prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Bill Bryson grew up in a city that is the seat of which county ?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe is a 1991 humorous travelogue by American writer Bill Bryson  It documents the author's tour of Europe in 1990, with flashbacks to two summer tours he made in 1972 and 1973 in his college days  On his 1973 tour, he travelled with his friend Matt Angerer, pseudonymised in the book as Stephen Katz, who also appeared more prominently in Bryson's later book A Walk in the Woods, as well as in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid 
Bryson's trip begins in the winter, in Hammerfest, Norway, where his goal is to see the Northern Lights  He visits numerous locations throughout Europe, commenting on the various aspects of life in different parts of Europe, and comparing them to how he experienced them in his earlier visits  The book ends with Bryson reaching Istanbul, Turkey, looking across the Bosphorus to Asia, and considering continuing his tour 

Places visited
Norway (Hammerfest, Oslo)
France (Paris)
Belgium (Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Spa, Durbuy)
Germany (Aachen, Cologne, Hamburg)
The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Haarlem)
Denmark (Copenhagen)
Sweden (Gothenburg, Stockholm)
Italy (Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Florence, Milan, Como)
Switzerland (Brig, Geneva, Bern)
Liechtenstein
Austria (Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna)
Yugoslavia (Split, Sarajevo, Belgrade)
Bulgaria (Sofia)
Turkey (Istanbul)
Passage 2:
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines ( (listen)) is the capital and the most populous city in the U S  state of Iowa  It is also the county seat of Polk County  A small part of the city extends into Warren County  It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857  It is located on, and named after, the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the early French name, Rivière des Moines, meaning "River of the Monks"  The city's population was 214,133 as of the 2020 census  The six-county metropolitan area is ranked 83rd in terms of population in the United States with 699,292 residents according to the 2019 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, and is the largest metropolitan area fully located within the state Des Moines is a major center of the US insurance industry and has a sizable financial services and publishing business base  The city was credited as the "number one spot for U S  insurance companies" in a Business Wire article and named the third-largest "insurance capital" of the world  The city is the headquarters for the Principal Financial Group, Ruan Transportation, TMC Transportation, EMC Insurance Companies, and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield  Other major corporations such as Wells Fargo, Cognizant, Voya Financial, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, ACE Limited, Marsh, Monsanto, and Corteva have large operations in or near the metropolitan area  In recent years, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Facebook have built data-processing and logistical facilities in the Des Moines area 
Des Moines is an important city in U S  presidential politics; as the state's capital, it is the site of the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle  Many presidential candidates set up campaign headquarters in Des Moines  A 2007 article in The New York Times said, "If you have any desire to witness presidential candidates in the most close-up and intimate of settings, there is arguably no better place to go than Des Moines "

Etymology
Des Moines takes its name from Fort Des Moines (1843–46), which was named for the Des Moines River  This was adopted from the name given by French colonists  Des Moines (pronounced [de mwan] (listen); formerly [de mwɛn]) translates literally to either "from the monks" or "of the monks" 
The historian Virgil Vogel claimed that the name was derived from Moingona, an Algonquian clan name, which means "Loon" Some historians and researchers lacking linguistic or Algonquianist training concluded that Moingona meant "people by the portage" or something similar, a reference to the Des Moines Rapids  This was where the earliest known encounters between the Moingona and European explorers took place One popular interpretation of "Des Moines" ignores Vogel's research, and concludes that it refers to a group of French Trappist monks, who in the 17th century lived in huts built on top of what is now known as the ancient Monks Mound at Cahokia, the major center of Mississippian culture, which developed in what is present-day Illinois, east of the Mississippi River and the city of St  Louis  This was some 200 miles (320 km) from the Des Moines River In 2015, Michael McCafferty of Indiana University, while studying the Miami-Illinois language, concluded that the name was actually a derisive term coined by the Peoria tribe  McCafferty agrees with other linguists that the "Moines" in Des Moines is a French derivation of Moingoana  What he discovered, however, was that it was not the actual name of the neighboring tribe; it was an insulting nickname they hurled at their rivals  It translates, essentially, as "the feces-faces "

Prehistory
Prehistoric inhabitants of early Des Moines
Based on archaeological evidence, the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers has attracted humans for at least 7,000 years  Several prehistoric occupation areas have been identified by archaeologists in downtown Des Moines  Discovered in December 2010, the "Palace" is an expansive, 7,000-year-old site found during excavations prior to construction of the new wastewater treatment plant in southeastern Des Moines  It contains well-preserved house deposits and numerous graves  More than 6,000 artifacts were found at this site  State of Iowa archaeologist John Doershuk was assisted by University of Iowa archaeologists at this dig At least three Late Prehistoric villages, dating from about AD 1300 to 1700, stood in or near what developed later as downtown Des Moines  In addition, 15 to 18 prehistoric American Indian mounds were observed in this area by early settlers  All have been destroyed during development of the city 

History
Origin of Fort Des Moines
Des Moines traces its origins to May 1843, when Captain James Allen supervised the construction of a fort on the site where the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers merge  Allen wanted to use the name Fort Raccoon; however, the U S  War Department preferred Fort Des Moines  The fort was built to control the Sauk and Meskwaki  tribes, whom the government had moved to the area from their traditional lands in eastern Iowa  The fort was abandoned in 1846 after the Sauk and Meskwaki were removed from the state and shifted to the Indian Territory The Sauk and Meskwaki did not fare well in Des Moines  The illegal whiskey trade, combined with the destruction of traditional lifeways, led to severe problems for their society  One newspaper reported:

"It is a fact that the location of Fort Des Moines among the Sac and Fox Indians (under its present commander) for the last two years, had corrupted them more and lowered them deeper in the scale of vice and degradation, than all their intercourse with the whites for the ten years previous" After official removal, the Meskwaki continued to return to Des Moines until around 1857 Archaeological excavations have shown that many fort-related features survived under what is now Martin Luther King Jr  Parkway and First Street  Soldiers stationed at Fort Des Moines opened the first coal mines in the area, mining coal from the riverbank for the fort's blacksmith 

Early, non-Native American, settlement
Settlers occupied the abandoned fort and nearby areas  On May 25, 1846, the state legislature designated Fort Des Moines as the seat of Polk County  Arozina Perkins, a school teacher who spent the winter of 1850–1851 in the town of Fort Des Moines, was not favorably impressed:

This is one of the strangest looking "cities" I ever saw    This town is at the juncture of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers  It is mostly a level prairie with a few swells or hills around it  We have a court house of "brick" and one church, a plain, framed building belonging to the Methodists  There are two taverns here, one of which has a most important little bell that rings together some fifty boarders  I cannot tell you how many dwellings there are, for I have not counted them; some are of logs, some of brick, some framed, and some are the remains of the old dragoon houses    The people support two papers and there are several dry goods shops  I have been into but four of them    Society is as varied as the buildings are  There are people from nearly every state, and Dutch, Swedes, etc 
In May 1851, much of the town was destroyed during the Flood of 1851  "The Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers rose to an unprecedented height, inundating the entire country east of the Des Moines River  Crops were utterly destroyed, houses and fences swept away " The city started to rebuild from scratch 

Era of growth
On September 22, 1851, Des Moines was incorporated as a city; the charter was approved by voters on October 18  In 1857, the name "Fort Des Moines" was shortened to "Des Moines", and it was designated as the second state capital, previously at Iowa City  Growth was slow during the Civil War period, but the city exploded in size and importance after a railroad link was completed in 1866 In 1864, the Des Moines Coal Company was organized to begin the first systematic mining in the region  Its first mine, north of town on the river's west side, was exhausted by 1873  The Black Diamond mine, near the south end of the West Seventh Street Bridge, sank a 150-foot (46 m) mine shaft to reach a 5-foot-thick (1 5 m) coal bed  By 1876, this mine employed 150 men and shipped 20 carloads of coal per day  By 1885, numerous mine shafts were within the city limits, and mining began to spread into the surrounding countryside  By 1893, 23 mines were in the region  By 1908, Des Moines' coal resources were largely exhausted  In 1912, Des Moines still had eight locals of the United Mine Workers union, representing 1,410 miners  This was about 1 7% of the city's population in 1910 
By 1880, Des Moines had a population of 22,408, making it Iowa's largest city  It displaced the three Mississippi River ports: Burlington, Dubuque, and Davenport, that had alternated holding the position since the territorial period  Des Moines has remained Iowa's most populous city  In 1910, the Census Bureau reported Des Moines' population as 97 3% white and 2 7% black, reflecting its early settlement pattern primarily by ethnic Europeans 

"City Beautiful" project, decline and rebirth
At the turn of the 20th century, encouraged by the Civic Committee of the Des Moines Women's Club, Des Moines undertook a "City Beautiful" project in which large Beaux Arts public buildings and fountains were constructed along the Des Moines River  The former Des Moines Public Library building (now the home of the World Food Prize); the United States central Post Office, built by the federal government (now the Polk County Administrative Building, with a newer addition); and the City Hall are surviving examples of the 1900–1910 buildings  They form the Civic Center Historic District 
The ornate riverfront balustrades that line the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers were built by the federal Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression under Democratic President Franklin D  Roosevelt, as a project to provide local employment and improve infrastructure  The ornamental fountains that stood along the riverbank were buried in the 1950s when the city began a postindustrial decline that lasted until the late 1980s  The city has since rebounded, transforming from a blue-collar industrial city to a white-collar professional city 

In 1907, the city adopted a city commission government known as the Des Moines Plan, comprising an elected mayor and four commissioners, all elected at-large, who were responsible for public works, public property, public safety, and finance  Considered progressive at the time, it diluted the votes of ethnic and national minorities, who generally could not command the majority to elect a candidate of their choice 
That form of government was scrapped in 1950 in favor of a council-manager government, with the council members elected at-large  In 1967, the city changed its government to elect four of the seven city council members from single-member districts or wards, rather than at-large  This enabled a broader representation of voters  As with many major urban areas, the city core began losing population to the suburbs in the 1960s (the peak population of 208,982 was recorded in 1960), as highway construction led to new residential construction outside the city  The population was 198,682 in 2000 and grew slightly to 200,538 in 2009  The growth of the outlying suburbs has continued, and the overall metropolitan-area population is over 700,000 today 
During the Great Flood of 1993, heavy rains throughout June and early July caused the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers to rise above flood stage levels  The Des Moines Water Works was submerged by floodwaters during the early morning hours of July 11, 1993, leaving an estimated 250,000 people without running water for 12 days and without drinking water for 20 days  Des Moines suffered major flooding again in June 2008 with a major levee breach  The Des Moines river is controlled upstream by Saylorville Reservoir  In both 1993 and 2008, the flooding river overtopped the reservoir spillway 
Today, Des Moines is a member of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA  Through ICLEI, Des Moines has implemented "The Tomorrow Plan", a regional plan focused on developing central Iowa in a sustainable fashion, centrally-planned growth, and resource consumption to manage the local population 

Cityscape
The skyline of Des Moines changed in the 1970s and the 1980s, when several new skyscrapers were built  Additional skyscrapers were built in the 1990s, including Iowa's tallest  Before then, the 19-story Equitable Building, from 1924, was the tallest building in the city and the tallest building in Iowa  The 25-story Financial Center was completed in 1973 and the 36-story Ruan Center was completed in 1974  They were later joined by the 33-story Des Moines Marriott Hotel (1981), the 25-story HUB Tower and 25-story Plaza Building (1985)  Iowa's tallest building, Principal Financial Group's 45-story tower at 801 Grand was built in 1991, and the 19-story EMC Insurance Building was erected in 1997 
During this time period, the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines (1979) was developed; it hosts Broadway shows and special events  Also constructed were the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden (1979), a large city botanical garden/greenhouse on the east side of the river; the Polk County Convention Complex (1985), and the State of Iowa Historical Museum (1987)  The Des Moines skywalk also began to take shape during the 1980s  The skywalk system is 4 miles (6 4 km) long and connects many downtown buildings In the early 21st century, the city has had more major construction in the downtown area  The new Science Center of Iowa and Blank IMAX Dome Theater and the Iowa Events Center opened in 2005  The new central branch of the Des Moines Public Library, designed by renowned architect David Chipperfield of London, opened on April 8, 2006 
The World Food Prize Foundation, which is based in Des Moines, completed adaptation and restoration of the former Des Moines Public Library building in October 2011  The former library now serves as the home and headquarters of the Norman Borlaug/World Food Prize Hall of Laureates 

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 90 65 square miles (234 78 km2), of which 88 93 square miles (230 33 km2) is land and 1 73 square miles (4 48 km2) is covered by water  It is 850 feet (260 m) above sea level at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers 
In November 2005, Des Moines voters approved a measure that allowed the city to annex parcels of land in the northeast, southeast, and southern corners of Des Moines without agreement by local residents, particularly areas bordering the Iowa Highway 5/U S  65 bypass  The annexations became official on June 26, 2009, as 5,174 acres (20 94 km2) and around 868 new residents were added to the city of Des Moines  An additional 759 acres (3 07 km2) were voluntarily annexed to the city over that same period 

Metropolitan area
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area

Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines Combined Statistical Area

Des Moines' suburban communities include Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Grimes, Johnston, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines, and Windsor Heights 

Climate
At the center of North America and far removed from large bodies of water, the Des Moines area has a hot summer type humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), with warm to hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters  Summer temperatures can often climb into the 90 °F (32 °C) range, occasionally reaching 100 °F (38 °C)  Humidity can be high in spring and summer, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms  Fall brings pleasant temperatures and colorful fall foliage  Winters vary from moderately cold to bitterly cold, with low temperatures venturing below 0 °F (−18 °C) quite often  Snowfall averages 36 5 inches (93 cm) per season, and annual precipitation averages 36 55 inches (928 mm), with a peak in the warmer months  Winters are slightly colder than Chicago, but still warmer than Minneapolis, with summer temperatures being very similar between the Upper Midwest metropolitan areas 

Demographics
2020 census
As of the census of 2020, the population was 214,133  The population density was 2,428 4 inhabitants per square mile (937 6/km2)  There were 95,082 housing units at an average density of 1,078 3 per square mile (416 3/km2)  Ethnically, the population was 15 6% Hispanic or Latino of any race  When grouping both Hispanic and non-Hispanic people together by race, the city was 64 5% White, 11 7% Black or African American, 6 8% Asian, 0 7% Native American, 0 1% Pacific Islander, 6 6% from other races, and 9 6% from two or more races  
The 2020 census population of the city included 252 people incarcerated in adult correctional facilities and 2,378 people in student housing According  to the American Community Survey estimates for 2016-2020, the median income for a household in the city was $54,843, and the median income for a family was $66,420  Male full-time workers had a median income of $47,048 versus $40,290 for female workers  The per capita income for the city was $29,064  About 12 1% of families and 16 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24 3% of those under age 18 and 9 8% of those age 65 or over  Of the population age 25 and over, 86 7% were high school graduates or higher and 27 9% had a bachelor's degree or higher 

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 203,433 people, 81,369 households, and 47,491 families residing in the city  Population density was 2,515 6 inhabitants per square mile (971 3/km2)  There were 88,729 housing units at an average density of 1,097 2 per square mile (423 6/km2)  The racial makeup of the city for Unincorporated areas not merged with the city proper was 66 2% White, 15 5% African Americans, 0 5% Native American, 4 0% Asian, and 2 6% from Two or more races  People of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race, made up 12 1% of the population  The city's racial make up during the 2010 census was 76 4% White, 10 2% African American, 0 5% Native American, 4 4% Asian (1 2% Vietnamese, 0 9% Laotian, 0 4% Burmese, 0 3% Asian Indian, 0 3% Thai, 0 2% Chinese, 0 2% Cambodian, 0 2% Filipino, 0 1% Hmong, 0 1% Korean, 0 1% Nepalese), 0 1% Pacific Islander, 5 0% from other races, and 3 4% from two or more races  People of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race, formed 12 0% of the population (9 4% Mexican, 0 7% Salvadoran, 0 3% Guatemalan, 0 3% Puerto Rican, 0 1% Honduran, 0 1% Ecuadorian, 0 1% Cuban, 0 1% Spaniard, 0 1% Spanish)  Non-Hispanic Whites were 70 5% of the population in 2010  Des Moines also has a sizeable South Sudanese community There were 81,369 households, of which 31 6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38 9% were married couples living together, 14 2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5 3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41 6% were non-families  32 5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older  The average household size was 2 43 and the average family size was 3 11 
The median age in the city was 33 5 years  24 8% of residents were under the age of 18; 10 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29 4% were from 25 to 44; 23 9% were from 45 to 64; and 11% were 65 years of age or older  The gender makeup of the city was 48 9% male and 51 1% female 

2000 census
As of the 2000 census, there were 198,682 people, 80,504 households, and 48,704 families in the city  The population density was 2,621 3 inhabitants per square mile (1,012 1/km2)  There were 85,067 housing units at an average density of 1,122 3 per square mile (433 3/km2)  The racial makeup of the city was 82 3% white, 8 07% Black, 0 35% American Indian, 3 50% Asian, 0 05% Pacific Islander, 3 52% from other races, and 2 23% from two or more races  6 61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race  20 9% were of German, 10 3% Irish, 9 1% "American" and 8 0% English ancestry, according to Census 2000 
There were 80,504 households, out of which 29 5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43 7% were married couples living together, 12 6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39 5% were non-families  31 9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older  The average household size was 2 39 and the average family size was 3 04 
The age distribution was 24 8% under the age of 18, 10 6% from 18 to 24, 31 8% from 25 to 44, 20 4% from 45 to 64, and 12 4% who were 65 years of age or older  The median age was 34 years  For every 100 females, there were 93 8 males  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90 5 males 
The median income for a household in the city was $38,408, and the median income for a family was $46,590  Males had a median income of $31,712 versus $25,832 for females  The per capita income for the city was $19,467  About 7 9% of families and 11 4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14 9% of those under age 18 and 7 6% of those ages 65 or over 

Economy
Many insurance companies are headquartered in Des Moines, including the Principal Financial Group, EMC Insurance Group, Fidelity & Guaranty Life, Allied Insurance, GuideOne Insurance, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa, FBL Financial Group, and American Republic Insurance Company   Iowa has one of the lowest insurance premium taxes in the nation at 1%, and doesn't charge any premium taxes on qualified life insurance plans, making the state attractive to insurance business   Des Moines has been referred to as the "Hartford of the West" and "Insurance Capital" because of this  The Principal is one of two Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Iowa (the other being Casey's General Stores), ranking 201st on the magazine's list in 2020 As a center of financial and insurance services, other major corporations headquartered outside of Iowa have a presence in the Des Moines Metro area, including Wells Fargo, Voya Financial, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS)  The Meredith Corporation, a leading publishing and marketing company, was also based in Des Moines prior to its acquisition by IAC and merger with Dotdash in 2021  Meredith published Better Homes and Gardens, one of the most widely circulated publications in the United States  Des Moines was also the headquarters of Golf Digest magazine 
Other major employers in Des Moines include UnityPoint Health, Mercy Medical Center, MidAmerican Energy Company, CDS Global, UPS, Firestone Agricultural Tire Company, EDS, Drake University, Titan Tire, The Des Moines Register, Anderson Erickson, Dee Zee and EMCO In 2017, Kemin Industries opened a state-of-the-art worldwide headquarters building in Des Moines 

