1980 Gierek's government was accused of corruption. He was removed from power in 1980.
+
+The first big strikes started in Gdańsk and GOP (Upper Silesian Industrial Area). These restricted industrial production which by then had become the main economic sector. The Communist government's inability to organize production to balance supply and demand resulted in shortages as well as wasteful surpluses. Debt and currency issuance was used to attempt to smooth over the swings and caused inflation and wild moves in interest rates and borrowing conditions. These chaotic market conditions caused by reactionary policies of Communist controls and mandates led to widespead food shortages and government imposed food rationing. martial law of 1981–83 was then imposed to attempt to oppress the public's outrage and desire for reform.
+
+By the early 80s inflation in Poland crossed into outright currency collapse (hyper inflation) – inflation estimated to be over 100% per annum in 1982, which is equivalent to a halving of the value of the currency over 1 year. It was reduced in the mid-80s to about 15% per annum, but was restarted again in late-80s.
+
+Poor economic productivity and a huge public debt burden did not create any salary and pension increases. By 1981 it was admitted that the situation was beyond management. In an effort to escape such situation, Poland started massively printing banknotes, without backing from increased economic output.  Thus, deliberately attempting hyper inflation throughout the 80s to resolve the economic stagnation. Banknotes denominated at 5,000 złoty were introduced in 1982, 10,000 złoty in 1988, 20,000 and 50,000 złoty in 1989, and 100,000, 200,000 and 500,000 złoty in 1990. Grosz coins were rendered worthless and coins were mostly made out of aluminum (with the exception of the commemorative ones).  The public debt burden doubled over the course of the 80s.
+
+Given the circumstances, the only solution appeared to be the liberalization of the economy. In 1988 Mieczysław Rakowski was forced to accept the possibility of transition of the state enterprises into private hands. In fact, as stated earlier, smaller enterprises were private, and 18% of GDP was made by private sector, additional 10% – by the cooperatives. These were not, however, the Soviet Perestroika cooperatives, but ones with limited experience in the market economy. These were ready to transfer to a market economy. The Communist authorities had to admit they had failed to manage the economy productively, which was another reason to introduce changes.
+
+Leszek Balcerowicz was behind the idea of shifting the economic basis from state-based to free-trade. To achieve this, the following were introduced:
+
+The worst years of the crisis began in 1988, when the level of inflation rose higher than 60% per annum. Inflation peaked in 1990, characterized as hyperinflation, as the monthly rate was higher than 50%. However, by December 1991 it decreased below 60% per annum, and by 1993 it firmly established below 40%. As a result, the złoty regained the confidence of foreign investors. The remaining issue was the re-denomination of the depreciated złoty.
+
+Diameter(Ø) shown in mm, mass in grams. 1 - Minted both in Budapest and Warsaw in numbers of 300,100,600 coins.
+
+1981-4
+
+Adam Mickiewicz
+
+In 1949, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 grosz and 1 złoty coins were issued. The first two denominations were minted only in 1949, the rest also later.
+
+In 1952, Poland's official name was changed from "Republic of Poland" to "People's Republic of Poland". Coins minted in 1949 featured the former name. The 5 grosz brass coin was withdrawn in 1956. The rest circulated until 1994.
+
+The 2, 5 and 10 złoty banknotes were withdrawn in the 1960s to be exchanged for coins.
+
+The coins from 1 grosz to 2 złoty were quite simple designs but the 5, 10 and 20 złoty coins featured people (5 złoty had a fisherman, 10 złoty had Copernicus, Mickiewicz with Prus on its obverse, and 20 złoty, most notably, Marceli Nowotko), until the 1980s. As the Polish złoty became cheaper over time, older coins were rendered worthless (however, they stayed in circulation), and the simple new coins were released only in złoty denominations. All the PRP and 1990 issued coins were withdrawn in 1994, as a result of the monetary reform conducted at that time.
+
+10,375(1974)
+
+1974
+
+50,000(1974)
+
+1974
+
+6(1984)
+
+208(1986)
+
+1983
+
+1986
+
+6(1984)
+
+107(1986)
+
+1983
+
+1986
+
+748,160(1983)
+
+1983
+
+1 - Means: Number with Tadeusz Kościuszko/Number with Józef Piłsudski/Number with Fryderyk Chopin.
+
+Type A: "ZŁ" far from "1" in denomination, with letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type B: "ZŁ" close to "1" in denomination, without letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type C: "ZŁ" close to "1" in denomination, with letter "L" under the year 1990
+
+Type D: other style of letter "S" in SOLIDARNOŚĆ
+
+50,000;
+
+100,000
+
+200,000
+
+złotych
+
+22(50,000)
+
+27(100,000)
+
+32(200,000)
+
+2.7(50,000)
+
+15.5(100,000)
+
+31.1(200,000)
+
+200,000: 3,001
+
+rest: 1,001 each type
+
+500,000;
+
+1,000,000 złotych
+
+39(500,000)
+
+65(1,000,000)
+
+62.6(500,000)
+
+373.2(1,000,000)
+
+Józef Piłsudski
+
+Frederyk Chopin(design as in silver coins)
+
+13/13/101
+
+500,000 złotych:
+
+12/16/16
+
+1,000,000 złotych:
+
+1/1/1
+
+manganese brass; centre - cupronickel
+
+side - 16 mm
+
+shape heptagonal
+
+The banknotes issued in 1948 were already stable version. They were taken out of circulation in 1978 completely.
+
+From 1974 the new banknotes featuring "Great Polish people", and comprising the fifth series, were issued. Previous series were withdrawn from circulation. However, the replacement banknotes rapidly lost their real value. New larger denominations were necessary and printed.
+
+In 1982, the 10 and 20 złoty banknotes were released instead of billon.
+
+The last banknote released in Polish People's Republic was 200,000 złoty note, issued on 1 December 1989, which, because of its inadequate security features, was withdrawn from circulation. Starting on 27 December 1989 new banknotes were issued in the name of "Rzeczpospolita Polska", i.e. omitting the word "Ludowa" (People's), and from the coat of arms were altered to show the eagle wearing a crown restoring the situation that existed before World War II.
+
+Banknotes of this series were redenominated at the rate of 10,000 PLZ to 1 PLN (new złoty). All the existing PLZ denominations were legal tender and exchangeable into the PLN until the date of each value's withdrawal. After 31 December 2010, no PLZ banknote could be exchanged into PLN.
+
+From 50,000 PLZ on, there were two versions released: older ones (dated differently) and the newer ones (all dated 16 November 1993). The older banknotes had less efficient security features than the new ones. Newer printings had the denomination printed in red which shone under ultraviolet light instead of the previous grey-blue (which did not).
+
+1 June 1979; 1 June 1982; 1 June 1986; 1 December 1988
+
+Between 1950 and 1990, a unit known as the złoty dewizowy (which may be roughly translated as the "foreign exchange złoty") was used as an artificial currency for calculation purposes only. It existed because at the time the złoty was not convertible (like most Warsaw Bloc currencies) and its official rate of exchange was set by the government. Additionally several exchange rates existed depending on the purpose of the transaction and who was exchanging; for example, złoty could be exchanged for, say, US dollars at one of several official exchange rates depending on what was to be bought with the hard currency and the entity that was buying. In reverse, it worked when an individual or a business had western currency earnings and wanted (or needed) to convert them into złoty. The exchange rate did not depend on the amount being converted. Visitors from countries outside of the Soviet Bloc were offered a particularly poor exchange rate. Concurrently, the private black-market exchange rate contrasted sharply with the official government exchange rate until the end of communist rule in 1989, when official rates were tied to market rates.
+
+There were special banknotes, denominated in cents and dollars (as the US dollar), which were legal tender only for goods imported to Poland. They were issued by two authorities only: Pekao S.A. (from 1 cent to $100) and Baltona (from 1979 for 1 cent to $20).
+
+From 1 January 1990, Polish złoty became a fully convertible currency, with market-set, rather than state-determined, rates against foreign currencies.
+
+On 17 July 1990 Władysław Baka (the then head of the National Bank of Poland) (NBP) stated that development work upon złoty denomination would start soon. At the same time PLN coins were minted (bearing dates 1990–1994) and released into circulation in 1995. This influenced the further process of money exchange in 1995, as exchanging low-value banknotes became considerably easier.
+
+The banknotes posed a bigger problem. In 1990, a new series of banknotes from 1 to 500 zł was created by Waldemar Andrzejewski, was proposed, but failed acceptance testing due to weak counterfeiting protection features. The designs featured buildings and structures from Greater Poland cities and proofs produced. Additionally 1,000 zł (Kalisz) and 2,000 zł (Biskupin) banknotes were proposed (but not essayed) to facilitate an exchange rate of 1 new zloty to 1000 old zlotys).
+
+mainly yellow
+
+At the same time, to conduct redenomination, the inflation had to be stable and below 10% per annum. Balcerowicz plan helped very much to achieve that in four years' time. On 11 May 1994 the Economical Committee of the Council of Ministers accepted the denominalization project from the NBP. The act allowing the project to come into force was ratified on 7 July 1994 (Dziennik Ustaw Nr 84, 386).
+
+At the same time, new banknotes were printed (dated 25 March 1994), which are still legal tender today. These feature the most prominent Polish monarchs. Their author is Andrzej Heidrich.
+
+Kraków drawing from a medieval book
+
+These designs were revealed to the public on 21 November 1994. The following day TVP, (Polish television), began publicising the designs on TV in a campaign that lasted until 1 January 1995 when the redenomination took place. 10,000 PLZ became 1 PLN. Unlike previous redenominations there were no restrictions on where the money was or who owned it.
+
+When the new Polish złoty (PLN) was released, it co-existed with the PLZ for two years. All prices had to be indicated in both PLZ and PLN. The priority was to take the low-denomination PLZ to convert them to coinage. After 31 December 1996, PLZ was no longer legal tender. Between then and 31 December 2010, any PLZ banknotes and could only be exchanged into PLN by the NBP, its affiliates, or any bank. The sum for exchange had to be the multiple of 100 PLZ, which were worth 0.01 PLN. As of 31 December 2009, NBP estimate that some 1,748,000,000,000 PLZ (178,400,000 PLN) had not yet been exchanged.
+
+There was one thing that did not change: the official name of the currency. Although the ISO 4217 was altered the relevant legislation made the point that the official name of the currency is still the złoty. New Polish złoty is an unofficial way to address the Polish currency (Dziennik Ustaw nr 50, 459, with later changes).
+
+1995
+
+1997-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1997-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1998-2005
+
+2007-14
+
+1998-2005
+
+2007-15
+
+1996-2016
+
+1995
+
+2006
+
+2008-15
+
+2008-10
+
+2012-5
+
+the centre diameter: 12
+
+Ring: aluminium bronze
+
+2005-10
+
+2014-5
+
+the centre diameter: 16
+
+Centre: aluminium bronze
+
+1996
+
+2008-10
+
+2015
+
+Issue details of zloty and grosz coins are shown in the table below:[20]
+
+In 2012 new banknotes were printed, with added security features. They do not differ greatly from the first version (except for the 200zł note), but may be distinguished by the colour of the field with the watermark on the obverse. In the original banknotes, these correspond to the note's main colour, while they are white on the newer ones. Starting from 50 złoty, the new security features differ from those on the older banknotes. Newer banknotes also have some randomly arranged dots, which are part of the EURion constellation.
+
+A 500 złoty banknote will be also produced in this series, currently scheduled for introduction in February 2017.[21]
+
+Kraków drawing from a medieval book
+
+Poland has released commemorative banknotes since 2006. As of July 2018, nine have been issued. On 31 August 2018 the next 20 zloty commemorative note (100th Anniversary of Poland Regaining Independence) will be released by National Bank of Poland. It was also already announced that in 2019 next commemorative note will be released to commemorate 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW - Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych). It will be the first Polish commemorative banknote with an odd face value - 19 zloty.
+
+(mm)
+
+There are also very many commemorative coins (listed below). These are legal tender in all payments, but such use is not recommended by the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
+
+One of the conditions of Poland's joining the European Union in May 2004 obliges the country to eventually adopt the euro, though not at any specific date and only after Poland meets the necessary stability criteria. Serious discussions regarding joining the Eurozone have ensued.[24][25][26] However, article 227[27] of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland will need to be amended first,[28] so it was considered unlikely that Poland would adopt the euro before 2019.[29] Public opinion research by CBOS from March 2011 shows that 60% of Poles are against changing their currency. Only 32% of Poles want to adopt the euro, compared to 41% in April 2010.[30]
+
+The term złoty closely resembles zwoti, although the letter y in złoty is pronounced in a hard manner. The accurate pronunciation is [ˈzwɔtɨ]. There are two plural forms: złote (zwoteh [ˈzwɔtɛ]) and złotych (zwotikh [ˈzwɔtɨx]). The correct usage of the plural forms is as follows:[31]
+
+The rules are the same for larger numbers, e.g. 1,000,000 złotych (milion złotych); 1,000,002 złote (milion dwa złote); 1,000,011 złotych (milion jedenaście złotych); 1,000,024 złote (milion dwadzieścia cztery złote). Fractions should be rendered with złotego [zwɔˈtɛɡɔ] and grosza [ˈɡrɔʂa], e.g. 0.1 złotego; 2.5 złotego, etc. It is customary in Poland to use a space (non-breaking) for digit grouping (the "thousands separator") and a comma for separating fractions from whole numbers (1 000 000 złotych; 0,1 złotego); cf. decimal mark.
+
+Here one can find general rules for the declension of cardinal numerals (among others) in Polish; the classes one, few, many and other are złoty, złote, złotych, and złotego, respectively, for "złoty", and grosz, grosze, groszy, and grosza, respectively, for "grosz".

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+
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+The eurozone, officially called the euro area,[7] is a monetary union of 19 of the 27 European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem. The other eight members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them are obliged to adopt the euro in the future.
+
+The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other EU states (except for Denmark) are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so.[8] No state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled.[9] Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins.[10][11][12] Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro unilaterally,[13] but these countries do not officially form part of the eurozone and do not have representation in the European Central Bank (ECB) or in the Eurogroup.[14]
+
+The ECB, which is governed by a president and a board of the heads of national central banks, sets the monetary policy of the zone. The principal task of the ECB is to keep inflation under control. Though there is no common representation, governance or fiscal policy for the currency union, some co-operation does take place through the Eurogroup, which makes political decisions regarding the eurozone and the euro. The Eurogroup is composed of the finance ministers of eurozone states, but in emergencies, national leaders also form the Eurogroup.
+
+Since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting emergency loans to member states in return for enacting economic reforms[citation needed]. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration: for example, in peer review of each other's national budgets. The issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone change.
+
+In 1998, eleven member states of the European Union had met the euro convergence criteria, and the eurozone came into existence with the official launch of the euro (alongside national currencies) on 1 January 1999. Greece qualified in 2000, and was admitted on 1 January 2001 before physical notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002, replacing all national currencies. Between 2007 and 2015, seven new states acceded.
+
+Four of the dependent territories of EU member states not part of the EU have adopted the euro:
+
+The euro is also used in countries outside the EU. Four states – Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City —[10][13] have signed formal agreements with the EU to use the euro and issue their own coins. Nevertheless, they are not considered part of the eurozone by the ECB and do not have a seat in the ECB or Euro Group.
+
+Several currencies are pegged to the euro, some of them with a fluctuation band and others with an exact rate.
+For example, the West African and Central African CFA francs are pegged exactly at 655.957 CFA to 1 EUR.
+In 1998, in anticipation of Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, the Council of the European Union addressed the monetary agreements France had with the CFA Zone and Comoros and ruled that the ECB had no obligation towards the convertibility of the CFA and Comorian francs.
+The responsibility of the free convertibility remained in the French Treasury.
+
+Kosovo[j] and Montenegro officially adopted the euro as their sole currency without an agreement and, therefore, have no issuing rights.[13] These states are not considered part of the eurozone by the ECB. However, sometimes the term eurozone is applied to all territories that have adopted the euro as their sole currency.[26][27][28] Further unilateral adoption of the euro (euroisation), by both non-euro EU and non-EU members, is opposed by the ECB and EU.[29]
+
+The chart below provides a full summary of all applying exchange-rate regimes for EU members, since the European Monetary System with its Exchange Rate Mechanism and the related new common currency ECU was born on 13 March 1979. The euro replaced the ECU 1:1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979–1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, meaning there was only a minor difference between pegging a currency against ECU and pegging it against the D-mark.
+
+Sources: EC convergence reports 1996-2014, Italian lira[dead link], Spanish peseta, Portuguese escudo, Finnish markka, Greek drachma, UK pound
+
+The eurozone was born with its first 11 member states on 1 January 1999. The first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1 January in the year noted: Slovenia (2007), Cyprus (2008), Malta (2008), Slovakia (2009), Estonia (2011), Latvia (2014), and Lithuania (2015).
+
+All new EU members joining the bloc after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 are obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of their accession treaties. However, the last of the five economic convergence criteria which need first to be complied with in order to qualify for euro adoption, is the exchange rate stability criterion, which requires having been an ERM-member for a minimum of two years without the presence of "severe tensions" for the currency exchange rate.
+
+In September 2011, a diplomatic source close to the euro adoption preparation talks with the seven remaining new member states who had yet to adopt the euro (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania), claimed that the monetary union (eurozone) they had thought they were going to join upon their signing of the accession treaty may very well end up being a very different union entailing much closer fiscal, economic and political convergence. This changed legal status of the eurozone could potentially cause them to conclude that the conditions for their promise to join were no longer valid, which "could force them to stage new referendums" on euro adoption.[30]
+
+Eight countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden) are EU members but do not use the euro. Before joining the eurozone, a state must spend at least two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II). As of July 2020, the National Central Bank (NCB) of Denmark, Bulgarian Central Bank (BNB) and Croatian Cental Bank (HNB) participate in ERM II.
+
+Denmark obtained a special opt-out in the original Maastricht Treaty, and thus is legally exempt from joining the eurozone unless its government decides otherwise, either by parliamentary vote or referendum. The United Kingdom likewise had an opt-out prior to withdrawing from the EU in 2020.
+
+The remaining seven countries are obliged to adopt the euro in future, although the EU has so far not tried to enforce any time plan. They should join as soon as they fulfill the convergence criteria, which include being part of ERM II for two years. Sweden, which joined the EU in 1995 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed, is required to join the eurozone.  However, the Swedish people turned down euro adoption in a 2003 referendum and since then the country has intentionally avoided fulfilling the adoption requirements by not joining ERM II, which is voluntary.[31][32] Bulgaria and Croatia joined ERM II on 10 July 2020.[33]
+
+Interest in joining the eurozone increased in Denmark, and initially in Poland, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. In Iceland, there was an increase in interest in joining the European Union, a pre-condition for adopting the euro.[34] However, by 2010 the debt crisis in the eurozone caused interest from Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, to cool.[35]
+
+In the opinion of journalist Leigh Phillips and Locke Lord's Charles Proctor,[36][37] there is no provision in any European Union treaty for an exit from the eurozone. In fact, they argued, the Treaties make it clear that the process of monetary union was intended to be "irreversible" and "irrevocable".[37] However, in 2009, a European Central Bank legal study argued that, while voluntary withdrawal is legally not possible, expulsion remains "conceivable."[38] Although an explicit provision for an exit option does not exist, many experts and politicians in Europe, have suggested an option to leave the Eurozone should be included in the relevant treaties.[39]
+
+On the issue of leaving the eurozone, the European Commission has stated that "[t]he irrevocability of membership in the euro area is an integral part of the Treaty framework and the Commission, as a guardian of the EU Treaties, intends to fully respect [that irrevocability]."[40] It added that it "does not intend to propose [any] amendment" to the relevant Treaties, the current status being "the best way going forward to increase the resilience of euro area Member States to potential economic and financial crises.[40] The European Central Bank, responding to a question by a Member of the European Parliament, has stated that an exit is not allowed under the Treaties.[41]
+
+Likewise there is no provision for a state to be expelled from the euro.[42] Some, however, including the Dutch government, favour the creation of an expulsion provision for the case whereby a heavily indebted state in the eurozone refuses to comply with an EU economic reform policy.[43]
+
+In a Texas law journal, University of Texas at Austin law professor Jens Dammann has argued that even now EU law contains an implicit right for member states to leave the Eurozone if they no longer meet the criteria that they had to meet in order to join it.[44]  Furthermore, he has suggested that, under narrow circumstances, the European Union can expel member states from the eurozone.[45]
+
+University of California, Berkeley professor of Economics and Political Science Barry Eichengreen, argued in 2007 that "Europe’s leap to monetary union was a mistake...compounded by...including [in the union] also...Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece," and that "although a breakup was not impossible...it was  unlikely," given the technical, political and above all economic obstacles. "On the first minute that word got out," Eisengreen argued, "that the [Greek] government was discussing the possibility [of a Grexit] investors would sell their Greek stocks and bonds" and there "would be a full-fledged financial panic... a full-out bank run."[46] In 2011, he still believed the probability of Grexit was "very low" and in case of any bank run "the Greek government would almost certainly receive support for its banks from its European Union partners and the European Central Bank, because, in his view, more financial crises in other European countries are... the last thing that German business wants." As he put it, "the German economic miracle of the last ten years can be summed up in one word: exports. And the country’s export competitiveness has been greatly enhanced by a euro exchange rate that has been kept down at reasonable levels by the fact that Germany shares the currency with other weaker economies."[46]
+
+In Greece's case, one additional obstacle presented by analysts is that if Greece were to replace the euro with a new national currency, this would not be possible to achieve quickly enough. Paper banknotes must be printed and coins minted, which would take about "six months."[47] The changeover, according to a blogger in The Economist, would likely require bank deposits to be converted from euros to the new currency and this prospect could lead to money leaving the country as well as Greek residents withdrawing cash from the banks, causing a bank run and necessitating capital controls.[48] This was not only a blogger statement, as Greece actually had tendencies of bank runs, and capital controls were in effect, without any decision of withdrawal, only media rumours of it.
+
+The monetary policy of all countries in the eurozone is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem which comprises the ECB and the central banks of the EU states who have joined the eurozone. Countries outside the eurozone are not represented in these institutions. Whereas all EU member states are part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), non EU member states have no say in all three institutions, even those with monetary agreements such as Monaco. The ECB is entitled to authorise the design and printing of euro banknotes and the volume of euro coins minted, and its president is currently Christine Lagarde.
+
+The eurozone is represented politically by its finance ministers, known collectively as the Eurogroup, and is presided over by a president, currently Mário Centeno. The finance ministers of the EU member states that use the euro meet a day before a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) of the Council of the European Union. The Group is not an official Council formation but when the full EcoFin council votes on matters only affecting the eurozone, only Euro Group members are permitted to vote on it.[49][50][51]
+
+Since the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, the Euro Group has met irregularly not as finance ministers, but as heads of state and government (like the European Council). It is in this forum, the Euro summit, that many eurozone reforms have been decided upon. In 2011, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy pushed for these summits to become regular and twice a year in order for it to be a 'true economic government'.
+
+In April 2008 in Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested that the eurozone should be represented at the IMF as a bloc, rather than each member state separately: "It is absurd for those 15 countries not to agree to have a single representation at the IMF. It makes us look absolutely ridiculous. We are regarded as buffoons on the international scene".[52] In 2017 Juncker stated that he aims to have this agreed by the end of his mandate in 2019.[53] However, Finance Commissioner Joaquín Almunia stated that before there is common representation, a common political agenda should be agreed upon.[52]
+
+Leading EU figures including the commission and national governments have proposed a variety of reforms to the eurozone's architecture; notably the creation of a Finance Minister, a larger eurozone budget, and reform of the current bailout mechanisms into either a "European Monetary Fund" or a eurozone Treasury. While many have similar themes, details vary greatly.[54][55][56][57]
+
+^a  GDP in PPP, exports/imports of goods and services excluding intra-EU trade.
+
+The 20 largest economies in the world including Eurozone as a single entity, by Nominal GDP (2019) at their peak level of GDP in billions US$. The values for EU members that are not also eurozone members are listed both separately and as part of the EU.[61]
+
+HICP figures from the ECB, taken from May of each year:
+
+Interest rates for the eurozone, set by the ECB since 1999. Levels are in percentages per annum. Between June 2000 and October 2008, the main refinancing operations were variable rate tenders, as opposed to fixed rate tenders. The figures indicated in the table from 2000 to 2008 refer to the minimum interest rate at which counterparties may place their bids.[3]
+
+
+
+The following table states the ratio of public debt to GDP in percent for eurozone countries given by EuroStat.[62] The euro convergence criterion is 60%.
+
+The primary means for fiscal coordination within the EU lies in the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines which are written for every member state, but with particular reference to the 19 current members of the eurozone. These guidelines are not binding, but are intended to represent policy coordination among the EU member states, so as to take into account the linked structures of their economies.
+
+For their mutual assurance and stability of the currency, members of the eurozone have to respect the Stability and Growth Pact, which sets agreed limits on deficits and national debt, with associated sanctions for deviation. The Pact originally set a limit of 3% of GDP for the yearly deficit of all eurozone member states; with fines for any state which exceeded this amount. In 2005, Portugal, Germany, and France had all exceeded this amount, but the Council of Ministers had not voted to fine those states. Subsequently, reforms were adopted to provide more flexibility and ensure that the deficit criteria took into account the economic conditions of the member states, and additional factors.
+
+The Fiscal Compact[63][64] (formally, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union),[65] is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the Stability and Growth Pact, signed on 2 March 2012 by all member states of the European Union (EU), except the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom,[66] and Croatia (subsequently acceding the EU in July 2013). The treaty entered into force on 1 January 2013 for the 16 states which completed ratification prior of this date.[67] As of 1 April 2014, it had been ratified and entered into force for all 25 signatories.
+
+Olivier Blanchard suggests that a fiscal union in the EZ can mitigate devastating effects of the single currency on the EZ peripheral countries. But he adds that the currency bloc will not work perfectly even if a fiscal transfer system is built, because, he argues, the fundamental issue about competitiveness adjustment is not tackled. The problem is, since the EZ peripheral countries do not have their own currencies, they are forced to adjust their economies by decreasing their wages instead of devaluation.[68]
+
+The financial crisis of 2007–2008 prompted a number of reforms in the eurozone. One was a U-turn on the eurozone's bailout policy that led to the creation of a specific fund to assist eurozone states in trouble. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) were created in 2010 to provide, alongside the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a system and fund to bail out members. However the EFSF and EFSM were temporary, small and lacked a basis in the EU treaties. Therefore, it was agreed in 2011 to establish a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) which would be much larger, funded only by eurozone states (not the EU as a whole as the EFSF/EFSM were) and would have a permanent treaty basis. As a result of that its creation involved agreeing an amendment to TEFU Article 136 allowing for the ESM and a new ESM treaty to detail how the ESM would operate. If both are successfully ratified according to schedule, the ESM would be operational by the time the EFSF/EFSM expire in mid-2013.
+
+In February 2016, the UK secured further confirmation that countries that do not use the Euro would not be required to contribute to bailouts for Eurozone countries.[69]
+
+In June 2010, a broad agreement was finally reached on a controversial proposal for member states to peer review each other's budgets prior to their presentation to national parliaments. Although showing the entire budget to each other was opposed by Germany, Sweden and the UK, each government would present to their peers and the Commission their estimates for growth, inflation, revenue and expenditure levels six months before they go to national parliaments. If a country was to run a deficit, they would have to justify it to the rest of the EU while countries with a debt more than 60% of GDP would face greater scrutiny.[70]
+
+The plans would apply to all EU members, not just the eurozone, and have to be approved by EU leaders along with proposals for states to face sanctions before they reach the 3% limit in the Stability and Growth Pact. Poland has criticised the idea of withholding regional funding for those who break the deficit limits, as that would only impact the poorer states.[70] In June 2010 France agreed to back Germany's plan for suspending the voting rights of members who breach the rules.[71]  In March 2011 was initiated a new reform of the Stability and Growth Pact aiming at straightening the rules by adopting an automatic procedure for imposing of penalties in case of breaches of either the deficit or the debt rules.[72][73]
+
+Nobel prize-winning economist James Tobin thought that the euro project would not succeed without making drastic changes to European institutions, pointing out the difference between the US and the eurozone.[74] Concerning monetary policies, the US central bank FRB aims at both growth and reducing unemployment, while the ECB tends to give its first priority to price stability under Bundesbank's supervision. As the price level of the currency bloc is kept low, the unemployment level of the region has become higher than that of US since 1982.[74]
+
+When it comes to fiscal policies, 12 percent of the US federal budget is used for transfers to states and local governments. Also, when a state has financial or economic difficulties, a fair amount of money is automatically transferred to the state. The US government does not impose restrictions on state budget policies. This is different from the fiscal policies of the eurozone, where Treaty of Maastricht requires each eurozone member country to run its budget deficit smaller than 3 percent of its GDP.[74]
+
+In February 2019, a study from the Centre for European Policy concluded that while some countries had gained from adopting the euro, several countries were poorer than they would have been had they not adopted it, with France and Italy being particularly affected. The authors argued that this was down to its effect on competitiveness; usually countries would devalue their currencies to make their exports cheaper on the world market but this was not possible due to the common currency.[75]
+
+In 1997, Arnulf Baring expressed concern that the European Monetary Union would make Germans the most hated people in Europe. Baring suspected the possibility that the people in Mediterranean countries would regard Germans and the currency bloc as economic policemen.[76]

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+Coordinates: 50°50′N 4°00′E / 50.833°N 4.000°E / 50.833; 4.000
+
+– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green)
+
+Belgium,[A] officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376 per square kilometre (970/sq mi). The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.
+
+Legally, Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds. It is divided into three highly autonomous regions:[10] the Flemish Region in the north, Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region. Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region, as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita.
+
+Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the French-speaking Community, which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians. A small German-speaking Community, numbering around one percent, exists in the East Cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), although French is the dominant language.[11] Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments.
+
+Historically, Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states that also included parts of northern France and western Germany. Its modern name is derived from the Latin word Belgium, used in Julius Caesar's "Gallic War", to describe the region in the period around 55 BCE.[12] From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, the area of Belgium was a prosperous and cosmopolitan center of commerce and culture. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Belgium served as the battleground between many European powers, earning the moniker the "Battlefield of Europe",[13] a reputation strengthened by both world wars. The country emerged in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, when it seceded from the Netherlands.
+
+Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution[14][15] and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.[16] The second half of the 20th century was marked by rising tensions between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking citizens  fueled by differences in language and culture and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Despite the reforms, tensions between the groups have remained, if not increased; there is significant separatism particularly among the Flemish; controversial language laws exist such as the municipalities with language facilities;[17] and the formation of a coalition government took 18 months following the June 2010 federal election, a world record.[18] Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders, which boomed after the war.[19]
+
+Belgium is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and its capital, Brussels, hosts the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, as well as one of two seats of the European Parliament (the other being Strasbourg). Belgium is also a founding member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD, and WTO, and a part of the trilateral Benelux Union and the Schengen Area. Brussels hosts the headquarters of many major international organizations such as NATO.[B]
+
+Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy. It has very high standards of living, quality of life,[20] healthcare,[21] education,[22] and is categorized as "very high" in the Human Development Index.[23] It also ranks as one of the safest or most peaceful countries in the world.[24]
+
+— Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1
+
+The Belgae were the inhabitants of the northernmost part of Gaul, which was significantly bigger than modern Belgium. Caesar used the word "Belgium" once, to refer to their region. Gallia Belgica, as it was more commonly called, became a Roman province as a result of his conquests. Areas closer to the Rhine frontier, including the eastern part of modern Belgium, eventually became part of the province of Germania Inferior, which interacted with Germanic tribes outside the empire. At the time when central government collapsed in the Western Roman Empire, the region of Belgium was inhabited by a mix of Frankish tribes and a more Romanized population. During the 5th century the area came under the rule of the Merovingian kings, who had already seized power in what is northern France. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire.
+
+The Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the Carolingian empire into three kingdoms, whose borders had a lasting impact on medieval political boundaries. Most of modern Belgium was in the Middle Kingdom, later known as Lotharingia. Only the coastal county of Flanders became part of West Francia, the predecessor of France. In 870 in the Treaty of Meersen, modern Belgium lands all became part of the western kingdom, and in 880 in the Treaty of Ribemont, Lotharingia came under the lasting control of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the lordships along the "March" (frontier) between the two great kingdoms maintained important connections.
+
+Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries.[27]
+Emperor Charles V extended the personal union of the Seventeen Provinces in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 and increased his influence over the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.[28]
+
+The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces (Belgica Foederata in Latin, the "Federated Netherlands") and the Southern Netherlands (Belgica Regia, the "Royal Netherlands"). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish (Spanish Netherlands) and the Austrian Habsburgs (Austrian Netherlands) and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of several more protracted conflicts during much of the 17th and 18th centuries involving France, including the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
+
+Following the campaigns of 1794 in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège—were annexed by the French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1814, after the abdication of Napoleon.
+
+In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the establishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress.[29][30] Since the installation of Leopold I as king on 21 July 1831, now celebrated as Belgium's National Day, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a laicist constitution based on the Napoleonic code.[31] Although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 (with plural voting until 1919) and for women in 1949.
+
+The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party, with the Belgian Labour Party emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognized as well. This recognition became official in 1898, and in 1967, the parliament accepted a Dutch version of the Constitution.[32]
+
+The Berlin Conference of 1885 ceded control of the Congo Free State to King Leopold II as his private possession. From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production.[33] Many Congolese were killed by Leopold's agents for failing to meet production quotas for ivory and rubber.[34] In 1908, this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo.[35] A Belgian commission in 1919 estimated that Congo's population was half what it was in 1879.[34]
+
+Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France, and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the Rape of Belgium due to German excesses. Belgium assumed control of the German colonies of Ruanda-Urundi (modern-day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and in 1924 the League of Nations mandated them to Belgium. In the aftermath of the First World War, Belgium annexed the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.
+
+German forces again invaded the country in May 1940, and 40,690 Belgians, over half of them Jews, were killed during the subsequent occupation and The Holocaust. From September 1944 to February 1945 the Allies liberated Belgium. After World War II, a general strike forced King Leopold III to abdicate in 1951, since many Belgians felt he had collaborated with Germany during the war.[36] The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis;[37] Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
+
+Belgium became one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and of the European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community, established in 1957. The latter has now become the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.
+
+Belgium shares borders with France (620 km), Germany (167 km), Luxembourg (148 km) and the Netherlands (450 km). Its total surface, including water area, is 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi). Before 2018, its total area was believed to be 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi). However, when the country's statistics were measured in 2018, a new calculation method was used. Unlike previous calculations, this one included the area from the coast to the low-water line, revealing the country to be 160 km2 (62 sq mi) larger in surface area than previously thought.[38][39] Its land area alone is 30,278 km2.[40][needs update] It lies between latitudes 49°30' and 51°30' N, and longitudes 2°33' and 6°24' E.[41]
+
+Belgium has three main geographical regions; the coastal plain in the northwest and the central plateau both belong to the Anglo-Belgian Basin, and the Ardennes uplands in the southeast to the Hercynian orogenic belt. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.[42]
+
+The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Further inland lies a smooth, slowly rising landscape irrigated by numerous waterways, with fertile valleys and the northeastern sandy plain of the Campine (Kempen). The thickly forested hills and plateaus of the Ardennes are more rugged and rocky with caves and small gorges. Extending westward into France, this area is eastwardly connected to the Eifel in Germany by the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the country's highest point at 694 m (2,277 ft).[43][44]
+
+The climate is maritime temperate with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), like most of northwest Europe.[45] The average temperature is lowest in January at 3 °C (37.4 °F) and highest in July at 18 °C (64.4 °F). The average precipitation per month varies between 54 mm (2.1 in) for February and April, to 78 mm (3.1 in) for July.[46] Averages for the years 2000 to 2006 show daily temperature minimums of 7 °C (44.6 °F) and maximums of 14 °C (57.2 °F) and monthly rainfall of 74 mm (2.9 in); these are about 1 °C and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values, respectively.[47]
+
+Phytogeographically, Belgium is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom.[48] According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Belgium belongs to the ecoregion of Atlantic mixed forests.[49]
+
+The territory of Belgium is divided into three Regions, two of which, the Flemish Region and Walloon Region, are in turn subdivided into provinces; the third Region, the Brussels Capital Region, is neither a province nor a part of a province.
+
+Belgium is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a federal parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives. The former is made up of 50 senators appointed by the parliaments of the communities and regions and 10 co-opted senators. Prior to 2014, most of the Senate's members were directly elected. The Chamber's 150 representatives are elected under a proportional voting system from 11 electoral districts. Belgium has compulsory voting and thus maintains one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world.[50]
+
+The King (currently Philippe) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government. The Council of Ministers is composed of no more than fifteen members. With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers is composed of an equal number of Dutch-speaking members and French-speaking members.[51]
+The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Napoleonic code. The Court of Cassation is the court of last resort, with the courts of appeal one level below.[52]
+
+Belgium's political institutions are complex; most political power is organized around the need to represent the main cultural communities.[53]
+Since about 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct components that mainly represent the political and linguistic interests of these communities.[54]
+The major parties in each community, though close to the political center, belong to three main groups: Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Social Democrats.[55]
+Further notable parties came into being well after the middle of last century, mainly around linguistic, nationalist, or environmental themes and recently smaller ones of some specific liberal nature.[54]
+
+A string of Christian Democrat coalition governments from 1958 was broken in 1999 after the first dioxin crisis, a major food contamination scandal.[56][57][58] A "rainbow coalition" emerged from six parties: the Flemish and the French-speaking Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens.[59] Later, a "purple coalition" of Liberals and Social Democrats formed after the Greens lost most of their seats in the 2003 election.[60]
+
+The government led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 to 2007 achieved a balanced budget, some tax reforms, a labor-market reform, scheduled nuclear phase-out and instigated legislation allowing more stringent war crime and more lenient soft drug usage prosecution. Restrictions on withholding euthanasia were reduced and same-sex marriage legalized. The government promoted active diplomacy in Africa[61] and opposed the invasion of Iraq.[62] It is the only country that does not have age restrictions on euthanasia.[63]
+
+Verhofstadt's coalition fared badly in the June 2007 elections. For more than a year, the country experienced a political crisis.[64] This crisis was such that many observers speculated on a possible partition of Belgium.[65][66][67] From 21 December 2007 until 20 March 2008 the temporary Verhofstadt III Government was in office. This coalition of the Flemish and Francophone Christian Democrats, the Flemish and Francophone Liberals together with the Francophone Social Democrats was an interim government until 20 March 2008.[68]
+
+On that day a new government, led by Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, the actual winner of the federal elections of June 2007, was sworn in by the king. On 15 July 2008 Leterme announced the resignation of the cabinet to the king, as no progress in constitutional reforms had been made.[68]
+In December 2008 he once more offered his resignation to the king after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas.[69] At this juncture, his resignation was accepted and Christian Democratic and Flemish Herman Van Rompuy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 30 December 2008.[70]
+
+After Herman Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent President of the European Council on 19 November 2009, he offered the resignation of his government to King Albert II on 25 November 2009. A few hours later, the new government under Prime Minister Yves Leterme was sworn in. On 22 April 2010, Leterme again offered the resignation of his cabinet to the king[71] after one of the coalition partners, the OpenVLD, withdrew from the government, and on 26 April 2010 King Albert officially accepted the resignation.[72]
+
+The Parliamentary elections in Belgium on 13 June 2010 saw the Flemish nationalist N-VA become the largest party in Flanders, and the Socialist Party PS the largest party in Wallonia.[73] Until December 2011, Belgium was governed by Leterme's caretaker government awaiting the end of the deadlocked negotiations for formation of a new government. By 30 March 2011 this set a new world record for the elapsed time without an official government, previously held by war-torn Iraq.[74] Finally, in December 2011 the Di Rupo Government led by Walloon socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was sworn in.
+
+The 2014 federal election (coinciding with the regional elections) resulted in a further electoral gain for the Flemish nationalist N-VA, although the incumbent coalition (composed of Flemish and French-speaking Social Democrats, Liberals, and Christian Democrats) maintains a solid majority in Parliament and in all electoral constituencies. On 22 July 2014, King Philippe nominated Charles Michel (MR) and Kris Peeters (CD&V) to lead the formation of a new federal cabinet composed of the Flemish parties N-VA, CD&V, Open Vld and the French-speaking MR, which resulted in the Michel Government. It is the first time N-VA is part of the federal cabinet, while the French-speaking side is represented only by the MR, which achieved a minority of the public votes in Wallonia.
+
+Following a usage which can be traced back to the Burgundian and Habsburg courts,[75] in the 19th century it was necessary to speak French to belong to the governing upper class, and those who could only speak Dutch were effectively second-class citizens.[76] Late that century, and continuing into the 20th century, Flemish movements evolved to counter this situation.[77]
+
+While the people in Southern Belgium spoke French or dialects of French, and most Brusselers adopted French as their first language, the Flemings refused to do so and succeeded progressively in making Dutch an equal language in the education system.[77] Following World War II, Belgian politics became increasingly dominated by the autonomy of its two main linguistic communities.[78] Intercommunal tensions rose and the constitution was amended to minimize the potential for conflict.[78]
+
+Based on the four language areas defined in 1962–63 (the Dutch, bilingual, French and German language areas), consecutive revisions of the country's constitution in 1970, 1980, 1988 and 1993 established a unique form of a federal state with segregated political power into three levels:[79][80]
+
+The constitutional language areas determine the official languages in their municipalities, as well as the geographical limits of the empowered institutions for specific matters.[81] Although this would allow for seven parliaments and governments when the Communities and Regions were created in 1980, Flemish politicians decided to merge both.[82] Thus the Flemings just have one single institutional body of parliament and government is empowered for all except federal and specific municipal matters.[C]
+
+The overlapping boundaries of the Regions and Communities have created two notable peculiarities: the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region (which came into existence nearly a decade after the other regions) is included in both the Flemish and French Communities, and the territory of the German-speaking Community lies wholly within the Walloon Region. Conflicts about jurisdiction between the bodies are resolved by the Constitutional Court of Belgium. The structure is intended as a compromise to allow different cultures to live together peacefully.[14]
+
+The Federal State's authority includes justice, defense, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy and public debt, and other aspects of public finances. State-owned companies include the Belgian Post Group and Belgian Railways. The Federal Government is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs.[83] The budget—without the debt—controlled by the federal government amounts to about 50% of the national fiscal income. The federal government employs around 12% of the civil servants.[84]
+
+Communities exercise their authority only within linguistically determined geographical boundaries, originally oriented towards the individuals of a Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education and the use of the relevant language. Extensions to personal matters less directly connected with language comprise health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, and so on.).[85]
+
+Regions have authority in fields that can be broadly associated with their territory. These include economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit and foreign trade. They supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies.[86]
+
+In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specifics. With education, for instance, the autonomy of the Communities neither includes decisions about the compulsory aspect nor allows for setting minimum requirements for awarding qualifications, which remain federal matters.[83] Each level of government can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. The treaty-making power of the Regions' and Communities' Governments is the broadest of all the Federating units of all the Federations all over the world.[87][88][89]
+
+Because of its location at the crossroads of Western Europe, Belgium has historically been the route of invading armies from its larger neighbors. With virtually defenseless borders, Belgium has traditionally sought to avoid domination by the more powerful nations which surround it through a policy of mediation. The Belgians have been strong advocates of European integration. Both the European Union and NATO are headquartered in Belgium.
+
+The Belgian Armed Forces have about 47,000 active troops. In 2019, Belgium's defense budget totaled €4.303 billion ($4.921 billion) representing .93% of its GDP.[90] They are organized into one unified structure which consists of four main components: Land Component, or the Army; Air Component, or the Air Force; Marine Component, or the Navy; Medical Component. The operational commands of the four components are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defense, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training, and to the Chief of Defense.[91]
+
+The effects of the Second World War made collective security a priority for Belgian foreign policy. In March 1948 Belgium signed the Treaty of Brussels and then joined NATO in 1948. However, the integration of the armed forces into NATO did not begin until after the Korean War.[92] The Belgians, along with the Luxembourg government, sent a detachment of battalion strength to fight in Korea known as the Belgian United Nations Command. This mission was the first in a long line of UN missions which the Belgians supported. Currently, the Belgian Marine Component is working closely together with the Dutch Navy under the command of the Admiral Benelux.
+
+Belgium's strongly globalized economy[93] and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helped make it the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007.[94][95] The economy is characterized by a highly productive work force, high GNP and high exports per capita.[96] Belgium's main imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, and oil products. Its main exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, and foodstuffs.[40]
+
+The Belgian economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature: a dynamic Flemish economy and a Walloon economy that lags behind.[14][97][D] One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports an open economy and the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate member economies. Since 1922, through the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market with customs and currency union.[98]
+
+Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 19th century.[99] Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century in the Sambre and Meuse valley and made Belgium one of the three most industrialized nations in the world from 1830 to 1910.[100][101] However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis, and the region experienced famine from 1846 to 1850.[102][103]
+
+After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced a serious decline.[104] In the 1980s and 1990s, the economic center of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[105]
+
+By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006[update], the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP.[106] In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the Euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average. By October 2010, this had grown to 8.5% compared to an average rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27).[107][108] From 1832 until 2002, Belgium's currency was the Belgian franc. Belgium switched to the euro in 2002, with the first sets of euro coins being minted in 1999. The standard Belgian euro coins designated for circulation show the portrait of the monarch (first King Albert II, since 2013 King Philippe).
+
+Despite an 18% decrease observed from 1970 to 1999, Belgium still had in 1999 the highest rail network density within the European Union with 113.8 km/1 000 km2. On the other hand, the same period, 1970–1999, has seen a huge growth (+56%) of the motorway network. In 1999, the density of km motorways per 1000 km2 and 1000 inhabitants amounted to 55.1 and 16.5 respectively and were significantly superior to the EU's means of 13.7 and 15.9.[109]
+
+From a biological resource perspective, Belgium has a low endowment: Belgium's biocapacity adds up to only 0.8 global hectares in 2016,[110] just about half of the 1.6 global hectares of biocapacity available per person worldwide.[111] In contrast, in 2016, Belgians used on average 6.3 global hectares of biocapacity - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they required about eight times as much biocapacity as Belgium contains. As a result, Belgium was running a biocapacity deficit of 5.5 global hectares per person in 2016.[110]
+
+Belgium experiences some of the most congested traffic in Europe. In 2010, commuters to the cities of Brussels and Antwerp spent respectively 65 and 64 hours a year in traffic jams.[112] Like in most small European countries, more than 80% of the airways traffic is handled by a single airport, the Brussels Airport. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge (Bruges) share more than 80% of Belgian maritime traffic, Antwerp being the second European harbor with a gross weight of goods handled of 115 988 000 t in 2000 after a growth of 10.9% over the preceding five years.[109][113] In 2016, the port of Antwerp handled 214 million tons after a year-on-year growth of 2.7%.[114]
+
+There is a large economic gap between Flanders and Wallonia. Wallonia was historically wealthy compared to Flanders, mostly due to its heavy industries, but the decline of the steel industry post-World War II led to the region's rapid decline, whereas Flanders rose swiftly. Since then, Flanders has been prosperous, among the wealthiest regions in Europe, whereas Wallonia has been languishing. As of 2007, the unemployment rate of Wallonia is over double that of Flanders. The divide has played a key part in the tensions between the Flemish and Walloons in addition to the already-existing language divide. Pro-independence movements have gained high popularity in Flanders as a consequence. The separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, for instance, is the largest party in Belgium.[115][116][117]
+
+Contributions to the development of science and technology have appeared throughout the country's history. The 16th century Early Modern flourishing of Western Europe included cartographer Gerardus Mercator, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens[118][119][120][121] and mathematician Simon Stevin among the most influential scientists.[122]
+
+Chemist Ernest Solvay[123] and engineer Zenobe Gramme (École industrielle de Liège)[124] gave their names to the Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo, respectively, in the 1860s. Bakelite was developed in 1907–1909 by Leo Baekeland. Ernest Solvay also acted as a major philanthropist and gave its name to the Solvay Institute of Sociology, the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry which are now part of the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1911, he started a series of conferences, the Solvay Conferences on Physics and Chemistry, which have had a deep impact on the evolution of quantum physics and chemistry.[125] A major contribution to fundamental science was also due to a Belgian, Monsignor Georges Lemaître (Catholic University of Louvain), who is credited with proposing the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927.[126]
+
+Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 1919, Corneille Heymans (University of Ghent) in 1938 and Albert Claude (Université libre de Bruxelles) together with Christian de Duve (Université catholique de Louvain) in 1974. François Englert (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013. Ilya Prigogine (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.[127] Two Belgian mathematicians have been awarded the Fields Medal: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994.[128][129]
+
+As of 1 January 2020, the total population of Belgium according to its population register was 11,492,641.[4] The population density of Belgium is 376/km2 (970/sq mi) as of January 2019, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world, and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe. The most densely populated province is Antwerp, the least densely populated province is Luxembourg. As of January 2019, the Flemish Region had a population of 6,589,069 (57.6% of Belgium), its most populous cities being Antwerp (523,248), Ghent (260,341) and Bruges (118,284). Wallonia had a population of 3,633,795 (31.8% of Belgium) with Charleroi (201,816), Liège (197,355) and Namur (110,939), its most populous cities. The Brussels Capital Region has 1,208,542 inhabitants (10.6% of Belgium) in the 19 municipalities, three of which have over 100,000 residents.[4]
+
+In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across Belgium was 1.64 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 4.87 children born per woman in 1873.[130] Belgium subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 41.5 years.[131]
+
+As of 2007[update], nearly 92% of the population had Belgian citizenship,[132] and other European Union member citizens account for around 6%. The prevalent foreign nationals were Italian (171,918), French (125,061), Dutch (116,970), Moroccan (80,579), Portuguese (43,509), Spanish (42,765), Turkish (39,419) and German (37,621).[133][134] In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685,000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695,000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State.[135][136]
+
+At the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed around 25% of the total population i.e. 2.8 million new Belgians.[137] Of these new Belgians, 1,200,000 are of European ancestry and 1,350,000[138] are from non-Western countries (most of them from Morocco, Turkey, and the DR Congo). Since the modification of the Belgian nationality law in 1984 more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship. The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Moroccans.[139] 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.[138]
+
+
+
+Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.[140]
+As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects.[141] However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 60% of the Belgian population are native speakers of Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French natively. French-speaking Belgians are often referred to as Walloons, although the French speakers in Brussels are not Walloons.[E]
+
+The total number of native Dutch speakers is estimated to be about 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while native French speakers number 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (or 85%) in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region.[F][142] The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.[143][144][145][146]
+
+Both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French have minor differences in vocabulary and semantic nuances from the varieties spoken respectively in the Netherlands and France. Many Flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. Walloon, considered either as a dialect of French or a distinct Romance language,[147][148] is now only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people. Walloon is divided into four dialects, which along with those of Picard,[149] are rarely used in public life and have largely been replaced by French.
+
+Since the country's independence, Roman Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics.[150] However Belgium is largely a secular country as the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. During the reigns of Albert I and Baudouin, the Belgian royal family had a reputation of deeply rooted Catholicism.[151]
+
+Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5% for Belgium in total; 3% in Brussels,[152] and 5.4% in Flanders. Church attendance in 2009 in Belgium was roughly half of the Sunday church attendance in 1998 (11% for the total of Belgium in 1998).[153] Despite the drop in church attendance, Catholic identity nevertheless remains an important part of Belgium's culture.[151]
+
+According to the Eurobarometer 2010,[154] 37% of Belgian citizens responded that they believe there is a God. 31% answered that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life-force. 27% answered that they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life-force. 5% did not respond. According to the Eurobarometer 2015, 60.7% of the total population of Belgium adhered to Christianity, with Roman Catholicism being the largest denomination with 52.9%. Protestants comprised 2.1% and Orthodox Christians were the 1.6% of the total. Non-religious people comprised 32.0% of the population and were divided between atheists (14.9%) and agnostics (17.1%). A further 5.2% of the population was Muslim and 2.1% were believers in other religions.[155] The same survey held in 2012 found that Christianity was the largest religion in Belgium, accounting for 65% of Belgians.[156]
+
+Symbolically and materially, the Roman Catholic Church remains in a favorable position.[151] Belgium officially recognizes three religions: Christianity (Catholic, Protestantism, Orthodox churches and Anglicanism), Islam and Judaism.[157]
+
+In the early 2000s, there were approximately 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (numbering some 18,000) is one of the largest in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is the primary language of a large Jewish community (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hasidic communities in New York, New Jersey, and Israel). In addition, most Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education.[158] There are several Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues (30 of which are in Antwerp) in the country.
+A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered to be a more religious region than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves religious and that 36% believed that God created the universe.[159] On the other hand, Wallonia has become one of Europe's most secular/least religious regions. Most of the French-speaking region's population does not consider religion an important part of their lives, and as much as 45% of the population identifies as irreligious. This is particularly the case in eastern Wallonia and areas along the French border.
+
+A 2008 estimate found that approximately 6% of the Belgian population (628,751 people) is Muslim.[160] Muslims constitute 23.6% of the population of Brussels, 4.9% of Wallonia and 5.1% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the major cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. The largest group of immigrants in Belgium are Moroccans, with 400,000 people. The Turks are the third largest group, and the second largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[139][161]
+
+The Belgians enjoy good health. According to 2012 estimates, the average life expectancy is 79.65 years.[40] Since 1960, life expectancy has, in line with the European average, grown by two months per year. Death in Belgium is mainly due to heart and vascular disorders, neoplasms, disorders of the respiratory system and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide). Non-natural causes of death and cancer are the most common causes of death for females up to age 24 and males up to age 44.[162]
+
+Healthcare in Belgium is financed through both social security contributions and taxation. Health insurance is compulsory. Health care is delivered by a mixed public and private system of independent medical practitioners and public, university and semi-private hospitals. Health care service are payable by the patient and reimbursed later by health insurance institutions, but for ineligible categories (of patients and services) so-called 3rd party payment systems exist.[162] The Belgian health care system is supervised and financed by the federal government, the Flemish and Walloon Regional governments; and the German Community also has (indirect) oversight and responsibilities.[162]
+
+For the first time in Belgian history, the first child was euthanized following the 2-year mark of the removal of the euthanization age restrictions. The child had been euthanized due to an incurable disease that was inflicted upon the child. Although there may have been some support for the euthanization there is a possibility of controversy due to the issue revolving around the subject of assisted suicide.[163][164] Excluding assisted suicide, Belgium has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe and one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world (exceeded only by Lithuania, South Korea, and Latvia).[165]
+
+Education is compulsory from 6 to 18 years of age for Belgians.[166] Among OECD countries in 2002, Belgium had the third highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in postsecondary education, at 42%.[167] Though an estimated 99% of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.[149][168] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Belgium's education as the 19th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.[169] Education being organized separately by each, the Flemish Community scores noticeably above the French and German-speaking Communities.[170]
+
+Mirroring the dual structure of the 19th-century Belgian political landscape, characterized by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is segregated within a secular and a religious segment. The secular branch of schooling is controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, while religious, mainly Catholic branch education, is organized by religious authorities, although subsidized and supervised by the communities.[171]
+
+Despite its political and linguistic divisions, the region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence on European art and culture. Nowadays, to a certain extent, cultural life is concentrated within each language Community, and a variety of barriers have made a shared cultural sphere less pronounced.[14][172][173] Since the 1970s, there are no bilingual universities or colleges in the country except the Royal Military Academy and the Antwerp Maritime Academy, no common media[174] and no single large cultural or scientific organization in which both main communities are represented.[175]
+
+Contributions to painting and architecture have been especially rich. The Mosan art, the Early Netherlandish,[176] the Flemish Renaissance and Baroque painting[177] and major examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture[178] are milestones in the history of art. While the 15th century's art in the Low Countries is dominated by the religious paintings of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, the 16th century is characterized by a broader panel of styles such as Peter Breughel's landscape paintings and Lambert Lombard's representation of the antique.[179] Though the Baroque style of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck flourished in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands,[180] it gradually declined thereafter.[181][182]
+
+During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Belgian painters emerged, including James Ensor and other artists belonging to the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux and René Magritte. The avant-garde CoBrA movement appeared in the 1950s, while the sculptor Panamarenko remains a remarkable figure in contemporary art.[183][184] Multidisciplinary artists Jan Fabre, Wim Delvoye and the painter Luc Tuymans are other internationally renowned figures on the contemporary art scene.
+
+Belgian contributions to architecture also continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, including the work of Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, who were major initiators of the Art Nouveau style.[185][186]
+
+The vocal music of the Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries and was an important contribution to Renaissance culture.[187] In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an emergence of major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux, while Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822. Contemporary popular music in Belgium is also of repute. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans and singer Jacques Brel have achieved global fame. Nowadays, singer Stromae has been a musical revelation in Europe and beyond, having great success. In rock/pop music, Telex, Front 242, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax and dEUS are well known. In the heavy metal scene, bands like Machiavel, Channel Zero and Enthroned have a worldwide fan-base.[188]
+
+Belgium has produced several well-known authors, including the poets Emile Verhaeren, Robert Goffin and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar, Hugo Claus and Amélie Nothomb. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé is the best known of Franco-Belgian comics, but many other major authors, including Peyo (The Smurfs), André Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe), Dupa (Cubitus), Morris (Lucky Luke), Greg (Achille Talon), Lambil (Les Tuniques Bleues), Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame.[189] Additionally, famous crime author Agatha Christie created the character Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, who has served as a protagonist in a number of her acclaimed mystery novels.
+
+Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen.[G] Other Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; well-known actors include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain; and successful films include Bullhead, Man Bites Dog and The Alzheimer Affair.[190] In the 1980s, Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts produced important fashion trendsetters, known as the Antwerp Six.[191]
+
+Folklore plays a major role in Belgium's cultural life: the country has a comparatively high number of processions, cavalcades, parades, 'ommegangs' and 'ducasses',[H] 'kermesse' and other local festivals, nearly always with an originally religious or mythological background. The Carnival of Binche with its famous Gilles and the 'Processional Giants and Dragons' of Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons are recognized by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.[192]
+
+Other examples are the Carnival of Aalst; the still very religious processions of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Virga Jesse Basilica in Hasselt and Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen; 15 August festival in Liège; and the Walloon festival in Namur. Originated in 1832 and revived in the 1960s, the Gentse Feesten have become a modern tradition. A major non-official holiday is the Saint Nicholas Day, a festivity for children and, in Liège, for students.[193]
+
+Many highly ranked Belgian restaurants can be found in the most influential restaurant guides, such as the Michelin Guide.[194] Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries with mayonnaise. Contrary to their name, french fries are claimed to have originated in Belgium, although their exact place of origin is uncertain. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".[195][196][197][I]
+
+Brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines, like Côte d'Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas and Godiva are famous, as well as independent producers such as Burie and Del Rey in Antwerp and Mary's in Brussels.[198] Belgium produces over 1100 varieties of beer.[199][200] The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer.[201][202][203]
+The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven.[204]
+
+Since the 1970s, sports clubs and federations are organized separately within each language community.[205] Association football is the most popular sport in both parts of Belgium; also very popular are cycling, tennis, swimming, judo[206] and basketball.[207]
+
+Belgians hold the most Tour de France victories of any country except France. They have also the most victories on the UCI Road World Championships. Philippe Gilbert is the 2012 world champion. Another modern well-known Belgian cyclist is Tom Boonen. With five victories in the Tour de France and numerous other cycling records, Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx is regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.[208] Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is considered one of the greatest in the history of association football.[209]
+
+Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships, and co-hosted the 2000 European Championships with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team reached first place in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November 2015.[210]
+
+Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both were Player of the Year in the Women's Tennis Association as they were ranked the number one female tennis player.
+The Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit hosts the Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver, Jacky Ickx, won eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished twice as runner-up in the Formula One World Championship. Belgium also has a strong reputation in, motocross with the riders Joel Robert, Roger De Coster, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and Stefan Everts among others.[211] Sporting events annually held in Belgium include the Memorial Van Damme athletics competition, the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, and a number of classic cycle races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp. The 1977 European Basketball Championship was held in Liège and Ostend.
+
+(Several editions in English, incl. (1997) 7th ed.)

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+
+
+A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are housed within enclosures, cared for, displayed to the public, and in some cases bred.
+
+The term "zoological garden" refers to zoology, the study of animals. The term is derived from the Greek ζώον, 'zoon', "animal," and the suffix -λογία, '-logia', "study of". The abbreviation "zoo" was first used of the London Zoological Gardens, which was opened for scientific study in 1828 and to the public in 1847.[1] In the United States alone, zoos are visited by  over 181 million people annually.[2]
+
+The London Zoo, which was opened in 1828, was initially known as the "Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London", and it described itself as a menagerie or "zoological forest".[3] The abbreviation "zoo" first appeared in print in the United Kingdom around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo, but it was not until some 20 years later that the shortened form became popular in the song "Walking in the Zoo" by music-hall artist Alfred Vance.[3] The term "zoological park" was used for more expansive facilities in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Washington, D.C., and the Bronx in New York, which opened in 1847, 1891 and 1899 respectively.[4]
+
+Relatively new terms for zoos in the late 20th century are "conservation park" or "bio park". Adopting a new name is a strategy used by some zoo professionals to distance their institutions from the stereotypical and nowadays criticized zoo concept of the 19th century.[5] The term "bio park" was first coined and developed by the National Zoo in Washington D.C. in the late 1980s.[6] In 1993, the New York Zoological Society changed its name to the Wildlife Conservation Society and re branded the zoos under its jurisdiction as "wildlife conservation parks".[7]
+
+The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological collection was revealed during excavations at Hierakonpolis, Egypt in 2009, of a ca. 3500 BCE menagerie. The exotic animals included hippopotami, hartebeest, elephants, baboons and wildcats.[8] King Ashur-bel-kala of the Middle Assyrian Empire created zoological and botanical gardens in the 11th century BCE. In the 2nd century BCE, the Chinese Empress Tanki had a "house of deer" built, and King Wen of Zhou kept a 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) zoo called Ling-Yu, or the Garden of Intelligence. Other well-known collectors of animals included King Solomon of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, queen Semiramis and King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.[9] By the 4th century BCE, zoos existed in most of the Greek city states; Alexander the Great is known to have sent animals that he found on his military expeditions back to Greece. The Roman emperors kept private collections of animals for study or for use in the arena,[9] the latter faring notoriously poorly. The 19th-century historian W. E. H. Lecky wrote of the Roman games, first held in 366 BCE:
+
+At one time,  bear and a bull, chained together, rolled in fierce combat across the sand ... Four hundred bears were killed in a single day under Caligula ... Under Nero, four hundred tigers fought with bulls and elephants. In a single day, at the dedication of the Colosseum by Titus, five thousand animals perished. Under Trajan ... lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, giraffes, bulls, stags, even crocodiles and serpents were employed to give novelty to the spectacle.[10]
+
+Charlemagne had an elephant named Abul-Abbas that was given to him by the Abbasid Caliph. Henry I of England kept a collection of animals at his palace in Woodstock which reportedly included lions, leopards, and camels.[11] The most prominent collection in medieval England was in the Tower of London, created as early as 1204 by King John I.
