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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Sands | Ethel Sands | Ethel Sands (6 July 1873 – 19 March 1962) was an American-born artist and hostess who lived in England from childhood. She studied art in Paris, where she met her life partner Anna Hope Hudson. Her works were generally still lifes and interiors, often of Château d'Auppegard that she shared with Hudson. Sands was a Fitzroy Street Group and London Group member. Her works are in London's National Portrait Gallery and other public collections. In 1916, she became a naturalised British citizen. Although a major art patron and an artist, she is most remembered as a hostess for the cultural elite, including Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Augustus John.
== Early life ==
Ethel Sands was born on 6 July 1873 in Newport, Rhode Island, the first child of Mary Morton (Hartpence) and Mahlon Day Sands, who married in 1872. Mahlon Sands was secretary of the American Free Trade League, who in 1870 advocated for civil service reform and free trade. He was partner of his deceased father's pharmaceutical importing firm, A.B. Sands and Company. Ethel had two younger brothers, Mahlon Alan and Morton Harcourt Sands, who were, respectively, 5 and 11 years younger.
In 1874, the family left the United States for England, intending to only visit the country. However, Mahlon Sands and his family stayed in England and travelled among European countries. They also visited the United States annually and were there for an extended visit from 1877 to 1879. They kept their house in Newport, Rhode Island throughout this time.
The wealthy Sands circulated among London society, including writer and statesman John Morley, politician William Ewart Gladstone, writer Henry James, artist John Singer Sargent, the Rothschild family, and Henry Graham White. Mahlon's sister, Katherine, was married to journalist and newspaper editor Edwin Lawrence Godkin. They were part of Edward VII, then Prince of Wales', social circle.
John Singer Sargent painted the portrait of her mother, who was considered "a famous society beauty of her day." Mary Sands was "much admired" by writer Henry James, who called her "that gracious lady" and based his heroic character "Madame de Mauves" on her.
Ethel Sands was raised in a respectable upper-class household in which her parents were "happily married". While her father was considered handsome and her mother beautiful, Anthony Powell states that some people wrote in their diaries and letters that she was plain. In her later years, Powell met her and said that "so great was her elegance, charm, capacity to be amusing in a no-nonsense manner, that I could well believed her to be good-looking in her youth. Her father had ridden horseback through Hyde Park, was thrown from the horse and died an accidental death in 1888. His widow, Mary Sands, raised Ethel and her brothers until her death on 28 July 1896.
== Art ==
=== Education ===
Encouraged by artist John Singer Sargent, Sands studied painting in Paris at the Académie Carrière under Eugène Carrière for several years, beginning in 1894. There she met fellow student Nan Hudson, born Anna Hope Hudson in the United States, who became her life partner. During this time, Sands became the guardian of her two younger brothers following her mother's death in 1896.
=== Painting ===
Sands painted still lifes and interior settings. Tate suggests that was inspired by Édouard Vuillard's dry brush technique, colour palette and depiction of "intimate" scenes. Her first exhibition was at Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1904.
In 1907, at Walter Sickert's invitation, she became a member and exhibited paintings she made at the Fitzroy Street Group. She also purchased the works of other artists. She was one of the artists that founded the London Group. According to author Kate Deepwell, her works, and those of Vanessa Bell and other women, were evaluated differently at that time from those made by men: The best critique of woman's work at the time would be that they had individuality, but they would not have been considered innovative, modern works like those made by men.
In Paris in 1911 she had her first show dedicated to her works. Hudson and Sands had a show at Carfax Gallery in 1912. The next year she was part of the "English Post-Impressionists, Cubists and Others" show in Brighton. Her works were exhibited at Goupil Gallery, and in 1922 she had her initial solo show. She also exhibited often at the Women's International Art Club and the New English Art Club.
Hudson purchased Château d'Auppegard near Dieppe, France in 1920, which was the subject of several of Sand's paintings. Some of the interior paintings are A Spare Room, Château d'Auppegard and Double Doors, Château d'Auppegard. Other examples are the landscape Auppegard Church from Château, France and one of her partner, Nan Hudson Playing Patience at Auppegard. Her works are in the collections of Tate museum Government Art Collection, and Fitzwilliam Museum.
== Socialite and patron ==
Like Lady Sibyl Colefax and Lady Ottoline Morrell, Sands entertained artists and writers with the intention to nurture and discuss ideas relevant to their careers. Lady Ottoline Morrell "took over" Sand's Chelsea house for entertainment after she had to give up her London house at Bedford Square. Affiliated with the Bloomsbury Group, she was best-known as "one of the leading artist hostesses of her time", her lavish affairs were financially possible due to the significant wealth she inherited from her parents. She was mainly at the Oxford, Newington house until 1920, but when in England she also entertained at her London Lowndes Street house, and between 1913 and 1937 at 15 Vale, Chelsea, London house, where she lived near her mother's friend, Henry James. Notable artists Augustus John and Walter Sickert. Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry and Arnold Bennett were among the writers of the "cultural elite" who visited her. Her friends included artist Jacques-Émile Blanche, writer Edith Wharton, poet William Butler Yeats, essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith and novelist Howard Overing Sturgis.
Lytton Strachey (a founder of the Bloomsbury Group) met at Sands' house and her uncle, Edwin Lawrence Godkin wrote of his upcoming visit to Sands' house in Oxfordshire, "There one fortnight, and then back to "holy wars", patriotism, and buncombe..."
She was a patron and collector of works by other contemporary artists. For instance, she commissioned Boris Anrep, a Russian immigrant, to create mosaics and murals in her Vale, Chelsea house. Sands continued to entertain into the 1950s with her friends, including Duncan Grant and Desmond MacCarthy, until he died in 1952.
She was described as a "plain woman of immense charm, cultivation and perception, and a painter of considerable talent" in the Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. It was suggested there that Henry James modelled the character Nanda in The Awkward Age after Sands.
== World wars ==
Sands tended to soldiers who had been injured in France during World War I, having established a hospital for soldiers near Dieppe with Hudson. It was forced to close down, and they continued their nursing efforts in both France and England. Sands was then in Britain working as a forewoman in a factory that made overalls. In 1916 she became a British citizenship. During World War II, Sands served as a nurse. The house in Chelsea, London was destroyed during The Blitz by a parachute mine, and the house in France was broken into and its contents were stolen or destroyed. The two war-time events resulted in the loss of most of Sands' and Hudson's works.
== Personal life ==
Sands and Hudson divided their time between England and France to accommodate their lifestyle preferences. Hudson enjoyed living a relatively quiet life in France and Sands liked the London and Oxford social life.
Sands entertained people within and outside of the cultural elite throughout her life. When Hudson's health began to fail, Sands nursed her until she died in 1957. Sand continued to entertain after Hudson's death. Her date of death was 19 March 1962.
Friend Virginia Woolf wrote a sketch based upon her called "The Lady in the Looking Glass", subtitled "A Reflection", about a time that she saw her come "in from the garden and not reading her letters." The mirror symbolised the way in which art is used to take a snapshot in time, but can also cut.
Wendy Baron, an author and art historian, wrote a biography about Sands, partly based upon the letters that Sands exchanged with Hudson and others. Tate Archives now holds the correspondence.
== Works ==
Among the works that survived World War II plunders and bombings are: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awake_(Dream_Theater_album) | Awake (Dream Theater album) | Awake is the third studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on October 4, 1994, through East West Records. It is the final Dream Theater album to feature original keyboardist Kevin Moore, who announced his decision to leave the band during the mixing process of the album.
Much of the material for Awake was written in writing sessions between February and April 1994, during which Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label to produce an album as successful as Images and Words (1992) with a single similar to "Pull Me Under". The label wanted the band to produce a more metal-oriented album, hoping it would be easier to market. John Purdell and Duane Baron produced, engineered and mixed the album. The album's cover, again designed by Larry Freemantle, features numerous references to the album's lyrics.
Released at the height of the popularity of grunge music, Awake initially received mixed reviews, though the album was later referred to as one of the band's finest releases. The album peaked at 32 on the US Billboard 200, the highest position a Dream Theater album would reach on that chart until 2007's Systematic Chaos, which peaked at 19. "Lie" and "The Silent Man" were released as singles but failed to be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been. The band's record label considered the album a commercial failure, which would lead to the band being pressured to write more radio-friendly songs on their subsequent studio album.
== Background ==
After a month-long break, Dream Theater started working on their third studio album in February 1994. The band's two-month writing sessions were located at Prince Studios, New York City. The lack of a leader within the band increased tensions in what were already tense sessions. Keyboardist Kevin Moore noted at the time that "there are arguments that last forever because there's nobody to come in and draw the line". "When it came to the music, you had [guitarist] John Petrucci and I playing the roles we still kind of play, and Kevin was also a forceful element," drummer Mike Portnoy said. "In those days, [bassist] John Myung was a little bit more out of his shell, so the bass was a bit more predominant in the band. The fighting never came to blows, but there was a lot of bickering over every single element, like the fine details of what the third note on the sixty-fourth bar should be."
The success of Dream Theater's previous album, Images and Words, particularly the single "Pull Me Under", put pressure on the band to produce a similarly successful follow-up album. "Somebody once said that you have your whole life to prepare for your first album and have about two months to prepare the follow-up, and that was very much the situation we faced in early 1994," Portnoy noted. The popularity of alternative metal and groove metal meant that the band's record label, East West, were keen for the band to create a heavier, darker album. Awake featured Petrucci's use of a seven-string guitar for the first time, establishing a more riff-based writing style. "This style would further cement the fusion of metal and progressive music, which is what Dream Theater are known for," Petrucci said. "I think it paved the way for many of our strongest and heaviest later songs like 'A Change of Seasons', 'The Glass Prison' and 'The Dark Eternal Night'." Vocalist James LaBrie described his vocals on Awake as "more varied and a lot more aggressive" than on Images and Words to the extent that people may think the band had a new singer for the album.
== Recording ==
The recording sessions for the album began in May 1994 at One On One Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, with overdub work done at Devonshire Studios in Los Angeles. John Purdell and Duane Baron, whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears (1991), were hired to produce the album. The band, which had a difficult relationship with David Prater, who produced Images and Words, enjoyed working with Purdell and Baron. "I think everyone felt we were able to express ourselves a lot more genuinely," Petrucci said. "The experience from the road, learning more about our sound and what we like and don't like enabled us to be more prepared. The producers were totally into capturing that and being patient with us. So everybody walked away being completely satisfied with their performances and their sounds." Awake is the band's only studio album to date that was not recorded on the east coast of the United States.
=== Departure of Moore ===
Towards the end of the recording sessions, Kevin Moore announced to his bandmates that he was leaving the band. Petrucci, who was childhood friends with the keyboardist, found the news particularly hard to take. Myung noted that the announcement "didn't come out of the blue". LaBrie noticed changes in Moore at the end of the Images and Words tour. "He seemed to be more distant and wrapped up in himself... It wasn't that he was rude or unpleasant with anyone," he said. "But when Mike, John Petrucci and John Myung were in the rehearsal studio putting together the music for Awake, he wasn't there as he had been in the past. And when he was there, the guys told me he'd be sitting reading a magazine when they were trying to work out riffs." "After the record was recorded in Los Angeles, he returned to New York, sold his belongings, packed everything into his station wagon and said 'I'm moving away from Long Island,'" Dream Theater's co-manager Jim Pitulski recalled. "So I asked him where he was moving to, and he said, 'I'll let you know when I get there.' He really had no idea what he was doing and he just started driving across the country. I kind of admired that."
Moore stated that he decided to leave because his approach to writing music had changed. He had become more interested in writing and recording his own material. Myung said that Moore left the band out of "peace of mind and what he wanted to do musically that he couldn't do in the band". The band's business manager, Rob Shore, suggested that the idea of prolonged touring was a contributing factor in Moore's decision. Describing Moore as "a very private person", Portnoy thought that he might have left because "the whole machine of the music business just wasn't his cup of tea". When Moore announced his decision to leave, he was single, while LaBrie was married, Portnoy and Petrucci had girlfriends and Myung, according to Portnoy, "was kind of in his own world". Portnoy speculated that any resentment or jealousy Moore felt because of this may have influenced his decision. After leaving Dream Theater, Moore continued to release music, musically far-removed from his work with the band.
=== Mixing ===
Awake was mixed at Unique Studios, New York City. When mixing, Purdell, Baron and Miller were initially joined by the remaining members of the band. "We were all in the studio when it first started and it was just unfair to the producers," vocalist James LaBrie said. "Obviously each guy was focusing on his instrument, so it was like 'Wait, I want me up more!' So they were trying to please everyone and you just can't do that." The band had to be banned from the mixing sessions to allow Purdell and Baron to mix the album to a high enough standard. "The one great thing, though – even though we were out of the studio – was that they were aware of what we wanted and didn't want," LaBrie said. "When David Prater mixed Images and Words it was really unfortunate because he forgot to bring some sections out and he really didn't understand what we wanted from the final music. When Duane and John went in, they knew everything that needed to be there and how we wanted it to be represented."
== Songs ==
=== "6:00" and "Innocence Faded" ===
The album's opening track, "6:00", features lyrics written by Moore, hinting at the growing distance between him and the rest of the band. Petrucci wrote the lyrics of "Innocence Faded", inspired by his deteriorating friendship with Moore. "The way I wrote lyrics a lot of the time is that I'll take an initial spark of an idea... But then I'll kind of generalize and add in other situations," Petrucci said. "So I couldn't say it was solely about that, but it was definitely inspired by that. There was a feeling of it not being the same way it had been, and the realization that things were not always going to remain the same."
=== "Caught in a Web" ===
According to James LaBrie, "Caught in a Web" is about a protagonist that has finally determined to live the way they want, after being told by society they have to live their life a certain way. He says it deals with "... a person that's... it's not male or female, it could be either. And it's... a person who has suppressed their feelings for so long and has finally had enough of it and feels that the only way that they can really live life to its fullest is to live from the inside out. And that's basically what this person has come to terms with. And they're sick of society inducements and they feel the only way that they can go on with life is to live it the way they feel is the truth..."
=== "A Mind Beside Itself" trilogy: "Erotomania", "Voices", and "The Silent Man" ===
"Erotomania", "Voices" and "The Silent Man" form a three-part suite titled "A Mind Beside Itself". Portnoy stated that the instrumental "Erotomania" was written "off the cuff" as "a bit of a joke and parody". Petrucci penned the lyrics to "Voices", dealing with the subject of mental illness. He researched schizophrenia and similar disorders and used religious terms "to make things more vivid". "When I was writing it, I saw these terms and medical things that were just brilliant," he said. "Like there was a guy who felt that his skin was inside out. I read that and was like 'Oh my God! That's unbelievable; I've got to write about that.'" Petrucci wrote the music and lyrics to the acoustic "The Silent Man". LaBrie described the lyrics as dealing with "communication breakdown, for instance between a father and a son. We feel that we have to play certain roles when around one of our parents, and we never really get to know the real person. I'm lucky that I behave with my own father like I would a friend. We can joke around and go for a beer."
=== "The Mirror" ===
Portnoy wrote the lyrics to "The Mirror", describing his battle with alcoholism. He would return to the subject on later Dream Theater albums with the group's so-called "Twelve-step Suite."
Notably, although this is the first song released on a studio album with lyrics fully written by Portnoy, he had previously written part of the lyrics for Take the Time on Images and Words.
=== "Lie" ===
"Lie", the lead single from Awake, demonstrates the heavier, darker style of the album. The song is a live staple of the band. "Lie" was originally part of "The Mirror", but LaBrie thought it was strong enough to be a song in itself. "I remember one of the first tapes [the band] sent me to start jamming with up in Canada was 'The Mirror'," LaBrie said. "We used to jam instrumentally to it on the last tour and then we built it into a song, with the lyrics and melodies but also within the song was 'Lie'. I heard this groove and I was going 'Oh my God, that's a song in itself!' So I called up the guys and said 'Man, I really feel strong about this song. Can't we take that groove and build a song?'"
=== "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" ===
"Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" began as a poem and two chords brought to the band by Myung. "We worked on it, racked our brains, recorded the jam and by the end of the night we were like 'Ahh fuck it. This sucks,'" Petrucci recalled. "We came by the next day, listened to the recording and thought it could be really cool. All of a sudden it evolved into this song."
=== "Scarred" ===
The lyrics to "Scarred" were initially inspired by a mishearing of the lyrics to The Clash's "Rock the Casbah". The song eventually took on a darker tone as the tempo changed and guitarist John Petrucci began writing lyrics about depression. The lines inspired by "Rock the Casbah", while present on the working demo, were removed entirely for the final release.
=== "Space-Dye Vest" ===
"Space-Dye Vest" was written by Moore, who brought the piece into the studio as a completed song.
== Artwork ==
Larry Freemantle, who had designed the cover of Images and Words, provided the artwork for Awake. As with Images and Words, the band instructed Freemantle to include several lyrical references in the cover, such as a clock showing the time 6:00, a mirror and a spider in the middle of a web. "The band were very definite about what they wanted, and where they wanted it," Freemantle said. "The mirror was to be buried in the sand with a factory in the background, so it was just a case of putting it together." Access Images, the company Freemantle had used for Images and Words, had broken up, meaning that he had to put the cover together using stock images himself. "It was done really quickly and I always felt frustrated with that sleeve as I lost too much time on it," Freemantle said. "I was always up against deadlines on certain things and it got away from me."
== Release and promotion ==
Awake was released on October 4, 1994, through East West Records. LaBrie considered the album's title to be "the perfect word to describe the album's lyrics. What we're basically talking about is the awareness of your existence - becoming closer and more in touch with yourself and ultimately discovering what works best for you as an individual as you try to get through life." Portnoy dedicated the album to his biggest inspiration, Frank Zappa, who died in 1993.
The album sold 36,160 copies the first week it was released. "Lie", the album's lead single, was released in late September. The accompanying music video featured the band, then a four-piece, playing the track at various locations in New York City, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Tribeca and a tunnel in Manhattan (which had to be temporarily closed in order to complete the shoot). It was hoped that "Lie" would be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been, but the single failed to make an impact on the charts. "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were the album's second and third singles respectively. Portnoy was keen to direct the music video for "The Silent Man", but East West only offered him a co-directing credit with Pamela Birkhead. On the day of the shoot, Portnoy became violently ill, and when not needed to perform rested in his tour bus bunk.
== Touring ==
With Moore no longer a member of Dream Theater, the band needed to find a replacement keyboardist for the forthcoming world tour in support of Awake. Before the tour started, the band had a headlining concert on September 9, 1994, at the Foundations Forum in Burbank, California. The album was to be unveiled in a live setting for the first time. Jordan Rudess's audition impressed the band, with Portnoy claiming that it had "blown his mind" and that Rudess was the "best keyboard player we'd ever seen". Rudess accepted the band's offer to perform with them at the Burbank show, but decided against joining the band for the entire tour. At the same time, he had received an offer to perform with the Dixie Dregs for shorter runs of shows and had a job with Kurzweil. Rudess also had a young family and was unsure if Dream Theater "was just going to be a flash in the pan". "I decided I would be better off going with the Dregs, continuing with Kurzweil, and being around for my family as much as possible," Rudess said. The show was not a success; the band were nervous of playing without Moore and were out of practice from not having played live for some time. Rudess eventually joined Dream Theater as a full band member in 1999.
The band held another round of auditions and were impressed with Derek Sherinian. Sherinian, who studied at Berklee College of Music the year before Petrucci, Portnoy, and Myung did, had previously played with Alice Cooper and Kiss and enjoyed similar music to the other members of Dream Theater. He was offered the position on a trial basis at the beginning of October 1994, giving him just two weeks to learn two hours of highly complex music. "It's one thing going in to play for an artist with hit songs that you've heard since you were a kid, and the songs are ingrained in your mind," Sherinian said. "It was another thing altogether going in with music you've never heard before that is totally off the charts as far as technical prowess... But it is amazing what one will do to ascend... when I was in New York at the rehearsals, I would play the songs at night over and over on a loop so that I would be subliminally programmed and it would ingrain it in my head." Sherinian was officially asked to join the band as a full member in February 1995.
The US leg of the Waking Up The World tour began on October 20, 1994, and finished on December 9. Over Christmas, LaBrie went on holiday to Cuba with his wife, where he had violent food poisoning. Upon his return home he consulted an ears, nose, and throat specialist, who told LaBrie that he had ruptured his vocal cords, advising him not to sing for six months to a year. "I was in total shock and devastated," LaBrie said. "On the US leg I had been so psyched and couldn't wait to blow everyone away around the rest of the world. We weren't in a position for me to take a six-month break so I had to keep touring." LaBrie was able to continue performing, but his voice became unpredictable. "It was absolutely miserable, and it was an extremely dark and depressing period for me," he recalled. "Literally every fucking night on the European leg, I wouldn't know if my voice would be there or if it would cooperate... I didn't feel that my voice really started to come back until maybe the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence tour in 2002. That's when I started to feel my range and strength coming back."
The Great Hanshin earthquake struck Japan while Dream Theater were touring there. Although none of the band was injured, they seriously considered calling off the tour, but only ended up canceling one show. The band held a minute's silence at every show in Japan in memory of those who had died. During the soundchecks for the Japanese shows, the band rehearsed a series of cover songs. These were performed at a special covers-only show in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London. The show, performed to an invitation-only audience of three hundred, featured guest musicians such as Barney Greenway, Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery and Steve Howe. A selection of covers and medleys performed by Dream Theater at this show were released on A Change of Seasons.
== Reception ==
Awake peaked at 32 on the Billboard 200, remaining in the charts for six weeks. This would remain the band's highest-charting release in the US until Systematic Chaos in 2007, which was eventually topped by 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which peaked at No. 6. The album peaked in the top 20 in four countries. Derek Oliver, Dream Theater's label representative considered the album to be a commercial failure. This led to the band once again working with David Prater on A Change of Seasons and to the record label putting increasing pressure on the band to make songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity, more commercial and radio-friendly.
Awake received acclaim from music critics. Q wrote that "fans of Marillion may well love this, and even the sceptical listener can enjoy the crunching, radio-friendly choruses of "Scarred" and "Caught in a Web"." Guitar World ranked the album as one of the top ten releases of the year, stating that "this shred party left me punch drunk and, for once in my life, fully Awake." Metal Hammer dismissed Awake as "musical masturbation": "Progressive rock is basically a very adolescent notion of what 'grown up' music might sound like - more notes, longer solos and, best/worst of all, convoluted concepts... Their propensity for pomposity extends to the ballad "Silent Man", which would probably like to be Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" but in fact sounds like Stryper on a particularly pious day". The album has since sold nearly 400,000 copies.
Later reviews were more favorable. Reviewers praised the album's production, noting the album is darker and heavier than previous Dream Theater releases. The musicianship of the band has been praised. Phil Carter of AllMusic highlighted Petrucci and Portnoy's performances; Metal Storm praised LaBrie and Portnoy; Murat Batmaz of Sea of Tranquility praised all the performances, but singled out Moore's contribution as "immense" and complimented him on "a lucid layer of atmosphere around [the album] built by none other than Kevin Moore." Carter ranked "Lie", "Scarred", "Caught in a Web" and "Space-Dye Vest" as the best tracks. Metal Storm praised "6:00" and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.
In a 1995 Guitar World interview, Chuck Schuldiner praised Awake and the band Dream Theater in general, claiming that "their music is very complex, but they definitely have hooks, which is crucial to making music listenable", citing them as an influence on the more progressive nature of his band Death's later material as opposed to the stagnant death metal scene at the time. In 2005, Awake was ranked number 390 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In July 2014, the album was ranked number 1 in Guitar World magazine's list of "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994".
== Track listing ==
== Personnel ==
== Charts ==
== Certifications == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Salute_(statue) | Victory Salute (statue) | Victory Salute, commonly referred to as the Olympic Black Power Statue, is a monument depicting the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute performed by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos. The monument consists of two fiberglass statues covered in ceramic tiles, atop a concrete base designed to emulate the Olympic podium. It was created in 2005 by Portuguese artist Rigo 23 and is installed next to Tower Hall on the San José State University campus, in San Jose, California, United States.
== History ==
In 1968, as members of San Jose State's Speed City era of athletics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. After earning gold and bronze medals respectively, the duo raised a Black Power salute while "The Star-Spangled Banner" played, which became one of the most defining acts of protest of the civil rights movement. Despite disapproval of the protest among the general public, San Jose State University President Robert D. Clark expressed his support of the act.
In Winter 2002, San Jose State student Erik Grotz initiated a project to honor Smith and Carlos at their alma mater; "One of my professors [Cobie Harris] was talking about unsung heroes and he mentioned Tommie Smith and John Carlos. He said these men had done a courageous thing to advance civil rights, and, yet, they had never been honored by their own school". Grotz worked with Department of Art Chair, Dr. Robert Milnes to create a mock-up to pitch to the University's Associated Students board, who approved the project on December 11, 2002, and began fundraising.
The Associated Students raised over $300,000 for the project and initially intended the statue to be placed next to the now former location of the Scheller House on the Paseo de San Carlos. However, the project was moved to be on the lawn adjacent to the Tower Hall and the Robert D. Clark Hall in order to be in a more central location on campus and to honor President Clark's support of the protest. On October 16, 2003, the 35th anniversary of the protest, Portuguese artist Rigo 23 was announced as the sculptor for the project.
Victory Salute was assembled in early October 2005, and was unveiled to the public on October 17, 2005, drawing hundreds in attendance. A panel discussion was held featuring Smith and Carlos, as well as silver-medalist Peter Norman, fellow Speed City era sprinter Lee Evans, and head coach Payton Jordan. Additional speeches were given by vice-mayor of San Jose Cindy Chavez, San Jose State President Don W. Kassing, and actor Delroy Lindo, followed by honorary doctorate degrees awarded to Smith and Carlos. The statue was unveiled during a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner", mirroring the original protest.
In January 2007, History San Jose opened a new exhibit called Speed City: From Civil Rights to Black Power, covering the San Jose State athletic program. The exhibit focused on the San Jose State athletic program, highlighting how many student athletes from the Speed city program gained global recognition during Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
In 2008, after critics argued that Victory Salute did not give unfamiliar onlookers the appropriate historical context, a plaque was added in front of the statue. The plaque reads:
In 2022, San Jose State students and faculty embedded Victory Salute into their Public Art as Resistance project.
== Design ==
Victory Salute was Rigo 23's first sculpture, but he wanted the statue to be a "labor of love". In order to correctly sculpt the musculature, he took 3D full-body scans of Smith and Carlos. Rigo 23's signature is on the back of Smith's shoe, and the year 2005 is on Carlos's shoe.
The statues' faces were rendered realistically and with emphasis placed on the emotion of the athletes. They were constructed from fiberglass over steel supports and covered with ceramic tiles, their track pants and jackets form a mosaic of dark blue ceramic tiles, with red and white detailing on the stripes of the track suits.
Peter Norman asked to be excluded from the monument, so that visitors could participate by standing in his place, and feeling what he felt. Norman said, "Anybody can get up there and stand up for something they believe in. I guess that just about says it all". There is a plaque in the empty spot which reads "Fellow Athlete Australian Peter Norman Stood Here in Solidarity; Take a Stand".
== Use as protest space ==
Due to Victory Salute depicting an act of protest during the civil rights movement, as well as its proximity to San Jose City Hall (less than 0.3 miles away), the statue and its surrounding lawn have been focal points for protests in San Jose.
=== 2020 Black Lives Matter protests ===
On June 5, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests, a protest was held at Victory Salute with protestors raising their fists, mirroring the 1968 protest. On September 1 of that year, San Jose State student athletes organized a protest which started with the athletes giving speeches given at Victory Salute, followed by a march to the City Hall.
=== 2024 pro-Palestine protests and encampment ===
On October 12, 2023, after the Hamas-led attack on Israel and subsequent Gaza war, the San Jose State chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine organized a protest consisting of speeches given at Victory Salute, followed by a march around the campus.
In April 2024, following the campus occupation at Columbia University, student protestors began demanding that San Jose State divest from Israel over its genocide of Palestinians. The university's Associated Students board unanimously adopted a measure to boycott Silicon Valley companies involved in pro-Israeli activity on April 24.
Protests continued on campus, when on May 13, an encampment was established on the lawn around Victory Salute. One of the encampment's demands was the firing of history professor Johnathan Roth after a physical altercation between himself and a pro-Palestine protestor in February 2024. On May 14, the University communicated with the protestors about their demands but asserted that the encampment had to be disbanded before finals began on May 15. Additionally, the University released a statement cosigned by Tommie Smith, John Carlos, activist Harry Edwards, and activist Ken Noel which expressed disapproval of the encampment around Victory Salute. Rigo 23 released a statement supporting the encampment and gave a speech at the encampment.
On May 21, the protestors met with University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Mari Fuentes-Martin to discuss the protestors' demands. Teniente-Matson suggested the creation of a student advisory council composed of students from Middle Eastern student organizations that would work with faculty to address concerns about university partnerships with Israel. Following these talks, the encampment was dismantled on May 23. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absent-Minded_Professor | The Absent-Minded Professor | The Absent-Minded Professor is a 1961 American science fiction comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is based on the 1943 short story "A Situation of Gravity" (May 22, 1943 Liberty) by Samuel W. Taylor. The title character was based in part on Hubert Alyea, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton University, who was known as "Dr. Boom" for his explosive demonstrations. The film stars Fred MacMurray as Professor Ned Brainard, alongside Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, Elliott Reid, and Edward Andrews. The plot follows Brainard as he invents a substance that defies gravity, which he later exploits through various means.
Released on March 16, 1961, the film was a box office success, and two years later became the first Disney film to have a sequel, Son of Flubber (1963). It was one of the first Disney films to be colorized (for the 1986 VHS release), and, along with The Shaggy Dog (1959) and Son of Flubber, is one of Disney's few black-and-white films to be produced after 1941. A remake titled Flubber with Robin Williams was released in 1997.
== Plot ==
Professor Ned Brainard is an absent-minded professor of physical chemistry at Medfield College who invents a substance that gains energy when it strikes a hard surface. This discovery follows some blackboard scribbling in which he reverses a sign in the equation for enthalpy to energy plus pressure times volume. Ned names his discovery Flubber, a portmanteau of "flying rubber". In the excitement of his discovery, he misses his own wedding to Betsy Carlisle, not for the first time, but the third. Subplots include Shelby Ashton, another professor, wooing the disappointed Betsy; Biff Hawk, Medfield's best basketball player, who is ineligible to play in the game against archrival Rutland due to failing Professor Brainard's class; the schemes of Biff's father, businessman Alonzo P. Hawk, to gain wealth by means of Flubber; the school's financial difficulties and debt to Alonzo; and Ned's attempts to interest the government and military in uses for Flubber. Ned takes his revenge on Shelby by repeatedly jumping on the top of Shelby's car until it crashes into a police car, where a now-manic Shelby is given a field sobriety test.
Looking for backers, Ned bounces his Flubber ball for an audience, but his investment pitch proves so long-winded that most of the crowd has left before they notice that the ball bounced higher on its second bounce than on its first. For a more successful demonstration, he makes his Model T fly by bombarding Flubber with radioactive particles. After Medfield trails Rutland at the half by a large margin, Ned puts Flubber on the soles of the Medfield team's shoes, giving them tremendous jumping ability which causes them to make a furious comeback, winning by a buzzer beater; he also uses the substance on his own shoe soles to augment his skills during a school dance.
Alonzo becomes aware of Ned's flying car and, at Biff's suggestion, switches it for a fake Model T with squirrels and pigeons under the hood. Ned's debut turns into a mockery when he finds himself with Alonzo's fake car, and plays on Alonzo's greed by pointing out that, in the 1960s, only 8% of the world's population uses cars, but nearly everyone wears shoes. Ned gives Hawk a pair of Flubber shoes to cause Alonzo to bounce endlessly and become blackmailed into revealing where he hid the real car. Alonzo soon attracts everyone's attention, even a news crew, who interviews a physicist who remarks, "By 7 tonight, he's going to be in serious trouble!" The police escort the Medfield football team to tackle Alonzo on his way down, stopping his bounces.
Alonzo and Biff then chase after Ned, who by then has recovered his car from Alonzo's warehouse. Alonzo crashes into the same squad car Shelby did, and gets arrested for illegal firearms possession. Ned convinces Betsy to accompany him to Washington, D.C. Having never seen a flying car, the military considers it an attack and is ready to open fire until one junior officer recommends against it, as Ned is atop the United States Capitol building. Now able to convince the government of the merits of Flubber, Ned finally marries Betsy. The two fly away from a cheering crowd in Ned's Model T.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
The aforementioned Prof. Hubert Alyea (1903–1996), professor of chemistry at Princeton University, earned the nickname "Dr. Boom" from Russian observers of his demonstrations at the International Science Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, which Walt Disney attended. Disney told Alyea that he had given him an idea for a film, and invited Alyea to California to give a demonstration for actor Fred MacMurray, who later mimicked Alyea's mannerisms for the film. MacMurray would later state that he had never understood chemistry until his meeting with Alyea.
The special effects were created by Robert A. Mattey and Eustace Lycett, who were nominated for an Academy Award, and included the sodium screen matte process, as well as miniatures and wire-supported mockups. The film's "Medfield Fight Song" was written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, their first song for a Disney feature.
Keenan Wynn and his father Ed Wynn appear together in this film. Keenan also played Alonzo Hawk in Son of Flubber (1963) and for a third time in Herbie Rides Again (1974). Keenan plays a similar character in the 1976 sequel to The Shaggy Dog (starring McMurray), The Shaggy D.A. centered in the town of Medfield. Keenan's son Ned also appears uncredited in a bit part. Ed Wynn also appeared in Son of Flubber. At this stage of his life, Ed Wynn's memory was fading and he couldn't remember his lines, but he retained his innate wit and invention, so he improvised much of his dialogue, while director Stephenson instructed his crew to "just let him go on and on. You see, he had the most wonderful imagination".
Medfield College of Technology was used again as the setting for the sequel, Son of Flubber, as well as a later trilogy of films based around the character Dexter Riley — The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975), each starring Kurt Russell and Cesar Romero.
== Awards ==
At the 34th Academy Awards on April 9, 1962, The Absent-Minded Professor had nominations for three Academy Awards.
Art Direction (Black and White) (Carroll Clark, Emile Kuri, Hal Gausman).
Cinematography (Black and White) (Edward Colman)
Special Effects (Robert A. Mattey, Eustace Lycett)
== Releases ==
The film was reissued to theaters in 1967 and 1975, and released to video in 1981, 1986, and 1993. It was released as a pan and scan print on VHS in black and white in 1981 and 1993, and in a colorized version in 1986 and 1997 (to commemorate the release of the new remake Flubber). In 2003, the film was released to DVD in widescreen. In 2008, the film was re-packaged as a two-disc set with its sequel, Son of Flubber. The film was released on a Disney Movie Club Exclusive 55th Anniversary Blu-Ray on March 1, 2016.
== Reception ==
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "remarkably bouncy entertainment ... the grown-ups should find it entertaining for the silly shenanigans it contains and for the simple satisfaction of noting the pleasure it gives the kids". Variety described it as "a comedy-fantasy of infectious absurdity" with MacMurray "ideally cast". Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film, "for all that it happens to be a one-joke picture, is good and funny ... while its satire should be at least as sharp as its slapstick, but isn't, the novelty of the gimmick will carry the picture to popularity". Edith Oliver of The New Yorker called it "a funny and unpretentious piece of slapstick that cannot fail to please children and all the rest of us who are fans of the Keystone Cops". The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "agreeable and entertaining", but "the comedy doesn't bounce enough. It is really a one-joke story, and could have done with more invention, more unpredictability; the humorous possibilities of the admirable flubber are not explored sufficiently".
Despite the number of positive reviews, some critics disparaged the film on its release, causing considerable pain to Walt Disney, who couldn't understand why anyone would dislike such a light-hearted picture, leading composer Richard Sherman to comment: "Don't let anybody ever tell you Walt was immune to a bad review. It bothered him! The good reviews never went to his head, but the bad reviews went to his heart".
In an interview, Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader commented that this was the first film he had ever seen. In his own words, he was "very unimpressed" by it.
The film holds a rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3 out of 10.
== 1943 short story version ==
The short story is told by William Crawford as a letter to FDR in the White House in 1943 wartime America. He tells him that the "transportation problem" has been solved. Gasoline and rubber are obsolete because of Professor Rhoades' new invention. Rhoades is an absent-minded professor who ties strings to his fingers so he will remember. He had earlier invented artificial rubber.
Ed Barnes, the garbage collector of Prairie Center, comes into Crawford's office during a scrap drive to tell him that Rhoades had taken out the engine of his Model T with the apparent intention to donate it. But then they both see Rhoades drive up outside his office in the Model T. Ed is puzzled because he believes it has no engine. The professor is silent. He takes them for a ride in the car. They drive to the bank and to the grocery store. On the way, they find themselves in the path of two trucks about to collide with them. The car escapes by flying up over the road.
Rhoades explains that the car is able to fly because of his new invention, an electrical device that taps into the electricity of power lines.
They then drive to his laboratory. They encounter Kurt Miller, an officer of the power company. Rhoades tells him that the new invention will enable dentures to stay in people's mouths. Miller wants the blueprints. Rhoades refuses. Miller then pulls out a gun. He is apparently a German spy working for the Nazis. He orders them to fly the car to the state capital, which they are forced to do.
Spotted as an unidentified aircraft, a twin-tailed Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter is scrambled to go after them. Wing approached fender. The perplexed pilot ordered them to take the car down. Miller told them to refuse. He then shot at the plane. The plane shot tracers at the car.
The car suddenly went into a free fall as the professor worked with the control box in the back seat. They escaped from the P-38, landing safely in a field. Miller was choking in the back seat and was subdued and taken to the police.
Crawford concludes the letter by emphasizing to the President the benefits the "dingus" contraption that enables the car to fly will have for transportation, cars, trucks, and ever airplanes. He makes a request for funds to allow the professor to build another Model T model and that Congress repeal a law of gravity.
== Comic book adaptation ==
Dell Four Color #1199 (April 1961)
Gold Key Comics Shaggy Dog/The Absent-Minded Professor Double Feature #1 (August 1967)
== Legacy ==
=== Sequels ===
MacMurray, Olson, Reid, and Kirk reprised their roles in Son of Flubber, a sequel released less than two years later in 1963. Hewitt also returns (now as District Attorney), as well as the two Wynns (Keenan reprising his Alonzo P. Hawk role).
Wynn appeared in Herbie Rides Again (1974), the second film in Disney's Love Bug franchise, playing Alonzo A. Hawk rather than Alonzo P. Hawk. As the name is slightly changed, it is unclear whether the two series are meant to share a precise universe, but the Alonzo Hawk character is still a comic villain with the same modus operandi.
In 1988, the Disney Channel produced a film with the same name, which was not a remake in as much a spiritual sequel. The film takes place again at Medfield College, where Professor Brainard is now deceased and his work has been lost to the ages. Brainard's successor as the chemistry teacher is Professor Henry Crawford, played by Harry Anderson, and his girlfriend is Ellen Whitney, played by Mary Page Keller, who is the English teacher. Professor Crawford has much of the same absent-minded attitude as Brainard, although he invented a computer program named "Albert", an avatar of Albert Einstein, to help him stay on top of his responsibilities and remember appointments. Through happenstance, Crawford rediscovers the formula for Flubber. Albert warns that Flubber will react to dihydrogen monoxide, then accesses Brainard's files and recommends Henry recreate the famous flying Model T. One scene that was a tribute to the original film was Henry's use of the flying car to fly atop the car of a rival suitor for Ellen, then bumping his roof.
In 1989, The Absent-Minded Professor: Trading Places was made, where Henry has now married Ellen and was offered a job by his college friend (played by Ed Begley Jr.) at a defense firm. Henry realizes a sinister purpose and must work with his friend to thwart it. It is also shown that Henry did further experiments on Flubber and found that should it be baked in a kiln for 24 hours, it would solidify and become impervious to liquids, and christens this upgrade "Flass" (flying glass).
=== Remake ===
The Absent-Minded Professor has been remade as a 1997 theatrical film titled Flubber, with Robin Williams as the renamed Prof. Philip Brainard, with Marcia Gay Harden as his love interest, Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds (Nancy Olson appears in a cameo). Though neither the Anderson film nor the 1997 remake were as highly regarded as the original, the Robin Williams version was still a considerable success. Both remakes were made in color.
=== Chemistry ===
Several rubbery chemical compounds are named Flubber in honor of The Absent-Minded Professor's substance. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Cartwright | Nancy Cartwright | Nancy Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She has served as the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on The Simpsons, which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation. Cartwright also voices other characters for the show, including Maggie Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Nelson Muntz. She is also the voice of Chuckie Finster in the Nickelodeon series Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, succeeding Christine Cavanaugh.
Cartwright was born in Dayton, Ohio. She moved to Hollywood in 1978 and trained under voice actor Daws Butler. Her first professional role was voicing Gloria in the animated series Richie Rich, which she followed with a starring role in the television movie Marian Rose White (1982) and her first feature film, Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). In 1987, Cartwright auditioned for a role in a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family that was to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show. Cartwright intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the middle child; when she arrived at the audition, she found the role of Bart—Lisa's brother—to be more interesting. Series creator Matt Groening allowed her to audition for Bart and offered her the role on the spot. She voiced Bart for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989, the shorts were spun off into a half-hour show called The Simpsons.
Besides The Simpsons, Cartwright has also voiced numerous other animated characters, including Daffney Gillfin in Snorks, Mellissa Screetch in Toonsylvania, Rufus in Kim Possible, Mindy in Animaniacs, Pistol in Goof Troop, the Robots in Crashbox, Margo Sherman in The Critic and Todd Daring in The Replacements. In 2000, she published her autobiography, My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, and four years later, adapted it into a one-woman play. In 2017, she wrote and produced the film In Search of Fellini.
== Early life ==
Nancy Jean Cartwright was born on October 25, 1957, in Dayton, Ohio. She was the fourth of six children born to Frank (1927–2020) and Miriam (née Wendel; 1929–1978) Cartwright. She grew up in Kettering, Ohio, and discovered her talent for voices at an early age. While in the fourth grade at the school of St. Charles Borromeo, she won a school-wide speech competition with her performance of Rudyard Kipling's How the Camel Got His Hump. Cartwright attended Fairmont West High School, and participated in the school's theater and marching band. She regularly entered public speaking competitions, placing first in the "Humorous Interpretation" category at the National District Tournament two years running. The judges often suggested to her that she should perform cartoon voices. Cartwright graduated from high school in 1976 and accepted a scholarship from Ohio University. She continued to compete in public speaking competitions; during her sophomore year, she placed fifth in the National Speech Tournament's exposition category with her speech "The Art of Animation".
In 1976, Cartwright landed a part-time job doing voice-overs for commercials on WING radio in Dayton. A representative from Warner Bros. Records visited WING and later sent Cartwright a list of contacts in the animation industry. One of these was Daws Butler, known for voicing characters such as Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Elroy Jetson, Spike the Bulldog, and Yogi Bear. Cartwright called him and left a message in a Cockney accent on his answering machine. Butler immediately called her back and agreed to be her mentor. He mailed her a script and instructed her to send him a tape recording of herself reading it. Once he received the tape, Butler critiqued it and sent her notes. For the next year, they continued in this way, completing a new script every few weeks. Cartwright described Butler as "absolutely amazing, always encouraging, always polite".
Cartwright returned to Ohio University for her sophomore year, but transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) so she could be closer to Hollywood and Butler. Her mother, Miriam, died late in the summer of 1978. Cartwright nearly changed her relocation plans but, on September 17, 1978, "joylessly" left for Westwood, Los Angeles.
== Career ==
=== Early career ===
While attending UCLA, which did not have a public speaking team, Cartwright continued training as a voice actress with Butler. She recalled, "every Sunday I'd take a 20-minute bus ride to his house in Beverly Hills for a one-hour lesson and be there for four hours ... They had four sons, they didn't have a daughter and I kind of fitted in as the baby of the family." Butler introduced her to many of the voice actors and directors at Hanna-Barbera. After she met the director Gordon Hunt, he asked her to audition for a recurring role as Gloria in Richie Rich. She received the part, and later worked with Hunt on several other projects. At the end of 1980, Cartwright signed with a talent agency and landed a lead role in a pilot for a sitcom called In Trouble. Cartwright described the show as "forgettable, but it jump-started my on-camera career". She graduated from UCLA in 1981 with a degree in theater. During the summer, Cartwright worked with Jonathan Winters as part of an improvisation troupe at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
Returning to Los Angeles, Cartwright won the lead role in the television film Marian Rose White. Janet Maslin, a critic for The New York Times, described Cartwright as "a chubby, lumbering, slightly cross-eyed actress whose naturalness adds greatly to the film's impact". Cartwright replied by sending Maslin a letter insisting she was not cross-eyed, and included a photograph. Later, Cartwright auditioned for the role of Ethel, a girl who becomes trapped in a cartoon world in the third segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. She met with director Joe Dante and later described him as "a total cartoon buff, and once he took a look at my resume and noticed Daws Butler's name on it, we were off and running, sharing anecdotes about Daws and animation. After about twenty minutes, he said, 'considering your background, I don't see how I could cast anyone but you in this part!'" It was her first role in a feature film. The segment was based on The Twilight Zone television series episode "It's a Good Life", which was later parodied in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II" (1991).
Cartwright continued to do voice work for projects including Pound Puppies, Popeye and Son, Snorks, My Little Pony and Saturday Supercade. She joined a "loop group", and recorded vocals for characters in the background of films, although in most cases the sound was turned down so that very little of her voice was heard. She did minor voice-over work for several films, including The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), Silverado (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984), Back to the Future Part II, and The Color Purple (1985). Cartwright also voiced a shoe that was "dipped" in acid in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), describing it as her first "off-screen death scene", and worked to correctly convey the emotion involved.
In 1985, she auditioned for a guest spot as Cynthia in Cheers. The audition called for her to say her line and walk off the set. Cartwright decided to take a chance on being different and continued walking, leaving the building and returning home. The production crew was confused, but she received the part. In search of more training as an actress, Cartwright joined a class taught by Hollywood coach Milton Katselas. He recommended that Cartwright study La Strada, a 1956 Italian film starring Giulietta Masina and directed by Federico Fellini. She began performing "every imaginable scene" from La Strada in her class and spent several months trying to secure the rights to produce a stage adaptation. She visited Italy with the intention of meeting Fellini and requesting his permission in person. Although they never met, Cartwright kept a journal of the trip and later wrote a one-woman play called In Search of Fellini, partially based on her voyage. The play was co-written by Peter Kjenaas, and Cartwright won a Drama-Logue Award after performing it in Los Angeles in 1995. In a 1998 interview, she stated her intention to make it into a feature film, which she succeeded in doing in 2017.
=== The Simpsons ===
Cartwright voices the character Bart Simpson on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. On March 13, 1987, she auditioned for a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family that was to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show, a sketch comedy program. Cartwright had intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the elder daughter. After arriving at the audition, she found that Lisa was simply described as the middle child and at the time did not have much personality. Cartwright became more interested in the role of Bart, described as "devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, [and] clever". Creator Matt Groening let her try out for Bart and gave her the job on the spot. Bart's voice came naturally to Cartwright, as she had previously used elements of it in My Little Pony, Snorks, and Pound Puppies. Cartwright describes Bart's voice as easy to perform compared with other characters. The recording of the shorts was often primitive; the dialog was recorded on a portable tape deck in a makeshift studio above the bleachers on the set of The Tracey Ullman Show. Cartwright, the only cast member to have been professionally trained in voice acting, described the sessions as "great fun". However, she wanted to appear in the live-action sketches and occasionally showed up for recording sessions early, hoping to be noticed by a producer.
In 1989, the shorts were spun off into a half-hour show on the Fox network called The Simpsons. Bart quickly became the show's breakout personality and one of the most celebrated characters on television—his popularity in 1990 and 1991 was known as "Bartmania". Bart was described as "television's brightest new star" by Mike Boone of The Gazette and was named 1990's "entertainer of the year" by Entertainment Weekly. Despite Bart's fame, however, Cartwright remained relatively unknown. During the first season of The Simpsons, Fox ordered Cartwright not to give interviews, because they did not want to publicize the fact that Bart was voiced by a woman. Cartwright's normal speaking voice is said to have "no obvious traces of Bart", and she believes her role is "the best acting job in the world" since she is rarely recognized in public. When she is recognized and asked to perform Bart's voice in front of children, Cartwright refuses because it "freaks [them] out". Bart's catchphrase "Eat My Shorts" was an ad-lib by Cartwright in one of the original table readings, referring to an incident from her high school days. Once while performing, members of the Fairmont West High School marching band switched their chant from the usual "Fairmont West! Fairmont West!" to the irreverent "Eat my shorts!" Cartwright felt it appropriate for Bart, and improvised the line; it became a popular catchphrase on the show.
Cartwright voices several other characters on the show, including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Kearney, and Database. She first voiced Nelson in the episode "Bart the General" (season one, 1990). The character was to be voiced by Dana Hill, but Hill missed the recording session and Cartwright was given the role. She developed Nelson's voice on the spot and describes him as "a throat-ripper". Ralph Wiggum had originally been voiced by Jo Ann Harris, but Cartwright was assigned to voice the character in "Bart the Murderer" (season three, 1991). Todd Flanders, the only voice for which Cartwright used another source, is based on Sherman (voiced by Walter Tetley), the boy from Peabody's Improbable History, a series of shorts aired on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Cartwright received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992 for her performance as Bart in the episode "Separate Vocations" and an Annie Award in 1995 for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation. Bart was named one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century by Time, and in 2000, Bart and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Until 1998, Cartwright was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors and made preparations for casting new actors. The dispute was resolved, however, and Cartwright received $125,000 per episode until 2004, when the voice actors demanded $360,000 an episode. A compromise was reached after a month, and Cartwright's pay rose to $250,000 per episode. Salaries were re-negotiated in 2008 with the voice actors receiving approximately $400,000 per episode. Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Cartwright and the other cast members accepted a 25 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.
=== Further career ===
In addition to her work on The Simpsons, Cartwright has voiced many other characters on several animated series, including Chuckie Finster in Rugrats and All Grown Up!, Margo Sherman in The Critic, Mindy in Animaniacs, and Rufus the naked mole-rat in Kim Possible. For the role of Rufus, Cartwright researched mole-rats extensively, and became "a font of useless trivia". She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program in 2004 for her work on the show. In 2001, Cartwright took over the Rugrats role of Chuckie Finster when Christine Cavanaugh retired. Cartwright describes Rufus and Chuckie as her two most difficult voices: "Rufus because my diaphragm gets a workout while trying to utilize the 18 vocal sounds a mole makes. Chuckie because ... he's an asthmatic with five personalities rolled into one—plus I have to do the voice the way [Cavanaugh] did it for 10 years." Other television shows that have used her voice work include Galaxy High, God, the Devil and Bob, Goof Troop, Mike, Lu & Og, The Replacements, Pinky and the Brain and Timberwolf. Cartwright has appeared on camera in numerous television shows and films, including Fame, Empty Nest, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Flesh and Blood, Godzilla, and 24.
In 2000, Cartwright published her autobiography, My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. The book details her career (particularly her experiences as the voice of Bart) and contains stories about life behind the scenes of The Simpsons. Laura A. Bischoff of the Dayton Daily News commented that the book was the "ultimate insider's guide to The Simpsons". Critics complained that the book lacked interesting stories and was aimed mostly at fans of The Simpsons rather than a general audience.
Cartwright adapted My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy into a one-woman play in 2004. Cartwright has performed it at a variety of venues, including the August 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. The play received modest reviews, including criticism for a lack of inside stories about The Simpsons, and its "overweeningly upbeat" tone. David Chatterton of The British Theatre Guide described the show as "interesting and entertaining, but not really a 'must see' even for Simpsons fans".
Cartwright has shown an interest in stock car racing and as of 2007 was seeking a NASCAR license. In 2001, she founded a production company called SportsBlast and created an online animated series called The Kellys. The series is focused on racing; Cartwright voices a seven-year-old named Chip Kelly.
In 2016, Cartwright launched Spotted Cow Entertainment, her own film and television production company, with Peter Kjenaas, Monica Gil and Kevin Burke. With a focus on international audiences, Spotted Cow is seeking "to finance, produce and acquire live action and animated films, television series, as well as entertainment for digital platforms with budgets up to $15M." With Spotted Cow, Cartwright made her first film as a screenwriter and producer, In Search of Fellini, which was released on September 15, 2017. Based on her own journey to Italy in 1985 in a bid to meet the famed director Federico Fellini, the film fulfilled Cartwright's longtime vision of turning her 1995 one-woman play In Search of Fellini into a film.
== Personal life ==
Cartwright met real-estate agent Warren Murphy, 24 years her senior, on her birthday in 1988 and married him two months later. In her book, she describes Murphy as her "personal laugh track". The couple had two children, before divorcing in 2002.
Cartwright was raised a Roman Catholic but joined the Church of Scientology in 1991. In 2007, Cartwright, then making about $400,000 per episode, was awarded Scientology's Patron Laureate Award after donating $10,000,000 to the Church.
Cartwright is a contributor to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project. In September 2007, Cartwright received the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Wish Icon Award "for her tremendous dedication to the Foundation's fundraising and wish-fulfillment efforts." In 2005, Cartwright created a scholarship at Fairmont High School "designed to aid Fairmont [graduates] who dream of following in her footsteps and studying speech, debate, drama or music" at Ohio University. In 2005, Cartwright was given the title of Honorary Mayor of Northridge, California (a neighborhood of Los Angeles) by the Northridge Chamber of Commerce.
In 2007, Cartwright was in a romantic relationship with contractor Stephen Brackett, a fellow member of Scientology. Before his May 2009 suicide, the couple had made plans during early 2008 to marry.
In 2012, Cartwright received an honorary doctorate degree in communication from Ohio University, where she was a student from 1976 to 1977 before transferring to UCLA.
Cartwright is also a painter, sculptor and philanthropist. She co-founded the Know More About Drugs alliance. Her stepbrother David Carpenter is the father of singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter.
== Filmography ==
=== Live-action ===
==== Film ====
==== Television ====
=== Voice roles ===
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==== Music videos ====
==== Theme parks ====
==== Web series ====
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=== Producer ===
=== Other credits ===
== Awards == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles_discography | Ray Charles discography | The discography of American musician Ray Charles consists of 54 studio albums, 7 live albums, 39 compilations albums, and 127 singles.
== Overview ==
Ray Charles first appeared on a Billboard chart in 1949, when — as part of the Maxin Trio with G.D. McKee and Milton Garred — he charted his first single with "Confession Blues." It reached No. 2 on the R&B chart, then called the Most-Played Juke Box Race Records. In 1952, Charles signed with Atlantic Records and went on to top Billboard's pop, country, R&B, jazz, and dance charts.
In the early 1960s, after leaving Atlantic Records to sign with ABC–Paramount, he negotiated for ownership of his own master recordings. He also established his own labels. Tangerine came first, which evolved into CrossOver Records. As a songwriter, Charles penned nearly 200 songs. He also operated his own publishing companies, Tangerine Music and Racer Music.
On the Billboard Hot 100, Charles had 80 hits between 1958 (the year the chart began) and 1990, when "I'll Be Good to You" became his last Hot 100 single, reaching No. 18. His biggest hit, "I Can't Stop Loving You", spent five weeks at No. 1 in 1962. He also topped the Hot 100 with the singles "Hit the Road Jack" and "Georgia on My Mind". Among all acts, he charted the third-most singles on the Hot 100; only Elvis Presley (with 108) and James Brown (91) had more.
On Billboard's R&B chart, Charles had 86 hits, including 11 chart-toppers such as "I've Got a Woman", "What'd I Say (Part 1)", "Hit the Road Jack", and "You Are My Sunshine."
Charles also reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1985 with "Seven Spanish Angels", a duet with Willie Nelson. The single appears on Charles' duets album, Friendship, which reached No. 1 on Top Country Albums. His 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, became his first album to top the Billboard 200.
In 1990, Charles had a No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart with "I'll Be Good to You", a collaboration with Quincy Jones and Chaka Khan.
== Studio Albums ==
=== The Atlantic years ===
=== The ABC years ===
=== 1973–2004 ===
=== Posthumous albums ===
=== Compilations ===
Hundreds of Ray Charles compilations and "Greatest Hits/Best Of" albums have been released and continue to be produced and released by various labels around the world. Some of the more notable compilations include:
== Singles ==
=== Down Beat, Swing Beat, Swing Time releases ===
1949: The McSon Trio (a.k.a. Maxin Trio and Maxim Trio):
"I Love You, I Love You (I Will Never Let You Go)" / "Confession Blues"
"Confession Blues" reached No. 2 on the U.S. R&B charts.
"Blues Before Sunrise" / "How Long Blues"
"A Sentimental Blues" / "You'll Never Miss the Water (Until the Well's Gone Dry)"
"Alone in the City" / "Can Anyone Ask for More?"
"Rockin' Chair Blues" / "Let's Have a Ball" (a.k.a. "Here I Am")
"If I Give You My Love" / "This Love of Mine" (a.k.a. "The Honey Bee")
"Ain't That Fine" / "Don't Put All Your Dreams in One Basket"
1949–1953: Ray Charles, The Ray Charles Trio:
"I've Had My Fun (Going Down Slow)" / "Sitting on Top of the World (Now She's Gone)" (1949)
"See See Rider" / "What Have I Done?" (1950)
"She's on the Ball" / "Honey, Honey" (1950)
"Th' Ego Song" ("Sweet as Can Be") / "Late in the Evening" (1950)
"Some Day" (a.k.a. "Worried Life Blues"/"Someday Baby") / "I'll Do Anything but Work" (1950)
"I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" / "All to Myself" (1951)
"Lonely Boy" / "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951)
"Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" reached No. 5 on the U.S. R&B charts.
"I'm Glad for Your Sake" / "Kissa Me Baby" (1952)
"Kissa Me Baby" reached No. 8 on the U.S. R&B charts.
"Baby Won't You Please Come Home" / "Hey Now" (1952)
"Baby Let Me Hear You Call My Name" / "Guitar Blues" (B-side by Rufus Beacham Orchestra) (1952)
"I Can't Do No More" / "Roly Poly" (a.k.a. "Back Home") (B-side by Rufus Beacham Orchestra) (1952)
"Walkin' and Talkin' to Myself" / "I'm Wonderin' and Wonderin'" (1952)
"Misery in My Heart" / "The Snow Is Falling (Snowfall)" (1953)
=== Atlantic releases ===
The list of singles below are songs Ray Charles released while on the Atlantic label between 1952 and 1980.
=== ABC releases ===
This list below is of songs Ray Charles released on the ABC-Paramount, ABC, and subsidiary Impulse and Tangerine/TRC labels from 1960 to 1973.
A^ Through a period between November 1963 and January 1965, Billboard Magazine did not publish an R&B singles chart. Positions shown are from the Cashbox RnB Charts during this period.
=== CrossOver releases ===
This list below is of songs Ray Charles released while on the CrossOver label from 1973 to 1976.
=== Columbia releases (all country music) ===
Listed below are songs Ray Charles released during his Columbia Records tenure which was spent on the country singles chart.
=== Other releases ===
Listed below are songs Ray Charles issued on various labels where the pop and R&B charts are concerned.
=== Billboard Year-end performances ===
== Video performances == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Smyth | Ryan Smyth | Ryan Alexander Borden Smyth (born February 21, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played most of his career for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was especially known for playing in the style of a power forward. He has been one of the owners of the BCHL Spruce Grove Saints since 2017.
During his junior career, Ryan Smyth spent three years with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League (WHL), scoring 105 points during the 1993–94 season. Smyth was then drafted 6th overall in the 1994 NHL entry draft by the Edmonton Oilers. That year he played only three games for the Oilers, as he stayed for the majority of the year in Moose Jaw. He spent 12 seasons with Edmonton before being traded to the New York Islanders in 2007 due to failed contract negotiations. Becoming an unrestricted free agent in the subsequent off-season, he signed a five-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche. After two seasons with the team, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in July 2009. On June 26, 2011, he was re-acquired by the Edmonton Oilers for Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in 2012. He announced his retirement on April 11, 2014, after 19 seasons in the NHL.
Smyth has represented Canada in international competition on numerous occasions. He has won gold medals at the 1995 World Junior Championship, 2002 Winter Olympics, 2003 and 2004 World Championships, and 2004 World Cup. Having served as captain of Canada's World Championship team for a team record six years (2001–05 and 2010), he has earned the nickname "Captain Canada." Smyth is also Canada's all-time leader in games played at the tournament. He played a record 90 games for Hockey Canada while becoming the only player in hockey history to win gold in all of Olympics, World Cup, World Championships, World Juniors, and Spengler Cup. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2024.
== Playing career ==
=== Moose Jaw Warriors (1992–1995) ===
Smyth played in the junior ranks with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Beginning in 1991–92, he debuted in two games with the team, recording no points. The following season, he notched 19 goals and 33 points over 64 games as a rookie. In 1993–94, he improved to 50 goals and 105 points over 72 games, becoming a top NHL prospect. During the subsequent off-season, he was selected sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1994 NHL entry draft. Some Oilers' scouts wanted to draft Ethan Moreau (future Oilers captain), in part because he was a linemate of the Oilers' fourth overall selection, Jason Bonsignore (who only ended up playing 79 NHL games, 21 of those with the Oilers). Sather, however, went with the opinion of scout Lorne Davis and selected Smyth instead.
Following his selection, Smyth returned to the WHL for one more season with Moose Jaw, recording 41 goals and 86 points over 50 games in 1994–95. He helped the Warriors qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his tenure with the team and added 15 points over 10 post-season games. Smyth had his number 28 retired by the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2015.
=== Edmonton Oilers (1994–2007) ===
During his final junior season, Smyth was briefly called up to the NHL by the Oilers. He made his debut on January 22, 1995, in an away game against the Los Angeles Kings. Playing in three games total, he did not record any points. The following season, he tallied his first goal, on November 24, 1995, against Trevor Kidd of the Calgary Flames while on the power play. He went on to record two goals and 11 points over 48 games as a rookie, while also spending time in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Oilers' minor league affiliate, the Cape Breton Oilers. He recorded 11 points over 9 AHL games in 1995–96.
Smyth spent the entire 1996–97 season with the Oilers and improved to 39 goals (a career-high) and 61 points over 82 games. At the beginning of the season, on October 8, 1996, he recorded his first of five career hat tricks. With 20 power-play goals, he tied Wayne Gretzky's team record, set in 1983–84. In the 1997 playoffs, he added 10 points in 12 games. Despite a strong second NHL season, he struggled in the next two campaigns with 33- and 31-point efforts. In 1999–2000, he returned to form with a 28-goal, 54-point year. The following season, he recorded a career-high 39 assists and 70 points, ranking second in team scoring to team captain and first-line centre Doug Weight.
As Weight was traded in the off-season to the St. Louis Blues, Smyth took on a larger role as offensive leader on the team. For the remainder of his tenure with the Oilers, he remained in the 50–60 point range. During the 2001–02 season, he ranked third in team scoring with 15 goals and 50 points to Mike Comrie and Anson Carter's 60 points, despite playing in 21 games less than them due to injury. The following season, he appeared in 66 games and increased his offensive totals to 27 goals and 61 points. It marked the first time in his career that he led the Oilers in scoring, edging Todd Marchant by one point. During the off-season, Smyth filed for salary arbitration after initially failing to come to terms on a new contract with the Oilers. On August 14, 2003, both sides avoided arbitration by signing a two-year contract.
Playing a full 82 games in 2003–04, Smyth tallied 59 points (23 goals and 36 assists) to lead the Oilers in scoring for the second straight year. During that season, Smyth spent several games as the Oilers' captain while active captain Jason Smith was out with an ankle injury. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Smyth spent the season inactive. As NHL play resumed the next year, he approached career-high totals with 36 goals and 66 points. With several young players emerging on the team's roster, Smyth ranked fourth in team scoring, behind Aleš Hemský, Shawn Horcoff and Jarret Stoll. His 19 power-play goals came within one of the team records he previously set in his second year with the Oilers. Although Edmonton entered the 2006 playoffs as the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference, Smyth helped the team on a run to the Stanley Cup Final with 16 points in 24 post-season games. During the second round against the San Jose Sharks, he was hit in the mouth with a puck as a result of a clearing attempt from defensive teammate Chris Pronger. After losing three teeth and needing stitches, Smyth returned in the third period and went on to set up Shawn Horcoff's game-winning goal in triple-overtime. The win reduced San Jose's series lead to 2–1, helping the Oilers eventually advance to the Conference Finals in six games. After eliminating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the third round, the Oilers were ultimately defeated in seven games by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Final. Had the Oilers won the Stanley Cup, Smyth would have joined the Triple Gold Club along with Chris Pronger and Jaroslav Špaček.
Early the following season, during a game against the San Jose Sharks on October 12, 2006, Smyth broke an Oilers record for the fastest three goals scored in one contest. With the Sharks leading 4–2 in the third period, he recorded a hat trick with two goals on the power play and one more on a 5-on-5 in two minutes and one second, breaking the previous team record set by Wayne Gretzky on February 18, 1981, by 17 seconds. It was Smyth's fifth career hat trick as Edmonton went on to win the game 6–4. In the final year of his contract, Smyth was enjoying one of the most productive seasons of his career. As a result, he was chosen for his first NHL All-Star Game in 2007. With the Oilers unable to extend his contract before the NHL trade deadline, Smyth was dealt away to the New York Islanders in exchange for prospects Robert Nilsson and Ryan O'Marra, as well as a first-round selection in the 2007 NHL entry draft. It was reported that Smyth was asking for a long-term deal worth at least $5 million a season to remain in Edmonton. The move was made to ensure the team did not lose Smyth for nothing, as he became an unrestricted free agent in the off-season. At the time of the trade, he was scoring at a point-per-game pace with 31 goals and 22 assists over 53 games.
Despite playing the remainder of the season with the Islanders, he finished tied for the Oilers lead in point-scoring that year; Petr Sýkora had 53 points in a full 82 games. Before boarding a flight for New York with his family, Smyth tearfully addressed the media at Edmonton International Airport, thanking the Oilers for his time with the organization and expressing regret for having to be traded. He stated he was going to win the Stanley Cup with the Islanders and bring it to Edmonton. Leaving the Oilers after 12 seasons, he ranked seventh on the team's all-time list for points scored with 549 over 770 games.
=== New York Islanders (2007) ===
Smyth debuted with the Islanders on March 1, 2007, during a game against the St. Louis Blues. He notched his first point as an Islander with an assist on Mike Sillinger's first-period power play goal; New York lost the game 3–2 in overtime. Two days later, he recorded his first goal as an Islander in a 6–2 win against the Washington Capitals. Playing in 18 games with the Islanders to close out the 2006–07 season, Smyth posted 15 points (5 goals and 10 assists). Combined with his stats from Edmonton, he finished with 36 goals and 68 points, the second-highest totals of his career. Smyth's efforts helped the Islanders beat out the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens for the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference for the 2007 playoffs. Playing the first-seeded Buffalo Sabres in the opening round, the Islanders were defeated in five games. Smyth recorded one goal and three assists during the series.
=== Colorado Avalanche (2007–2009) ===
Becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2007, Smyth signed a five-year, $31.2 million contract with the Colorado Avalanche. After debuting with the Avalanche on October 3, 2007, in a 4–3 win against the Dallas Stars, he scored his first goal with his new team four days later. Beating goaltender Evgeni Nabokov short-handed during the third period, he helped Colorado to a 6–2 win. Playing on the first line, Smyth found early chemistry with centre and team captain Joe Sakic. The duo was interrupted, however, as both players were sidelined with injuries for large portions of the season – Smyth's included neck, ankle and head ailments. Limited to 55 games, he recorded 14 goals and 37 points, the lowest totals of his career since the 1998–99 season. During the 2008 playoffs, Smyth helped Colorado advance past the Minnesota Wild in the first round. They were, however, swept the following round by the Detroit Red Wings, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. Smyth missed the last two games of the playoffs with a foot injury, finishing with two goals and five points over eight games.
Smyth bounced back from an injury-filled first year with the Avalanche by remaining healthy for the majority of the 2008–09 season. During the campaign, Ryan Smyth and right winger Milan Hejduk scored their respective 300th career goals on January 18, 2009, against the Calgary Flames in a 6–2 victory at the Pepsi Center. He went on to record 26 goals and 33 assists for 59 points over 77 games, before fracturing his right hand on April 1, 2009, in a 3–0 home loss against the Phoenix Coyotes, ending his season five games early. He tied for the team lead in point-scoring with Hejduk, who played in five more games than Smyth. Dealing with long-term injuries to both Paul Stastny and captain Joe Sakic, the Avalanche struggled as a team and finished last in the Western Conference.
=== Los Angeles Kings (2009–2011) ===
With the Avalanche in the midst of a rebuilding process, Smyth was traded to the Los Angeles Kings on July 3, 2009, in exchange for Kyle Quincey, Tom Preissing and a fifth-round selection in the 2010 NHL entry draft. During his Kings debut on October 3, 2009, he assisted on the team's first goal of the season by Anže Kopitar. The Kings, however, lost the game 6–3 to the Phoenix Coyotes. His first goal with the Kings came five days later, scoring against Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding in a 6–3 win. Playing regularly on a line with Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown, he recorded 22 goals and 53 points over 67 games, ranking fourth in team scoring. Joining a team on a markedly different trajectory than Colorado, the Kings were an improving club. Smyth's efforts helped them qualify for the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Playing the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round, they were defeated in six games.
A month into the 2010–11 season, Smyth played his 1,000th career NHL game on November 6, 2010. His teammates acknowledged the accomplishment by wearing mullet wigs during their morning skate, alluding to Smyth's distinctive hairstyle. The Kings won the game 4–1 over the Nashville Predators, with Smyth scoring a goal in the second period. Playing in a full 82 games, Smyth finished the season with 23 goals and 47 points. The Kings qualified for the playoffs with the seventh seed and were eliminated in the first round by the San Jose Sharks.
During the off-season, it was reported that Smyth had informed Kings management he would prefer to play the last year of his contract with the Oilers.
=== Return to the Oilers (2011–2014) ===
On June 24, 2011, the day of the 2011 NHL entry draft, it was reported that the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings had come to an agreement that Smyth would go to Edmonton in return for Gilbert Brulé and a fourth-round pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft. Upon salary cap and injury concerns, the trade never went through due to the Kings' plan to buy out Brulé's contract; however, the NHL prohibits teams from buying out injured players. Smyth wanted to leave the Kings and return to the Oilers, as he wanted to end his career where he started it. On June 26, 2011, the Kings officially traded Smyth back to Edmonton for Colin Fraser and a seventh-round draft pick in the 2012 NHL entry draft.
In 2011–12, his first season back with the Oilers, Smyth was the only Oiler to play all 82 games and was fifth in scoring with 46 points. On February 27, 2012, he recorded his 800th career point, an assist, against the Winnipeg Jets.
On January 26, 2014, Smyth tied Wayne Gretzky for number two on the Oilers all-time power-play goal-scoring list in a 5–1 win over the Nashville Predators. On March 6, he overtook Gretzky and tied Glenn Anderson for the most power-play goals in franchise history with 126.
With the Oilers out of playoff position towards the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, on April 11, Smyth announced his retirement after 19 seasons from the National Hockey League aged 38. He served as the team captain in his final game and also received the game's first star honours. Rexall Place had its ring that traditionally read "WELCOME TO OIL COUNTRY" changed to read "THANK YOU SMYTTY".
== International play ==
Smyth debuted with Hockey Canada with the country's under-20 team at the 1995 World Junior Championships in Red Deer, Alberta. He recorded two goals and seven points as Canada went undefeated in seven games to win the gold medal. Four years later, Smyth was chosen to the Canada's men's team for the 1999 IIHF World Championship in Norway. As a result of the Oilers' short playoff seasons (the team made the second round twice and the Finals once in his 12-year tenure), Smyth was a mainstay on Canada's World Championship roster (the international tournament conflicted with the NHL's playoff schedule). The 1999 tournament marked the first of seven consecutive appearances for Smyth. He recorded two assists over nine games as Canada finished in fourth place, losing the bronze medal game to Sweden.
The following year in Russia, Smyth improved to an international career-high three goals and nine points over nine games. Canada finished fourth for the second consecutive year as they lost the bronze medal game to Finland. In preparation for the 2001 IIHF World Championship in Germany, Smyth was named team captain for Canada; it marked the first of five years he served in that role, earning him the nickname "Captain Canada." Smyth recorded two goals and five points over seven games, but Canada faced an early exit as they were eliminated by the United States in the quarter-final.
In December 2001, Smyth was selected to Canada's team for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. It marked the first time he was selected to a national team when all NHL players were available (the league temporarily suspended play during the 2001–02 season to allow their players to participate). Smyth contributed one assist in six games, helping Canada win their first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey since 1952. It was also Smyth's first gold medal at the men's level. Later that year, he made his fourth consecutive appearance at the World Championship in Sweden. Canada was once again eliminated in the quarter-final, this time to Slovakia. Smyth had four goals and no assists over seven games.
After four years without a medal in World Championship competition, Smyth captained Canada to gold at the 2003 IIHF World Championship in Finland. He recorded two goals and four points over nine games, en route to a 3–2 win over Sweden in the final. Canada defended their gold medal in the following year in the Czech Republic. In a rematch of the previous year's final, Canada beat Sweden 5–3. In nine tournament games, Smyth contributed two goals and four points.
In September 2004, the NHL and NHL Players Association held the first World Cup of Hockey in eight years. Held outside of the NHL schedule (although league play was suspended for the 2004–05 season due to a lockout), all players were eligible to participate. Smyth was named to the national team and contributed three goals and an assist over six games. Canada won the World Cup title with a win over Finland in the final. The following year, all NHL players were again available for international competition at the 2005 IIHF World Championship in Austria, due to the ongoing lockout. It marked the first time that this was the case in tournament history. Smyth retained his captaincy and helped Canada to the gold medal game for the third straight year. Facing the Czech Republic, they were shut out 3–0, earning the silver medal.
In December 2005, he was named to Canada's Olympic team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Canada failed to defend their gold medal from 2002, however, and were eliminated in the quarterfinal by Russia. Smyth was held to one assist in six games. He was also selected for the 2010 Winter Olympics summer roster for Team Canada in August 2009, but did not make the final roster cut.
The 2010 IIHF World Championship tournament in Germany would mark Smyth's last appearance for Canada, where he was named team captain for the sixth time, a Canadian record at the tournament. Early on in the tournament, he suffered an ankle injury during practice and was kept from the remainder of the competition. Canada lost the quarter-final to Russia that year. In 2012, he won the Spengler Cup playing for Canada, again serving as the team's captain.
== Playing style ==
Smyth played in the style of a power forward, depending largely on his size and strength to contribute offensively. By positioning himself in front of the net, he earned most of his goals by tipping pucks in past the goaltender or scoring on rebounds. He did not possess particularly good shooting, stickhandling, or skating skills. He had been known to use a two-piece stick (composite shaft with wooden blade) with a flat blade, both of which were trends that largely went out of date during or before Smyth's career.
When the Oilers drafted him out of junior, Darryl Davis (son of scout Lorne Davis) said that General Manager Glen Sather was looking for someone with "lots of guts." Smyth was also known as a leader, having served as captain for Canada's World Championship teams on six occasions. He also served as an alternate captain on nearly all of the teams he played with in the NHL, save for his brief stint with the Islanders.
== Personal life ==
Smyth is married with four children.
His wife, Stacey, owns a clothing store called Four.
His older brother, Kevin, played 58 games in the NHL for the Hartford Whalers.
== Awards and achievements ==
1994–95 WHL East Second All-Star Team
2006–07 – Played in NHL All-Star Game
November 6, 2010 – Played in 1,000th career NHL game
Winner of the 2012 Spengler Cup
Won Gold with Team Canada at the 1995 World Junior Championship, 2002 Winter Olympics, 2003 and 2004 World Championships, and 2004 World Cup
Smyth was made a member of the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2018.
On February 4, 2020, he was announced as an inductee into the IIHF Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was scheduled during the 2020 IIHF World Championship, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His induction was formally made at the medal ceremony of the 2024 IIHF World Championship.
== Career statistics ==
=== Regular season and playoffs ===
=== International === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Riseborough | Andrea Riseborough | Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress. She made her film debut with a small part in Venus (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in Brighton Rock (2010), W.E. (2011), Shadow Dancer (2012), Oblivion (2013), Birdman (2014), Nocturnal Animals (2016), Battle of the Sexes, The Death of Stalin (both 2017), Mandy, Nancy (both 2018), The Grudge, and Possessor (both 2020). For playing an alcoholic in To Leslie (2022), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Riseborough was nominated for a BAFTA TV for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the television film The Long Walk to Finchley (2008). She won critical acclaim for her performances in the Channel 4 miniseries The Devil's Whore (2008) and National Treasure (2016), as well as the BBC One miniseries The Witness for the Prosecution (2016). Her stage credits include Miss Julie, Measure for Measure (both 2006), and Anton Chekhov's Ivanov (2008).
== Early life and education ==
Riseborough was born on 20 November 1981 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the daughter of Isabel, a secretary and beautician, and George, a car dealer. She grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk to Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites."
She appeared at the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, in the play Riding England Sidesaddle by Christopher Goulding, as Celia Fiennes, and was a member of the Young People's Theatre for five years. Riseborough spent her schooldays at the independent school, Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School. She was a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 2005 with a BA in Acting Degree (H Level).
== Career ==
Riseborough portrayed Margaret Thatcher in the BBC Four film The Long Walk to Finchley (2008). She appeared in the 2010 films Made in Dagenham and Mark Romanek's adaptation of Never Let Me Go. She starred in the American premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in January 2010. The production was directed by Joe Mantello. She appears in Rowan Joffé's film adaptation of Brighton Rock. She worked with The Devil's Mistress author Peter Flannery on his screenplay based on the life of Angelica Fanshawe. She played the role of Wallis Simpson in W.E., a film directed by Madonna. She stars in Resistance, an adaptation of an Owen Sheers novel. The film was released on 25 November 2011.
She writes with her creative partner, actor Tom Burke, and with Mike Leigh. Riseborough starred in the thriller Hidden, a low-budget film directed by the Duffer Brothers. Hidden was released for streaming September 2015. She appeared in Oblivion (2013), in a supporting role. She co-starred in the acting ensemble of the Alejandro González Iñárritu's showbusiness drama film Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards. Riseborough shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the film.
In 2016 she co-starred in apartheid drama Shepherds and Butchers and the Tom Ford directed psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals. She joined the cast of Netflix's Bloodline for season 2, as a series regular character, Evangeline. She acted as Emma Stone's love interest in the biographical sports film Battle of the Sexes, based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. She portrayed Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Stalina in the 2017 comedy-drama film The Death of Stalin and was praised by Variety for the "shrewd, multi-layered complexity" of her performance.
She was cast in Waco, a six-part television series about the Waco siege. The first episode was released on 24 January 2018. That same year she acted in three films, the horror film Mandy, the mystery drama Nancy (which she also produced), and the historical drama Burden. Riseborough has been cast in Lone Scherfig's The Kindness of Strangers as an ER nurse who runs an eclectic therapy group. The film started shooting at the Russian Tea Room in the spring of 2018. She starred in a Sony remake of The Grudge. The film was released on 3 January 2020. Riseborough starred in the international cocaine trade drama ZeroZeroZero, an eight-part series adapted from the book by Roberto Saviano, which had its debut on Sky in the UK and Amazon Prime in the US in 2020. She starred in Possessor—written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg—as Tasya Vos, an agent for a secretive organization who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people's bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for the benefit of high-paying clients. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020.
In 2022, Riseborough appeared in the film To Leslie, for which she received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Numerous celebrities praised her performance publicly and on social media, and hosted screenings during the voting period for the Academy Award nominations in January 2023. Her unexpected To Leslie nomination generated some questions and, without referring to her, the Board of Governors pledged "review of the campaign procedures around this year's nominees, to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication."
Also that year she had supporting roles as Mrs. Wormwood in the musical Matilda the Musical and Beatrice Vandenheuvel in David O. Russell's Amsterdam. In 2023, she acted opposite Kate Winslet portraying Vogue editor Audrey Withers in the biographical war drama Lee which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2024, Riseborough acted opposite Winslet again, portraying the latter's character's right-hand woman, in the HBO political satire miniseries The Regime, for which she earned a nomination at the inaugural Gotham TV Awards for Outstanding Performance in a Limited Series.
== Personal life ==
Riseborough was in a relationship with Joe Appel between 2009 and 2016.
== Acting credits ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Theatre ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie | Barbie | Barbie is a fashion doll franchise created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line. The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.
Barbie and her male counterpart, Ken, have been described as the two most popular dolls in the world. Mattel generates a large portion of Barbie's revenue through related merchandise – accessories, clothes, friends, and relatives of Barbie. Writing for Journal of Popular Culture in 1977, Don Richard Cox noted that Barbie has a significant impact on social values by conveying characteristics of female independence, and with her multitude of accessories, an idealized upscale lifestyle that can be shared with affluent friends.
== History ==
=== Development ===
Ruth Handler watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, and noticed that she often enjoyed giving them adult roles. At the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.
During a trip to Switzerland in 1956 with her children Barbara and Kenneth, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The adult-figured doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a satirical comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Bild. The Lilli doll was first sold in West Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.
Upon her return to the United States, Handler redesigned the doll (with help from local inventor-designer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after her daughter Barbara (born May 21, 1941). Barbara Handler "hated being known as the inspiration for the Barbie doll." The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday.
=== Launch ===
The first Barbie doll wore a black-and-white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson.
Analysts expected the doll to perform poorly due to her adult appearance and widespread assumptions about consumer preferences at the time. Ruth Handler believed it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, but early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts.
Barbie sold about 350,000 units in her first year, beating market expectations and generating upside risk for investors. Sales of Barbie exceeded Mattel's ability to produce her for the first three years of her run. The market stabilized for the next decade while volume and margin increased by exporting refurbished dolls to Japan. Barbie was manufactured in Japan during this time, with her clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers.
Louis Marx and Company sued Mattel in March 1961. After licensing Lilli, they claimed that Mattel had "infringed on Greiner & Hausser's patent for Bild-Lilli's hip joint", and also claimed that Barbie was "a direct take-off and copy" of Bild-Lilli. The company additionally claimed that Mattel "falsely and misleadingly represented itself as having originated the design". Mattel counter-claimed and the case was settled out of court in 1963. In 1964, Mattel bought Greiner & Hausser's copyright and patent rights for the Bild-Lilli doll for $21,600, equivalent to $218,000 in 2025.
Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971, when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model. This would be the last adjustment Ruth would make to her own creation as, three years later, she and her husband Elliot were removed from their posts at Mattel after an investigation found them guilty of issuing false and misleading financial reports.
Barbie was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. In 2006, it was estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls had been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.
Sales of Barbie dolls declined sharply from 2014 to 2016. According to MarketWatch, the release of the 2023 film Barbie is expected to create "significant growth" for the brand until at least 2030. As well as reinvigorated sales, the release of the film triggered a fashion trend known as "Barbiecore" and a film-related cultural phenomenon named Barbenheimer.
== Appearances in media ==
Since 1984, in response to a rise of digital and interactive media and a gradual decline in toys and doll sales at that time, Barbie has been featured in an eponymous media franchise beginning with the release of two eponymous video games, one that year and another in 1991 and two syndicated television specials released in 1987; Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World and its sequel. She then began to appear as a virtual actress in a series of direct-to-video animated feature films with Barbie in the Nutcracker in 2001, which were also broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States as promotional specials until 2017. Since 2017, the film series were revamped as streaming television films, branded as animated "specials" and released through streaming media services, primarily on Netflix.
At the time of the release of Barbie in the Pink Shoes on February 26, 2013, the film series has sold over 110 million units globally. Since 2012, she has appeared in several television and web series, including; Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie: Dreamtopia, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie: A Touch of Magic. Aside from lead roles, she has appeared as a supporting character in the Toy Story films between its second and third sequels with a cameo in the fourth and the My Scene media franchise. In 2015, Barbie began appearing as a vlogger on YouTube called Barbie Vlogger where she talks about her fictional life, fashion, friends and family, and even charged topics such as mental health and racism. She was portrayed by Australian actress Margot Robbie in a live-action film adaptation released on July 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States.
== Fictional biography ==
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and her parents' names are given as George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin, in a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s. In those novels, Barbie attended Willows High School; while in the Generation Girl books, published by Golden Books in 1999, she attended the fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School).
She has an on-off romantic relationship with her then-boyfriend Ken (full name "Kenneth Sean Carson"), who first appeared in 1961. A news release from Mattel in February 2004 announced that Barbie and Ken had decided to split up, but in February 2006, they were hoping to rekindle their relationship after Ken had a makeover. In 2011, Mattel launched a campaign for Ken to win Barbie's affections back. The pair officially reunited on Valentine's Day 2011. Beginning with Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures in 2018, the pair are seen as just friends or next-door neighbors until a brief return to pre-2018 aesthetics in the 2023 television show, Barbie: A Touch of Magic.
Mattel has created a range of companions and relatives for Barbie. She has three younger sisters: Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea (named Kelly until 2011). Her sisters have co-starred in many entries of the Barbie film series, starting with Barbie & Her Sisters in A Pony Tale from 2013. 'Retired' members of Barbie's family included Todd (twin brother to Stacie), Krissy (a baby sister), and Francie (cousin). Barbie's friends include Hispanic Teresa, Midge, African American Christie, and Steven (Christie's boyfriend). Barbie was also friendly with Blaine, an Australian surfer, during her split with Ken in 2004.
Barbie has had over 40 pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. She has owned a wide range of vehicles, including pink Beetle and Corvette convertibles, trailers, and Jeeps. She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant. Barbie's careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988), and Nascar Barbie (1998).
== Legacy and influence ==
Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974, a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris at the Louvre held a Barbie exhibit in 2016. The exhibit featured 700 Barbie dolls over two floors as well as works by contemporary artists and documents (newspapers, photos, videos) that contextualize Barbie.