Culture
Arts and theatre
The City of Des Moines is a cultural center for Iowa and home to several art and history museums and performing arts groups  The Des Moines Performing Arts routinely hosts touring Broadway shows and other live professional theater  Its president and CEO, Jeff Chelsvig, is a member of the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc  The Temple for Performing Arts and Des Moines Playhouse are other venues for live theatre, comedy, and performance arts 
The Des Moines Metro Opera has been a cultural resource in Des Moines since 1973  The Opera offers educational and outreach programs and is one of the largest performing arts organizations in the state  Ballet Des Moines was established in 2002  Performing three productions each year, the Ballet also provides opportunities for education and outreach 
The Des Moines Symphony performs frequently at different venues  In addition to performing seven pairs of classical concerts each season, the Symphony also entertains with New Year's Eve Pops and its annual Yankee Doodle Pops concerts 
The Metro Arts Alliance produces Jazz in July every year, that offers free jazz shows daily at various venues throughout the city during the entire month of July 

Wells Fargo Arena is the Des Moines area's primary venue for sporting events and concerts since its opening in 2005  Named for title sponsor Wells Fargo Financial Services, Wells Fargo Arena holds 16,980 and books large, national touring acts for arena concert performances, while several smaller venues host local, regional, and national bands  It is the home of the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League, the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, and the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League 
The Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater is an outdoor concert venue on the east bank of the Des Moines River which hosts music events such as the Alive Concert Series 

The Des Moines Art Center, with a wing designed by architect I  M  Pei, presents art exhibitions and educational programs as well as studio art classes  The Center houses a collection of artwork from the 19th century to the present  An extension of the art center is downtown in an urban museum space, featuring three or four exhibitions each year 

The Pappajohn Sculpture Park was established in 2009  It showcases a collection of 24 sculptures donated by Des Moines philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn  Nearby is the Temple for Performing Arts, a cultural center for the city  Next to the Temple is the 117,000-square-foot (10,900 m2) Central Library, designed by renowned English architect David Chipperfield 
Salisbury House and Gardens is a 42-room historic house museum on 10 acres (4 ha) of woodlands in the South of Grand neighborhood of Des Moines  It is named after—and loosely inspired by—King's House in Salisbury, England  Built in the 1920s by cosmetics magnate Carl Weeks and his wife, Edith, the Salisbury House contains authentic 16th-century English oak and rafters dating to Shakespeare's days, numerous other architectural features re-purposed from other historic English homes, and an internationally significant collection of original fine art, tapestries, decorative art, furniture, musical instruments, and rare books and documents  The Salisbury House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been featured on A&E's America's Castles and PBS's Antiques Roadshow  Prominent artists in the Salisbury House collection include Joseph Stella, Lillian Genth, Anthony van Dyck and Lawrence Alma-Tadema 
Built in 1877 by prominent pioneer businessman Hoyt Sherman, Hoyt Sherman Place mansion was Des Moines' first public art gallery and houses a distinctive collection of 19th and 20th century artwork  Its restored 1,250-seat theater features an intricate rococo plaster ceiling and excellent acoustics and is used for a variety of cultural performances and entertainment 

Attractions
Arising in the east and facing westward toward downtown, the Iowa State Capitol building with its 275-foot (84 m), 23-karat gold leafed dome towering above the city is a favorite of sightseers  Four smaller domes flank the main dome  The Capitol houses the governor's offices, legislature, and the old Supreme Court Chambers  The ornate interior also features a grand staircase, mural "Westward", five-story law library, scale model of the USS Iowa, and collection of first lady dolls  Guided tours are available 
The Capitol grounds include a World War II memorial with sculpture and Wall of Memories, the 1894 Soldiers and Sailors Monument of the Civil War and memorials honoring those who served in the Spanish–American, Korean, and Vietnam Wars 
The West Capitol Terrace provides the entrance from the west to the state's grandest building, the State Capitol Building  The 10-acre (4 ha) "people's park" at the foot of the Capitol complex includes a promenade and landscaped gardens, in addition to providing public space for rallies and special events  A granite map of Iowa depicting all 99 counties rests at the base of the terrace and has become an attraction for in-state visitors, many of whom walk over the map to find their home county 

Iowa's history lives on in the State of Iowa Historical Museum  This modern granite and glass structure at the foot of the State Capitol Building houses permanent and temporary exhibits exploring the people, places, events, and issues of Iowa's past  The showcase includes native wildlife, American Indian and pioneer artifacts, and political and military items  The museum features a genealogy and Iowa history library, museum gift shop, and cafe 
Terrace Hill, a National Historic Landmark and Iowa Governor's Residence, is among the best examples of American Victorian Second Empire architecture  This opulent 1869 home was built by Iowa's first millionaire, Benjamin F  Allen, and restored to the late 19th century period  It overlooks downtown Des Moines and is situated on 8 acres (3 2 ha) with a re-created Victorian formal garden  Tours are conducted Tuesdays through Saturdays from March through December 
The 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) Science Center of Iowa and Blank IMAX Dome Theater offers seven interactive learning areas, live programs, and hands-on activities encouraging learning and fun for all ages  Among its three theaters include the 216-seat Blank IMAX Dome Theater, 175-seat John Deere Adventure Theater featuring live performances, and a 50-foot (15 m) domed Star Theater 

The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, an indoor conservatory of over 15,000 exotic plants, is one of the largest collections of tropical, subtropical, and desert-growing plants in the Midwest  The Center blooms with thousands of flowers year-round  Nearby are the Robert D  Ray Asian Gardens and Pavilion, named in honor of the former governor whose influence helped relocate thousands of Vietnamese refugees to Iowa homes in the 1970s and 1980s  Developed by the city's Asian community, the Gardens include a three-story Chinese pavilion, bonsai landscaping, and granite sculptures to highlight the importance of diversity and recognize Asian American contributions in Iowa 
Blank Park Zoo is a landscaped 22-acre (8 9 ha) zoological park on the south side  Among the exhibits include a tropical rain forest, Australian Outback, and Africa  The Zoo offers education classes, tours, and rental facilities 
The Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary was established as a scientific research facility with a 230-acre (93 ha) campus housing bonobos and orangutans for the noninvasive interdisciplinary study of their cognitive and communicative capabilities 

The East Village, on the east side of the Des Moines River, begins at the river and extends about five blocks east to the State Capitol Building, offering an eclectic blend of historic buildings, hip eateries, boutiques, art galleries, and a wide variety of other retail establishments mixed with residences 
Adventureland Park is an amusement park in neighboring Altoona, just northeast of Des Moines  The park boasts more than 100 rides, shows, and attractions, including six rollercoasters  A hotel and campground is just outside the park  Also in Altoona is Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, an entertainment venue for gambling and horse racing  Open 24 hours a day, year-round, the racetrack and casino features live racing, plus over 1,750 slot machines, table games, and concert and show entertainment   The racetrack hosts two Grade III races annually, the Iowa Oaks and the Cornhusker Handicap 
Living History Farms in suburban Urbandale tells the story of Midwestern agriculture and rural life in a 500-acre (2 0 km2) open-air museum with interpreters dressed in period costume who recreate the daily routines of early Iowans  Open daily from May through October, the Living History Farms include a 1700 Ioway Indian village, 1850 pioneer farm, 1875 frontier town, 1900 horse-powered farm, and a modern crop center 
Wallace House was the home of the first Henry Wallace, a national leader in agriculture and conservation and the first editor of Wallaces' Farmer farm journal  This restored 1883 Italianate Victorian houses exhibits, artifacts, and information covering four generations of Henry Wallaces and other family members 
Historic Jordan House in West Des Moines is a stately Victorian home built in 1850 and added to in 1870 by the first white settler in West Des Moines, James C  Jordan  Completely refurbished, this mansion was part of the Underground Railroad and today houses 16 period rooms, a railroad museum, West Des Moines community history, and a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad in Iowa  In 1893 Jordan's daughter Eda was sliding down the banister when she fell off and broke her neck  She died two days later, and her ghost is reputed to haunt the house The Chicago Tribune wrote that Iowa's capital city has "walker-friendly downtown streets and enough outdoor sculpture, sleek buildings, storefronts and cafes to delight the most jaded stroller" 

Festivals and events
Des Moines plays host to a growing number of nationally acclaimed cultural events, including the annual Des Moines Arts Festival in June, Metro Arts Jazz in July, Iowa State Fair in August, and the World Food & Music Festival in September  On Saturdays from May through October, the Downtown Farmers' Market draws visitors from across the state  Local parades include Saint Patrick's Day Parade, Drake Relays Parade, Capitol City Pride Parade, Iowa State Fair Parade, Labor Day Parade, and Beaverdale Fall Festival Parade 
Other annual festivals and events include: Des Moines Beer Week, 80/35 Music Festival, 515 Alive Music Festival, ArtFest Midwest, Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest, CelebrAsian Heritage Festival, Des Moines Pride Festival, Des Moines Renaissance Faire, Festa Italiana, Festival of Trees and Lights, World Food & Music Festival, I'll Make Me a World Iowa, Latino Heritage Festival, Oktoberfest, Winefest, ImaginEve!, Iowa's Premier Beer, Wine & Food Show, and Wild Rose Film Festival 

Museums
Des Moines Art Center
Des Moines Police Museum & Historical Society
Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center
Jordan House Museum
Hoyt Sherman Place
Salisbury House
Science Center of Iowa
State Historical Society of Iowa
Terrace Hill – Official residence of the governor of Iowa
Wallace House Museum
World Food Prize Hall of Laureates
Wells Fargo History Museum

Government
Des Moines operates under a council–manager form of government  The council consists of a mayor (Frank Cownie) and is elected in citywide vote, two at-large members, and four members representing each of the city's four wards  In 2014, Jonathan Gano was appointed as the new Public Works Director  In 2015, Dana Wingert was appointed as Police Chief  In 2018, Steven L  Naber was appointed as the new City Engineer The council members include:
A plan to merge the governments of Des Moines and Polk County was rejected by voters during the November 2, 2004, election  The consolidated city-county government would have had a full-time mayor and a 15-member council that would have been divided among the city and its suburbs  Each suburb would still have retained its individual government but with the option to join the consolidated government at any time  Although a full merger was soundly rejected, many city and county departments and programs have been consolidated 

Transportation
Des Moines has an extensive skywalk system within its downtown core  With over four miles of enclosed walkway, it is one of the largest of such systems in the United States  The Des Moines Skywalk System has been criticized for hurting street-level business, though a recent initiative has been made to make street-level Skywalk entrances more visible 

Interstate 235 (I-235) cuts through the city, and I-35 and I-80 both pass through the Des Moines metropolitan area, as well as the city of Des Moines  On the northern side of the city of Des Moines and passing through the cities of Altoona, Clive, Johnston, Urbandale and West Des Moines, I-35 and I-80 converge into a long concurrency while I-235 takes a direct route through Des Moines, Windsor Heights, and West Des Moines before meeting up with I-35 and I-80 on the western edge of the metro  The Des Moines Bypass passes south and east of the city   Other routes in and around the city include US 6, US 69, Iowa 28, Iowa 141, Iowa 163, Iowa 330, Iowa 415, & Iowa 160 

Des Moines's public transit system, operated by DART (Des Moines Area Regional Transit), which was the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority until October 2006, consists entirely of buses, including regular in-city routes and express and commuter buses to outlying suburban areas 
Characteristics of household ownership of cars in Des Moines are similar to national averages  In 2015, 8 5 percent of Des Moines households lacked a car, and increased to 9 6 percent in 2016  The national average was 8 7 percent in 2016  Des Moines averaged 1 71 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1 8 
Burlington Trailways, and Jefferson Lines run long-distance, intercity bus routes through Des Moines  The bus station is located north of downtown  Although Des Moines was historically a train hub, it does not have passenger train service  For east–west traffic it was served at the Rock Island Depot by the Corn Belt Rocket express from Omaha to the west, to Chicago in the east  The Rock Island also offered the Rocky Mountain Rocket from Colorado Springs in the west, to Chicago, and the Twin Star Rocket to Minneapolis to the north and Dallas and Houston to the south  The last train was an unnamed service ending at Council Bluffs, and it was discontinued on May 31, 1970   Today, this line constitutes the mainline of the Iowa Interstate Railroad  
Other railroads used the East Des Moines Union Station  Northward and northwest bound, there were Chicago and North Western trains to destinations including Minneapolis  The Wabash Railroad ran service to the southeast to St  Louis   These lines remain in use but are now operated by Union Pacific and BNSF 
The nearest Amtrak station is in Osceola, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Des Moines  The Osceola station is served by the Chicago–San Francisco California Zephyr; there is no Osceola–Des Moines Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach connecting service  There have been proposals to extend Amtrak's planned Chicago–Moline Quad City Rocket to Des Moines via the Iowa Interstate Railroad The Des Moines International Airport (DSM), on Fleur Drive in the southern part of Des Moines, offers nonstop service to destinations within the United States  The only international service is cargo service, but there have been discussions about adding an international terminal 

Education
The Des Moines Public Schools district is the largest community school district in Iowa with 32,062 enrolled students as of the 2012–2013 school year  The district consists of 63 schools: 38 elementary schools, eleven middle schools, five high schools (East, Hoover, Lincoln, North, and Roosevelt), and ten special schools and programs  Small parts of the city are instead served by Carlisle Community Schools, Johnston Community School District, the Southeast Polk Community School District and the Saydel School District Grand View Christian School is the only private school in the city, although Des Moines Christian School (in Des Moines from 1947 to 2006) in Urbandale, Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, and Ankeny Christian Academy on the north side of the metro area serve some city residents 
Des Moines is also home to the main campuses of three four-year private colleges: Drake University, Grand View University, and Mercy College of Health Sciences  The University of Iowa has a satellite facility in the city's Western Gateway Park, while Iowa State University hosts Master of Business Administration classes downtown  Simpson College, Upper Iowa University, William Penn University, and Purdue University Global   Des Moines Area Community College is the area's community college with campuses in Ankeny, Des Moines, and West Des Moines  The city is also home to Des Moines University, an osteopathic medical school 

Media
The Des Moines market, which originally consisted of Polk, Dallas, Story, and Warren counties, was ranked 91st by Arbitron as of the fall of 2007 with a population of 512,000 aged 12 and older  But in June 2011 it was moved up to 72nd with the addition of Boone, Clarke, Greene, Guthrie, Jasper, Lucas, Madison and Marion counties 

Radio
Commercial stations
iHeartMedia owns five radio stations in the area, including WHO 1040 AM, a 50,000-watt AM news/talk station that has the highest ratings in the area and once employed future President Ronald Reagan as a sportscaster  In addition to WHO, iHeartMedia owns KDRB 100 3 FM (adult hits), KKDM 107 5 FM (contemporary hits), KXNO-FM 106 3, and KXNO 1460 AM (sports radio)  They also own news/talk station KASI 1430 AM and hot adult contemporary station KCYZ 105 1 FM, both of which broadcast from Ames 
Cumulus Media owns five stations that broadcast from facilities in Urbandale: KBGG 1700 AM (sports), KGGO 94 9 FM (classic rock), KHKI 97 3 FM (country music), KJJY 92 5 FM (country music), and KWQW 98 3 FM (classic hip hop) Saga Communications owns nine stations in the area: KAZR 103 3 FM (rock), KAZR-HD2 (oldies), KIOA 93 3 FM (oldies), KIOA-HD2 99 9FM & 93 3 HD2 (Rhythmic Top 40), KOEZ 104 1 FM (soft adult contemporary), KPSZ 940 AM (contemporary Christian music, religious teaching, and conservative talk), KRNT 1350 AM (ESPN Radio), KSTZ 102 5 FM (adult contemporary hits), and KSTZ-HD2 (classic country)  Other stations in the Des Moines area include religious stations KWKY 1150 AM, and KPUL 101 7 FM 

Non-commercial stations
Non-commercial radio stations in the Des Moines area include KDPS 88 1 FM, a station operated by the Des Moines Public Schools; KWDM 88 7 FM, a station operated by Valley High School; KJMC 89 3 FM, an urban contemporary station; K213DV 90 5 FM, the contemporary Christian K-Love affiliate for the area; and KDFR 91 3 FM, operated by Family Radio  Iowa Public Radio broadcasts several stations in the Des Moines area, all of which are owned by Iowa State University and operated on campus  WOI 640 am, the networks flagship station, and WOI-FM 90 1, the networks flagship "Studio One" station, are both based out of Ames and serve as the area's National Public Radio outlets  The network also operates classical stations KICG, KICJ, KICL and KICP   The University of Northwestern – St  Paul operates Contemporary Christian simulcasts of KNWI-FM at 107 1 Osceola/Des Moines, KNWM-FM at 96 1 Madrid/Ames/Des Moines, and K264CD at 100 7 in downtown Des Moines 
Low-power FM stations include KFMG-LP 99 1, a community radio station broadcasting from the Hotel Fort Des Moines and also webstreamed 

Television
The Des Moines-Ames media market consists of 35 central Iowa counties: Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Franklin, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Jasper, Kossuth, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Pocahontas, Polk, Poweshiek, Ringgold, Story, Taylor, Union, Warren, Wayne, Webster, and Wright  It was ranked 71st by Nielsen Media Research for the 2008–2009 television season with 432,410 television households Commercial television stations serving Des Moines include CBS affiliate KCCI channel 8, NBC affiliate WHO-DT channel 13, and Fox affiliate KDSM-TV channel 17  ABC affiliate WOI-TV channel 5 and CW affiliate KCWI-TV channel 23 are both licensed to Ames and broadcast from studios in West Des Moines  KFPX-TV channel 39, the local ION affiliate, is licensed to Newton  Two non-commercial stations are also licensed to Des Moines: KDIN channel 11, the local PBS member station and flagship of the Iowa Public Television network, and KDMI channel 19, a TCT affiliate  Mediacom is the Des Moines area's cable television provider  Television sports listings for Des Moines and Iowa can be found on the Des Moines Register website 

