The nave is where the congregation sits in a church. It usually has long benches, called 'pews', or separate chairs.

Naves are found in humble Saxon churches, and in grand Romanesque and Gothic Christian Abbeys, Cathedrals, and Basilicas.

The nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. 'Nave' (Medieval Latin navis, "ship") was probably suggested by the shape of its vaulting resembling an upside-down hull (bottom of a ship).

 The nave of a church goes from the entry hall to the chancel. It is flanked by aisles separated from the nave by an arcade. If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave, the structure is sometimes said to have three naves.

References

Architectural elements
Church architecture

Nave


A hand grenade is a small explosive device that is thrown at a target. It can be used as a weapon against an enemy soldier or vehicle. The most common type of grenade is the fragmentation grenade. Fragmentation grenades send out lots of very fast, very small fragments when they explode. Hand granades are usually thrown, and explode soon after that. Some specially designed grenades are fired from rifles or specially made grenade launchers. There are grenades which contain tear gas. These are used to control riots.

Hand grenades are used by the infantry. There are three main types: one which gives a big powerful blast to destroy bunkers, another which starts fires and another which contains shrapnel to hurt enemy soldiers. Most grenades are shaped like an egg, with a metal-arm on its top and a ring. When the ring is pulled out, the arm flips up and ignites a fuse. The user then has a few seconds to throw it and take cover, usually about 5 seconds. It explodes on impact and may injure or even kill people.

History
Early grenades were iron balls, filled with gunpowder and with a long fuse that its user must light up with a match before throwing. Some were too big to throw, so soldiers rolled them. Some armies assigned special soldiers called "grenadiers" to throw or roll grenades.

Grenades in the early 20th century exploded on contact. This was changed during World War I to time fuses. The German army used stick grenades (grenades with handles) during World War I and World War II. The Soviet Army used different grenades for attack and defence.

Related pages
 Smoke grenade
 Ammunition

References

Explosives

Hand grenade


Islam (Arabic: الإسلام or al-islām, "submission") is a monotheistic Abrahamic releegion foondit on the life an teachins o Mohammad in the saxth century, in Arabie. The fowk that follaes this releegion is cawed"Muslims". Muslims caw God "Allah", bat hae 99 different names fur "God" an aw. The haly beuk o the Muslims is ca'd the Quran. Islam is the warlds 2nt lairgest releegion wi mair nor 1,000,000,000 follaers.

Muslims trowe Moses, Abraham, an Jesus, wha they caw Musa, Ibrahim, an Isa, an ithers, wis prophets, forby.

Muslims believe that the Quran is the revealed wird o God an the Prophet Mohammad is the feenal Prophet sent bi God tae reveal His message tae mankynd.

In the 7t Century AD the Byzantine an Sassanide Empires wis the twa mucklest pouers in whit is cried the Middle East the day. Bedouin Arab merchands wad cross the desert tae touns lik Damascus fae Arab trade centres sic as Makka (or Mecca as its cried the nou) an Yathrib (later tae be re-cried Madina, or "ceety").

In places siclike Sirie, Iraq an Egyp, whaur nouadays Arabie leids is spaken, Pre Islamic civilisations haed been aroond lang syne. Throu the Gowden Age o Islam (atween aboot 900 AD an 1300) touns like Damascus an Baghdad becam important centres o scienteefic an philosphical discovery. Mony texts that haed been lang tint tae the Wast o Europe, wis pitten ower fae the Greek intae the Arabie (an in Islamic Spain intae the Laitin an aw)

Ane o the mair typical practics uised bi the Muslims whilka are ca'd "Abrahamic", are the circumcision o the penis. They awso hae the ritual o the killin o the sheep, ca'd Al 3Aid, whilka exists in the twa Abrahmic beuks, baith Bible an Quran. This custom finds place in auld Abrahamic tradeetions an Biblic history.

Feegurs sic as Plato, Galen an Pythagoras wis reintroduced throu the Arabie leid. Translators an ither scholars teached in Seecily an Spain, at the new Varsities o Palermo an Cordoba, the first European Varsities, syne the closin o the Pagan schuils bi the Kirk in the sae cried Daurk Ages. Ither feegurs, sic as Ibn Sinna (kent as Avicenna in the Wast) an Ibn Rushd (or Averoes) eikit oreeginal thochts an ideas tae the contreebution o Islam's scholarship tae post Roman Europe.

Maist Muslims thinks it's wrang tae draw the prophet Muhammad or Allah. Acause o this, Islamic airt is aft gey geometric an abstract.

Islam


The New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. It performs most of its concerts at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York.

The orchestra started in 1842.  At that time it was called the Philharmonic Society.  At its first concert the orchestra played a very long programme which included  Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 conducted by Ureli Corelli Hill.  The musicians worked as a cooperative or "communistic" society.  This meant that the musicians themselves made up the rules about how the orchestra should be run: who would become a member, which music would be performed, and who would conduct. At the end of each season they divided any money the orchestra had earned amongst themselves.

Beethoven's ninth and a new home, 1846
The orchestra were a great success, but they needed a new concert hall.  They gave a fund-raising concert which included Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.  It was the first time it had ever been played in America.  The concert took place in Castle Garden on the southern tip of Manhattan. There were about 400 performers in the orchestra and choir. The words that the choir sings were translated into English.  It was the first time this work had been sung in English anywhere in the world.  However, the tickets cost a lot of money: US$2.00 each, so not so many people came. It was some time before the orchestra got their concert hall.   Many people thought Beethoven's 9th symphony was a strange piece of music because the choir only sing in the last movement which is called  "Ode to Joy".   In 1865 Theodore Eisfeld conducted the Orchestra's memorial concert for the recently assassinated Abraham Lincoln, but the last movement was not performed because it was thought that the "Ode to Joy" was not suitable for the sad occasion.

Competition from another orchestra, 1878

Leopold Damrosch, who had been  Franz Liszt's concertmaster at Weimar, was the orchestra's conductor for the 1876-1877 season. But the public did not like him, so he started his own orchestra: the Symphony Society of New York.  When he died in 1885, his 23-year-old son Walter Johannes Damrosch took over and continued the competition with the old Philharmonic. It was Walter who would make the rich Scotsman Andrew Carnegie realize that New York needed a really good concert hall and on May 5, 1891 both Walter and the Russian composer Tchaikovsky conducted at the first concert of the city's new Music Hall.  A few years later this new hall was renamed Carnegie Hall after the man who gave the money for it to be built.

Theodore Thomas began conducting the Philharmonic in 1877 and made it a very good orchestra.  In 1891 Thomas left New York to found the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Anton Seidl conducted the orchestra until 1898. Seidl had worked as Wagner's assistant and was famous for conducting Wagner's music.  He gave the first performance of Antonín Dvořák's Ninth Symphony "From the New World."  Many people were sad when Seidl suddenly died in 1898 from food poisoning at the age of 47. Twelve thousand people applied for tickets to his funeral at the Metropolitan Opera House at 39th Street and Broadway and the streets were jammed with people and traffic.

New management, 1909

In 1909 the orchestra was organized differently.  Instead of a cooperative, they were run by a small group of people called .  They persuaded Gustav Mahler to be principal conductor.  Instead of 18 concerts a season they gave 54, which included a tour of New England.  Mahler was used to conducting opera, but now he could conduct symphonies, and he introduced audiences to his own compositions.  During his time the orchestra were given regular salaries for the first time.

Between 1911 and 1920, the Philharmonic's conductor was Josef Stransky, who led every single one of the orchestra's concerts during this period.

Mergers and outreach, 1921
When the Philharmonic joined together with the National Symphony in 1921, they had the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg.  He stayed there for nine years, although other conductors, including Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Igor Stravinsky, and Arturo Toscanini, led about half the concerts. They started to have an outdoor symphony series, playing low-priced summer concerts at Lewisohn Stadium in upper Manhattan. In 1920 the orchestra hired Henry Hadley as "associate conductor" to perform concerts which included works by American composers.

In 1924, the Young People's Concerts were started, and soon grew to 15 concerts per season by the end of the 1920s.  They started to make recordings.  In 1928 they joined together with another orchestra, the New York Symphony Society.  Toscanini conducted the newly organized orchestra, and continued until 1936.