+
+Henry III received a wedding gift in 1235 of three leopards from Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and in 1264, the animals were moved to the Bulwark, renamed the Lion Tower, near the main western entrance of the Tower. It was opened to the public during the reign of Elizabeth I in the 16th century.[12] During the 18th century, the price of admission was three half-pence, or the supply of a cat or dog for feeding to the lions.[11] The animals were moved to the London Zoo when it opened.
+
+Aztec emperor Moctezuma had in his capital city of Tenochtitlan a "house of animals" with a large collection of birds, mammals and reptiles in a garden tended by more than 600 employees. The garden was described by several Spanish conquerors, including Hernán Cortés in 1520. After the Aztec revolt against the Spanish rule, and during the subsequent battle for the city, Cortés reluctantly ordered the zoo to be destroyed.[13]
+
+The oldest zoo in the world still in existence is the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria. It was constructed by Adrian van Stekhoven in 1752 at the order of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, to serve as an imperial menagerie as part of Schönbrunn Palace. The menagerie was initially reserved for the viewing pleasure of the imperial family and the court, but was made accessible to the public in 1765.
+
+In 1775, a zoo was founded in Madrid, and in 1795, the zoo inside the Jardin des Plantes in Paris was founded by Jacques-Henri Bernardin, with animals from the royal menagerie at Versailles, primarily for scientific research and education. The Kazan Zoo, the first zoo in Russia was founded in 1806 by the Professor of Kazan State University Karl Fuchs.
+
+Until the early 19th century, the function of the zoo was often to symbolize royal power, like King Louis XIV's menagerie at Versailles. The modern zoo that emerged in the 19th century in the United Kingdom,[14] was focused on providing scientific study and later educational exhibits to the public for entertainment and inspiration.[15]
+
+A growing fascination for natural history and zoology, coupled with the tremendous expansion in the urbanization of London, led to a heightened demand for a greater variety of public forms of entertainment to be made available. The need for public entertainment, as well as the requirements of scholarly research, came together in the founding of the first modern zoos.
+
+The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent's Park two years later in 1828.[16] At its founding, it was the world's first scientific zoo.[9][17] Originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study, it was opened to the public in 1847.[17] The Zoo was located in Regent's Park - then undergoing development at the hands of the architect John Nash. What set the London zoo apart from its predecessors was its focus on society at large. The zoo was established in the middle of a city for the public, and its layout was designed to cater for the large London population. The London zoo was widely copied as the archetype of the public city zoo.[18] In 1853, the Zoo opened the world's first public aquarium.
+
+Dublin Zoo was opened in 1831 by members of the medical profession interested in studying animals while they were alive and more particularly getting hold of them when they were dead.[19]
+
+Downs' Zoological Gardens created by Andrew Downs and opened to the Nova Scotia public in 1847. It was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. By the early 1860s, the zoo grounds covered 40 hectares with many fine flowers and ornamental trees, picnic areas, statues, walking paths, The Glass House (which contained a greenhouse with an aviary, aquarium, and museum of stuffed animals and birds), a pond, a bridge over a waterfall, an artificial lake with a fountain, a wood-ornamented greenhouse, a forest area, and enclosures and buildings.[20][21][22]
+
+The first zoological garden in Australia was Melbourne Zoo in 1860. In the same year, Central Park Zoo, the first public zoo in the United States, opened in New York, although in 1859, the Philadelphia Zoological Society had made an effort to establish a zoo, but delayed opening it until 1874 because of the American Civil War.
+
+In 1907, the German entrepreneur Carl Hagenbeck founded the Tierpark Hagenbeck in Stellingen, now a quarter of Hamburg. His zoo was a radical departure from the layout of the zoo that had been established in 1828. It was the first zoo to use open enclosures surrounded by moats, rather than barred cages, to better approximate animals' natural environments.[23] He also set up mixed-species exhibits and based the layout on the different organizing principle of geography, as opposed to taxonomy.
+
+Whipsnade Park Zoo in Bedfordshire, England, opened in 1931. It allowed visitors to drive through the enclosures and come into close proximity with the animals.
+
+When ecology emerged as a matter of public interest in the 1970s, a few zoos began to consider making conservation their central role, with Gerald Durrell of the Jersey Zoo, George Rabb of Brookfield Zoo, and William Conway of the Bronx Zoo (Wildlife Conservation Society) leading the discussion. From then on, zoo professionals became increasingly aware of the need to engage themselves in conservation programs, and the American Zoo Association soon said that conservation was its highest priority.[24] In order to stress conservation issues, many large zoos stopped the practice of having animals perform tricks for visitors. The Detroit Zoo, for example, stopped its elephant show in 1969, and its chimpanzee show in 1983, acknowledging that the trainers had probably abused the animals to get them to perform.[25]
+
+The Wrocław Zoo (Polish: Ogród Zoologiczny we Wrocławiu), the oldest zoo in Poland opened in 1865 and was home to about 10,500 animals representing about 1,132 species (in terms of the number of animal species it is the third largest in the world[26]). In 2014 the Wrocław Zoo opened the Africarium, the only themed oceanarium devoted solely to exhibiting the fauna of Africa, comprehensively presenting selected ecosystems from the continent of Africa. Housing over 10 thousand animals, the facility's breadth extends from housing insects such cockroaches to the large mammals like the elephants on an area of over 33 hectares.[27]
+
+Mass destruction of wildlife habitat has yet to cease all over the world and many species such as elephants, big cats, penguins, tropical birds, primates, rhinos, exotic reptiles, and many others are in danger of dying out. Many of today's zoos hope to stop or slow the decline of many endangered species and see their primary purpose as breeding endangered species in captivity and reintroducing them into the wild. Modern zoos also aim to help teach visitors the importance on animal conservation, often through letting visitors witness the animals firsthand.[28] Some critics and the majority of animal rights activists say that zoos, no matter what their intentions are, or how noble they are, are immoral and serve as nothing but to fulfill human leisure at the expense of the animals (which is an opinion that has spread over the years). However, zoo advocates argue that their efforts make a difference in wildlife conservation and education.[28]
+
+Human beings were sometimes displayed in cages along with non-human animals, to illustrate the differences between people of European and non-European origin. In September 1906, William Hornaday, director of the Bronx Zoo in New York—with the agreement of Madison Grant, head of the New York Zoological Society—had Ota Benga, a Congolese pygmy, displayed in a cage with the chimpanzees, then with an orangutan named Dohong, and a parrot. The exhibit was intended as an example of the "missing link" between the orangutan and white man. It triggered protests from the city's clergymen, but the public reportedly flocked to see Benga.[29][30]
+
+Human beings were also displayed in cages during the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, and as late as 1958 in a "Congolese village" display at Expo '58 in Brussels.[31]
+
+Zoo animals live in enclosures that often attempt to replicate their natural habitats or behavioral patterns, for the benefit of both the animals and visitors. Nocturnal animals are often housed in buildings with a reversed light-dark cycle, i.e. only dim white or red lights are on during the day so the animals are active during visitor hours, and brighter lights on at night when the animals sleep. Special climate conditions may be created for animals living in extreme environments, such as penguins. Special enclosures for birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, fish, and other aquatic life forms have also been developed. Some zoos have walk-through exhibits where visitors enter enclosures of non-aggressive species, such as lemurs, marmosets, birds, lizards, and turtles. Visitors are asked to keep to paths and avoid showing or eating foods that the animals might snatch.
+
+Some zoos keep animals in larger, outdoor enclosures, confining them with moats and fences, rather than in cages. Safari parks, also known as zoo parks and lion farms, allow visitors to drive through them and come in close proximity to the animals.[9] Sometimes, visitors are able to feed animals through the car windows. The first safari park was Whipsnade Park in Bedfordshire, England, opened by the Zoological Society of London in 1931 which today (2014) covers 600 acres (2.4 km²). Since the early 1970s, an 1,800 acre (7 km²) park in the San Pasqual Valley near San Diego has featured the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, run by the Zoological Society of San Diego. One of two state-supported zoo parks in North Carolina is the 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.[32] The 500-acre (2.0 km2) Werribee Open Range Zoo in Melbourne, Australia, displays animals living in an artificial savannah.
+
+The first public aquarium was opened at the London Zoo in 1853. This was followed by the opening of public aquaria in continental Europe (e.g. Paris in 1859, Hamburg in 1864, Berlin in 1869, and Brighton in 1872) and the United States (e.g. Boston in 1859, Washington in 1873, San Francisco Woodward's Garden in 1873, and the New York Aquarium at Battery Park in 1896).
+
+Roadside zoos are found throughout North America, particularly in remote locations. They are often small, for-profit zoos, often intended to attract visitors to some other facility, such as a gas station. The animals may be trained to perform tricks, and visitors are able to get closer to them than in larger zoos.[33] Since they are sometimes less regulated, roadside zoos are often subject to accusations of neglect[34] and cruelty.[35]
+
+In June 2014 the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Iowa-based roadside Cricket Hollow Zoo for violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to provide proper care for its animals.[36] Since filing the lawsuit, ALDF has obtained records from investigations conducted by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services; these records show that the zoo is also violating the Animal Welfare Act.[37]
+
+A petting zoo, also called petting farms or children's zoos, features a combination of domestic animals and wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. To ensure the animals' health, the food is supplied by the zoo, either from vending machines or a kiosk nearby.
+
+An animal theme park is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertaining and commercial purposes. Marine mammal parks such as Sea World and Marineland are more elaborate dolphinariums keeping whales, and containing additional entertainment attractions. Another kind of animal theme park contains more entertainment and amusement elements than the classical zoo, such as a stage shows, roller coasters, and mythical creatures. Some examples are Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida, both Disney's Animal Kingdom and Gatorland in Orlando, Florida, Flamingo Land in North Yorkshire, England, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California.
+
+By the year 2000 most animals being displayed in zoos were the offspring of other zoo animals.[citation needed]  This trend, however was and still is somewhat species-specific. When animals are transferred between zoos, they usually spend time in quarantine, and are given time to acclimatize to their new enclosures which are often designed to mimic their natural environment. For example, some species of penguins may require refrigerated enclosures. Guidelines on necessary care for such animals is published in the International Zoo Yearbook.[38]
+
+The position of most modern zoos in Australasia, Asia, Europe, and North America, particularly those with scientific societies, is that they display wild animals primarily for the conservation of endangered species, as well as for research purposes and education, and secondarily for the entertainment of visitors,[39][40] an argument disputed by critics. The Zoological Society of London states in its charter that its aim is "the advancement of Zoology and Animal Physiology and the introduction of new and curious subjects of the Animal Kingdom." It maintains two research institutes, the Nuffield Institute of Comparative Medicine and the Wellcome Institute of Comparative Physiology. In the U.S., the Penrose Research Laboratory of the Philadelphia Zoo focuses on the study of comparative pathology.[9] The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums produced its first conservation strategy in 1993, and in November 2004, it adopted a new strategy that sets out the aims and mission of zoological gardens of the 21st century.[41]
+
+Conservation programs all over the world fight to protect species from going extinct, but the unfortunate reality is, most conservation programs are underfunded and underrepresented. Conservation programs can struggle to fight bigger issues like habitat loss and illness. To rebuild degrading habitats takes major funding and a massive amount of time, both of which are scarce in conservation efforts. The current state of conservation programs cannot rely solely on situ (onsite conservation) plans alone, ex-situ (off-site conservation) is often needed. Off-site conservation relies on zoos, national parks, or other care facilities to support the rehabilitation of the animals and their populations. Zoos benefit conservation by providing suitable habitats and care to endangered animals. When properly regulated, they present a safe, clean environment for the animals to diversely repopulate. A study on amphibian conservation and zoos addressed these problems by writing,
+
+Whilst addressing in situ threats, particularly habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, is of primary importance; for many amphibian species in situ conservation alone will not be enough, especially in light of current un-mitigatable threats that can impact populations very rapidly such as chytridiomycosis [an infectious fungal disease]. Ex-situ programmes can complement in situ activities in a number of ways including maintaining genetically and demographically viable populations while threats are either better understood or mitigated in the wild [42]
+
+The breeding of endangered species is coordinated by cooperative breeding programmes containing international studbooks and coordinators, who evaluate the roles of individual animals and institutions from a global or regional perspective, and there are regional programmes all over the world for the conservation of endangered species. In Africa, conservation is handled by the African Preservation Program (APP);[43] in the U.S. and Canada by Species Survival Plans;[44] in Australasia, by the Australasian Species Management Program;[45] in Europe, by the European Endangered Species Program;[46] and in Japan, South Asia, and South East Asia, by the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the South Asian Zoo Association for Regional Cooperation, and the South East Asian Zoo Association.
+
+Besides conservation of captive species, large zoos may form a suitable environment for wild native animals such as herons to live in or visit. A colony of black-crowned night herons has regularly summered at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. for more than a century.[47] Some zoos may provide information to visitors on wild animals visiting or living in the zoo, or encourage them by directing them to specific feeding or breeding platforms.[48][49]
+
+In modern, well-regulated zoos, breeding is controlled to maintain a self-sustaining, global captive population. This is not the case in some less well-regulated zoos, often based in poorer regions. Overall "stock turnover" of animals during a year in a select group of poor zoos was reported as 20%-25% with 75% of wild caught apes dying in captivity within the first 20 months.[50] The authors of the report stated that before successful breeding programs, the high mortality rate was the reason for the "massive scale of importations."
+
+One 2-year study indicated that of 19,361 mammals that left accredited zoos in the U.S. between 1992 and 1998, 7,420 (38%) went to dealers, auctions, hunting ranches, unaccredited zoos and individuals, and game farms.[51]
+
+The Movement
+
+Aspects
+
+Ideas
+
+Related
+
+The welfare of zoo animals varies widely. Many zoos work to improve their animal enclosures and make it fit the animals' needs, although constraints such as size and expense make it difficult to create ideal captive environments for many species.[52][53]
+
+A study examining data collected over four decades found that polar bears, lions, tigers and cheetahs show evidence of stress in captivity.[54] Zoos can be internment camps for animals, but also a place of refuge. A zoo can be considered an internment camp due to the insufficient enclosures that the animals have to live in.  When an elephant is placed in a pen that is flat, has no tree, no other elephants and only a few plastic toys to play with; it can lead to boredom and foot problems (Lemonic, McDowel, and Bjerklie 50). Also, animals can have a shorter life span when they are in these types of enclosures. Causes can be human diseases, materials in the cages, and possible escape attempts (Bendow 382).  However, when zoos take time to think about the animal's welfare, zoos can become a place of refuge. There are animals that are injured in the wild and are unable to survive on their own, but in the zoos they can live out the rest of their lives healthy and happy (McGaffin). In recent years, some zoos have chosen to stop showing their larger animals because they are simply unable to provide an adequate enclosure for them (Lemonic, McDowell, and Bjerklie 50).
+
+Some critics and many animal rights activists argue that zoo animals are treated as voyeuristic objects, rather than living creatures, and often suffer due to the transition from being free and wild to captivity.[55] In the last 2 decades, European and North-American zoos, strongly depend on breeding within zoos, while decreasing the number of wild caught animals.[clarification needed]
+
+Many modern zoos attempt to improve animal welfare by providing more space and behavioural enrichments.  This often involves housing the animals in naturalistic enclosures that allow the animals to express some of their natural behaviours, such as roaming and foraging. However, many animals remain in barren concrete enclosures or other minimally enriched cages.[56]
+
+Animals which naturally range over many km each day, or make seasonal migrations, are unable to perform these behaviors in zoo enclosures. For example, elephants usually travel approximately 45 km (28 mi) each day.[57]
+
+Animals in zoos often exhibit behaviors that are abnormal in their frequency, intensity, or would not normally be part of their behavioural repertoire. These are usually indicative of stress.[58] For example, elephants sometimes perform head-bobbing, bears sometimes pace repeatedly around the limits of their enclosure, wild cats sometimes groom themselves obsessively, and birds pluck out their own feathers.[57] Some critics of zoos claim that the animals are always under physical and mental stress, regardless of the quality of care towards the animals.[59] Elephants have been recorded displaying stereotypical behaviours in the form of swaying back and forth, trunk swaying or route tracing. This has been observed in 54% of individuals in UK zoos.[60]
+
+Elephants in Japanese zoos have shorter lifespans than their wild counterparts at only 17 years, although other studies suggest that zoo elephants live as long as those in the wild.[61] On the other hand, many other animals, such as reptiles, can live much longer than they would in the wild.
+
+Climatic conditions can make it difficult to keep some animals in zoos in some locations. For example, Alaska Zoo had an elephant named Maggie. She was housed in a small, indoor enclosure because the outdoor temperature was too low.[62][63]
+
+Especially in large animals, a limited number of spaces are available in zoos. As a consequence, various management tools are used to preserve the space for the most "valuable" individuals and reduce the risk of inbreeding. Management of animal populations is typically through international organizations such as AZA and EAZA.[64] Zoos have several different ways of managing the animal populations, such as moves between zoos, contraception, sale of excess animals and euthanization (culling).[65]
+
+Contraception can be effective, but may also have health repercussions and can be difficult (or even impossible) to reverse in some animals.[66] Additionally, some species may lose their reproductive capability entirely if prevented from breeding for a period (whether through contraceptives or isolation), but further study is needed on the subject.[64] Sale of surplus animals from zoos was once common and in some cases animals have ended up in substandard facilities. In recent decades the practice of selling animals from certified zoos has declined.[65] A large number of animals are culled each year in zoos, but this is controversial.[67] A highly publicized culling as part of population management was that of a healthy giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo in 2014. The zoo argued that its genes already were well-represented in captivity, making the giraffe unsuitable for future breeding. There were offers to adopt it and an online petition to save it had many thousand signatories, but the culling proceeded.[68] Although zoos in some countries have been open about culling, the controversy of the subject and pressure from the public has resulted in others being closed.[65] This stands in contrast to most zoos publicly announcing animal births.[65] Furthermore, while many zoos are willing to cull smaller and/or low-profile animals, fewer are willing to do it with larger high-profile species.[65][67]
+
+In many countries, feeding live vertebrates to zoo animals is illegal, except in exceptional circumstances.[citation needed]  For example, some snakes refuse to eat dead prey. However, in the Badaltearing Safari Park in China, visitors can throw live goats into the lion enclosure and watch them being eaten, or can purchase live chickens tied to bamboo rods for the equivalent of 2 dollars/euros to dangle into lion pens.  Visitors can drive through the lion compound in buses with specially designed chutes which they can use to push live chickens into the enclosure. In the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in south-east China, live cows and pigs are thrown to tigers to amuse visitors.[69]
+
+In the United States, any public animal exhibit must be licensed and inspected by the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Depending on the animals they exhibit, the activities of zoos are regulated by laws including the Endangered Species Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and others.[70]
+
+Additionally, zoos in several countries may choose to pursue accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which originated in the U.S. To achieve accreditation, a zoo must pass an application and inspection process and meet or exceed the AZA's standards for animal health and welfare, fundraising, zoo staffing, and involvement in global conservation efforts. Inspection is performed by three experts (typically one veterinarian, one expert in animal care, and one expert in zoo management and operations) and then reviewed by a panel of twelve experts before accreditation is awarded. This accreditation process is repeated once every five years. The AZA estimates that there are approximately 2,400 animal exhibits operating under USDA license as of February 2007; fewer than 10% are accredited.[71]
+
+The European Union introduced a directive to strengthen the conservation role of zoos, making it a statutory requirement that they participate in conservation and education, and requiring all member states to set up systems for their licensing and inspection.[72] Zoos are regulated in the UK by the Zoo Licensing Act of 1981, which came into effect in 1984. A zoo is defined as any "establishment where wild animals are kept for exhibition ... to which members of the public have access, with or without charge for admission, seven or more days in any period of twelve consecutive months", excluding circuses and pet shops. The Act requires that all zoos be inspected and licensed, and that animals kept in enclosures are provided with a suitable environment in which they can express most normal behavior.[72]

en/6161.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+Zoology (/zoʊˈɒlədʒi/)[note 1] is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion, i.e. "animal" and λόγος, logos, i.e. "knowledge, study".[1]
+
+The history of zoology traces the study of the animal kingdom from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of zoology as a single coherent field arose much later, the zoological sciences emerged from natural history reaching back to the biological works of Aristotle and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This ancient work was further developed in the Middle Ages by Muslim physicians and scholars such as Albertus Magnus.[2][3][4] During the Renaissance and early modern period, zoological thought was revolutionized in Europe by a renewed interest in empiricism and the discovery of many novel organisms. Prominent in this movement were Vesalius and William Harvey, who used experimentation and careful observation in physiology, and naturalists such as Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and Buffon who began to classify the diversity of life and the fossil record, as well as the development and behavior of organisms. Microscopy revealed the previously unknown world of microorganisms, laying the groundwork for cell theory.[5]  The growing importance of natural theology, partly a response to the rise of mechanical philosophy, encouraged the growth of natural history (although it entrenched the argument from design).
+
+Over the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, zoology became an increasingly professional scientific discipline. Explorer-naturalists such as Alexander von Humboldt investigated the interaction between organisms and their environment, and the ways this relationship depends on geography, laying the foundations for biogeography, ecology and ethology. Naturalists began to reject essentialism and consider the importance of extinction and the mutability of species. Cell theory provided a new perspective on the fundamental basis of life.[6][7]
+
+These developments, as well as the results from embryology and paleontology, were synthesized in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1859, Darwin placed the theory of organic evolution on a new footing, by his discovery of a process by which organic evolution can occur, and provided observational evidence that it had done so.[8]
+
+Darwin gave a new direction to morphology and physiology, by uniting them in a common biological theory: the theory of organic evolution. The result was a reconstruction of the classification of animals upon a genealogical basis, fresh investigation of the development of animals, and early attempts to determine their genetic relationships. The end of the 19th century saw the fall of spontaneous generation and the rise of the germ theory of disease, though the mechanism of inheritance remained a mystery. In the early 20th century, the rediscovery of Mendel's work led to the rapid development of genetics, and by the 1930s the combination of population genetics and natural selection in the modern synthesis created evolutionary biology.[9]
+
+Cell biology studies the structural and physiological properties of cells, including their behavior, interactions, and environment. This is done on both the microscopic and molecular levels, for single-celled organisms such as bacteria as well as the specialized cells in multicellular organisms such as humans.  Understanding the structure and function of cells is fundamental to all of the biological sciences. The similarities and differences between cell types are particularly relevant to molecular biology.
+
+Anatomy considers the forms of macroscopic structures such as organs and organ systems.[10] It focuses on how organs and organ systems work together in the bodies of humans and animals, in addition to how they work independently. Anatomy and cell biology are two studies that are closely related, and can be categorized under "structural" studies.
+
+Physiology studies the mechanical, physical, and biochemical processes of living organisms by attempting to understand how all of the structures function as a whole. The theme of "structure to function" is central to biology. Physiological studies have traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology, but some principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human species. Physiology studies how for example nervous, immune, endocrine, respiratory, and circulatory systems, function and interact.
+
+Evolutionary research is concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change over time, and includes scientists from many taxonomically oriented disciplines. For example, it generally involves scientists who have special training in particular organisms such as mammalogy, ornithology, herpetology, or entomology, but use those organisms as systems to answer general questions about evolution.
+
+Evolutionary biology is partly based on paleontology, which uses the fossil record to answer questions about the mode and tempo of evolution,[11] and partly on the developments in areas such as population genetics[12] and evolutionary theory. Following the development of DNA fingerprinting techniques in the late 20th century, the application of these techniques in zoology has increased the understanding of animal populations.[13]  In the 1980s, developmental biology re-entered evolutionary biology from its initial exclusion from the modern synthesis through the study of evolutionary developmental biology.[14] Related fields often considered part of evolutionary biology are phylogenetics, systematics, and taxonomy.
+
+Scientific classification in zoology, is a method by which zoologists group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is a form of scientific taxonomy. Modern biological classification has its root in the work of Carl Linnaeus, who grouped species according to shared physical characteristics. These groupings have since been revised to improve consistency with the Darwinian principle of common descent. Molecular phylogenetics, which uses DNA sequences as data, has driven many recent revisions and is likely to continue to do so. Biological classification belongs to the science of zoological systematics.
+
+Many scientists now consider the five-kingdom system outdated. Modern alternative classification systems generally start with the three-domain system: Archaea (originally Archaebacteria); Bacteria (originally Eubacteria); Eukaryota (including protists, fungi, plants, and animals)[15]  These domains reflect whether the cells have nuclei or not, as well as differences in the chemical composition of the cell exteriors.[15]
+
+Further, each kingdom is broken down recursively until each species is separately classified. The order is:
+Domain; kingdom; phylum; class; order; family; genus; species. The scientific name of an organism is generated from its genus and species. For example, humans are listed as Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus, and sapiens the specific epithet, both of them combined make up the species name. When writing the scientific name of an organism, it is proper to capitalize the first letter in the genus and put all of the specific epithet in lowercase. Additionally, the entire term may be italicized or underlined.[16]
+
+The dominant classification system is called the Linnaean taxonomy. It includes ranks and binomial nomenclature. The classification, taxonomy, and nomenclature of zoological organisms is administered by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. A merging draft, BioCode, was published in 1997 in an attempt to standardize nomenclature, but has yet to be formally adopted.[17]
+
+Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behavior under natural conditions,[18]  as opposed to behaviourism, which focuses on behavioral response studies in a laboratory setting.  Ethologists have been particularly concerned with the evolution of behavior and the understanding of behavior in terms of the theory of natural selection. In one sense, the first modern ethologist was Charles Darwin, whose book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, influenced many future ethologists.[19]
+
+Biogeography studies the spatial distribution of organisms on the Earth,[20] focusing on topics like plate tectonics, climate change, dispersal and migration, and cladistics. The creation of this study is widely accredited to Alfred Russel Wallace, a British biologist who had some of his work jointly published with Charles Darwin.
+
+Although the study of animal life is ancient, its scientific incarnation is relatively modern. This mirrors the transition from natural history to biology at the start of the 19th century. Since Hunter and Cuvier, comparative anatomical study has been associated with morphography, shaping the modern areas of zoological investigation:  anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology, teratology and ethology.[21] Modern zoology first arose in German and British universities. In Britain, Thomas Henry Huxley was a prominent figure. His ideas were centered on the morphology of animals. Many consider him the greatest comparative anatomist of the latter half of the 19th century. Similar to Hunter, his courses were composed of lectures and laboratory practical classes in contrast to the previous format of lectures only.
+
+Gradually zoology expanded beyond Huxley's comparative anatomy to include the following sub-disciplines:
+
+Related fields:

en/6162.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+Zoology (/zoʊˈɒlədʒi/)[note 1] is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion, i.e. "animal" and λόγος, logos, i.e. "knowledge, study".[1]
+
+The history of zoology traces the study of the animal kingdom from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of zoology as a single coherent field arose much later, the zoological sciences emerged from natural history reaching back to the biological works of Aristotle and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This ancient work was further developed in the Middle Ages by Muslim physicians and scholars such as Albertus Magnus.[2][3][4] During the Renaissance and early modern period, zoological thought was revolutionized in Europe by a renewed interest in empiricism and the discovery of many novel organisms. Prominent in this movement were Vesalius and William Harvey, who used experimentation and careful observation in physiology, and naturalists such as Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and Buffon who began to classify the diversity of life and the fossil record, as well as the development and behavior of organisms. Microscopy revealed the previously unknown world of microorganisms, laying the groundwork for cell theory.[5]  The growing importance of natural theology, partly a response to the rise of mechanical philosophy, encouraged the growth of natural history (although it entrenched the argument from design).
+
+Over the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, zoology became an increasingly professional scientific discipline. Explorer-naturalists such as Alexander von Humboldt investigated the interaction between organisms and their environment, and the ways this relationship depends on geography, laying the foundations for biogeography, ecology and ethology. Naturalists began to reject essentialism and consider the importance of extinction and the mutability of species. Cell theory provided a new perspective on the fundamental basis of life.[6][7]
+
+These developments, as well as the results from embryology and paleontology, were synthesized in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1859, Darwin placed the theory of organic evolution on a new footing, by his discovery of a process by which organic evolution can occur, and provided observational evidence that it had done so.[8]
+
+Darwin gave a new direction to morphology and physiology, by uniting them in a common biological theory: the theory of organic evolution. The result was a reconstruction of the classification of animals upon a genealogical basis, fresh investigation of the development of animals, and early attempts to determine their genetic relationships. The end of the 19th century saw the fall of spontaneous generation and the rise of the germ theory of disease, though the mechanism of inheritance remained a mystery. In the early 20th century, the rediscovery of Mendel's work led to the rapid development of genetics, and by the 1930s the combination of population genetics and natural selection in the modern synthesis created evolutionary biology.[9]
+
+Cell biology studies the structural and physiological properties of cells, including their behavior, interactions, and environment. This is done on both the microscopic and molecular levels, for single-celled organisms such as bacteria as well as the specialized cells in multicellular organisms such as humans.  Understanding the structure and function of cells is fundamental to all of the biological sciences. The similarities and differences between cell types are particularly relevant to molecular biology.
+
+Anatomy considers the forms of macroscopic structures such as organs and organ systems.[10] It focuses on how organs and organ systems work together in the bodies of humans and animals, in addition to how they work independently. Anatomy and cell biology are two studies that are closely related, and can be categorized under "structural" studies.
+
+Physiology studies the mechanical, physical, and biochemical processes of living organisms by attempting to understand how all of the structures function as a whole. The theme of "structure to function" is central to biology. Physiological studies have traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology, but some principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cells can also apply to human cells. The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human species. Physiology studies how for example nervous, immune, endocrine, respiratory, and circulatory systems, function and interact.
+
+Evolutionary research is concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change over time, and includes scientists from many taxonomically oriented disciplines. For example, it generally involves scientists who have special training in particular organisms such as mammalogy, ornithology, herpetology, or entomology, but use those organisms as systems to answer general questions about evolution.
+
+Evolutionary biology is partly based on paleontology, which uses the fossil record to answer questions about the mode and tempo of evolution,[11] and partly on the developments in areas such as population genetics[12] and evolutionary theory. Following the development of DNA fingerprinting techniques in the late 20th century, the application of these techniques in zoology has increased the understanding of animal populations.[13]  In the 1980s, developmental biology re-entered evolutionary biology from its initial exclusion from the modern synthesis through the study of evolutionary developmental biology.[14] Related fields often considered part of evolutionary biology are phylogenetics, systematics, and taxonomy.
+
+Scientific classification in zoology, is a method by which zoologists group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is a form of scientific taxonomy. Modern biological classification has its root in the work of Carl Linnaeus, who grouped species according to shared physical characteristics. These groupings have since been revised to improve consistency with the Darwinian principle of common descent. Molecular phylogenetics, which uses DNA sequences as data, has driven many recent revisions and is likely to continue to do so. Biological classification belongs to the science of zoological systematics.
+
+Many scientists now consider the five-kingdom system outdated. Modern alternative classification systems generally start with the three-domain system: Archaea (originally Archaebacteria); Bacteria (originally Eubacteria); Eukaryota (including protists, fungi, plants, and animals)[15]  These domains reflect whether the cells have nuclei or not, as well as differences in the chemical composition of the cell exteriors.[15]
+
+Further, each kingdom is broken down recursively until each species is separately classified. The order is:
+Domain; kingdom; phylum; class; order; family; genus; species. The scientific name of an organism is generated from its genus and species. For example, humans are listed as Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus, and sapiens the specific epithet, both of them combined make up the species name. When writing the scientific name of an organism, it is proper to capitalize the first letter in the genus and put all of the specific epithet in lowercase. Additionally, the entire term may be italicized or underlined.[16]
+
+The dominant classification system is called the Linnaean taxonomy. It includes ranks and binomial nomenclature. The classification, taxonomy, and nomenclature of zoological organisms is administered by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. A merging draft, BioCode, was published in 1997 in an attempt to standardize nomenclature, but has yet to be formally adopted.[17]
+
+Ethology is the scientific and objective study of animal behavior under natural conditions,[18]  as opposed to behaviourism, which focuses on behavioral response studies in a laboratory setting.  Ethologists have been particularly concerned with the evolution of behavior and the understanding of behavior in terms of the theory of natural selection. In one sense, the first modern ethologist was Charles Darwin, whose book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, influenced many future ethologists.[19]
+
+Biogeography studies the spatial distribution of organisms on the Earth,[20] focusing on topics like plate tectonics, climate change, dispersal and migration, and cladistics. The creation of this study is widely accredited to Alfred Russel Wallace, a British biologist who had some of his work jointly published with Charles Darwin.
+
+Although the study of animal life is ancient, its scientific incarnation is relatively modern. This mirrors the transition from natural history to biology at the start of the 19th century. Since Hunter and Cuvier, comparative anatomical study has been associated with morphography, shaping the modern areas of zoological investigation:  anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology, teratology and ethology.[21] Modern zoology first arose in German and British universities. In Britain, Thomas Henry Huxley was a prominent figure. His ideas were centered on the morphology of animals. Many consider him the greatest comparative anatomist of the latter half of the 19th century. Similar to Hunter, his courses were composed of lectures and laboratory practical classes in contrast to the previous format of lectures only.
+
+Gradually zoology expanded beyond Huxley's comparative anatomy to include the following sub-disciplines:
+
+Related fields:

en/6163.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+The Zugspitze, (German pronunciation: [ˈtsukʃpɪtsə]) at 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.[needs update]
+
+The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.
+
+Three cable cars run to the top of the Zugspitze. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car, was built in 1926 by the German company Adolf Bleichert & Co [4] and terminated on an arête below the summit at 2,805 m.a.s.l, the so-called Kammstation, before the terminus was moved to the actual summit at 2,951 m.a.s.l. in 1991. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs inside the northern flank of the mountain and ends on the Zugspitzplatt, from where a second cable car takes passengers to the top. The rack railway and the Eibsee Cable Car, the third cableway, transport an average of 500,000 people to the summit each year. In winter, nine ski lifts cover the ski area on the Zugspitzplatt. The weather station, opened in 1900, and the research station in the Schneefernerhaus are mainly used to conduct climate research.
+
+The Zugspitze belongs to the Wetterstein range of the Northern Limestone Alps. The Austria–Germany border goes right over the mountain. There used to be a border checkpoint at the summit  but, since Germany and Austria are now both part of the Schengen zone, the border crossing is no longer manned.
+
+The exact height of the Zugspitze was a matter of debate for quite a while. Given figures ranged from 2,690–2,970 metres (8,830–9,740 ft), but it is now generally accepted that the peak is 2,962 m (9,718 ft) above sea level as a result of a survey carried out by the Bavarian State Survey Office. The lounge at the new café is named "2962" for this reason.
+
+At 2,962 metres (9,718 ft) (eastern peak) the Zugspitze is the highest mountain of the Zugspitze massif. This height is referenced to the Amsterdam Gauge and is given by the Bavarian State Office for Survey and Geoinformation.[5] The same height is recorded against the Trieste Gauge used in Austria, which is 27 cm lower. Originally the Zugspitze had three peaks: the east, middle and west summits (Ost-, Mittel- and Westgipfel). The only one that has remained in its original form is the east summit, which is also the only one that lies entirely on German territory. The middle summit fell victim to one of the cable car summit stations in 1930. In 1938 the west summit was blown up to create a building site for a planned flight control room for the Wehrmacht. This was never built however. Originally the height of the west summit was given as 2,964 m (9,724 ft).[6]
+
+The mountain rises eleven kilometres southwest of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and just under six kilometres east of Ehrwald. The border between Germany and Austria runs over the west summit; thus the Zugspitze massif belongs to the German state of Bavaria and the Austrian state of Tyrol. The municipalities responsible for it are Grainau and Ehrwald. To the west the Zugspitze massif drops into the valley of the River Loisach, which flows around the massif towards the northeast in a curve whilst, in the east, the streams of Hammersbach and Partnach have their source. To the south the Gaistal valley and its river, the Leutascher Ache, separate the Wetterstein Mountains from the Mieming Chain. To the north at the foot of the Zugspitze is the lake of Eibsee. The next highest mountain in the area is the Acherkogel (3,008 m or 9,869 ft) in the Stubai Alps, which gives the Zugspitze a topographic isolation value of 24.6 kilometres. The reference point for the prominence is the Parseierspitze (3,036 m or 9,961 ft). In order to climb it from the Zugspitze, a descent to the Fern Pass (1,216 m or 3,990 ft) is required, so that the prominence is 1,746 m (5,728 ft).[7]
+
+The massif of the Zugspitze has several other peaks. To the south the Zugspitzplatt is surrounded in an arc by the Zugspitzeck (2,820 m or 9,250 ft) and Schneefernerkopf (2,874 m or 9,429 ft), the Wetterspitzen (2,747 m or 9,012 ft), the Wetterwandeck (2,698 m or 8,852 ft), the Plattspitzen (2,679 m or 8,789 ft) and the Gatterlköpfen (2,490 m or 8,170 ft). The massif ends in the Gatterl (2,024 m or 6,640 ft), a wind gap between it and the Hochwanner. Running eastwards away from the Zugspitze is the famous Jubilee Ridge or Jubiläumsgrat over the Höllentalspitzen towards the Alpspitze and Hochblassen. The short crest of the Riffelwandkamm runs northeast over the summits of the Riffelwandspitzen (2,626 m or 8,615 ft) and the Riffelköpfe (2,459 m or 8,068 ft), to the Riffel wind gap (Riffelscharte, 2,161 m or 7,090 ft). From here the ridge of the Waxensteinkamm stretches away over the Riffelspitzen to the Waxenstein.[8]
+
+The Platt or Zugspitzplatt is a plateau below the summit of the Zugspitze to the south and southeast which lies at a height of between 2,000 and 2,650 m (6,560 and 8,690 ft). It forms the head of the Reintal valley and has been shaped by a combination of weathering, karstification and glaciation. The area contains roches moutonnées, dolines and limestone pavements as a consequence of the ice ages. In addition moraines have been left behind by various glacial periods. The Platt was completely covered by a glacier for the last time at the beginning of the 19th century. Today 52% of it consists of scree, 32% of bedrock and 16% of vegetation-covered soils, especially in the middle and lower areas.[9]
+
+The climate is tundra (Köppen: ET)[10], maintaining the only glacier present in Germany, which has observed its reduction over the years.[11] From a climatic perspective the Zugspitze lies in the temperate zone and its prevailing winds are Westerlies. As the first high orographic obstacle to these Westerlies in the Alps, the Zugspitze is particularly exposed to the weather. It is effectively the north barrier of the Alps (Nordstau der Alpen), against which moist air masses pile up and release heavy precipitation. At the same time the Zugspitze acts as a protective barrier for the Alpine ranges to the south. By contrast, Föhn weather conditions push in the other direction against the massif, affecting the region for about 60 days per year. These  warm, dry air masses stream from south to north and can result in unusually high temperatures in winter. Nevertheless, frost dominates the picture on the Zugspitze with an average of 310 days per year.
+
+For the decades from 1961 to 1990 – designated by the World Meteorological Organization as the "normal period" – the average annual precipitation on the Zugspitze was 2,003.1 mm; the wettest month being April with 199 mm, and the driest, October with 108.8 mm.[12] By comparison the values for 2009 were 2,070.8 mm, the wettest month being March with 326.2 mm and the driest, January, with 56.4 mm.[13] The average temperature in the normal period was −4.8 Celsius, with July and August being the warmest at 2.2 °C and February, the coldest, with −11.4 °C.[12] By comparison the average temperature in  2009 was −4.2 °C, the warmest month was August at 5.3 °C and the coldest was February at −13.5 °C.[13] The average sunshine during the normal period was 1,846.3 hours per year, the sunniest month being  October with 188.8 hours and the darkest being December  with 116.1 hours.[12] In 2009 there were 1,836.3 hours of sunshine, the least occurring in February with just 95.4 hours and the most in April with 219 hours.[13] In 2009, according to the weather survey by the German Met Office, the Zugspitze was the coldest place in Germany with a mean annual temperature of −4.2 °C.[14]
+
+The lowest measured temperature on the Zugspitze was −35.6 °C on 14 February 1940. The highest temperature occurred on 5 July 1957 when the thermometer reached 17.9 °C. A squall on 12 June 1985 registered 335 km/h, the highest measured wind speed on the Zugspitze. In April 1944 meteorologists recorded a snow depth of 8.3 metres.[15][16]
+Nowadays, snow completely melts during summer, but in the past snow might resist the summer months, the last case when the snow failed to melt during the whole summer season was in 2000.
+
+The geological strata composing the mountain are sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic era, that were originally laid down on the seabed. The base of the mountain comprises muschelkalk beds; its upper layers are made of Wetterstein limestone. With steep rock walls up to 800 metres high, it is this Wetterstein limestone from the Upper Triassic that is mainly responsible for the rock faces, arêtes, pinnacles and the summit rocks of the mountain. Due to the frequent occurrence of marine coralline algae in the Wetterstein limestone it can be deduced that this rock was at one time formed in a lagoon. The colour of the rock varies between grey-white and light grey to speckled. In several places it contains lead and zinc ore. These minerals were mined between 1827 and 1918 in the Höllental valley. The dark grey, almost horizontal and partly grass-covered layers of muschelkalk run from the foot of the Great Riffelwandspitze to the Ehrwalder Köpfe. From the appearance of the north face of the Zugspitze it can be seen that this massif originally consisted of two mountain ranges that were piled on top of one another.[19]
+
+The flora on the Zugspitze is not particularly diverse due to the soil conditions, nevertheless the vegetation, especially in the meadows of Schachen, the Tieferen Wies near Ehrwald, and in the valleys of Höllental, Gaistal and Leutaschtal is especially colourful.
+
+The shaded and moist northern slopes of the massif like, for example, the Wettersteinwald, are some of the most species-rich environments on the Zugspitze. The mountain pine grows at elevations of up to  1,800 metres. The woods lower down consist mainly of spruce and fir, but honeysuckle, woodruff, poisonous herb paris, meadow-rue and speedwell also occur here. Dark columbine, alpine clematis, blue and yellow monkshood, stemless carline thistle, false aster, golden cinquefoil, round-leaved saxifrage, wall hawkweed, alpine calamint and alpine forget-me-not flower in the less densely wooded places, whilst cinquefoil, sticky sage, butterbur, alpenrose, Turk's cap lily and fly orchid thrive on the rocky soils of the mountain forests. Lily of the valley and daphne also occur, especially in the Höllental, in Grainau and by the Eibsee.[20]
+
+To the south the scene changes to larch (mainly in the meadow of Ehrwalder Alm and the valleys of Gaistal and Leutaschtal) and pine forests and into mixed woods of beech and sycamore. Here too, mountain pine grows at the higher elevations of over 2,000 metres.
+
+Relatively rare in the entire Zugspitze area are trees like the lime, birch, rowan, juniper and yew. The most varied species of moss, that often completely cover limestone rocks in the open, occur in great numbers.
+
+Bilberry, cranberry and cowberry are restricted to dry places and lady's slipper orchid occurs in sheltered spots. Below the Waxenstein are fields with raspberries and occasionally wild strawberries too. The alpine poppy and purple mountain saxifrage both thrive up to a very great height. On the scree slopes there are penny-cress and mouse-ear chickweed as well as mountain avens, alpine toadflax, mint and Saxifraga moschata [fr]. Following snowmelt dark stonecrop and snow gentian are the first to appear, their seeds beginning to germinate as early as August. Other well-known alpine plants like edelweiss, gentians and, more rarely, cyclamen also flower on the Zugspitze.
+
+The rocks around the Zugspitze are a habitat for chamois, whilst marmots are widespread on the southern side of the massif. At the summit there are frequently alpine choughs, drawn there by people feeding them. Somewhat lower down the mountain there are mountain hare and the hazel dormouse. Alpine birds occurring on the Zugspitze include the golden eagle, rock ptarmigan, snow finch, alpine accentor and brambling. The crag martin which has given its name to the Schwalbenwand ("Swallows' Wall") at Kreuzeck is frequently encountered. The basins of Mittenwald and Seefeld, as well as the Fern Pass are on bird migration routes.
+
+The viviparous lizard inhabits rocky terrain, as does the black alpine salamander known locally as the Bergmandl, which can be seen after rain showers as one is climbing. Butterflies like Apollo, Thor's fritillary, gossamer-winged butterfly, geometer moth, ringlet and skipper may be seen on the west and south sides of the Zugspitze massif, especially in July and August.[21] The woods around the Zugspitze are home to red deer, red squirrel, weasel, capercaillie, hazel grouse and black grouse. On the glaciers live glacier fleas (Desoria saltans) and water bears.[22]
+
+Three of Germany's five glaciers are found on the Zugspitze massif: the Höllentalferner the Southern and Northern Schneeferner.
+
+The Höllentalferner lies northeast of the Zugspitze in a cirque below the Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the south and the Riffelwandspitzen peaks to the west and north. It has a northeast aspect. Its accumulation zone is formed by a depression, in which large quantities of avalanche snow collect. To the south the Jubiläumsgrat shields the glacier from direct sunshine. These conditions meant that the glacier only lost a relatively small area between 1981 and 2006.[23] In recent times the Höllentalferner reached its greatest around 1820 with an area of 47 hectares. Thereafter its area reduced continually until the period between 1950 and 1981 when it grew again, by 3.1 hectares to 30.2 hectares. Since then the glacier has lost (as at 2006) an area of 5.5 hectares and now has an area of 24.7 hectares. In 2006 the glacier head was at 2,569 m and its lowest point at 2,203 metres.[24]
+
+Southwest of the Zugspitze, between the Zugspitzeck and Schneefernerkopf, is the Northern Schneeferner which has an eastern aspect. With an area of 30.7 hectares (2006) it is the largest German glacier. Around 1820 the entire Zugspitzplatt was glaciated, but of this Platt Glacier (Plattgletscher) only the Northern and Southern Schneeferner remain. The reason for the relatively constant area of the Northern Schneeferner in recent years, despite the lack of shade, is the favourable terrain that results in the glacier tending to grow or shrink in depth rather than area. In the recent past the glacier has also been artificially fed by the ski region operators, using piste tractors to heap large quantities of snow onto the glacier in order to extend the skiing season.
+
+At the beginning of the 1990s, ski slope operators began to cover the Northern Schneeferner in summer with artificial sheets in order to protect it from sunshine.[25][26] The Northern Schneeferner reached its last high point in 1979, when its area grew to 40.9 hectares. By 2006 it had shrunk to 30.7 hectares. The glacier head then lay at 2,789 m and the foot at 2,558 metres.[27]
+
+The Southern Schneeferner is surrounded by the peaks of the Wetterspitzen and the Wetterwandeck. It is also a remnant of the once great Platt Glacier. Today, the Southern Schneeferner extends up as far as the arête and therefore has no protection from direct sunshine. It has also been divided into two basins by a ridge of rock that has appeared as the snow has receded. It is a matter of debate whether the Southern Schneeferner should still be classified as a glacier.[28] The Southern Schneeferner also reached its last high point in 1979, when it covered an area of 31.7 hectares. This had shrunk by 2006 to just 8.4 hectares however. The highest point of the glacier lies at an elevation of 2,665 metres and the lowest at 2,520 metres.[29]
+
+Below the Zugspitzplatt chemical weathering processes have created a large number of caves and abîmes in the Wetterstein limestone. In the 1930s the number of caves was estimated at 300. By 1955 62 caves were known to exist and by 1960 another 47 had been discovered. The first cave explorations here took place in 1931. Other, largest exploratory expeditions took place in 1935 and 1936 as well as between 1955 and 1968. During one expedition, in 1958, the Finch Shaft (Finkenschacht) was discovered. It is 131 metres deep, 260 metres long and has a watercourse. There is a theory that this watercourse could be a link to the source of the River Partnach.[Note 2][30][31]
+
+From the early 14th century, geographic names from the Wetterstein Mountains began to be recorded in treaties and on maps, and this trend intensified in the 15th century. In 1536 a border treaty dating to 1500 was refined in that its course was specified as running over a Schartten ("wind gap" or "col").[32] In the 17th century the reference to this landmark in the treaty was further clarified as "now known as the Zugspüz" (jetzt Zugspüz genant).[32] The landmark referred to was a wind gap on the summit of the Zugspitze and is used time and again in other sources. During the Middle Ages Scharte was a common name for the Zugspitze.[32]
+
+The Zugspitze was first mentioned by name in 1590. In a description of the border between the County of Werdenfels and Austria, it states that the same border runs "from the Zugspitz and over the Derle" (von dem Zugspitz und über den Derle")[33] and continues to a bridge over the River Loisach. Another border treaty in 1656 states: "The highest Wetterstein or Zugspitz" ("Der höchste Wetterstain oder Zugspitz").[33] There is also a map dating to the second half of the 18th century that shows "the Reintal in the County of Werdenfels". It covers the Reintal valley from the Reintaler Hof to the Zugspitzplatt and shows prominent points in the surrounding area, details of tracks and roads and the use pasture use. This includes a track over the then much larger Schneeferner glacier to the summit region of the  Zugspitze. However the map does not show any obvious route to the summit itself.[34]
+
+The name of the Zugspitze is probably derived from its Zugbahnen or avalanche paths. In winter avalanches sweep down from the upper slopes of the massif into the valley and leave behind characteristic avalanche remnants in the shape of rocks and scree.
+Near the Eibsee lake there are several plots of land with the same root: Zug, Zuggasse, Zugstick, Zugmösel or Zugwankel.[33] Until the 19th century the name der Zugspitz (male gender) was commonplace. It was described as die Zugspitze (female gender) for the first time on a map printed in 1836.[35] The spelling Zugspitz is still used in the Bavarian dialect.
+
+Since 1851 there has been a summit cross on the top of Zugspitze. The driving force behind the erection of a cross on the summit was the priest, Christoph Ott. He was a keen meteorologist and whilst observing conditions from the Hoher Peißenberg mountain he saw the Zugspitze in the distance and was exercised by the fact that "the greatest prince of the Bavarian mountains raised its head into the blue air towards heaven, bare and unadorned, waiting for the moment when patriotic fervour and courageous determination would see that his head too was crowned with dignity."[36] As a result, he organised an expedition from 11 to 13 August 1851 with the goal of erecting a summit cross on the Zugspitze. Twenty eight bearers were led through the gorge of the Partnachklamm and the Reintal valley under the direction of forester, Karl Kiendl, up to the Zugspitze. The undertaking, which cost 610 Gulden and 37 Kreuzer, was a success. As a result, a 28-piece, 14 foot high, gilded iron cross now stood on the West Summit. Ott himself did not climb the Zugspitze until 1854.
+
+After 37 years the cross had to be taken down after suffering numerous lightning strikes; its support brackets were also badly damaged. In the winter of 1881–1882 it was therefore brought down into the valley and repaired. On 25 August 1882 seven mountain guides and  15 bearers took the cross back to the top. Because an accommodation shed had been built on the West Summit, the team placed the cross on the East Summit. There it remained for about 111 years, until it was removed again on 18 August 1993. This time the damage was not only caused by the weather, but also by American soldiers who used the cross as target practice in 1945, at the end of the Second World War. Because the summit cross could no longer be repaired, a replica was made that was true to the original cross. After two months the rack railway carried the new cross on 12 October to the Zugspitzplatt, from where it was flown to the summit by helicopter. The new cross has a height of 4.88 metres.[37] It was renovated and regilded in 2009 for 15,000 euros and, since 22 April 2009, has stood once again on the East Summit.[38]
+
+The first recorded ascent to the summit was accomplished by a team of land surveyors on 27 August 1820. The team was led by Lieutenant Josef Naus, who was accompanied by two men named Maier and G. Deutschl. However, local people had conquered the peak over 50 years earlier, according to a 1770 map discovered by the Alpenverein.[39]
+
+In 1854, the northern part of the Zugspitze was given to Bavaria as a present by Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary Franz Joseph I as a marriage present to his wife Princess Elisabeth ("Sissi"). Since then the Zugspitze is the highest mountain of Bavaria and later of Germany.
+
+On 7 January 1882 the first successful winter assault on the Zugspitze was accomplished by F. Kilger, H. and J. Zametzer and H. Schwaiger.
+
+Pilot, Frank Hailer, caused a stir on 19 March 1922, when he landed a plane with skids on the Schneeferner glacier. On 29 April 1927 Ernst Udet succeeded in taking off from the Schneeferner with a glider; he landed at Lermoos after a 25-minute flight. The glider had been disassembled into individual parts and transported up the Zugspitze by cable car. In the winter of 1931/32, a post office was set up on the Zugspitze by the German Imperial Post Office or Reichspost. It still exists today in the Sonnalpin restaurant and has the postal address: 82475 Zugspitze. In 1931, four years after the first glider flight, the first balloon took off from the Zugspitze
+
+In April 1933, the mountain was occupied by of 24 storm troopers, who hoisted a swastika flag on top the tower on the weather station. A month later, SA and SS deployed on the Schneeferner in the shape of a swastika. On 20 April 1945 the US Air Force dropped bombs on the Zugspitze that destroyed the valley station of the Tyrolean Zugspitze Railway and the hotel on the ridge. After the war the Allies seized the railway and Schneefernerhaus.
+
+Shortly after World War II the US military took over the Schneefernerhaus (as the hotel at the top was then called) for the exclusive use of US military and civilian employees. Room rates, including meals, were US$1 per day. Ski lessons were available, taught by Austrians and Germans, at a cost of US$0.25 per hour.
+
+In 1948, the German Federal Post Office (Deutsche Bundespost) began operating a microwave radio station at the summit. In September of that year, three artistes walked a steel tightrope stretched between the East and West Summits. Two members of the Traber family traversed the same route in 1953 on a tightrope on a motorcycle. Since 1953, an annual Gatterl Mass (Gatterlmesse) has been held on the Gatterl mountain to commemorate the four members of the Bavarian Border Police who died in an avalanche in 1952 as well as all those who have died on the Zugspitze.[40]
+
+In 1962 a fire destroyed the ridge hotel by the mountain station of the Tyrolean Zugspitze Railway. The 1976 Friuli earthquake was also felt particularly strongly on the Zugspitze: the duty meteorologist feared that the observation tower might collapse.[41] In 1981 a chapel was founded on the Zugspitze, which was consecrated by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger, in October on the feast of Visitation. On 25 March, an automated teller machine was installed at the summit station; it has since been removed. In 1995, a 450 square metre exhibition area was opened at the summit, in which artists present their work for six months, before the exhibition is changed. In 1995, the border between Germany and Austria at the summit was opened.[42]
+
+Since 2000, the Zugspitze extreme mountain run has been held annually. In July 2008 there were repercussions in the media when, as the result of a sudden drop in temperature, two participants died of exhaustion and hypothermia[43] At the end of August 2009 the Swiss, Freddy Nock, walked along a cable of the Zugspitze Glacier Cable Car from the Zugspitzplatt to the summit. He covered the 995-metre-long, up to 56% steep route (which had a height difference of 348 metres) unsecured in 50 minutes.[44]
+
+There are several theories about the first ascent of the Zugspitze. The chronological table on an 18th-century map describes the route "along the path to the Zugspitze" ("ybers blath uf Zugspitze")[45] and gives a realistic duration of 8.5 hours, so that it is reasonable to deduce that the summit had been climbed before 1820. The historian, Thomas Linder, believes that goatherds or hunters had at the very least penetrated to the area of the summit. It is also conceivable that smugglers used routes over the Zugspitze summit.[46] As early as 1804 cartographic surveys had taken place in the area for the County of Werdenfels. There is speculation that, in the course of this work, the royal engineer and geographer, Alois von Coulon, had reached the summit. Since Coulon worked for the Topographical Bureau, it is unlikely that his ascent would not have been noted.[47]
+
+The first recorded ascent of the Zugspitze was achieved on 27 August 1820 by Lieutenant Josef Naus and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl[Note 3] together with Naus' survey assistant and batman (servant), Maier.[48][49] As early as 21 July Naus, an officer in the Bavarian Army,[50] had asked about the route through the Reintal valley to the Northern  Schneeferner. The lieutenant was taking part in a survey exercise by the Royal Bavarian Topographic Bureau (Königlich Bairischen Topographischen Bureau) for the Atlas of Bavaria (Atlas von Bayern) in the Werdenfelser Land. On 26 August, the three of them climbed in a group together with Captain Jetze and Lieutenant Antlischek up to the shepherd's hut of Angerhütte.
+
+On 27 August around 4 in the morning, Naus, Tauschl and Maier set off for the Zugspitzplatt and Zugspitze summit. From the Schneeferner glacier they attempted to reach the West Summit along the west ridge. Their first attempt failed, but a second was successful and they finally reached the West Summit around 11:45 am, where they left behind a bergstock and cloth to mark their success. A thunderstorm and snowfall forced them to climb down again quickly. On 28 August they returned to the shepherd's hut at about 3 in the morning. The mountain guide, Tauschl, was given payment of two gulden and 42 kreuzer.[51]
+
+In 1823, Simon Resch and the sheep Toni became the first to reach the East Summit. Simon Resch was also led the second ascent of the East Summit on 18 September 1834 with his son, Johann, and the mountain guide, Johann Barth. Because Resch's first ascent had been doubted, this time a fire was lit on the summit. On the 27th the summit was climbed for a third time by royal forester's assistants, Franz Oberst and Schwepfinger, along with Johann Barth. Oberst erected a flagpole on the summit with a Bavarian flag that was visible from the valley. The first ascent from Austria took place in August 1837. The surveyors, Joseph Feuerstein and Joseph Sonnweber, climbed to the West Summit from Ehrwald and left behind a signal pole with their initials on it. The West Summit was conquered for the third time on 10 September 1843 by the shepherd Peter Pfeifer. He was asked about the route by a group of eight climbers who later reached the summit at the behest of Bavaria's Crown Princess Marie. She had the route checked in preparation for her own ascent of the Zugspitze. On 22 September 1853, Karoline Pitzner became the first woman on the Zugspitze.
+
+The first crossing from the West to the East Summit was achieved in 1857 by Dr. Härtringer from Munich and mountain guide, Joseph Ostler. The Irish brother, Trench, and Englishman, Cluster, succeeded in climbing the West Summit on 8 July 1871 through the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar) under the guidance of brothers, Joseph and Joseph Sonnweber. The route through the Höllental valley to the Zugspitze was first used on 26 September 1876 by Franz Tillmetz and Franz Johannes with guides, Johann and Joseph Dengg. The first winter ascent of the West Summit took place on 7 Januar 1882; the climbers being Ferdinand Kilger, Heinrich Schwaiger, Josef and Heinrich Zametzer and Alois Zott. The Jubilee Arête (Jubiläumsgrat) was first crossed in its entirety on 2 September 1897 by Ferdinand Henning. The number of climbers on the Zugspitze rose sharply year on year. If the summit had been climbed 22 times in 1854, by 1899 it had received 1,600 ascents.  Before the construction of a cable car in 1926 there had already been over 10,000 ascents.[52]
+
+The easiest of the normal routes runs through the Reintal valley and is that followed during the first ascent. At the same time it is also the longest climb. Its start point is the ski stadium (730 m or 2,400 ft) at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The route runs through the gorge of the Partnachklamm and along the Partnach river to the Bock Hut (1,052 m or 3,451 ft), where the Reintal begins. Above the Partnach, which has meanwhile sunk underground, the route runs up to the Reintalanger Hut (1,370 m or 4,490 ft). From there the climb is relatively gentle to start with, but then becomes steeper. From the hut the track runs through the Brunntal up to the Knorr Hut (2,057 m or 6,749 ft), which stands on the eastern rim of the Zugspitzplatt. Here it meets the alternative route from Ehrwald via the Gaistal and the Gatterl at the Reintal Way. The route now runs over the Zugspitzplatt towards the Northern Schneeferner. The protected section of the climb to the Zugspitze summit begins above the Sonn-Alpin restaurant at Point 2815. The route climbs through a height of 2,232  metres and the true duration is between eight and ten hours.[8][53]
+
+The ascent starts in Hammersbach (758 m or 2,487 ft) through the Höllental along the Hammersbach stream. The path runs through the Höllental Gorge (Höllentalklamm) and was built from 1902 to 1905. Twelve tunnels were driven in the rock of the 1,026 metre long gorge with a total length of 288 metres. Another 569 metres of path was dynamited into the rock in the shape of a half profile, whilst 120 metres was led over footbridges and  49 metres over scree. The construction costs came to a total of 57,000 gold marks. Each year around 60,000 people pass through the gorge.[54] The gorge can also be circumnavigated over the Stangensteig path. After the gorge the route heads for the  Höllentalanger Hut (1,381 m or 4,531 ft), after which it crosses the Höllentalanger stream. Above that the Brett is crossed on steel pins fixed to a rock face. Crossing the Grünen Buckel the trail runs up to the Höllentalferner glacier. The glacier is mostly snow-free in summer so that crampons are required to cross it. Even more difficult is the randkluft because the ice retreats further and further from the rock as it melts. After the glacier there is a klettersteig to the summit of the Zugspitze. This route climbs through a height of 2,204 m (7,231 ft), for which between seven and eight hours are needed. There is also the option of getting to the Höllental route on the Riffelsteig path from Eibsee. This path crosses the Riffelscharte wind gap and meets the route before the Brett.[8][55]
+
+A third ascent runs across the Austrian Cirque or Österreichische Schneekar. Starting point for this are the lake of Eibsee (950 m or 3,120 ft) or the village of Ehrwald (1,000 m or 3,300 ft). The two trails merge above the cirque of Gamskar. Thereafter the route continues to the Wiener-Neustädter Hut (2,209 m or 7,247 ft) and through the Österreichische Schneekar, at the end of which a klettersteig begins. During this section the route climbs through the Stopselzieher, a natural drainage cave. The route then joins the secured sections of the Reintal route. This ascent takes at least eight hours and climbs 2,012 m (6,601 ft) in height.[8][56]
+
+One of the best-known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps is the Jubilee Ridge, which runs eastwards from the Zugspitze to the  Hochblassen (2,707 m or 8,881 ft) and crosses the Inner (2,737 m or 8,980 ft), Middle (2,740 m or 8,990 ft) and Outer Höllentalspitze (2,716 m or 8,911 ft) as well as the Vollkarspitze (2,630 m or 8,630 ft). Along the way the route branches off towards Grießkarscharte (2,463 m or 8,081 ft) and to the Alpspitze (2,628 m or 8,622 ft). Between 1909 and 1915 the ridge was partially secured with wire cables by the German Alpine Club section at Munich. Originally the route was called the Jubilee Way (Jubiläumsweg), but after a tragic rescue attempt in 1979 the rather erroneous and misleading term, which suggested it was just a normal trail, was replaced by the name Jubiläumsgrat, a Grat being a sharp ridge.[57]
+
+During the crossing, which is not a pure klettersteig, several unprotected sections have to be negotiated that roughly correspond to climbing grade III. The most difficult climbing section is a smooth gully (III-). In the area of the Vollkarspitze peak is a climbing section of difficulty (D). The difficulty of the roughly eight kilometre long climbing route is around  I and II as well as B. Normally it can be crossed in one day during the summer. Between the Middle and Outer Höllentalspitze is the Höllengrat Hut (2,684 m or 8,806 ft), a bothy where climbers can take refuge for the night. It is mainly used during winter crossing, when the tour is split into two stages. The approach route to the tour is also possible from the Knorr Hut via the Brunntalgrat ridge and joins the route in the area of the Inner Höllentalspitze.[58]
+
+There are numerous mountain huts in the area of the Zugspitze. One base is the Höllentalanger Hut (1,381 m or 4,531 ft) in the Höllental valley with 88 mattress spaces. Accommodation in the Reintal is provided by the Reintalanger Hut (1,370 m or 4,490 ft) with 90 bedspaces and on the edge of the Zugspitzplatt by the Knorr Hut (2,051 m or 6,729 ft) with 108 bedspaces. The Knorr Hut was the first hut in the entire Wetterstein Mountains when it was built in 1855. All the huts are open from May to October depending on the weather. On the top of the Zugspitze are three more huts: the Wiener-Neustädter Hut, the Münchner Haus and the Schneefernerhaus.