In 1986, the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. The painting sold at auction at Christie's, London for $1.1 million. In 2015, The Andy Warhol Foundation then teamed up with Mattel to create an Andy Warhol Barbie.
Outsider artist Al Carbee took thousands of photographs of Barbie and created countless collages and dioramas featuring Barbie in various settings. Carbee was the subject of the 2013 feature-length documentary Magical Universe. Carbee's collage art was presented in the 2016 Barbie exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris in the section about visuals artists who have been inspired by Barbie.
In 2013, in Taiwan, the first Barbie-themed restaurant called "Barbie Café" opened under the Sinlaku group.
The Economist has emphasized the importance of Barbie to children's imagination:From her early days as a teenage fashion model, Barbie has appeared as an astronaut, surgeon, Olympic athlete, downhill skier, aerobics instructor, TV news reporter, vet, rock star, doctor, army officer, air force pilot, summit diplomat, rap musician, presidential candidate (party undefined), baseball player, scuba diver, lifeguard, fire-fighter, engineer, dentist, and many more. [...] When Barbie first burst into the toy shops, just as the 1960s were breaking, the doll market consisted mostly of babies, designed for girls to cradle, rock and feed. By creating a doll with adult features, Mattel enabled girls to become anything they want.
On September 7, 2021, following the debut of the streaming television film Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams on Netflix, Barbie joined forces with Grammy Award-nominated music producer, songwriter, singer and actress Ester Dean and Girls Make Beats – an organization dedicated to expanding the female presence of music producers, DJs and audio engineers – to inspire more girls to explore a future in music production.
=== Mattel Adventure Park ===
In 2023, Mattel broke ground on a theme park near Phoenix, Arizona. The park is to open in 2025 and highlights Mattel's toys, including a Barbie Beach House, a Thomas & Friends themed ride, and a Hot Wheels go-kart race track. The theme park will take place at the VAI Resort complex, located 15 miles (24 km) west of Phoenix, Arizona.
=== 50th anniversary ===
In 2009, to celebrate the franchise's 50th anniversary, a runway show was held in New York for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The event showcased fashions contributed by fifty well-known haute couturiers including Diane von Fürstenberg, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Bob Mackie, and Christian Louboutin.
=== Barbie Dream Gap Project ===
In 2019, Mattel launched the "Barbie Dream Gap Project" to raise awareness of the phenomenon known as the "Dream Gap": beginning at the age of five, girls begin to doubt their own intelligence, whereas boys do not. This leads to boys pursuing careers requiring a higher intelligence, and girls being underrepresented in those careers. As an example, in the U.S., 33% of sitting judges are female. This statistic inspired the release of Judge Barbie in four different skin tones and hairstyles with judge robes and a gavel accessory.
=== Thank You Heroes ===
In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mattel announced a new line of career dolls modeled after the first responders and essential workers of 2020. For every doll purchased, Mattel donated a doll to the First Responders Children's Foundation.
=== Habitat for Humanity ===
In February 2022, Mattel celebrated its 60-year anniversary of the Barbie Dreamhouse by partnering with Habitat for Humanity International. Mattel committed to taking on 60 projects, including new construction, home preservation, and neighborhood revitalization.
=== Bad influence concerns ===
In July 1992, Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two given dolls were likely to be the same (the number of possible combinations is 270!/(266!4!) = 216,546,345). One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!", which led to criticism from the American Association of University Women; about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase. The doll was often erroneously misattributed in the media as having said "Math is hard!" In October 1992, Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say "Math class is tough!", and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did. Also in October 1992, Mattel opened its production factory in Indonesia as the main factory of Barbie in the world. The factory is located at Jababeka Industrial Park in Cikarang.
In 2002, Mattel introduced a line of pregnant Midge (and baby) dolls, but this Happy Family line was quickly pulled from the market due to complaints that she promoted teen pregnancy, though Midge was supposed to be a married adult.
In September 2003, the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls and franchises, stating that they did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice warned, "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." The 2003 Saudi ban was temporary. In Muslim-majority nations, there is an alternative doll called Fulla, which was introduced in November 2003 and is equivalent to Barbie, but is designed specifically to represent traditional Islamic values. Fulla is not manufactured by Mattel (although Mattel still licenses Fulla dolls and franchises for sale in certain markets). Despite the committee's warning, the Barbie brand is still available in other Muslim-majority countries including Egypt and Indonesia as of January 2021. In Iran, the Sara and Dara dolls, which were introduced in March 2002, are available as an alternative to Barbie, even though they have not been as successful.
In November 2014, Mattel received criticism over the book I Can Be a Computer Engineer, which depicted Barbie as personally inept at computers, requiring her two male friends to complete all of the necessary tasks to restore two laptops after she accidentally infects her and her sister's laptop with a malware-laced USB flash drive, before ultimately getting credit for recovering her sister's school project. Critics felt that the characterization of Barbie as a software designer lacking low-level technical skills was sexist, as other books in the I Can Be... series depicted Barbie as someone who was totally competent in those jobs and did not require outside assistance from others. Mattel later removed the book from sale on Amazon in response to the criticism, and the company released a "Computer Engineer Barbie" doll who was a game programmer rather than game designer.
== Diversity ==
For the documentary about the creation of the first Black Barbie, see Black Barbie: A Documentary.
"Colored Francie" made her debut in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African-American Barbie doll. However, she was produced using the existing head molds for the white Francie doll and lacked distinct African characteristics other than dark skin. The first African-American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968. Black Barbie, designed by Kitty Black Perkins, was launched in 1980, but still had Caucasian features. In 1990, Mattel created a focus group with African-American children and parents, early childhood specialists, and clinical psychologist, Darlene Powell Hudson. Instead of using the same molds for the Caucasian Barbies, new ones were created. In addition, facial features, skin tones, hair texture, and names were all altered. The body shapes looked different, but the proportions were the same to ensure clothing and accessories were interchangeable. In September 2009, Mattel introduced the So In Style range, which was intended to create a more realistic depiction of African-American people than previous dolls.
Starting in 1980, it produced Hispanic dolls, and later came models from across the globe. For example, in 2007, it introduced "Cinco de Mayo Barbie" wearing a ruffled red, white, and green dress (echoing the Mexican flag). Hispanic magazine reports that:[O]ne of the most dramatic developments in Barbie's history came when she embraced multi-culturalism and was released in a wide variety of native costumes, hair colors and skin tones to more closely resemble the girls who idolized her. Among these were Cinco De Mayo Barbie, Spanish Barbie, Peruvian Barbie, Mexican Barbie and Puerto Rican Barbie. She also has had close Hispanic friends, such as Teresa. Professor Emilie Rose Aguilo-Perez argued that over time, Mattel shifted from ambiguous Hispanic presentations in their dolls to one that is more assertive in its "Latinx" marketing and product labeling.
Mattel has responded to criticisms pointing to a lack of diversity in the line. In 2016, Mattel expanded the So In Style line to include seven skin tones, twenty-two eye colors, and twenty-four hairstyles. Part of the reason for this change was due to declining sales. The brand now offers over 22 skin tones, 94 hair colors, 13 eye colors and five body types.
Mattel teamed up with Nabisco to launch a cross-promotion Barbie doll with Oreo cookies in 1997 and 2001. While the 1997 release of the doll was only released in a white version, for the 2001 release Mattel manufactured both a white and a black version. The 2001 release Barbie Oreo School Time Fun was marketed as someone with whom young girls could play after class and share "America's favorite cookie". Critics argued that in the African American community, Oreo is a derogatory term meaning that the person is "black on the outside and white on the inside", like the chocolate sandwich cookie itself.
In May 1997, Mattel introduced Share a Smile Becky, a doll in a pink wheelchair. Kjersti Johnson, a 17-year-old high school student in Tacoma, Washington with cerebral palsy, pointed out that the doll would not fit into the elevator of Barbie's $100 Dream House. Mattel announced that it would redesign the house in the future to accommodate the doll.
In April 2023, Mattel released the first Barbie with down syndrome in collaboration with National Down Syndrome Society. Coinciding with this, Miniso Group Holding Limited (NYSE:MNSO, SEHK:9896) started to produce and sell the Miniso-Barbie collaboration products, and launched over 100 products by July 2023, following the release of Barbie The Movie. The products are launched in several locations, such as Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, California, Miniso headquarters in Guangzhou, and also its flagship store in China and Times Square. MINISO also acquired several percentage of Mattel's shares by July 2023 and April 2024 as part of its IP partnership.
In July 2024, Mattel released the first blind Barbie in collaboration with the American Foundation for the Blind. Alongside this, the company also launched a black Barbie with Down syndrome.
In July 2025, Mattel introduced a Barbie with Type 1 diabetes, with an insulin pump, glucose monitor and a phone to check her blood sugar.
In January 2026, Mattel introduced an autistic Barbie with noise-cancelling headphones, a fidget spinner and a tablet computer configured as a communication aid. The doll's eyes have a slightly shifted gaze, its wrists and elbows are configured to simulate stimming and its dress is a loose fit. It was developed in collaboration with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.
== Role model Barbies ==
In March 2018, in time for International Women's Day, Mattel unveiled the "Barbie Celebrates Role Models" campaign with a line of 17 dolls, informally known as "sheroes", from diverse backgrounds "to showcase examples of extraordinary women". Mattel developed this collection in response to mothers concerned about their daughters having positive female role models. Dolls in this collection include Frida Kahlo, Patti Jenkins, Chloe Kim, Nicola Adams, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Bindi Irwin, Amelia Earhart, Misty Copeland, Helene Darroze, Katherine Johnson, Sara Gama, Martyna Wojciechowska, Sonia Peronaci, Gabby Douglas, Guan Xiaotong, Ava Duvernay, Yuan Yuan Tan, Iris Apfel, Ashley Graham, and Leyla Piedayesh. In 2020, the company announced a new release of "shero" dolls, including Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario, and world four-time sabre champion Olga Kharlan. In July 2021, Mattel released a Naomi Osaka Barbie doll as a part of the 'Barbie Role Model' series. Osaka originally partnered with Barbie two years earlier. A month earlier, a Julie Bishop doll was released to acknowledge the former Australian politician, as was one for general practitioner Kirby White for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. In August 2021, a Barbie modelled after European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was released.
== Collecting ==
The standard range of Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6 scale, which is also known as playscale. The standard dolls are approximately 11+1⁄2 inches (29 cm) tall.
Mattel estimates that there are well over 100,000 avid Barbie collectors. Ninety percent are women, at an average age of 40, purchasing more than twenty Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five percent of them spend upwards of $1000 a year.
Vintage Barbie dolls from the early years are the most valuable at auction, and while the original Barbie was sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004. On September 26, 2006, a Barbie doll set a world record at auction of £9,000 sterling (US$17,000) at Christie's in London. The doll was a Barbie in Midnight Red from 1965 and was part of a private collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls being sold by two Dutch women, Ietje Raebel and her daughter Marina.
In recent years, Mattel has sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors, including porcelain versions, vintage reproductions, and depictions of Barbie as a range of characters from film and television series such as The Munsters and Star Trek. There are also collector's edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities. In 2004, Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector's edition Barbie dolls including pink, silver, gold, and platinum, depending on how many of the dolls are produced. In 2020, Mattel introduced the Dia De Los Muertos collectible Barbie doll, the second collectible released as part of the company's La Catrina line which was launched in 2019.
== Parodies and lawsuits ==
Barbie has frequently been the target of parody:
Mattel sued artist Tom Forsythe over a 1999 series of photographs called Food Chain Barbie in which Barbie winds up in a blender. Mattel lost the lawsuit and was forced to pay Forsythe's legal costs.
On the 25th episode of In Living Color, in December 1990, a Homey D. Clown sketch found HDC filling in for Santa Claus at a shopping mall. A little girl (Kelly Coffield) asks for a Malibu Barbie & Condominium playset; instead, "Homey Claus" gives her "Compton Carlotta" (a crude doll made of sticks and bottlecaps) with a slum-apartment (a milk carton). When the girl complains, Homey raises his signature blackjack and wishes her a Merry Christmas; taking the hint, she thanks him and hastily retires.
In Latin America, notable controversies include a 2018 legal dispute involving the Panama-based Frida Kahlo Corporation's allegations that Frida Kahlo's great-niece in Mexico had wrongly licensed the Frida Kahlo trademark for the "Frida Kahlo Barbie" doll.
Mattel filed a lawsuit in 2004 in the U.S. against Barbara Anderson-Walley, a Canadian business owner whose nickname is Barbie, over her website, which sells fetish clothing. The lawsuit was dismissed.
In 2011, Greenpeace parodied Barbie, calling on Mattel to adopt a policy for its paper purchases that would protect the rainforest. Four months later, Mattel adopted a paper sustainability policy.
Saturday Night Live aired a parody of the Barbie commercials featuring "Gangsta Bitch Barbie" and "Tupac Ken". In 2002, the show also aired a skit, which starred Britney Spears as Barbie's sister Skipper.
In November 2002, a New York judge refused an injunction against the British-based artist Susanne Pitt, who had produced a "Dungeon Barbie" doll in bondage clothing.
Aqua's 1997 song "Barbie Girl", which topped the charts worldwide, was the subject of the 2002 lawsuit Mattel v. MCA Records. Mattel lost, with Judge Alex Kozinski saying that the song was a "parody and a social commentary".
Two commercials by automobile company Nissan featuring dolls similar to Barbie and Ken was the subject of another lawsuit in 1997. In the first commercial, a female doll is lured into a car by a doll resembling G.I. Joe to the dismay of a Ken-like doll, accompanied by Van Halen's "You Really Got Me". In the second commercial, the "Barbie" doll is saved by the "G.I. Joe" doll after she is accidentally knocked into a swimming pool by the "Ken" doll to Kiss's "Calling Dr. Love". The makers of the commercial said that the dolls' names were Roxanne, Nick and Tad. Mattel claimed that the commercial did "irreparable damage" to its products, but settled.
In 1999, Canadian nude model Barbie Doll Benson was involved in a trademark infringement case over her domain name, BarbieBenson.com.
In 1993, a group calling itself the Barbie Liberation Organization secretly modified a group of Barbie dolls by implanting voice boxes from G.I. Joe dolls, then returning the Barbies to the toy stores from where they were purchased.
Malibu Stacy from The Simpsons 1994 episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy".
Savior Barbie refers to a satirical Instagram account. Savior Barbie is depicted as being in Africa where she runs an NGO that provides drinking water to locals and makes sure to provide footage that depicts her glorious acts of goodness. The account is likely to have inspired others such as "Hipster Barbie" and "Socality Barbie".
== Competition from Bratz dolls ==
In May 2001, MGA Entertainment launched the Bratz series of dolls, a move that gave Barbie her first serious competition in the fashion doll market. In 2004, sales figures showed that Bratz dolls were outselling Barbie dolls in the United Kingdom, although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes, and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand. In 2005, figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls.
In December 2006, Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $1 billion, alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury agreed that the Bratz line was created by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel and that MGA and its chief executive officer Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the jury found that Mattel would have to be paid $100 million in damages. On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson banned MGA from selling Bratz dolls. He allowed the company to continue selling the dolls until the winter holiday season ended. On appeal, a stay was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the Court also overturned the District Court's original ruling for Mattel, where MGA Entertainment was ordered to forfeit the entire Bratz brand.
Mattel Inc. and MGA Entertainment Inc. returned to court on January 18, 2011, to renew their battle over who owns Bratz, which this time included accusations from both companies that the other side stole trade secrets. On April 21, 2011, a federal jury returned a verdict supporting MGA. On August 5, 2011, Mattel was also ordered to pay MGA $310 million for attorney fees, stealing trade secrets, and false claims rather than the $88.5 million issued in April.
In August 2009, MGA introduced a range of dolls called Moxie Girlz, intended as a replacement for Bratz dolls.
== Effects on body image ==
From the start, some have complained that "the blonde, plastic doll conveyed an unrealistic body image to girls."
Criticisms of Barbie are often centered around concerns that children consider Barbie a role model and will attempt to emulate her. One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic. Unrealistic body proportions in Barbie dolls have been connected to some eating disorders in children.
A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches (29 cm) tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) at 1/6 scale. Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (91 cm) (chest), 18 inches (46 cm) (waist) and 33 inches (84 cm) (hips). According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1963, the outfit "Barbie Baby-Sits" came with a book titled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat!" The same book was included in another ensemble called "Slumber Party" in 1965 along with a pink bathroom scale permanently set at 110 pounds (50 kg), which would be underweight for a woman 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall. Mattel said that the waist of the Barbie doll was made small because the waistbands of her clothes, along with their seams, snaps, and zippers, added bulk to her figure. In 1997, Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs.
In 2016, Mattel introduced a range of new body types: 'tall', 'petite', and 'curvy', releasing them exclusively as part of the Barbie Fashionistas line. 'Curvy Barbie' received a great deal of media attention and even made the cover of Time magazine with the headline "Now Can We Stop Talking About My Body?". Despite the curvy doll's body shape being equivalent to a US size 4 in clothing, some children reportedly regarded her as "fat".
Although Barbie had been criticized for its unrealistic-looking "tall and petite" dolls, the company has been offering more dolls set to more realistic standards in order to help promote a positive body image.
=== "Barbie syndrome" ===
"Barbie syndrome" is a term that has been used to depict the desire to have a physical appearance and lifestyle representative of the Barbie doll. It is most often associated with pre-teenage and adolescent girls but is applicable to any age group or gender. A person with Barbie syndrome attempts to emulate the doll's physical appearance, even though the doll has unattainable body proportions. This syndrome is seen as a form of body dysmorphic disorder and results in various eating disorders as well as an obsession with cosmetic surgery.
Ukrainian model Valeria Lukyanova has received attention from the press, due in part to her appearance having been modified based on the physique of Barbie. She stated that she has only had breast implants and relies heavily on make up and contacts to alter her appearance. Similarly, Lacey Wildd, an American reality television personality frequently referred to as "Million Dollar Barbie", has also undergone 12 breast augmentation surgeries to become "the extreme Barbie".
Jessica Alves, prior to coming out as transgender, underwent over £373,000 worth of cosmetic procedures to match the appearance of Barbie's male counterpart, garnering her the nickname the "Human Ken Doll". These procedures have included multiple nose jobs, six pack ab implants, a buttock lift, and hair and chest implants. Sporting the same nickname, Justin Jedlica, the American businessman, has also received multiple cosmetic surgeries to enhance his Ken-like appearance.
In 2006, researchers Helga Dittmar, Emma Halliwell, and Suzanne Ive conducted an experiment testing how dolls, including Barbie, affect self-image in young girls. Dittmar, Halliwell, and Ive gave picture books to girls age 5–8, one with photos of Barbie and the other with photos of Emme, a doll with more realistic physical features. The girls were then asked about their ideal body size. Their research found that the girls who were exposed to the images of Barbie had significantly lower self-esteem than the girls who had photos of Emme. However, Benjamin Radford noted that the answer may not be this simple since this research also showed that the age of the girl was a significant factor in the influence the doll had on her self esteem.
== Cultural globalization and representation ==
Feminist scholars have examined how Western media and consumer culture circulate gendered and racialized images around the world. Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie has become a global commodity that both reflects and reproduces Western ideals of beauty, such as hair colour, skin tone, and body shape. Mattel markets Barbie as a symbol of female empowerment; however, scholars note that this image conceals the economic exploitation of the Global South that is required to manufacture these dolls.
Through her worldwide distribution, Barbie enables the West to impose and normalize its own standards of female beauty and femininity, influencing how women and girls perceive themselves and how societies define womanhood. Even culturally diverse dolls, such as those in Mattel’s Dolls of the World collection, have been criticized for simplifying complex cultural identities into simple, stereotypical depictions that conform to mainstream beauty norms.
== Notable designers ==
Kitty Black Perkins, creator of the First Black Barbie
Byron Lars, guest designer for Barbie
Bob Mackie, guest designer for Barbie
Carol Spencer, Barbie fashion designer from 1963 to 1999 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_NBA_Finals | 1983 NBA Finals | The 1983 NBA World Championship Series, also known as Showdown '83, was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1982–83 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. It was the last NBA Championship Series completed before June 1. The Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers swept the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers to win their third NBA championship. After their previous four final meetings, the 76ers returned the favor.
76ers center Moses Malone was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). This, along with the 1989 NBA Finals, were the only two NBA championships of the 1980s not to be won by either the Lakers or the Boston Celtics; every NBA Finals of that decade featured either the Lakers or Celtics, and sometimes both (1984, 1985, 1987). Coincidentally, the Lakers were also swept in the 1989 NBA Finals, that time by the Detroit Pistons.
== Background ==
=== Philadelphia 76ers ===
The 76ers lost their first two Finals meetings with the Lakers in 1980 and 1982. While Julius Erving played superbly in both series, their frontcourt of Darryl Dawkins, Caldwell Jones, and Bobby Jones couldn't neutralize Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So in the off-season, the 76ers acquired Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets in an effort to counter Abdul-Jabbar, in addition to providing some offense and rebounding to the team. They parted ways with Caldwell Jones, Dawkins, and Lionel Hollins before the season, while giving greater responsibility to high-scoring guard Andrew Toney and backup playmaker Clint Richardson, and adding forwards Clemon Johnson and rookie Marc Iavaroni.
Malone's acquisition paid dividends, as the 76ers won 65 games in the 1982–83 NBA season. Prior to the playoffs, Malone predicted the team would win in four games in each of the three rounds, ending it with the statement Fo, Fo, Fo. The 76ers would steamroll through the playoffs, sweeping the New York Knicks 4–0 in the conference semifinals, before overcoming the Milwaukee Bucks in five games.
=== Los Angeles Lakers ===
The Lakers earned the top pick of the 1982 NBA draft, becoming the only defending champion to earn the top overall pick in the same season. This was because Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien traded their first round pick and Butch Lee to the Lakers for Don Ford and draft pick Chad Kinch three years earlier. Because the Cavaliers earned the worst record at 15–67, they would have earned the top overall pick via a coin toss with the 17–65 San Diego Clippers. Instead, the Lakers would earn the top pick and ultimately selected future Hall of Famer James Worthy first overall.
The Lakers won 58 games the next season. Worthy was a strong contender for Rookie of the Year when he broke his leg late in the season, therefore missing the rest of the season and the playoffs. Despite Worthy's absence, Magic Johnson, already a top-level guard, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 35 and still in his prime, led the Lakers back to the Finals. They beat the Portland Trail Blazers 4–1 and the San Antonio Spurs 4–2 in the second and third playoff rounds, respectively.
=== Road to the Finals ===
=== Regular season series ===
The Philadelphia 76ers won both games in the regular season series:
== Series summary ==
The final piece of the Philadelphia 76ers' championship puzzle was completed before the 1982–83 season when they acquired center Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets. They went on to capture their third NBA championship as they won 65 games, and stormed through the playoffs, first sweeping the New York Knicks, and then beating the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. They finally finished it off with a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, who had defeated them the season before.
Said head coach Billy Cunningham, "The difference from last year was Moses." Malone was named MVP of the 1983 Finals, as well as league MVP for the third time in his career. The 76ers completed one of the most dominating playoff runs in league history with a 12–1 mark after league and NBA Finals MVP Moses promised "Fo', fo', fo" (as in "four, four, four"—four wins to win round 1, four wins to win round 2, etc.), but it actually wound up as "Fo', fi', fo." (four, five, four). The 76ers were also led by Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones.
With 59 seconds to go in Game 4, it was Erving who made a three-point play to hold the lead for good, crushing the Lakers in a four-game sweep and ending the last NBA Finals to end before June.
Until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 4–1, this was the last time a team from Philadelphia in the Big Four leagues won their league's championship.
=== Game 1 ===
=== Game 2 ===
=== Game 3 ===
=== Game 4 ===
== Player statistics ==
Philadelphia 76ers
Los Angeles Lakers
== Television coverage ==
The 1983 NBA Finals was broadcast by CBS. Dick Stockton and Bill Russell were the commentators and Brent Musburger was the host, with Kevin Loughery as a pre-game, halftime and post-game analyst. It also introduced a new theme music (composed by Allyson Bellink) for the CBS Sports coverage of the NBA, used an introduction of the NBA arenas (similar to the Boston Garden) until the 1989 playoffs and later revived the second theme beginning in the 1989 Finals.
Russell departed CBS following the series, and was replaced by former Celtics teammate Tom Heinsohn. Russell would later resurface as a color analyst on TBS until 1987.
== Team rosters ==
=== Philadelphia 76ers ===
=== Los Angeles Lakers === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosales | Rosales | Rosales (, roh-ZAY-leez) are an order of flowering plants. Well-known members of Rosales include: roses, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, apples, cherries, pears, plums, peaches and apricots, almonds, rowan and hawthorn, jujube, elms, banyans, figs, mulberries, breadfruit, nettles, hops, and cannabis.
Rosales contain about 7,700 species, distributed into nine families and about 260 genera. Their type family is the rose family, Rosaceae. The largest families are Rosaceae (91/4828) and Urticaceae (53/2625).
== Taxonomy ==
The order Rosales is strongly supported as monophyletic in phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences, such as those carried out by members of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. In their APG III system of plant classification, they defined Rosales as consisting of the nine families:
Cannabaceae (hemp family)
Dirachmaceae
Elaeagnaceae (oleaster/Russian olive family)
Moraceae (mulberry family)
Rhamnaceae (buckthorn family)
Rosaceae (rose family)
Ulmaceae (elm family)
Urticaceae (nettle family)
In the older classification system of Dahlgren the Rosales were in the superorder Rosiflorae (also called Rosanae). In the obsolete Cronquist system, the order Rosales was many times polyphyletic. It consisted of the family Rosaceae and 23 other families that are now placed in various other orders. These families and their placement in the APG III system are:
Alseuosmiaceae (Asterales)
Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales)
Brunelliaceae (Oxalidales)
Bruniaceae (Bruniales)
Byblidaceae (Lamiales)
Cephalotaceae (Oxalidales)
Chrysobalanaceae (Malpighiales)
Columelliaceae (Bruniales)
Connaraceae (Oxalidales)
Crassulaceae (Saxifragales)
Crossosomataceae (Crossosomatales)
Cunoniaceae (Oxalidales)
Davidsoniaceae (Cunoniaceae, Oxalidales)
Dialypetalanthaceae (Rubiaceae, Gentianales)
Eucryphiaceae (Cunoniaceae, Oxalidales)
Greyiaceae (Melianthaceae, Geraniales)
Grossulariaceae (Saxifragales)
Hydrangeaceae (Cornales)
Neuradaceae (Malvales)
Pittosporaceae (Apiales)
Rhabdodendraceae (Caryophyllales)
Rosaceae
Saxifragaceae (Saxifragales)
Surianaceae (Fabales)
== Phylogeny ==
The relationships of Rosales families were resolved in a molecular phylogenetic study based on two nuclear genes and ten chloroplast genes:
The order Rosales is divided into three clades that have never been assigned a taxonomic rank. The basal clade consists of the family Rosaceae; another clade consists of four families, including Rhamnaceae; and the third clade consists of the four urticalean families.
The order is a sister to a clade consisting of Fagales and Cucurbitales.
== Distribution ==
Different plants that fall under the order Rosales grow in many different parts of the world. They can be found in the mountains, the tropics and the arctic. Even though you can find a member of the order Rosales nearly anywhere, the specific families grow in different specific geographical locations. Wind-pollination is the way that the majority of the families that fall under the order Rosales (including Moraceae, Ulmaceae, and Urticaceae etc.) pollinate.
== Importance ==
Within the order Rosales is the family Rosaceae, which includes numerous species that are cultivated for their fruit, making this one of the most economically important families of plants. Fruit produced by members of this family include apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, almonds, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Many ornamental species of plant are also in the family Rosaceae, including the rose after which the family and order were named. The rose, considered a symbol of love in many cultures, is featured prominently in poetry and literature. Modern garden varieties of roses such as hybrid teas, floribunda, and grandifora, originated from complex hybrids of several separate wild species native to different regions of Eurasia.
The Moraceae also produce important fruits, such as mulberries, figs, jackfruits, and breadfruits, and the leaves of the mulberry provide food for the silkworms used in commercial silk production.
The wood from the black cherry (Prunus serotina) and sweet cherry (P. avium) is used to make high quality furniture due to its color and ability to be bent. The Cannabis plant has been highly prized for millennia for its hemp, which has numerous uses. Other varieties of Cannabis are grown as a drug.
Plants in the order Rosales were used in the traditional medicines of many cultures. Medical cannabis has been recognized for its pharmaceutical use. The latex of some species of fig trees contains the enzyme ficin, which is effective in killing roundworms that infect the intestinal tracts of animals. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_fathers | List of oldest fathers | This is a list of people reported to have fathered a child at or after 75 years of age. Most of these have not necessarily been verified.
== Medical considerations ==
According to a 1969 study, there is a decrease in sperm concentration as men age. The study reported that 90% of seminiferous tubules in men in their 20s and 30s contained spermatids, whereas men in their 40s and 50s had spermatids in 50% of their seminiferous tubules. In the study, only 10% of seminiferous tubules from men aged > 80 years contained spermatids. In a random international sample of 11,548 men confirmed to be biological fathers by DNA paternity testing, the oldest father was found to be 66 years old at the birth of his child; the ratio of DNA-confirmed versus DNA-rejected paternity tests around that age is in agreement with the notion of general male infertility greater than age 65–66.
== List of claims == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_(2010_film) | 13 (2010 film) | 13 is a 2010 American psychological crime thriller film directed by Géla Babluani (who also directed the original), stars Sam Riley, Ray Winstone, 50 Cent, Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham. It is a remake of the 2005 Georgian-French film 13 Tzameti.
== Plot ==
Vincent "Vince" Ferro overhears people talking about a dead man who was going to start a well-paid job. Ferro, in need of money, steals an envelope containing the instructions for the job. He arrives at an event in a secluded place. He is ordered to strip, and his boot heels are cut off, in order to check for surveillance equipment. The organizers accept him for the job instead of the dead man. The job is participation in a series of Russian roulette games. There are several participants, identified by number. In each round, the participants have to spin the cylinder of their revolver, and shoot when the light of a special light bulb is switched on. The event is organized for the enjoyment of rich spectators, one of these spectators being Jasper Bagges, who places bets on who will survive. Bagges bets on his brother Ronald, who was brought from the mental institution. One of the participants, Patrick Jefferson, who was brought out from prison by his patron Jimmy to compete, begs Jimmy to help him but is ignored. He then bargains with Jimmy about the hidden loot which he and his son robbed from a truck before going to prison. He requests Jimmy to give half of the loot to his imprisoned son and Jimmy can keep half of it if he dies in the game.
In the first round, the participants each get one bullet in their revolver, they are arranged into a circle, and each has to aim his revolver at the man in front of him. Ferro tries to back out, but he is forced to participate. As #13, he survives the first round and fires his gun only after being threatened with death. In the second round, in which two bullets are placed in each gun, Ferro survives only because the man behind him is killed before he could fire, as a bullet was in the chamber. In the third round, with three bullets in each gun, Ferro again survives, along with four other men. In the final round, Ferro is one of two survivors randomly chosen to participate in a duel. The three others are finished and get a large sum of money. Jimmy then tries to garrote Jefferson to steal the map of the loot to take all the money for himself. Another employee catches Jimmy in the act, and demands that he stop, insisting that nobody is allowed to harm the surviving players. Jefferson then reveals the supposed map to Jimmy which turns out to be blank paper and mock Jimmy for being fooled by him. As the angered Jimmy leaves, Jefferson collects his belongings and leaves but not before burning the paper, which turns out to be the hidden real map of his loot so no one can find it, as well as fooling Jimmy from pursuing him later on.
Against the odds, Ferro wins the duel and gets $1,850,000 (USD). He also learns that his opponent won his last 3 duels. He collects his winnings and sneaks away from the mansion, arriving at a train station. When he spots police closing in on him, he stashes his winnings in a garbage can. After being interrogated by the police, he retrieves the money and sends it to his family, via registered mail, and buys a toy for his sister's birthday. However, on the way home, he is shot by Jasper, partly in revenge for Ferro having killed Ronald, and partly to steal the money, as he thinks Ferro still has the money with him. Jasper escapes with the money bag, not knowing that it only contains the toy. Before dying, Ferro takes out the package receipt and swallows it so the authority and Jasper will not be able to trace the money.
== Cast ==
Jason Statham as Jasper Bagges, a wealthy British man who bets on the competition and has a peculiar interest in one of the competitors.
Sam Riley as Vincent "Vince" Ferro, a naive young man who stumbles into the competition.
Ray Winstone as Ronald Lynn Bagges, a competitor who has been sprung from a mental institution to participate.
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Jimmy, an employee assigned to escort Rourke's character to the bloody game.
Mickey Rourke as Patrick Jefferson (originally Jesse James Jefferson), a Texan Cowboy broken out of a Mexican jail and sold into the competition.
David Zayas as Detective Mullane, a cop on the trail of the illegal game. Ray Liotta was originally cast. Zayas met with director Géla Babluani about a part but nothing came out of it. After Liotta dropped out, Babluani called Zayas back and offered him the role.
Emmanuelle Chriqui as Aileen.
Michael Shannon as Henry.
Ben Gazzara as Schlondorff.
Alexander Skarsgård as Jack.
Gaby Hoffmann as Clara Ferro, Vincent's sister.
Michael Berry Jr. as William
Chuck Zito as Ted
The film features Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham and David Zayas, who all starred in The Expendables which was released before this film.
== Production ==
The film was directed and written by Géla Babluani, who directed and wrote the original film. A trailer was released in August 2010. Filming began on November 17, 2008, in and around New York City.
== Reception ==
13 received critically negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 8% rating, stating that only 1 out of the 13 reviews for the film was positive, with an average score of 3.8/10.
The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden considered 13 "a blustering, bad cartoon." V.A. Musetto of the New York Post criticized the film for being shot in color rather than the original's black and white, and for the addition of character back stories, "which serve only to slow the film’s momentum." The Hollywood Reporter said "Géla Babluani's English-language remake of his French debut loses the source's gritty, mysterious gloom." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire | Kushan Empire | The Kushan Empire (c. 30–c. 375 CE) was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Western Nepal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Kushan territory in India went at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, now near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great.
The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty, Kujula Kadphises, followed Iranian and Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the Greco-Bactrian tradition and was a follower of the Shaivite sect of Hinduism. Many of the later Kushan kings after Kujula, were also patrons of Hinduism, including (but not limited to) Vima Kadphises and Vasudeva II. The Kushans in general were also great patrons of Buddhism, and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they employed elements of Zoroastrianism in their pantheon. They played an important role in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China, ushering in a period of relative peace for 200 years, sometimes described as "Pax Kushana".
The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes but soon began to use the Eastern Iranian Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains. A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraged travel across the Karakoram, and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire, and the Han dynasty of China. The Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire and China: according to Alain Daniélou, "for a time, the Kushana Empire was the centerpoint of the major civilizations". While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese.
The Kushan Empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west and establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, another Indian dynasty, also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the Kidarites, and later the Hephthalites.
== Origins ==
Chinese sources describe the Guìshuāng (貴霜, Old Chinese: *kuj-s [s]raŋ), i.e. the Kushans, as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi. Many scholars believe that the Yuezhi were a people of Indo-European origin. A specifically Tocharian origin of the Yuezhi is often suggested. An Iranian, specifically Saka origin, has also been suggested by some scholars.
The Yuezhi were described in the Records of the Great Historian and the Book of Han as living in the grasslands of eastern Xinjiang and northwestern part of Gansu, in the northwest of modern-day China, until their King was beheaded by the Xiongnu (匈奴) who were also at war with China, which eventually forced them to migrate west in 176–160 BC. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì (休密), Guìshuāng (貴霜), Shuāngmǐ (雙靡), Xìdùn (肸頓), and Dūmì (都密).
The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria (in northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around 135 BC. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush (in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the Indus basin (in present-day Pakistan and India), occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
In South Asia, Kushan emperors regularly used the dynastic name ΚΟϷΑΝΟ ("Koshano") on their coinage. Several inscriptions in Sanskrit in the Brahmi script, such as the Mathura inscription of the statue of Vima Kadphises, refer to the Kushan Emperor as , Ku-ṣā-ṇa ("Kushana"). Some later Indian literary sources referred to the Kushans as Turushka, a name which in later Sanskrit sources was confused with Turk, "probably due to the fact that Tukharistan passed into the hands of the western Turks in the seventh century". According to John M. Rosenfield, Turushka, Tukhāra or Tukhāra are variations of the word Tokhari in Indian writings. Yet, according to Wink, "nowadays no historian considers them to be Turkish-Mongoloid or "Hun", although there is no doubt about their Central-Asian origin."
Earlier theories regarding the link between the Tocharians and the Yuezhi were often based on linguistic evidence, oral traditions or historical sources but usually without exploring the archaeological evidence for these two ancient groups. However, genetic studies of the ancient remains of Xinjiang indicates that the Tocharians were not the Yuezhi. The Tocharians' paternal lineages were from East Eurasians, which differed from the Yuezhi. This suggests that the Tocharians and the Yuezhi people did not share the same origin. The Yuezhis were a unique Central Asian group with West Eurasian origin, dissimilar to the origins of the Tocharians. With the subsequent expansion of the Kushan Empire, the Yuezhis were integrated and assimilated, leading to their disappearance as a separately identifiable entity in historical sources. Probably due to the complicated history of Bactria, may be the reasons to the misunderstandings of the relationship between the Tocharians and the Yuezhis. More evidence is in need to resolve the Tocharian-Yuezhi relationship.
== Early Kushans ==
Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana in the 2nd-1st century BC, where they had displaced the Sakas, who moved further south. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-i Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and in the palace of Khalchayan. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. Various sculptures and friezes from this period are known, representing horse-riding archers, and, significantly, men such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan with artificially deformed skulls, a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia. Some of the Khalchayan sculptural scenes are also thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas. In these portrayals, the Yuezhis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-whiskers, and more or less grotesque facial expressions.
The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. Ban Gu's Book of Han tells us the Kushans (Kuei-shuang) divided up Bactria in 128 BC. Fan Ye's Book of Later Han "relates how the chief of the Kushans, Ch'iu-shiu-ch'ueh (the Kujula Kadphises of coins), founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh-chih clans the Kushan Empire."
The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a "tyrant" in Greek on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.
The Chinese Book of Later Han chronicles then gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor c. AD 125:
More than a hundred years later [than the conquest of Bactria by the Yuezhi], the prince [xihou] of Guishuang (Badakhshan) established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang (Kushan) King. He invaded Anxi (Indo-Parthia), and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda (Paktiya) and Jibin (Kapisha and Gandhara). Qiujiuque (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa ], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi.
== Diverse cultural influences ==
In the 1st century BC, the Guishuang (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under commander Kujula Kadphises. The name Guishuang was adopted in the West and modified into Kushan to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them Yuezhi.
Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (an area primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region) and established twin capitals in Kapisa (near modern Bagram) and Pushkalavati (later Charsadda).
The Kushans adopted elements of the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adopted the Greek alphabet to suit their own language (with the additional development of the letter Þ "sh", as in "Kushan") and soon began minting coinage on the Greek model. On their coins they used Greek language legends combined with Pali legends (in the Kharoshthi script), until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka. After the middle of Kanishka's reign, they used Kushan language legends (in an adapted Greek script), combined with legends in Greek (Greek script) and legends in Prakrit (Kharoshthi script).
Interestingly there is evidence for the collaboration between Greek populations and the Kushans in the 2nd century AD. Apparently the main architect of the Kushan temple at Surkh Kotal was a Greek named Palamedes. A Greek inscription has been found which could be read as: ΔΙΑ ΠΑΛΑΜΕΔΟΥΣ, i.e. dia Palamedous, meaning "through or by Palamedes". This proves that Hellenistic populations still remained in Bactria up into the Kushan era, and also explains how the Greek alphabet could have been applied to the Bactrian language.
The Kushans "adopted many local beliefs and customs, including Zoroastrianism and the two rising religions in the region, the Greek cults and Buddhism". From the time of Vima Takto, many Kushans started adopting aspects of Buddhist culture, and like the Egyptians, they absorbed the strong remnants of the Greek culture of the Hellenistic Kingdoms, becoming at least partly Hellenised. The great Kushan emperor Vima Kadphises, father of Kanishka, embraced Shaivism, a sect of Hinduism, as surmised by coins minted during the period. The following Kushan emperors represented a wide variety of faiths including Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Hindu Shaivism.
The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the Silk Road through the long-civilized Indus Valley. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely ruled a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India.
The loose unity and comparative peace of such a vast expanse encouraged long-distance trade, brought Chinese silks to Rome, and created strings of flourishing urban centers.
== Territorial expansion ==
Rosenfield notes that archaeological evidence of a Kushan rule of long duration is present in an area stretching from Surkh Kotal, Kapisa, the summer capital of the Kushans, Purushapura (modern Peshawar), the capital under Kanishka I, Taxila, and Mathura, the winter capital of the Kushans. The Kushans introduced for the first time a form of governance which consisted of Kshatrapas (Brahmi:, Kṣatrapa, "Satraps") and Mahakshatrapa (Brahmi: , Mahakṣatrapa, "Great Satraps").
Other areas of probable rule include Khwarezm and its capital city of Toprak-Kala, Kausambi (excavations of Allahabad University), Sanchi and Sarnath (inscriptions with names and dates of Kushan kings), Malwa and Maharashtra, and Odisha (imitation of Kushan coins, and large Kushan hoards).
The Rabatak inscription, discovered in 1993, confirms the account of the Hou Hanshu, Weilüe, and inscriptions dated early in the Kanishka era (incept probably AD 127), that large Kushan dominions expanded into the heartland of northern India in the early 2nd century AD. Lines 4 to 7 of the inscription describe the cities which were under the rule of Kanishka, among which six names are identifiable: Ujjain, Kundina, Saketa, Kausambi, Pataliputra, and Champa (although the text is not clear whether Champa was a possession of Kanishka or just beyond it). The Buddhist text Śrīdharmapiṭakanidānasūtra—known via a Chinese translation made in AD 472—refers to the conquest of Pataliputra by Kanishka. A 2nd century stone inscription by a Great Satrap named Rupiamma was discovered in Pauni, south of the Narmada river, suggesting that Kushan control extended this far south, although this could alternatively have been controlled by the Western Satraps.
In the East, as late as the 3rd century AD, decorated coins of Huvishka were dedicated at Bodh Gaya together with other gold offerings under the "Enlightenment Throne" of the Buddha, suggesting direct Kushan influence in the area during that period. Coins of the Kushans are found in abundance as far as Bengal, and the ancient Bengali state of Samatata issued coins copied from the coinage of Kanishka I, although probably only as a result of commercial influence. Coins in imitation of Kushan coinage have also been found abundantly in the eastern state of Orissa.
In the West, the Kushan state covered the Pārata state of Balochistan, western Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan was known for the Kushan Buddhist city of Merv.
Northward, in the 1st century AD, the Kujula Kadphises sent an army to the Tarim Basin to support the city-state of Kucha, which had been resisting the Chinese invasion of the region, but they retreated after minor encounters. In the 2nd century AD, the Kushans under Kanishka made various forays into the Tarim Basin, where they had various contacts with the Chinese. Kanishka held areas of the Tarim Basin apparently corresponding to the ancient regions held by the Yüeh-zhi, the possible ancestors of the Kushan. There was Kushan influence on coinage in Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan. According to Chinese chronicles, the Kushans (referred to as Da Yuezhi in Chinese sources) requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even though they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in AD 90 with a force of 70,000 but were defeated by the smaller Chinese force. Chinese chronicles relate battles between the Kushans and the Chinese general Ban Chao. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire. The regions of the Tarim Basin were all ultimately conquered by Ban Chao. Later, during the Yuánchū period (AD 114–120), the Kushans sent a military force to install Chenpan, who had been a hostage among them, as king of Kashgar.
=== Kushan fortresses ===
Several Kushan fortresses are known, particularly in Bactria, which were often rebuilt on top of Hellenistic fortifications, as in Kampir Tepe. They are often characterised by arrow-shaped loopholes for archers.
== History ==
Kushan rulers are recorded for a period of about three centuries, from circa 30 CE to circa 375 CE, until the invasions of the Kidarites. They ruled around the same time as the Western Satraps, the Satavahanas, and the first Gupta Empire rulers.
=== Kujula Kadphises (c. 25 – c. 85) ===
...the prince [elavoor] of Guishuang, named thilac [Kujula Kadphises], attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang [Kushan] King. He invaded Anxi [Indo-Parthia] and took the Gaofu [Kabul] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda [Paktiya] and Jibin [Kapisha and Gandhara]. Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died."
These conquests by Kujula Kadphises probably took place sometime between AD 45 and 60 and laid the basis for the Kushan Empire which was rapidly expanded by his descendants.
Kujula issued an extensive series of coins and fathered at least two sons, Sadaṣkaṇa (who is known from only two inscriptions, especially the Rabatak inscription, and apparently never ruled), and seemingly Vima Takto.
Kujula Kadphises was the great-grandfather of Kanishka.
=== Vima Taktu or Sadashkana (c. 80 – c. 95) ===
Vima Takto (Ancient Chinese: 閻膏珍 Yangaozhen) is mentioned in the Rabatak inscription (another son, Sadashkana, is mentioned in an inscription of Senavarman, the King of Odi). He was the predecessor of Vima Kadphises, and Kanishka I. He expanded the Kushan Empire into the northwest of South Asia. The Hou Hanshu says:
"His son, Yangaozhen [probably Vema Tahk (tu) or, possibly, his brother Sadaṣkaṇa], became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [North-western India] and installed Generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang [Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi."
=== Vima Kadphises (c. 95 – c. 127) ===
Vima Kadphises (Kushan language: Οοημο Καδφισης) was a Kushan emperor from around AD 95–127, the son of Sadashkana and the grandson of Kujula Kadphises, and the father of Kanishka I, as detailed by the Rabatak inscription.
Vima Kadphises added to the Kushan territory by his conquests in Bactria. He issued an extensive series of coins and inscriptions. He issued gold coins in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage.
=== Kanishka I (c. 127 – c. 150) ===
The rule of Kanishka the Great, fourth Kushan king, lasted for about 23 years from c. AD 127. Upon his accession, Kanishka ruled a huge territory (virtually all of northern India), south to Ujjain and Kundina and east beyond Pataliputra, according to the Rabatak inscription:
In the year one, it has been proclaimed unto India, unto the whole realm of the governing class, including Koonadeano (Kaundiny, Kundina) and the city of Ozeno (Ozene, Ujjain) and the city of Zageda (Saketa) and the city of Kozambo (Kausambi) and the city of Palabotro (Pataliputra) and as far as the city of Ziri-tambo (Sri-Champa), whatever rulers and other important persons (they might have) he had submitted to (his) will, and he had submitted all India to (his) will.
His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan) and Mathura, in northern India. He is also credited (along with Raja Dab) for building the massive, ancient Fort at Bathinda (Qila Mubarak), in the modern city of Bathinda, Indian Punjab.
The Kushans also had a summer capital in Kapisa (near modern Bagram), where the "Begram Treasure", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found. According to the Rabatak inscription, Kanishka was the son of Vima Kadphises, the grandson of Sadashkana, and the great-grandson of Kujula Kadphises. Kanishka's era is now generally accepted to have begun in 127 on the basis of Harry Falk's ground-breaking research. Kanishka's era was used as a calendar reference by the Kushans for about a century, until the decline of the Kushan realm.
=== Huvishka (c. 150 – c. 190) ===
Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, "Ooishki") was a Kushan emperor from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150) until the succession of Vasudeva I about thirty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.
=== Vasudeva I (c. 190 – c. 230) ===
Vasudeva I (Kushan: Βαζοδηο "Bazodeo", Chinese: 波調 "Bodiao") was the last of the "Great Kushans". Named inscriptions dating from year 64 to 98 of Kanishka's era suggest his reign extended from at least AD 191 to 225. He was the last great Kushan emperor, and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sasanians as far as northwestern India, and the establishment of the Indo-Sasanians or Kushanshahs in what is nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India from around AD 240.
=== Kanishka II (c. 232 – c. 247) ===
=== Vāsishka (c. 247 – c. 267) ===
Vāsishka was a Kushan emperor who seems to have had a 20-year reign following Kanishka II. His rule is recorded at Mathura, in Gandhara and as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (the Sanchi inscription of "Vaksushana" – i.e., Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (the Sanchi inscription of Vasaska – i.e., Vasishka) of a possible second Kanishka era.
=== Little Kushans (AD 270 – 350) ===
Following territorial losses in the west (Bactria lost to the Kushano-Sasanians), and in the east (loss of Mathura to the Gupta Empire), several "Little Kushans" are known, who ruled locally in the area of Punjab with their capital at Taxila: Vasudeva II (270 – 300), Mahi (300 – 305), Shaka (305 – 335) and Kipunada (335 – 350). They probably were vassals of the Gupta Empire, until the invasion of the Kidarites destroyed the last remains of Kushan rule.
== Kushan deities ==
The Kushan religious pantheon is extremely varied, as revealed by their coins that were made in gold, silver, and copper. These coins contained more than thirty different gods, belonging mainly to their own Iranian, as well as Greek and Indian worlds as well. Kushan coins had images of Kushan Kings, Buddha, and figures from the Indo-Aryan and Iranian pantheons. Greek deities, with Greek names are represented on early coins. During Kanishka's reign, the language of the coinage changes to Bactrian (though it remained in Greek script for all kings). After Huvishka, only two divinities appear on the coins: Ardoxsho and Oesho (see details below).
The Iranian entities depicted on coinage include:
Ardoxsho (Αρδοχþο): Ashi Vanghuhi
Ashaeixsho (Aþαειχþo, "Best righteousness"): Asha Vahishta
Athsho (Αθþο, "The Royal fire"): Atar
Pharro (Φαρρο, "Royal splendour"): Khwarenah
Lrooaspa (Λροοασπο): Drvaspa
Manaobago (Μαναοβαγο): Vohu Manah
Mao (Μαο, the Lunar deity): Mah
Mithro and variants (Μιθρο, Μιιρο, Μιορο, Μιυρο): Mithra
Mozdooano (Μοζδοοανο, "Mazda the victorious?"): Mazda *vana
Nana (Νανα, Ναναια, Ναναϸαο): variations of pan-Asiatic Nana, Sogdian Nny
Oado (Οαδο): Vata
Oaxsho (Oαxþo): "Oxus"
Ooromozdo (Οορομοζδο): Ahura Mazda
Ořlagno (Οραλαγνο): Verethragna, the Iranian god of war
Rishti (Ριϸτι, "Uprightness"): Arshtat
Shaoreoro (Ϸαορηορο, "Best royal power", Archetypal ruler): Khshathra Vairya
Tiero (Τιερο): Tir
Representation of entities from Greek mythology and Hellenistic syncretism are:
Zaoou (Ζαοου): Zeus
Ēlios (Ηλιος): Helios
Ēphaēstos (Ηφαηστος): Hephaistos
Oa nēndo (Οα νηνδο): Nike
Salēnē (Ϲαληνη): Selene
Anēmos (Ανημος): Anemos
Ērakilo (Ηρακιλο): Heracles
Sarapo (Ϲαραπο): the Greco-Egyptian god Sarapis
The Indic entities represented on coinage include:
Boddo (Βοδδο): the Buddha
Shakamano Boddho (Ϸακαμανο Βοδδο): Shakyamuni Buddha
Metrago Boddo (Μετραγο Βοδδο): the bodhisattava Maitreya
Maaseno (Μαασηνο): Mahāsena
Skando-Komaro (Σκανδο-kομαρο): Skanda-Kumara
Bizago: Viśākha
Ommo: Umā, the consort of Siva.
Oesho (Οηϸο): long considered to represent Indic Shiva, but also identified as Avestan Vayu conflated with Shiva.
Two copper coins of Huvishka bear a "Ganesa" legend, but instead of depicting the typical theriomorphic figure of Ganesha, have a figure of an archer holding a full-length bow with string inwards and an arrow. This is typically a depiction of Rudra, but in the case of these two coins is generally assumed to represent Shiva.
== Kushans and Buddhism ==
The Kushans inherited the Greco-Buddhist traditions of the Indo-Greek Kingdom they replaced, and their patronage of Buddhist institutions allowed them to grow as a commercial power. Between the mid-1st century and the mid-3rd century, Buddhism, patronised by the Kushans, extended to China and other Asian countries through the Silk Road.
Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. Along with his predecessors in the region, the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda) and the Indian emperors Ashoka and Harsha Vardhana, Kanishka is considered by Buddhism as one of its greatest benefactors.
During the 1st century AD, Buddhist books were being produced and carried by monks, and their trader patrons. Also, monasteries were being established along these land routes that went from China and other parts of Asia. With the development of Buddhist books, it caused a new written language called Gandhara. Gandhara consists of eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Scholars are said to have found many Buddhist scrolls that contained the Gandhari language.
The reign of Huvishka corresponds to the first known epigraphic evidence of the Buddha Amitabha, on the bottom part of a 2nd-century statue which has been found in Govindo-Nagar, and now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka", and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. There is also some evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahayana Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has "set forth in the Mahāyāna."
The 12th century historical chronicle Rajatarangini mentions in detail the rule of the Kushan kings and their benevolence towards Buddhism:
Then there ruled in this very land the founders of cities called after their own appellations the three kings named Huska, Juska and Kaniska (...) These kings albeit belonging to the Turkish race found refuge in acts of piety; they constructed in Suskaletra and other places monasteries, Caityas and similar edificies. During the glorious period of their regime the kingdom of Kashmir was for the most part an appanage of the Buddhists who had acquired lustre by renunciation. At this time since the Nirvana of the blessed Sakya Simha in this terrestrial world one hundred fifty years, it is said, had elapsed. And a Bodhisattva was in this country the sole supreme ruler of the land; he was the illustrious Nagarjuna who dwelt in Sadarhadvana.
== Kushan art ==
The art and culture of Gandhara, at the crossroads of the Kushan hegemony, developed the traditions of Greco-Buddhist art and are the best known expressions of Kushan influences to Westerners. Several direct depictions of Kushans are known from Gandhara, where they are represented with a tunic, belt and trousers and play the role of devotees to the Buddha, as well as the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya.
According to Benjamin Rowland, the first expression of Kushan art appears at Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd century BC. It is derived from Hellenistic art, and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa, and clearly has similarities with the later Art of Gandhara, and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan and in the art of Gandhara, and also in the style of portraiture itself. For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking. According to Rowland the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.
During the Kushan Empire, many images of Gandhara share a strong resemblance to the features of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian figures. These Western-looking stylistic signatures often include heavy drapery and curly hair, representing a composite (the Greeks, for example, often possessed curly hair).
As the Kushans took control of the area of Mathura as well, the Art of Mathura developed considerably, and free-standing statues of the Buddha came to be mass-produced around this time, possibly encouraged by doctrinal changes in Buddhism allowing to depart from the aniconism that had prevailed in the Buddhist sculptures at Mathura, Bharhut or Sanchi from the end of the 2nd century BC. The artistic cultural influence of kushans declined slowly due to Hellenistic Greek and Indian influences.
=== Kushan monetary system ===
The Kushans used gold ingots as part of their monetary system, as shown by the gold treasure discovered in 1972 in Dalverzin Tepe. The main objects from the treasure were circular and parallelepipedic ingots, followed by various decorative objects and jewellery items. The circular ingots used to be progressively cut up as needed, depending on the amount required for a transaction. On the contrary, the parallelepipedic ingots were used to stock wealth in a not-divisible form; these ingots bear inscriptions in Kharoshthi mentioning their weight and the god Mitra (protector of contractual relations) These ingots are all attributed to the monetary system of the Kushan Empire.
The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler. One of the names for Kushan coins was Dinara, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus. The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the Kushano-Sasanians in the west, and the kingdom of Samatata in Bengal to the east. The coinage of the Gupta Empire was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest. The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed.
It has long been suggested that the gold contained in Kushan coins was ultimately of Roman origin, and that Roman coins were imported as a consequence of trade and melted in India to mint Kushan coins. However, a recent archaeometallurgical study of trace elements through proton activation analysis has shown that Kushan gold contains high concentrations of platinum and palladium, which rules out the hypothesis of a Roman provenance. To this day, the origin of Kushan gold remains unknown.
== Contacts with Rome ==
Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the 2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.
Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:
Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt
"The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."
Also in 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome‚ XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius, successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian, and Hyrcanian ambassadors.
Some Kushan coins have an effigy of "Roma", suggesting a strong level of awareness and some level of diplomatic relations.
The summer capital of the Kushan Empire in Kapisa has yielded a considerable amount of goods imported from the Roman Empire—in particular, various types of glassware. The Chinese described the presence of Roman goods in the Kushan realm:
"Precious things from Da Qin [the Roman Empire] can be found there [in Tianzhu or Northwestern India], as well as fine cotton cloths, fine wool carpets, perfumes of all sorts, sugar candy, pepper, ginger, and black salt."
Parthamaspates of Parthia, a client of Rome and ruler of the kingdom of Osroene, is known to have traded with the Kushan Empire, goods being sent by sea and through the Indus River.
== Contacts with China ==
During the 1st and 2nd century AD, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north, putting them at the center of the profitable Central Asian commerce. They are related to have collaborated militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly when they allied with the Han dynasty general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84, when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.
In recognition for their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested a Han princess, but were denied, even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 with a force of 70,000, but were defeated by a smaller Chinese force. The Yuezhi retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of emperor He of Han (89–106).
The Kushans are again recorded to have sent presents to the Chinese court in 158–159 during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han.
Following these interactions, cultural exchanges further increased, and Kushan Buddhist missionaries, such as Lokaksema, became active in the Chinese capital cities of Luoyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They were the first recorded promoters of Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures in China, greatly contributing to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.
== Decline ==
=== Kushano-Sassanians ===
After the death of Vasudeva I in 225, the Kushan empire split into western and eastern halves. The Western Kushans (in Afghanistan) were soon subjugated by the Persian Sasanian Empire and lost Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara to them. The Sassanian king Shapur I (240–270) claims in his Naqsh-e Rostam inscription possession of the territory of the Kushans (Kūšān šahr) as far as Purushapura (modern Peshawar), suggesting he controlled Bactria and areas as far as the Hindu-Kush or even south of it:
I, the Mazda-worshipping lord, Shapur, king of kings of Iran and An-Iran... (I) am the Master of the Domain of Iran (Ērānšahr) and possess the territory of Persis, Parthian... Hindestan, the Domain of the Kushan up to the limits of Paškabur and up to Kash, Sughd, and Chachestan.
This is also confirmed by the Rag-i-Bibi inscription in modern Afghanistan.
The Sasanians deposed the Western dynasty and replaced them with Persian vassals known as the Kushanshas (in Bactrian on their coinage: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ Koshano Shao) also called Indo-Sasanians or Kushano-Sasanians. The Kushano-Sasanians ultimately became very powerful under Hormizd I Kushanshah (277–286) and rebelled against the Sasanian Empire, while continuing many aspects of the Kushan culture, visible in particular in their titulature and their coinage.
=== "Little Kushans" and Gupta suzerainty ===
The Eastern Kushan kingdom, also known as the "Little Kushans", was based in the Punjab. Around 270 their territories on the Gangetic plain became independent under local dynasties such as the Yaudheyas. Then in the mid-4th century they were subjugated by the Gupta Empire under Samudragupta. In his inscription on the Allahabad pillar Samudragupta proclaims that the Dēvaputra-Shāhi-Shāhānushāhi (referring to the last Kushan rulers, being a deformation of the Kushan regnal titles Devaputra, Shao and Shaonanoshao: "Son of God, King, King of Kings") are now under his dominion, and that they were forced to "self-surrender, offering (their own) daughters in marriage and a request for the administration of their own districts and provinces". This suggests that by the time of the Allahabad inscription the Kushans still ruled in Punjab, but under the suzerainty of the Gupta Emperor.
Numismatics indicate that the coinage of the Eastern Kushans was much weakened: silver coinage was abandoned altogether, and gold coinage was debased. This suggests that the Eastern Kushans had lost their central trading role on the trade routes that supplied luxury goods and gold. Still, the Buddhist art of Gandhara continued to flourish, and cities such as Sirsukh near Taxila were established.
=== Sasanian, Kidarite and Alchon invasions ===
In the east around 350, Shapur II regained the upper hand against the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan, possibly as a consequence of the destruction of the Kushano-Sasanians by the Chionites. The Kushano-Sasanian still ruled in the north. Important finds of Sasanian coinage beyond the Indus River in the city of Taxila only start with the reigns of Shapur II (r.309-379) and Shapur III (r.383-388), suggesting that the expansion of Sasanian control beyond the Indus was the result of the wars of Shapur II "with the Chionites and Kushans" in 350-358 as described by Ammianus Marcellinus. They probably maintained control until the rise of the Kidarites under their ruler Kidara.
In 360 a Kidarite Hun named Kidara overthrew the Kushano-Sasanians and remnants of the old Kushan dynasty, and established the Kidarite Kingdom. The Kushan style of Kidarite coins indicates they claimed Kushan heritage. The Kidarite seem to have been rather prosperous, although on a smaller scale than their Kushan predecessors. East of the Punjab, the former eastern territories of the Kushans were controlled by the mighty Gupta Empire.
The remnants of Kushan culture under the Kidarites in the northwest were ultimately wiped out in the end of the 5th century by the invasions of the Alchon Huns (sometimes considered as a branch of the Hephthalites), and later the Nezak Huns.
== Rulers ==
One of the most recent list of rulers with dates is as follows:
Heraios (c. 1 – 30), first king to call himself "Kushan" on his coinage
"Great Kushans";
Kujula Kadphises (c. 50 – c. 90)
Vima Takto (c. 90 – c. 113), alias Soter Megas or "Great Saviour."
Vima Kadphises (c. 113 – c. 127) First great Kushan Emperor
Kanishka the Great (127 – c. 151)
Huvishka (c. 151 – c. 190)
Vasudeva I (c. 190 – c. 230) Last great Kushan Emperor
Kanishka II (c. 230 – 247)
Vashishka (c. 247 – 267)
"Little Kushans";
Kanishka III (c. 267 – 270)
Vasudeva II (c. 270 – 300)
Mahi (c. 300 – 305)
Shaka (c. 305 – 335)
Kipunada (c. 335 – 350) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West#:~:text=The%20southernmost%20location%20that%20the,apart%20at%20their%20closest%20points. | Key West#:~:text=The southernmost location that the,apart at their closest points. | Key West (Spanish: Cayo Hueso [kaʝo ˈweso]) is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.
The island of Key West is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (11 km2). Within Florida, it is 130 miles (210 km) southwest of Miami by air, about 165 miles (266 km) by road. Key West is approximately 95 miles (153 km) north of Cuba at their closest points, and 106 miles (171 km) north-northeast of Havana.
The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, which includes a majority of the Florida Keys and part of the Everglades. The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (14.5 km2). The population within the city limits was 26,444 at the 2020 census. The official city motto is "One Human Family".
Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. Duval Street, its main street, is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. Key West is the southern terminus of U.S. Route 1 – the longest north–south road in the United States, as well as State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935, the Florida East Coast Railway. Key West is a port of call for passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service. Naval Air Station Key West is an important year-round training site for naval aviation due to the tropical weather, which is also the reason Key West was chosen as the site of President Harry S. Truman's Winter White House. The central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island.
== History ==
=== Precolonial and colonial times ===
At various times before the 19th century, people who were related or subject to the Calusa and the Tequesta inhabited Key West. The last Native American residents of Key West were Calusa refugees who were taken to Cuba when Florida was transferred from Spain to Great Britain in 1763.
Cayo Hueso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaʝo ˈweso]) is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West. It literally means "bone cay", cay referring to a low island or reef. It is said that the island was littered with the remains (bones) of prior native inhabitants, who used the isle as a communal graveyard. This island was the westernmost Key with a reliable supply of water.
Between 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida from Spain, and 1821, when the United States took possession of Florida from Spain, there were few or no permanent inhabitants anywhere in the Florida Keys. Cubans and Bahamians regularly visited the Keys, the Cubans primarily to fish, while the Bahamians fished, caught turtles, cut hardwood timber, and salvaged wrecks. Smugglers and privateers also used the Keys for concealment. In 1766 the British governor of East Florida recommended that a post be set up on Key West to improve control of the area, but nothing came of it. During both the British and Spanish periods no nation exercised de facto control. The Bahamians apparently set up camps in the Keys that were occupied for months at a time, and there were rumors of permanent settlements in the Keys by 1806 or 1807, but the locations are not known. Fishermen from New England started visiting the Keys after the end of the War of 1812, and may have briefly settled on Key Vaca in 1818.
=== Ownership claims ===
In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, an officer of the Royal Spanish Navy Artillery posted in Saint Augustine, Florida. After Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, Salas was so eager to sell the island that he sold it twice – first for a sloop valued at $575 to a General John Geddes, a former governor of South Carolina, and then to a U.S. businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19, 1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, with the aid of some influential friends in Washington, was able to gain clear title to the island. Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the island's strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819 and he had been impressed by the potential offered by the deep harbor of the island. The island was indeed considered the "Gibraltar of the West" because of its strategic location on the 90-mile (140 km)–wide deep shipping lane, the Straits of Florida, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
On March 25, 1822, Lt. Commander Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner USS Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, claiming the Keys as United States property. No protests were made over the American claim on Key West, so the Florida Keys became the de facto property of the United States.
After claiming the Florida Keys for the United States, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso (Key West) to Thompson's Island for Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson, and the harbor Port Rodgers in honor of War of 1812 hero and President of the Navy Supervisors Board John Rodgers. In 1823, Commodore David Porter of the United States Navy West Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron took charge of Key West, which he ruled as military dictator under martial law. The United States Navy gave Porter the mission of countering piracy and the slave trade in the Key West area.
=== First developers ===
Soon after his purchase, John Simonton subdivided the island into plots and sold three undivided quarters of each plot to:
John Mountain and U.S. Consul John Warner, who quickly resold their quarter to Pardon C. Greene, who took up residence on the island. Greene is the only one of the four "founding fathers" to establish himself permanently on the island, where he became quite prominent as head of P.C. Greene and Company. He was a member of the city council and also served briefly as mayor. He died in 1838 at the age of 57.
John Whitehead, his friend who had advised him to buy Key West. John Whitehead lived in Key West for only eight years. He became a partner in the firm of P.C. Greene and Company from 1824 to 1827. A lifelong bachelor, he left the island for good in 1832. He came back only once, during the Civil War in 1861, and died the next year.
John Fleeming (nowadays spelled Fleming). John W.C. Fleeming was English-born and was active in mercantile business in Mobile, Alabama, where he befriended John Simonton. Fleeming spent only a few months in Key West in 1822 and left for Massachusetts, where he married. He returned to Key West in 1832 with the intention of developing salt manufacturing on the island but died the same year at the age of 51.
Simonton spent the winter in Key West and the summer in Washington, where he lobbied hard for the development of the island and to establish a naval base on the island, both to take advantage of the island's strategic location and to bring law and order to the town. He died in 1854.
The names of the four "founding fathers" of modern Key West were given to main arteries of the island when it was first platted in 1829 by William Adee Whitehead, John Whitehead's younger brother. That first plat and the names used remained mostly intact and are still in use today. Duval Street, the island's main street, is named after Florida's first territorial governor, William Pope Duval, who served between 1822 and 1834 as the longest-serving governor in Florida's U.S. history.
William Whitehead became chief editorial writer for the Enquirer, a local newspaper, in 1834. He preserved copies of his newspaper as well as copies from the Key West Gazette, its predecessor. He later sent those copies to the Monroe County clerk for preservation, which gives us a view of life in Key West in the early days (1820–1840).
In the 1830s, Key West was the richest city per capita in the United States.
In 1846, the city suffered severely from the 1846 Havana hurricane.
In 1852, the first Catholic Church, St. Mary's Star-Of-The-Sea, was built. The year 1864 became a landmark for the church in South Florida when five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived from Montreal, Canada, and established the first Catholic school in South Florida. At the time it was called Convent of Mary Immaculate. The school is still operating today and is now known as the Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea.
=== American Civil War and late 19th century ===
During the American Civil War, while Florida seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, Key West remained in U.S. Union hands because of the naval base. Most locals were sympathetic to the Confederacy, however, and many flew Confederate flags over their homes. However, Key West was also home to a large free black population. This population grew during the war as more enslaved black people fled from their enslavers and came under the relative safety of the Union garrison there. Fort Zachary Taylor, constructed from 1845 to 1866, was an important Key West outpost during the Civil War. Construction began in 1861 on two other forts, East and West Martello Towers, which served as side armories and batteries for the larger fort. When completed, they were connected to Fort Taylor by railroad tracks for movement of munitions. Early in 1864, 900 men from the 2nd United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in Key West as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Many of these men would see action in southern Florida and the 2nd USCT would become "one of the most active" black regiments in Florida. Fort Jefferson, located about 68 miles (109 km) from Key West on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, served after the Civil War as the prison for Samuel A. Mudd, convicted of conspiracy for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
In the 19th century, major industries included wrecking, fishing, turtling, and salt manufacturing. From 1830 to 1861, Key West was a major center of U.S. salt production, harvesting the commodity from the sea (via receding tidal pools) rather than from salt mines. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Union troops shut down the salt industry after Confederate sympathizers smuggled the product into the South. Salt production resumed at the end of the war, but the industry was destroyed by an 1876 hurricane and never recovered, in part because of new salt mines on the mainland.
During the Ten Years' War (an unsuccessful Cuban war for independence in the 1860s and 1870s), many Cubans sought refuge in Key West. Several cigar factories relocated to the city from Cuba, and Key West quickly became a major producer of cigars. The Great Fire of Key West, on April 1, 1886, started at a coffee shop next to the San Carlos Institute and spread out of control, destroyed 18 cigar factories and 614 houses and government warehouses. Some factory owners chose not to rebuild and instead moved their operations to the new community of Ybor City in Tampa, leading to a slow decline in the cigar industry in Key West. Still, Key West remained the largest and wealthiest city in Florida at the end of the 1880s.
USS Maine sailed from Key West on her fateful visit to Havana, where she blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, igniting the Spanish–American War. Crewmen from the ship are buried in Key West, and the Navy investigation into the blast occurred at the Key West Customs House.
=== 20th century ===
In October 1909, Key West was severely impacted by the 1909 Florida Keys hurricane. Additional damage occurred the following year as a result of the 1910 Cuba hurricane. At the time, the city remained relatively isolated until 1912, when it was connected to the Florida mainland through the Overseas Railroad, an extension of Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. As part of the project, Flagler constructed a landfill at Trumbo Point for railway operations. In 1919, the Florida Keys experienced another destructive storm, causing significant damage in the area. On December 25, 1921, local resident Manuel Cabeza was lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan for living with a Black woman. In 1926, Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West, initially to transport passengers to Havana, Cuba. The following year, the airline began a contract with the United States Postal Service to carry mail between Cuba and the United States, operating the Key West, Florida – Havana Mail Route.
In 1935, the Labor Day Hurricane destroyed much of the Overseas Railway and caused substantial loss of life, including approximately 400 World War I veterans who had been working on federal infrastructure projects in the Middle Keys. The Florida East Coast Railway was unable to fund repairs, and the U.S. government later rebuilt the route as an automobile highway. Completed in 1938, this road was constructed atop sections of the former railway and became part of U.S. Route 1, known as the Overseas Highway. President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the road in 1939. During World War II, over 14,000 ships passed through the island's harbor. The local population increased significantly at times due to the presence of military personnel, laborers, and tourists. Beginning in 1946, President Harry S. Truman established a working vacation residence in Key West, known as the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where he spent a total of 175 days during his presidency.
In 1948, Key West was affected by two hurricanes in quick succession—the September 1948 Florida hurricane and the 1948 Miami hurricane. Prior to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, transportation between Key West and Havana included regular ferry and air services. During the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy frequently referenced Key West's proximity to Cuba in public speeches, and he visited the island shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1982, the city briefly declared symbolic independence as the "Conch Republic" in response to a United States Border Patrol blockade at the junction of U.S. Route 1 and the mainland in Florida City. The resulting traffic delays significantly disrupted tourism. The protest, while symbolic, remains a part of local culture, and the Conch Republic Independence Celebration is held annually on April 23.
In 1998, Hurricane Georges damaged the city.
In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused substantial damage with wind and flooding, killing three people.
== Geography ==
Key West is an island located at 24°33′55″N 81°46′33″W in the Straits of Florida. The island is about 4 miles (6 km) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (10.9 km2; 2,688.0 acres). The average elevation above sea level is about 8 feet (2.4 m) and the maximum elevation is about 18 feet (5.5 m), within a 1-acre (0-hectare) area known as Solares Hill.
The city of Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States, and the island is the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. The city boundaries include the island of Key West and several nearby islands, as well as the section of Stock Island north of U.S. Route 1, on the adjacent key to the east. The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (15 km2), with an additional 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2) of surrounding water within the city limits. Sigsbee Park—originally known as Dredgers Key—and Fleming Key, both located to the north, and Sunset Key located to the west are all included in the city boundaries. Both Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park are part of Naval Air Station Key West and are inaccessible to the general public.
In the late 1950s, many of the large salt ponds on the eastern side of the island were filled in. The new section on the eastern side is called New Town, which contains shopping centers, retail malls, residential areas, schools, ball parks, and Key West International Airport.
Key West and most of the rest of the Florida Keys are on the dividing line between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The two bodies have different currents, with the calmer and warmer Gulf of Mexico being characterized by great clumps of seagrass. The shallow passage known as Hawk Channel lies directly south of the island and is conducive to the exchange of Gulf waters to the Atlantic via tidal currents. The area where the two bodies merge between Key West and Cuba is called the Straits of Florida. The warmest ocean waters anywhere on the United States mainland are found in the Florida Keys in winter, with sea surface temperatures averaging in the 75–77 °F (24–25 °C) range in December through February.
Duval Street is the main street in Key West and is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean.
Key West is closer to Havana (about 106 miles or 171 kilometers by air or sea) than it is to Miami (130 miles or 210 kilometers by air or 165 miles or 266 kilometers by road). Key West is the usual endpoint for marathon swims from Cuba, including Diana Nyad's 2013 swim and Susie Maroney's 1997 swim from within a shark cage.
=== Notable places ===
==== Old Town ====
The earliest Key West neighborhoods, on the western part of the island, are broadly known as Old Town. The Key West Historic District includes the major tourist destinations of the island, including Mallory Square, Duval Street, the Truman Annex, and Fort Zachary Taylor. Old Town is where the classic bungalows and guest mansions are found. Bahama Village, southwest of Whitehead Street, features houses, churches, and sites related to its Afro-Bahamian history. The Meadows, lying northeast of the White Street Gallery District, is exclusively residential.
Many of the structures in Old Town date from 1886 to 1912. The basic features that distinguish the local architecture include wood-frame construction of one- to two-and-a-half-story structures set on foundation piers about three feet (one meter) above the ground. Exterior characteristics of the buildings are peaked metal roofs, horizontal wood siding, gingerbread trim, pastel shades of paint, side-hinged louvered shutters, covered porches (or balconies, galleries, or verandas) along the fronts of the structures, and wood lattice screens covering the area elevated by the piers.
Some antebellum structures survive, including the Oldest (or Cussans-Watlington) House (1829–1836) and the John Huling Geiger House (1846–1849), now preserved as the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens. Fortifications such as Fort Zachary Taylor, the East Martello Tower, and the West Martello Tower, helped ensure that Key West would remain in Union control throughout the Civil War. Another landmark built by the federal government is the Key West Lighthouse, now a museum.
Two of the most notable buildings in Old Town, occupied by prominent 20th-century residents, are the Ernest Hemingway House, where the writer lived from 1931 to 1939, and the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where the president spent 175 days of his time in office. Additionally, the residences of some historical Key West families are recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as important landmarks of history and culture, including the Porter House on Caroline Street and the Gato House on Virginia Street.
Several historical residences of the Curry family remain extant, including the Benjamin Curry House, built by the brother of Florida's first millionaire, William Curry, as well as the Southernmost House and the Fogarty Mansion, built by the children of William Curry—his daughter Florida and son Charles, respectively.
In addition to architecture, Old Town includes the Key West Cemetery, founded in 1847, containing above-ground tombs, notable epitaphs, and a plot where some of the dead from the 1898 explosion of USS Maine are buried.
==== Casa Marina ====
The Casa Marina area takes its name from the Casa Marina Hotel, opened in 1921, the neighborhood's most conspicuous landmark. The Reynolds Street Pier, Higgs Beach, the West Martello Tower, the White Street Pier, and Rest Beach line the waterfront.
==== Southernmost point in the United States ====
One of the most popular attractions on the island is a concrete replica of a buoy at the corner of South and Whitehead Streets that claims to be the southernmost point in the contiguous United States. The point was originally marked with a basic sign. The city of Key West erected the current monument in 1983. The monument was repainted after damage by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and is the most often photographed tourist site in the Florida Keys.
Although the monument is labeled "Southernmost point continental U.S.A.", the actual southernmost point of Key West is Whitehead Spit, which is on the Truman Annex property just west of the buoy. The spit has no marker since it is on U.S. Navy land that cannot be entered by civilian tourists. The private property directly to the east of the buoy, and the beach areas of Truman Annex and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, also lie farther south than the buoy. The southernmost point of the contiguous United States is Ballast Key, a privately owned island just south and west of Key West. The southernmost location that the public can visit is the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor park.
The monument states "90 Miles to Cuba", although Key West and Cuba are actually about 95 statute miles (153 kilometers; 83 nautical miles) apart at their closest points. Note that the distance from the monument to Havana is, however, about 90 nautical miles (104 statute miles; 167 kilometers).
==== Key West Library ====
The first public library was officially established in 1853, which was housed in the then-Masonic Temple on Simonston Street, near where the federal courthouse is today. At the time, the first library president was James Lock, with the librarian being William Delaney. At the time, the library collected held 1,200 volumes for residents to access.
In 1919, a hurricane destroyed the library. Key West residents moved the library to various locations across the island. The county took over and finally found a permanent location. The library's new location was found in 1959. It was built on Fleming Street, where it is still found today.
===== "Spoonbill" =====
In 1961, the Monroe County Library System sponsored a bookmobile, "Spoonbill", to service the entire Keys. By 1962, "Spoonbill" was making stops in ten different Keys, over one hundred miles (160 km), from Key Largo in the North to Key West in the South. Mrs. Barbara Banning was the driver-librarian, driving over 25,000 miles (40,000 km) in the first year and a half, circulating more than 28,000 titles.
On Mondays, the "Spoonbill" would be loaded with books in Key West and Banning and her assistant, or volunteer, would drive up to Key Largo, Tavernier, and Islamorada, stopping for an hour in each location; Wednesdays the "Spoonbill" made stops in Marathon, Big Pine, Little Torch, and Summerland.
On Thursdays, the "Spoonbill" would only travel twenty miles (32 km) from home base, making stops in Bay Point, Big Coppitt, and Gulf Rest. At Bay Point there was a popular children's story hour, servicing roughly three hundred school-age children and led by former kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ernest Hense.
===== Collection =====
The Key West Library has a collection of 70,000 items, including a letter from singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Dated from October 22, 1984, the letter expresses gratitude for the library in giving inspiration for the songs he would eventually write, and for the air conditioning. As of 2022, the Key West Library is a part of the Monroe County Public Library System.
=== Notable residences ===
==== Little White House ====
Several U.S. presidents have visited Key West with the first being Ulysses S. Grant in 1880, followed by Grover Cleveland in 1889, and William Howard Taft in 1912. Taft was the first president to use the first officer's quarters that would later be known as the Little White House. Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the Florida Keys many times, beginning in 1917.
Harry S. Truman visited Key West for a total of 175 days on 11 visits during his presidency and visited five times after he left office. His first visit was in 1946. The Little White House and Truman Annex take their names from his frequent and well-documented visits. The residence is also known as the Winter White House as Truman stayed there mostly in the winter months, and used it for official business such as the Truman Doctrine.
Dwight D. Eisenhower stayed at the Little White House following a heart attack in 1955. John F. Kennedy visited Key West in March 1961, and in November 1962, a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Jimmy Carter visited the Little White House twice with his family after he had left office, in 1996 and 2007.
==== Ernest Hemingway house ====
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway wrote part of A Farewell to Arms while living above the showroom of a Key West Ford dealership at 314 Simonton Street while awaiting delivery of a Ford Model A roadster purchased by the uncle of his wife Pauline in 1928.
Hardware store owner Charles Thompson introduced him to deep-sea fishing. Among the group who went fishing was Joe Russell (also known as Sloppy Joe). Some scholars believe Russell was the model for Freddy in To Have and Have Not. The group had nicknames for each other, and Hemingway wound up with "Papa".
Pauline's rich uncle Gus Pfeiffer bought the 907 Whitehead Street house in 1931 as a wedding present. The Hemingways installed a swimming pool for $20,000 in 1937–38 (equivalent to about $348,556 in 2024). The unexpectedly high cost prompted Hemingway to put a penny in the wet cement of the patio, saying, "Here, take the last penny I've got!" The penny is at the north end of the pool.
During his stay he wrote or worked on Death in the Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. He used Depression-era Key West as one of the locations in To Have and Have Not—his only novel with scenes that occur in the United States.
The six- or seven-toed polydactyl cats descended from Hemingway's original pet "Snowball" still live on the grounds and are cared for at the Hemingway House, despite complaints by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that they are not kept free from visitor contact. The Key West City Commission has exempted the house from a law prohibiting more than four domestic animals per household.
Pauline and Hemingway divorced in 1939; Hemingway only occasionally visited when returning from Havana until his suicide in 1961.
==== Tennessee Williams house ====
Tennessee Williams first became a regular visitor to Key West in 1941 and is said to have written the first draft of A Streetcar Named Desire while staying in 1947 at the La Concha Hotel. He bought a permanent house in 1949 and listed Key West as his primary residence until his death in 1983. In contrast to Hemingway's grand house in Old Town, the Williams home at 1431 Duncan Street in the "unfashionable" New Town neighborhood is a very modest bungalow. The house is privately owned and not open to the public. The Academy Award-winning film version of his play The Rose Tattoo was shot on the island in 1956. The Tennessee Williams Theatre is located on the campus of Florida Keys Community College on Stock Island.
Though Hemingway and Williams lived in Key West at the same time, they reportedly met only once—at Hemingway's home in Cuba, Finca Vigía.
=== Port of Key West ===
The first cruise ship to adopt the port was the Sunward in 1969. It docked at Pier B, which was owned at that time by the U.S. Navy.
In 1984, the city opened a cruise terminal at Mallory Square. The decision was met with opponents who claimed that it would disrupt the tradition of watching the sunset at Mallory Square.
Today, the Port of Key West includes Key West Bight, Garrison Bight at City Marina, as well as three docks that could be used by cruise ships.
== Climate ==
Key West has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw, similar to many of the Caribbean islands). Like most localities near the edge of the tropics, Key West has a relatively short range in monthly mean temperatures between the coldest month (January) and the hottest month (July), with the annual range of monthly mean temperatures around 15 °F (8.3 °C). The lowest recorded temperature in Key West is 41 °F (5 °C) on January 12, 1886, and January 13, 1981. Key West is located in USDA plant hardiness zone 12a, with an annual mean minimum temperature of 50 °F (10 °C).
Prevailing easterly trade winds and sea breezes suppress the usual summertime heating (while increasing the winter rainfall), with temperatures rarely reaching 95 °F (35 °C). There are 56 days per year with 90 °F (32 °C) or greater highs, with the average window for such readings June 8 through September 24, shorter than almost the entire southeastern U.S. Low temperatures often remain above 80 °F (27 °C), however. The all-time record high temperature is 97 °F (36 °C) on July 19, 1880, and August 29, 1956.
=== Wet and dry seasons ===
Like most tropical climates, Key West has a two-season wet and dry climate. The period from November through April is normally sunny and fairly dry, with only 25 percent of the annual rainfall occurring. May through October is normally the wet season. During the wet season some rain falls on most days, often as brief, but heavy tropical downpours, followed by intense sun. Early morning is the favored time for these showers, which is different from mainland Florida, where showers and thunderstorms usually occur in the afternoon.
Easterly (tropical) waves during this season occasionally bring excessive rainfall, while infrequent hurricanes may be accompanied by unusually heavy amounts. On average, rainfall markedly peaks between August and October; the single wettest month in Key West is September, when the threat from tropical weather systems (hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical depressions) is greatest. Key West is the driest city in Florida, averaging just over 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain per year. This is driven primarily by Key West's relative dryness in May, June and July. In mainland Florida peninsular areas like Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Fort Myers, June and July average monthly rainfalls typically reach 7 to 10 inches (180 to 250 mm), while Key West has only half such amounts over the same period.
=== Hurricanes ===
Key West, like the rest of the Florida Keys, is vulnerable to hurricanes. The most recent hurricane to impact Key West was Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in the Keys in the morning of September 10, 2017, as a Category 4 storm.
Some locals maintain that Hurricane Wilma on October 24, 2005, was the worst storm in memory. The entire island was told to evacuate and business owners were forced to shut their doors. After the hurricane had passed, the resulting storm surge sent eight feet (two meters) of water inland completely inundating a large portion of the lower Keys. Low-lying areas of Key West and the lower Keys, including major tourist destinations, were under as much as three feet (one meter) of water. Sixty percent of the homes in Key West were flooded. The higher parts of Old Town, such as the Solares Hill and cemetery areas, did not flood, because of their higher elevations of 12 to 18 feet (4 to 5 m). The surge destroyed tens of thousands of cars throughout the lower Keys, and many houses were flooded with one to two feet (thirty to sixty-one centimeters) of sea water. A local newspaper referred to Key West and the lower Keys as a "car graveyard". The peak of the storm surge occurred when the eye of Wilma had already passed over the Naples area, and the sustained winds during the surge were less than 40 mph (64 km/h; 35 kn). The storm destroyed the piers at the clothing-optional Atlantic Shores Motel and breached the shark tank at the Key West Aquarium, freeing its sharks. Damage postponed the island's famous Halloween Fantasy Fest until the following December. MTV's The Real World: Key West was filming during the hurricane and deals with the storm.