Print
The Des Moines Register is the city's primary daily newspaper  As of March 31, 2007, the Register ranked 71st in circulation among daily newspapers in the United States according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations with 146,050 daily and 233,229 Sunday subscribers  Weekly newspapers include Juice, a publication aimed at the 25–34 demographic published by the Register on Wednesdays; Cityview, an alternative weekly published on Thursdays; and the Des Moines Business Record, a business journal published on Sundays, along with the West Des Moines Register, the Johnston Register, and the Waukee Register on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays depending on the address of the subscriber  Additionally, magazine publisher Meredith Corporation was based in Des Moines prior to its acquisition by IAC and merger with Dotdash in 2021 

Sports and recreation
Sports
Des Moines hosts professional minor league teams in several sports — baseball, basketball, hockey, indoor football, and soccer — and is home to the sports teams of Drake University which play in NCAA Division I 
The Des Moines Menace soccer club, a member of USL League Two, play their home games at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines 
Des Moines is home to the Iowa Cubs baseball team of the Triple-A East  The I-Cubs, which are the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Chicago Cubs, play their home games at Principal Park near the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers 
Wells Fargo Arena of the Iowa Events Center is home to the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League, the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, and the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League  The Barnstormers relaunched as an af2 club in 2008 before joining a relaunched Arena Football League in 2010 and the Indoor Football League in 2015; the Barnstormers had previously played in the Arena Football League from 1994 to 2000 (featuring future NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP quarterback Kurt Warner) before relocating to New York  The Iowa Energy, a D-League team, began play in 2007  They were bought by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017 and were renamed the Iowa Wolves to reflect the new ownership  The Wild, the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild have played at Wells Fargo Arena since 2013; previously, the Iowa Chops played four seasons in Des Moines (known as the Iowa Stars for three of those seasons )
Additionally, the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League play at Buccaneer Arena in suburban Urbandale 
Des Moines is also home to the Drake University Bulldogs, an NCAA Division I member of the Missouri Valley Conference, primarily playing northwest of downtown at the on-campus Drake Stadium and Knapp Center  Drake Stadium is home to the famed Drake Relays each April  In addition to the Drake Relays, Drake Stadium has hosted multiple NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The Vikings of Grand View University also compete in intercollegiate athletics in Des Moines  A member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference, within the NAIA, they field 21 varsity athletic teams  They were NAIA National Champions in football in 2013 
The Principal Charity Classic, a Champions Tour golf event, is held at Wakonda Club in late May or early June  The IMT Des Moines Marathon is held throughout the city each October 

Parks and recreation
Des Moines has 76 city parks and three golf courses, as well as three family aquatic centers, five community centers and three swimming pools  The city has 45 miles (72 km) of trails  The first major park was Greenwood Park  The park commissioners purchased the land on April 21, 1894 
The Principal Riverwalk is a riverwalk park district being constructed along the banks of the Des Moines River in the downtown  Primarily funded by the Principal Financial Group, the Riverwalk is a multi-year jointly funded project also funded by the city and state  Upon completion, it will feature a 1 2-mile (1 9 km) recreational trail connecting the east and west sides of downtown via two pedestrian bridges  A landscaped promenade along the street level is planned  The Riverwalk includes the downtown Brenton Skating Plaza, open from November through March 
Gray's Lake, part of the 167 acres (68 ha) of Gray's Lake Park, features a boat rental facility, fishing pier, floating boardwalks, and a park resource center  Located just south of the downtown, the centerpiece of the park is a lighted 1 9-mile (3 1 km) Kruidenier Trail, encircling it entirely 
From downtown Des Moines primarily along the east bank of the Des Moines River, the Neil Smith and John Pat Dorrian Trails are 28 2-mile (45 4 km) paved recreational trails that connect Gray's Lake northward to the east shore of Saylorville Lake, Big Creek State Park, and the recreational trails of Ankeny including the High Trestle Trail  These trails are near several recreational facilities including the Pete Crivaro Park, Principal Park, the Principal Riverwalk, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Union Park and its Heritage Carousel of Des Moines, Birdland Park and the Birdland Marina/Boatramp on the Des Moines River, Riverview Park, McHenry Park, and River Drive Park  Although outside of Des Moines, Jester Park has 1,834 acres (742 ha) of land along the western shore of Saylorville Lake and can be reached from the Neil Smith Trail over the Saylorville Dam 
Just west of Gray's Lake are the 1,500 acres (607 ha) of the Des Moines Water Works Park  The Water Works Park is along the banks of the Raccoon River immediately upstream from where the Raccoon River empties into the Des Moines River  The Des Moines Water Works Facility, which obtains the city's drinking water from the Raccoon River, is entirely within the Water Works Park  A bridge in the park crosses the Raccoon River  The Water Works Park recreational trails link to downtown Des Moines by travelling past Gray's Lake and back across the Raccoon River via either along the Meredith Trail near Principal Park, or along the Martin Luther King Jr  Parkway  The Water Works Park trails connect westward to Valley Junction and the recreational trails of the western suburbs: Windsor Heights, Urbandale, Clive, and Waukee  Also originating from Water Works Park, the Great Western Trail is an 18-mile (29 km) journey southward from Des Moines to Martensdale through the Willow Creek Golf Course, Orilla, and Cumming  Often, the location for summer music festivals and concerts, Water Works Park was the overnight campground for thousands of bicyclists on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, during RAGBRAI XLI 

Sister cities
The Greater Des Moines Sister City Commission, with members from the City of Des Moines and the suburbs of Cumming, Norwalk, Windsor Heights, Johnston, Urbandale, and Ankeny, maintains sister city relationships with:
 Kōfu, Japan (1958)
 Saint-Étienne, France (1985)
 Shijiazhuang, China (1985)
 Stavropol, Russia (1992)
 Pristina, Kosovo (2018) (Kosovo also opened Consulate in downtown Des Moines in 2015 – List of diplomatic missions of Kosovo)
 Catanzaro, Italy (2006)
 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (1987)

See also
List of people from Des Moines, Iowa
B-Bop's (1988)
Moingona
Des Moines Police Department
USS Des Moines, 3 ships
Des Moines-class cruiser

Notes
Passage 3:
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is a 2006 memoir by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson  The book delves into Bryson's past, telling of his youth growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, during the 1950s and early 1960s  It also reveals the backstory between himself and Stephen Katz, who appeared in A Walk in the Woods and "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe " Bryson also describes and comments on American life in the 1950s  The title of the book comes from an imaginary alter-ego Bryson invented for himself in his childhood, who has the ability to vaporise people The book was released on September 1, 2006, in the United Kingdom, where it was published by Doubleday  In the United States and Canada, the book was launched on  October 17, 2006, and was published by Broadway Books and Doubleday Canada respectively 

Plot
Bryson was born on December 8, 1951  He spent his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, part of the baby-boom generation born in the post-war years  He describes his early life and his parents, Bill Sr  and Mary Bryson  His father was a well-known sports writer for The Des Moines Register, the leading newspaper in Des Moines  His mother was also a writer for the Register, she also wrote for magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and House Beautiful 
He recounts many things that were invented during his childhood that fascinated him, which include frozen dinners, atomic toilets, and television  His middle-class, all-American lifestyle is shown constantly throughout the book, and the influence of his depression-era raised parents rubs off on him  He also remembers his adventures as "the Thunderbolt Kid," an alter ego he made up for himself when he felt powerless  He was able to vaporize people with his heat vision and thought that he came from another planet  He tells amusing stories of his misadventures as Billy Bryson, including his first days in school when he figured out that when the entire class was running drills to protect themselves from a bomb, he would simply read comic books instead  However, when the principal and a police officer came in one day to supervise, he got in trouble  Trouble was something fairly common for "the Thunderbolt Kid", as throughout his childhood his teachers were unamused by his activities  In fact, Bryson recounts how he really was uninterested in getting up before noon, thus not even going to school very often  Despite his unique behavior, Bryson tells his story through the eyes of a child, filled with hilarious observations about the world — from "Lumpy" Kowalski's curious nickname to the joy that was to be had in the department stores 
Though Bryson focuses mostly on his childhood, he tells of many of the events that were happening at the time, including the development of the atomic bomb, and the beginnings of the civil rights movement  He tells of his first days in junior high and high school, and during both he began smoking, drinking, and stealing, although he didn’t get caught for any of it  He met Stephen Katz in junior high school, when they were both in the school's audio-visual club  Katz would accompany Bryson on many of his travel experiences  At the end of the book, Bryson tells the reader that "life moves on", and that he wishes that the world could be more similar to life in the 1950s and 1960s  The last lines of the book are, "What a wonderful world that would be  What a wonderful world it was  We won’t see its like again, I'm afraid "

Reception
The book received mostly positive reviews from critics  Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer wrote "What Bryson has achieved with this book is final confirmation that he is the Frank Capra of American letters", and later added "And it really is a wonderful life to be immersed in the American Midwest in the Fifties with Bill as your tour guide [   ] Bryson has to pad his tale with other stuff  And it's the other stuff at which he excels " 
Ian Sansom of The Guardian stated "He has a natural-seeming style in which he doesn't so much tell jokes as let his sentences stretch out and relax into feet-up, contented good humour " and "Bryson's descriptions of 50s Des Moines [   ] makes you wish that you could emigrate, become a child, get a flat-top haircut and some long-laced baseball boots, and sneak in and take up residence unnoticed with little Billy Bryson in his parents' household " The only complaint Tom Fort of The Daily Telegraph made about the autobiography was that "His handicap is that he is entirely free of the malice, the appetite for smut, scandal and unpleasantness — above all, the narcissism — absolutely essential to the form "The book has a 73/100 rating at the website Metacritic, earning it the rank of "Generally favorable reviews" 

Editions
ISBN 0-7679-1936-X (US hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-385-60826-8 (UK hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-385-66161-4 (CDN hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-7679-1937-8 (US paperback, 2007)
ISBN 978-0-552-77254-9 (UK paperback, 2007)
ISBN 0-385-66162-2 (CDN paperback, 2007)
ISBN 0-7393-1523-4 (US audiobook, 2006)
ISBN 978-0-552-15365-2 (UK audiobook, 2006)
Passage 4:
Bill Bryson's African Diary
Bill Bryson's African Diary is a 2002 book by bestselling travel writer Bill Bryson  The book details a trip Bryson took to Kenya in 2002  Bryson describes his experiences there and observations about Kenyan culture, geography, and politics, as well as his visits to poverty-fighting projects run by CARE International, to which he donated all royalties for the book 

Reception
In a review published in the Guardian Lionel Shriver was critical of the book's length, describing it as "less a book than a pamphlet"   Shriver also disliked the book's tone, "a po-faced, gee-whizz sincerity ill-suited to a writer who has made his reputation for being light and wry (and even snide) in droll travel books "
Passage 5:
Notes from a Big Country
Notes from a Big Country, or as it was released in the United States, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, is a collection of articles written by Bill Bryson for The Mail on Sunday's Night and Day supplement during the 1990s, published together first in Britain in 1998 and in paperback in 1999  The book discusses Bryson's views on relocating to Hanover, New Hampshire, after spending two decades in Britain 
The American and British editions are not quite identical as, besides spelling differences, some explanatory information suitable for each intended audience is added or omitted within individual articles  This is freely acknowledged in the introduction 

Content
The book contains articles which Bryson wrote for the Mail between 1996 and 1998  He discusses a multitude of topics in the articles such as the death penalty, the war on drugs, gardening, commercials, book tours, inefficiency, Thanksgiving, and air travel 
Passage 6:
Michael Bryson
Michael G  Bryson (August 22, 1942 – May 22, 2012) was a news and sports reporter and editor from Des Moines, Iowa and the elder brother of travel writer Bill Bryson  He co-authored a book The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports with his son Michael G  Bryson Jr in 1989  He wrote The Twenty-Four-Inch Home Run in 1990 
Bryson was an editor and associate publisher of the Sun Press Newspapers in Hawaii from 1979 to 1986  He covered the New York Mets in 1969 while a sports reporter for the Associated Press  He was a news reporter for the Des Moines Register and Tribune from 1970 to 1979  He attended Drake University 
Passage 7:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978-mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988   It was Bryson's first travel book He begins his journey, made almost entirely by car, in his childhood hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, heading from there towards the Mississippi River, often reminiscing about his childhood in Iowa  The journey was made after his father's death, and so is in part a collection of memories of his father in Des Moines while he was growing up 
The book is split into two sections: 'East' and 'West', the former part being considerably longer than the latter  These sections correspond to two separate journeys made in the autumn of 1987 and spring of 1988  The first section covers the Midwest, the Deep South, the East Coast and New England, before returning to Des Moines  The second section focuses on the Great Plains, the South West, California and the Rocky Mountains 
Bryson's goal in this trip was generally to avoid tourist destinations, instead choosing to experience the real every-day America, stopping at small towns and forgotten points of interest  This book is an overview of the United States from Bryson's point of view  There is less focus on factual insight into the history, geography and culture of the destinations in this book than is found in some of Bryson's later books, focusing instead on observations made with the intention of being humorous 

Bibliography
Bryson, Bill (1989): The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America  London: Secker 

See also
Americana
Passage 8:
The Mother Tongue
The Mother Tongue is a 1990 book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English language and its various quirks  It is subtitled English And How It Got That Way  The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and other topics including swearing  This account popularises the subject and makes it accessible to the lay reader, but it has been criticised for some inaccuracies, such as the perpetuation of several urban myths This book has also been published in the UK by Penguin Books under the title Mother Tongue: The English Language 
Bryson has since followed up this work with Made in America 
Passage 9:
Bill Bryson Sr 
William Eugene Bryson Sr  (March 3, 1915 – January 31, 1986) was an American sportswriter who wrote for The Des Moines Register from 1937 until his retirement in 1978  He covered 32 consecutive World Series 

Early life
Bryson was born and raised in Winfield, Iowa 

Career
Bryson began his career as a reporter for the Winfield Beacon, his hometown newspaper 
Bryson Sr  has been called "one of the finest sportswriters in the country and widely recognized as such " As his son Bill describes in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, due to the quality of Bryson Sr 's work, one prominent television sports journalist thought of him as being "possibly the greatest baseball writer there ever was " He contributed to Baseball Digest and many other publications 
The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports, a book of some of his best sports stories, was published by his son Michael 

Personal life and death
Bryson married Mary Agnes McGuire (1913-2015), an editor for The Des Moines Register : 6  They had three children: Michael (who also became a sports journalist), Bill Jr  (who also became a journalist and a writer), and Mary Elizabeth  Bryson died of an apparent heart attack, on January 31, 1986, at his home in Des Moines, Iowa Bryson's son, Bill Jr , the renowned writer, published a loving tribute to his father in 2001 which described how Bryson had conducted what was probably  the very last interview with Babe Ruth, just a month before the legendary New York Yankee died in August 1948  The profile also includes the praise of Bryson noted above by a former NBC News president, who had said he "may have been the best baseball writer ever, anywhere "
Passage 10:
Down Under (book)
Down Under is the British title of a 2000 travelogue book about Australia written by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson  In the United States and Canada it was published titled In a Sunburned Country, a title taken from the famous Australian poem, "My Country"  It was also published as part of Walk About, which included Down Under and another of Bryson's books, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, in one volume 

Summary
Bill Bryson describes his travels by railway and car throughout Australia, his conversations with people in all walks of life about the history, geography, unusual plants and animals of the country, and his wry impressions of the life, culture and amenities (or lack thereof) in each locality 
In a style similar to his book A Walk in the Woods, or William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, Bryson's research enabled him to include many stories about Australia's 19th-century explorers and settlers who suffered extreme deprivations, as well as details about its natural resources, culture, and economy  His writings are intertwined with recurring humorous themes 

Synopsis
The book consists of three parts:
1  Into the Outback
The first part of the book mainly describes the journey taken by Bryson aboard the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth  He is accompanied on this journey by a young English photographer named Trevor Ray Hart  The author describes his experiences on the train, the places the train passes through on its way to Perth such as the Blue Mountains and White Cliffs  The author also supplies plenty of humor in the form of historical accounts of early explorers and settlers of Australia 

2  Civilized Australia (The Boomerang Coast)
This section of the book starts off with historical accounts from the time when Australia was discovered and goes on to illustrate how the Australians built a dynamic and prosperous society from a modest and unpropitious beginning  The rest of this section is devoted to the author's account of what he considers to be Civilized Australia, with accounts of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, and many countryside towns in between 
3  Around the Edges
This part of the journey covers the Great Barrier Reef, the cities of Cairns, Darwin, and Alice Springs, and the mighty monolithic rock Uluru   Later Bryson visits Perth and the Shark Bay area of Western Australia 



ground_truth: Polk County

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: The FIBT World Championships 1960 took place in a town located in which part of Italy ?