+
+The first hut on the Zugspitze was the Wiener-Neustädter Hut (Wiener-Neustädter-Hütte, 2,209 m or 7,247 ft) built in 1884. It acts as a base for the klettersteig through the Österreichische Schneekar that was opened as far back as 1879. The hut is located on the western rim of the cirque and stand below the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car. It is operated by the Austrian Tourist Club and offers overnighting for up to 34 mountaineers in the period from July to October. The winter room is designed to take 14 people and has no cooking or heating facilities.
+
+There has been an accommodation hut just underneath the west summit since 1883. At that time the Alpine Club section at Munich built a wooden hut with places for twelve people. Although further development of the summit for tourism was criticised, more and more members supported the construction of a larger hut. This eventually resulted in the building of the Münchner Haus (2,959 m or 9,708 ft). First, in 1896, a 200 square metre site was dynamited out of the rock. The new mountain hut was completed on 19 September 1897 at a cost of 36,615 gold marks. It was equipped with a 21 kilometre long telephone cable and a 5.5 kilometre long lightning conductor. In the years 1911 to 1914 the hut was extended and given its present appearance. It offer 30 beds for overnight stays and is open from May to October. An average of 2,000 people stay there each year, in addition to day visitors.[59]
+
+The Schneefernerhaus (2,656 m or 8,714 ft) was built in 1930 as the station of the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway. In June 1931 the attached hotel was opened. After the war, US Forces commandeered the house as a "recreation facility". It was not released until 1952 and was then renovated, opening in December that same year. On 15 May 1965 it was hit by a serious avalanche. The avalanche had been triggered above the house and swept over the sun terrace. Ten people lost their lives and 21 were seriously injured. At the end of the 1980s the station was moved and, in January 1992, the hotel and restaurant closed. Between 1993 and 1997 it was extensively converted into a research station, that opened in 1996. During the building work there was a fire in 1994 that completely destroyed the fifth floor and the roof space.[60]
+
+For those wishing to reach the summit under their own power, various hiking and ski trails can be followed to the top. Hiking to the top from the base takes between one and two days, or a few hours for the very fit.[clarification needed] Food and lodging is available on some trails. In winter the Zugspitze is a popular skiing and snowboarding destination, with several slopes on both sides. The Zugspitzplatt is Germany's highest ski resort, and thus normally has sufficient snow throughout the winter.
+
+At the Zugspitze's summit is the Münchner Haus, a mountain hut (Alpenhütte), a facility built by the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein). For more than a hundred years, the summit has also had a weather station, which nowadays also gathers data for the Global Atmosphere Watch.
+
+Climbing up the Zugspitze can involve several routes. The large difference in elevation between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the summit is 2,200 m (7,200 ft), making the climb a challenge even for trained mountaineers.
+
+On the German side, from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, climbers go either through the Höllental ("Valley of Hell") or the Reintal. The way through the Reintal is the easiest, but also the longest and takes 8 to 10 hours. This path goes through the Partnachklamm, a scenic gorge, then through the Reintal up to the Zugspitzplatt, a barren plateau. from there up to the summit. Climbers can stay for the night at two alpine huts, the "Reintalangerhütte" or the "Knorrhütte".
+
+The more popular, but harder route is through the Höllental. It starts at Hammersbach near Garmisch, goes through the Höllentalklamm, a similar gorge up to the "Höllentalangerhütte", where one can take a meal or stay for the night. It then crosses the Höllentalferner, the remnants of a small glacier. After that it traverses a wall with the help of iron ladders and steps. Klettersteig equipment is recommended for that part. Over the Irmerscharte (a gap) it reaches the summit. This path will take 7 to 8 hours.
+
+From the Austrian village of Ehrwald, there are also two variants. One goes straight through the Western Flank, which is the shortest route overall, but rather hard. It includes a via ferrata, and there is a hut called "Wiener Neustädter Hütte" by the Austrian Alpine Club. An easier path leads via the Ehrwalder Alm, across a small pass called "Gatterl", joining the Reintal path at the Knorrhütte.
+
+[Note 1]
+
+
+

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+
+
+The egg is the organic vessel containing the zygote in which an embryo develops until it can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches. An egg results from fertilization of an egg cell. Most arthropods, vertebrates (excluding live-bearing mammals), and mollusks lay eggs, although some, such as scorpions, do not.
+
+Reptile eggs, bird eggs, and monotreme eggs are laid out of water and are surrounded by a protective shell, either flexible or inflexible. Eggs laid on land or in nests are usually kept within a warm and favorable temperature range while the embryo grows. When the embryo is adequately developed it hatches, i.e., breaks out of the egg's shell. Some embryos have a temporary egg tooth they use to crack, pip, or break the eggshell or covering.
+
+The largest recorded egg is from a whale shark and was 30 cm × 14 cm × 9 cm (11.8 in × 5.5 in × 3.5 in) in size.[1] Whale shark eggs typically hatch within the mother. At 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and up to 17.8 cm × 14 cm (7.0 in × 5.5 in), the ostrich egg is the largest egg of any living bird,[2] though the extinct elephant bird and some non-avian dinosaurs laid larger eggs. The bee hummingbird produces the smallest known bird egg, which weighs half of a gram (around 0.02 oz). Some eggs laid by reptiles and most fish, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates can be even smaller.
+
+Reproductive structures similar to the egg in other kingdoms are termed "spores," or in spermatophytes "seeds," or in gametophytes "egg cells".
+
+Several major groups of animals typically have readily distinguishable eggs.
+
+The most common reproductive strategy for fish is known as oviparity, in which the female lays undeveloped eggs that are externally fertilized by a male. Typically large numbers of eggs are laid at one time (an adult female cod can produce 4–6 million eggs in one spawning) and the eggs are then left to develop without parental care. When the larvae hatch from the egg, they often carry the remains of the yolk in a yolk sac which continues to nourish the larvae for a few days as they learn how to swim. Once the yolk is consumed, there is a critical point after which they must learn how to hunt and feed or they will die.
+
+A few fish, notably the rays and most sharks use ovoviviparity in which the eggs are fertilized and develop internally. However, the larvae still grow inside the egg consuming the egg's yolk and without any direct nourishment from the mother. The mother then gives birth to relatively mature young. In certain instances, the physically most developed offspring will devour its smaller siblings for further nutrition while still within the mother's body. This is known as intrauterine cannibalism.
+
+In certain scenarios, some fish such as the hammerhead shark and reef shark are viviparous, with the egg being fertilized and developed internally, but with the mother also providing direct nourishment.
+
+The eggs of fish and amphibians are jellylike. Cartilaginous fish (sharks, skates, rays, chimaeras) eggs are fertilized internally and exhibit a wide variety of both internal and external embryonic development. Most fish species spawn eggs that are fertilized externally, typically with the male inseminating the eggs after the female lays them. These eggs do not have a shell and would dry out in the air. Even air-breathing amphibians lay their eggs in water, or in protective foam as with the Coast foam-nest treefrog, Chiromantis xerampelina.
+
+Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one (as in condors) to about 17 (the grey partridge). Some birds lay eggs even when not fertilized (e.g. hens); it is not uncommon for pet owners to find their lone bird nesting on a clutch of unfertilized eggs, which are sometimes called wind-eggs.
+
+The default color of vertebrate eggs is the white of the calcium carbonate from which the shells are made, but some birds, mainly passerines, produce colored eggs. The pigment biliverdin and its zinc chelate give a green or blue ground color, and protoporphyrin produces reds and browns as a ground color or as spotting.
+
+Non-passerines typically have white eggs, except in some ground-nesting groups such as the Charadriiformes, sandgrouse and nightjars, where camouflage is necessary, and some parasitic cuckoos which have to match the passerine host's egg. Most passerines, in contrast, lay colored eggs, even if there is no need of cryptic colors.
+
+However some have suggested that the protoporphyrin markings on passerine eggs actually act to reduce brittleness by acting as a solid-state lubricant.[10] If there is insufficient calcium available in the local soil, the egg shell may be thin, especially in a circle around the broad end. Protoporphyrin speckling compensates for this, and increases inversely to the amount of calcium in the soil.[11]
+
+For the same reason, later eggs in a clutch are more spotted than early ones as the female's store of calcium is depleted.
+
+The color of individual eggs is also genetically influenced, and appears to be inherited through the mother only, suggesting that the gene responsible for pigmentation is on the sex-determining W chromosome (female birds are WZ, males ZZ).
+
+It used to be thought that color was applied to the shell immediately before laying, but subsequent research shows that coloration is an integral part of the development of the shell, with the same protein responsible for depositing calcium carbonate, or protoporphyrins when there is a lack of that mineral.
+
+In species such as the common guillemot, which nest in large groups, each female's eggs have very different markings, making it easier for females to identify their own eggs on the crowded cliff ledges on which they breed.
+
+Bird eggshells are diverse. For example:
+
+Tiny pores in bird eggshells allow the embryo to breathe. The domestic hen's egg has around 7000 pores.[12]
+
+Some bird eggshells have a coating of vaterite spherules, which is a rare polymorph of calcium carbonate. In Greater Ani Crotophaga major this vaterite coating is thought to act as a shock absorber, protecting the calcite shell from fracture during incubation, such as colliding with other eggs in the nest.[13]
+
+Most bird eggs have an oval shape, with one end rounded and the other more pointed. This shape results from the egg being forced through the oviduct. Muscles contract the oviduct behind the egg, pushing it forward. The egg's wall is still shapeable, and the pointed end develops at the back. Long, pointy eggs are an incidental consequence of having a streamlined body typical of birds with strong flying abilities; flight narrows the oviduct, which changes the type of egg a bird can lay.[14] Cliff-nesting birds often have highly conical eggs. They are less likely to roll off, tending instead to roll around in a tight circle; this trait is likely to have arisen due to evolution via natural selection. In contrast, many hole-nesting birds have nearly spherical eggs.[15]
+
+Many animals feed on eggs. For example, principal predators of the black oystercatcher's eggs include raccoons, skunks, mink, river and sea otters, gulls, crows and foxes. The stoat (Mustela erminea) and long-tailed weasel (M. frenata) steal ducks' eggs. Snakes of the genera Dasypeltis and Elachistodon specialize in eating eggs.
+
+Brood parasitism occurs in birds when one species lays its eggs in the nest of another. In some cases, the host's eggs are removed or eaten by the female, or expelled by her chick. Brood parasites include the cowbirds and many Old World cuckoos.
+
+An average whooping crane egg is 102 mm (4.0 in) long and weighs 208 g (7.3 oz)
+
+Eurasian oystercatcher eggs camouflaged in the nest
+
+Egg of a senegal parrot, a bird that nests in tree holes, on a 1 cm (0.39 in) grid
+
+Eggs of ostrich, emu, kiwi and chicken
+
+Finch egg next to American dime
+
+Eggs of duck, goose, guineafowl and chicken
+
+Eggs of ostrich, cassowary, chicken, flamingo, pigeon and blackbird
+
+Egg of an emu
+
+Egg from a chicken compared to a 1 euro coin, great tit egg and a corn grain
+
+Bird nest with brown marbling eggs of a robin
+
+Like amphibians, amniotes are air-breathing vertebrates, but they have complex eggs or embryos, including an amniotic membrane. Amniotes include reptiles (including dinosaurs and their descendants, birds) and mammals.
+
+Reptile eggs are often rubbery and are always initially white. They are able to survive in the air. Often the sex of the developing embryo is determined by the temperature of the surroundings, with cooler temperatures favouring males. Not all reptiles lay eggs; some are viviparous ("live birth").
+
+Dinosaurs laid eggs, some of which have been preserved as petrified fossils.
+
+Among mammals, early extinct species laid eggs, as do platypuses and echidnas (spiny anteaters). Platypuses and two genera of echidna are Australian monotremes. Marsupial and placental mammals do not lay eggs, but their unborn young do have the complex tissues that identify amniotes.
+
+The eggs of the egg-laying mammals (the platypus and the echidnas) are macrolecithal eggs very much like those of reptiles. The eggs of marsupials are likewise macrolecithal, but rather small, and develop inside the body of the female, but do not form a placenta. The young are born at a very early stage, and can be classified as a "larva" in the biological sense.[16]
+
+In placental mammals, the egg itself is void of yolk, but develops an umbilical cord from structures that in reptiles would form the yolk sac. Receiving nutrients from the mother, the fetus completes the development while inside the uterus.
+
+Eggs are common among invertebrates, including insects, spiders, mollusks, and crustaceans.
+
+All sexually reproducing life, including both plants and animals, produces gametes. The male gamete cell, sperm, is usually motile whereas the female gamete cell, the ovum, is generally larger and sessile. The male and female gametes combine to produce the zygote cell. In multicellular organisms the zygote subsequently divides in an organised manner into smaller more specialised cells, so that this new individual develops into an embryo. In most animals the embryo is the sessile initial stage of the individual life cycle, and is followed by the emergence (that is, the hatching) of a motile stage. The zygote or the ovum itself or the sessile organic vessel containing the developing embryo may be called the egg.
+
+A recent proposal suggests that the phylotypic animal body plans originated in cell aggregates before the existence of an egg stage of development. Eggs, in this view, were later evolutionary innovations, selected for their role in ensuring genetic uniformity among the cells of incipient multicellular organisms.[17]
+
+Scientists often classify animal reproduction according to the degree of development that occurs before the new individuals are expelled from the adult body, and by the yolk which the egg provides to nourish the embryo.
+
+Vertebrate eggs can be classified by the relative amount of yolk. Simple eggs with little yolk are called microlecithal, medium-sized eggs with some yolk are called mesolecithal, and large eggs with a large concentrated yolk are called macrolecithal.[7] This classification of eggs is based on the eggs of chordates, though the basic principle extends to the whole animal kingdom.
+
+Small eggs with little yolk are called microlecithal. The yolk is evenly distributed, so the cleavage of the egg cell cuts through and divides the egg into cells of fairly similar sizes. In sponges and cnidarians the dividing eggs develop directly into a simple larva, rather like a morula with cilia. In cnidarians, this stage is called the planula, and either develops directly into the adult animals or forms new adult individuals through a process of budding.[18]
+
+Microlecithal eggs require minimal yolk mass. Such eggs are found in flatworms, roundworms, annelids, bivalves, echinoderms, the lancelet and in most marine arthropods.[19] In anatomically simple animals, such as cnidarians and flatworms, the fetal development can be quite short, and even microlecithal eggs can undergo direct development. These small eggs can be produced in large numbers. In animals with high egg mortality, microlecithal eggs are the norm, as in bivalves and marine arthropods. However, the latter are more complex anatomically than e.g. flatworms, and the small microlecithal eggs do not allow full development. Instead, the eggs hatch into larvae, which may be markedly different from the adult animal.
+
+In placental mammals, where the embryo is nourished by the mother throughout the whole fetal period, the egg is reduced in size to essentially a naked egg cell.
+
+Mesolecithal eggs have comparatively more yolk than the microlecithal eggs. The yolk is concentrated in one part of the egg (the vegetal pole), with the cell nucleus and most of the cytoplasm in the other (the animal pole). The cell cleavage is uneven, and mainly concentrated in the cytoplasma-rich animal pole.[3]
+
+The larger yolk content of the mesolecithal eggs allows for a longer fetal development. Comparatively anatomically simple animals will be able to go through the full development and leave the egg in a form reminiscent of the adult animal. This is the situation found in hagfish and some snails.[4][19] Animals with smaller size eggs or more advanced anatomy will still have a distinct larval stage, though the larva will be basically similar to the adult animal, as in lampreys, coelacanth and the salamanders.[3]
+
+Eggs with a large yolk are called macrolecithal. The eggs are usually few in number, and the embryos have enough food to go through full fetal development in most groups.[7] Macrolecithal eggs are only found in selected representatives of two groups: Cephalopods and vertebrates.[7][20]
+
+Macrolecithal eggs go through a different type of development than other eggs. Due to the large size of the yolk, the cell division can not split up the yolk mass. The fetus instead develops as a plate-like structure on top of the yolk mass, and only envelopes it at a later stage.[7] A portion of the yolk mass is still present as an external or semi-external yolk sac at hatching in many groups. This form of fetal development is common in bony fish, even though their eggs can be quite small. Despite their macrolecithal structure, the small size of the eggs does not allow for direct development, and the eggs hatch to a larval stage ("fry"). In terrestrial animals with macrolecithal eggs, the large volume to surface ratio necessitates structures to aid in transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and for storage of waste products so that the embryo does not suffocate or get poisoned from its own waste while inside the egg, see amniote.[9]
+
+In addition to bony fish and cephalopods, macrolecithal eggs are found in cartilaginous fish, reptiles, birds and monotreme mammals.[3] The eggs of the coelacanths can reach a size of 9 cm (3.5 in) in diameter, and the young go through full development while in the uterus, living on the copious yolk.[21]
+
+Animals are commonly classified by their manner of reproduction, at the most general level distinguishing egg-laying (Latin. oviparous) from live-bearing (Latin. viviparous).
+
+These classifications are divided into more detail according to the development that occurs before the offspring are expelled from the adult's body. Traditionally:[22]
+
+The term hemotropic derives from the Latin for blood-feeding, contrasted with histotrophic for tissue-feeding.[27]
+
+Eggs laid by many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Popular choices for egg consumption are chicken, duck, roe, and caviar, but by a wide margin the egg most often humanly consumed is the chicken egg, typically unfertilized.
+
+According to the Kashrut, that is the set of Jewish dietary laws, kosher food may be consumed according to halakha (Jewish law). Kosher meat and milk (or derivatives) cannot be mixed (Deuteronomy 14:21) or stored together. Eggs are considered pareve (neither meat nor dairy) despite being an animal product and can be mixed with either milk or kosher meat. Mayonnaise, for instance, is usually marked "pareve" despite by definition containing egg.[28]
+
+Many vaccines for infectious diseases are produced in fertile chicken eggs. The basis of this technology was the discovery in 1931 by Alice Miles Woodruff and Ernest William Goodpasture at Vanderbilt University that the rickettsia and viruses that cause a variety of diseases will grow in chicken embryos. This enabled the development of vaccines against influenza, chicken pox, smallpox, yellow fever, typhus, Rocky mountain spotted fever and other diseases.
+
+The egg is a symbol of new life and rebirth in many cultures around the world. Christians view Easter eggs as symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[29] A popular Easter tradition in some parts of the world is the decoration of hard-boiled eggs (usually by dyeing, but often by hand-painting or spray-painting). Adults often hide the eggs for children to find, an activity known as an Easter egg hunt. A similar tradition of egg painting exists in areas of the world influenced by the culture of Persia. Before the spring equinox in the Persian New Year tradition (called Norouz), each family member decorates a hard-boiled egg and sets them together in a bowl. The tradition of a dancing egg is held during the feast of Corpus Christi in Barcelona and other Catalan cities since the 16th century. It consists of an emptied egg, positioned over the water jet from a fountain, which starts turning without falling.[30]
+
+Although a food item, raw eggs are sometimes thrown at houses, cars, or people. This act, known commonly as "egging" in the various English-speaking countries, is a minor form of vandalism and, therefore, usually a criminal offense and is capable of damaging property (egg whites can degrade certain types of vehicle paint) as well as potentially causing serious eye injury. On Halloween, for example, trick or treaters have been known to throw eggs (and sometimes flour) at property or people from whom they received nothing.[citation needed] Eggs are also often thrown in protests, as they are inexpensive and nonlethal, yet very messy when broken.[31]
+
+Egg collecting was a popular hobby in some cultures, including among the first Australians. Traditionally, the embryo would be removed before a collector stored the egg shell.[32]
+
+Collecting eggs of wild birds is now banned by many jurisdictions, as the practice can threaten rare species. In the United Kingdom, the practice is prohibited by the Protection of Birds Act 1954 and Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.[33] On the other hand, ongoing underground trading is becoming a serious issue.[34]
+
+Since the protection of wild bird eggs was regulated, early collections have come to the museums as curiosities. For example, the Australian Museum hosts a collection of about 20,000 registered clutches of eggs,[35] and the collection in Western Australia Museum has been archived in a gallery.[36] Scientists regard egg collections as a good natural-history data, as the details recorded in the collectors' notes have helped them to understand birds' nesting behaviors.[37]
+
+Insect eggs, in this case those of the Emperor gum moth, are often laid on the underside of leaves.
+
+Fish eggs, such as these herring eggs are often transparent and fertilized after laying.
+
+Skates and some sharks have a uniquely shaped egg case called a mermaid's purse.
+
+A Testudo hermanni emerging fully developed from a reptilian egg.
+
+A Schistosoma mekongi egg.
+
+Eggs of Huffmanela hamo, a nematode parasite in a fish
+
+Eggs of various parasites (mainly nematodes) from wild primates

en/617.html.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+Coordinates: 50°50′N 4°00′E / 50.833°N 4.000°E / 50.833; 4.000
+
+– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green)
+
+Belgium,[A] officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376 per square kilometre (970/sq mi). The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.
+
+Legally, Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional and linguistic grounds. It is divided into three highly autonomous regions:[10] the Flemish Region in the north, Wallonia in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region. Brussels is the smallest and most densely populated region, as well as the richest region in terms of GDP per capita.
+
+Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups or communities: the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the French-speaking Community, which comprises about 40 percent of all Belgians. A small German-speaking Community, numbering around one percent, exists in the East Cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), although French is the dominant language.[11] Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments.
+
+Historically, Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states that also included parts of northern France and western Germany. Its modern name is derived from the Latin word Belgium, used in Julius Caesar's "Gallic War", to describe the region in the period around 55 BCE.[12] From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, the area of Belgium was a prosperous and cosmopolitan center of commerce and culture. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Belgium served as the battleground between many European powers, earning the moniker the "Battlefield of Europe",[13] a reputation strengthened by both world wars. The country emerged in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, when it seceded from the Netherlands.
+
+Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution[14][15] and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.[16] The second half of the 20th century was marked by rising tensions between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking citizens  fueled by differences in language and culture and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Despite the reforms, tensions between the groups have remained, if not increased; there is significant separatism particularly among the Flemish; controversial language laws exist such as the municipalities with language facilities;[17] and the formation of a coalition government took 18 months following the June 2010 federal election, a world record.[18] Unemployment in Wallonia is more than double that of Flanders, which boomed after the war.[19]
+
+Belgium is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and its capital, Brussels, hosts the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, as well as one of two seats of the European Parliament (the other being Strasbourg). Belgium is also a founding member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD, and WTO, and a part of the trilateral Benelux Union and the Schengen Area. Brussels hosts the headquarters of many major international organizations such as NATO.[B]
+
+Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy. It has very high standards of living, quality of life,[20] healthcare,[21] education,[22] and is categorized as "very high" in the Human Development Index.[23] It also ranks as one of the safest or most peaceful countries in the world.[24]
+
+— Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1
+
+The Belgae were the inhabitants of the northernmost part of Gaul, which was significantly bigger than modern Belgium. Caesar used the word "Belgium" once, to refer to their region. Gallia Belgica, as it was more commonly called, became a Roman province as a result of his conquests. Areas closer to the Rhine frontier, including the eastern part of modern Belgium, eventually became part of the province of Germania Inferior, which interacted with Germanic tribes outside the empire. At the time when central government collapsed in the Western Roman Empire, the region of Belgium was inhabited by a mix of Frankish tribes and a more Romanized population. During the 5th century the area came under the rule of the Merovingian kings, who had already seized power in what is northern France. A gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire.
+
+The Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the Carolingian empire into three kingdoms, whose borders had a lasting impact on medieval political boundaries. Most of modern Belgium was in the Middle Kingdom, later known as Lotharingia. Only the coastal county of Flanders became part of West Francia, the predecessor of France. In 870 in the Treaty of Meersen, modern Belgium lands all became part of the western kingdom, and in 880 in the Treaty of Ribemont, Lotharingia came under the lasting control of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the lordships along the "March" (frontier) between the two great kingdoms maintained important connections.
+
+Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries.[27]
+Emperor Charles V extended the personal union of the Seventeen Provinces in the 1540s, making it far more than a personal union by the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 and increased his influence over the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.[28]
+
+The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces (Belgica Foederata in Latin, the "Federated Netherlands") and the Southern Netherlands (Belgica Regia, the "Royal Netherlands"). The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish (Spanish Netherlands) and the Austrian Habsburgs (Austrian Netherlands) and comprised most of modern Belgium. This was the theatre of several more protracted conflicts during much of the 17th and 18th centuries involving France, including the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
+
+Following the campaigns of 1794 in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including territories that were never nominally under Habsburg rule, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Liège—were annexed by the French First Republic, ending Austrian rule in the region. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1814, after the abdication of Napoleon.
+
+In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the separation of the Southern Provinces from the Netherlands and to the establishment of a Catholic and bourgeois, officially French-speaking and neutral, independent Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress.[29][30] Since the installation of Leopold I as king on 21 July 1831, now celebrated as Belgium's National Day, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a laicist constitution based on the Napoleonic code.[31] Although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 (with plural voting until 1919) and for women in 1949.
+
+The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party, with the Belgian Labour Party emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognized as well. This recognition became official in 1898, and in 1967, the parliament accepted a Dutch version of the Constitution.[32]
+
+The Berlin Conference of 1885 ceded control of the Congo Free State to King Leopold II as his private possession. From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production.[33] Many Congolese were killed by Leopold's agents for failing to meet production quotas for ivory and rubber.[34] In 1908, this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo.[35] A Belgian commission in 1919 estimated that Congo's population was half what it was in 1879.[34]
+
+Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France, and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the Rape of Belgium due to German excesses. Belgium assumed control of the German colonies of Ruanda-Urundi (modern-day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and in 1924 the League of Nations mandated them to Belgium. In the aftermath of the First World War, Belgium annexed the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.
+
+German forces again invaded the country in May 1940, and 40,690 Belgians, over half of them Jews, were killed during the subsequent occupation and The Holocaust. From September 1944 to February 1945 the Allies liberated Belgium. After World War II, a general strike forced King Leopold III to abdicate in 1951, since many Belgians felt he had collaborated with Germany during the war.[36] The Belgian Congo gained independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis;[37] Ruanda-Urundi followed with its independence two years later. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
+
+Belgium became one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and of the European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community, established in 1957. The latter has now become the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.
+
+Belgium shares borders with France (620 km), Germany (167 km), Luxembourg (148 km) and the Netherlands (450 km). Its total surface, including water area, is 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi). Before 2018, its total area was believed to be 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi). However, when the country's statistics were measured in 2018, a new calculation method was used. Unlike previous calculations, this one included the area from the coast to the low-water line, revealing the country to be 160 km2 (62 sq mi) larger in surface area than previously thought.[38][39] Its land area alone is 30,278 km2.[40][needs update] It lies between latitudes 49°30' and 51°30' N, and longitudes 2°33' and 6°24' E.[41]
+
+Belgium has three main geographical regions; the coastal plain in the northwest and the central plateau both belong to the Anglo-Belgian Basin, and the Ardennes uplands in the southeast to the Hercynian orogenic belt. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.[42]
+
+The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Further inland lies a smooth, slowly rising landscape irrigated by numerous waterways, with fertile valleys and the northeastern sandy plain of the Campine (Kempen). The thickly forested hills and plateaus of the Ardennes are more rugged and rocky with caves and small gorges. Extending westward into France, this area is eastwardly connected to the Eifel in Germany by the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the country's highest point at 694 m (2,277 ft).[43][44]
+
+The climate is maritime temperate with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), like most of northwest Europe.[45] The average temperature is lowest in January at 3 °C (37.4 °F) and highest in July at 18 °C (64.4 °F). The average precipitation per month varies between 54 mm (2.1 in) for February and April, to 78 mm (3.1 in) for July.[46] Averages for the years 2000 to 2006 show daily temperature minimums of 7 °C (44.6 °F) and maximums of 14 °C (57.2 °F) and monthly rainfall of 74 mm (2.9 in); these are about 1 °C and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values, respectively.[47]
+
+Phytogeographically, Belgium is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom.[48] According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Belgium belongs to the ecoregion of Atlantic mixed forests.[49]
+
+The territory of Belgium is divided into three Regions, two of which, the Flemish Region and Walloon Region, are in turn subdivided into provinces; the third Region, the Brussels Capital Region, is neither a province nor a part of a province.
+
+Belgium is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a federal parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives. The former is made up of 50 senators appointed by the parliaments of the communities and regions and 10 co-opted senators. Prior to 2014, most of the Senate's members were directly elected. The Chamber's 150 representatives are elected under a proportional voting system from 11 electoral districts. Belgium has compulsory voting and thus maintains one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world.[50]
+
+The King (currently Philippe) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government. The Council of Ministers is composed of no more than fifteen members. With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers is composed of an equal number of Dutch-speaking members and French-speaking members.[51]
+The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Napoleonic code. The Court of Cassation is the court of last resort, with the courts of appeal one level below.[52]
+
+Belgium's political institutions are complex; most political power is organized around the need to represent the main cultural communities.[53]
+Since about 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct components that mainly represent the political and linguistic interests of these communities.[54]
+The major parties in each community, though close to the political center, belong to three main groups: Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Social Democrats.[55]
+Further notable parties came into being well after the middle of last century, mainly around linguistic, nationalist, or environmental themes and recently smaller ones of some specific liberal nature.[54]
+
+A string of Christian Democrat coalition governments from 1958 was broken in 1999 after the first dioxin crisis, a major food contamination scandal.[56][57][58] A "rainbow coalition" emerged from six parties: the Flemish and the French-speaking Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens.[59] Later, a "purple coalition" of Liberals and Social Democrats formed after the Greens lost most of their seats in the 2003 election.[60]
+
+The government led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 to 2007 achieved a balanced budget, some tax reforms, a labor-market reform, scheduled nuclear phase-out and instigated legislation allowing more stringent war crime and more lenient soft drug usage prosecution. Restrictions on withholding euthanasia were reduced and same-sex marriage legalized. The government promoted active diplomacy in Africa[61] and opposed the invasion of Iraq.[62] It is the only country that does not have age restrictions on euthanasia.[63]
+
+Verhofstadt's coalition fared badly in the June 2007 elections. For more than a year, the country experienced a political crisis.[64] This crisis was such that many observers speculated on a possible partition of Belgium.[65][66][67] From 21 December 2007 until 20 March 2008 the temporary Verhofstadt III Government was in office. This coalition of the Flemish and Francophone Christian Democrats, the Flemish and Francophone Liberals together with the Francophone Social Democrats was an interim government until 20 March 2008.[68]
+
+On that day a new government, led by Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, the actual winner of the federal elections of June 2007, was sworn in by the king. On 15 July 2008 Leterme announced the resignation of the cabinet to the king, as no progress in constitutional reforms had been made.[68]
+In December 2008 he once more offered his resignation to the king after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas.[69] At this juncture, his resignation was accepted and Christian Democratic and Flemish Herman Van Rompuy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 30 December 2008.[70]
+
+After Herman Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent President of the European Council on 19 November 2009, he offered the resignation of his government to King Albert II on 25 November 2009. A few hours later, the new government under Prime Minister Yves Leterme was sworn in. On 22 April 2010, Leterme again offered the resignation of his cabinet to the king[71] after one of the coalition partners, the OpenVLD, withdrew from the government, and on 26 April 2010 King Albert officially accepted the resignation.[72]
+
+The Parliamentary elections in Belgium on 13 June 2010 saw the Flemish nationalist N-VA become the largest party in Flanders, and the Socialist Party PS the largest party in Wallonia.[73] Until December 2011, Belgium was governed by Leterme's caretaker government awaiting the end of the deadlocked negotiations for formation of a new government. By 30 March 2011 this set a new world record for the elapsed time without an official government, previously held by war-torn Iraq.[74] Finally, in December 2011 the Di Rupo Government led by Walloon socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was sworn in.
+
+The 2014 federal election (coinciding with the regional elections) resulted in a further electoral gain for the Flemish nationalist N-VA, although the incumbent coalition (composed of Flemish and French-speaking Social Democrats, Liberals, and Christian Democrats) maintains a solid majority in Parliament and in all electoral constituencies. On 22 July 2014, King Philippe nominated Charles Michel (MR) and Kris Peeters (CD&V) to lead the formation of a new federal cabinet composed of the Flemish parties N-VA, CD&V, Open Vld and the French-speaking MR, which resulted in the Michel Government. It is the first time N-VA is part of the federal cabinet, while the French-speaking side is represented only by the MR, which achieved a minority of the public votes in Wallonia.
+
+Following a usage which can be traced back to the Burgundian and Habsburg courts,[75] in the 19th century it was necessary to speak French to belong to the governing upper class, and those who could only speak Dutch were effectively second-class citizens.[76] Late that century, and continuing into the 20th century, Flemish movements evolved to counter this situation.[77]
+
+While the people in Southern Belgium spoke French or dialects of French, and most Brusselers adopted French as their first language, the Flemings refused to do so and succeeded progressively in making Dutch an equal language in the education system.[77] Following World War II, Belgian politics became increasingly dominated by the autonomy of its two main linguistic communities.[78] Intercommunal tensions rose and the constitution was amended to minimize the potential for conflict.[78]
+
+Based on the four language areas defined in 1962–63 (the Dutch, bilingual, French and German language areas), consecutive revisions of the country's constitution in 1970, 1980, 1988 and 1993 established a unique form of a federal state with segregated political power into three levels:[79][80]
+
+The constitutional language areas determine the official languages in their municipalities, as well as the geographical limits of the empowered institutions for specific matters.[81] Although this would allow for seven parliaments and governments when the Communities and Regions were created in 1980, Flemish politicians decided to merge both.[82] Thus the Flemings just have one single institutional body of parliament and government is empowered for all except federal and specific municipal matters.[C]
+
+The overlapping boundaries of the Regions and Communities have created two notable peculiarities: the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region (which came into existence nearly a decade after the other regions) is included in both the Flemish and French Communities, and the territory of the German-speaking Community lies wholly within the Walloon Region. Conflicts about jurisdiction between the bodies are resolved by the Constitutional Court of Belgium. The structure is intended as a compromise to allow different cultures to live together peacefully.[14]
+
+The Federal State's authority includes justice, defense, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy and public debt, and other aspects of public finances. State-owned companies include the Belgian Post Group and Belgian Railways. The Federal Government is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs.[83] The budget—without the debt—controlled by the federal government amounts to about 50% of the national fiscal income. The federal government employs around 12% of the civil servants.[84]
+
+Communities exercise their authority only within linguistically determined geographical boundaries, originally oriented towards the individuals of a Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education and the use of the relevant language. Extensions to personal matters less directly connected with language comprise health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, and so on.).[85]
+
+Regions have authority in fields that can be broadly associated with their territory. These include economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit and foreign trade. They supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies.[86]
+
+In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specifics. With education, for instance, the autonomy of the Communities neither includes decisions about the compulsory aspect nor allows for setting minimum requirements for awarding qualifications, which remain federal matters.[83] Each level of government can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. The treaty-making power of the Regions' and Communities' Governments is the broadest of all the Federating units of all the Federations all over the world.[87][88][89]
+
+Because of its location at the crossroads of Western Europe, Belgium has historically been the route of invading armies from its larger neighbors. With virtually defenseless borders, Belgium has traditionally sought to avoid domination by the more powerful nations which surround it through a policy of mediation. The Belgians have been strong advocates of European integration. Both the European Union and NATO are headquartered in Belgium.
+
+The Belgian Armed Forces have about 47,000 active troops. In 2019, Belgium's defense budget totaled €4.303 billion ($4.921 billion) representing .93% of its GDP.[90] They are organized into one unified structure which consists of four main components: Land Component, or the Army; Air Component, or the Air Force; Marine Component, or the Navy; Medical Component. The operational commands of the four components are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defense, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training, and to the Chief of Defense.[91]
+
+The effects of the Second World War made collective security a priority for Belgian foreign policy. In March 1948 Belgium signed the Treaty of Brussels and then joined NATO in 1948. However, the integration of the armed forces into NATO did not begin until after the Korean War.[92] The Belgians, along with the Luxembourg government, sent a detachment of battalion strength to fight in Korea known as the Belgian United Nations Command. This mission was the first in a long line of UN missions which the Belgians supported. Currently, the Belgian Marine Component is working closely together with the Dutch Navy under the command of the Admiral Benelux.
+
+Belgium's strongly globalized economy[93] and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helped make it the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007.[94][95] The economy is characterized by a highly productive work force, high GNP and high exports per capita.[96] Belgium's main imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, and oil products. Its main exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, and foodstuffs.[40]
+
+The Belgian economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature: a dynamic Flemish economy and a Walloon economy that lags behind.[14][97][D] One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports an open economy and the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate member economies. Since 1922, through the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market with customs and currency union.[98]
+
+Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 19th century.[99] Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century in the Sambre and Meuse valley and made Belgium one of the three most industrialized nations in the world from 1830 to 1910.[100][101] However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis, and the region experienced famine from 1846 to 1850.[102][103]
+
+After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced a serious decline.[104] In the 1980s and 1990s, the economic center of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[105]
+
+By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006[update], the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP.[106] In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the Euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average. By October 2010, this had grown to 8.5% compared to an average rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27).[107][108] From 1832 until 2002, Belgium's currency was the Belgian franc. Belgium switched to the euro in 2002, with the first sets of euro coins being minted in 1999. The standard Belgian euro coins designated for circulation show the portrait of the monarch (first King Albert II, since 2013 King Philippe).
+
+Despite an 18% decrease observed from 1970 to 1999, Belgium still had in 1999 the highest rail network density within the European Union with 113.8 km/1 000 km2. On the other hand, the same period, 1970–1999, has seen a huge growth (+56%) of the motorway network. In 1999, the density of km motorways per 1000 km2 and 1000 inhabitants amounted to 55.1 and 16.5 respectively and were significantly superior to the EU's means of 13.7 and 15.9.[109]
+
+From a biological resource perspective, Belgium has a low endowment: Belgium's biocapacity adds up to only 0.8 global hectares in 2016,[110] just about half of the 1.6 global hectares of biocapacity available per person worldwide.[111] In contrast, in 2016, Belgians used on average 6.3 global hectares of biocapacity - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they required about eight times as much biocapacity as Belgium contains. As a result, Belgium was running a biocapacity deficit of 5.5 global hectares per person in 2016.[110]
+
+Belgium experiences some of the most congested traffic in Europe. In 2010, commuters to the cities of Brussels and Antwerp spent respectively 65 and 64 hours a year in traffic jams.[112] Like in most small European countries, more than 80% of the airways traffic is handled by a single airport, the Brussels Airport. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge (Bruges) share more than 80% of Belgian maritime traffic, Antwerp being the second European harbor with a gross weight of goods handled of 115 988 000 t in 2000 after a growth of 10.9% over the preceding five years.[109][113] In 2016, the port of Antwerp handled 214 million tons after a year-on-year growth of 2.7%.[114]
+
+There is a large economic gap between Flanders and Wallonia. Wallonia was historically wealthy compared to Flanders, mostly due to its heavy industries, but the decline of the steel industry post-World War II led to the region's rapid decline, whereas Flanders rose swiftly. Since then, Flanders has been prosperous, among the wealthiest regions in Europe, whereas Wallonia has been languishing. As of 2007, the unemployment rate of Wallonia is over double that of Flanders. The divide has played a key part in the tensions between the Flemish and Walloons in addition to the already-existing language divide. Pro-independence movements have gained high popularity in Flanders as a consequence. The separatist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, for instance, is the largest party in Belgium.[115][116][117]
+
+Contributions to the development of science and technology have appeared throughout the country's history. The 16th century Early Modern flourishing of Western Europe included cartographer Gerardus Mercator, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens[118][119][120][121] and mathematician Simon Stevin among the most influential scientists.[122]
+
+Chemist Ernest Solvay[123] and engineer Zenobe Gramme (École industrielle de Liège)[124] gave their names to the Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo, respectively, in the 1860s. Bakelite was developed in 1907–1909 by Leo Baekeland. Ernest Solvay also acted as a major philanthropist and gave its name to the Solvay Institute of Sociology, the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry which are now part of the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1911, he started a series of conferences, the Solvay Conferences on Physics and Chemistry, which have had a deep impact on the evolution of quantum physics and chemistry.[125] A major contribution to fundamental science was also due to a Belgian, Monsignor Georges Lemaître (Catholic University of Louvain), who is credited with proposing the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927.[126]
+
+Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 1919, Corneille Heymans (University of Ghent) in 1938 and Albert Claude (Université libre de Bruxelles) together with Christian de Duve (Université catholique de Louvain) in 1974. François Englert (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013. Ilya Prigogine (Université libre de Bruxelles) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.[127] Two Belgian mathematicians have been awarded the Fields Medal: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994.[128][129]
+
+As of 1 January 2020, the total population of Belgium according to its population register was 11,492,641.[4] The population density of Belgium is 376/km2 (970/sq mi) as of January 2019, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world, and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe. The most densely populated province is Antwerp, the least densely populated province is Luxembourg. As of January 2019, the Flemish Region had a population of 6,589,069 (57.6% of Belgium), its most populous cities being Antwerp (523,248), Ghent (260,341) and Bruges (118,284). Wallonia had a population of 3,633,795 (31.8% of Belgium) with Charleroi (201,816), Liège (197,355) and Namur (110,939), its most populous cities. The Brussels Capital Region has 1,208,542 inhabitants (10.6% of Belgium) in the 19 municipalities, three of which have over 100,000 residents.[4]
+
+In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across Belgium was 1.64 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 4.87 children born per woman in 1873.[130] Belgium subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 41.5 years.[131]
+
+As of 2007[update], nearly 92% of the population had Belgian citizenship,[132] and other European Union member citizens account for around 6%. The prevalent foreign nationals were Italian (171,918), French (125,061), Dutch (116,970), Moroccan (80,579), Portuguese (43,509), Spanish (42,765), Turkish (39,419) and German (37,621).[133][134] In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685,000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695,000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State.[135][136]
+
+At the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed around 25% of the total population i.e. 2.8 million new Belgians.[137] Of these new Belgians, 1,200,000 are of European ancestry and 1,350,000[138] are from non-Western countries (most of them from Morocco, Turkey, and the DR Congo). Since the modification of the Belgian nationality law in 1984 more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship. The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Moroccans.[139] 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.[138]
+
+
+
+Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.[140]
+As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects.[141] However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 60% of the Belgian population are native speakers of Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French natively. French-speaking Belgians are often referred to as Walloons, although the French speakers in Brussels are not Walloons.[E]
+
+The total number of native Dutch speakers is estimated to be about 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while native French speakers number 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (or 85%) in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region.[F][142] The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.[143][144][145][146]
+
+Both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French have minor differences in vocabulary and semantic nuances from the varieties spoken respectively in the Netherlands and France. Many Flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. Walloon, considered either as a dialect of French or a distinct Romance language,[147][148] is now only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people. Walloon is divided into four dialects, which along with those of Picard,[149] are rarely used in public life and have largely been replaced by French.
+
+Since the country's independence, Roman Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics.[150] However Belgium is largely a secular country as the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. During the reigns of Albert I and Baudouin, the Belgian royal family had a reputation of deeply rooted Catholicism.[151]
+
+Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5% for Belgium in total; 3% in Brussels,[152] and 5.4% in Flanders. Church attendance in 2009 in Belgium was roughly half of the Sunday church attendance in 1998 (11% for the total of Belgium in 1998).[153] Despite the drop in church attendance, Catholic identity nevertheless remains an important part of Belgium's culture.[151]
+
+According to the Eurobarometer 2010,[154] 37% of Belgian citizens responded that they believe there is a God. 31% answered that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life-force. 27% answered that they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life-force. 5% did not respond. According to the Eurobarometer 2015, 60.7% of the total population of Belgium adhered to Christianity, with Roman Catholicism being the largest denomination with 52.9%. Protestants comprised 2.1% and Orthodox Christians were the 1.6% of the total. Non-religious people comprised 32.0% of the population and were divided between atheists (14.9%) and agnostics (17.1%). A further 5.2% of the population was Muslim and 2.1% were believers in other religions.[155] The same survey held in 2012 found that Christianity was the largest religion in Belgium, accounting for 65% of Belgians.[156]
+
+Symbolically and materially, the Roman Catholic Church remains in a favorable position.[151] Belgium officially recognizes three religions: Christianity (Catholic, Protestantism, Orthodox churches and Anglicanism), Islam and Judaism.[157]
+
+In the early 2000s, there were approximately 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (numbering some 18,000) is one of the largest in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is the primary language of a large Jewish community (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hasidic communities in New York, New Jersey, and Israel). In addition, most Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education.[158] There are several Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues (30 of which are in Antwerp) in the country.
+A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered to be a more religious region than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves religious and that 36% believed that God created the universe.[159] On the other hand, Wallonia has become one of Europe's most secular/least religious regions. Most of the French-speaking region's population does not consider religion an important part of their lives, and as much as 45% of the population identifies as irreligious. This is particularly the case in eastern Wallonia and areas along the French border.
+
+A 2008 estimate found that approximately 6% of the Belgian population (628,751 people) is Muslim.[160] Muslims constitute 23.6% of the population of Brussels, 4.9% of Wallonia and 5.1% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the major cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. The largest group of immigrants in Belgium are Moroccans, with 400,000 people. The Turks are the third largest group, and the second largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[139][161]
+
+The Belgians enjoy good health. According to 2012 estimates, the average life expectancy is 79.65 years.[40] Since 1960, life expectancy has, in line with the European average, grown by two months per year. Death in Belgium is mainly due to heart and vascular disorders, neoplasms, disorders of the respiratory system and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide). Non-natural causes of death and cancer are the most common causes of death for females up to age 24 and males up to age 44.[162]
+
+Healthcare in Belgium is financed through both social security contributions and taxation. Health insurance is compulsory. Health care is delivered by a mixed public and private system of independent medical practitioners and public, university and semi-private hospitals. Health care service are payable by the patient and reimbursed later by health insurance institutions, but for ineligible categories (of patients and services) so-called 3rd party payment systems exist.[162] The Belgian health care system is supervised and financed by the federal government, the Flemish and Walloon Regional governments; and the German Community also has (indirect) oversight and responsibilities.[162]
+
+For the first time in Belgian history, the first child was euthanized following the 2-year mark of the removal of the euthanization age restrictions. The child had been euthanized due to an incurable disease that was inflicted upon the child. Although there may have been some support for the euthanization there is a possibility of controversy due to the issue revolving around the subject of assisted suicide.[163][164] Excluding assisted suicide, Belgium has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe and one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world (exceeded only by Lithuania, South Korea, and Latvia).[165]
+
+Education is compulsory from 6 to 18 years of age for Belgians.[166] Among OECD countries in 2002, Belgium had the third highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in postsecondary education, at 42%.[167] Though an estimated 99% of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.[149][168] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Belgium's education as the 19th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.[169] Education being organized separately by each, the Flemish Community scores noticeably above the French and German-speaking Communities.[170]
+
+Mirroring the dual structure of the 19th-century Belgian political landscape, characterized by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is segregated within a secular and a religious segment. The secular branch of schooling is controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, while religious, mainly Catholic branch education, is organized by religious authorities, although subsidized and supervised by the communities.[171]
+
+Despite its political and linguistic divisions, the region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence on European art and culture. Nowadays, to a certain extent, cultural life is concentrated within each language Community, and a variety of barriers have made a shared cultural sphere less pronounced.[14][172][173] Since the 1970s, there are no bilingual universities or colleges in the country except the Royal Military Academy and the Antwerp Maritime Academy, no common media[174] and no single large cultural or scientific organization in which both main communities are represented.[175]
+
+Contributions to painting and architecture have been especially rich. The Mosan art, the Early Netherlandish,[176] the Flemish Renaissance and Baroque painting[177] and major examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture[178] are milestones in the history of art. While the 15th century's art in the Low Countries is dominated by the religious paintings of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, the 16th century is characterized by a broader panel of styles such as Peter Breughel's landscape paintings and Lambert Lombard's representation of the antique.[179] Though the Baroque style of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck flourished in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands,[180] it gradually declined thereafter.[181][182]
+
+During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Belgian painters emerged, including James Ensor and other artists belonging to the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux and René Magritte. The avant-garde CoBrA movement appeared in the 1950s, while the sculptor Panamarenko remains a remarkable figure in contemporary art.[183][184] Multidisciplinary artists Jan Fabre, Wim Delvoye and the painter Luc Tuymans are other internationally renowned figures on the contemporary art scene.
+
+Belgian contributions to architecture also continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, including the work of Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, who were major initiators of the Art Nouveau style.[185][186]
+
+The vocal music of the Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries and was an important contribution to Renaissance culture.[187] In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an emergence of major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux, while Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822. Contemporary popular music in Belgium is also of repute. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans and singer Jacques Brel have achieved global fame. Nowadays, singer Stromae has been a musical revelation in Europe and beyond, having great success. In rock/pop music, Telex, Front 242, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax and dEUS are well known. In the heavy metal scene, bands like Machiavel, Channel Zero and Enthroned have a worldwide fan-base.[188]
+
+Belgium has produced several well-known authors, including the poets Emile Verhaeren, Robert Goffin and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar, Hugo Claus and Amélie Nothomb. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé is the best known of Franco-Belgian comics, but many other major authors, including Peyo (The Smurfs), André Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe), Dupa (Cubitus), Morris (Lucky Luke), Greg (Achille Talon), Lambil (Les Tuniques Bleues), Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame.[189] Additionally, famous crime author Agatha Christie created the character Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, who has served as a protagonist in a number of her acclaimed mystery novels.
+
+Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen.[G] Other Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; well-known actors include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain; and successful films include Bullhead, Man Bites Dog and The Alzheimer Affair.[190] In the 1980s, Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts produced important fashion trendsetters, known as the Antwerp Six.[191]
+
+Folklore plays a major role in Belgium's cultural life: the country has a comparatively high number of processions, cavalcades, parades, 'ommegangs' and 'ducasses',[H] 'kermesse' and other local festivals, nearly always with an originally religious or mythological background. The Carnival of Binche with its famous Gilles and the 'Processional Giants and Dragons' of Ath, Brussels, Dendermonde, Mechelen and Mons are recognized by UNESCO as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.[192]
+
+Other examples are the Carnival of Aalst; the still very religious processions of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Virga Jesse Basilica in Hasselt and Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen; 15 August festival in Liège; and the Walloon festival in Namur. Originated in 1832 and revived in the 1960s, the Gentse Feesten have become a modern tradition. A major non-official holiday is the Saint Nicholas Day, a festivity for children and, in Liège, for students.[193]
+
+Many highly ranked Belgian restaurants can be found in the most influential restaurant guides, such as the Michelin Guide.[194] Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries with mayonnaise. Contrary to their name, french fries are claimed to have originated in Belgium, although their exact place of origin is uncertain. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".[195][196][197][I]
+
+Brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines, like Côte d'Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas and Godiva are famous, as well as independent producers such as Burie and Del Rey in Antwerp and Mary's in Brussels.[198] Belgium produces over 1100 varieties of beer.[199][200] The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer.[201][202][203]
+The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven.[204]
+
+Since the 1970s, sports clubs and federations are organized separately within each language community.[205] Association football is the most popular sport in both parts of Belgium; also very popular are cycling, tennis, swimming, judo[206] and basketball.[207]
+
+Belgians hold the most Tour de France victories of any country except France. They have also the most victories on the UCI Road World Championships. Philippe Gilbert is the 2012 world champion. Another modern well-known Belgian cyclist is Tom Boonen. With five victories in the Tour de France and numerous other cycling records, Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx is regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.[208] Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is considered one of the greatest in the history of association football.[209]
+
+Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships, and co-hosted the 2000 European Championships with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team reached first place in the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in November 2015.[210]
+
+Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both were Player of the Year in the Women's Tennis Association as they were ranked the number one female tennis player.
+The Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit hosts the Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver, Jacky Ickx, won eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished twice as runner-up in the Formula One World Championship. Belgium also has a strong reputation in, motocross with the riders Joel Robert, Roger De Coster, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and Stefan Everts among others.[211] Sporting events annually held in Belgium include the Memorial Van Damme athletics competition, the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, and a number of classic cycle races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp. The 1977 European Basketball Championship was held in Liège and Ostend.
+
+(Several editions in English, incl. (1997) 7th ed.)

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+
+
+Belgrade (/ˈbɛlɡreɪd/ BEL-grayd; Serbian: Beograd / Београд, lit. 'White City', pronounced [beǒɡrad] (listen); names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula.[8] Nearly 1.7 million people live within the administrative limits of the City of Belgrade, a quarter of the total population of Serbia.[4]
+
+One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region and, after 279 BC, Celts settled the city, naming it Singidūn.[9] It was conquered by the Romans under the reign of Augustus and awarded Roman city rights in the mid-2nd century.[10] It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times between the Byzantine Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Bulgarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Hungary before it became the seat of the Serbian king Stefan Dragutin in 1284. Belgrade served as capital of the Serbian Despotate during the reign of Stefan Lazarević, and then his successor Đurađ Branković returned it to the Hungarian king in 1427. Noon bells in support of the Hungarian army against the Ottoman Empire during the siege in 1456 have remained a widespread church tradition to this day. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo.[11] It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars.
+
+In the period after the Serbian Revolution, Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. Northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when it was attached to the city, due to former Austro-Hungarian territories becoming the part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after World War I. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918 to its dissolution in 2006.[Note 1] In a fatally strategic position, the city has been battled over in 115 wars and razed 44 times, being bombed five times and besieged many times.[12]
+
+Being Serbia's primate city, Belgrade has special administrative status within Serbia.[13] It is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and government ministries, as well as home of almost all of the largest Serbian companies, media, and scientific institutions. Belgrade is classified as a Beta-Global City.[14] The city is home to the Clinical Centre of Serbia, one of the hospital complexes with the largest capacity in the world, and the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox church buildings. Belgrade hosted major international events such as the first Non-Aligned Movement Summit (1961), the first major gathering of the OSCE (1977–1978), Eurovision Song Contest (2008), as well as sports events such as the first FINA World Aquatics Championships (1973), UEFA Euro (1976), Summer Universiade (2009) and EuroBasket three-times.