In September 2005, NOAA opened its National Weather Service forecast office building on White Street. The building is designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and its storm surge.
The most intense previous hurricane was Hurricane Georges, a Category 2, in September 1998. The storm damaged many of the houseboats along "Houseboat Row" on South Roosevelt Boulevard near Cow Key channel on the east side of the island.
See or edit raw graph data.
== Demographics ==
=== 2010 and 2020 census ===
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 26,444 people, 10,788 households, and 5,701 families residing in the city.
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 24,649 people, 9,388 households, and 4,813 families residing in the city.
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,478 people, 11,016 households, and 5,463 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,653.3/km2 (4,285.0/mi2). There are 13,306 housing units at an average density of 863.4/km2 (2,237.9/mi2). The racial makeup of the city was 84.94% White, 9.28% Black or African American, 0.39% Native American, 1.29% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.86% from other races, and 2.18% from two or more races. 16.54% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
In 2000, there were 10,501 households, out of which 19.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.7% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.4% were classified as non-families. Of all households, 31.4% were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.84.
In 2000, 16.0% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.4% was from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 122.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 126.0 males.
In 2000, the median income for a household was $43,021, and the median income for those classified as families was $50,895. Males had a median income of $30,967 versus $25,407 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,316. About 5.8% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over. The ancestries most reported in 2000 were English (12.4%), German (12.2%), Irish (11.3%), Italian (6.8%), American (6.0%) and French (3.6%).
The number of families (as defined by the US census bureau) declined dramatically in the last four decades of the 20th century. In 1960, there were 13,340 families in Key West, with 42.1% of households having children living in them. By 2000, the population had dwindled to 5,463 families, with only 19.9% of households having children living in them.
As of 2000, 76.66% spoke only English at home, while Spanish was spoken by 17.32%, 1.06% spoke Italian, 1.02% spoke French, and German was spoken as a by 0.94% of the population. In total, speakers of other languages spoken besides English made up 25.33% of residents.
=== "Conchs" ===
Many of the early residents of Key West were immigrants from the Bahamas, known as Conchs (pronounced "conks"'), who arrived in increasing numbers after 1830. Many were sons and daughters of Loyalists who fled to the nearest Crown soil during the American Revolution. In the 20th century many residents of Key West started referring to themselves as Conchs, and the term is now generally applied to all residents of Key West. Some residents use the term "Conch" (or, alternatively, "Saltwater Conch") to refer to a person born in Key West, while the term "Freshwater Conch" refers to a resident not born in Key West but who has lived in Key West for seven years or more. The true original meaning of Conch applies only to someone with European ancestry who immigrated from the Bahamas, however. It is said that when a baby was born, the family would put a conch shell on a pole in front of their home.
Many of the black Bahamian immigrants who arrived later lived in Bahama Village, an area of Old Town next to the Truman Annex.
=== Cuban presence ===
Key West is closer to Havana (106 miles or 171 kilometres) than it is to Miami (130 mi; 210 km). In 1890, Key West had a population of nearly 18,800 and was the biggest and richest city in Florida. Half the residents were said to be of Cuban origin, and Key West regularly had Cuban mayors, including the son of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, father of the Cuban Republic, who was elected mayor in 1876. Cubans were actively involved in reportedly 200 factories in town, producing 100 million cigars annually. José Martí made several visits to seek recruits for Cuban independence starting in 1891 and founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party during his visits to Key West.
Key West received a large number of refugees during the Mariel Boatlift. Refugees continue to come ashore and, on at least one occasion, most notably in April 2003, flew hijacked Cuban Airlines planes into the city's airport.
=== Culture and diversity ===
With a wide variety of cultures, including Conchs, Cuban refugees and British immigrants, Key West is one of the most culturally diverse cities in Florida. The city has become a place where artists, LGBT, and people from all backgrounds and lifestyles feel welcome, reflecting the city's motto of One Human Family. Key West has one of the largest gay pride communities, with gay-oriented hotels, bars, and two annual pride festivals.
== Government and politics ==
Key West is governed via a mayor-council system. The city council is known as the city commission. It consists of six members each elected from individual districts. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.
=== Mayors ===
Mayors of Key West have reflected the city's cultural and ethnic heritage. It has had mayors of Cuban ancestry and others that were openly gay. One mayor is famous for having water-skied to Cuba.
== Military presence ==
NAS Key West, Boca Chica and the Truman Annex have been the home of U.S. ships, submarines, Pegasus-class hydrofoils, Fighter Training Squadrons like the current VFC-111 "Sundowners", and Light Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons like the former VFP-62 "Fighting Photos" during the Cuban Missile Crisis. NAS Key West is still a training facility for US Naval Aviation personnel.
Key West has had a military presence since 1823, shortly after its purchase by Simonton in 1822. John W. Simonton lobbied the U.S. government to establish a naval base on Key West, both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the Key West town. On March 25, 1822, naval officer Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag claiming the Keys as United States property. In 1823, a naval base was established to protect shipping merchants in the lower keys from pirates that would eventually evolve through the Civil War, the Spanish American War, two world wars, and the Cold War as Naval Station Key West, eventually home to the Fleet Sonar School, Marine Barracks Key West, Submarine Squadron 4, Submarine Squadron 12, Destroyer Squadron 12, and various diesel-powered submarines and surface ships. NAVSTA Key West was closed in 1974 as part of post-Vietnam War force reductions across the Department of Defense. A portion of the original NAVSTA Key West still remains under Navy control as Naval Air Station Key West-Truman Annex while a portion containing Fort Zachary Taylor was conveyed to the State of Florida as Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. The Truman Little White House has also been preserved as a museum based on its history as a part-time residence of President Harry S. Truman during his presidency. The remainder of the original base was conveyed to civilian control for redevelopment and now comprises The Key West Amphitheater, Truman Waterfront Park, residential redevelopment consisting of both homes and condominiums, and a portion of Mallory Square.
Key West was always an important military post, since it sits at the northern edge of the deepwater channel connecting the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico (the southern edge 90 miles [140 km] away is Cuba) via the Florida Straits. Because of this, Key West since the 1820s had been dubbed the "Gibraltar of the West". Fort Taylor was initially built on the island. The Navy added a small base from which USS Maine sailed to its demise in Havana at the beginning of the Spanish–American War which later evolved into NAVSTA Key West.
=== Naval Air Station Key West ===
At the beginning of World War II the Navy increased its presence from 50 to 3,000 acres (20 to 1,214 hectares), including all of Boca Chica Key's 1,700 acres (690 ha) and the construction of Fleming Key from landfill. The Navy built the first water pipeline extending the length of the Keys, bringing fresh water from the mainland to supply its bases. At its peak 15,000 military personnel and 3,400 civilians were at the base. Included in the base are:
Naval Air Station Key West – This is the main facility on Boca Chica. The air station's primary purpose is readiness training for carrier-based strike fighter, electronic attack and carrier airborne early warning squadrons of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and U.S. Pacific Fleet, primarily via the Fleet Fighter Aircrew Readiness Program (FFARP), honing the skills of Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers in air combat training prior to overseas deployment. An additional squadron permanently based at NAS Key West, Fighter Composite Squadron 111 (VFC-111), is composed of both active duty and Navy Reserve pilots who fly F-5 Tiger II aircraft as simulated enemy aggressors in Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) for Fleet aircrews, primarily using the offshore Key West Tactical Air Crew Training System (TACTS) Range. Permanent party officer and enlisted personnel assigned to NAS Key West are primarily housed at the Navy's Sigsbee Park housing area eight miles to the west or in private housing on the local economy. In 2006 there were 1,650 active duty personnel; 2,507 family members; 35 Reserve members; and 1,312 civilians listed at the base. In the 1990s the Navy worked out an agreement with the National Park Service to eliminate sonic booms in the vicinity of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Many of the training missions are directed at the Marquesas "Patricia" Target 29 nautical miles (54 km) due west of the base. The target is a grounded ship hulk 306 feet (93 m) in length that is visible only at low tide. Bombs are not actually dropped on the target.
Truman Annex – The area next to Fort Taylor became a submarine pen and was used for the Fleet Sonar School. President Harry S. Truman was to make the commandant's house his winter White House. The Fort Taylor Annex was later renamed the Truman Annex. This portion has largely been decommissioned, with Fort Zachary Taylor conveyed to the State of Florida as a state park and the remainder turned over to private developers and the city of Key West. There are still a few military and U.S. government offices and facilities there, including the new NOAA Hurricane Forecasting Center and the military headquarters for Joint Interagency Task Force South, an element of U.S. Southern Command. The Navy still owns its piers.
Trumbo Point Annex – The docking area on what had been the railroad yard for Flagler's Overseas Railroad is now used by the Coast Guard as Coast Guard Sector Key West and Coast Guard Station Key West, to include being the homeport for several Coast Guard cutters. It is also home to the Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) for NAS Key West and contains additional married family military housing.
== Media ==
Key West is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale television market. It is served by rebroadcast transmitters in Key West and Marathon that repeat the Miami-Fort Lauderdale stations. Comcast provides cable television service. DirecTV and Dish Network provide Miami-Fort Lauderdale local stations and national channels.
The Key West area has 11 FM radio stations, 4 FM translators, and 2 am stations. WEOW 92.7 is the home of The Rude Girl & Molly Blue, a popular morning zoo duo; Bill Bravo is the afternoon host. SUN 99.5 has Hoebee and Miss Loretta in the p.m. drive. Island 106.9 FM is the only locally owned, independent FM station in Key West, featuring alternative rock music and community programs.
The Florida Keys Keynoter and the Key West Citizen are published locally and serve Key West and Monroe County. The Southernmost Flyer, a weekly publication printed in conjunction with the Citizen, is produced by the Public Affairs Department of Naval Air Station Key West and serves the local military community. Key West the Newspaper (known locally as The Blue Paper due to its colorful header) is a local weekly investigative newspaper, established in 1994 by Dennis Cooper, taken over in 2013 as a fully digital publication by Arnaud and Naja Girard.
In October 2022, TheKeys411.com launched KeyWestPlus.com, or KeyWest+, on Roku. The channel spotlights local musicians, people of interest, and lifestyle topics in Key West and The Florida Keys.
== Education ==
Monroe County School District operates public schools in Key West.
District-operated elementary schools serving the City of Key West include Poinciana Elementary School, which is located on the island of Key West, and Gerald Adams Elementary School, which is located on Stock Island. District-operated middle and high schools include Horace O'Bryant School, a former middle school that now operates as a K–8 school, and the Key West High School. All of Key West is zoned to Horace O'Bryant School for grades 6–8 and to Key West High School for grades 9–12. Sigsbee Charter School is a K–8 school, sanctioned by the District and serving predominantly military dependent children as well as children from the community at large. Admission to Sigsbee Charter School is limited and the waiting list is managed by a lottery system. Key West Montessori Charter School is a district-sanctioned charter school on Key West Island.
The main campus of the College of the Florida Keys (formerly Florida Keys Community College) is located in Key West.
== Notable people == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landlocked_country | Landlocked country | A landlocked country is a country that has no coastlines on the world ocean. Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked due to being surrounded by other landlocked nations (Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan), and three landlocked de facto states in the world, South Ossetia, Kosovo and Transnistria. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country by land area, Kyrgyzstan is the farthest landlocked country from any ocean, and Ethiopia is the world's most populous landlocked country.
Generally, being landlocked creates political and economic disadvantages that having access to international waters would avoid. For this reason, nations large and small throughout history have fought to gain access to open waters, even at great expense in wealth, bloodshed, and political capital.
The economic disadvantages of being landlocked can be alleviated or aggravated depending on degree of development, surrounding trade routes and freedom of trade, commonality of language, and other considerations. Some landlocked countries in Europe are affluent, such as Andorra, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino, Switzerland, and Vatican City, all of which, excluding Luxembourg (a founding member of NATO), frequently practice neutrality in global political issues.
However, 32 out of the 44 landlocked countries, including those in Africa, Asia, and South America, have been classified as Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) by the United Nations. Nine of the twelve countries with the lowest Human Development Index rankings are landlocked. International initiatives are aimed at reducing inequalities resulting from issues such as these, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10, which aims to reduce inequality substantially by 2030.
== History ==
In 1990, there were only 30 landlocked countries in the world. However, the dissolutions of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia; the breakup of Yugoslavia; the independence referendums of South Ossetia (de facto state), Eritrea, Montenegro, South Sudan, and the Luhansk People's Republic (de facto state); and the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo (de facto state) created 15 new landlocked countries and five landlocked de facto states while the former landlocked country of Czechoslovakia ceased to exist on 1 January 1993.
On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a new offensive against the Republic of Artsakh (de facto state) and achieved a decisive victory. The Government of Artsakh was officially dissolved on 1 January 2024. As a result, Artsakh ceased to exist as a landlocked de facto state and the Nagorno-Karabakh region was reintegrated into Azerbaijan.
As of 1 April 2024, there were 44 landlocked countries and three landlocked de facto states (Kosovo, South Ossetia, and Transnistria) in the world.
== Significance ==
Historically, being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a country's development. It cuts a nation off from important sea resources such as fishing, and impedes or prevents direct access to maritime trade, a crucial component of economic and social advance. As such, coastal regions, or inland regions that have access to the World Ocean, tended to be wealthier and more heavily populated than inland regions that have no access to the World Ocean. Paul Collier in his book The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographical neighbourhood is one of four major development "traps" by which a country can be held back. In general, he found that when a neighbouring country experiences better growth, it tends to spill over into favorable development for the country itself. For landlocked countries, the effect is particularly strong, as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world. He states, "If you are coastal, you serve the world; if you are landlocked, you serve your neighbors." Others have argued that being landlocked has an advantage as it creates a "natural tariff barrier" that protects the country from cheap imports. In some instances, this has led to more robust local food systems.
Landlocked developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries (in Asia the ratio is 3:1).
Historically, traveling between a landlocked country and a country which did not border said country required the traveler to pass border controls twice or more. In recent times the advent of air travel has largely negated this impediment.
=== Actions to avoid being landlocked ===
Countries have acted to overcome being landlocked by acquiring land that reaches the sea:
The Republic of Ragusa, in 1699, gave the town of Neum to the Ottoman Empire because it did not want to have a land border with the Republic of Venice. This small municipality was inherited by Bosnia and Herzegovina and now provides limited sea access, splitting the Croatian part of the Adriatic coast in two. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new country, railways and ports have not been built for its need. There is no freight port along its short coastline at Neum, making it effectively landlocked, although there are plans to change this. Instead, the Port of Ploče in Croatia is used.
The International Congo Society, which owned the territory now constituting the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was awarded a narrow piece of land cutting through Angola to connect it to the sea by the Conference of Berlin in 1885.
After World War I, in the Treaty of Versailles, a part of Germany designated "the Polish corridor" was given to the new Second Polish Republic, for access to the Baltic Sea. This gave Poland a short coastline, but without a large harbour. This was also the pretext for making Danzig (now Gdańsk) with its harbour the Free City of Danzig, to which Poland was given free access. However, the Germans placed obstacles to this free access, especially when it came to military material. In response, the small fishing harbour of Gdynia was soon greatly enlarged.
As a result of a 2005 territorial exchange with Ukraine, Moldova received a 600-metre (650-yard) long bank of the Danube (which is an international waterway), subsequently building its Port of Giurgiulești there.
=== Trade agreements ===
Countries can establish agreements to provide for free transport of goods through neighbouring countries:
The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to offer Czechoslovakia a lease for 99 years of parts of the ports in Hamburg and Stettin, allowing Czechoslovakia sea trade via the Elbe and Oder rivers. Stettin was annexed by Poland after World War II, but Hamburg continued the contract so that part of the port (now called Moldauhafen) until 2028 could be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic.
The Danube is an international waterway, and thus landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia and Slovakia have secure access to the Black Sea. However, oceangoing ships cannot use the Danube, so cargo must be transloaded anyway, and many overseas imports into Austria and Hungary use land transport from Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. A similar situation exists for the Rhine river where Switzerland has boat access, but not oceangoing ships. Luxembourg has such through the Moselle, but Liechtenstein has no boat access, even though it is located along the Rhine, as the Rhine is not navigable that far upstream.
The Mekong is an international waterway so that landlocked Laos has access to the South China Sea (since Laos became independent from French Indochina). However, it is not navigable above the Khone Phapheng Falls.
Free ports allow transshipment to short-distance ships or river vessels.
The TIR Convention allows sealed road transport without customs checks and charges, mostly in Europe.
=== Political repercussions ===
Losing access to the sea is generally a great loss to a nation, politically, militarily, and economically. The following are examples of countries becoming landlocked.
The independence of Eritrea, brought about by the 30-year Eritrean War of Independence, caused Ethiopia to become landlocked in 1991 (de facto)/1993 (de jure): the Ethiopian Navy operated from foreign ports in Djibouti and Yemen before being dissolved in 1996.
Montenegro's decision to abandon the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro caused the federal unit of Serbia to become a landlocked current independent state.
Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific and accepted it in treaties signed in 1884 and 1904. The last treaty gives port storage facilities and special treatment for the transit of goods from and to Bolivia through Chilean ports and territory. Peru and Argentina have also given special treatment for the transit of goods. A fluvial Bolivian Navy, which did not exist at the time of the War of the Pacific, was created later and both trains and operates in Lake Titicaca and rivers. The Bolivian people annually celebrate a patriotic "Dia del Mar" (Day of the Sea) to remember its territorial loss, which included both the coastal city of Antofagasta and what has proven to be one of the most significant and lucrative copper deposits in the world. Early in the 21st century, the selection of the route of gas pipes from Bolivia to the sea fueled popular uprisings, as people were against the option of laying the pipes through Chilean territory.
Austria and Hungary also lost their access to the sea as a consequence of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) and the Treaty of Trianon (1920) respectively. Previously, although Croatia had a limited constitutional autonomy within the Kingdom of Hungary, the City of Fiume/Rijeka on the Croatian coast was governed directly from Budapest by an appointed governor as a corpus separatum, to provide Hungary with its only international port in the periods 1779–1813, 1822–1848 and 1868–1918. The most important ports in Austria were Trieste and Pula, now in Italy and Croatia.
In 1801, the Nizam's dominion of Hyderabad State assumed its current borders as a landlocked princely state with territories in central Deccan, bounded on all sides by British India. For the preceding 150 years it had had a considerable coastline on the Bay of Bengal that was annexed by the British.
It is possible that one of the causes of the Paraguayan War was Paraguay's lack of direct ocean access (although this is disputed; see the linked article).
When the Entente Powers divided the former Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Sèvres at the close of World War I, Armenia was promised part of the Trebizond vilayet (roughly corresponding to the modern Trabzon and Rize provinces in Turkey). This would have given Armenia access to the Black Sea. However, the Sèvres treaty collapsed with the Turkish War of Independence and was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which firmly established Turkish rule over the area.
In 2011, South Sudan broke off from the Sudan, causing the former to become landlocked. There still remains conflict over the oil fields in South Sudan between the two countries.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea now gives a landlocked country a right of access to and from the sea without taxation of traffic through transit states. The United Nations has a programme of action to assist landlocked developing countries, and the current responsible Undersecretary-General is Anwarul Karim Chowdhury.
Some countries have a long coastline, but much of it may not be readily usable for trade and commerce. For instance, in its early history, Russia's only ports were on the Arctic Ocean and frozen shut for much of the year. The wish to gain control of a warm-water port was a major motivator of Russian expansion towards the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, some landlocked countries can have access to the ocean along wide navigable rivers. For instance, Paraguay (and Bolivia to a lesser extent) have access to the ocean through the Paraguay and Paraná rivers.
Several countries have coastlines on landlocked bodies of water, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. Since these seas are in effect lakes without access to wider seaborne trade, countries such as Kazakhstan are still considered landlocked. Although the Caspian Sea is connected to the Black Sea via the man-made Volga–Don Canal, large oceangoing ships are unable to traverse it.
Some countries or important parts of countries have coastlines or river ports reachable by oceangoing ships, but only through a strait or river part of the territory of another country. The other country can put restriction on passage. Between 1429 and 1857 Poland, Sweden, Russia and other Baltic countries were subjected to the Sound Dues, a toll needed to be paid to reach Western European waters. Sweden bypassed it by conquering Scania in 1658.
The landlocked nature of a country can also hinder its ability to enforce international treaties. For example, Mongolia did not enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued at Vladimir Putin during his state visit, despite its obligation to do so as an International Criminal Court state party; Mongolia is landlocked and only borders Russia and China (both of whom are not ICC parties and are important economic partners with the country), which would make the delivery of Putin to the ICC headquarters in The Hague after his hypothetical arrest extremely difficult.
== By degree ==
Landlocked countries may be bordered by a single country having direct access to the high seas, two or more such countries, or be surrounded by other landlocked countries, making a country doubly landlocked.
=== Landlocked by a single country ===
Three countries are landlocked by a single country (enclaved countries):
Lesotho, a state surrounded by South Africa.
San Marino, a state surrounded by Italy.
Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Italy, specifically Rome.
=== Landlocked by two countries ===
Seven landlocked countries are surrounded by only two mutually bordering neighbours (semi-enclaved countries):
Andorra (between France and Spain)
Bhutan (between China and India)
Eswatini (between Mozambique and South Africa)
Liechtenstein (between Austria and Switzerland), and is one of the only two "doubly landlocked countries" in the world
Moldova (between Romania and Ukraine) – ignoring Transnistria, a de facto state
Mongolia (between China and Russia)
Nepal (between China and India)
To this group could be added three landlocked territories, two of them de facto states with limited or no international recognition:
Transnistria (between Moldova and Ukraine) – de facto state
South Ossetia (between Georgia and Russia) – de facto state
West Bank (between Israel and Jordan) – Israeli-occupied territory partly administered by the State of Palestine
=== Doubly landlocked ===
A country is "doubly landlocked" or "double-landlocked" when it is surrounded entirely by landlocked countries (i.e. requiring the crossing of at least two national borders to reach a coastline). There are two such countries:
Liechtenstein in Western Europe, surrounded by Austria and Switzerland.
Uzbekistan in Central Asia, surrounded by Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Württemberg became a doubly landlocked state, bordering Bavaria, Baden, Switzerland, the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Wimpfen exclave), Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The latter two were themselves landlocked between each other, Württemberg, and Baden. In 1866 they became an exclave of Prussia, giving Württemberg a border with a coastal country but any path to a coast would still lead across at least two borders. The Free City of Frankfurt which was independent between 1815 and 1866 was doubly landlocked as it bordered the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Hesse-Homburg, and Nassau. In the German Confederation there were several other landlocked states that only bordered landlocked states and landlocked exclaves of coastal states: the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Hesse-Homburg, Nassau (all until 1866), Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Saxe-Hildburghausen (both until 1826), and Reuss, elder line (until 1871). All of these bordered Prussia but not the main territory with sea access.
There were no doubly landlocked countries from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the end of World War I. Liechtenstein bordered the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had an Adriatic coastline, and Uzbekistan was then part of the Russian Empire, which had both ocean and sea access.
With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and creation of an independent, landlocked Austria, Liechtenstein became the sole doubly landlocked country until 1938. In the Anschluss that year, Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany, which possessed a border on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. After World War II, Austria regained its independence and Liechtenstein once again became doubly landlocked.
Uzbekistan, which had been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, gained its independence with the dissolution of the latter in 1991 and became the second doubly landlocked country.
However, Uzbekistan's doubly landlocked status depends on whether the Caspian Sea is considered a lake or a sea. In the latter case, Uzbekistan is not doubly landlocked, since its neighbors Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have access to the Caspian Sea.
== List of landlocked countries and landlocked de facto states ==
North America and Oceania have no landlocked countries.
Notes:
a Has a coastline on the inland saltwater Caspian Sea
b De facto state
c Landlocked by a single country
d Doubly landlocked country
=== Groupings ===
The landlocked countries and de facto states can be grouped in contiguous groups as follows:
Eastern, Middle, and Western African cluster (10): Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda
Eastern, Southern, and Western European cluster (9): Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Switzerland
Central and Southern Asian cluster (6): Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
Eastern and Southern African cluster (4): Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Eastern European group (2): Moldova and Transnistria (de facto state)
South American group (2): Bolivia and Paraguay
Western Asian group (2): Armenia and Azerbaijan
Notes:
If it were not for the 40 km (25 mi) of coastline at Moanda, DR Congo would join the two African clusters into one, making it the biggest contiguous cluster in the world instead.
The Central and Southern Asian cluster and the Western Asian group can be considered contiguous, joined by the landlocked Caspian Sea. Mongolia is almost a part of this cluster too, being separated from Kazakhstan by only 30 km (19 mi), across Chinese or Russian territory.
Before the annexation of Sikkim by India, the Himalayan states of Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim formed their own Southern Asian group.
=== "Single" landlocked countries ===
There are the following 12 "single" landlocked countries (each of them borders no other landlocked country):
Asia (4): Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, and Nepal
Europe (6): Andorra, Belarus, Luxembourg, Moldova, San Marino, and Vatican City (the Holy See)
Africa (2): Eswatini and Lesotho
== Landlocked countries by continent ==
According to the United Nations geoscheme (excluding the de facto states), Africa has the most landlocked countries, at 16, followed by Europe (14), Asia (12), and South America (2). However, if Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and South Ossetia (de facto state) are counted as parts of Europe, then Europe has the most landlocked countries, at 20 (including all three landlocked de facto states). If these transcontinental or culturally European countries are included in Asia, then both Africa and Europe (including Kosovo and Transnistria) have the most, at 16. Depending on the status of Kazakhstan and the South Caucasian countries, Asia has between 9 and 13 (including South Ossetia). South America only has two landlocked countries: Bolivia and Paraguay.
Australia and North America have no landlocked countries, while Antarctica has no countries at all. Oceania (which is usually not considered a continent but a geographical region by the English-speaking countries) also has no landlocked countries.
All landlocked countries, except Bolivia and Paraguay, are located on the continental mainland of Afro-Eurasia. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennebec_County,_Maine | Kennebec County, Maine | Kennebec County is a county located in the South-central portion of the U.S. state of Maine. At the 2020 census, the population was 123,642. Its county seat is Augusta, the state's capital. The county was established on February 20, 1799, from portions of Cumberland and Lincoln Counties. The name "Kennebec" comes from the Eastern Abenaki /kínipekʷ/, meaning "large body of still water, large bay".
Kennebec County comprises the Augusta–Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area.
In 2010, the center of population of Maine was in Kennebec County, in the city of Augusta.
== Geography ==
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 951 square miles (2,460 km2), of which 868 square miles (2,250 km2) is land and 84 square miles (220 km2) (8.8%) is water.
The county is nearly bisected by the Kennebec River, which also forms parts of the county line in the north and south of the county. The county is also dotted by many lakes and ponds, as well as the Kennebec Highlands in the northwest part of the county.
=== Adjacent counties ===
Somerset County – north
Waldo County – east
Sagadahoc County – south
Lincoln County – south
Androscoggin County – southwest
Franklin County – northwest
=== Major highways ===
I-95
I-295
US 201
US 202
SR 8
SR 9
SR 11
SR 17
SR 23
SR 27
SR 32
SR 41
SR 100
SR 104
SR 105
SR 126
SR 132
SR 133
SR 135
SR 139
SR 194
SR 197
SR 226
== Demographics ==
=== 2020 census ===
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 123,642. Of the residents, 18.8% were under the age of 18 and 21.1% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 44.9 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.9 males. 37.8% of residents lived in urban areas and 62.2% lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 91.9% White, 0.7% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.7% from some other race, and 5.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.1% of the population.
There were 53,223 households in the county, of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 26.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 62,607 housing units, of which 15.0% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 70.6% were owner-occupied and 29.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.0%.
=== 2010 census ===
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 122,151 people, 51,128 households, and 32,368 families living in the county. The population density was 140.8 inhabitants per square mile (54.4/km2). There were 60,972 housing units at an average density of 70.3 units per square mile (27.1 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was % from other races, and % from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up % of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.2% were English, 17.0% were Irish, 8.3% were German, 7.7% were French Canadian, 5.7% were American, and 5.4% were Scottish.
The median income for a household in the county was $45,973 and the median income for a family was $56,853. Males had a median income of $42,176 versus $32,471 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,656. About 7.8% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.9% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 117,114 people, 47,683 households, and 31,327 families living in the county. The population density was 135 people per square mile (52 people/km2). There were 56,364 housing units at an average density of 65 per square mile (25/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 97.45% White, 0.34% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 20.6% were of English, 17.4% French, 13.4% French Canadian, 10.9% United States or American and 9.9% Irish ancestry. 92.5% spoke only English at home, while 5.48% spoke French.
There were 47,683 households, out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.60% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.30% were non-families. 27.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.80% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 28.60% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 14.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $36,498, and the median income for a family was $43,814. Males had a median income of $32,279 versus $24,032 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,520. About 8.50% of families and 11.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.20% of those under age 18 and 10.20% of those age 65 or over.
== Micropolitan statistical area ==
Kennebec County has been designated as the Augusta–Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA) by the United States Office of Management and Budget. As of the 2010 U.S. census the micropolitan area ranked the most populous in the State of Maine and also the only micropolitan area within the state. The area also ranks 14th most populous in the United States with a population of 125,540 as of July 2022.
== Economy ==
Kennebec County's economy has traditionally been industrial. A large amount of paper and textiles were produced, and mills sprung up along the Kennebec river. The median household income is $36,498. The unemployment rate is 4.2%.
== Education ==
There are three colleges: Colby College and Thomas College (both in Waterville), and the University of Maine at Augusta. There are 19 school districts (however, 4 are consolidated ones). In China, there is no public high school, but a private school (Erskine Academy) exists, and the town pays for students' tuition if they choose to attend. Students from Vassalboro can pick from one of four school districts (Cony in Augusta, Erskine, Winslow, or Waterville). However, many towns have local public high schools.
K-12 school districts include:
There is also the Kennebec Unorganized Territory. Unorganized territory is not in any municipality. The Maine Department of Education takes responsibility for coordinating school assignments in the unorganized territory. The state assigns the "Unity Township" area in Kennebec County to Unity School, Mount View Middle School, and Mount View High School of Regional School Unit 3 of Unity, Waldo County.
== Politics ==
Kennebec County is the only county in Maine that is split between Maine's two congressional districts. The larger, southern portion of the county is in the 1st Congressional District, while the northern, smaller portion is in the 2nd Congressional District. While the more rural areas support the Republican Party, the urban areas are strongly Democratic.
Historically, the county was more Democratic-leaning than the rest of the state in presidential elections. Kennebec County had consistently voted for Democrats in recent elections, until 2016 when it voted for Republican Donald Trump, the first time it had voted Republican since 1988. The county voted for Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 even as Republican Wendell Willkie narrowly carried Maine, and it voted for Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976 as Republican Gerald Ford also narrowly won the state. In more recent elections, the county voted in-line with the state, voting for the statewide winner in every election from 1980 to 2012. In 2020, it was the closest county in the state, with Democrat Joe Biden defeating Trump by just 181 votes. Kennebec swung back into the Republican column in 2024, with Trump carrying the county this time with a full majority.
=== Voter registration ===
== Communities ==
=== Cities ===
Augusta (county seat)
Gardiner
Hallowell
Waterville
=== Towns ===
=== Unorganized territory ===
Unity
=== Census-designated places ===
Clinton
Farmingdale
Oakland
Winthrop
=== Other unincorporated villages ===
China Village
East Vassalboro
East Winthrop
Libby Hill
North Monmouth
North Vassalboro
South China |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife | Tenerife | Tenerife ( TEN-ə-REEF-(ay); Spanish: [teneˈɾife] ; formerly spelled Teneriffe) is the largest and most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of 2,034.38 km2 (785.48 mi2) and a population of 972,018 inhabitants as of January 2026, it is the most-populous island in Spain and the entire Macaronesia region. Tenerife is also home to 42.7% of the total population of the archipelago.
More than seven million tourists (7,384,707 in 2024) visit Tenerife each year, making it by far the most visited island in the archipelago. It is one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and the world, hosting one of the world's largest carnivals, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The capital of the island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is also the seat of the island council (cabildo insular). The city and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria are the co-capitals of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The two cities are both home to governmental institutions, such as the offices of the presidency and the ministries. After the 1833 territorial division of Spain, Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927, the Crown established the current co-capital arrangement. Santa Cruz contains the modern Auditorio de Tenerife, the architectural symbol of the Canary Islands.
The island is home to the University of La Laguna. Founded in 1792 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, it is the oldest university in the Canaries. The city of La Laguna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the second-most populous city on the island, and the third-most populous in the archipelago. It was the capital of the Canary Islands before Santa Cruz replaced it in 1833. Tenerife is served by two airports: Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport.
Teide National Park, located in the center of the island, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It includes Mount Teide, which has the highest elevation in Spain, and the highest elevation among all the islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the third-largest volcano in the world when measured from its base. Another geographical feature of the island, the Macizo de Anaga (massif), has been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2015. Tenerife also has the largest number of endemic species in Europe.
== Toponymy ==
The name 'Tenerife' likely comes from Tamazight, but there is no consensus on its correct interpretation.
The island's indigenous people, the Guanche Berbers, referred to the island as Achinet or Chenet in their language (variant spellings are found in the literature). Berber king Juba II and the ancient Romans called the island of Tenerife Nivaria, from the Latin word nix (nsg.; gsg. nivis, npl. nives), meaning "snow", after the snow-covered peak of the Mount Teide volcano. Later maps dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, drawn by mapmakers such as Bontier and Le Verrier, called the island Isla del Infierno, ("Hell Island"), due to Mount Teide's volcanic eruptions and other volcanic activity.
Although the name given to the island by the Benahoaritas (the indigenous peoples of La Palma) was derived from the words teni ("mountain") and ife ("white"), after the island was colonized by the Spanish, the name was modified by Spanish phonology: the letter "r" was added to link the two words, producing the single word Tenerife.
Throughout history, though, other explanations for the origin of island's name have been proposed. For example, 17th-century historians Juan Núñez de la Peña and Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas, among others, suggested that the indigenous peoples might have named the island for the famous Guanche king, Tinerfe, nicknamed "the Great", who ruled Tenerife before the conquest of the Canary Islands by Castile.
== Demonym ==
The formal demonym used to refer to the people of Tenerife is Tinerfeño/a; also used colloquially is the term chicharrero/a. In modern society, the latter term is generally applied only to inhabitants of the capital, Santa Cruz. The term chicharrero was once a derogatory term used by the people of La Laguna when it was the capital, to refer to the poorer inhabitants and fishermen of Santa Cruz. The fishermen typically caught mackerel and other residents ate potatoes, assumed to be of low quality by the elite of La Laguna. As Santa Cruz grew in commerce and status, it replaced La Laguna as capital of Tenerife in 1833 during the reign of Fernando VII. Then, the inhabitants of Santa Cruz used the former insult to identify as residents of the new capital, at La Laguna's expense.
== History ==
The earliest known human settlement in the islands, dating to around 200 BC, was established by Berbers known as the Guanches, but the Cave of the Guanches in the northern municipality of Icod de los Vinos has provided the oldest chronologies of the Canary Islands, with dates around the sixth century BC.
In terms of technology, the Guanches can be placed among the peoples of the Stone Age, although scholars often reject this classification because of its ambiguity. Guanche culture was more advanced culturally, possibly because of Berber cultural features imported from North Africa, but less technologically advanced due to the scarcity of raw materials, especially minerals that would have allowed for the extraction and working of metals. The main activity was gathering food from nature, though fishing and shellfish collection were supplemented with some agricultural practices.
As for religion and cosmology, the Guanches were polytheistic, with further widespread belief in an astral cult. They also had an animistic religiosity that sacralized certain places, mainly rocks and mountains. Although the Guanches worshiped many gods and ancestral spirits, among the most important were Achamán (the god of the sky and supreme creator), Chaxiraxi (the mother goddess, identified later with the Virgin of Candelaria), Magec (the god of the sun), and Guayota (the demon who is the main cause of evil). Especially significant was the cult of the dead, which practiced the mummification of corpses. In addition, small anthropomorphic and zoomorphic stone and clay figurines of the kind typically associated with rituals have been found on the island. Scholars believe they were used as idols, the most prominent of which is the so-called Idol of Guatimac, which is thought to represent a genius or protective spirit.
=== Territorial organisation before the conquest (the Guanches) ===
The title of mencey was given to the monarch or king of the Guanches of Tenerife, who governed a menceyato or kingdom. This role was later referred to as a "captainship" by the conquerors. Tinerfe "the Great", son of the mencey Sunta, governed the island from Adeje in the south. Upon his death, though, his nine children rebelled and argued bitterly about how to divide the island.
Two independent achimenceyatos were created on the island, and the island was divided into nine menceyatos. The menceyes within them formed what were similar to municipalities today. The menceyatos and their menceyes (ordered by the names of descendants of Tinerfe who ruled them) were the following:
Taoro. Menceyes: Bentinerfe, Inmobach, Bencomo and Bentor. Today it includes Puerto de la Cruz, La Orotava, La Victoria de Acentejo, La Matanza de Acentejo, Los Realejos and Santa Úrsula.
Güímar. Menceyes: Acaymo, Añaterve and Guetón. Today this territory is made up of El Rosario, Candelaria, Arafo and Güímar
Abona. Menceyes: Atguaxoña and Adxoña (Adjona). Today it includes Fasnia, Arico, Granadilla de Abona, San Miguel de Abona and Arona.
Anaga. Menceyes: Beneharo and Beneharo II. Today this territory spans the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
Tegueste. Menceyes: Tegueste, Tegueste II and Teguaco. Today this territory is made up of Tegueste, part of the coastal zone of La Laguna.
Tacoronte: Menceyes: Rumén and Acaymo. Today this territory is made up of Tacoronte and El Sauzal
Icode. Menceyes: Chincanayro and Pelicar. Today this territory is made up of San Juan de la Rambla, La Guancha, Garachico and Icod de los Vinos.
Daute. Menceyes: Cocanaymo and Romen. Today this territory is occupied by El Tanque, Los Silos, Buenavista del Norte and Santiago del Teide.
Adeje. Menceyes. Atbitocazpe, Pelinor and Ichasagua. It included what today are the municipalities of Guía de Isora, Adeje and Vilaflor
The achimenceyato of Punta del Hidalgo was governed by Aguahuco, a "poor noble" who was an illegitimate son of Tinerfe and Zebenzui.
=== Castilian conquest ===
Tenerife was the last island of the Canaries to be conquered and the one that took the longest time to submit to the Castilian troops. Although the traditional dates of the conquest of Tenerife are established between 1494 (landing of Alonso Fernández de Lugo) and 1496 (the complete conquest of the island), attempts to annex the island of Tenerife to the Crown of Castile date back at least to 1464.
In 1464, Diego Garcia de Herrera, Lord of the Canary Islands, took symbolic possession of the island in the Barranco del Bufadero (Ravine of the Bufadero), signing a peace treaty with the Guanche chiefs (menceyes) which allowed the mencey Anaga to build a fortified tower on Guanche land, where the Guanches and the Spanish held periodic treaty talks until the Guanches demolished it around 1472.
In 1492 the governor of Gran Canaria Francisco Maldonado organized a raid that ended in disaster for the Spaniards when they were defeated by Anaga's warriors. In December 1493, the Catholic monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, granted Alonso Fernández de Lugo the right to conquer Tenerife. Coming from Gran Canaria in April 1494, the conqueror landed on the coast of present-day Santa Cruz de Tenerife in May, and disembarked with about 2,000 men on foot and 200 on horseback. After taking the fort, the army prepared to move inland, later capturing the native kings of Tenerife and presenting them to Isabella and Ferdinand.
The menceyes of Tenerife had differing responses to the conquest. They divided into the side of peace (Spanish: bando de paz) and the side of war (Spanish: bando de guerra). The first included the menceyatos of Anaga, Güímar, Abona and Adeje. The second group consisted of the people of Tegueste, Tacoronte, Taoro, Icoden and Daute. Those opposed to the conquest fought the invaders tenaciously, resisting their rule for two years. Castillian forces under the Adelantado ("military governor") de Lugo suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Guanches in the First Battle of Acentejo on 31 May 1494, but defeated them at the Second Battle of Acentejo on 25 December 1494. The Guanches were eventually overcome by superior technology and the arms of the invaders, and surrendered to the Crown of Castile in 1496.
=== Spanish rule ===
Many of the natives died from new infectious diseases, such as influenza and probably smallpox, to which they lacked resistance or acquired immunity. The new colonists intermarried with the local native population. For a century after the conquest, many new colonists settled on the island, including immigrants from the diverse territories of the growing Spanish Empire, such as Flanders, Italy, and Germany.
As the population grew, it cleared Tenerife's pine forests for fuel and to make fields for agriculture for crops both for local consumption and for export. Sugar cane was introduced in the 1520s as a commodity crop on major plantations; it was a labor-intensive crop in all phases of cultivation and processing. In the following centuries, planters cultivated wine grapes, cochineal for making dyes, and plantains for use and export.
=== Trade with the Americas ===
In the commerce of the Canary Islands with the Americas of the 18th century, Tenerife was the hegemonic island, since it exceeded 50% of the number of ships and 60% of the tonnage. In the islands of La Palma and Gran Canaria, the percentage was around 19% for the first and 7% for the second. The volume of traffic between the Indies and the Canary Islands was unknown, but was very important and concentrated almost exclusively in Tenerife.
Among the products that are exported were cochineal, rum and sugar cane, which were landed mainly in the ports of the Americas such as La Guaira, Havana, Campeche and Veracruz. Many sailors from Tenerife joined this transcontinental maritime trade, among which the corsair Amaro Rodríguez Felipe, more commonly known as Amaro Pargo, Juan Pedro Dujardín and Bernardo de Espinosa, both companions of Amaro Pargo, among others.
=== Emigration to the Americas ===
Tenerife, like the other islands, has maintained a close relationship with Latin America, as both were part of the Spanish Empire. From the start of the colonization of the New World, many Spanish expeditions stopped at the island for supplies on their way to the Americas. They also recruited many tinerfeños for their crews, who formed an integral part of the conquest expeditions. Others joined ships in search of better prospects. It is also important to note the exchange in plant and animal species that made those voyages.
After a century and a half of relative growth, based on the grape growing sector, numerous families emigrated, especially to Venezuela and Cuba. The Crown wanted to encourage population of underdeveloped zones in the Americas to pre-empt the occupation by foreign forces, as had happened with the English in Jamaica and the French in the Guianas and western Hispaniola (which the French renamed as Saint-Domingue). Canary Islanders, including many tinerfeños, left for the New World.
The success in cultivation of new crops of the Americas, such as cocoa in Venezuela and tobacco in Cuba, contributed to the population exodus from towns such as Buenavista del Norte, Vilaflor, or El Sauzal in the late 17th century. The village of San Carlos de Tenerife was founded in 1684 by Canary Islanders on Santo Domingo. The people from Tenerife were recruited for settlement to build up the town from encroachment by French colonists established in the western side of Hispaniola. Between 1720 and 1730, the Crown moved 176 families, including many tinerfeños, to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. In 1726, about 25 island families migrated to the Americas to collaborate on the foundation of Montevideo. Four years later, in 1730, another group left that founded San Antonio the following year in what became Texas. Between 1777 and 1783, more islanders emigrated from Santa Cruz de Tenerife to settle in what became St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, during the period when Spain ruled this former French territory west of the Mississippi River. Some groups went to Western or Spanish Florida.
Tenerife saw the arrival of the First Fleet to Botany Bay in June 1787, which consisted of 11 ships that departed from Portsmouth, England, on 13 May 1787 to found the penal colony that became the first European settlement in Australia. The Fleet consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict ships carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 convicts, marines, seamen, civil officers and free people (accounts differ on the numbers), and a vast quantity of stores. On 3 June 1787, the fleet anchored at Santa Cruz at Tenerife. Here, fresh water, vegetables and meat were brought on board. Commander of the fleet, Capt. Arthur Phillip and the chief officers were entertained by the local governor, while one convict tried unsuccessfully to escape. On 10 June they set sail to cross the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro, taking advantage of favourable trade winds and ocean currents.
In June 1799, the Prussian-born naturalist Alexander von Humboldt spent five full days on Tenerife on the first leg of his soon world-famous American journey (1799–1804) and climbed the Pico del Teide.
Emigration to the Americas (mainly Cuba and Venezuela) continued during the 19th and early 20th century, due to the lack of economic opportunity and the relative isolation of the Canary Islands. Since the late 20th century, island protectionist economic laws and a strong development in the tourism industry have strengthened the economy and attracted new migrants. Tenerife has received numerous new residents, including the "return" of many descendants of some islanders who had departed five centuries before.
=== Military history ===
The most notable conflict was the British invasion of Tenerife in 1797. On 25 July 1797, Admiral Horatio Nelson launched an attack at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, now the capital of the island. After a ferocious fight which resulted in many casualties, General Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana organized a defense to repel the invaders. Whilst leading a landing party, Nelson was seriously wounded in his right arm by grapeshot or a musket ball, necessitating amputation of most of the arm. Legend tells that he was wounded by the Spanish cannon Tiger (Spanish: Tigre) as he was trying to disembark on the Paso Alto coast.
On 5 September 1797, the British attempted another attack in the Puerto Santiago region, which was repelled by the inhabitants of Santiago del Teide. Some threw rocks at the British from the heights of the cliffs of Los Gigantes.
The island was also attacked by British commanders Robert Blake, Walter Raleigh, John Hawkins and Woodes Rogers.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife was, especially during the first half of the 18th century, the most important corsair center in the Macaronesian region. The recent discovery of abundant documentary evidence of significant corsair activity, carried out primarily by natives, residents, and those living on the island, confirms this fact. At the same time, the numerous pirate ships that frequented the Canary Islands waters used landing places along its coast. Such was the case of Valle de Salazar or San Andrés, which had acquired a reputation as a "pirate port" until the construction of its castle or defensive tower.
=== Modern history ===
From 1833 to 1927, Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927, the government ordered that the capital be shared with Las Palmas, as it remains at present. This change in status has encouraged development in Las Palmas.
Tourists began visiting Tenerife from Spain, the United Kingdom, and northern Europe in large numbers in the 1890s. They especially were attracted to the destinations of the northern towns of Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Independent shipping business, such as the Yeoward Brothers Shipping Line, helped boost the tourist industry during this time, adding to ships that carried passengers. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt ascended the peak of Mount Teide and remarked on the beauty of the island.
Before his rise to power, Francisco Franco was posted to Tenerife in March 1936 by a Republican government wary of his influence and political leanings. However, Franco received information and in Gran Canaria agreed to collaborate in the military coup that would result in the Spanish Civil War; the Canaries fell to the Nationalists in July 1936. In the 1950s, the misery of the post-war years caused thousands of the island's inhabitants to emigrate to Cuba and other parts of Latin America.
Tenerife was the site of the deadliest accident ever in commercial aviation. The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on 27 March 1977 when two Boeing 747s, KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport in heavy fog conditions, causing the deaths of 583 passengers and crew. A few years later, Dan Air Flight 1008 crashed into a mountain while on approach to Tenerife North, killing 146 people. The plane was travelling too close to an Iberia Air turboprop plane and was asked to go into a holding pattern.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the so-called Tenerife flood of 2002 took place on 31 March of that year. It was a phenomenon of cold drop characterized by the repeated fall of torrential rains accompanied by thunder and lightning, affecting the Santa Cruz de Tenerife metropolitan area and extending in the NE direction towards the San Andrés area. The rains caused 8 dead, 12 missing and dozens of injured. In addition to the human losses, the flood caused considerable material damage, 70,000 people without light as well as the total or partial destruction of at least 400 homes. The losses were calculated at 90 million euros.
In November 2005, Tenerife was the Canary Island most affected by Tropical Storm Delta. Winds of 140 km/h were recorded on the coast and almost 250 km/h on the Teide, Tenerife's summit.
== Geography ==
The oldest mountain ranges in Tenerife rose from the Atlantic Ocean by volcanic eruption which gave birth to the island around twelve million years ago. The island as it is today was formed three million years ago by the fusion of three islands made up of the mountain ranges of Anaga, Teno and Valle de San Lorenzo, due to volcanic activity from Teide. The volcano is visible from most parts of the island today, and the crater is 17 kilometres (11 miles) long at some points. Tenerife is the largest island of the Canary Islands and the Macaronesia region.
=== Climate ===
Tenerife is characterized by a generally dry, warm climate. The island has two main different climatic areas, as by Köppen climate classification).
The main climates are the hot semi-arid/arid climate (Köppen: BSh and BWh) and the subtropical Mediterranean Climate (Köppen: Csb and Csa) inland or at higher altitudes. The low altitude/coastal areas of the island have average temperatures of 18–20 °C (64–68 °F) in the winter months and 24–26 °C (75–79 °F) in the summer months. There is a high annual total of days of sunshine and low precipitation in the coastal areas. The inland/high altitude areas, such as La Laguna, are wetter, cloudier and cooler, with an average of 13–14 °C (55–57 °F) in the winter and 20–21 °C (68–70 °F) in the summer. The moderate climate of Tenerife is controlled to a great extent by the trade winds, whose humidity is condensed principally over the north and northeast of the island, creating cloud banks that range between 600 and 1,800 metres (2,000 and 5,900 feet) in height. The cold sea currents of the Canary Islands also have a cooling effect on the coasts and its beaches, while the topography of the landscape plays a role in climatic differences on the island with its many valleys. The moderating effect of the marine air makes extreme heat a rare occurrence and frost an impossibility at sea level. The lowest recorded temperature in central Santa Cruz is 8.1 °C (46.6 °F), the coldest month on record still had a relatively mild average temperature of 15.8 °C (60.4 °F). Summer temperatures are highest in August, with an average high of 29 °C (84 °F) in Santa Cruz, similar to those of places as far north as Barcelona and Mallorca, because of the greater maritime influence. At a higher elevation in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the climate transitions to a Mediterranean climate with higher precipitation amounts and lower temperatures year round. The climate of Santa Cruz is very typical of the Canaries, albeit only slightly warmer than the climate of Las Palmas.
Major climatic contrasts on the island are evident, especially during the winter months when it is possible to enjoy the warm sunshine on the coast and experience snow within 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level on Teide. There are also major contrasts at low altitude, where the climate ranges from arid (Köppen BWh) on the southeastern side represented by Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Mediterranean (Csa/Csb) on the northwestern side in Buenavista del Norte and La Orotava.
The north and south of Tenerife similarly have different climatic characteristics because of the rain shadow effect. The windward northwestern side of the island is wetter, receiving 73 per cent of all precipitation on the island, and the relative humidity of the air is superior and the insolation inferior. The greatest rainfall measurements are registered on the windward side between 1,000 and 1,200 metres (3,300 and 3,900 feet), almost exclusively in the La Orotava mountain range. Although climatic differences in rainfall and sunshine on the island exist, overall annual precipitation is low and the summer months from May to September are normally completely dry. Rainfall, similar to that of Southern California, can also be extremely erratic from one year to another.
The centre of the island is characterized by forests because of the much higher precipitation, mostly Canary Island pine forests in the Teide National Park at altitudes from 1,300 to 2,100 metres (4,300 to 6,900 ft). Subtropical cloud forests characterised by laurisilva are commonly found in the Anaga Rural Park and Monte de Agua in the Teno Rural Park, with altitudes from 600 to 1,000 metres (2,000 to 3,300 ft) and annual averages from 15 to 19 °C (59 to 66 °F) and 600 to 1,200 metres (2,000 to 3,900 ft) in the latter.
Global climate change has had a major impact on the island, with diminishing rainfall and hot, dry winds affecting vegetation and contributing to an increasing propensity to being subject to forest fires. On 15 August 2023, a forest fire determined to be caused by arson necessitated the evacuation of 12,000 residents within a week.
=== Water ===
The volcanic ground of Tenerife, which is of a porous and permeable character, is generally the reason why the soil is able to maximise the absorption of water on an island of low rainfall, with condensation in forested areas and frost deposition on the summit of the island also contributory causes.
Given the irregularity of precipitation and geological conditions on the island, dam construction has been avoided, so most of the water (90 percent) comes from wells and from water galleries (horizontal tunnels bored into the volcano) of which there are thousands on the island, important systems that serve to extract its hydrological resources. These tunnels are very hazardous, with pockets of volcanic gas or carbon dioxide, causing rapid death.
=== Pollution and air quality ===
The Canary Islands have low levels of air pollution thanks to the lack of factories and industry and the trade winds which naturally move away contaminated air from the islands. According to official data offered by the Health and Industry Ministry in Spain, Tenerife is one of the cleanest places in the country with an air pollution index below the national average. Despite this, there are still agents which affect pollution levels in the island, the main polluting agents being the refinery at Santa Cruz, the thermal power plants at Las Caletillas and Granadilla, and road traffic, increased by the high level of tourism in the island. In addition on the island of Tenerife like on La Palma light pollution must be also controlled, to help the astrophysical observatories located in the island's summits.
Water is generally of a very high quality, and all the beaches of the island of Tenerife have been catalogued by the Ministry of Health and Consumption as waters suitable for bathing.
== Geology ==
Tenerife is a rugged volcanic island, sculpted by successive eruptions throughout its history. There are four historically recorded volcanic eruptions, none of which has led to casualties. The first occurred in 1704, when the Arafo, Fasnia and Siete Fuentes volcanoes erupted simultaneously. Two years later, in 1706, the greatest eruption occurred at Trevejo. This volcano produced great quantities of lava which buried the city and port of Garachico. The last eruption of the 18th century happened in 1798 at Cañadas de Teide, in Chahorra. The most recent eruption-in 1909-formed the Chinyero cinder cone in the municipality of Santiago del Teide.
The island is located between 28° and 29° N and the 16° and 17° W meridian. It is situated north of the Tropic of Cancer, occupying a central position between the other Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, La Gomera and La Palma. The island is about 300 km (186 mi) from the African coast, and approximately 1,000 km (621 mi) from the Iberian Peninsula. Tenerife is the largest island of the Canary Islands archipelago, with a surface area of 2,034.38 km2 (785 sq mi) and has the longest coastline, amounting to 342 km (213 mi).
In addition, the highest point, Mount Teide, with an elevation of 3,715 m (12,188 ft) above sea level is the highest point in all of Spain, is also the third largest volcano in the world from its base in the bottom of the sea. For this reason, Tenerife is the 10th-highest island worldwide. It comprises about 200 small barren islets or large rocks including Roques de Anaga, Roque de Garachico, and Fasnia adding a further 213,835 m2 (2,301,701 sq ft) to the total area.
=== Origins and geological formation ===
Tenerife is a volcanic island that has built up from the ocean floor during the last 20 million years.
Underwater fissural eruptions produced pillow lava, which are produced by the rapid cooling of the magma when it comes in contact with water, obtaining their peculiar shape. This pillow-lava accumulated, constructing the base of the island underneath the sea. As this accumulation approached the surface of the water, gases erupted from the magma due to the reduction of the surrounding pressure. The volcanic eruptions became more violent and had a more explosive character, and resulted in the forming of peculiar geological fragments.
After long-term accumulation of these fragments, the birth of the island occurred at the end of the Miocene epoch. The zones on Tenerife known as Macizo de Teno, Macizo de Anaga and Macizo de Adeje were formed seven million years ago; these formations are called the Ancient Basaltic Series or Series I. These zones were actually three separate islands lying in what is now the extreme west, east, and south of Tenerife.
A second volcanic cycle called the Post-Miocene Formations or Latest Series II, III, IV began three million years ago. This was a much more intense volcanic cycle, which united the Macizo de Teno, Macizo de Anaga and Macizo de Adeje into one island. This new structure, called the Pre-Cañadas Structure (Edificio pre-Cañadas), would be the foundation for what is called the Cañadas Structure I. The Cañadas Structure I experienced various collapses and emitted explosive material that produced the area known as Bandas del sur (in the present-day south-southeast of Tenerife).
Subsequently, upon the ruins of Cañadas Structure I emerged Cañadas Structure II, which was 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) above sea level and emerged with intense explosive activity. About one million years ago, the Dorsal Range (Cordillera Dorsal) emerged by means of fissural volcanic activity occurring amidst the remains of the older Ancient Basaltic Series (Series I). This Dorsal Range emerged as the highest and the longest volcanic structure in the Canary Islands; it was 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) high and 25 kilometres (16 mi) long.
About 800,000 years ago, two gravitational landslides occurred, giving rise to the present-day valleys of La Orotava and Güímar. Finally, around 200,000 years ago, the giant Icod landslide occurred followed by eruptions that raised the Pico Viejo-Teide in the centre of the island, over the Las Cañadas caldera.
=== Orography and landscape ===
The uneven and steep orography of the island and its variety of climates has resulted in a diversity of landscapes and geographical and geological formations, from the Teide National Park with its extensive pine forests, juxtaposed against the volcanic landscape at the summit of Teide and Malpaís de Güímar, to the Acantilados de Los Gigantes (Cliffs of the Giants) with its vertical precipices. Semidesert areas exist in the south with drought-resistant plants. Other areas range from those protected and enclosed in mountains such as Montaña Roja and Montaña Pelada, the valleys and forests with subtropical vegetation and climate, to those with deep gorges and precipices such as at Anaga and Teno.
==== Central heights ====
The principal structures in Tenerife, make the central highlands, with the Teide–Pico Viejo complex and the Las Cañadas areas as most prominent. It comprises a semi-caldera of about 130 km2 (50 sq mi) in area, originated by several geological processes explained under the Origin and formation section. The area is partially occupied by the Teide-Pico Viejo strato-volcano and completed by the materials emitted in the different eruptions that took place. A known formation called Los Azulejos, composed by green-tinted rocks were created by hydrothermal processes.
South of La Caldera is Guajara Mountain, which has an elevation of 2,718 metres (8,917 feet), rising above Teide National Park. At the bottom, is an endorheic basin flanked with very fine sedimentary material which has been deposited from its volcanic processes, and is known as Llano de Ucanca.
The peak of Teide, at 3,715 metres (12,188 feet) above sea level and more than 7,500 metres (24,606 feet) above the ocean floor, is the highest point of the island, Spanish territory and in the Atlantic Ocean. The volcano is the third largest on the planet, and its central location, substantial size, looming silhouette in the distance and its snowy landscape in winter give it a unique nature. The original settlers considered Teide a god and Teide was a place of worship.
In 1954, the whole area around it was declared a national park, with further expansion later on. In addition, in June 2007 it was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. To the west lies the volcano Pico Viejo (Old Peak). On one side of it, is the volcano Chahorra o Narices del Teide, where the last eruption occurred in the vicinity of Mount Teide in 1798.
The Teide is one of the 16 Decade Volcanoes identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) as being worthy of particular study in light of their history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to populated areas.
Tallest mountains on Tenerife:
==== Massifs ====
The Anaga massif (Macizo de Anaga), at the northeastern end of the island, has an irregular and rugged topographical profile where, despite its generally modest elevations, the Cruz de Taborno reaches a height of 1,024 metres (3,360 feet). Due to the age of its material (5.7 million years), its deep erosive processes, and the dense network of dikes piercing the massif, its surface exposes numerous outcroppings of both phonolitic and trachytic origin. A large number of steep-walled gorges are present, penetrating deeply into the terrain. Vertical cuts dominate the Anagan coast, with infrequent beaches of rocks or black sand between them; the few that exist generally coincide with the mouths of gorges.
The Teno massif (Macizo de Teno) is located on the northwestern edge of the island. Like Anaga, it includes an area of outcroppings and deep gorges formed by erosion. However, the materials here are older (about 7.4 million years old). Mount Gala represents its highest elevation at 1,342 metres (4,403 feet). The most unusual landscape of this massif is found on its southern coast, where the Acantilados de Los Gigantes ("Cliffs of the Giants") present vertical walls reaching heights of 500 metres (1,600 feet) in some places.
The Adeje massif (Macizo de Adeje) is situated on the southern tip of the island. Its main landmark is the Roque del Conde ("Count's Rock"), with an elevation of 1,001 metres (3,284 feet). This massif is not as impressive as the others due to its diminished initial structure, since in addition to with the site's greater geologic age it has experienced severe erosion of its material, thereby losing its original appearance and extent.
==== Dorsals ====
The Dorsal mountain ridge or Dorsal of Pedro Gil covers the area from the start at Mount La Esperanza, at a height of about 750 m (2,461 ft), to the center of the island, near the Caldera de Las Cañadas, with Izaña, as its highest point at 2,390 m (7,841 ft) (MSLP). These mountains have been created due to basaltic fissural volcanism through one of the axis that gave birth to the vulcanism of this area.
The Abeque Dorsal was formed by a chain of volcanoes that join the Teno with the central insular peak of Teide-Pico Viejo starting from another of the three axis of Tenerife's geological structures. On this dorsal we find the historic volcano of Chinyero whose last eruption happened in 1909.
The South Dorsal or Dorsal of Adeje is part of the last of the structural axis. The remains of this massive rock show the primordial land, also showing the alignment of small volcanic cones and rocks around this are in Tenerife's South.
==== Valleys and ravines ====
Valleys are another of the island's features. The most important are Valle de La Orotava and Valle de Güímar, both formed by the mass sliding of great quantities of material towards the sea, creating a depression of the land. Other valleys tend to be between hills formed by deposits of sediments from nearby slopes, or simply wide ravines which in their evolution have become typical valleys.
Tenerife has a large number of ravines, which are a characteristic element of the landscape, caused by erosion from surface runoff over a long period. Notable ravines include Ruiz, Fasnia and Güímar, Infierno, and Erques, all of which have been designated protected natural areas by Canarian institutions.
==== Coastline ====
The coasts of Tenerife are typically rugged and steep, particularly on the north of the island. However, the island has 67.14 kilometres (41.72 miles) of beaches, such as the one at El Médano, surpassed only in this respect by the island of Fuerteventura. There are many black sand pebble beaches on the northern coast, while on the south and south-west coast of the island, the beaches have typically much finer and clearer sand with lighter tones.
==== Volcanic tubes ====
Lava tubes are volcanic caves usually in the form of tunnels formed within lava flows more or less fluid reogenética duration of the activity. Among the many existing volcanic tubes on the island stands out the Cueva del Viento, located in the northern town of Icod de los Vinos, which is the largest volcanic tunnel in the European Union and one of the largest in the world, for a long time considered the largest in the world.
== Flora and fauna ==
The island of Tenerife has a remarkable ecosystem diversity in spite of its small surface area, which is a consequence of the special environmental conditions on the island, where its distinct orography modifies the general climatic conditions at a local level, producing a significant variety of microclimates. This diversity of microclimates allows some 1400 species of plants to exist on the island, with well over 100 of these endemic to Tenerife. The fauna of Tenerife includes some 400 species of fish, 56 birds, five reptiles, two amphibians, 13 land mammals, thousands of invertebrates, and several species of sea turtles and cetaceans.
The vegetation of Tenerife can be divided into six major zones that are directly related to altitude and the direction in which they face.
Lower xerophytic zone: 0–700 metres (0–2,297 feet). Xerophytic shrubs that are well adapted to long dry spells, intense sunshine and strong winds. Many endemic species: spurges, cactus spurge (Euphorbia canariensis), wax plants (Ceropegia spp.), etc.
Thermophile forest: 200–600 metres (660–1,970 feet). Transition zone with moderate temperatures and rainfall, but the area has been deteriorated by human activity. Many endemic species: juniper (Juniperus cedrus), dragon trees (Dracaena draco), palm trees (Phoenix canariensis), etc.
Laurel forest: 500–1,000 metres (1,600–3,300 feet). Dense forest of large trees, descendants of tertiary age flora, situated in a zone of frequent rainfall and mists. A wide variety of species with abundant undergrowth of bushes, herbaceous plants, and ferns. Laurels, holly (Ilex canariensis), ebony (Persea indica), mahogany (Apollonias barbujana), etc.
Wax myrtle: 1,000–1,500 metres (3,300–4,900 feet). A dryer vegetation, poorer in species. It replaces the degraded laurel forest. Of great forestry importance. Wax myrtles (Myrica faya), tree heath (Erica arborea), holly, etc.
Pine forest: 800–2,000 metres (2,600–6,600 feet). Open pine forest, with thin and unvaried undergrowth. Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis), broom (Genista canariensis), rock rose (Cistus spp.), etc.
High mountain: over 2,000 metres (6,600 feet). Dry climate, intense solar radiation and extreme temperatures. Flora well adapted to the conditions.
=== Prehistoric fauna ===
Before the arrival of humans, the Canary Islands were inhabited by certain endemic animals, now mostly extinct. These animals reached larger than usual sizes, because of a phenomenon called island gigantism. Among these species, the best known in Tenerife were:
The giant rat (Canariomys bravoi): Fossils mostly dating from the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Its skull reached up to 7 centimeters long, so it could have reached the size of a rabbit, which would make it quite large compared to European species of rats. Tenerife Giant Rat fossils usually occur in caves and volcanic tubes associated with Gallotia goliath.
The slender-billed greenfinch (Chloris aurelioi), an extinct greenfinch from the Holocene.
The long-legged bunting (Emberiza alcoveri), a flightless bunting with long legs and short wings known from Pleistocene to Holocene cave deposits, and one of the few flightless passerines known to science, all of which are now extinct.
The giant lizard (Gallotia goliath) inhabited Tenerife from the Holocene until the fifteenth century AD. It was a specimen reaching a length of 120 to 125 centimeters (47.2 to 49.2 inches).
The giant tortoise (Geochelone burchardi): A large tortoise, similar to those currently found in some oceanic islands like the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Remains found date from the Miocene; this tortoise may have inhabited the island until the Upper Pleistocene, apparently becoming extinct because of volcanic events long before the arrival of humans. Its shell measured approximately 65 to 94 centimetres (26 to 37 inches).
=== Protected natural areas ===
Nearly half of the island territory (48.6 percent), is under protection from the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos (Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas). Of the 146 protected sites under control of network in the Canary Islands archipelago, a total of 43 are located in Tenerife, the most protected island in the group. The network has criteria which places areas under its observation under eight different categories of protection, all of them are represented in Tenerife. Aside from Parque Nacional del Teide, it counts the Parque Natural de Canarias (Crown Forest), two rural parks (Anaga and Teno), four integral natural reserves, six special natural reserves, a total of fourteen natural monuments, nine protected landscapes and up to six sites of scientific interest. Also located on the island Macizo de Anaga since 2015 is Biosphere Reserve and is the place that has the largest number of endemic species in Europe.
In contrast to the land-based protected areas, Tenerife also boasts significant marine protected natural areas. Among these is the Zona de Especial Conservación Teno-Rasca (Teno-Rasca Special Area of Conservation), a marine protected area established in 2013. This marine protected area off the coast of Tenerife is known for its ecological significance and biodiversity, including resident populations of cetaceans such as bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales. It is also known as the Tenerife-La Gomera Marine Area and became the first European designated Whale Heritage Area in January 2021.
== Administration ==
=== Law and order ===
Tenerife island's government resides with the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife located at the Plaza de España at the island's capital city (Palacio Insular de Tenerife). The political Canary organization does not have a provincial government body but instead each island has its own government at their own Cabildo. Since its creation in March 1913 it has a series of capabilities and duties, stated in the Canary Autonomy Statutes (Spanish: Estatuto de Autonomía de Canarias) and regulated by Law 14/1990, of 26 July 1990, of the Régimen Jurídico de las Administraciones Públicas de Canarias.
The Cabildo is composed of the following administrative offices; Presidency, Legislative Body, Government Council, Informative Commissions, Spokesman's office.
=== Government ===
Tenerife is an autonomous territory of Spain. The island has a tiered-government system and a special status within the European Union in which it holds lower tax rates compared to other regions. Santa Cruz is the seat of half of the regional government departments and parliament and it is there that the governor is elected by the Canarian people. Afterwards, they are appointed by Madrid. There are fifteen members of parliament who work together in passing legislation, organising budgets and improving the economy.
=== Municipalities ===
The island, itself part of a Spanish province named Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is divided administratively into 31 municipalities. It is the island with the most municipalities in the Canary archipelago.
Only three municipalities are landlocked: Tegueste, El Tanque and Vilaflor. Vilaflor is the municipality with the highest altitude in the Canaries (its capital is 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) high).
The largest municipality with an area of 207.31 square kilometres (80.04 square miles) is La Orotava, which covers much of the Teide National Park. The smallest town on the island and of the archipelago is Puerto de la Cruz, with an area of just 8.73 square kilometres (3 square miles).
It is also common to find internal division, in that some cities make up a metropolitan area within a municipality, notably the cities of Santa Cruz and La Laguna.
Below is an alphabetical list of all the municipalities on the island:
=== Counties ===
The counties of Tenerife have no official recognition, but there is a consensus among geographers about them:
=== Flags and heraldry ===
The flag of Tenerife was originally adopted in 1845 by the navy at its base in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Later, and at present, this flag represents all the island of Tenerife. It was approved by the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife and the Order of the Government of the Canary Islands on 9 May 1989 and published on 22 May in the government report of the Canary Islands and made official.
The coat-of-arms of Tenerife was granted by royal decree on 23 March 1510 by Ferdinand II at Madrid in the name of Joan I, Queen of Castile. The coat-of-arms has a field of gold, with an image of Saint Michael (patron saint of the island) above a mountain depicted in brownish, natural colors. Flames erupt from the mountain, symbolizing El Teide. Below this mountain is depicted the island itself in vert on top of blue and silver waves. To the right there is a castle in gules, and to the left, a lion rampant in gules. The shield that the Cabildo Insular, or Island Government, uses is slightly different from that used by the city government of La Laguna, which uses a motto in the arms' border and also includes some palm branches.
== Natural symbols ==
The official natural symbols associated with Tenerife are the bird blue chaffinch (Fringilla teydea) and the Canary Islands dragon tree (Dracaena draco) tree.
== Demographics ==
According to INE data as at 1 January 2024, Tenerife has the largest population of the seven Canary Islands and was the most populated island of Spain with 964,021 officially estimated inhabitants, of whom about 22.0 percent (211,436) lived in the capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and 40 percent in the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz–La Laguna. Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna are physically one urban area, so that together (and including Tegueste and El Rosario) they have a population of 581,947 inhabitants.
Tenerife has two other metropolitan areas recognized by the Ministry of Development; the Tenerife South metropolitan area with 215,532 inhabitants (2024) and the La Orotava Valley metropolitan area with 111,606 inhabitants (2024).
After the city of Santa Cruz the major towns and municipalities as at the start of 2024 are San Cristóbal de La Laguna (160,258), Arona (86,624), Granadilla de Abona (57,143), Adeje (50,549), La Orotava (42,585), Los Realejos (37,522) and Puerto de la Cruz (31,377). All other municipalities have fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, the smallest municipality being Vilaflor with a population of 1,501.
The island has high rates of resident population not registered in population censuses, primarily tourists. This has made several sources point out that more than one million inhabitants actually live on the island of Tenerife today. The island is also the most multicultural in the archipelago, with the highest number of registered foreigners (44.9% of registered in Canary Islands), which represent 14% of the total population of the island. Tenerife stands out in the context of the archipelago, by also concentrating the largest presence of non-EU foreign population.
Tenerife has three large population areas that are very different and distributed: The Metropolitan Zone, the South Zone and the North Zone. With several protected natural parks — 48.6% of the territory — and an urban swarm around the island, in the last half century the insular coastal platform has become a highly urbanized metropolitan system. The high level of population in a relatively small territory — more than 900,000 inhabitants in just over 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi) — and the strong urbanization have turned the island of Tenerife, in the words of architect Federico García Barba; on an "island-city" or "island-ring".
Recently Tenerife has experienced population growth significantly higher than the national average. In 1990, there were 663,306 registered inhabitants, which increased to 709,365 in 2000, an increase of 46,059 or an annual growth of 0.69 percent. However, between 2000 and 2007, the population rose by 155,705 to 865,070, an annual increase of 3.14 percent.
These results reflect the general trend in Spain where, since 2000, immigration has reversed the general slowdown in population growth, following the collapse in the birth rate from 1976. However, since 2001 the overall growth rate in Spain has been around 1.7 percent per year, compared with 3.14 percent on Tenerife, one of the largest increases in the country.
== Economy ==
Tenerife is the economic capital of the Canary Islands. At present, Tenerife is the island with the highest GDP in the archipelago (~€25 billion) and has a GDP per capita of ~€26,000. Even though Tenerife's economy is highly specialized in the service sector, which makes 78% of its total production capacity, the importance of the rest of the economic sectors is key to its production development. In this sense, the primary sector, which only represents 1.98% of the total product, groups activities that are important to the sustainable development of the island's economy. The energy sector which contributes 2.85% has a primary role in the development of renewable energy sources. The industrial sector which shares in 5.80% is a growing activity in the island, vis-a-vis the new possibilities created by technological advances. Finally, the construction sector with 11.29% of the total production has a strategic priority, because it is a sector with relative stability which permits multiple possibilities of development and employment opportunities.
=== Tourism ===
Tourism is the most prominent industry in the Canaries, which are one of the major tourist destinations in the world. Tenerife is the most visited island in the archipelago and one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain.
In 2014, 11,473,600 foreign tourists came to the Canary Islands. Tenerife had 4,171,384 arrivals that year, excluding the numbers for Spanish tourists which make up an additional 30% of total arrivals. According to last year's Canarian Statistics Centre's (ISTAC) Report on Tourism the greatest number of tourists from any one country come from the United Kingdom, with more than 3,980,000 tourists in 2014. In second place comes Germany followed by Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Russia and Austria.
Tourism is more prevalent in the south of the island, which is hotter and drier and has many large resorts such as Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos. More recently coastal development has spread northwards from Playa de las Americas and now encompasses the former small enclave of La Caleta. According to the Moratoria act passed by the Canarian Parliament in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, no more hotels will be built on the island unless they are classified as 5 star-quality and comprise different services such as golf courses or convention facilities. This act was passed with the goal of improving the standard of tourism service and promoting environmentally conscious development.
The area known as Costa Adeje has many facilities and leisure opportunities such as shopping centres, golf courses, restaurants, water parks (the most well-known being Siam Park), animal parks, and a theatre suitable for musicals or a convention centre. There are many boats offering whale watching tours from the harbour of Puerto Colon. The deep waters off the coast of Costa Adeje are home to several pods of pilot whales.
In the more lush and green north of the island, the main focus of development for tourism has been in the town of Puerto de la Cruz. Puerto de la Cruz is home to the SeaWorld-owned zoo, Loro Parque, which has been accused of mistreatment of animals in its captivity, including orcas and is currently boycotted by major travel agents including Thomas Cook.
In the 19th century large numbers of foreign tourists came, especially British, showing interest in the agriculture of the islands. With the world wars, the tourism sector weakened, but the second half of the 20th century brought renewed interest. Initial emphasis was on Puerto de la Cruz, and for all the attractions that the Valle de la Orotava offered. By 1980, tourism was focused in south Tenerife. The emphasis was on cities like Arona or Adeje, shifting to tourist centres like Los Cristianos or Playa de Las Americas, which now house 65% of the hotels on the island. Tenerife receives more than 5 million tourists every year; of the Сanary islands Tenerife is the most popular.
Currently, the municipality of Adeje in the south of the island has the highest concentration of 5 star hotels in Europe and also has what is considered the best luxury hotel in Spain according to World Travel Awards.
=== Agriculture and fishing ===
Since tourism dominates the Tenerifan economy, the service sector is the largest. Industry and commerce contribute 40% of the non-tourist economy. Agriculture contributes less than 10% of the island's GDP, but its contribution is vital as it also generates indirect benefits by maintaining the rural appearance of the island and supporting Tenerifan cultural values.
Agriculture is centred on the northern slopes, and is affected by altitude as well as orientation: in the coastal zone, tomatoes and bananas are cultivated, these high yield products are for export to mainland Spain and the rest of Europe; in the drier intermediate zone, potatoes, tobacco and maize are grown, whilst in the south, onions are important.
Bananas are a particularly important crop, as Tenerife grows more bananas than the other Canary Islands, with a current annual production of about 150,000 tons, down from the peak production of 200,000 tons in 1986. More than 90% of the total is destined for the international market, and banana growing occupies about 4200 hectares. After the banana the most important crops are, in order of importance, tomatoes, grapes, potatoes and flowers. Fishing is also a major contributor to the Tenerifan economy, as the Canaries are Spain's second most important fishing grounds.
=== Energy ===
As of 2009, Tenerife had 910 MW of electrical generation capacity, which is mostly powered from petroleum-derived fuels. The island had 37 MW of wind turbines and 79 MW of solar panels.
=== Industry and commerce ===
Commerce in Tenerife plays a significant role in the economy, representing almost 20% of the GDP, with the commercial center Santa Cruz de Tenerife generating most of the earnings. Although there are a diversity of industrial estates that exist on the island, the most important industrial activity is petroleum, representing 10% of the island's GDP, again largely due to the capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife with its refinery. It provides petroleum products not only to the Canaries archipelago but is also an active in the markets of the Iberian Peninsula, Africa and South America.
== Main sights ==
=== Monuments ===
Historical sights in the island, especially from the time after the conquest, include the Cathedral of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the Church of the Conception of La Laguna and the Church of the Conception in the capital. The Basílica de Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria can be found on the island (Patron of Canary Islands). Also on the island are the defensive castles located in the village of San Andrés, as well as many others throughout the island.
The Auditorio de Tenerife, one of the most modern in Spain, can be found at the entry port to the capital (in the southern part of Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife). Near the Auditorio de Tenerife are El Castillo Negro and El Parque Marítimo. The Torres de Santa Cruz are two twin skyscrapers 120 metres (390 feet) high (the highest residential buildings in Spain and the tallest skyscrapers in the Canary Islands).
=== Archeological sites ===
The island also has several archaeological sites of Guanche time (prior to the conquest), which generally are cave paintings that are scattered throughout the island, but most are found in the south of the island.
Archaeological sites on the island include the Cave of the Guanches, where the oldest remains in the archipelago have been found, dating to the 6th century BC, and the Caves of Don Gaspar, where the finding of plant debris in the form of carbonized seeds indicates that the Guanches practiced agriculture on the island. Both deposits are in the town of Icod de los Vinos. Also noteworthy on the island is the Estación solar de Masca (Masca Solar Station), which was an aboriginal sanctuary for the celebration of rites related to fertility and the request for rainwater. This is located in the municipality of
Buenavista del Norte.
Other archaeological sites include that of Los Cambados and that of El Barranco del Rey both in Arona. One could also highlight the Cueva de Achbinico (first shrine Marian of the Canary Islands, Guanche vintage-Spanish). In addition there are some buildings called Güímar Pyramids, whose origin is uncertain.
There are also traces that reveal the Punic presence on the island, as in the wake commonly called "Stone of the Guanches" in the town of Taganana. This archaeological site consists of a structure formed by a stone block, large, outdoor, featuring rock carvings on its surface. Among these is the presence of a representation of the Carthaginian goddess Tanit, represented by a bottle-shaped symbol surrounded by cruciform motifs. It is thought that the monument was originally an altar of sacrifice linked to those found in the Semitic field and then reused for Aboriginal ritual of mummification.
== Culture and arts ==
=== Literature ===
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Antonio de Viana, a native of La Laguna, composed the epic poem Antigüedades de las Islas Afortunadas (Antiquities of the Fortunate Isles), a work of value to anthropologists, since it sheds light on Canarian life of the time. The Enlightenment reached Tenerife, and literary and artistic figures of this era include José Viera y Clavijo, Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa, Ángel Guimerá y Jorge, Mercedes Pinto and Domingo Pérez Minik, amongst others.
=== Painting ===
During the course of the 16th century, several painters flourished in La Laguna, as well as in other places on the island, including Garachico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz. Cristóbal Hernández de Quintana and Gaspar de Quevedo, considered the best Canarian painters of the 17th century, were natives of La Orotava, and their art can be found in churches on Tenerife.
The work of Luis de la Cruz y Ríos can be found in the church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia, in Puerto de la Cruz. Born in 1775, he became court painter to Ferdinand VII of Spain and was also a miniaturist, and achieved a favorable position in the royal court. He was known there by the nickname of "El Canario."
The landscape painter Valentín Sanz (born 1849) was a native of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes de Santa Cruz displays many of his works. This museum also contains the works of Juan Rodríguez Botas (1880–1917), considered the first Canarian impressionist.
Frescoes by the expressionist Mariano de Cossío can be found in the church of Santo Domingo, in La Laguna. The watercolorist Francisco Bonnín Guerín (born 1874) was a native of Santa Cruz, and founded a school to encourage the arts. Óscar Domínguez was born in La Laguna in 1906 and is famed for his versatility. He belonged to the surrealist school, and invented the technique known as decalcomania.
=== Sculpture ===
The arrival from Seville of Martín de Andújar Cantos, an architect and sculptor brought new sculpting techniques of the Seville school, which were passed down to his students, including Blas García Ravelo, a native of Garachico. He had been trained by the master sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés.
Other notable sculptors from the 17th and 18th centuries include Sebastián Fernández Méndez, Lázaro González de Ocampo, José Rodríguez de la Oliva, and most importantly, Fernando Estévez, a native of La Orotava and a student of Luján Pérez. Estévez contributed an extensive collection of religious images and woodcarvings, found in numerous churches of Tenerife, such as the Principal Parish of Saint James the Great (Parroquia Matriz del Apóstol Santiago), in Los Realejos; in the Cathedral of La Laguna; the Iglesia de la Concepción in La Laguna; the basilica of Candelaria, and various churches in La Orotava.
=== Music ===
An important musician from Tenerife is Teobaldo Power y Lugo Viña, a native of Santa Cruz and a pianist and composer, and author of the Cantos Canarios. The Hymn of the Canary Islands takes its melody from the Arrorró, or Lullaby, from Power y Lugo Viña's Cantos Canarios.
Folkloric music has also flourished on the island, and, as in the rest of the islands, is characterized by the use of the Canarian Timple, the guitar, bandurria, laúd, and various percussion instruments. Local folkloric groups such as Los Sabandeños work to save Tenerife's musical forms in the face of increasing cultural pressure from the mainland.
Tenerife is the home to the types of songs called the isa, folía, tajaraste, and malagueña, which are a cross of ancient Guanche songs and those of Andalusia and Latin America.
=== Architecture ===
Tenerife is characterized by an architecture whose best representatives are the local manor houses and also the most humble and common dwellings. This style, while influenced by those of Andalusia and Portugal, nevertheless had a very particular and native character.
Of the manor houses, the best examples can be found in La Orotava and in La Laguna, characterized by their balconies and by the existence of interior patios and the widespread use of the wood known as pino tea ("pitch pine"). These houses are characterized by simple façades and wooden lattices with little ornamentation. There are sash windows and it is customary for the chairs inside the house to rest back-to-back to the windows. The interior patios function like real gardens that serve to give extra light to the rooms, which are connected via the patio by galleries frequently crowned by wood and stone.
Gadgets like stills, water pumps, benches and counters, are elements that frequently form part of these patios.
Traditional houses generally have two storeys, with rough walls of variegated colours. Sometimes the continuity of these walls is interrupted by the presence of stone blocks that are used for ornamental purposes.
The government buildings and religious structures were built according to the changing styles of each century. The urban nuclei of La Orotava and La Laguna have been declared national historical-artistic monuments.
In recent years, various governments have spearheaded the concept of developing architectural projects, sometimes ostentatious ones, designed by renowned architects–for example, the remodeling of the Plaza de España in Santa Cruz de Tenerife by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. Other examples include the Playa de Las Teresitas project by the Frenchman Dominique Perrault; the center known as Magma Arte & Congresos; the Torres de Santa Cruz; and the Auditorio de Tenerife ("Auditorium of Tenerife"). The latter, by the Spaniard Santiago Calatrava, lies to the east of the Parque Marítimo ("Maritime Park"), in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and is characterized by its sail-like structure, which evokes a boat, and has become a symbol for the city and island, which makes Santa Cruz de Tenerife one of the Spanish cities with the most futuristic buildings.
=== Crafts ===
Distinctive representatives of craftsmanship on the island are Tenerife lace (calado canario), which is drawn work embroidery, and the intricate doilies known as rosetas, or rosette embroidery, particularly from Vilaflor. The lace, often made for table linen, is produced by the intricate and slow embroidering of a stretched piece of cloth, which is rigidly attached to a wooden frame and is finished with illustrations or patterns using threads that are crossed over and wound around the fijadores, or pins stuck in a small support made of cloth. These decorated, small pieces are afterwards joined, to produce distinct designs and pieces of cloth.
Another Tenerife-based industry is cabinetwork. The north of the island produced various master craftsman who created distinctive balconies, celosias, doors, and windows, as well as furniture consisting of pieces made in fine wood. Basketmaking using palm-leaves was also an important industry. Other materials are chestnut tree branches stripped of their leaves and banana tree fibre (known locally as la badana).
Pottery has a long history harking back to the production of ceramics by the Guanches. The Guanches were unfamiliar with the potter's wheel, and used hand-worked clay, which gave their pottery a distinctive look. Pottery was used to produce domestic objects such as pots and grills, or ornamental pieces such as bead collars or the objects known as pintaderas, which were pieces of pottery used to decorate other vessels.
=== Traditional celebrations ===
==== Carnival of Santa Cruz ====
Perhaps the most important festival of Tenerife, popular both on a national and international level, is the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which has been declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest (Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional). The carnival is celebrated in many locations in the north and south of the island, but is largest in scope in the city of Santa Cruz. Contests are celebrated, and the carnival includes bands of street musicians (murgas), groups of minstrels (rondallas de Tenerife), masquerades (comparsas), and various associations (agrupaciones). Once the Queen of the festival is elected, the first part of the carnival ends, and thereafter begins the actual street carnival, in which large numbers of people gather in the centre of Santa Cruz, with the carnival lasting ten days.
==== Pilgrimages (Romerías) ====
The most traditional and widespread religious festivals on the islands are the pilgrimages or romerías. These events, which incorporate Christian and non-Christian elements, are celebrated by various means: with wagons and floats, plowing teams and livestock, in honor of the patron saint of a particular place. The processions are accompanied by local dances, local dishes, folkloric activities, local arts and crafts, local sports, and the wearing of traditional dress of Tenerife (trajes de mago).