The War years, 1940
The English conductor John Barbirolli and the Pole Artur Rodzinski, were joint replacements for Toscanini in 1936. The next year Barbirolli was made the main conductor, a post he held until the spring of 1941. In 1943, Rodzinski became conductor. He had also been conducting on the Sunday afternoon radio broadcast when CBS listeners around the country heard the announcer break in on Arthur Rubinstein's performance of Brahms's Second Piano Concerto to tell them about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Artur Rodzinski, Bruno Walter, and Sir Thomas Beecham made a series of recordings with the Philharmonic for Columbia Records during the 1940s.

The Telegenic Age, 1950

Leopold Stokowski and Dimitri Mitropoulos were the orchestra's two conductors in 1949, with Mitropoulos becoming conductor in 1951. Mitropoulos often conducted new music and music that was not well known. In 1957, Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein served together as Principal Conductors until, in the course of the season, Bernstein was made conductor, becoming the first American-born-and-trained conductor of the Philharmonic.

Leonard Bernstein was Music Director for 11 seasons.  Many new things happened during this time. Two television series were started on CBS: the Young People's Concerts and "Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic." The first of these started in 1958.  It was a new idea and it won every award for educational television.  Bernstein continued the orchestra's recordings with Columbia Records until he retired as music director in 1969.  He got lots of composers, especially American composers such as Aaron Copland, to write new works for the orchestra.

In 1971 Pierre Boulez became the first Frenchman to have the job of conductor of the Philharmonic.  Boulez had new ideas about music to be performed.  He was a composer himself and often performed modern music.

Ambassadors abroad
Zubin Mehta became conductor in 1978.  He, too, conducted a lot of new music.

Kurt Masur, who had often been conducting the Philharmonic since 1981, became conductor in 1991.  During his time he included a series of free Memorial Day Concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and annual concert tours abroad that included the orchestra's first trip to mainland China. His stayed until 2002, and was then given the honorary title "Music Director Emeritus of the Philharmonic".

On 26 February 2008 the Philharmonic gave a concert in Pyongyang in North Korea.  It was the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953 that there had been an important cultural visit from the United States to North Korea.

A third century, 2000

In September 2002, 60 years after conducting the Orchestra at the age of twelve at Lewisohn Stadium, Lorin Maazel became conductor of the Philharmonic. In his first subscription week he conducted the first ever performance of John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls.  This work had been composed in memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.  He performed new music as well as music of the well-known composers.  He stayed with the orchestra until the end of the 2008-2009 season.

Music directors (conductors)

References

Other websites
New York Philharmonic Official website

American orchestras
Music in New York (state)
1842 establishments in the United States
1840s establishments in New York (state)
Organizations based in New York (state)

New York Philharmonic


Georges Braque (Argenteuil, 13 May 1882 – Paris, 31 August 1963) was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, with Pablo Picasso, developed the art movement known as Cubism.

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term Cubism, or "bizarre cubiques", in 1908 after seeing a picture by Braque. He described it as 'full of little cubes', after which the term quickly gained wide use. Art historian Ernst Gombrich described cubism as "the most radical attempt to stamp out ambiguity, and to enforce one reading of the picture – that of a man-made construction, a colored canvas". The Cubist movement spread quickly throughout Paris and Europe.

A major idea of Braque's was the fractured stringed instrument as a cubist model. This he painted a number of times with variations, and made sculptures with fractured violins, guitars, etc., inside transparent acrylic (perspex) blocks. Examples:

Violin and Candlestick, Paris, spring 1910, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Woman with a Guitar, 1913. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

Notes

Other websites
Features an excellent selection of Braque paintings, with a rather weak text: The course of a painter in the representation of the landscape: Georges Braque

1882 births
1963 deaths
French painters
French sculptors
People from Argenteuil

Georges Braque


Sovereignty is the right of a government to have complete control over its area. The idea that this right comes from doing good things for the people under control of the government is as old as Ancient Greece if not older.

The exact meaning of Sovereignty has changed some in the past. The present meaning of Sovereignty is said to come from the Peace of Westphalia, an agreement between the rulers of Europe in 1648 which said:
 No one should try to help break up one sovereign government into more than one.
 No one should cross over into the land, water, or air where the international law says a government is sovereign, unless they have agreement from that sovereign government.
 A sovereign government is the only maker of laws in the land, water or air where international law says it is sovereign.

The Past

Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was first the Roman Republic, but then when Octavian made the Roman Empire the Emperor of Rome said that he was "Sovereign". The meaning of this was that he could make any law he wanted, and he did not have to do what the law said himself.

Middle Ages
In the time of the Middle Ages many kings and rulers had to do what other leaders said, such as the leader of the Catholic Church, the Pope. Because of this, the idea of "Sovereignty" was not much used.

Reformation
In the time of the Protestant Reformation, in the 16th century, governments were breaking away from religious leaders. Also many wars were fought between different rulers inside areas that are now sovereign countries. The English Civil War is one example of a war fought in this time between leaders inside one country.

The Peace of Westphalia was made in 1648 and the idea of "Sovereignty" came back. Governments were now separate from outside leaders and only one government or ruler inside a country could make laws. The divine right of kings became more widespread.

The Enlightenment and Social Contract theory
The English thinker Thomas Hobbes wrote a book in 1651 that said rulers and governments are "Sovereign" because they are good for the safety of the people. The idea that people could change rulers if they were not safe was new with Hobbes.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a book in 1763 that said the choice of the people is the only thing sovereignty comes from.

Both Rousseau and Hobbes advanced a "Social Contract" in which people consent to a government's sovereignty just by living in the country and that people give up at least some of their liberty for security

In 1789 the French Revolution made an important country's government ruled by the choices of the people for the first time after the Middle Ages (some cities and small countries were democracies in the Middle Ages). There were many problems and France went back to the old way soon after, but would be ready for Democracy in 1870's. In England, many people got to vote after The Reform Act in 1832. The United States broke away from England in 1776-1783, but was not an important country at that time.

Present

Between Countries
"Sovereignty" when talking about relations between countries mostly means the rights a Sovereign state has over its territory.

Sometimes there is discussion about when a government loses Sovereignty because it is doing bad things for its people. In this case justice may mean other countries need to intrude on the sovereignty of the government.

Inside a Country
"Sovereignty" when talking about relations between groups inside one country usually means which group has the Legitimacy to rule. This may not be certain. Sometimes the group who is most able to rule (because of a strong military) is not Legitimate.

Politics

Sovereignty


The Conservatoire de Paris (Paris Conservatoire) is a music conservatory where students can study dance, drama and music.  It has now been split into two "Conservatoires".  One is for Acting, Theatre and Drama and is called the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique (CNSAD).  It is in the old building in the centre of Paris.  The other is called  Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.  It is farther from the centre of the city.  This is where Music and Dance are taught.

The Paris Conservatoire has been famous for music since it was formed in 1795.  Nearly all famous French composers and performing musicians studied there, and many young musicians came from abroad to study.  It was, and still is, one of the best places to study music in the world.

Related pages
 Paris
 Conservatoire
 Prix de Rome

Music schools
Buildings and structures in Paris
1795 establishments
1790s establishments in France

Conservatoire de Paris


A town square is a large open area in the center of a town. Town squares were traditionally places where people came together to meet, or to sell and buy things, or to be entertained. They often had markets, lynchings, or they were used for concerts. They are often surrounded by shops or cafés.

Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, Platz (from German), plaza (from Spanish), piazza (from Italian), and place (from French).

Many town squares in the 20th century became used as car parks. In recent years cars have been banned from some town squares so that people can enjoy the open space once more, free from traffic and pollution.

In other parts of towns there are often smaller open spaces which are called "squares". They are often square in shape, but some are different shapes.

Some famous squares include: Red Square in Moscow, Beijing's Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Times Square in New York City and Trafalgar Square in London.

Town square


A tooth is one of the hard, white things in the mouth. Teeth (plural) are used to help the mastication process by chewing food. Chew means to break up and crush food so it can be swallowed (pushed down into the stomach).

Most vertebrates have teeth. Birds are the biggest group that do not. Many invertebrates have mouthparts which, to some extent, act like teeth. Different animals have different kinds of teeth because they eat different foods. Some animals use teeth as a weapon. Human adults usually have 32 teeth. Human children usually have 20 teeth.