+
+Chipped stone tools found in Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these tools are of Mousterian industry—belonging to Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also been discovered near the area, indicating some settlement between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago.[15]
+
+The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, which flourished between 6200 and 5200 BC.[16] There are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture (5500–4500 BC), a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements and also named for a site in the Belgrade region (Vinča-Belo Brdo). The Vinča culture is known for its very large settlements, one of the earliest settlements by continuous habitation and some of the largest in prehistoric Europe.[17] Also associated with the Vinča culture are anthropomorphic figurines such as the Lady of Vinča, the earliest known copper metallurgy in Europe,[18] and a proto-writing form developed prior to the Sumerians and Minoans known as the Old European script, which dates back to around 5300 BC.[19] Within the city proper, on Cetinjska Street, a skull of a Paleolithic human was discovered in 1890. The skull is dated to before 5000 BC.[20]
+
+Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrade's geographical location comes from a variety of ancient myths and legends. The ridge overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, for example, has been identified as one of the places in the story of Jason and the Argonauts.[21][22] In the time of antiquity, too, the area was populated by Paleo-Balkan tribes, including the Thracians and the Dacians, who ruled much of Belgrade's surroundings.[23] Specifically, Belgrade was at one point inhabited by the Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi;[9] following Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci wrested the city from their hands, naming it Singidūn (d|ūn, fortress).[9] In 34–33 BC, the Roman army, led by Silanus, reached Belgrade. It became the romanised Singidunum in the 1st century AD and, by the mid-2nd century, the city was proclaimed a municipium by the Roman authorities, evolving into a full-fledged colonia (the highest city class) by the end of the century.[10] While the first Christian Emperor of Rome —Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great[24]—was born in the territory of Naissus to the city's south, Roman Christianity's champion, Flavius Iovianus (Jovian), was born in Singidunum.[25] Jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the site passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire.[26] Across the Sava from Singidunum was the Celtic city of Taurunum (Zemun); the two were connected with a bridge throughout Roman and Byzantine times.[27]
+
+Roman Republic 33BC–27BC
+ Roman Empire 27BC–471AD
+ Ostrogothic Kingdom 471–539
+ Byzantine Empire 539–829
+ Bulgarian Empire 829–1018
+ Byzantine Empire 1018–1185
+ Bulgarian Empire 1185–1246
+ Kingdom of Hungary 1246–1284
+ Kingdom of Serbia (Syrmia) 1284–1402
+ Serbian Despotate 1402–1427
+ Kingdom of Hungary 1427–1521
+ Ottoman Empire 1521–1688 
+ Habsburg Monarchy 1688–1690 
+ Ottoman Empire 1690–1717 
+ Habsburg Monarchy 1717–1739 
+ Ottoman Empire 1739–1789 
+ Habsburg Monarchy 1789–1791 
+ Ottoman Empire 1791–1806 
+ Revolutionary Serbia 1806–1813 
+ Ottoman Empire 1813–1815 
+ Principality of Serbia 1815–1882
+ Kingdom of Serbia 1882–1915
+ Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia 1915–1918
+ Kingdom of Serbia 1918
+ Kingdom of Yugoslavia[28] 1918–1941
+ German-occupied Serbia 1941–1944
+ SFR Yugoslavia[29] 1944–1992
+ Serbia and Montenegro[30] 1992–2006
+
+In 442, the area was ravaged by Attila the Hun.[31] In 471, it was taken by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, who continued into Italy.[32] As the Ostrogoths left, another Germanic tribe, the Gepids, invaded the city. In 539 it was retaken by the Byzantines.[33] In 577, some 100,000 Slavs poured into Thrace and Illyricum, pillaging cities and more permanently settling the region.[34] The Avars, under Bayan I, conquered the whole region and its new Slavic population by 582.[35] Following Byzantine reconquest, the Byzantine chronicle De Administrando Imperio mentions the White Serbs, who had stopped in Belgrade on their way back home, asking the strategos for lands; they received provinces in the west, towards the Adriatic, which they would rule as subjects to Heraclius (610–641).[36] In 829, Khan Omurtag was able to add Singidunum and its environs to the First Bulgarian Empire.[37][38]
+
+The first record of the name Belograd appeared on April, 16th, 878, in a Papal missive[39] to Bulgarian ruler Boris I. This name would appear in several variants: Alba Bulgarica in Latin, Griechisch Weissenburg in High German, Nándorfehérvár in Hungarian, and Castelbianco in Venetian, among other names, all variations of 'white fortress'. For about four centuries, the city would become a battleground between the Byzantine Empire, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, and the Bulgarian Empire.[40] Basil II (976–1025) installed a garrison in Belgrade.[41] The city hosted the armies of the First and the Second Crusade,[42] but, while passing through during the Third Crusade, Frederick Barbarossa and his 190,000 crusaders saw Belgrade in ruins.[43]
+King Stefan Dragutin (r. 1276–1282) received Belgrade from his father-in-law, Stephen V of Hungary, in 1284, and it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Syrmia, a vassal state to the Kingdom of Hungary. Dragutin (Hungarian: Dragutin István) is regarded as the first Serbian king to rule over Belgrade.[44]
+
+Following the battles of Maritsa (1371) and Kosovo field (1389), Moravian Serbia, to Belgrade's south, began to fall to the Ottoman Empire.[45][46]
+
+The northern sections of what is now Serbia persisted as the Serbian Despotate, with Belgrade as its capital. The city flourished under Stefan Lazarević, the son of Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. Lazarević built a castle with a citadel and towers, of which only the Despot's tower and the west wall remain. He also refortified the city's ancient walls, allowing the Despotate to resist Ottoman conquest for almost 70 years. During this time, Belgrade was a haven for many Balkan peoples fleeing Ottoman rule, and is thought to have had a population ranging between 40,000 and 50,000 people.[44]
+
+In 1427, Stefan's successor Đurađ Branković, returning Belgrade to the Hungarian king, made Smederevo his new capital. Even though the Ottomans had captured most of the Serbian Despotate, Belgrade, known as Nándorfehérvár in Hungarian, was unsuccessfully besieged in 1440[42] and 1456.[47] As the city presented an obstacle to the Ottoman advance into Hungary and further, over 100,000 Ottoman soldiers[48] besieged it in 1456, in which the Christian army led by the Hungarian General John Hunyadi successfully defended it.[49] The noon bell ordered by Pope Callixtus III commemorates the victory throughout the Christian world to this day.[42][50]
+
+Seven decades after the initial siege, on 28 August 1521, the fort was finally captured by Suleiman the Magnificent, 250,000 Turkish soldiers, and over 100 ships. Subsequently, most of the city was razed to the ground and its entire Orthodox Christian population was deported to Istanbul[42] to an area that has since become known as the Belgrade forest.[51] Belgrade was made the seat of the Pashalik of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), and quickly became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by Constantinople.[48] Ottoman rule introduced Ottoman architecture, including numerous mosques, and the city was resurrected—now by Oriental influences.[52] In 1594, a major Serb rebellion was crushed by the Ottomans. Later, Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha ordered the relics of Saint Sava to be publicly torched on the Vračar plateau; in the 20th century, the church of Saint Sava was built to commemorate this event.[53]
+
+Occupied by the Habsburgs three times (1688–1690, 1717–1739, 1789–1791), headed by the Holy Roman Princes Maximilian of Bavaria and Eugene of Savoy,[54] and field marshal Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon, respectively, Belgrade was quickly recaptured by the Ottomans and substantially razed each time.[52] During this period, the city was affected by the two Great Serbian Migrations, in which hundreds of thousands of Serbs, led by two Serbian Patriarchs, retreated together with the Austrian soldiers into the Habsburg Empire, settling in today's Vojvodina and Slavonia.[55]
+
+At the beginning of the 19th century, Belgrade was predominantly inhabited by a Muslim population. Traces of Ottoman rule and architecture—such as mosques and bazaars, were to remain a prominent part of Belgrade's townscape into the 19th century; several decades, even, after Serbia was granted autonomy from the Ottoman Empire.[56]
+
+During the First Serbian Uprising, Serbian revolutionaries held the city from 8 January 1807 until 1813, when it was retaken by the Ottomans.[57] After the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815, Serbia achieved some sort of sovereignty, which was formally recognised by the Porte in 1830.[58]
+
+The development of Belgrade architecture after 1815 can be divided into four periods. In the first phase, which lasted from 1815 to 1835, the dominant architectural style was still of a Balkan character, with substantial Ottoman influence. At the same time, an interest in joining the European mainstream allowed Central and Western European architecture to flourish. Between 1835 and 1850, the amount of neoclassicist and baroque buildings south of the Austrian border rose considerably, exemplified by St Michael's Cathedral (Serbian: Saborna crkva), completed in 1840. Between 1850 and 1875, new architecture was characterised by a turn towards the newly-popular Romanticism, along with older European architectural styles. Typical of Central European cities in the last quarter of the 19th century, the fourth phase was characterised by an eclecticist style based on the Renaissance and Baroque periods.[59]
+
+In 1841, Prince Mihailo Obrenović moved the capital of the Principality of Serbia from Kragujevac to Belgrade.[60][61] During his first reign (1815–1839), Prince Miloš Obrenović pursued expansion of the city's population through the addition of new settlements, aiming and succeeding to make Belgrade the centre of the Principality's administrative, military and cultural institutions. His project of creating a new market space (the Abadžijska čaršija), however, was less successful; trade continued to be conducted in the centuries-old Donja čaršija and Gornja čaršija. Still, new construction projects were typical for the Christian quarters as the older Muslim quarters declined; from Serbia's autonomy until 1863, the number of Belgrade quarters even decreased, mainly as a consequence of the gradual disappearance of the city's Muslim population. An Ottoman city map from 1863 counts only 9 Muslim quarters (mahalas). The names of only five such neighbourhoods are known today: Ali-pašina, Reis-efendijina, Jahja-pašina, Bajram-begova and Laz Hadži-Mahmudova.[62] Following the Čukur Fountain incident, Belgrade was bombed by the Ottomans.[63]
+
+On 18 April 1867, the Ottoman government ordered the Ottoman garrison, which had been since 1826 the last representation of Ottoman suzerainty in Serbia, withdrawn from Kalemegdan. The forlorn Porte's only stipulation was that the Ottoman flag continue to fly over the fortress alongside the Serbian one. Serbia's de facto independence dates from this event.[64] In the following years, urban planner Emilijan Josimović had a significant impact on Belgrade. He conceptualised a regulation plan for the city in 1867, in which he proposed the replacement of the town's crooked streets with a grid plan. Of great importance also was the construction of independent Serbian political and cultural institutions, as well as the city's now-plentiful parks. Pointing to Josimović's work, Serbian scholars have noted an important break with Ottoman traditions. However, Istanbul—the capital city of the state to which Belgrade and Serbia de jure still belonged—underwent similar changes.[65]
+
+In May 1868, knez Mihailo was assassinated with his cousin Anka Konstantinović while riding in a carriage in his country residence.[66]
+
+With the Principality's full independence in 1878 and its transformation into the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882, Belgrade once again became a key city in the Balkans, and developed rapidly.[57][68] Nevertheless, conditions in Serbia remained those of an overwhelmingly agrarian country, even with the opening of a railway to Niš, Serbia's second city. In 1900, the capital had only 70,000 inhabitants[69] (at the time Serbia numbered 2.5 million). Still, by 1905, the population had grown to more than 80,000 and, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it had surpassed the 100,000 citizens, disregarding Zemun, which still belonged to Austria-Hungary.[70]
+
+The first-ever projection of motion pictures in the Balkans and Central Europe was held in Belgrade in June 1896 by André Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers. He shot the first motion pictures of Belgrade in the next year; however, they have not been preserved.[71] The first permanent cinema was opened in 1909 in Belgrade.[72]
+
+The First World War began on 28 July 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Most of the subsequent Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade. Austro-Hungarian monitors shelled Belgrade on 29 July 1914, and it was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Army under General Oskar Potiorek on 30 November. On 15 December, it was re-taken by Serbian troops under Marshal Radomir Putnik. After a prolonged battle which destroyed much of the city, starting on 6 October 1915, Belgrade fell to German and Austro-Hungarian troops commanded by Field Marshal August von Mackensen on 9 October of the same year. The city was liberated by Serbian and French troops on 1 November 1918, under the command of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espèrey of France and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia. Belgrade, decimated as a front-line city, lost the title of largest city in the Kingdom to Subotica for some time.[73]
+
+After the war, Belgrade became the capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The Kingdom was split into banovinas and Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo, formed a separate administrative unit.[74]
+
+During this period, the city experienced fast growth and significant modernisation. Belgrade's population grew to 239,000 by 1931 (with the inclusion of Zemun), and to 320,000 by 1940. The population growth rate between 1921 and 1948 averaged 4.08% a year.[75]
+
+In 1927, Belgrade's first airport opened, and in 1929, its first radio station began broadcasting. The Pančevo Bridge, which crosses the Danube, was opened in 1935,[76] while King Alexander Bridge over the Sava was opened in 1934. On 3 September 1939 the first Belgrade Grand Prix, the last Grand Prix motor racing race before the outbreak of World War II, was held around the Belgrade Fortress and was followed by 80,000 spectators.[77] The winner was Tazio Nuvolari.[78]
+
+On 25 March 1941, the government of regent Crown Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact, joining the Axis powers in an effort to stay out of the Second World War and keep Yugoslavia neutral during the conflict. This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military coup d'état led by Air Force commander General Dušan Simović, who proclaimed King Peter II to be of age to rule the realm. As a result, the city was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on 6 April 1941, killing up to 2,274 people.[79][80][81] Yugoslavia was then invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces. Belgrade was captured by subterfuge, with six German soldiers led by their officer Fritz Klingenberg feigning threatening size, forcing the city to capitulate.[82] Belgrade was more directly occupied by the German Army in the same month and became the seat of the puppet Nedić regime, headed by its namesake general.[83] Some of today's parts of Belgrade were incorporated in the Independent State of Croatia in occupied Yugoslavia, another puppet state, where Ustashe regime  carried out the Genocide of Serbs.[84]
+
+During the summer and fall of 1941, in reprisal for guerrilla attacks, the Germans carried out several massacres of Belgrade citizens; in particular, members of the Jewish community were subject to mass shootings at the order of General Franz Böhme, the German Military Governor of Serbia. Böhme rigorously enforced the rule that for every German killed, 100 Serbs or Jews would be shot.[85] Belgrade became the first city in Europe to be declared by the Nazi occupation forces to be Judenfrei.[86] The resistance movement in Belgrade was led by Major Žarko Todorović from 1941 until his arrest in 1943.[87]
+
+Just like Rotterdam, which was devastated twice by both German and Allied bombing, Belgrade was bombed once more during World War II, this time by the Allies on 16 April 1944, killing at least 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.[88] Most of the city remained under German occupation until 20 October 1944, when it was liberated by the Red Army and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans. On 29 November 1945, Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade (later to be renamed to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 7 April 1963).[89] Higher estimates from the former secret police place the victim count of political persecutions in Belgrade at 10,000.[90]
+
+When the war ended, the city was left with 11,500 demolished housing units.[91] During the post-war period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia, developing as a major industrial centre.[68] In 1948, construction of New Belgrade started. In 1958, Belgrade's first television station began broadcasting. In 1961, the conference of Non-Aligned Countries was held in Belgrade under Tito's chairmanship.[92] In 1962, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport was built. In 1968, major student protests led to several street clashes between students and the police.[93]
+
+In 1972, Belgrade faced smallpox outbreak, the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe since World War II.[94] Between October 1977 and March 1978, the city hosted the first major gathering of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with the aim of implementing the Helsinki Accords from, while in 1980 Belgrade hosted the UNESCO General Conference.[95] Josip Broz Tito died in May 1980 and his funeral in Belgrade was attended by high officials and state delegations from 128 of the 154 members of the United Nations from both sides of the Iron Curtain, based on which it became one of the largest funerals in history.[96]
+
+On 9 March 1991, massive demonstrations led by Vuk Drašković were held in the city against Slobodan Milošević.[97] According to various media outlets, there were between 100,000 and 150,000 people on the streets.[98] Two people were killed, 203 injured and 108 arrested during the protests, and later that day tanks were deployed onto the streets to restore order.[99] Many anti-war protests were held in Belgrade, while the most massive protests was dedicated to solidarity with the victims from the besieged Sarajevo.[100][101] Further anti-government protests were held in Belgrade from November 1996 to February 1997 against the same government after alleged electoral fraud in local elections.[102] These protests brought Zoran Đinđić to power, the first mayor of Belgrade since World War II who did not belong to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia or its later offshoot, the Socialist Party of Serbia.[103]
+
+In 1999, during the Kosovo War, NATO bombings caused damage to the city. Among the sites bombed were various ministry buildings, the RTS building, hospitals, Hotel Jugoslavija, the Central Committee building, Avala Tower, and the Chinese embassy.[104] After the Yugoslav Wars, Serbia became home to highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Europe, while more than third settled in Belgrade.[105][106][107][108]
+
+After the 2000 presidential elections, Belgrade was the site of major public protests, with over half a million people on the streets. These demonstrations resulted in the ousting of president Milošević as a part of the Otpor! movement.[109][110]
+
+In 2014, Belgrade Waterfront, an urban renewal project, was initiated by the Government of Serbia and its Emirati partner, Eagle Hills Properties. Aimed at improving Belgrade's cityscape and economy, the project hopes to revitalise the Sava amphitheatre, a neglected expanse on the right bank of the Sava river between the Belgrade Fair and the former Belgrade Main railway station. Around €3.5 billion will be jointly invested by the Serbian government and their Emirati partners.[111] The project includes office and luxury apartment buildings, five-star hotels, a shopping mall and the envisioned 'Belgrade Tower'. The project is, however, quite controversial—there are a number of uncertainties regarding its funding, necessity, and its architecture's arguable lack of harmony with the rest of the city.[112]
+Apart from Belgrade Waterfront, the city is under rapid development and reconstruction, especially in the area of Novi Beograd, where many apartment and office buildings are under construction to support the burgeoning IT sector, now one of Serbia's largest economic players.
+
+Belgrade lies 116.75 metres (383.0 ft) above sea level and is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. The historical core of Belgrade, Kalemegdan, lies on the right banks of both rivers. Since the 19th century, the city has been expanding to the south and east; after World War II, New Belgrade was built on the left bank of the Sava river, connecting Belgrade with Zemun. Smaller, chiefly residential communities across the Danube, like Krnjača, Kotež and Borča, also merged with the city, while Pančevo, a heavily industrialised satellite city, remains a separate town. The city has an urban area of 360 square kilometres (140 sq mi), while together with its metropolitan area it covers 3,223 km2 (1,244 sq mi).
+On the right bank of the Sava, central Belgrade has a hilly terrain, while the highest point of Belgrade proper is Torlak hill at 303 m (994 ft). The mountains of Avala (511 m (1,677 ft)) and Kosmaj (628 m (2,060 ft)) lie south of the city. Across the Sava and Danube, the land is mostly flat, consisting of alluvial plains and loessial plateaus.[113]
+
+One of the characteristics of the city terrain is mass wasting. On the territory covered by the General Urban Plan there are 1,155 recorded mass wasting points, out of which 602 are active and 248 are labeled as the 'high risk'. They cover almost 30% of the city territory and include several types of mass wasting. Downhill creeps are located on the slopes above the rivers, mostly on the clay or loam soils, inclined between 7 and 20%. Most critical ones are in Karaburma, Zvezdara, Višnjica, Vinča and Ritopek, in the Danube valley, and Umka, and especially its neighbourhood of Duboko, in the Sava valley. They have moving and dormant phases, and some of them have been recorded for centuries. Less active downhill creep areas include the entire Terazije slope above the Sava (Kalemegdan, Savamala), which can be seen by the inclination of the Pobednik monument and the tower of the Cathedral Church, and the Voždovac section, between Banjica and Autokomanda.
+
+Landslides encompass smaller areas, develop on the steep cliffs, sometimes being inclined up to 90%. They are mostly located in the artificial loess hills of Zemun: Gardoš, Ćukovac and Kalvarija.
+
+However, the majority of the land movement in Belgrade, some 90%, is triggered by the construction works and faulty water supply system (burst pipes, etc.). The neighbourhood of Mirijevo is considered to be the most successful project of fixing the problem. During the construction of the neighbourhood from the 1970s, the terrain was systematically improved and the movement of the land is today completely halted.[114][115]
+
+Belgrade has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), according to Köppen climate classification, with four seasons and uniformly spread precipitation. Monthly averages range from 1.4 °C (34.5 °F) in January to 23.0 °C (73.4 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 12.5 °C (54.5 °F). There are, on average, 31 days a year when the temperature is above 30 °C (86 °F), and 95 days when the temperature is above 25 °C (77 °F). Belgrade receives about 691 millimetres (27 in) of precipitation a year, with late spring being wettest. The average annual number of sunny hours is 2,112.
+
+The highest officially recorded temperature in Belgrade was 43.6 °C (110.5 °F) on 24 July 2007,[116] while on the other end, the lowest temperature was −26.2 °C (−15 °F) on 10 January 1893.[117]
+
+Belgrade is a separate territorial unit in Serbia, with its own autonomous city authority.[13] The Assembly of the City of Belgrade has 110 members, elected on four-year terms.[121] A 13-member City Council, elected by the Assembly and presided over by the mayor and his deputy, has the control and supervision of the city administration,[122] which manages day-to-day administrative affairs. It is divided into 14 Secretariats, each having a specific portfolio such as traffic or health care, and several professional services, agencies and institutes.[123]
+
+The 2014 Belgrade City Assembly election was won by the Serbian Progressive Party, which formed a ruling coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia. This election ended the long-time rule of the Democratic Party, which was in power from 2004 to 2013.[124]
+
+As the capital city, Belgrade is seat of all Serbian state authorities – executive, legislative, judiciary, and the headquarters of almost all national political parties as well as 75 diplomatic missions.[125] This includes the National Assembly, the Presidency, the Government of Serbia and all the ministries, Supreme Court of Cassation and the Constitutional Court.
+
+The city is divided into 17 municipalities.[126] Previously, they were classified into 10 urban (lying completely or partially within borders of the city proper) and 7 suburban municipalities, whose centres are smaller towns.[127] With the new 2010 City statute, they were all given equal status, with the proviso that suburban ones (except Surčin) have certain autonomous powers, chiefly related with construction, infrastructure and public utilities.[126]
+
+Most of the municipalities are situated on the southern side of the Danube and Sava rivers, in the Šumadija region. Three municipalities (Zemun, Novi Beograd, and Surčin), are on the northern bank of the Sava in the Syrmia region and the municipality of Palilula, spanning the Danube, is in both the Šumadija and Banat regions.
+
+According to the 2011 census, the city has a population of 1,166,763, while the urban area of Belgrade (with adjacent urban settlements of Borča, Ovča, and Surčin included) has 1,233,796 inhabitants, and the population of the metropolitan area (the administrative area of the City of Belgrade) stands at 1,659,440 people.
+
+Belgrade is home to many ethnicities from across the former Yugoslavia and the wider Balkans region. The main ethnic groups are: Serbs (1,505,448), Roma (27,325), Montenegrins (9,902), Yugoslavs (8,061), Croats (7,752), Macedonians (6,970), and Muslims by nationality (3,996).[128] Many people came to the city as economic migrants from smaller towns and the countryside, while tens of thousands arrived as refugees from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, as a result of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.[129]
+
+Between 10,000 and 20,000[130] Chinese people are estimated to live in Belgrade and, since their arrival in the mid-1990s, Block 70 in New Belgrade has been known colloquially as the Chinese quarter.[131][132] Many Middle Easterners, mainly from Syria, Iran, Jordan and Iraq, arrived in order to pursue their studies during the 1970s and 1980s, and have remained in the city. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, small communities of Aromanians, Czechs, Greeks, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, Turks, Armenians and Russian White émigrés also existed in Belgrade. There are two suburban settlements with significant minority population today: Ovča and the village of Boljevci, both with about one quarter of their population being Romanians and Slovaks, respectively.
+
+[135]
+
+Although there are several historic religious communities in Belgrade, the religious makeup of the city is relatively homogeneous. The Serbian Orthodox community is by far the largest, with 1,475,168 adherents. There are also 31,914 Muslims, 13,720 Roman Catholics, and 3,128 Protestants.
+
+There once was a significant Jewish community in Belgrade but, following the World War II Nazi occupation of the city and subsequent Jewish emigration, their numbers have fallen from over 10,000 to just 295.[136] Belgrade also used to have one of the largest Buddhist colonies in Europe outside Russia when some 400 mostly Buddhist Kalmyks settled on the outskirts of Belgrade following the Russian Civil War. Most of them moved away after the World War II and their temple, Belgrade pagoda, was abandoned and eventually demolished.
+
+Belgrade is the financial centre of Serbia and Southeast Europe, with a total of 17 million square metres (180 million square feet) of office space.[137] It is also home to the country's Central Bank. Over 700,000 people[138] are employed in 120,286 companies,[139] 60,000 enterprises[140] and 50,000 shops.[141] The City of Belgrade itself owns 267,147 square metres (2,875,550 square feet) of rentable office space.[142]
+
+As of 2019, Belgrade contained 31.4% of Serbia's employed population and generated over 40.4% of its GDP.[143][144] The city's nominal GDP in 2014 was estimated at 16.97 billion USD, amounting to 859,329 RSD ($10,086) per capita.[145] City GDP in 2019 at purchasing power parity was estimated at $52.1bn USD, which was $32,572 per capita in terms of purchasing power parity.[146]
+
+New Belgrade is the country's Central business district and one of Southeastern Europe's financial centres. It offers a range of facilities, such as hotels, congress halls (e.g. Sava Centar), Class A and B office buildings, and business parks (e.g. Airport City Belgrade). Over  1.2 million square metres (13 million square feet) of land is under construction in New Belgrade, with the value of planned construction over the next three years estimated at over 1.5 billion euros. The Belgrade Stock Exchange is also located in New Belgrade, and has a market capitalisation of €6.5 billion (US$7.1 billion).
+
+With 6,924 companies in the IT sector (according to 2013 data[update]), Belgrade is one of the foremost information technology hubs in Southeast Europe.[139] Microsoft's 'Development Center Serbia', located in Belgrade was, at the time of its establishment, the fifth such programme on the globe.[147] Many global IT companies choose Belgrade as their European or regional centre of operations, such as Asus,[148] Intel,[149] Dell,[150] Huawei, Nutanix,[151] NCR etc.[152] The most famous Belgrade IT startups, among others, are Nordeus, ComTrade Group, MicroE, FishingBooker, and Endava. IT facilities in the city include the Mihajlo Pupin Institute and the ILR,[153] as well as the brand-new IT Park Zvezdara.[154] Many prominent IT innovators began their careers in Belgrade, including Voja Antonić and Veselin Jevrosimović.
+
+In September 2013, the average Belgrade monthly salary stood at 53,564 RSD ($635) in net terms, with the gross equivalent at 73,970 RSD ($877).[155] The 2013 Annual Economist Intelligence Unit Survey ranked Belgrade the 86th most expensive out of 131 world cities.[156][157] According to the 2015 Survey,[158] 73% of the city's households owned a computer, 65.8% had a broadband internet connection and 73.9% had pay television services.[158]
+
+According Cushman & Wakefield, Knez Mihajlova street is 36th most expensive retail street in the world in terms of renting commercial space.[159]
+
+Long cut off from the international movements, Belgrade is a hub for contemporary art in Europe once again. According to BBC, Belgrade is one of five most creative cities in the world.[160]
+Belgrade hosts many annual international cultural events, including the Film Festival, Theatre Festival, Summer Festival, BEMUS, Belgrade Early Music Festival, Book Fair, Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and the Beer Fest.[161] The Nobel Prize winning author Ivo Andrić wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina, in Belgrade.[162] Other prominent Belgrade authors include Branislav Nušić, Miloš Crnjanski, Borislav Pekić, Milorad Pavić and Meša Selimović.[163][164][165] The most internationally prominent artists from Belgrade are Charles Simic, Marina Abramović and Milovan Destil Marković.
+
+Most of Serbia's film industry is based in Belgrade. FEST is an annual film festival that held since 1971, and, through 2013, had been attended by four million people and had presented almost 4,000 films.[166]
+
+The city was one of the main centres of the Yugoslav new wave in the 1980s: VIS Idoli, Ekatarina Velika, Šarlo Akrobata and Električni Orgazam were all from Belgrade. Other notable Belgrade rock acts include Riblja Čorba, Bajaga i Instruktori and Partibrejkers.[167][168] Today, it is the centre of the Serbian hip hop scene, with acts such as Beogradski Sindikat, Škabo, Marčelo, and most of the Bassivity Music stable hailing from or living in the city.[169][170] There are numerous theatres, the most prominent of which are National Theatre, Theatre on Terazije, Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Zvezdara Theatre, and Atelier 212. The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is also based in Belgrade, as well as the National Library of Serbia. Other major libraries include the Belgrade City Library and the Belgrade University Library. Belgrade's two opera houses are: National Theatre and Madlenianum Opera House.[171][172]
+
+There are many foreign cultural institutions in Belgrade, including the Spanish Instituto Cervantes,[173] the German Goethe-Institut[174] and the French Institut français,[175] which are all located in the central pedestrian area of Knez Mihailova Street. Other cultural centres in Belgrade are American Corner,[176] Austrian Cultural Forum,[177] British Council,[178] Chinese Confucius Institute,[179] Canadian Cultural centre,[180] Hellenic Foundation for Culture,[181] Italian Istituto Italiano di Cultura,[182] Iranian Culture centre,[183] Azerbaijani Culture centre[184] and Russian centre for Science and Culture.[185] European Union National Institutes for Culture operates a cluster of cultural centres from the EU.[186]
+Following the victory of Serbia's representative Marija Šerifović at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, Belgrade hosted the Contest in 2008.[187]
+
+There is more than 1650 public sculptures on the territory of Belgrade.[188][189]
+
+The most prominent museum in Belgrade is the National Museum, founded in 1844 and reconstructed from 2003 till June 2018. The museum houses a collection of more than 400,000 exhibits (over 5600 paintings and 8400 drawings and prints, including many foreign masters like Bosch, Juan de Flandes, Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, Van Dyck, Cézanne, G.B. Tiepolo, Renoir, Monet, Lautrec, Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin, Chagall, Van Gogh, Mondrian etc.) and also the famous Miroslav's Gospel.[190] The Ethnographic Museum, established in 1901, contains more than 150,000 items showcasing the rural and urban culture of the Balkans, particularly the countries of former Yugoslavia.[191]
+
+The Museum of Contemporary Art was the first contemporary art museum in Yugoslavia and, following its foundation in 1965, has amassed a collection of more than 8,000 works from art produced across the former Yugoslavia.[192] The museum was closed in 2007, but has since been reopened in 2017 to focus on the modern as well as on the Yugoslav art scenes.[193]
+Artist Marina Abramović, who was born in Belgrade, held an exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art, which the New York Times described as one of the most important cultural happenings in the world in 2019.[194][195] The exhibition was seen by almost 100,000 visitors. Marina Abramović made a stage speech and performance in front of 20,000 people.[196]
+
+The Military Museum, established in 1878 in Kalemegdan, houses a wide range of more than 25,000 military objects dating from the prehistoric to the medieval to the modern eras. Notable items include Turkish and oriental arms, national banners, and Yugoslav Partisan regalia.[197][198]
+
+The Museum of Aviation in Belgrade located near Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has more than 200 aircraft, of which about 50 are on display, and a few of which are the only surviving examples of their type, such as the Fiat G.50. This museum also displays parts of shot down US and NATO aircraft, such as the F-117 and F-16.[199]
+
+The Nikola Tesla Museum, founded in 1952, preserves the personal items of Nikola Tesla, the inventor after whom the Tesla unit was named. It holds around 160,000 original documents and around 5,700 personal other items including his urn.[200] The last of the major Belgrade museums is the Museum of Vuk and Dositej, which showcases the lives, work and legacy of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Dositej Obradović, the 19th century reformer of the Serbian literary language and the first Serbian Minister of Education, respectively.[201] Belgrade also houses the Museum of African Art, founded in 1977, which has a large collection of art from West Africa.[202]
+
+With around 95,000 copies of national and international films, the Yugoslav Film Archive is the largest in the region and among the 10 largest archives in the world.[203] The institution also operates the Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive, with movie theatre and exhibition hall. The archive's long-standing storage problems were finally solved in 2007, when a new modern depository was opened.[204] The Yugoslav Film Archive also exhibits original Charlie Chaplin's stick and one of the first movies by Auguste and Louis Lumière.[205]
+The Belgrade City Museum moved into a new building in downtown in 2006.[206] The museum hosts a range of collections covering the history of urban life since prehistory.[207]
+
+The Museum of Yugoslav History has collections from the Yugoslav era. Beside paintings, the most valuable are Moon rocks donated by Apollo 11 crew Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins while visiting Belgrade in 1969 and from mission Apollo 17 donated by Richard Nixon in 1971.[208] Museum also houses Joseph Stalin's sabre with 260 brilliants and diamonds, donated by Stalin himself.[209]
+Museum of Science and Technology moved to the building of the first city's power plant in Dorćol in 2005.[210]
+
+Belgrade has wildly varying architecture, from the centre of Zemun, typical of a Central European town,[211] to the more modern architecture and spacious layout of New Belgrade. The oldest architecture is found in Kalemegdan Park. Outside of Kalemegdan, the oldest buildings date only from the 18th century, due to its geographic position and frequent wars and destructions.[212]
+
+The oldest public structure in Belgrade is a nondescript Turkish türbe, while the oldest house is a modest clay house on Dorćol, from late 18th century.[213] Western influence began in the 19th century, when the city completely transformed from an oriental town to the contemporary architecture of the time, with influences from neoclassicism, romanticism, and academic art. Serbian architects took over the development from the foreign builders in the late 19th century, producing the National Theatre, Old Palace, Cathedral Church and later, in the early 20th century, the National Assembly and National Museum, influenced by art nouveau.[212] Elements of Serbo-Byzantine Revival are present in buildings such as House of Vuk's Foundation, old Post Office in Kosovska street, and sacral architecture, such as St. Mark's Church (based on the Gračanica monastery), and the Temple of Saint Sava.[212]
+
+In the socialist period, housing was built quickly and cheaply for the huge influx of people fleeing the countryside following World War II, sometimes resulting in the brutalist architecture of the blokovi ('blocks') of New Belgrade; a socrealism trend briefly ruled, resulting in buildings like the Trade Union Hall.[212] However, in the mid-1950s, modernist trends took over, and still dominate the Belgrade architecture.[212]
+Belgrade has the second oldest sewer system in Europe.[214] The Clinical Centre of Serbia spreads over 34 hectares and consists of about 50 buildings, while also has 3,150 bedsconsidered to be the highest number in Europe,[215] and among highest in the world.[216]
+
+Lying on the main artery connecting Europe and Asia, as well as, eventually, the Orient Express, Belgrade has been a popular place for travellers through the centuries. 
+In 1843, on Dubrovačka Street (today Kralj Petar Street ), Serbia's knez Mihailo Obrenović built a large edifice which became the first hotel in Belgrade: Kod jelena ('at the deer's'), in the neighbourhood of Kosančićev Venac. Many criticised the move at the time due to the cost and the size of the building, and it soon became the gathering point of the Principality's wealthiest citizens. Colloquially, the building was also referred to as the staro zdanje, or the 'old edifice'. It remained a hotel until 1903 before being demolished in 1938.[217][218] After the staro zdanje, numerous hotels were built in the second half of the 19th century: Nacional and Grand, also in Kosančićev Venac, Srpski Kralj, Srpska Kruna, Grčka Kraljica near Kalemegdan, Balkan and Pariz in Terazije, London, etc.[219]
+
+As Belgrade became connected via steamboats and railway (after 1884), the number of visitors grew and new hotels were open with the ever luxurious commodities. In Savamala, the hotels Bosna and Bristol were opened. Other hotels included Solun and Orient, which was built near the Financial Park. Tourists which arrived by the Orient Express mostly stayed at the Petrograd Hotel in Wilson Square. Hotel Srpski Kralj, at the corner of Uzun Mirkova and Pariska Street was considered the best hotel in Belgrade during the Interbellum. It was destroyed during World War II.[219]
+
+The historic areas and buildings of Belgrade are among the city's premier attractions. They include Skadarlija, the National Museum and adjacent National Theatre, Zemun, Nikola Pašić Square, Terazije, Students' Square, the Kalemegdan Fortress, Knez Mihailova Street, the Parliament, the Church of Saint Sava, and the Old Palace. On top of this, there are many parks, monuments, museums, cafés, restaurants and shops on both sides of the river. The hilltop Avala Monument and Avala Tower offer views over the city. According The Guuardian, Dorcol is the one of top ten coolest suburbs and in Europe.[220]
+
+Elite neighbourhood of Dedinje is situated near the Topčider and Košutnjak parks. The Beli dvor (White Palace), house of royal family Karađorđević, is open for visitors. The palace has many valuable artworks.[221] Nearby, Josip Broz Tito's mausoleum, called The House of Flowers, documents the life of the former Yugoslav president.
+
+Ada Ciganlija is a former island on the Sava River, and Belgrade's biggest sports and recreational complex. Today it is connected with the right bank of the Sava via two causeways, creating an artificial lake. It is the most popular destination for Belgraders during the city's hot summers. There are 7 kilometres (4 miles) of long beaches and sports facilities for various sports including golf, football, basketball, volleyball, rugby union, baseball, and tennis.[222] During summer there are between 200,000 and 300,000 bathers daily.[223]
+
+Extreme sports are available, such as bungee jumping, water skiing, and paintballing.[222][225] There are numerous tracks on the island, where it is possible to ride a bike, go for a walk, or go jogging.[222][225] Apart from Ada, Belgrade has total of 16 islands[226] on the rivers, many still unused. Among them, the Great War Island, at the confluence of Sava, stands out as an oasis of unshattered wildlife (especially birds).[227] These areas, along with nearby Small War Island, are protected by the city's government as a nature preserve.[228] There are 37 protected natural resources in the Belgrade urban area, among which eight are geo-heritage sites, i.e. Straževica profile, Mašin Majdan-Topčider, Profile at the Kalemegdan Fortress, Abandoned quarry in Barajevo, Karagača valley, Artesian well in Ovča, Kapela loess profile, and Lake in Sremčica. Other 29 places are biodiversity sites.[229]
+
+Tourist income in 2016 amounted to nearly one billion euros;[230] with a visit of almost a million registered tourists.[231] Of those, in 2019 more than 100,000 tourists arrived by 742 river cruisers.[232][231] Average annual growth is between 13% and 14%.[231]
+
+As of 2018, there are three officially designated camp grounds in Belgrade. The oldest one is located in Batajnica, along the Batajnica Road. Named "Dunav", it is one of the most visited campsites in the country. Second one is situated within the complex of the ethno-household "Zornić's House" in the village of Baćevac, while the third is located in Ripanj, on the slopes of the Avala mountain. In 2017 some 15,000 overnights were recorded in camps.[233]
+
+Belgrade has a reputation for vibrant nightlife; many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognisable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splav) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers.[234][235][236]
+
+Many weekend visitors—particularly from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia—prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals due to its perceived friendly atmosphere, plentiful clubs and bars, cheap drinks, lack of significant language barriers, and a lack of night life regulation.[237][238]
+One of the most famous sites for alternative cultural happenings in the city is the SKC (Student Cultural Centre), located right across from Belgrade's highrise landmark, the Belgrade Palace tower. Concerts featuring famous local and foreign bands are often held at the centre. SKC is also the site of various art exhibitions, as well as public debates and discussions.[239]
+
+A more traditional Serbian nightlife experience, accompanied by traditional music known as Starogradska (roughly translated as Old Town Music), typical of northern Serbia's urban environments, is most prominent in Skadarlija, the city's old bohemian neighbourhood where the poets and artists of Belgrade gathered in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Skadar Street (the centre of Skadarlija) and the surrounding neighbourhood are lined with some of Belgrade's best and oldest traditional restaurants (called kafanas in Serbian), which date back to that period.[240] At one end of the neighbourhood stands Belgrade's oldest beer brewery, founded in the first half of the 19th century.[241] One of the city's oldest kafanas is the Znak pitanja ('?').[242]
+
+The Times reported that Europe's best nightlife can be found in Belgrade.[243] In the Lonely Planet 1000 Ultimate Experiences guide of 2009, Belgrade was placed at the 1st spot among the top 10 party cities in the world.[244]
+
+There are approximately one-thousand sports facilities in Belgrade, many of which are capable of serving all levels of sporting events.[245]
+
+Ada Ciganlija island, lake and beaches are one the most important recreational areas in the city. With total of 8 km beaches, with lot of bars, caffe's, restaurants and sport facilities, Ada Ciganlija attracts many visitors especially in summertime.
+
+Košutnjak park forest with numerous running and bike trails, sport facilities for all sports with indoor and outdoor pools is also very popular. Located only 2 km from Ada Ciganlija.
+
+During the 60s and 70s Belgrade held a number of major international events such as the first ever World Aquatics Championships in 1973, 1976 European Football Championship and 1973 European Cup Final, European Athletics Championships in 1962 and European Indoor Games in 1969, European Basketball Championships in 1961 and 1975, European Volleyball Championship for men and women in 1975 and World Amateur Boxing Championships in 1978.
+
+Since the early 2000s Belgrade again hosts major sporting events nearly every year. Some of these include EuroBasket 2005, European Handball Championship (men's and women's) in 2012, World Handball Championship for women in 2013, European Volleyball Championships for men in 2005 for men and 2011 for women, the 2006 and 2016 European Water Polo Championship, the European Youth Olympic Festival 2007 and the 2009 Summer Universiade.[246] More recently, Belgrade hosted European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2017 and the basketball EuroLeague Final Four tournament in 2018. Global and continental championships in other sports such as tennis, futsal, judo, karate, wrestling, rowing, kickboxing, table tennis and chess have also been held in recent years.
+
+The city is home to Serbia's two biggest and most successful football clubs, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade. Red Star won the UEFA Champions League (European Cup) in 1991, and Partizan was runner-up in 1966. The two major stadiums in Belgrade are the Marakana (Red Star Stadium) and the Partizan Stadium.[247] The Eternal derby is between Red Star and Partizan.
+
+Štark Arena with capacity of 19,384 spectators is one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe.[248] It is used for major sporting events and large concerts. In May 2008 it was the venue for the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest.[249] The Aleksandar Nikolić Hall is the main venue of basketball clubs KK Partizan, European champion of 1992, and KK Crvena zvezda.[250][251]
+
+In recent years, Belgrade has also given rise to several world-class tennis players such as Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković and Novak Djokovic. Ivanovic and Djokovic are the first female and male Belgraders, respectively, to win Grand Slam singles titles and been ATP number 1 with Jelena Janković. The Serbian national team won the 2010 Davis Cup, beating the French team in the finals played in the Belgrade Arena.[252]
+
+Belgrade Marathon is held annually since 1988. Belgrade was a candidate to host 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
+
+Since 1996,[253] semiannual (autumn/winter and spring/summer seasons) fashion weeks are held citywide. Numerous Serbian and foreign designers and fashion brands have their shows during Belgrade Fashion Week. The festival, which collaborates with London Fashion Week, has helped launch the international careers of local talents such as George Styler and Ana Ljubinković. British fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic, who was born in the city, also frequently presents her runway shows in Belgrade.
+
+In addition to fashion, there are two major design shows held in Belgrade every year which attract international architects and industrial designers such as Karim Rashid, Daniel Libeskind, Patricia Urquiola, and Konstantin Grcic.  Both the Mikser Festival and Belgrade Design Week feature lectures, exhibits and competitions. Furthermore, international designers like Sacha Lakic, Ana Kraš, Bojana Sentaler, and Marek Djordjevic are originally from Belgrade.
+
+Belgrade is the most important media hub in Serbia. The city is home to the main headquarters of the national broadcaster Radio Television Serbia (RTS), which is a public service broadcaster.[254] The most popular commercial broadcaster is RTV Pink, a Serbian media multinational, known for its popular entertainment programmes. One of the most popular commercial broadcasters is B92, another media company, which has its own TV station, radio station, and music and book publishing arms, as well as the most popular website on the Serbian internet.[255][256] Other TV stations broadcasting from Belgrade include 1Prva (formerly Fox televizija), Nova, N1 and others which only cover the greater Belgrade municipal area, such as Studio B.
+
+High-circulation daily newspapers published in Belgrade include Politika, Blic, Alo!, Kurir and Danas. There are 2 sporting dailies, Sportski žurnal and Sport, and one economic daily, Privredni pregled. A new free distribution daily, 24 sata, was founded in the autumn of 2006. Also, Serbian editions of licensed magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, Men's Health, Grazia and others have their headquarters in the city.
+
+Belgrade has two state universities and several private institutions of higher education. The University of Belgrade, founded in 1808 as a grande école, is the oldest institution of higher learning in Serbia.[257] Having developed with much of the rest of the city in the 19th century, several university buildings are recognised as forming a constituent part of Belgrade's architecture and cultural heritage. With enrolment numbers of nearly 90,000 students, the university is one of Europe's largest.[258]
+
+The city is also home to 195 primary (elementary) schools and 85 secondary schools. The primary school system has 162 regular schools, 14 special schools, 15 art schools, and 4 adult schools, while the secondary school system has 51 vocational schools, 21 gymnasiums, 8 art schools and 5 special schools. The 230,000 pupils are managed by 22,000 employees in over 500 buildings, covering around 1.1 million square metres (12 million square feet).[259]
+
+Belgrade has an extensive public transport system consisting of buses (118 urban lines and more than 300 suburban lines), trams (12 lines), trolleybuses (8 lines) and S-Train BG Voz (6 lines).[260][261] Buses, trolleybuses and trams are run by GSP Beograd and SP Lasta in cooperation with private companies on some bus routes. The S-train network, BG Voz, run by city government in cooperation with Serbian Railways, is a part of the integrated transport system, and has three lines (Batajnica-Ovča and Ovča-Resnik and Belgrade centre-Mladenovac), with more announced.[262][263] The BusPlus ticketing system based on contactless smart cards began operating in February 2012. Daily connections link the capital to other towns in Serbia and many other European destinations through the city's central bus station.
+
+Beovoz was the suburban/commuter railway network that provided mass-transit services in the city, similar to Paris's RER and Toronto's GO Transit. The main usage of system was to connect the suburbs with the city centre. Beovoz was operated by Serbian Railways.[264] However, this system was abolished back in 2013, mostly due to introduction of more efficient BG Voz. Belgrade is one of the last big European capitals and cities with over a million people to have no metro or subway or other rapid transit system, though Belgrade Metro is in its planning stages.
+
+The new Belgrade Centre railway station is the hub for almost all the national and international trains. The high-speed rail that will connect Belgrade with Novi Sad, Subotica and Budapest is under construction, with the first half of 2020s planned for its beginning of operation.
+
+The city is placed along the Pan-European corridors X and VII.[8] The motorway system provides for easy access to Novi Sad and Budapest to the north, Niš to the south, and Zagreb to the west. Expressway is also toward Pančevo and new Expressway construction toward Obrenovac (Montenegro) is scheduled for March 2017. Belgrade bypass is connecting the E70 and E75 motorways and is under construction.[265]
+
+Situated at the confluence of two major rivers, the Danube and the Sava, Belgrade has 11 bridges, the most important of which are Branko's bridge, the Ada Bridge, Pupin Bridge and the Gazela Bridge, the last two of which connect the core of the city to New Belgrade. In addition, an 'inner magistral semi-ring' is almost done and include a new Ada Bridge across the Sava river and a new Pupin Bridge across Danube river, which eased commuting within the city and unload the Gazela and Branko's bridge traffic.[266]
+
+The Port of Belgrade is on the Danube, and allows the city to receive goods by river.[267] The city is also served by Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the city centre, near Surčin. At its peak in 1986, almost 3 million passengers travelled through the airport, though that number dwindled to a trickle in the 1990s.[268] Following renewed growth in 2000, the number of passengers reached approximately 2 million in 2004 and 2005,[269] over 2.6 million passengers in 2008,[270] reaching over 3 million passengers.[271] All-time peak, with over 4 million passengers, was accomplished in 2014, when Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport became the second fastest growing major airport in Europe.[272]
+
+List of Belgrade's sister and twin cities:[273]
+
+Other friendships and cooperations, protocols, memorandums:[273]
+
+Some of the city's municipalities are also twinned to small cities or districts of other big cities; for details see their respective articles.
+
+Belgrade has received various domestic and international honours, including the French Légion d'honneur (proclaimed 21 December 1920; Belgrade is one of four cities outside France, alongside Liège, Luxembourg and Volgograd, to receive this honour), the Czechoslovak War Cross (awarded 8 October 1925), the Yugoslavian Order of the Karađorđe's Star (awarded 18 May 1939) and the Yugoslavian Order of the People's Hero (proclaimed on 20 October 1974, the 30th anniversary of the overthrow of Nazi German occupation during World War II).[286] All of these decorations were received for the war efforts during World War I and World War II.[287] In 2006, Financial Times' magazine Foreign Direct Investment awarded Belgrade the title of City of the Future of Southern Europe.[288][289]
+

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+
+
+in the Americas
+
+Belize (/bəˈliːz/ (listen)) is a Caribbean country located on the northeastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the northwest by Mexico, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by Guatemala. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 408,487 (2019).[5] Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It has the lowest population and population density in Central America.[10] The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year (2018 estimate) is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.[2]
+
+The Maya Civilization spread into the area of Belize between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 300 and flourished until about 1200.[11] European contact began in 1502 when Christopher Columbus sailed along the Gulf of Honduras.[12] European exploration was begun by English settlers in 1638. This period was also marked by Spain and Britain both laying claim to the land until Britain defeated the Spanish in the Battle of St. George's Caye (1798).[13] It became a British colony in 1840, known as British Honduras, and a Crown colony in 1862. Independence was achieved from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1981.
+
+Belize has a diverse society that is composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the official language of Belize, while Belizean Creole is the most widely spoken national language, being the native language of over a third of the population. Over half the population is multilingual, with Spanish being the second most common spoken language. It is known for its September Celebrations, its extensive barrier reef coral reefs and punta music.[14][15]
+
+Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.[16] It is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the American and Caribbean regions.[17] It is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and the Central American Integration System (SICA), the only country to hold full membership in all three regional organizations. Belize is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state.
+
+The earliest known record of the name "Belize" appears in the journal of the Dominican priest Fray José Delgado, dating to 1677.[18] Delgado recorded the names of three major rivers that he crossed while travelling north along the Caribbean coast: Rio Soyte, Rio Xibum and Rio Balis. The names of these waterways, which correspond to the Sittee River, Sibun River and Belize River, were provided to Delgado by his translator.[18] It has been proposed that Delgado's "Balis" was actually the Mayan word belix (or beliz), meaning "muddy-watered".[18] More recently, it has been proposed that the name comes from the Mayan phrase "bel Itza", meaning "the road to Itza[disambiguation needed]".[19]
+
+In the 1820s, the Creole elite of Belize invented the legend that the toponym Belize derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the name of a Scottish buccaneer, Peter Wallace, who established a settlement at the mouth of the Belize River in 1638.[20] There is no proof that buccaneers settled in this area and the very existence of Wallace is considered a myth.[18][19] Writers and historians have suggested several other possible etymologies, including postulated French and African origins.[18]
+
+The Maya Civilization emerged at least three millennia ago in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in the area of present-day southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and western Honduras. Many aspects of this culture persist in the area, despite nearly 500 years of European domination. Prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages; they domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers.
+
+A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture. Between about 2500 BC and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilization emerged.[11]
+
+The Maya civilization spread across the territory of present-day Belize around 1500 BC and flourished there until about AD 900. The recorded history of the middle and southern regions focuses on Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people.[21][22] North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai.[23] In the late Classic Era of Maya civilization (600–1000 AD), an estimated 400,000 to 1,000,000 people inhabited the area of present-day Belize.[11][24]
+
+When Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century, the area of present-day Belize included three distinct Maya territories:[25]
+
+Spanish conquistadors explored the land and declared it part of the Spanish empire but failed to settle it because of its lack of resources and the hostile tribes of the Yucatán.
+
+English pirates sporadically visited the coast of what is now Belize, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships (see English settlement in Belize) and  cut logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) trees. The first British permanent settlement was founded around 1716 in what became the Belize District,[26] and during the 18th century, established a system using black slaves to cut logwood trees. This yielded a valuable fixing agent for clothing dyes,[27] and was one of the first ways to achieve a fast black before the advent of artificial dyes. The Spanish granted the British settlers the right to occupy the area and cut logwood in exchange for their help suppressing piracy.[11]
+
+The British first appointed a superintendent over the Belize area in 1786. Before then the British government had not recognized the settlement as a colony for fear of provoking a Spanish attack. The delay in government oversight allowed the settlers to establish their own laws and forms of government. During this period, a few successful settlers gained control of the local legislature, known as the Public Meeting, as well as of most of the settlement's land and timber.
+
+Throughout the 18th century, the Spanish attacked Belize every time war broke out with Britain. The Battle of St. George's Caye was the last of such military engagements, in 1798, between a Spanish fleet and a small force of Baymen and their slaves. From 3 to 5 September, the Spaniards tried to force their way through Montego Caye shoal, but were blocked by defenders. Spain's last attempt occurred on 10 September, when the Baymen repelled the Spanish fleet in a short engagement with no known casualties on either side. The anniversary of the battle has been declared a national holiday in Belize and is celebrated to commemorate the "first Belizeans" and the defence of their territory.[28]
+
+In the early 19th century, the British sought to reform the settlers, threatening to suspend the Public Meeting unless it observed the government's instructions to eliminate slavery outright. After a generation of wrangling, slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833.[29] As a result of their slaves' abilities in the work of mahogany extraction, owners in British Honduras were compensated at £53.69 per slave on average, the highest amount paid in any British territory.[26]
+
+However, the end of slavery did little to change the former slaves' working conditions if they stayed at their trade. A series of institutions restricted the ability of individuals to buy land, in a debt-peonage system. Former "extra special" mahogany or logwood cutters undergirded the early ascription of the capacities (and consequently the limitations) of people of African descent in the colony. Because a small elite controlled the settlement's land and commerce, former slaves had little choice but to continue to work in timber cutting.[26]
+
+In 1836, after the emancipation of Central America from Spanish rule, the British claimed the right to administer the region. In 1862, Great Britain formally declared it a British Crown Colony, subordinate to Jamaica, and named it British Honduras.[30]
+
+As a colony, Belize began to attract British investors. Among the British firms that dominated the colony in the late 19th century was the Belize Estate and Produce Company, which eventually acquired half of all privately held land and eventually eliminated peonage. Belize Estate's influence accounts in part for the colony's reliance on the mahogany trade throughout the rest of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
+
+The Great Depression of the 1930s caused a near-collapse of the colony's economy as British demand for timber plummeted. The effects of widespread unemployment were worsened by a devastating hurricane that struck the colony in 1931. Perceptions of the government's relief effort as inadequate were aggravated by its refusal to legalize labour unions or introduce a minimum wage. Economic conditions improved during World War II, as many Belizean men entered the armed forces or otherwise contributed to the war effort.
+
+Following the war, the colony's economy stagnated. Britain's decision to devalue the British Honduras dollar in 1949 worsened economic conditions and led to the creation of the People's Committee, which demanded independence. The People's Committee's successor, the People's United Party (PUP), sought constitutional reforms that expanded voting rights to all adults. The first election under universal suffrage was held in 1954 and was decisively won by the PUP, beginning a three-decade period in which the PUP dominated the country's politics. Pro-independence activist George Cadle Price became PUP's leader in 1956 and the effective head of government in 1961, a post he would hold under various titles until 1984.
+
+Under a new constitution, Britain granted British Honduras self-government in 1964. On 1 June 1973, British Honduras was officially renamed Belize.[31] Progress toward independence, however, was hampered by a Guatemalan claim to sovereignty over Belizean territory.
+
+Belize was granted independence on 21 September 1981. Guatemala refused to recognize the new nation because of its longstanding territorial dispute with the British colony, claiming that Belize belonged to Guatemala. About 1,500 British troops remained in Belize to deter any possible incursions.[32]
+
+With Price at the helm, the PUP won all national elections until 1984. In that election, the first national election after independence, the PUP was defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP). UDP leader Manuel Esquivel replaced Price as prime minister, with Price himself unexpectedly losing his own House seat to a UDP challenger. The PUP under Price returned to power after elections in 1989. The following year the United Kingdom announced that it would end its military involvement in Belize, and the RAF Harrier detachment was withdrawn the same year, having remained stationed in the country continuously since its deployment had become permanent there in 1980. British soldiers were withdrawn in 1994, but the United Kingdom left behind a military training unit to assist with the newly created Belize Defence Force.
+
+The UDP regained power in the 1993 national election, and Esquivel became prime minister for a second time. Soon afterwards, Esquivel announced the suspension of a pact reached with Guatemala during Price's tenure, claiming Price had made too many concessions to gain Guatemalan recognition. The pact may have curtailed the 130-year-old border dispute between the two countries. Border tensions continued into the early 2000s, although the two countries cooperated in other areas.
+
+The PUP won a landslide victory in the 1998 national elections, and PUP leader Said Musa was sworn in as prime minister. In the 2003 elections the PUP maintained its majority, and Musa continued as prime minister. He pledged to improve conditions in the underdeveloped and largely inaccessible southern part of Belize.
+
+In 2005, Belize was the site of unrest caused by discontent with the PUP government, including tax increases in the national budget. On 8 February 2008, Dean Barrow was sworn in as prime minister after his UDP won a landslide victory in general elections. Barrow and the UDP were re-elected in 2012 with a considerably smaller majority. Barrow led the UDP to a third consecutive general election victory in November 2015, increasing the party's number of seats from 17 to 19. However, he stated the election would be his last as party leader and preparations are under way for the party to elect his successor.
+
+Belize is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The structure of government is based on the British parliamentary system, and the legal system is modelled on the common law of England. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title Queen of Belize. The Queen lives in the United Kingdom, and is represented in Belize by the Governor-General. Executive authority is exercised by the cabinet, which advises the Governor-General and is led by the Prime Minister of Belize, who is head of government. Cabinet ministers are members of the majority political party in parliament and usually hold elected seats within it concurrent with their cabinet positions.
+
+The bicameral National Assembly of Belize comprises a House of Representatives and a Senate. The 31 members of the House are popularly elected to a maximum five-year term and introduce legislation affecting the development of Belize. The Governor-General appoints the 12 members of the Senate, with a Senate president selected by the members. The Senate is responsible for debating and approving bills passed by the House.
+
+Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.[33]
+
+Members of the independent judiciary are appointed. The judicial system includes local magistrates grouped under the Magistrates' Court, which hears less serious cases. The Supreme Court (Chief Justice) hears murder and similarly serious cases, and the Court of Appeal hears appeals from convicted individuals seeking to have their sentences overturned. Defendants may, under certain circumstances, appeal their cases to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
+
+Since 1974, the party system in Belize has been dominated by the centre-left People's United Party and the centre-right United Democratic Party, although other small parties took part in all levels of elections in the past. Though none of these small political parties has ever won any significant number of seats and/or offices, their challenge has been growing over the years.
+
+Belize is a full participating member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations; Organization of American States (OAS); Central American Integration System (SICA); Caribbean Community (CARICOM); CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); Association of Caribbean States (ACS);[34] and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which currently serves as a final court of appeal for only Barbados, Belize, and Guyana. In 2001 the Caribbean Community heads of government voted on a measure declaring that the region should work towards replacing the UK's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice. It is still in the process of acceding to CARICOM treaties including the trade and single market treaties.
+
+Belize is an original member (1995) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and participates actively in its work. The pact involves the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) subgroup of the Group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific states (ACP). CARIFORUM presently the only part of the wider ACP-bloc that has concluded the full regional trade-pact with the European Union.
+
+The British Army Garrison in Belize is used primarily for jungle warfare training, with access to over 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi) of jungle terrain.[34]
+
+The Belize Defence Force (BDF) serves as the country's military and is responsible for protecting the sovereignty of Belize. The BDF, with the Belize National Coast Guard and the Immigration Department, is a department of the Ministry of Defence and Immigration. In 1997 the regular army numbered over 900, the reserve army 381, the air wing 45 and the maritime wing 36, amounting to an overall strength of approximately 1400.[35] In 2005, the maritime wing became part of the Belizean Coast Guard.[36] In 2012, the Belizean government spent about $17 million on the military, constituting 1.08% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).[37]
+After Belize achieved independence in 1981 the United Kingdom maintained a deterrent force (British Forces Belize) in the country to protect it from invasion by Guatemala (see Guatemalan claim to Belizean territory). During the 1980s this included a battalion and No. 1417 Flight RAF of Harriers. The main British force left in 1994, three years after Guatemala recognized Belizean independence, but the United Kingdom maintained a training presence via the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) and 25 Flight AAC until 2011 when the last British Forces left Ladyville Barracks, with the exception of seconded advisers.[35]
+
+Belize is divided into six districts.
+
+These districts are further divided into 31 constituencies. Local government in Belize comprises four types of local authorities: city councils, town councils, village councils and community councils. The two city councils (Belize City and Belmopan) and seven town councils cover the urban population of the country, while village and community councils cover the rural population.[39]
+
+Throughout Belize's history, Guatemala has claimed sovereignty over all or part of Belizean territory. This claim is occasionally reflected in maps drawn by Guatemala's government, showing Belize as Guatemala's twenty-third department.[40][b]
+
+The Guatemalan territorial claim involves approximately 53% of Belize's mainland, which includes significant portions of four districts: Belize, Cayo, Stann Creek, and Toledo.[42] Roughly 43% of the country's population (≈154,949 Belizeans) reside in this region.[43]
+
+As of 2020[update], the border dispute with Guatemala remains unresolved and quite contentious.[40][44][45] Guatemala's claim to Belizean territory rests, in part, on Clause VII of the Anglo-Guatemalan Treaty of 1859, which obligated the British to build a road between Belize City and Guatemala. At various times, the issue has required mediation by the United Kingdom, Caribbean Community heads of government, the Organization of American States (OAS), Mexico, and the United States. However, on 15 April 2018, Guatemala's government held a referendum to determine if the country should take its territorial claim on Belize to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to settle the long-standing issue. Guatemalans voted 95%[46] yes on the matter.[47] A similar referendum was to be held in Belize on 10 April 2019, but a court ruling led to its postponement.[48] The referendum was held on 8 May 2019, and 55.4% of voters opted to send the matter to the ICJ.
+
+Belize backed the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, which established legal land rights to indigenous groups.[49] Other court cases have affirmed these rights like the Supreme Court of Belize's 2013 decision to uphold its ruling in 2010 that acknowledges customary land titles as communal land for indigenous peoples.[50] Another such case is the Caribbean Court of Justice's (CCJ) 2015 order on the Belizean government, which stipulated that the country develop a land registry to classify and exercise traditional governance over Mayan lands.[51] Despite these rulings, Belize has made little progress to support the land rights of indigenous communities; for instance, in the two years since the CCJ's decision, Belize's government has failed to launch the Mayan land registry, prompting the group to take action into its own hands.[52][53]
+
+The exact ramifications of these cases need to be examined. As of 2017[update], Belize still struggles to recognize indigenous populations and their respective rights. According to the 50-page voluntary national report Belize created on its progress toward the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, indigenous groups are not factored into the country's indicators whatsoever.[54] In fact, the groups 'Creole' and 'Garinagu' are not included in the document, and 'Maya' and 'Mestizo' only occur once throughout the entirety of the report.[55] It is yet to be seen if the Belizean government will highlight the consequences of the territorial claim on indigenous land rights prior to the referendum vote in 2019.[56]
+
+Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. To the east in the Caribbean Sea, the second-longest barrier reef in the world flanks much of the 386 kilometres (240 mi) of predominantly marshy coastline.[58] The area of the country totals 22,960 square kilometres (8,865 sq mi), an area slightly larger than El Salvador, Israel, New Jersey or Wales. The many lagoons along the coasts and in the northern interior reduces the actual land area to 21,400 square kilometres (8,263 sq mi). It is the only Central American country with no Pacific coastline.
+
+Belize is shaped like a rectangle that extends about 280 kilometres (174 mi) north-south and about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east-west, with a total land boundary length of 516 kilometres (321 mi). The undulating courses of two rivers, the Hondo and the Sarstoon River, define much of the course of the country's northern and southern boundaries. The western border follows no natural features and runs north–south through lowland forest and highland plateau.
+
+The north of Belize consists mostly of flat, swampy coastal plains, in places heavily forested. The flora is highly diverse considering the small geographical area. The south contains the low mountain range of the Maya Mountains. The highest point in Belize is Doyle's Delight at 1,124 m (3,688 ft).[59]
+
+Belize's rugged geography has also made the country's coastline and jungle attractive to drug smugglers, who use the country as a gateway into Mexico.[60] In 2011, the United States added Belize to the list of nations considered major drug producers or transit countries for narcotics.[61]
+
+Belize has a rich variety of wildlife because of its unique position between North and South America and a wide range of climates and habitats for plant and animal life.[62] Belize's low human population and approximately 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) of undistributed land make for an ideal home for the more than 5,000 species of plants and hundreds of species of animals, including armadillos, snakes, and monkeys.[63][64]
+
+The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in south-central Belize established to protect the forests, fauna, and watersheds of an approximately 400 km2 (150 sq mi) area of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains. The reserve was founded in 1990 as the first wilderness sanctuary for the jaguar and is regarded by one author as the premier site for jaguar preservation in the world.[57]
+
+While over 60% of Belize's land surface is covered by forest,[65] some 20% of the country's land is covered by cultivated land (agriculture) and human settlements.[66] Savanna, scrubland and wetland constitute the remainder of Belize's land cover. Important mangrove ecosystems are also represented across Belize's landscape.[67][68] As a part of the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor that stretches from southern Mexico to Panama, Belize's biodiversity – both marine and terrestrial – is rich, with abundant flora and fauna.
+
+Belize is also a leader in protecting biodiversity and natural resources. According to the World Database on Protected Areas, 37% of Belize's land territory falls under some form of official protection, giving Belize one of the most extensive systems of terrestrial protected areas in the Americas.[69] By contrast, Costa Rica only has 27% of its land territory protected.[70]
+
+Around 13.6% of Belize's territorial waters, which contain the Belize Barrier Reef, are also protected.[71] The Belize Barrier Reef is a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site and is the second-largest barrier reef in the world, behind Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
+
+A remote sensing study conducted by the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) and NASA, in collaboration with the Forest Department and the Land Information Centre (LIC) of the government of Belize's Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), and published in August 2010 revealed that Belize's forest cover in early 2010 was approximately 62.7%, down from 75.9% in late 1980.[65] A similar study by Belize Tropical Forest Studies and Conservation International revealed similar trends in terms of Belize's forest cover.[72] Both studies indicate that each year, 0.6% of Belize's forest cover is lost, translating to the clearing of an average of 10,050 hectares (24,835 acres) each year. The USAID-supported SERVIR study by CATHALAC, NASA, and the MNRE also showed that Belize's protected areas have been extremely effective in protecting the country's forests. While only some 6.4% of forests inside of legally declared protected areas were cleared between 1980 and 2010, over a quarter of forests outside of protected areas were lost between 1980 and 2010.
+
+As a country with a relatively high forest cover and a low deforestation rate, Belize has significant potential for participation in initiatives such as REDD. Significantly, the SERVIR study on Belize's deforestation[65] was also recognized by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), of which Belize is a member nation.[73]
+
+Belize is known to have a number of economically important minerals, but none in quantities large enough to warrant mining. These minerals include dolomite, barite (source of barium), bauxite (source of aluminium), cassiterite (source of tin), and gold. In 1990 limestone, used in road-building, was the only mineral resource being exploited for either domestic or export use.
+
+In 2006, the cultivation of newly discovered crude oil in the town of Spanish Lookout has presented new prospects and problems for this developing nation.[74]
+
+Access to biocapacity in Belize is much higher than world average. In 2016, Belize had 3.8 global hectares[75] of biocapacity per person within its territory, much more than the world average of 1.6 global hectares per person.[76] In 2016 Belize used 5.4 global hectares of biocapacity per person - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they use more  biocapacity than Belize contains. As a result, Belize is running a biocapacity deficit.[75]
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 metres (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometres (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 kilometres (190 mi) long section of the 900 kilometres (560 mi) long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya up to Honduras making it one of the largest coral reef systems in the world.
+
+It is the top tourist destination in Belize, popular for scuba diving and snorkelling, and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to its fishing industry.[77] In 1842 Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies".
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains important natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biodiversity.[78]
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals, and is one of the most diverse ecosystems of the world:
+
+With 90% of the reef still to be researched, some estimate that only 10% of all species have been discovered.[79]
+
+Belize became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December 2010.[80][81] In December 2015, Belize banned offshore oil drilling within 1 km (0.6 mi) of the Barrier Reef and all of its seven World Heritage Sites.[82]
+
+Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution as well as uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. Other threats include hurricanes, along with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures,[83] which causes coral bleaching. It is claimed by scientists that over 40% of Belize's coral reef has been damaged since 1998.[77]
+
+Belize has a tropical climate with pronounced wet and dry seasons, although there are significant variations in weather patterns by region. Temperatures vary according to elevation, proximity to the coast, and the moderating effects of the northeast trade winds off the Caribbean. Average temperatures in the coastal regions range from 24 °C (75.2 °F) in January to 27 °C (80.6 °F) in July. Temperatures are slightly higher inland, except for the southern highland plateaus, such as the Mountain Pine Ridge, where it is noticeably cooler year round. Overall, the seasons are marked more by differences in humidity and rainfall than in temperature.