The origins of these events can be attributed to the parties and celebrations held by the richest classes of the island, who would gather to venerate their patron saints, to which they attributed good harvests, fertile lands, plentiful rainfall, the curing of sicknesses and ending of epidemics, etc. They would thus give homage to these saints by consuming and sharing the fruits of their harvest, which included the locally cultivated wines. These have developed into processions to mark festivals dedicated to Saint Mark in Tegueste, where the wagons are decorated with the fruits of the earth (seeds, cereals, flowers, etc.); to Saint Isidore the Laborer in Los Realejos; to Saint Isidore the Laborer and Maria Torribia (Saint Mary of the Head) in La Orotava; the Romería Regional de San Benito Abad in La Laguna; Virgin of Candelaria in Candelaria; Saint Roch in Garachico; Saint Augustine in Arafo; and the Romería del Socorro in Güímar.
==== Holiday of the Virgin of Candelaria ====
The Virgin of Candelaria is the patron of the Canary Islands; a feast is held in her honor two times a year, in February and August. The Romeria-Offering to the Virgin of Candelaria is celebrated every 15 August in this event is a tradition that representations of all municipalities of the island and also of all the Canary archipelago come to make offerings to their patron. Another significant act of the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria is called "Walk to Candelaria" held on the night of 14 to 15 August in which the faithful make pilgrimage on foot from various parts of the island, even coming from other islands to arrive at Villa Mariana de Candelaria.
On 2 February we celebrate the feast of the Candelaria. Also on this day come to town many devotees of the Virgin. During the February festivities, the so-called "Procesión de Las Candelas" (Candlelight Procession) stands out, in which the faithful accompany the Virgin in the dark of the night lit only by candles and praying the rosary.
==== Holiday of the Cristo de La Laguna ====
It is celebrated every 14 September in honor of a much venerated image of Christ in the Archipelago, the Cristo de La Laguna, is held in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Every 9 September, the venerated image of Christ is lowered in public from the main altar of its Royal Sanctuary, after which, the faithful kiss the feet of the image. The image is solemnly transferred in procession to the Cathedral of La Laguna on the afternoon of that day, where it remains for several days, until 14 September, which is the main day, when it is transferred back to its Sanctuary.
==== Corpus Christi ====
The religious festival of Corpus Christi is particularly important, and is traditionally celebrated with floral carpets laid in the streets. Particularly noteworthy are the celebrations in La Orotava where a very large carpet, or tapestry, of different coloured volcanic soils, covers the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (town square). These soils are taken from the Parque Nacional del Teide, and after the celebration, are returned, to preserve the National Park. The celebration of Corpus Christi in Orotava has been declared of Important Cultural Interest among the official Traditional Activities of the Island.
==== Easter ====
Among the numerous other celebrations that define Tenerifan culture, Easter remains the most important. This is celebrated across the island, but is particularly notable in the municipalities of La Laguna, La Orotava and Los Realejos, where elaborate processions take place on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, or "Resurrection Sunday". Holy Week in the city of San Cristobal de la Laguna is the largest of the Canary Islands.
== Religion ==
As with the rest of Spain, Tenerife is largely Catholic. However, the practice of other religions and denominations has increasingly expanded on the island due to tourism and immigration, as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Evangelicalism, Judaism and Afro-American religion. Minority religions are stationed in the island: Chinese Religions, Baháʼí and the neopaganism native form, the Church of the Guanche People, among others. Christianity and Judaism arrived in the island with the Spanish conquest.
An important Catholic festival is the celebration of the feast day associated with the Virgin of Candelaria, patron saint of the Canary Islands, who represents the union of the Guanche and Spanish cultures. The Guanches became devoted to a Black Madonna that Christian missionaries from Lanzarote and Fuerteventura left on a beach near the present-day Villa Mariana de Candelaria, which gave rise to the legends and stories associated with the Virgin. These legends fueled the cult of the Virgin and the pilgrimages to Candelaria that have existed to this day on the island. Another cult to the Virgin Mary exists in the form of Our Lady of Los Remedios (la Virgen de Los Remedios), who is patron of the island and Catholic diocese of Tenerife (Diócesis Nivariense).
In Tenerife were born two Catholic saints who were of the greatest missionaries in the Americas: Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur and José de Anchieta. The first was a missionary in Guatemala and founder of Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem (the first religious order of the Americas), the second was a missionary in Brazil, and was one of the founders of São Paulo and of Rio de Janeiro. It also highlights the figure of the mystic Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado. This nun died with a reputation for holiness and is highly revered throughout the Canary Islands. Her body is intact in the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena in San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
Principal Catholic places of worship on the island include:
The Basilica of Candelaria (in Candelaria): The place where the image of the Virgin of Candelaria can be found, this sanctuary is built in neoclassical style, and is visited daily by the parishioners, who visit the Villa Mariana out of devotion to the Virgin.
The Cathedral of La Laguna (in San Cristóbal de La Laguna): The seat of the Diocese of Tenerife (known as the Diócesis Nivariense, or Nivarian Diocese), the cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of Remedies (la Virgen de Los Remedios). A combination of neo-Gothic and neoclassical architectural elements.
Real Santuario del Cristo de La Laguna (in San Cristóbal de La Laguna): One of the most important churches in the Canary Islands, it contains the venerated image of the Cristo de La Laguna, and is a symbol of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
* Mother Parish of the Apostle Santiago (Los Realejos) (Parroquia Matriz del Apóstol Santiago): Situated in Villa de Los Realejos, this parish church was the first Christian church built on the island after its conquest by Castilian forces. It is dedicated to Saint James the Great, as the conquista was completed on the saint's feast day on 25 July 1496. It was, along with the Parish of the Conception of La Laguna, one of the first parishes of the island.
The Church of the Conception of La Laguna (Iglesia de la Concepción de La Laguna): One of the most ancient buildings on Tenerife, its construction was ordered by Alonso Fernández de Lugo. It has been declared a National Historic Monument. Around this church were built the dwellings and infrastructure that formed the nucleus of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna.
Other important churches include the Church of the Conception in La Orotava (Iglesia de la Concepción); the churches of San Agustín and Santo Domingo in La Orotava; the church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia in Puerto de la Cruz; the church of San Marcos in Icod de los Vinos; the church of Santa Ana in Garachico; and the Church of the Conception (Iglesia de la Concepción) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The first saint of Tenerife and Canary Islands was Saint Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, born in the town of Vilaflor, Tenerife. His main shrine is the Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro in Granadilla de Abona, near the coast, where he lived in his youth. This cave is considered one of the most important pilgrimage spots of the Canary Islands.
Another notable building on the island is the Masonic Temple of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, generally considered the finest example of Masonic temple architecture in Spain; it was the Masonic center of the country until the military occupation of the island by the Franco regime.
The headquarters of the Islamic Federation of the Canary Islands is in Tenerife; the organization was founded to unite the Muslim communities of the Canary Islands in a common association. For its part, the headquarters of the Evangelical Council of the Canary Islands is also on the island.
== Education ==
Formal education in Tenerife began with the religious orders. In 1530, the Dominican Order established a chair of philosophy at the convent of La Concepción de La Laguna. Still, until well into the 18th century Tenerife was largely without institutions of education.
Such institutions finally began to develop thanks to the work of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País ("Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country"), which established several schools in San Cristóbal de La Laguna. The first of these was an institute of secondary education established in 1846 to fill the gap left by the closure of the Universidad de San Fernando (see University of La Laguna).
An 1850 annex to this building was the Escuela Normal Elemental, the archipelago's first teachers' college or normal school, which became the Escuela Normal Superior de Magisterio from 1866 onward. These were the only institutions of higher education until the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera created several institutions. A turning point came around the time of the rise of the Second Spanish Republic. From 1929 to 1933 the number of schools nearly doubled.
Shortly after this, though, the start of the Spanish Civil War and the following dictatorship of Francisco Franco constituted a considerable reversal. Education in the hands of religious orders had a certain importance on the island until the 1970 Ley General de Educación ("General Law of Education") shifted the balance from religiously based education to public education. Public schools continued their advance during and after the post-Franco Spanish transition to democracy. Tenerife today has 301 centers of childhood education (preschools), 297 primary schools, 140 secondary schools and 86 post-secondary schools. There are also five universities or post-graduate schools, the University of La Laguna, the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (National University of Distance Learning), the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Menéndez Pelayo International University), the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio (University of Alfonso X the Wise) and the Universidad de Vic (Escuela Universitaria de Turismo de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, "University School of Tourism of Santa Cruz de Tenerife"). The largest of these is the University of La Laguna.
The Universidad Europea de Canarias (European University of the Canary Islands) is located in La Orotava and is the first private university in the Canary Islands.
=== Science and research ===
While Tenerife is not prominent in the history of scientific and academic research, it is the home of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Astrophysical Institute of the Canaries). There is also an Instituto de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González (Antonio González Bio-Organic Institute) at the University of La Laguna. Also at that university are the Instituto de Lingüística Andrés Bello (Andrés Bello Institute of Linguistics), the Centro de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas (Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), the Instituto Universitario de la Empresa (University Institute of Business), the Instituto de Derecho Regional (Regional Institute of Law), the Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (University Institute of Political and Social Sciences) and the Instituto de Enfermedades Tropicales (Institute of Tropical Diseases). This last is one of the seven institutions of the Red de Investigación de Centros de Enfermedades Tropicales (RICET, "Network of Research of Centers of Tropical Diseases"), located in various parts of Spain.
Puerto de la Cruz has the Instituto de Estudos Hispánicos de Canarias (Institute of Hispanic Studies of the Canaries), attached to Madrid's Instituto de Cultura Hispánica. In La Laguna is the Canarian delegation of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, Superior Council of Scientific Investigations), the Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias (Canarian Institute of Agrarian Investigation), the Instituto de Estudios Canarios (Canarian Institute of Studies) and the Centro Internacional para la Conservación del Patrimonio (the International Center of the Conservation of Patrimony).
Other research facilities in Tenerife are the Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, the Instituto Vulcanológico de Canarias, the Asociación Industrial de Canarias, the Instituto Tecnológico de Energías Renovables (Technological Institute of Renewable Energy) and the Instituto Oceanográfico de Canarias in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
=== Museums ===
The island boasts a variety of museums of different natures, under dominion of a variety of institutions. Perhaps the most developed are those belonging to the Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros, which include the following:
Museum of Nature and Man: located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, this museum exhibits the natural riches of the Canary Islands and of the pre-Hispanic people who inhabited these. The Museum of Nature and Man is a world reference in regard to preservation of mummies. The complex is composed of three museums:
The Museum of Natural Sciences
The Archaeological Museum of Tenerife
The Canarian Institute of Bioanthropology
Museum of the History of Tenerife: located in the city of La Laguna, the history of museum presents an overview of the institutional, social, economic and cultural development of the Island in from the 15th to 20th centuries.
The Museum of Science and the Cosmos, also located in La Laguna adjacent to the property of the Instituto de Astrofísica as a museum about the laws and principles of nature, from those of the cosmos to those of the human body.
The Museum of Anthropology of Tenerife, in La Laguna as well, more specifically in Valle de Guerra is a public institution for the investigation, conservation and spread of popular culture
The Centro de Documentación Canario-Americano (CEDOCAM, Center for Canarian-American Documentation), located in La Laguna has a mission of strengthening cultural relations and elements of common identity between the Canaries and the Americas, through such means as conservation, information and diffusion of their shared documentary patrimony.
The Centro de Fotografía Isla de Tenerife ("Island of Tenerife Photographic Center") located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife offers an annual program of expositions that allows contact with tendencies and works of various renowned and emergent photographers of the Canaries. In the future, this center will share a headquarters with the Instituto Óscar Domínguez de Arte y Cultura Contemporánea (Óscar Domínguez Institute of Art and Culture).
The Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA, "Tenerife Arts Space") also in Santa Cruz de Tenerife was founded to promote knowledge of the many contemporary tendencies in art and culture among the local population and visitors, by organizing cultural, scientific, educational and technical activities.
Independent of the Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros are:
The Casa del Carnaval or Carnival House, located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is a museum dedicated to the history of the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The enclosure has two exhibition areas; one for temporary exhibitions and also used as an assembly hall, and another for permanent exhibitions in which the costumes of the queen of the carnival of each year stand out, the original posters of the carnival, thematic videos of the history of the party, touch screens and virtual reality glasses, etc.
The Municipal Museum of Fine Arts in the Tenerifan capital has a permanent exhibit of the paintings and sculptures of José de Ribera, Federico Madrazo, Joaquín Sorolla and such Canarian artists as Manolo Millares and Óscar Domínguez.
The Casa del Vino-La Baranda ("House of Wine-La Baranda"), a member of the Asociación de Museos del Vino de España (Association of Wine Museums of Spain), is located in the municipality of El Sauzal. Its facilities include a rustic, historic hacienda, a museum of the history of viticulture in Tenerife, a restaurant serving typical Tenerifan food, a wine store, an audiovisual hall, and a tasting room.
The Casa de la Miel ("House of Honey") is an annex to the Casa del Vino-La Baranda, and was established by the Cabildo Insular to support and develop the apicultural (bee-keeping) sector on Tenerife. The visitor center of the Casa de la Miel offers exhibits about the history of this industry on the island and how apiculture is conducted, as well as information services and opportunities to taste Tenerifan denominación de origen honeys.
The Museum of Iberoamerican Artisanship is located in the old convent of San Benito Abad, in La Orotava. El centro se encuadra dentro del programa de divulgación que ejecuta el Center for Documentation of Artisanship in Spain and the Americas, The Foundation is financed by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism; the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (Spanish Agency of International Cooperation), the Comisión Nacional "Quinto Centeneario" ("Fifth Centenary" National Commission), the Consejería de Industria y Comercio del Gobierno de Canarias (Council of Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canaries), and the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. It has five galleries, specialized in popular musical instruments, textiles / new designs in artisanship, ceramics, fibers, and popular art.
The Archaeological Museum of Puerto de la Cruz in the city of the same name is located in a traditional casona (a type of house dating from the 18th–19th century), offers an archival collection comprising more than 2,600 specimens of items from the Guanche culture, and a document collection named after researcher Luis Diego Cuscoy.
The Regional Military Museum of the Canaries, is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, more specifically in the Fuerte de Almeyda district. Its galleries present all of the military history of the de Canaries, including the repelling of the attack by British Admiral Horatio Nelson, as well as other events and battles waged in the islands. Separate from the Regional Military Museum are files providing the Intermediate Military Archive of the Canaries and the Military Library of the Canary Islands.
== Media ==
Along with many Spanish-language radio and TV stations, Tenerife has two official English-language radio stations. Coast FM broadcasts a mix of adult contemporary music and is the only local news service to broadcast in English.
As the larger of the two stations, Coast FM can be heard across Tenerife and much of the Canary Islands from its transmitters on 106.6, 92.2 and 89.4. Energy FM is a non-stop music station that also broadcasts local news and information on the hour.
== Transport and communications ==
The island of Tenerife is served by Tenerife North Airport (GCXO) and Tenerife South Airport (GCTS). Thanks to its two airports, Tenerife gathers the highest passenger movement of all the Canary Islands, with 18,457,794 passengers.
Tenerife North Airport, the smaller of the two, is located near the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz-La Laguna (423,000 inhabitants). It serves inter-insular flights as well as national and European flights. Tenerife South Airport (south) is the busiest airport in Tenerife, ranking 7th in Spain. It typically serves the mass of regular and vacation charter flights constantly arriving from most of Europe.
The other way to arrive on Tenerife is by ferry, either to Santa Cruz de Tenerife or Los Cristianos, near Playa de Las Américas.
A network consisting of two fast, toll-free motorways (TF1 and TF5) encircles nearly the entire island, linking all the main towns and resorts with the metropolitan area. The exception is in the West, from Adeje to Icod de los Vinos, which is traversed by a smaller winding mountain road. However, plans are in progress to complete the motorway, which caused a heavy debate between the environmentalists and the local businessmen.
Away from the major motorways, there is a network of secondary and communal roads, varying from wide to steep, winding narrow roads, mainly unlit and often with drops on either side of the main carriageway surface.
Public transport on the island is provided by an extensive network of buses and run by TITSA, which operates a fleet of modern, air-conditioned buses. TITSA buses cover most of the island and they are fairly frequent. For more than one journey, customers can purchase a TenMas contactless smart card for €2, which can be topped up with up to €100 travel credit. Using the TenMas card provides a discount over cash fares, and, for Tenerife residents, a card allowing unlimited travel for a monthly fee is also available. The card can be purchased and topped up at bus stations and many newsagents. It is also valid on the tram in the capital, Santa Cruz.
A hire car is sometimes a good option for discovering the remote wilderness regions, although TITSA operates reliable bus services in the remotest spots, such as the Teno Massif via Masca (355), and up the Anaga mountains (247). TITSA operates two daily services up Mount Teide – from Puerto de la Cruz (348) and from Los Christianos/Las Americas (342) up to the Teide Parador, Teleferico cable car, Montana Blanca and El Portillo.
The metropolitan area formed by Santa Cruz and La Laguna is served by the Tranvía de Tenerife (Tenerife Tram) which opened in early 2007, after 3 years of intensive works. The fairly lengthy line from Santa Cruz up the hill to La Laguna serves almost 20 stops. A second line within La Laguna was added in 2009.
=== Roads ===
The main means of transportation in Tenerife is by highways. The most important of these are the Autopista del Sur and the Autopista del Norte (the North and South Motorways), which run from the metropolitan zone to the south and north, respectively. These two motorways are connected by means of the Autovía de Interconexión Norte-Sur in the outskirts of the metropolitan zone. Within the network of roads on the island of Tenerife, there are other minor roads that used to include the highway from San Andres and Santa Cruz.
Also planned is the construction of a bypass road north of the metropolitan area of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna. This aims to provide dual cores to Guamasa and Acorán, by way of Los Baldíos, Centenero, Llano del Moro, El Sobradillo, El Tablero, and El Chorrillo, among other neighbourhoods. The route will be approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) long and will cost an estimated 190 million euros (270 million in American dollars).
=== Airports ===
Tenerife is most easily reached by air. There are two airports: Tenerife South Airport, in the south, and Tenerife North Airport, near Santa Cruz. Overall, Tenerife has the highest annual passenger count and the greatest number of arrivals in Canary Islands, made more popular by the frequency of cheap flights from many European destinations. Tenerife North Airport and Tenerife South Airport together account for the highest passenger numbers in the Islands with some 14 million passengers annually (AENA report). Of the two airports on the island, Tenerife South is the most popular tourist destination.
=== Ports ===
Besides air transport, Tenerife has two principal maritime ports: the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Puerto de Santa Cruz), which serves the various capitals of the Canary Islands, especially those in the east; and the Port of Los Cristianos (Puerto de Los Cristianos), which serves the various island capitals of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The first port also has passenger services, which connect with the mainland port of Cádiz (and vice versa). In 2017, a large important port was opened in the south of the island, the Port of Granadilla, and another one is planned in the west, in Fonsalía. The Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the first fishing port in the Canary Islands with approximately 7,500 tons of fish caught, according to the Statistical Yearbook of the State Ports 2006 (the latest of which is changing). Following this report is the largest port number of passengers recorded. Similarly, the second port of Spain moving ship and loaded into cars, only surpassed by the Port of Algeciras Bay. The port's facilities include a border inspection post (BIP) approved by the European Union, which is responsible for inspecting all types of imports from third countries or exports to countries outside the European Economic Area.
=== Buses (guaguas) ===
Tenerife has an extensive system of buses, which are called guaguas in the Canary Islands. The bus system is used both within the cities and also connects most of the towns and cities of the island. There are bus stations in all of the major towns, such as the Intercambiador de Transportes de Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
=== Taxis ===
There is a well-regulated taxi service on the island.
=== Tramway ===
Since 2007, the Tenerife Tram connects Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna through the suburb of Taco. There are 20 stops and it covers a distance of 12.5 km (7.8 mi) in 37 minutes. It calls at some points of interest including Tenerife's two major hospitals, the university complex of Guajara, and a number of museums and theatres. Concerning its power supply, it will support development of further wind farms to provide it with 100 percent clean energy.
==== Railway plans ====
By 2005, plans for a light-rail network linking the capital with the South had been approved by both the Tenerife Council and the Canary Islands Government, though the discussion with the central Spanish Government stalled on budget issues. The original intent was to establish two railway systems that would serve the northern and southern sides of the island connecting these with the capital.
By March 2011, these intentions had been replaced by advanced plans for a single 80 km (50 mi) high-speed rail line, the "South Train" which would connect Santa Cruz de Tenerife with Adeje via Santa Maria de Añaza, Candelaria, San Isidro, Tenerife South Airport, and a main stopover station at Adeje which would be designed to service up to 25,000 passengers per day. Trains would run every 15 minutes during rush hours, and would achieve speeds up to 220 km/h (137 mph). The project, which involves 9 tunnels, 12 false tunnels (together 22.1 km) and 33 viaducts (8.3 km) has been budgeted at EUR 1.7 bn. It has met staunch opposition from local environmentalists.
Plans for the train system were resurrected in 2017. Construction is expected to start by 2027.
An alternate plan for a high-speed Transrapid maglev has also been put forward.
=== Tourist bus train ===
A tourist train (Tren Turístico) serves Costa Adeje to Los Cristianos with several stops including in Playa de las Americas. It is served by a motor vehicle designed to look like a train, with separate carriage attached to it.
=== Cableway ===
== Sports ==
On the island of Tenerife, a large number of sports are practised, both outdoors and indoors in the various facilities available throughout the island. The sports are numerous – Diving, Rock Climbing, Walking, Cycling, Sailing, Golf, Surfing, Go-Karting, Paragliding – the all year round weather makes it ideal for a wide variety of outdoor sports.
There are also many indoor sporting facilities including fully equipped including 'Tenerife Top Training' centre in Adeje on the South of the Island. Its most well-known sports team is football club CD Tenerife based in Santa Cruz. The club has spent time in the Spanish top flight, but have in recent decades primarily played in the second division of Spanish football. Also worth mentioning is the ultramarathon CajaMar Tenerife Bluetrail, the highest race in Spain and second in Europe, with the participation of several countries and great international repercussions.
== Healthcare ==
The main hospitals on the island are the Hospital Universitario de Canarias and the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria. Both are third-level hospitals, with specialist facilities that serve all of the Canary Islands. They are both affiliated with the education and research network of the Universidad de La Laguna. However, they belong to different bodies, since the first one is under the directives of the Servicio Canario de la Salud (Canarian Health Service). The Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria it is the largest hospital complex in the Canary Islands.
In addition, two large new hospitals have recently been built in the north and south areas of the island, located in the municipalities of Icod de los Vinos and Arona respectively. The Hospital del Norte de Tenerife (Tenerife North Hospital) opened in 2012 and the Hospital del Sur de Tenerife (Tenerife South Hospital) opened in 2015. These centers will function, according to their classification, as second level hospitals, with services of hospitalization, advanced diagnosis, ambulances and emergencies, and rehabilitation, etc. There are also a total of 39 centers of primary care and specialized clinics which complete the sanitary infrastructure of Tenerife.
== Gastronomy ==
=== Fish ===
As an island, Tenerife enjoys an abundance of fish of various kinds. The species that are consumed the most are the Combtooth blennies (viejas), as well as sea bream (sama), red porgy (bocinegro), gold lined bream (salema), grouper (mero), and various and abundant types of Thunnus. The Atlantic mackerel (caballa), sardine (sardine), and Jack mackerels (chicharros) are also consumed frequently. Moray eels (morenas) are also eaten, usually fried. Most seafood is cooked simply, usually boiled, or prepared "a la espalda" (cut into two equally shaped pieces along the spine) or "a la sal" (baked in salt). These dishes are usually accompanied by mojo (a local sauce) and wrinkly potatoes.
=== Meat ===
The typical festive meat dish of marinated pork tacos is a very popular dish prepared for town festivities in ventorrillos, bars and private homes. Rabbit in salmorejo, goat, beef, pork and poultry are regularly consumed.
=== Canarian wrinkly potatoes ===
The fish dishes along with the meats are often accompanied by wrinkly potatoes (papas arrugadas). This is a typical Canarian dish which simply refers to the way the cooked potatoes look. They are boiled in their skins, in water with much salt, and the water is allowed to evaporate, leaving a salty crust.
=== Mojos ===
Mojo, a word probably of Portuguese origin, describes a typical Canarian sauce, served as an accompaniment to food. The sauces come in a variety of colours, flavours and textures, and are usually served cold, often in separate dishes, for the diner to choose how much to apply. Green mojo usually includes coriander, parsley, and garlic; whilst red mojo is piquant, and made from a mix of hot and sweet peppers. A wide variety of other ingredients are also used, including; almonds, cheese, saffron and fried bread. Mojos are served with most meat, and some fish, dishes, and are often used on potatoes, or bread is dipped into them.
=== Cheeses ===
Tenerife exports about 3,400 tons of cheese per year, representing about 50 percent of the output of the island, and about 25 percent of the entire Canary Islands.
After the conquest of the Canary Islands, one of the first commercial activities to be started was cheese production. The sale of cheese provided the inhabitants with an income and cheese was even used as a form of currency for exchange and sale, becoming a crucial product in agricultural areas of the island.
Cheese grew to become one of the most commonly produced and consumed products on the island and is regularly served as part of a starter course or as a snack. Farms at Arico, La Orotava and Teno produced a variety of cheeses, including soft cheeses, cured, smoked and were mostly handmade. Today the main product is goat cheese, although certain amounts are made from sheep's or cow's milk, and according to the Registro General Sanitario de Alimentos, the general health registry, around 75 different cottage cheeses are produced. The cheeses of the Canaries have generally received good international reviews, noted for their sweetness which differentiates them from certain other European cheeses. In particular, Tenerifan cured goats cheese was awarded best cheese in the world final of the 2008 World Cheese Awards held in Dublin, Ireland.
Cheeses from Tenerife now have a quality mark promoted by the Fundación Tenerife Rural, to standardize their quality in an attempt to publicize the qualities of the cheese and improve its marketing.
=== Gofio ===
Gofio is one of the more traditional elements of cooking on the island, It is made with cereal grains that are roasted and then ground. Increasingly used to make a gofio on the island is wheat although there are other types, and they are often made with chickpeas. Relatively common is a mixed-type with wheat. It was served as main food to the guanches even before the Spanish conquest. In later times of scarcity or famine it was a staple of the popular Canarian diet. Today it is eaten as a main dish (gofio escaldado) or an accompaniment to different dishes, meats, fishes, soups, desserts. Some famous cooks have even made gofio ice cream, receiving good comments from the critics.
=== Confectionery ===
Confectionery in Tenerife is represented and strongly influenced by La Palma, with confections like bienmesabe, leche asada, Príncipe Alberto, frangollo, huevos moles, and quesillo.
=== Wines ===
Viticulture in the archipelago, and especially in Tenerife dates back to the conquest, when the settlers brought a variety of vines to plant. In the 16th and 17th centuries, wine production played an important role in the economy, and many families were dedicated to the culture and business. Of special mention is malvasía canary, considered the best wine of Tenerife and at the time one of the most desired wines in the world, being shipped across to the major warehouses of Europe and America. Writers such as William Shakespeare and Walter Scott make reference to the wine in some of their works. Tenerife has 5 main wine growing regions. These include Abona, Valle de Güímar, Valle de La Orotava, Tacoronte-Acentejo and Ycoden-Daute-Isora.
This typical gastronomy is served in popular establishments known as guachinches, opening day is the day of San Andrés, 30 November, also known as the young wine festival Festival de Vino Joven. The wine of the new harvest is traditionally served with roasted chestnuts, maturing at the same time, and grilled sardines, thus the season normally lasts from late autumn until early spring.
== In popular culture ==
=== Cities ===
The city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, has a historical inner suburb named Teneriffe, named by one of the first European landowners in the area, James Gibbon, because it reminded him of Mount Teide.
Other cities in the world whose name has its origins in the island are: Tenerife, Magdalena, a town and municipality in Colombia; San Carlos de Tenerife, a city in the Dominican Republic.
=== Cinema ===
Over the last few years, Tenerife has become a popular filming location, being featured in several Hollywood blockbusters. Some of the most important films made on the island are:
One Million Years B.C.: British film of 1966 directed by Don Chaffey and shot in Teide National Park.
Clash of the Titans: American film of 2010, directed by Louis Leterrier. It is mainly located in different locations in Tenerife, such as Teide National Park, Icod de los Vinos and Buenavista del Norte, and Chío pine forests in the municipality of Guía de Isora.
Breaking Bad: In the American television series Season 3, episode 1 No Más (Breaking Bad) of 2010, Walter White refers to the air crash of Tenerife while speaking at the school program.
Wrath of the Titans: American film 2012, directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Shot largely in the Teide National Park.
1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines: Spanish film of 2012 directed by Salvador Calvo, with some scenes shot in Tenerife.
Fast & Furious 6: 2013 American film directed by Justin Lin. In the beginning of the movie, Dom along with Brian, Mia, and their son, live in Tenerife after their heist in Brazil in Fast Five. Also, the tank chase scene was filmed on part of the Autopista TF-1.
Jason Bourne: American film of 2015, directed by Paul Greengrass and shot in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. For this, the city was specially set to simulate the Greek cities of Athens and Piraeus. The Plaza de España, which is the main square in the capital of Tenerife, was decorated to represent the Syntagma Square.
Rambo: Last Blood: American film of 2019, directed by Adrian Grunberg and with the performances of Sylvester Stallone, Matt Cirulnick and Paz Vega, among others. It was shot in different locations on the island, such as: different neighborhoods of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna, areas of Puerto de la Cruz, Santa Úrsula, Arico and the roads around the Teide National Park, among others places.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera: American film of 2025, directed by Christian Gudegast, was largely shot in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
=== Music ===
Likewise, the island has been home to several musical recordings and as a scenic setting for music videos:
"Tie Your Mother Down": song of the English musician Brian May, who studied different astronomical phenomena from Izaña in the Cañadas del Teide and wrote this song in this national park.
Mike Oldfield included in his compilation The Complete fel of 1985, the song Mount Teide dedicated to this volcano from Tenerife.
The music video of song "If I Let You Go", filmed on location in Tenerife, depicts Irish boyband Westlife walking along a beach and singing by a hillside surrounded by red and yellow flags.
"The Island – Pt. 1 Dawn": video clip of the Australian group Pendulum which was recorded entirely in Teide National Park and published in 2010. In this video you can distinguish at the beginning of the video the silhouette of the Teide volcano and the characteristic landscapes of the Park During the entire filming.
Songwriter and singer Ed Sheeran wrote a song, "Tenerife Sea", for his second studio album X, that mentions the island entitled Tenerife Sea. The title is a reference to a line wherein Sheeran compares the color of his love interest's eyes to that of the sea surrounding the island.
The video clip of the song "Do It for Your Lover", with which the Spanish singer Manel Navarro represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, was recorded in different locations of Tenerife, especially in the Macizo de Anaga and in El Porís (Arico).
Singer Blas Cantó (representative of Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020) recorded in Tenerife and Lanzarote the video clip of the song "Universo", with which he represents Spain.
=== Video games ===
Asphalt 8: Airborne features four race tracks on Tenerife.
Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis houses that fictional Kolgujev island, based on Tenerife.
In My Summer Car the main character's parents go to Tenerife on vacation.
=== In literature ===
Literary works featuring Tenerife include The Companion and The Man from the Sea, both by Agatha Christie; La cueva de las mil momias by Alberto Vazquez-Figueroa; Thieves' Picnic by Leslie Charteris; El Sarcófago de las tres llaves by Pompeyo Reina Moreno; and Atentado by Mariano Gambín.
== International relations ==
Tenerife is twinned with:
Miami Dade, United States
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Applegate | Christina Applegate | Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. She gained recognition in the late 1980s for playing Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom Married... with Children (1987–1997). Her titular role in the sitcom Jesse (1998–2000), earned her first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. For her guest role in the NBC sitcom Friends (2002–2003), she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She received additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her roles in the television sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–2009) and the dark tragicomedy series Dead to Me (2019–2022), and also starred in the short-lived sitcom Up All Night (2011–2012). Applegate served as a producer of all three aforementioned projects.
Applegate has also achieved success in films of varying genres, particularly in comedies such as Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991), The Big Hit (1998), The Sweetest Thing (2002), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), Hall Pass (2011), Vacation (2015), Bad Moms (2016), and Crash Pad (2017). On stage, Applegate received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her debut performance as the title character in the Broadway musical revival Sweet Charity (2005).
After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021, Applegate announced she would step away from appearing on screen, but would continue doing voice work.
== Early and family life ==
Applegate was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Her father, Robert William "Bobby" Applegate (1942–2025), was a staff producer at Dot Records; her mother, Nancy Priddy, is a singer and actress. She was named after the Andrew Wyeth painting Christina's World, for which her mother also named a song on her album You've Come This Way Before. Her parents separated shortly after her birth and Christina was raised by her mother. She has two half-siblings, Alisa and Kyle, from her father's second marriage. As a child, Applegate trained as a dancer in various styles, including jazz and ballet.
== Career ==
=== 1972–1986: Early projects ===
Applegate made her television debut in 1972 alongside her mother in the soap opera Days of Our Lives and starred in a commercial for Playtex baby bottles at 3 months old. She made her film debut in the 1981 horror film Jaws of Satan (or King Cobra) and appeared in the 1981 movie Beatlemania. She debuted as a young Grace Kelly in the television biopic Grace Kelly (1983) and appeared in her first television series in Showtime's political comedy Washingtoon (1985), in which she played a congressman's daughter.
Applegate was a guest in the series Father Murphy (1981), Charles in Charge (1984–1985), and Silver Spoons (1986). In 1986, she won the role of Robin Kennedy, a policeman's daughter, in the police drama series Heart of the City (1986–1987). For her performance, she received a Young Artist Award. She guest-starred in several television series, including All Is Forgiven, Still the Beaver, Amazing Stories, and Family Ties.
=== 1987–2001: Breakthrough and Married... with Children ===
From 1987 to 1997, Applegate played the ditzy, sexually promiscuous daughter, Kelly Bundy, on Fox's first sitcom, Married... with Children. While working on the series, Applegate was seen in Dance 'til Dawn (1988) and Streets (1990), in which a teenage drug addict is stalked by a psychotic police officer. She guest-starred in 21 Jump Street (1988) and Top of the Heap (1991) and hosted Saturday Night Live (1993) and MADtv (1996). The character of Sue Ellen Crandell in the black comedy feature Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) was Applegate's first starring role in a mainstream film, playing a rebellious teenager who is forced to take care of siblings after their summer babysitter dies. She had roles in films such as Vibrations (1995), Across the Moon (1995), Wild Bill (1995), Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996), and Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997). Contrary to reports, she did not audition for Titanic, as she told Vanity Fair in their May 2023 edition: "No. Who said that?…That would not have come across my desk, if I had a desk." [Shaw, Vanity Fair, May 4, 2023.] When Married... with Children was cancelled in 1997, producers pitched a spinoff centered on Kelly Bundy, but Applegate declined.
In 1998, Applegate starred as Claudine Van Doozen in the independent feature Claudine's Return (or Kiss of Fire), appeared in the action-comedy The Big Hit and played the fiancée of a mob boss in the Mafia satire Jane Austen's Mafia.
Applegate was one of the founding members of The Pussycat Dolls that debuted at Johnny Depp's Viper Room on the Sunset Strip in 1995. She emceed for the group when they moved to The Roxy Theatre in 2002.
=== 2002–2009: Anchorman, stage, and television ===
Applegate played the dual role of a 12th-century noblewoman, Princess Rosalind, and her 21st-century descendant, Julia Malfete, in the time-travel comedy Just Visiting (2001). She was Princess Gwendolyn and Kate in the movie Prince Charming (2001). After playing Cameron Diaz's level-headed best friend, Courtney Rockcliffe, in The Sweetest Thing (2002), she appeared in Heroes (2002), the romantic airplane comedy View from the Top (2003), the true-crime film Wonderland (2003) based on the Wonderland murders, and the Gram Parsons biopic Grand Theft Parsons (2003). In 2004, she starred with Ben Affleck in the holiday comedy Surviving Christmas and with Matt Dillon in Employee of the Month. She was the executive producer of Comforters, Miserable (2001).
Applegate guest-starred on Friends in the ninth (2002) and tenth (2003) seasons in episodes titled "The One with Rachel's Other Sister" and "The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits" as Amy Green, Rachel Green's (Jennifer Aniston) sister. She won the Primetime Emmy Award from two nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in "The One with Rachel's Other Sister."
Applegate received recognition for her portrayal of anchorwoman Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 comedy films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, an alternative film comprising alternate takes and deleted scenes and story elements.
Applegate has performed on stage in The Axeman's Jazz, Nobody Leaves Empty Handed, The Runthrough, and John Cassavetes' The Third Day (co-starring Gena Rowlands). In 2004, she debuted on Broadway as Charity Hope Valentine in a revival of the 1966 musical Sweet Charity. In late April 2005, she took part in the annual Broadway Cares' Easter Bonnet Competition, being sawed in half by a magician in their Clearly Impossible sawing illusion. Sweet Charity ended its Broadway run on December 31, 2005. Applegate won the 2005 Theatre World Award and was nominated for a 2005 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the musical.
While appearing in Sweet Charity, Applegate broke her foot and it was announced that the musical would close during previews. She persuaded the producers to change their minds. Because of her injury, she had to wear special shoes to prevent another accident. In a 2013 interview, she said that because of what happened, she "actually can't dance anymore. And that is sad for me because I always wanted to go back. But I probably won't be able to." She does dance whenever the opportunity presents, but cannot perform in strenuous roles.
In 2006, Applegate appeared in Jessica Simpson's music video for "A Public Affair" with Eva Longoria, Ryan Seacrest, and Christina Milian. She starred in the ABC comedy Samantha Who? from October 15, 2007, until it was cancelled on May 18, 2009; the finale aired on July 23, 2009. The series co-starred Jean Smart, Jennifer Esposito, and Melissa McCarthy and focused on a 30-year-old who, after a hit-and-run accident, develops amnesia and has to rediscover her life, her relationships, and herself. She received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Shortly after the cancellation was announced, she began a campaign to get the show back into production, which failed. She topped the list of People's Most Beautiful People in 2009. She appeared with her Married... with Children co-star David Faustino in an episode of Faustino's comedy series Star-ving.
=== 2010–present: Dead to Me and further acclaim ===
Applegate voiced Catherine the Cat in the three-dimensional talking animal sequel Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010). She said her mother wanted her to be involved in the film. Prior to Cats & Dogs 2, she voiced Brittany, one of the Chipettes, in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015).
In 2011, Applegate starred in the Farrelly brothers comedy Hall Pass. Applegate also starred in the NBC sitcom Up All Night with Maya Rudolph and Will Arnett, which debuted on September 14, 2011. On February 8, 2013, she left the series after its second-season hiatus, which was leading into a planned format change. The series was ultimately cancelled.
On July 31, 2013, Applegate was featured on the second episode of the fourth season of the revived American version of the TLC series Who Do You Think You Are?. The episode centered on Applegate trying to find information about her paternal grandmother, Lavina Applegate Walton, who was absent for most of Applegate's father's life and died when he was young. Applegate learned that Walton died in 1955 from tuberculosis and alcohol-related cirrhosis.
In 2013, Applegate reprised her role as Veronica Corningstone in the comedy sequel film Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. In 2014, she had a starring voice role as Mary Beth in the animated musical fantasy film The Book of Life. In 2015, she starred with Ed Helms in the National Lampoon sequel Vacation, the fifth full-length movie episode of the road-trip comedies. They played Rusty Griswold and his wife, Debbie, who with their two sons take a trip to Walley World, just as Rusty did with his parents in the 1983 original film, National Lampoon's Vacation. The film was poorly reviewed, but was a box office success. In 2016, she starred as Gwendolyn James in the comedy film Bad Moms with Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn. The film earned mixed reviews from critics and was a box office success.
In July 2018, Applegate co-starred with Linda Cardellini in the Netflix dark comedy series Dead to Me and executive produced the series with Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Jessica Elbaum. The series received critical acclaim. Applegate received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in seasons one and two.
On November 14, 2022, she received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was accompanied by her Married... with Children co-stars Katey Sagal and David Faustino. Her star was placed adjacent to Sagal and Ed O'Neill's stars.
In 2024, Applegate began a podcast with fellow actress with multiple sclerosis Jamie-Lynn Sigler called MeSsy about their friendship based on the condition.
Applegate released her memoir, You with the Sad Eyes, in March 2026, topping The New York Times Best Seller list in its first week of sales.
== Personal life ==
Applegate married actor Johnathon Schaech in Palm Springs, California, on October 20, 2001. Schaech filed for divorce in December 2005, citing irreconcilable differences, and the divorce was finalized in August 2007. She began dating Dutch musician Martyn LeNoble in 2009. The couple became engaged on Valentine's Day 2010 and married on February 23, 2013, at their Los Angeles home. It was the second marriage for both. They have one daughter, Sadie, born in January 2011.
=== Health ===
People reported in 2008 that Applegate had been diagnosed with breast cancer. A representative stated, "Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer. Detected early through doctor-ordered magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the cancer was not life-threatening. Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery." It was announced that she was cancer-free after a double mastectomy, although cancer had been found in only one breast. She has an inherited genetic trait, a BRCA1 mutation, which can trigger breast and ovarian cancer. Her mother is also a breast cancer survivor. Applegate said when she first was diagnosed, "I was just shaking and then also immediately, I had to go into 'take care of business mode'."
Applegate announced in August 2021 that she had received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) a few months before. The disease significantly affected her ability to perform in the final season of Dead to Me, for whose success she credits her co-star Linda Cardellini and showrunner Liz Feldman's support and openness in making reasonable adjustments to her filming schedule.
Applegate said in 2023 that because of her illness she probably would no longer act on camera, but that she would be open to voice-over work, such as a planned animated revival of Married... with Children, in addition to working behind the scenes.
During an appearance on Good Morning American in March 2024, Applegate acknowledged now having "a tremor" from her MS condition.
In March 2026, on an episode of Wild Card with Rachel Martin, Applegate informed NPR journalist Rachel Martin that her death was "looming" and that she had bought a burial plot.
== Philanthropy ==
Applegate has supported Entertainment Industry Foundation, Adopt-A-Classroom, The Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation, World Animal Protection, and the Trevor Project. In 2003, she was the spokesman for the Lee National Denim Day, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer education and research. Following her breast cancer diagnosis, she appeared on a television special, Stand Up to Cancer, designed to raise funds for breast cancer research. The one-hour special was broadcast on CBS, NBC and ABC television networks on September 5, 2008.
In 2009, Applegate announced plans to return as the ambassador for Lee National Denim Day. Also in 2009, she founded Right Action for Women, a charitable foundation dedicated to breast-cancer screening for women and focused on the type of MRI scan that saved her life. In February 2015, she was awarded the Saint Vintage Love Cures Award at the 2nd annual unite4:humanity event hosted by Variety magazine for her dedication to and work with Right Action for Women.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Theatre ===
=== Music videos ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargent_Shriver | Sargent Shriver | Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. He was a member of the Shriver family by birth, and a member of the Kennedy family through his marriage to Eunice Kennedy. Shriver was the driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps, and founded the Job Corps, Head Start, VISTA, Upward Bound, and other programs as the architect of the 1960s War on Poverty. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1972 presidential election.
Born in Westminster, Maryland, Shriver attended Yale University, then Yale Law School, graduating in 1941. An opponent of U.S. entry into World War II, he helped establish the America First Committee but volunteered for the United States Navy before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served in the South Pacific, participating in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. After being discharged from the navy, he worked as an assistant editor for Newsweek and met Eunice Kennedy, marrying her in 1953.
He worked on the 1960 presidential campaign of his brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy, and helped establish the Peace Corps after Kennedy's victory. After Kennedy's assassination, Shriver served in the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson and helped establish several anti-poverty programs as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from October 16, 1964, to March 22, 1968. He also served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970. In 1972, Democratic vice presidential nominee Thomas Eagleton resigned from the ticket, and Shriver was chosen as his replacement. The Democratic ticket of George McGovern and Shriver lost in a landslide election defeat to Republican President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. Shriver briefly sought the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out of the race after the first set of primaries.
After leaving office, he resumed the practice of law, becoming a partner with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He also served as president of the Special Olympics and was briefly a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003 and died in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.
== Early life and education ==
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. was born in Westminster, Maryland, on November 9, 1915, the younger of two sons. Shriver's parents Robert Sargent Shriver Sr. and Hilda, who had also been born with the surname Shriver, were second cousins. His elder brother was Thomas Herbert Shriver. Shriver was a member of the Shriver family that has been in Maryland since 1721 and have occupied the Union Mills Homestead. His grandfather, Thomas Herbert Shriver, guided J. E. B. Stuart to the battle of Gettysburg when Thomas was just seventeen years of age. He was also a descendant of David Shriver, who signed the Maryland Constitution and Bill of Rights at Maryland's Constitutional Convention of 1776.
He spent his high school years at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, which he attended on a full scholarship. In his freshman year at Canterbury, he befriended future brother-in-law President John F. Kennedy. He was on Canterbury's baseball, basketball, and football teams, became the editor of the school's newspaper, and participated in choral and debating clubs. On June 9, 2023, Shriver was inducted into the Canterbury School Athletic Hall of Fame for all three sports. After graduating from Canterbury School in 1934, Shriver spent the summer in Germany as part of The Experiment in International Living, returning in the fall of 1934 to enter Yale University, where he was elected chairman of the Yale Daily News and made a brother in the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, as well as a member of Yale's Scroll and Key society.
== Military career ==
An early opponent of American involvement in World War II, Shriver was a founding member of the America First Committee, an organization started in 1940 by a group of Yale Law School students, also including future President Gerald Ford and future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, which tried to keep the US out of the European war. Nevertheless, Shriver volunteered for the US Navy before the attack on Pearl Harbor and said he had a duty to serve his country even if he disagreed with its policies. He spent five years on active duty, mostly in the South Pacific, serving aboard the USS South Dakota (BB-57), reaching the rank of lieutenant commander (O-4). He was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received during the bombardment of Guadalcanal.
== Family life ==
Shriver's relationship with the Kennedy family began when he was working as an assistant editor at Newsweek after his discharge from the Navy. He met Eunice Mary Kennedy, the third daughter of family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and family matriarch Rose Kennedy at a party in New York, and shortly afterwards, the elder Kennedy asked him to look at diary entries written by his eldest son, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., who had died in a plane crash while he was on a military mission during World War II. Shriver was later hired to manage the Merchandise Mart, part of Kennedy's business empire, in Chicago, Illinois.
After a seven-year courtship, Shriver married Eunice Kennedy on May 23, 1953, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
They had five children: Robert Sargent "Bobby" Shriver III (born April 28, 1954), Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955), Timothy Perry Shriver (born August 29, 1959), Mark Kennedy Shriver (born February 17, 1964), and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (born July 20, 1965). The Shrivers were married for 56 years, and often worked together on projects.
Shriver was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Illinois, and New York, and at the US Supreme Court.
A devout Catholic, Shriver attended daily Mass and always carried a rosary of well-worn wooden beads. He was critical of abortion and was a signatory to "A New Compact of Care: Caring about Women, Caring for the Unborn", which appeared in The New York Times in July 1992 and stated that "To establish justice and to promote the general welfare, America does not need the abortion license. What America needs are policies that responsibly protect and advance the interest of mothers and their children, both before and after birth."
== Public service and political career ==
=== 1950s ===
In May 1954, Shriver was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education by Chicago mayor Martin H. Kennelly. On October 26, 1955, Shriver was chosen to serve as president of the Chicago Board of Education by a vote of the board. Shriver would serve in the position of president for five years, resigning from the position on October 10, 1960. At the time he became president of the board, he was the second-youngest individual to hold that office, being only 39. At the time, Chicago Public Schools was the second-largest school district in the United States.
Shriver also served as director of the Catholic Interracial Council, a group created to advocate for desegregation in Chicago schools.
Shriver considered several runs for statewide office. His first consideration was for the Democratic nomination in the 1956 Illinois gubernatorial election. Shriver had been courted by many Chicago Democrats, including Mayor Richard J. Daley, but ultimately chose to stay out of the election. The primary was won by Cook County treasurer Herbert C. Paschen, who would be forced to withdraw as the nominee after becoming embroiled in scandals surrounding his work as Treasurer. District Court Judge Richard B. Austin, was chosen as the replacement and went on to narrowly lose the election to incumbent Governor William Stratton.
=== 1960s ===
In 1960, Shriver once again received serious courting by Democratic leaders in both Chicago and across the state to enter the Democratic primary for the 1960 Illinois gubernatorial election. Shriver even met with Mayor Daley and the Cook County Democratic Committee to gauge a possible run at Daley's urging. However his father-in-law, Joseph P. Kennedy, told Shriver he would not be able to run or else he could seriously cripple the Presidential campaign of his brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy. His father-in-law cited the oversaturation of Catholic candidates in Illinois could cost the Democrats the state in November (Kennedy, Shriver, and Daley were all Catholic).
When John F. Kennedy ran for president, Shriver worked as a political and organization coordinator in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries. During Kennedy's presidential term, Shriver founded and served as the first director of the Peace Corps from March 22, 1961, to February 28, 1966.
Shriver was credited with convincing a hesitant Kennedy to contact Coretta Scott King after her husband, prominent civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., was jailed for civil disobedience in Georgia in October 1960. Kennedy's phone call to Coretta Scott King was credited with helping to strengthen black support for Kennedy's candidacy.
After Kennedy's assassination, Shriver continued to serve as Director of the Peace Corps and served as Special Assistant to President Lyndon Johnson. Under Johnson, he created the Office of Economic Opportunity and served as its first director. He is known as the "architect" of the Johnson administration's "War on Poverty". Hired by President Johnson to be the "salesman" for Johnson's War on Poverty initiative, Shriver initially was "not interested in hearing about community action proposals." The Job Corps movement was more consistent with his goals. Thus, soon after his appointment, Shriver "moved quickly to reconsider the proposed anti-poverty initiative."
Shriver founded numerous social programs and organizations, including Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action, Upward Bound, Foster Grandparents, Legal Services, the National Clearinghouse for Legal Services (now the Shriver Center), Indian and Migrant Opportunities and Neighborhood Health Services, in addition to directing the Peace Corps. He was active in the Special Olympics, which was founded in 1968 by his wife Eunice.
Shriver was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1967. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth'.
In 1964 Shriver was considered one of the primary finalists on Johnson's shortlist to be vice president. After weighing the benefits of Shriver as the second spot on the ticket, Johnson ultimately chose Hubert Humphrey. Shriver again considered running for Governor of Illinois in the 1964 Illinois gubernatorial election. However, he demurred after being asked by President Johnson to stay on and continue leading the creation of many War on Poverty programs that would become part of the Great Society.
In 1968, Shriver was once again seriously courted by Illinois Democrats for both the 1968 Illinois gubernatorial election against increasingly unpopular incumbent Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. and the 1968 United States Senate election in Illinois against incumbent Republican Everett Dirksen. Shriver expressed little interest in serving in the Senate, not wanting to be overshadowed by his brothers-in-law Ted Kennedy and specifically Robert Kennedy, who he had expected to run for president in 1972. To move Shriver toward a run, Daley pitched to Illinois Democratic leaders and Shriver on recruiting Illinois State Treasurer Adlai E. Stevenson III to run for the Senate seat with Shriver running for Governor. Shriver even received Johnson's blessing to make the run as part of Daley's "Dream Ticket", should he choose to do so. However, when Stevenson spoke out against the Vietnam War, Daley rejected Stevenson's candidacy and again tried to recruit Shriver for the Senate seat. Johnson had offered Shriver the post of U.S. Ambassador to France, but asked for time to consider the offer, during which he considered his potential candidacy. When Stevenson lost Daley's support for the Senate seat and began trying to recruit Shriver again, Shriver decided to accept Johnson's offer of the Ambassadorship.
Shriver served as U.S. Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970, becoming a quasi-celebrity among the French for bringing what Time magazine called "a rare and welcome panache" to the normally sedate world of international diplomacy. Upon returning to the United States in 1970, Shriver was speculated to be considering challenging incumbent Democratic Governor Marvin Mandel for the Democratic nomination for the 1970 Maryland gubernatorial election, reports he did nothing to dissuade despite Mandel's sizable campaign fund and being the state's first Jewish Governor. Mandel had been elected by the Maryland Legislature to finish out the term Spiro Agnew had been elected to in 1966, but resigned from after being elected Vice President in 1968. After traveling the state to gauge the support a potential candidacy might have, Shriver met with Mandel in the Governor's office. After emerging from the meeting, Shriver declined to be a candidate. Mandel recalled years later, "We had a long discussion, and when it was over, he wasn't a candidate."
=== Vice Presidential candidacy ===
During the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, George McGovern considered Shriver as a vice presidential candidate, but his campaign was unable to reach Shriver, who was at the time visiting Moscow, Soviet Union. McGovern then selected Thomas Eagleton instead, who later resigned from the Democratic ticket following revelations of past mental health treatments. Shriver replaced Eagleton on the ticket. The McGovern-Shriver ticket lost to Republican incumbents Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.
=== Presidential candidacy ===
Shriver unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. In the months before the primaries began, political observers thought that Shriver would draw strength from legions of former colleagues from the Peace Corps and the war on poverty programs, and he was even seen as an inheritor of the Kennedy legacy, but neither theory proved true. His candidacy was short-lived and he returned to private life.
== Life after politics ==
Shriver was a partner of the Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson law firm in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in international law and foreign affairs, beginning in 1971. He retired as partner in 1986 and was then named of counsel to the firm.
In 1981, Shriver was appointed to the Rockefeller University Council, an organization devoted exclusively to research and graduate education in the biomedical and related sciences.
In 1984, he was elected president of Special Olympics by the board of directors; as president, he directed the operation and international development of sports programs around the world. Six years later, in 1990, he was appointed chairman of the board of Special Olympics.
He was an investor in the Baltimore Orioles along with his eldest son Bobby Shriver, Eli Jacobs, and Larry Lucchino from 1989 to 1993.
== Illness and death ==
Shriver was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2003. In 2004, his daughter, Maria, published a children's book, What's Happening to Grandpa?, to help explain Alzheimer's to children. The book gives suggestions on how to help and to show love to an elderly person with the disease. In July 2007, Shriver's son-in-law, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking in favor of stem-cell research, said that Shriver's Alzheimer's disease had advanced to the point that "Today, he does not even recognize his wife." Maria Shriver discusses her father's worsening condition in a segment for the four-part 2009 HBO documentary series The Alzheimer's Project called Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?, including describing a moment when she decided to stop trying to correct his various delusions.
On August 11, 2009, Shriver's wife of 56 years, Eunice, died at the age of 88. He attended her wake and funeral in Centerville and Hyannis, Massachusetts. Two weeks later, on August 29, 2009, he attended the funeral of her brother Ted Kennedy in Boston, Massachusetts.
Shriver died on January 18, 2011, in Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 95. Shriver's family released a statement calling him "a man of giant love, energy, enthusiasm, and commitment" who "lived to make the world a more joyful, faithful, and compassionate place." President Barack Obama also released a statement, calling Shriver "one of the brightest lights of the greatest generation". Aaron S. Williams, the director of the Peace Corps, said in a statement, "The entire Peace Corps community is deeply saddened by the passing of Sargent Shriver." He further noted that Shriver "served as our founder, friend, and guiding light for the past 50 years" and that "his legacy of idealism will live on in the work of current and future Peace Corps volunteers." He is buried alongside his wife Eunice at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Massachusetts.
== Legacy ==
In 1968, he was awarded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame, the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.
In 1993, Shriver received the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom From Want Award. On August 8, 1994, Shriver received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton.
In December 1993, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County created the Shriver Center in honor of Shriver and his wife. The center serves as the university's civic engagement, and applied learning organization. The Shriver Center also is home to the Shriver Peaceworker Program and the Shriver Living Learning Community.
The Job Corps dedicated a center to his name in 1998 – the "Shriver Job Corps Center" – located in Devens, Massachusetts. The National Clearinghouse for Legal Services (renamed the National Center on Poverty Law in 1995) was renamed the Shriver Center in 2002 and each year awards a Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice. The Shriver Center on Poverty Law has announced that it will close at the end of 2025.
Sargent Shriver Elementary School, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, is named after him.
In January 2008, a documentary film about Shriver aired on PBS, titled American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver.
The Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is named after him and Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Following his death, Daniel Larison wrote:
Shriver was an admirable, principled, and conscientious man who respected the dignity and sanctity of human life, and he also happened to be a contemporary and in-law of Kennedy. Not only did Shriver represent a "link" with JFK, but he represented a particular culture of white ethnic Catholic Democratic politics that has been gradually disappearing for the last fifty years. A pro-life Catholic, Shriver had been a founding member of the America First Committee, and more famously he was also on the 1972 antiwar ticket with George McGovern. In short, he represented much of what was good in the Democratic Party of his time.
== Electoral history ==
1972 United States presidential election
Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew (R) (inc.) – 47,168,710 (60.7%) and 520 electoral votes (49 states carried)
George McGovern/Sargent Shriver (D) – 29,173,222 (37.5%) and 17 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)
John Hospers/Theodora Nathan (Libertarian) – 3,674 (0.00%) and 1 electoral vote (Republican faithless elector)
John G. Schmitz/Thomas J. Anderson (AI) – 1,100,868 (1.4%) and 0 electoral votes
Linda Jenness/Andrew Pulley (Socialist Workers) – 83,380 (0.1%)
Benjamin Spock/Julius Hobson (People's) – 78,759 (0.1%)
1976 Democratic presidential primaries
Jimmy Carter – 6,235,609 (39.27%)
Jerry Brown – 2,449,374 (15.43%)
George Wallace – 1,955,388 (12.31%)
Mo Udall – 1,611,754 (10.15%)
Henry M. Jackson – 1,134,375 (7.14%)
Frank Church – 830,818 (5.23%)
Robert Byrd – 340,309 (2.14%)
Sargent Shriver – 304,399 (1.92%)
Unpledged – 283,437 (1.79%)
Ellen McCormack – 238,027 (1.50%)
Fred R. Harris – 234,568 (1.48%)
Milton Shapp – 88,254 (0.56%)
Birch Bayh – 86,438 (0.54%)
Hubert Humphrey – 61,992 (0.39%)
Ted Kennedy – 19,805 (0.13%)
Lloyd Bentsen – 4,046 (0.03%)
Terry Sanford – 404 (0.00%)
== Portrayals in film ==
The film Too Young the Hero (1988), about the life of Calvin Graham, features a scene during World War II in which Graham (played by Ricky Schroder) meets Shriver (played by Carl Mueller).
Al Conti portrays Shriver in the 1983 miniseries Kennedy.
He is played by David De Beck in the 2018 film Chappaquiddick. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dunlop | James Dunlop | James Dunlop FRSE (31 October 1793 – 22 September 1848) was a Scottish astronomer, noted for his work in Australia. He was employed by Sir Thomas Brisbane to work as astronomer's assistant at his private observatory, once located at Paramatta (now named Parramatta), New South Wales, about 23 kilometres (14 mi) west of Sydney during the 1820s and 1830s. Dunlop was mostly a visual observer, doing stellar astrometry work for Brisbane, and after its completion, then independently discovered and catalogued many new telescopic southern double stars and deep-sky objects. He later became the Superintendent of Paramatta Observatory when it was finally sold to the New South Wales Government.
== Early life ==
James Dunlop was born in Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of John Dunlop, a weaver, and his wife Janet, née Boyle. He became interested in astronomy at an early age and was constructing telescopes in 1810. By fortune in 1820, he met Sir Thomas Brisbane. In the same year, Brisbane was appointed as the new Governor of New South Wales, who then decided to set up an astronomical observatory in the new Colony. Prior to leaving Britain, Dunlop was then appointed as his second scientific assistant, and both travelled to Sydney in 1821.
== Career in Australia ==
Soon after arriving, Brisbane almost immediately started building his observatory at Paramatta (original spelling), now named Parramatta, and it was Dunlop who was employed to do the astrometric observations for a new accurate southern star catalogue. Also employed was the German born Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (or sometimes as Charles Karl Ludwig Rümker) (28 May 1788 – 21 December 1862), or simply Karl Rümker, who had been recruited by Brisbane as first astronomical assistant. Rümker soon left the observatory in protest of his treatment during 1823, leaving Dunlop in charge of the astrometric measures and general maintenance of the astronomical instruments and the Observatory. Dunlop was not a professionally trained astronomer, so he importantly lacked the necessary mathematical skills to do astrometric reductions. He had soon learned the necessary observational skills from the more able Rümker and his employer.
Between June 1823 and February 1826 Dunlop then made 40,000 observations and catalogued some 7,385 stars, of which included 166 double stars and references to several bright deep-sky objects near the bright stars he catalogued. By the beginning of March 1826, he left the Paramatta Observatory and continued working at his own home in Hunter Street, Paramatta. For there he began organising his own observations of double stars and deep-sky objects for the next 18 months, in which he constructed telescopes and other equipment for his dedicated southern sky survey.
Sir Thomas Brisbane, before finally departing Sydney for the last time in December 1825, arranged to sell all of his instruments to the Government so the observatory could continue to function. Some of the equipment he gave to Dunlop, which he used at his home, especially the useful small equatorial mounted 8.0 centimetres (3.1 in) refracting telescope that Rümker, and later Dunlop, both used for doing the important double stars measures as their own personal projects.
By May 1826, Rümker returned to the observatory, and seven months later he was appointed as the first New South Wales Government Astronomer, though this officially did not happen until a few years later, much to Rümker's disgust, due to delays from his employers in Britain.
== Back to Scotland ==
On arrival, he also reduced his southern double stars and deep-sky observations for publication, which was believed to have taken about one month, and these were published also in the first half of 1828.
These two detailed astronomical papers were received with many accolades from his peers, which lasted until about 1834, when his observations were able to be scrutinised by John Herschel and Thomas Maclear in South Africa. Only then were the various flaws of his observations revealed, and the time spent in the zenith of popularly, then dwindled to fierce criticism and personal rejection especially from the British astronomical community.
== Return to Australia ==
In April 1831, Dunlop was appointed superintendent of the Government observatory at Parramatta. He was selected mainly from his good knowledge of Colony and the observatory site, but the real reason for his selection was more because even though such an astronomical position was formally advertised, nobody applied for the astronomical tenure. Here he was to succeed Rümker with the reasonably good salary of £300 a year.
Dunlop published scientific papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Edinburgh Journal of Science, and the Transactions of the Royal Society.
== Observations and discoveries in Australia ==
Dunlop made several noteworthy discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere sky and in 1828 published A Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars in the Southern Hemisphere observed in New South Wales, which contains 629 objects. A little more than half the objects he discovered proved to be real, most being small nebulous objects being probably artificially created from the handmade reflecting telescope he had constructed himself. He found many new open star clusters, globular clusters, bright nebulae and planetary nebulae, most previously unknown to visual observers. His most famous discovery is likely the radio galaxy NGC 5128 or Centaurus A, a well-known starburst galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus.
Dunlop's other major observational work was of 256 southern double stars or "pairs" below the declination of about 30° South. These were listed in Approximate Places of Double Stars in the Southern Hemisphere, observed at Paramatta in New South Wales, published in 1829. Many of these pairs were actual new discoveries, though the most northerly of them had been earlier discoveries made by other observers. These double star observations were all made roughly between December 1827 and December 1828, being observed through his homemade 9-foot 23 cm (9-inch) speculum Newtonian reflector, or by measuring the separated distances and position angles of selected double stars using the small 8.0 centimetres (3.1 in) equatorial mounted refracting telescope.
Most of these pairs have proved to be uninteresting to astronomers, and many of the double stars selected were too wide for the indication of orbital motion as binary stars. It seems these observations were made when the atmospheric conditions were quite unsuitable for looking at deep sky objects, either being made under unsteady astronomical seeing or when the sky was illuminated by the bright moon. John Herschel immediately on arrival in South Africa in 1834 and 1835 re-observed all of the James Dunlop's double stars, but had troubles identifying them or finding significant differences in the measured positions of the stars. He first began with Alpha Crucis / Acrux, the brightest star in the constellation of Crux, also commonly known as the Southern Cross, then systematically searched for all the others.
Herschel also was first to designate all the Dunlop double stars to begin with the Greek letter "Δ", which persists in many amateur observational references. Hence, bright southern doubles like p Eridani is known as Δ5, Gamma Crucis / Gacrux is Δ124, etc. Modern double star observers have since discarded this designation and prefer the observer abbreviation "DUN", as first adopted in the Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) as maintained by the US Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Hence, p Eridani is DUN 5, Gamma Crucis / Gacrux is DUN 124, etc.
== Death ==
Dunlop died on 22 September 1848 at Boora Boora near Gosford in New South Wales.
He is buried within the grounds of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Kincumber, New South Wales.
== Publications ==
A catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars in the southern hemisphere, observed at Parramatta in New South Wales. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 118, pp. 113–151, 1828. This catalogue with descriptions contains 629 southern deep-sky objects.
He also discovered and catalogued 256 southern double stars in "Approximate Places of Double Stars in the Southern Hemisphere, observed at Paramatta in New South Wales.", which was published in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society Mem.Ast.Soc.London, Vol. 3, 257, 1829.
Only five other astronomical papers were published by James Dunlop between 1829 and 1839, the most significant being on comets; "Places of Encke's comet, from 30 observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)., Vol. 1, 120 (1829) and "Observation of a small comet at Paramatta. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)., Vol. 1, 130 (1829) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2006 | Eurovision Song Contest 2006 | The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of a semi-final on 18 May and a final on 20 May 2006, held at the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece, and presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), who staged the event after winning the 2005 contest for Greece with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Rouvas had also represented Greece in 2004.
Broadcasters from thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participation in the contest. Serbian-Montenegrin broadcaster Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT) had intended to participate, but due to a scandal in its national selection, the tensions between its members, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), forced its withdrawal. Despite this, they did retain voting rights for the contest.
The winner was Finland with the heavy metal-song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation, the longest time a country had competed without a win at that point. It was also the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, as well as the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway).
The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" was performed by Brian Kennedy for Ireland in the semi-final.
== Location ==
The contest took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 edition. It was the first time Greece hosted the contest.
The venue that was chosen as the host venue was the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall, which is located in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, in the capital city of Greece. Completed in 1995, it was the largest indoor venue used at the 2004 Summer Olympics when hosted gymnastics and the basketball finals and the 2004 Summer Paralympics when hosted the wheelchair basketball.
=== Bidding phase ===
When Greece won the 2005 contest, the Head of the Greek Delegation, Fotini Yiannoulatou, said that the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) was ready to host the event in Athens the next year. However, multiple cities bid to host the 2006 contest, including Thessaloniki and Patras, the second and the third largest city in Greece, respectively. The majors of the three cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras) were said that their cities were ready to host the event. The venues that were rumored for each city were: the Olympic Indoor Hall for Athens, Pylea Sports Hall for Thessaloniki and Dimitris Tofalos Arena for Patras.
A few days after Greece's win, the Greek public broadcaster stated that "ERT intends to hold the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, taking into account EBU's already expressed wish for the event to be combined with the Olympic facilities and amenities that the city of Athens has to offer". Mr. Panaghiotis Psomiadis, the Prefect of Thessaloniki stated the city will fight for the hosting of the contest. As the city of Patras seemed not to be available to host the contest, at the end it was a two-horse race between Athens and Thessaloniki.
Finally, on June 30, 2005, ERT and European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Athens will be the host city of the 2006 contest, despite the opposition of some Greek politicians, stated that Athens already had its promotion during the 2004 Summer Olympics and that it's "another city's turn now". The joint decision of the EBU and ERT is to host the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, which has several modern Olympic venues, infrastructure and a proven ability to host events of this size.
=== Other sites ===
The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Zappeion, it was open from 15 to 21 May 2006.
The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at Athens Technopolis, an industrial museum and a major cultural venue of the city.
The official "Welcome and Opening Ceremonies" events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place also in Zappeion on 15 May 2006 at 21:00 EET, followed by the Opening Ceremony.
== Participants ==
All participating broadcaters in the Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU. On 16 January 2006, the EBU announced that the broadcasters from thirty-eight countries would participate in the 2006 contest, with the broadcaster from Austria opting not to participate due to the bad result at the previous contest, and the one from Hungary also deciding not to participate due to financial reasons. Armenia participated for the very first time in the history of the contest.
On 15 March 2006, the participating broadcaster from Serbia and Montenegro announced its withdrawal, reducing the participants number from 38 to 37 and leaving a vacancy in the final; however, the country retained its rights to vote in the contest.
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Carola had represented Sweden in 1983 and she won the contest in 1991; Eddie Butler had represented Israel in 1999 as member of Eden; Fabrizio Faniello had represented Malta in 2001; Ich Troje had represented Poland in 2003; Victor Diawara, member of LT United, had represented Lithuania in 2001 as member of Skamp; and Anna Vissi in addition to having represented Greece in 1980 with the Epikouri, had represented Cyprus in 1982. Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir, who had represented Iceland in 1990 as member of Stjórnin, in 1992 as member of Heart 2 Heart, and in 1994, provided backing vocals for Iceland.
Additionally, Hari Mata Hari were selected to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999, but their entry was disqualified; Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed in Lumen, the interval act of the 1995 contest; host Sakis Rouvas had represented Greece in 2004; and if No Name had been permitted to represent Serbia and Montenegro, they would have done so for the second consecutive year.
=== Other countries ===
==== Active EBU members ====
Active EBU member broadcasters in Austria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, and Hungary confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which caused tensions between the Serbian and Montenegrin broadcasters (RTS and RTCG).
== Format ==
=== Visual design ===
The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo was presented to the public through a press conference that was held on 1 November 2005, at the King George Hotel in Athens, while it was created by the design company Karamela for ERT and was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". Following 2004's "Under The Same Sky" and 2005's "Awakening", the slogan for 2006 was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards in 2006, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination.
In addition to the graphic design, there was a theme music for the contest composed by Nikko Patrelakis, which was used in the intros and in-between commercial breaks, as well as besides the participating entries. The theme music package was conducted by Andreas Pylarinos, while the ERT Symphony Orchestra recorded all music used during the show.
=== Broadcasting ===
As with the 2005 edition, the shows were broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format in standard-definition. The shows were also filmed (but not broadcast) in high-definition, as part of a research experiment carried by the EBU, host broadcaster ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich, the research and development laboratories of RAI and the BBC. This was done to test high-definition television and to gather "artistic and scientific knowledge" for future contests, but the HD footage was never intended to be used as part of the original broadcast. The first edition produced and broadcast in high-definition was the subsequent contest in 2007.
On 31 July 2021, the HDTV raw footage of the 2006 contest was broadcast for the first time, as part of the EurovisionAgain series, on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
=== Stage design ===
ERT announced that the British company Stage One has been appointed to build the set for the contest. Stage One had designed the sets for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The broadcaster have announced that the concept will be rich with traditional Greek elements, paying homage to the country's history and culture. The stage for the contest was designed by Greek stage designer Elias Ledakis. He would go on to design the stage for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The stage was a replica of an ancient Greek amphitheatre.
=== Postcards ===
As it was referred, the theme "Feel The Rhythm" was also the basis for the postcards, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination. The postcards filmed between March and April 2006. The host broadcaster ERT spent €3 million on the production of the 37 postcards. Fanis Papathanisiou of ERT said: "An impressive, international tourism campaign is expensive as well. The Eurovision Song Contest is a perfect platform to achieve equal or even better results. That's why it is worth the investment". To decide what to show in the postcards, ERT hold surveys in all participating countries, asking what people associate Greece with.
=== Voting segment ===
To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1–7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8, 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting – EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load. The Dutch spokesperson Paul de Leeuw also caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results, and slowing down proceedings, also by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou (who represented Cyprus in 1996, in 2002, and in 2005) saluted from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe"; during Cyprus' reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten. And for the first and only time before the Prespa agreement, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety (as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years (as "FYR Macedonia").
=== Presenters ===
After Greece's win, several websites claimed to know that Alexandra Pascalidou would be co-host the 2006 contest, together with the Greek-French journalist and entertainer Nikos Aliagas, but these speculations were untrue.
Initially, ERT asked Sakis Rouvas to represent again Greece in Athens, an offer which he didn't accept. With the Greek broadcaster wanting Rouvas' involvement in the contest, they offered him to be one of the hosts of the contest, where he accepted.
Between the names that were rumored for the female host, included Greek Canadian actress Nia Vardalos, Greek social entrepreneur and philanthropist Elizabeth Filippouli, Greek American actress Jennifer Aniston, and the previous edition's winner, Helena Paparizou. After a lot of speculations, ERT announced on 7 March 2006 that Greek American television personality Maria Menounos would be the hostess of the contest.
Menounos and Rouvas also hosted the allocation draw on 21 March 2006, in order to determine the running order for the semi-final, the grand final and – for the first time in the history of the contest – the voting order. The "Welcome to the Party" opening ceremony was hosted by actress Zeta Makrypoulia and actor/screenwriter of the show, Giorgos Kapoutzidis, while Ioanna Papanikolopoulou was moderating the press conferences.
== Contest overview ==
=== Semi-final ===
The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 22:00 EEST (21:00 CEST). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia (as a part of Serbia and Montenegro) voted. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
The semi-final opened with a medley of former Eurovision songs performed by Greek gods: "Welcome to the Party" by Anna Vissi (runner-up at the Ellinikós Telikós 2006) performed by the Muses, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno (Italy 1958) performed by Zeus, "L'amour est bleu" by Vicky Leandros (Luxembourg 1967) performed by Poseidon, "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man (United Kingdom 1976) performed by Hermes, "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz (United Kingdom 1981) performed by Athena, "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta (Israel 1978) performed by Hephaestus, "Dschinghis Khan" by Dschinghis Khan (Germany 1979) performed by Ares, "Diva" by Dana International (Israel 1998) performed by Aphrodite, "Waterloo" by ABBA (Sweden 1974) performed by the Charites, "Wild Dances" by Ruslana (Ukraine 2004) performed by Artemis and "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou (Greece 2005) performed by the ensemble cast of the Greek gods. In addition, the hosts Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas sang "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves (United Kingdom 1997).
The voting lines for the semi-final were opened by Emilia Tsoulfa (2004 Summer Olympics gold medalist at 470 class sailing representing Greece) and Dimosthenis Tampakos (Greek gymnast and Olympic gold medalist).
The interval act of the semi-final began with the English cover of the song "S'eho Erotefthi", performed as "I'm In Love With You" by the host Sakis Rouvas. A folkloric ballet composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos followed, using traditional Greek music and dances, with the pan flute as a conducting element.
=== Final ===
The finalists were:
the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom;
the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final.
The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 22:00 EEST (21:00 CEST). and was won by Finland. 24 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia (as a part of Serbia and Montenegro) voted.
The grand final opened with a ballet dance, symbolizing the birth of Greece. The Greek singer Foteini Darra performed "The Mermaid Song" (also known as "The Song of Life"), while the dancers and the sets mimicked the creative elements (the sea, the wind, the sun). At the end of the ballet, the presenters appeared in the air, suspended from ropes. They landed on the stage and greeted the audience. They immediately introduced the previous year's winner, Helena Paparizou, who performed her winning song, "My Number One".
The voting lines for the final were opened by the Greek singer Nana Mouskouri, who represented Luxembourg in 1963.
The interval act of the final featured Helena Paparizou performed her song "Mambo!", already a smash hit in Greece, and a contemporary ballet composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos entitled 4000 Years of Greek Song and which traced the history of the musical culture of the host country.
Finland won with 292 points. Russia came second with 248 points, with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, Ukraine, Armenia, Greece and Ireland completing the top ten. Moldova, Spain, France, Israel and Malta occupied the bottom five positions.
==== Spokespersons ====
The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. Although Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest, it retained its voting rights. A draw was held to determine each country's voting order. Countries revealed their votes in the following order:
== Detailed voting results ==
Televoting was used in all nations except Monaco and Albania. Monaco used a jury as the chances of getting enough votes needed to validate the votes were low. Albania used a jury since there were problems with their televote. In the semi-final, Monaco and Albania used the jury voting due to insufficient televoting numbers. Coincidentally, Albania and Monaco were two of the three countries that did not vote for the winning entry, the third one was Armenia.
Serbia had been allowed to vote in the two shows, despite not competing, and despite not being an independent country, but a part of Serbia and Montenegro.
=== Semi-final ===
==== 12 points ====
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:
=== Final ===
==== 12 points ====
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
== Broadcasts ==
All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing an insight about the show to their local audience and, while they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. Similarly, some non-participating broadcasters may still want to air the contest. The tables below show known data regarding the broadcasts:
=== International broadcasts ===
Australia – Although Australia was not itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast on SBS, and took commentary from the BBC broadcast. As is the case each year, they were not however broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. The final rated an estimated 462,000, and was ranked 21st of the broadcaster's top rating programs for the 2005/06 financial year.
Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on June 18, 2007, they missed the contest and had to wait until they were accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, İctimai, broadcast the contest. It was a passive EBU member, and had broadcast it for the last 2 years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest.
Gibraltar – Gibraltar screened only the final on GBC.
Italy – Italy did not enter because RAI, the national broadcaster, is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and they believed that the Eurovision Song Contest would not be a popular show in Italy. They had not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community had shown it in 2003. Italy eventually rejoined in 2011, and has since enjoyed an upturn in fortunes.
Serbia – Serbia and Montenegro was originally set to compete in 2006, before withdrawing after being unable to select an entry following a controversy at its national final. Despite this, Serbia's broadcaster RTS retained broadcasting rights, and viewers in Serbia were allowed to vote in both the semi-final and the final.
=== Ratings ===
After the contest, EBU officials stated that the overall ratings for the semi-final were 35% higher than in 2005, and for the Final had risen by 28%.
In France, average market shares reached 30.3%, up by 8% over the 2005 figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares included Germany with 38% (up from 29%), United Kingdom with 37.5% (up from 36%), Spain with 36% (up from 35%), Ireland with 58% (up from 35%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57% the year previously.
Voting revenues had also risen from the previous contest, and the official Eurovision website, www.eurovision.tv, reported visits from over 200 countries and over 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.
== Aftermath ==
ERT's net income from the Eurovision event amounted to €7.28 million, while the cost of the entire event reached €5.5 million, said on Thursday in a press conference the president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos and the authorized consultant George Chouliaras, who stated: "The allegations about the waste of money of the Greek taxpayer do not apply. The Greek people did not pay a penny for the event. It was a commercial and profitable event and the money we spent was donor money".
According to G. Chouliaras, the revenues that ERT had from the event were €3.63 million from national sponsors, €2.2 million from tickets and €1.45 million from the share of international sponsors, advertising revenues outside sponsorships, sms, etc.
Regarding the costs paid by ERT for the event together with the EBU, it amounted to a total of €9 million, of which €5.5 million were paid by ERT and €3.5 million by the EBU. These costs include the costs for the television production, the production of the artistic program, the technical production, the payment of contributions, the organization of the competition and any other direct costs related to the organization of Eurovision 2006. It is also noted that ERT paid for the production of 47 commercials and their promotion during the semifinals and the final €3.5 million.
=== Spectacles and rewards ===
The president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos, clarified, however, that the total cost does not include the shows that started in February for the advertising support of the event, for which he estimated that their cost will not exceed €1 million. He stated that in essence the net profit of ERT amounts to €745,000, which will be allocated for other cultural events.
It was also clarified that ERT did not pay anything to Anna Vissi, nor to Nikos Karvelas, as well as did not pay for the dress of Anna Vissi. Chouliaras stressed that all the participants in the event were paid at market prices and in particular Zeta Makrypoulia and Giorgos Kapoutzidis received €8–10,000 per month for their four-month employment, Sakis Rouvas €50,000 and Maria Menounos €45,000.
It was also clarified that the costs of the "promotour" of Anna Vissi are included in the total cost and that from these the transfers were covered by Olympic Airlines and the hotels, the cost of which amounted to €150,000, by the sponsors.
Regarding the future, Giorgos Chouliaras noted that "ERT should have a dynamic participation in the next Eurovision Song Contests and not devalue the institution, since it is a television product watched by 3.5 million Greeks".
== Other awards ==
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.
=== Marcel Bezençon Awards ===
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composer Award, and Press Award.
=== Barbara Dex Award ===
The Barbara Dex Award was a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and by the fansite songfestival.be from 2017 to 2021.
== Official album ==
Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006 was the official compilation album of the 2006 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by CMC International on 28 April 2006. The album featured all 37 songs that entered in the 2006 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.
=== Charts === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Coleman | Nathaniel Coleman | Nathaniel Coleman (born January 1, 1997) is an American professional climber who won the silver medal in men's combined sport climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He became the first American male climber to qualify for the Olympic Games after advancing to the final at IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse 2019 in November–December, 2019, a qualifying event for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
== Climbing career ==
=== Competition climbing ===
From 2016 to 2018, Coleman won three straight USA Climbing Bouldering Open National Championships, and finished 2nd in the 2019 competition. He also finished second in the 2019 Combined Invitational. Coleman won the 2020 USA Climbing Bouldering Open National Championships. Coleman also finished 4th overall in bouldering at the 2015 IFSC Climbing World Cup, winning silver medals in Toronto and Vail.
As a youth competitor, Coleman won the age group events at the USA Climbing Youth Bouldering Nationals in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
At 14, Coleman took fourth at Youth Bouldering Nationals in Boulder, Colorado.
==== World Cup rankings ====
== Bouldering ==
On June 17, 2020, Coleman completed the first ascent of The Grand Illusion, graded V16 (8C+), in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, United States.
On December 3, 2024, Coleman recorded the first ascent of No One Mourns the Wicked in Thunder Ridge, Colorado, United States, and graded it V17 (9A). This boulder problem is an extension of Defying Gravity graded V15 (8C) boulder, first ascended by Daniel Woods in 2013. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India | India | India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, predominantly in isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse. Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest. Its hymns recorded the early dawnings of Hinduism in India. India's pre-existing Dravidian languages were supplanted in the northern regions. By 400 BCE, caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires. This era was noted for creativity in art, architecture, and writing, but the status of women declined, and untouchability became an organised belief. In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian language scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.
In the 1st millennium, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts. In the early centuries of the 2nd millennium Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains. The resulting Delhi Sultanate drew northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam. In south India, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture. In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The Mughal Empire ushered in two centuries of economic expansion and relative peace, and left a rich architectural legacy. Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company turned India into a colonial economy but consolidated its sovereignty. British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root. A nationalist movement emerged in India, the first in the non-European British Empire and an influence on other nationalist movements. Noted for nonviolent resistance after 1920, it became the primary factor in ending British rule. In 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a Hindu-majority dominion of India and a Muslim-majority dominion of Pakistan. A large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration accompanied the partition.
India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to over 1.4 billion in 2023. During this time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually to US$2,601, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. A comparatively destitute country in 1951, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class. India has reduced its poverty rate, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality. It is a nuclear-weapon state that ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century. Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition, and rising levels of air pollution. India's land is megadiverse with four biodiversity hotspots. India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in its culture, is supported in protected habitats.
== Etymology ==
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English proper noun "India" derives most immediately from the Classical Latin India, a reference to a loosely-defined historical region of Asia stretching from South Asia to the borders of China. Further etymons are: Hellenistic Greek India (Ἰνδία); Ancient Greek Indos (Ἰνδός), or the River Indus; Achaemenian Old Persian Hindu (an eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire); and Sanskrit Sindhu, or "river," but specifically the Indus river, and by extension its well-settled basin. The Ancient Greeks referred to South Asians as Indoi, 'the people of the Indus'.
The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India, is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to North India, Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.
Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ) is a Middle Persian name for India that became popular by the 13th century, and was used widely since the era of the Mughal Empire. The meaning of Hindustan has varied, referring to a region encompassing the northern Indian subcontinent (present-day northern India and Pakistan) or to India in its near entirety.
== History ==
=== Ancient India ===
Based on coalescence of Mitochondrial DNA and Y Chromosome data, it is thought that the earliest extant lineages of anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens on the Indian subcontinent had reached there from Africa between 80,000 and 50,000 years ago, and with high likelihood by 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity. However, the earliest known modern human fossils in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. Evidence for the neolithic period in the western margins of the Indus river basin, at Mehrgarh in Balochistan, Pakistan, dates to after 7000 BCE. Domestication of grain-producing plants (including barley) and animals (including humped zebu cattle) occurred here. These cultures gradually evolved into the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India. Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, Ganweriwala, and Rakhigarhi, its characteristic features included standardised weights, steatite seals, a written script, urban planning, public works, and arts and crafts including pottery styles, terracotta human figures and animal statuettes. Networks of towns and villages grew around the cities in a new agro-pastoral economy.
Between 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the Rig Veda—the oldest scripture associated with what later became Hinduism—which was composed by Indo-Aryan-speaking tribes migrating east from what is today northern Afghanistan and across the Punjab region. The settling of the Ganges river plain took place during the next millennium, when large swathes of the river system's adjoining regions were deforested, at times by setting fires, or later by employing iron implements, and prepared for agriculture. The settlement may have involved driving the preexisting people out or enslaving them. The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the north, creating a broad language family-divide, with the Indo-Aryan languages being spoken mainly in the north and west, and the Dravidian in some parts of east India and most of the south. Classical Sanskrit, a refined and standardised grammatical form would emerge in the mid-1st millennium BCE and was codified in the Aṣṭādhyāyī ('Eight chapters') of Pāṇini. The two major Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, however, were composed in a range of oral storytelling registers called Epic Sanskrit which was used in northern India between 400 BCE and 300 CE, and roughly contemporary with classical Sanskrit.
A second urbanisation had taken place in South Asia by 400 BCE, this time on the Ganges plain. In fortified cities, social differentiation by caste, or varna, had emerged. By the mid-millennium two new ethical and social systems had arisen: Jainism based on the teachings of Mahavira and Buddhism on those of the Buddha. Both religions stressed non-violence and abjured animal sacrifices conducted in Brahmanism, and birth into a fixed hereditary varna. By living ethically, lay people could rise socially and morally in these religions. Chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. The rise of the two religions was a backdrop to the emergence of the first loose-knit geographically extensive power in South Asia, the Maurya Empire. During the rule of the founder's grandson, Ashoka (ca. 268–232 BCE), the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of the subcontinent, except in the deep south. The empire's period was notable for creativity in art, architecture, inscriptions, and produced texts, but also for the declining rights of women in the mainstream Indo-Aryan speaking regions. After the Kalinga War in which his troops visited great violence on the region, Ashoka embraced Buddhism and promoted its tenets in edicts scattered across South Asia. As the edicts forbade both the killing of wild animals and the destruction of forests, Ashoka is seen by some modern environmental historians as an early embodiment of that ethos.