Natal teeth
Some human babies are born with teeth. Natal teeth are teeth that are present at birth. These are different from neonatal teeth which are teeth that emerge during the first month of life. Natal teeth are not common. They occur in about 1 out of every 2–3 thousand births. They are usually found on the lower jaw. Natal teeth are usually not well attached and may easily wobble.

Teeth eruption
Deciduous teeth or milk teeth or temporary teeth are the first set of teeth for most mammals.  Humans have 20 of them. The first teeth (called "primary teeth") start to erupt (come through the gums of the jaw) when a baby is about 6 months old. When these teeth erupt it can really hurt. Babies chew on things to make the pain better. This is called teething (verb: to teethe). Most children have all 20 teeth by two or three years of age.

At age 6–7 the permanent teeth start to erupt. By the age of 11–12 most children have 28 adult teeth. The last four teeth, called 'wisdom teeth' or third molars come in by age 17–21 in most people. Some people never grow wisdom teeth. Or they may have only two instead of four.

Teeth structure

The outside white part of teeth is called the enamel. The enamel is made of calcium phosphate and is very hard. Under the enamel is the dentine. The dentine is softer than the hard enamel. So it is hurt more by tooth decay (cavities). Under the dentine is the pulp which has the nerves and blood vessels that go to the tooth. This is the part that causes the pain of a toothache. Cementum is outside the dentine where there is no enamel. Cementum holds the tooth to the bone of the jaw.

Types of teeth
 Incisor
 Canine tooth
 Premolar
 Molar

Healthy teeth
If they are protected and kept clean, teeth should stay for a person's whole life. Many people lose their teeth early because they do not do the right things to keep teeth healthy.

Some things people can do to keep teeth healthy:
 Brush teeth after every meal and at bedtime with a soft-bristled brush.
 Floss after every meal (but at least once a day at bedtime). Flossing should be done before brushing!
 Drink water with fluoride before brushing. Or, use a fluoride mouthrinse (but not for children under age 6).
 See a dentist every 6 months for a tooth exam and tooth cleaning.
 Eat a healthy diet.
 Sugars like sucrose and glucose are bad for teeth.
 Milk and cheese are good for teeth because they have calcium.
 However, milk contains lactose which can cause cavities. Due to this, drinking a lot of milk can still cause cavities.
 Unsweetened (no sugar) chewing gum helps clean teeth, and makes salvia and removes food particles.
 Nothing with flavor in-between meals, give your saliva the two to three hours it needs to clean teeth. The saliva can not do that if there is a continuous food film being put on to the teeth.
 Dehydration leads to less saliva production. Drink plenty of water every day.

Disease of teeth
Plaque is the soft white substance that forms on teeth when they are not cleaned. It has bacteria in it that hurt enamel. If plaque is not cleaned off, after 2 days it can become tartar. Tartar is a hard substance that forms on teeth (mostly near the gums).  Tartar makes gums unhealthy and makes more bacteria grow on the teeth.

Plaque is cleaned off with a toothbrush. If tartar forms on teeth, a dentist must clean it off.

The bacteria that are on teeth eat into the enamel. Cleaning and flossing teeth, eating good foods, and having a dentist take off plaque make less bacteria on teeth. If there is too much bacteria, they eat enamel faster than teeth make enamel. This makes holes in enamel called cavities. When a person gets cavities, he has the disease dental caries. Making cavities in enamel happens slowly. But once cavities go through enamel, the soft dentine is hurt much faster. Cavities may be fixed by dentists.

Related pages
 Dental formula
 Dentition
 Dentures

References

Other websites

 The New Student's Reference Work Wikisource
 Tooth Citizendium

Basic English 850 words

Tooth


Golf is a game played in an open field where the golfer plays his golf ball into a hole by using different types of clubs (golf instruments). The book Rules of Golf reads "The Game of Golf consists in playing a ball from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."

Play of the game
In golf, a golfer plays a number of holes in a given order. 18 holes played in an order controlled by the golf course design, normally make up a game. On a nine-hole course, two nine-hole rounds make up a normal game.
Each hole starts from the teeing area. Golfers put the ball on a small stand called a tee and swing a club at it to try and hit it as straight and far as possible. Once each golfer in the group has done this, the person whose ball landed farthest from the hole hits his again, followed by everyone else, one person at a time, until everyone is on the green. The green is the area near the hole where the grass is cut very short.
Once on the green the players will try to "putt" the ball into the hole. Putting is similar to a regular swing except it is not as hard and the player does not want the ball to go in the air. Once each player has put their ball into the hole, the group moves on to the next hole.

Each time a player swings at his ball, it is considered a "stroke". Each hole is a certain number of strokes that golfers are expected to need to get their ball into the hole. This is known as the "par". If a player gets his ball in the hole in less than the par he gets a "birdie". If it takes him one more shot then the par it is known as a bogey. Most holes have a par between 3 and 5.

The two common forms of playing golf are match play and stroke play. In match play, two golfers (or two teams) play holes one at a time. The golfer with the lower number of strokes (number of times the golfer used to get his ball in the hole) wins that hole. If the two have the same number of strokes, the hole is "halved" (drawn). The golfer that has the greatest number of holes wins. In stroke play, the golfer (or team) with the smallest number of strokes all together wins. There are different forms of these rules, some given in the "Rules of Golf" making them "official".

Clubs

The four different types of clubs used in golf are woods, irons, putters and wedges. Woods are used to hit the ball very far, usually off the tee (but also on the fairway). The name of woods is different every number, for example, No.1 wood is called "driver", No.2 is "brassey", No.3 is "spoon" and so on. There are many types of irons, which can be used to hit varying distances. They are numbered 1-9 with a 1 iron hitting the ball farther than a 9. The 1 iron is no longer common in the game. Even the 2 iron is getting uncommon. Putters are used when on the green. The rules do not let the golfer use over 14 clubs in a game.

The Majors
Golfers call the four (or five) biggest tournaments in professional golf "majors", and they play them at nearly the same time every year. The four majors are:
Men's
 The Masters
 U.S. Open
 The Open Championship (British Open)
 PGA Championship

Women's
 Kraft Nabisco Championship
 LPGA Championship
 U.S. Women's Open
 Women's British Open
 The Evian
In 2013, women's golf added the fifth major. The Evian Masters, held in France.

Vincent Clark won the first ever open championship which was held in St Andrews in 1860.

Bibliography
 Adams, Mike; Tomasi, T. J. "Play better golf". London: Carlton, 1996.
 Minton, Roland. "Golf by the numbers: How stats, math, and physics affect your game". Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

Other websites
 The R&A, St Andrews
 USGA: United States Golf Association
 Golf Australia, national governing body of Australia
 International Golf Federation (IGF)

References
GDO

Golf


The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan. The bank was founded in San Francisco, California. It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States, after JPMorgan Chase, and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization. Bank of America is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It serves approximately 10.73% of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking.

One branch of its history stretches back to the U.S.-based Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided various banking options to Italian immigrants who faced service discrimination. Originally headquartered in San Francisco, California, Giannini acquired Banca d'America e d'Italia (Bank of America and Italy) in 1922. The passage of landmark federal banking legislation facilitated a rapid growth in the 1950s, quickly establishing a prominent market share. After suffering a significant loss after the 1998 Russian bond default, BankAmerica, as it was then known, was acquired by the Charlotte-based NationsBank for US$62 billion. Following what was then the largest bank acquisition in history, the Bank of America Corporation was founded. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, it built upon its commercial banking business by establishing Merrill Lynch for wealth management and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for investment banking in 2008 and 2009, respectively (since renamed BofA Securities).

Both Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management retain large market shares in their respective offerings. The investment bank is considered within the "Bulge Bracket" as the third largest investment bank in the world, . Its wealth management side manages US$1.081 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as the second largest wealth manager in the world, after UBS. In commercial banking, Bank of America operates—but does not necessarily maintain—retail branches in all 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia and more than 40 other countries. Its commercial banking footprint encapsulates 46 million consumer and small business relationships at 4,600 banking centers and 15,900 automated teller machines (ATMs).