The following are given passages.
Context 2: Passage 1:
FIBT World Championships 1960
The FIBT World Championships 1960 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the fifth time  The Italian city had hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, and 1954  This was an extraordinary event because bobsleigh was not included in the program at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California 

Two man bobsleigh
The Italian duo of Monti and Alvera won their fourth straight championships in this event 

Four man bobsleigh
Medal table
Passage 2:
Steven Langton
Steven Daniel Langton (born April 15, 1983) is an American bobsledder  He won silver medals in both the two-man and four-man events at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and gold in both the two-man and four-man events at the 2012 FIBT World Championships 

Early life
Langton attended Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating cum laude in 2006 with a degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurship  At Northeastern, he was a member of the track and field team and was a two-year team captain, with personal bests of 6 49 seconds in the indoor 55m dash, 10 58 seconds in the outdoor 100m dash, and 7 04m in the long jump  He was inspired to try bobsled after watching the 2006 Winter Olympics 

Olympic career
At the 2010 Olympic Games, Langton competed in both the two-man and four-man events with pilot, John Napier  Langton finished tenth in the two-man event  Due to injuries that were sustained during USA 2's crash in the second run of the four-man event, Langton and his team did compete on the second day 
At the 2014 Olympic Games, Langton competed in both the two-man and four-man events with pilot Steven Holcomb  He won a bronze medal (later upgraded to silver) in the two-man event at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, marking the first time in 62 years an American sled had won an Olympic medal in the two-man event  Following this accomplishment, Langton teamed with Steven Holcomb, Curt Tomasevicz and Christopher Fogt to win a bronze medal (later also upgraded to silver) in the four-man event  With this medal, they became the first American team in 62 years to win an Olympic medal in both the two- and four-man events at the same Olympics 

World Championships and World Cups
Outside of the Olympic Games, Langton has also won four world championships medals: bronze in the four-man in 2011 and 2013, and gold in both events in 2012  The 2012 victory marked the first time an American sled won gold in the two-man event at a world championships, and the first time the American team won both events at a single world championships 
He has also won 21 World Cup medals during his career: 11 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze  During the 2010–11 season Langton also won the Inaugural World Push Championships held in Cesana Pariol, Italy 

Family
Steven Langton's brother, Christopher Langton, was an All-Ivy lacrosse player at Cornell University  Chris served as Team USA's Alternate for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games  Another brother, Sean Langton, currently works as a dentist 
Passage 3:
Urs Aeberhand
Urs Aeberhand (sometimes known as Urs Aeberhard) is a Swiss bobsledder who competed from the late 1990s to the early 2000s  He won three bronze medals at the FIBT World Championships (Two-man: 2000, Four-man: 2000, FIBT World Championships 2001) 
Aeberhand also finished sixth in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002 
Passage 4:
FIBT World Championships 1981
The FIBT World Championships 1981 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the seventh time, having hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, 1960, and 1966 
Following the death of West Germany's Toni Pensperger at the track in 1966, numerous safety improvements were done at the track which were satisfactory enough for the FIBT to allow the championships to be hosted  These improvements would not be enough as American bobsled driver James Morgan was killed during the third run of the four-man event A stuntman fatality on the track a week later, during the first day of filming of For Your Eyes Only, led track officials to shorten the track to its current configuration  Cortina did not host another championship until 1989 

Two man bobsleigh
Four man bobsleigh
February 8, 1981

Medal table
Passage 5:
Eugenio Monti track
The Eugenio Monti olympic track (Italian: Pista olimpica Eugenio Monti  ) is a bobsleigh and skeleton track located in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy  It is named after Eugenio Monti (1928–2003), who won six bobsleigh medals at the Winter Olympic Games between 1956 and 1968 and ten medals at the FIBT World Championships between 1957 and 1966  It was featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, held after the 1981 FIBT World Championships, before the track was shortened to its current configuration  In January 2008, after a last bobsleigh race tournament, the track was closed 

History
Bobsleigh at Cortina d'Ampezzo was introduced in 1905-6 using a snow-covered road on the Dolomite Road between Cortina and Pocol  An attempt was made in 1911 to build an artificial bobsleigh run near the centre of Cortina, but that failed due to funding issues  By 1923, a new track 1200 metres in length, was constructed in Ronco, a village near Cortina on the Dolomite Road laid with special water piping constructed into the earth and covered with turf to allow for track freezing The track made its international debut in 1928 at the International University Winter Games (forerunner of the Winter Universiade, under administration by the International University Sports Federation), giving the track first notice, increasing its growth  Rebuilding of the track occurred in 1936 to meet the standards of other tracks such as St  Moritz, Switzerland and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany with the finish of the track moving down to the bank of the Boite River  This extended the track length to 1500 metres with 15 turns and a vertical drop of 152 metres  The track hosted its first FIBT World Championships in 1937 in the two-man event  Two years later, it hosted the four-man event of the FIBT World Championships though it would lead to the death of Swiss bobsledder Reto Capadrutt during competition  Another renovation occurred with the track after World War II in 1948, when all of the turns were rebuilt and the track lengthened to 1700 metres and 16 turns When the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1956 Winter Olympics to Cortina, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) took over all operations and improvement of the track at considerable expense  Following the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, track officials added large scoreboards, and electronic timing and scoring  The track used for the 1956 Winter Olympics was 1720 metres long with 16 turns and an elevation drop of 152 metres  When a bobsleigh track was not built for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California in the United States, the track in Cortina was used to host the world championships that year in place of being excluded from the Winter Olympic Games 

The track played a key role in improving bobsleigh safety when West Germany's Toni Pensperger was killed during the four-man event at the 1966 world championships  Because of Pensperger's death, the world championships did not take place at the track until safety improvements were made satisfactory to the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT)  This was not until 1981, though the death of American bobsledder James Morgan during the four-man event on February 8 led to track officials shortening the course to its current configuration  The week following the 1981 championships, the track was filmed as part of the movie For Your Eyes Only; one of the stuntmen involved, Paolo Rigon, was killed during the first day of filming By 1989 the track was deemed safe enough by the FIBT to host another world championship  Following the death of Eugenio Monti in 2003, the Olympic Bobrun Cortina was renamed the Eugenio Monti pista (track in (in Italian)) early the following year  The track was awarded the 2011 world championships in June 2007 over Winterberg, Germany and was to have undergone homologation to involve skeleton (last competed in 1992) though that was not done during the 2007-08 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup season  Following some issues with the city of Cortina, the track withdrew its bid to host the 2011 championships so the FIBT awarded the championships instead to Königssee, Germany  The track is now artificially refrigerated  The venue could be reopened when Cortina co-host the 2026 Winter Olympics with Milan 

Track statistics
The track used for the 1956 Winter Olympics had 16 curves that was 1,700 meters long with an elevation difference of 152 meters  Turns 3 and 5 were not named 

Following the 1981 FIBT World Championships, the track was shortened to 1350 meters in length with 13 curves, an elevation drop of 120 45 meters, a maximum grade of 15 9%, and an average grade of 9 3% 

Championships hosted
Winter Olympics: 1956, 2026
FIBT World Championships: 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, 1960 (Extraordinary event since bobsleigh was not included for the 1960 Winter Olympics), 1966, 1981, 1989 (Bobsleigh only), 1999 (Bobsleigh only)
Bobsleigh European Championship: 1965, 1970, 1982, 2000, 2002, 2007
Bobsleigh Italian Championship: 1930, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008

Gallery
See also
Italy national bobsleigh team
Passage 6:
Katie Uhlaender
Katie Uhlaender (born July 17, 1984) is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003  She has won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two gold (women's skeleton: FIBT World Championships 2012, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event: 2012), one silver (women's skeleton: 2008), and three bronze (women's skeleton: 2007, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event: 2008, 2009) 

Career
Uhlaender won the women's Skeleton World Cup title twice (2006-7, 2007-8)  She also finished sixth in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin  She earned a medical waiver to compete in the 2009-10 Skeleton World Cup season following surgery in the wake of an April 2009 snowmobile accident where Uhelander shattered her kneecap  She then broke it again in August 2009 (having a total of four surgeries)  She qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where she finished 11th   She then had another surgery (microfracture labral repair by Dr Phillipon at Steadman Hawkins)  On January 18, 2014, Uhlaender was named to the 2014 Olympic team  She placed fourth at the 2014 Olympics, missing out on a medal by  04 seconds Uhlaender has also participated in weightlifting competitions  The 2012 U S  Olympic trials were just the third meet of her weightlifting career, but she did not make the team  Discovering that her hip had ossified (there was no soft tissue) and her ankle had a hole in it, she took the 2014-15 season off from skeleton and gave up on weightlifting to get healthy  She participated in track cycling, attempting to be a starter in the women's team sprint  She posted her best one-lap time of 20 7 at Senior Nationals 2015 
Uhlaender was named, along with Kendall Wesenberg, to represent the U S  in women's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang In July 2018, Uhlaender testified before the U S  Helsinki Commission in Washington, DC, on the subject of doping in sports  She was on a panel alongside Travis Tygart, CEO of the U S  Anti-Doping Administration, Jim Walden, the attorney for Russian whistleblower Dr  Grigory Rodchenkov, and Yuliya Stepanova, a former Russian track star turned whistleblower  Uhlaender told the body that she felt she was twice unfairly denied an Olympic medal  The loss "erased the meaning of sport and the Olympics as I knew it "

Personal life
A native of Vail, Colorado, Uhlaender lives in nearby Breckenridge while training, but lives in McDonald, Kansas the rest of the year  She is the daughter of Major League Baseball outfielder (and former Cleveland Indians coach) Ted Uhlaender  In memory of her father, she wears his National League Championship ring from the 1972 Cincinnati Reds on a necklace 
Passage 7:
FIBT World Championships 1951
The FIBT World Championships 1951 took place in Alpe d'Huez, France  Germany returned to the FIBT World Championships for the first time since World War II, albeit as the separate countries of East Germany and West Germany 

Two man bobsleigh
Four man bobsleigh
Medal table
Passage 8:
Andreas Barucha
Andreas Barucha (born 2 April 1979 in Potsdam) is a German bobsledder who has competed since 1999  He won a gold in the mixed team event at the 2009 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York  His best finish at the FIBT World Championships was seventh in the four-man event at Calgary in 2005 
Barucha's best World Cup finish was second three times in the four-man event (2005, 2006, 2009) 
He finished fourth in the four-man event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver 
Passage 9:
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italian pronunciation: [korˈtiːna damˈpɛttso]; Ladin: Anpezo, Ampëz; historical Austrian German: Hayden) is a town and comune in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy  Situated on the Boite river, in an alpine valley, it is a summer and winter sport resort known for its skiing trails, scenery, accommodation, shops and après-ski scene, and for its jet set and Italian aristocratic crowd 
In the Middle Ages, Ampezzo fell under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia and of the Holy Roman Empire  In 1420 it was conquered by the Republic of Venice  From 1508, it then spent much of its history under Habsburg rule, briefly undergoing some territorial changes under Napoleon, before being returned to the Austrian Empire (later Austria-Hungary), which held it until 1918  From the nineteenth century, Ampezzo became a notable regional centre for crafts  The local handmade products were appreciated by early British and German holidaymakers as tourism emerged late nineteenth century  Among the specializations of the town were crafting wood for furniture, the production of tiled stoves, and iron, copper and glass items  
Today, the local economy thrives on tourism, particularly during the winter season, when the population of the town typically increases from about 7,000 to 40,000  The Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo was built between 1769 and 1775 on the site of two former thirteenth and sixteenth-century churches; it is home to the parish and the deanery of Cortina d'Ampezzo  The town also contains the Rinaldo Zardini Palaeontology Museum, established in 1975, the Mario Rimoldi Modern Art Museum, and the Regole of Ampezzo Ethnographic Museum  
Although Cortina d'Ampezzo was unable to go ahead with the scheduled 1944 Winter Olympics because of World War II, it hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and subsequently a number of world winter-sports events  Cortina d'Ampezzo will host the Winter Olympics for a second time when it co-hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics with Milan  The town is home to SG Cortina, a top league professional ice hockey team, and Cortina d'Ampezzo is also the start and end point of the annual Dolomites Gold Cup Race  
Several films have been shot in the town, most notably The Pink Panther (1963), For Your Eyes Only (1981), and Cliffhanger (1993) 

History
Prehistory
The discovery in 1987 of a primitive tomb at Mondeval de Sora high up in the mountains to the south of Cortina testifies to the presence of Mesolithic man in the area as far back as the 6th millennium B C  In the 6th century B C , Etruscan writing was introduced in the province of Cadore, in whose possession it remained until the early 5th century  From the 3rd century B C , the Romans assimilated the Veneti people, giving the area the name of Amplitium (from amplus meaning wide), today's Ampezzo 

Middle Ages to 19th century
No historical information exists on the Cadore region from the fall of the Roman Empire until the Lombard period  It is assumed that during the Barbarian invasions, the inhabitants fled to the Fassa, Badia, Cordevole and Ampezzo valleys In the Middle Ages, Ampezzo fell under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Aquileia and of the Holy Roman Empire  In 1420, the village was conquered by the Republic of Venice  In 1508 it was conquered by the Habsburgs, and by 1511 people of Ampezzo swore loyalty to the Emperor Maximilian, and that area was subsequently adjoined to the region of Pusterthal  In 1797, when the Treaty of Campo Formio was signed, Napoleon initially permitted the Habsburg Empire to retain it, but in 1810 he added Ampezzo to the Department of Piave, following an attack on the town in which it was burned by the French  It was short-lived; the Austrian Empire reclaimed it in 1813, and it remained in its possession even after the battles of Custoza and Sadowa in 1866 when Venice was ceded to Italy  The town gained a reputation as a health resort; it was reportedly free of diseases such as cholera In 1874 the Ampezzo forest became the property of the Carnic Woods Consortium  Although remaining an Austrian possession until 1920 (as a part of kronland Tyrol), aside from being home for an ethnic German-speaking minority, Ampezzo never became a German-speaking territory and conserved its original language Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language 

20th century
When Italy entered World War I in 1915, most of the male inhabitants were fighting for Austria-Hungary on the Russian front  669 male inhabitants (most of them under 16 or over 50) tried to fight the Italian troops  Outnumbered by the Italians, they had to retreat  After the Austrian recovery in 1917, the town was occupied again by the Tyrolean Standschützen  On 24 November 1917, the Habsburg Emperor Charles (Karl) traveled through Ampezzo and was received with enthusiasm by the population  A little girl handed the emperor a letter with the request to send her father home from the front because his wife and mother of nine children had died  After ten days, Bepe Manaigo was with his children  A total of 144 Ampezzans died as a result of the war  Ampezzo soldiers received 16 silver and 4 bronze medals for bravery  In the surrounding area of Cortina there were 38 military cemeteries, everywhere trenches, barbed wire, impact holes, splinters, ammunition and barracks; 2,450 hectares of forest were devastated 
The mountains surrounding Cortina were themselves the theatre of several battles during the Great War  

Following Italy's victory in World War I, Ampezzo was (together with the central and southern part of Tyrol) definitively ceded to Italy in 1920  Three years later, it was separated from Tyrol (along with Colle Santa Lucia and Livinallongo del Col di Lana) and incorporated into the province of Belluno, itself part of the Veneto region 
After the war the city was renamed "Cortina d'Ampezzo" (Curtain of the Ampezzo Valley), adopting the name of one of the six villages that made up the territory of Ampezzo, located in the middle of the Ampezzo valley Cortina d'Ampezzo was designated as a major redoubt and held a large ammunition storage depot (46°36'50"N / 12°09'27"E) in 1945 and had been assigned as a hold out by Italian and German troops to prevent the American and British from advancing into Austria   Town and depot was scheduled to be attacked on 26 April 1945 only last minute weather prevented this strike by the 15th AF / 49th BW
Already an elite destination for the first British tourists in the late 18th and early 20th centuries, after World War I Cortina d'Ampezzo became a resort for upper-class Italians, too  Cortina d'Ampezzo was chosen as the venue of the 1944 winter Olympics, which did not take place due to World War II  Thanks to finally hosting the winter Olympics in 1956,  Cortina grew into a world-famous resort, with a substantial increase in tourism  With a resident population of 6,150 people in 2008, Cortina has a temporary population of around 50,000 during peak periods such as the Christmas holidays and mid-August  The Ford Cortina, the UK's best-selling car of the 1970s, was named after Cortina d'Ampezzo 

21st-century politics
In 2002 the Ampezzaner rifle company Ŝizar Anpezo Hayden was brought back to life  Since Otto von Habsburg, the then head of the Habsburg family, visited Cortina in 2005, their patron has been Charles I of Austria  Especially because of the eventful history, the Habsburg brand is still very present in Cortina in the 21st century, as many pictures and photos of Franz Joseph I of Austria and of Charles I, who is particularly revered here, in inns, restaurants, bars and hotels testify  Since 2011 there has been a memorial for Maximilian I on the main square in memory of the year 1511 and the union of the Ampezzo valley basin with Tyrol The town voted in October 2007 to secede from the region of Veneto and join the neighbouring region, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol  This was motivated by cultural ties with the Ladin-speaking community in South Tyrol and the attraction of lower taxes  The referendum is not executive, and a final decision on the matter can only be made by law from the Italian parliament with consent of both regional councils of Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol In the European elections of 2014, the leading party was the Democratic Party with 30 4% of the vote, followed by Forza Italia (19 4%) and the autonomist Südtiroler Volkspartei with 14 1% 

Geography and climate
Cortina is situated more or less in the centre of the Ampezzo valley, at the top of the Valle del Boite in the Dolomites, which encircle the town  The Boite river flows directly through the town of Cortina itself  The mountains in the area are described as "craggy" and "soaring", "unmistakable; like a massive coral reef ripped from the sea, strung with conifers and laced with snow"  The town is positioned between Cadore (to the south) and the Puster Valley (to the north), Val d'Ansiei (to the east) and Agordo (to the west)  Originally it consisted of numerous frazioni, isolated villages and hamlets, but from the 1950s it grew rapidly as a result of tourism  Only the most remote villages have remained isolated from the main town  San Vito di Cadore is 9 kilometres (5 6 mi) to the south of Cortina d'Ampezzo Among the surrounding mountains are Tofane to the west, Pomagagnon to the north, Cristallo to the northeast, Faloria and Sorapiss to the east, and Becco di Mezzodì, Croda da Lago and Cinque Torri to the south  Monte Antelao (Nantelou in Ladin) is at 3264 m the highest mountain in the Ampezzo Dolomites and the second highest in the Dolomites  When the weather is good, Monte Antelao is clearly visible from the rive in Trieste on the Adriatic Sea  The town centre is located at an elevation of 1,224 metres (4,016 ft), the closest high peak is that of Tofana di Mezzo, which towers at 3,244 metres (10,643 ft)  There are numerous fast flowing rivers, streams and small lakes in the territory, such as the Ghedina, Pianozes and d'Ajal, which fill particularly during the summer snow-melt season  Fauna include marmots, roe deer, chamois and hares and, on occasion, wolves, bears and lynx  Much of the area of Cortina is part of the "Natural Park of the Ampezzo Dolomites" 

Frazioni
The comune contains the following frazioni (parishes/wards) with their Ladino names in parentheses: Acquabona (Agabòna), Alverà, Bigontina (Begontina), Cadelverzo (Cadelvèrzo), Cademai, Cadin (Ciadìn), Campo (Ciànpo), Chiamulera (Ciamulèra), Chiave (Ciàe), Cianderìes, Coiana (Cojana), Col, Cortina, Crìgnes, Doneà, Fiames (Fiàmes), Fraìna, Gilardon (Jilardòn), Gnòche o Gràa, Guargné, Lacedel (Lazedèl), Manaigo, Majon, Melères, Mortisa (Mortìja), Pecol (Pecòl), Pezié, Pian da Lago, Pocol (Pocòl), Rònco, Salieto, Socol, Staulin (Staulìn), Val, Verocai, Vera (Vèra), Zuel (Zuèl) 

Climate
Cortina d'Ampezzo has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with short summers and long winters that vacillate between frigid, snowy, unsettled, and temperate  In late December and early January, some of Italy's lowest recorded temperatures are to be found in the region, especially at the top of the Cimabanche Pass on the border between the provinces of Belluno and Bolzano  The other seasons are generally rainy, cool to warm, and windy  During the summer temperature up to 25 degrees are present 