+
+Average rainfall varies considerably, from 1,350 millimetres (53 in) in the north and west to over 4,500 millimetres (180 in) in the extreme south. Seasonal differences in rainfall are greatest in the northern and central regions of the country where, between January and April or May, less than 100 millimetres (3.9 in) of rainfall per month. The dry season is shorter in the south, normally only lasting from February to April. A shorter, less rainy period, known locally as the "little dry", usually occurs in late July or August, after the onset of the rainy season.
+
+Hurricanes have played key—and devastating—roles in Belizean history. In 1931, an unnamed hurricane destroyed over two-thirds of the buildings in Belize City and killed more than 1,000 people. In 1955, Hurricane Janet levelled the northern town of Corozal. Only six years later, Hurricane Hattie struck the central coastal area of the country, with winds in excess of 300 km/h (185 mph) and 4 m (13 ft) storm tides. The devastation of Belize City for the second time in thirty years prompted the relocation of the capital some 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland to the planned city of Belmopan.
+
+In 1978, Hurricane Greta caused more than US$25 million in damages along the southern coast. On 9 October 2001, Hurricane Iris made landfall at Monkey River Town as a 235 km/h (145 mph) Category Four storm. The storm demolished most of the homes in the village, and destroyed the banana crop. In 2007, Hurricane Dean made landfall as a Category 5 storm only 40 km (25 mi) north of the Belize–Mexico border. Dean caused extensive damage in northern Belize.
+
+In 2010, Belize was directly affected by the Category 2 Hurricane Richard, which made landfall approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) south-southeast of Belize City at around 00:45 UTC on 25 October 2010.[84] The storm moved inland towards Belmopan, causing estimated damage of BZ$33.8 million ($17.4 million 2010 USD), primarily from damage to crops and housing.[85]
+
+The most recent hurricane to affect the nation was Hurricane Earl of 2016.
+
+Belize has a small, mostly private enterprise economy that is based primarily on agriculture, agro-based industry, and merchandising, with tourism and construction recently assuming greater importance.[74] The country is also a producer of industrial minerals,[86] crude oil, and petroleum. As of 2017[update], oil production was 320 m3/d (2,000 bbl/d).[87] In agriculture, sugar, like in colonial times, remains the chief crop, accounting for nearly half of exports, while the banana industry is the largest employer.[74]
+
+The government of Belize faces important challenges to economic stability. Rapid action to improve tax collection has been promised, but a lack of progress in reining in spending could bring the exchange rate under pressure. The tourist and construction sectors strengthened in early 1999, leading to a preliminary estimate of revived growth at four percent. Infrastructure remains a major economic development challenge;[88] Belize has the region's most expensive electricity. Trade is important and the major trading partners are the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and CARICOM.[88]
+
+Belize has four commercial bank groups, of which the largest and oldest is Belize Bank. The other three banks are Heritage Bank, Atlantic Bank, and Scotiabank (Belize). A robust complex of credit unions began in the 1940s under the leadership of Marion M. Ganey, S.J.[89]
+
+Belize is located on the coast of Central America. Based on its location, it is a popular destination for vacations. However, also due to its location, it is currently becoming known in the global arena for attracting many drug trafficking entities in North America. The Belize currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar. This entices drug traffickers and money launderers who want to utilize the banking system. In addition, banks in Belize offer non-residents the ability to establish accounts. Because of this, many drug traffickers and money launderers utilize banks in Belize. As a result, the United States Department of State has recently named Belize one of the world's "major money laundering countries".[90]
+
+The largest integrated electric utility and the principal distributor in Belize is Belize Electricity Limited. BEL was approximately 70% owned by Fortis Inc., a Canadian investor-owned distribution utility. Fortis took over the management of BEL in 1999, at the invitation of the government of Belize in an attempt to mitigate prior financial problems with the locally managed utility. In addition to its regulated investment in BEL, Fortis owns Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL), a non-regulated hydroelectric generation business that operates three hydroelectric generating facilities on the Macal River.
+
+On 14 June 2011, the government of Belize nationalized the ownership interest of Fortis Inc. in Belize Electricity Ltd. The utility encountered serious financial problems after the country's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2008 "disallowed the recovery of previously incurred fuel and purchased power costs in customer rates and set customer rates at a level that does not allow BEL to earn a fair and reasonable return", Fortis said in a June 2011 statement.[91] BEL appealed this judgement to the Court of Appeal; however, a hearing was not expected until 2012. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of Belize granted BEL's application to prevent the PUC from taking any enforcement actions pending the appeal. The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a statement saying the government had acted in haste and expressed concern over the message it sent to investors.
+
+In August 2009, the government of Belize nationalized Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), which now competes directly with Speednet. As a result of the nationalization process, the interconnection agreements are again subject to negotiations. Both BTL and Speednet boast a full range of products and services including basic telephone services, national and international calls, prepaid services, cellular services via GSM 1900 megahertz (MHz) and 4G LTE respectively, international cellular roaming, fixed wireless, fibre-to-the-home internet service, and national and international data networks.[92]
+
+A combination of natural factors—climate, the Belize Barrier Reef, over 450 offshore Cays (islands), excellent fishing, safe waters for boating, scuba diving, snorkelling and freediving, numerous rivers for rafting, and kayaking, various jungle and wildlife reserves of fauna and flora, for hiking, bird watching, and helicopter touring, as well as many Maya sites—support the thriving tourism and ecotourism industry. It also has the largest cave system in Central America.
+
+Development costs are high, but the government of Belize has made tourism its second development priority after agriculture. In 2012, tourist arrivals totalled 917,869 (with about 584,683 from the United States) and tourist receipts amounted to over $1.3 billion.[93]
+
+Belize's population is estimated to be 360,346 in 2017,[94] and estimated at 408,487 in 2019.[5] Belize's total fertility rate in 2009 was 3.6 children per woman. Its birth rate was 22.9 births/1,000 population (2018 estimate), and the death rate was 4.2 deaths/1,000 population (2018 estimate).[2] A substantial ethnic-demographic shift has been occurring since 1980 when Creoles/Mestizo ratio has shifted from 58/48 to now at 26/53, with Creoles' moving to the US and Mestizo birth rate and entry from El Salvador. Woods, Composition and Distribution of Ethnic Groups in Belize 1997
+
+The Maya are thought to have been in Belize and the Yucatán region since the second millennium BC; however, much of Belize's original Maya population was wiped out by conflicts between constantly warring tribes. There were many who died of disease after contact and invasion by Europeans. Three Maya groups now inhabit the country: The Yucatec (who came from Yucatán, Mexico, to escape the savage Caste War of the 1840s), the Mopan (indigenous to Belize but were forced out to Guatemala by the British for raiding settlements; they returned to Belize to evade enslavement by the Guatemalans in the 19th century), and Q'eqchi' (also fled from slavery in Guatemala in the 19th century).[95] The latter groups are chiefly found in the Toledo District. The Maya speak their native languages and Spanish, and are also fluent in English and Belize Kriol.
+
+Creoles, also known as Kriols, make up roughly 21% of the Belizean population and about 75% of the diaspora. They are descendants of the Baymen slave owners, and slaves brought to Belize for the purpose of the logging industry.[96] These slaves were ultimately of West and Central African descent (many also of Miskito ancestry from Nicaragua) and born Africans who had spent very brief periods in Jamaica and Bermuda.[97] Bay Islanders and ethnic Jamaicans came in the late 19th century, further adding to these already varied peoples, creating this ethnic group.
+
+For all intents and purposes, Creole is an ethnic and linguistic denomination. Some natives, even with blonde hair and blue eyes, may call themselves Creoles.[97]
+
+Belize Creole English or Kriol developed during the time of slavery, and historically was only spoken by former slaves. However, this ethnicity has become an integral part of the Belizean identity, and as a result it is now spoken by about 45% of Belizeans.[6][97] Belizean Creole is derived mainly from English. Its substrate languages are the Native American language Miskito, and the various West African and Bantu languages brought into the country by slaves. Creoles are found all over Belize, but predominantly in urban areas such as Belize City, coastal towns and villages, and in the Belize River Valley.[98]
+
+The Garinagu (singular Garifuna), at around 4.5% of the population, are a mix of West/Central African, Arawak, and Island Carib ancestry. Though they were captives removed from their homelands, these people were never documented as slaves. The two prevailing theories are that, in 1635, they were either the survivors of two recorded shipwrecks or somehow took over the ship they came on.[99]
+
+Throughout history they have been incorrectly labelled as Black Caribs. When the British took over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, they were opposed by French settlers and their Garinagu allies. The Garinagu eventually surrendered to the British in 1796. The British separated the more African-looking Garifunas from the more indigenous-looking ones. 5,000 Garinagu were exiled from the Grenadine island of Baliceaux. However, only about 2,500 of them survived the voyage to Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras. The Garifuna language belongs to the Arawakan language family, but has a large number of loanwords from Carib languages and from English.
+
+Because Roatán was too small and infertile to support their population, the Garinagu petitioned the Spanish authorities of Honduras to be allowed to settle on the mainland coast. The Spanish employed them as soldiers, and they spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America. The Garinagu settled in Seine Bight, Punta Gorda and Punta Negra, Belize, by way of Honduras as early as 1802. However, in Belize, 19 November 1832 is the date officially recognized as "Garifuna Settlement Day" in Dangriga.[100]
+
+According to one genetic study, their ancestry is on average 76% Sub Saharan African, 20% Arawak/Island Carib and 4% European.[99]
+
+The Mestizo culture are people of mixed Spanish and Maya descent. They originally came to Belize in 1847, to escape the Caste War, which occurred when thousands of Mayas rose against the state in Yucatán and massacred over one-third of the population. The surviving others fled across the borders into British territory. The Mestizos are found everywhere in Belize but most make their homes in the northern districts of Corozal and Orange Walk. Some other mestizos came from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, & Nicaragua. The Mestizos are the largest ethnic group in Belize and make up approximately half of the population. The Mestizo towns centre on a main square, and social life focuses on the Catholic Church built on one side of it. Spanish is the main language of most Mestizos and Spanish descendants, but many speak English and Belize Kriol fluently.[101] Due to the influences of Kriol and English, many Mestizos speak what is known as "Kitchen Spanish".[102] The mixture of Latin and Maya foods like tamales, escabeche, chirmole, relleno, and empanadas came from their Mexican side and corn tortillas were handed down by their Mayan side. Music comes mainly from the marimba, but they also play and sing with the guitar. Dances performed at village fiestas include the Hog-Head, Zapateados, the Mestizada, Paso Doble and many more.
+
+The majority of the Mennonite population comprises so-called Russian Mennonites of German descent who settled in the Russian Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most Russian Mennonites live in Mennonite settlements like Spanish Lookout, Shipyard, Little Belize, and Blue Creek. These Mennonites speak Plautdietsch (a Low German dialect) in everyday life, but use mostly Standard German for reading (the Bible) and writing. The Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites came mostly from Mexico in the years after 1958 and they are trilingual with Spanish. There are also some mainly Pennsylvania German-speaking Old Order Mennonites who came from the United States and Canada in the late 1960s. They live primarily in Upper Barton Creek and associated settlements. These Mennonites attracted people from different Anabaptist backgrounds who formed a new community. They look quite similar to Old Order Amish, but are different from them.[citation needed]
+
+The remaining 5% or so of the population consist of a mix of Indians, Chinese, Whites from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, and many other foreign groups brought to assist the country's development. During the 1860s, a large influx of East Indians who spent brief periods in Jamaica and American Civil War veterans from Louisiana and other Southern states established Confederate settlements in British Honduras and introduced commercial sugar cane production to the colony, establishing 11 settlements in the interior. The 20th century saw the arrival of more Asian settlers from mainland China, South Korea, India, Syria, and Lebanon. Said Musa, the son of an immigrant from Palestine, was the Prime Minister of Belize from 1998 to 2008. Central American immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, & Nicaragua and expatriate Americans and Africans also began to settle in the country.[100]
+
+Creoles and other ethnic groups are emigrating mostly to the United States, but also to the United Kingdom and other developed nations for better opportunities. Based on the latest US Census, the number of Belizeans in the United States is approximately 160,000 (including 70,000 legal residents and naturalized citizens), consisting mainly of Creoles and Garinagu.[104]
+
+Because of conflicts in neighbouring Central American nations, Mestizo refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have fled to Belize in significant numbers during the 1980s, and have been significantly adding to this group. These two events have been changing the demographics of the nation for the last 30 years.[105]
+
+English is the official language of Belize. This stems from the country being a former British colony. Belize is the only country in Central America with English as the official language. Also, English is the primary language of public education, government and most media outlets. About half of Belizeans regardless of ethnicity speak a mostly English-based creole called Belize Creole (or Kriol in Belize Creole). Although English is widely used, Kriol is spoken in all situations whether informal, formal, social or interethnic dialogue, even in meetings of the House of Representatives.
+
+When a Creole language exists alongside its lexifier language, as is the case in Belize, a continuum forms between the Creole and the lexifier language. It is therefore difficult to substantiate or differentiate the number of Belize Creole speakers compared to English speakers. Kriol might best be described as the lingua franca of the nation.[106]
+
+Approximately 50% of Belizeans self-identify as Mestizo, Latino, or Hispanic and 30% speak Spanish as a native language.[107] When Belize was a British colony, Spanish was banned in schools but today it is widely taught as a second language. "Kitchen Spanish" is an intermediate form of Spanish mixed with Belize Creole, spoken in the northern towns such as Corozal and San Pedro.[102]
+
+Over half the population is multilingual.[108] Being a small, multiethnic state, surrounded by Spanish-speaking nations, multilingualism is strongly encouraged.[109]
+
+Belize is also home to three Maya languages: Q'eqchi', Mopan (an endangered language), and Yucatec Maya.[110][111][112]
+Approximately 16,100 people speak the Arawakan-based Garifuna language,[113] and 6,900 Mennonites in Belize speak mainly Plautdietsch while a minority of Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German.[114]
+
+According to the 2010 census,[6] 40.1% of Belizeans are Roman Catholics, 31.8% are Protestants (8.4% Pentecostal; 5.4% Adventist; 4.7% Anglican; 3.7% Mennonite; 3.6% Baptist; 2.9% Methodist; 2.8% Nazarene), 1.7% are Jehovah's Witnesses, 10.3% adhere to other religions (Maya religion, Garifuna religion, Obeah and Myalism, and minorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Bahá'ís, Rastafarians and other) and 15.5% profess to be irreligious.
+
+According to PROLADES, Belize was 64.6% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Protestant, 7.6% Other in 1971.[115] Until the late 1990s, Belize was a Roman Catholic majority country. Catholics formed 57% of the population in 1991, and dropped to 49% in 2000. The percentage of Roman Catholics in the population has been decreasing in the past few decades due to the growth of Protestant churches, other religions and non-religious people.[116]
+
+In addition to Catholics, there has always been a large accompanying Protestant minority. It was brought by British, German, and other settlers to the British colony of British Honduras. From the beginning, it was largely Anglican and Mennonite in nature. The Protestant community in Belize experienced a large Pentecostal and Seventh-Day Adventist influx tied to the recent spread of various Evangelical Protestant denominations throughout Latin America. Geographically speaking, German Mennonites live mostly in the rural districts of Cayo and Orange Walk.
+
+The Greek Orthodox Church has a presence in Santa Elena.[117]
+
+The Association of Religion Data Archives estimates there were 7,776 Bahá'ís in Belize in 2005, or 2.5% of the national population. Their estimates suggest this is the highest proportion of Bahá'ís in any country.[118] Their data also states that the Bahá'í Faith is the second most common religion in Belize, followed by Judaism.[119] Hinduism is followed by most Indian immigrants, however, Sikhs were the first Indian immigrants to Belize (not counting indentured workers), and the former Chief Justice of Belize George Singh was the son of a Sikh immigrant,[120][121] there was also a Sikh cabinet minister. Muslims claim that there have been Muslims in Belize since the 16th century having been brought over from Africa as slaves, but there are no sources for that claim.[122] The Muslim population of today started in the 1980s.[123] Muslims numbered 243 in 2000 and 577 in 2010 according to the official statistics.[124] and comprise 0.16 percent of the population. A mosque is at the Islamic Mission of Belize (IMB), also known as the Muslim Community of Belize. Another mosque, Masjid Al-Falah, officially opened in 2008 in Belize City.[125]
+
+Belize has a high prevalence of communicable diseases such as respiratory diseases and intestinal illnesses.[126]
+
+A number of kindergartens, secondary, and tertiary schools in Belize provide quality education for students—mostly funded by the government. Belize has about a dozen tertiary level institutions, the most prominent of which is the University of Belize, which evolved out of the University College of Belize founded in 1986. Before that St. John's College, founded in 1877, dominated the tertiary education field. The Open Campus of the University of the West Indies has a site in Belize.[127] It also has campuses in Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica. The government of Belize contributes financially to the UWI.
+
+Education in Belize is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14 years. As of 2010[update], the literacy rate in Belize was estimated at 79.7%,[6] one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.
+
+The educational policy is currently following the "Education Sector Strategy 2011–2016", which sets three objectives for the years to come: Improving access, quality, and governance of the education system by providing technical and vocational education and training.[128]
+
+Belize has relatively high rates of violent crime.[129] The majority of violence in Belize stems from gang activity, which includes trafficking of drugs and persons, protecting drug smuggling routes, and securing territory for drug dealing.[130]
+
+In 2018, 143 murders were recorded in Belize, giving the country a homicide rate of 36 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world, but lower than the neighbouring countries of Honduras and El Salvador.[131][132] Belize District (containing Belize City) had the most murders by far compared to all the other districts. In 2018, 66% of the murders occurred in the Belize District.[132] The violence in Belize City (especially the southern part of the city) is largely due to gang warfare.[129]
+
+In 2015, there were 40 reported cases of rape, 214 robberies, 742 burglaries, and 1027 cases of theft.[133]
+
+The Belize Police Department has implemented many protective measures in hopes of decreasing the high number of crimes. These measures include adding more patrols to "hot spots" in the city, obtaining more resources to deal with the predicament, creating the "Do the Right Thing for Youths at Risk" program, creating the Crime Information Hotline, creating the Yabra Citizen Development Committee, an organization that helps youth, and many other initiatives. The Belize Police Department began an Anti-Crime Christmas campaign targeting criminals; as a result, the crime rates dropped in that month.[130] In 2011, the government established a truce among many major gangs, lowering the murder rate.[129]
+
+Belize's social structure is marked by enduring differences in the distribution of wealth, power, and prestige. Because of the small size of Belize's population and the intimate scale of social relations, the social distance between the rich and the poor, while significant, is nowhere as vast as in other Caribbean and Central American societies, such as Jamaica and El Salvador. Belize lacks the violent class and racial conflict that has figured so prominently in the social life of its Central American neighbours.[134]
+
+Political and economic power remain vested in the hands of the local elite. The sizeable middle group is composed of peoples of different ethnic backgrounds. This middle group does not constitute a unified social class, but rather a number of middle-class and working-class groups, loosely oriented around shared dispositions toward education, cultural respectability, and possibilities for upward social mobility. These beliefs, and the social practices they engender, help distinguish the middle group from the grass roots majority of the Belizean people.[134]
+
+In 2013, the World Economic Forum ranked Belize 101st out of 135 countries in its Global Gender Gap Report. Of all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Belize ranked 3rd from last and had the lowest female-to-male ratio for primary school enrolment.[135] In 2013, the UN gave Belize a Gender Inequality Index score of 0.435, ranking it 79th out of 148 countries.[136]
+
+As of 2013[update], 48.3% of women in Belize participate in the workforce, compared to 81.8% of men.[136] 13.3% of the seats in Belize's National Assembly are filled by women.[136]
+
+In Belizean folklore, there are the legends of Lang Bobi Suzi, La Llorona, La Sucia, Tata Duende, X'tabai, Anansi, Xtabay, Sisimite and the cadejo.
+
+Most of the public holidays in Belize are traditional Commonwealth and Christian holidays, although some are specific to Belizean culture such as Garifuna Settlement Day and Heroes and Benefactors' Day, formerly Baron Bliss Day.[137] In addition, the month of September is considered a special time of national celebration called September Celebrations with a whole month of activities on a special events calendar. Besides Independence Day and St. George's Caye Day, Belizeans also celebrate Carnival during September, which typically includes several events spread across multiple days, with the main event being the Carnival Road March, usually held the Saturday before the 10th of September. In some areas of Belize, however, Carnival is celebrated at the traditional time before Lent (in February).[138]
+
+Belizean cuisine is an amalgamation of all ethnicities in the nation, and their respectively wide variety of foods. It might best be described as both similar to Mexican/Central American cuisine and Jamaican/Anglo-Caribbean cuisine but very different to these areas as well with Belizean touches and innovation which have been handed down by generations. All immigrant communities add to the diversity of Belizean food including the Indian and Chinese Communities.
+
+Belizean diet is very modern and traditional. There are no rules. Breakfast typically consists of bread, flour tortillas, or fry jacks that are often homemade. Fry jacks are eaten with various cheeses, "fry" beans, various forms of eggs or cereal, along with powdered milk, coffee, or tea. Tacos made from corn or flour tortillas and meat pies can also be consumed for a hearty breakfast from a street vendor. Midday meals are the main meals for Belizeans, usually called "dinner". They vary, from foods such as rice and beans with or without coconut milk, tamales (fried maize shells with beans or fish), "panades", meat pies, escabeche (onion soup), chimole (soup), caldo, stewed chicken and garnaches (fried tortillas with beans, cheese, and sauce) to various constituted dinners featuring some type of rice and beans, meat and salad or coleslaw. Fried "fry" chicken is also consumed at this time.
+
+In rural areas, meals are typically more simple than in cities. The Maya use maize, beans, or squash for most meals, and the Garifuna are fond of seafood, cassava (particularly made into cassava bread or Ereba) and vegetables. The nation abounds with restaurants and fast food establishments selling fairly cheaply. Local fruits are quite common, but raw vegetables from the markets less so. Mealtime is a communion for families and schools and some businesses close at midday for lunch, reopening later in the afternoon. Steak is also common.
+
+Punta is a popular genre of Garifuna music and has become one of the most popular kinds of music in Belize. It is distinctly Afro-Caribbean, and is sometimes said to be ready for international popularization like similarly-descended styles (reggae, calypso, merengue).
+
+Brukdown is a modern style of Belizean music related to calypso. It evolved out of the music and dance of loggers, especially a form called buru. Reggae, dance hall, and soca imported from Jamaica and the rest of the West Indies, rap, hip-hop, heavy metal and rock music from the United States, are also popular among the youth of Belize.
+
+The major sports in Belize are football, basketball, volleyball and cycling, with smaller followings of boat racing, athletics, softball, cricket, rugby and netball. Fishing is also popular in coastal areas of Belize.
+
+The Cross Country Cycling Classic, also known as the "cross country" race or the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic, is considered one of the most important Belize sports events. This one-day sports event is meant for amateur cyclists but has also gained worldwide popularity. The history of Cross Country Cycling Classic in Belize dates back to the period when Monrad Metzgen picked up the idea from a small village on the Northern Highway (now Phillip Goldson Highway). The people from this village used to cover long distances on their bicycles to attend the weekly game of cricket. He improvised on this observation by creating a sporting event on the difficult terrain of the Western Highway, which was then poorly built.
+
+Another major annual sporting event in Belize is the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, a 4-day canoe marathon held each year in March. The race runs from San Ignacio to Belize City, a distance of 290 kilometres (180 mi).[139]
+
+On Easter day, citizens of Dangriga participate in a yearly fishing tournament. First, second, and third prize are awarded based on a scoring combination of size, species, and number. The tournament is broadcast over local radio stations, and prize money is awarded to the winners.
+
+The Belize national basketball team is the only national team that has achieved major victories internationally. The team won the 1998 CARICOM Men's Basketball Championship, held at the Civic Centre in Belize City, and subsequently participated in the 1999 Centrobasquet Tournament in Havana. The national team finished seventh of eight teams after winning only 1 game despite playing close all the way. In a return engagement at the 2000 CARICOM championship in Barbados, Belize placed fourth. Shortly thereafter, Belize moved to the Central American region and won the Central American Games championship in 2001.
+
+The team has failed to duplicate this success, most recently finishing with a 2 and 4 record in the 2006 COCABA championship. The team finished second in the 2009 COCABA tournament in Cancun, Mexico where it went 3–0 in group play. Belize won its opening match in the Centrobasquet Tournament, 2010, defeating Trinidad and Tobago, but lost badly to Mexico in a rematch of the COCABA final. A tough win over Cuba set Belize in position to advance, but they fell to Puerto Rico in their final match and failed to qualify.
+
+Simone Biles, the winner of four gold medals in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics is a dual citizen of the United States and of Belize,[140] which she considers her second home.[141] Biles is herself Belizean-American in descent.[142]
+
+The national flower of Belize is the black orchid (Prosthechea cochleata, also known as Encyclia cochleata). The national tree is the mahogany tree (Swietenia macrophylla), which inspired the national motto Sub Umbra Floreo, which means "Under the shade I flourish". The national animal is the Baird's tapir and the national bird is the keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulphuratus).[143]
+
+Coordinates: 17°4′N 88°42′W / 17.067°N 88.700°W / 17.067; -88.700

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+
+
+in the Americas
+
+Belize (/bəˈliːz/ (listen)) is a Caribbean country located on the northeastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the northwest by Mexico, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by Guatemala. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 408,487 (2019).[5] Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It has the lowest population and population density in Central America.[10] The country's population growth rate of 1.87% per year (2018 estimate) is the second highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.[2]
+
+The Maya Civilization spread into the area of Belize between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 300 and flourished until about 1200.[11] European contact began in 1502 when Christopher Columbus sailed along the Gulf of Honduras.[12] European exploration was begun by English settlers in 1638. This period was also marked by Spain and Britain both laying claim to the land until Britain defeated the Spanish in the Battle of St. George's Caye (1798).[13] It became a British colony in 1840, known as British Honduras, and a Crown colony in 1862. Independence was achieved from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1981.
+
+Belize has a diverse society that is composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the official language of Belize, while Belizean Creole is the most widely spoken national language, being the native language of over a third of the population. Over half the population is multilingual, with Spanish being the second most common spoken language. It is known for its September Celebrations, its extensive barrier reef coral reefs and punta music.[14][15]
+
+Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.[16] It is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the American and Caribbean regions.[17] It is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and the Central American Integration System (SICA), the only country to hold full membership in all three regional organizations. Belize is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state.
+
+The earliest known record of the name "Belize" appears in the journal of the Dominican priest Fray José Delgado, dating to 1677.[18] Delgado recorded the names of three major rivers that he crossed while travelling north along the Caribbean coast: Rio Soyte, Rio Xibum and Rio Balis. The names of these waterways, which correspond to the Sittee River, Sibun River and Belize River, were provided to Delgado by his translator.[18] It has been proposed that Delgado's "Balis" was actually the Mayan word belix (or beliz), meaning "muddy-watered".[18] More recently, it has been proposed that the name comes from the Mayan phrase "bel Itza", meaning "the road to Itza[disambiguation needed]".[19]
+
+In the 1820s, the Creole elite of Belize invented the legend that the toponym Belize derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the name of a Scottish buccaneer, Peter Wallace, who established a settlement at the mouth of the Belize River in 1638.[20] There is no proof that buccaneers settled in this area and the very existence of Wallace is considered a myth.[18][19] Writers and historians have suggested several other possible etymologies, including postulated French and African origins.[18]
+
+The Maya Civilization emerged at least three millennia ago in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in the area of present-day southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and western Honduras. Many aspects of this culture persist in the area, despite nearly 500 years of European domination. Prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages; they domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers.
+
+A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture. Between about 2500 BC and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilization emerged.[11]
+
+The Maya civilization spread across the territory of present-day Belize around 1500 BC and flourished there until about AD 900. The recorded history of the middle and southern regions focuses on Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people.[21][22] North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai.[23] In the late Classic Era of Maya civilization (600–1000 AD), an estimated 400,000 to 1,000,000 people inhabited the area of present-day Belize.[11][24]
+
+When Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century, the area of present-day Belize included three distinct Maya territories:[25]
+
+Spanish conquistadors explored the land and declared it part of the Spanish empire but failed to settle it because of its lack of resources and the hostile tribes of the Yucatán.
+
+English pirates sporadically visited the coast of what is now Belize, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships (see English settlement in Belize) and  cut logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) trees. The first British permanent settlement was founded around 1716 in what became the Belize District,[26] and during the 18th century, established a system using black slaves to cut logwood trees. This yielded a valuable fixing agent for clothing dyes,[27] and was one of the first ways to achieve a fast black before the advent of artificial dyes. The Spanish granted the British settlers the right to occupy the area and cut logwood in exchange for their help suppressing piracy.[11]
+
+The British first appointed a superintendent over the Belize area in 1786. Before then the British government had not recognized the settlement as a colony for fear of provoking a Spanish attack. The delay in government oversight allowed the settlers to establish their own laws and forms of government. During this period, a few successful settlers gained control of the local legislature, known as the Public Meeting, as well as of most of the settlement's land and timber.
+
+Throughout the 18th century, the Spanish attacked Belize every time war broke out with Britain. The Battle of St. George's Caye was the last of such military engagements, in 1798, between a Spanish fleet and a small force of Baymen and their slaves. From 3 to 5 September, the Spaniards tried to force their way through Montego Caye shoal, but were blocked by defenders. Spain's last attempt occurred on 10 September, when the Baymen repelled the Spanish fleet in a short engagement with no known casualties on either side. The anniversary of the battle has been declared a national holiday in Belize and is celebrated to commemorate the "first Belizeans" and the defence of their territory.[28]
+
+In the early 19th century, the British sought to reform the settlers, threatening to suspend the Public Meeting unless it observed the government's instructions to eliminate slavery outright. After a generation of wrangling, slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1833.[29] As a result of their slaves' abilities in the work of mahogany extraction, owners in British Honduras were compensated at £53.69 per slave on average, the highest amount paid in any British territory.[26]
+
+However, the end of slavery did little to change the former slaves' working conditions if they stayed at their trade. A series of institutions restricted the ability of individuals to buy land, in a debt-peonage system. Former "extra special" mahogany or logwood cutters undergirded the early ascription of the capacities (and consequently the limitations) of people of African descent in the colony. Because a small elite controlled the settlement's land and commerce, former slaves had little choice but to continue to work in timber cutting.[26]
+
+In 1836, after the emancipation of Central America from Spanish rule, the British claimed the right to administer the region. In 1862, Great Britain formally declared it a British Crown Colony, subordinate to Jamaica, and named it British Honduras.[30]
+
+As a colony, Belize began to attract British investors. Among the British firms that dominated the colony in the late 19th century was the Belize Estate and Produce Company, which eventually acquired half of all privately held land and eventually eliminated peonage. Belize Estate's influence accounts in part for the colony's reliance on the mahogany trade throughout the rest of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
+
+The Great Depression of the 1930s caused a near-collapse of the colony's economy as British demand for timber plummeted. The effects of widespread unemployment were worsened by a devastating hurricane that struck the colony in 1931. Perceptions of the government's relief effort as inadequate were aggravated by its refusal to legalize labour unions or introduce a minimum wage. Economic conditions improved during World War II, as many Belizean men entered the armed forces or otherwise contributed to the war effort.
+
+Following the war, the colony's economy stagnated. Britain's decision to devalue the British Honduras dollar in 1949 worsened economic conditions and led to the creation of the People's Committee, which demanded independence. The People's Committee's successor, the People's United Party (PUP), sought constitutional reforms that expanded voting rights to all adults. The first election under universal suffrage was held in 1954 and was decisively won by the PUP, beginning a three-decade period in which the PUP dominated the country's politics. Pro-independence activist George Cadle Price became PUP's leader in 1956 and the effective head of government in 1961, a post he would hold under various titles until 1984.
+
+Under a new constitution, Britain granted British Honduras self-government in 1964. On 1 June 1973, British Honduras was officially renamed Belize.[31] Progress toward independence, however, was hampered by a Guatemalan claim to sovereignty over Belizean territory.
+
+Belize was granted independence on 21 September 1981. Guatemala refused to recognize the new nation because of its longstanding territorial dispute with the British colony, claiming that Belize belonged to Guatemala. About 1,500 British troops remained in Belize to deter any possible incursions.[32]
+
+With Price at the helm, the PUP won all national elections until 1984. In that election, the first national election after independence, the PUP was defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP). UDP leader Manuel Esquivel replaced Price as prime minister, with Price himself unexpectedly losing his own House seat to a UDP challenger. The PUP under Price returned to power after elections in 1989. The following year the United Kingdom announced that it would end its military involvement in Belize, and the RAF Harrier detachment was withdrawn the same year, having remained stationed in the country continuously since its deployment had become permanent there in 1980. British soldiers were withdrawn in 1994, but the United Kingdom left behind a military training unit to assist with the newly created Belize Defence Force.
+
+The UDP regained power in the 1993 national election, and Esquivel became prime minister for a second time. Soon afterwards, Esquivel announced the suspension of a pact reached with Guatemala during Price's tenure, claiming Price had made too many concessions to gain Guatemalan recognition. The pact may have curtailed the 130-year-old border dispute between the two countries. Border tensions continued into the early 2000s, although the two countries cooperated in other areas.
+
+The PUP won a landslide victory in the 1998 national elections, and PUP leader Said Musa was sworn in as prime minister. In the 2003 elections the PUP maintained its majority, and Musa continued as prime minister. He pledged to improve conditions in the underdeveloped and largely inaccessible southern part of Belize.
+
+In 2005, Belize was the site of unrest caused by discontent with the PUP government, including tax increases in the national budget. On 8 February 2008, Dean Barrow was sworn in as prime minister after his UDP won a landslide victory in general elections. Barrow and the UDP were re-elected in 2012 with a considerably smaller majority. Barrow led the UDP to a third consecutive general election victory in November 2015, increasing the party's number of seats from 17 to 19. However, he stated the election would be his last as party leader and preparations are under way for the party to elect his successor.
+
+Belize is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The structure of government is based on the British parliamentary system, and the legal system is modelled on the common law of England. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title Queen of Belize. The Queen lives in the United Kingdom, and is represented in Belize by the Governor-General. Executive authority is exercised by the cabinet, which advises the Governor-General and is led by the Prime Minister of Belize, who is head of government. Cabinet ministers are members of the majority political party in parliament and usually hold elected seats within it concurrent with their cabinet positions.
+
+The bicameral National Assembly of Belize comprises a House of Representatives and a Senate. The 31 members of the House are popularly elected to a maximum five-year term and introduce legislation affecting the development of Belize. The Governor-General appoints the 12 members of the Senate, with a Senate president selected by the members. The Senate is responsible for debating and approving bills passed by the House.
+
+Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.[33]
+
+Members of the independent judiciary are appointed. The judicial system includes local magistrates grouped under the Magistrates' Court, which hears less serious cases. The Supreme Court (Chief Justice) hears murder and similarly serious cases, and the Court of Appeal hears appeals from convicted individuals seeking to have their sentences overturned. Defendants may, under certain circumstances, appeal their cases to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
+
+Since 1974, the party system in Belize has been dominated by the centre-left People's United Party and the centre-right United Democratic Party, although other small parties took part in all levels of elections in the past. Though none of these small political parties has ever won any significant number of seats and/or offices, their challenge has been growing over the years.
+
+Belize is a full participating member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations; Organization of American States (OAS); Central American Integration System (SICA); Caribbean Community (CARICOM); CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); Association of Caribbean States (ACS);[34] and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which currently serves as a final court of appeal for only Barbados, Belize, and Guyana. In 2001 the Caribbean Community heads of government voted on a measure declaring that the region should work towards replacing the UK's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice. It is still in the process of acceding to CARICOM treaties including the trade and single market treaties.
+
+Belize is an original member (1995) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and participates actively in its work. The pact involves the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) subgroup of the Group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific states (ACP). CARIFORUM presently the only part of the wider ACP-bloc that has concluded the full regional trade-pact with the European Union.
+
+The British Army Garrison in Belize is used primarily for jungle warfare training, with access to over 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi) of jungle terrain.[34]
+
+The Belize Defence Force (BDF) serves as the country's military and is responsible for protecting the sovereignty of Belize. The BDF, with the Belize National Coast Guard and the Immigration Department, is a department of the Ministry of Defence and Immigration. In 1997 the regular army numbered over 900, the reserve army 381, the air wing 45 and the maritime wing 36, amounting to an overall strength of approximately 1400.[35] In 2005, the maritime wing became part of the Belizean Coast Guard.[36] In 2012, the Belizean government spent about $17 million on the military, constituting 1.08% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).[37]
+After Belize achieved independence in 1981 the United Kingdom maintained a deterrent force (British Forces Belize) in the country to protect it from invasion by Guatemala (see Guatemalan claim to Belizean territory). During the 1980s this included a battalion and No. 1417 Flight RAF of Harriers. The main British force left in 1994, three years after Guatemala recognized Belizean independence, but the United Kingdom maintained a training presence via the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) and 25 Flight AAC until 2011 when the last British Forces left Ladyville Barracks, with the exception of seconded advisers.[35]
+
+Belize is divided into six districts.
+
+These districts are further divided into 31 constituencies. Local government in Belize comprises four types of local authorities: city councils, town councils, village councils and community councils. The two city councils (Belize City and Belmopan) and seven town councils cover the urban population of the country, while village and community councils cover the rural population.[39]
+
+Throughout Belize's history, Guatemala has claimed sovereignty over all or part of Belizean territory. This claim is occasionally reflected in maps drawn by Guatemala's government, showing Belize as Guatemala's twenty-third department.[40][b]
+
+The Guatemalan territorial claim involves approximately 53% of Belize's mainland, which includes significant portions of four districts: Belize, Cayo, Stann Creek, and Toledo.[42] Roughly 43% of the country's population (≈154,949 Belizeans) reside in this region.[43]
+
+As of 2020[update], the border dispute with Guatemala remains unresolved and quite contentious.[40][44][45] Guatemala's claim to Belizean territory rests, in part, on Clause VII of the Anglo-Guatemalan Treaty of 1859, which obligated the British to build a road between Belize City and Guatemala. At various times, the issue has required mediation by the United Kingdom, Caribbean Community heads of government, the Organization of American States (OAS), Mexico, and the United States. However, on 15 April 2018, Guatemala's government held a referendum to determine if the country should take its territorial claim on Belize to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to settle the long-standing issue. Guatemalans voted 95%[46] yes on the matter.[47] A similar referendum was to be held in Belize on 10 April 2019, but a court ruling led to its postponement.[48] The referendum was held on 8 May 2019, and 55.4% of voters opted to send the matter to the ICJ.
+
+Belize backed the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, which established legal land rights to indigenous groups.[49] Other court cases have affirmed these rights like the Supreme Court of Belize's 2013 decision to uphold its ruling in 2010 that acknowledges customary land titles as communal land for indigenous peoples.[50] Another such case is the Caribbean Court of Justice's (CCJ) 2015 order on the Belizean government, which stipulated that the country develop a land registry to classify and exercise traditional governance over Mayan lands.[51] Despite these rulings, Belize has made little progress to support the land rights of indigenous communities; for instance, in the two years since the CCJ's decision, Belize's government has failed to launch the Mayan land registry, prompting the group to take action into its own hands.[52][53]
+
+The exact ramifications of these cases need to be examined. As of 2017[update], Belize still struggles to recognize indigenous populations and their respective rights. According to the 50-page voluntary national report Belize created on its progress toward the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, indigenous groups are not factored into the country's indicators whatsoever.[54] In fact, the groups 'Creole' and 'Garinagu' are not included in the document, and 'Maya' and 'Mestizo' only occur once throughout the entirety of the report.[55] It is yet to be seen if the Belizean government will highlight the consequences of the territorial claim on indigenous land rights prior to the referendum vote in 2019.[56]
+
+Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. To the east in the Caribbean Sea, the second-longest barrier reef in the world flanks much of the 386 kilometres (240 mi) of predominantly marshy coastline.[58] The area of the country totals 22,960 square kilometres (8,865 sq mi), an area slightly larger than El Salvador, Israel, New Jersey or Wales. The many lagoons along the coasts and in the northern interior reduces the actual land area to 21,400 square kilometres (8,263 sq mi). It is the only Central American country with no Pacific coastline.
+
+Belize is shaped like a rectangle that extends about 280 kilometres (174 mi) north-south and about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east-west, with a total land boundary length of 516 kilometres (321 mi). The undulating courses of two rivers, the Hondo and the Sarstoon River, define much of the course of the country's northern and southern boundaries. The western border follows no natural features and runs north–south through lowland forest and highland plateau.
+
+The north of Belize consists mostly of flat, swampy coastal plains, in places heavily forested. The flora is highly diverse considering the small geographical area. The south contains the low mountain range of the Maya Mountains. The highest point in Belize is Doyle's Delight at 1,124 m (3,688 ft).[59]
+
+Belize's rugged geography has also made the country's coastline and jungle attractive to drug smugglers, who use the country as a gateway into Mexico.[60] In 2011, the United States added Belize to the list of nations considered major drug producers or transit countries for narcotics.[61]
+
+Belize has a rich variety of wildlife because of its unique position between North and South America and a wide range of climates and habitats for plant and animal life.[62] Belize's low human population and approximately 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) of undistributed land make for an ideal home for the more than 5,000 species of plants and hundreds of species of animals, including armadillos, snakes, and monkeys.[63][64]
+
+The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in south-central Belize established to protect the forests, fauna, and watersheds of an approximately 400 km2 (150 sq mi) area of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains. The reserve was founded in 1990 as the first wilderness sanctuary for the jaguar and is regarded by one author as the premier site for jaguar preservation in the world.[57]
+
+While over 60% of Belize's land surface is covered by forest,[65] some 20% of the country's land is covered by cultivated land (agriculture) and human settlements.[66] Savanna, scrubland and wetland constitute the remainder of Belize's land cover. Important mangrove ecosystems are also represented across Belize's landscape.[67][68] As a part of the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor that stretches from southern Mexico to Panama, Belize's biodiversity – both marine and terrestrial – is rich, with abundant flora and fauna.
+
+Belize is also a leader in protecting biodiversity and natural resources. According to the World Database on Protected Areas, 37% of Belize's land territory falls under some form of official protection, giving Belize one of the most extensive systems of terrestrial protected areas in the Americas.[69] By contrast, Costa Rica only has 27% of its land territory protected.[70]
+
+Around 13.6% of Belize's territorial waters, which contain the Belize Barrier Reef, are also protected.[71] The Belize Barrier Reef is a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site and is the second-largest barrier reef in the world, behind Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
+
+A remote sensing study conducted by the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) and NASA, in collaboration with the Forest Department and the Land Information Centre (LIC) of the government of Belize's Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), and published in August 2010 revealed that Belize's forest cover in early 2010 was approximately 62.7%, down from 75.9% in late 1980.[65] A similar study by Belize Tropical Forest Studies and Conservation International revealed similar trends in terms of Belize's forest cover.[72] Both studies indicate that each year, 0.6% of Belize's forest cover is lost, translating to the clearing of an average of 10,050 hectares (24,835 acres) each year. The USAID-supported SERVIR study by CATHALAC, NASA, and the MNRE also showed that Belize's protected areas have been extremely effective in protecting the country's forests. While only some 6.4% of forests inside of legally declared protected areas were cleared between 1980 and 2010, over a quarter of forests outside of protected areas were lost between 1980 and 2010.
+
+As a country with a relatively high forest cover and a low deforestation rate, Belize has significant potential for participation in initiatives such as REDD. Significantly, the SERVIR study on Belize's deforestation[65] was also recognized by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), of which Belize is a member nation.[73]
+
+Belize is known to have a number of economically important minerals, but none in quantities large enough to warrant mining. These minerals include dolomite, barite (source of barium), bauxite (source of aluminium), cassiterite (source of tin), and gold. In 1990 limestone, used in road-building, was the only mineral resource being exploited for either domestic or export use.
+
+In 2006, the cultivation of newly discovered crude oil in the town of Spanish Lookout has presented new prospects and problems for this developing nation.[74]
+
+Access to biocapacity in Belize is much higher than world average. In 2016, Belize had 3.8 global hectares[75] of biocapacity per person within its territory, much more than the world average of 1.6 global hectares per person.[76] In 2016 Belize used 5.4 global hectares of biocapacity per person - their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they use more  biocapacity than Belize contains. As a result, Belize is running a biocapacity deficit.[75]
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 metres (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometres (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 kilometres (190 mi) long section of the 900 kilometres (560 mi) long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya up to Honduras making it one of the largest coral reef systems in the world.
+
+It is the top tourist destination in Belize, popular for scuba diving and snorkelling, and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to its fishing industry.[77] In 1842 Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies".
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains important natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biodiversity.[78]
+
+The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals, and is one of the most diverse ecosystems of the world:
+
+With 90% of the reef still to be researched, some estimate that only 10% of all species have been discovered.[79]
+
+Belize became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December 2010.[80][81] In December 2015, Belize banned offshore oil drilling within 1 km (0.6 mi) of the Barrier Reef and all of its seven World Heritage Sites.[82]
+
+Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution as well as uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. Other threats include hurricanes, along with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures,[83] which causes coral bleaching. It is claimed by scientists that over 40% of Belize's coral reef has been damaged since 1998.[77]
+
+Belize has a tropical climate with pronounced wet and dry seasons, although there are significant variations in weather patterns by region. Temperatures vary according to elevation, proximity to the coast, and the moderating effects of the northeast trade winds off the Caribbean. Average temperatures in the coastal regions range from 24 °C (75.2 °F) in January to 27 °C (80.6 °F) in July. Temperatures are slightly higher inland, except for the southern highland plateaus, such as the Mountain Pine Ridge, where it is noticeably cooler year round. Overall, the seasons are marked more by differences in humidity and rainfall than in temperature.
+
+Average rainfall varies considerably, from 1,350 millimetres (53 in) in the north and west to over 4,500 millimetres (180 in) in the extreme south. Seasonal differences in rainfall are greatest in the northern and central regions of the country where, between January and April or May, less than 100 millimetres (3.9 in) of rainfall per month. The dry season is shorter in the south, normally only lasting from February to April. A shorter, less rainy period, known locally as the "little dry", usually occurs in late July or August, after the onset of the rainy season.
+
+Hurricanes have played key—and devastating—roles in Belizean history. In 1931, an unnamed hurricane destroyed over two-thirds of the buildings in Belize City and killed more than 1,000 people. In 1955, Hurricane Janet levelled the northern town of Corozal. Only six years later, Hurricane Hattie struck the central coastal area of the country, with winds in excess of 300 km/h (185 mph) and 4 m (13 ft) storm tides. The devastation of Belize City for the second time in thirty years prompted the relocation of the capital some 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland to the planned city of Belmopan.
+
+In 1978, Hurricane Greta caused more than US$25 million in damages along the southern coast. On 9 October 2001, Hurricane Iris made landfall at Monkey River Town as a 235 km/h (145 mph) Category Four storm. The storm demolished most of the homes in the village, and destroyed the banana crop. In 2007, Hurricane Dean made landfall as a Category 5 storm only 40 km (25 mi) north of the Belize–Mexico border. Dean caused extensive damage in northern Belize.
+
+In 2010, Belize was directly affected by the Category 2 Hurricane Richard, which made landfall approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) south-southeast of Belize City at around 00:45 UTC on 25 October 2010.[84] The storm moved inland towards Belmopan, causing estimated damage of BZ$33.8 million ($17.4 million 2010 USD), primarily from damage to crops and housing.[85]
+
+The most recent hurricane to affect the nation was Hurricane Earl of 2016.
+
+Belize has a small, mostly private enterprise economy that is based primarily on agriculture, agro-based industry, and merchandising, with tourism and construction recently assuming greater importance.[74] The country is also a producer of industrial minerals,[86] crude oil, and petroleum. As of 2017[update], oil production was 320 m3/d (2,000 bbl/d).[87] In agriculture, sugar, like in colonial times, remains the chief crop, accounting for nearly half of exports, while the banana industry is the largest employer.[74]
+
+The government of Belize faces important challenges to economic stability. Rapid action to improve tax collection has been promised, but a lack of progress in reining in spending could bring the exchange rate under pressure. The tourist and construction sectors strengthened in early 1999, leading to a preliminary estimate of revived growth at four percent. Infrastructure remains a major economic development challenge;[88] Belize has the region's most expensive electricity. Trade is important and the major trading partners are the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and CARICOM.[88]
+
+Belize has four commercial bank groups, of which the largest and oldest is Belize Bank. The other three banks are Heritage Bank, Atlantic Bank, and Scotiabank (Belize). A robust complex of credit unions began in the 1940s under the leadership of Marion M. Ganey, S.J.[89]
+
+Belize is located on the coast of Central America. Based on its location, it is a popular destination for vacations. However, also due to its location, it is currently becoming known in the global arena for attracting many drug trafficking entities in North America. The Belize currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar. This entices drug traffickers and money launderers who want to utilize the banking system. In addition, banks in Belize offer non-residents the ability to establish accounts. Because of this, many drug traffickers and money launderers utilize banks in Belize. As a result, the United States Department of State has recently named Belize one of the world's "major money laundering countries".[90]
+
+The largest integrated electric utility and the principal distributor in Belize is Belize Electricity Limited. BEL was approximately 70% owned by Fortis Inc., a Canadian investor-owned distribution utility. Fortis took over the management of BEL in 1999, at the invitation of the government of Belize in an attempt to mitigate prior financial problems with the locally managed utility. In addition to its regulated investment in BEL, Fortis owns Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL), a non-regulated hydroelectric generation business that operates three hydroelectric generating facilities on the Macal River.
+
+On 14 June 2011, the government of Belize nationalized the ownership interest of Fortis Inc. in Belize Electricity Ltd. The utility encountered serious financial problems after the country's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2008 "disallowed the recovery of previously incurred fuel and purchased power costs in customer rates and set customer rates at a level that does not allow BEL to earn a fair and reasonable return", Fortis said in a June 2011 statement.[91] BEL appealed this judgement to the Court of Appeal; however, a hearing was not expected until 2012. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of Belize granted BEL's application to prevent the PUC from taking any enforcement actions pending the appeal. The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a statement saying the government had acted in haste and expressed concern over the message it sent to investors.
+
+In August 2009, the government of Belize nationalized Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), which now competes directly with Speednet. As a result of the nationalization process, the interconnection agreements are again subject to negotiations. Both BTL and Speednet boast a full range of products and services including basic telephone services, national and international calls, prepaid services, cellular services via GSM 1900 megahertz (MHz) and 4G LTE respectively, international cellular roaming, fixed wireless, fibre-to-the-home internet service, and national and international data networks.[92]
+
+A combination of natural factors—climate, the Belize Barrier Reef, over 450 offshore Cays (islands), excellent fishing, safe waters for boating, scuba diving, snorkelling and freediving, numerous rivers for rafting, and kayaking, various jungle and wildlife reserves of fauna and flora, for hiking, bird watching, and helicopter touring, as well as many Maya sites—support the thriving tourism and ecotourism industry. It also has the largest cave system in Central America.
+
+Development costs are high, but the government of Belize has made tourism its second development priority after agriculture. In 2012, tourist arrivals totalled 917,869 (with about 584,683 from the United States) and tourist receipts amounted to over $1.3 billion.[93]
+
+Belize's population is estimated to be 360,346 in 2017,[94] and estimated at 408,487 in 2019.[5] Belize's total fertility rate in 2009 was 3.6 children per woman. Its birth rate was 22.9 births/1,000 population (2018 estimate), and the death rate was 4.2 deaths/1,000 population (2018 estimate).[2] A substantial ethnic-demographic shift has been occurring since 1980 when Creoles/Mestizo ratio has shifted from 58/48 to now at 26/53, with Creoles' moving to the US and Mestizo birth rate and entry from El Salvador. Woods, Composition and Distribution of Ethnic Groups in Belize 1997
+
+The Maya are thought to have been in Belize and the Yucatán region since the second millennium BC; however, much of Belize's original Maya population was wiped out by conflicts between constantly warring tribes. There were many who died of disease after contact and invasion by Europeans. Three Maya groups now inhabit the country: The Yucatec (who came from Yucatán, Mexico, to escape the savage Caste War of the 1840s), the Mopan (indigenous to Belize but were forced out to Guatemala by the British for raiding settlements; they returned to Belize to evade enslavement by the Guatemalans in the 19th century), and Q'eqchi' (also fled from slavery in Guatemala in the 19th century).[95] The latter groups are chiefly found in the Toledo District. The Maya speak their native languages and Spanish, and are also fluent in English and Belize Kriol.
+
+Creoles, also known as Kriols, make up roughly 21% of the Belizean population and about 75% of the diaspora. They are descendants of the Baymen slave owners, and slaves brought to Belize for the purpose of the logging industry.[96] These slaves were ultimately of West and Central African descent (many also of Miskito ancestry from Nicaragua) and born Africans who had spent very brief periods in Jamaica and Bermuda.[97] Bay Islanders and ethnic Jamaicans came in the late 19th century, further adding to these already varied peoples, creating this ethnic group.
+
+For all intents and purposes, Creole is an ethnic and linguistic denomination. Some natives, even with blonde hair and blue eyes, may call themselves Creoles.[97]
+
+Belize Creole English or Kriol developed during the time of slavery, and historically was only spoken by former slaves. However, this ethnicity has become an integral part of the Belizean identity, and as a result it is now spoken by about 45% of Belizeans.[6][97] Belizean Creole is derived mainly from English. Its substrate languages are the Native American language Miskito, and the various West African and Bantu languages brought into the country by slaves. Creoles are found all over Belize, but predominantly in urban areas such as Belize City, coastal towns and villages, and in the Belize River Valley.[98]
+
+The Garinagu (singular Garifuna), at around 4.5% of the population, are a mix of West/Central African, Arawak, and Island Carib ancestry. Though they were captives removed from their homelands, these people were never documented as slaves. The two prevailing theories are that, in 1635, they were either the survivors of two recorded shipwrecks or somehow took over the ship they came on.[99]
+
+Throughout history they have been incorrectly labelled as Black Caribs. When the British took over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, they were opposed by French settlers and their Garinagu allies. The Garinagu eventually surrendered to the British in 1796. The British separated the more African-looking Garifunas from the more indigenous-looking ones. 5,000 Garinagu were exiled from the Grenadine island of Baliceaux. However, only about 2,500 of them survived the voyage to Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras. The Garifuna language belongs to the Arawakan language family, but has a large number of loanwords from Carib languages and from English.
+
+Because Roatán was too small and infertile to support their population, the Garinagu petitioned the Spanish authorities of Honduras to be allowed to settle on the mainland coast. The Spanish employed them as soldiers, and they spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America. The Garinagu settled in Seine Bight, Punta Gorda and Punta Negra, Belize, by way of Honduras as early as 1802. However, in Belize, 19 November 1832 is the date officially recognized as "Garifuna Settlement Day" in Dangriga.[100]
+
+According to one genetic study, their ancestry is on average 76% Sub Saharan African, 20% Arawak/Island Carib and 4% European.[99]
+
+The Mestizo culture are people of mixed Spanish and Maya descent. They originally came to Belize in 1847, to escape the Caste War, which occurred when thousands of Mayas rose against the state in Yucatán and massacred over one-third of the population. The surviving others fled across the borders into British territory. The Mestizos are found everywhere in Belize but most make their homes in the northern districts of Corozal and Orange Walk. Some other mestizos came from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, & Nicaragua. The Mestizos are the largest ethnic group in Belize and make up approximately half of the population. The Mestizo towns centre on a main square, and social life focuses on the Catholic Church built on one side of it. Spanish is the main language of most Mestizos and Spanish descendants, but many speak English and Belize Kriol fluently.[101] Due to the influences of Kriol and English, many Mestizos speak what is known as "Kitchen Spanish".[102] The mixture of Latin and Maya foods like tamales, escabeche, chirmole, relleno, and empanadas came from their Mexican side and corn tortillas were handed down by their Mayan side. Music comes mainly from the marimba, but they also play and sing with the guitar. Dances performed at village fiestas include the Hog-Head, Zapateados, the Mestizada, Paso Doble and many more.
+
+The majority of the Mennonite population comprises so-called Russian Mennonites of German descent who settled in the Russian Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most Russian Mennonites live in Mennonite settlements like Spanish Lookout, Shipyard, Little Belize, and Blue Creek. These Mennonites speak Plautdietsch (a Low German dialect) in everyday life, but use mostly Standard German for reading (the Bible) and writing. The Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites came mostly from Mexico in the years after 1958 and they are trilingual with Spanish. There are also some mainly Pennsylvania German-speaking Old Order Mennonites who came from the United States and Canada in the late 1960s. They live primarily in Upper Barton Creek and associated settlements. These Mennonites attracted people from different Anabaptist backgrounds who formed a new community. They look quite similar to Old Order Amish, but are different from them.[citation needed]
+
+The remaining 5% or so of the population consist of a mix of Indians, Chinese, Whites from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, and many other foreign groups brought to assist the country's development. During the 1860s, a large influx of East Indians who spent brief periods in Jamaica and American Civil War veterans from Louisiana and other Southern states established Confederate settlements in British Honduras and introduced commercial sugar cane production to the colony, establishing 11 settlements in the interior. The 20th century saw the arrival of more Asian settlers from mainland China, South Korea, India, Syria, and Lebanon. Said Musa, the son of an immigrant from Palestine, was the Prime Minister of Belize from 1998 to 2008. Central American immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, & Nicaragua and expatriate Americans and Africans also began to settle in the country.[100]
+
+Creoles and other ethnic groups are emigrating mostly to the United States, but also to the United Kingdom and other developed nations for better opportunities. Based on the latest US Census, the number of Belizeans in the United States is approximately 160,000 (including 70,000 legal residents and naturalized citizens), consisting mainly of Creoles and Garinagu.[104]
+
+Because of conflicts in neighbouring Central American nations, Mestizo refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have fled to Belize in significant numbers during the 1980s, and have been significantly adding to this group. These two events have been changing the demographics of the nation for the last 30 years.[105]
+
+English is the official language of Belize. This stems from the country being a former British colony. Belize is the only country in Central America with English as the official language. Also, English is the primary language of public education, government and most media outlets. About half of Belizeans regardless of ethnicity speak a mostly English-based creole called Belize Creole (or Kriol in Belize Creole). Although English is widely used, Kriol is spoken in all situations whether informal, formal, social or interethnic dialogue, even in meetings of the House of Representatives.
+
+When a Creole language exists alongside its lexifier language, as is the case in Belize, a continuum forms between the Creole and the lexifier language. It is therefore difficult to substantiate or differentiate the number of Belize Creole speakers compared to English speakers. Kriol might best be described as the lingua franca of the nation.[106]
+
+Approximately 50% of Belizeans self-identify as Mestizo, Latino, or Hispanic and 30% speak Spanish as a native language.[107] When Belize was a British colony, Spanish was banned in schools but today it is widely taught as a second language. "Kitchen Spanish" is an intermediate form of Spanish mixed with Belize Creole, spoken in the northern towns such as Corozal and San Pedro.[102]
+
+Over half the population is multilingual.[108] Being a small, multiethnic state, surrounded by Spanish-speaking nations, multilingualism is strongly encouraged.[109]
+
+Belize is also home to three Maya languages: Q'eqchi', Mopan (an endangered language), and Yucatec Maya.[110][111][112]
+Approximately 16,100 people speak the Arawakan-based Garifuna language,[113] and 6,900 Mennonites in Belize speak mainly Plautdietsch while a minority of Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German.[114]
+
+According to the 2010 census,[6] 40.1% of Belizeans are Roman Catholics, 31.8% are Protestants (8.4% Pentecostal; 5.4% Adventist; 4.7% Anglican; 3.7% Mennonite; 3.6% Baptist; 2.9% Methodist; 2.8% Nazarene), 1.7% are Jehovah's Witnesses, 10.3% adhere to other religions (Maya religion, Garifuna religion, Obeah and Myalism, and minorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Bahá'ís, Rastafarians and other) and 15.5% profess to be irreligious.
+
+According to PROLADES, Belize was 64.6% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Protestant, 7.6% Other in 1971.[115] Until the late 1990s, Belize was a Roman Catholic majority country. Catholics formed 57% of the population in 1991, and dropped to 49% in 2000. The percentage of Roman Catholics in the population has been decreasing in the past few decades due to the growth of Protestant churches, other religions and non-religious people.[116]
+
+In addition to Catholics, there has always been a large accompanying Protestant minority. It was brought by British, German, and other settlers to the British colony of British Honduras. From the beginning, it was largely Anglican and Mennonite in nature. The Protestant community in Belize experienced a large Pentecostal and Seventh-Day Adventist influx tied to the recent spread of various Evangelical Protestant denominations throughout Latin America. Geographically speaking, German Mennonites live mostly in the rural districts of Cayo and Orange Walk.
+
+The Greek Orthodox Church has a presence in Santa Elena.[117]
+
+The Association of Religion Data Archives estimates there were 7,776 Bahá'ís in Belize in 2005, or 2.5% of the national population. Their estimates suggest this is the highest proportion of Bahá'ís in any country.[118] Their data also states that the Bahá'í Faith is the second most common religion in Belize, followed by Judaism.[119] Hinduism is followed by most Indian immigrants, however, Sikhs were the first Indian immigrants to Belize (not counting indentured workers), and the former Chief Justice of Belize George Singh was the son of a Sikh immigrant,[120][121] there was also a Sikh cabinet minister. Muslims claim that there have been Muslims in Belize since the 16th century having been brought over from Africa as slaves, but there are no sources for that claim.[122] The Muslim population of today started in the 1980s.[123] Muslims numbered 243 in 2000 and 577 in 2010 according to the official statistics.[124] and comprise 0.16 percent of the population. A mosque is at the Islamic Mission of Belize (IMB), also known as the Muslim Community of Belize. Another mosque, Masjid Al-Falah, officially opened in 2008 in Belize City.[125]
+
+Belize has a high prevalence of communicable diseases such as respiratory diseases and intestinal illnesses.[126]
+
+A number of kindergartens, secondary, and tertiary schools in Belize provide quality education for students—mostly funded by the government. Belize has about a dozen tertiary level institutions, the most prominent of which is the University of Belize, which evolved out of the University College of Belize founded in 1986. Before that St. John's College, founded in 1877, dominated the tertiary education field. The Open Campus of the University of the West Indies has a site in Belize.[127] It also has campuses in Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica. The government of Belize contributes financially to the UWI.
+
+Education in Belize is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14 years. As of 2010[update], the literacy rate in Belize was estimated at 79.7%,[6] one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.