The bank's large market share, business activities, and economic impact has led to numerous lawsuits and investigations regarding both mortgages and financial disclosures dating back to the 2008 financial crisis. Its corporate practices of servicing the middle class and wider banking community have yielded a substantial market share since the early 20th century. , Bank of America has a $313.5 billion market capitalization, making it the 13th largest company in the world. As the sixth largest American public company, it garnered $102.98 billion in sales . Bank of America was ranked #25 on the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest US corporations by total revenue. Likewise, Bank of America was also ranked #6 on the 2023 Global 2000 rankings done by Forbes. Bank of America was named the "World's Best Bank" by the Euromoney Institutional Investor in its 2018 Awards for Excellence.

History
Bank of America, Los Angeles was founded in California in 1923. In 1928, this entity was acquired by Bank of Italy of San Francisco, which took the Bank of America name two years later.

The eastern portion of the Bank of America franchise can be traced to 1784, when Massachusetts Bank was chartered, the first federally chartered joint-stock owned bank in the United States and only the second bank to receive a charter in the United States. This bank became FleetBoston, with which Bank of America merged in 2004. In 1874, Commercial National Bank was founded in Charlotte. That bank merged with American Trust Company in 1958 to form American Commercial Bank. Two years later it became North Carolina National Bank when it merged with Security National Bank of Greensboro. In 1991, it merged with C&S/Sovran Corporation of Atlanta and Norfolk to form NationsBank.

The central portion of the franchise dates to 1910, when Commercial National Bank and Continental National Bank of Chicago merged in 1910 to form Continental & Commercial National Bank, which evolved into Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust.

Bank of Italy

The history of Bank of America dates back to October 17, 1904, when Amadeo Pietro Giannini (1870–1949) founded the Bank of Italy, in San Francisco. In 1922, Bank of America, Los Angeles was established with Giannini as a minority investor. The two banks merged in 1928 and consolidated with other bank holdings to create what would become the largest banking institution in the country.

In 1918, another corporation, Bancitaly Corporation, was organized by A. P. Giannini, the largest stockholder of which was Stockholders Auxiliary Corporation. This company acquired the stocks of various banks located in New York City and certain foreign countries.

In 1928, Giannini merged his bank with Bank of America, Los Angeles, headed by Orra E. Monnette. Bank of Italy was renamed on November 3, 1930, to Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, which was the only such designated bank in the United States at that time. Giannini and Monnette headed the resulting company, serving as co-chairs.

Expansion in California

Giannini introduced branch banking shortly after 1909 legislation in California allowed for branch banking in the state, establishing the bank's first branch outside San Francisco in 1909 in San Jose. By 1929 the bank had 453 banking offices in California with aggregate resources of over US$1.4 billion. There is a replica of the 1909 Bank of Italy branch bank in History Park in San Jose, and the 1925 Bank of Italy Building is an important downtown landmark. Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation.

In 1953 regulators succeeded in forcing the separation of Transamerica Corporation and Bank of America under the Clayton Antitrust Act. The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance sector. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America's interstate banking activity, and Bank of America's domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, later acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. Only in the 1980s, with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation, could Bank of America again expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California.

New technologies also allowed the direct linking of credit cards with individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to Visa in 1977. A coalition of regional bankcard associations introduced Interbank in 1966 to compete with BankAmericard. Interbank became Master Charge in 1966 and then MasterCard in 1979.

From February 1970 through September 1971, there were 66 attacks on Bank of America branches in California, including 53 bombings or fire-bombings, and 13 arson fires. There were "few injuries" and the property damage cost about $500,000, fourth-fifths of which was from the burning of the Isla Vista branch during a February 1970 riot.

Expansion outside California

Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 by the US Congress, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning and operating Bank of America and its subsidiaries.

Bank of America expanded outside California in 1983, with its acquisition, orchestrated in part by Stephen McLin, of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank.

BankAmerica experienced huge losses in 1986 and 1987 due to the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost, in 1986. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A. W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling operations. It sold its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. It also sold Bank of America and Italy to Deutsche Bank. By the time of the 1987 stock-market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade.

BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s. This represented, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of roughly half of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, the former Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Security Pacific Washington would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. The Washington branches were divided and sold to West One Bancorp (now U.S. Bancorp) and KeyBank. Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada.

In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago. At the time, no bank possessed the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois then regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region.

These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind North Carolina's fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind First Union Corp.

On the capital markets side, the acquisition of Continental Illinois helped BankAmerica to build a leveraged finance origination- and distribution business, which allowed the firm's existing broker-dealer, BancAmerica Securities (originally named BA Securities), to become a full-service franchise. In addition, in 1997, BankAmerica acquired Robertson Stephens, a San Francisco–based investment bank specializing in high technology for $540 million. Robertson Stephens was integrated into BancAmerica Securities, and the combined subsidiary was renamed "BancAmerica Robertson Stephens".

Merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica

In 1997, BankAmerica lent investment management firm D. E. Shaw & Co. $1.4 billion in order to run various businesses for the bank. However, D.E. Shaw suffered significant loss after the 1998 Russia bond default. NationsBank of Charlotte acquired BankAmerica in October 1998 in what was the largest bank acquisition in history at that time.

While NationsBank was the nominal survivor, the merged bank took the better-known name of Bank of America. Hence, the holding company was renamed Bank of America Corporation, while NationsBank, N.A. merged with Bank of America NT&SA to form Bank of America, N.A. as the remaining legal bank entity. The combined bank operates under Federal Charter 13044, which was granted to Giannini's Bank of Italy on March 1, 1927. However, the merged company was and still is headquartered in Charlotte, and retains NationsBank's pre-1998 stock price history. All U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings before 1998 are listed under NationsBank, not Bank of America. NationsBank president, chairman, and CEO Hugh McColl, took on the same roles with the merged company.

In 1998, Bank of America possessed combined assets of $570  billion, as well as 4,800 branches in 22 U.S. states. Despite the size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination. The broker-dealer, NationsBanc Montgomery Securities, was named Banc of America Securities in 1998.

2001 to present

In 2001, McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. In 2004, Bank of America announced it would purchase Boston-based bank FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in cash and stock. By merging with Bank of America, all of its banks and branches were given the Bank of America logo. At the time of merger, FleetBoston was the seventh largest bank in United States with $197 billion in assets, over 20 million customers and revenue of $12 billion. Hundreds of FleetBoston workers lost their jobs or were demoted, according to The Boston Globe.

On June 30, 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35  billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on December 15, 2005, and the merger closed on January 1, 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading domestic and foreign credit card issuer. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNA, had more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances. Under Bank of America, the operation was renamed FIA Card Services.

Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Itaú (Investimentos Itaú S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement, through which Itaú agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil, and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay, in exchange for Itaú shares. The deal was signed in August 2006.

Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay, it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Itaú stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Itaú to reach 11.51%. Banco de Boston de Brazil had been founded in 1947.

On November 20, 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of assets under management and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed July 1, 2007.

On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire LaSalle Bank Corporation from ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this purchase, Bank of America possessed $1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007. Many of LaSalle's branches and offices had already taken over smaller regional banks within the previous decade, such as Lansing and Detroit-based Michigan National Bank. The acquisition also included the Chicago Marathon event, which ABN AMRO acquired in 1996. Bank of America took over the event starting with the 2007 race.

The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers, and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America became the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, surpassing JPMorgan Chase.

LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on May 5, 2008.

Ken Lewis, who had lost the title of chairman of the board, announced that he would retire as CEO effective December 31, 2009, in part due to controversy and legal investigations concerning the purchase of Merrill Lynch. Brian Moynihan became president and CEO effective January 1, 2010, and afterward credit card charge offs and delinquencies declined in January. Bank of America also repaid the $45 billion it had received from the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Acquisition of Countrywide Financial
On August 23, 2007, the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share.

On January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that it would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion. In March 2008, it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating Countrywide for possible fraud relating to home loans and mortgages. This news did not hinder the acquisition, which was completed in July 2008, giving the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's resources for servicing mortgages. The acquisition was seen as preventing a potential bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide, however, denied that it was close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provided mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion as of December 31, 2007.