Demographics
Cortina's population grew steadily from the time when it was annexed to the Italian State until the 1960s  Thereafter, it underwent a sharp decline (down by 2,099 inhabitants over a 30-year period), with signs of recovery only in the very last few years  Nevertheless, with 6,112 inhabitants, Cortina d'Ampezzo is the seventh most populous place in the province following Belluno (36,509), Feltre (20,688), Sedico (9,734), Ponte nelle Alpi (8,521), Santa Giustina (6,795) and Mel (6,272)  In 2008, there were 44 births (7 1 ‰) and 67 deaths (10 9%), resulting in an overall reduction of 23 inhabitants (−3 8 ‰)  The town's 2,808 families consisted on average of 2 2 persons The presence of foreign residents in Cortina d'Ampezzo is a fairly recent phenomenon, accounting for only a small number of inhabitants in what in any case is a fairly small town  There are 298 resident foreigners in the town, representing 4 9% of the total population  This compares with 7 0% in the town Belluno, 6 4% in the entire province of Belluno, and 10 2% in the Veneto region 

Language and dialects
In addition to Italian, the majority of the population speak fluent Ampezzano, a local variant of Ladin, now recognized as a language rather than a dialect  Ladin is a Rhaeto-Romance language and closely resembles Romansh, which is spoken in Switzerland  The preservation of the local language, as a living medium used by younger generations, is seen as a symbol of pride and attachment to local heritage  Ladin and Tyrolean culture continues to survive despite the increasing pressure faced in recent years  Its importance is even beginning to be recognized by the local authorities who in December 2007 decided to use Ladin on signs for the names of streets and villages in compliance with regulations for the protection of linguistic minorities in force since 1999 

Economy
Beginning in the 19th century, Ampezzo became a notable regional centre for crafts  The growing importance of this sector led the Austrian Ministry of Commerce to authorize the opening of a State Industrial School in 1874, which later became the Art Institute  It became a reputable institution in teaching wood and metalwork, admitting boys from the age of 13 for up to four years of study  The local handmade products were appreciated by early British and German vacationers as tourism emerged in the late 19th century  Some of the local items were said to have mythical qualities; the Austrian journalist and anthropologist Karl Felix Wolff, for example, stated in 1935 that according to legend a local man "once made a sword that was so flexible that you could bend it over, tie it up, and then allow it to straighten out again"  Among the specializations of the town were crafting wood for furniture; the production of tiled stoves; and iron, copper, and glass items 

Today the local economy thrives on tourism, particularly during the winter season, when the population of the town typically increases from about 7,000 to 40,000  Lonely Planet refers to Cortina d'Ampezzo as "one of Italy's most famous, fashionable and expensive ski resorts", which "boasts first-class facilities (skiing, skating, sledding, climbing) and superb hiking" Cortina is home to some of the most prestigious names in fashion (including Bulgari, Benetton, Gucci, and Geox) and various artisan shops, antiquarians, and craft stores  It is also home to many stores specializing in mountaineering equipment  The symbol of Cortina shopping remains La Cooperativa di Cortina, founded on 28 June 1893 as Consumverein Ampezzo  In this shopping centre many trades can be found, from confectioners to newspaper vendors, toys, gift shops, skiing stores, and blacksmiths  The building is divided into three levels (more a raised plan and a balcony)  The cooperative in Cortina was one of the first cooperatives founded in the Italian Peninsula and currently provides employment to approximately 200 people 
The five-star Miramonti Majestic Grand Hotel, of James Bond fame, is more than 100 years old  Previously an Austro-Hungarian hunting lodge, it contains 105 rooms  Other hotels of note include Hotel Cornelio on Via Cantore, Hotel Montana on Corso Italia, Hotel Menardi on Via Majom, Hotel Villa Gaiai on Via Guide Alpine, and the Grand Hotel Savoia on Via Roma  There are several mountain hostels in the vicinity, including Rifugio Faloria, Rifugio son Forca, Rifugio Capanna Tondi and Rifugio duca D'Aosta, which contains restaurants 

Landmarks
Near the bridge on the Bigontina River is the Town Hall, a palace in the Tyrolean style  Piazza Angelo Dibona houses several landmarks  The Ciasa de ra Regoles is one of the more important legal buildings in Ampezzo, where the "regolieri" — a council for the local villages that stood before the town merged — train the community and give administrative orders  It was at one time the see of Ampezzo's primary school  Currently it contains the offices of Comunanza delle Regole d'Ampezzo and the Modern Art Museum "Mario Rimoldi"  The main square of Cortina d'Ampezzo is named after the famous local mountain guide Angelo Dibona 

Museums
The Regole d'Ampezzo administer the Musei delle Regole d'Ampezzo, which covers three museums: 
Rinaldo Zardini Palaeontology Museum, Regole of Ampezzo Ethnographic Museum, and Mario Rimoldi Modern Art Museum The Rinaldo Zardini Palaeontology Museum, established in 1975, is a paleontological museum with a collection of hundreds of fossils of all colors, shapes, and sizes, which were found, gathered, and cataloged by local photographer Rinaldo Zardini  All of the pieces were found in the Dolomites and tell of a time when these high mountain peaks were still on the bottom of a large tropical sea, populated by marine invertebrates, fish, corals, and sponges The Regole of Ampezzo Ethnographic Museum is an ethnographic museum situated in an old restored Venetian sawmill at the confluence of the Boite and Felizon rivers to the north of the town  There are objects related to everyday life, rural, and pastoral practices in the vicinity; agricultural tools; techniques; materials processing; and clothing typical of the valley  
The Mario Rimoldi Modern Art Museum is an art gallery, established in 1941, which preserves over 800 works by major Italian artists of the 20th century including Filippo De Pisis, Felice Carena, Pio Semeghini, Renato Guttuso, Tullio Garbari, Massimo Campigli, and many others  It also hosts temporary exhibitions on various topics 
The Great War Tour stretches over 80 km (50 mi) across the mountains between Lagazuoi and Sass de Stria  It includes the Great War Open Air Museum with its trenches and tunnels  In winter it is accessible to skiers, but it is easier to visit on foot or by mountain bike in the summer months 

Churches
The Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo was built between 1769 and 1775 on the site of two former 13th and 16th-century churches; it is home to the parish and the deanery of Cortina d'Ampezzo  Its high wooden altar, crowned by a figure of Christ the Redeemer, was carved by Andrea Brustolon  On the ceiling are three frescoes by Luigi Ghedina: "Christ Purifying the Temple", "The Martyrdom of St  Philip", and "The Beheading of St  James" The Chiesa della Madonna della Difesa was built in 1750 on the site of a ruined 14th-century building  Its façade features an intricate fresco depicting the Madonna della Difesa, and the interior is decorated with a wealth of statues, paintings, polychrome marble, and gold leaf 

The Cappella della Beata Vergine di Lourdes (Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes) was completed in 1907  Decorated by artist Corrado Pitscheider of the Val Gardena, it is a small church of particular interest given the reconstruction sculpture The Cappella di Sant'Antonio da Padova in the village of Chiave was completed in 1791, but the interior was renovated in 1809 after serious fire damage caused by the Napoleonic troops  The furnishings include two wooden busts (Christ and St  Catherine) and a richly designed altar Sacrario militare di Pocol (also known as Ossario di Pocol) is a cemetery and shrine located at an altitude of 1,535 metres (5,036 ft) towards Passo Falzarego, in the locality of Pocol  The small church and cemetery were built in 1916 as a military cemetery by the 5th Alpine group  A shrine was built in 1935 as a memorial to the thousands who lost their lives during World War I on the Dolomite front  It is a massive square tower of stone, clearly visible from the entire Ampezzo valley below  In a crypt in the centre of the structure rests the body of general Antonio Cantore, who was awarded the gold medal for military valor 

Castles and forts
The Castello de Zanna is a small fortress, situated in the vila of Minel  It consists of low, white outer walls and two white corner towers, with a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity  The construction of the castle began in 1694, but on 19 August 1696 work was interrupted; the building remained unfinished in 1809 when it was burned by French revolutionary troops who had invaded Ampezzo  Since then the castle has undergone restoration 
Forte Tre Sassi (or Forte Tra i Sassi) is a fortress constructed in 1897 during the Austro-Hungarian period on the Passo Valparola  It lies between Sass de Stria and Piccolo Lagazuoi, dominating the passage between the Passo Falzarego and Val Badia in South Tyrol (Alto Adige)  It was part of the large complex of Austrian fortifications built on the Italian border in the late 19th and early 20th centuries 
Rendered unusable due to a bombing by the Italians on 5 July 1915, the ruins remained in a state of disrepair until the advent of the 21st century, when it was restored by the local administration of Ampezzo with the assistance of the Lacedelli family  The fort houses a museum containing relics related to the First World War Castello di Botestagno (also known as Podestagno) was a medieval fort perched on a rock in the valley of the river Boite, a little farther north of Cortina d'Ampezzo  It is believed that it was first erected as a stakeout during conflict with the Lombards between the 7th and 8th centuries, with the aim of dominating the three valleys that converge beneath it: the Boite, the Val di Fanes, and the Val Felizon  The cornerstone, however, probably dates to the 11th century  It was held by the Germans until 1077, and then by the patriarchs of Aquileia (12th century) and Camino (13th century), until Botestagno became the seat of a captaincy  It then passed into Venetian hands and finally to the Habsburgs  During the 18th century the castle gradually lost importance until it was auctioned in 1782 by order of Emperor Joseph II  Today the fort has now almost completely disappeared; only the remnants of what must have been the wine cellars and the foundations remain, now weathered and largely covered up by vegetation 

Culture
Cortina has a long tradition in hosting writers, intellectuals, poets and editors from all over the world  Ernest Hemingway, Saul Bellow, Dino Buzzati, as well as Vittorio Gassman, Leonardo Sciascia, Leonardo Mondadori and many others, spent their vacations in the town and took part in the cultural life of the city  Through the years, this led to a continuous activity of literature festivals and book presentations, like Una Montagna di Libri ("A Mountain of Books"), held twice a year since 2009  The festival attracted to Cortina writers as Azar Nafisi, Peter Cameron, Emmanuel Carrère 
Music is important to the locals of Cortina, with a guitar found in most houses, and young musicians are often found walking the streets  Every year, from the end of July to early August, Cortina hosts the Dino Ciani Festival and Academy  It is held in honour of the celebrated Italian pianist Dino Ciani (1941–1974) who died when he was only 32  The festival attracts young pianists from around the world who are able to benefit from classes with some of the world's leading performers  The Festival of the Bands is another annual musical event featuring brass bands from Italy and beyond during the last week of August  Cortina's own band, parading in traditional costumes, is a central attraction dating back to 1861  Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the 1953 Miss Italia contest, won by Marcella Mariani  Traditionally, on the eves of the festivals of Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity and St Philip and St James, the youth of the town would climb the hills at sunset and light fires After Ernest Hemingway's wife Hadley lost a suitcase filled with Hemingway's manuscripts at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, he took a time off  He began writing that same year in Cortina d'Ampezzo, writing Out of Season The dominant religion in the comune of Cortina d'Ampezzo is Roman Catholicism 
Among the religious minorities, mainly a result of recent immigration, there is a small community of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims  There is also a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which has its headquarters in Pian da Lago The surroundings of Cortina have been the location for a number of movies, including mountain climbing scenes for Cliffhanger, Krull and  The Pink Panther  The resort was the primary area for location shooting in Sergio Corbucci's Revisionist Spaghetti Western The Great Silence; the resort was used to represent Utah in the winter of 1898  It was a glamorous location for Elizabeth Taylor in Ash Wednesday (1973), and was also a major location for the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only  Roger Moore's James Bond meets the character Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno) at the peak of Tofana and stays at the Hotel Miramonti  A number of action sequences were shot in the town involving Bond and Erich Kriegler (John Wyman), as Kriegler competes in the biathlon  The battle culminates in one of the famous ski chase sequences in film, where Bond has to escape Kriegler and a crew of assassins on a spike-wheeled motorcycles, his route taking them all onto the bobsleigh run  The actual town centre was also the scene of the first attack on Bond and his partner Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) by two motorcyclists who attempted to run them over, only for Bond to eliminate them both, putting one of them through the window of a local florist 

Sports
Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics, originally scheduled for 1944, but cancelled because of World War II  The 1927 Nordic, 1941 Nordic, and 1941 Alpine World Championships were held in Cortina as well, although both 1941 championships were withdrawn by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in 1946  The region lost Winter Olympics bids in 1988 (Calgary, Alberta) and 1992 (Albertville, France) 
 Cortina hosted the 2021 Alpine World Championships, and, with Milan, will jointly host the 2026 Winter Olympics and the 2026 Winter Paralympics 
The town is home to SG Cortina, a professional ice hockey team in Serie A1, Italy's top division  Cortina is also the start and end point of the annual Dolomites Gold Cup Race, a historical re-evocation event for production cars on public roads  The town hosted the Red Bull Road Rage in 2009 

Cortina also offers skiing facilities for amateurs, centrally located among the 12 resorts of the Dolomiti Superski area  Cortina itself has 115 km (71 mi) of pistes with 34 lifts and guaranteed snow coverage of over 95% from December to April  There are six ski schools (two for cross-country) and some 300 instructors  The Faloria-Cristallo-Mietres ski area has views over the Ampezzo Valley and is suitable forall abilities, including children  The Tofane area offers more challenging opportunities from an elevation of 2,500 m (8,200 ft) with the Canalone and Schuss ski runs  The longest run, the Armentarola piste in the Lagazuoi-5 Torri area, starts next to the Lagazuoi refuge at 2,752 m (9,029 ft) and is reached by cable car  With the Forcella Staunies (currently not in operation) and the Forcella Rossa, the ski area has one of the steepest slopes in the Dolomites  There are numerous ski freeride and tour options in the mountains around Cortina Facilities also exist for cross-country skiing, including a long stretch of the old railway line  In and around Cortina, there are opportunities to participate in many other winter sports such as curling, ski mountaineering, snowboarding, sledding, and extreme skiing  In the summer months, sports include trekking, trail running, biking, rock climbing, tennis, golf, swimming, and ice skiing  Cortina is known for the many via ferratas in the surrounding mountains such as the VF Ivano Dibona that was used in the movie Cliffhanger  The annual Lavaredo Ultra Trail series of international trail running races is based at Cortina 

Transport
Cortina Airport was built for the 1956 Winter Olympics, but is currently closed  The town has its own bus service, connecting the centre to surrounding villages and cable car lifts  The nearest airports are those serving Venice: the distance to Treviso is 138 km (86 mi) while that to Venice Marco Polo Airport is 148 km (92 mi)  Both can be reached in about two and a quarter hours by road  The railway station for Cortina is Calalzo di Cadore, 37 km (23 mi) to the south east, with rail connections to Venice and a bus service to Cortina  The total journey time to Venice is about three and a half hours  There are also direct bus links from Venice Mestre and Padova railway stations, coordinated with the arrivals and departures of Eurostar trains Cortina was the principal intermediate station on the narrow-gauge (950mm) Dolomites Railway from Calalzo to Toblach  When the line was electrified in 1929  the only sub-station was established at Cortina  The line closed in 1964 but in February 2016 the regional governments of Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige announced that they are to commission a feasibility study to build a new line between Calalzo, Cortina and Toblach 

Notable people
Cortina has attracted many distinguished guests, often inspiring them in their creative work  They include the Italian novelists Dino Buzzati (1906–1972), author of The Tartar Steppe, Goffredo Parise (1929–1986) and Fernanda Pivano (1917–2009)  Ernest Hemingway, author of A Farewell to Arms, also arrived in the area in 1918 as a young ambulance driver  Other notable visitors include John Ball (1818–1889), the Irish mountaineer and naturalist who climbed Monte Pelmo in 1857, the Italian mountaineers Emilio Comici (1901–1940), Angelo Dibona (1879–1956) and Lino Lacedelli (1925–2009), the Italian skier Kristian Ghedina (born 1969), the Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti (1928–2003), the Austrian mountaineer Paul Grohmann (1838–1908) and the Austrian skier Toni Sailer (1935–2009)  Frequent visitors include the Italian businessman and former racing driver Paolo Barilla (born 1961) and the journalist and writer Indro Montanelli (1909–2001) Among the distinguished sportsmen from Cortina itself are the skiers Enrico Colli, his younger brother Vincenzo, and Giuseppe Ghedina who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics, Severino Menardi who participated in the 1932 and 1936 Winter Olympics, and Stefania Constantini, gold-medalist curler in the 2022 Winter Olympics  Other local citizens include the climbers Angelo Dibona (1879–1956) and Lino Lacedelli (1925–2009), and the painter Luigi Gillarduzzi (1822–1856) 

International relations
Twin towns / sister cities
Cortina is twinned with:

 Cattolica, Italy (since 16 March 1971)
 Skardu, Pakistan

See also
Italian front (World War I)
White War
Passage 10:
FIBT World Championships 1966
The FIBT World Championships 1966 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the sixth time, having hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, and 1960  The Four-man event was cancelled following the death of West Germany's Toni Pensperger during competition  Pensperger would be awarded a posthumous gold medal from the FIBT along with his surviving teammates Ludwig Siebert, Helmut Werzer, and Roland Ebert  As of 2010, Pensperger's death would set the FIBT to increase and improve safety among all bobsleigh competitions at all levels, including the Winter Olympics and the World championships 

Two man bobsleigh
Four man bobsleigh
This event was cancelled when Toni Pensperger of West Germany was killed during competition  Pensperger was awarded a posthumous gold medal along with his grieving teammates (Siebert, Werzer, and Ebert) 

Medal table



ground_truth: the Veneto region of Northern Italy

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What else was Baghdad known as during the Abbasid Caliphate?