+
+The educational policy is currently following the "Education Sector Strategy 2011–2016", which sets three objectives for the years to come: Improving access, quality, and governance of the education system by providing technical and vocational education and training.[128]
+
+Belize has relatively high rates of violent crime.[129] The majority of violence in Belize stems from gang activity, which includes trafficking of drugs and persons, protecting drug smuggling routes, and securing territory for drug dealing.[130]
+
+In 2018, 143 murders were recorded in Belize, giving the country a homicide rate of 36 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world, but lower than the neighbouring countries of Honduras and El Salvador.[131][132] Belize District (containing Belize City) had the most murders by far compared to all the other districts. In 2018, 66% of the murders occurred in the Belize District.[132] The violence in Belize City (especially the southern part of the city) is largely due to gang warfare.[129]
+
+In 2015, there were 40 reported cases of rape, 214 robberies, 742 burglaries, and 1027 cases of theft.[133]
+
+The Belize Police Department has implemented many protective measures in hopes of decreasing the high number of crimes. These measures include adding more patrols to "hot spots" in the city, obtaining more resources to deal with the predicament, creating the "Do the Right Thing for Youths at Risk" program, creating the Crime Information Hotline, creating the Yabra Citizen Development Committee, an organization that helps youth, and many other initiatives. The Belize Police Department began an Anti-Crime Christmas campaign targeting criminals; as a result, the crime rates dropped in that month.[130] In 2011, the government established a truce among many major gangs, lowering the murder rate.[129]
+
+Belize's social structure is marked by enduring differences in the distribution of wealth, power, and prestige. Because of the small size of Belize's population and the intimate scale of social relations, the social distance between the rich and the poor, while significant, is nowhere as vast as in other Caribbean and Central American societies, such as Jamaica and El Salvador. Belize lacks the violent class and racial conflict that has figured so prominently in the social life of its Central American neighbours.[134]
+
+Political and economic power remain vested in the hands of the local elite. The sizeable middle group is composed of peoples of different ethnic backgrounds. This middle group does not constitute a unified social class, but rather a number of middle-class and working-class groups, loosely oriented around shared dispositions toward education, cultural respectability, and possibilities for upward social mobility. These beliefs, and the social practices they engender, help distinguish the middle group from the grass roots majority of the Belizean people.[134]
+
+In 2013, the World Economic Forum ranked Belize 101st out of 135 countries in its Global Gender Gap Report. Of all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Belize ranked 3rd from last and had the lowest female-to-male ratio for primary school enrolment.[135] In 2013, the UN gave Belize a Gender Inequality Index score of 0.435, ranking it 79th out of 148 countries.[136]
+
+As of 2013[update], 48.3% of women in Belize participate in the workforce, compared to 81.8% of men.[136] 13.3% of the seats in Belize's National Assembly are filled by women.[136]
+
+In Belizean folklore, there are the legends of Lang Bobi Suzi, La Llorona, La Sucia, Tata Duende, X'tabai, Anansi, Xtabay, Sisimite and the cadejo.
+
+Most of the public holidays in Belize are traditional Commonwealth and Christian holidays, although some are specific to Belizean culture such as Garifuna Settlement Day and Heroes and Benefactors' Day, formerly Baron Bliss Day.[137] In addition, the month of September is considered a special time of national celebration called September Celebrations with a whole month of activities on a special events calendar. Besides Independence Day and St. George's Caye Day, Belizeans also celebrate Carnival during September, which typically includes several events spread across multiple days, with the main event being the Carnival Road March, usually held the Saturday before the 10th of September. In some areas of Belize, however, Carnival is celebrated at the traditional time before Lent (in February).[138]
+
+Belizean cuisine is an amalgamation of all ethnicities in the nation, and their respectively wide variety of foods. It might best be described as both similar to Mexican/Central American cuisine and Jamaican/Anglo-Caribbean cuisine but very different to these areas as well with Belizean touches and innovation which have been handed down by generations. All immigrant communities add to the diversity of Belizean food including the Indian and Chinese Communities.
+
+Belizean diet is very modern and traditional. There are no rules. Breakfast typically consists of bread, flour tortillas, or fry jacks that are often homemade. Fry jacks are eaten with various cheeses, "fry" beans, various forms of eggs or cereal, along with powdered milk, coffee, or tea. Tacos made from corn or flour tortillas and meat pies can also be consumed for a hearty breakfast from a street vendor. Midday meals are the main meals for Belizeans, usually called "dinner". They vary, from foods such as rice and beans with or without coconut milk, tamales (fried maize shells with beans or fish), "panades", meat pies, escabeche (onion soup), chimole (soup), caldo, stewed chicken and garnaches (fried tortillas with beans, cheese, and sauce) to various constituted dinners featuring some type of rice and beans, meat and salad or coleslaw. Fried "fry" chicken is also consumed at this time.
+
+In rural areas, meals are typically more simple than in cities. The Maya use maize, beans, or squash for most meals, and the Garifuna are fond of seafood, cassava (particularly made into cassava bread or Ereba) and vegetables. The nation abounds with restaurants and fast food establishments selling fairly cheaply. Local fruits are quite common, but raw vegetables from the markets less so. Mealtime is a communion for families and schools and some businesses close at midday for lunch, reopening later in the afternoon. Steak is also common.
+
+Punta is a popular genre of Garifuna music and has become one of the most popular kinds of music in Belize. It is distinctly Afro-Caribbean, and is sometimes said to be ready for international popularization like similarly-descended styles (reggae, calypso, merengue).
+
+Brukdown is a modern style of Belizean music related to calypso. It evolved out of the music and dance of loggers, especially a form called buru. Reggae, dance hall, and soca imported from Jamaica and the rest of the West Indies, rap, hip-hop, heavy metal and rock music from the United States, are also popular among the youth of Belize.
+
+The major sports in Belize are football, basketball, volleyball and cycling, with smaller followings of boat racing, athletics, softball, cricket, rugby and netball. Fishing is also popular in coastal areas of Belize.
+
+The Cross Country Cycling Classic, also known as the "cross country" race or the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic, is considered one of the most important Belize sports events. This one-day sports event is meant for amateur cyclists but has also gained worldwide popularity. The history of Cross Country Cycling Classic in Belize dates back to the period when Monrad Metzgen picked up the idea from a small village on the Northern Highway (now Phillip Goldson Highway). The people from this village used to cover long distances on their bicycles to attend the weekly game of cricket. He improvised on this observation by creating a sporting event on the difficult terrain of the Western Highway, which was then poorly built.
+
+Another major annual sporting event in Belize is the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, a 4-day canoe marathon held each year in March. The race runs from San Ignacio to Belize City, a distance of 290 kilometres (180 mi).[139]
+
+On Easter day, citizens of Dangriga participate in a yearly fishing tournament. First, second, and third prize are awarded based on a scoring combination of size, species, and number. The tournament is broadcast over local radio stations, and prize money is awarded to the winners.
+
+The Belize national basketball team is the only national team that has achieved major victories internationally. The team won the 1998 CARICOM Men's Basketball Championship, held at the Civic Centre in Belize City, and subsequently participated in the 1999 Centrobasquet Tournament in Havana. The national team finished seventh of eight teams after winning only 1 game despite playing close all the way. In a return engagement at the 2000 CARICOM championship in Barbados, Belize placed fourth. Shortly thereafter, Belize moved to the Central American region and won the Central American Games championship in 2001.
+
+The team has failed to duplicate this success, most recently finishing with a 2 and 4 record in the 2006 COCABA championship. The team finished second in the 2009 COCABA tournament in Cancun, Mexico where it went 3–0 in group play. Belize won its opening match in the Centrobasquet Tournament, 2010, defeating Trinidad and Tobago, but lost badly to Mexico in a rematch of the COCABA final. A tough win over Cuba set Belize in position to advance, but they fell to Puerto Rico in their final match and failed to qualify.
+
+Simone Biles, the winner of four gold medals in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics is a dual citizen of the United States and of Belize,[140] which she considers her second home.[141] Biles is herself Belizean-American in descent.[142]
+
+The national flower of Belize is the black orchid (Prosthechea cochleata, also known as Encyclia cochleata). The national tree is the mahogany tree (Swietenia macrophylla), which inspired the national motto Sub Umbra Floreo, which means "Under the shade I flourish". The national animal is the Baird's tapir and the national bird is the keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulphuratus).[143]
+
+Coordinates: 17°4′N 88°42′W / 17.067°N 88.700°W / 17.067; -88.700

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+Alexander Graham Bell (/ˈɡreɪ.əm/; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922)[3] was a  Scottish-born[N 2] inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.[6]
+
+Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.[7] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876.[N 3] Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.[8][N 4]
+
+Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, and aeronautics. Although Bell was not one of the 33 founders[10] of the National Geographic Society, he had a strong influence on the magazine while serving as the second president from January 7, 1898, until 1903.[11]
+
+Beyond his scientific work, Bell was an advocate of compulsory sterilization, and served as chairman or president of several eugenics organizations.[12]
+
+Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 3, 1847.[13] The family home was at South Charlotte Street, and has a stone inscription marking it as Alexander Graham Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845–1870) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–1867), both of whom would die of tuberculosis.[14] His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, a phonetician, and his mother was Eliza Grace (née Symonds).[15] Born as just "Alexander Bell", at age 10, he made a plea to his father to have a middle name like his two brothers.[16][N 5] For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the name "Graham", chosen out of respect for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father who had become a family friend.[17] To close relatives and friends he remained "Aleck".[18]
+
+As a child, young Bell displayed a curiosity about his world; he gathered botanical specimens and ran experiments at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbour whose family operated a flour mill. At the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating a simple dehusking machine that was put into operation at the mill and used steadily for a number of years.[19] In return, Ben's father John Herdman gave both boys the run of a small workshop in which to "invent".[19]
+
+From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry, and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist.[20] Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he revelled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to ventriloquism that continually entertained family guests during their occasional visits.[20] Bell was also deeply affected by his mother's gradual deafness (she began to lose her hearing when he was 12), and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlour.[21] He also developed a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother's forehead wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity.[22] Bell's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study acoustics.
+
+His family was long associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially his The Standard Elocutionist (1860),[20] which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. The Standard Elocutionist appeared in 168 British editions and sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States alone. In this treatise, his father explains his methods of how to instruct deaf-mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher meaning. Bell's father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound.[23] Bell became so proficient that he became a part of his father's public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities. He could decipher Visible Speech representing virtually every language, including Latin, Scottish Gaelic, and even Sanskrit, accurately reciting written tracts without any prior knowledge of their pronunciation.[23]
+
+As a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, he was enrolled at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at the age of 15, having completed only the first four forms.[24] His school record was undistinguished, marked by absenteeism and lacklustre grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated other school subjects with indifference, to the dismay of his father.[25] Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London to live with his grandfather, Alexander Bell, on Harrington Square. During the year he spent with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his pupil would need to become a teacher himself.[26] At the age of 16, Bell secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy at Elgin, Moray, Scotland. Although he was enrolled as a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session.[27] The following year, he attended the University of Edinburgh; joining his older brother Melville who had enrolled there the previous year. In 1868, not long before he departed for Canada with his family, Bell completed his matriculation exams and was accepted for admission to University College London.[28]
+
+His father encouraged Bell's interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique automaton developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone based on the earlier work of Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen.[29] The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a human voice. Bell was fascinated by the machine and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and his older brother Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful.[29] While his brother constructed the throat and larynx, Bell tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could "speak", albeit only a few words.[29] The boys would carefully adjust the "lips" and when a bellows forced air through the windpipe, a very recognizable "Mama" ensued, to the delight of neighbours who came to see the Bell invention.[30]
+
+Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's Skye Terrier, "Trouve".[31] After he taught it to growl continuously, Bell would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and vocal cords to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma". With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate "How are you, grandma?" Indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a "talking dog".[32] These initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using tuning forks to explore resonance.
+
+At age 19, Bell wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist Alexander Ellis, a colleague of his father (who would later be portrayed as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion).[32] Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany, and also lent Bell a copy of Hermann von Helmholtz's work, The Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music.[33]
+
+Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by Helmholtz who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "contraption", Bell pored over the German scientist's book. Working from his own erroneous mistranslation of a French edition,[34] Bell fortuitously then made a deduction that would be the underpinning of all his future work on transmitting sound, reporting: "Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means, so could consonants, so could articulate speech." He also later remarked: "I thought that Helmholtz had done it ... and that my failure was due only to my ignorance of electricity. It was a valuable blunder ... If I had been able to read German in those days, I might never have commenced my experiments!"[35][36][37][N 6]
+
+In 1865, when the Bell family moved to London,[38] Bell returned to Weston House as an assistant master and, in his spare hours, continued experiments on sound using a minimum of laboratory equipment. Bell concentrated on experimenting with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of a friend.[39] Throughout late 1867, his health faltered mainly through exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward "Ted," was similarly bed-ridden, suffering from tuberculosis. While Bell recovered (by then referring to himself in correspondence as "A. G. Bell") and served the next year as an instructor at Somerset College, Bath, England, his brother's condition deteriorated. Edward would never recover. Upon his brother's death, Bell returned home in 1867. His older brother Melville had married and moved out. With aspirations to obtain a degree at University College London, Bell considered his next years as preparation for the degree examinations, devoting his spare time at his family's residence to studying.
+
+Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Bell to Susanna E. Hull's private school for the deaf in South Kensington, London. His first two pupils were deaf-mute girls who made remarkable progress under his tutelage. While his older brother seemed to achieve success on many fronts including opening his own elocution school, applying for a patent on an invention, and starting a family, Bell continued as a teacher. However, in May 1870, Melville died from complications due to tuberculosis, causing a family crisis. His father had also suffered a debilitating illness earlier in life and had been restored to health by a convalescence in Newfoundland. Bell's parents embarked upon a long-planned move when they realized that their remaining son was also sickly. Acting decisively, Alexander Melville Bell asked Bell to arrange for the sale of all the family property,[40][N 7] conclude all of his brother's affairs (Bell took over his last student, curing a pronounced lisp),[41] and join his father and mother in setting out for the "New World". Reluctantly, Bell also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who, as he had surmised, was not prepared to leave England with him.[42]
+
+In 1870, 23-year-old Bell travelled with his parents and his brother's widow, Caroline Margaret Ottaway,[43]  to Paris, Ontario,[44] to stay with the Reverend Thomas Henderson, a family friend. The Bell family soon purchased a farm of 10.5 acres (42,000 m2) at Tutelo Heights (now called Tutela Heights), near Brantford, Ontario. The property consisted of an orchard, large farmhouse, stable, pigsty, hen-house, and a carriage house, which bordered the Grand River.[45][N 8]
+
+At the homestead, Bell set up his own workshop in the converted carriage house near to what he called his "dreaming place",[47] a large hollow nestled in trees at the back of the property above the river.[48] Despite his frail condition upon arriving in Canada, Bell found the climate and environs to his liking, and rapidly improved.[49][N 9] He continued his interest in the study of the human voice and when he discovered the Six Nations Reserve across the river at Onondaga, he learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Bell was awarded the title of Honorary Chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a Mohawk headdress and danced traditional dances.[50][N 10]
+
+After setting up his workshop, Bell continued experiments based on Helmholtz's work with electricity and sound.[51] He also modified a melodeon (a type of pump organ) so that it could transmit its music electrically over a distance.[52] Once the family was settled in, both Bell and his father made plans to establish a teaching practice and in 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, where Melville was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech.
+
+Bell's father was invited by Sarah Fuller, principal of the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (which continues today as the public Horace Mann School for the Deaf),[53] in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for Fuller's instructors, but he declined the post in favour of his son. Travelling to Boston in April 1871, Bell proved successful in training the school's instructors.[54] He was subsequently asked to repeat the programme at the American Asylum for Deaf-mutes in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts.
+
+Returning home to Brantford after six months abroad, Bell continued his experiments with his "harmonic telegraph".[55][N 11] The basic concept behind his device was that messages could be sent through a single wire if each message was transmitted at a different pitch, but work on both the transmitter and receiver was needed.[56]
+
+Unsure of his future, he first contemplated returning to London to complete his studies, but decided to return to Boston as a teacher.[57] His father helped him set up his private practice by contacting Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the president of the Clarke School for the Deaf for a recommendation. Teaching his father's system, in October 1872, Alexander Bell opened his "School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech" in Boston, which attracted a large number of deaf pupils, with his first class numbering 30 students.[58][59] While he was working as a private tutor, one of his pupils was Helen Keller, who came to him as a young child unable to see, hear, or speak. She was later to say that Bell dedicated his life to the penetration of that "inhuman silence which separates and estranges".[60] In 1893, Keller performed the sod-breaking ceremony for the construction of Bell's new Volta Bureau, dedicated to "the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf".[61][62]
+
+Several influential people of the time, including Bell, viewed deafness as something that should be eradicated, and also believed that with resources and effort, they could teach the deaf to speak and avoid the use of sign language, thus enabling their integration within the wider society from which many were often being excluded.[63] Owing to his efforts to suppress the teaching of sign language, Bell is often viewed negatively by those embracing Deaf culture.[64]
+
+In 1872, Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory. During this period, he alternated between Boston and Brantford, spending summers in his Canadian home. At Boston University, Bell was "swept up" by the excitement engendered by the many scientists and inventors residing in the city. He continued his research in sound and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate speech, but although absorbed by his experiments, he found it difficult to devote enough time to experimentation. While days and evenings were occupied by his teaching and private classes, Bell began to stay awake late into the night, running experiment after experiment in rented facilities at his boarding house. Keeping "night owl" hours, he worried that his work would be discovered and took great pains to lock up his notebooks and laboratory equipment. Bell had a specially made table where he could place his notes and equipment inside a locking cover.[65] Worse still, his health deteriorated as he suffered severe headaches.[56] Returning to Boston in fall 1873, Bell made a fateful decision to concentrate on his experiments in sound.
+
+Deciding to give up his lucrative private Boston practice, Bell retained only two students, six-year-old "Georgie" Sanders, deaf from birth, and 15-year-old Mabel Hubbard. Each pupil would play an important role in the next developments. George's father, Thomas Sanders, a wealthy businessman, offered Bell a place to stay in nearby Salem with Georgie's grandmother, complete with a room to "experiment". Although the offer was made by George's mother and followed the year-long arrangement in 1872 where her son and his nurse had moved to quarters next to Bell's boarding house, it was clear that Mr. Sanders was backing the proposal. The arrangement was for teacher and student to continue their work together, with free room and board thrown in.[66] Mabel was a bright, attractive girl who was ten years Bell's junior but became the object of his affection. Having lost her hearing after a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever close to her fifth birthday,[67][68][N 12] she had learned to read lips but her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell's benefactor and personal friend, wanted her to work directly with her teacher.[69]
+
+By 1874, Bell's initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage, with progress made both at his new Boston "laboratory" (a rented facility) and at his family home in Canada a big success.[N 13] While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a "phonautograph", a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate undulating electrical currents that corresponded to sound waves.[71] Bell also thought that multiple metal reeds tuned to different frequencies like a harp would be able to convert the undulating currents back into sound. But he had no working model to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas.[72]
+
+In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and in the words of Western Union President William Orton, had become "the nervous system of commerce". Antonio Meucci sent a telephone model and technical details to the Western Union telegraph company but failed to win a meeting with executives. When he asked for his materials to be returned, in 1874, he was told they had been lost. Two years later Bell, who shared a laboratory with Meucci, filed a patent for a telephone, became a celebrity and made a lucrative deal with Western Union. Meucci sued and was nearing victory—the supreme court agreed to hear the case and fraud charges were initiated against Bell—when the Florentine died in 1889. The legal action died with him.[73]  Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines.[74] When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, the two wealthy patrons began to financially support Bell's experiments.[75] Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard's patent attorney, Anthony Pollok.[76]
+
+In March 1875, Bell and Pollok visited the scientist Joseph Henry, who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution, and asked Henry's advice on the electrical multi-reed apparatus that Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry replied that Bell had "the germ of a great invention". When Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry replied, "Get it!" That declaration greatly encouraged Bell to keep trying, even though he did not have the equipment needed to continue his experiments, nor the ability to create a working model of his ideas. However, a chance meeting in 1874 between Bell and Thomas A. Watson, an experienced electrical designer and mechanic at the electrical machine shop of Charles Williams, changed all that.
+
+With financial support from Sanders and Hubbard, Bell hired Thomas Watson as his assistant,[N 14] and the two of them experimented with acoustic telegraphy. On June 2, 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of the reeds and Bell, at the receiving end of the wire, heard the overtones of the reed; overtones that would be necessary for transmitting speech. That demonstrated to Bell that only one reed or armature was necessary, not multiple reeds. This led to the "gallows" sound-powered telephone, which could transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech.
+
+In 1875, Bell developed an acoustic telegraph and drew up a patent application for it. Since he had agreed to share U.S. profits with his investors Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, Bell requested that an associate in Ontario, George Brown, attempt to patent it in Britain, instructing his lawyers to apply for a patent in the U.S. only after they received word from Britain (Britain would issue patents only for discoveries not previously patented elsewhere).[78]
+
+Meanwhile, Elisha Gray was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On February 14, 1876, Gray filed a caveat with the U.S. Patent Office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell's lawyer filed Bell's application with the patent office. There is considerable debate about who arrived first and Gray later challenged the primacy of Bell's patent. Bell was in Boston on February 14 and did not arrive in Washington until February 26.
+
+Bell's patent 174,465, was issued to Bell on March 7, 1876, by the U.S. Patent Office. Bell's patent covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound"[80][N 15] Bell returned to Boston the same day and the next day resumed work, drawing in his notebook a diagram similar to that in Gray's patent caveat.
+
+On March 10, 1876, three days after his patent was issued, Bell succeeded in getting his telephone to work, using a liquid transmitter similar to Gray's design. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water, varying the electrical resistance in the circuit. When Bell spoke the sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the liquid transmitter,[81] Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.[82]
+
+Although Bell was, and still is, accused of stealing the telephone from Gray,[83] Bell used Gray's water transmitter design only after Bell's patent had been granted, and only as a proof of concept scientific experiment,[84] to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible "articulate speech" (Bell's words) could be electrically transmitted.[85] After March 1876, Bell focused on improving the electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray's liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use.[86]
+
+The question of priority for the variable resistance feature of the telephone was raised by the examiner before he approved Bell's patent application. He told Bell that his claim for the variable resistance feature was also described in Gray's caveat. Bell pointed to a variable resistance device in his previous application in which he described a cup of mercury, not water. He had filed the mercury application at the patent office a year earlier on February 25, 1875, long before Elisha Gray described the water device. In addition, Gray abandoned his caveat, and because he did not contest Bell's priority, the examiner approved Bell's patent on March 3, 1876. Gray had reinvented the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and the first to test it in a telephone.[87]
+
+The patent examiner, Zenas Fisk Wilber, later stated in an affidavit that he was an alcoholic who was much in debt to Bell's lawyer, Marcellus Bailey, with whom he had served in the Civil War. He claimed he showed Gray's patent caveat to Bailey. Wilber also claimed (after Bell arrived in Washington D.C. from Boston) that he showed Gray's caveat to Bell and that Bell paid him $100 (equivalent to $2,300 in 2019). Bell claimed they discussed the patent only in general terms, although in a letter to Gray, Bell admitted that he learned some of the technical details. Bell denied in an affidavit that he ever gave Wilber any money.[88]
+
+On March 10, 1876 Bell used "the instrument" in Boston to call Thomas Watson who was in another room but out of earshot. He said, "Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you" and Watson soon appeared at his side.[89]
+
+Continuing his experiments in Brantford, Bell brought home a working model of his telephone. On August 3, 1876, from the telegraph office in Brantford, Ontario, Bell sent a tentative telegram to the village of Mount Pleasant four miles (six kilometres) distant, indicating that he was ready. He made a telephone call via telegraph wires and faint voices were heard replying. The following night, he amazed guests as well as his family with a call between the Bell Homestead and the office of the Dominion Telegraph Company in Brantford along an improvised wire strung up along telegraph lines and fences, and laid through a tunnel. This time, guests at the household distinctly heard people in Brantford reading and singing. The third test on August 10, 1876, was made via the telegraph line between Brantford and Paris, Ontario, eight miles (thirteen kilometres) distant. This test was said by many sources to be the "world's first long-distance call".[90][91] The final test certainly proved that the telephone could work over long distances, at least as a one-way call.
+[92]
+
+The first two-way (reciprocal) conversation over a line occurred between Cambridge and Boston (roughly 2.5 miles) on October 9, 1876.[93] During that conversation, Bell was on Kilby Street in Boston and Watson was at the offices of the Walworth Manufacturing Company.[94]
+
+Bell and his partners, Hubbard and Sanders, offered to sell the patent outright to Western Union for $100,000. The president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy. Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million he would consider it a bargain. By then, the Bell company no longer wanted to sell the patent.[95] Bell's investors would become millionaires while he fared well from residuals and at one point had assets of nearly one million dollars.[96]
+
+Bell began a series of public demonstrations and lectures to introduce the new invention to the scientific community as well as the general public. A short time later, his demonstration of an early telephone prototype at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia brought the telephone to international attention.[97] Influential visitors to the exhibition included Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. One of the judges at the Exhibition, Sir William Thomson (later, Lord Kelvin), a renowned Scottish scientist, described the telephone as "the greatest by far of all the marvels of the electric telegraph".[98]
+
+On January 14, 1878, at Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, Bell demonstrated the device to Queen Victoria,[99] placing calls to Cowes, Southampton and London. These were the first publicly witnessed long-distance telephone calls in the UK. The queen considered the process to be "quite extraordinary" although the sound was "rather faint".[100] She later asked to buy the equipment that was used, but Bell offered to make "a set of telephones" specifically for her.[101][102]
+
+The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877, and by 1886, more than 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Bell Company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone, which emerged as one of the most successful products ever. In 1879, the Bell company acquired Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for longer distances, and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone.
+
+Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was the first person to buy stock in Bell's company, the Bell Telephone Company. One of the first telephones in a private residence was installed in his palace in Petrópolis, his summer retreat forty miles (sixty-four kilometres) from Rio de Janeiro.[103]
+
+In January 1915, Bell made the first ceremonial transcontinental telephone call. Calling from the AT&T head office at 15 Dey Street in New York City, Bell was heard by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. The New York Times reported:
+
+On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon [on January 25, 1915], the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400-mile wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent.[104]
+
+As is sometimes common in scientific discoveries, simultaneous developments can occur, as evidenced by a number of inventors who were at work on the telephone.[105] Over a period of 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced 587 court challenges to its patents, including five that went to the U.S. Supreme Court,[106] but none was successful in establishing priority over the original Bell patent[107][108] and the Bell Telephone Company never lost a case that had proceeded to a final trial stage.[107] Bell's laboratory notes and family letters were the key to establishing a long lineage to his experiments.[107] The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off myriad lawsuits generated initially around the challenges by Elisha Gray and Amos Dolbear. In personal correspondence to Bell, both Gray and Dolbear had acknowledged his prior work, which considerably weakened their later claims.[109]
+
+On January 13, 1887, the U.S. Government moved to annul the patent issued to Bell on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. After a series of decisions and reversals, the Bell company won a decision in the Supreme Court, though a couple of the original claims from the lower court cases were left undecided.[110][111] By the time that the trial wound its way through nine years of legal battles, the U.S. prosecuting attorney had died and the two Bell patents (No. 174,465 dated March 7, 1876, and No. 186,787 dated January 30, 1877) were no longer in effect, although the presiding judges agreed to continue the proceedings due to the case's importance as a precedent. With a change in administration and charges of conflict of interest (on both sides) arising from the original trial, the US Attorney General dropped the lawsuit on November 30, 1897, leaving several issues undecided on the merits.[112]
+
+During a deposition filed for the 1887 trial, Italian inventor Antonio Meucci also claimed to have created the first working model of a telephone in Italy in 1834. In 1886, in the first of three cases in which he was involved,[N 16] Meucci took the stand as a witness in the hope of establishing his invention's priority. Meucci's testimony in this case was disputed due to a lack of material evidence for his inventions, as his working models were purportedly lost at the laboratory of American District Telegraph (ADT) of New York, which was later incorporated as a subsidiary of Western Union in 1901.[113][114] Meucci's work, like many other inventors of the period, was based on earlier acoustic principles and despite evidence of earlier experiments, the final case involving Meucci was eventually dropped upon Meucci's death.[115] However, due to the efforts of Congressman Vito Fossella, the U.S. House of Representatives on June 11, 2002, stated that Meucci's "work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged".[116][117][118] This did not put an end to the still-contentious issue.[119] Some modern scholars do not agree with the claims that Bell's work on the telephone was influenced by Meucci's inventions.[120][N 17]
+
+The value of the Bell patent was acknowledged throughout the world, and patent applications were made in most major countries, but when Bell delayed the German patent application, the electrical firm of Siemens & Halske (S&H) set up a rival manufacturer of Bell telephones under their own patent. The Siemens company produced near-identical copies of the Bell telephone without having to pay royalties.[121] The establishment of the International Bell Telephone Company in Brussels, Belgium in 1880, as well as a series of agreements in other countries eventually consolidated a global telephone operation. The strain put on Bell by his constant appearances in court, necessitated by the legal battles, eventually resulted in his resignation from the company.[122][N 18]
+
+On July 11, 1877, a few days after the Bell Telephone Company was established, Bell married Mabel Hubbard (1857–1923) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His wedding present to his bride was to turn over 1,487 of his 1,497 shares in the newly formed Bell Telephone Company.[124] Shortly thereafter, the newlyweds embarked on a year-long honeymoon in Europe. During that excursion, Bell took a handmade model of his telephone with him, making it a "working holiday". The courtship had begun years earlier; however, Bell waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Although the telephone appeared to be an "instant" success, it was not initially a profitable venture and Bell's main sources of income were from lectures until after 1897.[125] One unusual request exacted by his fiancée was that he use "Alec" rather than the family's earlier familiar name of "Aleck". From 1876, he would sign his name "Alec Bell".[126][127] They had four children:
+
+The Bell family home was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when Bell's father-in-law bought a house in Washington, D.C.; in 1882 he bought a home in the same city for Bell's family, so they could be with him while he attended to the numerous court cases involving patent disputes.[134]
+
+Bell was a British subject throughout his early life in Scotland and later in Canada until 1882 when he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1915, he characterized his status as: "I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries."[135] Despite this declaration, Bell has been proudly claimed as a "native son" by all three countries he resided in: the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.[136]
+
+By 1885, a new summer retreat was contemplated. That summer, the Bells had a vacation on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, spending time at the small village of Baddeck.[137] Returning in 1886, Bell started building an estate on a point across from Baddeck, overlooking Bras d'Or Lake.[138] By 1889, a large house, christened The Lodge was completed and two years later, a larger complex of buildings, including a new laboratory,[139] were begun that the Bells would name Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic: beautiful mountain) after Bell's ancestral Scottish highlands.[140][N 20] Bell also built the Bell Boatyard on the estate, employing up to 40 people building experimental craft as well as wartime lifeboats and workboats for the Royal Canadian Navy and pleasure craft for the Bell family. He was an enthusiastic boater, and Bell and his family sailed or rowed a long series of vessels on Bras d'Or Lake, ordering additional vessels from the H.W. Embree and Sons boatyard in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. In his final, and some of his most productive years, Bell split his residency between Washington, D.C., where he and his family initially resided for most of the year, and Beinn Bhreagh, where they spent increasing amounts of time.[141]
+
+Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes, but Beinn Bhreagh would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiments that his annual stays lengthened. Both Mabel and Bell became immersed in the Baddeck community and were accepted by the villagers as "their own".[139][N 21] The Bells were still in residence at Beinn Bhreagh when the Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917. Mabel and Bell mobilized the community to help victims in Halifax.[142]
+
+Although Alexander Graham Bell is most often associated with the invention of the telephone, his interests were extremely varied. According to one of his biographers, Charlotte Gray, Bell's work ranged "unfettered across the scientific landscape" and he often went to bed voraciously reading the Encyclopædia Britannica, scouring it for new areas of interest.[143] The range of Bell's inventive genius is represented only in part by the 18 patents granted in his name alone and the 12 he shared with his collaborators. These included 14 for the telephone and telegraph, four for the photophone, one for the phonograph, five for aerial vehicles, four for "hydroairplanes", and two for selenium cells. Bell's inventions spanned a wide range of interests and included a metal jacket to assist in breathing, the audiometer to detect minor hearing problems, a device to locate icebergs, investigations on how to separate salt from seawater, and work on finding alternative fuels.
+
+Bell worked extensively in medical research and invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf. During his Volta Laboratory period, Bell and his associates considered impressing a magnetic field on a record as a means of reproducing sound. Although the trio briefly experimented with the concept, they could not develop a workable prototype. They abandoned the idea, never realizing they had glimpsed a basic principle which would one day find its application in the tape recorder, the hard disc and floppy disc drive, and other magnetic media.
+
+Bell's own home used a primitive form of air conditioning, in which fans blew currents of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel shortages and industrial pollution. Methane gas, he reasoned, could be produced from the waste of farms and factories. At his Canadian estate in Nova Scotia, he experimented with composting toilets and devices to capture water from the atmosphere. In a magazine interview published shortly before his death, he reflected on the possibility of using solar panels to heat houses.
+
+Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter jointly invented a wireless telephone, named a photophone, which allowed for the transmission of both sounds and normal human conversations on a beam of light.[144][145] Both men later became full associates in the Volta Laboratory Association.
+
+On June 21, 1880, Bell's assistant transmitted a wireless voice telephone message a considerable distance, from the roof of the Franklin School in Washington, D.C., to Bell at the window of his laboratory, some 700 feet (213 m) away, 19 years before the first voice radio transmissions.[146][147][148][149]
+
+Bell believed the photophone's principles were his life's "greatest achievement", telling a reporter shortly before his death that the photophone was "the greatest invention [I have] ever made, greater than the telephone".[150] The photophone was a precursor to the fiber-optic communication systems which achieved popular worldwide usage in the 1980s.[151][152] Its master patent was issued in December 1880, many decades before the photophone's principles came into popular use.
+
+Bell is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector through the use of an induction balance, after the shooting of U.S. President James A. Garfield in 1881. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find Guiteau's bullet, partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument, resulting in static.[153] Garfield's surgeons, led by self-appointed chief physician Doctor Willard Bliss, were skeptical of the device, and ignored Bell's requests to move the President to a bed not fitted with metal springs.[153] Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus.[153]
+
+Bell's own detailed account, presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1882, differs in several particulars from most of the many and varied versions now in circulation, by concluding that extraneous metal was not to blame for failure to locate the bullet. Perplexed by the peculiar results he had obtained during an examination of Garfield, Bell "proceeded to the Executive Mansion the next morning ... to ascertain from the surgeons whether they were perfectly sure that all metal had been removed from the neighborhood of the bed. It was then recollected that underneath the horse-hair mattress on which the President lay was another mattress composed of steel wires. Upon obtaining a duplicate, the mattress was found to consist of a sort of net of woven steel wires, with large meshes. The extent of the [area that produced a response from the detector] having been so small, as compared with the area of the bed, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the steel mattress had produced no detrimental effect." In a footnote, Bell adds, "The death of President Garfield and the subsequent post-mortem examination, however, proved that the bullet was at too great a distance from the surface to have affected our apparatus."[154]
+
+The March 1906 Scientific American article by American pioneer William E. Meacham explained the basic principle of hydrofoils and hydroplanes. Bell considered the invention of the hydroplane as a very significant achievement. Based on information gained from that article, he began to sketch concepts of what is now called a hydrofoil boat. Bell and assistant Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin began hydrofoil experimentation in the summer of 1908 as a possible aid to airplane takeoff from water. Baldwin studied the work of the Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini and began testing models. This led him and Bell to the development of practical hydrofoil watercraft.
+
+During his world tour of 1910–11, Bell and Baldwin met with Forlanini in France. They had rides in the Forlanini hydrofoil boat over Lake Maggiore. Baldwin described it as being as smooth as flying. On returning to Baddeck, a number of initial concepts were built as experimental models, including the Dhonnas Beag (Scottish Gaelic for little devil), the first self-propelled Bell-Baldwin hydrofoil.[155] The experimental boats were essentially proof-of-concept prototypes that culminated in the more substantial HD-4, powered by Renault engines. A top speed of 54 miles per hour (87 km/h) was achieved, with the hydrofoil exhibiting rapid acceleration, good stability, and steering, along with the ability to take waves without difficulty.[156] In 1913, Dr. Bell hired Walter Pinaud, a Sydney yacht designer and builder as well as the proprietor of Pinaud's Yacht Yard in Westmount, Nova Scotia, to work on the pontoons of the HD-4. Pinaud soon took over the boatyard at Bell Laboratories on Beinn Bhreagh, Bell's estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Pinaud's experience in boat-building enabled him to make useful design changes to the HD-4. After the First World War, work began again on the HD-4. Bell's report to the U.S. Navy permitted him to obtain two 350 horsepower (260 kilowatts) engines in July 1919. On September 9, 1919, the HD-4 set a world marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour (114.04 kilometres per hour),[157] a record which stood for ten years.
+
+In 1891, Bell had begun experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. The AEA was first formed as Bell shared the vision to fly with his wife, who advised him to seek "young" help as Bell was at the age of 60.
+
+In 1898, Bell experimented with tetrahedral box kites and wings constructed of multiple compound tetrahedral kites covered in maroon silk.[N 22] The tetrahedral wings were named Cygnet I, II, and III, and were flown both unmanned and manned (Cygnet I crashed during a flight carrying Selfridge) in the period from 1907–1912. Some of Bell's kites are on display at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.[159]
+
+Bell was a supporter of aerospace engineering research through the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), officially formed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in October 1907 at the suggestion of his wife Mabel and with her financial support after the sale of some of her real estate.[160] The AEA was headed by Bell and the founding members were four young men: American Glenn H. Curtiss, a motorcycle manufacturer at the time and who held the title "world's fastest man", having ridden his self-constructed motor bicycle around in the shortest time, and who was later awarded the Scientific American Trophy for the first official one-kilometre flight in the Western hemisphere, and who later became a world-renowned airplane manufacturer; Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an official observer from the U.S. Federal government and one of the few people in the army who believed that aviation was the future; Frederick W. Baldwin, the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight in Hammondsport, New York; and J. A. D. McCurdy–Baldwin and McCurdy being new engineering graduates from the University of Toronto.[161]
+
+The AEA's work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Moving to Hammondsport, the group then designed and built the Red Wing, framed in bamboo and covered in red silk and powered by a small air-cooled engine.[162] On March 12, 1908, over Keuka Lake, the biplane lifted off on the first public flight in North America.[N 23][N 24] The innovations that were incorporated into this design included a cockpit enclosure and tail rudder (later variations on the original design would add ailerons as a means of control). One of the AEA's inventions, a practical  wingtip form of the aileron, was to become a standard component on all aircraft.[N 25] The White Wing and June Bug were to follow and by the end of 1908, over 150 flights without mishap had been accomplished. However, the AEA had depleted its initial reserves and only a $15,000 grant from Mrs. Bell allowed it to continue with experiments.[163] Lt. Selfridge had also become the first person killed in a powered heavier-than-air flight in a crash of the Wright Flyer at Fort Myer, Virginia, on September 17, 1908.
+
+Their final aircraft design, the Silver Dart, embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On February 23, 1909, Bell was present as the Silver Dart flown by J. A. D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Bras d'Or made the first aircraft flight in Canada.[164] Bell had worried that the flight was too dangerous and had arranged for a doctor to be on hand. With the successful flight, the AEA disbanded and the Silver Dart would revert to Baldwin and McCurdy, who began the Canadian Aerodrome Company and would later demonstrate the aircraft to the Canadian Army.[165]
+
+Bell was connected with the eugenics movement in the United States. In his lecture Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race presented to the National Academy of Sciences on November 13, 1883 (the year of his election as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences), he noted that congenitally deaf parents were more likely to produce deaf children and tentatively suggested that couples where both parties were deaf should not marry.[12] However, it was his hobby of livestock breeding which led to his appointment to biologist David Starr Jordan's Committee on Eugenics, under the auspices of the American Breeders' Association. The committee unequivocally extended the principle to humans.[166] From 1912 until 1918, he was the chairman of the board of scientific advisers to the Eugenics Record Office associated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and regularly attended meetings. In 1921, he was the honorary president of the Second International Congress of Eugenics held under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Organizations such as these advocated passing laws (with success in some states) that established the compulsory sterilization of people deemed to be, as Bell called them, a "defective variety of the human race". By the late 1930s, about half the states in the U.S. had eugenics laws, and California's compulsory sterilization law was used as a model for that of Nazi Germany.[citation needed][167]
+
+Honors and tributes flowed to Bell in increasing numbers as his invention became ubiquitous and his personal fame grew. Bell received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities to the point that the requests almost became burdensome.[170] During his life, he also received dozens of major awards, medals, and other tributes. These included statuary monuments to both him and the new form of communication his telephone created, including the Bell Telephone Memorial erected in his honor in Alexander Graham Bell Gardens in Brantford, Ontario, in 1917.[171]
+
+A large number of Bell's writings, personal correspondence, notebooks, papers, and other documents reside in both the United States Library of Congress Manuscript Division (as the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers),[170] and at the Alexander Graham Bell Institute, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia; major portions of which are available for online viewing.
+
+A number of historic sites and other marks commemorate Bell in North America and Europe, including the first telephone companies in the United States and Canada. Among the major sites are:
+
+In 1880, Bell received the Volta Prize with a purse of 50,000 French francs (approximately US$270,000 in today's dollars[175]) for the invention of the telephone from the French government.[176][177][178][179][180][181] Among the luminaries who judged were Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, fils.[182][better source needed] The Volta Prize was conceived by Napoleon III in 1852, and named in honor of Alessandro Volta, with Bell becoming the second recipient of the grand prize in its history.[183][184] Since Bell was becoming increasingly affluent, he used his prize money to create endowment funds (the 'Volta Fund') and institutions in and around the United States capital of Washington, D.C.. These included the prestigious 'Volta Laboratory Association' (1880), also known as the Volta Laboratory and as the 'Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory', and which eventually led to the Volta Bureau (1887) as a center for studies on deafness which is still in operation in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The Volta Laboratory became an experimental facility devoted to scientific discovery, and the very next year it improved Edison's phonograph by substituting wax for tinfoil as the recording medium and incising the recording rather than indenting it, key upgrades that Edison himself later adopted.[185] The laboratory was also the site where he and his associate invented his "proudest achievement", "the photophone", the "optical telephone" which presaged fibre optical telecommunications while the Volta Bureau would later evolve into the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (the AG Bell), a leading center for the research and pedagogy of deafness.
+
+In partnership with Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell helped establish the publication Science during the early 1880s. In 1898, Bell was elected as the second president of the National Geographic Society, serving until 1903, and was primarily responsible for the extensive use of illustrations, including photography, in the magazine.[186] He also served for many years as a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1898–1922).[187] The French government conferred on him the decoration of the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor); the Royal Society of Arts in London awarded him the Albert Medal in 1902; the University of Würzburg, Bavaria, granted him a PhD, and he was awarded the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal in 1912. He was one of the founders of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1884 and served as its president from 1891–92. Bell was later awarded the AIEE's Edison Medal in 1914 "For meritorious achievement in the invention of the telephone".[188]
+
+The bel (B) and the smaller decibel (dB) are units of measurement of sound pressure level (SPL) invented by Bell Labs and named after him.[189] [N 27][190] Since 1976, the IEEE's Alexander Graham Bell Medal has been awarded to honor outstanding contributions in the field of telecommunications.
+
+In 1936, the US Patent Office declared Bell first on its list of the country's greatest inventors,[191] leading to the US Post Office issuing a commemorative stamp honoring Bell in 1940 as part of its 'Famous Americans Series'. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held on October 28 in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where Bell spent considerable time on research and working with the deaf. The Bell stamp became very popular and sold out in little time. The stamp became, and remains to this day, the most valuable one of the series.[192]
+
+The 150th anniversary of Bell's birth in 1997 was marked by a special issue of commemorative £1 banknotes from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The illustrations on the reverse of the note include Bell's face in profile, his signature, and objects from Bell's life and career: users of the telephone over the ages; an audio wave signal; a diagram of a telephone receiver; geometric shapes from engineering structures; representations of sign language and the phonetic alphabet; the geese which helped him to understand flight; and the sheep which he studied to understand genetics.[193] Additionally, the Government of Canada honored Bell in 1997 with a C$100 gold coin, in tribute also to the 150th anniversary of his birth, and with a silver dollar coin in 2009 in honor of the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada. That first flight was made by an airplane designed under Dr. Bell's tutelage, named the Silver Dart.[194] Bell's image, and also those of his many inventions have graced paper money, coinage, and postal stamps in numerous countries worldwide for many dozens of years.
+
+Alexander Graham Bell was ranked 57th among the 100 Greatest Britons (2002) in an official BBC nationwide poll,[195] and among the Top Ten Greatest Canadians (2004), and the 100 Greatest Americans (2005). In 2006, Bell was also named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history after having been listed in the National Library of Scotland's 'Scottish Science Hall of Fame'.[196] Bell's name is still widely known and used as part of the names of dozens of educational institutes, corporate namesakes, street and place names around the world.
+
+Alexander Graham Bell, who could not complete the university program of his youth, received at least a dozen honorary degrees from academic institutions, including eight honorary LL.D.s (Doctorate of Laws), two Ph.D.s, a D.Sc., and an M.D.:[197]
+
+Bell died of complications arising from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, at age 75.[204] Bell had also been afflicted with pernicious anemia.[205] His last view of the land he had inhabited was by moonlight on his mountain estate at 2:00 a.m.[N 28][208][N 29] While tending to him after his long illness, Mabel, his wife, whispered, "Don't leave me." By way of reply, Bell signed "no...", lost consciousness, and died shortly after.[176][209]
+
+On learning of Bell's death, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, cabled Mrs. Bell, saying:[176]
+
+My colleagues in the Government join with me in expressing to you our sense of the world's loss in the death of your distinguished husband. It will ever be a source of pride to our country that the great invention, with which his name is immortally associated, is a part of its history. On the behalf of the citizens of Canada, may I extend to you an expression of our combined gratitude and sympathy.
+
+Bell's coffin was constructed of Beinn Bhreagh pine by his laboratory staff, lined with the same red silk fabric used in his tetrahedral kite experiments. To help celebrate his life, his wife asked guests not to wear black (the traditional funeral color) while attending his service, during which soloist Jean MacDonald sang a verse of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem":[210]
+
+Upon the conclusion of Bell's funeral, "every phone on the continent of North America was silenced in honor of the man who had given to mankind the means for direct communication at a distance".[139][211]
+
+Alexander Graham Bell was buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain, on his estate where he had resided increasingly for the last 35 years of his life, overlooking Bras d'Or Lake.[176] He was survived by his wife Mabel, his two daughters, Elsie May and Marian, and nine of his grandchildren.[176][212][213]

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+Belo Horizonte (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɛlu oɾiˈzõtʃi], locally [ˌbɛloɾiˈzõtʃi] (listen);[a] "Beautiful Horizon") is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. It is the thirteenth-largest city in South America and the eighteenth-largest in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, ranked as the third most populous metropolitan area in Brazil and the seventeenth most populous in the Americas. Belo Horizonte is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil's second most populous state. It is the first planned modern city in Brazil.
+
+The region was first settled in the early 18th century, but the city as it is known today was planned and constructed in the 1890s, to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais. The city features a mixture of contemporary and classical buildings, and is home to several modern Brazilian architectural icons, most notably the Pampulha Complex. In planning the city, Aarão Reis and Francisco Bicalho sought inspiration in the urban planning of Washington, D.C.[2] The city has employed notable programs in urban revitalization and food security, for which it has been awarded international accolades.
+
+The city is built on several hills and is completely surrounded by mountains.[3] There are several large parks in the immediate surroundings of Belo Horizonte. The Mangabeiras Park (Parque das Mangabeiras), 6 km (4 mi) southeast of the city centre in the hills of Curral Ridge (Serra do Curral), has a broad view of the city. It has an area of 2.35 km2 (580 acres), of which 0.9 km2 (220 acres) is covered by the native forest. The Jambeiro Woods (Mata do Jambeiro) nature reserve extends over 912 hectares (2,250 acres), with vegetation typical of the Atlantic Forest. More than 100 species of birds inhabit the reserve, as well as 10 species of mammals.
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+Belo Horizonte was one of the host cities of the 1950 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Additionally, the city shared as host of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the football tournament during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
+
+The metropolis was once a small village, founded by João Leite da Silva Ortiz, a bandeirante explorer from São Paulo. The explorer settled in the region in 1701, leaving a gold rush expedition. He then established a farm called "Curral d'el Rey", archaic Portuguese for the "King's Corral", which in modern Portuguese would be spelled Curral do Rei. The farm's wealth and success encouraged people from surrounding places to move into the region, and Curral del Rey became a village surrounded by farms.[4]
+
+Another important factor contributing to the growth of the village was immigration from the São Francisco River region, who had to pass through Curral d'el Rey to reach southern parts of Brazil. Travelers usually visited a small wooden chapel, where they prayed for a safe trip. Due to this fact, the chapel was named Capela da Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, which means "Chapel of Our Lady of the Good Journey." After the construction of Belo Horizonte, the old baroque chapel was replaced by a neo-gothic church that became the city's cathedral.[5]
+
+The previous capital of Minas Gerais, Ouro Preto (meaning "black gold", due to dark rocks with gold inside found on the region), originally called "Vila Rica" ("wealthy village"), was a symbol of both the monarchic Brazilian Empire and the period when most of Brazilian income was due to mining. That never pleased the members of the Inconfidência Mineira, republican intellectuals who conspired against the Portuguese dominion of Brazil. In 1889, Brazil became a republic, and it was agreed that a new state capital, in tune with a modern and prosperous Minas Gerais, had to be established.[6]
+
+In 1893, due to the climatic and topographic conditions, Curral Del Rey was selected by Minas Gerais governor Afonso Pena among other cities as the location for the new economic and cultural center of the state, under the new name of "Cidade de Minas," or City of Minas.[citation needed]
+
+Aarão Reis, an urbanist from the State of Pará, was then chosen to design the second planned city of Brazil (the first one is Teresina). Cidade de Minas was inaugurated in 1897, with many unfinished buildings as the Brazilian government set a deadline for its completion. The local government encouraged growth through subsidies. It offered free lots and funding for building houses. An interesting feature of Reis' downtown street plan for Belo Horizonte was the inclusion of a symmetrical array of perpendicular and diagonal streets named after Brazilian states and Brazilian indigenous tribes.[7]
+
+In 1906, the name was changed to Belo Horizonte. At that time the city was experiencing a considerable industrial expansion that increased its commercial and service sectors. From its very beginning, the city's original plan prohibited workers from living inside the urban area which was defined by Avenida do Contorno (a long avenue which goes around the city's central areas), reserved for government workers (hence the name of the trendy neighbourhood "Funcionários"), and bringing about an accelerated occupation outside the city's area well provided with infrastructure since its very beginning. Obviously, the city's original planners did not count on its ongoing population growth, which proved especially intense in the last 20 years of the 20th century.
+
+In the 1940s, a young Oscar Niemeyer designed the Pampulha Neighbourhood to great acclaim, a commission he got thanks to then-mayor and soon-to-be-president Juscelino Kubitschek. These two men are largely responsible for the wide avenues, large lakes, parks and jutting skylines that characterize the city today.[8] A 1949 American government film favorably reviewed the planning and building of the city.[9]
+
+Belo Horizonte is fast becoming a regional center of commerce. The Latin American Research and development center of Google, situated in Belo Horizonte, was responsible for the management and operation of the former social networking website Orkut. It continues to be a trendsetter in the arts, particularly where music, literature, architecture and the avant-garde are concerned.[10]
+
+The term "Grande BH" ("Greater Belo Horizonte") denotes any of various definitions for the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. The legally defined Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte consists of 34 municipalities in total, and a population of around five million inhabitants (as of 2007[update], according to IBGE).[11][12]
+
+The intense process of urbanization that is taking place in the metropolitan region has made some of the political boundaries between municipalities in the region obsolete.
+
+The city is now composed of a relatively contiguous urban area, centred on Belo Horizonte, which extends out into municipalities such as Contagem, Betim, Nova Lima, Raposos, Ribeirão das Neves, Ibirité, Santa Luzia and Sabará, among others.
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+The municipality bounded to the north by Vespasiano, to the north east by Santa Luzia, by Sabará to the east, by Nova Lima to the southeast, Brumadinho to the south and Ribeirão das Neves, Contagem and Ibirité to the west.
+
+Belo Horizonte lies on a region of contact between different geological series of the Proterozoic. The geology largely comprises crystalline rocks, which give rise to the varied morphology of the landscape. It is located in a large geological unit known as the craton of San Francisco, referring to extensive crustal nucleus of central-eastern Brazil, tectonically stable at the end of the Paleoproterozoic and bordering areas that suffered the regeneration at the Neoproterozoic.
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+The archean rocks members of Belo Horizonte complex and supracrustal sequences of the Paleoproterozoic is predominant. The area of Belo Horizonte complex includes the geomorphological unit called Depression of Belo Horizonte, which represents about 70% of the municipality area and has its greatest expression in the northern Ribeirão Arrudas (Rues Stream) pipeline. The metasedimentary rocks has its area of occurrence on the south of Ribeirão Arrudas pipeline, constituting about 30% of the area of Belo Horizonte. The characteristics of this area are lithological diversities and rugged topography, which has its maximum expression in the Serra do Curral (Corral Ridge), the southern boundary of the municipality.
+
+Its soil comprises a succession of layers of rocks of varied composition, represented by itabirite, dolomite, quartzite, filities and schists different from the general direction northwest-southeast and dip to the southeast. The hills of Belo Horizonte are part of the Espinhaço Mountains and belong to the larger Itacolomi mountain chain. The highest point in the municipality is in the Serra do Curral, reaching 1,538 metres (5,046 ft).
+
+A centre for conservation and preservation of animals and plants it has also developed environmental education projects. The Zoo, which encompasses a total area of 1.4 million square meters, is located at the Foundation's headquarters and is regarded as one of the most complete in Latin America. It has a collection of close to 900 animals representing 200 species, from Brazil and other parts of the world, as well as the first public butterfly sanctuary in South America.
+
+Pampulha Ecological Park is administered by the Zoo-Botanical Foundation of Belo Horizonte and was inaugurated in May 21, 2004. It's 30 acres (12 ha) of green area that offers to the population and the tourists a permanent programming of environmental, cultural and patrimonial education.
+
+The city contains the 102 hectares (250 acres) Baleia State Park, created in 1988 but still not implemented as of 2014.[13]
+It contains part of the 3,941 hectares (9,740 acres) Serra do Rola-Moça State Park, created in 1994.[14]
+
+Belo Horizonte's latitude at 19'55"South places it in the tropical zone. Yearly temperatures average between 9 and 35 °C (48 and 95 °F). The Köppen climate classification of the region is tropical savanna climate (Aw), milder due to the elevation, with humid/warm summers and dry/mild winters. Belo Horizonte is located about 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the sea.
+
+Even though inter-seasonal differences are not as pronounced as they are in temperate places, there is a contrast between spring and summer, and between fall and winter. The coldest month is generally July, with a lowest recorded temperature of 2 °C (36 °F). The hottest month is usually January, with a highest recorded temperature of 37.4 °C (99 °F).
+
+The 852-metre (2,795 ft) elevation[citation needed] of Belo Horizonte helps a little in cooling the city, suppressing high maximum air temperatures experienced in nearby cities at lower altitudes. Belo Horizonte's climate is mild throughout the year. Temperatures vary between 11 and 31 °C (52 and 88 °F), the average being 22 °C (72 °F). Winter is dry and mostly sunny, and summer is rainy.
+
+According to the 2010 IBGE Census, there were 2,258,096 people residing in the city of Belo Horizonte.[17] The census revealed the following numbers: 1,110,034 White people (46.7%), 995,167 Pardo (Multiracial) people (41.9%), 241,155 Black people (10.2%), 25,270 Asian people (1.1%), 3,477 Amerindian people (0.1%).[18]
+
+In 2010, the city had 428,893 opposite-sex couples and 1,090 same-sex couples. The population of Belo Horizonte was 53.1% female and 46.9% male.[18]
+
+The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, called Greater Belo Horizonte, is the 3rd most populous of Brazil, after only Greater São Paulo (with 19,672,582 people, first in Brazil and 5th in the world) and Greater Rio de Janeiro (with 14,387,000 people). The city is the 6th most populous of the country.
+
+During the 18th century, Minas Gerais received many Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Northern Portugal as well as many enslaved Africans.[19]
+
+Belo Horizonte has a notable Italian influence; around 30% of the city's population have some Italian origin.[20] The Italian culture is present in the cuisine, dance, and language.[21] People of German, Spanish, and Syrian-Lebanese ancestries also make up sizeable groups.
+
+Source: IBGE 2010.[22]
+
+The human development of Belo Horizonte varies greatly by locality, reflecting the city's spatial social inequality and vast socioeconomic inequalities. There are neighborhoods that had very high human development indexes in 2000 (equal to or greater than the indexes of some Scandinavian countries), but those in the lower range (in line with, for example, North Africa).[23] Carmo/Sion (0.973): greater than Iceland - 0.968; Cruzeiro/Anchieta/Funcionários (0.970): greater than Iceland - 0.968; Grajau/Gutierrez (0.965): greater than Australia - 0.962; Belvedere/Mangabeiras/Comiteco (0.964): greater than Australia – 0.962; Serra/São Lucas (0.953): equal to Japan, Netherlands – 0.953.
+
+In 1993, under mayor Patrus Ananias de Souza, the city started a series of innovations based on its citizens having the "right to food". These include, for example, creating farmers' markets in the town to enable direct sales and regularly surveying market prices and posting the results across the city.[24] The city's process of participatory budgeting was linked with these innovations, as a result of which the infant mortality rate was reduced by 50% in a decade.[25][26] There is some evidence that these programs have helped support a higher quality of life for the local farmers partnering with the city and that this may be having positive effects on biodiversity in the Atlantic rainforest around the city.[26][27] The city's development of these policies garnered the first "Future Policy Award" in 2009, awarded by the World Future Council, a group of 50 activists (including Frances Moore Lappé, Vandana Shiva, Wes Jackson, and Youssou N'Dour[28]) concerned with the development and recognition of policies to promote a just and sustainable future.
+
+The city has undertaken an internationally heralded project called Vila Viva ("Living Village" in Portuguese) that promises to "urbanize" the poorest areas (favelas), relocating families from areas with high risk of floods and landslides but keeping them in the same neighborhood, paving main avenues to allow public transportation, police and postal service to have access. All the work is done with 80% of locals, reducing unemployment and increasing family income.[29][30] Former mayor Fernando da Mata Pimentel was nominated for World Mayor in 2005 on the strength of these and other programs.[29]
+
+Belo Horizonte receives large numbers of visitors, as it is in the Brazilian main economic axis, exerting influence even on other states. Multinational and Brazilian companies, such as Google and Oi, maintain offices in the city. The service sector plays a very important role in the economy of Belo Horizonte, being responsible for 85% of the city's gross domestic product (GDP), with the industry making up for most of the remaining 15%. Belo Horizonte has a developed industrial sector, being traditionally a hub of the Brazilian siderurgical and metallurgical industries, as the state of Minas Gerais has always been very rich in minerals, specifically iron ore.
+
+Belo Horizonte is the distribution and processing centre of a rich agricultural and mining region and the nucleus of a burgeoning industrial complex. Production is centred on steel, steel products, automobiles, and textiles. Gold, manganese, and gemstones mined in the surrounding region are processed in the city.[31]
+The main industrial district of the city was set during the 1940s in Contagem, a part of greater Belo Horizonte. Multinational companies like FIAT (which opened its plant in Betim in 1974), Arcelor, and Toshiba have subsidiaries in the region, along with other textile like Group Rachelle Textil, Ematex and Cedro Textil, cosmetic, food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, furnishing and refractory companies. Among the companies headquartered in the city we can list steel producer Açominas (held by Gerdau, one of the largest multinationals originated in Brazil); Usiminas; Belgo-Mineira (held by Arcelor); Acesita (partially held by Arcelor); mobile communication Vivo; and Telecom Italia Mobile, Dasein executive search, executive coaching company, as well as the NYSE-listed electrical company CEMIG. Leading steel product makers Sumitomo Metals of Japan and Vallourec of France have also plans to construct an integrated steel works on the outskirts of the city.
+
+There are also a large number of small enterprises in the technological sector with regional to nationwide success, particularly in the fields of computing and biotechonology. Because of both governmental and private funding in the diversification of its economy, the city has become an international reference in Information Technology and Biotechnology, and is also cited because of the advanced corporate and university research in Biodiesel fuel. The number of jobs in the Information sector has been growing at annual rates above 50%. The Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, composed of 33 cities under the capital's direct influence, is home to 16% of the country's biotechnology companies, with annual sales of over R$550 million.[32]
+
+Projects in these fields are likely to expand because of integration between universities, the oil company Petrobras and the Brazilian Government. One of the largest events that ever took place in the city, the Inter-American Development Bank meeting, occurred in 2005 and attracted people from everywhere in the world.
+
+For a long time it was marked by the predominance of its industrial sector, but from the 1990s there has been a constant expansion of the service sector economy, particularly in computer science, biotechnology, business tourism, fashion and the making of jewelry. The city is considered to be a strategic leader in the Brazilian economy. The move towards business tourism transformed the capital into a national hub for this segment of the tourist industry.
+
+Several higher education institutions are located in Belo Horizonte, including:
+
+Belo Horizonte is served by three airports:
+
+The city is connected to the rest of Minas Gerais state and the country by a number of roadways. Minas Gerais has the country's largest federal highway network.[37]
+
+The city is also served by other minor roads such as state highways MG-020, MG-050, MG-030, and MG-433. There is also an East-West Express Way, which goes from the city to the nearby industrial centres of Contagem and Betim (together having a population of ca. 900,000), and Anel Rodoviário, a kind of "beltway" – indeed it is not circumferential, but connects many highways, such as the federal (BR-ones) so it is not necessary for a large number of cars and trucks to pass through the city centre. Many of these roads are in poor condition, but in the last years many revitalization and rebuilding projects have been started.
+
+The bus system has a large number of bus lines going through all parts in the city, and is administrated by BHTRANS. Among the upcoming projects are the expansion of the integration between bus lines and the metro, with integrated stations, many already in use. And the construction of bus corridors, with lanes and bus stops exclusively for the bus lines. Keeping buses from traffic congestions, making the trips more viable for commuters.