This purchase made Bank of America Corporation the leading mortgage originator and servicer in the U.S., controlling 20–25% of the home loan market. The deal was structured to merge Countrywide with the Red Oak Merger Corporation, which Bank of America created as an independent subsidiary. It has been suggested that the deal was structured this way to prevent a potential bankruptcy stemming from large losses in Countrywide hurting the parent organization by keeping Countrywide bankruptcy remote. Countrywide Financial has changed its name to Bank of America Home Loans.

In December 2011, the Justice Department announced a $335 million settlement with Bank of America over discriminatory lending practice at Countrywide Financial. Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal probe found discrimination against qualified African-American and Latino borrowers from 2004 to 2008. He said that minority borrowers who qualified for prime loans were steered into higher-interest-rate subprime loans.

Acquisition of Merrill Lynch

On September 14, 2008, Bank of America announced its intention to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in an all-stock deal worth approximately $50 billion. Merrill Lynch was at the time within days of collapse, and the acquisition effectively saved Merrill from bankruptcy. Around the same time Bank of America was reportedly also in talks to purchase Lehman Brothers, however a lack of government guarantees caused the bank to abandon talks with Lehman. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy the same day Bank of America announced its plans to acquire Merrill Lynch. This acquisition made Bank of America the largest financial services company in the world. Temasek Holdings, the largest shareholder of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., briefly became one of the largest shareholders of Bank of America, with a 3% stake. However, taking a loss Reuters estimated at $3 billion, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund sold its whole stake in Bank of America in the first quarter of 2009.

Shareholders of both companies approved the acquisition on December 5, 2008, and the deal closed January 1, 2009. Bank of America had planned to retain various members of the then Merrill Lynch's CEO, John Thain's management team after the merger. However, after Thain was removed from his position, most of his allies left. The departure of Nelson Chai, who had been named Asia-Pacific president, left just one of Thain's hires in place: Tom Montag, head of sales and trading.

The bank, in its January 16, 2009, earnings release, revealed massive losses at Merrill Lynch in the fourth quarter, which necessitated an infusion of money that had previously been negotiated with the government as part of the government-persuaded deal for the bank to acquire Merrill. Merrill recorded an operating loss of $21.5 billion in the quarter, mainly in its sales and trading operations, led by Tom Montag. The bank also disclosed it tried to abandon the deal in December after the extent of Merrill's trading losses surfaced, but was compelled to complete the merger by the U.S. government. The bank's stock price sank to $7.18, its lowest level in 17 years, after announcing earnings and the Merrill mishap. The market capitalization of Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, was then $45 billion, less than the $50 billion it offered for Merrill just four months earlier, and down $108 billion from the merger announcement.

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis testified before Congress that he had some misgivings about the acquisition of Merrill Lynch and that federal official pressured him to proceed with the deal or face losing his job and endangering the bank's relationship with federal regulators.

Lewis's statement is backed up by internal emails subpoenaed by Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee. In one of the emails, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker threatened that if the acquisition did not go through, and later Bank of America were forced to request federal assistance, the management of Bank of America would be "gone". Other emails, read by Congressman Dennis Kucinich during the course of Lewis' testimony, state that Mr. Lewis had foreseen the outrage from his shareholders that the purchase of Merrill would cause, and asked government regulators to issue a letter stating that the government had ordered him to complete the deal to acquire Merrill. Lewis, for his part, states he didn't recall requesting such a letter.

The acquisition made Bank of America the number one underwriter of global high-yield debt, the third largest underwriter of global equity and the ninth largest adviser on global mergers and acquisitions. As the credit crisis eased, losses at Merrill Lynch subsided, and the subsidiary generated $3.7 billion of Bank of America's $4.2 billion in profit by the end of quarter one in 2009, and over 25% in quarter 3 2009.

On September 28, 2012, Bank of America settled the class-action lawsuit over the Merrill Lynch acquisition and will pay $2.43 billion. This was one of the first major securities class action lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to settle. Many major financial institutions had a stake in this lawsuit, including Chicago Clearing Corporation, hedge funds, and bank trusts, due to the belief that Bank of America stock was a sure investment.

Federal Troubled Asset Relief Program
On January 16, 2009, Bank of America received $20 billion and a guarantee of $118 billion in potential losses from the U.S. government through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). This was in addition to the $25 billion given to the bank in the fall of 2008 through TARP. The additional payment was part of a deal with the U.S. government to preserve Bank of America's merger with Merrill Lynch. Since then, members of the U.S. Congress have expressed considerable concern about how this money has been spent, especially since some of the recipients have been accused of misusing the bailout money. Then CEO Ken Lewis was quoted as claiming "We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP program." Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, however, were skeptical and quoted many anecdotes about loan applicants (particularly small business owners) being denied loans and credit card holders facing stiffer terms on the debt in their card accounts.

According to an article in The New York Times published on March 15, 2009, Bank of America received an additional $5.2 billion in government bailout money via the bailout of American International Group.

As a result of its federal bailout and management problems, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of America was operating under a secret "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) from the U.S. government that requires it to "overhaul its board and address perceived problems with risk and liquidity management". With the federal action, the institution has taken several steps, including arranging for six of its directors to resign and forming a Regulatory Impact Office. Bank of America faces several deadlines in July and August and if not met, could face harsher penalties by federal regulators. Bank of America did not respond to The Wall Street Journal story.

On December 2, 2009, Bank of America announced it would repay the entire $45 billion it received in TARP and exit the program, using $26.2 billion of excess liquidity along with $18.6 billion to be gained in "common equivalent securities" (Tier 1 capital). The bank announced it had completed the repayment on December 9. Bank of America's Ken Lewis said during the announcement, "We appreciate the critical role that the U.S. government played last fall in helping to stabilize financial markets, and we are pleased to be able to fully repay the investment, with interest.... As America's largest bank, we have a responsibility to make good on the taxpayers' investment, and our record shows that we have been able to fulfill that commitment while continuing to lend."

Bonus settlement
On August 3, 2009, Bank of America agreed to pay a $33 million fine, without admission or denial of charges, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the non-disclosure of an agreement to pay up to $5.8 billion of bonuses at Merrill. The bank approved the bonuses before the merger but did not disclose them to its shareholders when the shareholders were considering approving the Merrill acquisition, in December 2008. The issue was originally investigated by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who commented after the suit and announced a settlement that "the timing of the bonuses, as well as the disclosures relating to them, constituted a 'surprising fit of corporate irresponsibility and "our investigation of these and other matters pursuant to New York's Martin Act will continue." Congressman Kucinich commented at the same time that "This may not be the last fine that Bank of America pays for how it handled its merger of Merrill Lynch." A federal judge, Jed Rakoff, in an unusual action, refused to approve the settlement on August 5.
A first hearing before the judge on August 10 was at times heated, and he was "sharply critic[al]" of the bonuses. David Rosenfeld represented the SEC, and Lewis J. Liman, son of Arthur L. Liman, represented the bank. The actual amount of bonuses paid was $3.6 billion, of which $850 million was "guaranteed" and the rest was shared among 39,000 workers who received average payments of $91,000; 696 people received more than $1 million in bonuses; at least one person received a more than $33 million bonus.

On September 14, the judge rejected the settlement and told the parties to prepare for trial to begin no later than February 1, 2010. The judge focused much of his criticism on the fact that the fine in the case would be paid by the bank's shareholders, who were the ones that were supposed to have been injured by the lack of disclosure. He wrote, "It is quite something else for the very management that is accused of having lied to its shareholders to determine how much of those victims' money should be used to make the case against the management go away," ... "The proposed settlement," the judge continued, "suggests a rather cynical relationship between the parties: the S.E.C. gets to claim that it is exposing wrongdoing on the part of the Bank of America in a high-profile merger; the bank's management gets to claim that they have been coerced into an onerous settlement by overzealous regulators. And all this is done at the expense, not only of the shareholders but also of the truth."

While ultimately deferring to the SEC, in February 2010, Judge Rakoff approved a revised settlement with a $150 million fine "reluctantly", calling the accord "half-baked justice at best" and "inadequate and misguided". Addressing one of the concerns he raised in September, the fine will be "distributed only to Bank of America shareholders harmed by the non-disclosures, or 'legacy shareholders, an improvement on the prior $33 million while still "paltry", according to the judge. Case: SEC v. Bank of America Corp., 09-cv-06829, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Investigations also were held on this issue in the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, under chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and in its investigative Domestic Policy Subcommittee under Kucinich.