By the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself. The renewal was reflected in a flowering of art, literature, and science. In South India, the Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras and the Cholas, along the western and eastern plains, respectively, of the Kaveri river valley, and the Pandyas farther south along the Vaigai river valley. By the sixth century, the Pallavas had grown into a regional power. Simultaneously, Buddhism and Jainism, which had favoured a conservative transactionalism, were replaced by kingly devotion to the gods of particular places, which became a characteristic of the Bhakti movement. The Pallavas, in particular, traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and Southeast Asia.
=== Medieval India ===
The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200 CE, was defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region. During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes. The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were composed in Tamil. They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent. Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in significant numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well. Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation. By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; Southeast Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206. The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.
By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire. Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.
=== Early modern India ===
In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty—expressed through a Persianised culture—to an emperor who had near-divine status.
The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India. The empire gradually disintegrated in the late 17th and 18th centuries, enabling many among these elites were able to seek control of their own affairs.
By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, several European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established coastal outposts. The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to assert its military strength increasingly and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies. Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annexe or subdue most of India by the 1820s. India was no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period. By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform, and culture.
=== Modern India ===
The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state: the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in Europe. Disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some wealthy landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule. After the rebellion was suppressed in 1858, the East India Company was disbanded, and the British government began to directly administer India. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest. In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.
The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks, and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of faraway markets. There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines, and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians. However, commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, notably reduced the cost of moving goods, and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.
After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served, a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation led by Mahatma Gandhi. During the 1930s, the British enacted slow legislative reform; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.
India's constitution was adopted in 1950 and established a secular, democratic republic. Economic liberalisation has created a large urban middle class and transformed India into a fast growing economy. However, India has been hamstrung by persistent poverty, both rural and urban; religious- and caste-related violence; Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies; and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India. India has unresolved territorial disputes with China and with Pakistan.
== Geography ==
India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate, and a part of the Indo-Australian Plate. India's defining geologic processes began approximately 70 million years ago, when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east. Simultaneously, the vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate. The Indian continental crust, however, was obstructed and was sheared horizontally. Its lower crust and mantle slid under, but the upper layer piled up in sheets (or nappes) ahead of the subduction zone. This created the orogeny, or process of mountain building, of the Himalayas. The middle and stiffer layer continued to push into Tibet, causing crustal thickening of the Tibetan Plateau. Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shaped trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in the ancient Aravalli range, which extends from the Delhi Ridge in a southwesterly direction. To the west lies the Thar Desert, the eastern spread of which is checked by the Aravallis.
The remaining Indian Plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east. To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats; the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitude and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal. Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi. The Kosi's extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods and course changes. Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal; and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.
India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains. According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and 46% mudflats or marshy shores. Coastal features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh. India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.
=== Climate ===
The Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons. The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall.
Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane. Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018. Climate change in India is often thought to be the cause. The retreat of Himalayan glaciers has adversely affected the flow rate of the major Himalayan rivers, including the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.
=== Biodiversity ===
India is a megadiverse country, a term employed for 17 countries that host high biological diversity and contain many species indigenous, or endemic, to them. India is the habitat for 8.6% of all mammals, 13.7% of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2% of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species. Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic. India also overlaps four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots, or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.
India's most dense forests, such as the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India, occupy approximately 3% of its land area. Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area. It predominates in the temperate coniferous forest of the Himalayas, the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India. India has two natural zones of thorn forest, one in the Deccan Plateau, immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible. Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine, and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul, which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro, and under which the Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.
Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago. India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms. Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographic passes flanking the Himalayas. This lowered endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians. Among endemics are the vulnerable hooded leaf monkey and the threatened Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats.
India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms. These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges river dolphin. Critically endangered species include the gharial, a crocodilian; the great Indian bustard; and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle. Before they were extensively used for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by the Asiatic cheetah; the blackbuck, no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is extinct. The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988. India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and eighteen biosphere reserves, four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; its eighty-nine wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.
== Government and politics ==
=== Politics ===
India is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. There are six recognised national parties in the country, including the Indian National Congress (generally, "the Congress") and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); there are over 50 regional parties. The Congress is considered the ideological centre in Indian political culture; the BJP is right-wing to far-right.
After India's independence on August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister of the Dominion of India, an office he held until January 26, 1950, when India became a republic; Nehru remained the caretaker prime minister until the following year. In the general elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962, the Congress, led by Nehru, won by comfortable margins. After Nehru died in office in May 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri was unanimously chosen by the Congress to be parliamentary leader, and thus prime minister. After the India–Pakistan war of 1965, Shastri died in January 1966, soon after signing the Tashkent Peace Declaration. The Congress chose Indira Gandhi to be prime minister. She led the party to election victories in 1967 and 1971, the latter a landslide after Pakistan's defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War. In 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, suspending many civil liberties. Following public discontent with the Emergency, the Congress was voted out of power in 1977; Janata Party, which had opposed the Emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted two years; Morarji Desai and Charan Singh served as prime ministers. The Congress returned to power in 1980. After a military operation against Sikh militants occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by a Sikh bodyguard on October 31, 1984. She was succeeded as prime minister by Rajiv Gandhi, who led Congress to a comfortable victory in the elections at the end of the year. In 1989, a National Front coalition, led by the Janata Dal, in alliance with the Left Front, won the general elections. The subsequent government lasted just under two years; V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar served as prime ministers. In 1991, soon after the first round of polling in the general election, Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a member of a Sri Lankan Tamil separatist organisation who was seeking to avenge Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war. After the elections, Congress emerged as the largest single party; a new Congress leader, P. V. Narasimha Rao, formed a minority government which served a full five-year term.
In 1996, the BJP briefly formed a government after winning the general election. United Front coalition governments followed, which relied on external political support, H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral serving as prime ministers. After the 1998 Indian general election, Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP became prime minister; his government was short-lived due to the lack of a continued mandate. Elections were held again in 1999. The BJP, now a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), formed a coalition government led by Vajpayee, who became the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a five-year term. In the 2004 general election, the NDA was defeated. Congress emerged as the largest single party and formed a coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, who was proposed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to be parliamentary leader, served as prime minister of the UPA government, but with some external support. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, no longer dependent on external support. Singh became the first prime minister to be re-elected after Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962. In the 2014 general election, the BJP under Narendra Modi became the first political party since 1984 to win an absolute majority. The party won a larger majority in the 2019 general election. After losing its majority in the 2024 general election, the BJP formed a coalition government with its NDA partners. Modi is the longest-serving non-Congress prime minister. Democratic backsliding was found by the 2026 V-Dem Democracy Report.
=== Government ===
The Constitution of India was drafted by the Constituent Assembly of India with uncommon speed and absence of irregularities between 1946 and 1949. The Government of India Act 1935 was used as a model and framework. Long passages from the Act were included. The constitution describes a federal state with a parliamentary system of democracy. The federal structure was conspicuous for the strength of the central government, which exclusively exercised control of defence, foreign affairs, railways, ports, and currency. The President, the constitutional head of state, has reserve powers for taking over the administration of a state. The central legislature has two houses: the Lok Sabha, whose delegates are directly elected by the people in general elections every five years, and the Rajya Sabha, whose members are nominated by the elected representatives in the states. There are also features not to be found in the Act of 1935. The definition of fundamental rights is based on the Constitution of the United States, and the constitutional directives, or goals of endeavor, are based on the Constitution of Ireland. An Indian institution recommended by the constitution is the panchayat or village committees. Untouchability is illegal (Article 17) and caste distinctions are derecognized (Articles 15(2) and 16(2)). The promulgation of the Indian constitution transformed India into a republic within the Commonwealth.
The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power. Appointed by the president, the prime minister is supported by the party or political alliance with a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament. The executive of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice-president, and the Union Council of Ministers—with the cabinet being its executive committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and their council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. Civil servants act as permanent executives and all decisions of the executive are implemented by them.
India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary comprising the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large number of trial courts. The supreme court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the centre and has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts. It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.
=== Administrative divisions ===
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. All states, as well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, district, block and village levels.
==== States ====
==== Union territories ====
=== Foreign relations ===
India remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations after becoming a republic in 1950. It strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia in the 1950s, and played a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement. After cordial relations with China during the greater part of the 1950s, India and China went to war in 1962; India was widely thought to have been decisively defeated. By 1967, however, India was able to fend off Chinese excursions into Sikkim.
India has had uneasy relations with its western neighbour, Pakistan. The two went to war in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir. After the 1965 war, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union. By the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was India's largest arms supplier.
China's nuclear test of 1964 and threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war caused India to produce nuclear weapons. India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional underground testing in 1998. India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.
Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military cooperation with the United States and the European Union. In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce; India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
== Economy ==
According to the International Monetary Fund, the Indian economy in 2024 was nominally worth $3.94 trillion; it is the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates and, at around $15.0 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). With an average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012, India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies. However, it has a low per capita GDP, ranking 144th in the world in nominal terms and 123rd adjusted for PPP. The vast majority of Indians fall into the global low-income group based on average daily income.
Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation to liberalise its economy; since then, it has moved increasingly towards a free-market system by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows. India has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.
The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second largest, as of 2017. The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$100 billion in 2022, the highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries. In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985. In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.7%; in 2021, India was the world's ninth-largest importer and the sixteenth-largest exporter. Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%. India was the world's second-largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year.
Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years before 2007, India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century. Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030. In 2024, India's consumer market was the world's third largest. India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$308 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,380 in 2010, to an estimated US$2,731 in 2024. It is expected to grow to US$3,264 by 2026.
=== Industries ===
The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010, and exports by 36% during 2008–2009. In 2022, India became the world's third-largest vehicle market after China and the United States, surpassing Japan. At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP, and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.
The pharmaceutical industry in India includes 3,000 pharmaceutical companies and 10,500 manufacturing units; India is the world's third-largest pharmaceutical producer, largest producer of generic medicines, and supplies up to 50–60% of global vaccines demand, contributing up to US$24.44 billion in exports. India's local pharmaceutical market is estimated up to US$42 billion. India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world. The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing its revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at June 2013 exchange rates).
India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts is renewable. The country's usage of coal is a major cause of India's greenhouse gas emissions, but its renewable energy is growing. India emits about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This equates to about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year, which is half the world average. Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking with liquefied petroleum gas have been priorities for energy in India.
== Demographics ==
With an estimated 1,428,627,663 residents in 2023, India is the world's most populous country. 1,210,193,422 residents were reported in the 2011 provisional census report. The median age was 28.7 in 2020. Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly, though India's decennial rates of growth are decreasing: its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011, compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001). The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people. The life expectancy at birth has increased from 49.7 years in 1970–1975 to 72.0 years in 2023. The under-five mortality rate for the country was 113 per 1,000 live births in 1994 whereas in 2018 it reduced to 41.1 per 1,000 live births.
The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males. Female infanticide in India, and lately female foeticide, have created lop-sided gender ratios; the number of missing women in the country quadrupled from 15 million to 63 million during the period 1964–2014, faster than the population growth during the same period. According to an Indian government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care. Despite a government ban on sex-selective foeticide, the practice has far from stopped.
Migration from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in India's recent history. The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001. In 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas. The level of urbanisation increased further from 27.81% in the 2001 census to 31.16% in the 2011 census. The slowing down of the overall population growth rate was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991. In the 2011 census, there were 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India. Among them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in decreasing order by population.
=== Languages ===
Languages of India belong to several language families. The 2011 Census of India, the last conducted by the Indian government, gives the following breakdown:
There are also small numbers of speakers of Tai–Kadai, Andamanese, and minor language families and isolates.
The official language of India's federal government was chosen by the Constituent Assembly of India in September 1949 after three years of debate between two opposing camps. Hindi language protagonists wanted Hindi in the Devanagari script to be the sole "national language" of India whereas delegates from South India preferred English to have a place in the Constitution. The compromise reached declared (i) Hindi to be the "official language" of India's federal government; (ii) English to be an associate official language for 15 years during which Hindi's formal lexicon would be developed; and (iii) the international form of Hindu–Arabic numerals to be the official numerals. The compromise resolution became articles 343–351 of India's constitution, which came into effect on 26 January 1950. In 1965, when the 15 years were up, the Government of India announced that English would continue to be the "de facto formal language of India".
The Eighth Schedule of India's Constitution also recognises 22 languages, including Hindi but not English, which the government is obligated to develop. These are sometimes called "scheduled languages". This list includes major regional languages, but also others—such as Sanskrit, which no longer has first language speakers in India, and Urdu, which is not region-specific—because of their value to India's cultural heritage. In 1950, there were 14 scheduled languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. In the following decades constitutional amendments added others: Sindhi (1967), Nepali, Manipuri, and Konkani (1992), Maithili, Dogri, Santali and Bodo (2004).
=== Religion ===
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of beliefs and practices. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of its culture. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four major world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. India has the largest population of Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains, the third-largest population of Muslims (after Indonesia and Pakistan) and the ninth largest of Buddhists. India also has the largest population of people adhering to both Zoroastrianism (Parsis and Iranis) and the Bahá'í Faith.
The Preamble to the Constitution of India declares India to be a secular state, and freedom of religion to be a fundamental right ("... liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship.") According to the 2011 census of India, 79.8% of the population of India follows Hinduism, 14.2% Islam, 2.3% Christianity, 1.7% Sikhism, 0.7% Buddhism and 0.4% Jainism. Several tribal religions are also present in India, such as Donyi-Polo, Sanamahism, Sarnaism, and Niamtre.
=== Education ===
The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males. The rural-urban literacy gap, which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas. Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%. In 1981 the respective literacy rates for total population, men and women were 41%, 53% and 29%. In 1951, the rates were 18%, 27% and 9%. In 1921, the rates 7%, 12% and 2%. In 1891, they were 5%, 9% and 1%. According to Latika Chaudhary, in 1911 there were under three primary schools for every ten villages. Statistically, more caste and religious diversity reduced private spending. Primary schools taught literacy, so local diversity limited its growth.
The education system of India is the world's second-largest. India has over 900 universities, 40,000 colleges and 1.5 million schools. In India's higher education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development.
=== Health ===
India bears a disproportionately large burden of the world's tuberculosis rates, with World Health Organization (WHO) statistics for 2022 estimating 2.8 million new infections annually, accounting for 26% of the global total. It is estimated that approximately 40% of the population of India carry tuberculosis infection.
In 2018 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was the leading cause of death after heart disease. The 10 most polluted cities in the world are all in India with more than 140 million people breathing air 10 times or more over the WHO safe limit. In 2017, air pollution killed 1.24 million Indians.
== Culture ==
=== Society ===
Although sometimes applied to other cultures and religions, caste is a uniquely Indian, and Hindu, social institution. All Hindus fall broadly into four castes, or varnas: Brahmin, or priests, at the top; below them Kshatriya, or warriors; further below, Vaishya, or merchants and farmers; and at the bottom, Shudra, or the service class. Outside the caste system, and therefore of traditional Hinduism, lie people formerly called "outcastes" or "untouchables," and now scheduled caste (a term used in India's constitution) or Dalit, a later self-description of pride, meaning "broken" or "downtrodden". Each caste is further divided into sub-castes, or jatis, many of which are tied to occupations. The custom of endogamy, or marrying within one's subcaste, however, makes caste a hereditary label, not of one occupational choice, and has caused the caste system, therefore, to become entrenched. The Constituent Assembly of India abolished untouchability in 1947, the Republic of India did more formally in 1950, and India has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives related to caste. Still, caste-based inequality, discrimination, segregation, and violence persist.
Multi-generational patrilineal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. A very large majority of Indians have their marriages arranged by their parents or family elders. Marriage is thought to be for life; and the divorce rate is extremely low; less than one in a thousand marriages end in divorce. Many women marry before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age; child marriages are not uncommon, especially in rural areas. In large parts of Hindu northern India, moreover, a form of territorial exogamy is observed in which a bride marries out of her natal village and her parents do not visit her in her married home; the annual rite raksha bandhan, during which married women return to their natal homes, has served both to affirm bonds with their natal families and offer a recourse in times of marital stress.
=== Visual art ===
India has a very ancient tradition of art, which has exchanged many influences with the rest of Eurasia, especially in the first millennium. During this period Buddhist art spread with Indian religions to Central, East and Southeast Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art. Thousands of seals from the Indus Valley civilisation of the third millennium BCE have been found, usually carved with animals, but also some with human figures. The Pashupati seal, excavated in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, in 1928–29, is the best known. Virtually no art survives from a long period following the Indus Valley Civilisation. Almost all surviving ancient Indian art thereafter is in various forms of religious sculpture in durable materials, or coins. There was probably originally far more in wood, which is lost. In north India Mauryan art is the first imperial movement.
Over the following centuries a distinctly Indian style of sculpting the human figure developed, with less interest in articulating precise anatomy than ancient Greek sculpture but showing smoothly flowing forms expressing prana ("breath" or life-force). This is often complicated by the need to give figures multiple arms or heads, or represent different genders on the left and right of figures, as with the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva and Parvati.
Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi, Sarnath and Amaravati, or is rock cut reliefs at sites such as Ajanta, Karla and Ellora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later. In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups, and sculptors probably usually served all communities. Gupta art, at its peak c. 300 CE – c. 500 CE, is often regarded as a classical period whose influence lingered for many centuries after; it saw a new dominance of Hindu sculpture, as at the Elephanta Caves. Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic after c. 800 CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues. But in the South, under the Pallava and Chola dynasties, sculpture in both stone and bronze had a sustained period of great achievement; the large bronzes with Shiva as Nataraja have become an iconic symbol of India.
Ancient paintings have only survived at a few sites, of which the crowded scenes of court life in the Ajanta Caves are some of the most important. Painted manuscripts of religious texts survive from Eastern India from 10th century onwards, most of the earliest being Buddhist and later Jain. These significantly influenced later artistic styles. The Persian-derived Deccan painting, starting just before the Mughal miniature, between them give the first large body of secular painting, with an emphasis on portraits, and the recording of princely pleasures and wars. The style spread to Hindu courts, especially among the Rajputs, and developed a variety of styles, with the smaller courts often the most innovative, with figures such as Nihâl Chand and Nainsukh. As a market developed among European residents, it was supplied by Company painting by Indian artists with considerable Western influence. In the 19th century, cheap Kalighat paintings of gods and everyday life, done on paper, were urban folk art from Calcutta, which later saw the Bengal School of Art, reflecting the art colleges founded by the British, the first movement in modern Indian painting.
=== Mathematics ===
Significant mathematics began in India in the first millennium BCE. The Śulba Sūtras (literally, "Aphorisms of the Chords" in Vedic Sanskrit) (c. 700–400 BCE) contain the earliest extant verbal expression of the Pythagorean theorem (although very likely it had been known to the Old Babylonians.) All mathematical works were orally transmitted until approximately 500 BCE; thereafter, they were transmitted both orally and in manuscript form. The oldest extant mathematical document produced on the Indian subcontinent is the birch bark Bakhshali manuscript from the 7th century CE.
In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE to 1200 CE), important contributions were made by Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, Varāhamihira, and Madhava. The decimal number system in use today was first recorded in Indian mathematics. Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the concept of zero as a number, negative numbers, arithmetic, and algebra. Trigonometry was further advanced in India, and the modern definitions of sine and cosine were developed there. These mathematical concepts were transmitted to the Middle East, China, and Europe. A later landmark in Indian mathematics was the development of the series expansions for trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, and arc tangent) by mathematicians of the Kerala school in the 15th century CE. Their work, completed two centuries before the invention of calculus in Europe, provided the first example of a power series. In the modern era Srinivasa Ramanujan made fundamental contributions to number theory.
=== Music ===
India contains a wide array of musical practices, including many different folk musics from different regions. Indian classical music has Vedic origins, and split in the 13th century into the two main traditions of Hindustani and Carnatic music. Hindustani is associated with North India and is more improvisational, featuring instruments such as the sitar and tabla, and Carnatic is South Indian and more focused on written compositions such as the kriti, while both styles contain common elements such as the raga melodic framework and tala rhythmic meter. Indian music has influenced western genres, notably rock and jazz musicians during the 1960s counterculture.
Filmi is music written for Indian cinema, generally composed by music directors and sung by playback singers. Modern Indian pop takes influences from classical, folk, and western pop music.
=== Dance ===
Dance in India has drawn heavily from Indian classical dance traditions. Many of these in turn arose in temples or other religious contexts. Their sponsorship and promotion, however, has continued in secular, modern India. India also has local and modern dance traditions. Whether or not a dance is classical is determined by the Sangeet Natak Academi, the Indian government's organisation for performing arts. Although more dances could perhaps meet the criteria for classical, the Akademi has chosen eight.
The best-known classical dance is Bharatnatyam, which began in the temple dances of Tamil devadasis. Identified with "prostitutes and courtesans", their dancing was formally banned in 1947. Concurrently, the dance was rehabilitated as a "pure" art form, with Rukmini Devi Arundale as a prominent figure. A devdasi who went on to attain national and international prominence was Thanjavur Balasaraswati. Some sources consider the dance-dramas Chhau of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha and Yakshagana of Karnataka to also belong to the classical tradition.
Local dance traditions vary widely across India. In addition to the dance-dramas Chhau and Yakshagana, they include dance-dramas Raslila of western Uttar Pradesh and Terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu; calendrical and festival dances such as the Bhangra of Punjab, especially at Vaisakhi, the onset of spring, and Garba of Gujarat during Navratri; and tribal or Adivasi dances, such as those of the Santal and Toda people, the latter, for example, in honour of the god Ön who brought buffalo to earth.
Among 20th-century directions is the modern dance of Uday Shankar in which classical styles were employed but not adhered to rigidly. Examples are dance-dramas based on the ancient Indian animal fables, Panchatantra, and Nehru's mid-century meditation on Indian history, The Discovery of India. Dance has been an essential aspect of Indian films from the first talkies of the 1930s. The individual and group dances of Bollywood, for example, show a broad range of influences, including classical, local, and Western popular dance. Towards the end of the 20th century, innovations in British South Asian music and dance, such as Post-Bhangra, fed back into dance in India.
=== Clothing ===
From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional dress in India was draped. For women it took the form of a sari, a single piece of cloth many yards long. The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder. In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or Indian petticoat, and tucked in along the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also commonly worn with an Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—covering the midriff and obscuring the upper body's contours. For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.
The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established by the Delhi sultanate (c. 1300 CE) and continued by the Mughal Empire (c. 1525 CE). Among the garments introduced during this time and still commonly worn are: the shalwars and pyjamas, both styles of trousers, and the tunics kurta and kameez. Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist. When the pants are cut quite narrow, on the bias, they are called churidars. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic. Its side seams left open below the waistline. The kurta is traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such as chikankari; and typically falls to either just above or just below the wearer's knees.
In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they remain popular on formal occasions. The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans. In office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round. For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle and upper classes often wear bandhgala, or short Nehru jackets, with pants, with the groom and his groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars.
=== Cuisine ===
The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked plainly and complemented with savoury dishes. The cooked cereal could be steamed rice; chapati, a thin unleavened bread; idli, a steamed breakfast cake; or dosa, a griddled pancake. The savoury dishes might include lentils, pulses, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish commonly spiced with ginger and garlic, but also coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom and others. In some instances, the ingredients may be mixed during the cooking process. India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents. About 20% to 39% of India's population consists of vegetarians. Although meat is eaten widely, the proportional consumption of meat is low.
The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during the Mughal Empire, spreading into northern India from regions to its northwest, along with dishes such as pilaf. Onions, garlic, almonds, and spices were added to the simple yogurt marinade of Persia. Rice was partially cooked and layered alternately with sauteed meat, the pot sealed tightly, and slow cooked according to another Persian cooking technique, to produce biryani, a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.
The diversity of Indian food served worldwide has been partially concealed by the dominance of Punjabi cuisine. The popularity of tandoori chicken—cooked in a tandoor oven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally from Central Asia—dates to the 1950s, and was caused in large part by an entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab who had been displaced by the 1947 partition.
=== Sports ===
Several traditional indigenous sports such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda, and also martial arts, such as Kalarippayattu and marma adi remain popular. Chess is commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga; There has been a rise in the number of Indian grandmasters. Viswanathan Anand became the undisputed Chess World Champion in 2007 and held the status until 2013. Parcheesi is derived from Pachisi another traditional Indian pastime, which in early modern times was played on a giant marble court by Mughal emperor Akbar.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. India is one of the more successful cricket teams, having won two Cricket World Cups, three T20 World Cups, and three Champions Trophies. India has won a record eight field hockey gold medals in the summer Olympics. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Sundance_Film_Festival | 2014 Sundance Film Festival | The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle and closed with musical drama Rudderless directed by William H. Macy.
The festival honored late Roger Ebert and premiered Life Itself by Steve James, a biographical documentary film based on Ebert's 2011 memoir titled as Life Itself: A Memoir on 19 January 2014. The festival introduced a new film category titled Sundance Kids, which will help to introduce independent films to a younger generation of audiences. It is also a first category at the festival dedicated to children's films. The festival also hosted several events and discussion panels around themes of success through failure titled Free Fail, which included the screening of Bottle Rocket turned down by the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and later become independently successful. The festival had more than 700 sponsors and 1,830 volunteers.
== About the festival ==
A record 12,218 films were submitted, 72 more films than the 2013 festival. Of the 4,057-plus feature films were submitted, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international, and 121 were selected from 37 countries (with 100 of them being world premieres). Of the 8,161 short films submitted, 66 were selected (59 more than for the 2013 Festival). There were 54 directors, who made their directorial debut at the festival, 35 of whom have films in competition. Sixteen films were selected each for the U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Documentary competition sections, and twelve films each for the World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary sections.
This year's festival marked the 30th anniversary of the festival since its foundation in 1981 by Robert Redford. In celebration of 30th anniversary of the festival, the screening of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades took place at the festival. Some of the films which were shown are Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Little Miss Sunshine, An Education, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Reservoir Dogs, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious and Napoleon Dynamite. An Artist at the Table event was also hosted at the 30th anniversary of the festival, which was attended by Festival board members, patrons and artists visiting the festival including Mark Ruffalo, Katie Couric and Doug Aitken.
Music was major part of the festival. Most of the movies in the festival had musical themes. The opening night film Whiplash used music to explore human nature and identity. God Help the Girl, a coming of age drama with musical theme directed by Stuart Murdoch. Memphis starring musician Willis Earl Beal as an artist. Australian musician Flea appears in Low Down, a biopic about American jazz pianist Joe Albany. Only Lovers Left Alive follows a musician and his lover while his world is collapsing down. Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory, a documentary about a man who wanted to help the Alzheimer's patient with music. Frank, comedy about a young musician, starring Michael Fassbender. 20,000 Days on Earth, a documentary narrating a day in the life of Nick Cave including cameos by Kylie Minogue and Ray Winstone. Also the closing night film of the festival Rudderless, told the story of a father who formed a rock and roll band to perform his late son's music.
== Awards ==
The awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2014 at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City, Utah, and was hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally.
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - Rich Hill
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - Whiplash
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - The Return to Homs
World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - To Kill a Man
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary - Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic - Whiplash
Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary - The Green Prince
Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic - Difret
Audience Award: Best of NEXT - Imperial Dreams
Directing Award: U.S. Documentary - The Case Against 8
Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic - Fishing Without Nets
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary - 20,000 Days on Earth
Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic - 52 Tuesdays
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic - The Skeleton Twins
Screenwriting Award: World Cinema Dramatic - Blind
Editing Award: U.S. Documentary - Watchers of the Sky
Editing Award: World Cinema Documentary - 20,000 Days on Earth
Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary - E-Team
Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic - Low Down
Cinematography Award: World Cinema Documentary - Happiness
Cinematography Award: World Cinema Dramatic - Lilting
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement for Use of Animation - Watchers of the Sky
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement for Intuitive Filmmaking - The Overnighters
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Musical Score - The Octopus Project for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent - Justin Simien for Dear White People
World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award - God Help the Girl
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery - We Come as Friends
Short Film Audience Award - Chapel Perilous
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize - I Origins
Additional awards were presented at separate ceremonies. The Shorts Awards were presented January 21, 2014 at the ceremony in Park City, Utah.
Short Film Grand Jury Prize - Of God and Dogs
Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction - Gregory Go Boom
Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction - The Cut, Geneviève Dulude-De Celles
Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction - I Think This Is the Closest to How the Footage Looked
Short Film Jury Award: Animation - Yearbook
Short Film Special Jury Award for Unique Vision - Rat Pack Rat
Short Film Special Jury Award for Direction and Ensemble Acting - Burger
Short Film Special Special Jury Award for Non-fiction - Love. Love. Love.
Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards - Hong Khaou for Monsoon, Tobias Lindholm for A War, Ashlee Page for Archive and Neeraj Ghaywan for Fly Away Solo.
Sundance Institute/NHK Filmmaker Award - Mark Elijah Rosenberg for Ad Inexplorata
Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award - Ben Kalina for Shored Up (and $25,000 grant)
2014 Red Crown Producer's Award - Elisabeth Holm for Obvious Child (and $10,000 grant)
== Juries ==
Jury members, for the U.S. Documentary Jury, were announced on December 18, 2013. The rest of the jury members including the Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which will also take part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 9, 2014. Presenters of awards are followed by asterisks:
Others who presented awards included Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy and Nick Offerman.
== Films ==
For a full list of films appeared at the festival, see List of films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
== Festival theaters ==
The number of seats available at the festival theaters, where films were shown is listed below:
Park City
Eccles Theatre - 1,270 seats
Egyptian Theatre - 282 seats
Holiday Village Cinema 1 - 162 seats
Holiday Village Cinema 2 - 154 seats
Holiday Village Cinema 2 - 154 seats
Holiday Village Cinema 4 - 162 seats
Library Center Theatre - 486 seats
The MARC Theatre - 550 seats
Prospector Square Theatre - 324 seats
Redstone Cinema 1 - 188 seats
Redstone Cinema 2 - 175 seats
Redstone Cinema 7 - 176 seats
Temple Theatre - 318 seats
Yarrow Hotel Theatre - 295 seats
Salt Lake City
Broadway Cinema 3 - 243 seats
Broadway Cinema 6 - 245 seats
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center - 495 seats
SLC Library - 300 seats
Tower Theatre - 349 seats
Sundance Resort
Sundance Resort Screening Room - 164 seats
Ogden
Peery's Egyptian Theatre - 840 seats
=== Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. ===
In late January, 2014 the festival sent 9 filmmakers to 9 cities across the US to screen and discuss their films. The cities and films are:
Ann Arbor, Michigan at Michigan Theater - Infinitely Polar Bear
Boston, Massachusetts at Coolidge Corner Theatre - WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Chicago, Illinois at Music Box Theatre - Happy Christmas
Houston, Texas at Sundance Cinemas Houston - Cold in July
Nashville, Tennessee at The Belcourt Theatre - Low Down
Orlando, Florida at Enzian Theater - Little Accidents
San Francisco, California at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - Camp X-Ray
Seattle, Washington at Sundance Cinemas Seattle - The Skeleton Twins
Tucson, Arizona at The Loft - Young Ones
== Acquisitions ==
Acquisitions at the festival included the following:
Domestic Rights
CNN Films and Lionsgate
Dinosaur 13
Focus Features
Wish I Was Here
Pivot and Univision News
Cesar's Last Fast
A24
Laggies
Obvious Child
Lionsgate
Cooties
Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions
The Skeleton Twins
IFC Films
God's Pocket
Cold in July
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Calvary
Sony Pictures Classics
Love Is Strange
Whiplash
iTunes
Sepideh – Reaching for the Stars
Netflix
Mitt
RADiUS-TWC
Fed Up
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Ivory Tower
Drafthouse Films
The Overnighters
The Orchard and Independent Lens
Rich Hill
Music Box Films
Watchers of the Sky
Participant Media and FilmBuff
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Drafthouse
20,000 Days on Earth
International Rights
Sony Pictures Worldwide
Whiplash
Magnolia Pictures and Paramount Pictures
Happy Christmas
Fox Searchlight Pictures
I Origins
Sony Pictures Worldwide
The Skeleton Twins
Sony Pictures Classics
Land Ho!
RADiUS-TWC
The One I Love
Sony Pictures Classics and Pretty Pictures
Love Is Strange
Paramount Pictures
Ivory Tower |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis | Cuban Missile Crisis | The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba (Spanish: Crisis de Octubre), or the Caribbean Crisis (Russian: Карибский кризис, romanized: Karibskiy krizis), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.
In 1959 the US government deployed Thor nuclear missiles in England, an initiative known as Project Emily. In 1961 the US put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. All were within range of Moscow. The US had trained a paramilitary force of Cuban expatriates, which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as the Cuban Project, which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s. The Soviet administration was concerned about a Cuban drift towards China, with which the Soviets had an increasingly fractious relationship. In response to these factors the Soviet and Cuban governments agreed, at a meeting between leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962, to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter a future US invasion. Construction of launch facilities started shortly thereafter.
A U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of medium- and long-range launch facilities in October. US president John F. Kennedy convened a meeting of the National Security Council and other key advisers, forming the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). Kennedy was advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of the Cuban mainland. He chose a less aggressive course in order to avoid war. On 22 October, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba. He referred to the blockade as a "quarantine", not as a blockade, so the US could avoid the formal implications of a state of war.
An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again. The United States secretly agreed to dismantle all of the offensive weapons it had deployed to Turkey and Italy. All Thors in the UK were disbanded by August 1963. While the Soviets dismantled their missiles, some Soviet bombers remained in Cuba, and the United States kept the naval quarantine in place until 20 November 1962. The blockade was formally ended on 20 November after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba. The evident necessity of a quick and direct communication line between the two powers resulted in the Moscow–Washington hotline. A series of agreements later reduced US–Soviet tensions for several years.
The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from a situation that they had started. Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was in part because of the Soviet Politburo's embarrassment at both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis. According to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation".
== Background ==
=== Cuba–Soviet relations ===
In late 1961, Fidel Castro asked for more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles from the Soviet Union. The request was not acted upon by the Soviet leadership. In the interval, Castro began criticizing the Soviets for lack of "revolutionary boldness", and began talking to China about agreements for economic assistance. In March 1962, Castro ordered the ousting of Anibal Escalante and his pro-Moscow comrades from Cuba's Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. This affair alarmed the Soviet leadership and raised fears of a possible US invasion. As a result, the Soviet Union sent more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles in April, as well as a regiment of regular Soviet troops.
Historian Timothy Naftali writes that Escalante's dismissal was a motivating factor behind the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. According to Naftali, Soviet foreign policy planners were concerned that Castro's break with Escalante foreshadowed a Cuban drift toward China, and they sought to solidify the Soviet-Cuban relationship through the missile basing program.
=== Cuba–US relations ===
The Cuban government regarded US imperialism as the primary explanation for the island's structural weaknesses. The US government had provided weapons, money, and its authority to the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista that ruled Cuba until 1958. The majority of the Cuban population had tired of the severe socioeconomic problems associated with the US domination of the country. The Cuban government was thus aware of the necessity of ending the turmoil and incongruities of US-dominated prerevolution Cuban society. It determined that the US government's demands, part of their hostile reaction to Cuban government policy, were unacceptable.
With the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War, the US government sought to promote private enterprise as an instrument for advancing US strategic interests in the developing world. It had grown concerned about the expansion of communism.
In December 1959, under the Eisenhower administration and less than twelve months after the Cuban Revolution, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed a plan for paramilitary action against Cuba. The CIA recruited operatives on the island to carry out terrorism and sabotage, kill civilians, and cause economic damage. At the initiative of the CIA Deputy Director for Plans, Richard Bissell, and approved by the new President John F. Kennedy, the US launched the attempted Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961 using CIA-trained forces of Cuban expatriates. The complete failure of the invasion, and the exposure of the US government's role before the operation began, was a source of diplomatic embarrassment for the Kennedy administration. Former President Eisenhower told Kennedy that "the failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do."
Following the failed invasion, the US massively escalated its sponsorship of terrorism against Cuba. Starting in late 1961, using the military and the CIA, the US government engaged in an extensive campaign of terrorism against civilian and military targets on the island. The terrorist attacks killed significant numbers of civilians. The US armed, trained, funded and directed the terrorists, most of whom were Cuban expatriates. Terrorist attacks were planned at the direction, and with the participation, of US government employees and launched from US territory. In January 1962, US Air Force General Edward Lansdale described the plans to overthrow the Cuban government in a top-secret report, addressed to Kennedy and officials involved with Operation Mongoose. CIA agents or "pathfinders" from the Special Activities Division were to be infiltrated into Cuba to carry out sabotage and organization, including radio broadcasts. In February 1962, the US launched an embargo against Cuba, and Lansdale presented a 26-page, top-secret timetable for implementation of the overthrow of the Cuban government, mandating guerrilla operations to begin in August and September. "Open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime" was hoped by the planners to occur in the first two weeks of October.
The terrorism campaign and the threat of invasion were crucial factors in the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles on Cuba, and in the Cuban government's decision to accept. The US government was aware at the time, as reported to the president in a National Intelligence Estimate, that the invasion threat was a key reason for the increased Soviet military presence.
=== US–Soviet relations ===
When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged "missile gap" with the Soviets. In fact the US at that time was ahead of the Soviets and by an increasingly wide margin. In 1961 the Soviets had four R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs); by October 1962, some intelligence estimates indicated a figure of 75.
The US had 170 ICBMs and was quickly building more. It also had eight George Washington- and Ethan Allen-class ballistic missile submarines, with the capability to launch 16 Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km). The Soviet First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, increased the perception of a 'missile gap' when he boasted to the world that the Soviets were building missiles "like sausages", but Soviet missile numbers and capabilities were nowhere close to his assertions. The Soviet Union had medium-range ballistic missiles in quantity, about 700, but they were unreliable and inaccurate. The US had a considerable advantage in total number of nuclear warheads (27,000 against 3,600) and in the technology required for accurate delivery. The US also led in missile defensive capabilities, naval and air power. The Soviets had a two-to-one advantage in conventional ground forces, particularly in field guns and tanks in the European theatre.
Khrushchev also thought Kennedy was weak. This impression was confirmed by the President's response during the Berlin Crisis of 1961, particularly to the building of the Berlin Wall by East Germany to prevent its citizens from emigrating to the West. The half-hearted nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion reinforced his impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet aide wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations... too intelligent and too weak". Speaking to Soviet officials in the aftermath of the crisis, Khrushchev said, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have a strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He told his son Sergei that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree".
== Prelude ==
=== Conception ===
In May 1962, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev decided to counter the growing lead of the US in developing and deploying strategic missiles by placing Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, despite the misgivings of the Soviet Ambassador in Havana, Alexandr Ivanovich Alexeyev, who argued that Castro would not accept them. Khrushchev faced a strategic situation in which the US was perceived to have a "splendid first strike" capability that put the Soviet Union at a disadvantage. In 1962, the Soviets had only 20 ICBMs capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the US from inside the Soviet Union. Their poor accuracy and reliability raised serious doubts about their effectiveness. A newer, more reliable generation of Soviet ICBMs only became operational after 1965.
Soviet nuclear capability in 1962 placed less emphasis on ICBMs than on medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs and IRBMs) which could strike American allies and most of Alaska from Soviet territory, but not the contiguous United States. As Graham Allison, the director of Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, pointed out, "The Soviet Union could not right the nuclear imbalance by deploying new ICBMs on its own soil. In order to meet the threat it faced in 1962, 1963, and 1964, it had very few options. Moving existing nuclear weapons to locations from which they could reach American targets was one."
A second reason that Soviet missiles were deployed to Cuba was that Khrushchev wanted to bring West Berlin, which was controlled by the American, British and French within Communist East Germany, into the Soviet orbit. The East Germans and Soviets considered western control over a portion of Berlin to be a threat to East Germany. Khrushchev made West Berlin the central battlefield of the Cold War. He believed that if the US did nothing over the deployments of missiles in Cuba, he could force the West out of Berlin by using the missiles as a deterrent to western countermeasures in Berlin. If the US tried to bargain with the Soviets after it became aware of them, Khrushchev could demand a trade of the missiles for West Berlin. Since Berlin was strategically more important than Cuba, the trade would be a win for Khrushchev, as Kennedy recognized: "The advantage is, from Khrushchev's point of view, he takes a great chance but there are quite some rewards to it."
Thirdly, it seemed from the perspective both of the Soviet Union and of Cuba that the United States wanted to invade Cuba or increase its presence there. In view of actions which included an attempt to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States, a campaign of violent terrorist attacks on civilians which the US was carrying out on Cuba, economic sanctions against the country and an earlier attempt to invade the island, Cuban officials understood that America was trying to overrun their country. The USSR would respond by placing missiles on Cuba, which would secure the country against attack and keep it in the Socialist Bloc.
American missiles could have been launched from Turkey to attack the USSR before the Soviets had a chance to react. Placing nuclear missiles on Cuba would have created a balance of mutual assured destruction. If the United States launched a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, the Soviets would have been able to react by launching a retaliatory nuclear strike against the US.
Placing nuclear missiles on Cuba was also a way for the USSR to show support for Cuba and the Cuban people who viewed the United States as a threat. The USSR had become Cuba's ally after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. According to Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's motives were "aimed at allowing Cuba to live peacefully and develop as its people desire".
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a historian and adviser to Kennedy, told National Public Radio in an interview on 16 October 2002 that Castro did not want the missiles, but Khrushchev pressured him to accept them. Castro was not completely happy with the idea, but the Cuban National Directorate of the Revolution accepted them, both to protect Cuba against US attack and to aid the Soviet Union.
=== Soviet military deployments ===
In early 1962, a group of Soviet military and missile construction specialists accompanied an agricultural delegation to Havana and met Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro. According to one report, the Cuban leadership expected that the US would invade Cuba again and enthusiastically approved the idea of installing nuclear missiles on Cuba. According to another source, Castro objected to being made to look like a Soviet puppet, but was persuaded that missiles in Cuba would be an irritant to the US and would help the interests of the entire socialist camp. The deployment would include short-range tactical weapons with a range of 40 km, usable only against naval vessels, that would provide a "nuclear umbrella" for attacks upon the island.
By May, Khrushchev and Castro agreed to place strategic nuclear missiles secretly in Cuba. Like Castro, Khrushchev felt that a US invasion of Cuba was imminent and that to lose Cuba would do great harm to the communists, especially in Latin America. He said he wanted to confront the Americans "with more than words.... the logical answer was missiles". The Soviets maintained their tight secrecy, writing their plans in longhand, which were approved by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky on 4 July and Khrushchev on 7 July as Operation Anadyr.
Operation Anadyr entailed elaborate denial and deception, known as "maskirovka". All the planning and preparation for transporting and deploying the missiles was carried out in the utmost secrecy, with only a very few knowing the exact nature of the mission. Even the troops detailed for the mission were given misdirection by being told that they were headed for a cold region and were outfitted with ski boots, fleece-lined parkas, and other winter equipment.
Specialists in missile construction, under the guise of machine operators and agricultural specialists, arrived in July. A total of 43,000 foreign troops would ultimately be brought in. Chief Marshal of Artillery Sergey Biryuzov, Head of the Soviet Rocket Forces, led a survey team that visited Cuba. He told Khrushchev that the missiles would be concealed and camouflaged by palm trees. The Soviet troops would arrive in Cuba heavily underprepared. They did not know that the tropical climate would render ineffective many of their weapons and much of their equipment. In the first few days of setting up the missiles, troops complained of fuse failures, excessive corrosion, overconsumption of oil, and generator blackouts.
As early as August 1962, the US suspected that the Soviets were building missile facilities in Cuba. During that month, its intelligence services gathered information of sightings by ground observers of Soviet-built MiG-21 fighters and Il-28 light bombers. U-2 spy planes found S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2) surface-to-air missile sites at eight different locations. CIA director John A. McCone was suspicious. Sending antiaircraft missiles into Cuba, he reasoned, "made sense only if Moscow intended to use them to shield a base for ballistic missiles aimed at the United States". On 10 August, he wrote a memo to Kennedy in which he guessed that the Soviets were preparing to introduce ballistic missiles into Cuba. Che Guevara himself traveled to the Soviet Union on 30 August 1962, to sign the final agreement regarding the deployment of missiles in Cuba. The visit was heavily monitored by the CIA as Guevara was being watched closely by American intelligence. While in the Soviet Union, Guevara argued with Khrushchev that the missile deal should be made public but Khrushchev insisted on total secrecy, and promised the Soviet Union's support if the Americans discovered the missiles. By the time Guevara arrived in Cuba, U-2 spy planes had already discovered the Soviet troops in Cuba.
With important Congressional elections scheduled for November, the crisis became enmeshed in American politics. On 31 August, Senator Kenneth Keating (R-New York) warned on the Senate floor that the Soviet Union was "in all probability" constructing a missile base in Cuba. He charged the Kennedy administration with covering up a major threat to the US, thereby starting the crisis. He may have received this initial "remarkably accurate" information from his friend, former congresswoman and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, who in turn received it from Cuban exiles. A later confirming source for Keating's information may have been the West German ambassador to Cuba, who had received information from dissidents inside Cuba that Soviet troops had arrived in Cuba in early August and were seen working "in all probability on or near a missile base". The ambassador passed this information to Keating on a trip to Washington in early October. Air Force General Curtis LeMay presented a pre-invasion bombing plan to Kennedy in September, and spy flights and minor military harassment from US forces at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base were the subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints to the US government.
The first consignment of Soviet R-12 missiles arrived on the night of 8 September, followed by a second on 16 September. The R-12 was a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead. It was a single-stage, road-transportable, surface-launched, storable liquid propellant-fuelled missile that could deliver a megaton-class nuclear weapon. The Soviets were building nine sites, six for R-12 medium-range missiles (NATO designation SS-4 Sandal) with an effective range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) and three for R-14 intermediate-range ballistic missiles (NATO designation SS-5 Skean) with a maximum range of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi).
On 7 October, Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado spoke at the UN General Assembly: "If... we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. I repeat, we have sufficient means with which to defend ourselves; we have indeed our inevitable weapons, the weapons, which we would have preferred not to acquire, and which we do not wish to employ." On 11 October in another Senate speech, Sen Keating reaffirmed his earlier warning of 31 August and stated that, "Construction has begun on at least a half dozen launching sites for intermediate range tactical missiles."
The Cuban leadership was further upset when on 20 September, the US Senate approved Joint Resolution 230, which stated that the US was determined "to prevent in Cuba the creation or use of an externally-supported military capability endangering the security of the United States". On the same day, the US announced a major military exercise in the Caribbean, PHIBRIGLEX-62, which Cuba denounced as a deliberate provocation and proof that the US planned to invade Cuba.
The Soviet leadership believed, based on its perception of Kennedy's lack of confidence during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that he would avoid confrontation and would accept the missiles as a fait accompli. On 11 September, the Soviet Union publicly warned that a US attack on Cuba or on Soviet ships that were carrying supplies to the island would mean war. The Soviets continued the Maskirovka program to conceal their actions in Cuba. They repeatedly denied that the weapons being brought into Cuba were offensive in nature. On 7 September, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin assured United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson that the Soviet Union was supplying only defensive weapons to Cuba. On 11 September, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS: Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza) announced that the Soviet Union had no need or intention to introduce offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba. On 13 October, Dobrynin was questioned by former Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles about whether the Soviets planned to put offensive weapons in Cuba. He denied any such plans. On 17 October, Soviet embassy official Georgi Bolshakov brought President Kennedy a personal message from Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba."
== Missiles reported ==
Missiles placed in Cuba would enable the Soviets to target most of the continental US. The planned arsenal consisted of forty launchers. The Cuban populace observed the arrival and deployment of the missiles and hundreds of reports reached Miami. US intelligence received countless reports, many of dubious quality or even laughable, most of which could be dismissed as describing defensive missiles.
Only five reports bothered the analysts. They described large trucks passing through towns at night that were carrying very long canvas-covered cylindrical objects and could not make turns through towns without backing up and maneuvering. Defensive missile transporters, it was believed, could make such turns without undue difficulty. The reports could not be satisfactorily dismissed.
=== Aerial confirmation ===
The United States had been sending U-2 surveillance flights over Cuba since the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. A pause in reconnaissance flights occurred on 30 August 1962 when a U-2 operated by the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command flew over Sakhalin Island in the Soviet Far East by mistake. The Soviets lodged a protest and the US apologized. Nine days later, a Taiwanese-operated U-2 was lost over western China to an SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM). US officials were worried that one of the Cuban or Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA U-2, causing another international incident. In a meeting with members of the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance (COMOR) on 10 September 1962, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy restricted further U-2 flights over Cuban airspace. The resulting lack of coverage over the island for the next five weeks became known to historians as the "Photo Gap". No significant U-2 coverage was achieved over the interior of the island during this time. US officials attempted to use a Corona photo-reconnaissance satellite to photograph reported Soviet military deployments, but the imagery acquired over western Cuba by a Corona KH-4 mission on 1 October 1962 was obscured by clouds and haze and did not provide usable intelligence. At the end of September, Navy reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet ship Kasimov with large crates on its deck the size and shape of Il-28 jet bomber fuselages.
In September 1962, analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) noticed that Cuban surface-to-air missile sites were arranged in a pattern similar to those used by the Soviet Union to protect ICBM bases, and the DIA lobbied for resumption of U-2 flights over the island. In the past the flights had been conducted by the CIA, but pressure from the Defense Department led to that authority being transferred to the Air Force. After the loss of a CIA U-2 over the Soviet Union in May 1960, it was thought that if another U-2 were shot down, an Air Force aircraft apparently being used for a legitimate military purpose would be easier to explain than a CIA flight.
When reconnaissance missions were permitted again, on 9 October 1962, poor weather kept the planes from flying. The US first obtained U-2 photographic evidence of the Soviet missiles on 14 October 1962, when a U-2 flight piloted by Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures on a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río Province (now in Artemisa Province), in western Cuba.
=== President notified ===
On 15 October 1962, the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) reviewed the U-2 photographs and identified objects that appeared to be medium range ballistic missiles. This identification was made partly on the strength of reporting provided by Oleg Penkovsky, a double agent in the GRU working for the CIA and MI6. Although he provided no direct reports of Soviet missile deployments to Cuba, technical and doctrinal details of Soviet missile regiments that had been provided by Penkovsky in the months and years prior to the crisis helped NPIC analysts to identify the missiles in U-2 imagery.
That evening, the CIA notified the Department of State and at 8:30pm EDT, Bundy chose to wait until the next morning to tell the President. McNamara was briefed at midnight. The next morning, Bundy showed Kennedy the U-2 photographs and briefed him on the CIA's analysis of the images. At 6:30 pm EDT, Kennedy convened a meeting of the nine members of the National Security Council and five other key advisers, in a group he named the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) after the fact on 22 October by National Security Action Memorandum 196. Without informing the members of EXCOMM, President Kennedy tape-recorded all of their proceedings, and Sheldon M. Stern, head of the Kennedy library transcribed some of them.
On 16 October, President Kennedy notified Attorney General Robert Kennedy that he was convinced the Soviets were placing missiles on Cuba, that it was a legitimate threat and that the possibility of nuclear destruction by two world superpowers had become a reality. Robert Kennedy responded by contacting the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin. Robert Kennedy expressed his "concern about what was happening" and Dobrynin "was instructed by Soviet Chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev to assure President Kennedy that there would be no ground-to-ground missiles or offensive weapons placed in Cuba". Khrushchev further assured Kennedy that the Soviet Union had no intention of "disrupting the relationship of our two countries" despite the photo evidence presented before President Kennedy.
=== Responses considered ===
The US had no plan for a response in place because it had never expected that the Soviets would install nuclear missiles on Cuba. EXCOMM discussed several possible courses of action:
Do nothing: American vulnerability to Soviet missiles was not new.
Diplomacy: Use diplomatic pressure to induce the Soviet Union to remove the missiles.
Secret approach: Offer Castro the choice of parting from the Soviets or being invaded.
Invasion: Full-force invasion of Cuba and overthrow of Castro.
Air strike: Use the US Air Force to attack all known missile sites.
Blockade: Use the US Navy to block any missiles from arriving in Cuba.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical:
They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They can't, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill a lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they don't take action in Cuba, they certainly will in Berlin.
Kennedy concluded that attacking Cuba by air would signal the Soviets to presume "a clear line" to conquer Berlin. Kennedy also believed that US allies would think of the country as "trigger-happy cowboys" who lost Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation.
EXCOMM considered the effect on the strategic balance of power, both political and military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the missiles would seriously alter the military balance, but McNamara disagreed. An extra 40, he reasoned, would make little difference to the overall strategic balance. The US already had approximately 5,000 strategic warheads, but the Soviet Union had only 300. McNamara concluded that the Soviets having 340 would not therefore substantially alter the strategic balance. In 1990, he reiterated that "it made no difference.... The military balance wasn't changed. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now."
It was agreed that the missiles would affect the political balance. Kennedy had explicitly promised the American people less than a month before the crisis that "if Cuba should possess a capacity to carry out offensive actions against the United States... the United States would act." Further, US credibility among its allies and people would be damaged if the Soviet Union appeared to redress the strategic imbalance by placing missiles in Cuba. Kennedy explained after the crisis that "it would have politically changed the balance of power. It would have appeared to, and appearances contribute to reality."
On 18 October 1962, Kennedy met Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko, who claimed that the weapons were for defensive purposes only. Not wanting to expose what he already knew and to avoid panicking the American public, Kennedy did not reveal that he was already aware of the missile buildup.
== Operational plans ==
Two Operational Plans (OPLAN) were considered. OPLAN 316 envisioned a full invasion of Cuba by Army and Marine units, supported by the Navy, following Air Force and naval airstrikes. Army units in the US would have had difficulty fielding mechanised and logistical assets, and the US Navy could not supply enough amphibious shipping to transport even a modest armoured contingent from the Army.
OPLAN 312, primarily an Air Force and Navy carrier operation, was designed with enough flexibility to do anything from engaging individual missile sites to providing air support for OPLAN 316's ground forces.
== Blockade ==
Kennedy conferred with members of EXCOMM and other top advisers throughout 21 October and considered the two remaining options: an air strike primarily against the Cuban missile bases or a naval blockade of Cuba. A full-scale invasion was not the administration's first option. McNamara supported the naval blockade as a strong but limited military action that would leave the US in control. The term "blockade" was problematic – according to international law, a blockade is an act of war, but the Kennedy administration did not think that the Soviets would be provoked to attack by a mere blockade. Legal experts at the State Department and Justice Department concluded that a declaration of war could be avoided if another legal justification, based on the Rio Treaty for defence of the Western Hemisphere, was obtained from a resolution by a two-thirds vote from the members of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Admiral George Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations wrote a position paper that helped Kennedy to differentiate between what they termed a "quarantine" of offensive weapons and a blockade of all materials, claiming that a classic blockade was not the original intention. Since it would take place in international waters, Kennedy obtained the approval of the OAS for military action under the hemispheric defence provisions of the Rio Treaty:
Latin American participation in the quarantine now involved two Argentine destroyers which were to report to the US Commander South Atlantic [COMSOLANT] at Trinidad on November 9. An Argentine submarine and a Marine battalion with lift were available if required. In addition, two Venezuelan destroyers (Destroyers ARV D-11 Nueva Esparta" and "ARV D-21 Zulia") and one submarine (Caribe) had reported to COMSOLANT, ready for sea by November 2. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago offered the use of Chaguaramas Naval Base to warships of any OAS nation for the duration of the "quarantine". The Dominican Republic had made available one escort ship. Colombia was reported ready to furnish units and had sent military officers to the US to discuss this assistance. The Argentine Air Force informally offered three SA-16 aircraft in addition to forces already committed to the "quarantine" operation.
This initially was to involve a naval blockade against offensive weapons within the framework of the Organization of American States and the Rio Treaty. Such a blockade might be expanded to cover all types of goods and air transport. The action was to be backed up by surveillance of Cuba. The CNO's scenario was followed closely in later implementing the "quarantine."
On 19 October, the EXCOMM formed separate working groups to examine the air strike and blockade options, and by the afternoon most support in the EXCOMM had shifted to a blockade. Reservations about the plan continued to be voiced as late as 21 October, the paramount concern being that once the blockade was put into effect, the Soviets would rush to complete some of the missiles and the US could find itself bombing operational missiles if the blockade had not already forced their removal.
=== Speech to the nation ===
At 3:00 pm EDT on 22 October 1962, President Kennedy formally established the executive committee (EXCOMM) with National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 196. At 5:00 pm, he met Congressional leaders, who opposed a blockade and demanded a stronger response. In Moscow, US Ambassador Foy D. Kohler briefed Khrushchev on the pending blockade and Kennedy's speech to the nation. Ambassadors around the world gave notice to non-Eastern Bloc leaders. Before the speech, US delegations met Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, French President Charles de Gaulle and Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, José Antonio Mora to brief them on this intelligence and the US's proposed response. All were supportive of the US position. Over the course of the crisis, Kennedy had daily telephone conversations with Macmillan, who was publicly supportive of US actions.
Shortly before his speech, Kennedy telephoned former President Dwight Eisenhower. Kennedy's conversation with the former president also revealed that the two had been consulting during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two also anticipated that Khrushchev would respond to the Western world in a manner similar to his response during the Suez Crisis, and would possibly wind up trading off Berlin.
At 7:00 pm EDT on 22 October, Kennedy delivered a nationwide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles. He noted:
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.
Kennedy described the administration's plan:
To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.
During the speech, a directive went out to all US forces worldwide, placing them on DEFCON 3. The heavy cruiser USS Newport News was the designated flagship for the blockade, with USS Leary as Newport News's destroyer escort. Kennedy's speech writer Ted Sorensen stated in 2007 that the address to the nation was "Kennedy's most important speech historically, in terms of its impact on our planet."
=== Crisis deepens ===
On 23 October 1962, US Air Force RF-101A/C Voodoos and US Navy RF-8A Crusaders began flying extremely hazardous low-level photo reconnaissance missions over Cuba. Only once did the Cuban Air Force scramble a MiG-19 to attempt a shoot-down, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
At 11:24 am EDT on 24 October, a cable from US Under Secretary of State George Ball to the US Ambassadors in Turkey and NATO notified them that they were considering making an offer to withdraw missiles from Italy and Turkey in exchange for Soviet withdrawal from Cuba. Turkish officials replied that they would "deeply resent" any trade involving the US missile presence in their country. One day later, on the morning of 25 October, American journalist Walter Lippmann proposed the same thing in his syndicated column. Castro reaffirmed Cuba's right to self-defense and said that all of its weapons were defensive and Cuba would not allow an inspection.
=== International response ===
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan supported Kennedy's response. The British ambassador to the United States, David Ormsby-Gore, was a close family friend of the Kennedys and actively involved in White House discussions on how to resolve the crisis.
In West Germany, newspapers supported the US response by contrasting it with the weak American actions in the region during the preceding months. They also expressed some fear that the Soviets might retaliate in Berlin. The West German government was supportive of the blockade.
In France on 23 October, the crisis made the front page of all the daily newspapers. The next day, an editorial in Le Monde expressed doubt about the authenticity of the CIA's photographic evidence. Two days later, after a visit by a high-ranking CIA agent, the newspaper accepted the validity of the photographs. French President Charles de Gaulle gave Kennedy his full support, but he viewed the crisis as a demonstration of Europe's vulnerability to superpower conflict.
On 24 October, Pope John XXIII sent a message to the Soviet embassy in Rome, to be transmitted to the Kremlin, in which he voiced his concern for peace. In this message he stated, "We beg all governments not to remain deaf to this cry of humanity. That they do all that is in their power to save peace."
Three days after Kennedy's speech, the Chinese People's Daily announced that "650,000,000 Chinese men and women were standing by the Cuban people." The crisis coincided with the Sino-Indian War, with China launching a surprise attack on India at the Himalayan border.
The Organization of American States (OAS) backed the United States' naval quarantine, condemned the Soviet missile buildup in Cuba and voted to take measures to prevent more offensive weapons from reaching Cuba.
In the 29 October issue of Le Figaro, Raymond Aron wrote in support of the American response.
=== Soviet broadcast and communications ===
The crisis continued unabated, and on the evening of 24 October 1962, the Soviet TASS news agency broadcast a telegram from Khrushchev to Kennedy in which Khrushchev warned that the United States' "outright piracy" would lead to war. Khrushchev then sent at 9:24 pm a telegram to Kennedy, which was received at 10:52 pm EDT. Khrushchev stated, "if you weigh the present situation with a cool head without giving way to passion, you will understand that the Soviet Union cannot afford not to decline the despotic demands of the USA". The Soviet Union viewed the blockade as "an act of aggression" and their ships would be instructed to ignore it. After 23 October, Soviet communications with the US increasingly showed indications of having been rushed. Undoubtedly a result of pressure, it was not uncommon for Khrushchev to repeat himself and to send messages lacking basic editing. With President Kennedy making known his aggressive intentions of a possible airstrike followed by an invasion on Cuba, Khrushchev sought a diplomatic compromise. Communications between the two superpowers had entered a new and revolutionary period, with the threat of mutual destruction now accompanying the deployment of nuclear weapons.
=== US alert level raised ===
The US requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on 25 October and Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, confronted Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin and challenged him to admit the existence of the missiles. Ambassador Zorin refused to answer. At 10:00 pm EDT the next day, the US raised the readiness level of Strategic Air Command (SAC) forces to DEFCON 2. For the only confirmed time in US history, B-52 bombers were put on continuous airborne alert. B-47 medium bombers were dispersed to military and civilian airfields and made ready to take off, fully equipped, at 15 minutes' notice. One-eighth of SAC's 1,436 bombers were on airborne alert. Some 145 intercontinental ballistic missiles, some of which targeted Cuba, were placed on alert. Air Defense Command (ADC) redeployed 161 nuclear-armed interceptors to 16 dispersal fields within nine hours, with one third on 15-minute alert status. Twenty-three nuclear-armed B-52 bombers were sent to orbit points within striking distance of the Soviet Union to demonstrate that the US was serious. Jack J. Catton later estimated that about 80 per cent of SAC's planes were ready for launch during the crisis. David A. Burchinal recalled that, by contrast:
the Russians were so thoroughly stood down, and we knew it. They didn't make any move. They did not increase their alert; they did not increase any flights, or their air defense posture. They didn't do a thing, they froze in place. We were never further from nuclear war than at the time of Cuba, never further.
By 22 October, Tactical Air Command (TAC) had 511 fighters plus supporting tankers and reconnaissance aircraft deployed to face Cuba on one-hour alert status. TAC and the Military Air Transport Service had problems: the concentration of aircraft in Florida strained command and support echelons, which were facing critical undermanning in security, armaments, and communications. Absence of permission to use war-reserve stocks of conventional munitions forced TAC to scrounge supplies, and the lack of airlift assets to support a major airborne drop necessitated the call-up of 24 reserve squadrons.
On 25 October at 1:45 am EDT, Kennedy responded to Khrushchev's telegram by stating that the US was forced into action after receiving repeated false assurances that no offensive missiles were being placed in Cuba. Deployment of the missiles "required the responses I have announced.... I hope that your government will take necessary action to permit a restoration of the earlier situation."
=== Blockade challenged ===
At 7:15 am EDT on 25 October, USS Essex and USS Gearing attempted to intercept Bucharest but failed to do so. Fairly certain that the tanker did not contain any military material, the US allowed it through the blockade. Later that day, at 5:43 pm, the commander of the blockade ordered the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. to intercept and board the Lebanese freighter Marucla. That took place the next day, and Marucla was cleared through the blockade after its cargo was checked.
At 5:00 pm EDT on 25 October, William Clements announced that the missiles in Cuba were still being worked on. This was later verified by a CIA report that suggested there had been no slowdown. In response, Kennedy issued Security Action Memorandum 199, authorizing the loading of nuclear weapons onto aircraft under the command of SACEUR, which had the duty of carrying out first air strikes on the Soviet Union. Kennedy claimed that the blockade had succeeded when the USSR turned back fourteen ships presumed to be carrying offensive weapons. The first indication of this was in a report from British GCHQ sent to the White House Situation Room which contained intercepted communications from Soviet ships reporting their positions. On 24 October, Kislovodsk, a Soviet cargo ship, reported a position north-east of where it had been 24 hours earlier, indicating it had "discontinued" its voyage and turned back towards the Baltic. The next day, further reports showed that more ships originally bound for Cuba had altered their course.
=== Raising the stakes ===
The next morning, 26 October, Kennedy informed EXCOMM that he believed only an invasion would remove the missiles from Cuba. He was persuaded to wait and continue with military and diplomatic pressure. He agreed and ordered low-level flights over the island to be increased from two per day to every two hours. He also ordered a crash program to institute a new civil government in Cuba if an invasion went ahead.
At this point the crisis appeared to be at a stalemate. The Soviets had shown no indication that they would back down and had made public media and private inter-government statements to that effect. The US had no reason to disbelieve them and was in the early stages of preparing an invasion of Cuba and a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union if it responded militarily, which the US assumed it would. Kennedy had no intention of keeping these plans secret, and with an array of Cuban and Soviet spies present Khrushchev was made aware of them.
The implicit threat of air strikes on Cuba followed by an invasion allowed the United States to exert pressure in future talks, and the prospect of military action helped to accelerate Khrushchev's proposal for a compromise. Throughout the closing stages of October 1962, Soviet communications to the United States became increasingly defensive, and Khrushchev's tendency to use poorly phrased and ambiguous language during negotiations increased the United States' confidence and clarity in messaging. Leading Soviet figures failed to mention that only the Cuban government could agree to inspections of the territory, and continued to make arrangements relating to Cuba without Castro's knowledge. According to Dean Rusk, Khrushchev "blinked": he began to panic from the consequences of his own plan, and this was reflected in the tone of Soviet messages. This allowed the US to dominate negotiations in late October.
The escalating situation also caused Khrushchev to abandon plans for a possible Warsaw Pact invasion of Albania, which was being discussed in the Eastern Bloc following the Vlora incident the previous year.
== Secret negotiations ==
At 1:00 pm EDT on 26 October, John A. Scali of ABC News met Aleksandr Fomin, the cover name of Alexander Feklisov, the KGB station chief in Washington, at Fomin's request. Following the instructions of the Politburo of the CPSU, Fomin noted, "War seems about to break out." He asked Scali to use his contacts to talk to his "high-level friends" at the State Department to see if the US would be interested in a diplomatic solution. He suggested that the language of the deal would contain an assurance from the Soviet Union to remove the weapons under UN supervision and that Castro would publicly announce that he would not accept such weapons again, in exchange for a public statement by the US that it would not invade Cuba. The US responded by asking the Brazilian government to pass a message to Castro that the US would be "unlikely to invade" if the missiles were removed.
At 6:00 pm EDT on 26 October, the State Department started receiving a message that appeared to be written personally by Khrushchev. It was Saturday 2:00 am in Moscow. The long letter took several minutes to arrive, and it took translators additional time to translate and transcribe it.
Robert F. Kennedy described the letter as "very long and emotional". Khrushchev reiterated the basic outline that had been stated to Scali earlier in the day: "I propose: we, for our part, will declare that our ships bound for Cuba are not carrying any armaments. You will declare that the United States will not invade Cuba with its troops and will not support any other forces which might intend to invade Cuba. Then the necessity of the presence of our military specialists in Cuba will disappear." At 6:45 pm EDT, news of Fomin's offer to Scali was finally heard and was interpreted as a "set up" for the arrival of Khrushchev's letter. The letter was then considered official and accurate, although it was later learned that Fomin was almost certainly operating without official backing. Additional study of the letter was ordered and continued into the night.
=== Crisis continues ===
Direct aggression against Cuba would mean nuclear war. The Americans speak about such aggression as if they did not know or did not want to accept this fact. I have no doubt they would lose such a war.
Castro, on the other hand, was convinced that an invasion of Cuba was imminent, and on 26 October he sent a telegram to Khrushchev that appeared to call for a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the US in case of attack. In a 2010 interview, Castro expressed regret about his 1962 stance on first use: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it at all." Castro also ordered all anti-aircraft weapons in Cuba to fire on any US aircraft. Previous orders had been to fire only on groups of two or more. At 6:00 am EDT on 27 October, the CIA delivered a memo reporting that three of the four missile sites at San Cristobal and both sites at Sagua la Grande appeared to be fully operational. It also noted that the Cuban military continued to organise for action but was under order not to act unless attacked.
At 9:00 am EDT on 27 October, Radio Moscow began broadcasting a message from Khrushchev. Contrary to the letter of the night before, the message offered a new trade: the missiles on Cuba would be removed in exchange for the removal of the Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey. At 10:00 am EDT, the executive committee met again to discuss the situation and came to the conclusion that the change in the message was because of internal debate between Khrushchev and other party officials in the Kremlin. Kennedy realised that he would be in an "insupportable position if this becomes Khrushchev's proposal" because the missiles in Turkey were not militarily useful and were being removed anyway, and "It's gonna – to any man at the United Nations or any other rational man, it will look like a very fair trade." Bundy explained why Khrushchev's public acquiescence could not be considered: "The current threat to peace is not in Turkey, it is in Cuba."
McNamara noted that another tanker, the Grozny, was about 600 miles (970 km) out and should be intercepted. He also noted that they had not made the Soviets aware of the blockade line and suggested relaying that information to them via U Thant at the United Nations.
While the meeting progressed, at 11:03 am EDT a new message began to arrive from Khrushchev. The message stated, in part:
"You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you because it is ninety-nine miles by sea from the coast of the United States of America. But... you have placed destructive missile weapons, which you call offensive, in Italy and Turkey, literally next to us.... I therefore make this proposal: We are willing to remove from Cuba the means which you regard as offensive.... Your representatives will make a declaration to the effect that the United States... will remove its analogous means from Turkey... and after that, persons entrusted by the United Nations Security Council could inspect on the spot the fulfillment of the pledges made."
The executive committee continued to meet through the day.
Throughout the crisis, Turkey had repeatedly stated that it would be upset if the Jupiter missiles were removed. Italy's Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, who was also Foreign Minister ad interim, offered to allow withdrawal of the missiles deployed in Apulia as a bargaining chip. He gave the message to one of his most trusted friends, Ettore Bernabei, general manager of RAI-TV, to convey to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Bernabei was in New York to attend an international conference on satellite TV broadcasting.
On Saturday, October 27, USAF Major Rudolf Anderson took off on his sixth mission over Cuba in a U-2F Dragon Lady (AF Serial Number 56-6676, former CIA Article 343 - the third CIA U-2A, modified for air-to-air refuelling), from a forward operating location at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, Florida. A few hours into his mission, at approximately 12:00 pm EDT, he was shot down over Banes, Cuba, by one of two Soviet-supplied S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missiles that were fired at his aircraft per the order of two Soviet generals (Soviet Forces Deputy Commander Major General Leonid Garbuz & Deputy Commander of Air Defenses Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko), both of whom were stationed in a command center in Havana. Before giving this order, they attempted to obtain authorization from their superior officer Army General Issa Pliyev (Commander of all Soviet forces in Cuba during Operation Anadyr), but after finding that Pliyev was unreachable (possibly due to illness) they decided to authorize the shoot-down themselves. The aircraft crashed, and Anderson was killed. Later that day, at about 3:41 pm EDT, several US Navy RF-8A Crusader aircraft, on low-level photo-reconnaissance missions, were fired upon.
At 4:00 pm EDT, Kennedy recalled members of EXCOMM to the White House and ordered that a message should immediately be sent to U Thant asking the Soviets to suspend work on the missiles while negotiations were carried out. During the meeting, General Maxwell Taylor delivered the news that the U-2 had been shot down. Kennedy had earlier claimed he would order an attack on such sites if fired upon, but he decided to not act unless another attack was made. On 28 October 1962, Khrushchev told his son Sergei that the shooting down of Anderson's U-2 was by the "Cuban military at the direction of Raúl Castro".
On 27 October Bobby Kennedy relayed a message to the Soviet Ambassador that President Kennedy was under pressure from the military to use force against Cuba and that "an irreversible chain of events could occur against his will" as "the president is not sure that the military will not overthrow him and seize power". He therefore implored Khrushchev to accept Kennedy's proposed agreement.
Forty years later, McNamara said:
We had to send a U-2 over to gain reconnaissance information on whether the Soviet missiles were becoming operational. We believed that if the U-2 was shot down that—the Cubans didn't have capabilities to shoot it down, the Soviets did—we believed if it was shot down, it would be shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air-missile unit, and that it would represent a decision by the Soviets to escalate the conflict. And therefore, before we sent the U-2 out, we agreed that if it was shot down we wouldn't meet, we'd simply attack. It was shot down on Friday.... Fortunately, we changed our mind, we thought "Well, it might have been an accident, we won't attack." Later we learned that Khrushchev had reasoned just as we did: we send over the U-2, if it was shot down, he reasoned we would believe it was an intentional escalation. And therefore, he issued orders to Pliyev, the Soviet commander in Cuba, to instruct all of his batteries not to shoot down the U-2.
Daniel Ellsberg said that Robert Kennedy (RFK) told him in 1964 that after the U-2 was shot down and the pilot killed, he (RFK) told Soviet ambassador Dobrynin, "You have drawn first blood ... . [T]he president had decided against advice ... not to respond militarily to that attack, but he [Dobrynin] should know that if another plane was shot at, ... we would take out all the SAMs and anti-aircraft ... . And that would almost surely be followed by an invasion."
=== Drafting response ===
Emissaries sent by both Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to meet at the Yenching Palace Chinese restaurant in the Cleveland Park neighbourhood of Washington, DC, on Saturday evening, 27 October. Kennedy suggested taking Khrushchev's offer to trade away the missiles. Unknown to most members of the EXCOMM, but with the support of his brother the president, Robert Kennedy had been meeting the Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin in Washington to discover whether the intentions were genuine. The EXCOMM was against the proposal because it would undermine NATO's authority, and the Turkish government had repeatedly stated that it was against any such trade.
As the meeting progressed, a new plan emerged, and Kennedy was slowly persuaded. The new plan called for him to ignore the latest message and instead to return to Khrushchev's earlier one. Kennedy was initially hesitant, feeling that Khrushchev would no longer accept the deal because a new one had been offered, but Llewellyn Thompson argued that it was still possible. White House Special Counsel and Adviser Ted Sorensen and Robert Kennedy left the meeting and returned 45 minutes later, with a draft letter to that effect. The President made several changes, had it typed, and sent it.
After the EXCOMM meeting, a smaller meeting continued in the Oval Office. The group argued that the letter should be underscored with an oral message to Dobrynin that stated that if the missiles were not withdrawn, military action would be used to remove them. Rusk added one proviso that no part of the language of the deal would mention Turkey, but there would be an understanding that the missiles would be removed "voluntarily" in the immediate aftermath. The president agreed, and the message was sent.
At Rusk's request, Fomin and Scali met again. Scali asked why the two letters from Khrushchev were so different, and Fomin claimed it was because of "poor communications". Scali replied that the claim was not credible and shouted that he thought it was a "stinking double cross". He went on to claim that an invasion was only hours away, and Fomin stated that a response to the US message was expected from Khrushchev shortly and urged Scali to tell the State Department that no treachery was intended. Scali said that he did not think anyone would believe him, but he agreed to deliver the message. The two went their separate ways, and Scali immediately typed out a memo for the EXCOMM.
Within the US establishment, it was understood that ignoring the second offer and returning to the first put Khrushchev in a terrible position. Military preparations continued, and all active duty Air Force personnel were recalled to their bases for possible action. Robert Kennedy later recalled the mood: "We had not abandoned all hope, but what hope there was now rested with Khrushchev's revising his course within the next few hours. It was a hope, not an expectation. The expectation was military confrontation by Tuesday [30 October], and possibly tomorrow [29 October] ...."
At 8:05 pm EDT, the letter drafted earlier in the day was delivered. The message read, "As I read your letter, the key elements of your proposals—which seem generally acceptable as I understand them—are as follows: 1) You would agree to remove these weapons systems from Cuba under appropriate United Nations observation and supervision; and undertake, with suitable safe-guards, to halt the further introduction of such weapon systems into Cuba. 2) We, on our part, would agree—upon the establishment of adequate arrangements through the United Nations, to ensure the carrying out and continuation of these commitments (a) to remove promptly the quarantine measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against the invasion of Cuba." The letter was also released directly to the press to ensure it could not be "delayed". With the letter delivered, a deal was on the table. As Robert Kennedy noted, there was little expectation it would be accepted. At 9:00 pm EDT, the EXCOMM met again to review the actions for the following day. Plans were drawn up for air strikes on the missile sites as well as other economic targets, notably petroleum storage. McNamara stated that they had to "have two things ready: a government for Cuba, because we're going to need one; and secondly, plans for how to respond to the Soviet Union in Europe, because sure as hell they're going to do something there".
At 12:12 am EDT, on 27 October, the US informed its NATO allies that "the situation is growing shorter.... the United States may find it necessary within a very short time in its interest and that of its fellow nations in the Western Hemisphere to take whatever military action may be necessary." To add to the concern, at 6:00 am, the CIA reported that all missiles in Cuba were ready for action.
On 27 October, Khrushchev also received a letter from Castro, what is now known as the Armageddon Letter (dated the day before), which urged the use of nuclear force in the event of an attack on Cuba: "I believe the imperialists' aggressiveness is extremely dangerous and if they actually carry out the brutal act of invading Cuba in violation of international law and morality, that would be the moment to eliminate such danger forever through an act of clear legitimate defense, however harsh and terrible the solution would be," Castro wrote.
=== Averted nuclear launch ===
Later that same day, what the White House later called "Black Saturday", the US Navy dropped a series of "signalling" depth charges ("practice" depth charges the size of hand grenades) on a Soviet submarine (B-59) at the blockade line, unaware that it was armed with a nuclear-tipped torpedo that could be launched if the submarine was damaged by depth charges or surface fire. The submarine was too deep to monitor radio traffic and the captain of the B-59, Valentin Grigoryevich Savitsky, assuming after live ammunition fire at his submarine that a war had started, proposed to launch the nuclear torpedo at the US ships. The decision to launch the "special weapon" normally only required the agreement of the ship's commanding officer and political officer, but the commander of the submarine flotilla, Vasily Arkhipov, was aboard B-59 and he also had to agree. Arkhipov did not give his consent and the nuclear torpedo was not launched. (These events only became publicly known in 2002. See Submarine close call.)
On the same day a U-2 spy plane made an accidental and unauthorised 90-minute overflight of the Soviet Union's far eastern coast. The Soviets responded by scrambling MiG fighters from Wrangel Island; in turn, the Americans launched F-102 fighters armed with nuclear air-to-air missiles over the Bering Sea.
== Resolution ==
On Saturday, 27 October, after much deliberation between the Soviet Union and Kennedy's cabinet, Kennedy secretly agreed to remove all missiles in Turkey, on the border of the Soviet Union, and possibly those in southern Italy, in exchange for Khrushchev removing all missiles in Cuba. There is some dispute as to whether removing the missiles from Italy was part of the secret agreement. Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs that it was, and when the crisis had ended McNamara gave the order to dismantle the missiles in both Italy and Turkey.
At this point, Khrushchev knew things the US did not. First, that the shooting down of the U-2 by a Soviet missile violated direct orders from Moscow, and Cuban anti-aircraft fire against other US reconnaissance aircraft also violated direct orders from Khrushchev to Castro. Second, the Soviets already had 162 nuclear warheads on Cuba that the US did not know were there. Third, the Soviets and Cubans on the island would almost certainly have responded to an invasion by using them, even though Castro believed that everyone in Cuba would die as a result. Khrushchev also knew, but may not have considered, that he had submarines nearby armed with nuclear weapons of which the US Navy may not have been aware.
Khrushchev knew he was losing control. President Kennedy had been told in early 1961 that a nuclear war would probably kill a third of humanity, with most or all of those deaths concentrated in the US, the USSR, Europe and China, and Khrushchev may have received a similar estimate.
With this background, when Khrushchev heard of Kennedy's threats as relayed by Robert Kennedy to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin, he immediately drafted his acceptance of Kennedy's latest terms from his dacha without involving the Politburo, as he had previously, and had them immediately broadcast over Radio Moscow, which he believed the US would hear. In that broadcast at 9:00 am EST, on 28 October 1962, Khrushchev stated that "the Soviet government, in addition to previously issued instructions on the cessation of further work at the building sites for the weapons, has issued a new order on the dismantling of the weapons which you describe as 'offensive' and their crating and return to the Soviet Union." At 10:00 am on 28 October, Kennedy first learned of Khrushchev's solution to the crisis: the US would remove the 15 Jupiters in Turkey and the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba. Khrushchev had made the offer in a public statement for the world to hear. Despite almost solid opposition from his senior advisers, Kennedy accepted the Soviet offer. "This is a pretty good play of his," Kennedy said, according to a tape recording that he made secretly of the Cabinet Room meeting. Kennedy had deployed the Jupiters in March 1962, causing a stream of angry outbursts from Khrushchev. "Most people will think this is a rather even trade and we ought to take advantage of it," Kennedy said. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was the first to endorse the missile swap, but others continued to oppose it. Finally, Kennedy ended the debate. "We can't very well invade Cuba with all its toil and blood," Kennedy said, "when we could have gotten them out by making a deal on the same missiles on Turkey. If that's part of the record, then you don't have a very good war."
Kennedy immediately responded to Khrushchev's letter, issuing a statement calling it "an important and constructive contribution to peace". He continued this with a formal letter:
I consider my letter to you of October twenty-seventh and your reply of today as firm undertakings on the part of both our governments which should be promptly carried out.... The US will make a statement in the framework of the Security Council in reference to Cuba as follows: it will declare that the United States of America will respect the inviolability of Cuban borders, its sovereignty, that it take the pledge not to interfere in internal affairs, not to intrude themselves and not to permit our territory to be used as a bridgehead for the invasion of Cuba, and will restrain those who would plan to carry an aggression against Cuba, either from US territory or from the territory of other countries neighboring to Cuba.
Kennedy's planned statement would also contain suggestions he had received from his adviser Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in a "Memorandum for the President" describing the "Post Mortem on Cuba".
On 28 October, Kennedy participated in telephone conversations with Eisenhower and fellow former US President Harry Truman. In these calls, Kennedy revealed that he thought the crisis would result in the two superpowers being "toe to toe" in Berlin by the end of the following month and expressed concern that the Soviet setback in Cuba would "make things tougher" there. He also informed his predecessors that he had rejected the public Soviet offer to withdraw from Cuba in exchange for the withdrawal of US missiles from Turkey.
The US continued the blockade of Cuba. In the following days aerial reconnaissance showed that the Soviets were making progress in removing the missile systems. The 42 missiles and their support equipment were loaded onto eight Soviet ships. On 2 November 1962, Kennedy addressed the US via radio and television broadcasts concerning the dismantling of the Soviet R-12 missile bases located in the Caribbean. The ships left Cuba on November 5 to 9. The US made a final visual check as each of the ships passed the blockade line. Further diplomatic efforts were required to remove the Soviet Il-28 bombers, and they were loaded on three Soviet ships on 5 and 6 December. Concurrent with the Soviet commitment on the Il-28s, the US government announced the end of the blockade from 6:45 pm EST on 20 November 1962.
At the time when the Kennedy administration believed that the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved, nuclear tactical rockets remained in Cuba which were not part of the Kennedy-Khrushchev understanding and the Americans did not know about them. The Soviets changed their minds, fearing possible future Cuban militant steps, and on 22 November 1962, Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union Anastas Mikoyan told Castro that the rockets with the nuclear warheads were being removed as well.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was solved in part by a secret agreement between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. The Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was known to only nine US officials at the time of its creation in October 1962 and was first officially acknowledged at a conference in Moscow in January 1989 by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and Kennedy's speechwriter Theodore Sorensen. In his negotiations with Dobrynin, Robert Kennedy informally proposed that the Jupiter missiles in Turkey would be removed "within a short time after this crisis was over". Under an operation code-named Operation Pot Pie, the removal of the Jupiters from Italy and Turkey began on 1 April, and was completed by 24 April 1963. The initial plans were to recycle the missiles for use in other programs, but NASA and the USAF were not interested in retaining the missile hardware. The missile bodies were destroyed on site, while warheads, guidance packages, and launching equipment worth $14 million were returned to the United States. The dismantling operations were named Pot Pie I for Italy and Pot Pie II for Turkey by the United States Air Force.
The outcome of the Kennedy-Khrushchev Pact was that the US would remove their rockets from Italy and Turkey and that the Soviets had no intention of resorting to nuclear war if they were out-gunned by the US. Because the withdrawal of the Jupiter missiles from NATO bases in Italy and Turkey was not made public at the time, Khrushchev appeared to have lost the conflict and become weakened. The perception was that Kennedy had won the contest between the superpowers and that Khrushchev had been humiliated. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev took every step to avoid full conflict despite pressures from their respective governments. Khrushchev held power for another two years. As a direct result of the crisis, the United States and the Soviet Union set up a direct line of communication. The hotline between the Soviet Union and the United States was a way for the President and the Premier to have negotiations should a crisis like this ever happen again.
== Nuclear forces ==
By the time of the crisis in October 1962, the total number of nuclear weapons in the stockpiles of each country numbered approximately 26,400 for the United States and 3,300 for the Soviet Union. For the US, around 3,500 (with a combined yield of approximately 6,300 megatons) would have been used in attacking the Soviet Union. The Soviets had considerably less strategic firepower at their disposal: some 300–320 bombs and warheads, without submarine-based weapons in a position to threaten the US mainland and most of their intercontinental delivery systems based on bombers that would have difficulty penetrating North American air defence systems. They had already moved 158 warheads to Cuba and between 95 and 100 would have been ready for use if the US had invaded Cuba, most of them short-range. The US had approximately 4,375 nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, most of which were tactical weapons such as nuclear artillery, with around 450 of them for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft; the Soviets had more than 550 similar weapons in Europe.