The following are given passages.
Context 3: Passage 1:
Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor (; Arabic: سندباد البحري, romanized: Sindibādu al-Bahriyy  or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle  He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A D )  In the course of seven voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures in magical realms, encountering monsters and witnessing supernatural phenomena 

Origins and sources
The tales of Sinbad are a relatively late addition to the One Thousand and One Nights – they do not feature in the earliest 14th-century manuscript, and they appear as an independent cycle in 18th- and 19th-century collections  The tale reflects the trend within the Abbasid realm of Arab and Muslim sailors exploring the world  The stories display the folk and themes present in works of that time  The Abbasid reign was known as a period of great economic and social growth  Arab and Muslim traders would seek new trading routes and people to trade with  This process of growth is reflected in the Sinbad tales  The Sinbad stories take on a variety of different themes  Later sources include Abbasid works such as the "Wonders of the Created World", reflecting the experiences of 13th century Arab mariners who braved the Indian Ocean The Sinbad cycle is set in the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809)  The Sinbad tales are included in the first European translation of the Nights, Antoine Galland's Les mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français, an English edition of which appeared in 1711 as The new Arabian winter nights entertainments and went through numerous editions throughout the 18th century 
The earliest separate publication of the Sinbad tales in English found in the British Library is an adaptation as The Adventures of Houran Banow, etc  (Taken from the Arabian Nights, being the third and fourth voyages of Sinbad the Sailor ), around 1770  An early US edition, The seven voyages of Sinbad the sailor  And The story of Aladdin; or, The wonderful lamp, was published in Philadelphia in 1794  Numerous popular editions followed in the early 19th century, including a chapbook edition by Thomas Tegg  Its best known full translation was perhaps as tale 120 in Volume 6 of Sir Richard Burton's 1885 translation of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 

Tales
Sinbad the Porter and Sinbad the Sailor
Like the 1001 Nights, the Sinbad story-cycle has a frame story which goes as follows: in the days of Harun al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad, a poor porter (one who carries goods for others in the market and throughout the city) pauses to rest on a bench outside the gate of a rich merchant's house, where he complains to God about the injustice of a world which allows the rich to live in ease while he must toil and yet remain poor  The owner of the house hears and sends for the porter, finding that they are both named Sinbad  The rich Sinbad tells the poor Sinbad that he became wealthy "by Fortune and Fate" in the course of seven wondrous voyages, which he then proceeds to relate 

First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor
After dissipating the wealth left to him by his father, Sinbad goes to sea to repair his fortune  He sets ashore on what appears to be an island, but this island proves to be a gigantic sleeping whale on which trees have taken root ever since the whale was young  Awakened by a fire kindled by the sailors, the whale dives into the depths, the ship departs without Sinbad, and Sinbad is only saved by a passing wooden trough sent by the grace of Allah  He is washed ashore on a densely wooded island  While exploring the deserted island, he comes across one of the king's grooms  When Sinbad helps save the king's mare from being drowned by a sea horse (not a seahorse, but a supernatural horse that lives underwater), the groom brings Sinbad to the king  The king befriends Sinbad, and he rises in the king's favor and becomes a trusted courtier  One day, the very ship on which Sinbad set sail docks at the island, and he reclaims his goods (still in the ship's hold)  Sinbad gives the king his goods and in return the king gives him rich presents  Sinbad sells these presents for a great profit  Sinbad returns to Baghdad, where he resumes a life of ease and pleasure  With the ending of the tale, Sinbad the sailor makes Sinbad the porter a gift of a hundred gold pieces and bids him return the next day to hear more about his adventures 

Second Voyage
On the second day of Sinbad's tale-telling (but the 549th night of Scheherazade's), Sinbad the sailor tells how he grew restless of his life of leisure, and set to sea again, "possessed with the thought of traveling about the world of men and seeing their cities and islands " Accidentally abandoned by his shipmates again, he finds himself stranded in an island which contains roc eggs  He attaches himself with the help of his turban to a roc and is transported to a valley of giant snakes which can swallow elephants; these serve as the rocs' natural prey  The floor of the valley is carpeted with diamonds, and merchants harvest these by throwing huge chunks of meat into the valley: the birds carry the meat back to their nests, and the men drive the birds away and collect the diamonds stuck to the meat  The wily Sinbad straps one of the pieces of meat to his back and is carried back to the nest along with a large sack full of precious gems  Rescued from the nest by the merchants, he returns to Baghdad with a fortune in diamonds, seeing many marvels along the way 

Third Voyage
Sinbad sets sail again from Basra  But by ill chance, he and his companions are cast up on an island where they are captured by a "huge creature in the likeness of a man, black of colour,     with eyes like coals of fire and large canine teeth like boar's tusks and a vast big gape like the mouth of a well  Moreover, he had long loose lips like camel's, hanging down upon his breast, and ears like two Jarms falling over his shoulder-blades, and the nails of his hands were like the claws of a lion " This monster begins eating the crew, beginning with the Reis (captain), who is the fattest  (Burton notes that the giant "is distinctly Polyphemus" )
Sinbad hatches a plan to blind the beast with the two red-hot iron spits with which the monster has been kebabbing and roasting the ship's company  He and the remaining men escape on a raft they constructed the day before  However, the giant's mate hits most of the escaping men with rocks and they are killed  After further adventures (including a gigantic python from which Sinbad escapes using his quick wits), he returns to Baghdad, wealthier than ever 

Fourth Voyage
Impelled by restlessness, Sinbad takes to the seas again and, as usual, is shipwrecked  The naked savages amongst whom he finds himself feed his companions a herb which robs them of their reason (Burton theorises that this might be bhang), prior to fattening them for the table  Sinbad realises what is happening and refuses to eat the madness-inducing plant  When the cannibals lose interest in him, he escapes  A party of itinerant pepper-gatherers transports him to their own island, where their king befriends him and gives him a beautiful and wealthy wife 
Too late Sinbad learns of a peculiar custom of the land: on the death of one marriage partner, the other is buried alive with his or her spouse, both in their finest clothes and most costly jewels  Sinbad's wife falls ill and dies soon after, leaving Sinbad trapped in a cavern, a communal tomb, with a jug of water and seven pieces of bread  Just as these meagre supplies are almost exhausted, another couple—the husband dead, the wife alive—are dropped into the cavern  Sinbad bludgeons the wife to death and takes her rations 
Such episodes continue; soon he has a sizable store of bread and water, as well as the gold and gems from the corpses, but is still unable to escape, until one day a wild animal shows him a passage to the outside, high above the sea  From here, a passing ship rescues him and carries him back to Baghdad, where he gives alms to the poor and resumes his life of pleasure 
Burton's footnote comments: "This tale is evidently taken from the escape of Aristomenes the Messenian from the pit into which he had been thrown, a fox being his guide  The Arabs in an early day were eager students of Greek literature " Similarly, the first half of the voyage resembles the Circe episode in The Odyssey, with certain differences: while a plant robs Sinbad's men of their reason in the Arab tales, it is Circe's magic which "fattened" Odysseus' men in The Odyssey  It is in an earlier episode, featuring the 'Lotus Eaters', that Odysseus' men are fed a similar magical fruit which robs them of their senses 

Fifth Voyage
"When I had been a while on shore after my fourth voyage; and when, in my comfort and pleasures and merry-makings and in my rejoicing over my large gains and profits, I had forgotten all I had endured of perils and sufferings, the carnal man was again seized with the longing to travel and to see foreign countries and islands " Soon at sea once more, while passing a desert island Sinbad's crew spots a gigantic egg that Sinbad recognizes as belonging to a roc  Out of curiosity, the ship's passengers disembark to view the egg, only to end up breaking it and having the chick inside as a meal  Sinbad immediately recognizes the folly of their behaviour and orders all back aboard ship  However, the infuriated parent rocs soon catch up with the vessel and destroy it by dropping giant boulders they have carried in their talons Shipwrecked yet again, Sinbad is enslaved by the Old Man of the Sea, who rides on his shoulders with his legs twisted round Sinbad's neck and will not let go, riding him both day and night until Sinbad would welcome death  (Burton's footnote discusses possible origins for the old man—the orang-utan, the Greek god Triton—and favours the African custom of riding on slaves in this way) Eventually, Sinbad makes wine and tricks the Old Man into drinking some  Sinbad kills him after he falls off  A ship carries him to the City of the Apes, a place whose inhabitants spend each night in boats off-shore, while their town is abandoned to man-eating apes  Yet through the apes, Sinbad recoups his fortune and eventually finds a ship which takes him home once more to Baghdad 

Sixth Voyage
"My soul yearned for travel and traffic"  Sinbad is shipwrecked yet again, this time quite violently as his ship is dashed to pieces on tall cliffs  There is no food to be had anywhere, and Sinbad's companions die of starvation until only he is left  He builds a raft and discovers a river running out of a cavern beneath the cliffs  The stream proves to be filled with precious stones and it becomes apparent that the island's streams flow with ambergris  He falls asleep as he journeys through the darkness and awakens in the city of the king of Serendib (Sri Lanka/Ceylon), "diamonds are in its rivers and pearls are in its valleys"  The king marvels at what Sinbad tells him of the great Haroun al-Rashid, and asks that he take a present back to Baghdad on his behalf, a cup carved from a single ruby, with other gifts including a bed made from the skin of the serpent that swallowed an elephant ("And whoso sitteth upon it never sickeneth"), and "A hundred thousand miskals of Sindh lign-aloesa ", and a slave-girl "like a shining moon"  Sinbad returns to Baghdad, where the Caliph wonders greatly at the reports Sinbad gives of Serendib 

Seventh and Last Voyage
The ever-restless Sinbad sets sail once more, with the usual result  Cast up on a desolate shore, he constructs a raft and floats down a nearby river to a great city  Here the chief of the merchants gives Sinbad his daughter in marriage, names him his heir, and conveniently dies  The inhabitants of this city are transformed once a month into birds, and Sinbad has one of the bird-people carry him to the uppermost reaches of the sky, where he hears the angels glorifying God, "whereat I wondered and exclaimed, 'Praised be God! Extolled be the perfection of God!'" But no sooner are the words out than there comes fire from heaven which all but consumes the bird-men  The bird-people are angry with Sinbad and set him down on a mountain-top, where he meets two youths, servants of God who give him a golden staff; returning to the city, Sinbad learns from his wife that the bird-men are devils, although she and her father were not of their number  And so, at his wife's suggestion, Sinbad sells all his possessions and returns with her to Baghdad, where at last he resolves to live quietly in the enjoyment of his wealth, and to seek no more adventures 
Burton includes a variant of the seventh tale, in which Haroun al-Rashid asks Sinbad to carry a return gift to the king of Serendib  Sinbad replies, "By Allah the Omnipotent, Oh my lord, I have taken a loathing to wayfare, and when I hear the words 'Voyage' or 'Travel,' my limbs tremble"  He then tells the Caliph of his misfortune-filled voyages; Haroun agrees that with such a history "thou dost only right never even to talk of travel"  Nevertheless, at the Caliph's command, Sinbad sets forth on this, his uniquely diplomatic voyage  The king of Serendib is well pleased with the Caliph's gifts (which include, among other things, the food tray of King Solomon) and showers Sinbad with his favour  On the return voyage, the usual catastrophe strikes: Sinbad is captured and sold into slavery  His master sets him to shooting elephants with a bow and arrow, which he does until the king of the elephants carries him off to the elephants' graveyard  Sinbad's master is so pleased with the huge quantities of ivory in the graveyard that he sets Sinbad free, and Sinbad returns to Baghdad, rich with ivory and gold  "Here I went in to the Caliph and, after saluting him and kissing hands, informed him of all that had befallen me; whereupon he rejoiced in my safety and thanked Almighty Allah; and he made my story be written in letters of gold  I then entered my house and met my family and brethren: and such is the end of the history that happened to me during my seven voyages  Praise be to Allah, the One, the Creator, the Maker of all things in Heaven and Earth!" 
Some versions return to the frame story, in which Sinbad the Porter may receive a final generous gift from Sinbad the Sailor  In other versions the story cycle ends here, and there is no further mention of Sinbad the Porter 

Adaptations
Sinbad's quasi-iconic status in Western culture has led to his name being recycled for a wide range of uses in both serious and not-so-serious contexts, frequently with only a tenuous connection to the original tales  Many films, television series, animated cartoons, novels, and video games have been made, most of them featuring Sinbad not as a merchant who stumbles into adventure, but as a dashing dare-devil adventure-seeker 

Theatrical films
English language animated films
Sinbad the Sailor (1935) is an animated short film produced and directed by Ub Iwerks 
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936) is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Feature series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on 27 November 1936 by Paramount Pictures  It was produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc  and directed by Dave Fleischer 
Sinbad (1992) is an animated film originally released on 18 May 1992 and based on the classic Arabian Nights tale, Sinbad the Sailor, and produced by Golden Films 
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000) is the first feature-length computer animation film created exclusively using motion capture  While many animators worked on the project, the human characters were entirely animated using motion capture 
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) is an American animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures  The film uses traditional animation with some computer animation  It was directed by Tim Johnson 

Non-English language animated films
Arabian naito: Shindobaddo no bôken (Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad) (1962) (animated Japanese film) 
A Thousand and One Nights (1969) Story created by Osamu Tezukui, combination of other One Thousand and One Nights stories and the legends of Sinbad 
Pohádky Tisíce a Jedné Noci (Tales of 1,001 Nights) (1974), a seven-part animated film by Karel Zeman 
Doraemon: Nobita's Dorabian Nights (1991) 
Sinbad (film trilogy) (2015–2016) is a series of Japanese animated family adventure films produced by Nippon Animation and Shirogumi 
The Adventures of Sinbad (2013) is an Indian 2D animated film directed by Shinjan Neogi and Abhishek Panchal, and produced by Afzal Ahmed Khan 
Sinbad: Pirates of Seven Storm (2016) A Russian animated film by CTB Film Company 

Live-action English language theatrical films
Arabian Nights is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Rawlins and starring Sabu, Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Leif Erickson  The film is derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights but owes more to the imagination of Universal Pictures than the original Arabian stories  Unlike other films in the genre (The Thief of Bagdad), it features no monsters or supernatural elements 
Sinbad the Sailor (1947) is a 1947 American Technicolor fantasy film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr , Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, and Anthony Quinn  It tells the tale of the "eighth" voyage of Sinbad, wherein he discovers the lost treasure of Alexander the Great 
Son of Sinbad (1955) is a 1955 American adventure film directed by Ted Tetzlaff  It takes place in the Middle East and consists of a wide variety of characters including over 127 women 
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H  Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango  It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and produced by Charles H  Schneer 
Captain Sindbad (1963) is a 1963 independently made fantasy and adventure film, produced by Frank King and Herman King (King Brothers Productions), directed by Byron Haskin, that stars Guy Williams and Heidi Brühl  The film was shot at the Bavaria Film studios in Germany and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) a fantasy film directed by Gordon Hessler and featuring stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen  It is the second of three Sinbad films released by Columbia Pictures 
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) is a fantasy film directed by Sam Wanamaker and featuring stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen  The film stars Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Margaret Whiting, Jane Seymour, and Patrick Troughton  It is the third and final Sinbad film released by Columbia Pictures 

Live-action English language direct-to-video films
Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights (1998) - DTV film about a young boy that must go back in time to help Sinbad 
The 7 Adventures of Sinbad (2010) is an American adventure film directed by Adam Silver and Ben Hayflick  As a mockbuster distributed by The Asylum, it attempts to capitalise on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Clash of the Titans 
Sinbad and The Minotaur (2011) starring Manu Bennett is a 2011 Australian fantasy B movie directed by Karl Zwicky serving as an unofficial sequel to the 1947 Douglas Fairbanks Jr  film and Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy  It combines Arabian Nights hero Sinbad the Sailor with the Greek legend of the Minotaur 
Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2014) starring Shahin Sean Solimon, low budget film 
Sinbad and the War of the Furies (2016) An American action film starring John Hennigan, direct-to-streaming 

Live-action non-English language films
Sinbad Khalashi, or Sinbad the Sailor is a 1930 Indian silent action-adventure film by Ramchandra Gopal Torney 
Sinbad Jahazi, or Sinbad the Sailor, is a 1952 Indian Hindi-language adventure film by Nanabhai Bhatt 
Sindbad ki Beti, or Daughter of Sindbad, is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film by Ratilal  It follows the daughter of Sindbad as she goes out in search for her missing father 
Son of Sinbad is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language film by Nanabhai Bhatt  A sequel to Sinbad Jahazi, it follows the adventures of the son of Sinbad in high seas 
Sinbad contro i sette saraceni (Sinbad against the Seven Saracens)  (Italian: Sindbad contro i sette saraceni, also known as Sinbad Against the 7 Saracens) is a 1964 Italian adventure film written and directed by Emimmo Salvi and starring Gordon Mitchell  The film was released straight to television in the United States by American International Television in 1965 
Sindbad Alibaba and Aladdin is a 1965 Indian Hindi-language fantasy-adventure musical film by Prem Narayan Arora  It starred Pradeep Kumar in the role of Sindbad 
Shehzade Sinbad kaf daginda (Prince Sinbad of the Mountains) (1971) (Turkish film) 
Simbad e il califfo di Bagdad (Sinbad and the Caliph of Baghdad) (1973) (Italian film) 
Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) is a 1989 Italian fantasy film produced and directed by Enzo G  Castellari from a story by Luigi Cozzi, revolving around the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor  Sinbad must recover five magical stones to free the city of Basra from the evil spell cast by a wizard, which his journey takes him to mysterious islands and he must battle magical creatures in order to save the world 

Television
English language series and films
Sinbad Jr  and his Magic Belt (1965) 
The Freedom Force (TV Series) (1978) 
The Adventures of Sinbad (1979) - TV animated film 
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1993) episode: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (1996–1998) is an American animated television series based on the Arabian Nights story of Sinbad the Sailor and produced by Fred Wolf Films that aired beginning 2 February 1998 on Cartoon Network 
The Adventures of Sinbad (1996–98) is a Canadian Action/Adventure Fantasy television series following on the story from the pilot of the same name 
The Backyardigans (2007) episode: "Sinbad Sails Alone" 
Sinbad (2012) - A UK television series from Sky1 
Sindbad & The 7 Galaxies (2016 by Sun TV, picked up by Toonavision in 2020) is an animated children's comedy adventure TV series created by Raja Masilamani and IP owned by Creative Media Partners Note: Sinbad was mentioned, but did not actually appear, in the Season 3 episode Been There, Done That of Xena Warrior Princess when one of the story's lovers tells Xena that he was hoping that Hercules would have appeared to save his village from its curse 

Non-English language series and films
Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures (Arabian Naitsu: Shinbaddo No Bôken, 1975) 
Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi: The Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor (1976) Japanese anime TV series, Directed by Sadao Nozaki and Tatsuya Matano  Producer Yuji Tanno  The origins of this is a series called Manga Hajimete Monogatari  This is dubbed in English and narrated by Telly Savalas 
Alif Laila (1993–1997), an Indian television series based on the One Thousand and One Nights which aired on Doordarshan's DD National  Episodes titled "Sindbad Jahaazi" focus on the adventures of the sailor, where he is portrayed by Shahnawaz Pradhan 
Princess Dollie Aur Uska Magic Bag (2004–2006), an Indian teen fantasy adventure television series on Star Plus where Vaquar Shaikh portrays Sinbad, one of the main characters in the show along with Ali Baba and Hatim 
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (2012), Magi: The Kingdom of Magic (2013) and Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (2016) are Japanese fantasy adventure manga series 
Janbaaz Sindbad (2015–2016), an Indian adventure-fantasy television series based on Sinbad the Sailor which aired on Zee TV, starring Harsh Rajput in the titular role Note: A pair of foreign films that had nothing to do with the Sinbad character were released in North America, with the hero being referred to as "Sinbad" in the dubbed soundtrack  The 1952 Russian film Sadko (based on Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Sadko) was overdubbed and released in English in 1962 as The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, while the 1963 Japanese film Dai tozoku (whose main character was a heroic pirate named Sukezaemon) was overdubbed and released in English in 1965 as The Lost World of Sinbad 