+
+Belo Horizonte Metro or MetroBH started operating at the end of the 1970s. There is one line, with 19 stations, from Vilarinho to Eldorado Station, in Contagem, transporting over 160,000 people daily. The current projects of expansion include Line 2, linking the existing Calafate Station to the region of Barreiro. And Line 3, from the city's main bus terminal to São Inácio de Loyola, Savassi economical district. Line 2 is planned to be overground (similar to the current line) and Line 3 is planned to be underground, passing through the city's financial centre, Praça Sete and Afonso Pena Avenue. Also, Line 1 is planned to be extended to Novo Eldorado Station.[39]
+
+The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Belo Horizonte, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 85 min. 26% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 23 min, while 50% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 8.7 km, while 19% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.[40]
+
+Every two years, FIT BH, The International Theater Festival of Belo Horizonte, takes place in the city. This attracts artists from all over Brazil and worldwide. With the merger of two projects that would happen separately in 1994, one stage based, organized by the Francisco Nunes Theater, and the other street based, idealized by Grupo Galpão, came FIT-BH Palco & Rua. Produced every two years, under responsibility from the Belo Horizonte City Hall, through the Municipal Culture Office and the Association Movimento Teatro de Grupo of Minas Gerais, in the program there are street and stage shows, and also seminars, workshops, courses, talks, etc. The Annual Campaign for the Popularisation of Theatre takes place every year in January and February, offering dozens of plays in theatres all over the city at affordable prices.
+
+Several notable artistic groups originated in Belo Horizonte. Grupo Corpo, which is perhaps the most famous contemporary dance group in the country, was formed in the city in 1975. In March and April is the performance program from FID promoting contemporary dance in Belo Horizonte. The program presents groups from Belo Horizonte. For this project the priority invitations go to the shows created by groups and choreographers living in the city. The purpose is to take shows and other activities such as workshops, talks and video screenings to the less privileged regions of the city regarding access to cultural assets. Belo Horizonte is also host to the Centro Mineiro de Danças Clássicas school.
+
+Clube da Esquina is one of the most important musical movements in the musical history of Brazil. It originated in the mid-1960s, and since then its members have been hugely influential in Brazilian and even international music, some like Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta achieving worldwide acclaim. Other people involved in the movement include musicians, songwriters, composers, conductors and lyricists, such as Tavinho Moura, Wagner Tiso, Andersen Viana, Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Beto Guedes, Flávio Venturini, Toninho Horta, Márcio Borges and Fernando Brant, among others.
+
+The band Uakti – known for performing with self-built musical instruments – originated in Belo Horizonte under the influence of Walter Smetak and the Composition School from Bahia. Also, several nationally famous rock groups have been founded in Belo Horizonte, including Jota Quest, Pato Fu, Skank, 14 Bis and Tianastácia. In later years, Belo Horizonte has been more frequently included in Brazilian tours of foreign mainstream and independent acts.
+
+Belo Horizonte is also known as the Brazilian Capital of Metal, hence the huge number of heavy metal bands (and the likes) founded there, especially in the 1980s. Most importantly, Overdose, the first metal band from BH and one of the first to gain prominence in Brazil; Sepultura, the world's best known Brazilian metal band; and Sarcófago, one of the founders of modern black metal. The contemporary Christian music band Diante do Trono, is also of Belo Horizonte. A short instrumental song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire is named after the city on their album Now, Then & Forever.
+
+Belo Horizonte features a number of museums including the Mineiro Museum, the Abílio Barreto Historic Museum, Arts and Workmanship Museum, a Natural History Museum and the UFMG Botanic Gardens, a telephone museum, the Pampulha Art Museum, the Professor Taylor Gramke Mineralogy Museum, and the UFMG Conservatory. The puppet theatre group Giramundo was established here in 1970, and continues to maintain a puppetry museum hosting a collection of their creations.
+
+The Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade, located in the central region of Belo Horizonte, is the largest cultural circuit in Brazil. In all, there are eleven functioning museums and cultural spaces: Arquivo Público Mineiro (Minas Gerais Public Archive), Biblioteca Pública Estadual Luiz de Bessa (Luiz de Bessa State Public Library), Cefar Liberdade, Centro de Arte Popular Cemig (Cemig Center of Popular Art), Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (Culture Center Bank of Brazil), Espaço do Conhecimento UFMG (UFMG Knowledge Space), Horizonte Sebrae – Casa da Economia Criativa (Sebrae Horizon – The House of Creative Economy), Memorial Minas Gerais Vale (Minas Gerais Memorial), Museu das Minas e do Metal (Mines and Metal Museum), Museu Mineiro (Minas Gerais Museum) and Palácio da Liberdade (Liberty Palace). Besides these, another three spaces are already in the process of being implemented: the Casa Fiat de Cultura (Fiat Culture House), CENA and Oi Futuro. The proposal, according to the Circuit manager, Cristiana Kumaira, is to strengthen the circuit in the world cultural context. “We are already on this path and are being careful to ensure that the activities, services and assistance fulfill the needs and expectations of both the local population and the tourists who come to Belo Horizonte from around the world. The Circuit is establishing itself as one more source of pride for the people of Minas Gerais”, she stresses.
+
+Inaugurated in 2010, the Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade was created with the goal of exploring cultural diversity – with interactive options open to the public – in an area of great symbolic, historical and architectural value for Belo Horizonte. The opportunity came with the transference of the Minas Gerais Government headquarters to the Cidade Administrativa (Administrative City), in Serra Verde. After they had been adapted, the old department buildings opened their doors and began to house museums and cultural spaces.
+The Circuito Cultural Praça da Liberdade is co-managed by the Instituto Sérgio Magnani (Institute) since June 2012, through a partnership signed with the Minas Gerais Government, and the museums/spaces are mostly run by private companies, which carry out investments in heritage recovery and building maintenance. According to Kumaira, this public-private partnership model allows large companies to participate and effectively contribute to the cultural advance of the city. “Beyond their fields of activities, the partners invest in the implantation and maintenance of museums, learning spaces, exhibitions rooms and shows, as well as memory centers that consolidate the history of Minas Gerais, presenting it either for free or at affordable prices”, she adds.
+[41]
+
+The Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden holds an important treasure of folk art – the Nativity of Pipiripau. Created during the 20th century, the craftsman Raimundo Machado, synchronizes 586 figures, distributed in 45 scenes, which tell the story of life and death of Jesus, mixed with its variety of arts and crafts.[42] With 600,000 sq. m. of green area, the UFMG Museum of Natural History and Botanic Garden (MHN-JB) is a privileged ecological space that enables visitors to experience nature in a rich, multidisciplinary way. For 30 years, the mission of the MHN-JB has been to do research, to educate, and to meet the community's demand for service. It covers the areas of anthropology, archeology, Environmental Education, Natural History, Mineralogy, and Paleontology. It has an Ecological Amphitheater, a Free Art atelier, a greenhouse, and an Interactive Room. One of its traditional exhibitions is the Pipiripau Nativity Crèche.
+
+Palácio das Artes, inaugurated in 1970, is the largest and most varied cultural complex in Minas Gerais. It comprises three theaters, three art galleries, a movie theater, a bookstore, a coffee shop and photography exhibition space. It offers high-quality programs for the several expressions in arts. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and it also houses the Minas Gerais Handcraft Center. The Pampulha Art Museum is located at the Pampulha Lake in Belo Horizonte in a building that originally housed the Pampulha Casino. The building was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, commissioned by the then mayor and future president of Brazil Juscelino Kubitschek in the early 1940s, with external grounds by landscaper Roberto Burle Marx. The building was the first project of Oscar Niemeyer, opened as a casino, and closed in 1946. In 1957, it was re-opened as the Art Museum. His design was influenced by the principles of Le Corbusier. The gardens of Burle Marx are a tribute to the tropical green. There are three sculptures, by Ceschiatti, Zamoiski and José Pedrosa. In 1996, it won new multimedia rooms, library, café bar, a souvenir shop and technical infrastructure. The MAP has an impressive collection of 1,600 works.[43] ThemMuseum is an integral part of the "Pampulha Architectural Complex", a watershed in the history of modern architecture in Brazil and internationally.
+
+Belo Horizonte has several significant cultural landmarks, many of them situated in the Pampulha district, where there are notable examples of Brazilian contemporary architecture.[44] Under the leadership of the then mayor of city, Juscelino Kubitschek, architects and artists such as Oscar Niemeyer, landscaper Burle Marx, and painter Candido Portinari, started a type of modern architecture and art here that was greatly developed later with the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, also led by the now president Juscelino (aka JK). It is at the Pampulha complex that one can see the routes of this new architecture movement. The modern and protomodern architecture can also be seen all over Belo Horizonte, either in emblematic 1950's buildings such as Edificio Acaiaca, Conjunto JK, Hotel Amazonas[45] and former Hotel Excelsior,[46] all reflecting the modernity culture of the first planned capital of Brazil.
+
+The Pampulha Park area includes one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world, the Mineirão stadium, and the São Francisco de Assis Church, widely known as Igreja da Pampulha, designed by Brazilian Modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer. In Pampulha there is also the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais campus, whose buildings themselves are important contributions to the city's architecture. Other notable buildings include the Mesbla and Niemeyer buildings, in addition to the headquarters of corporations such as Usiminas, Seculus, and Telemig Celular.[47]
+
+In the downtown area, landmarks include the church of São José, the Praça da Estação (Station Square), which is an old train station that now is also the Museum of Arts and Workmanship, the Municipal Park, the famous Sete de Setembro Square, where an obelisk built in 1922 marks the one hundred years of Brazilian independence from Portugal.[48] Near Central the area, in the Lourdes neighborhood, the Lourdes Basilica, is an example of Gothic Revival style. The Nossa Senhora de Fátima Church, in Santo Agostinho neighborhood, is situated in Carlos Chagas Square. Both churches are referred to as the Assembléia Church and the Assembléia Square because of their proximity to the state's legislative assembly.
+
+Next to the downtown region is the Savassi district, known for fine restaurants and as a centre of cultural events as well as the best of the city's nightlife. Many landmarks are located there, such as the Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Square), and its surrounding buildings, including the former Executive Offices of the governor called the Palácio da Liberdade (Liberty Palace), the first building to be finished during the city's planned development in the late 1890s.
+
+The government offices moved to the "Cidade Administrativa" in 2010. This complex is made by a few massive buildings just outside the city. Nowadays, the "palaces" are being turned into museums. Still on Savassi, the meeting point of many social groups, especially the youth, is "Praça da Savassi" (Savassi Square), which is not exactly a square, and more a crossing between two major avenues (Getúlio Vargas and Cristóvão Colombo), and gathers some of the busiest bars and pubs (called locally "botecos" or "botequins") in town.
+
+Another important landmark is Praça do Papa (Pope's Square), located at a high point south of the downtown area, with its great view of the entire city. It is named for July 1, 1980, visit by John Paul II, who held a youth mass there. The nearby Parque das Mangabeiras (Mangabeiras Park) features extensive wildlife, and-owing to its considerable size-has its own bus service, which operates solely within the confines of the park. On Sundays, Afonso Pena Avenue hosts Latin America's biggest open-air market. This is the Market of Arts and Handicrafts, most commonly known as Feira Hippie (hippie fair). Every Sunday morning 70,000 visitors find food, drinks, clothes, furniture, earrings, shoes and almost anything else.[49]
+
+The regional Minas Gerais' food and the now internationally known drink of cachaça are very popular and highly rated in the capital.[53]
+
+Belo Horizonte is internationally known as the "capital of neighborhood bars."[54] Every year, the city hosts the Comida di Buteco festival ("Pub Foods", in an approximate translation), in which a panel selects 41 bars to be visited, and then elects the one with the best appetizers using the theme ingredient of each year.
+
+Minas Gerais' cuisine is famous for its traditional dishes, like pão de queijo, feijão tropeiro, tutu de feijão, pork ribs, chicken-and-okra (served with a rich, brown gravy and rice) and other usually heavy, comfort-like food. The city also abounds with pizza places, barbecue houses, fine restaurants of many nationalities and other options.
+
+As in the rest of Brazil, football is the most popular sport. The city's major teams are Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro and América Mineiro.
+
+The city also has one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, the Mineirão, which opened in 1965. The older Independência Stadium was the site of the FIFA World Cup 1950 game, when the United States beat England in a 1–0 win.[55]
+
+Mineirão, officially called Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto, was built to provide the city of Belo Horizonte with a larger alternative for Independência Stadium, then the prime venue of the city. The stadium was meant to become the most modern stadium of Brazil and the new home of Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro. Construction took almost five years, and on September 5, 1965 Mineirão officially opened. Mineirão hardly changed in the following decades, and in the 1990s still had its original capacity. When Brazil won their bid to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was clear that Mineirão needed to undergo a large redevelopment.
+
+The project included the complete reconstruction of the bottom tier, an extension of the roof, and further refurbishments to upgrade the stadium to FIFA standards. Building works took a total of three years, and were completed in December 2012. The first match at the reopened Mineirão was played on February 3, 2013 with a state championship match between Cruzeiro and Atlético. While Cruzeiro agreed on a lease to play the next 25 years at Mineirão, Atlético have not yet come to an agreement and will keep playing at Independência Stadium until doing so. Mineirão hosted a total of six matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, including one round of 16 match and the historical semi-final referred to as Mineirazo in which Brazil lost 1–7 against Germany. The stadium also was one of the playing venues of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the Olympic football tournament in 2016[56]
+
+61.846 (132,834 record)
+
+23,018 (32,721 record) / 61.846 (115,142 record)
+
+23,018 (32,721 record)
+
+In addition to football, Belo Horizonte has one of the largest attendances at volleyball matches in the entire country. They are played either at Mineirinho, home of Brazil's national volleyball team, or at Minas Tênis Clube.
+
+Belo Horizonte is home to 2015 French Open men's doubles champion and former World no. 1 doubles player Marcelo Melo as well as 2016 Australian Open men's doubles and mixed doubles champion Bruno Soares.
+
+Belo Horizonte is twinned with:[57]

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+
+The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean of this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin.
+
+The beluga is adapted to life in the Arctic, so it has anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans. Amongst these are its all-white colour and the absence of a dorsal fin, which allows it to swim under ice with ease.[3] It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species is large and deformable. The beluga's body size is between that of a dolphin and a true whale, with males growing up to 5.5 m (18 ft) long and weighing up to 1,600 kg (3,530 lb). This whale has a stocky body. Like many cetaceans, a large percentage of its weight is blubber (subcutaneous fat). Its sense of hearing is highly developed and its echolocation allows it to move about and find breathing holes under sheet ice.
+
+Belugas are gregarious and form groups of 10 animals on average, although during the summer, they can gather in the hundreds or even thousands in estuaries and shallow coastal areas. They are slow swimmers, but can dive to 700 m (2,300 ft) below the surface. They are opportunistic feeders and their diets vary according to their locations and the season. The majority of belugas live in the Arctic Ocean and the seas and coasts around North America, Russia and Greenland; their worldwide population is thought to number around 150,000. They are migratory and the majority of groups spend the winter around the Arctic ice cap; when the sea ice melts in summer, they move to warmer river estuaries and coastal areas. Some populations are sedentary and do not migrate over great distances during the year.
+
+The native peoples of North America and Russia have hunted belugas for many centuries. They were also hunted by non-natives during the 19th century and part of the 20th century. Hunting of belugas is not controlled by the International Whaling Commission, and each country has developed its own regulations in different years. Currently some Inuit in Canada and Greenland, Alaska Native groups and Russians are allowed to hunt belugas to consume and sell; aboriginal whaling is excluded from the International Whaling Commission 1986 moratorium on hunting. The numbers have dropped substantially in Russia and Greenland, but not in Alaska and Canada. Other threats include natural predators (polar bears and killer whales), contamination of rivers (as with Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) which bioaccumulate up the food chain) and infectious diseases. The beluga was placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List in 2008 as being "near threatened"; the subpopulation from the Cook Inlet in Alaska, however, is considered critically endangered and is under the protection of the United States' Endangered Species Act. Of seven Canadian beluga populations, those inhabiting eastern Hudson Bay, Ungava Bay and the St. Lawrence River are listed as endangered.
+
+Belugas are one of the most commonly kept cetaceans in captivity and are housed in aquariums, dolphinariums and wildlife parks in North America, Europe and Asia. They are popular with the public due to their colour and expression.
+
+The beluga was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas.[1] It is a member of the Monodontidae family, which is in turn part of the parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales).[1] The Irrawaddy dolphin was once placed in the same family, though recent genetic evidence suggests these dolphins belong to the family Delphinidae.[4][5] The narwhal is the only other species within the Monodontidae besides the beluga.[6] A skull has been discovered with intermediate characteristics supporting the hypothesis that hybridisation is possible between these two species.[7]
+
+The name of the genus, Delphinapterus, means "dolphin without fin" (from the Greek δελφίν (delphin), dolphin and απτερος (apteros), without fin) and the species name leucas means "white" (from the Greek λευκας (leukas), white).[8] The Red List of Threatened Species gives both beluga and white whale as common names, though the former is now more popular. The English name comes from the Russian белуха (belukha), which derives from the word белый (bélyj), meaning "white".[8] The name beluga in Russian refers to an unrelated species, a fish, the beluga sturgeon.
+
+The whale is also colloquially known as the sea canary on account of its high-pitched squeaks, squeals, clucks and whistles. A Japanese researcher says he taught a beluga to "talk" by using these sounds to identify three different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to communicate effectively with sea mammals.[9] A similar observation has been made by Canadian researchers, where a beluga which died in 2007 "talked" when he was still a subadult. Another example is NOC, a beluga whale that could mimic the rhythm and tone of human language. Beluga whales in the wild have been reported to imitate human voices.[10]
+
+Mitochondrial DNA studies have shown modern cetaceans last shared a common ancestor between 25 and 34 million years ago[11][12] The superfamily Delphinoidea (which contains monodontids, dolphins and porpoises) split from other toothed whales, odontoceti, between 11 and 15 million years ago. Monodontids then split from dolphins (Delphinidae) and later from porpoises (Phocoenidae), their closest relatives in evolutionary terms.[11] In 2017 the genome of a beluga whale was sequenced, comprising 2.327 Gbp of assembled genomic sequence that encoded 29,581 predicted genes.[13] The authors estimated that the genome-wide sequence similarity between beluga whales and killer whales to be 97.87% ± 2.4 × 10−7% (mean ± standard deviation).
+
+The beluga's earliest known distinctive ancestors include the prehistoric Denebola brachycephala from the late Miocene epoch (9–10 million years ago),[14][15] and Bohaskaia monodontoides, from the early Pliocene (3–5 million years ago).[16] Fossil evidence from Baja California[17] and Virginia indicate the family once inhabited warmer waters.[16] A fossil of the monodontid Casatia thermophila, from five million years ago, provides the strongest evidence that monodontids once inhabited warmer waters, as the fossil was found alongside fossils of tropical species such as bull and tiger sharks.[18]
+
+The fossil record also indicates that, in comparatively recent times, the beluga's range varied with that of the polar ice packs expanding during ice ages and contracting when the ice retreated.[19] Counter-evidence to this theory[clarification needed] comes from the finding in 1849 of fossilised beluga bones in Vermont in the United States, 240 km (150 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. The bones were discovered during construction of the first railroad between Rutland and Burlington in Vermont, when workers unearthed the bones of a mysterious animal in Charlotte. Buried nearly 10 ft (3.0 m) below the surface in a thick blue clay, these bones were unlike those of any animal previously discovered in Vermont. Experts identified the bones as those of a beluga. Because Charlotte is over 150 mi (240 km) from the nearest ocean, early naturalists were at a loss to explain the presence of the bones of a marine mammal buried beneath the fields of rural Vermont.
+
+The remains were found to be preserved in the sediments of the Champlain Sea, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean within the continent resulting from the rise in sea level at the end of the ice ages some 12,000 years ago.[20] Today, the Charlotte whale is the official Vermont State Fossil (making Vermont the only state whose official fossil is that of a still extant animal).[21]
+
+Its body is round, particularly when well fed, and tapers less smoothly to the head than the tail. The sudden tapering to the base of its neck gives it the appearance of shoulders, unique among cetaceans. The tail-fin grows and becomes increasingly and ornately curved as the animal ages. The flippers are broad and short—making them almost square-shaped.
+
+Preliminary investigations suggested a beluga's life expectancy was rarely more than 30 years.[22] The method used to calculate the age of a beluga is based on counting the layers of dentin and dental cement in a specimen's teeth, which were originally thought to be deposited once or twice a year. The layers can be readily identified as one layer consists of opaque dense material and the other is transparent and less dense. It is therefore possible to estimate the age of the individual by extrapolating the number of layers identified and the estimated frequency with which the deposits are laid down.[23] A 2006 study using radiocarbon dating of the dentin layers showed the deposit of this material occurs with a lesser frequency (once per year) than was previously thought. The study therefore estimated belugas can live for 70 or 80 years.[24]However, recent studies suggest that it is unclear as to whether belugas receive a different number of layers per year depending on the age of the animal (for example young belugas may only receive an additional one layer per year), or simply just one layer per year or every other year. [25]
+
+The species presents a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism, as the males are 25% longer than the females and are sturdier.[26] Adult male belugas can range from 3.5 to 5.5 m (11 to 18 ft), while the females measure 3 to 4.1 m (9.8 to 13.5 ft).[27] Males weigh between 1,100 and 1,600 kg (2,430 and 3,530 lb), and occasionally up to 1,900 kg (4,190 lb) while females weigh between 700 and 1,200 kg (1,540 and 2,650 lb).[28][29] They rank as mid-sized species among toothed whales.[30]
+
+Individuals of both sexes reach their maximum size by the time they are 10 years old.[31] The beluga's body shape is stocky and fusiform (cone-shaped with the point facing backwards), and they frequently have folds of fat, particularly along the ventral surface.[32] Between 40% and 50% of their body weight is fat, which is a higher proportion than for cetaceans that do not inhabit the Arctic, where fat only represents 30% of body weight.[33][34] The fat forms a layer that covers all of the body except the head, and it can be up to 15 cm (5.9 in) thick. It acts as insulation in waters with temperatures between 0 and 18 °C, as well as being an important reserve during periods without food.[35]
+
+The adult beluga is rarely mistaken for any other species, because it is completely white or whitish-grey in colour.[36] Calves are usually born grey,[27] and by the time they are a month old, have turned dark grey or blue grey. They then start to progressively lose their pigmentation until they attain their distinctive white colouration, at the age of seven years in females and nine in males.[36] The white colouration of the skin is an adaptation to life in the Arctic that allows belugas to camouflage themselves in the polar ice caps as protection against their main predators, polar bears and killer whales.[37] Unlike other cetaceans, the belugas seasonally shed their skin.[38] During the winter, the epidermis thickens and the skin can become yellowish, mainly on the back and fins. When they migrate to the estuaries during the summer, they rub themselves on the gravel of the riverbeds to remove the cutaneous covering.[38]
+
+Like most toothed whales, it has a compartment found at the centre of the forehead that contains an organ used for echolocation called a melon, which contains fatty tissue.[39] The shape of the beluga's head is unlike that of any other cetacean, as the melon is extremely bulbous, lobed and visible as a large frontal prominence.[39] Another distinctive characteristic it possesses is the melon is malleable; its shape is changed during the emission of sounds.[6] The beluga is able to change the shape of its head by blowing air around its sinuses to focus the emitted sounds.[40][41] This organ contains fatty acids, mainly isovaleric acid (60.1%) and long-chain branched acids (16.9%), a very different composition from its body fat, and which could play a role in its echolocation system.[42]
+
+Unlike many dolphins and whales, the seven vertebrae in the neck are not fused together, allowing the animal to turn its head laterally without needing to rotate its body.[43] This gives the head a lateral manoeuvrability that allows an improved field of view and movement and helps in catching prey and evading predators in deep water.[37] The rostrum has about eight to ten small, blunt and slightly curved teeth on each side of the jaw and a total of 36 to 40 teeth.[44] Belugas do not use their teeth to chew, but for catching hold of their prey; they then tear them up and swallow them nearly whole.[45]
+
+Belugas only have a single spiracle, which is located on the top of the head behind the melon, and has a muscular covering, allowing it to be completely sealed. Under normal conditions, the spiracle is closed and an animal must contract the muscular covering to open the spiracle.[46] A beluga's thyroid gland is larger than that of terrestrial mammals—weighing three times more than that of a horse—which helps it to maintain a greater metabolism during the summer when it lives in river estuaries.[47] It is the marine cetacean that most frequently develops hyperplastic and neoplastic lesions of the thyroid.[48]
+
+The fins retain the bony vestiges of the beluga's mammalian ancestors, and are firmly bound together by connective tissue.[32] The fins are small in relation to the size of the body, rounded and oar-shaped and slightly curled at the tips.[8] These versatile extremities are mainly used as a rudder to control direction, to work in synchrony with the tailfin and for agile movement in shallow waters up to 3 m (9.8 ft) deep.[31] The fins also contain a mechanism for regulating body temperature, as the arteries feeding the fin's muscles are surrounded by veins that dilate or contract to gain or lose heat.[32][49] The tailfin is flat with two oar-like lobes, it does not have any bones, and is made up of hard, dense, fibrous connective tissue. The tailfin has a distinctive curvature along the lower edge.[32] The longitudinal muscles of the back provide the ascending and descending movement of the tailfin, which has a similar thermoregulation mechanism to the pectoral fins.[32]
+
+Belugas have a dorsal ridge, rather than a dorsal fin.[27] The absence of the dorsal fin is reflected in the genus name of the species—apterus the Greek word for "wingless". The evolutionary preference for a dorsal ridge rather than a fin is believed to be an adaptation to under-ice conditions, or possibly as a way of preserving heat.[6] The crest is hard and, along with the head, can be used to open holes in ice up to 8 cm (3.1 in) thick.[50]
+
+The beluga has a very specialised sense of hearing and its auditory cortex is highly developed. It can hear sounds within the range of 1.2 to 120 kHz, with the greatest sensitivity between 10 and 75 kHz,[51] where the average hearing range for humans is 0.02 to 20 kHz.[52] The majority of sounds are most probably received by the lower jaw and transmitted towards the middle ear. In the toothed whales, the lower jawbone is broad with a cavity at its base, which projects towards the place where it joins the cranium. A fatty deposit inside this small cavity connects to the middle ear.[53] Toothed whales also possess a small external auditory hole a few centimetres behind their eyes; each hole communicates with an external auditory conduit and an eardrum. It is not known if these organs are functional or simply vestigial.[53]
+
+Belugas are able to see within and outside of water, but their vision is relatively poor when compared to dolphins.[54] Their eyes are especially adapted to seeing under water, although when they come into contact with the air, the crystalline lens and the cornea adjust to overcome the associated myopia (the range of vision under water is short).[54] A beluga's retina has cones and rods, which also suggests they can see in low light. The presence of cone cells indicates they can see colours, although this suggestion has not been confirmed.[54] Glands located in the medial corner of their eyes secrete an oily, gelatinous substance that lubricates the eye and helps flush out foreign bodies. This substance forms a film that protects the cornea and the conjunctiva from pathogenic organisms.[54]
+
+Studies on captive animals show they seek frequent physical contact with other belugas.[37] Areas in the mouth have been found that could act as chemoreceptors for different tastes, and they can detect the presence of blood in water, which causes them to react immediately by displaying typical alarm behaviour.[37] Like the other toothed whales, their brains lack olfactory bulbs and olfactory nerves, which suggests they do not have a sense of smell.[39]
+
+These cetaceans are highly sociable and they regularly form small groups, or pods, that may contain between two and 25 individuals, with an average of 10 members.[55] Pods tend to be unstable, meaning individuals tend to move from pod to pod. Radio tracking has even shown belugas can start out in one pod and within a few days be hundreds of miles away from that pod.[56] Beluga whale pods can be grouped into three categories, nurseries (which consist of mother and calves), bachelors (which consist of all males) and mixed groups. Mixed groups contain animals of both sexes.[57][44] Many hundreds and even thousands of individuals can be present when the pods join together in river estuaries during the summer. This can represent a significant proportion of the total population and is when they are most vulnerable to being hunted.[58]
+
+They are cooperative animals and frequently hunt in coordinated groups.[59] The animals in a pod are very sociable and often chase each other as if they are playing or fighting, and they often rub against each other.[60] Often individuals will surface and dive together in a synchronized manner, in a behavior known as milling.
+
+In captivity, they can be seen to be constantly playing, vocalising and swimming around each other.[61] In one case, one whale blew bubbles, while the other one popped them. There have also been reports of beluga whales copying and imitating one another, similar to a game of Simon-says. Individuals have also been reported them displaying physical affection, via mouth to mouth contact.[62] They also show a great deal of curiosity towards humans and frequently approach the windows in the tanks to observe them.[63]
+
+Belugas also show a great degree of curiosity towards humans in the wild, and frequently swim alongside boats.[64] They also play with objects they find in the water; in the wild, they do this with wood, plants, dead fish and bubbles they have created.[33] During the breeding season, adults have been observed carrying objects such as plants, nets, and even the skeleton of a dead reindeer on their heads and backs.[61] Captive females have also been observed displaying this behavior, carrying items such as floats and buoys, after they have lost a calf. Experts consider this interaction with the objects to be a substitute behavior.[65]
+
+In captivity, mothering behavior among belugas depends on the individual. Some mothers are extremely attentive while other mothers are so blasé, that they have actually lost their calves. In aquaria, there have been cases where dominant females have stolen calves from mothers, particularly if they have lost a calf or if they are pregnant. After giving birth, dominant females will return the calf back to their mother. Additionally, male calves will temporarily leave their mothers to interact with an adult male who can serve as a role model for the calf, before they return to their mothers. Male calves are also frequently seen interacting with each other.[66]
+
+Belugas are slower swimmers than the other toothed whales, such as the killer whale and the common bottlenose dolphin, because they are less hydrodynamic and have limited movement of their tail-fins, which produce the greatest thrust.[67] They frequently swim at speeds between 3 and 9 km/h (1.9 and 5.6 mph), although they are able to maintain a speed of 22 km/h for up to 15 min.[44] Unlike most cetaceans, they are capable of swimming backwards.[31][68] Belugas swim on the surface between 5% and 10% of the time, while for the rest of the time they swim at a depth sufficient enough to cover their bodies.[31] They do not jump out of the water like dolphins or killer whales.[8]
+
+These animals usually only dive to depths to 20 m (66 ft),[69] although they are capable of diving to greater depths. Individual captive animals have been recorded at depths between 400 and 647 m below sea level,[70] while animals in the wild have been recorded as diving to a depth of more than 700 m, with the greatest recorded depth being over 900 m.[71] A dive normally lasts 3 to 5 minutes, but can last up to over 20 minutes.[72][44][71][73] In the shallower water of the estuaries, a diving session may last around two minutes; the sequence consists of five or six rapid, shallow dives followed by a deeper dive lasting up to one minute.[31] The average number of dives per day varies between 31 and 51.[71]
+
+All cetaceans, including belugas, have physiological adaptations designed to conserve oxygen while they are under water.[74] During a dive, these animals will reduce their heart rate from 100 beats a minute to between 12 and 20.[74] Blood flow is diverted away from certain tissues and organs and towards the brain, heart and lungs, which require a constant oxygen supply.[74] The amount of oxygen dissolved in the blood is 5.5%, which is greater than that found in land-based mammals and is similar to that of Weddell seals (a diving marine mammal). One study found a female beluga had 16.5 L of oxygen dissolved in her blood.[75] Lastly, the beluga's muscles contain high levels of the protein myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscle. Myoglobin concentrations in belugas are several times greater than for terrestrial mammals, which help prevent oxygen deficiency during dives.[76]
+
+Beluga whales often accompany bowhead whales, for curiosity and to secure polynya feasibility to breathe as bowheads are capable of breaking through ice from underwater by headbutting.[77]
+
+Belugas play an important role in the structure and function of marine resources in the Arctic Ocean, as they are the most abundant toothed whales in the region.[78] They are opportunistic feeders; their feeding habits depend on their locations and the season.[26] For example, when they are in the Beaufort Sea, they mainly eat Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) and the stomachs of belugas caught near Greenland were found to contain rose fish (Sebastes marinus), Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) and northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis),[79] while in Alaska their staple diet is Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).[80] In general, the diets of these cetaceans consist mainly of fish; apart from those previously mentioned, other fish they feed on include capelin (Mallotus villosus), smelt, sole, flounder, herring, sculpin and other types of salmon.[81] They also consume a great quantity of invertebrates, such as shrimp, squid, crabs, clams, octopus, sea snails, bristle worms and other deep-sea species.[81][82] Belugas feed mainly in winter as their blubber is thickest in later winter and early spring, and thinnest in the fall. Inuit observation has led scientists to believe that belugas do not hunt during migration, at least in Hudson Bay [83]
+
+The diet of Alaskan belugas is quite diverse and varies depending on season and migratory behavior. Belugas in the Beaufort Sea mainly feed on staghorn and shorthorn sculpin, walleye pollock, Arctic cod, saffron cod and Pacific sand lance. Shrimp are the most common invertebrate eaten, with octopus, amphipods and echiurids being other sources of invertebrate prey.The most common prey species for belugas in the Eastern Chukchi Sea appears to be shrimp, echiurid worms, cephalopods and polychaetas. The largest prey item consumed by beluga whales in the Eastern Chukchi Sea seems to be saffron cod. Beluga whales in the Eastern Bering Sea feed on a variety of fish species including saffron cod, rainbow smelt, walleye pollock, Pacific salmon, Pacific Herring and several species of flounder and sculpin. The primary invertebrate consumed is shrimp.The primary prey item in regard to fish species for belugas in Bristol Bay appears to be the five species of salmon, with sockeye being the most prevalent.  Smelt is also another common fish family eaten by belugas in this region. Shrimp is the most prevalent invertebrate prey item. The most common prey items for belugas in Cook Inlet appear to be salmon, cod and smelt.[84]
+
+Animals in captivity eat 2.5% to 3.0% of their body weight per day, which equates to 18.2 to 27.2 kg.[85] Like their wild counterparts, captive belugas were found to eat less in the fall. [86]
+
+Foraging on the seabed typically takes place at depths between 20 and 40 m,[87] although they can dive to depths of 700 m in search of food.[71] Their flexible necks provide a wide range of movement while they are searching for food on the ocean floor. Some animals have been observed to suck up water and then forcefully expel it to uncover their prey hidden in the silt on the seabed.[59] As their teeth are neither large nor sharp, belugas must use suction to bring their prey into their mouths; it also means their prey has to be consumed whole, which in turn means it cannot be too large or the belugas run the risk of it getting stuck in their throats.[88] They also join together into coordinated groups of five or more to feed on shoals of fish by steering the fish into shallow water, where the belugas then attack them.[59] For example, in the estuary of the Amur River, where they mainly feed on salmon, groups of six or eight individuals join together to surround a shoal of fish and prevent their escape. Individuals then take turns feeding on the fish.[50]
+
+Estimations of the age of sexual maturity for beluga whales vary considerably; the majority of authors estimate males reach sexual maturity when they are between nine and fifteen years old, and females reach maturity when they are between eight and fourteen years old.[89] The average age at which females first give birth is 8.5 years and fertility begins to decrease when they are 25, eventually undergoing menopause,[90] and ceasing reproductive potential with no births recorded for females older than 41.[89]
+
+Female belugas typically give birth to one calf every three years.[27] Most mating occurs usually February through May, but some mating occurs at other times of year.[6] The beluga may have delayed implantation.[6] Gestation has been estimated to last 12.0 to 14.5 months,[27] but information derived from captive females suggests a longer gestation period up to 475 days (15.8 months).[91] During the mating season, the testes mass of belugas will double in weight. Testosterone levels increase, but seems to be independent of copulation. Copulation typically takes place between 3 and 4 AM. [92]
+
+Calves are born over a protracted period that varies by location. In the Canadian Arctic, calves are born between March and September, while in Hudson Bay, the peak calving period is in late June, and in Cumberland Sound, most calves are born from late July to early August.[93] Births usually take place in bays or estuaries where the water is warm with a temperature of 10 to 15 °C.[55] Newborns are about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long, weigh about 80 kg (180 lb), and are grey in colour.[44] They are able to swim alongside their mothers immediately after birth.[94] The newborn calves nurse under water and initiate lactation a few hours after birth; thereafter, they feed at intervals around an hour.[59] Studies of captive females have indicated their milk composition varies between individuals and with the stage of lactation; it has an average content of 28% fat, 11% protein, 60.3% water, and less than 1% residual solids.[95] The milk contains about 92 cal per ounce.[96]
+
+The calves remain dependent on their mothers for nursing for the first year, when their teeth appear.[55] After this, they start to supplement their diets with shrimp and small fish.[39] The majority of the calves continue nursing until they are 20 months old, although occasionally lactation can continue for more than two years,[44] and lactational anoestrus may not occur. Alloparenting (care by females different from the mother) has been observed in captive belugas, including spontaneous and long-term milk production. This suggests this behaviour, which is also seen in other mammals, may be present in belugas in the wild.[97]
+
+Hybrids have been documented between the beluga and the narwhal (specifically offspring conceived by a beluga father and a narwhal mother), as one, perhaps even as many as three, such hybrids were killed and harvested during a sustenance hunt. Whether or not these hybrids could breed remains unknown. The unusual dentition seen in the single remaining skull indicates the hybrid hunted on the seabed, much as walruses do, indicating feeding habits different from those of either parent species.[98][99]
+
+Belugas use sounds and echolocation for movement, communication, to find breathing holes in the ice, and to hunt in dark or turbid waters.[40] They produce a rapid sequence of clicks that pass through the melon, which acts as an acoustic lens to focus the sounds into a beam that is projected forward through the surrounding water.[96] These sounds spread through the water at a speed of nearly 1.6 km per second, some four times faster than the speed of sound in air. The sound waves reflect from objects and return as echoes that are heard and interpreted by the animal.[40] This enables them to determine the distance, speed, size, shape and the object's internal structure within the beam of sound. They use this ability when moving around thick Arctic ice sheets, to find areas of unfrozen water for breathing, or air pockets trapped under the ice.[55]
+
+Some evidence indicates that belugas are highly sensitive to noise produced by humans. In one study, the maximum frequencies produced by an individual located in San Diego Bay, California, were between 40 and 60 kHz. The same individual produced sounds with a maximum frequency of 100 to 120 kHz when transferred to Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. The difference in frequencies is thought to be a response to the difference in environmental noise in the two areas.[100]
+
+These animals communicate using sounds of high frequency; their calls can sound like bird songs, so belugas were nicknamed "canaries of the sea".[101] Like the other toothed whales, belugas do not possess vocal cords and the sounds are probably produced by the movement of air between the nasal sacks, which are located near to the blowhole.[40]
+
+As a, toothed whale, beluga calls can be broken down into the categories of whistles, clicks and burst calls. Whistles tend to indicate social communication while clicks indicate navigation and foraging. Burst calls tend to indicate aggression. [102]
+
+Belugas are among the most vocal cetaceans.[103] They use their vocalisations for echolocation, during mating and for communication. They possess a large repertoire, emitting up to 11 different sounds, such as cackles, whistles, trills and squawks.[40] They make sounds by grinding their teeth or splashing, but they rarely use body language to make visual displays with their pectoral fins or tailfins, nor do they perform somersaults or jumps in the way other species do, such as dolphins.[40]
+
+There is heavy debate as to whether cetacean vocalizations can constitute a language. A study conducted in 2015 determined that European beluga signals share physical features comparable to “vowels.” These sounds were found to be stable throughout time, but varied among different geographical locations. The further away the populations were from each other, the more varied the sounds were in relation to one another. [104]
+
+The beluga inhabits a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters.[105] During the summer, they can mainly be found in deep waters ranging from 76°N to 80°N, particularly along the coasts of Alaska, northern Canada, western Greenland and northern Russia.[105] The southernmost extent of their range includes isolated populations in the St. Lawrence River in the Atlantic,[106] and the Amur River delta, the Shantar Islands and the waters surrounding Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk.[107]
+
+Belugas have a seasonal migratory pattern.[108] Migration patterns are passed from parents to offspring. Some travel as far as 6,000 kilometres per year.[109] When the summer sites become blocked with ice during the autumn, they move to spend the winter in the open sea alongside the pack ice or in areas covered with ice, surviving by using polynyas to surface and breathe.[110] In summer after the sheet ice has melted, they move to coastal areas with shallower water (1–3 m deep), although sometimes they migrate towards deeper waters (>800 m).[108] In the summer, they occupy estuaries and the waters of the continental shelf, and, on occasion, they even swim up the rivers.[108] A number of incidents have been reported where groups or individuals have been found hundreds or even thousands of kilometres from the ocean.[111][112] One such example comes from June 9, 2006, when a young beluga carcass was found in the Tanana River near Fairbanks in central Alaska, nearly 1,700 km (1,100 mi) from the nearest ocean habitat. Belugas sometimes follow migrating fish, leading Alaska state biologist Tom Seaton to speculate it had followed migrating salmon up the river at some point in the previous autumn.[113] The rivers they most often travel up include: the Northern Dvina, the Mezen, the Pechora, the Ob and the Yenisei in Asia; the Yukon and the Kuskokwim in Alaska, and the Saint Lawrence in Canada.[105] Spending time in a river has been shown to stimulate an animal's metabolism and facilitates the seasonal renewal of the epidermal layer.[47] In addition, the rivers represent a safe haven for newborn calves where they will not be preyed upon by killer whales.[6] Calves often return to the same estuary as their mother in the summer, meeting her sometimes even after becoming fully mature.[114] However, not all beluga whale populations summer in estuaries. Belugas from the Beaufort Sea stock were found to summer along the Eastern Beaufort Sea shelf, Amundsen Gulf and slope regions north and west of Banks Island, in addition to core areas in the Mackenzie River Estuary. Male belugas have been observed summering in deeper waters along Viscount Melville Sound, in depths of up to 600 meters. The bulk of Eastern Chukchi Sea belugas summer over Barrow canyon.[115]
+
+The migration season is relatively predictable, as it is basically determined by the amount of daylight and not by other variable physical or biological factors, such as the condition of the sea ice.[116] Vagrants may travel further south to areas such as Irish[117] and Scottish waters,[118] the islands of Orkney[119] and Hebrides,[120] and to Japanese waters.[121] There had been several vagrant individuals[122] that have demonstrated seasonal residencies at Volcano Bay,[123][124][125] and a unique whale were used to return annually to areas adjacent to Shibetsu in Nemuro Strait in the 2000s.[126] On rarer occasions, individuals of vagrancy can reach the Korean Peninsula.[127] A few other individuals have been confirmed to return to the coasts of Hokkaido, and one particular individual became a resident in brackish waters of Lake Notoro since in 2014.[128][129]
+
+Some populations are not migratory and certain resident groups will stay in well-defined areas, such as in Cook Inlet, the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River and Cumberland Sound.[130] The population in Cook Inlet stays in the waters furthest inside the inlet during the summer until the end of autumn. Then during the winter, they disperse to the deeper water in the center of the inlet, but without completely leaving it.[131][132]
+
+In April, the animals that spend the winter in the center and southwest of the Bering Sea move to the north coast of Alaska and the east coast of Russia.[130] The populations living in the Ungava Bay and the eastern and western sides of Hudson Bay overwinter together beneath the sea ice in Hudson Strait. Whales in James Bay that spend winter months within the basin, could be a distinct group from those in Hudson Bay.[133] The populations of the White Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea overwinter in the Barents Sea.[130] In the spring, the groups separate and migrate to their respective summer sites.[130]
+
+Belugas exploit a varied range of habitats; they are most commonly seen in shallow waters close to the coast, but they have also been reported to live for extended periods in deeper water, where they feed and give birth to their young.[130]
+
+In coastal areas, they can be found in coves, fjords, canals, bays and shallow waters in the Arctic Ocean that are continuously lit by sunlight.[33] They are also often seen during the summer in river estuaries, where they feed, socialize and give birth to young. These waters usually have a temperature between 8 and 10 °C.[33] The mudflats of Cook Inlet in Alaska are a popular location for these animals to spend the first few months of summer.[134] In the eastern Beaufort Sea, female belugas with their young and immature males prefer the open waters close to land, while the adult males live in waters covered by ice near the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The younger males and females with slightly older young can be found nearer to the ice shelf.[135] Generally, the use of different habitats in summer reflects differences in feeding habits, risk from predators and reproductive factors for each of the subpopulations.[26]
+
+There are currently 22 stocks of beluga whales recognized: [136]
+
+1.	James Bay- 14,500 individuals (belugas remain here all year round)
+2.	Western Hudson Bay- 55,000 individuals 
+3.	Eastern Hudson Bay- 3,400-3,800 individuals 
+4.	Cumberland Sound- 1,151 individuals 
+5.	Ungava Bay- 32 individuals (maybe functionally extinct)
+6.	St. Lawrence River Estuary- 889 individuals 
+7.	Eastern Canadian Arctic- 21,400 individuals 
+8.	Southwest Greenland- Extinct
+9.	Eastern Chukchi Sea- 20,700 individuals 
+10.	Eastern Bering Sea- 7,000-9,200 individuals 
+11.	Eastern Beaufort Sea- 39,300 individuals 
+12.	Bristol Bay- 2,000-3,000 individuals 
+13.	Cook Inlet- 300 individuals 
+14.	White Sea- 5,600 individuals
+15.	Kara Sea/Laptev Sea/Barents Sea- Data Deficient
+16.	Ulbansky- 2,300
+17.	Anadyr- 3,000
+18.	Shelikhov- 2,666
+19.	Sakhalin/Amur- 4,000 individuals 
+20.	Tugurskiy- 1,500 individuals 
+21.	Udskaya- 2,500 individuals 
+22.	Svalbard- 529 individuals
+
+The Yakatat Bay belugas are not considered to be a true stock because they have only been present in these waters since the 1980s, and are believed to be of Cook Inlet origin. It is estimated that less than 20 whales inhabit the bay year-round. Overall the beluga population is estimated to be between 150,000-200,000 animals.
+
+The native populations of the Arctic in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia hunt belugas, for both consumption and profit. Belugas have been easy prey for hunters due to their predictable migration patterns and the high population density in estuaries and surrounding coastal areas during the summer.[137]
+
+The number of animals killed is about 1,000 per year, (see table below. and its sources).  Beluga whale hunting quotas in Canada and the United States are established using the Potential Biological Removal equation PBR = Nmin * 0.5 * Rmax * FR, to determine what constitutes a sustainable hunt. Nmin represents a conservative estimation of the population size, Rmax, represents the maximum rate of population increase and FR represents the recovery factor. [138]
+
+Hunters in Hudson's Bay rarely eat the meat. They give a little to dogs, and leave the rest for wild animals.[139] Other areas may dry the meat for later consumption by humans. In Greenland the skin (muktuk) is sold commercially to fish factories,[140] and in Canada to other communities.[139] An average of one or two vertebrae and one or two teeth per beluga are carved and sold.[139] One estimate of the annual gross value received from Beluga hunts in Hudson Bay in 2013 was CA$600,000 for 190 belugas, or CA$3,000 per beluga. However, the net income, after subtracting costs in time and equipment, was a loss of CA$60 per person. Hunts receive subsidies, but they continue as a tradition, rather than for the money, and the economic analysis noted that whale watching may be an alternate revenue source. Of the gross income, CA$550,000 was for skin and meat, to replace beef, pork and chickens which would otherwise be bought. CA$50,000 was received for carved vertebrae and teeth.[139]
+
+Russia now harvests 5 to 30 belugas per year for meat and captures an additional 20 to 30 per year for live export to Chinese aquaria.[141][142] However, in 2018, 100 were illegally captured for live export.[143][144]
+
+Previous levels of commercial whaling have put the species in danger of extinction in areas such as Cook Inlet, Ungava Bay, the St. Lawrence River and western Greenland. Continued hunting by the native peoples may mean some populations will continue to decline.[145] Northern Canadian sites are the focus of discussions between local communities and the Canadian government, with the objective of permitting sustainable hunting that does not put the species at risk of extinction.[146]
+
+The total amount of landed (defined as belugas successfully hunted and retrieved) belugas averages 275 in regard to the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort stocks from 1987-2006.  The average annual landed harvest of belugas in the Beaufort Sea consisted of 39 individuals while the Chukchi harvest averaged 62 individuals. Bristol bay’s annual average landed harvest was 17 while the Bering Sea’s was 152. Statistical studies have demonstrated that subsistence hunting in Alaska did not significantly impact the population of the Alaskan beluga whale stocks. The number of belugas struck and lost did not seem to profoundly impact Chukchi and Bering Sea belugas.[147]
+
+Commercial whaling by European, American and Russian whalers during the 18th and 19th centuries decreased beluga populations in the Arctic.[137][148][149] The animals were hunted for their meat and blubber, while the Europeans used the oil from the melon as a lubricant for clocks, machinery and lighting in lighthouses.[137] Mineral oil replaced whale oil in the 1860s, but the hunting of these animals continued unabated. In 1863, the cured skin could be used to make horse harnesses, machine belts for saw mills and shoelaces. These manufactured items ensured the hunting of belugas continued for the rest of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.[150] The cured skin is the only cetacean skin that is sufficiently thick to be used as leather.[137] In fact, their skin is so thick, that it was even used to manufacture some of the first bulletproof vests.[151]
+
+Russia had large hunts, peaking in the 1930s at 4,000 per year and the 1960s at 7,000 per year, for a total of 86,000 from 1915 to 2014.[141][148] Canada hunted a total of 54,000 from 1731 to 1970.[152] Between 1868 and 1911, Scottish and American whalers killed more than 20,000 belugas in Lancaster Sound and Davis Strait.[137]
+
+During the 1920s, fishermen in the Saint Lawrence River estuary considered belugas to be a threat to the fishing industry, as they eat large quantities of cod, salmon, tuna and other fish caught by the local fishermen.[150] The presence of belugas in the estuary was, therefore, considered to be undesirable; in 1928, the Government of Quebec offered a reward of 15 dollars for each dead beluga.[153] The Quebec Department of Fisheries launched a study into the influence of these cetaceans on local fish populations in 1938. The unrestricted killing of belugas continued into the 1950s, when the supposed voracity of the belugas was found to be overestimated and did not adversely affect fish populations.[150] L'Isle-aux-Coudres is the setting for the classic 1963 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pour la suite du monde, which depicts a one-off resurrection of the beluga hunt; one animal is caught live, and transported by truck to an aquarium in the big city. The method of capture is akin to dolphin drive hunting.
+
+2003–16[160]
+
+During the winter, belugas commonly become trapped in the ice without being able to escape to open water, which may be several kilometres away.[166] Polar bears take particular advantage of these situations and are able to locate the belugas using their sense of smell. The bears swipe at the belugas and drag them onto the ice to eat them.[28] They are able to capture large individuals in this way; in one documented incident, a bear weighing between 150 and 180 kg was able to capture an animal that weighed 935 kg.[167]
+
+Killer whales are able to capture both young and adult belugas.[28] They live in all the seas of the world and share the same habitat as belugas in the sub-Arctic region. Attacks on belugas by killer whales have been reported in the waters of Greenland, Russia, Canada and Alaska.[168][169] A number of killings have been recorded in Cook Inlet, and experts are concerned the predation by killer whales will impede the recovery of this sub-population, which has already been badly depleted by hunting.[168] The killer whales arrive at the beginning of August, but the belugas are occasionally able to hear their presence and evade them. The groups near to or under the sea ice have a degree of protection, as the killer whale's large dorsal fin, up to 2 m in length, impedes their movement under the ice and does not allow them to get sufficiently close to the breathing holes in the ice.[33] Beluga whale behavior under killer whale predation makes them vulnerable to hunters. When killer whales are present, large numbers of beluga whales congregate in the shallows for protection, which allows them to be hunted in droves.
+
+The beluga is considered an excellent sentinel species (indicator of environment health and changes), because it is long-lived, at the top of the food web, bears large amounts of fat and blubber, relatively well-studied for a cetacean, and still somewhat common.
+
+Human pollution can be a threat to belugas' health when they congregate in river estuaries. Chemical substances such as DDT and heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium have been found in individuals of the Saint Lawrence River population.[170] Local beluga carcasses contain so many contaminants, they are treated as toxic waste.[171] Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls between 240 and 800 ppm have been found in belugas' brains, liver and muscles, with the highest levels found in males.[172] These levels are significantly greater than those found in Arctic populations.[173] These substances have a proven adverse effect on these cetaceans, as they cause cancers, reproductive diseases and the deterioration of the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to pneumonias, ulcers, cysts, tumours and bacterial infections.[173] Although the populations that inhabit the river estuaries run the greatest risk of contamination, high levels of zinc, cadmium, mercury and selenium have also been found in the muscles, livers and kidneys of animals that live in the open sea.[174]Mercury is a particular area of concern. The concentration of Mercury in Beaufort Sea belugas tripled from the 1980’s to the 1990’s. However, mercury concentration has decreased in Beaufort belugas as of the 21st century, possibly due to changes in dietary preference. Larger body sized belugas tend to have more mercury than smaller sized belugas, because they spend more time offshore, hunting prey such as cod and shrimp, which have more mercury.[175]
+
+From a sample of 129 beluga adults from the Saint Lawrence River examined between 1983 and 1999, a total of 27% had suffered cancer.[176] This is a higher percentage than that documented for other populations of this species and is much higher than for other cetaceans and for the majority of terrestrial mammals; in fact, the rate is only comparable to the levels found in humans and some domesticated animals.[176] For example, the rate of intestinal cancer in the sample is much higher than for humans. This condition is thought to be directly related to environmental contamination, in this case by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and coincides with the high incidence of this disease in humans residing in the area.[176] The prevalence of tumours suggests the contaminants identified in the animals that inhabit the estuary are having a direct carcinogenic effect or they are at least causing an immunological deterioration that is reducing the inhabitants' resistance to the disease.[177]
+
+Indirect human disturbance may also be a threat. While some populations tolerate small boats, most actively try to avoid ships. Whale-watching has become a booming activity in the St. Lawrence and Churchill River areas, and acoustic contamination from this activity appears to have an effect on belugas. For example, a correlation appears to exist between the passage of belugas across the mouth of the Saguenay River, which has decreased by 60%, and the increase in the use of recreational motorboats in the area.[178] A dramatic decrease has also been recorded in the number of calls between animals (decreasing from 3.4 to 10.5 calls/min to 0 or <1) after exposure to the noise produced by ships, the effect being most persistent and pronounced with larger ships such as ferries than with smaller boats.[179] Belugas can detect the presence of large ships (for example icebreakers) up to 50 km away, and they move rapidly in the opposite direction or perpendicular to the ship following the edge of the sea ice for distances of up to 80 km to avoid them. The presence of shipping produces avoidance behaviour, causing deeper dives for feeding, the break-up of groups, and asynchrony in dives.[180]
+
+As with any animal population, a number of pathogens cause death and disease in belugas, including viruses, bacteria, protozoans and fungi, which mainly cause skin, intestinal and respiratory infections.[181]
+
+Papillomaviruses have been found in the stomachs of belugas in the Saint Lawrence River. Animals in this location have also been recorded as suffering infections caused by herpesviruses and in certain cases to be suffering from encephalitis caused by the protozoan Sarcocystis. Cases have been recorded of ciliate protozoa colonising the spiracle of certain individuals, but they are not thought to be pathogens or are not very harmful.[182]:26, 303, 359
+
+The bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, which probably comes from eating infected fish, poses a threat to belugas kept in captivity, causing anorexia and dermal plaques and lesions that can lead to sepsis.[182]:26, 303, 359 This condition can cause death if it is not diagnosed and treated in time with antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin.[183][182][182]:316–7
+
+A study of infections caused by parasitic worms in a number of individuals of both sexes found the presence of larvae from a species from the genus Contracaecum in their stomachs and intestines, Anisakis simplex in their stomachs, Pharurus pallasii in their ear canals, Hadwenius seymouri in their intestines and Leucasiella arctica in their rectums.[184]
+
+Belugas were among the first whale species to be kept in captivity. The first beluga was shown at Barnum's Museum in New York City in 1861.[185] For most of the 20th century, Canada was the predominant source for belugas destined for exhibition. Throughout the early 1960s, belugas were taken from the St. Lawrence River estuary. In 1967, the Churchill River estuary became the main source from which belugas were captured. This continued until 1992, when the practice was banned.[152] Since Canada ceased to be the supplier of these animals, Russia has become the largest provider.[152] Individuals are caught in the Amur River delta and the far eastern seas of the country, and then are either transported domestically to aquaria in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi, or exported to foreign nations, including China[142] and formerly Canada.[152] Canada has now banned the practice of holding new animals in captivity.[186]
+
+To provide some enrichment while in captivity, aquaria train belugas to perform behaviours for the public[187] and for medical exams, such as blood draws,[188] ultrasound,[189] providing toys,[187] and allowing the public to play recorded or live music.[190]
+
+Between 1960 and 1992, the United States Navy carried out a program that included the study of marine mammals' abilities with echolocation, with the objective of improving the detection of underwater objects. The program started with dolphins, but a large number of belugas were also used from 1975 onwards.[191] The program included training these mammals to carry equipment and material to divers working under water, the location of lost objects, surveillance of ships and submarines, and underwater monitoring using cameras held in their mouths.[191] A similar program was implemented by the Soviet Navy during the Cold War, in which belugas were also trained for antimining operations in Arctic waters.[170] It is possible this program continues within the Russian Navy, as on April 24, 2019 a tame beluga whale wearing a Russian equipment harness was found by fishermen near the Norwegian island of Ingøya.[192]
+
+Belugas released from captivity have difficulties adapting to life in the wild, but if not fed by humans they may have a chance to join a group of wild belugas and learn to feed themselves, according to Audun Rikardsen of the University of Tromsø.[193]
+
+In 2019, a sanctuary in Iceland was established for belugas that retired from a marine park in China. A British company, Merlin Entertainments, bought the park in 2012, as part of an Australian chain, and it is one of their largest aquaria.[194] Merlin has a policy against captive cetaceans, so they sponsored a 32,000-square-metre sea pen as a sanctuary. The 12-year-old belugas, caught in Russia and raised in captivity, do not know how to live in the wild.[195][196] The cost is variously listed as ISK 3,000,000 (US$24,000) or US$27,000,000.[195] Merlin was owned until 2015 by Blackstone Group, which also owned SeaWorld[197] until selling its last stake in 2017 to a Chinese company which will use SeaWorld's expertise to expand in China;[198] SeaWorld still keeps belugas in captivity.
+
+Belugas are the only whale species kept in aquaria and marine parks. They are displayed across North America, Europe and Asia.[152] As of 2006, 58 belugas were held in captivity in Canada and the United States, and 42 deaths in US captivity had been reported up to that time. A single specimen costs up to US$100,000, although the price has now dropped to US$70,000.[199][152] As of January 2018, according to the nonprofit Ceta Base, which tracks belugas and dolphins under human care, there were 81 captive belugas in Canada and the United States, and unknown numbers in the rest of the world.[200][199][201] The beluga's popularity with visitors reflects its attractive colour and its range of facial expressions. The latter is possible because while most cetacean "smiles" are fixed, the extra movement afforded by the beluga's unfused cervical vertebrae allows a greater range of apparent expression.[43]
+
+Most belugas found in aquaria are caught in the wild, as captive-breeding programs have not had much success so far.[202] For example, despite best efforts, as of 2010, only two male whales had been successfully used as stud animals in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums  beluga population, Nanuq at SeaWorld San Diego and Naluark at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, USA. Nanuq has fathered 10 calves, five of which survived birth.[203] Naluark at Shedd Aquarium has fathered four living offspring.[204] Naluark was relocated to the Mystic Aquarium in the hope that he would breed with two of their females,[205] but he did not, and in 2016 he was moved to SeaWorld Orlando.[206] The first beluga calf born in captivity in Europe was born in L'Oceanogràfic marine park in Valencia, Spain, in November 2006.[207] However, the calf died 25 days later after suffering metabolic complications, infections and not being able to feed properly.[208] A second calf was born on 16 November 2016, and was successfully maintained by artificial feeding based on enriched milk.[209]
+
+In 2009 during a free-diving competition in a tank of icy water in Harbin, China, a captive beluga brought a cramp-paralysed diver from the bottom of the pool up to the surface by holding her foot in its mouth, saving the diver's life.[210][211]
+
+Films which have publicised issues of beluga welfare include Born to Be Free,[212] Sonic Sea,[213] and Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered.[214]
+
+Whale watching has become an important activity in the recovery of the economies of towns in Quebec and Hudson Bay, near the Saint Lawrence and Churchill Rivers (in fact Churchill is considered to be the Beluga Whale Capital of the World) [215]respectively. The best time to see belugas is during the summer, when they meet in large numbers in the estuaries of the rivers and in their summer habitats.[216] The animals are easily seen due to their high numbers and their curiosity regarding the presence of humans.[216]
+
+However, the boats' presence poses a threat to the animals, as it distracts them from important activities such as feeding, social interaction and reproduction. In addition, the noise produced by the motors has an adverse effect on their auditory function and reduces their ability to detect their prey, communicate and navigate.[217] To protect these marine animals during whale-watching activities, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published a "Guide for observing marine life". The guide recommends boats carrying the whale watchers keep their distance from the cetaceans and it expressly prohibits chasing, harassing, obstructing, touching, or feeding them.[218]
+
+Some regular migrations do occur into Russian EEZ of Sea of Japan such as to Rudnaya Bay, where diving with wild belugas became a less-known but popular attraction.[219]
+
+On 25 September 2018, a beluga was sighted in the Thames Estuary and near towns along the Kent side of the Thames, being nicknamed Benny by newspapers. The whale, who was noticed by conservationists to be travelling alone, appeared to be separated from the rest of its group, and is thought to be a lost individual. Subsequent sightings were reported on the following day,[220] and continued into 2019, when local experts concluded that Benny had left the estuary.[221]
+
+Male belugas in captivity can mimic the pattern of human speech, several octaves lower than typical whale calls. It is not the first time a beluga has been known to sound human, and they often shout like children, in the wild.[222] One captive beluga, after overhearing divers using an underwater communication system, caused one of the divers to surface by imitating their order to get out of the water. Subsequent recordings confirmed that the beluga had become skilled at imitating the patterns and frequency of human speech. After several years, this beluga ceased making these sounds.[223]
+
+Prior to 2008, the beluga was listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a higher level of concern. The IUCN cited the stability of the largest sub-populations and improved census methods that indicate a larger population than previously estimated. In 2008, the beluga was reclassified as "near threatened" by the IUCN due to uncertainty about threats to their numbers and the number of belugas over parts of its range (especially the Russian Arctic), and the expectation that if current conservation efforts cease, especially hunting management, the beluga population is likely to qualify for "threatened" status within five years.[224] In June 2017, its status was reassessed to "least concern".[2]
+
+There are about 21 sub-populations of beluga whales and it is estimated that 200,000 individuals still exist, which are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[225] However, the nonmigratory Cook Inlet sub-population off the Gulf of Alaska is a separate sub-population that is listed as "critically endangered" by the IUCN as of 2006[2] and as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act as of October 2008.[226][227][228][2] This was primarily due to unregulated overharvesting of beluga whales prior to 1998. The population has remained relatively consistent, though the reported harvest has been small. As of 2016, the estimated abundance of the endangered Cook Inlet population was 293 individuals. [229] The most recent estimate in 2018 by NOAA Fisheries suggested that the population declined to 279 individuals. [229]
+
+Despite beluga whales not being threatened overall, sub-populations are being listed as critically endangered and are facing increased mortality from human actions. For example, even though commercial hunting is now banned due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, beluga whales are still being hunted to preserve the livelihood of native Alaskan communities.[230] The IUCN and NOAA Fisheries cite habitat degradation, oil and gas drilling, underwater noise, harvesting for consumption and climate change as threats to the prolonged survival of beluga whale sub-populations.[231]
+
+Beluga whale populations are currently being harvested at levels which are not sustainable and it is difficult for those harvesting beluga whales to know which sub-population they are from.[232] Because there is little protection of sub-populations, harvest will need to be managed to ensure sub-populations will survive long into the future to discover the importance of their migratory patterns and habitat use.