Fraud
In 2010, the U.S. government accused the bank of defrauding schools, hospitals, and dozens of state and local government organizations via misconduct and illegal activities involving the investment of proceeds from municipal bond sales. As a result, the bank agreed to pay $137.7 million, including $25 million to the Internal Revenue Service and $4.5 million to the state attorney general, to the affected organizations to settle the allegations. Former bank official Douglas Campbell pleaded guilty to antitrust, conspiracy, and wire fraud charges. , other bankers and brokers are under indictment or investigation.

On October 24, 2012, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan filed a lawsuit alleging that Bank of America fraudulently cost American taxpayers more than $1 billion when Countrywide Financial sold toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The scheme was called 'Hustle', or High Speed Swim Lane. On May 23, 2016, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the finding of fact by the jury that low quality mortgages were supplied by Countrywide to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the "Hustle" case supported only "intentional breach of contract," not a fraud. The action, for civil fraud, relied on provisions of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. The decision turned on lack of intent to defraud at the time the contract to supply mortgages was made.

Downsizing (2011 to 2014)
During 2011, Bank of America began conducting personnel reductions of an estimated 36,000 people, contributing to intended savings of $5 billion per year by 2014. In December 2011, Forbes ranked Bank of America's financial wealth 91st out of the nation's largest 100 banks and thrift institutions.

Bank of America cut around 16,000 jobs in a quicker fashion by the end of 2012 as revenue continued to decline because of new regulations and a slow economy. This put a plan one year ahead of time to eliminate 30,000 jobs under a cost-cutting program, called Project New BAC. In the first quarter of 2014, Berkshire bank purchased 20 Bank of America branches in Central and eastern New York for 14.4 million dollars. The branches were from Utica/Rome region and down the Mohawk Valley east to the capital region. In April and May 2014, Bank of America sold two dozen branches in Michigan to Huntington Bancshares. The locations were converted to Huntington National Bank branches in September.

As part of its new strategy Bank of America is focused on growing its mobile banking platform. , Bank of America has 31 million active online users and 16 million mobile users. Its retail banking branches have decreased to 4,900 as a result of increased mobile banking use and a decline in customer branch visits. By 2018, the number of mobile users has increased to 25.3 million and the number of locations fell to 4,411 at the end of June.

Sale of stake in China Construction Bank
In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, one of the Big Four banks in China, for US$3 billion. It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and was looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal. In 2008, Bank of America was awarded Project Finance Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards. In November 2011, Bank of America announced plans to divest most of its stake in the China Construction Bank.

In September 2013, Bank of America sold its remaining stake in the China Construction Bank for as much as $1.5 billion, marking the firm's full exit from the country.

$17 billion settlement with Justice Department
In August 2014, Bank of America agreed to a near–$17 billion deal to settle claims against it relating to the sale of toxic mortgage-linked securities including subprime home loans, in what was believed to be the largest settlement in U.S. corporate history. The bank agreed with the U.S. Justice Department to pay $9.65 billion in fines, and $7 billion in relief to the victims of the faulty loans which included homeowners, borrowers, pension funds and municipalities. Real estate economist Jed Kolko said the settlement is a "drop in the bucket" compared to the $700 billion in damages done to 11 million homeowners. Since the settlement covered such a substantial portion of the market, he said for most consumers "you're out of luck."

Much of the government's prosecution was based on information provided by three whistleblowers – Shareef Abdou (a senior vice president at the bank), Robert Madsen (a professional appraiser employed by a bank subsidiary), and Edward O'Donnell (a Fannie Mae official). The three men received $170 million in whistleblower awards.

DOD Community Bank

Bank of America has formed a partnership with the United States Department of Defense creating a newly chartered bank DOD Community Bank ("Community Bank") providing full banking services to military personnel at 68 branches and ATM locations on U.S. military installations in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Cuba, Diego Garcia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Kwajalein Atoll, South Korea, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Even though Bank of America operates Community Bank, customer services are not interchangeable between the two financial institutions, meaning that a Community Bank customer cannot go to a Bank of America branch and withdraw from their account and vice versa. Deposits made into checking and savings accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $250,000 despite the fact that none of Community's operating branches are located within the jurisdictional borders of the United States.

Decision not to finance makers of military-style guns
In April 2018, Bank of America announced that it would stop providing financing to makers of military-style weapons such as the AR-15 rifle. In announcing the decision, Bank of America referenced recent mass shootings and said that it wanted to "contribute in any way we can" to reduce them.

Return to expansion (2015–present)

In 2015, Bank of America began expanding organically, opening branches in cities where it previously did not have a retail presence. They started that year in Denver, followed by Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Indianapolis, in all cases having at least one of its Big Four competitors, with Chase Bank being available in Denver and Indianapolis, while Wells Fargo is available in Denver and the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities market is also the home market of U.S. Bancorp, the largest non-Big Four rival.

In January 2018, Bank of America announced an organic expansion of its retail footprint into Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, to supplement its existing commercial lending and investment businesses in the area. Before the expansion, Pittsburgh had been one of the largest US cities without a retail presence by any of the Big Four, with locally based PNC Financial Services (no. 6 nationally) having a commanding market share in the area; this coincided with Chase making a similar expansion into Pittsburgh. By the end of the fiscal year 2020, Bank of America had become Pittsburgh's 16th largest bank by deposits, which considering the dominance of PNC and BNY Mellon in the market is considered relatively impressive. By 2021, Bank of America had moved up to 12th in the market.

In February 2018, Bank of America announced it would expand into Ohio across the state's three biggest cities (Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati), which are strongholds of Chase. Columbus serves as the bank's hub in Ohio due to its central location as the state's capital, its overall size and growth, and an existing Bank of America call center for its credit card division in suburban Westerville. Within a year of entering Ohio, Columbus quickly saw the bank become the 5th largest in the market by deposits, behind only banks either based in Ohio (Fifth Third Bank and locally based Huntington Bancshares) or have a major presence as a result of an acquisition of an Ohio-based institution (Chase and PNC), and ahead of US Bancorp (also with a large presence due to acquiring an Ohio-based bank), Ohio-based KeyBank, and several local institutions. As of 2021, Bank of America is the 9th largest bank by deposits in all of Ohio.

In January 2020, Bank of America hired new advisors whose primary functions are to assist ultra-wealthy clients.

Operations
Bank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions.

Consumer Banking

Consumer Banking, the largest division in the company, provides financial services to consumers and small businesses including, banking, investments, merchant services, and lending products including business loans, mortgages, and credit cards. It provides stockbroker services via Merrill Edge, a specific division for investment and related services (such as research and call center counsel) after Merrill Lynch became a subsidiary of Bank of America. The consumer banking division represented 38% of the company's total revenue in 2016. The company earns revenue from interest income, service charges, and fees. In addition, the company is a mortgage servicer. It competes primarily with the retail banking arms of America's three other megabanks: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. The Consumer Banking organization includes over 4,600 retail financial centers and approximately 15,900 automated teller machines.

Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that provides for reduced fees for consumers using their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance when travelling internationally. This feature is restricted to withdrawals using a debit card and users are still subject to foreign currency conversion fees, credit card withdrawals are still subject to cash advance fees and foreign currency conversion fees.

Global Banking

The Global Banking division provides banking services, including investment banking and lending products to businesses. It includes the businesses of Global Corporate Banking, Global Commercial Banking, Business Banking, and Global Investment Banking. The division represented 22% of the company's revenue in 2016.

Before Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB) business operated as Banc of America Securities LLC. The bank's investment banking activities operate under the Merrill Lynch subsidiary and provided mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is headquartered in New York City.

Global Wealth and Investment Management
The Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM) division manages the investment assets of institutions and individuals. It includes the businesses of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and U.S. Trust and represented 21% of the company's total revenue in 2016. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers. It has over $2.5 trillion in client balances. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, and Bank of America Specialist.

Global Markets

The Global Markets division offers services to institutional clients, including trading in financial securities. The division provides research and other services such as securities service, market maker, and risk management using derivatives. The division represented 19% of the company's total revenues in 2016.

Labor
On April 9, 2019, the company announced minimum wage will be increased beginning May 1, 2019, to $17.00 an hour until it reaches a goal of $20.00 an hour in 2021.