=== United States ===
SAC
ICBM: 182 (at peak alert); 121 Atlas D/E/F, 53 Titan 1, 8 Minuteman 1A
Bombers: 1,595; 880 B-47, 639 B-52, 76 B-58 (1,479 bombers and 1,003 refuelling tankers available at peak alert)
Atlantic Command
112 UGM-27 Polaris in seven SSBNs (16 each); five submarines with Polaris A1 and two with A2
Pacific Command
4–8 Regulus cruise missiles
16 Mace cruise missiles
Three aircraft carriers with some 40 bombs each
Land-based aircraft with some 50 bombs
European Command
IRBM: 45 Jupiter (30 Italy, 15 Turkey)
48–90 Mace cruise missiles
Two US Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers with some 40 bombs each
Land-based aircraft with some 50 bombs
=== Soviet Union ===
Strategic (for use against North America):
ICBM: 42; four SS-6/R-7A at Plesetsk with two in reserve at Baikonur, 36 SS-7/R-16 with 26 in silos and ten on open launch pads
Bombers: 160 (readiness unknown); 100 Tu-95 Bear, 60 3M Bison B
Regional (mostly targeting Europe, and others targeting US bases in east Asia):
MRBM: 528 SS-4/R-12, 492 at soft launch sites and 36 at hard launch sites (approximately six to eight R-12s were operational in Cuba, capable of striking the US mainland at any moment until the crisis was resolved)
IRBM: 28 SS-5/R-14
Unknown number of Tu-16 Badger, Tu-22 Blinder, and MiG-21 aircraft tasked with nuclear strike missions
=== United Kingdom ===
Bomber Command
Bombers: 120; Vulcan B.1/B.1A/B.2, Victor B.1/B.1A/B2, Valiant B.1
IRBM: 59 Thor (missiles operated by the RAF with warheads under US supervision)
== Aftermath ==
=== Cuban leadership ===
Decisions on how to resolve the crisis had been made exclusively by Kennedy and Khrushchev and Cuba perceived the outcome as a betrayal by the Soviets. Castro was especially upset that certain questions of interest to Cuba, such as the status of the US Naval Base in Guantánamo, were not addressed, and Cuban–Soviet relations deteriorated.
Historian Arthur Schlesinger believed that when the missiles were withdrawn, Castro was more angry with Khrushchev than with Kennedy because Khrushchev had not consulted him before making the decision. Although Castro was infuriated by Khrushchev, he had still planned to strike the US with the remaining missiles if Cuba was invaded.
A few weeks after the crisis, during an interview with British communist newspaper the Daily Worker, Guevara was still fuming over the perceived Soviet betrayal and told correspondent Sam Russell that, if the missiles had been under Cuban control they would have been launched. Guevara said later that the cause of socialist liberation from global "imperialist aggression" would have been worth the possibility of "millions of atomic war victims". The missile crisis further convinced Guevara that the world's two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were using Cuba as a pawn in their global strategies, and after this he denounced the Soviets almost as frequently as he denounced the Americans.
=== Romanian leadership ===
During the crisis, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, general secretary of Romania's communist party, sent a letter to President Kennedy dissociating Romania from Soviet actions. This convinced the American administration of Bucharest's intentions of detaching itself from Moscow.
=== Soviet leadership ===
The realisation that the world had come close to thermonuclear war caused Khrushchev to propose a far-reaching easing of tensions with the US. In a letter to President Kennedy dated 30 October 1962, Khrushchev suggested initiatives that were intended to prevent the possibility of another nuclear crisis. These included a non-aggression treaty between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, or even disbanding these military blocs; a treaty to cease all nuclear weapons testing and possibly eliminate all nuclear weapons; resolution of the difficult question of Germany by both sides accepting the existence of West Germany and East Germany; and US recognition of the government of mainland China. The letter invited counter-proposals and further exploration of these and other questions through peaceful negotiations. Khrushchev invited Norman Cousins, the editor of a major US periodical and an anti-nuclear weapons activist, to serve as liaison with Kennedy. Cousins met with Khrushchev for four hours in December 1962.
Kennedy's response to Khrushchev's proposals was lukewarm, but he told Cousins that he felt obliged to consider them because he was under pressure from hardliners in the US national security apparatus. The United States and the Soviet Union subsequently agreed to a treaty banning atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, known as the "Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty". The US and the USSR also created a communications link, the Moscow–Washington hotline, to enable the leaders of the two Cold War countries to speak directly to each other in any future crisis.
These compromises embarrassed Khrushchev and the Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey had remained a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Khrushchev went to Kennedy because he thought that the crisis was getting out of hand, but the Soviets were seen to be retreating from circumstances that they had started.
Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was partly because of the Soviet Politburo's embarrassment at his eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating the crisis in the first place. According to Dobrynin, the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation".
=== US leadership ===
The worldwide DEFCON 3 status of US Forces was returned to DEFCON 4 on 20 November 1962. General Curtis LeMay told Kennedy that the resolution of the crisis was the "greatest defeat in our history". LeMay had pressed for an immediate invasion of Cuba as soon as the crisis began, and he still favored invading Cuba even after the Soviets had withdrawn their missiles. Twenty-five years later, LeMay still believed that "We could have gotten not only the missiles out of Cuba, we could have gotten the Communists out of Cuba at that time."
By 1962, President Kennedy had faced four crisis situations: the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion; settlement negotiations between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement ("Kennedy sidestepped Laos, whose rugged terrain was no battleground for American soldiers."); the construction of the Berlin Wall; and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy believed that another failure to gain control and stop communist expansion would irreparably damage US credibility. He was determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston of The New York Times immediately after his Vienna summit meeting with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place."
At least four contingency strikes were armed and launched from Florida against Cuban airfields and suspected missile sites in 1963 and 1964, although all were diverted to the Pinecastle Range Complex after the planes had passed Andros island. Critics, including Seymour Melman and Seymour Hersh, suggested that the Cuban Missile Crisis had encouraged the United States to use military means, as in the later Vietnam War. Similarly, Lorraine Bayard de Volo suggested that the masculine brinksmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis had become a "touchstone of toughness by which presidents are measured". Actions in 1962 had a significant influence on the policy decisions of future occupants of the White House, and led to foreign policy decisions such as President Lyndon B. Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam three years later.
=== Chinese leadership ===
The peaceful settlement between the Soviet Union and the United States over the missile crisis infuriated Beijing. Maoist China subsequently condemned Khrushchev’s cowardly “capitulationism” to the Americans and Moscow’s “sellout of the Cuban people.” Khrushchev in response, blasted the Chinese for aggression in the Sino-Indian dispute and China’s opportunist stand during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
=== Human casualties ===
The body of U-2 pilot Anderson was returned to the US and was buried with full military honours in South Carolina. He was the first recipient of the newly created Air Force Cross, which was awarded posthumously. Although Anderson was the only combatant fatality during the crisis, 11 crew members of three reconnaissance Boeing RB-47 Stratojets of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing were also killed in crashes during the period between 27 September and 11 November 1962. Seven crew died when a Military Air Transport Service Boeing C-135B Stratolifter delivering ammunition to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base stalled and crashed on landing approach on 23 October.
== Later revelations ==
=== Submarine close call ===
What may have been the most dangerous moment in the crisis was not recognized until the Cuban Missile Crisis Havana conference in October 2002, which marked its 40th anniversary. The three-day conference was sponsored by the private National Security Archive, Brown University and the Cuban government and attended by many of the veterans of the crisis. They learned that on 27 October 1962, a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph had located a diesel-powered, nuclear-armed Soviet Project 641 (NATO designation Foxtrot) submarine, the B-59, near Cuba. Despite being in international waters, the Americans started dropping practice depth charges to attempt to force the submarine to surface.
There had been no contact from Moscow for a number of days and the submarine was running too deep to monitor radio traffic, so those on board did not know whether war had broken out. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Savitsky, had no way of knowing that the depth charges were non-lethal "practice" rounds, intended as warning shots to force him to surface. Running out of air, the Soviet submarine was surrounded by American warships and desperately needed to surface. While surfacing, the B-59 "came under machine-gun fire from [U.S. ASW S-2] Tracker aircraft. The fire rounds landed either to the sides of the submarine's hull or near the bow. All these provocative actions carried out by surface ships in immediate proximity, and ASW aircraft flying some 10 to 15 meters above the boat had a detrimental impact on the commander, prompting him to take extreme measures… the use of special weapons." As firing live ammunition at a submarine was strictly prohibited, Captain Savitsky assumed that his submarine was doomed and that World War III had started. The Americans, for their part, did not know that the B-59 was armed with a 15-kiloton nuclear torpedo, of roughly the power of the bomb at Hiroshima. The USS Beale was joined by other US destroyers who pummelled the submerged B-59 with more explosives.
Savitsky ordered the nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing; its target was to be the USS Randolph, the aircraft carrier leading the task force. An argument broke out in the sweltering control room of the B-59 submarine among three senior officers, B-59 captain Savitsky, political officer Ivan Semyonovich Maslennikov, and Deputy brigade commander Captain 2nd rank (US Navy Commander rank equivalent) Vasily Arkhipov. Accounts differ about whether Arkhipov convinced Savitsky not to make the attack or whether Savitsky himself finally concluded that the only reasonable choice left open to him was to come to the surface. The decision to launch the nuclear torpedo required the consent of all three senior officers, and of the three, Arkhipov alone refused to give his consent. Arkhipov's reputation was a key factor in the control room debate. The previous year he had exposed himself to severe radiation in order to save a submarine with an overheating nuclear reactor.
During the conference October 2002, McNamara stated that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said, "A guy called Vasily Arkhipov saved the world."
=== Possibility of nuclear launch ===
In early 1992 it was confirmed that Soviet forces in Cuba had already received tactical nuclear warheads for their artillery rockets and Il-28 bombers when the crisis broke. Castro stated that he would have recommended their use if the US had invaded, even if Cuba was destroyed.
Fifty years after the crisis, Graham Allison wrote:
Fifty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. During the standoff, US President John F. Kennedy thought the chance of escalation to war was "between 1 in 3 and even", and what we have learned in later decades has done nothing to lengthen those odds. We now know, for example, that in addition to nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Soviet Union had deployed 100 tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba, and the local Soviet commander there could have launched these weapons without additional codes or commands from Moscow. The US air strike and invasion that were scheduled for the third week of the confrontation would likely have triggered a nuclear response against American ships and troops, and perhaps even Miami. The resulting war might have led to the deaths of over 100 million Americans and over 100 million Russians.
BBC journalist Joe Matthews published the story, on 13 October 2012, after news of the 100 tactical nuclear warheads mentioned by Graham Allison in the excerpt above. Khrushchev feared that Castro's hurt pride and widespread Cuban indignation over the concessions he had made to Kennedy might lead to a breakdown of the agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States. To prevent this, Khrushchev decided to offer to give Cuba more than 100 tactical nuclear weapons that had been shipped there with the long-range missiles but, crucially, had escaped the notice of US intelligence. Khrushchev determined that because the Americans had not listed the missiles on their list of demands, keeping them in Cuba would be in the Soviet Union's interests.
Anastas Mikoyan had the task of negotiating with Castro over the missile transfer deal to prevent a breakdown in relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union. While in Havana, Mikoyan witnessed the mood swings and paranoia of Castro, who was convinced that Moscow had made the agreement with the US at the expense of Cuba's defence. Mikoyan, on his own initiative, decided that Castro and his military should not under any circumstances be given control of weapons with an explosive force equal to 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs. He defused the seemingly intractable situation, which risked re-escalating the crisis, on 22 November 1962. During a tense, four-hour meeting, Mikoyan convinced Castro that despite Moscow's desire to help, it would be in breach of an unpublished Soviet law, which did not actually exist, to transfer the missiles permanently into Cuban hands and provide them with an independent nuclear deterrent. Castro was forced to give way and, much to the relief of Khrushchev and the rest of the Soviet government, the tactical nuclear weapons were crated and returned by sea to the Soviet Union during December 1962.
== In popular culture ==
The American popular media, especially television, made frequent use of the events of the missile crisis in both fictional and documentary forms. Jim Willis includes the Crisis as one of the 100 "media moments that changed America". Sheldon Stern found that a half century later there were still many "misconceptions, half-truths, and outright lies" that had shaped media versions of what happened in the White House during those two weeks.
Historian William Cohn argued in a 1976 article that television programs were typically the main source used by the American public to know about and interpret the past. According to Cold War historian Andrei Kozovoi, the Soviet media proved somewhat disorganized as it was unable to generate a coherent popular history. Khrushchev lost power and was airbrushed out of the story and Cuba was no longer portrayed as a heroic David against the American Goliath. One contradiction that pervaded the Soviet media campaign was between the pacifistic rhetoric of the peace movement that emphasized the horrors of nuclear war and the militancy of the need to prepare Soviets for war against American aggression. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii_(song) | Pompeii (song) | "Pompeii" is a song by British indie pop band Bastille. It is the fourth single from their debut studio album Bad Blood and was released on 11 January 2013. The song's title and lyrics refer to the Roman town of the same name that was destroyed and buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
"Pompeii" became the band's breakthrough hit, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and became the eleventh best-selling song that year and, until June 2014, was the country's most streamed single of all time. It was also successful worldwide, reaching the top ten in fifteen countries, including the United States where it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bastille's most successful single to date, until "Happier" reached number two on both the UK and US charts in October 2018 and February 2019 respectively.
The song was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2014 BRIT Awards. A mashup of the song with Rudimental and Ella Eyre's "Waiting All Night" was performed live by Rudimental, Eyre and Bastille at the aforementioned ceremony, which reached number 21 in the UK.
It was also performed at the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Awards, where it was nominated for Alternative Rock Song of the Year.
== Composition ==
The song has a tempo of 127.5 beats per minute and is written in the key of A major with a chord progression of D-A-F♯m-E. According to Dan Smith, the song is written as a conversation between two victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, stating in an interview, "I was reading a book that had some picture of the people who got caught up in the volcanic eruption. And it's just such a kind of dark powerful image, and it got me thinking about how boring it must have been emotionally after the event. To be sort of stuck in that same position for hundreds and hundreds of years. So, the song is sort of an imaginary conversation between these two people who are stuck next to each other in their sort of tragic death pose."
== Music video ==
The official music video was filmed in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. It was directed by Jesse John Jenkins and produced by Tova Dann. The video was first released onto YouTube on 20 January 2013 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds.
The video follows Bastille frontman Dan Smith, as he wanders about an empty-looking Los Angeles, before realizing the few people around all have unnatural vacant black eyes. He steals a car and drives into the desert to escape them, but the car breaks down and he soon realizes he has been infected as well. He climbs a mountain and looks out at the view, before turning around to reveal his own eyes have turned black as well. The story is an allegory for the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD in Pompeii.
== Track listing ==
== Reception ==
=== Critical reception ===
For Pitchfork, Amy Phillips named "Pompeii" among her favourite songs of 2013, praising its composition: "...backing vocals that ring out both ominous and joyful, the kind of chorus that feels like the sun breaking through a thunderstorm." In contrast, NME had a more mixed review, with Lucy Jones observing "juddering keyboard parts ripped directly from New Order's 'Temptation'" while acknowledging the song was "not horrible".
=== Commercial performance ===
The song reached number one in Scotland and Ireland, and peaked at number two in Italy and the UK. Previously, the single also held the record (now belonging to Clean Bandit's "Rather Be") for the longest time at number one on the Official Streaming Chart, remaining at the peak for seven weeks, and was the second most streamed track of 2013 in the UK. "Pompeii" spent the anniversary of its debut at number 30, having re-entered the top 40 the previous week following a live performance (a mash-up with Rudimental's "Waiting All Night") at the 2014 BRIT Awards. It spent a record 92 consecutive weeks in the top 100 (since matched by "Happy" by Pharrell Williams). With over 26 million streams by June 2014, "Pompeii" became the most streamed song of all time in the UK at that time and has sold 895,000 copies there. The B-side track "Poet" has also managed to chart in the UK at #121.
The song reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in October 2013 and began climbing the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It peaked at number 5 in the Hot 100 in March 2014 and reached a million in sales in the US. By March 2014, the song had reached top 5 in the Hot 100 in its 29th week, and has sold over two million digital copies. By the end of its US run, Pompeii had managed to chart for a total of 53 weeks in the top 100 as well as sell 3 million digital sales mark by June 2014. As of December 2014, the song has sold 3.4 million copies in the US.
In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of Alternative Songs (which by then had been renamed Alternative Airplay), Billboard published a list of the top 100 most successful songs in the chart's history; "Pompeii" was ranked at number 48.
=== Grammy Award nomination ===
A dance remix of the track by Audien was nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classic at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It lost to Tiësto's remix of John Legend's "All of Me".
== Credits and personnel ==
Credits adapted from Bad Blood.
Backing vocals – Ralph Pelleymounter, Jon Willoughby, Ian Dudfield, Josh Platman, Alex Martinez
Bass – William Farquarson
Drums – Chris "Woody" Wood
Mastering – Bob Ludwig
Mixing – Mark 'Spike' Stent, Matty Green (add.)
Recording – Mark Crew
Producer, programming, keyboards – Mark Crew, Kyle Simmons
Writer, vocals, piano – Dan Smith
Label – Virgin Records
== In popular culture ==
=== Media ===
The arcade machine featured in the cover art is Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.
The song is featured in the trailers for the 2014 DreamWorks animated film Mr. Peabody & Sherman
The Kat Krazy Remix edit is used in the 2013 video game Need for Speed Rivals.
It is featured in the British soap opera Hollyoaks and the TV series Reign in the third episode of the first season, "Kissed".
The song is featured in the official soundtrack of the First Touch game First Touch Soccer 15 as No. 1 and the Konami game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 as No. 3.
The cast of Glee performs "Pompeii" as the closing number of the season 5 finale.
In 2014, the song was part of the soundtrack for Malhação: Sonhos, the twenty-second season of the Brazilian soap opera Young Hearts, which aired on TV Globo.
The song was used for an advert by EE in January 2020 as part of their 5G promotion.
The lyrics are referenced in an in-game achievement for the video game Civilization VI, as part of the Gathering Storm DLC. The achievement requires the player to lose a city's population from Vesuvius' eruption while playing as the Romans.
In August 2020, the song's chorus became an Internet meme involving a before and after shot of countries, states or provinces viewed on a map, usually disappearing or changing after the line "But if you close your eyes" is sung, as well as a major meme in the NASCAR and Formula One community over similar events that look almost exactly the same, such as finishes or crashes.
The song has been featured in Samba de Amigo: Party Central.
In 2024, the song appears in Fortnite in Fortnite Festival as a jam track.
In season 5 episode 2 of Superstore (TV series), area manager Jeff explains to Amy that when he was giving a Cloud9 company director a lift in his car he chose to play the song.
== Cover versions ==
Belgian singer Heleen Uytterhoeven recorded a cover version in Latin, the language spoken in Pompeii, the namesake of the song. Bustle magazine noted that the YouTube video contained commenters arguing in Latin over the accuracy of her translation.
In 2023, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the song, Bastille collaborated with German composer Hans Zimmer to produce Pompeii MMXXIII, an orchestral re-arrangement of the original song.
== Charts ==
== Certifications ==
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt | Ancient Egypt | Ancient Egypt was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in the eastern corner of North Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower Egypt were united by Menes, who is believed by the majority of Egyptologists to have been the same person as Narmer. The history of ancient Egypt unfolded as a series of stable kingdoms interspersed by the "Intermediate Periods" of relative instability. These stable kingdoms existed in one of three periods: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age; the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age; or the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.
The pinnacle of ancient Egyptian power was achieved during the New Kingdom, which extended its rule to much of Nubia and a considerable portion of the Levant. After this period, Egypt entered an era of slow decline. Over the course of its history, it was invaded or conquered by a number of foreign civilizations, including the Hyksos, the Kushites, the Assyrians, the Persians, and the Greeks and then the Romans. The end of ancient Egypt is variously defined as occurring with the end of the Late Period during the Wars of Alexander the Great in 332 BC or with the end of the Greek-ruled Ptolemaic Kingdom during the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. In AD 642, the Arab conquest of Egypt brought an end to the region's millennium-long Greco-Roman period.
The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the Nile's conditions for agriculture. The predictable flooding of the Nile and controlled irrigation of its fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and thereby substantial social and cultural development. With resources to spare, the administration sponsored the mineral exploitation of the valley and its surrounding desert regions, the early development of an independent writing system, the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade with other civilizations, and a military to assert Egyptian dominance throughout the Near East. Motivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy of elite scribes, religious leaders, and administrators under the control of the reigning pharaoh, who ensured the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people in the context of an elaborate system of religious beliefs.
Among the many achievements of ancient Egypt are: the quarrying, surveying, and construction techniques that supported the building of monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks; a system of mathematics; a practical and effective system of medicine; irrigation systems and agricultural production techniques; the first known planked boats; Egyptian faience and glass technology; new forms of literature; and the earliest known peace treaty, which was ratified with the Anatolia-based Hittite Empire. Its art and architecture were widely copied and its antiquities were carried off to be studied, admired, or coveted in the far corners of the world. Likewise, its monumental ruins inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for millennia. A newfound European and Egyptian respect for antiquities and excavations that began in earnest in the early modern period has led to much scientific investigation of ancient Egypt and its society, as well as a greater appreciation of its cultural legacy.
== History ==
The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history. The fertile floodplain of the Nile gave humans the opportunity to develop a settled agricultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized society that became a cornerstone in the history of human civilization.
=== Predynastic period ===
In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was much less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates. Foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs, and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated.
By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of cultures demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry, and identifiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in upper (Southern) Egypt was the Badarian culture, which probably originated in the Western Desert; it was known for its high-quality ceramics, stone tools, and its use of copper.
The Badari was followed by the Naqada culture: the Naqada I (Amratian), the Naqada II (Gerzeh), and Naqada III (Semainean). These brought a number of technological improvements. As early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. Mutual trade with the Levant was established during Naqada II (c. 3600–3350 BC); this period was also the beginning of trade with Mesopotamia, which continued into the early dynastic period and beyond. Over a period of about 1,000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley. Establishing a power center at Nekhen, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East to the east.
The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse selection of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, as well as societal personal-use items, which included combs, small statuary, painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language.
=== Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150–2686 BC) ===
The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilization of Mesopotamia and of ancient Elam. The third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of kings from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today. He began his official history with the king named "Meni" (or Menes in Greek), who was believed to have united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The transition to a unified state happened more gradually than ancient Egyptian writers represented, and there is no contemporary record of Menes. Some scholars now believe, however, that the mythical Menes may have been the king Narmer, who is depicted wearing royal regalia on the ceremonial Narmer Palette, in a symbolic act of unification. In the Early Dynastic Period, which began about 3000 BC, the first of the Dynastic kings solidified control over Lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis, from which he could control the labor force and agriculture of the fertile delta region, as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant. The increasing power and wealth of the kings during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, which were used to celebrate the deified king after his death. The strong institution of kingship developed by the kings served to legitimize state control over the land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization.
=== Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) ===
Major advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during the Old Kingdom, fueled by the increased agricultural productivity and resulting population growth, made possible by a well-developed central administration. Some of ancient Egypt's crowning achievements, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx, were constructed during the Old Kingdom. Under the direction of the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield, and drafted peasants to work on construction projects.
With the rise of central administration in Egypt, a new class of educated scribes and officials emerged and were granted estates by the king as payment for their services. Kings also made land grants to their mortuary cults and local temples, to ensure that these institutions had the resources to worship the king after his death. Scholars believe that five centuries of these practices slowly eroded the economic vitality of Egypt, and that the economy could no longer afford to support a large centralized administration. As the power of the kings diminished, regional governors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of the office of king. This, coupled with severe droughts between 2200 and 2150 BC, is believed to have caused the country to enter the 140-year period of famine and strife known as the First Intermediate Period.
=== First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC) ===
After Egypt's central government collapsed at the end of the Old Kingdom, the administration could no longer support or stabilize the country's economy. The ensuing food shortages and political disputes escalated into famines and small-scale civil wars. Yet despite difficult problems, local leaders, owing no tribute to the king, used their new-found independence to establish a thriving culture in the provinces. Once in control of their own resources, the provinces became economically richer—which was demonstrated by larger and better burials among all social classes.
Free from their loyalties to the king, local rulers began competing with each other for territorial control and political power. By 2160 BC, rulers in Herakleopolis controlled Lower Egypt in the north, while a rival clan based in Thebes, the Intef family, took control of Upper Egypt in the south. As the Intefs grew in power and expanded their control northward, a clash between the two rival dynasties became inevitable. Around 2055 BC the northern Theban forces under Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II finally defeated the Herakleopolitan rulers, reuniting the Two Lands. They inaugurated a period of economic and cultural renaissance known as the Middle Kingdom.
=== Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC) ===
The kings of the Middle Kingdom restored the country's stability, which saw a resurgence of art and monumental building projects, and a new flourishing of literature. Mentuhotep II and his Eleventh Dynasty successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhat I, upon assuming the kingship at the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty around 1985 BC, shifted the kingdom's capital to the city of Itjtawy, located in Faiyum. From Itjtawy, the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty undertook a far-sighted land reclamation and irrigation scheme to increase agricultural output in the region. Moreover, the military reconquered territory in Nubia that was rich in quarries and gold mines, while laborers built a defensive structure in the Eastern Delta, called the "Walls of the Ruler", to defend against foreign attack.
With the kings having secured the country militarily and politically and with vast agricultural and mineral wealth at their disposal, the nation's population, arts, and religion flourished. The Middle Kingdom displayed an increase in expressions of personal piety toward the gods. Middle Kingdom literature featured sophisticated themes and characters written in a confident, eloquent style. The relief and portrait sculpture of the period captured subtle, individual details that reached new heights of technical sophistication.
=== Second Intermediate Period (1674–1549 BC) and the Hyksos ===
Around 1785 BC, as the power of the Middle Kingdom kings weakened, a Western Asian people called the Hyksos, who had already settled in the Delta, seized control of Egypt and established their capital at Avaris, forcing the former central government to retreat to Thebes. The king was treated as a vassal and expected to pay tribute. The Hyksos ('foreign rulers') retained Egyptian models of government and identified as kings, thereby integrating Egyptian elements into their culture.
After retreating south, the native Theban kings found themselves trapped between the Canaanite Hyksos ruling the north and the Hyksos' Nubian allies, the Kushites, to the south. After years of vassalage, Thebes gathered enough strength to challenge the Hyksos in a conflict that lasted more than 30 years, until 1555 BC. Ahmose I waged a series of campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos' presence in Egypt. He is considered the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and the military became a central priority for his successors, who sought to expand Egypt's borders and attempted to gain mastery of the Near East.
=== New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC) ===
The New Kingdom pharaohs established a period of unprecedented prosperity by securing their borders and strengthening diplomatic ties with their neighbours, including the Mitanni Empire, Assyria, and Canaan. Military campaigns waged under Tuthmosis I and his grandson Tuthmosis III extended the influence of the pharaohs to the largest empire Egypt had ever seen.
Between their reigns, Hatshepsut, a queen who established herself as pharaoh, launched many building projects, including the restoration of temples damaged by the Hyksos, and sent trading expeditions to Punt and the Sinai. When Tuthmosis III died in 1425 BC, Egypt had an empire extending from Niya in north west Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia, cementing loyalties and opening access to critical imports such as bronze and wood.
The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale building campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing cult was based in Karnak. They also constructed monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The Karnak temple is the largest Egyptian temple ever built.
Around 1350 BC, the stability of the New Kingdom was threatened when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic reforms. Changing his name to Akhenaten, he touted the previously obscure sun deity Aten as the supreme deity, suppressed the worship of most other deities, and moved the capital to the new city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna). He was devoted to his new religion and artistic style. After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned and the traditional religious order restored. The subsequent pharaohs, Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb, worked to erase all mention of Akhenaten's heresy, now known as the Amarna Period.
Around 1279 BC, Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, ascended the throne, and went on to build more temples, erect more statues and obelisks, and sire more children than any other pharaoh in history. A bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh (in modern Syria) and, after fighting to a stalemate, finally agreed to the first recorded peace treaty, around 1258 BC.
Egypt's wealth, however, made it a tempting target for invasion, particularly by the Libyan Berbers to the west, and the Sea Peoples, a conjectured confederation of seafarers from the Aegean Sea. Initially, the military was able to repel these invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of its remaining territories in southern Canaan, much of it falling to the Assyrians. The effects of external threats were exacerbated by internal problems such as corruption, tomb robbery, and civil unrest. After regaining their power, the high priests at the temple of Amun in Thebes accumulated vast tracts of land and wealth, and their expanded power splintered the country during the Third Intermediate Period.
=== Third Intermediate Period (1069–653 BC) ===
Following the death of Ramesses XI in 1078 BC, Smendes assumed authority over the northern part of Egypt, ruling from the city of Tanis. The south was effectively controlled by the High Priests of Amun at Thebes, who recognized Smendes in name only. During this time, Libyans had been settling in the western delta, and chieftains of these settlers began increasing their autonomy. Libyan princes took control of the delta under Shoshenq I in 945 BC, founding the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty that would rule for some 200 years. Shoshenq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis, and Kushites threatened from the south.
Around 727 BC the Kushite king Piye invaded northward, seizing control of Thebes and eventually the Delta, which established the 25th Dynasty. During the 25th Dynasty, Pharaoh Taharqa created an empire nearly as large as the New Kingdom's. Twenty-fifth Dynasty pharaohs built, or restored, temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. During this period, the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom.
Egypt's far-reaching prestige declined considerably toward the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Its foreign allies had fallen into the Assyrian sphere of influence, and by 700 BC war between the two states became inevitable. Between 671 and 667 BC the Assyrians began the Assyrian conquest of Egypt. The reigns of both Taharqa and his successor, Tanutamun, were filled with frequent conflict with the Assyrians. Ultimately, the Assyrians pushed the Kushites back into Nubia, occupied Memphis, and sacked the temples of Thebes.
=== Late Period (653–332 BC) ===
The Assyrians left control of Egypt to a series of vassals who became known as the Saite kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. By 653 BC, the Saite king Psamtik I was able to oust the Assyrians with the help of Greek mercenaries, who were recruited to form Egypt's first navy. Greek influence expanded greatly as the city-state of Naucratis became the home of Greeks in the Nile Delta. The Saite kings based in the new capital of Sais witnessed a brief but spirited resurgence in the economy and culture, but in 525 BC, the Persian Empire, led by Cambyses II, began its conquest of Egypt, eventually defeating the pharaoh Psamtik III at the Battle of Pelusium. Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of pharaoh, but ruled Egypt from Iran, leaving Egypt under the control of a satrap. A few revolts against the Persians marked the 5th century BC, but Egypt was never able to overthrow the Persians until the end of the century.
Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty, ended in 402 BC, when Egypt regained independence under a series of native dynasties. The last of these dynasties, the Thirtieth, proved to be the last native royal house of ancient Egypt, ending with the kingship of Nectanebo II. A brief restoration of Persian rule, sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty, began in 343 BC, but shortly after, in 332 BC, the Persian ruler Mazaces handed Egypt over to Alexander the Great without a fight.
=== Ptolemaic period (332–30 BC) ===
In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians and was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. The administration established by Alexander's successors, the Macedonian Ptolemaic Kingdom, was based on an Egyptian model and based in the new capital city of Alexandria. The city showcased the power and prestige of Hellenistic rule, and became a centre of learning and culture that included the famous Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion. The Lighthouse of Alexandria lit the way for the many ships that kept trade flowing through the city—as the Ptolemies made commerce and revenue-generating enterprises, such as papyrus manufacturing, their top priority.
Hellenistic culture did not supplant native Egyptian culture, as the Ptolemies supported time-honored traditions in an effort to secure the loyalty of the populace. They built new temples in Egyptian style, supported traditional cults, and portrayed themselves as pharaohs. Some traditions merged, as Greek and Egyptian gods were syncretized into composite deities, such as Serapis, and classical Greek forms of sculpture influenced traditional Egyptian motifs. Despite their efforts to appease the Egyptians, the Ptolemies were challenged by native rebellion, bitter family rivalries, and frequent mob violence in Alexandria. In addition, as Rome relied more heavily on imports of grain from Egypt, the Romans took great interest in the political situation in the country. Continued Egyptian revolts, ambitious politicians, and powerful opponents from the Near East made this situation unstable, leading Rome to send forces to secure the country as a province of its empire.
=== Roman period (30 BC – AD 642) ===
Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30 BC, following the defeat of Mark Antony and Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) in the Battle of Actium. The Romans relied heavily on grain shipments from Egypt, and the Roman army, under the control of a prefect appointed by the emperor, quelled rebellions, strictly enforced the collection of heavy taxes, and prevented attacks by bandits, which had become a notorious problem during the period. Alexandria became an increasingly important center on the trade route with the orient, as exotic luxuries were in high demand in Rome.
Although the Romans had a more hostile attitude than the Greeks towards the Egyptians, some traditions such as mummification and worship of the traditional gods continued. The art of mummy portraiture flourished, and some Roman emperors had themselves depicted as pharaohs, though not to the extent that the Ptolemies had. The former lived outside Egypt and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship. Local administration became Roman in style and closed to native Egyptians.
From the mid-first century AD, Christianity took root in Egypt and it was originally seen as another cult that could be accepted. However, it was an uncompromising religion that sought to win converts from the pagan Egyptian and Greco-Roman religions and threatened popular religious traditions. This led to the persecution of converts to Christianity, culminating in the great purges of Diocletian starting in 303, but eventually Christianity won out. In 391, the Christian emperor Theodosius introduced legislation that banned pagan rites and closed temples. Alexandria became the scene of great anti-pagan riots with public and private religious imagery destroyed. As a consequence, Egypt's native religious culture was continually in decline. While the native population continued to speak their language, the ability to read hieroglyphic writing slowly disappeared as the role of the Egyptian temple priests and priestesses diminished. The temples themselves were sometimes converted to churches or abandoned to the desert.
== Government and economy ==
=== Administration and commerce ===
The pharaoh was the absolute monarch of the country and, at least in theory, wielded complete control of the land and its resources. The king was the supreme military commander and head of the government, who relied on a bureaucracy of officials to manage his affairs. In charge of the administration was his second in command, the vizier, who acted as the king's representative and coordinated land surveys, the treasury, building projects, the legal system, and the archives. At a regional level, the country was divided into as many as 42 administrative regions called nomes each governed by a nomarch, who was accountable to the vizier for his jurisdiction. The temples formed the backbone of the economy. Not only were they places of worship, but were also responsible for collecting and storing the kingdom's wealth in a system of granaries and treasuries administered by overseers, who redistributed grain and goods.
Much of the economy was centrally organized and strictly controlled. Although the ancient Egyptians did not use coinage until the Late period, they did use a type of money-barter system, with standard sacks of grain and the deben, a weight of roughly 91 g (3 oz) of copper or silver, forming a common denominator. Workers were paid in grain: A simple laborer might earn 5+1⁄2 sacks or ca. 200 kg (440 lb) of grain per month, while a foreman might earn 7+1⁄2 sacks or roughly 250 kg (550 lb). Prices were fixed across the country and recorded in lists to facilitate trading; for example a shirt cost five copper deben, while a cow cost 140 deben. Grain could be traded for other goods, according to the fixed price list. During the fifth century BC coined money was introduced into Egypt from abroad. At first the coins were used as standardized pieces of precious metal rather than true money, but in the following centuries international traders came to rely on coinage.
=== Social status ===
Egyptian society was highly stratified, and social status was expressly displayed. Farmers made up the bulk of the population, but agricultural produce was owned directly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. Farmers were also subject to a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or construction projects in a corvée system. Artists and craftsmen were of higher status than farmers, but they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, known as the "white kilt class" in reference to the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of their rank. The upper class prominently displayed their social status in art and literature. Below the nobility were the priests, physicians, and engineers with specialized training in their field. It is unclear whether slavery as understood today existed in ancient Egypt; there is difference of opinions among authors.
The ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, including people from all social classes, as essentially equal under the law, and even the lowliest peasant was entitled to petition the vizier and his court for redress. Although slaves were mostly used as indentured servants, they were able to buy and sell their servitude, work their way to freedom or nobility, and were usually treated by doctors in the workplace. Both men and women had the right to own and sell property, make contracts, marry and divorce, receive inheritance, and pursue legal disputes in court. Married couples could own property jointly and protect themselves from divorce by agreeing to marriage contracts, which stipulated the financial obligations of the husband to his wife and children should the marriage end. Compared with their counterparts in ancient Greece, Rome, and even more modern places around the world, ancient Egyptian women had a greater range of personal choices, legal rights, and opportunities for achievement. Women such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII even became pharaohs, while others wielded power as Divine Wives of Amun. Despite these freedoms, ancient Egyptian women did not often take part in official roles in the administration, aside from the royal high priestesses, apparently served only secondary roles in the temples (not much data for many dynasties), and were not so probably to be as educated as men.
=== Legal system ===
The head of the legal system was officially the pharaoh, who was responsible for enacting laws, delivering justice, and maintaining law and order, a concept the ancient Egyptians referred to as Ma'at. Although no legal codes from ancient Egypt survive, court documents show that Egyptian law was based on a common-sense view of right and wrong that emphasized reaching agreements and resolving conflicts rather than strictly adhering to a complicated set of statutes. Local councils of elders, known as Kenbet in the New Kingdom, were responsible for ruling in court cases involving small claims and minor disputes. More serious cases involving murder, major land transactions, and tomb robbery were referred to the Great Kenbet, over which the vizier or pharaoh presided. Plaintiffs and defendants were expected to represent themselves and were required to swear an oath that they had told the truth. In some cases, the state took on both the role of prosecutor and judge, and it could torture the accused with beatings to obtain a confession and the names of any co-conspirators. Whether the charges were trivial or serious, court scribes documented the complaint, testimony, and verdict of the case for future reference.
Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile, depending on the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as murder and tomb robbery were punished by execution, carried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the criminal on a stake. Punishment could also be extended to the criminal's family. Beginning in the New Kingdom, oracles played a major role in the legal system, dispensing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure was to ask the god a "yes" or "no" question concerning the right or wrong of an issue. The god, carried by a number of priests, rendered judgement by choosing one or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to one of the answers written on a piece of papyrus or an ostracon.
=== Agriculture ===
A combination of favorable geographical features contributed to the success of ancient Egyptian culture, the most important of which was the rich fertile soil resulting from annual inundations of the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians were thus able to produce an abundance of food, allowing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. Land management was crucial in ancient Egypt because taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned.
Farming in Egypt was dependent on the cycle of the Nile River. The Egyptians recognized three seasons: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The flooding season lasted from June to September, depositing on the river's banks a layer of mineral-rich silt ideal for growing crops. After the floodwaters had receded, the growing season lasted from October to February. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt received little rainfall, so farmers relied on the Nile to water their crops. From March to May, farmers used sickles to harvest their crops, which were then threshed with a flail to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing removed the chaff from the grain, and the grain was then ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later use.
The ancient Egyptians cultivated emmer and barley, and several other cereal grains, all of which were used to make the two main food staples of bread and beer. Flax plants, uprooted before they started flowering, were grown for the fibers of their stems. These fibers were split along their length and spun into thread, which was used to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing. Papyrus growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots, close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, melons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops, in addition to grapes that were made into wine.
==== Animals ====
The Egyptians believed that a balanced relationship between people and animals was an essential element of the cosmic order; thus humans, animals and plants were believed to be members of a single whole. Animals, both domesticated and wild, were therefore a critical source of spirituality, companionship, and sustenance to the ancient Egyptians. Cattle were the most important livestock; the administration collected taxes on livestock in regular censuses, and the size of a herd reflected the prestige and importance of the estate or temple that owned them. In addition to cattle, the ancient Egyptians kept sheep, goats, and pigs. Poultry, such as ducks, geese, and pigeons, were captured in nets and bred on farms, where they were force-fed with dough to fatten them. The Nile provided a plentiful source of fish. Bees were also domesticated from at least the Old Kingdom, and provided both honey and wax.
The ancient Egyptians used donkeys and oxen as beasts of burden, and they were responsible for plowing the fields and trampling seed into the soil. The slaughter of a fattened ox was also a central part of an offering ritual. Horses were introduced by the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period. Camels, although known from the New Kingdom, were not used as beasts of burden until the Late Period. There is also evidence to suggest that elephants were briefly used in the Late Period but largely abandoned due to lack of grazing land. Cats, dogs, and monkeys were common family pets, while more exotic pets imported from the heart of Africa, such as Sub-Saharan African lions, were reserved for royalty. Herodotus observed that the Egyptians were the only people to keep their animals with them in their houses. During the Late Period, the worship of the gods in their animal form was extremely popular, such as the cat goddess Bastet and the ibis god Thoth, and these animals were kept in large numbers for the purpose of ritual sacrifice.
=== Natural resources ===
Egypt is rich in building and decorative stone, copper and lead ores, gold, and semiprecious stones. These natural resources allowed the ancient Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt statues, make tools, and fashion jewelry. Embalmers used salts from the Wadi Natrun for mummification, which also provided the gypsum needed to make plaster. Ore-bearing rock formations were found in distant, inhospitable wadis in the Eastern Desert and the Sinai, requiring large, state-controlled expeditions to obtain natural resources found there. There were extensive gold mines in Nubia, and one of the first maps known is of a gold mine in this region. The Wadi Hammamat was a notable source of granite, greywacke, and gold. Flint was the first mineral collected and used to make tools, and flint handaxes are the earliest pieces of evidence of habitation in the Nile valley. Nodules of the mineral were carefully flaked to make blades and arrowheads of moderate hardness and durability even after copper was adopted for this purpose. Ancient Egyptians were among the first to use minerals such as sulfur as cosmetic substances.
The Egyptians worked deposits of the lead ore galena at Gebel Rosas to make net sinkers, plumb bobs, and small figurines. Copper was the most important metal for toolmaking in ancient Egypt and was smelted in furnaces from malachite ore mined in the Sinai. Workers collected gold by washing the nuggets out of sediment in alluvial deposits, or by the more labor-intensive process of grinding and washing gold-bearing quartzite. Iron deposits found in upper Egypt were used in the Late Period. High-quality building stones were abundant in Egypt; the ancient Egyptians quarried limestone all along the Nile valley, granite from Aswan, and basalt and sandstone from the wadis of the Eastern Desert. Deposits of decorative stones such as porphyry, greywacke, alabaster, and carnelian dotted the Eastern Desert and were collected even before the First Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, miners worked deposits of emeralds in Wadi Sikait and amethyst in Wadi el-Hudi.
=== Trade ===
The ancient Egyptians engaged in trade with their foreign neighbors to obtain rare, exotic goods not found in Egypt. In the Predynastic Period, they established trade with Nubia to obtain gold and incense. They also established trade with Palestine, as evidenced by Palestinian-style oil jugs found in the burials of the First Dynasty pharaohs. An Egyptian colony stationed in southern Canaan dates to slightly before the First Dynasty. Tell es-Sakan in present-day Gaza was established as an Egyptian settlement in the late 4th millennium BC, and is theorised to have been the main Egyptian colonial site in the region. Narmer had Egyptian pottery produced in Canaan and exported back to Egypt.
By the Second Dynasty at latest, ancient Egyptian trade with Byblos yielded a critical source of quality timber not found in Egypt. By the Fifth Dynasty, trade with Punt provided gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild animals such as monkeys and baboons. Egypt relied on trade with Anatolia for essential quantities of tin as well as supplementary supplies of copper, both metals being necessary for the manufacture of bronze. The ancient Egyptians prized the blue stone lapis lazuli, which had to be imported from far-away Afghanistan. Egypt's Mediterranean trade partners also included Greece and Crete, which provided, among other goods, supplies of olive oil.
== Language ==
=== Historical development ===
The Egyptian language is a northern Afro-Asiatic language closely related to the Berber and Semitic languages. The Ancient Egyptian language likewise shared linguistic ties with other Afro-Asiatic languages such as the Chadic languages of west and central Africa, the Cushitic languages of northeast Africa, and the Ethio-Semitic languages, which are found in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Many scholars have accepted an African phylum language origin since five of the six Afro-Asiatic subfamilies, including the Egyptian language, are spoken on the African continent, and only one in Asia.
It has the longest known history of any language having been written from c. 3200 BC to the Middle Ages and remaining as a spoken language for longer. The phases of ancient Egyptian are Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian (Classical Egyptian), Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic. Egyptian writings do not show dialect differences before Coptic, but it was probably spoken in regional dialects around Memphis and later Thebes.
Ancient Egyptian was a synthetic language, but it became more analytic later on. Late Egyptian developed prefixal definite and indefinite articles, which replaced the older inflectional suffixes. There was a change from the older verb–subject–object word order to subject–verb–object. The Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts were eventually replaced by the more phonetic Coptic alphabet. Coptic is still used in the liturgy of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, and traces of it are found in modern Egyptian Arabic.
=== Sounds and grammar ===
Ancient Egyptian has 25 consonants similar to those of other Afro-Asiatic languages. These include pharyngeal and emphatic consonants, voiced and voiceless stops, voiceless fricatives and voiced and voiceless affricates. It has three long and three short vowels, which expanded in Late Egyptian to about nine. The basic word in Egyptian, similar to Semitic and Berber, is a triliteral or biliteral root of consonants and semiconsonants. Suffixes are added to form words. The verb conjugation corresponds to the person. For example, the triconsonantal skeleton S-Ḏ-M is the semantic core of the word 'hear'; its basic conjugation is sḏm, 'he hears'. If the subject is a noun, suffixes are not added to the verb: sḏm ḥmt, 'the woman hears'.
Adjectives are derived from nouns through a process that Egyptologists call nisbation because of its similarity with Arabic. The word order is predicate–subject in verbal and adjectival sentences, and subject–predicate in nominal and adverbial sentences. The subject can be moved to the beginning of sentences if it is long and is followed by a resumptive pronoun. Verbs and nouns are negated by the particle n, but nn is used for adverbial and adjectival sentences. Stress falls on the ultimate or penultimate syllable, which can be open (CV) or closed (CVC).
=== Writing ===
Hieroglyphic writing dates from c. 3000 BC, and is composed of hundreds of symbols. A hieroglyph can represent a word, a sound, or a silent determinative; and the same symbol can serve different purposes in different contexts. Hieroglyphs were a formal script, used on stone monuments and in tombs, that could be as detailed as individual works of art. In day-to-day writing, scribes used a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was quicker and easier. While formal hieroglyphs may be read in rows or columns in either direction (though typically written from right to left), hieratic was always written from right to left, usually in horizontal rows. A new form of writing, Demotic, became the prevalent writing style, and it is this form of writing—along with formal hieroglyphs—that accompany the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone.
Around the first century AD, the Coptic alphabet started to be used alongside the Demotic script. Coptic is a modified Greek alphabet with the addition of some Demotic signs. Although formal hieroglyphs were used in a ceremonial role until the fourth century, towards the end only a small handful of priests could still read them. As the traditional religious establishments were disbanded, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was mostly lost. Attempts to decipher them date to the Byzantine and Islamic periods in Egypt, but only in the 1820s, after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and years of research by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion, were hieroglyphs substantially deciphered.
=== Literature ===
Writing first appeared in association with kingship on labels and tags for items found in royal tombs. It was primarily an occupation of the scribes, who worked out of the Per Ankh institution or the House of Life. The latter comprised offices, libraries (called House of Books), laboratories and observatories. Some of the best-known pieces of ancient Egyptian literature, such as the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, were written in Classical Egyptian, which continued to be the language of writing until about 1300 BC. Late Egyptian was spoken from the New Kingdom onward and is represented in Ramesside administrative documents, love poetry and tales, as well as in Demotic and Coptic texts. During this period, the tradition of writing had evolved into the tomb autobiography, such as those of Harkhuf and Weni. The genre known as Sebayt ('instructions') was developed to communicate teachings and guidance from famous nobles; the Ipuwer papyrus, a poem of lamentations describing natural disasters and social upheaval, is a famous example.
The Story of Sinuhe, written in Middle Egyptian, might be the classic of Egyptian literature. Also written at this time was the Westcar Papyrus, a set of stories told to Khufu by his sons relating the marvels performed by priests. The Instruction of Amenemope is considered a masterpiece of Near Eastern literature. Towards the end of the New Kingdom, the vernacular language was more often employed to write popular pieces such as the Story of Wenamun and the Instruction of Any. The former tells the story of a noble who is robbed on his way to buy cedar from Lebanon and of his struggle to return to Egypt. From about 700 BC, narrative stories and instructions, such as the popular Instructions of Onchsheshonqy, as well as personal and business documents were written in the demotic script and phase of Egyptian. Many stories written in demotic during the Greco-Roman period were set in previous historical eras, when Egypt was an independent nation ruled by great pharaohs such as Ramesses II.
== Culture ==
=== Daily life ===
Most ancient Egyptians were farmers tied to the land. Their dwellings were restricted to immediate family members, and were constructed of mudbrick designed to remain cool in the heat of the day. Each home had a kitchen with an open roof, which contained a grindstone for milling grain and a small oven for baking the bread. Ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Walls were painted white and could be covered with dyed linen wall hangings. Floors were covered with reed mats, while wooden stools, beds raised from the floor and individual tables comprised the furniture.
The ancient Egyptians placed a great value on hygiene and appearance. Most bathed in the Nile and used a pasty soap made from animal fat and chalk. Men shaved their entire bodies for cleanliness; perfumes and aromatic ointments covered bad odors and soothed skin. Clothing was made from simple linen sheets that were bleached white, and both men and women of the upper classes wore wigs, jewelry, and cosmetics. Children went without clothing until maturity, at about age 12, and at this age males were circumcised and had their heads shaved. Mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, while the father provided the family's income.
Music and dance were popular entertainments for those who could afford them. Early instruments included flutes and harps, while instruments similar to trumpets, oboes, and pipes developed later and became popular. In the New Kingdom, the Egyptians played on bells, cymbals, tambourines, drums, and imported lutes and lyres from Asia. The sistrum was a rattle-like musical instrument that was especially important in religious ceremonies.
The ancient Egyptians enjoyed a variety of leisure activities, including games and music. Senet, a board game where pieces moved according to random chance, was particularly popular from the earliest times; another similar game was mehen, which had a circular gaming board. "Hounds and Jackals" also known as 58 holes is another example of board games played in ancient Egypt. The first complete set of this game was discovered from a Theban tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV that dates to the 13th Dynasty. Juggling and ball games were popular with children, and wrestling is also documented in a tomb at Beni Hasan. The wealthy members of ancient Egyptian society enjoyed hunting, fishing, and boating as well.
The excavation of the workers' village of Deir el-Medina has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world, which spans almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in which the organization, social interactions, and working and living conditions of a community have been studied in such detail.
=== Cuisine ===
Egyptian cuisine remained remarkably stable over time; indeed, the cuisine of modern Egypt retains some striking similarities to the cuisine of the ancients. The staple diet consisted of bread and beer, supplemented with vegetables such as onions and garlic, and fruit such as dates and figs. Wine and meat were enjoyed by all on feast days while the upper classes indulged on a more regular basis. Fish, meat, and fowl could be salted or dried, and could be cooked in stews or roasted on a grill.
=== Architecture ===
The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the most famous structures in the world: the Great Pyramids of Giza and the temples at Thebes. Building projects were organized and funded by the state for religious and commemorative purposes, but also to reinforce the wide-ranging power of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders; using only simple but effective tools and sighting instruments, architects could build large stone structures with great accuracy and precision that is still envied today.
The domestic dwellings of elite and ordinary Egyptians alike were constructed from perishable materials such as mudbricks and wood, and have not survived. Peasants lived in simple homes, while the palaces of the elite and the pharaoh were more elaborate structures. A few surviving New Kingdom palaces, such as those in Malkata and Amarna, show richly decorated walls and floors with scenes of people, birds, water pools, deities and geometric designs. Important structures such as temples and tombs that were intended to last forever were constructed of stone instead of mudbricks. The architectural elements used in the world's first large-scale stone building, Djoser's mortuary complex, include post and lintel supports in the papyrus and lotus motif.
The earliest preserved ancient Egyptian temples, such as those at Giza, consist of single, enclosed halls with roof slabs supported by columns. In the New Kingdom, architects added the pylon, the open courtyard, and the enclosed hypostyle hall to the front of the temple's sanctuary, a style that was standard until the Greco-Roman period. The earliest and most popular tomb architecture in the Old Kingdom was the mastaba, a flat-roofed rectangular structure of mudbrick or stone built over an underground burial chamber. The step pyramid of Djoser is a series of stone mastabas stacked on top of each other. Pyramids were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but most later rulers abandoned them in favor of less conspicuous rock-cut tombs. The use of the pyramid form continued in private tomb chapels of the New Kingdom and in the royal pyramids of Nubia.
=== Art ===
The ancient Egyptians produced art to serve functional purposes. For over 3500 years, artists adhered to artistic forms and iconography that were developed during the Old Kingdom, following a strict set of principles that resisted foreign influence and internal change. These artistic standards—simple lines, shapes, and flat areas of color combined with the characteristic flat projection of figures with no indication of spatial depth—created a sense of order and balance within a composition. Images and text were intimately interwoven on tomb and temple walls, coffins, stelae, and even statues. The Narmer Palette, for example, displays figures that can also be read as hieroglyphs. Because of the rigid rules that governed its highly stylized and symbolic appearance, ancient Egyptian art served its political and religious purposes with precision and clarity.
Ancient Egyptian artisans used stone as a medium for carving statues and fine reliefs, but used wood as a cheap and easily carved substitute. Paints were obtained from minerals such as iron ores (red and yellow ochres), copper ores (blue and green), soot or charcoal (black), and limestone (white). Paints could be mixed with gum arabic as a binder and pressed into cakes, which could be moistened with water when needed.
Pharaohs used reliefs to record victories in battle, royal decrees, and religious scenes. Common citizens had access to pieces of funerary art, such as shabti statues and books of the dead, which they believed would protect them in the afterlife. During the Middle Kingdom, wooden or clay models depicting scenes from everyday life became popular additions to the tomb. In an attempt to duplicate the activities of the living in the afterlife, these models show laborers, houses, boats, and even military formations that are scale representations of the ideal ancient Egyptian afterlife.
Despite the homogeneity of ancient Egyptian art, the styles of particular times and places sometimes reflected changing cultural or political attitudes. After the invasion of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period, Minoan-style frescoes were found in Avaris. The most striking example of a politically driven change in artistic forms comes from the Amarna Period, where figures were radically altered to conform to Akhenaten's revolutionary religious ideas. This style, known as Amarna art, was quickly abandoned after Akhenaten's death and replaced by the traditional forms.
=== Religious beliefs ===
Beliefs in the divine and in the afterlife were ingrained in ancient Egyptian civilization from its inception; pharaonic rule was based on the divine right of kings. The Egyptian pantheon was populated by gods who had supernatural powers and were called on for help or protection. However, the gods were not always viewed as benevolent, and Egyptians believed they had to be appeased with offerings and prayers. The structure of this pantheon changed continually as new deities were promoted in the hierarchy, but priests made no effort to organize the diverse and sometimes conflicting myths and stories into a coherent system. These various conceptions of divinity were not considered contradictory but rather layers in the multiple facets of reality.
Gods were worshiped in cult temples administered by priests acting on the king's behalf. At the center of the temple was the cult statue in a shrine. Temples were not places of public worship or congregation, and only on select feast days and celebrations was a shrine carrying the statue of the god brought out for public worship. Normally, the god's domain was sealed off from the outside world and was only accessible to temple officials. Common citizens could worship private statues in their homes, and amulets offered protection against the forces of chaos. After the New Kingdom, the pharaoh's role as a spiritual intermediary was de-emphasized as religious customs shifted to direct worship of the gods. As a result, priests developed a system of oracles to communicate the will of the gods directly to the people.
The Egyptians believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects. In addition to the body, each person had a šwt (shadow), a ba (personality or soul), a ka (life-force), and a name. The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat of thoughts and emotions. After death, the spiritual aspects were released from the body and could move at will, but they required the physical remains (or a substitute, such as a statue) as a permanent home. The ultimate goal of the deceased was to rejoin his ka and ba and become one of the "blessed dead", living on as an akh, or "effective one". For this to happen, the deceased had to be judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed against a "feather of truth". If deemed worthy, the deceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual form. If they were not deemed worthy, their heart was eaten by Ammit the Devourer and they were erased from the Universe.
=== Burial customs ===
The ancient Egyptians maintained an elaborate set of burial customs that they believed were necessary to ensure immortality after death. These customs involved preserving the body by mummification, performing burial ceremonies, and interring with the body goods the deceased would use in the afterlife. Before the Old Kingdom, bodies buried in desert pits were naturally preserved by desiccation. The arid, desert conditions were a boon throughout the history of ancient Egypt for burials of the poor, who could not afford the elaborate burial preparations available to the elite. Wealthier Egyptians began to bury their dead in stone tombs and use artificial mummification, which involved removing the internal organs, wrapping the body in linen, and burying it in a rectangular stone sarcophagus or wooden coffin. Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty, some parts were preserved separately in canopic jars.
By the New Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had perfected the art of mummification; the best technique took 70 days and involved removing the internal organs, removing the brain through the nose, and desiccating the body in a mixture of salts called natron. The body was then wrapped in linen with protective amulets inserted between layers and placed in a decorated anthropoid coffin. Mummies of the Late Period were also placed in painted cartonnage mummy cases. Actual preservation practices declined during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, while greater emphasis was placed on the outer appearance of the mummy, which was decorated.
Wealthy Egyptians were buried with larger quantities of luxury items, but all burials, regardless of social status, included goods for the deceased. Funerary texts were often included in the grave, and, beginning in the New Kingdom, so were shabti statues that were believed to perform manual labor for them in the afterlife. Rituals in which the deceased was magically re-animated accompanied burials. After burial, living relatives were expected to occasionally bring food to the tomb and recite prayers on behalf of the deceased.
== Military ==
The ancient Egyptian military was responsible for defending Egypt against foreign invasion, and for maintaining Egypt's domination in the ancient Near East. The military protected mining expeditions to the Sinai during the Old Kingdom and fought civil wars during the First and Second Intermediate Periods. The military was responsible for maintaining fortifications along important trade routes, such as those found at the city of Buhen on the way to Nubia. Forts also were constructed to serve as military bases, such as the fortress at Sile, which was a base of operations for expeditions to the Levant. In the New Kingdom, a series of pharaohs used the standing Egyptian army to attack and conquer Kush and parts of the Levant.
Typical military equipment included bows and arrows, spears, and round-topped shields made by stretching animal skin over a wooden frame. In the New Kingdom, the military began using chariots that had earlier been introduced by the Hyksos invaders. Weapons and armor continued to improve after the adoption of bronze: shields were now made from solid wood with a bronze buckle, spears were tipped with a bronze point, and the khopesh was adopted from Asiatic soldiers. The pharaoh was usually depicted in art and literature riding at the head of the army; it has been suggested that at least a few pharaohs, such as Seqenenre Tao II and his sons, did do so. However, it has also been argued that "kings of this period did not personally act as frontline war leaders, fighting alongside their troops". Soldiers were recruited from the general population, but during, and especially after, the New Kingdom, mercenaries from Nubia, Kush, and Libya were hired to fight for Egypt.
== Technology, medicine and mathematics ==
=== Technology ===
In technology, medicine, and mathematics, ancient Egypt achieved a relatively high standard of productivity and sophistication. Traditional empiricism, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri (c. 1600 BC), is first credited to Egypt. The Egyptians created their own alphabet and decimal system.
=== Faience and glass ===
Even before the Old Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had developed a glassy material known as faience, which they treated as a type of artificial semi-precious stone. Faience is a non-clay ceramic made of silica, small amounts of lime and soda, and a colorant, typically copper. The material was used to make beads, tiles, figurines, and small wares. Several methods can be used to create faience, but typically production involved application of the powdered materials in the form of a paste over a clay core, which was then fired. By a related technique, the ancient Egyptians produced a pigment known as Egyptian blue, also called blue frit, which is produced by fusing (or sintering) silica, copper, lime, and an alkali such as natron. The product can be ground up and used as a pigment.
The ancient Egyptians could fabricate a wide variety of objects from glass with great skill, but it is not clear whether they developed the process independently. It is also unclear whether they made their own raw glass or merely imported pre-made ingots, which they melted and finished. However, they did have technical expertise in making objects, as well as adding trace elements to control the color of the finished glass. A range of colors could be produced, including yellow, red, green, blue, purple, and white, and the glass could be made either transparent or opaque.
=== Medicine ===
The medical problems of the ancient Egyptians stemmed directly from their environment. Living and working close to the Nile brought hazards from malaria and debilitating schistosomiasis parasites, which caused liver and intestinal damage. Dangerous wildlife such as crocodiles and hippos were also a common threat. The lifelong labors of farming and building put stress on the spine and joints, and traumatic injuries from construction and warfare all took a significant toll on the body. The grit and sand from stone-ground flour abraded teeth, leaving them susceptible to abscesses (though caries were rare).
The diets of the wealthy were rich in sugars, which promoted periodontal disease. Despite the flattering physiques portrayed on tomb walls, the overweight mummies of many of the upper class show the effects of a life of overindulgence. Adult life expectancy was about 35 for men and 30 for women, but reaching adulthood was difficult as about one-third of the population died in infancy.
Ancient Egyptian physicians were renowned in the ancient Near East for their healing skills, and some, such as Imhotep, remained famous long after their deaths. Herodotus remarked that there was a high degree of specialization among Egyptian physicians, with some treating only the head or the stomach, while others were eye-doctors and dentists. Training of physicians took place at the Per Ankh or "House of Life" institution, most notably those headquartered in Per-Bastet during the New Kingdom and at Abydos and Saïs in the Late period. Medical papyri show empirical knowledge of anatomy, injuries, and practical treatments.
Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat, white linen, sutures, nets, pads, and swabs soaked with honey to prevent infection, while opium, thyme, and belladona were used to relieve pain. The earliest records of burn treatment describe burn dressings that use the milk from mothers of male babies. Prayers were made to the goddess Isis. Moldy bread, honey, and copper salts were also used to prevent infection from dirt in burns. Garlic and onions were used regularly to promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds, set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they recognized that some injuries were so serious that they could only make the patient comfortable until death occurred.
=== Maritime technology ===
Early Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull and had mastered advanced forms of shipbuilding as early as 3000 BC. The Archaeological Institute of America reports that the oldest planked ships known are the Abydos boats. A group of 14 discovered ships in Abydos were constructed of wooden planks "sewn" together. Discovered by Egyptologist David O'Connor of New York University, woven straps were found to have been used to lash the planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams. Because the ships are all buried together and near a mortuary belonging to Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, originally they were all thought to have belonged to him, but one of the 14 ships dates to 3000 BC, and the associated pottery jars buried with the vessels also suggest earlier dating. The ship dating to 3000 BC was 75 feet (23 m) long and is now thought to perhaps have belonged to an earlier pharaoh, perhaps one as early as Hor-Aha.
Early Egyptians also knew how to assemble planks of wood with treenails to fasten them together, using pitch for caulking the seams. The "Khufu ship", a 43.6-metre (143 ft) vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza in the Fourth Dynasty around 2500 BC, is a full-size surviving example that may have filled the symbolic function of a solar barque. Early Egyptians also knew how to fasten the planks of this ship together with mortise and tenon joints.
Large seagoing ships are known to have been heavily used by the Egyptians in their trade with the city states of the eastern Mediterranean, especially Byblos (on the coast of modern-day Lebanon), and in several expeditions down the Red Sea to the Land of Punt. In fact one of the earliest Egyptian words for a seagoing ship is a "Byblos Ship", which originally defined a class of Egyptian seagoing ships used on the Byblos run; however, by the end of the Old Kingdom, the term had come to include large seagoing ships, whatever their destination.
In 1977, an ancient north–south canal was discovered extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes. It was dated to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating dates of ancient sites constructed along its course.
In 2011, archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and Egypt, excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa Gawasis, unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that once launched early voyages, such as Hatshepsut's Punt, expedition onto the open ocean. Some of the site's most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians' seafaring prowess include large ship timbers and hundreds of feet of ropes, made from papyrus, coiled in huge bundles. In 2013, a team of Franco-Egyptian archaeologists discovered what is believed to be the world's oldest port, dating back about 4500 years, from the time of King Khufu, on the Red Sea coast, near Wadi el-Jarf (about 110 miles south of Suez).
=== Mathematics ===
The earliest attested examples of mathematical calculations date to the predynastic Naqada period, and show a fully developed numeral system. The importance of mathematics to an educated Egyptian is suggested by a New Kingdom fictional letter in which the writer proposes a scholarly competition between himself and another scribe regarding everyday calculation tasks such as accounting of land, labor, and grain. Texts such as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus show that the ancient Egyptians could perform the four basic mathematical operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—use fractions, calculate the areas of rectangles, triangles, and circles and compute the volumes of boxes, columns and pyramids. They understood basic concepts of algebra and geometry, and could solve systems of equations. Nubians also exercised a trigonometric methodology comparable to their Egyptian counterparts.
Mathematical notation was decimal, and based on hieroglyphic signs for each power of ten up to one million. Each of these could be written as many times as necessary to add up to the desired number; so to write the number eighty or eight hundred, the symbol for ten or one hundred was written eight times respectively. Because their methods of calculation could not handle most fractions with a numerator greater than one, they had to write fractions as the sum of several fractions. For example, they resolved the fraction two-fifths into the sum of one-third + one-fifteenth. Standard tables of values facilitated this. Some common fractions, however, were written with a special glyph—the equivalent of the modern two-thirds is shown on the right.
Ancient Egyptian mathematicians knew the Pythagorean theorem as an empirical formula. They were aware, for example, that a triangle had a right angle opposite the hypotenuse when its sides were in a 3–4–5 ratio. They were able to estimate the area of a circle by subtracting one-ninth from its diameter and squaring the result:
Area ≈ [(8⁄9)D]2 = (256⁄81)r2 ≈ 3.16r2,
a reasonable approximation of the formula πr2.
== Population ==
Estimates of the size of the population range from 1–1.5 million in the 3rd millennium BC to possibly 2–3 million by the 1st millennium BC, before growing significantly towards the end of that millennium.
Historical scholarship has generally regarded the peopling of the Egyptian Nile Valley from archaeological and biological data, to be the result of interaction between coastal northern Africans, "neolithic" Saharans, Nilotic hunters, and riverine proto-Nubians with some influence and migration from the Levant.
International scholarship reflected in the UNESCO General History of Africa book series have expressed a similar position. A majority of the scholars that contributed to the Volume II edition (1981) considered Egypt an indigenous African civilisation with a mixed population that originated largely in the Sahara and featured a variety of skin colours from north and south of the Saharan region. In the view of Egyptian scholar and featured editor, Gamal Mokhtar, Upper Egypt and Nubia held "similar ethnic composition" with comparable material culture. An updated Volume IX publication launched in 2025, reaffirmed the view that Egypt had African and Eurasian populations. The review section which focused on the 1974 "Peopling of Egypt" symposium stated that accumulated research over three decades had confirmed the migration from Southernly African along with Saharan populations into the early Nile Valley. Upper Egypt was now positioned as a origin point of Pharaonic unification, with supporting archaeological, anthropological, genetic and linguistic sources of evidence having identified close affinities between Upper Egypt and other Sub-Saharan African populations.
=== Archaeogenetics ===
According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, conflicting DNA analysis on recent genetic samples such as the Amarna royal mummies has led to a lack of consensus on the genetic makeup of the ancient Egyptians and their geographic origins.
The genetic history of Ancient Egypt remains a developing field, and is relevant for the understanding of population demographic events connecting Africa and Eurasia. To date, the amount of genome-wide aDNA analyses on ancient specimens from Egypt and Sudan remain scarce, although studies on uniparental haplogroups in ancient individuals have been carried out several times, pointing broadly to affinities with other African and Eurasian groups.
The currently most advanced full genome analyses was published in a 2025 article by the scientific journal Nature, a whole-genome genetic study of an Old Kingdom adult male Egyptian of relatively high-status, codenamed "Old Kingdom individual (NUE001)", who was radiocarbon-dated to 2855–2570 BC, with funerary practices archeologically attributed to the Third and Fourth Dynasty, excavated in Nuwayrat (Nuerat, نويرات), in a cliff 265 km south of Cairo. Before this study, whole-genome sequencing of ancient Egyptians from the early periods of Egyptian Dynastic history had not yet been accomplished, mainly because of the problematic DNA preservation conditions in Egypt. The corpse had been placed intact in a large circular clay pot without embalming, and then installed inside a cliff tomb, which accounts for the comparatively good level of conservation of the skeleton and its DNA. Most of his genome was found to be associated with North African Neolithic ancestry, but about 20% of his genetic ancestry could be sourced to the eastern Fertile Crescent, including Mesopotamia. Overall, the 2025 study "provides direct evidence of genetic ancestry related to the eastern Fertile Crescent in ancient Egypt". This genetic connection suggests that there had been ancient migration flows from the eastern Fertile Crescent to Egypt, in addition to the exchanges of objects and imagery (domesticated animals and plants, writing systems...) already observed. This suggests a pattern of wide cultural and demographic expansion from the Mesopotamian region, which affected both Anatolia and Egypt during this period. The authors acknowledged some limitations of the study, such as the results deriving from one single Egyptian genome and known limitations predicting specific phenotypic traits in understudied populations. The analysis also excluded any substantial ancestry in the Nuwayrat genome related to a previously published 4,500-year-old hunter-gatherer genome from the Mota cave in Ethiopia, or other individuals in central, eastern, or southern Africa.
An earlier partial genomic analyses had been made on much later specimens recovered from the Nile River Valley, Abusir el-Meleq, Egypt, dating from the 787 BC-23 AD time period. Two of the individuals were dated to the Pre-Ptolemaic Period (New Kingdom to Late Period), and one individual to the Ptolemaic Period. These results point to a genetic continuity of Ancient Egyptians with modern Egyptians. The results further point to a close genetic affinity between ancient Egyptians and Middle Eastern populations, especially ancient groups from the Levant.
Ancient Egyptians also displayed affinities to Nubians to the south of Egypt, in modern-day Sudan. Archaeological and historical evidence support interactions between Egyptian and Nubian populations more than 5000 years ago, with socio-political dynamics between Egyptians and Nubians ranging from peaceful coexistence to variably successful attempts of conquest. A study on sixty-six ancient Nubian individuals revealed significant contact with ancient Egyptians, characterized by the presence of c. 57% Neolithic/Bronze Age Levantine ancestry in these individuals. Such geneflow of Levantine-like ancestry corresponds with archaeological and botanic evidence, pointing to a Neolithic movement around 7,000 years ago.
Modern Egyptians, like modern Nubians, also underwent subsequent admixture events, contributing both "Sub-Saharan" African-like and West Asian-like ancestries, since the Roman period, with significance on the African Slave Trade and the Spread of Islam.
Genetic analysis of a modern Upper Egyptian population in Adaima by Eric Crubézy had identified genetic markers common across Africa, with 71% of the Adaima samples carrying E1b1 haplogroup and 3% carrying the L0f mitochondrial haplogroup. A secondary review, published in UNESCO General History of Africa Volume IX, in 2025 noted the results were preliminary and need to be confirmed by other laboratories with new sequencing methods. This was supported by an anthropological study which found the notable presence of dental markers, characteristic of Khoisan people, in a predynastic-era cemetery at Adaïma. The genetic marker E1b1 was identified in a number of genetic studies to have wide distribution across Egypt, with "P2/215/M35.1 (E1b1b), for short M35, likely also originated in eastern tropical Africa, and is predominantly distributed in an arc from the Horn of Africa up through Egypt". Multiple STR analyses of the Amarna royal mummies (including Rameses III, Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III) were deployed to estimate their ethnicity have found they had strong affinities with modern Sub-Saharan populations. Nonetheless, these forms of analysis were not exhaustive as only 8 of the 13 CODIS markets were used.
Some scholars, such as Christopher Ehret, caution that a wider sampling area is needed and argue that the current data is inconclusive on the origin of ancient Egyptians. They also point out issues with the previously used methodology such as the sampling size, comparative approach and a "biased interpretation" of the genetic data. They argue in favor for a link between Ancient Egypt and the northern Horn of Africa. This latter view has been attributed to the corresponding archaeological, genetic, linguistic and biological anthropological sources of evidence which broadly indicate that the earliest Egyptians and Nubians were the descendants of populations in Northeast Africa.
=== Race and ethnicity ===
Mainstream scholars have situated the ethnicity and the origins of predynastic, southern Egypt as a foundational community primarily in northeast Africa which included the Sudan, tropical Africa and the Sahara whilst recognising the population variability that became characteristic of the pharaonic period. Pharaonic Egypt featured a physical gradation across the regional populations, with Upper Egyptians having shared more biological affinities with Sudanese and southernly African populations, whereas Lower Egyptians had closer genetic links with Levantine and Mediterranean populations. In the view of William Stiebling and Susan Helft, "some ancient Egyptians looked more Middle Eastern and others looked more Sudanese or Ethiopians of today, and some may even have looked like other groups in Africa". Overall, the authors reached the conclusion that Ancient Egypt was a heterogeneous civilization with bio-cultural connections across Africa and Eurasia.
Recent studies have emphasized that Ancient Egypt contained much greater ethnic diversity than traditionally assumed in earlier historical approaches. Egyptian notions of identity were formed mainly through social constructs, rather than adhering to fixed biological groups. Riggs and Baines note that the common ideological contrast between "Egyptian" and "Other" oversimplifies population groups which varied according to local traditions, dialects, and naming practices. Archaeological evidence also shows foreigners lived in Egypt, particularly Nubians, Libyans and Asiatics. They would frequently participate in activities that which crossed the social divide described by Riggs and Baines. Furthermore, Smith highlights that while state ideology portrayed outsiders through negative stereotypes, evidence regarding everyday interactions, intermarriage, shared foodways, and visual self-presentations demonstrate that ethnic boundaries flexible across social and political contexts.
A number of scholars have argued that Ancient Egyptians shared cultural connections and origins with the Land of Punt. This has been accredited to the Egyptian textual descriptions of Puntland as Ta Nejter which translates into "God's Land", along with temple reliefs which depicted Puntites with reddish-brown skin complexions similar to their Egyptian counterparts.
== Legacy ==
The culture and monuments of ancient Egypt have left a lasting legacy on the world. Egyptian civilization significantly influenced the Kingdom of Kush and Meroë with both adopting Egyptian religious and architectural norms (hundreds of pyramids (6–30 meters high) were built in Egypt/Sudan), as well as using Egyptian writing as the basis of the Meroitic script. Meroitic is the oldest written language in Africa, other than Egyptian, and was used from the 2nd century BC until the early 5th century AD. The cult of the goddess Isis, for example, became popular in the Roman Empire, as obelisks and other relics were transported back to Rome. The Romans also imported building materials from Egypt to erect Egyptian-style structures. Early historians such as Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus studied and wrote about the land, which Romans came to view as a place of mystery.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Egyptian pagan culture was in decline after the rise of Christianity and later Islam, but interest in Egyptian antiquity continued in the writings of medieval scholars such as Dhul-Nun al-Misri and al-Maqrizi. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European travelers and tourists brought back antiquities and wrote stories of their journeys, leading to a wave of Egyptomania across Europe, as evident in symbolism such as the Eye of Providence and the Great Seal of the United States. This renewed interest sent collectors to Egypt, who took, purchased, or were given many important antiquities. Napoleon arranged the first studies in Egyptology when he brought some 150 scientists and artists to study and document Egypt's natural history, which was published in the Description de l'Égypte.
In the 20th century, the Egyptian Government and archaeologists alike recognized the importance of cultural respect and integrity in excavations. Since the 2010s, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has overseen excavations and the recovery of artifacts. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Franck | James Franck | James Franck (German: [ˈdʒɛɪ̯ms ˈfʁaŋk] ; 26 August 1882 – 21 May 1964) was a German–American atomic physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom."
Franck completed his doctorate in 1906 and his habilitation in 1911 at the Frederick William University in Berlin, where he lectured and taught until 1918, having reached the position of professor extraordinarius. He served as a volunteer in the German Army during World War I. He was seriously injured in 1917 in a gas attack and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.
Franck became the head of the physics division of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft for Physical Chemistry. In 1920, Franck became professor ordinarius of experimental physics and Director of the Second Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Göttingen. While there he worked on quantum physics with Max Born, who was Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics. His work included the Franck–Hertz experiment, an important confirmation of the Bohr model of the atom. He promoted the careers of women in physics, notably Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hilde Levi.
After the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, Franck resigned from his position at the University of Göttingen in protest against the dismissal of fellow colleagues. He assisted Frederick Lindemann in helping dismissed Jewish scientists find work overseas, before he left Germany in November. After a year at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, he moved to the United States, where he worked at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and then the University of Chicago. During this period he became interested in photosynthesis.
Franck participated in the Manhattan Project during World War II as director of the chemistry division of the Metallurgical Laboratory. He was also the Chairman of the Committee on Political and Social Problems regarding the atomic bomb, which is best known for the compilation of the Franck Report, which recommended that the atomic bombs not be used on the Japanese cities without warning.
== Education ==
James Franck was born on 26 August 1882 in Hamburg, Germany, into a Jewish family, the second child and first son of Jacob Franck, a banker, and Rebecca Nachum Drucker. He had an older sister, Paula, and a younger brother, Robert. His father was a devout and religious man, while his mother came from a family of rabbis.
In 1891, Franck enrolled at the Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Hamburg, which was then a boys-only school. Hamburg had no university then, so prospective students had to attend one of the 22 universities elsewhere in Germany. Intending to study law and economics, In 1901, Franck entered the University of Heidelberg, as it had a renowned law school. He attended lectures on law, but was far more interested in those on science. While there, he met Max Born, who would become a lifelong friend. With Born's help, he was able to persuade his parents to allow him to switch to studying physics and chemistry. He attended mathematics lectures by Leo Königsberger and Georg Cantor, but Heidelberg was not strong on the physical sciences, so he decided to go to the University of Berlin.
At Berlin, Franck attended lectures by Max Planck and Emil Warburg. For his Ph.D., Warburg suggested that he study corona discharges. He found this topic too complex, so he changed the focus of his thesis. Titled Über die Beweglichkeit der Ladungsträger der Spitzenentladung (On the mobility of ions), it would subsequently be published in Annalen der Physik.
With his thesis completed, Franck had to perform his deferred military service. He was called up on 1 October 1906 and joined the 1st Telegraph Battalion. He suffered a minor horse riding accident in December and was discharged as unfit for duty. He took up an assistantship at the Physikalische Verein in Frankfurt in 1907, but did not enjoy it, and soon returned to the University of Berlin. At a concert, he met Ingrid Josefson, a Swedish pianist. They were married in a Swedish ceremony in Gothenburg on 23 December 1907. They had two daughters: Dagmar "Daggie", who was born in 1909; and Elisabeth "Lisa", who was born in 1912.
To pursue an academic career in Germany, having a doctorate was not enough; one needed a venia legendi, or habilitation. This could be achieved with either another major thesis or by producing a substantial body of published work. Franck chose the latter route. There were many unsolved problems in physics at the time, and by 1914 he had published 34 articles. He was the sole author of some, but generally preferred working in collaboration with Eva von Bahr, Lise Meitner, Robert Pohl, Peter Pringsheim, Robert W. Wood, Arthur Wehnelt, and Wilhelm Westphal. His most fruitful collaboration was with Gustav Hertz, with whom he wrote 19 articles. He received his habilitation on 20 May 1911.
== Franck–Hertz experiment ==
In 1914, Franck teamed up with Hertz to perform an experiment to investigate fluorescence. They designed a vacuum tube for studying energetic electrons that flew through a thin vapour of mercury atoms. They discovered that when an electron collided with a mercury atom it could lose only a specific quantity (4.9 electronvolts) of its kinetic energy before flying away. A faster electron does not decelerate completely after a collision, but loses precisely the same amount of its kinetic energy. Slower electrons just bounce off mercury atoms without losing any significant speed or kinetic energy.
These experimental results provided confirmation of Albert Einstein's photoelectric effect and Planck's relation (E = fh) linking energy (E) and frequency (f) arising from quantisation of energy with the Planck constant (h). But they also provided evidence supporting the model of the atom that had been proposed the previous year by Niels Bohr. Its key feature was that an electron inside an atom occupies one of the atom's "quantum energy levels". Before a collision, an electron inside the mercury atom occupies its lowest available energy level. After the collision, the electron inside occupies a higher energy level with 4.9 eV more energy. This means that the electron is more loosely bound to the mercury atom. There were no intermediate levels or possibilities.
In a second paper presented in May 1914, Franck and Hertz reported on the light emission by the mercury atoms that had absorbed energy from collisions. They showed that the wavelength of this ultraviolet light corresponded exactly to the 4.9 eV of energy that the flying electron had lost. The relationship of energy and wavelength had also been predicted by Bohr. Franck and Hertz completed their last paper together in December 1918. In it, they reconciled the discrepancies between their results and Bohr's theory, which they now acknowledged. In his Nobel lecture, Franck admitted that it was "completely incomprehensible that we had failed to recognise the fundamental significance of Bohr's theory, so much so, that we never even mentioned it once". On 10 December 1926, Franck and Hertz were awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom".
== World War I ==
Franck enlisted in the German Army soon after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. In December, he was sent to the Picardy sector of the Western Front. He became a deputy officer (offizierstellvertreter), and then a lieutenant (leutnant) in 1915. In early 1915, he was transferred to Fritz Haber's new unit that would introduce clouds of chlorine gas as a weapon. With Otto Hahn, he was responsible for locating sites for the attacks. He was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class, on 30 March 1915, and the city of Hamburg awarded him the Hanseatic Cross on 11 January 1916. While in hospital with pleurisy, he co-wrote yet another scientific paper with Hertz, and he was appointed an assistant professor in his absence by Frederick William University on 19 September 1916. Sent to the Russian front, he came down with dysentery. He returned to Berlin, where he joined Hertz, Westphal, Hans Geiger, Hahn, and others at Haber's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, working on the development of gas masks. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, on 23 February 1918. He was discharged from the army on 25 November 1918, soon after the war ended.
With the war over, Haber's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute now returned to research, and Haber offered Franck a job. His new post came with more pay, but was not a tenured position. It did however allow him to pursue his research as he wished. Working with new, younger collaborators such as Walter Grotrian, Paul Knipping, Thea Krüger, Fritz Reiche, and Hertha Sponer, his first papers at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute examined atomic electrons in their excited state, results that would later prove important in the development of the laser. They coined the term metastable for atoms spending an extended time in a state other than that of least energy. When Niels Bohr visited Berlin in 1920, Meitner and Franck arranged for him to come to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute to talk with the younger staff without the presence of the bonzen (bigwigs).
== Career in Göttingen ==
In 1920, the University of Göttingen offered Max Born its Chair of Theoretical Physics, which had recently been vacated by Peter Debye. Göttingen was an important centre for mathematics, thanks to David Hilbert, Felix Klein, Hermann Minkowski, and Carl Runge, but not so much for physics. This would change. As part of his price for coming to Göttingen, Born wanted Franck to head experimental physics there. On 15 November 1920, he became Professor of Experimental Physics and Director of the Second Institute for Experimental Physics, a fully tenured professor ordinarius. He was allowed two assistants, so he brought Hertha Sponer with him from Berlin to fill one of the positions, and Pohl, a gifted teacher, headed the First Institute and handled the lectures. He refurbished the laboratory with the latest equipment using funds from his own pocket.
Under Born and Franck, Göttingen was one of the world's great centres for physics from 1920 to 1933. Although they published only three papers together, Born and Franck discussed every one of their papers with each other. Gaining admittance to Franck's laboratory became highly competitive. His doctoral students included Hans Kopfermann, Arthur R. von Hippel, Wilhelm Hanle, Fritz Houtermans, Heinrich Kuhn, and Heinz Maier-Leibnitz. In supervising doctoral candidates, he had to ensure that thesis topics were well-defined, and would teach the candidate how to conduct original research, while still staying within the limits of the candidate's ability, the laboratory's equipment and the institute's budget. Under his direction, research was carried out into the structure of atoms and molecules.
In his own research, Franck developed what became known as the Franck–Condon principle, a rule in spectroscopy and quantum chemistry that explains the intensity of vibronic transitions, simultaneous changes in electronic and vibrational energy levels of a molecule due to the absorption or emission of a photon of the appropriate energy. The principle states that during an electronic transition, a change from one vibrational energy level to another will be more likely to happen if the two vibrational wave functions overlap more significantly. The principle has since been applied to a wide variety of related phenomena.
For his work during this time period, Franck was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1929.
== Middle life ==
This period came to an end when the Nazi Party won power in Germany in an election on 2 March 1933. The following month, it enacted the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which provided for the retirement or dismissal of all Jewish civil servants, along with political opponents of the government. As a veteran of the First World War, Franck was exempt, but he submitted his resignation anyway on 17 April 1933. He once commented that science was his god and nature was his religion. He did not require his daughters to attend religious instruction classes at school, and even let them have a decorated tree at Christmas; but he was proud of his Jewish heritage all the same. He was the first academic to resign in protest over the law. Newspapers around the world reported it, but no government or university protested.
Franck assisted Frederick Lindemann in helping dismissed Jewish scientists find work overseas, before he left Germany in November 1933. After a brief visit to the United States, where he measured the absorption of light in heavy water with Wood at Johns Hopkins University, he took up a position at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He needed a new collaborator, so he took on Hilde Levi, whose recent thesis had impressed him. His original intention was to continue his research into the fluorescence of vapours and liquids, but under Bohr's influence they began to take an interest in biological aspects of these reactions, particularly photosynthesis, the process by which plants use light to convert carbon dioxide and water into more organic compounds. Biological processes turned out to be far more complicated than simple reactions in atoms and molecules. He co-authored two papers with Levi on the subject, which he would return to over the following years.