+
+Beluga whales, like most other arctic species, are being faced with alteration of their habitat due to climate change and melting arctic ice.[232] Changes in sea-ice has resulted in changes in the area used by Chukchi belugas, since belugas spent less time in close proximity to the ice edge in comparison to previous years. Additionally, Chukchi Sea belugas spent a prolonged amount of time in Barrow Canyon on the Beaufort Sea side in October. Chukchi sea belugas also appear to be spending more time in deeper water presently, as opposed to the 1990’s. Belugas also seemed to be taking longer and deeper dives. A hypothesis as to why this might be the case is an up-welling of rich Atlantic water in the Beaufort Sea may result in concentrated prey items like Arctic cod. The fall migration of Chukchi belugas is later, although summer and fall habitat selection has not changed. Fall migration of Chukchi belugas appears to be correlated with Beaufort Sea freeze up.[233]
+
+It is hypothesized that beluga whales utilize ice as protection from killer whale predation or for feeding on schools of fish.[234] Killer whales can penetrate further into the Arctic and remain in arctic waters for a longer period of time due to reductions in sea ice. For example, residents in Kotzebue, have reported that killer whales have been sighted more frequently in Kotzebue Sound.
+
+As annual ice cover declines, humans may gain access and disrupt beluga whale habitats.[234] For example, the number of vessels in the Arctic for gas and oil exploration, fishing, and commercial shipping has already increased and a continuous trend may lead to higher risks of injuries and deaths for beluga whales.[234]
+
+In addition, it is possible that beluga whales may face by an increased risk of entrapment from leads and cracks freezing, due to the erratic nature of climate change. Abrupt changes in weather can cause these leads and cracks to freeze ultimately causing the whales to die of suffocation.[232] An increase in urbanization will likely lead to higher concentrations of toxic pollutants in the blubber of beluga whales since they are at the top of the food chain and are affected by bio-accumulation.[234] Loss of sea ice and a change in ocean temperatures may also affect the distribution and composition of prey or affect their competition.[234] There is also some evidence that climate change can affect males and females differently. Since 1983, belugas have been increasing scarce in Kotzebue sound. However, in 2007, several hundred whales were spotted in the sound, with over 90% of the whales being male. However, more research needs to be conducted to understand how climate change affects beluga whale sex aggregation. [235]
+
+The US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, outlawing the persecution and hunting of all marine mammals within US coastal waters. The act has been amended a number of times to permit subsistence hunting by native peoples, temporary capture of restricted numbers for research, education and public display, and to decriminalise the accidental capture of individuals during fishing operations.[236] The act also states that all whales in US territorial waters are under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of NOAA.[236]
+
+To prevent hunting, belugas are protected under the 1986 International Moratorium on Commercial Whaling; however, hunting of small numbers of belugas is still allowed. Since it is very difficult to know the exact population of belugas because their habitats include inland waters away from the ocean, they easily come in contact with oil and gas development centres. To prevent whales from coming in contact with industrial waste, the Alaskan and Canadian governments are relocating sites where whales and waste come in contact.
+
+The beluga whale is listed on appendix II[237] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on appendix II[237] as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements. All toothed whales are protected under the CITES that was signed in 1973 to regulate the commercial exploitation of certain species.[238]
+
+The isolated beluga population in the Saint Lawrence River has been legally protected since 1983.[239] In 1988 Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada, a governmental agency that supervises national parks, implemented the Saint Lawrence Action Plan[240] with the aim of reducing industrial contamination by 90% by 1993; as of 1992, the emissions had been reduced by 59%.[145] The population of the St. Lawrence belugas decreased from 10,000 in 1885 to around 1,000 in the 1980 and around 900 in 2012.[241]
+
+As of 2015, there were 33 individuals housed in managed care facilities in North America.[242] These facilities are members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, aiming to understand the complex reproductive physiology of this species to improve their conservation. With the extreme difficulty of studying beluga whales in the wild and the lack of ability to collect biological samples or perform examinations on individuals, managed care facilities play a critical role.[243]
+
+Managed care facilities in North America have been able to work cooperatively to build upon the research of beluga whale reproduction and have made remarkable advances. Using operant conditioning, these facilities have trained beluga whales for voluntary biological sampling and examinations. Blood[244], urine[245], and blow samples[246] have all been collected for longitudinal hormone monitoring studies.
+
+In addition, beluga whales have undergone voluntary semen collection[242], body temperature data collection[244], reproductive tract examinations via transabdominal ultrasound, and endoscopic exams.[247] With new technology, the reproductive characteristics of both the female and male beluga whale have been accurately described and has benefited captive breeding programs globally.
+
+As more research is done, the management of beluga whales in managed care facilities can be greatly improved and may even help develop other cetacean breeding and contraceptive programs, such as that of the bottlenose dolphin.[242] Through fetal health and gestation monitoring, facilities can be more equipped to deal with pregnant animals as well.[244] While training has been done to collect beluga whale semen, only few facilities have been able to successfully do so as both saltwater and urine contamination need to be avoided.[248] Improvement of this process will help increase the success of captive breeding programs.
+
+Pour la suite du monde, is a Canadian documentary film released in 1963 about traditional beluga hunting carried out by the inhabitants of L'Isle-aux-Coudres on the Saint Lawrence River.[249]
+
+The children's singer Raffi released an album called Baby Beluga in 1980. The album starts with the sound of whales communicating, and includes songs representing the ocean and whales playing. The song "Baby Beluga" was composed after Raffi saw a recently born beluga calf in Vancouver Aquarium.[250]
+
+The fuselage design of the Airbus Beluga, one of the world's biggest cargo planes, is very similar to that of a beluga. It was originally called the Super Transporter, but the nickname Beluga became more popular and was then officially adopted.[251]
+The company paints the 2019 Beluga XL version to emphasize the plane's similarity to the Beluga whale.[252]
+
+In the 2016 Disney/Pixar animated film Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo (2003), the character Bailey is a beluga whale, and its echolocation abilities are a significant part of the plot.[253]
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+The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean of this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin.
+
+The beluga is adapted to life in the Arctic, so it has anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans. Amongst these are its all-white colour and the absence of a dorsal fin, which allows it to swim under ice with ease.[3] It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species is large and deformable. The beluga's body size is between that of a dolphin and a true whale, with males growing up to 5.5 m (18 ft) long and weighing up to 1,600 kg (3,530 lb). This whale has a stocky body. Like many cetaceans, a large percentage of its weight is blubber (subcutaneous fat). Its sense of hearing is highly developed and its echolocation allows it to move about and find breathing holes under sheet ice.
+
+Belugas are gregarious and form groups of 10 animals on average, although during the summer, they can gather in the hundreds or even thousands in estuaries and shallow coastal areas. They are slow swimmers, but can dive to 700 m (2,300 ft) below the surface. They are opportunistic feeders and their diets vary according to their locations and the season. The majority of belugas live in the Arctic Ocean and the seas and coasts around North America, Russia and Greenland; their worldwide population is thought to number around 150,000. They are migratory and the majority of groups spend the winter around the Arctic ice cap; when the sea ice melts in summer, they move to warmer river estuaries and coastal areas. Some populations are sedentary and do not migrate over great distances during the year.
+
+The native peoples of North America and Russia have hunted belugas for many centuries. They were also hunted by non-natives during the 19th century and part of the 20th century. Hunting of belugas is not controlled by the International Whaling Commission, and each country has developed its own regulations in different years. Currently some Inuit in Canada and Greenland, Alaska Native groups and Russians are allowed to hunt belugas to consume and sell; aboriginal whaling is excluded from the International Whaling Commission 1986 moratorium on hunting. The numbers have dropped substantially in Russia and Greenland, but not in Alaska and Canada. Other threats include natural predators (polar bears and killer whales), contamination of rivers (as with Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) which bioaccumulate up the food chain) and infectious diseases. The beluga was placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List in 2008 as being "near threatened"; the subpopulation from the Cook Inlet in Alaska, however, is considered critically endangered and is under the protection of the United States' Endangered Species Act. Of seven Canadian beluga populations, those inhabiting eastern Hudson Bay, Ungava Bay and the St. Lawrence River are listed as endangered.
+
+Belugas are one of the most commonly kept cetaceans in captivity and are housed in aquariums, dolphinariums and wildlife parks in North America, Europe and Asia. They are popular with the public due to their colour and expression.
+
+The beluga was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas.[1] It is a member of the Monodontidae family, which is in turn part of the parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales).[1] The Irrawaddy dolphin was once placed in the same family, though recent genetic evidence suggests these dolphins belong to the family Delphinidae.[4][5] The narwhal is the only other species within the Monodontidae besides the beluga.[6] A skull has been discovered with intermediate characteristics supporting the hypothesis that hybridisation is possible between these two species.[7]
+
+The name of the genus, Delphinapterus, means "dolphin without fin" (from the Greek δελφίν (delphin), dolphin and απτερος (apteros), without fin) and the species name leucas means "white" (from the Greek λευκας (leukas), white).[8] The Red List of Threatened Species gives both beluga and white whale as common names, though the former is now more popular. The English name comes from the Russian белуха (belukha), which derives from the word белый (bélyj), meaning "white".[8] The name beluga in Russian refers to an unrelated species, a fish, the beluga sturgeon.
+
+The whale is also colloquially known as the sea canary on account of its high-pitched squeaks, squeals, clucks and whistles. A Japanese researcher says he taught a beluga to "talk" by using these sounds to identify three different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to communicate effectively with sea mammals.[9] A similar observation has been made by Canadian researchers, where a beluga which died in 2007 "talked" when he was still a subadult. Another example is NOC, a beluga whale that could mimic the rhythm and tone of human language. Beluga whales in the wild have been reported to imitate human voices.[10]
+
+Mitochondrial DNA studies have shown modern cetaceans last shared a common ancestor between 25 and 34 million years ago[11][12] The superfamily Delphinoidea (which contains monodontids, dolphins and porpoises) split from other toothed whales, odontoceti, between 11 and 15 million years ago. Monodontids then split from dolphins (Delphinidae) and later from porpoises (Phocoenidae), their closest relatives in evolutionary terms.[11] In 2017 the genome of a beluga whale was sequenced, comprising 2.327 Gbp of assembled genomic sequence that encoded 29,581 predicted genes.[13] The authors estimated that the genome-wide sequence similarity between beluga whales and killer whales to be 97.87% ± 2.4 × 10−7% (mean ± standard deviation).
+
+The beluga's earliest known distinctive ancestors include the prehistoric Denebola brachycephala from the late Miocene epoch (9–10 million years ago),[14][15] and Bohaskaia monodontoides, from the early Pliocene (3–5 million years ago).[16] Fossil evidence from Baja California[17] and Virginia indicate the family once inhabited warmer waters.[16] A fossil of the monodontid Casatia thermophila, from five million years ago, provides the strongest evidence that monodontids once inhabited warmer waters, as the fossil was found alongside fossils of tropical species such as bull and tiger sharks.[18]
+
+The fossil record also indicates that, in comparatively recent times, the beluga's range varied with that of the polar ice packs expanding during ice ages and contracting when the ice retreated.[19] Counter-evidence to this theory[clarification needed] comes from the finding in 1849 of fossilised beluga bones in Vermont in the United States, 240 km (150 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. The bones were discovered during construction of the first railroad between Rutland and Burlington in Vermont, when workers unearthed the bones of a mysterious animal in Charlotte. Buried nearly 10 ft (3.0 m) below the surface in a thick blue clay, these bones were unlike those of any animal previously discovered in Vermont. Experts identified the bones as those of a beluga. Because Charlotte is over 150 mi (240 km) from the nearest ocean, early naturalists were at a loss to explain the presence of the bones of a marine mammal buried beneath the fields of rural Vermont.
+
+The remains were found to be preserved in the sediments of the Champlain Sea, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean within the continent resulting from the rise in sea level at the end of the ice ages some 12,000 years ago.[20] Today, the Charlotte whale is the official Vermont State Fossil (making Vermont the only state whose official fossil is that of a still extant animal).[21]
+
+Its body is round, particularly when well fed, and tapers less smoothly to the head than the tail. The sudden tapering to the base of its neck gives it the appearance of shoulders, unique among cetaceans. The tail-fin grows and becomes increasingly and ornately curved as the animal ages. The flippers are broad and short—making them almost square-shaped.
+
+Preliminary investigations suggested a beluga's life expectancy was rarely more than 30 years.[22] The method used to calculate the age of a beluga is based on counting the layers of dentin and dental cement in a specimen's teeth, which were originally thought to be deposited once or twice a year. The layers can be readily identified as one layer consists of opaque dense material and the other is transparent and less dense. It is therefore possible to estimate the age of the individual by extrapolating the number of layers identified and the estimated frequency with which the deposits are laid down.[23] A 2006 study using radiocarbon dating of the dentin layers showed the deposit of this material occurs with a lesser frequency (once per year) than was previously thought. The study therefore estimated belugas can live for 70 or 80 years.[24]However, recent studies suggest that it is unclear as to whether belugas receive a different number of layers per year depending on the age of the animal (for example young belugas may only receive an additional one layer per year), or simply just one layer per year or every other year. [25]
+
+The species presents a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism, as the males are 25% longer than the females and are sturdier.[26] Adult male belugas can range from 3.5 to 5.5 m (11 to 18 ft), while the females measure 3 to 4.1 m (9.8 to 13.5 ft).[27] Males weigh between 1,100 and 1,600 kg (2,430 and 3,530 lb), and occasionally up to 1,900 kg (4,190 lb) while females weigh between 700 and 1,200 kg (1,540 and 2,650 lb).[28][29] They rank as mid-sized species among toothed whales.[30]
+
+Individuals of both sexes reach their maximum size by the time they are 10 years old.[31] The beluga's body shape is stocky and fusiform (cone-shaped with the point facing backwards), and they frequently have folds of fat, particularly along the ventral surface.[32] Between 40% and 50% of their body weight is fat, which is a higher proportion than for cetaceans that do not inhabit the Arctic, where fat only represents 30% of body weight.[33][34] The fat forms a layer that covers all of the body except the head, and it can be up to 15 cm (5.9 in) thick. It acts as insulation in waters with temperatures between 0 and 18 °C, as well as being an important reserve during periods without food.[35]
+
+The adult beluga is rarely mistaken for any other species, because it is completely white or whitish-grey in colour.[36] Calves are usually born grey,[27] and by the time they are a month old, have turned dark grey or blue grey. They then start to progressively lose their pigmentation until they attain their distinctive white colouration, at the age of seven years in females and nine in males.[36] The white colouration of the skin is an adaptation to life in the Arctic that allows belugas to camouflage themselves in the polar ice caps as protection against their main predators, polar bears and killer whales.[37] Unlike other cetaceans, the belugas seasonally shed their skin.[38] During the winter, the epidermis thickens and the skin can become yellowish, mainly on the back and fins. When they migrate to the estuaries during the summer, they rub themselves on the gravel of the riverbeds to remove the cutaneous covering.[38]
+
+Like most toothed whales, it has a compartment found at the centre of the forehead that contains an organ used for echolocation called a melon, which contains fatty tissue.[39] The shape of the beluga's head is unlike that of any other cetacean, as the melon is extremely bulbous, lobed and visible as a large frontal prominence.[39] Another distinctive characteristic it possesses is the melon is malleable; its shape is changed during the emission of sounds.[6] The beluga is able to change the shape of its head by blowing air around its sinuses to focus the emitted sounds.[40][41] This organ contains fatty acids, mainly isovaleric acid (60.1%) and long-chain branched acids (16.9%), a very different composition from its body fat, and which could play a role in its echolocation system.[42]
+
+Unlike many dolphins and whales, the seven vertebrae in the neck are not fused together, allowing the animal to turn its head laterally without needing to rotate its body.[43] This gives the head a lateral manoeuvrability that allows an improved field of view and movement and helps in catching prey and evading predators in deep water.[37] The rostrum has about eight to ten small, blunt and slightly curved teeth on each side of the jaw and a total of 36 to 40 teeth.[44] Belugas do not use their teeth to chew, but for catching hold of their prey; they then tear them up and swallow them nearly whole.[45]
+
+Belugas only have a single spiracle, which is located on the top of the head behind the melon, and has a muscular covering, allowing it to be completely sealed. Under normal conditions, the spiracle is closed and an animal must contract the muscular covering to open the spiracle.[46] A beluga's thyroid gland is larger than that of terrestrial mammals—weighing three times more than that of a horse—which helps it to maintain a greater metabolism during the summer when it lives in river estuaries.[47] It is the marine cetacean that most frequently develops hyperplastic and neoplastic lesions of the thyroid.[48]
+
+The fins retain the bony vestiges of the beluga's mammalian ancestors, and are firmly bound together by connective tissue.[32] The fins are small in relation to the size of the body, rounded and oar-shaped and slightly curled at the tips.[8] These versatile extremities are mainly used as a rudder to control direction, to work in synchrony with the tailfin and for agile movement in shallow waters up to 3 m (9.8 ft) deep.[31] The fins also contain a mechanism for regulating body temperature, as the arteries feeding the fin's muscles are surrounded by veins that dilate or contract to gain or lose heat.[32][49] The tailfin is flat with two oar-like lobes, it does not have any bones, and is made up of hard, dense, fibrous connective tissue. The tailfin has a distinctive curvature along the lower edge.[32] The longitudinal muscles of the back provide the ascending and descending movement of the tailfin, which has a similar thermoregulation mechanism to the pectoral fins.[32]
+
+Belugas have a dorsal ridge, rather than a dorsal fin.[27] The absence of the dorsal fin is reflected in the genus name of the species—apterus the Greek word for "wingless". The evolutionary preference for a dorsal ridge rather than a fin is believed to be an adaptation to under-ice conditions, or possibly as a way of preserving heat.[6] The crest is hard and, along with the head, can be used to open holes in ice up to 8 cm (3.1 in) thick.[50]
+
+The beluga has a very specialised sense of hearing and its auditory cortex is highly developed. It can hear sounds within the range of 1.2 to 120 kHz, with the greatest sensitivity between 10 and 75 kHz,[51] where the average hearing range for humans is 0.02 to 20 kHz.[52] The majority of sounds are most probably received by the lower jaw and transmitted towards the middle ear. In the toothed whales, the lower jawbone is broad with a cavity at its base, which projects towards the place where it joins the cranium. A fatty deposit inside this small cavity connects to the middle ear.[53] Toothed whales also possess a small external auditory hole a few centimetres behind their eyes; each hole communicates with an external auditory conduit and an eardrum. It is not known if these organs are functional or simply vestigial.[53]
+
+Belugas are able to see within and outside of water, but their vision is relatively poor when compared to dolphins.[54] Their eyes are especially adapted to seeing under water, although when they come into contact with the air, the crystalline lens and the cornea adjust to overcome the associated myopia (the range of vision under water is short).[54] A beluga's retina has cones and rods, which also suggests they can see in low light. The presence of cone cells indicates they can see colours, although this suggestion has not been confirmed.[54] Glands located in the medial corner of their eyes secrete an oily, gelatinous substance that lubricates the eye and helps flush out foreign bodies. This substance forms a film that protects the cornea and the conjunctiva from pathogenic organisms.[54]
+
+Studies on captive animals show they seek frequent physical contact with other belugas.[37] Areas in the mouth have been found that could act as chemoreceptors for different tastes, and they can detect the presence of blood in water, which causes them to react immediately by displaying typical alarm behaviour.[37] Like the other toothed whales, their brains lack olfactory bulbs and olfactory nerves, which suggests they do not have a sense of smell.[39]
+
+These cetaceans are highly sociable and they regularly form small groups, or pods, that may contain between two and 25 individuals, with an average of 10 members.[55] Pods tend to be unstable, meaning individuals tend to move from pod to pod. Radio tracking has even shown belugas can start out in one pod and within a few days be hundreds of miles away from that pod.[56] Beluga whale pods can be grouped into three categories, nurseries (which consist of mother and calves), bachelors (which consist of all males) and mixed groups. Mixed groups contain animals of both sexes.[57][44] Many hundreds and even thousands of individuals can be present when the pods join together in river estuaries during the summer. This can represent a significant proportion of the total population and is when they are most vulnerable to being hunted.[58]
+
+They are cooperative animals and frequently hunt in coordinated groups.[59] The animals in a pod are very sociable and often chase each other as if they are playing or fighting, and they often rub against each other.[60] Often individuals will surface and dive together in a synchronized manner, in a behavior known as milling.
+
+In captivity, they can be seen to be constantly playing, vocalising and swimming around each other.[61] In one case, one whale blew bubbles, while the other one popped them. There have also been reports of beluga whales copying and imitating one another, similar to a game of Simon-says. Individuals have also been reported them displaying physical affection, via mouth to mouth contact.[62] They also show a great deal of curiosity towards humans and frequently approach the windows in the tanks to observe them.[63]
+
+Belugas also show a great degree of curiosity towards humans in the wild, and frequently swim alongside boats.[64] They also play with objects they find in the water; in the wild, they do this with wood, plants, dead fish and bubbles they have created.[33] During the breeding season, adults have been observed carrying objects such as plants, nets, and even the skeleton of a dead reindeer on their heads and backs.[61] Captive females have also been observed displaying this behavior, carrying items such as floats and buoys, after they have lost a calf. Experts consider this interaction with the objects to be a substitute behavior.[65]
+
+In captivity, mothering behavior among belugas depends on the individual. Some mothers are extremely attentive while other mothers are so blasé, that they have actually lost their calves. In aquaria, there have been cases where dominant females have stolen calves from mothers, particularly if they have lost a calf or if they are pregnant. After giving birth, dominant females will return the calf back to their mother. Additionally, male calves will temporarily leave their mothers to interact with an adult male who can serve as a role model for the calf, before they return to their mothers. Male calves are also frequently seen interacting with each other.[66]
+
+Belugas are slower swimmers than the other toothed whales, such as the killer whale and the common bottlenose dolphin, because they are less hydrodynamic and have limited movement of their tail-fins, which produce the greatest thrust.[67] They frequently swim at speeds between 3 and 9 km/h (1.9 and 5.6 mph), although they are able to maintain a speed of 22 km/h for up to 15 min.[44] Unlike most cetaceans, they are capable of swimming backwards.[31][68] Belugas swim on the surface between 5% and 10% of the time, while for the rest of the time they swim at a depth sufficient enough to cover their bodies.[31] They do not jump out of the water like dolphins or killer whales.[8]
+
+These animals usually only dive to depths to 20 m (66 ft),[69] although they are capable of diving to greater depths. Individual captive animals have been recorded at depths between 400 and 647 m below sea level,[70] while animals in the wild have been recorded as diving to a depth of more than 700 m, with the greatest recorded depth being over 900 m.[71] A dive normally lasts 3 to 5 minutes, but can last up to over 20 minutes.[72][44][71][73] In the shallower water of the estuaries, a diving session may last around two minutes; the sequence consists of five or six rapid, shallow dives followed by a deeper dive lasting up to one minute.[31] The average number of dives per day varies between 31 and 51.[71]
+
+All cetaceans, including belugas, have physiological adaptations designed to conserve oxygen while they are under water.[74] During a dive, these animals will reduce their heart rate from 100 beats a minute to between 12 and 20.[74] Blood flow is diverted away from certain tissues and organs and towards the brain, heart and lungs, which require a constant oxygen supply.[74] The amount of oxygen dissolved in the blood is 5.5%, which is greater than that found in land-based mammals and is similar to that of Weddell seals (a diving marine mammal). One study found a female beluga had 16.5 L of oxygen dissolved in her blood.[75] Lastly, the beluga's muscles contain high levels of the protein myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscle. Myoglobin concentrations in belugas are several times greater than for terrestrial mammals, which help prevent oxygen deficiency during dives.[76]
+
+Beluga whales often accompany bowhead whales, for curiosity and to secure polynya feasibility to breathe as bowheads are capable of breaking through ice from underwater by headbutting.[77]
+
+Belugas play an important role in the structure and function of marine resources in the Arctic Ocean, as they are the most abundant toothed whales in the region.[78] They are opportunistic feeders; their feeding habits depend on their locations and the season.[26] For example, when they are in the Beaufort Sea, they mainly eat Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) and the stomachs of belugas caught near Greenland were found to contain rose fish (Sebastes marinus), Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) and northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis),[79] while in Alaska their staple diet is Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).[80] In general, the diets of these cetaceans consist mainly of fish; apart from those previously mentioned, other fish they feed on include capelin (Mallotus villosus), smelt, sole, flounder, herring, sculpin and other types of salmon.[81] They also consume a great quantity of invertebrates, such as shrimp, squid, crabs, clams, octopus, sea snails, bristle worms and other deep-sea species.[81][82] Belugas feed mainly in winter as their blubber is thickest in later winter and early spring, and thinnest in the fall. Inuit observation has led scientists to believe that belugas do not hunt during migration, at least in Hudson Bay [83]
+
+The diet of Alaskan belugas is quite diverse and varies depending on season and migratory behavior. Belugas in the Beaufort Sea mainly feed on staghorn and shorthorn sculpin, walleye pollock, Arctic cod, saffron cod and Pacific sand lance. Shrimp are the most common invertebrate eaten, with octopus, amphipods and echiurids being other sources of invertebrate prey.The most common prey species for belugas in the Eastern Chukchi Sea appears to be shrimp, echiurid worms, cephalopods and polychaetas. The largest prey item consumed by beluga whales in the Eastern Chukchi Sea seems to be saffron cod. Beluga whales in the Eastern Bering Sea feed on a variety of fish species including saffron cod, rainbow smelt, walleye pollock, Pacific salmon, Pacific Herring and several species of flounder and sculpin. The primary invertebrate consumed is shrimp.The primary prey item in regard to fish species for belugas in Bristol Bay appears to be the five species of salmon, with sockeye being the most prevalent.  Smelt is also another common fish family eaten by belugas in this region. Shrimp is the most prevalent invertebrate prey item. The most common prey items for belugas in Cook Inlet appear to be salmon, cod and smelt.[84]
+
+Animals in captivity eat 2.5% to 3.0% of their body weight per day, which equates to 18.2 to 27.2 kg.[85] Like their wild counterparts, captive belugas were found to eat less in the fall. [86]
+
+Foraging on the seabed typically takes place at depths between 20 and 40 m,[87] although they can dive to depths of 700 m in search of food.[71] Their flexible necks provide a wide range of movement while they are searching for food on the ocean floor. Some animals have been observed to suck up water and then forcefully expel it to uncover their prey hidden in the silt on the seabed.[59] As their teeth are neither large nor sharp, belugas must use suction to bring their prey into their mouths; it also means their prey has to be consumed whole, which in turn means it cannot be too large or the belugas run the risk of it getting stuck in their throats.[88] They also join together into coordinated groups of five or more to feed on shoals of fish by steering the fish into shallow water, where the belugas then attack them.[59] For example, in the estuary of the Amur River, where they mainly feed on salmon, groups of six or eight individuals join together to surround a shoal of fish and prevent their escape. Individuals then take turns feeding on the fish.[50]
+
+Estimations of the age of sexual maturity for beluga whales vary considerably; the majority of authors estimate males reach sexual maturity when they are between nine and fifteen years old, and females reach maturity when they are between eight and fourteen years old.[89] The average age at which females first give birth is 8.5 years and fertility begins to decrease when they are 25, eventually undergoing menopause,[90] and ceasing reproductive potential with no births recorded for females older than 41.[89]
+
+Female belugas typically give birth to one calf every three years.[27] Most mating occurs usually February through May, but some mating occurs at other times of year.[6] The beluga may have delayed implantation.[6] Gestation has been estimated to last 12.0 to 14.5 months,[27] but information derived from captive females suggests a longer gestation period up to 475 days (15.8 months).[91] During the mating season, the testes mass of belugas will double in weight. Testosterone levels increase, but seems to be independent of copulation. Copulation typically takes place between 3 and 4 AM. [92]
+
+Calves are born over a protracted period that varies by location. In the Canadian Arctic, calves are born between March and September, while in Hudson Bay, the peak calving period is in late June, and in Cumberland Sound, most calves are born from late July to early August.[93] Births usually take place in bays or estuaries where the water is warm with a temperature of 10 to 15 °C.[55] Newborns are about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long, weigh about 80 kg (180 lb), and are grey in colour.[44] They are able to swim alongside their mothers immediately after birth.[94] The newborn calves nurse under water and initiate lactation a few hours after birth; thereafter, they feed at intervals around an hour.[59] Studies of captive females have indicated their milk composition varies between individuals and with the stage of lactation; it has an average content of 28% fat, 11% protein, 60.3% water, and less than 1% residual solids.[95] The milk contains about 92 cal per ounce.[96]
+
+The calves remain dependent on their mothers for nursing for the first year, when their teeth appear.[55] After this, they start to supplement their diets with shrimp and small fish.[39] The majority of the calves continue nursing until they are 20 months old, although occasionally lactation can continue for more than two years,[44] and lactational anoestrus may not occur. Alloparenting (care by females different from the mother) has been observed in captive belugas, including spontaneous and long-term milk production. This suggests this behaviour, which is also seen in other mammals, may be present in belugas in the wild.[97]
+
+Hybrids have been documented between the beluga and the narwhal (specifically offspring conceived by a beluga father and a narwhal mother), as one, perhaps even as many as three, such hybrids were killed and harvested during a sustenance hunt. Whether or not these hybrids could breed remains unknown. The unusual dentition seen in the single remaining skull indicates the hybrid hunted on the seabed, much as walruses do, indicating feeding habits different from those of either parent species.[98][99]
+
+Belugas use sounds and echolocation for movement, communication, to find breathing holes in the ice, and to hunt in dark or turbid waters.[40] They produce a rapid sequence of clicks that pass through the melon, which acts as an acoustic lens to focus the sounds into a beam that is projected forward through the surrounding water.[96] These sounds spread through the water at a speed of nearly 1.6 km per second, some four times faster than the speed of sound in air. The sound waves reflect from objects and return as echoes that are heard and interpreted by the animal.[40] This enables them to determine the distance, speed, size, shape and the object's internal structure within the beam of sound. They use this ability when moving around thick Arctic ice sheets, to find areas of unfrozen water for breathing, or air pockets trapped under the ice.[55]
+
+Some evidence indicates that belugas are highly sensitive to noise produced by humans. In one study, the maximum frequencies produced by an individual located in San Diego Bay, California, were between 40 and 60 kHz. The same individual produced sounds with a maximum frequency of 100 to 120 kHz when transferred to Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. The difference in frequencies is thought to be a response to the difference in environmental noise in the two areas.[100]
+
+These animals communicate using sounds of high frequency; their calls can sound like bird songs, so belugas were nicknamed "canaries of the sea".[101] Like the other toothed whales, belugas do not possess vocal cords and the sounds are probably produced by the movement of air between the nasal sacks, which are located near to the blowhole.[40]
+
+As a, toothed whale, beluga calls can be broken down into the categories of whistles, clicks and burst calls. Whistles tend to indicate social communication while clicks indicate navigation and foraging. Burst calls tend to indicate aggression. [102]
+
+Belugas are among the most vocal cetaceans.[103] They use their vocalisations for echolocation, during mating and for communication. They possess a large repertoire, emitting up to 11 different sounds, such as cackles, whistles, trills and squawks.[40] They make sounds by grinding their teeth or splashing, but they rarely use body language to make visual displays with their pectoral fins or tailfins, nor do they perform somersaults or jumps in the way other species do, such as dolphins.[40]
+
+There is heavy debate as to whether cetacean vocalizations can constitute a language. A study conducted in 2015 determined that European beluga signals share physical features comparable to “vowels.” These sounds were found to be stable throughout time, but varied among different geographical locations. The further away the populations were from each other, the more varied the sounds were in relation to one another. [104]
+
+The beluga inhabits a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters.[105] During the summer, they can mainly be found in deep waters ranging from 76°N to 80°N, particularly along the coasts of Alaska, northern Canada, western Greenland and northern Russia.[105] The southernmost extent of their range includes isolated populations in the St. Lawrence River in the Atlantic,[106] and the Amur River delta, the Shantar Islands and the waters surrounding Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk.[107]
+
+Belugas have a seasonal migratory pattern.[108] Migration patterns are passed from parents to offspring. Some travel as far as 6,000 kilometres per year.[109] When the summer sites become blocked with ice during the autumn, they move to spend the winter in the open sea alongside the pack ice or in areas covered with ice, surviving by using polynyas to surface and breathe.[110] In summer after the sheet ice has melted, they move to coastal areas with shallower water (1–3 m deep), although sometimes they migrate towards deeper waters (>800 m).[108] In the summer, they occupy estuaries and the waters of the continental shelf, and, on occasion, they even swim up the rivers.[108] A number of incidents have been reported where groups or individuals have been found hundreds or even thousands of kilometres from the ocean.[111][112] One such example comes from June 9, 2006, when a young beluga carcass was found in the Tanana River near Fairbanks in central Alaska, nearly 1,700 km (1,100 mi) from the nearest ocean habitat. Belugas sometimes follow migrating fish, leading Alaska state biologist Tom Seaton to speculate it had followed migrating salmon up the river at some point in the previous autumn.[113] The rivers they most often travel up include: the Northern Dvina, the Mezen, the Pechora, the Ob and the Yenisei in Asia; the Yukon and the Kuskokwim in Alaska, and the Saint Lawrence in Canada.[105] Spending time in a river has been shown to stimulate an animal's metabolism and facilitates the seasonal renewal of the epidermal layer.[47] In addition, the rivers represent a safe haven for newborn calves where they will not be preyed upon by killer whales.[6] Calves often return to the same estuary as their mother in the summer, meeting her sometimes even after becoming fully mature.[114] However, not all beluga whale populations summer in estuaries. Belugas from the Beaufort Sea stock were found to summer along the Eastern Beaufort Sea shelf, Amundsen Gulf and slope regions north and west of Banks Island, in addition to core areas in the Mackenzie River Estuary. Male belugas have been observed summering in deeper waters along Viscount Melville Sound, in depths of up to 600 meters. The bulk of Eastern Chukchi Sea belugas summer over Barrow canyon.[115]
+
+The migration season is relatively predictable, as it is basically determined by the amount of daylight and not by other variable physical or biological factors, such as the condition of the sea ice.[116] Vagrants may travel further south to areas such as Irish[117] and Scottish waters,[118] the islands of Orkney[119] and Hebrides,[120] and to Japanese waters.[121] There had been several vagrant individuals[122] that have demonstrated seasonal residencies at Volcano Bay,[123][124][125] and a unique whale were used to return annually to areas adjacent to Shibetsu in Nemuro Strait in the 2000s.[126] On rarer occasions, individuals of vagrancy can reach the Korean Peninsula.[127] A few other individuals have been confirmed to return to the coasts of Hokkaido, and one particular individual became a resident in brackish waters of Lake Notoro since in 2014.[128][129]
+
+Some populations are not migratory and certain resident groups will stay in well-defined areas, such as in Cook Inlet, the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River and Cumberland Sound.[130] The population in Cook Inlet stays in the waters furthest inside the inlet during the summer until the end of autumn. Then during the winter, they disperse to the deeper water in the center of the inlet, but without completely leaving it.[131][132]
+
+In April, the animals that spend the winter in the center and southwest of the Bering Sea move to the north coast of Alaska and the east coast of Russia.[130] The populations living in the Ungava Bay and the eastern and western sides of Hudson Bay overwinter together beneath the sea ice in Hudson Strait. Whales in James Bay that spend winter months within the basin, could be a distinct group from those in Hudson Bay.[133] The populations of the White Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea overwinter in the Barents Sea.[130] In the spring, the groups separate and migrate to their respective summer sites.[130]
+
+Belugas exploit a varied range of habitats; they are most commonly seen in shallow waters close to the coast, but they have also been reported to live for extended periods in deeper water, where they feed and give birth to their young.[130]
+
+In coastal areas, they can be found in coves, fjords, canals, bays and shallow waters in the Arctic Ocean that are continuously lit by sunlight.[33] They are also often seen during the summer in river estuaries, where they feed, socialize and give birth to young. These waters usually have a temperature between 8 and 10 °C.[33] The mudflats of Cook Inlet in Alaska are a popular location for these animals to spend the first few months of summer.[134] In the eastern Beaufort Sea, female belugas with their young and immature males prefer the open waters close to land, while the adult males live in waters covered by ice near the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The younger males and females with slightly older young can be found nearer to the ice shelf.[135] Generally, the use of different habitats in summer reflects differences in feeding habits, risk from predators and reproductive factors for each of the subpopulations.[26]
+
+There are currently 22 stocks of beluga whales recognized: [136]
+
+1.	James Bay- 14,500 individuals (belugas remain here all year round)
+2.	Western Hudson Bay- 55,000 individuals 
+3.	Eastern Hudson Bay- 3,400-3,800 individuals 
+4.	Cumberland Sound- 1,151 individuals 
+5.	Ungava Bay- 32 individuals (maybe functionally extinct)
+6.	St. Lawrence River Estuary- 889 individuals 
+7.	Eastern Canadian Arctic- 21,400 individuals 
+8.	Southwest Greenland- Extinct
+9.	Eastern Chukchi Sea- 20,700 individuals 
+10.	Eastern Bering Sea- 7,000-9,200 individuals 
+11.	Eastern Beaufort Sea- 39,300 individuals 
+12.	Bristol Bay- 2,000-3,000 individuals 
+13.	Cook Inlet- 300 individuals 
+14.	White Sea- 5,600 individuals
+15.	Kara Sea/Laptev Sea/Barents Sea- Data Deficient
+16.	Ulbansky- 2,300
+17.	Anadyr- 3,000
+18.	Shelikhov- 2,666
+19.	Sakhalin/Amur- 4,000 individuals 
+20.	Tugurskiy- 1,500 individuals 
+21.	Udskaya- 2,500 individuals 
+22.	Svalbard- 529 individuals
+
+The Yakatat Bay belugas are not considered to be a true stock because they have only been present in these waters since the 1980s, and are believed to be of Cook Inlet origin. It is estimated that less than 20 whales inhabit the bay year-round. Overall the beluga population is estimated to be between 150,000-200,000 animals.
+
+The native populations of the Arctic in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia hunt belugas, for both consumption and profit. Belugas have been easy prey for hunters due to their predictable migration patterns and the high population density in estuaries and surrounding coastal areas during the summer.[137]
+
+The number of animals killed is about 1,000 per year, (see table below. and its sources).  Beluga whale hunting quotas in Canada and the United States are established using the Potential Biological Removal equation PBR = Nmin * 0.5 * Rmax * FR, to determine what constitutes a sustainable hunt. Nmin represents a conservative estimation of the population size, Rmax, represents the maximum rate of population increase and FR represents the recovery factor. [138]
+
+Hunters in Hudson's Bay rarely eat the meat. They give a little to dogs, and leave the rest for wild animals.[139] Other areas may dry the meat for later consumption by humans. In Greenland the skin (muktuk) is sold commercially to fish factories,[140] and in Canada to other communities.[139] An average of one or two vertebrae and one or two teeth per beluga are carved and sold.[139] One estimate of the annual gross value received from Beluga hunts in Hudson Bay in 2013 was CA$600,000 for 190 belugas, or CA$3,000 per beluga. However, the net income, after subtracting costs in time and equipment, was a loss of CA$60 per person. Hunts receive subsidies, but they continue as a tradition, rather than for the money, and the economic analysis noted that whale watching may be an alternate revenue source. Of the gross income, CA$550,000 was for skin and meat, to replace beef, pork and chickens which would otherwise be bought. CA$50,000 was received for carved vertebrae and teeth.[139]
+
+Russia now harvests 5 to 30 belugas per year for meat and captures an additional 20 to 30 per year for live export to Chinese aquaria.[141][142] However, in 2018, 100 were illegally captured for live export.[143][144]
+
+Previous levels of commercial whaling have put the species in danger of extinction in areas such as Cook Inlet, Ungava Bay, the St. Lawrence River and western Greenland. Continued hunting by the native peoples may mean some populations will continue to decline.[145] Northern Canadian sites are the focus of discussions between local communities and the Canadian government, with the objective of permitting sustainable hunting that does not put the species at risk of extinction.[146]
+
+The total amount of landed (defined as belugas successfully hunted and retrieved) belugas averages 275 in regard to the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort stocks from 1987-2006.  The average annual landed harvest of belugas in the Beaufort Sea consisted of 39 individuals while the Chukchi harvest averaged 62 individuals. Bristol bay’s annual average landed harvest was 17 while the Bering Sea’s was 152. Statistical studies have demonstrated that subsistence hunting in Alaska did not significantly impact the population of the Alaskan beluga whale stocks. The number of belugas struck and lost did not seem to profoundly impact Chukchi and Bering Sea belugas.[147]
+
+Commercial whaling by European, American and Russian whalers during the 18th and 19th centuries decreased beluga populations in the Arctic.[137][148][149] The animals were hunted for their meat and blubber, while the Europeans used the oil from the melon as a lubricant for clocks, machinery and lighting in lighthouses.[137] Mineral oil replaced whale oil in the 1860s, but the hunting of these animals continued unabated. In 1863, the cured skin could be used to make horse harnesses, machine belts for saw mills and shoelaces. These manufactured items ensured the hunting of belugas continued for the rest of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.[150] The cured skin is the only cetacean skin that is sufficiently thick to be used as leather.[137] In fact, their skin is so thick, that it was even used to manufacture some of the first bulletproof vests.[151]
+
+Russia had large hunts, peaking in the 1930s at 4,000 per year and the 1960s at 7,000 per year, for a total of 86,000 from 1915 to 2014.[141][148] Canada hunted a total of 54,000 from 1731 to 1970.[152] Between 1868 and 1911, Scottish and American whalers killed more than 20,000 belugas in Lancaster Sound and Davis Strait.[137]
+
+During the 1920s, fishermen in the Saint Lawrence River estuary considered belugas to be a threat to the fishing industry, as they eat large quantities of cod, salmon, tuna and other fish caught by the local fishermen.[150] The presence of belugas in the estuary was, therefore, considered to be undesirable; in 1928, the Government of Quebec offered a reward of 15 dollars for each dead beluga.[153] The Quebec Department of Fisheries launched a study into the influence of these cetaceans on local fish populations in 1938. The unrestricted killing of belugas continued into the 1950s, when the supposed voracity of the belugas was found to be overestimated and did not adversely affect fish populations.[150] L'Isle-aux-Coudres is the setting for the classic 1963 National Film Board of Canada documentary Pour la suite du monde, which depicts a one-off resurrection of the beluga hunt; one animal is caught live, and transported by truck to an aquarium in the big city. The method of capture is akin to dolphin drive hunting.
+
+2003–16[160]
+
+During the winter, belugas commonly become trapped in the ice without being able to escape to open water, which may be several kilometres away.[166] Polar bears take particular advantage of these situations and are able to locate the belugas using their sense of smell. The bears swipe at the belugas and drag them onto the ice to eat them.[28] They are able to capture large individuals in this way; in one documented incident, a bear weighing between 150 and 180 kg was able to capture an animal that weighed 935 kg.[167]
+
+Killer whales are able to capture both young and adult belugas.[28] They live in all the seas of the world and share the same habitat as belugas in the sub-Arctic region. Attacks on belugas by killer whales have been reported in the waters of Greenland, Russia, Canada and Alaska.[168][169] A number of killings have been recorded in Cook Inlet, and experts are concerned the predation by killer whales will impede the recovery of this sub-population, which has already been badly depleted by hunting.[168] The killer whales arrive at the beginning of August, but the belugas are occasionally able to hear their presence and evade them. The groups near to or under the sea ice have a degree of protection, as the killer whale's large dorsal fin, up to 2 m in length, impedes their movement under the ice and does not allow them to get sufficiently close to the breathing holes in the ice.[33] Beluga whale behavior under killer whale predation makes them vulnerable to hunters. When killer whales are present, large numbers of beluga whales congregate in the shallows for protection, which allows them to be hunted in droves.
+
+The beluga is considered an excellent sentinel species (indicator of environment health and changes), because it is long-lived, at the top of the food web, bears large amounts of fat and blubber, relatively well-studied for a cetacean, and still somewhat common.
+
+Human pollution can be a threat to belugas' health when they congregate in river estuaries. Chemical substances such as DDT and heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium have been found in individuals of the Saint Lawrence River population.[170] Local beluga carcasses contain so many contaminants, they are treated as toxic waste.[171] Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls between 240 and 800 ppm have been found in belugas' brains, liver and muscles, with the highest levels found in males.[172] These levels are significantly greater than those found in Arctic populations.[173] These substances have a proven adverse effect on these cetaceans, as they cause cancers, reproductive diseases and the deterioration of the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to pneumonias, ulcers, cysts, tumours and bacterial infections.[173] Although the populations that inhabit the river estuaries run the greatest risk of contamination, high levels of zinc, cadmium, mercury and selenium have also been found in the muscles, livers and kidneys of animals that live in the open sea.[174]Mercury is a particular area of concern. The concentration of Mercury in Beaufort Sea belugas tripled from the 1980’s to the 1990’s. However, mercury concentration has decreased in Beaufort belugas as of the 21st century, possibly due to changes in dietary preference. Larger body sized belugas tend to have more mercury than smaller sized belugas, because they spend more time offshore, hunting prey such as cod and shrimp, which have more mercury.[175]
+
+From a sample of 129 beluga adults from the Saint Lawrence River examined between 1983 and 1999, a total of 27% had suffered cancer.[176] This is a higher percentage than that documented for other populations of this species and is much higher than for other cetaceans and for the majority of terrestrial mammals; in fact, the rate is only comparable to the levels found in humans and some domesticated animals.[176] For example, the rate of intestinal cancer in the sample is much higher than for humans. This condition is thought to be directly related to environmental contamination, in this case by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and coincides with the high incidence of this disease in humans residing in the area.[176] The prevalence of tumours suggests the contaminants identified in the animals that inhabit the estuary are having a direct carcinogenic effect or they are at least causing an immunological deterioration that is reducing the inhabitants' resistance to the disease.[177]
+
+Indirect human disturbance may also be a threat. While some populations tolerate small boats, most actively try to avoid ships. Whale-watching has become a booming activity in the St. Lawrence and Churchill River areas, and acoustic contamination from this activity appears to have an effect on belugas. For example, a correlation appears to exist between the passage of belugas across the mouth of the Saguenay River, which has decreased by 60%, and the increase in the use of recreational motorboats in the area.[178] A dramatic decrease has also been recorded in the number of calls between animals (decreasing from 3.4 to 10.5 calls/min to 0 or <1) after exposure to the noise produced by ships, the effect being most persistent and pronounced with larger ships such as ferries than with smaller boats.[179] Belugas can detect the presence of large ships (for example icebreakers) up to 50 km away, and they move rapidly in the opposite direction or perpendicular to the ship following the edge of the sea ice for distances of up to 80 km to avoid them. The presence of shipping produces avoidance behaviour, causing deeper dives for feeding, the break-up of groups, and asynchrony in dives.[180]
+
+As with any animal population, a number of pathogens cause death and disease in belugas, including viruses, bacteria, protozoans and fungi, which mainly cause skin, intestinal and respiratory infections.[181]
+
+Papillomaviruses have been found in the stomachs of belugas in the Saint Lawrence River. Animals in this location have also been recorded as suffering infections caused by herpesviruses and in certain cases to be suffering from encephalitis caused by the protozoan Sarcocystis. Cases have been recorded of ciliate protozoa colonising the spiracle of certain individuals, but they are not thought to be pathogens or are not very harmful.[182]:26, 303, 359
+
+The bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, which probably comes from eating infected fish, poses a threat to belugas kept in captivity, causing anorexia and dermal plaques and lesions that can lead to sepsis.[182]:26, 303, 359 This condition can cause death if it is not diagnosed and treated in time with antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin.[183][182][182]:316–7
+
+A study of infections caused by parasitic worms in a number of individuals of both sexes found the presence of larvae from a species from the genus Contracaecum in their stomachs and intestines, Anisakis simplex in their stomachs, Pharurus pallasii in their ear canals, Hadwenius seymouri in their intestines and Leucasiella arctica in their rectums.[184]
+
+Belugas were among the first whale species to be kept in captivity. The first beluga was shown at Barnum's Museum in New York City in 1861.[185] For most of the 20th century, Canada was the predominant source for belugas destined for exhibition. Throughout the early 1960s, belugas were taken from the St. Lawrence River estuary. In 1967, the Churchill River estuary became the main source from which belugas were captured. This continued until 1992, when the practice was banned.[152] Since Canada ceased to be the supplier of these animals, Russia has become the largest provider.[152] Individuals are caught in the Amur River delta and the far eastern seas of the country, and then are either transported domestically to aquaria in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi, or exported to foreign nations, including China[142] and formerly Canada.[152] Canada has now banned the practice of holding new animals in captivity.[186]
+
+To provide some enrichment while in captivity, aquaria train belugas to perform behaviours for the public[187] and for medical exams, such as blood draws,[188] ultrasound,[189] providing toys,[187] and allowing the public to play recorded or live music.[190]
+
+Between 1960 and 1992, the United States Navy carried out a program that included the study of marine mammals' abilities with echolocation, with the objective of improving the detection of underwater objects. The program started with dolphins, but a large number of belugas were also used from 1975 onwards.[191] The program included training these mammals to carry equipment and material to divers working under water, the location of lost objects, surveillance of ships and submarines, and underwater monitoring using cameras held in their mouths.[191] A similar program was implemented by the Soviet Navy during the Cold War, in which belugas were also trained for antimining operations in Arctic waters.[170] It is possible this program continues within the Russian Navy, as on April 24, 2019 a tame beluga whale wearing a Russian equipment harness was found by fishermen near the Norwegian island of Ingøya.[192]
+
+Belugas released from captivity have difficulties adapting to life in the wild, but if not fed by humans they may have a chance to join a group of wild belugas and learn to feed themselves, according to Audun Rikardsen of the University of Tromsø.[193]
+
+In 2019, a sanctuary in Iceland was established for belugas that retired from a marine park in China. A British company, Merlin Entertainments, bought the park in 2012, as part of an Australian chain, and it is one of their largest aquaria.[194] Merlin has a policy against captive cetaceans, so they sponsored a 32,000-square-metre sea pen as a sanctuary. The 12-year-old belugas, caught in Russia and raised in captivity, do not know how to live in the wild.[195][196] The cost is variously listed as ISK 3,000,000 (US$24,000) or US$27,000,000.[195] Merlin was owned until 2015 by Blackstone Group, which also owned SeaWorld[197] until selling its last stake in 2017 to a Chinese company which will use SeaWorld's expertise to expand in China;[198] SeaWorld still keeps belugas in captivity.
+
+Belugas are the only whale species kept in aquaria and marine parks. They are displayed across North America, Europe and Asia.[152] As of 2006, 58 belugas were held in captivity in Canada and the United States, and 42 deaths in US captivity had been reported up to that time. A single specimen costs up to US$100,000, although the price has now dropped to US$70,000.[199][152] As of January 2018, according to the nonprofit Ceta Base, which tracks belugas and dolphins under human care, there were 81 captive belugas in Canada and the United States, and unknown numbers in the rest of the world.[200][199][201] The beluga's popularity with visitors reflects its attractive colour and its range of facial expressions. The latter is possible because while most cetacean "smiles" are fixed, the extra movement afforded by the beluga's unfused cervical vertebrae allows a greater range of apparent expression.[43]
+
+Most belugas found in aquaria are caught in the wild, as captive-breeding programs have not had much success so far.[202] For example, despite best efforts, as of 2010, only two male whales had been successfully used as stud animals in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums  beluga population, Nanuq at SeaWorld San Diego and Naluark at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, USA. Nanuq has fathered 10 calves, five of which survived birth.[203] Naluark at Shedd Aquarium has fathered four living offspring.[204] Naluark was relocated to the Mystic Aquarium in the hope that he would breed with two of their females,[205] but he did not, and in 2016 he was moved to SeaWorld Orlando.[206] The first beluga calf born in captivity in Europe was born in L'Oceanogràfic marine park in Valencia, Spain, in November 2006.[207] However, the calf died 25 days later after suffering metabolic complications, infections and not being able to feed properly.[208] A second calf was born on 16 November 2016, and was successfully maintained by artificial feeding based on enriched milk.[209]
+
+In 2009 during a free-diving competition in a tank of icy water in Harbin, China, a captive beluga brought a cramp-paralysed diver from the bottom of the pool up to the surface by holding her foot in its mouth, saving the diver's life.[210][211]
+
+Films which have publicised issues of beluga welfare include Born to Be Free,[212] Sonic Sea,[213] and Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered.[214]
+
+Whale watching has become an important activity in the recovery of the economies of towns in Quebec and Hudson Bay, near the Saint Lawrence and Churchill Rivers (in fact Churchill is considered to be the Beluga Whale Capital of the World) [215]respectively. The best time to see belugas is during the summer, when they meet in large numbers in the estuaries of the rivers and in their summer habitats.[216] The animals are easily seen due to their high numbers and their curiosity regarding the presence of humans.[216]
+
+However, the boats' presence poses a threat to the animals, as it distracts them from important activities such as feeding, social interaction and reproduction. In addition, the noise produced by the motors has an adverse effect on their auditory function and reduces their ability to detect their prey, communicate and navigate.[217] To protect these marine animals during whale-watching activities, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published a "Guide for observing marine life". The guide recommends boats carrying the whale watchers keep their distance from the cetaceans and it expressly prohibits chasing, harassing, obstructing, touching, or feeding them.[218]
+
+Some regular migrations do occur into Russian EEZ of Sea of Japan such as to Rudnaya Bay, where diving with wild belugas became a less-known but popular attraction.[219]
+
+On 25 September 2018, a beluga was sighted in the Thames Estuary and near towns along the Kent side of the Thames, being nicknamed Benny by newspapers. The whale, who was noticed by conservationists to be travelling alone, appeared to be separated from the rest of its group, and is thought to be a lost individual. Subsequent sightings were reported on the following day,[220] and continued into 2019, when local experts concluded that Benny had left the estuary.[221]
+
+Male belugas in captivity can mimic the pattern of human speech, several octaves lower than typical whale calls. It is not the first time a beluga has been known to sound human, and they often shout like children, in the wild.[222] One captive beluga, after overhearing divers using an underwater communication system, caused one of the divers to surface by imitating their order to get out of the water. Subsequent recordings confirmed that the beluga had become skilled at imitating the patterns and frequency of human speech. After several years, this beluga ceased making these sounds.[223]
+
+Prior to 2008, the beluga was listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a higher level of concern. The IUCN cited the stability of the largest sub-populations and improved census methods that indicate a larger population than previously estimated. In 2008, the beluga was reclassified as "near threatened" by the IUCN due to uncertainty about threats to their numbers and the number of belugas over parts of its range (especially the Russian Arctic), and the expectation that if current conservation efforts cease, especially hunting management, the beluga population is likely to qualify for "threatened" status within five years.[224] In June 2017, its status was reassessed to "least concern".[2]
+
+There are about 21 sub-populations of beluga whales and it is estimated that 200,000 individuals still exist, which are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[225] However, the nonmigratory Cook Inlet sub-population off the Gulf of Alaska is a separate sub-population that is listed as "critically endangered" by the IUCN as of 2006[2] and as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act as of October 2008.[226][227][228][2] This was primarily due to unregulated overharvesting of beluga whales prior to 1998. The population has remained relatively consistent, though the reported harvest has been small. As of 2016, the estimated abundance of the endangered Cook Inlet population was 293 individuals. [229] The most recent estimate in 2018 by NOAA Fisheries suggested that the population declined to 279 individuals. [229]
+
+Despite beluga whales not being threatened overall, sub-populations are being listed as critically endangered and are facing increased mortality from human actions. For example, even though commercial hunting is now banned due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, beluga whales are still being hunted to preserve the livelihood of native Alaskan communities.[230] The IUCN and NOAA Fisheries cite habitat degradation, oil and gas drilling, underwater noise, harvesting for consumption and climate change as threats to the prolonged survival of beluga whale sub-populations.[231]
+
+Beluga whale populations are currently being harvested at levels which are not sustainable and it is difficult for those harvesting beluga whales to know which sub-population they are from.[232] Because there is little protection of sub-populations, harvest will need to be managed to ensure sub-populations will survive long into the future to discover the importance of their migratory patterns and habitat use.
+
+Beluga whales, like most other arctic species, are being faced with alteration of their habitat due to climate change and melting arctic ice.[232] Changes in sea-ice has resulted in changes in the area used by Chukchi belugas, since belugas spent less time in close proximity to the ice edge in comparison to previous years. Additionally, Chukchi Sea belugas spent a prolonged amount of time in Barrow Canyon on the Beaufort Sea side in October. Chukchi sea belugas also appear to be spending more time in deeper water presently, as opposed to the 1990’s. Belugas also seemed to be taking longer and deeper dives. A hypothesis as to why this might be the case is an up-welling of rich Atlantic water in the Beaufort Sea may result in concentrated prey items like Arctic cod. The fall migration of Chukchi belugas is later, although summer and fall habitat selection has not changed. Fall migration of Chukchi belugas appears to be correlated with Beaufort Sea freeze up.[233]
+
+It is hypothesized that beluga whales utilize ice as protection from killer whale predation or for feeding on schools of fish.[234] Killer whales can penetrate further into the Arctic and remain in arctic waters for a longer period of time due to reductions in sea ice. For example, residents in Kotzebue, have reported that killer whales have been sighted more frequently in Kotzebue Sound.
+
+As annual ice cover declines, humans may gain access and disrupt beluga whale habitats.[234] For example, the number of vessels in the Arctic for gas and oil exploration, fishing, and commercial shipping has already increased and a continuous trend may lead to higher risks of injuries and deaths for beluga whales.[234]
+
+In addition, it is possible that beluga whales may face by an increased risk of entrapment from leads and cracks freezing, due to the erratic nature of climate change. Abrupt changes in weather can cause these leads and cracks to freeze ultimately causing the whales to die of suffocation.[232] An increase in urbanization will likely lead to higher concentrations of toxic pollutants in the blubber of beluga whales since they are at the top of the food chain and are affected by bio-accumulation.[234] Loss of sea ice and a change in ocean temperatures may also affect the distribution and composition of prey or affect their competition.[234] There is also some evidence that climate change can affect males and females differently. Since 1983, belugas have been increasing scarce in Kotzebue sound. However, in 2007, several hundred whales were spotted in the sound, with over 90% of the whales being male. However, more research needs to be conducted to understand how climate change affects beluga whale sex aggregation. [235]
+
+The US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, outlawing the persecution and hunting of all marine mammals within US coastal waters. The act has been amended a number of times to permit subsistence hunting by native peoples, temporary capture of restricted numbers for research, education and public display, and to decriminalise the accidental capture of individuals during fishing operations.[236] The act also states that all whales in US territorial waters are under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of NOAA.[236]
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+To prevent hunting, belugas are protected under the 1986 International Moratorium on Commercial Whaling; however, hunting of small numbers of belugas is still allowed. Since it is very difficult to know the exact population of belugas because their habitats include inland waters away from the ocean, they easily come in contact with oil and gas development centres. To prevent whales from coming in contact with industrial waste, the Alaskan and Canadian governments are relocating sites where whales and waste come in contact.
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+The beluga whale is listed on appendix II[237] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on appendix II[237] as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements. All toothed whales are protected under the CITES that was signed in 1973 to regulate the commercial exploitation of certain species.[238]
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+The isolated beluga population in the Saint Lawrence River has been legally protected since 1983.[239] In 1988 Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada, a governmental agency that supervises national parks, implemented the Saint Lawrence Action Plan[240] with the aim of reducing industrial contamination by 90% by 1993; as of 1992, the emissions had been reduced by 59%.[145] The population of the St. Lawrence belugas decreased from 10,000 in 1885 to around 1,000 in the 1980 and around 900 in 2012.[241]
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+As of 2015, there were 33 individuals housed in managed care facilities in North America.[242] These facilities are members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, aiming to understand the complex reproductive physiology of this species to improve their conservation. With the extreme difficulty of studying beluga whales in the wild and the lack of ability to collect biological samples or perform examinations on individuals, managed care facilities play a critical role.[243]
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+Managed care facilities in North America have been able to work cooperatively to build upon the research of beluga whale reproduction and have made remarkable advances. Using operant conditioning, these facilities have trained beluga whales for voluntary biological sampling and examinations. Blood[244], urine[245], and blow samples[246] have all been collected for longitudinal hormone monitoring studies.
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+In addition, beluga whales have undergone voluntary semen collection[242], body temperature data collection[244], reproductive tract examinations via transabdominal ultrasound, and endoscopic exams.[247] With new technology, the reproductive characteristics of both the female and male beluga whale have been accurately described and has benefited captive breeding programs globally.
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+As more research is done, the management of beluga whales in managed care facilities can be greatly improved and may even help develop other cetacean breeding and contraceptive programs, such as that of the bottlenose dolphin.[242] Through fetal health and gestation monitoring, facilities can be more equipped to deal with pregnant animals as well.[244] While training has been done to collect beluga whale semen, only few facilities have been able to successfully do so as both saltwater and urine contamination need to be avoided.[248] Improvement of this process will help increase the success of captive breeding programs.
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+Pour la suite du monde, is a Canadian documentary film released in 1963 about traditional beluga hunting carried out by the inhabitants of L'Isle-aux-Coudres on the Saint Lawrence River.[249]
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+The children's singer Raffi released an album called Baby Beluga in 1980. The album starts with the sound of whales communicating, and includes songs representing the ocean and whales playing. The song "Baby Beluga" was composed after Raffi saw a recently born beluga calf in Vancouver Aquarium.[250]
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+The fuselage design of the Airbus Beluga, one of the world's biggest cargo planes, is very similar to that of a beluga. It was originally called the Super Transporter, but the nickname Beluga became more popular and was then officially adopted.[251]
+The company paints the 2019 Beluga XL version to emphasize the plane's similarity to the Beluga whale.[252]
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+In the 2016 Disney/Pixar animated film Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo (2003), the character Bailey is a beluga whale, and its echolocation abilities are a significant part of the plot.[253]
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