Video games
In the Arabian Nights-themed video game Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sinbad looks almost exactly like Knuckles the Echidna 
In 1978 Gottlieb manufacturing released a pinball machine named Sinbad, the artwork featured characters from the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger  Also released, in a shorter run, was an Eye of the Tiger pinball game 
in 1996 the pinball game Tales of the Arabian Nights was released featuring Sinbad  This game (manufactured by Williams Electronics) features Sinbad's battle with the Rocs and the Cyclops as side quests to obtain jewels  The game was adapted into the video game compilation Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection in 2009 
In 1984 game simply called Sinbad was released by Atlantis Software 
In 1986 game called Sinbad and the Golden Ship was released by Mastertronic Ltd 
Another 1986 game called The Legend of Sinbad was released by Superior Software 
in 1987 game called Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon was released by Cinemaware 

Music
In Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's suite Scheherazade, the 1st, 2nd, and 4th movements focus on portions of the Sinbad story  Various components of the story have identifiable themes in the work, including rocs and the angry sea  In the climactic final movement, Sinbad's ship (6th voyage) is depicted as rushing rapidly toward cliffs and only the fortuitous discovery of the cavernous stream allows him to escape and make the passage to Serindib 
The song "Sinbad the Sailor" in the soundtrack of the Indian film Rock On!! focuses on the story of Sinbad the Sailor in music form 
Sinbad et la légende de Mizan (2013) A French stage musical  the musical comedy event in Lorraine  An original creation based on the history of Sinbad the Navy, heroes of 1001 nights  A quest to traverse the Orient, 30 artists on stage, mysteries, combats, music and enviable dances     A new adventure for Sinbad, much more dangerous than all the others 
Sinbad's adventures have appeared on various audio recordings as both readings and dramatizations, including Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves/Sinbad the Sailor (Riverside Records RLP 1451/Golden Wonderland GW 231, played by Denis Quilley), Sinbad the Sailor (Tale Spinners for Children on United Artists Records UAC 11020, played by Derek Hart), Sinbad the Sailor: A Tale from the Arabian Nights (Caedmon Records TC-1245/Fontana Records SFL 14105, read by Anthony Quayle), Sinbad the Sailor /The Adventures of Oliver Twist and Fagin (Columbia Masterworks ML 4072, read by Basil Rathbone), 1001 Nights: Sinbad the Sailor and Other Stories (Naxos Audio 8 555899, narrated by Bernard Cribbins) and The Arabian Nights (The Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor) (Disneyland Records STER-3988) 
"Nagisa no Sinbad" (渚のシンドバッド) was the 4th single released by Pink Lady, a popular Japanese duo in the late 1970s and early 1980s  The song has been covered by former idol group W and by the Japanese super group Morning Musume 

Literature
In The Count of Monte Cristo, "Sinbad the Sailor" is but one of many pseudonyms used by Edmond Dantès 
In his Ulysses, James Joyce uses "Sinbad the Sailor" as an alias for the character of W B  Murphy and as an analogue to Odysseus  He also puns mercilessly on the name: Jinbad the Jailer, Tinbad the Tailor, Whinbad the Whaler, and so on 
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a tale called "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade"  It depicts the 8th and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story 
Polish poet Bolesław Leśmian's Adventures of Sindbad the Sailor is a set of tales loosely based on the Arabian Nights 
Hungarian writer Gyula Krúdy's Adventures of Sindbad is a set of short stories based on the Arabian Nights 
In John Barth's "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor", "Sinbad the Sailor" and his traditional travels frame a series of 'travels' by a 20th-century New Journalist known as 'Somebody the Sailor' 
Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Millhauser has a story entitled "The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad" in his 1990 collection The Barnum Museum 

Comics
"Sinbad the Sailor" (1920) artwork by Paul Klee (Swiss-German artist, 1879–1940) 
In 1950, St  John Publications published a one shot comic called Son of Sinbad 
In 1958, Dell Comics published a one shot comic based on the film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 
In 1963, Gold Key Comics published a one shot comic based on the film Captain Sinbad 
In 1965, Dell Comics published a 3 issue series called Sinbad Jr 
in 1965 Gold Key Comics published a 2 issue mini-series called The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad 
In 1974 Marvel Comics published a two issue series based on the film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in Worlds Unknown #7 and #8  They then published a one shot comic based on the film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1975 with Marvel Spotlight #25 
In 1977, the British comic company General Book Distributors, published a one shot comic/magazine based on the film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 
In 1988, Catalan Communications published the one shot graphic novel The Last Voyage of Sinbad 
In 1989 Malibu Comics published a 4 issue mini-series called Sinbad, and followed that up with another 4 issue mini-series called Sinbad Book II: In the House of God In 1991 
In 2001, Marvel Comics published a one shot comic that teamed Sinbad with the Fantastic Four called Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad 
In 2007, Bluewater Comics published a 3 issue mini-series called Sinbad: Rogue of Mars 
In 2008, the Lerner Publishing Group published a graphic novel called Sinbad: Sailing into Peril 
In 2009, Zenescope Entertainment debuted Sinbad in their Grimm Fairy Tales universe having him appearing as a regular ongoing character  He first appeared in his own 14 issue series called 1001 Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad  Afterwards he appeared in various issues of the Dream Eater saga, as well as the 2011 Annual, Giant-Size, and Special Edition one-shots 
In 2012, a graphic novel called Sinbad: The Legacy, published by Campfire Books, was released  He appears in the comic book series Fables written by Bill Willingham, and as the teenaged Alsind in the comic book series Arak, Son of Thunder—which takes place in the 9th century AD—written by Roy Thomas 
In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, Sinbad appears as the Immortal Orlando's lover of thirty years, until he leaves for his 8th Voyage and never returns 
In The Simpsons comic book series "Get Some Fancy Book Learnin'", Sinbad's adventures are parodied as "Sinbart the Sailor" 
"The Last Voyage of Sinbad" by Richard Corben and Jan Strnad originally appeared as "New Tales of the Arabian Nights" serialized in Heavy Metal magazine, issues #15–28 (1978–79) and was later collected and reprinted as a trade paperback book 
Sinbad is a major character in the Japanese manga series Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic written and illustrated by Shinobu Ohtaka 

Theme parks
Sinbad provides the theme for the dark ride Sinbad's Storybook Voyage at Tokyo DisneySea 
Sinbad embarks on an adventure to save a trapped princess in the water-based boat ride, The Adventures of Sinbad at Lotte World in Seoul, South Korea 
The Efteling theme park at Kaatsheuvel in the Netherlands has a land themed after Sinbad called De Wereld van Sindbad (The World of Sinbad)  It includes the indoor roller coaster Vogel Rok, themed after Sinbad's fifth voyage, and Sirocco, a teacups ride 
The elaborate live-action stunt show The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida features a story inspired by Sinbad's voyages 

Other references
Actor and comedian David Adkins uses the stage name Sinbad 
An LTR retrotransposon from the genome of the human blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni, is named after Sinbad  It is customary for mobile genetic elements like retrotransposons to be named after mythical, historical, or literary travelers; for example, the well-known mobile genetic elements Gypsy and Mariner 

See also
Aeneid
Gulliver's Travels
List of literary cycles
Odyssey
Sunpadh
The Voyage of Bran

Notes
Passage 2:
Battle of Hama
The Battle of Hama was fought some 24 km (15 mi) from the city of Hama in Syria on 29 November 903 between the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate and pro-Isma'ili Bedouin (called "Fatimids" or "Qarmatians")  The Abbasids were victorious, resulting in the capture and execution of the Isma'ili leadership  This removed the Isma'ili presence in northern Syria, and was followed by the suppression of another revolt in Iraq in 906  More importantly, it paved the way for the Abbasid attack on the autonomous Tulunid dynasty and the reincorporation of the Tulunid domains in southern Syria and Egypt into the Abbasid Caliphate 

Background
In the second half of the 9th century, the Isma'ili Shi'ite sect began establishing a network of agents and sympathizers across the Muslim world  It was a time of millennialist expectations, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra, the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale Zanj Rebellion, whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as the mahdi  In this chaotic atmosphere, and with the Abbasids preoccupied with suppressing the Zanj uprising, the Isma'ili missionaries found fertile ground, aided by dissatisfaction among the adherents of the rival Twelver branch of Shi'a Islam with the political quietism of their leadership and the recent disappearance of their own imam  Missionaries like Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law Abu Muhammad Abdan spread their network of agents to the area around Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen (Ibn Hawshab, 882) and thence India (884), Bahrayn (Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, 899), Persia, and Ifriqiya (Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, 893)  In this period, the Isma'ili movement was based at Salamiya on the western edge of the Syrian Desert, and its leadership was assumed by Sa'id ibn al-Husayn, the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate  Sa'id's claims to be the awaited mahdi instead of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as had been hitherto assumed, caused a split in the movement in 899  Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiya, gathered the Iraqi missionaries and ordered them to cease the missionary effort  Shortly after he disappeared from his headquarters, and Abdan was assassinated at the instigation of Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh, who had remained loyal to Salamiya  These events caused a major split in the Isma'ili movement, between those who recognized Sa'id's claims to the imamate and those who rejected them  The latter are generally known by the term "Qarmatians", although this name was also applied by non-Isma'ilis in a pejorative sense to the supporters of the Fatimids After his role in the murder of Abdan, Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh escaped Iraq and resumed his missionary efforts among the Bedouin tribes of the eastern Syrian Desert, but with little success  He then sent his sons, al-Husayn and Yahya, who became known by the names Sahib al-Shama ("Man with the Mole") and Sahib al-Naqa ("Master of the She-camel"), to proselytize among the large Bedouin tribal confederation of the Banu Kalb, between Palmyra and the Euphrates River  Many Bedouin from the Banu'l-Ullays and Banu'l-Asbagh flocked to them, thus acquiring a potent military force, albeit one with limitations: the Bedouin were more concerned with extracting booty from the settled communities, and were ill-suited to campaigns of conquering and holding territories  Buoyed by their success, the brothers and their followers adopted the name al-Fatimiyyun ("Fatimids") and rose in revolt in 902  The motivations of al-Husayn, Yahya, and their father, who remained in Iraq, have been variously interpreted by modern scholars  Traditionally this movement has been regarded as wholly "Qarmatian" in character, and was called that by the Abbasid government  In recent years, however, the consensus follows the analysis of Heinz Halm, which has shown that Zakarawayh and his sons remained loyal to Sa'id, and that their actions aimed at securing possession of Syria and triggering a general rebellion against the Abbasids  Nevertheless, this uprising was apparently without the knowledge or authorization of Sa'id, and would end up placing him in mortal danger, as it alerted the authorities to the whereabouts of the Isma'ili movement's true leader, who had to flee to Ramla From their base in the region around Palmyra, the Fatimid Bedouin began launching raids against the Abbasid and Tulunid provinces of Syria, with devastating effect  In 902, they defeated the Tulunids under Tughj ibn Juff near Raqqa, and laid siege to Damascus for seven months, from December 902 until July 903  The city was successfully held by Tughj and the Sahib al-Naqa was killed  Leadership passed to the Sahib al-Shama, who led his men to ravage Homs, Hama, Ba'albek, and Ma'arrat al-Numan  Based at Salamiya, and in the expectation that his hidden master would come forth, the Bedouin began to establish the institutions of a state: at the mint of Homs, coins were issued in the name of the mahdi, and in the Friday sermon the name of the Abbasid caliph was dropped in favour of the—as yet unnamed—"Successor, the rightly-guided Heir, the Lord of the Age, the Commander of the Faithful, the Mahdi"  Encamped at Salamiya, the Bedouin waited for Sa'id's arrival in vain, from August to November 903  Despite al-Husayn's repeated entreaties in his correspondence with his master, however, Sa'id refused to leave the safety of Ramla 

Battle
In view of the apparent impotence of the Tulunid regime to stop the Bedouin raids, the Syrians called upon the Abbasid government to intervene directly, and on 30 July 903, Caliph al-Muktafi commanded that a campaign be undertaken  The campaign was nominally headed by al-Muktafi in person, who left Baghdad on 9 August and went to Raqqa  In mid-August, the Bedouin under a certain al-Mutawwaq surprised an Abbasid army some 10,000 strong near Aleppo, while it was resting and dispersed, with many troops seeking to escape the intense heat in a local river; the Abbasid troops were routed, and only about a thousand managed to reach the city, where, under the command of Abu al-Agharr, they repulsed the Bedouin attacks  At about the same time, however, the general Badr al-Hammami inflicted a heavy defeat on the Sahib al-Shama and his men near Damascus  The Bedouin fled to the desert, and Caliph al-Muktafi sent men under al-Husayn ibn Hamdan to pursue them  While al-Muktafi remained at Raqqa, command of the army in the field was given to the head of the department of the army (diwan al-jund), Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib  On Tuesday, 29 November 903, the Abbasid army under Muhammad met the Fatimids at a location some 24 km from Hama  The course of the battle is described in a victory dispatch sent by Muhammad to the caliph afterwards and included in the History of the Prophets and Kings of al-Tabari According to the latter, on the morning of 29 November, the Abbasid army set out from al-Qarwanah towards al-Alyanah—both unidentified locations—deployed in full battle order  During the march, Muhammad ibn Sulayman received a report that a part of the Fatimid army, comprising 3,000 horse and many foot under one of the Isma'ili chief missionaries, al-Nu'man, had encamped at a locality some 12 Arabic miles (about 24 kilometres (15 mi)) from Hama, and that the other detachments of the Bedouin army had joined him there  Muhammad led his army towards the Bedouin encampment, and found them deployed in battle array  According to the report of Muhammad, the Bedouin left wing was led by Masrur al-Ulaymi and others, in charge of 1,500 horsemen  Behind the left wing was placed a reserve force of 400 cavalry  The Bedouin centre was commanded by al-Nu'man al-Ullaysi and other officers, and comprised 1,400 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, while the right wing was commanded by Kulayb al-Ullaysi and others and numbered 1,400 horsemen, with a reserve force of 200 horsemen more As the two armies advanced on each other, the Bedouin left thrust forward against the Abbasid right, which was commanded by al-Husayn ibn Hamdan  The troops of Ibn Hamdan repulsed the first Bedouin attack, and then the second, killing 600 horsemen  The Bedouin on the left broke and fled; Ibn Hamdan and his men pursued them and in a series of engagements killed all but 200 of them  Ibn Hamdan's troops reportedly captured 500 horses and 400 silver necklaces as well  The Bedouin right wing likewise attacked the Abbasid left, held by al-Qasim ibn Sima, Yumn al-Khadim, and the tribal allies of Banu Shayban and Banu Tamim  While the two wings were grappling with each other, an Abbasid detachment under Khalifah ibn al-Mubarak and Lu'lu' attacked the Bedouin on their flank and broke their lines  Here too the Bedouin fled pursued by the government forces, who took some 600 horses and 200 necklaces as booty  Several Fatimid commanders, including the missionary al-Nu'man, were killed at the battle Muhammad himself confronted the Bedouin centre along with several other officers: Khaqan, Nasr al-Qushuri, and Muhammad ibn Kumushjur led forces from the right flank, Wasf Mushgir, Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Kundajiq, Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh and his brother Ibrahim, al-Mubarak al-Qummi, Rabi'a ibn Muhammad, Muhajir ibn Tulayq, al-Muzaffar ibn Hajj, Abdallah ibn Hamdan (al-Husayn's brother), Jinni the Elder, Wasif al-Buktamir, Bishr al-Buktamiri, and Muhammad ibn Qaratughan  With the support of troops from the right wing, who after repelling the Bedouin left flanked their centre, the Abbasids were victorious here as well  The Fatimids broke and were pursued over several miles  Muhammad ibn Sulayman, fearful lest his army disperse itself during the pursuit, or leave the infantry and the baggage train—guarded by Isa ibn Muhammad al-Nushari—exposed to a Bedouin attack, halted the pursuit of his own detachment after half a mile  He set up camp there for the night, and with the Caliph's spear as a rallying point, began regrouping the various squadrons  Despite the overwhelming victory, Muhammad and his officers remained on guard during the night, concerned of a possible Bedouin attack 

Aftermath
The Sahib al-Shama did not take part in the battle, having remained behind at Salamiya along with the treasure he had hoarded there on behalf of his master  Enraged about the apparent abandonment by the supposed divinely-guided imam, the Sahib al-Shama turned against him: his residence at Salamiya was destroyed, and all family members and servants encountered there executed  This atrocity, along with the failure of the uprising, led later Fatimid historians to try and excise Sa'id's relationship with the sons of Zakarawayh in what Halm calls an act of damnatio memoriae  The Sahib al-Shama tried to rouse the chiefs of the Banu'l-Ullays to resistance, but they refused  Left with no other recourse, the Sahib al-Shama, along with his cousin al-Muddathir, his associate al-Muttawaq and a Greek page fled through the desert  By the time they reached the locality of al-Daliyah on the Euphrates Road near al-Rahba, they had run out of supplies  When a servant was sent to buy provisions in the settlement, he aroused the suspicions of the villagers with his strange dress and manner, so that they notified a local official, Abu Khubzah  The latter rode out with an escort, and after interrogating the servant went to the Qarmatians' camp and took them prisoner  They captured the Sahib al-Shama and his companions were then escorted by Abu Khubzah and the local governor, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kushmard, to Caliph al-Muktafi in Raqqa, which they entered on 19 December Al-Muktafi returned to Baghdad with the senior captives, who were thrown into prison  Muhammad ibn Sulayman remained at Raqqa to scour the countryside and round up the remaining rebels  He too then returned to Baghdad, which he entered in triumph on 2 February 904  Eleven days later, on 13 February, Muhammad and the sahib al-shurta of the capital, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wathiqi, presided over the public execution of the Fatimid leaders and Isma'ili sympathizers rounded up from Kufa and Baghdad The Abbasid victory near Hama did not yet fully eradicate the Isma'ili threat  In 906, the Banu Kalb, under Abu Ghanim Nasr, rose up in rebellion, raided the Hawran and Tiberias, and launched a failed attack on Damascus  They then sacked Tiberias and plundered Hit on the Euphrates  Nasr was soon cornered by the caliphal army, however, and killed by the Banu Kalb themselves in exchange for pardon  As a result, the Isma'ili activities shifted east to the Euphrates, where Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh (the father of al-Husayn and Yahya) had also rebelled in 906 near Kufa  After leading an unsuccessful attack on Kufa and number of devastating raids on Hajj caravans, he too was killed in early 907 by caliphal troops under Wasif ibn Sawartakin near al-Qadisiyya  With these defeats, the Isma'ili movement virtually ceased to exist in the Syrian Desert, although their counterparts in Bahrayn remained an active threat for several decades to come More importantly, the defeat of the Fatimid Bedouin at Hama opened the way for the Abbasids to recover the provinces of southern Syria and Egypt, held by the Tulunids  The Tulunid regime had become enfeebled due to internal strife, rivalries and the defection of senior officers, and the recent failures against the Bedouin  In 904, Muhammad ibn Sulayman led an army into Syria  The campaign met with little opposition; the Tulunid emir Harun ibn Khumarawayh was even assassinated by his uncles, whereupon several senior commanders switched sides  The Abbasids entered the Egyptian capital Fustat in January 905 without a fight, completing the reconquest of the province 
Passage 3:
Abna' al-dawla
The abnāʾ al-dawla (Arabic: أبناء الدولة, meaning "sons of the regime/dynasty"), often simply " the Abnāʾ", is a term for the Khorasani Arabs who had participated in the Abbasid Revolution of 749–750 and their descendants, who settled in Baghdad and Iraq  They became the ruling elite of the Abbasid Caliphate and formed the mainstay of the caliphal army  However, the term appears rarely in the sources until the time of the Fourth Fitna civil war in the 810s, when it is applied to the Khurasanis of Baghdad, who overwhelmingly supported Caliph al-Amin against his brother al-Ma'mun  The terms ahl Khurāsān ("people of Khurasan") and abnāʾ ahl Khurāsān ("sons of the people of Khurasan") are more frequently used for the Khurasanis who formed the mainstay of the Abbasid regime in general  Following al-Ma'mun's victory in the civil war, the abnāʾ al-dawla were largely replaced by the latter's Persian followers, and under his successor al-Mu'tasim, the rise of the Turkish slave-soldiers to power began 