Offices
The Bank of America principal executive offices are located in the Bank of America Corporate Center, Charlotte, North Carolina. The skyscraper is located at 100 North Tryon Street, and stands at 871 ft (265 m), having been completed in 1992.

In 2012, Bank of America cut ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

International offices
Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking has its U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, European headquarters in Dublin, and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Corporate governance

Chief executive officer

List of CEOs
 Hugh McColl (1998–2001)
 Ken Lewis (2001–2009)
 Brian Moynihan (2010– )

CEO pay ratio
Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, publicly traded companies are required to disclose (1) the median total annual compensation of all employees other than the CEO and (2) the ratio of the CEO's annual total compensation to that of the median employee (CEO Pay Ratio). Total 2018 compensation for Brian Moynihan, CEO, amounted to $22,765,354, and total compensation of the median employee was determined to be $92,040. The resulting pay ratio is estimated to be 247:1.

Charitable efforts

In 1998, the bank made a ten-year commitment of $350 billion to provide affordable mortgages, build affordable housing, support small businesses and create jobs in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In 2004, the bank pledged $750 million over a ten-year period for community development lending and affordable housing programs.

In 2007, the bank offered employees a $3,000 rebate for the purchase of hybrid vehicles. The company also provided a $1,000 rebate or a lower interest rate for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient. In 2007, Bank of America partnered with Brighter Planet to offer an eco-friendly credit card, and later a debit card, which help build renewable energy projects with each purchase. Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusetts and made a $1 million donation in 2007 to help homeless shelters in Miami.

Lawsuits, controversies, and incidents

Lawsuits

Parmalat lawsuit
Parmalat SpA is a multinational Italian dairy and food corporation. Following Parmalat's 2003 bankruptcy, the company sued Bank of America for $10 billion, alleging the bank profited from its knowledge of Parmalat's financial difficulties. The parties announced a settlement in July 2009, resulting in Bank of America paying Parmalat $98.5 million in October 2009. In a related case, on April 18, 2011, an Italian court acquitted Bank of America and three other large banks, along with their employees, of charges they assisted Parmalat in concealing its fraud, and of lacking sufficient internal controls to prevent such frauds. Prosecutors did not immediately say whether they would appeal the rulings. In Parma, the banks were still charged with covering up the fraud.

Mortgage abuses
In August 2011, Bank of America was sued for $10 billion by American International Group over an alleged "massive fraud" on mortgage debt. Another lawsuit filed against Bank of America, pertained to $57.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities Bank of America sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That December, Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million to settle a federal government claim that Countrywide Financial had discriminated against Hispanic and African-American homebuyers from 2004 to 2008, prior to being acquired by BofA. In September 2012, BofA settled out of court for $2.4 billion in a class action lawsuit filed by BofA shareholders who felt they were misled about the purchase of Merrill Lynch.

On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a historic settlement with the federal government and 49 states. The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and indirect payments to the states and the federal government. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in U.S. history, only trailing the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.

On October 24, 2012, American federal prosecutors filed a $1 billion civil lawsuit against Bank of America for mortgage fraud under the False Claims Act, which provides for possible penalties of triple the damages suffered. The government asserted that Countrywide, which was acquired by Bank of America, rubber-stamped mortgage loans to risky borrowers and forced taxpayers to guarantee billions of bad loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The suit was filed by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, the inspector general of FHFA and the special inspector for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In March 2014, Bank of America settled the suit by agreeing to pay $6.3 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to buy back around $3.2 billion worth of mortgage bonds.

A $7.5 million settlement was reached in April 2014 with former chief financial officer for Bank of America, Joe L. Price, over allegations that the bank's management withheld material information related to its 2008 merger with Merrill Lynch. In August 2014, the United States Department of Justice and the bank agreed to a $16.65 billion agreement over the sale of risky, mortgage-backed securities before the Great Recession; the loans behind the securities were transferred to the company when it acquired banks such as Merrill Lynch and Countrywide in 2008. As a whole, the three firms provided $965 billion of mortgage-backed securities from 2004 to 2008. The settlement was structured to give $7 billion in consumer relief and $9.65 billion in penalty payments to the federal government and state governments; California, for instance, received $300 million to recompense public pension funds. The settlement was the largest in United States history between a single company and the federal government.

Settlement with homeowners
On March 14, 2011, members of hacker group Anonymous began releasing emails said to be from a former Bank of America employee. According to the group, the emails documented alleged "corruption and fraud". The source, identified publicly as Brian Penny, was a former LPI Specialist from Balboa Insurance, a firm which used to be owned by the bank, but was sold to Australian Reinsurance Company QBE. On April 7, 2014, Bank of America and QBE settled a class-action lawsuit stemming from the leak for $228 million.

Unfair billing practices
In April 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered Bank of America to provide an estimated $727 million in relief to consumers harmed by practices related to credit card add-on products. According to the Bureau, roughly 1.4 million customers were affected by deceptive marketing of add-on products, and 1.9 million customers were illegally charged for credit monitoring and reporting services they were not receiving. The deceptive marketing misconduct involved telemarketing scripts containing misstatements and off-script sales pitches made by telemarketers that were misleading and omitted pertinent information. The unfair billing practices involved billing customers for privacy-related products without having the authorization necessary to perform the credit monitoring and credit report retrieval services. As a result, the company billed customers for services they did not receive, unfairly charged consumers for interest and fees, illegally charged approximately 1.9 million accounts, and failed to provide the product benefit. In May 2022, CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay $10 million in penalties for illegal garnishments.

Discrimination
In 2018, former senior executive Omeed Malik filed a $100 million arbitration case through FINRA against Bank of America after the company investigated him for alleged sexual misconduct. His defamation claim was on the basis of retaliation, breach of contract, and discrimination against his Muslim background. Malik received an eight-figure settlement in July of the same year.

Fake accounts, junk fees and withheld rewards
In 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that a total of $250 million in fines and compensation has been levied against Bank of America for "deceptive practices that harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers," including double charging insufficient funds fees, withholding credit card rewards, and opening accounts without the knowledge or permission of customers.

Controversies

Consumer credit controversies
In January 2008, Bank of America began notifying some customers without payment problems that their interest rates were more than doubled, up to 28%. The bank was criticized for raising rates on customers in good standing, and for declining to explain why it had done so. In September 2009, a Bank of America credit card customer, Ann Minch, posted a video on YouTube criticizing the bank for raising her interest rate. After the video went viral, she was contacted by a Bank of America representative who lowered her rate. The story attracted national attention from television and internet commentators. In 2010, the bank was criticized for allegedly seizing three properties that were not under their ownership, apparently due to incorrect addresses on their legal documents.

State of Arizona investigation
In 2010 the state of Arizona launched an investigation into Bank of America for misleading homeowners who sought to modify their mortgage loans. According to the attorney general of Arizona, the bank "repeatedly has deceived" such mortgagors. In response to the investigation, the bank has given some modifications on the condition that the homeowners remove some information criticizing the bank online.

Investment in coal mining
On May 6, 2015, Bank of America announced it would reduce its financial exposure to coal companies. The announcement came following pressure from universities and environmental groups. The new policy was announced as part of the bank's decision to continue to reduce credit exposure over time to the coal mining sector.

Incidents

Wikileaks incident
In October 2009, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks claimed that his organization possessed a 5 gigabyte hard drive formerly used by a Bank of America executive and that Wikileaks intended to publish its contents. In November 2010, Forbes published an interview with Assange in which he stated his intent to publish information which would turn a major U.S. bank "inside out". In response to this announcement, Bank of America stock dropped 3.2%.

In December 2010, Bank of America announced that it would no longer service requests to transfer funds to WikiLeaks, stating that "Bank of America joins in the actions previously announced by MasterCard, PayPal, Visa Europe, and others and will not process transactions of any type that we have reason to believe are intended for WikiLeaks... This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments."

Later in December, it was announced that Bank of America purchased more than 300 Internet domain names in an attempt to preempt bad publicity that might be forthcoming in the anticipated WikiLeaks release. The domain names included as BrianMoynihanBlows.com, BrianMoynihanSucks.com and similar names for other top executives of the bank.