Franck found a position at the Polytekniske Læreanstalt in Copenhagen for Arthur von Hippel, who was now his son in law, having married his daughter Dagmar. He decided to provide financial security for his children by dividing his Nobel Prize money between them. The gold medal itself was entrusted to Niels Bohr for safekeeping. When Germany invaded Denmark on 9 April 1940, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold medal, along with that of Max von Laue in aqua regia to prevent the Germans from taking them. He placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. After the war, he returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The Nobel Society then recast the Nobel Prize medals.
In 1935, Franck moved to the United States, where he had accepted a professorship at Johns Hopkins University. The laboratory there was poorly equipped compared to the one in Göttingen, but he received $10,000 for equipment from the Rockefeller Foundation. A more intractable problem was that the university had no money to hire skilled staff. Franck was concerned about his family members remaining in Germany, and needed money to help them emigrate. He therefore accepted an offer from the University of Chicago, where his work on photosynthesis had attracted interest, in 1938.
Franck's first paper there, co-authored with Edward Teller, was on photochemical processes in crystals. Hans Gaffron became his collaborator. They were joined by Pringsheim, who escaped from Belgium after the German invasion. Franck arranged a position for Pringsheim at his laboratory. Both his daughters and their families moved to the United States, and he was also able to bring out his elderly mother and aunt. He became a naturalized US citizen on 21 July 1941, so he was not an enemy alien when the United States declared war on Germany on 11 December 1941. His daughters still were, though, so they were restricted from travelling, and could not take care of their mother when she fell ill and died on 10 January 1942, although they were permitted to attend her funeral.
In February 1942, Arthur Compton established its Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. As part of the Manhattan Project, its mission was to build nuclear reactors to create plutonium that would be used in atomic bombs. The Metallurgical Laboratory's Chemistry Division was initially headed by Frank Spedding, but he preferred hands on work to administration. Compton then turned to Franck, with some trepidation owing to his German background. Compton later wrote:
How Franck welcomed an invitation to join our project! It was a vote of confidence that far exceeded his hopes, and it gave him a chance to do his part for the cause of freedom. "It's not the German people I'm fighting", he explained. "It's the Nazis. They have a stranglehold over Germany. The German people are helpless until we can break the strength of their Nazi masters." The chemists welcomed Franck as an elder scientific statesman whose guidance they were glad to follow.
In addition to heading the Chemistry Division, Franck was also the chairman of the Metallurgical Laboratory's Committee on Political and Social Problems regarding the atomic bomb, which consisted of himself and Donald J. Hughes, J. J. Nickson, Eugene Rabinowitch, Glenn T. Seaborg, J. C. Stearns and Leó Szilárd. In 1945, Franck warned Henry A. Wallace of their fears that "mankind has learned to unleash atomic power without being ethically and politically prepared to use it wisely." The committee compiled what became known as the Franck Report. Finished on 11 June 1945, it recommended that the atomic bombs not be used on the Japanese cities without warning. In any event, the Interim Committee decided otherwise.
== Later life ==
Franck married Hertha Sponer in a civil ceremony on 29 June 1946, after his first wife, Ingrid, died in 1942. In 1947, he became professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, but continued to work there to tackle the problem of explaining the mechanism of photosynthesis. Meitner saw no break between his early and later work. She recalled that:
Franck enjoyed talking about his problems, not so much to explain them to others as to satisfy his own mind. Once a problem had aroused his interest he was completely captivated, indeed obsessed by it. Common sense and straight logic were his main tools, together with simple apparatus. His research followed an almost straight line, from his early studies of ion mobilities to his last work on photosynthesis; it was always the energy exchange between atoms or molecules that fascinated him.
Franck died suddenly of a heart attack while visiting Göttingen on 21 May 1964 at the age of 81. He is buried in Chicago with his first wife.
== Recognition ==
=== Awards ===
=== Memberships ===
== Commemoration ==
In 1967, the University of Chicago named the James Franck Institute after him. A lunar crater has also been named in his honour. His papers and recast Nobel Prize medal are located in the University of Chicago Library. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States | Contiguous United States | The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states and the last two to be admitted to the Union, which are Alaska and Hawaii, and all other offshore insular areas, such as the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The colloquial term Lower 48 is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The term The Mainland is used in Hawaii. The related but distinct term continental United States includes Alaska, which is also in North America, but separated from the 48 states by British Columbia in Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The greatest distance on a great-circle route entirely within the contiguous U.S. is 2,802 miles (4,509 km), coast-to-coast between Florida and Washington state; the greatest north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km). The contiguous United States occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is actual land, composing 83.65 percent of the country's total land area, and is comparable in size to the area of Australia. Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66 percent of the nation's total water area.
If just the contiguous United States were a country, it would be fifth on the list of countries and dependencies by area, behind Russia, Canada, China, and Brazil. However, the total area of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. Brazil is 166,000 square miles (431,000 km2) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas territories. The 2020 U.S. census population of the area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13 percent of the nation's total population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole.
== Other terms ==
While conterminous U.S. has the precise meaning of contiguous U.S. (both adjectives meaning "sharing a common boundary"), other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity.
=== Continental and mainland United States ===
Because Alaska is also a part of North America, the term continental United States also includes that state, so the term is qualified with the explicit inclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity. On May 14, 1959, the United States Board on Geographic Names issued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the continental United States as "the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia..." The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999. However, even before Alaska became a state, it was properly included within the continental U.S. due to being an incorporated territory.
The term mainland United States is sometimes used synonymously with continental United States, but technically refers only to those parts of states connected to the landmass of North America, thereby excluding not only Hawaii and overseas insular areas, but also islands which are part of continental states but separated from the mainland, such as the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), San Juan Islands (Washington), the Channel Islands (California), the Keys (Florida), the barrier islands (Gulf and East Coast states), and Long Island (New York).
=== CONUS and OCONUS ===
CONUS, a technical term used by the U.S. Department of Defense, General Services Administration, NOAA/National Weather Service, and others, has been defined both as the continental United States and as the 48 contiguous states. The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part of CONUS.
OCONUS is derived from CONUS with O for outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental United States.
=== The lower 48 ===
The term lower 48 is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. The National Geographic style guide recommends the use of contiguous or conterminous United States instead of lower 48 when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska. Almost all of Hawaii is south of the southernmost point of the conterminous United States in Florida.
=== Zone of the Interior ===
During World War II, the first four numbered Air Forces of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) were said to be assigned to the Zone of the Interior by the American military organizations of the time—the future states of Alaska and Hawaii, then each only organized incorporated territories of the Union, were respectively covered by the Eleventh Air Force and Seventh Air Force during the war.
== Terms used in the non-contiguous U.S. jurisdictions ==
Residents of Alaska, Hawaii, and offshore U.S. territories have unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to it.
=== Alaska ===
The vast territory of Alaska became the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from the U.S. West Coast by the Canadian province of British Columbia. The term Lower 48 has, for many years, been a common Alaskan equivalent for "contiguous United States"; some Alaskans may use the term Outside for those states, though some may use Outside to refer to any location not within Alaska.
=== Hawaii ===
The territory of Hawaii, consisting of the entire Hawaiian Islands archipelago except for Midway Atoll, became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is the southernmost U.S. state, and the latest one to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles (3,541 km) from North America and almost halfway between North America and Asia. In Hawaii and overseas American territories, for instance, the terms the Mainland or U.S. Mainland are often used to refer to the 49 states in North America.
=== Puerto Rico ===
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) southeast of Miami, Florida. Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and are free to move to the mainland United States. The term Stateside Puerto Rican refers to residents of any U.S. state or the District of Columbia who were born in, or can trace their family ancestry to, Puerto Rico.
=== U.S. Virgin Islands ===
The U.S. Virgin Islands is a U.S. territory located directly to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. The term stateside is used to refer to the mainland, in relation to the U.S. Virgin Islands (see Stateside Virgin Islands Americans).
=== American Samoa ===
American Samoa is a U.S. territory located in the South Pacific Ocean in Polynesia, south of the equator — it is 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest of Hawaii. In American Samoa, the contiguous United States is called the "mainland United States" or "the states"; those not from American Samoa are called palagi (outsiders).
== Non-contiguous areas within the contiguous United States ==
Apart from offshore U.S. islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous United States are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada. Point Roberts, Washington; Elm Point, Minnesota, and two nearby points; the Northwest Angle in Minnesota; a peninsula in Osthus Lake in North Dakota's Rolette County and a slice of land on the edge of Lake Metigoshe in Bottineau County bordering Winchester, Canada, are seven such places. Alburgh, Vermont is not directly connected by land to the rest of the contiguous US, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from New York, and nearby Province Point is accessible over land only from Canada, though no roads go there. In contrast, Hyder, Alaska, is physically part of contiguous Alaska and is its easternmost town, but the only practical overland access is by road through Canada.
== List of contiguous U.S. states ==
The 48 contiguous states are:
In addition, the District of Columbia is within the contiguous United States. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_at_the_2006_Winter_Olympics | South Korea at the 2006 Winter Olympics | South Korea competed as Republic of Korea at the 2006 Winter Olympics, while North Korea competed as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. At the opening ceremony, the athletes of both North and South Korea entered the stadium together behind the Korean Unification Flag.
== Medalists ==
In terms of medal count, South Korea is the only Asian country in the top ten.
Ten of the eleven medals were won in short track speed skating. Short track speedskaters Jin Sun-yu and Ahn Hyun-soo were the second and third people to win three gold medals each in Turin. Ahn also won a bronze.
== Alpine skiing ==
== Biathlon ==
== Cross-country skiing ==
Distance
Sprint
== Freestyle skiing ==
== Luge ==
== Short track speed skating ==
Men
Women
== Skeleton ==
== Ski jumping ==
== Speed skating ==
Men
Women |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a Classical composer and musician. In his brief life, he completed more than 800 works including outstanding examples of most of the genres of his time: symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera, and choral music.
Born in Salzburg, Mozart quickly emerged as a child prodigy under the training of his father Leopold, a skilled pedagogue. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and had performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17 he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. A fruitless journey in search of employment (1777-1779) led him to Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and eventually back to Salzburg. During this time he wrote his five violin concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante, various masses, and the opera Idomeneo.
While he was visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart's quarrels with his Salzburg employers came to a head and he was dismissed. He chose to remain in Vienna, where he stayed for the rest of his life, achieving fame and some financial success, but no long-term security. During Mozart's early years in Vienna he produced several notable works, such as the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Great Mass in C minor, the "Haydn" Quartets and a number of symphonies. Throughout his Vienna years Mozart composed more than a dozen piano concertos, many considered some of his greatest achievements.
In the final years of his life, he wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies, culminating in the Jupiter, the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik, his Clarinet Concerto, the operas Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte, the Piano Concerto No. 27 and his Requiem. The Requiem was largely unfinished at the time of his death at age 35.
== Life and career ==
=== The sources ===
Modern scholars rely on various source materials in writing Mozart's biography. First, there are about 1500 pages of family letters, often vivid and entertaining, mostly written when travel separated Mozart from his kin. There are also early biographies, written with input from Mozart's sister Nannerl, his wife Constanze, and others who knew him well. Old documents, such as newspaper stories and government records, have been located in libraries and archives, annotated, and published. Lastly, the composer's surviving manuscripts shed light on the history and dating of his compositions: there are sketches, drafts, dated autographs of completed works, and Mozart's personal catalog.
Mozart biographers all work from these same sources, but they often disagree on crucial points. The disagreements arise in part from the need to judge how much to believe a source who had strong motivation to diverge from the truth. A source once widely used but now judged untruthful is the publisher Friedrich Rochlitz, who sought to increase posthumous sales of Mozart's works by publishing false, vivid stories about him. A trend across time, noted in Stafford (2003), is for biographers to be less credulous (e.g., in believing Rochlitz), less sentimental, and more sensitive to information about Mozart's own society and times.
=== Early life ===
==== Family and childhood ====
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg. Salzburg was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastical principality within the Holy Roman Empire, located in what is now Austria. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinised form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants.
Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as the fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg. Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a successful violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.
When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on. Years later, after her brother's death, she reminisced:
He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. ... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. ... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. ... At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.
These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch.
Wolfgang's father was his only teacher. Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects. While Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught: his first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his own initiative and came as a surprise to Leopold, who eventually gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident.
==== 1762–1773: Travel ====
While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Wolfgang met many musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly significant influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by his father.
The family trips were often challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764), then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765). The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.
After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home. This tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. According to a letter Leopold wrote home to Salzburg, while in Rome Wolfgang heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere twice in performance in the Sistine Chapel. He subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorised copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican". The details of this account are, however, disputed.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped and Leopold's hopes were never realised.
Most of the music Mozart wrote at this early stage of his career is little known today, but there is one exception: toward the end of the last Italian journey, Mozart wrote the solo motet Exsultate, jubilate, K.165 for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini; this work is a favorite for performance by sopranos today.
=== 1773–1777: Employment at the Salzburg court ===
After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer had many friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas.
An important part of Mozart's output at this time was violin concertos: he wrote one in 1773 and four more in 1775. These are the only violin concertos he ever wrote, and through the series they increase in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are staples of the modern repertoire.
In 1776 he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E♭ concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.
Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontented with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theatre was closed, especially since the other theatre in Salzburg was primarily reserved for visiting troupes.
Two long expeditions in search of work interrupted this long Salzburg stay. Mozart and his father visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich from 6 December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera.
=== 1777–1778: Journey to Paris ===
In August 1777 Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, this time accompanied by his mother, with visits to Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris
The first stop, in Munich, proved to offer Mozart no sort of permanent position, and the mother and son moved on to Augsburg on 11 October. This was the city where Leopold had grown up, and still living there was Mozart's uncle Franz Aloys Mozart and his daughter, Mozart's first cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart. She and Mozart engaged in what Abert calls a "charming and innocent flirtation" and Solomon treats as a more serious and more sexual encounter. After Mozart departed Augsburg, the two exchanged letters, of which Mozart's have survived. These are mostly devoid of news and consistently silly. They contain some veiled sexual references, but mostly are scatological, with frequent mentions of what is translated in English as "muck". The letters have astonished, even dismayed, modern readers. While some scholars suggest some sort of mental disorder on the basis of Mozart's letters, cooler heads have noted the greater prevalence of scatological humor in Mozart's place and time, including among his own family members. For discussion, see Mozart and scatology.
Mozart and his mother reached Mannheim on 30 October. There, Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother was taken ill and died on 3 July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds. Mozart stayed with Melchior Grimm at Marquise d'Épinay's residence, 5 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin.
While Mozart was in Paris, his father was pursuing opportunities of employment for him in Salzburg. With the support of the local nobility, Mozart was offered a post as court organist and concertmaster. The annual salary was 450 florins, but he was reluctant to accept. By that time, relations between Grimm and Mozart had cooled, and Mozart moved out. After leaving Paris in September 1778 for Strasbourg, he lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally returned to Salzburg on 15 January 1779 and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished.
Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata, K. 310/300d, the Symphony No. 31 ("Paris"), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June 1778; and the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299/297c.
=== Vienna ===
==== 1781: Departure ====
In January 1781 Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. For Colloredo, this was simply a matter of wanting his musical servant to be at hand (Mozart indeed was required to dine in Colloredo's establishment with the valets and cooks). He planned a bigger career as he continued in the archbishop's service; for example, he wrote to his father:
My main goal right now is to meet the emperor in some agreeable fashion, I am absolutely determined he should get to know me. I would be so happy if I could whip through my opera for him and then play a fugue or two, for that's what he likes.
Mozart did indeed soon meet the Emperor, who was to support his career substantially with commissions and a part-time position.
In the same letter to his father just quoted, Mozart outlined his plans to participate as a soloist in the concerts of the Tonkünstler-Societät, a prominent benefit concert series; this plan as well came to pass after the local nobility prevailed on Colloredo to drop his opposition.
Colloredo's wish to prevent Mozart from performing outside his establishment was in other cases carried through, raising the composer's anger; one example was a chance to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary.
The quarrel with the archbishop came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer.
The quarrel with Colloredo was more difficult for Mozart because his father sided against him. Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Mozart's father exchanged intense letters with his son, urging him to reconcile with their employer. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself both of his employer and of his father's demands to return. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life.
==== Early years ====
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved considerable success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
==== Marriage and children ====
Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. Mozart had previously wooed the second daughter of the family, Aloysia Weber, who was now a successful singer in Vienna, married to the actor and artist Joseph Lange. Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. As his interest became clear, Constanze's mother Cäcilia insisted that Mozart move out in the interest of propriety.
Mozart's courtship of Constanze did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that the couple briefly broke up in April 1782, over an episode involving jealousy: Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game. Mozart also faced a very difficult task getting permission for the marriage from his father.
The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis. A letter from Mozart to Leopold from 31 July 1782 has been interpreted as suggesting that Constanze had moved in with him, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time. Mozart wrote: "All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has already gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question." Heartz relates, "Constanze's sister Sophie had tearfully declared that her mother would send the police after Constanze if she did not return home [presumably from Mozart's apartment]." On 4 August, Mozart wrote to Baroness von Waldstätten, asking: "Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way? Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today." The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail.
The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:
Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786)
Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 16 November 1789)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)
Eisen judges that the marriage was basically happy, based in part on Mozart's letters to Constanze, which are generally very affectionate, often funny, and occasionally erotic. There is one letter that suggests the family's precarious finances may have been a source of matrimonial tension. In a letter she wrote in old age Constanze described her marriage to Mozart as having been "completely happy."
=== 1782–1785 ===
In 1782 and 1783 Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in the Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in fugal passages in The Magic Flute and the finale of Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter).
In 1783 Mozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg, for the first and only time after their marriage. It is possible that the visit was tense, since Leopold had been sharply opposed to the marriage, and Mozart's sister Nannerl had evidently snubbed Constanze in correspondence. Nannerl's diary records a busy agenda of socializing and tourism, but no information remains about how the family members got along. The visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor K. 527. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.
Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784, and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played chamber music together with other friends. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781, and are today considered key works of the string quartet literature. Both Haydn and Mozart's father Leopold (visiting from Salzburg) were present in 1785 at a gathering where three of the quartets were played, and Haydn remarked to Leopold, "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."
From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as piano soloist, presenting three or four new concertos in each season. Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant. The concerts were very popular, and his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Of these works, Solomon writes that Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".
With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school and kept servants. During this period Mozart saved little of his income.
On 14 December 1784 Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an essential role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music, e.g. the Maurerische Trauermusik.
==== 1786–1787: Return to opera ====
Despite the great success of The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The year 1786 saw the successful premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. The work was then produced in Prague, with an invitation to Mozart to attend and give concerts. It was on this occasion that Mozart premiered his 38th symphony, now known as the "Prague Symphony". Both the opera and the symphony were received enthusiastically, and the visit was an unusually happy episode in Mozart's life; for details see Mozart and Prague.
The success of Le Nozze di Figaro led to a commission for an opera to be performed by the resident opera company of Prague; the work thus spawned was Don Giovanni, Mozart's second collaboration with Da Ponte. It premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and was produced again, though without the same degree of success, in Vienna during 1788. Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni are among Mozart's most famous works and are mainstays of operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty both for listeners and for performers.
In December 1787, Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Christoph Willibald Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal (see Mozart and dance). This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.
It is a biographical tradition to view this position as a mere sinecure; but a more recent view, put forth by Wolff (2012), is that Mozart's position was a more substantial one and that some of Mozart's chamber music from this time was written as part of his imperial duties.
In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. Beethoven almost certainly heard Mozart perform, but (despite a widely told anecdote to this effect) it is not certain that the two actually met in person; see Beethoven and Mozart.
The same year was marked by the death of Mozart's father on 28 May 1787 -- in a way, six months too early, since Leopold would never learn that his lifetime goal for his son, a paid court position, was finally achieved. Despite longstanding tensions with his father, Mozart had remained in contact by correspondence to the end of Leopold's life, and Leopold's death was likely a blow to him. Eisen suggests that the death "triggered a fallow period for the composer," noting that Mozart was similarly unproductive following the death of his mother in July 1778. The task of dealing with Leopold's estate was one of the last matters of mutual concern for Mozart and his sister Nannerl; not long after, they became estranged and ceased to correspond.
=== Later years ===
==== 1788–1790 ====
Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786, he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because of the Austro-Turkish War: both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined. According to Solomon, in 1788, Mozart saw a 66% decline in his income compared to his best years in 1781.
By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been suggested that Mozart aimed to reduce his rental expenses by moving to a suburb (he said this in a letter to his friend and fellow mason Michael von Puchberg), later research has shown that Mozart had not actually reduced his expenses but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Around this time, Mozart began to borrow money, most often from Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and his musical output may have slowed. Yet the production of works considered as high points of Mozart's oeuvre continued, with work including the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from the summer of 1788), the Clarinet Quintet of 1789, and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.
Around this time, Mozart made two long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. Wolff (2012) emphasizes how these journeys improved Mozart's contacts and broadened his reputation, but they also involved setbacks and frustrations, and probably did not achieve the goals, particularly financial, that Mozart had set for them.
==== 1791 ====
Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute; the final piano concerto (No. 27, K. 595 in B♭); the Clarinet Concerto K. 622; the last in his series of string quintets (K. 614 in E♭); the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618; and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.
Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg and began to pay off his debts.
He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably The Magic Flute (frequently performed to packed houses in Mozart's lifetime and hundreds of times thereafter) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 17 November 1791.
==== Final illness and death ====
Mozart fell seriously ill on 20 November 1791, and took to (what turned out to be) his deathbed; he suffered from swelling, pain, and vomiting. There is a serious controversy about whether his illness had started earlier, with a long and demoralizing period of decline, or was sudden; for discussion see Death of Mozart. Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her younger sister Sophie and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. By Sophie's testimony Mozart spent some of his final hours in conversation with his student and friend Süssmayr, discussing the problem of getting his Requiem completed.
Mozart died in his home on 5 December 1791(1791-12-05) (aged 35) at 12:55 am. The New Grove describes his funeral:
Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Otto Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.
The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; aristocrats' graves were not.
The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of hitziges Frieselfieber ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The contemporary Viennese public health official Eduard Guldener von Lobes, who consulted with Mozart's doctors at the time, insisted that Mozart most likely died in an epidemic, asserting that many people in Vienna had died at the same time with the same symptoms. Modern work by Zegers et al., tracing death records of the time, found a modest spike in the death rate for late 1791, supporting Guldener's claim.
Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer, but memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. In the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written first by Friedrich Schlichtegroll, Franz Xaver Niemetschek, and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
== Appearance and character ==
Mozart's physical appearance was described by the tenor Michael Kelly in his Reminiscences: "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique. ... He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. Of his voice, his wife later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic."
He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." The surviving portraits suggest that Mozart often wore a powdered wig tied in a queue in line with the style of the 18th century for formal occasions.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often wrote sketches, from small snippets to extensive drafts, for his compositions. Though many of these were destroyed by his widow, about 320 sketches and drafts survive, covering about 10 percent of the composer's work.
Mozart lived at the centre of the Viennese musical world and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his elder colleague Joseph Haydn, the singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.
He enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He had a startling fondness for scatological humour, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, and in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. He had an ear for languages, and having travelled all over Europe as a boy, was fluent in Latin, Italian, and French in addition to his native Salzburg dialect of German. He possibly also understood and spoke some English, having jokingly written "You are an ass" after his 19-year-old student Thomas Attwood made a thoughtless mistake on his exercise papers.
Mozart was raised a Catholic and remained a practicing Catholic throughout his life. He embraced Freemasonry in 1784 and remained a lodge member for the rest of his life; see Mozart and Freemasonry.
== Works, musical style, and innovations ==
=== Style ===
Mozart's music, with Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. The emerging classical style constituted a major reconception of how music ought to be composed, largely replacing polyphonic with homophonic textures, and it took some time for the new style to achieve the musical weight that had been attained by the Baroque masters; indeed, the period following the deaths of Bach and Handel produced rather little music that still commands the attention of modern listeners. Mozart, despite his genius, was a man of his time, and most of the music he wrote early in his career is influenced strongly by its models and is little performed today (the few exceptions are noted above). His Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271, from 1777, is sometimes described as a breakthrough work; it is characterized by Charles Rosen as "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece in [the] classical style." Mozart's musical language continued to increase in its scope and complexity, notably in the use of chromatic harmony and reintroduction of counterpoint, partly inspired by the composer's relationship with Gottfried van Swieten noted above.
Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. From his earliest years to his last, he composed a varied number of vocal works – concert arias, songs and canons. He almost single-handedly developed and popularised the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, as well as dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:
It is only through recognising the violence and sensuality at the centre of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterisation of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.
During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his String Quartet in C major, K. 465 (1785), whose introduction abounds in chromatic suspensions, giving rise to the work's nickname, the "Dissonance" quartet.
Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met Johann Christian Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J. C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.
As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque, particularly George Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example. Harold C. Schonberg writes that "Mozartean polyphony is not Bachian polyphony, but Mozart was inspired by Bach to introduce all kinds of contrapuntal devices, all used with perfect security and confidence. The culmination is the last movement of the Jupiter Symphony, where contrasting themes are lined up, harnessed, and sent galloping down the final stretch of one of the most glorious, tingling and overwhelming passages in music.”
Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which The Magic Flute is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone colour, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here, his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
== Editions, catalogues, and recordings ==
Shortly after Mozart's death in 1791, it became a goal of publishers to produce a complete printed edition of everything that he had written. Both Breitkopf & Härtel and Johann Anton André negotiated with Mozart's widow Constanze to this purpose, and both of them issued multiple works, though falling far short of completeness. The publication of this music helped rescue Constanze and her two children from poverty, enabling them to live in comfort.
During the first decades of the 19th century, the desire for a truly complete edition became apparent, and with extensive scholarly contributions (including from Johannes Brahms) this led to what is today called the "Alte Mozart-Ausgabe", or "old Mozart edition," issued 1877-1883. With time, the shortcomings of this edition became evident, and over a period of five decades (1956-2007) a new team of Mozart scholars collaborated to create the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, which sets the current standard. Thanks to grant support, the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe is available today on line.
Along with the creation of complete editions, musical scholarship has aspired to create musical catalogues, which provide descriptions, incipits, and the estimated date of completion for each work. A catalogue also provides information about works attributed to the composer that are actually not authentic, such as Mozart's putative 37th Symphony. The earliest catalog of Mozart’s works was created by the composer himself, and covers the years 1784 to 1791. After Mozart‘s death, scholars such as Johann Anton André attempted to create a complete catalogue, but this was only accomplished in 1862 when Ludwig Ritter von Köchel completed the first edition of what is now called the Köchel catalogue. His "Köchel numbers", marked with K or KV, are a standard way to identify a work of Mozart unambiguously. Since Köchel's time, the catalog has gone through several editions. 2024 marked the completion of the current, ninth edition, edited by Neal Zaslaw. In this edition, many works have been redated, thanks to progress in the use of handwriting analysis (notably work of Wolfgang Plath), and the study of watermarks (Tyson 1987). These practices have provided concrete evidence for dating in cases where earlier scholars could only speculate.
The goal of a complete Mozart edition is shared by recording companies, several of whom who have issued massive recorded compilations (170–250 compact disks), aspiring to cover all of Mozart's work.
== Instruments ==
The child Mozart was trained on the harpsichord (he also became skilled at violin, singing, and dancing), and his earliest compositions were written for this instrument. A major change in European music, which roughly coincided with Mozart's lifetime, was the replacement of the harpsichord by the piano -- not the modern grand as we know it today, but a much lighter version, today often referred to as the fortepiano.
Mozart's keyboard works up to a certain point (not easy to determine) were written with the harpsichord in mind. An early opportunity for Mozart to encounter pianos may have been his Munich journey of 1774-1775, when he may have encountered pianos made by the Regensburg builder Franz Jakob Späth. In 1777, when Mozart was visiting Augsburg on his long job-hunting tour, he was deeply impressed by Johann Andreas Stein's pianos and shared his admiration in detailed letter to his father. His mother wrote home a bit later that in Augsburg there were pianos everywhere and that her son's playing had come to sound quite different from the way he had played in Salzburg. Indeed, Maria Anna's letter goes on to say that Mozart's piano playing was a local sensation – Mozart, with Clementi and others, was becoming part of the first generation of celebrated piano virtuosos.
To this end, in 1783 when he was living in Vienna, Mozart purchased a fortepiano by Anton Walter, a leading builder, which he played frequently in concerts at various venues in the city. This important piano was preserved after his death and may be viewed today in the Tanzmeisterhaus (the former Mozart family residence, now a museum) in Salzburg. Starting in about 1967, modern craftsmen began to construct fortepianos modeled on the old instruments, and these have become widely used in the performance of Mozart's piano music.
== Legacy ==
His most famous pupil was Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of a classical musician's training. Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work; see Beethoven and Mozart. Many composers have paid homage to him, including Chopin (Variations on "Là ci darem la mano") and Tchaikovsky (Mozartiana).
Harold C. Schonberg writes that "Mozart was the first great psychologist of opera... The Marriage of Figaro opens the door to a new world of opera. It is a scintillating work with real people in it, and the music exposes them for what they are—lovable, vain, capricious, selfish, ambitious, forgiving, philandering. Human beings, in short, are brought alive by the alchemy of a surpassingly inventive and sympathetic musical mind.”
Mozart's legacy is widely apparent in modern life, particularly in concert programming, broadcasts, recordings, and items of popular culture. The city of Salzburg, abandoned by Mozart in frustration in 1781, has today become pilgrimage destination for Mozart lovers: both of Mozart's homes have been converted into museums, there is a renowned music festival (see Salzburg Festival), and the city hosts a leading scholarly institute, the International Mozarteum Foundation, for the study of Mozart's life and works.
== Notes and references ==
=== Notes ===
=== References ===
=== Sources === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_dollar_(United_States_coin) | Half dollar (United States coin) | The half dollar, sometimes referred to as the half for short or 50-cent piece, is a United States coin worth 50 cents, or one half of a dollar. In both size and weight, it is the largest circulating coin currently minted in the United States, being 1.205 inches (30.61 millimeters) in diameter and 0.085 in (2.16 mm) in thickness, and is twice the weight of the quarter. The coin's design has undergone a number of changes throughout its history. Since 1964, the half dollar depicts the profile of President John F. Kennedy on the obverse and the seal of the president of the United States on the reverse.
Although seldom used today, half-dollar coins were common in circulation until the 1970s and were regularly used alongside other denominations of US coinage. Half-dollars have since become uncommon in circulation for several reasons. The coins were produced in fairly large quantities until 2002, when the U.S. Mint reduced production of the half and ceased minting them for general circulation. As a result of its decreasing usage, many pre-2002 half dollars remain in Federal Reserve vaults, prompting the change in production. Presently, collector half dollars can be ordered directly from the U.S. Mint, and circulated half dollars minted from 1971 to 2001 are generally available at most American banks and credit unions. Beginning in 2021, half dollars were again produced for general circulation.
== Circulation ==
Half-dollar coins saw heavy circulation until the mid 1960s. For many years, they were (and in many areas still are) commonly used by gamblers at casinos and other venues with slot machines. Rolls of half dollars may still be kept on hand in cardrooms for games requiring 50-cent antes or bring-in bets, for dealers to pay winning naturals in blackjack, or where the house collects a rake in increments. Additionally, some concession vendors at sporting events distribute half-dollar coins as change for convenience.
By the early 1960s, the rising price of silver neared the point where the bullion value of U.S. silver coins would exceed face value. In 1965, the U.S. introduced layered-composition coins made of a pure copper core sandwiched between two cupronickel outer faces. The silver content of dimes and quarters was eliminated, but the Kennedy half-dollar, introduced in 1964, contained silver (reduced from 90% in 1964 to 40% from 1965 to 1970). Even with its reduced silver content, the half dollar attracted widespread interest from speculators and coin collectors, which led to extensive hoarding of half dollars dated 1970 and earlier. In 1971, the composition of the half was changed to match that of the clad dimes and quarters, and with an increase in production, the coin saw a moderate increase in usage; however, by this time many businesses and the public had begun to lose interest in the half dollar and gradually, its usage began to wane. By the end of the 1970s, the half dollar had become uncommon in circulation. Merchants stopped ordering half dollars from their banks, and many banks stopped ordering half dollars from the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. mints sharply reduced production of the coins.
From 2001 to 2020, half dollars were minted only for collectors, due to large Federal Reserve and government inventories of pre-2001 coins; this was primarily due to a lack of demand and large quantity returns of halves from casinos that switched to using "coin-less" slot machines. Eventually, the reserve supply of halves began to run low and in 2021, the mint resumed production of half dollars for general circulation.
Modern-date half dollars can be purchased in proof sets, mint sets, rolls, and bags from the U.S. Mint, and existing inventory circulation pieces can be obtained or ordered through most U.S. banks and credit unions. All collector issues since 2001 have had much lower mintages than in previous years. Although intended only for collectors, 2001-2020 half dollars can often be found in circulation.
== Aspects of early history ==
On December 1, 1794, the first half dollars, approximately 5,300 pieces, were delivered. Another 18,000 were produced in January 1795 using dies of 1794, to save the expense of making new ones. Another 30,000 pieces were struck by the end of 1801. The coin had the Heraldic Eagle, based on the Great Seal of the United States on the reverse. 150,000 were minted in 1804 but struck with dies from 1803, so no 1804 specimens exist, though there were some pieces dated 1805 that carried a "5 over 4" overdate.
In 1838, half-dollar dies were produced in the Philadelphia Mint for the newly established New Orleans Mint, and ten test samples of the 1838 half dollars were made at the main Philadelphia mint. These samples were put into the mint safe along with other rarities like the 1804 silver dollar. The dies were then shipped to New Orleans for the regular production of 1838 half dollars. However, New Orleans production of the half dollars was delayed due to the priority of producing half dimes and dimes. The large press for half-dollar production was not used in New Orleans until January 1839 to produce 1838 half dollars, but the reverse die could not be properly secured, and only ten samples were produced before the dies failed. Rufus Tyler, chief coiner of the New Orleans mint, wrote to Mint Director Patterson of the problem on February 25, 1839. The Orleans mint samples all had a double stamped reverse as a result of this production problem and they also showed dramatic signs of die rust, neither of which are present on the Philadelphia produced test samples. While eight Philadelphia minted samples survive to this day, there is only one known New Orleans minted specimen with the tell-tale double stamped reverse and die rust. This is the famous coin that Rufus Tyler presented to Alexander Dallas Bache (great grandson of Benjamin Franklin) in the summer of 1839 and was later purchased in June 1894 by A. G. Heaton, the father of mint mark coin collecting. The 1838 Philadelphia-produced half dollars are extremely rare, with two separate specimens having sold for $632,500 in Heritage auctions in 2005 and 2008 respectively. The sole surviving Orleans minted 1838 is one of the rarest of all American coins. In 1840, this mint produced nearly 180,000 half dollars.
In 1861, the New Orleans mint produced coins for three different governments. A total of 330,000 were struck under the United States government, 1,240,000 for the State of Louisiana after it seceded from the Union, and 962,633 after it joined the Confederacy. Since the same die was used for all strikings, the output looks identical. However the Confederate States of America actually minted four half dollars with a CSA (rather than USA) reverse and the obverse die they used had a small die crack. Thus "regular" 1861 half dollars with this crack probably were used by the Confederates for some of the mass striking.
There are two varieties of Kennedy half dollars in the proof set issues of 1964. Initially, the die was used with accented hair, showing deeper lines than the president's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, preferred. New dies were prepared to smooth out some of the details. It is estimated that about 1 to 3% (40,000 to 100,000) of the proof halves are of the earlier type, making them somewhat more expensive for collectors.
== List of designs ==
== List of early commemorative issues == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossi_Kingdoms | Mossi Kingdoms | The Mossi Kingdoms were a group of kingdoms in modern-day Burkina Faso that dominated the region of the upper Volta river for hundreds of years. The largest Mossi kingdom was that of Ouagadougou. The king of Ouagadougou, known as the Mogho Naaba, or King of All the World, served as the Emperor of all the Mossi.
The first kingdom was founded when warriors from the ancient Great Naa Gbewaa kingdom in present-day Ghana region and Mandé warriors moved into the area and intermarried with local people. The different kingdom's consolidation of political and military power began in the 13th century, leading to conflicts between the Mossi kingdoms and other nearby powerful states. In 1896, the French took over the kingdoms and created the French Upper Volta colony, which for many decades largely governed using the Mossi administrative structure.
Some Mossi Kingdoms still exist today as constituent monarchies within Burkina Faso. Most notably, Naba Baongo II currently reigns as Mogho Naba of Wogodogo (Ouagadougou). The kingdoms of Boussouma, Fada N'gourma, Tenkodogo, and Yatenga currently co-exist in a similar fashion, each with their own monarchs. While they no longer hold sovereignty, they still retain some cultural and political influence.
== History ==
=== Origin ===
Accounts of the origin of the Mossi kingdoms and parts of their history are imprecise, with contradictory oral traditions disagreeing on certain aspects of the story. The origin story is unique in that a woman plays a key role as the progenitor of the royal line.
The origins of the Mossi state are claimed by one prominent oral tradition to come from when a Moré-Dagbamba princess, Yennenga, left home because of a dispute with her father, Naa Gbewaa, the founder of the Kingdom of the now Tri-kingdoms of Mamprugu, Dagban, and Namumba.
The Dagbamba ethnic group comprises Mamprusi, dagomba, Nanumba, and Mossi People. These four sub-groups sprung out of the three sons and daughter of the Great King, Naa Gbewaa. Naa Gbewaa found his kingdom from Pusiga, near Bawku, stretching across almost all of Northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and parts of northern Togo.
The Mossi branch is of Yennenga, the Sister of the three brothers. The eldest of the sons is the Nayiri, King of Mamprugu He resides in Nalerigu. His younger brother is the Yaa Naa, King of Dagon He resides in Yendi. The third and youngest brother is the King of Nanumba, who resides in Bimbilla. Yennenga’s grandsons are the Kings of Tenkodogo, Fada N'gourma, Zondoma Province, Boussouma and stretching across large expanse of Burkina Faso.
This event of the story of Yennenga dates in different oral histories to be anytime between the 11th and the 15th centuries. According to the story, the princess Yennenga escaped dressed as a man. She then came to the house of a Mandé elephant hunter named Rialé. They had a son named Ouédraogo who was given that name from the horse that Yennenga used to escape. Ouédraogo visited his grandfather, The Nayiri, King of Mamprugu, at Gambaga at the age of fifteen and was given four horses and 50 cows. A number of horseman joined his forces, and with them, Ouédraogo conquered the local people, married a woman named Pouiriketa who gave him three sons, and built the city of Tenkodogo. The oldest son was Diaba Lompo, who founded the city of Fada N'gourma. The second son, Rawa, became the ruler of Zondoma Province. His third son, Zoungrana, became the ruler of Tenkodogo after Ouédraogo died. Zoungrana married Pouitenga, a woman sent from the king of the Ninisi people, and the resulting intermarriages between the Dagbamba—mamprusi, dagomba, And namumba, the Mandé, the Ninisi, and local peoples became the Mossi people. Zoungrana and Pouitenga had a son, Oubri, who further expanded the kingdom by conquering the Kibissi and some Gurunsi peoples. Oubri, who ruled from around 1050 to 1090 CE, is often considered the founder of the Ouagadougou dynasty, which ruled from the capital of Ouagadougou.
=== Rise and centralization ===
Following the reign of Oubri, centralization and small-scale expansion of the kingdoms were the primary tasks of rulers. The Ouagadougou dynasty retained control in Ouagadougou, but the other kingdoms established by the sons of Ouedraogo retained independence in Tenkodogo, Fada N'gourma, and Zondoma. Under the fifth ruler, Komdimie (circa 1170), two revolutions were started by members of the Ouagadougou dynasty that established the Kingdom of Yatenga to the north and the Kingdom of Rizim. War between Komdimie and Yatenga lasted for many years, with Yatenga eventually taking over the independent Mossi state of Zondoma. At the same time, Komdimie created a new level of authority for his sons as Dimas of separate provinces. They had some autonomy but recognized the sovereignty of the Ouagadougou dynasty. This system of taking over territory and appointing sons as Dimas would continue to be practiced by many of the future rulers.
The increasing power of the Mossi kingdoms resulted in larger conflicts with regional powers, in particular with the Mali and Songhai Empires. In the 15th century, the Mossi took over Timbuktu and sacked the important trading post of Walata, although many historians believe that the 'Mossi' responsible for these attacks were a different group than those who claim descent from Yennenga. When Askia Mohammad I became the leader of the Songhai Empire and desired to spread Islam, he waged a holy war against the Mossi kingdoms in 1497. Although the Mossi forces were defeated in this effort, they resisted the attempts to impose Islam. With the conquest of the Songhai by the Moroccans of the Saadi dynasty in 1591, the Mossi states reestablished their independence.
By the 18th century, the economic and military power of the Mossi kingdoms had increased significantly. Foreign trade relations expanded throughout Africa, with important connections made with the Fula kingdoms and the Mali Empire. During this time, the Mossi were attacked by a variety of African forces. Although there were a number of jihad states in the region trying to forcibly spread Islam, namely the Massina Empire and the Sokoto Caliphate, the Mossi kingdoms largely retained their traditional religious and ritual practices.
=== French conquest ===
The first European explorer to enter the region was German Gottlob Krause in 1888. This was followed by a British expedition in 1894 led by George Ekem Ferguson, who convinced the Mossi leaders to sign a treaty of protection. Despite this, the French entered the area in 1896 and ignored the treaty of protection, conquering the Mossi Kingdom and make it part of the Upper Volta colony. The French had already conquered or taken over all of the surrounding kingdoms, which had isolated the Mossi kingdoms. The last king of Ouagadougou, named Wobgo or Wobogoo, was warned a day before the French forces were going to attack. He sent a force to meet them in battle as he fled the city. Wobgo's brother, Kouka, then became the king of Ouagadougou and allied himself with the French and Yatenga to try and capture Wobgo. When the French and British agreed on the boundary between their colonies, Wobgo lost his main support system and he retired with a British pension to Zongoiri in the Gold Coast, where he died in 1904.
As a result of the significant centralization of the kingdoms, the French largely kept the administrative organization in place. They made the Mogho Naava in Ouagadougou the primary leader of the region and created five ministers under him that governed different regions (largely adhering to the Mossi kingdom borders).
== Organization ==
The Mossi kingdoms were organized around five different kingdoms: Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, Fada N'gourma, Zondoma (later replaced by Yatenga), and Boussouma. However, there were as many as 19 additional lesser Mossi kingdoms, which retained connection to one of the four main kingdoms. Each of these retained significant domestic autonomy and independence but shared kinship, military, and ritualistic bonds with one another. Each kingdom had similar domestic structures with kings, ministers, and other officials, and a high degree of administrative centralization. There were prominent rivalries between the different kingdoms, namely between Yatenga and Ouagadougou. Ouagadougou was often considered the primary Mossi kingdom, ruled by Mogho Naaba, but it was not the capital of the Mossi kingdoms as each retained autonomy.
Domestically, the Mossi kingdoms distinguished between the nakombse and the tengbiise. The nakombse claimed lineage connections to the founders of the Mossi kingdoms and the power of naam, which gave them the divine right to rule. The tengbiise, in contrast, were people who had been assimilated into the kingdoms and would never have access to naam. However, because of their connections to the area, they did have tenga, which allowed them to make decisions about land issues. The rulers' naam and the support of tenga were connected, creating a two-way balance of power in society.
== Religion ==
Being located near many of the main Islamic states of West Africa, the Mossi kingdoms developed a mixed religious system, recognizing some authority for Islam while retaining their indigenous Mossi Religion. The king participated in two great festivals, one focused on the genealogy of the royal lineage (in order to increase their naam) and another of sacrifices to tenga.
Although they had initially resisted the imposition of Islam and had retained independence from the main Islamic states of West Africa, there began to be a sizable number of Muslims living in the kingdom. In Ouagadougou, the Mogho Naaba assigned an Imam who was allowed to deliver readings of the Qur'an to royalty in exchange for recognizing the genealogical power of the king. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_de_Armas | Ana de Armas | Ana Celia de Armas Caso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈana ˈselja ðe ˈaɾmas ˈkaso]; born 30 April 1988) is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She has been nominated for several accolades, including an Academy Award, an Actor Award, a BAFTA, and two Golden Globes.
She began her career in Cuba with a leading role in the romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006). At the age of 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in the popular drama El Internado (2007–2010). After moving to Los Angeles, de Armas had English-speaking roles in the psychological thriller Knock Knock (2015) and the comedy-crime film War Dogs (2016).
De Armas rose to prominence for her roles as the holographic AI Joi in the science fiction film Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and nurse Marta Cabrera in the mystery film Knives Out (2019), receiving a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She then played Paloma in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021) and actress Marilyn Monroe in the biographical drama Blonde (2022), for which she became the first Cuban nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then led the action thriller Ballerina (2025), a spinoff installment in the John Wick franchise.
== Early life ==
De Armas was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Santa Cruz del Norte. Her maternal grandparents were Spanish immigrants to Cuba from the regions of Guardo, León, and Valverde de la Sierra, Palencia, both in the north of Spain. Her father Ramón de Armas had various jobs, including bank manager, teacher, school principal and deputy mayor of a town. He previously studied philosophy at a Soviet university. Her mother Ana Caso worked in the human resources section of the Ministry of Education. De Armas has one older brother, Francisco Javier de Armas Caso, an American–based photographer who, in 2020, was questioned by Cuban police due to his critical stance on Decree 349 and his links to artists under government surveillance. While de Armas grew up with food rationing, fuel shortages and electricity blackouts during Cuba's Special Period, she has described her early life as happy.
During her childhood and adolescence, de Armas had limited knowledge of popular culture beyond Cuba. She was allowed to watch "20 minutes of cartoons on Saturday and the Sunday movie matinee." Her family did not own a VCR, and she watched Hollywood movies in her neighbor's apartment. She memorized and practiced monologues in front of a mirror, and decided to become an actress when she was 12. In 2002, aged 14, she successfully auditioned to join Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. She sometimes hitchhiked to attend the "rigorous" course. While a student, she filmed three movies. She left the four-year drama course shortly before presenting her final thesis because Cuban graduates are forbidden from leaving the country without first completing three years of mandatory service to the community. At age 18, with Spanish citizenship through her maternal grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue an acting career.
== Career ==
=== Career beginnings in Spanish cinema (2006–2013) ===
In her native Cuba, de Armas had a starring role opposite Álex González in Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006). Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría suggested that the director consider de Armas for the role, after meeting her while attending a birthday party with his daughters. The director visited de Armas's drama school and interrupted the sixteen-year-old during her audition to inform her that the role was hers. She travelled to Spain as part of a promotional tour for the film and was introduced to Juan Lanja, who would later become her Spanish agent. She then starred in the movie El edén perdido (2007) and had a supporting role in Fernando Pérez's Madrigal (2007), filmed at night without the permission of her drama school tutors.At age 18, de Armas moved to Madrid. Within two weeks of arriving, she met with casting director Luis San Narciso, who had seen her in Una rosa de Francia. Two months later, he cast her as Carolina in the drama El Internado, in which she starred for six seasons from 2007 to 2010. The television show, set in a boarding school, became popular with viewers and made de Armas a celebrity figure in Spain. In a break from filming, she starred in the successful coming-of-age comedy Mentiras y Gordas (2009). Despite the popularity of El Internado, de Armas felt typecast and was mainly offered roles as youngsters. She asked to be written out of the show in its second to last season.
After spending a few months living in New York City to learn English, de Armas was persuaded to return to Spain to star in seventeen episodes of the historical drama Hispania (2010–2011). She then starred in Antonio Trashorras's horror films El callejón (2011) and Anabel (2015), and in the drama Por un puñado de besos (2014). During a long period without acting work, de Armas participated in workshops at Tomaz Pandur's Madrid theatre company and felt "very anxious" about the lack of momentum in her career.
=== Transition to Hollywood and breakthrough (2014–2019) ===
With encouragement from her newly hired Hollywood agent, she decided to move to Los Angeles. When de Armas first arrived in Los Angeles in 2014, she had to start her career again "from scratch." She spoke very little English and, during early auditions, she often "didn't even know what [she] was saying." She spent four months in full-time education to learn English, not wanting to be confined to playing characters written specifically for Latina actresses. She starred opposite Keanu Reeves in her first Hollywood release—Eli Roth's erotic thriller Knock Knock (2015)—and learned her lines phonetically. Despite giving a positive review of the film, Randy Cordova of the Arizona Republic found de Armas to be "unconvincing" in her role. Reeves then telephoned de Armas to invite her to star in a Spanish-language role in the thriller Daughter of God which he acted in and produced. Producer Mark Downie hoped the film would be a star vehicle for de Armas, but due to executive meddling, Daughter of God was severely edited with de Armas' former starring role reduced. The film was ultimately released as Exposed in 2016. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter noted that while she was "appealing" in her part, de Armas was unable to demonstrate her "character's intense emotional demands."
De Armas had a supporting role in Todd Phillips's War Dogs (2016), acting opposite Miles Teller as the wife of an arms dealer, and again learned her lines phonetically. David Ehrlich of IndieWire found her to be "memorable in a thankless role". She starred opposite Édgar Ramírez in the biopic Hands of Stone (2016) as the wife of Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán. Despite its delayed release, Hands of Stone was the first Hollywood film de Armas had filmed. While still living in Madrid, she was contacted by director Jonathan Jakubowicz, who had watched her in El Internado, who asked her to travel to Los Angeles to audition for the Spanish-language part. In reviewing the film, Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com described de Armas as "a hugely charismatic presence. But except for a couple of showy moments, she gets little to do besides function as the dutiful wife."
In Denis Villeneuve's futuristic thriller Blade Runner 2049 (2017), de Armas had a supporting role as Joi, the holographic AI girlfriend of Ryan Gosling's character, a blade runner. Mark Kermode of The Guardian said she "brings three-dimensional warmth to a character who is essentially a digital projection." Anthony Lane of The New Yorker found her to be "wondrous": "Whenever Joi appears, the movie's imaginative heart begins to race." While the performance was initially discussed as a breakthrough role, the film underperformed commercially, and de Armas spent much of the following year in her native Cuba, where she purchased a house. For her performance, she earned a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Also in 2017, she had a supporting role in the action thriller Overdrive as the love interest to Scott Eastwood's character. Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she "radiates more kick-ass charisma than her thankless sidekick role might suggest."
In 2018, de Armas starred opposite Demián Bichir in John Hillcoat's medical drama Corazón. She played a Dominican woman with congestive heart failure in the short film, funded by Montefiore Medical Center to raise awareness of organ donation. While de Armas's scenes opposite Himesh Patel in the 2019 romantic comedy Yesterday were included in the film's trailer, they were cut from the final product. The director Danny Boyle said that, while de Armas was "really radiant" in her scenes, the introduction of a love triangle subplot did not test well with audiences.
De Armas' role as an immigrant nurse in the ensemble murder mystery film Knives Out (2019), written and directed by Rian Johnson, was widely praised and marked a breakthrough for the actress. When first approached about the project, she was unenthusiastic about the idea of playing a stereotypical "Latina caregiver" but soon realized that her character was "so much more than that." Tom Shone of The Times remarked, "The film's standout performance comes from its least well-known member, the Cuban de Armas, who manages the difficult task of making goodness interesting." Benjamin Lee of The Guardian said her "striking" performance left a "lasting impression." The film was a major box office success. De Armas was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical with her also winning the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and the National Board of Review Award for Best Cast with the cast.
=== Leading roles and mainstream recognition (2020–present) ===
De Armas starred in four films released in the United States in 2020. She had a supporting role in the crime thriller The Informer as the wife of Joel Kinnaman's character. Guy Lodge of Variety found "her thin role all the more glaring in the wake of her Knives Out stardom." She appeared as a femme fatale in the noir crime drama The Night Clerk. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com said the film had "no idea" what to do with her "blinding charisma" while Katie Rife of The AV Club remarked that it would be remembered, "if at all, as a movie de Armas was way too good for." She starred opposite Wagner Moura in the Netflix biopic Sergio (2020) as Carolina Larriera, a U.N. official and the partner of diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter found her "magnetic" while Jessica Kiang of Variety said she imbued the part "with an intelligence and will that makes her more than just de Mello's romantic foil." De Armas reunited with Moura to play the wife of one of the Cuban Five in Olivier Assayas's Netflix spy thriller Wasp Network. The film was shot on location in Cuba; it was de Armas's first work in her home country since leaving as a teenager. Glenn Kenny of The New York Times found her "superb" while Jay Weissberg of Variety described her as "a joyous, bewitching presence whose career seems destined for the big time."
In 2021, de Armas reunited with Daniel Craig to play a Bond girl in Cary Joji Fukunaga's No Time to Die. Fukunaga wrote the character of a Cuban CIA agent with de Armas in mind. She described the character as bubbly and "very irresponsible". In her short appearance in No Time to Die, her character, Paloma, claims to have little training, but proves to be highly skilled while fighting. No Time to Die was a commercial success, grossing $774.2 million worldwide, and earned positive reviews. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised de Armas' "witty and unworldly turn". De Armas starred in Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller Deep Water, based upon the novel by Patricia Highsmith. She and Ben Affleck play a couple in an open marriage. In 2022, de Armas starred in the Russo brothers' Netflix action thriller The Gray Man. Neither Deep Water nor The Gray Man were particularly successful with critics and audiences.
De Armas portrayed Marilyn Monroe (as Norma Jean) in the Netflix biopic Blonde (2022), based on the biographical fiction novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. Director Andrew Dominik noticed de Armas's performance in Knock Knock and, while she went through a long casting process, Dominik secured the role for her after the first audition. In preparation, de Armas worked with a dialect coach for about nine months, read Oates' novel and also said she studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, and films to prepare for the role. Despite criticism towards her casting, due to her having a notable Spanish accent, de Armas' performance was praised; Catherine Bray of Empire labeled de Armas' performance as "powerful", while Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair remarked that "De Armas is fiercely, almost scarily committed to the role, maintaining high and focused energy through every torrent of tears and screams and traumas." She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for the BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Award in the same category. She became the first Cuban to be nominated for the first of these.
De Armas next starred with Chris Evans in the Apple TV+ action comedy film Ghosted (2023). Benjamin Lee of The Guardian panned the film and the lack of chemistry between de Armas and Evans. She appeared alongside an ensemble cast in Ron Howard's survival thriller Eden (2024). She then starred in the John Wick spin-off action thriller Ballerina (2025), in which she portrayed a vengeful assassin.
== Personal life ==
De Armas holds triple Cuban, Spanish, and US citizenship. She moved to Los Angeles at 26, and resides in Vermont as of 2023.
De Armas began a relationship with Spanish actor Marc Clotet in mid-2010. They married on the Costa Brava in July 2011. They divorced in early 2013. After meeting on the set of Deep Water in late 2019, de Armas dated American actor Ben Affleck from March 2020 to January 2021. De Armas received significant criticism, particularly among members of the Cuban diaspora, for reportedly dating Anido Cuesta, the stepson of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel since November 2024. It was reported in July 2025 that she was dating American actor Tom Cruise after she was spotted attending an Oasis concert with him. It has since been reported that the couple separated in October or November 2025.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Music videos ===
=== Video games ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation | Mondragon Corporation | The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain.
It was founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956 by Father José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical college he founded. Its first product was paraffin heaters.
It is the seventh-largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country. At the end of 2016, it employed 74,117 people in 257 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge. By 2019, 81,507 people were employed.
In 2024, it had over 70,000 workers, 30,660 in the Basque Country, 29,340 in the rest of Spain and around 10,000 abroad.
Mondragon cooperatives operate in accordance with the Statement on the Co-operative Identity maintained by the International Co-operative Alliance.
== History ==
In 1941, as a young Catholic priest, Arizmendiarrieta settled in Mondragón, a town with a population of 7,000 that had not yet recovered from the poverty, hunger, exile, and tension of the Spanish Civil War.
In 1943, Arizmendiarrieta established a technical college which became a training ground for managers, engineers and skilled labour for local companies, and primarily for the co-operatives.
Arizmendiarrieta spent a number of years educating young people about a form of humanism based on solidarity and participation, in harmony with Catholic social teaching, and the importance of acquiring the necessary technical knowledge before creating the first co-operative.
In 1955, he selected five young people to establish the first company of the co-operative and industrial beginning of the Mondragon Corporation. The company was called Talleres Ulgor ("Ulgor workshops"), an acronym derived from the surnames of Usatorre, Larrañaga, Gorroñogoitia, Ormaechea, and Ortubay, known today as Fagor Electrodomésticos (Spanish for "Fagor electric appliances").
In the first 15 years, many co-operatives were established, thanks to the autarky of the market and the awakening of the Spanish economy. During these years, also with the encouragement of Arizmendiarrieta, the Caja Laboral ("Labor savings bank", 1959) and the Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro ("Friend/help time", 1966) were established that played a key role. The first local group was created, Ularco. In 1969, Eroski was founded by merging ten small local consumer co-operatives.
During the next 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, the dynamic continued, with a strong increase in new co-operatives promoted by Caja Laboral's Business Division, the promotion of co-operative associations, the formation of local groups, and the founding of the Ikerlan ("Research work") research centre in 1974.
With Spain scheduled to join the European Economic Community in 1986, it was decided in 1984 to establish the "Mondragon Co-operative Group", the forerunner of the current corporation. In-service training for managers was strengthened by creating Otalora, dedicated to training, and the dissemination of co-operatives. The Group consisted of 23,130 workers at the end of 1990.
=== International expansion ===
On the international stage, the aim was to respond to growing globalisation, expanding abroad by establishing production plants in a number of countries. The first was the Copreci plant in Mexico in 1990, followed by many others: up to 73 by the end of 2008, and 122 at the end of 2013. The goals were to increase competitiveness and market share, bring component supply closer to customers' plants, especially in the automotive and domestic appliance sectors, and to strengthen employment in the Basque Country by promoting exports of co-operatives' products by means of new platforms.
Between 2002 and 2007, Fagor and Eroski issued bonds (aportaciones subordinadas).
While they were commercialized as safe deposits, the courts classed them as riskier debt instruments. When the yields fell during the 2008 financial crisis, bond-holders sued against the cooperatives.
In 2008, the worker-owners of the cooperatives Ampo (metal casting) and Irizar (coaches) voted to leave the corporation.
In October 2009, the United Steelworkers announced an agreement with Mondragon to create worker cooperatives in the United States. On 26 March 2012, the USW, Mondragon, and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) announced their detailed union co-op model.
The industrial sector ended 2012 with a new record of €4 billion in international sales, beating sales figures from before the 2008 financial crisis. Mondragon opened 11 new production subsidiaries. International sales that year accounted for 69% of all sales, a 26% increase from 2009 to 2012, and with 14,000 employees abroad. Mondragon's share in the BRIC markets increased to 20% compared to the previous year. In 2013, international sales grew by 6.7% and accounted for 71.1% of total sales.
On 16 October 2013, domestic appliance company Fagor Electrodomésticos filed for bankruptcy under Spanish law to renegotiate €1.1 billion of debt, after suffering heavy losses during the euro area crisis and the 2008–2014 Spanish real estate crisis, putting 5,600 employees at risk of losing their jobs. This was followed by the bankruptcy of the whole Fagor group on 6 November 2013. In July 2014, Fagor was bought by Catalonian company Cata for €42.5 million. Cata pledged to create 705 direct jobs in the Basque Country and to continue the brand names Fagor, Edesa, Aspes, and Splendid.
In 2022, the worker-owners of ULMA Group (scaffolding) and Orona (elevators) voted to leave the corporation. Estimated impact of the leave is a workforce drop by 13% and a 15% cut of the group's sales.
As successful cooperatives they were contributing 10% of their profit to a common fund supporting ailing cooperatives.
They will not contribute to the solidarity fund but they will keep insuring their workers with Lagun Aro and collaborate with Mondragon Unibertsitatea and other cooperatives in the group.
== Business culture ==
Mondragon co-operatives are united by a humanist concept of business, a philosophy of participation and solidarity, and a shared business culture. The culture is rooted in a shared mission and a number of principles, corporate values and business policies.
Over the years, these links have been embodied in a series of operating rules approved on a majority basis by the Co-operative Congresses, which regulate the activity of the Governing Bodies of the corporation (Standing Committee, General Council), the Grassroots Co-operatives and the Divisions they belong to, from the organisational, institutional and economic points of view as well as in terms of assets.
This framework of business culture has been structured based on a common culture derived from the 10 Basic Co-operative Principles, in which Mondragon is rooted: Open Admission, Democratic Organisation, the Sovereignty of Labour, Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality and Education.
This philosophy is complemented by four corporate values: Co-operation, acting as owners and protagonists; Participation, which takes shape as a commitment to management; Social Responsibility, by means of the distribution of wealth based on solidarity; and Innovation, focusing on constant renewal in all areas.
This business culture translates into compliance with a number of Basic Objectives (Customer Focus, Development, Innovation, Profitability, People in Co-operation and Involvement in the Community) and General Policies approved by the Co-operative Congress, which are taken on board at all the corporation's organisational levels and incorporated into the four-year strategic plans and the annual business plans of the individual co-operatives, divisions, and the corporation as a whole.
=== Wage regulation ===
At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between executive work and field or factory work which earns a minimum wage. These ratios range from 3:1 to 9:1 in different cooperatives and average 5:1. That is, the general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns no more than 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in their cooperative. For most workers, this ratio is smaller because there are few Mondragon worker-owners that earn minimum wages, because most jobs are somewhat specialized and are classified at higher wage levels. The wage ratio of a cooperative is decided periodically by its worker-owners through a democratic vote.
Compared to similar jobs at local industries, Mondragon managers' wages were 30% lower in 1991 (as some companies pay their best paid managers hundreds of times more than the lowest-paid employee of the company) and equivalent for middle management, technical and professional levels. Lower wage levels are on average 13% higher than similar jobs at local businesses. Spain's progressive tax rate further reduces any disparity in pay. These comparatively low wages can make it very difficult to recruit managers from investor-owned firms.
== Business sectors ==
Mondragon Corporation operates in four areas: finance, industry, retail, and knowledge, with the latter distinguishing Mondragon from other business groups. In 2013, the corporation posted a total revenue of over €12 billion (roughly US$16 billion), and employed 74,061 workers, making it Spain's fourth-largest industrial and tenth-largest financial group.
=== Finance ===
This area includes the banking business of Laboral Kutxa (successor of Caja Laboral), the insurance company Seguros Lagun Aro, and the Voluntary Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro, which had an asset fund totaling €5,566 million at the end of 2014. The yield obtained from this fund is used to cover long-term retirement, widowhood, and invalidity benefits, complementary to those offered by the Spanish social security system.
=== Industry ===
The corporation's companies manufacture consumer goods, capital goods, industrial components, products, and systems for construction, and services. The latter includes very diverse business groups such as:
Abantail: Adaptive design optimization
Alecop: Engineering training
LKS Consultores: Legal services
KREAN: Architects and engineers.
MCCTelecom: Telecommunication engineering.
Mondragon Lingua: Translation and language schools
Mondragon Sistemas: Automation, Industrial Computing and Telecommunications.
Ondoan: Turnkey projects in the energy and environmental sector. In the leisure and sports area, it manufactures Orbea bicycles, exercise equipment and items for camping, garden and beach.
In capital goods, Mondragon posted a turnover of €976 million in 2009 and is the leading Spanish manufacturer of machining (Danobat Group) and sheet metal forming (Fagor Arrasate Group) machine tools. These machines are complemented by automation and control products for machine tools, packaging machinery, machinery for automating assembly processes and processing wood, forklift trucks, electric transformers, integrated equipment for the catering industry, cold stores, and refrigeration equipment. Specifically focusing on the automotive sector, the corporation also manufactures a wide variety of dies, molds and tooling for casting iron and aluminium, and occupies a leading position in machinery for the casting sector.
In Industrial Components, Mondragon posted a turnover of €1.5 billion in 2009, a sector in which it operates as an integrated supplier for the leading car manufacturers, offering from the design and development of a part to the industrialization and supply of components and assemblies. It has different business units such as brakes, axles, suspension, transmission, engines, aluminium wheel rims, fluid conduction, and other internal and external vehicle components. It also produces components for the main domestic appliance manufacturers in three business areas: white goods, home comfort, and electronics. And it manufactures flanges and pipe accessories for processing oil-gas, petrochemical plants and power generation, copper and aluminium electrical conductors, and components for conveyors.
In construction, sales totaled €974 million in 2009. Mondragon has constructed buildings and important infrastructure projects. It designs and builds large metallic (URSSA), laminated wood and prefabricated concrete structures; supplies prefabricated parts in polymer concrete; offers solutions for formwork and structures (ULMA Group) as well as public works machinery and the industrialization of the construction process, including engineering and assembly services. The ORONA Group produces elevators.
In services to business, sales totaled €248 million in 2008, including business consultancy services, architecture and engineering, property consulting, design and innovation (LKS Group), systems engineering for electromechanical installations, and integrated logistics engineering. It also offers a modern language service, manufactures educational equipment, and provides graphic arts services (mccgraphics S.Coop).
In 2013, 71.1% of turnover came from international sales. Sales resulting from the export of products abroad and production generated in the 122 subsidiaries located in several different countries: China (15), France (17), Poland (8), Czech Republic (7), Mexico (8), Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), United Kingdom (3), Romania (3), United States (4), Turkey (2), Portugal (2), Slovakia (2), India (5), Thailand (1) and Morocco (1). Overall, in 2013 these 122 plants provided work for more than 11,000 people. The corporate industrial park in Kunshan, close to Shanghai houses seven subsidiaries. In 2012, it opened 11 new subsidiaries abroad, employing around 14,000 people. Its international sales that year marked a record number of 69% of its total sales (€5.8 billion, with a 2% fall compared to the previous year). Mondragon also participated in 91 international R&D projects.
In 2014, the industrial cooperatives created 1,000 jobs, and internationalization continued with 125 production subsidiaries abroad – 3 more than the year before.
=== Retail ===
Mondragon runs Eroski, one of the leading retail groups throughout Spain and southern France, and maintains close contacts with the French group Les Mousquetaires and the German retailer Edeka, with whom it set up the Alidis international purchasing group in 2002. The worker-owners and consumer-members participate in the co-operative's decision-making bodies and management of Eroski. At the end of 2013, Eroski posted a turnover of €6.6 billion, operating 2.069 stores made up of 90 Eroski hypermarkets, 1,211 Eroski/center, Caprabo, Eroski/city, Aliprox, Familia, Onda and Cash & Carry supermarkets, 155 branches of Eroski travel agencies, 63 petrol stations, 39 Forum Sport stores and 221 IF perfume stores. In southern France Eroski had 4 hypermarkets, 16 supermarkets and 17 petrol stations, and 4 perfume stores in Andorra.
Retail includes the food group Erkop, for catering, cleaning, stock-breeding, and horticulture with Auzo Lagun, a co-operative in group catering and cleaning of buildings and premises, and integrated service in the health sector.
In 2008, worker-members voted to expand the cooperative transformation to the retail group as a whole, turning subsidiaries into co-operatives, and making salaried workers worker-members.
=== Knowledge ===
This area has a dual focus: education-training and innovation, which have both been key elements in the development of the corporation. Training-education is mainly linked to the dynamism of Mondragon University, the significant role that Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri, Arizmendi Ikastola and Lea Artibai Ikastetxea play in their respective areas and the activity of the Management and Co-operative Development Centre Otalora.
Mondragon University is a co-operative university, which combines the development of knowledge, skills, and values, and maintains close relations with business, especially Mondragon co-operatives. Technological innovation is generated through the co-operatives' own R&D departments, the Corporate Science and Technology Plan, the corporation's 12 technology centers and the Garaia Innovation Park.
The 15 technology centers play a fundamental role in the development of the sectors of focus. In 2009 they employed 742 people and had a budget of €53.7 million. In 2013 its network of technology centers and R&D units provided employment for 1,700 people and the commitment to R&D&I matters amounted to 136 million Euros, 8.5% of added value. Mondragon has 479 families of Patents for Inventions, which accounts for 25% patents in the Basque Country, participating in more than 30 R&D cooperation projects at the European level.
== Reactions ==
In 2012, Richard D. Wolff, an American professor of economics, hailed the Mondragon set of enterprises, including the good wages it provides for employees, the empowerment of ordinary workers in decision making, and the measure of equality for female workers, as a major success and cited it as a working model of an alternative to the capitalist mode of production.
In an April 2012 interview, Noam Chomsky said that, while Mondragon offers an alternative to capitalism, it was still embedded in a capitalist system which limits Mondragon's decisions:
Take the most advanced case: Mondragon. It's worker-owned, it's not worker managed, although the management does come from the workforce often, but it's in a market system and they still exploit workers in South America, and they do things that are harmful to the society as a whole and they have no choice. If you're in a system where you must make a profit in order to survive, you're compelled to ignore negative externalities, effects on others.
Vicenç Navarro wrote that, from a business perspective, Mondragon is successful in matching efficiency with solidarity and democracy. However, he writes that the number of employees who are not owners has increased more rapidly than worker-owners, to a point that in some companies, for example in the supermarket chains owned by Mondragon, the first is a much larger group than the second. In Navarro's view, this establishes a two-tier system – for example, in terms of whom to save in the case the company collapses. In the collapse of Fagor, the relocation of employees to other companies belonging to Mondragon favored those who were worker-owners, which may affect labor relations:
Actually, one of the successes of Mondragon was its ability to create a sense of identity among the workers within the company, encouraging an environment of solidarity and collegiality among them, a feeling that also extended (although to a much lesser degree) to non-worker-owners. The connection felt by the latter group has somewhat weakened, however, exposing a vulnerable point for the cooperative.
The Mondragon system is one of four case studies analyzed in Capital and the Debt Trap, which summarized evidence claiming that cooperatives tend to last longer and are less susceptible to perverse incentives and other problems of organizational governance than more traditionally managed organizations.
The founders of Cooperation Jackson, a network of worker cooperatives in Jackson, Mississippi in the United States, cite Mondragon as a key inspiration.
== Mondragon in fiction ==
=== Works of Kim Stanley Robinson ===
Kim Stanley Robinson's science fiction novels depict a future where the Mondragon Corporation is prominent. The Mondragon Corporation appeared in Robinson's works Mars trilogy, The Ministry for the Future, in the novel 2312 which features a world where the Mondragon Corporation has evolved into a planned economy system called the Mondragon Accord.. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Patrick_Meehan | Charles Patrick Meehan | Charles Patrick Meehan (12 July 1812 – 14 March 1890) was an Irish Catholic priest, historian and editor.
== Life ==
Meehan was born at 141 Great Britain Street, Dublin, on 12 July 1812.
He received his early education at Ballymahon, County Longford, the native place of his parents. In 1828 he went to the Irish Catholic College, Rome, where he studied until he was ordained a priest in 1834. Returning to Dublin in the same year Meehan was appointed to a curacy at Rathdrum, County Wicklow. After nine months he was transferred to a curacy at the parish church of Saints Michael and John, Dublin. In that position he continued till his death, on 14 March 1890.
A friend and confessor to the poet James Clarence Mangan, Meehan encouraged him to write his autobiography. Meehan was also elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
== Works ==
He wrote poetry for The Nation, a radical nationalist newspaper, under the pen-name 'Clericus'. He wrote signed articles for Duffy's Hibernian Magazine (1860–1865), becoming editor in 1862 when it relaunched as Duffy's Hibernian Sixpence Magazine.
From materials gathered while in Wicklow, he compiled a "History of the O'Tooles, Lords Powerscourt", published without his name and long out of print. Meehan also wrote "Tales for the Young", and translated others which he named "Flowers from Foreign Fields". He edited Thomas Davis's "Literary and Historical Essays" (1883), Mangan's "Essays and Poems" (1884), and Richard Robert Madden's "Literary Remains of the United Irishmen" (1887).
He also wrote verse, which is to be found in various anthologies.
His book "The Fate and Fortunes of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnel, Earl of Tyrconnel; Their Flight from Ireland, and Death in Exile", was highly praised on publication. It gave a new and romantic name, "The Flight of the Earls", to an event that was known in Gaelic as, "The Departure of the Chiefs of Ulster". The Limerick Vindicator claimed, "Father Meehan .... boldly lifts the veil off those foul and treacherous deeds which fill some of the blackest pages in Ireland's disastrous history".
He also published a biography of Mangan in 1884.
His other works are:
"History of the Confederation of Kilkenny" (1846);
"The Geraldines, their Rise, Increase and Ruin" (1847); reprinted 1878.
translation of Alessandro Manzoni's La monaca di Monza" (1848);
"Portrait of a Christian Bishop" (1848); biography of Francis Kirwan, Bishop of Killala, translated from the Latin of John Lynch";
"Lives of the most eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, of the Order of St. Dominic, translated from the Italian of Vincenzo Marchese" (1852);
"Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell" (1868);
The Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of Tyrone (Hugh O'Neill) and Tyrconnel (Rory O'Donel), their flight from Ireland and death in exile (1 ed.). Dublin: James Duffy. 1868. OCLC 1045393976.
Rise and Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries and Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy in the Seventeenth Century, Dublin: J. Duffy and Sons, 1877.
"Confederation of Kilkenny"; new ed., rev. & enlarged, J. Duffy, Dublin, 1882 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy | Pregnancy | Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Conception usually occurs following vaginal intercourse, but can also occur through assisted reproductive technology procedures. A pregnancy may end in a live birth, a miscarriage, an induced abortion, or a stillbirth. Childbirth typically occurs around 40 weeks from the start of the last menstrual period (LMP), a span known as the gestational age; this is just over nine months. Counting by fertilization age, the length is about 38 weeks. Implantation occurs on average 8–9 days after fertilization. An embryo is the term for the developing offspring during the first seven weeks following implantation (i.e. ten weeks' gestational age), after which the term fetus is used until the birth of a baby.
Signs and symptoms of early pregnancy may include missed periods, tender breasts, morning sickness (nausea and vomiting), hunger, implantation bleeding, and frequent urination. Pregnancy may be confirmed with a pregnancy test. Methods of contraception are used to avoid pregnancy.
Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters of approximately three months each. The first trimester includes conception, which is when the sperm fertilizes the egg. The fertilized egg then travels down the fallopian tube and attaches to the inside of the uterus, where it begins to form the embryo and placenta. During the first trimester, the possibility of miscarriage (natural death of embryo or fetus) is at its highest. Around the middle of the second trimester, movement of the fetus may be felt. At 28 weeks, more than 90% of babies can survive outside of the uterus if provided with high-quality medical care, though babies born at this time will likely experience serious health complications such as heart and respiratory problems and long-term intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Prenatal care improves pregnancy outcomes. Nutrition during pregnancy is important to ensure healthy growth of the fetus. Prenatal care also include avoiding recreational drugs (including tobacco and alcohol), taking regular exercise, having blood tests, and regular physical examinations. Complications of pregnancy may include disorders of high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, iron-deficiency anemia, and severe nausea and vomiting. In the ideal childbirth, labour begins on its own "at term". Babies born before 37 weeks are preterm and at higher risk of health problems such as cerebral palsy. Babies born between weeks 37 and 39 are considered "early term" while those born between weeks 39 and 41 are considered "full term". Babies born between weeks 41 and 42 weeks are considered "late-term" while after 42 weeks they are considered "post-term". Delivery before 39 weeks by labour induction or caesarean section is not recommended unless required for other medical reasons.
== Terminology ==
Associated terms for pregnancy are gravid and parous. Gravidus and gravid come from the Latin word meaning "heavy" and a pregnant female is sometimes referred to as a gravida. Gravidity refers to the number of times that a female has been pregnant. Similarly, the term parity is used for the number of times that a female carries a pregnancy to a viable stage. Twins and other multiple births are counted as one pregnancy and birth.
A woman who has never been pregnant is referred to as a nulligravida. A woman who is (or has been only) pregnant for the first time is referred to as a primigravida, and a woman in subsequent pregnancies as a multigravida or as multiparous. Therefore, during a second pregnancy a woman would be described as gravida 2, para 1 and upon live delivery as gravida 2, para 2. In-progress pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages and/or stillbirths account for parity values being less than the gravida number. Women who have never carried a pregnancy more than 20 weeks are referred to as nulliparous.
A pregnancy is considered term at 37 weeks of gestation. It is preterm if less than 37 weeks and post-term at or beyond 42 weeks of gestation. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have recommended further division to early term from 37 weeks up to 39 weeks, full term 39 weeks up to 41 weeks, and late term 41 weeks up to 42 weeks. The terms preterm and post-term have largely replaced the earlier terms premature and postmature, which related historically to the infant's size and state of development rather than to the stage of pregnancy.
== Demographics ==
About 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, of which, 190 million (89%) were in the developing world and 23 million (11%) were in the developed world. The number of pregnancies in women aged between 15 and 44 is 133 per 1,000 women. Pregnancy rates are 140 per 1000 women of childbearing age in the developing world and 94 per 1000 in the developed world. The rate of pregnancy, as well as the ages at which it occurs, differ by country and region. It is influenced by a number of factors, such as cultural, social and religious norms; access to contraception; and rates of education. The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2024 was estimated to be highest in Niger (6.64 children/woman) and lowest in South Korea (1.12 children/woman).
About 10% to 15% of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. In 2016, complications of pregnancy resulted in 230,600 maternal deaths, down from 377,000 deaths in 1990. Common causes include bleeding, infections, hypertensive diseases of pregnancy, obstructed labour, miscarriage, abortion, or ectopic pregnancy. Globally, 44% of pregnancies are unplanned. Over half (56%) of unplanned pregnancies are aborted. In countries where abortion is prohibited, or only carried out in circumstances where the mother's life is at risk, 48% of unplanned pregnancies are aborted illegally. Compared to the rate in countries where abortion is legal, at 69%. Among unintended pregnancies in the United States, 60% of the women used birth control to some extent during the month pregnancy began.
In the United States, a woman's educational attainment and her marital status are historically correlated with childbearing: the percentage of women unmarried at the time of first birth drops with increasing educational level. Three studies conducted between 2015 and 2018 indicate a large fraction (~80%) of women without a high school diploma or local equivalent in the US are unmarried at the time of their first birth. By contrast, the same studies indicated fewer women with a bachelor's degree or higher (~24%) have their first child while unmarried. However, this phenomenon also has a strong generational component: a 1996 study found 48.2% of US women without a bachelor's degree had their first child whilst unmarried, and only 4% of women with a bachelor's degree had their first child whilst unmarried. These studies indicate a rising trend for US women of all educational levels to be unmarried at the time of their first birth.
=== Teenage pregnancy ===
Teenage pregnancy is also known as adolescent pregnancy. The WHO defines adolescence as the period between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Adolescents face higher health risks than women who give birth at age 20 to 24 and their infants are at a higher risk for preterm birth, low birth weight, and other severe neonatal conditions. Their children continue to face greater challenges, both behavioral and physical, throughout their lives. Teenage pregnancies are also related to social issues, including social stigma, lower educational levels, and poverty. Female adolescents are often in abusive relationships at the time of their conceiving.
== Diagnosis ==
Penile-vaginal sex is typically the cause of pregnancy, although myths regarding other sexual acts persist, particularly in populations that received poor sex education such as abstinence-only. Pregnancy can also be the result of assisted reproductive technology.
The beginning of pregnancy may be detected based on the woman's symptoms or by using pregnancy tests. Denial of pregnancy by the woman is a common condition with serious health implications. About 1 in 475 denials will last until around the 20th week of pregnancy. Denial persisting until delivery occurs in about 1 in 2,500 cases. Conversely, some non-pregnant women have a strong belief that they are pregnant along with some physical changes. This condition is known as a false pregnancy.
=== Symptoms and signs ===
Most pregnant women experience a number of symptoms which can signify pregnancy such as breast tenderness or morning sickness. A number of early medical signs are associated with pregnancy. Physical signs of pregnancy include:
the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the blood and urine
missed menstrual period
implantation bleeding that occurs at implantation of the embryo in the uterus during the third or fourth week after last menstrual period
increased basal body temperature sustained for over two weeks after ovulation
Chadwick's sign (bluish discolouration of the cervix, vagina, and vulva)
Goodell's sign (softening of the vaginal portion of the cervix)
Hegar's sign (softening of the uterine isthmus)
Pigmentation of the linea alba, called linea nigra (darkening of the skin in a midline of the abdomen, resulting from hormonal changes, usually appearing around the middle of pregnancy).
Darkening of the nipples and areolas due to an increase in hormones
Stretch marks
Varicose veins
Peripheral edema (swelling of legs, feet, and ankles)
Gum bleeding
Melasma
Other common symptoms include constipation, back pain, pelvic girdle pain, headaches, and food cravings or food aversions. Pregnant women may also experience urinary tract infections, increased urinary frequency, worsened sleep quality, increased dream recall, and nightmares. In later pregnancy, hemorrhoids are more common. Each person's pregnancy can be different and many women do not experience all of the common signs and symptoms. The usual signs and symptoms of pregnancy do not significantly interfere with activities of daily living or pose a health-threat to the mother or fetus. Complications during pregnancy can cause other more severe symptoms, such as those associated with anemia.
=== Biomarkers ===
Pregnancy detection can be accomplished using one or more various pregnancy tests, which detect hormones generated by the newly formed placenta, serving as biomarkers of pregnancy. Blood and urine tests can detect pregnancy by 11 and 14 days, respectively, after fertilization. Blood pregnancy tests are more sensitive than urine tests (giving fewer false negatives). Home pregnancy tests are urine tests, and normally detect a pregnancy 12 to 15 days after fertilization. A quantitative blood test can determine approximately the date the embryo was fertilized because hCG levels double every 36 to 72 hours before 8 weeks' gestation. A single test of progesterone levels can also help determine how likely a fetus will survive in those with a threatened miscarriage (bleeding in early pregnancy), but only if the ultrasound result was inconclusive.
=== Ultrasound ===
Obstetric ultrasonography can detect fetal abnormalities, detect multiple pregnancies, and improve gestational dating at 24 weeks. The resultant estimated gestational age and due date of the fetus are slightly more accurate than methods based on last menstrual period. Ultrasound is used to measure the nuchal fold in order to screen for Down syndrome.
=== Medical imaging ===
Medical imaging may be indicated in pregnancy because of pregnancy complications, disease, or routine prenatal care. Medical ultrasonography including obstetric ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without contrast agents are not associated with any risk for the mother or the fetus, and are the imaging techniques of choice for pregnant women. Projectional radiography, CT scan and nuclear medicine imaging result in some degree of ionizing radiation exposure, but in most cases the absorbed doses are not associated with harm to the baby. At higher dosages or frequency, effects can include miscarriage, birth defects and intellectual disability.
== Timeline ==
The chronology of pregnancy is, unless otherwise specified, generally given as gestational age, where the starting point is the beginning of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP), or the corresponding age of the gestation as estimated by a more accurate method if available. This model means that the woman is counted as being "pregnant" two weeks before conception and three weeks before implantation. Sometimes, timing may also use the fertilization age, which is the age of the embryo since conception.
=== Start of gestational age ===
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends the following methods to calculate gestational age:
Directly calculating the days since the beginning of the last menstrual period.
Early obstetric ultrasound, comparing the size of an embryo or fetus to that of a reference group of pregnancies of known gestational age (such as calculated from last menstrual periods), and using the mean gestational age of other embryos or fetuses of the same size. If the gestational age as calculated from an early ultrasound is contradictory to the one calculated directly from the last menstrual period, it is still the one from the early ultrasound that is used for the rest of the pregnancy.
In case of in vitro fertilization, calculating days since oocyte retrieval or co-incubation and adding 14 days.
=== Trimesters ===
Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters, each lasting for approximately three months. The exact length of each trimester can vary between sources.
The first trimester begins with the start of gestational age as described above, that is, the beginning of week 1, or 0 weeks + 0 days of gestational age (GA). It ends at week 12 (11 weeks + 6 days of GA) or end of week 14 (13 weeks + 6 days of GA).
The second trimester is defined as starting, between the beginning of week 13 (12 weeks +0 days of GA) and beginning of week 15 (14 weeks + 0 days of GA). It ends at the end of week 27 (26 weeks + 6 days of GA) or end of week 28 (27 weeks + 6 days of GA).
The third trimester is defined as starting, between the beginning of week 28 (27 weeks + 0 days of GA) or beginning of week 29 (28 weeks + 0 days of GA). It lasts until childbirth.
=== Estimation of due date ===
Due date estimation basically follows two steps:
Determination of which time point is to be used as origin for gestational age, as described in the section above.
Adding the estimated gestational age at childbirth to the above time point. Childbirth on average occurs at a gestational age of 280 days (40 weeks), which is therefore often used as a standard estimation for individual pregnancies. However, alternative durations as well as more individualized methods have also been suggested.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists divides full term into three divisions:
Early-term: 37 weeks and 0 days through 38 weeks and 6 days
Full-term: 39 weeks and 0 days through 40 weeks and 6 days
Late-term: 41 weeks and 0 days through 41 weeks and 6 days
Post-term: greater than or equal to 42 weeks and 0 days
Naegele's rule is a standard way of calculating the due date for a pregnancy when assuming a gestational age of 280 days at childbirth. The rule estimates the expected date of delivery (EDD) by adding a year, subtracting three months, and adding seven days to the origin of gestational age. Alternatively there are mobile apps, which essentially always give consistent estimations compared to each other and correct for leap year, while pregnancy wheels made of paper can differ from each other by 7 days and generally do not correct for leap year.
Furthermore, actual childbirth has only a certain probability of occurring within the limits of the estimated due date. A study of singleton live births came to the result that childbirth has a standard deviation of 14 days when gestational age is estimated by first trimester ultrasound, and 16 days when estimated directly by last menstrual period.
== Physiology ==
=== Capacity ===
Fertility and fecundity are the respective capacities to fertilize and establish a clinical pregnancy and have a live birth. Infertility is an impaired ability to establish a clinical pregnancy and sterility is the permanent inability to establish a clinical pregnancy.
The capacity for pregnancy depends on the reproductive system, its development and its variation, as well as on the condition of a person. Anyone who has a functioning female reproductive system, regardless of intersex or transgender identity, is capable of becoming pregnant.
Some people are not capable of becoming pregnant, even with advanced assisted reproductive technology. In some cases, someone might produce viable eggs, but might not have a womb or none that can sufficiently gestate, in which case they will not be able to become pregnant or sustain the pregnancy. Surrogacy is their only option for having genetic children.