Sources
Crone, Patricia (1998)  "The 'Abbāsid Abnā' and Sāsānid Cavalrymen"  Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society  8 (1): 1–19  ISSN 1356-1863  JSTOR 25183463 
Turner, John P  (2004)  "The abnāʾ al-dawla: The Definition and Legitimation of Identity in Response to the Fourth Fitna"  Journal of the American Oriental Society  124 (1): 1–22  ISSN 0003-0279  JSTOR 4132150 
Turner, John P  (2016)  "Abnāʾ"   In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds )  Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed )  Brill Online  ISSN 1873-9830 
Passage 4:
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor is a novel by American writer John Barth, published in 1991  It is a postmodern metafictional story of a man who jumps overboard from a modern replica of a medieval Arab ship and is rescued by sailors from the world of Sinbad the Sailor  Eventually he makes his way to "Baghdad, the City of Peace", and finds himself in the stories of Sindbad and Scheherazade   The novel makes use of a challenging double-stranded narrative and a rich prose style 
Passage 5:
Bajkam
Abū al-Husayn Bajkam al-Mākānī (Arabic: أبو الحسين بجكم المكاني), referred to as Bajkam, Badjkam or Bachkam (from Bäčkäm, a Persian and Turkish word meaning a horse- or yak-tail), was a Turkish military commander and official of the Abbasid Caliphate  A former ghulam of the Ziyarid dynasty, Bajkam entered Abbasid service following the assassination of the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij in 935  During his five-year tenure at the Caliphate's court at Baghdad, he was granted the title of amir al-umara, consolidating his dominance over the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi and giving him absolute power over their domains  Bajkam was challenged throughout his rule by various opponents, including his predecessor as amir al-umara, Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, the Basra-based Baridis, and the Buyid dynasty of Iran, but he succeeded in retaining control until his death  He was murdered by a party of Kurds during a hunting excursion in 941, shortly after the accession of al-Muttaqi as Caliph  Bajkam was known both for his firm rule and for his patronage of Baghdad intellectuals, who respected and in some cases befriended him  His death led to a void in central power, resulting in a brief period of instability and fighting in Baghdad 

Early military career and service under Ibn Ra'iq
Details of Bajkam's early life are unknown  He was a Turk, and began his career as one of the ghilman (military slaves, usually of Turkish origin) of a vizier to the Daylamite warlord Makan ibn Kaki in northern Iran  His master then made a gift of his ghilman, including Bajkam, to Makan  The latter took care of the young Bajkam's training and education, something for which the latter showed his gratitude by adopting his patron's name as his nisba (surname) After Makan was defeated by Mardavij, founder of the Ziyarid dynasty, who came to control Daylam, Jibal and Tabaristan, he entered Mardavij's service, along with many others among Makan's ghilman  Mardavij mistreated his ghilman, who consequently murdered him at Isfahan in January 935, an act in which Bajkam may have been complicit  After Mardavij's death, most of the ghilman in Ziyarid service dispersed  Bajkam and his fellow officer Tuzun assumed the leadership of a large group and, after first offering their services to the new governor of Jibal, Hasan ibn Harun, proceeded to the Abbasid court at Baghdad  At first, their offers were rejected by the court, where the Caliph's Hujariyya bodyguards jealously guarded their prerogatives, but the ghilman were eventually taken into the service of Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, governor of Basra and Wasit in southern Iraq  Now known as Bajkam Ra'iqi, Bajkam created a large military force under his command consisting of his own followers as well as additional Turks and Daylamites summoned from Jibal In early November 936, the Caliph al-Radi (r  934–940) bestowed the newly created title of amir al-umara ("commander of commanders") on Ibn Ra'iq, who was effectively granted absolute control over the Caliphate  This provoked the reaction of various provincial governors as well as that of powerful interest groups in Baghdad itself, such as the caliphal bodyguards  Against them, Ibn Ra'iq employed Bajkam and his Turkish supporters  With their aid, he managed to neutralize the Hujariyya and Saji guard units, after which, in February 937, Bajkam was rewarded with the posts of sahib al-shurta (chief of police) and governor of the eastern provinces Far more difficult and protracted was the war against the ambitious governor of Ahwaz, Abu Abdallah al-Baridi, who aimed to supplant Ibn Ra'iq  Al-Baridi's family was of Basran origin, and had served the Abbasids in various roles as officials before managing to assert a weak hold over Khuzistan  Ibn Ra'iq himself was defeated and forced to leave Basra to the Baridis, but Bajkam saved the situation by scoring two major victories, despite being outnumbered, that allowed him to take possession of Khuzistan  The hard-pressed al-Baridi now turned to his powerful neighbour, the Buyid ruler of Fars, Ali ibn Buya, for help  Ali's brother Ahmad soon took over Khuzistan, and Ibn Ra'iq was forced to offer possession of the province as an independent domain if Bajkam would recover it  Bajkam however was repulsed by the Buyid forces, and fell back to Wasit Ignoring Ibn Ra'iq's orders to retake Khuzistan, Bajkam remained at Wasit, and began plotting to depose Ibn Ra'iq himself  To this end, Bajkam began seeking allies: he offered the governorship of Wasit to the Baridis, and through the former vizier Ibn Muqla, who wished to avenge himself on Ibn Ra'iq for his own downfall and confiscation of his property, gained the covert support of Caliph al-Radi himself  In September 938, Bajkam led his troops from Wasit to Baghdad  Ibn Ra'iq tried without success to impede his advance by destroying the great dams of the Nahrawan Canal and flooding the plain, but Bajkam's army entered the Abbasid capital without opposition, and al-Radi immediately transferred Ibn Ra'iq's title of amir al-umara to Bajkam 

Amir al-umara
Despite the continued relegation of al-Radi to a ceremonial role, the relationship between the Caliph and Bajkam was strong, with al-Radi praising Bajkam for his harsh discipline and referring to the latter as his "protégé"  Al-Radi was appreciative of Bajkam's respect for his position as Caliph, and promised his support for the amir al-umara In October–November 938, Bajkam and the Caliph campaigned against the influential Hamdanid emir of Mosul, Hasan ibn Abdallah, who had taken advantage of the turmoil in Iraq to cease forwarding his province's revenue to Baghdad  Although Bajkam's army captured Mosul, Hasan fled before him to the remotest corners of his domain, where Bajkam's forces pursued him in vain  In the meantime, the local population resented the presence of the caliphal troops and launched guerilla warfare against them, while Ibn Ra'iq used Bajkam's absence to take control of Baghdad at the head of a Carmathian force  These developments forced Bajkam to negotiate with his rivals: the Hamdanids were restored in their province in exchange for the payment of the tax arrears, and Ibn Ra'iq was bought off with the governorship of the provinces of Tariq al-Furat, Diyar Mudar, Qinnasrin and al-'Awasim, which were also claimed by the Ikhshidids of Egypt  This arrangement allowed Bajkam and the Caliph to return to Baghdad in February 939 Bajkam, having consolidated his control over Baghdad, now turned to face the threat posed by the Buyids  To this end, he strengthened his ties with the Baridis of Basra, by handing over Wasit, as previously agreed, appointing Abu Abdallah al-Baridi as vizier of the Abbasid court (although the latter remained at Wasit and did not visit Baghdad), and, finally, by marrying himself to one of al-Baridi's daughters  Neither side really trusted the other—Bajkam is said to have remarked of his father-in-law, an inveterate intriguer, that his "turban covered the head not of a man but of a devil"—but the deal allowed a fragile peace to prevail in Iraq Bajkam's success against the Buyids was mixed: Wasit was saved from Buyid attack, and the Baridis led a successful campaign in Susiana, but an expedition into Jibal was crushed by the third Buyid brother, Hasan  The alliance with the Baridis quickly soured, however, as al-Baridi still maintained his ambition of replacing Bajkam, and Bajkam was aware of this  In late August 940, Bajkam removed al-Baridi from the vizierate and launched an attack on Wasit, which the Baridis abandoned without resistance  In the meantime, the Baghdad was in turmoil as religious violence had become commonplace, with fanatical members of the Hanbali school imposing their tenets on the general populace In December 940, al-Radi died  Bajkam remained at Wasit, but sent his secretary to Baghdad to convene a council of Abbasid aristocrats, who selected al-Muttaqi (r  940–944), al-Radi's brother, as Caliph  Bajkam also sent a slave named Takinak to the deceased Caliph's palace, the Dar al-Sultan, to procure various items, including the valuable al-Yatimah pearl  He also obtained three female slaves from al-Radi's palace, whose singing he remembered from his earlier visits to the Caliph Among al-Muttaqi's first actions as Caliph was the confirmation of Bajkam as amir al-umara  Despite al-Muttaqi's gesture of support, Bajkam still faced opposition among the semi-autonomous provincial governors, including al-Baridi 

Death and ensuing anarchy
Bajkam opened a campaign against al-Baridi in early spring 941  His lieutenants were at first defeated by the Baridis, whereupon Bajkam himself left Wasit to take the field  On his way to join his army, however, he was informed that his generals had achieved a major victory over the Baridis, and decided to return to Wasit  On 21 April 941, while travelling, he took part in a hunting excursion, during which he and his party encountered a band of Kurdish brigands  During a brief skirmish, Bajkam was slain when one of the Kurds stabbed him in the back with his lance Bajkam's unexpected death created a power vacuum in Baghdad, with disagreements between Daylamite and Turkish forces prompting the former to join the defeated al-Baridi  With their assistance, he marched on Wasit and Baghdad, capturing them, but was soon forced to flee due to the disorder that followed his usurpation of power  A Daylamite chief named Kurankij replaced him as de facto ruler of Baghdad, but he imposed tyrannical rule, and al-Muttaqi appealed to the former amir al-umara Ibn Ra'iq for assistance Ibn Ra'iq soon retook control of Baghdad, but political turmoil did not cease with his re-installation as amir al-umara  Once again, al-Baridi captured the city, and Ibn Ra'iq fled with the Caliph to Mosul, from where the Hamdanid rulers launched a successful attempt to restore them  The Hamdanid emir Hasan, after ordering the assassination of Ibn Ra'iq, was made amir al-umara and given the laqab of Nasir al-Dawla ("Defender of the Dynasty")  In 943, the Hamdanids were forced to retreat to Mosul when Tuzun, one of Bajkam's officers, seized power with military support; the following year, Tuzun captured, blinded, and deposed al-Muttaqi, assuming the role of amir al-umara  The Caliph's brother, al-Mustakfi (r  944–946), was appointed as his successor  The competition for control of the Caliph ended in 945, when the Buyid Ahmad took over the position of  amir al-umara with the title of Mu'izz al-Dawla  This began the period of undisputed Buyid control over Baghdad and Iraq, which lasted until the Seljuk conquest in the 1050s 

Character
Despite his slave origin, Bajkam was educated in Arabic (although he reportedly did not speak it for fear of making mistakes), respected by intellectuals and was known to seek the company of such men as al-Suli and the physician Sinan ibn Thabit  It is in their writings that glimpses of his character survive  According to the researcher Marius Canard, Bajkam was "covetous of power and money, he did not hesitate to resort to dissimulation and ruse, corruption and torture to attain his ends; he was at times cruel, though his bravery was legendary, and was more upright in character than Ibn Ra'iq"  Bajkam was also solicitous for the welfare of his subjects, and especially the inhabitants of Wasit cherished his memory 

See also
Passage 6:
Sa'id ibn Makhlad
Sa'id ibn Makhlad (Arabic: سعيد بن مخلد) (died 889) was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate  Born a Nestorian Christian, he converted to Islam and served as a secretary in the Abbasid capital, Baghdad  He rose to prominence during the regency of al-Muwaffaq over his brother, the Caliph al-Mu'tamid (r  870–892): between 878 and 885, he served as de facto vizier of the Caliphate, although he did not bear the title  His valuable assistance to al-Muwaffaq was recognized in 882 by the award of the honorific title Dhu'l-wizaratayn ("possessor of the two vizierates"), with which he appears even on coins  However, the activities of his brother, Abdun, who had remained a Christian and tried to obtain concessions for the Christian subjects of the Caliphate, brought about his sudden fall from power in 885  He died in 889 
Sa'id has been erroneously considered by some writers as the brother of another Christian convert, al-Hasan ibn Makhlad al-Jarrah, who was his predecessor as vizier 

Sources
Sourdel, Dominique (1971)  "Ibn Makhlad"   In Lewis, B ; Ménage, V  L ; Pellat, Ch  & Schacht, J  (eds )  Encyclopaedia of Islam  Volume III: H–Iram (2nd ed )  Leiden: E  J  Brill  p  859  OCLC 495469525 
Passage 7:
Nahrawan Canal
The Nahrevan Canal (Persian: کانال نرهوان) was a major irrigation system of the Sassanid and early Islamic periods in central Iraq, along the eastern banks of the Tigris and the lower course of the Diyala River  Created in the 6th century, it reached its peak under the Abbasid Caliphate, when it served the main water supply for the Abbasid capital of Baghdad, while the regions irrigated by it served as the city's main breadbasket  Its destruction and progressive abandonment from the mid-10th century onwards mirror the Abbasid Caliphate's decline 

History
The first irrigation works along the Diyala River were undertaken in Parthian times  Indeed, it may be that the lower part of the Nahrawan Canal was originally the lower course of the Diyala  The large-scale canal system of early medieval times however was created in the reign of the Sassanid ruler Khosrau I (r  531–579), who also established it as a separate administrative district (Bazidjan Khusraw)  A treasury and mint were possibly established there In early Islamic times, the town of Jisr al-Nahrawan in the middle of the canal was the site of the Battle of Nahrawan on 17 July 658 between Ali and the Kharijites under Abdallah ibn Wahb  Under the early Caliphates, and especially under the Abbasids who made nearby Baghdad their capital, the canal network was repaired and expanded, reaching its peak in the 9th and early 10th centuries  In Abbasid times, the region was divided into three tax districts, Upper, Middle and Lower Nahrawan The canal was breached in 937/8, during the revolt of Bajkam against Ibn Ra'iq; the latter tried to impede Bajkam's advance from Wasit to Baghdad by flooding the region in between  The move barely obstructed Bajkam, but succeeded in destroying the agriculture of the region, hitherto the breadbasket of the Abbasid capital  As Hugh N  Kennedy writes, "the breach of the Nahrawan canal was simply the most dramatic example of a widespread phenomenon of the time; and it was symbolic of the end of ‘Abbasid power just as the breach of the Marib Dam was of the end of the prosperity of pre-Islamic south Arabia"  The lower and middle Nahrawan were entirely abandoned for almost 14 years, until the Buyids under Mu'izz al-Dawla restored the canal  Nevertheless, the canal network continued to decline thereafter  As late as 1140, the Seljuq governor Bihruz tried to restore it, but according to the 13th-century scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi, infighting among the Seljuqs once again meant the neglect of the canal, and its use as a road by their troops compounded the destruction of the network  By Yaqut's time, the canal network had largely silted up and the countryside along them was abandoned 

Outline
In medieval times, the main canal was divided into three sections, described in detail by the 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, in his Mu'jam al-Buldan  The initial feeder canal drawing water from the Tigris at Dur al-Arabaya near Samarra and carrying it to the Diyala at Ba'quba was called al-katul al-Kisrawi ('the Cut of Khosrau')  During its course, it was joined by three smaller canals taken from the Tigris, the Yahudi ('of the Jews'), the al-Ma'muni, named after Caliph al-Ma'mun (r  813–833), and the largest of the three, the Abu'l-Jund ('father of the army'), built under Harun al-Rashid (r  786–809) Some 20 km south of the inflow of the Abu'l-Jund stood the town of Salwa or Bab Salwa (Basalwa), and a little further on the town of Ba'quba, the capital of the Upper Nahrawan district, some 50 km north-northeast of Baghdad  From there, the main canal, now known as the Tamarra, turned south to the towns of Bajisra (originally Bayt al-Jisr, 'bridge-house') and finally Jisr al-Nahrawan, from where it was known as the Nahrawan proper  From Bajisra a canal, the Nahr al-Khalis, connected the main canal with the Tigris at Baradan and supplied the eastern suburbs of Baghdad with water, while another, the Nahr Bin, connected Jisr al-Nahrawan with Kalwadha south of Baghdad  Just south of Jisr al-Nahrawan there was another canal, the Diyala canal—the present course of the namesake river—which joined the Tigris some 5 km south of Baghdad  Jisr al-Nahrawan itself was a wealthy place, as there the Khurasan Road connecting Baghdad with Central Asia crossed the canal  Surviving descriptions record that it was extended on both sides of the canal, each with its own mosques, markets and hostels for travellers and pilgrims  It was abandoned by the 14th century, as the road to Khurasan was diverted north, through Ba'quba Below Jisr al-Nahrawan came a large Sassanid-era weir (Shadhurwan), followed by the towns of Jisr Buran/Puran (named after Ma'mun's wife), Yarzatiya, 'Abarta, another weir, and the city of Iskaf Bani Junayd, divided by the canal in upper and lower towns  From Iskaf, the canal went on for another 100 km amidst a heavily cultivated landscape to rejoin the Tigris at Madharaya, near modern Kut 



ground_truth: the City of Peace