Sometime before August 2011, WikiLeaks claimed that 5 GB of Bank of America leaks was part of the deletion of over 3500 communications by Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a now ex-WikiLeaks volunteer.

Ryan Coogler incident
In March 2022, the bank was involved in a incident related to the notable filmmaker Ryan Coogler who was wrongly targeted as a bank robber and detained by the police in Atlanta, Georgia, after Coogler tried to withdraw cash in the local branch of the Bank of America. After his identity was verified with both his California state ID card and his Bank of America card, Coogler was released and the bank released an apology statement. According to a number of sources, the bank's teller hadn't checked Coogler's ID to verify if he was the owner of the bank account before she asked the bank's supervisor to call police.

Competition
Bank of America's major competitors are Wells Fargo, Santander, PNC Financial Services, Ally Financial, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase Bank, US Bank, Citizens Financial Group, Citigroup,  M&T Bank, and Truist.

Notable buildings

Notable buildings which Bank of America currently occupies include:

 Bank of America Tower in Phoenix, Arizona
 9454 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California
 Bank of America Center in Los Angeles, California
 Transamerica Pyramid, in San Francisco
 555 California Street, formerly the Bank of America Center and world headquarters, in San Francisco, California
 City Place I, also known as United Healthcare Center, in Hartford, Connecticut (the tallest building in Connecticut)
 Bank of America Plaza in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
 Bank of America Tower in Jacksonville, Florida
 Bank of America Financial Center (Brickell) and Bank of America Museum Tower (Downtown Miami) in Miami, Florida
 Bank of America Center in Orlando, Florida
 Bank of America Tower in St. Petersburg, Florida
 Bank of America Plaza in Tampa, Florida
 Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia
 Bank of America Building, formerly the LaSalle Bank Building in Chicago, Illinois
 One City Center, often called the Bank of America building due to signage rights, in Portland, Maine
 Bank of America Building in Baltimore, Maryland
 Bank of America Plaza in St Louis, Missouri
 Bank of America Tower in Albuquerque, New Mexico
 Bank of America Tower in New York City
 Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina (the corporate headquarters)
 Bank of America Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina
 Bank of America Tower in Charlotte, North Carolina
 Hearst Tower in Charlotte, North Carolina
 Bank of America Plaza in Dallas, Texas
 Bank of America Tower in Midland, Texas
 Bank of America Plaza in San Antonio, Texas
 Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza in Seattle, Washington
 Columbia Center in Seattle, Washington
 Bank of America Tower in Hong Kong

In 2010, the bank completed construction of the 1 Bank of America Center in Charlotte center city. The tower, and accompanying hotel, is a LEED-certified building.

Former buildings

The Robert B. Atwood Building in Anchorage, Alaska, was at one time named the Bank of America Center, renamed in conjunction with the bank's acquisition of building tenant Security Pacific Bank. This particular branch was later acquired by Alaska-based Northrim Bank and moved across the street to the Linny Pacillo Parking Garage.

The Bank of America Building (Providence) opened in 1928 as the Industrial Trust Building and remains the tallest building in Rhode Island. Through a number of mergers, it was later known as the Industrial National Bank building and the Fleet Bank building. The building was leased by Bank of America from 2004 to 2012 and has been vacant since March 2013. The building is commonly known as the Superman Building based on a popular belief that it was the model for the Daily Planet building in the Superman comic books.

The Miami Tower iconic in its appearance in Miami Vice was known as the Bank of America Tower for many years. It is located in Downtown Miami. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

TC Energy Center in Houston, Texas, was previously known as Bank of America Center until Bank of America ended its tenancy in the building in June 2019. Designed in the postmodern architecture style by renowned architect Philip Johnson, the building has been one of the most recognizable landmarks of the downtown Houston skyline since it was completed in 1983.

See also

 List of members ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)
 BAML Capital Partners
 Bank of America (Asia)
 Big Four banks
 Calibuso, et al. v. Bank of America Corp., et al.
 List of bank mergers in the United States
 List of largest banks in the United States

References

Further reading

External links

 [DOD] Community Bank operated by Bank of America (official website)

American companies established in 1904
Bank of America legacy banks
Banks based in North Carolina
Banks established in 1904
Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Online brokerages
Systemically important financial institutions
1904 establishments in California

Bank of America


Fundamentalism was used at first to describe some people in the Protestant community in the United States in the early 20th century. These people had a set of well-defined ("fundamental") values. These values were in opposition to more modern ideas. The group also said it was important to stick to what faith (and a more literal translation of the Bible) told them. When people look at religion this way they see the ideas in the religion as absolute. This means that it is not possible for them to change. When religion is seen as absolute it becomes fundamentalism.

Today, the term is used more generally. It is now often used to describe groups of people who are committed to behave or act according to their (mostly moral, and religious) values and beliefs even though these values may be criticised by many people or unpopular. Modern-day fundamentalists want to go back to the roots of certain ideological or religious positions.

Religious fundamentalism has been prevalent in society since its beginnings in the late 19th- and early 20th-century. People today who study fundamentalism see it as a response to modern society. Today society is not as simple as it was: many people live in societies that can be difficult to understand. Changes in familiar things can make people feel unsafe. So some people look in their religion to see something that does not change. They also want rules about how to act that do not change. So they see their religion as this thing that does not change.

See Reformation for an older historical precedent.

Fundamentalism is also a trademarked brand of belts "to Beat Children." Fundamentalism Leather Belts have been in countless art exhibits to satirize Fundamentalist Christians who think their God wants them to hit children. The artist and the only publicly recognized owner of Fundamentalism, Daniel Vander Ley, is a child-rights advocate who uses his brand "Fundamentalism America's Premier Child Abuse Brand" as a way to confront governments around the world about corporal punishment practices in schools and homes. Corporal Punishment still occurs in public schools in 19 American states.

Terminology
Some people who are called religious fundamentalists do not like that name, as the term has other meanings. They do not like it because 'religious fundamentalist' has some negative ideas about it. Many people who are politically progressive or liberal sometimes do not like religious fundamentalists. They believe bad things about them like that they are not clever, they are not educated, or that they do not respect people's human rights.

Some people who are Christian fundamentalists do like that term and use it to name themselves. But they do not like being called religious fundamentalists because Islamic fundamentalists are in this same group.

History
Fundamentalism began as a movement in the U.S., starting among conservative Presbyterian academics and theologians at Princeton Theological Seminary in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. It soon spread to conservatives among the Baptists and other denominations during and immediately following the First World War. The movement's purpose was to reaffirm orthodox Protestant Christianity and zealously defend it against the challenges of liberal theology, German higher criticism, Darwinism, and other movements which it regarded as harmful to Christianity.

The term "fundamentalism" has its roots in the Niagara Bible Conference (1878–1897) which defined those things that were fundamental to Christian belief. The term was also used to describe "The Fundamentals", a collection of twelve books on five subjects published in 1910 and funded by Milton and Lyman Stewart

Issues of fundamentalism
Not all religious fundamentalists believe the same things. But there are many issues that they have strong beliefs about. Some of these issues are similar even in different religions. Some of these issues are:
 Abortion
 Homosexuality
 Feminism (or women's rights)
 Sex before marriage
 Contraception
 Religion as the basis for laws
 Teaching religion in schools
 Science

Criticism
Many criticisms of fundamentalist positions have been offered. One of the most common is that some claims made by a fundamentalist group cannot be proven, and are irrational, demonstrably false, or contrary to scientific evidence. . For example, some of these criticisms were famously asserted by Clarence Darrow in the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Another is that religious beliefs do not translate well into laws or social policy in diverse tolerant societies. This criticism favors secularism as a better foundation for social harmony and stability.

One of the critics, Elliot N. Dorff wrote:
In order to carry out the fundamentalist program in practice, one would need a perfect understanding of the ancient language of the original text, if indeed the true text can be (found...) among variants. Furthermore, human beings are the ones who transmit this understanding between generations. Even if one wanted to follow the literal word of God, the need for people first to understand that word (requires) human interpretation. Through that process human fallibility is inextricably mixed into the very meaning of the divine word. As a result, it is impossible to follow the indisputable word of God; one can only achieve a human understanding of God's will.

References

Theology
Philosophical movements and positions
Political ideologies

Fundamentalism