=== Initiation ===
Through an interplay of hormones that includes follicle stimulating hormone that stimulates folliculogenesis and oogenesis creates a mature egg cell, the female gamete. Fertilization is the event where the egg cell fuses with the male gamete, spermatozoon. After the point of fertilization, the fused product of the female and male gamete is referred to as a zygote or fertilized egg. The fusion of female and male gametes usually occurs following the act of sexual intercourse. Pregnancy rates for sexual intercourse are highest during the menstrual cycle time from some 5 days before until 1 to 2 days after ovulation. Fertilization can also occur by assisted reproductive technology such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation.
Fertilization (conception) is sometimes used as the initiation of pregnancy, with the derived age being termed fertilization age. Fertilization usually occurs about two weeks before the next expected menstrual period.
A third point in time is also considered by some people to be the true beginning of a pregnancy: This is time of implantation, when the future fetus attaches to the lining of the uterus. This is about a week to ten days after fertilization.
=== Development of embryo and fetus ===
The sperm and the egg cell, which has been released from one of the female's two ovaries, unite in one of the two fallopian tubes. The fertilized egg, known as a zygote, then moves toward the uterus, a journey that can take up to a week to complete. Cell division begins approximately 24 to 36 hours after the female and male cells unite. Cell division continues at a rapid rate and the cells then develop into what is known as a blastocyst. The blastocyst arrives at the uterus and attaches to the uterine wall, a process known as implantation.
The development of the mass of cells that will become the infant is called embryogenesis during the first approximately ten weeks of gestation. During this time, cells begin to differentiate into the various body systems. The basic outlines of the organ, body, and nervous systems are established. By the end of the embryonic stage, the beginnings of features such as fingers, eyes, mouth, and ears become visible. Also during this time, there is development of structures important to the support of the embryo, including the placenta and umbilical cord. The placenta connects the developing embryo to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. The umbilical cord is the connecting cord from the embryo or fetus to the placenta.
After about ten weeks of gestational age—which is the same as eight weeks after conception—the embryo becomes known as a fetus. At the beginning of the fetal stage, the risk of miscarriage decreases sharply. At this stage, a fetus is about 30 mm (1.2 inches) in length, the heartbeat is seen via ultrasound, and the fetus makes involuntary motions. During continued fetal development, the early body systems, and structures that were established in the embryonic stage continue to develop. Sex organs begin to appear during the third month of gestation. The fetus continues to grow in both weight and length, although the majority of the physical growth occurs in the last weeks of pregnancy.
Electrical brain activity is first detected at the end of week 5 of gestation, but as in brain-dead patients, it is primitive neural activity rather than the beginning of conscious brain activity. Synapses do not begin to form until week 17. Neural connections between the sensory cortex and thalamus develop as early as 24 weeks' gestational age, but the first evidence of their function does not occur until around 30 weeks, when minimal consciousness, dreaming, and the ability to feel pain emerges.
Although the fetus begins to move during the first trimester, it is not until the second trimester that movement, known as quickening, can be felt. This typically happens in the fourth month, more specifically in the 20th to 21st week, or by the 19th week if the woman has been pregnant before. It is common for some women not to feel the fetus move until much later. During the second trimester, when the body size changes, maternity clothes may be worn.
=== Maternal changes ===
During pregnancy, a woman undergoes many normal physiological changes, including behavioral, cardiovascular, hematologic, metabolic, renal, and respiratory changes. Increases in blood sugar, breathing, and cardiac output are all required. Levels of progesterone and estrogens rise continually throughout pregnancy, suppressing the hypothalamic axis and therefore the menstrual cycle. A full-term pregnancy at an early age (less than 25 years) reduces the risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer, and the risk declines further with each additional full-term pregnancy.
The fetus is genetically different from its mother and can therefore be viewed as an unusually successful allograft. The main reason for this success is increased immune tolerance during pregnancy, which prevents the mother's body from mounting an immune system response against certain triggers. A Rho(D) immune globulin shot is recommended for women with RhD negative blood carrying a RhD positive fetus as a preventative measure against Rhesus disease.
During the first trimester, minute ventilation increases by 40 percent. The womb will grow to the size of a lemon by eight weeks. Many symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy, such as nausea and tender breasts, appear in the first trimester. Braxton Hicks contractions are sporadic uterine contractions that may start around six weeks into a pregnancy but are usually not felt until the second or third trimester.
Pregnant women have higher total blood volume that increases throughout the duration of the pregnancy. It is during the third trimester that maternal activity and sleep positions may affect fetal development due to restricted blood flow. For instance, the enlarged uterus may impede blood flow by compressing the vena cava when lying flat, a condition that can be relieved by lying on the left side.
Most weight gain takes place during the third trimester. A pregnant woman's navel may become convex ("popping" out) during this time. Her abdomen will expand and change in shape as the fetus turns in a downward position nearing childbirth. Head engagement, also called "lightening" or "dropping", occurs as the fetal head descends into a cephalic presentation. While it relieves pressure on the upper abdomen and gives a renewed ease in breathing, it also severely reduces bladder capacity, resulting in a need to void more frequently, and increases pressure on the pelvic floor and the rectum. It is not possible to predict when lightening will occur. In a first pregnancy it may happen a few weeks before the due date, though it may happen later or even not until labour begins, as is typical with subsequent pregnancies.
=== Childbirth ===
Childbirth, referred to as labour and delivery in the medical field, is the process whereby an infant is born.
A woman is considered to be in labour when she begins experiencing regular uterine contractions, accompanied by changes of her cervix—primarily effacement and dilation. While childbirth is widely experienced as painful, some women do report painless labours, while others find that concentrating on the birth helps to quicken labour and lessen the sensations. Most births are successful vaginal births, but sometimes complications arise and a woman may undergo a cesarean section.
During the time immediately after birth, both the mother and the baby are hormonally cued to bond, the mother through the release of oxytocin, a hormone also released during breastfeeding. Studies show that skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her newborn immediately after birth is beneficial for both the mother and baby. A review done by the World Health Organization found that skin-to-skin contact between mothers and babies after birth reduces crying, improves mother–infant interaction, and helps mothers to breastfeed successfully. They recommend that neonates be allowed to bond with the mother during their first two hours after birth, the period that they tend to be more alert than in the following hours of early life.
==== Childbirth maturity stages ====
In the ideal childbirth, labour begins on its own when a woman is "at term".
Events before completion of 37 weeks are considered preterm. Preterm birth is associated with a range of complications and should be avoided if possible.
Sometimes if a woman's water breaks or she has contractions before 39 weeks, birth is unavoidable. However, spontaneous birth after 37 weeks is considered term and is not associated with the same risks of a preterm birth. Planned birth before 39 weeks by caesarean section or labour induction, although "at term", results in an increased risk of complications. This is from factors including underdeveloped lungs of newborns, infection due to underdeveloped immune system, feeding problems due to underdeveloped brain, and jaundice from underdeveloped liver.
Babies born between 39 and 41 weeks' gestation have better outcomes than babies born either before or after this range. This special time period is called "full term". Whenever possible, waiting for labour to begin on its own in this time period is best for the health of the mother and baby. The decision to perform an induction must be made after weighing the risks and benefits, but is safer after 39 weeks.
Events after 42 weeks are considered postterm. When a pregnancy exceeds 42 weeks, the risk of complications for both the woman and the fetus increases significantly. Therefore, in an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy, obstetricians usually prefer to induce labour at some stage between 41 and 42 weeks.
=== Postnatal period ===
The postpartum period also referred to as the puerperium, is the postnatal period that begins immediately after delivery and extends for about six weeks. During this period, the mother's body begins the return to pre-pregnancy conditions that includes changes in hormone levels and uterus size.
== Management ==
=== Prenatal care ===
Pre-conception counseling is care that is provided to a woman or couple to discuss conception, pregnancy, current health issues and recommendations for the period before pregnancy.
Prenatal medical care is the medical and nursing care recommended for women during pregnancy, time intervals and exact goals of each visit differ by country. Women who are high risk have better outcomes if they are seen regularly and frequently by a medical professional than women who are low risk. A woman can be labeled as high risk for different reasons including previous complications in pregnancy, complications in the current pregnancy, current medical diseases, or social issues.
The aim of good prenatal care is prevention, early identification, and treatment of any medical complications. A basic prenatal visit consists of measurement of blood pressure, fundal height, weight and fetal heart rate, checking for symptoms of labour, and guidance for what to expect next. Healthcare providers may screen for domestic violence during pregnancy, particularly in regards to reproductive coercion.
=== Nutrition ===
Nutrition during pregnancy is important to ensure healthy growth of the fetus. Nutrition during pregnancy is different from the non-pregnant state. There are increased energy requirements and specific micronutrient requirements. Women benefit from education to encourage a balanced energy and protein intake during pregnancy. Some women may need professional medical advice if their diet is affected by medical conditions, food allergies, or specific religious or ethical beliefs. Further studies are needed to access the effect of dietary advice to prevent gestational diabetes, although low quality evidence suggests some benefit. Adequate periconceptional (time before and right after conception) folic acid (also called folate or Vitamin B9) intake has been shown to decrease the risk of fetal neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. L-methylfolate, the bioavailable form of folate is also considered acceptable to take. L-methylfolate is best used by the 40% to 60% of the population with genetic polymorphisms that reduce or impair conversion of folic acid into its active form. The neural tube develops during the first 28 days of pregnancy, a urine pregnancy test is not usually positive until 14 days post-conception, explaining the necessity to guarantee adequate folate intake before conception. Folate is abundant in green leafy vegetables, legumes, and citrus. In the United States and Canada, most wheat products (flour, noodles) are fortified with folic acid.
=== Weight gain ===
The amount of healthy weight gain during a pregnancy varies. Weight gain is related to the weight of the baby, the placenta, extra circulatory fluid, larger tissues, and fat and protein stores. Most needed weight gain occurs later in pregnancy.
The Institute of Medicine recommends an overall pregnancy weight gain for those of normal weight (body mass index of 18.5–24.9), of 11.3–15.9 kg (25–35 pounds) having a singleton pregnancy. Women who are underweight (BMI of less than 18.5), should gain between 12.7 and 18 kg (28–40 lb), while those who are overweight (BMI of 25–29.9) are advised to gain between 6.8 and 11.3 kg (15–25 lb) and those who are obese (BMI ≥ 30) should gain between 5–9 kg (11–20 lb). These values reference the expectations for a term pregnancy.
During pregnancy, insufficient or excessive weight gain can compromise the health of the mother and fetus. The most effective intervention for weight gain in underweight women is not clear. Being or becoming overweight in pregnancy increases the risk of complications for mother and fetus, including cesarean section, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, macrosomia and shoulder dystocia. Excessive weight gain can make losing weight after the pregnancy difficult. Some of these complications are risk factors for stroke.
Around 50% of women of childbearing age in developed countries like the United Kingdom are overweight or obese before pregnancy. Diet modification is the most effective way to reduce weight gain and associated risks in pregnancy.
=== Medication ===
Drugs used during pregnancy can have temporary or permanent effects on the fetus. Anything (including drugs) that can cause permanent deformities in the fetus are labeled as teratogens. In the U.S., drugs were classified into categories A, B, C, D and X based on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rating system to provide therapeutic guidance based on potential benefits and fetal risks. Drugs, including some multivitamins, that have demonstrated no fetal risks after controlled studies in humans are classified as Category A. On the other hand, drugs like thalidomide with proven fetal risks that outweigh all benefits are classified as Category X.
=== Recreational drugs ===
The use of recreational drugs in pregnancy can cause various pregnancy complications.
Alcoholic drinks consumed during pregnancy can cause one or more fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. According to the CDC, there is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy and no safe time to drink during pregnancy, including before a woman knows that she is pregnant.
Tobacco smoking during pregnancy can cause a wide range of behavioral, neurological, and physical difficulties. Smoking during pregnancy causes twice the risk of premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption and placenta previa. Smoking is associated with 30% higher odds of preterm birth.
Prenatal cocaine exposure is associated with premature birth, birth defects and attention deficit disorder.
Prenatal methamphetamine exposure can cause premature birth and congenital abnormalities. Short-term neonatal outcomes in methamphetamine babies show small deficits in infant neurobehavioral function and growth restriction. Long-term effects in terms of impaired brain development may also be caused by methamphetamine use.
Cannabis in pregnancy has been shown to be teratogenic in large doses in animals, but has not shown any teratogenic effects in humans.
=== Exposure to toxins ===
Intrauterine exposure to environmental toxins in pregnancy has the potential to cause adverse effects on prenatal development, and to cause pregnancy complications. Air pollution has been associated with low birth weight infants. Conditions of particular severity in pregnancy include mercury poisoning and lead poisoning. To minimize exposure to environmental toxins, the American College of Nurse-Midwives recommends: checking whether the home has lead paint, washing all fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly and buying organic produce, and avoiding cleaning products labeled "toxic" or any product with a warning on the label.
Pregnant women can also be exposed to toxins in the workplace, including airborne particles. The effects of wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator are similar for pregnant women as for non-pregnant women, and wearing a respirator for one hour does not affect the fetal heart rate.
=== Death by violence ===
Pregnant women or those who have recently given birth in the U.S. are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes. These homicides are a combination of intimate partner violence and firearms. Health authorities have called the violence "a health emergency for pregnant women", but say that pregnancy-related homicides are preventable if healthcare providers identify those women at risk and offer assistance to them.
=== Sexual activity ===
Most women can continue to engage in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse, throughout pregnancy. Research suggests that during pregnancy both sexual desire and frequency of sexual relations decrease during the first and third trimester, with a rise during the second trimester. Sex during pregnancy is low-risk except when the healthcare provider advises that sexual intercourse be avoided for particular medical reasons. For a healthy pregnant woman, there is no single safe or right way to have sex during pregnancy.
=== Exercise ===
Regular aerobic exercise during pregnancy appears to improve (or maintain) physical fitness. Physical exercise during pregnancy appears to decrease the need for C-section and reduce time in labour, and even vigorous exercise carries no significant risks to babies while providing significant health benefits to the mother. Studies show that performing light moderate intensity and strength exercises while pregnant does not harm the mother's cardiovascular system and may limit excessive weight gain.
The American College of Sports and Medicine recommends pregnant women should participate in at least 150 minutes/week of moderate exercise. These forms of exercise should avoid heavy lifting, hot temperatures, and high impact sports. The Clinical Practice Obstetrics Committee of Canada recommends that "All women without contraindications should be encouraged to participate in aerobic and strength-conditioning exercises as part of a healthy lifestyle during their pregnancy". Although an upper level of safe exercise intensity has not been established, women who were regular exercisers before pregnancy and who have uncomplicated pregnancies should be able to engage in high intensity exercise programs without a higher risk of prematurity, lower birth weight, or gestational weight gain. In general, participation in a wide range of recreational activities appears to be safe, with the avoidance of those with a high risk of falling such as horseback riding or skiing or those that carry a risk of abdominal trauma, such as soccer or hockey.
Bed rest, outside of research studies, is not recommended as there is potential harm and no evidence of benefit.
==== High intensity exercise ====
During pregnancy, women can experience a loss of postural stability, pelvic incontinence, back pain, and fatigue, among other symptoms. Resistance training has been found to reduce pregnancy symptoms and reduce postpartum complications. Provided that women also regularly participate in low-impact training, strength training can improve pelvic girdle pain severity postpartum. When incorporating exercises that focus on pelvic muscle strength, they can help reduce pain and stress urinary incontinence.
Engaging in regular exercise and physical activity has been shown to be beneficial during pregnancy. Acute bouts of high intensity interval training can help decrease the risks of health complications associated with pregnancy, maintain a healthy body fat percentage during pregnancy, as well as improve overall well-being. Pregnant women who participated in high intensity interval training have been shown to undergo physical improvements in body composition after intervention as well as show general improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise tolerance. Taking part in this style of exercise, similarly to moderate intensity continuous training, has also been shown to improve glycemic response and insulin sensitivity. There are specific concerns to be avoided with exercise during pregnancy such as overheating, fall-risk, and remaining in a supine position for an extended period of time. Inexperienced individuals new to high-intensity interval training could potentially increase their risk for negative conditions associated with hypertension, such as pre-eclampsia.
=== Sleep ===
It has been suggested that shift work and exposure to bright light at night should be avoided at least during the last trimester of pregnancy to decrease the risk of psychological and behavioral problems in the newborn.
=== Stress ===
Heightened maternal stress during pregnancy has been consistently associated with alterations in fetal and infant brain development and an increased risk for later mental health problems ("psychopathology"). Prenatal adversity (for example elevated maternal stress and depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy) has been consistently associated with an increased risk for psychopathology in children. Maternal stress during pregnancy is therefore thought to influence fetal brain development and thereby contribute to increased vulnerability to later psychopathology.
Research demonstrates that prenatal stress can fundamentally alter the brain’s physical architecture (smaller overall volume, altered cortical thinning, functional connectivity, ...), leading to reduced volume and weakened connectivity in areas critical for emotion processing and regulation, as well as learning and memory. In contrast, also caregiving-focused interventions and higher natural caregiving quality have been associated with a positive impact on the brain structure. Animal studies further show that enhanced maternal care or enriched environments can reverse the effects of prenatal adversity at the cellular level, supporting the biological plausibility of similar processes in humans. Children of women who experienced high stress levels during pregnancy are slightly more likely to show externalizing behavioral problems, such as impulsivity. These behavioral effects appear to be most pronounced during early childhood.
Importantly, prenatal stress does not inevitable cause mental health problems. Not all children who are exposed to prenatal adversity develop psychiatric disorders. Evidence from both human and animal studies suggests that high-quality caregiving, cognitive and language stimulation, social support, and higher socioeconomic status can act as protective or supportive factors. Improving outcomes for children exposed to prenatal stress mainly involves strengthening the early postnatal environment rather than attempting to eliminate all stress during pregnancy. Supportive environments in early postnatal life may promote brain development and help normalize developmental trajectories that were altered by prenatal stress, highlighting caregiving quality, cognitive and language input, social support, and socioeconomic stability as key factors. High-quality caregiving is consistently identified as especially important, with studies showing that associations between prenatal stress and adverse outcomes are not observed when maternal sensitivity is high, and that sensitive caregiving can reduce the impact of prenatal stress on neurocognitive and neuroendocrine pathways linked to later psychopathology. Beyond the parent–child relationship, broader support systems also matter: higher levels of social support and socioeconomic resources are associated with more adaptive development and can, in some contexts, reduce the negative effects of preterm birth or low birth weight on neurocognitive outcomes. Overall, promoting warm, responsive caregiving and ensuring families have adequate social and material support during the early years can meaningfully improve children’s developmental trajectories, even when prenatal stress has occurred.
Extreme stress caused by events such as natural disasters, genocide, slavery, forced family separation, or long-term exposure to war is thought to create widespread trauma that changes how people function physically, psychologically, and socially, and these changes may be passed on across generations. Research suggests that recognizing severe maternal stress early, during or after such events, and providing structured psychological support such as psychological first aid or cognitive behavioural therapy can lower long-term risks for child development. When stress exposure is particularly high, ongoing monitoring, early developmental support, and sensitive, responsive caregiving are especially important to prevent lasting negative effects.
=== Dental care ===
The increased levels of progesterone and estrogen during pregnancy make gingivitis more likely; the gums become edematous, red in colour, and tend to bleed. Also a pyogenic granuloma or "pregnancy tumor", is commonly seen on the labial surface of the papilla. Lesions can be treated by local debridement or deep incision depending on their size, and by following adequate oral hygiene measures. There have been suggestions that severe periodontitis may increase the risk of having preterm birth and low birth weight; however, a Cochrane review found insufficient evidence to determine if periodontitis can develop adverse birth outcomes.
=== Flying ===
In low risk pregnancies, most health care providers approve flying until about 36 weeks of gestational age. Most airlines allow pregnant women to fly short distances at less than 36 weeks, and long distances at less than 32 weeks. Many airlines require a doctor's note that approves flying, especially at over 28 weeks. During flights, the risk of deep vein thrombosis is decreased by getting up and walking occasionally, as well as by avoiding dehydration. The exposure to cosmic radiation is negligible for most travelers. For pregnant women, even the longest intercontinental flight would expose them less than 15% of both the NCRPM and ICRP limit. Full body scanners use non-ionizing radiation that does not penetrate the body for more than 1 mm, and are believed not to pose a risk in pregnancy.
=== Pregnancy classes and birth plan ===
To prepare for the birth of the baby, health care providers recommend that parents attend antenatal classes during the third trimester of pregnancy. Classes include information about the process of labour and birth and the various kinds of births, including both vaginal and caesarean delivery, the use of forceps, and other interventions that may be needed to safely deliver the infant. Types of pain relief, including relaxation techniques, are discussed. Partners or others who may plan to support a woman during her labour and delivery learn how to assist in the birth.
It is also suggested that a birth plan be written at this time. A birth plan is a written statement that outlines the desires of the mother during labour and delivery of the baby. Discussing the birth plan with the midwife or other care provider gives parents a chance to ask questions and learn more about the process of labour.
In 1991 the WHO launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program that recognizes birthing centers and hospitals that offer optimal levels of care for giving birth. Facilities that have been certified as "Baby Friendly" accept visits from expecting parents to familiarize them with the facility and the staff.
== Complications and diseases ==
Each year, ill health as a result of pregnancy is experienced (sometimes permanently) by more than 20 million women around the world. In 2016, complications of pregnancy resulted in 230,600 deaths down from 377,000 deaths in 1990. Common causes include bleeding (72,000), infections (20,000), hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (32,000), obstructed labour (10,000), and pregnancy with abortive outcome (20,000), which includes miscarriage, abortion, and ectopic pregnancy.
The following are some examples of pregnancy complications:
Pregnancy induced hypertension
Anemia
Perinatal depression
Postpartum depression, a common but solvable complication following childbirth that may result from decreased hormonal levels.
Postpartum psychosis
Thromboembolic disorders, with an increased risk due to hypercoagulability in pregnancy. These are the leading cause of death in pregnant women in the US.
Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP), a skin disease that develops around the 32nd week. Signs are red plaques, papules, and itchiness around the belly button that then spreads all over the body except for the inside of hands and face.
Ectopic pregnancy, including abdominal pregnancy, implantation of the embryo outside the uterus
Hyperemesis gravidarum, excessive nausea and vomiting that is more severe than normal morning sickness.
Pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that forms in the legs and migrates to the lungs.
Acute fatty liver of pregnancy is a rare complication thought to be brought about by a disruption in the metabolism of fatty acids by mitochondria.
There is also an increased susceptibility and severity of certain infections in pregnancy.
=== Miscarriage and stillbirth ===
Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy. It is defined as the loss of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. The most common symptom of miscarriage is vaginal bleeding with or without pain. The miscarriage may be evidenced by a clot-like material passing through and out of the vagina. About 80% of miscarriages occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The underlying cause in about half of cases involves chromosomal abnormalities.
Stillbirth is defined as fetal death after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. Each year about 21,000 babies are stillborn in the U.S. Sadness, anxiety, and guilt may occur after a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Emotional support may help with processing the loss. Fathers may experience grief over the loss as well. A large study found that there is a need to increase the accessibility of support services available for fathers.
=== Diseases in pregnancy ===
A pregnant woman may have a pre-existing disease, which is not directly caused by the pregnancy, but may cause complications to develop that include a potential risk to the pregnancy; or a disease may develop during pregnancy.
Diabetes mellitus and pregnancy deals with the interactions of diabetes mellitus (not restricted to gestational diabetes) and pregnancy. Risks for the child include miscarriage, growth restriction, growth acceleration, large for gestational age (macrosomia), polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid), and birth defects.
Thyroid disease in pregnancy can, if uncorrected, cause adverse effects on fetal and maternal well-being. The deleterious effects of thyroid dysfunction can also extend beyond pregnancy and delivery to affect neurointellectual development in the early life of the child. Demand for thyroid hormones is increased during pregnancy, which may cause a previously unnoticed thyroid disorder to worsen.
Untreated celiac disease can cause a miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction, small for gestational age, low birthweight and preterm birth. Often reproductive disorders are the only manifestation of undiagnosed celiac disease and most cases are not recognized. Complications or failures of pregnancy cannot be explained simply by malabsorption, but by the autoimmune response elicited by the exposure to gluten, which causes damage to the placenta. A gluten-free diet avoids or reduces the risk of developing reproductive disorders in pregnant women with celiac disease. Also, pregnancy can be a trigger for the development of celiac disease in genetically susceptible women who are consuming gluten.
Lupus in pregnancy confers an increased rate of fetal death in utero, miscarriage, and of neonatal lupus.
Hypercoagulability in pregnancy is the propensity of pregnant women to develop thrombosis (blood clots). Pregnancy itself is a factor of hypercoagulability (pregnancy-induced hypercoagulability), as a physiologically adaptive mechanism to prevent postpartum bleeding. However, in combination with an underlying hypercoagulable state, the risk of thrombosis or embolism may become substantial.
== Birth control and abortion ==
=== Birth control and education ===
Family planning, as well as the availability and use of contraception, along with increased comprehensive sex education, has enabled many to prevent pregnancies when they are not desired. Schemes and funding to support education and the means to prevent pregnancies when they are not intended have been instrumental and are part of the third of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advanced by the United Nations.
=== Abortion ===
An abortion is the termination of an embryo or fetus via medical method. It is usually done within the first trimester, sometimes in the second, and rarely in the third. Reasons for pregnancies being undesired are broad. Many jurisdictions restrict or prohibit abortion, with rape being the most legally permissible exception.
=== Assisted reproductive technology ===
Modern reproductive medicine offers many forms of assisted reproductive technology for couples who stay childless against their will, such as fertility medication, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy.
== Society and culture ==
=== Legal protections ===
Many countries have various legal regulations in place to protect pregnant women and their children. Many countries have laws against pregnancy discrimination.
The Maternity Protection Convention ensures that pregnant women are exempt from activities such as night shifts or carrying heavy stocks. Maternity leave typically provides paid leave from work during roughly the last trimester of pregnancy and for some time after birth. Notable extreme cases include Norway (8 months with full pay) and the United States (no paid leave at all except in some states).
In the United States, some actions that result in miscarriage or stillbirth, such as beating a pregnant woman, are considered crimes. One law that does so is the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. In 2014, the American state of Tennessee passed a law which allows prosecutors to charge a woman with criminal assault if she uses illegal drugs during her pregnancy and her fetus or newborn is harmed as a result.
However, protections are not universal. In Singapore, the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act forbids current and former work permit holders from becoming pregnant or giving birth in Singapore without prior permission. Violation of the Act is punishable by a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7300) and deportation, and until 2010, their employers would lose their $5,000 security bond.
=== Racial disparities ===
There are significant racial imbalances in pregnancy and neonatal care systems. Midwifery guidance, treatment, and care have been related to better birth outcomes. Diminishing racial inequities in health is an increasingly large public health challenge in the United States. Despite the fact that average rates have decreased, data on neonatal mortality demonstrates that racial disparities have persisted and grown. The death rate for African American babies is nearly double that of white neonates. According to studies, congenital defects, SIDS, preterm birth, and low birth weight are all more common among African American babies.
=== Transgender people ===
Transgender people have experienced significant advances in societal acceptance in recent years leaving many health professionals unprepared to provide quality care. A 2015 report suggests that "numbers of transgender individuals who are seeking family planning, fertility, and pregnancy services could certainly be quite large".
Regardless of prior hormone replacement therapy treatments, the progression of pregnancy and birthing procedures for transgender people who carry pregnancies are typically the same as those of cisgender women. However, transgender people may be subjected to discrimination, which can include a variety of negative social, emotional, and medical experiences, as pregnancy is regarded as an exclusively female activity. According to a study by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, there is a lack of awareness, services, and medical assistance available to pregnant trans men.
=== Culture ===
In most cultures, pregnant women have a special status in society and receive particularly gentle care. At the same time, they are subject to expectations that may exert great psychological pressure, such as having to produce a son and heir. In many traditional societies, pregnancy must be preceded by marriage, on pain of ostracism of mother and (illegitimate) child.
Overall, pregnancy is accompanied by numerous customs that are often subject to ethnological research, often rooted in traditional medicine or religion. The baby shower is an example of a modern custom. Contrary to common misconception, women historically in the United States were not expected to seclude themselves during pregnancy, as was popularized by Gone With the Wind.
Pregnancy is an important topic in sociology of the family. The prospective child may preliminarily be placed into numerous social roles. The parents' relationship and the relation between parents and their surroundings are also affected.
A belly cast may be made during pregnancy as a keepsake.
==== Arts ====
Images of pregnant women, especially small figurines, were made in traditional cultures in many places and periods, though it is rarely one of the most common types of image. These include ceramic figures from some Pre-Columbian cultures, and a few figures from most of the ancient Mediterranean cultures. Many of these seem to be connected with fertility. Identifying whether such figures are actually meant to show pregnancy is often a problem, as well as understanding their role in the culture concerned.
Among the oldest surviving examples of the depiction of pregnancy are prehistoric figurines found across much of Eurasia and collectively known as Venus figurines. Some of these appear to be pregnant.
Due to the important role of the Mother of God in Christianity, the Western visual arts have a long tradition of depictions of pregnancy, especially in the biblical scene of the Visitation, and devotional images called a Madonna del Parto.
The unhappy scene usually called Diana and Callisto, showing the moment of discovery of Callisto's forbidden pregnancy, is sometimes painted from the Renaissance onwards. Gradually, portraits of pregnant women began to appear, with a particular fashion for "pregnancy portraits" in elite portraiture of the years around 1600.
Pregnancy, and especially pregnancy of unmarried women, is also an important motif in literature. Notable examples include Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Goethe's 1808 play Faust. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_D._Tompkins | Daniel D. Tompkins | Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician who served as the sixth vice president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He previously served as the fourth governor of New York from 1807 to 1817.
Born in Scarsdale, New York, on June 21, 1774, Tompkins practiced law in New York City after graduating from Columbia College. He was a delegate to the 1801 New York constitutional convention and served on the New York Supreme Court from 1804 to 1807. In 1807, he defeated incumbent Morgan Lewis to become the governor of New York. He held that office from 1807 to 1817, serving for the duration of the War of 1812. During the war, he often spent his own money to equip and pay the militia when the legislature was not in session or would not approve the necessary funds.
Tompkins was the Democratic-Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee in the 1816 presidential election. The ticket of James Monroe and Tompkins easily prevailed over limited Federalist opposition. He served as vice president from 1817 to 1825, and was the only 19th-century vice president to serve two full terms. In 1820, he sought another term as Governor of New York, but was defeated by DeWitt Clinton. After the War of 1812, Tompkins was in poor physical and financial health, the latter condition stemming largely from his spending for the military effort during the war. He fell into alcoholism and was unable to re-establish fiscal solvency despite winning partial reimbursement from the federal government in 1823. He died 99 days after completing a second term and leaving office on 11 June 1825 at the age of 50.
== Name ==
Tompkins was baptized Daniel Tompkins, but added the middle initial "D." either before or during his time as a student at Columbia College. According to his granddaughter, Helen T. Tompkins, this was to distinguish himself from another Daniel Tompkins who was a student there, though records of Columbia College do not list another Daniel Tompkins studying at Columbia at the time. There is controversy as to what the middle initial stood for; some have suggested "Decius". The generally accepted conclusion is that it did not stand for anything and served only to distinguish him from another Daniel Tompkins who perhaps studied with him in primary or secondary school.
== Early life ==
Daniel D. Tompkins was born on June 21, 1774, in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York, at his family's home, the estate of Fox Meadow. His parents were Sarah Ann (Hyatt) and Jonathan Griffin Tompkins. His older brother, Caleb Tompkins was a U.S. representative from 1817 to 1821. Daniel Tompkins graduated from Columbia College in New York City in 1795, and then studied law with James Kent and Peter Jay Munro. He was admitted to the bar in 1797, and practiced in New York City.
== Family ==
On February 20, 1798, Daniel Tompkins, 23, married 16-year-old Hannah Minthorne, the daughter of Mangle Minthorne, an assistant alderman of New York City. The couple had eight children, including Arietta Minthorn Tompkins (born July 31, 1800), who married a son of Smith Thompson in 1818; Hannah, wife of Dr. John S. Westervelt; and (Mangle) Minthorne Tompkins (December 26, 1807 – June 5, 1881), who was the Free Soil Party candidate for Governor of New York in 1852. Hannah and Minthorne were named after their mother. The Tompkinses also fostered young orphan Henry Brewerton (1801–1879). Brewerton attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, and served as an Army engineer officer from 1819 to 1867.
Hannah was ill in the year before her husband became Vice President, and did not attend his inauguration. She survived him by nearly four years in Tompkinsville.
== Political career ==
=== Early years ===
Despite the Federalist leanings of Kent and Munro, Tompkins entered politics as a Democratic-Republican. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801, and a member of the New York State Assembly in 1804. In 1804, he was elected US Representative. He resigned before the beginning of the term to accept, at age 30, an appointment as associate justice of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature, in which capacity he served from 1804 to 1807.
=== Governor ===
On April 30, 1807, Tompkins was elected Governor of New York, defeating incumbent Morgan Lewis – by 35,074 votes to 30,989. He was 33 when elected and is the youngest governor of New York. He was reelected three times: in 1810, defeating Jonas Platt by 43,094 votes to 36,484; in 1813, defeating Stephen Van Rensselaer by 43,324 votes to 39,718; and 1816, defeating Rufus King by 45,412 votes to 38,647. Tompkins was supported by New York mayor DeWitt Clinton in his first run for Governor. But when Clinton challenged President James Madison in the 1812 election, Tompkins broke with Clinton, and supported Madison.
During the War of 1812, Tompkins proved to be one of the most effective war governors. He played an important role in reorganizing the state militia and promoted the formation of a standing state military force based on select conscription. He declined an appointment as United States Secretary of State by President James Madison in 1814, instead accepting appointment as commander of the federal military district that included New York City. Tompkins even financed New York's war effort with money borrowed on his personal credit. But he did not carefully document these very substantial expenditures, and was denied reimbursement.
The Gradual Manumission Act of July 4, 1799 provided for the eventual manumission of slave children born in New York after that date. In 1817, at Tompkins' suggestion, New York enacted emancipation of all slaves, to take effect on July 4, 1827. The "Fifth of July" celebration in New York commemorates the final outcome.
=== Vice presidency (1817–1825) ===
Many New York Democratic-Republicans supported Tompkins for President in the 1816 election, but James Monroe received the party's nomination. Tompkins was instead elected Vice President as Monroe's running mate. Tompkins was re-elected in 1820. He served from March 4, 1817, to March 4, 1825.
When Tompkins became Vice President, he was in poor health, due to a fall from a horse on November 3, 1814. His finances were also quite poor due to his unreimbursed war expenses. He also slipped into alcoholism.
With poor physical and financial health, Tompkins spent much of his vice presidency outside of Washington, D.C., and made for a poor presiding officer of the Senate while it debated the Missouri Compromise in 1820.
In April 1820, while serving as Vice President, he ran for Governor of New York against incumbent DeWitt Clinton. Tompkins lost, 45,900 votes to 47,447. He was a delegate to the 1821 New York State Constitutional Convention, serving as its president.
In 1823, Tompkins finally won compensation from the federal government, but he continued to drink heavily and was unable to resolve his business affairs.
== Death ==
Tompkins died in Tompkinsville on June 11, 1825, 10 days before his 51st birthday. He was interred in the Minthorne vault in the west yard of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, New York City, as was his wife. His post-vice presidency lifespan is the shortest of any Vice President, and he also lived the shortest life of any now-deceased Vice President. He was the youngest Vice President until John C. Breckinridge in 1857 at 36. He was the only 19th-century Vice President to serve two terms under the same President, and two full terms at all.
== Staten Island developer ==
in 1815, Tompkins purchased the Van Buskirk Farm in New Brighton and property on Grymes Hill on the northeastern shore of Staten Island. There he established a settlement named Tompkinsville. His main residence was located on Fort Hill in Tompkinsville; it burned down in 1874. Minthorne Street Hannah Street, and Westervelt Avenue in Tompkinsville are named for his son, daughter, and son-in-law.
He built a dock in the neighborhood in 1817 and offered daily ferry service between Staten Island and Manhattan. In 1816 he acquired additional land from the Church of St. Andrew, but his financial troubles later led the church to foreclose. The Westervelts then bought the property, which they later divided into many lots to sell off.
== Freemasonry ==
Apart from his political career, Tompkins was an active Freemason throughout his life. He was a member of Hiram Lodge 72, Mount Pleasant, New York and became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York from 1820 to 1822. The Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel at the Masonic Home in Utica, New York was built in his honor in 1911. The Grand Lodge of New York celebrated the centennial of the chapel on June 25, 2011.
He also served as the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Scottish Rite, a branch of Freemasonry. Tompkins served in this capacity from 1813 to 1825, although he did not devote much time to the newly formed group.
== Legacy ==
The Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island is named for Tompkins, and streets in that neighborhood are named for his children. Tompkins Masonic Lodge #471 in that same section of Staten Island is also named for him. Tompkins is credited with being one of the founding members of the Brighton Heights Reformed Church on Staten Island. The church was founded in 1823, during his term as vice president. Its first meeting place was in New York Marine Hospital (then known as the Quarantine), a predecessor of the immigration facility on Ellis Island.
Four forts in New York State in the War of 1812 were named for Governor Tompkins, in Staten Island, Sackets Harbor, Buffalo, and Plattsburgh.
Tompkins Park in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York (now called Herbert Von King Park) was named after Tompkins. The nearby Tompkins Avenue and Tompkins Public Houses are likewise named.
Tompkins County in New York, Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, Public School 69 Daniel D. Tompkins School in Staten Island, and the Town of Tompkins are named after him, as is Tompkins Road, running between Post Road (NY-22) and Fenimore Road in Scarsdale, New York.
Tompkinsville, Kentucky, is named for Tompkins. It is the county seat of Monroe County, Kentucky, which is named for the President under whom Tompkins served as Vice President.
Tompkins was mentioned by Kris Kringle in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street. The screenplay was incorrect, however, in that Kringle mentions that Tompkins served as vice president under John Quincy Adams when Adams's vice president was actually John C. Calhoun. Tompkins was the sixth vice president and Adams was the sixth president, leading to confusion in the script.
American actor and producer Richard Kollmar, husband of columnist and TV personality Dorothy Kilgallen, was a great-great-grandchild of Tompkins. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zemeckis | Robert Zemeckis | Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1951), sometimes referred to as Bob Zemeckis, is an American filmmaker. Known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential films that often blend cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling, he has received accolades such as two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for five British Academy Film Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Zemeckis gained some recognition for his short film A Field of Honor (1973), which awarded him a Student Academy Award for Special Jury Prize at USC. He started his career directing the comedy films I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Used Cars (1980), and Romancing the Stone (1984). He gained prominence directing the sci-fi comedy Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), the fantasy comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and the comedy-drama Forrest Gump (1994), the latter of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director. He is one of only a few people to win Academy Awards for both student and competitive work.
Zemeckis has also directed the satirical black comedy Death Becomes Her (1992), the science fiction film Contact (1997), and the drama films Cast Away (2000), Flight (2012), The Walk (2015), and Allied (2016). His exploration of motion capture techniques is seen in the animated films The Polar Express (2004) and A Christmas Carol (2009), as well as the action fantasy drama Beowulf (2007) and the drama Welcome to Marwen (2018). He has collaborated with film composer Alan Silvestri since 1984, and directed Tom Hanks in five films.
== Early life ==
Robert Lee Zemeckis was born in Chicago on May 14, 1951, the son of Italian-American mother Rosa (née Nespeca) and Lithuanian-American father Alphonse Zemeckis. He grew up in a working-class family on Chicago's South Side, where he attended a Catholic grade school and Fenger Academy High School. He said of his childhood, "The truth was that in my family there was no art. I mean, there was no music, there were no books, there was no theater... the only thing I had that was inspirational was television."
As a child, Zemeckis loved television and was fascinated by his parents' 8 mm film home movie camera. Starting off by filming family events like birthdays and holidays, he gradually began producing narrative films with his friends that incorporated stop-motion work and other visual effects. He remained an avid television viewer, about which he later said, "You hear so much about the problems with television but I think that it saved my life." Television gave him his first glimpse of a world outside of his upbringing, specifically after he learned that film schools existed from an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After seeing Bonnie and Clyde with his father, he decided that he wanted to go to film school. His parents disapproved of the idea. He later clarified that they disapproved "only in the sense that they were concerned" because "this was the kind of dream that really was impossible" for family and my friends in the world he grew up in. He said, "My parents would sit there and say, 'Don't you see where you come from? You can't be a movie director.' I guess maybe some of it I felt I had to do in spite of them, too."
Zemeckis first attended Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois, and gained early experience in film as a film cutter for NBC News in Chicago during a summer break. He also edited commercials in his home state. He applied to transfer from NIU to the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, where he went into the Film School on the strength of an essay and a music video based on a Beatles song. After waiting to hear back from the university, he called them directly and was told he had been rejected because of his average grades. He gave an "impassioned plea" to the university official during the phone call, promising to go to summer school and improve his studies, and eventually convinced the school to accept him.
Arriving at USC that fall, Zemeckis encountered a program that he later described as being "made up of a bunch of hippies [and] considered an embarrassment by the university". The classes were difficult, with professors constantly stressing how hard the film industry was. Zemeckis remembered not being much fazed by this, citing the "healthy cynicism" that had been bred into him from his Chicago upbringing. He met a fellow student, writer Bob Gale, who later recalled, "The graduate students at USC had this veneer of intellectualism... so Bob and I gravitated toward one another because we wanted to make Hollywood movies. We weren't interested in the French New Wave. We were interested in Clint Eastwood and James Bond and Walt Disney, because that's how we grew up." Zemeckis graduated from USC in 1973, and he and Gale co-wrote the unproduced screenplays Tank and Bordello of Blood, which they pitched to John Milius, the latter of which was later developed into a film that was released in 1996.
== Career ==
=== 1978–1984: Early comedy films ===
As a result of winning a Student Academy Award at USC for his film A Field of Honor, Zemeckis came to the attention of Steven Spielberg. Spielberg said, "He barged right past my secretary and sat me down and showed me this student film ... and I thought it was spectacular, with police cars and a riot, all dubbed to Elmer Bernstein's score for The Great Escape." Spielberg became Zemeckis's mentor and executive produced his first two films, both of which Gale and Zemeckis co-wrote.
Spielberg produced I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978, starring Nancy Allen) and Used Cars (1980, starring Kurt Russell); both were critical, but not commercial, successes. I Wanna Hold Your Hand was the first of several Zemeckis films to incorporate historic figures and celebrities into his movies; he used archival footage and doubles to simulate the presence of the Beatles. After the failure of his first two films, and the Spielberg-directed 1941 (1979) (written by Gale and Zemeckis), the pair gained a reputation for writing "scripts that everyone thought were great [but] somehow didn't translate into movies people wanted to see."
As a result of his reputation within the industry, Zemeckis had trouble finding work in the early 1980s, though he and Gale kept busy. They wrote scripts for other directors, including Car Pool for Brian De Palma and Growing Up for Spielberg; neither ended up getting made. Another Zemeckis-Gale project, Back to the Future, about a teenager who travels back in time to the 1950s, was turned down by every major studio. The director was jobless until Michael Douglas hired him in 1984 to direct Romancing the Stone. A romantic adventure starring Douglas and Kathleen Turner, Stone was expected to flop (to the point that, after viewing a rough cut of the film, the producers of the then-in-the-works Cocoon fired Zemeckis as director), but the film became a sleeper hit. While working on Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis met composer Alan Silvestri, who has scored all his subsequent pictures.
=== 1985–1999: Breakthrough and acclaim ===
After Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis had the clout to direct his time-traveling screenplay. Starring Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Christopher Lloyd, the 1985 film was wildly successful upon its release and was followed by two sequels, released as Back to the Future Part II in 1989 and Back to the Future Part III in 1990. Before the Back to the Future sequels were released, Zemeckis collaborated with Disney and directed another film, the madcap 1940s-set mystery Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which combined live-action and traditional animation; its $70 million budget made it one of the most expensive films made up to that point. The film was both a financial and critical success and won three Academy Awards. In 1990, Zemeckis commented, when asked if he would want to make non-comedies, "I would like to be able to do everything. Just now, though, I'm too restless to do anything that's not really zany."
In 1992, Zemeckis directed the black comedy Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis. Although his next film would have some comedic elements, it was Zemeckis's first with dramatic elements and was also his biggest commercial success to date, Forrest Gump. Starring Tom Hanks in the title role, Forrest Gump tells the story of a man with a low I.Q., who unwittingly participates in some of the major events of the twentieth century, falls in love, and interacts with several major historical figures in the process. The film grossed $677 million worldwide and became the top-grossing American film of 1994; it won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Hanks, and Best Director for Zemeckis. From this point, Hanks and Zemeckis became frequent collaborators. In 1997, Zemeckis directed Contact, a long-gestating project based on Carl Sagan's 1985 novel of the same name. The film centers on Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster), who believes she has made contact with extraterrestrials. In the early 1990s, he founded South Side Amusement Company, which later became ImageMovers.
During this same time period, Zemeckis was an executive producer of HBO's Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) and directed three episodes. In 1999, Zemeckis donated $5 million towards the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts at USC, a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) center. When the Center opened in March 2001, Zemeckis spoke in a panel about the future of film, alongside friends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Of those (including Spielberg) who clung to celluloid and disparaged the idea of shooting digitally, Zemeckis said, "These guys are the same ones who have been saying that LPs sound better than CDs. You can argue that until you're blue in the face, but I don't know anyone who's still buying vinyl. The film, as we have traditionally thought of it, is going to be different. But the continuum is man's desire to tell stories around the campfire. The only thing that keeps changing is the campfire." The Robert Zemeckis Center currently hosts many film school classes, much of the Interactive Media Division, and Trojan Vision, USC's student television station, which has been voted the number one college television station in the country.
In 1996, Zemeckis had begun developing a project titled The Castaway with Tom Hanks and writer William Broyles Jr. The story, inspired by Robinson Crusoe, is about a man who becomes stranded on a tropical island and undergoes a profound physical and spiritual change. While working on The Castaway, Zemeckis also became attached to a Hitchcockian thriller titled What Lies Beneath, the story of a married couple experiencing an extreme case of empty nest syndrome that was based on an idea by Steven Spielberg. Because Hanks's character needed to undergo a dramatic weight loss over the course of The Castaway (retitled Cast Away for release), Zemeckis decided that the only way to retain the same crew while Hanks lost the weight was to shoot What Lies Beneath in between. He shot the first part of Cast Away in early 1999, and shot What Lies Beneath in fall 1999, completing work on the former in early 2000. Zemeckis later quipped, when asked about shooting two films back-to-back, "I wouldn't recommend it to anyone." What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, was released in July 2000 to mixed reviews, but did well at the box office, grossing over $155 million domestically. Cast Away, starring Hanks and Twister actress Helen Hunt, was released that December and grossed $233 million domestically; Hanks received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Chuck Noland.
=== 2004–present: Career fluctuations ===
In 2004, Zemeckis re-collaborated with Hanks for The Polar Express, based on Chris Van Allsburg's children's book of the same name. The Polar Express utilized the computer animation technique known as motion capture, where the movements of the actors are captured digitally and used as the basis for the animated characters. As the first film to use motion capture, The Polar Express caused The New York Times to write that, "Whatever critics and audiences make of this movie, from a technical perspective it could mark a turning point in the gradual transition from an analog to a digital cinema." Zemeckis served as an executive producer for Monster House (2006), a family-friendly horror comedy film that used motion capture.
In February 2007, Zemeckis and Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook announced plans for a new motion capture film company devoted to CGI-created, 3-D movies. The company, ImageMovers Digital, created films using the motion capture technology, with Zemeckis directing most of the projects which Disney distributed and marketed worldwide. Zemeckis used the motion capture technology again in his film, Beowulf, to retell the Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the same name. It featured Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, and Anthony Hopkins. Neil Gaiman, who co-wrote the adaptation with Roger Avary, described the film as a "cheerfully violent and strange take on the Beowulf legend." The film was released on November 16, 2007, to mostly positive reviews and grossed $196 million worldwide. In July 2007, Variety announced that Zemeckis had written a screenplay for A Christmas Carol, based on Charles Dickens's 1843 short story of the same name, with plans to use motion capture and release it under the aegis of ImageMovers Digital. Zemeckis wrote the script with Jim Carrey in mind, and Carrey agreed to play a multitude of roles in the film, including Ebenezer Scrooge as a young, middle-aged, and old man, and the three ghosts who haunt Scrooge. The film began production in February 2008 and was released on November 6, 2009, to mixed reviews and grossed $325 million at the box office. Actor Gary Oldman also appeared in the film. Zemeckis is an avid supporter of 3-D Digital Cinema and has stated that since the 3-D presentations of Beowulf, all of his future films would be done in 3-D using digital motion capture. He has reportedly backed away from that statement and said that the decision to use 3-D will be on a film-by-film basis.
On August 19, 2009, it was reported that Zemeckis and his company were in talks with Apple Corps Ltd. to remake the animated film Yellow Submarine utilizing motion capture. However, on March 12, 2010, with Zemeckis's biggest Disney ally, former chairman Dick Cook, gone, and amid drastic cost-cutting by the new management team, Disney announced that it was ending its relationship with ImageMovers Digital. The studio's final film, 2011's Zemeckis-produced Mars Needs Moms, was the second-worst box office failure in history, with a net loss of roughly $130 million. Zemeckis made his comeback to live-action filmmaking with Flight, a 2012 drama for Paramount, starring Denzel Washington. On January 31, 2014, it was announced that a stage musical adaptation of Zemeckis's first Back to the Future film was in production. The show would be co-written by original writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. According to Gale, the musical would be "true to the spirit of the film without being a slavish remake".
In August 2008, IGN revealed in an interview with Philippe Petit that Zemeckis was working with Petit to turn Petit's memoir To Reach the Clouds into a feature film. In 2015, he directed The Walk, about Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his ambition to tightrope walk between the towers of New York City's World Trade Center. Paramount Pictures and New Regency announced in February 2015 that Zemeckis would direct Brad Pitt in Allied, a romantic thriller set during World War II. The film was released on November 23, 2016. Next, Zemeckis directed the fantasy drama Welcome to Marwen, starring Steve Carell, which was released in December 2018 to mixed reviews and flopped at the box office. Zemeckis's film The Witches, an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel of the same name, premiered on October 22, 2020, on HBO Max, also to mixed reviews.
On October 18, 2019, it was announced that Zemeckis was in talks to direct Disney's live-action adaptation of Pinocchio. Zemeckis was officially announced as the film's director and co-writer of the script in January 2020. In addition, Tom Hanks was reportedly announced as playing Geppetto in the film, marking the fourth collaboration with Hanks since Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and The Polar Express. The film was later released, as part of Disney+ Day on Disney+, on September 8, 2022, to highly negative reviews from critics. Pinocchio was nominated for six Razzies, including Worst Picture and Worst Director for Zemeckis ("winning" Worst Remake), losing to Blonde. Despite this, it also received a Visual Effects Society Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature.
On February 17, 2022, Zemeckis signed on to direct Here, an adaptation of the graphic novel by Richard McGuire, with Tom Hanks set to star and Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth working on the screenplay with Zemeckis. On May 11, it was announced that Robin Wright had been cast and that TriStar Pictures had acquired distribution rights for the United States, with Miramax handling international sales and production expected to begin in September 2022 for a theatrical release in 2024. On October 31, 2024, Zemeckis, during an appearance on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote Here, hinted at his plans to produce and direct a film adaptation of the stage musical version of Back to the Future that would also serve as a remake of the original film. Universal has yet to green-light the project after an initial rejection of Zemeckis' pitch to the studio.
== Style and recognition ==
Zemeckis is regarded as an innovator in visual effects. His exploration of state-of-the-art visual effects includes the early use of computer graphics inserted into live-action footage
in Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Forrest Gump, the insertion of hand-drawn animation into live-action footage in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the motion capture techniques seen in The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007), A Christmas Carol (2009), and Welcome to Marwen (2018). He is known for his collaboration with composer Alan Silvestri, with whom he has worked since Romancing the Stone. David Thomson, a prominent film critic, wrote that "no other contemporary director has used visual effects to more dramatic and narrative purpose."
== Personal life ==
Zemeckis was married to actress Mary Ellen Trainor from 1980 until their divorce in 2000, and they had a son together named Alexander Francis. He described the marriage as difficult to balance with his career. In 2001, he married actress Leslie Harter in Venice. They have three children together. They reside in Santa Barbara, California, and own a villa in Tuscany which is located on the ruins of a 10th century castle.
Zemeckis has discussed sacrificing his personal life for his career over a long period of time, stating, "I won an Academy Award when I was 42 years old, but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school 'til 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life."
Zemeckis is a private pilot who has logged approximately 1,600 hours of flight time as of October 2012, flying a Cirrus SR22.
According to campaign donation records, Zemeckis has frequently contributed to Democratic politicians and PACs that support the interests of aircraft owners and pilots, family planning, and a group that advocates for women in Hollywood.
== Filmography ==
=== Feature film ===
Short film
=== Television ===
== Awards and nominations ==
In 1996, Zemeckis received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member George Lucas.
In 1998, Zemeckis received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Special Achievement Award.
On November 5, 2004, Zemeckis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in Motion Picture at 6925 Hollywood Blvd.
Accolades received by individual films
Directed Academy Award performancesUnder Zemeckis' direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scottish_monarchs | List of Scottish monarchs | The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, Kenneth I MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) was the founder and first King of the Kingdom of Scotland (although he never held the title historically, being King of the Picts instead). The Kingdom of the Picts just became known as the Kingdom of Alba in Scottish Gaelic, which later became known in Scots and English as Scotland; the terms are retained in both languages to this day. By the late 11th century at the very latest, Scottish kings were using the term rex Scottorum, or King of Scots, to refer to themselves in Latin.
The Kingdom of Scotland relinquished its sovereignty and independence when it unified with the Kingdom of England to form a single Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Thus, Queen Anne became the last monarch of the ancient kingdoms of Scotland and England and the first of Great Britain, although the kingdoms had shared a monarch since 1603 (see Union of the Crowns). Her uncle Charles II was the last monarch to be crowned in Scotland, at Scone in 1651. He had a second coronation in England ten years later.
== Heraldry ==
== List of monarchs of Scotland ==
=== House of Alpin (848–1034) ===
The reign of Kenneth MacAlpin begins what is often called the House of Alpin, an entirely modern concept. The descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin were divided into two branches; the crown would alternate between the two, the death of a king from one branch often hastened by war or assassination by a pretender from the other. Malcolm II was the last king of the House of Alpin; in his reign, he successfully crushed all opposition to him and, having no sons, was able to pass the crown to his daughter's son, Duncan I, who inaugurated the House of Dunkeld.
*Eochiad was a son of Run, King of Strathclyde, but his mother was a daughter of Kenneth I. Evidence of his reign is unclear. He may have never actually been king and if he was, he was co-king with Giric.
¤Amlaíb is known only by a reference to his death in 977, which reports him as King of Alba; since Kenneth II is known to have still been King in 972–973, Amlaíb must have taken power between 973 and 977.
=== House of Dunkeld (1034–1040) ===
Duncan succeeded to the throne as the maternal grandson of Malcolm II. The House of Dunkeld was therefore closely related to the House of Alpin. Duncan was killed in battle by Macbeth, another maternal grandson of Malcolm II.
=== House of Moray (1040–1058) ===
Macbeth came to power in 1040 after killing Duncan I in battle and had a long and relatively successful reign. Macbeth may have been a maternal grandson of Malcolm II and thus possibly a cousin of Duncan. He married Gruoch in 1032, who may have had a claim to the Scottish throne herself, being the granddaughter of either Kenneth II or Kenneth III. In a series of battles between 1057 and 1058, Duncan's son Malcolm III defeated and killed Macbeth and Macbeth's stepson and heir Lulach and became the king, thereby passing the throne back to the House of Dunkeld.
=== House of Dunkeld (restored) (1058–1286) ===
In a series of battles between 1057 and 1058, Duncan's son Malcolm III defeated and killed Macbeth and Macbeth's stepson and heir Lulach, claiming the throne. The dynastic feuds did not end there: on Malcolm III's death in battle, his brother Donald III, known as "Bán", claimed the throne, expelling Malcolm III's sons from Scotland. A civil war in the family ensued, with Donald III (later supported by Malcolm III's son Edmund) opposed by Malcolm III's other sons, led first by Duncan II and then by Edgar and backed by the Kingdom of England. Edgar triumphed, sending his uncle and brother to monasteries. After the reign of David I, the Scottish throne was passed according to rules of primogeniture, moving from father to son, or where not possible, brother to brother. Alexander III was the last ruler from the house of Dunkeld, and having no sons, the throne was inherited by his granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway.
=== House of Sverre (1286–1290) ===
Margaret, Maid of Norway inherited the throne in 1286, but died in 1290 in Orkney on her way to be crowned. During her absence, Scotland was ruled by a set of guardians. After her death, Scotland entered a period of interregnum, where 13 contenders fought for the throne and ultimately, John Balliol succeeded.
The status of Margaret, as a Scottish monarch is debated by historians. She was never crowned, and her contemporaries in Scotland described her as "queen" very rarely, referring to her instead as Scotland's "lady", "heir", or "lady and heir". On the other hand, documents issued from late 1286 no longer refer to the "king whosoever he may be", indicating that the throne may have been regarded as already occupied by Margaret. In modern historiography she is nearly unanimously called "queen", and reference books give 19 March 1286, the date of Alexander III's death, as the start of her reign.
=== First Interregnum (1286–1292) ===
The First Interregnum began upon the death of Alexander III of Scotland in 1286. Alexander's only surviving descendant was his granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, a young child, who inherited the throne in 1286. A set of guardians were appointed to rule Scotland in her absence since she was living in Norway where her father Eric II was king. She was finally sent to Scotland in 1290 but died before arriving in Scotland. The next king of Scots was not determined until completion of an arbitration in 1292.
=== House of Balliol (1292–1296) ===
The death of Margaret of Norway began a two-year interregnum in Scotland caused by a succession crisis. With her death, the descent of William I became extinct and there was no obvious heir. Thirteen candidates presented themselves; the most prominent were John Balliol, great-grandson of William I's younger brother David of Huntingdon, and Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, grandson of David of Huntingdon. The Scottish magnates invited Edward I of England to arbitrate the claims. He did so but forced the Scots to swear allegiance to him as overlord. Eventually, it was decided that John Balliol should become king. He proved weak and incapable and, in 1296, was forced to abdicate by Edward I who then attempted to annex Scotland into the Kingdom of England.
=== Second Interregnum (1296–1306) ===
John Balliol abdicated in March 1296. That same month Edward I invaded Scotland. The second set of guardians were appointed under Edward I who ruled from 1296 to 1306, until the election of Robert the Bruce as the king of Scotland.
=== House of Bruce (1306–1371) ===
For ten years, Scotland had no king. The Scots, however, refused to tolerate English rule. First William Wallace and Andrew Moray, then John Comyn, and finally Robert the Bruce (the grandson of the 1292 competitor, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale who in turn was the grandson of David of Huntingdon, younger brother of William I) fought against the English. Bruce and his supporters had murdered their rival to the throne of Scotland, John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, on 10 February 1306 at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries. Shortly after in 1306, Robert was crowned King of Scots at Scone. Robert Bruce was then hunted down for his crime of murder, and subsequently, he escaped to the outskirt islands, leaving the country completely leaderless, and the English invaded once again. Bruce returned a year later and gained support for his cause. His energy, and the corresponding replacement of the vigorous Edward I with his weaker son Edward II in 1307, allowed Scotland to free itself from English rule. At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scots routed the English, and by 1328 the English had agreed by treaty to accept Scottish independence. Robert's son, David, acceded to the throne as a child. The English renewed their war with Scotland, and David was forced to flee the kingdom by Edward Balliol, son of King John, who managed to get himself crowned (1332–1356) and to give away Scotland's southern counties to England before being driven out again. David spent much of his life in exile, first in freedom with his ally, France, and then in prison in England. He was only able to return to Scotland in 1357. Upon his death, childless, in 1371, the House of Bruce came to an end.
=== House of Balliol (Disputed claimant) (1332–1356) ===
Edward Balliol was the son of King John Balliol, who had himself ruled for four years following his election in the Great Cause. Following his abdication, John Balliol lived out his life in obscurity in Picardy, France. During the minority of David II, Edward Balliol seized the opportunity to assert his claim to the throne, and backed by the English, he defeated the forces of David's regency and was himself crowned king at Scone in 1332. He was quickly defeated by loyalist forces and sent back to England. With English support, he would mount two more attempts to seize the throne again, in 1333 and 1335, each time his actual control of the throne was brief before being sent back to England, for the last time in 1336. When David returned from exile in 1341 to rule in his own right, Edward lost most of his support. When David II was captured in battle in 1346, Edward made one last attempt to seize the throne for himself but had little support and the campaign fizzled before it gained much traction. In 1356 he renounced all claims to the throne.
=== House of Stewart/Stuart (1371–1651) ===
Robert the Stewart was a grandson of Robert I by the latter's daughter, Marjorie. Having been born in 1316, he was older than his uncle, David II. Consequently, he was at his accession a middle-aged man, already 55, and unable to reign vigorously, a problem also faced by his son Robert III, who also ascended in middle age at 53 in 1390, and suffered lasting damage in a horse-riding accident. These two were followed by a series of regencies, caused by the youth of the succeeding five boy kings. Consequently, the Stewart era saw periods of royal inertia, during which the nobles usurped power from the crown, followed by periods of personal rule by the monarch, during which he or she would attempt to address the issues created by their minority and the long-term effects of previous reigns. Governing Scotland became increasingly difficult, as the powerful nobility became increasingly intractable. James I's attempts to curb the disorder of the realm ended in his assassination. James III was killed in a civil war between himself and the nobility, led by his son. When James IV, who had governed sternly and suppressed the aristocrats, died in the Battle of Flodden, his wife Margaret Tudor, who had been nominated regent for their young son James V, was unseated by noble feuding, and James V's wife, Mary of Guise, succeeded in ruling Scotland during the regency for her young daughter Mary I only by dividing and conquering the noble factions, distributing French bribes with a liberal hand. Finally, Mary I, the daughter of James V, found herself unable to govern Scotland faced with the surliness of the aristocracy and the intransigence of the population, who favored Calvinism and disapproved of her Catholicism. She was forced to abdicate, and fled to England, where she was imprisoned in various castles and manor houses for eighteen years and finally executed for treason against the English queen Elizabeth I. Upon her abdication, her son, fathered by Henry, Lord Darnley, a junior member of the Stewart family, became King as James VI.
James VI became King of England and Ireland as James I in 1603 when his cousin Elizabeth I died. Thereafter, although the two crowns of England and Scotland remained separate, the monarchy was based chiefly in England. Charles I, James's son, found himself faced with the Civil War. The resultant conflict lasted eight years and ended in his execution. The English Parliament then decreed their monarchy to be at an end. The Scots Parliament, after some deliberation, broke their links with England and declared that Charles II, son, and heir of Charles I, would become King. He ruled until 1651 when the armies of Oliver Cromwell occupied Scotland and drove him into exile.
=== Third Interregnum (1651–1660) ===
=== House of Stuart (restored) (1660–1707) ===
With the Scottish Restoration, the Stuarts became Kings of Scotland once more but Scotland's rights were not respected. During the reign of Charles II, the Scottish Parliament was dissolved and James was appointed Governor of Scotland. James II himself became James VII in 1685. His Catholicism was not tolerated, and he was driven out of England after three years. In his place came his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, the ruler of the Dutch Republic. The two were accepted as monarchs of Scotland after a period of deliberation by the Scottish Parliament and ruled together as William II and Mary II.
An attempt to establish a Scottish colonial empire through the Darien Scheme, in rivalry to that of England, failed, leaving the Scottish nobles who financed the venture for their profit bankrupt. This coincided with the accession of Queen Anne, daughter of James VII. Anne had multiple children but none of these survived her, leaving as her heir her half-brother, James, then living in exile in France. The English favored the Protestant Sophia of Hanover (a granddaughter of James VI) as heir. Many Scots preferred Prince James, who as a Stuart was a Scot by ancestry, and threatened to break the Union of Crowns between England and Scotland by choosing him for themselves. To preserve the union, the English elaborated a plan whereby the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England would merge into a single Kingdom, the Kingdom of Great Britain, ruled by a common monarch, and with a single Parliament. Both national parliaments agreed to this (the Scots albeit reluctantly, motivated primarily by the national finances), and some subterfuge as a total majority of signatories were needed to ratify the Scottish parliament's assent, bribes, and payments. Thereafter, although monarchs continued to rule over the nation of Scotland, they did so first as monarchs of Great Britain, and from 1801 of the United Kingdom.
== Acts of Union ==
The Acts of Union were twin acts of Parliament passed during 1706 and 1707 by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland, putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, agreed on 22 July 1706, following prolonged negotiation between Queen Anne's Commissioners representing both parliaments. The acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to form a united Kingdom of Great Britain.
Scotland and England had shared a common monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when the Scottish king James VI succeeded to the English throne. Although described as a Union of Crowns, before the Acts of Union of 1707, the crowns of the two separate kingdoms had rested on the same head. Three unsuccessful attempts (in 1606, 1667, and 1689) were made to unite the two kingdoms by acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that the idea had the will of both political establishments to succeed, thereby bringing the two separate states together under a single parliament as well as a single monarch.
== Later claimants ==
James VII continued to claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. When he died in 1701, his son James inherited his father's claims and called himself James VIII of Scotland and III of England and Ireland. He would continue to do so all his life, even after the Kingdoms of England and Scotland were ended by their merging as the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1715, a year after the death of his half-sister, Queen Anne, and the accession of their cousin George of Hanover, James landed in Scotland and attempted to claim the throne. He failed and was forced to flee back to the Continent. A second attempt by his son Charles, on behalf of his father, in 1745–6, also failed. Both James's children died without legitimate issue, bringing the Stuart family to an end.
James Francis Edward Stuart, also known as The Old Pretender, son of James VII, was claimant as "James VIII" ("James III" in England and Ireland) from 1701 until he died in 1766.
Charles Edward Stuart, also known as The Young Pretender and often called Bonnie Prince Charlie, son of James VIII, was claimant as "Charles III" from his father's death until his death in 1788 without legitimate issue.
Henry Benedict Stuart, brother of Charles III and youngest son of James VIII, was claimant as "Henry I" ("Henry IX" in England and Ireland). As a Catholic cleric, Henry died unmarried and without issue in 1807.
After 1807, the Jacobite claims passed first to the House of Savoy (1807–1840), then to the Modenese branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (1840–1919), and finally to the House of Wittelsbach (since 1919). The current heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria. Neither he nor any of his predecessors since 1807 have pursued their claim.
In 1971, Ugandan President Idi Amin proclaimed himself to be the uncrowned king of Scotland, although this claim gained no international recognition.
== Timeline of Scottish monarchs ==
== Coronation oath ==
The Scottish coronation oath sworn by James VI, Charles I, and Charles II and approved by the Parliament of Scotland in 1567:
I, N.N., promise faithfully, in the presence of the eternal, my God, that I, enduring the whole Course of my Life, shall serve the same Eternal, my God, to the utmost of my Power, accordingly as he required in his most Holy Word, revealed and contained in the New and Old Testament; and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Jesus Christ, the preaching of his Holy Word, and due and right administration of his Sacraments, now received and practised within this Realm; and shall abolish and oppose all false Religion contrary to the same; and shall rule the People committed to my Charge, according to the Will and Command of God, revealed in his foresaid Word, and according to the lovable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm, in no way repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal, my God; and shall procure to my utmost to the Kirk of God and whole Christian people true and perfect Peace in all times coming; the Rights and Rents, with all just privileges of the Crown of Scotland, I shall preserve and keep inviolate, neither shall I transfer nor alienate the same; I shall forbid and repress in all Estates and all Degrees theft, Oppression and all kind of Wrong; in all Judgements, I shall command and procure that Justice and Equity be kept to all creatures without exception, as he be merciful to me and you that is the Lord and Father of all Mercies; and out of all my lands and empire I shall be careful to root out all Heresy and Enemies to the true Worship of God, that shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God of the foresaid Crimes; and these Things above-written I faithfully affirm by my solemn Oath.
The coronation oath sworn by William II, Mary II and Anne was approved by the Parliament of Scotland on 18 April 1689. The oath was as follows:
WE William and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland, faithfully promise and swear, by this our solemn Oath, in presence of the Eternal God, that during the whole Course of our Life we will serve the same Eternal God, to the uttermost of our Power, according as he has required in his most Holy Word, revealed and contained in the New and Old Testament; and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Christ Jesus, the preaching of his Holy Word, and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments, now received and preached within the Realm of Scotland; and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same, and shall rule the People committed to our Charge, according to the Will and Command of God, revealed in his aforesaid Word, and according to the laudable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm, no ways repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal God; and shall procure, to the utmost of our power, to the Kirk of God, and whole Christian People, true and perfect Peace in all time coming. That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents, with all just Privileges of the Crown of Scotland, neither shall we transfer nor alienate the same; that we shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees, Reif, Oppression and all kind of Wrong. And we shall command and procure, that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be kept to all Persons without exception, us the Lord and Father of all Mercies shall be merciful to us. And we shall be careful to root out all Heretics and Enemies to the true Worship of God, that shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God, of the aforesaid Crimes, out of our Lands and Empire of Scotland. And we faithfully affirm the Things above-written by our solemn Oath. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supernova_remnants | List of supernova remnants | This is a list of observed supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Milky Way, as well as galaxies nearby enough to resolve individual nebulae, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and the Andromeda Galaxy and some nearby galaxies.
Supernova remnants typically only survive for a few tens of thousands of years, making all known SNRs fairly young compared to many other astronomical objects.
== Table == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson | King Crimson | King Crimson are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist and leader Fripp has remained the only constant member throughout the band's long history. The band drew inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, blues, industrial, electronic, and experimental music. They also exerted a strong influence on the early 1970s progressive rock movement, including on contemporaries such as Yes and Genesis, and continue to inspire subsequent generations of artists across multiple genres. The band has earned a large cult following, especially in the 21st century.
The band's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), remains their most commercially successful and influential release. The next two albums, In the Wake of Poseidon and Lizard (both 1970), were recorded during a period of instability in the band's line-up, before a stable group with Fripp, Sinfield, Mel Collins, Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace recorded Islands in 1971. In mid-1972, Fripp disbanded this line-up, recruited new members Bill Bruford (formerly of Yes), John Wetton (formerly of Family), David Cross and Jamie Muir, and changed the group's musical approach, drawing from European free improvisation and modernist classical music and developing ever more complex compositions. The band released three more albums, Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973), Starless and Bible Black (1974) and Red (1974), before Fripp disbanded the group at the end of 1974.
After seven years of inactivity, King Crimson was recreated in 1981 with Fripp, Bruford and new American members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin. Drawing influence from African music, gamelan, post-punk and New York minimalism, this band lasted three years, recording the albums Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984). Following a decade-long hiatus, they reformed in 1994, adding Pat Mastelotto (formerly of Mr. Mister) and Trey Gunn for a sextet line-up Fripp called "The Double Trio". The double trio participated in another three-year cycle of activity that included the EP Vrooom (1994) and the album Thrak (1995). Fripp, Belew, Mastelotto and Gunn reunited in 2000 as a quartet, called "The Double Duo", releasing The Construkction of Light (2000) and The Power to Believe (2003). After another hiatus, the band reformed for a 2008 tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of their 1968 formation, with Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree being added, and Levin returning in place of Gunn.
Following another hiatus (2009–2012), during which Fripp was thought to be retired, King Crimson came together again in 2013, this time as a septet (and, later, octet) with an unusual three-drumkit frontline, and new singer and secondary guitarist Jakko Jakszyk. This version of King Crimson toured from 2014 to 2021. After the band's final show in 2021, Fripp commented that King Crimson had "moved from sound to silence". However, in July 2025 band manager David Singleton confirmed how band members have been working in the recording studio with songs that had previously been performed only in a live concert setting, but Singleton also said he could not confirm if this material would constitute a new album.
== History ==
=== 1967–1968: Giles, Giles and Fripp ===
In August 1967, brothers Michael and Peter Giles, drummer and singer/bassist respectively and pro musicians in working bands since their mid-teens in Dorset, England, advertised for a "singing organist" to join a group they were forming. Fellow Dorset musician Robert Fripp – a guitarist who neither played organ nor sang – responded, and Giles, Giles and Fripp was born. The trio recorded several quirky singles and one eclectic album, The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp. They hovered on the edge of success, and even made a television appearance, but were never able to make a commercial breakthrough.
Attempting to expand their sound, the three recruited Ian McDonald on keyboards and woodwinds. McDonald brought along two new participants: his then-girlfriend, former Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble, whose brief tenure with the group ended when the two split, and lyricist, roadie, and art strategist Peter Sinfield, with whom he had been writing songs – a partnership initiated when McDonald had said to Sinfield (regarding his band Creation), "Peter, I have to tell you that your band is hopeless, but you write some great words. Would you like to get together on a couple of songs?" Fripp, meanwhile, saw Clouds at the Marquee Club in London, which spurred him to incorporate classically inspired melodies into his writing and utilise improvisation to find new ideas.
No longer interested in Peter Giles's more whimsical pop songs, Fripp recommended that his old friend, fellow guitarist and singer Greg Lake, could join to replace either Peter or Fripp himself. Peter Giles later called it one of Fripp's "cute political moves". According to Michael Giles, his brother had become disillusioned with the band's lack of success and departed before Fripp suggested Lake to fill Peter Giles's position as bassist and singer.
=== 1968–1970: Original lineup and In the Court of the Crimson King ===
The first incarnation of King Crimson—Fripp, Michael Giles, Lake, McDonald and Sinfield—was formed on 30 November 1968 with rehearsals beginning on 13 January 1969. Sinfield coined the band's name in "a moment of pressured panic". Sinfield had already used the term "crimson king" in a set of lyrics before his involvement with Giles, Giles and Fripp. Sinfield insisted that the name did not refer to Beelzebub, prince of demons, and that a "crimson king" was any ruler during whose reign there were "societal rumblings" and "sort of the dark forces of the world". According to Fripp, King Crimson is a synonym for Beelzebub, which is an anglicised form of the Arabic phrase "B'il Sabab", meaning "the man with an aim", to which he related.
At this early point, McDonald was the primary composer, with vital contributions from Fripp and Lake, while Sinfield wrote all the lyrics on his own, and also designed and operated the band's unique stage lighting, being credited with "words and illumination" on the album sleeve. Inspired by the Moody Blues, McDonald suggested the group purchase a Mellotron keyboard, and this became a key component of the early Crimson sound. Sinfield described the original Crimson thus: "If it sounded at all popular, it was out. So it had to be complicated, it had to be more expansive chords, it had to have strange influences. If it sounded, like, too simple, we'd make it more complicated, we'd play it in 7/8 or 5/8, just to show off".
King Crimson's first live performance was at the Speakeasy Club in London on 9 April 1969 (with Yes guitarist Peter Banks among the audience). Their big breakthrough came on 5 July 1969 by playing as a support act at the Rolling Stones' free concert in Hyde Park, London, before an estimated 500,000 people.
The debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, was released in October 1969 on Island Records. Fripp would later describe it as having been "an instant smash" and "New York's acid album of 1970" (notwithstanding Fripp and Giles's assertion that the band never used psychedelic drugs). The Who guitarist and composer Pete Townshend called the album "an uncanny masterpiece". The album contains Sinfield's gothic lyrics, and its sound was described as having "dark and doom-laden visions". Its opening track "21st Century Schizoid Man" was described as "proto-metal" and the song's lyrics criticise the Vietnam War. In contrast to the blues-based hard rock of the contemporary British and American scenes, King Crimson presented a more Europeanised approach that blended antiquity and modernity. The band's music drew on a wide range of influences provided by all five group members. These elements included classical music, the psychedelic rock spearheaded by Jimi Hendrix, folk, jazz, military music (partially inspired by McDonald's stint as an army musician) and free improvisation.
After playing gigs across England, the band toured the United States with various pop and rock acts, their first show being at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. While the band found success and critical acclaim, creative tensions were already developing. Giles and McDonald, still striving to cope with King Crimson's rapid success and the realities of touring life, became uneasy with their musical direction. Although he was neither the dominant composer nor the frontman, Fripp was very much the group's driving force and spokesman, leading them into progressively darker and more intense musical areas. McDonald and Giles, now favouring a lighter and more nuanced romantic style, became increasingly uncomfortable and resigned after the conclusion of the US tour in January 1970. To keep the band together, Fripp offered to resign himself, but McDonald declared that King Crimson was "more (him) than them" and that he and Giles should therefore be the ones to leave. McDonald later said he "was probably not emotionally mature enough to handle it" and made a "rash decision to leave without consulting anyone". The original lineup played their last show at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on 14 December 1969, a little over one year after forming. Live recordings of the band from 1969 were released in 1997 on Epitaph and in 2010 on the In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) box set. McDonald and Giles, as a spin-off duo from King Crimson, released the album McDonald and Giles (1971).
=== 1970–1971: In the Wake of Poseidon and Lizard ===
King Crimson spent 1970 in a state of flux with various lineup changes, thwarted tour plans, and difficulties in finding a satisfactory musical direction, while Fripp was learning and developing as a songwriter during the writing process of the next three albums. As well as guitar, Fripp took on keyboard duties, while Sinfield expanded his creative role to operating synthesizers.
Following McDonald's and Giles's departure, Lake, unsure of the band's future without them, began discussions with Keith Emerson of the Nice about possibly forming a new band together. With Fripp and Sinfield planning the recording of the second King Crimson album, and Lake's position uncertain, the band's management booked Elton John to sing the material as a session musician, but Fripp decided against this idea after listening to his Empty Sky album. Lake agreed to stay with the band until Emerson had completed remaining commitments with the Nice, at which point he left to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer with Emerson and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster. On the resulting In the Wake of Poseidon album, Lake provided all the lead vocals except on "Cadence and Cascade", which featured Fripp's old school friend Gordon Haskell. The sessions also included Michael and Peter Giles on drums and bass respectively, saxophonist Mel Collins (formerly of the band Circus) and jazz pianist Keith Tippett.
Upon its release in May 1970, In the Wake of Poseidon reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 31 in the US. It received some criticism from those who thought it sounded too similar to their first album. With no set band to perform the new material, Fripp and Sinfield brought Mel Collins and Gordon Haskell onboard (with Haskell doubling as lead vocalist and bassist and Collins quadrupling as saxophonist, flautist, occasional keyboard player, and backing vocalist), and Andy McCulloch joined as drummer.
Fripp and Sinfield wrote the band's third album, Lizard, themselves – with Haskell, Collins and McCulloch having no say in the direction of the material. In addition to the core band, several session musicians contributed to the Lizard recording, including the returning Keith Tippett, who was offered to be a member of the new lineup, but due to other commitments preferred to continue working with the band as an occasional guest musician, and two members of Tippett's band, Mark Charig on cornet and Nick Evans on trombone. Robin Miller (on oboe and cor anglais) also appeared, while Jon Anderson of Yes was brought in to sing a section of the album's title track, "Prince Rupert Awakes", which Fripp and Sinfield considered to be outside Haskell's natural range and style. Lizard featured stronger jazz and chamber-classical influences than previous albums. The album contains Sinfield's "phantasmagorical" lyrics, including "Happy Family" (an allegory of the break-up of the Beatles), and the title track, a suite which took up the entire second side, describing a medieval battle and its outcome.
Released in December 1970, Lizard reached No. 29 in the UK and No. 113 in the US. Described retrospectively as an "outlier", the album had been made by a group in disagreement over method and taste. The more rhythm-and-blues-oriented Haskell and McCulloch both found the music difficult to relate to, and tedious and confusing to record. Collins disliked how his parts were composed, while both Fripp and Haskell detested Sinfield's lyrics. This lineup of the band did not survive much longer than the Lizard recording sessions. Haskell quit the band acrimoniously during initial tour rehearsals after refusing to sing live with distortion and electronic effects on his voice, and McCulloch departed soon after. With Sinfield not being a musician and Fripp having seemingly given up on the band, Collins was left to search for new members.
=== 1971–1972: Islands ===
After a search for a drummer to replace McCulloch, Ian Wallace was secured. Fripp was re-energised by the addition of a new member, and he joined Collins and Wallace to audition singers and bassists. Vocalists who tried out included Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music and even one of the band's managers, John Gaydon. The position eventually went to Raymond "Boz" Burrell. John Wetton was invited to join on bass, but declined in order to join Family instead. Rick Kemp (later of Steeleye Span) rehearsed with the band, but declined the final offer to formally join. Fripp decided to teach Boz to play bass rather than continue the labored auditions. Though he had not played bass before, Burrell had played enough acoustic guitar to assist him in learning the instrument quickly. Wallace was able to further instruct Burrell in functioning on the instrument in a rhythm section.With a lineup now complete, King Crimson began touring in May 1971, the first time they had played live since the original lineup's last show on 14 December 1969. The concerts were well received, but the musical differences between Fripp and the rest of the group, and the somewhat wilder lifestyles of Collins, Wallace and Burrell, alienated the non-drug-taking Fripp, who began to withdraw socially from his bandmates, creating further tension.
In 1971, the new King Crimson formation recorded Islands. Sinfield, who favoured a softer approach, took lyrical inspiration from Homer's Odyssey, musical inspiration from jazz players like Miles Davis and Ahmad Jamal, and a trip to the Balearic Islands. Islands featured the instrumental "Sailor's Tale", with a droning Mellotron and Fripp's banjo-inspired guitar solo; the raunchy blues-rocker "Ladies of the Road", a tribute to groupies which featured Wallace and Collins singing Beatles-esque backing vocals; and "Song of the Gulls", which was developed from an earlier Fripp instrumental ("Suite No. 1" from Giles, Giles & Fripp's 1968 album), and would be the only time the band would utilize an orchestra. Burrell disliked Sinfield's lyrics and one of the band members allegedly called Islands "an airy-fairy piece of shit".
Released in December 1971, Islands charted at No. 30 in the UK and No. 76 in the US. Following a tour of the United States in December 1971, Fripp informed Sinfield that he could no longer work with him and asked him to leave the band. In January 1972, the remainder of the band broke up acrimoniously in rehearsals, owing partially to Fripp's refusal to play a composition by Collins. He later cited this as "quality control", with the idea that King Crimson would perform the "right" kind of music.
In order to fulfill touring contracts in the United States in 1972, King Crimson reformed with the intention of disbanding immediately after the tour. Recordings from various North American dates between January and February 1972 were released as Earthbound in June of that year. The album was noted for its performance style, that occasionally veered towards funk, and for Burrell's scat singing on the improvised pieces, but was criticised for its sub-par sound quality. Further, better-quality, live recordings from this era would be released in 2002 as Ladies of the Road and in 2017 on the Sailors' Tales (1970–1972) box set.
By this time the musical rift between Fripp and the rest of the band had grown very wide. Wallace, Burrell and Collins favoured improvised blues and funk. Fripp would later describe the 1971–1972 line-up as more of a jam band than an "improvising" band, an opinion with which Wallace disagreed. Personal relations actually improved during the tour to the point where most of the band decided to continue. However Fripp opted to part company with the other three, restructuring King Crimson with new musicians, as he felt the other members would not fully engage with the musical direction he now had in mind.
=== 1972–1975: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Red and hiatus ===
The next incarnation of King Crimson was radically different from the previous configurations. Fripp's four new recruits were free-improvising percussionist Jamie Muir; drummer Bill Bruford, who left Yes at a commercial peak in their career in favour of the "darker" Crimson; bassist and vocalist John Wetton (who left Family); and violinist, keyboardist and flautist David Cross, whom Fripp had met when he was invited to a rehearsal of Waves, a band Cross was working in.
Most of the compositions by this lineup were collaborations between Fripp and Wetton, who each composed segments independently and fitted together those which they found compatible. With Sinfield gone, the band recruited Wetton's friend Richard Palmer-James, formerly of Supertramp, as their new lyricist. Unlike Sinfield, Palmer-James was not an official member of King Crimson, playing no part in artistic decisions, visual ideas, or sonic directions; his sole contributions to the group were his lyrics, sent via mail from his home in Germany. Following a period of rehearsals, King Crimson resumed touring on 13 October 1972 at the Zoom Club in Frankfurt, with the band's penchant for improvisation and Muir's startling stage presence gaining them renewed press attention.
In January and February 1973, King Crimson recorded Larks' Tongues in Aspic in London; the album was released that March. The band's new sound was exemplified by the album's two-part title track – the piece emphasised the sharp instrumental interplay of the band and drew influence from modernist classical music, noisy free improvisation, and heavy metal. The record displayed Muir's unusual approach to percussion, which included a self-modified drum kit, assorted toys, a bullroarer, mbira, gongs, balloons, thunder sheet and chains. On stage, Muir also employed unpredictable, manic movements, bizarre clothing, and fake blood capsules (occasionally spit or applied to the head), becoming the sole example of such theatrical stage activity in the band's long history. The album reached No. 20 in the UK and No. 61 in the US.
After a period of further touring, Muir departed in 1973, quitting the music industry altogether. Muir told King Crimson's management that he had decided a musician's life was not for him, and he had chosen to join a Scottish Buddhist monastery. He offered to serve a period of notice which the management declined. Instead of reiterating Muir's decision, the management informed the band and the public that Muir had sustained an onstage injury caused by a gong landing on his foot.
With Muir gone, the remaining members reconvened in January 1974 to produce Starless and Bible Black, released in March 1974, which earned them a positive Rolling Stone review. Though most of the album was recorded live during the band's late 1973 tour, the recordings were carefully edited and overdubbed to sound like a studio record, with "The Great Deceiver", "Lament" and the second half of "The Night Watch" the only tracks recorded entirely in the studio. The album reached No. 28 in the UK and No. 64 in the US.
Following the album's release, the band began to divide once more, this time over performance. Musically, Fripp found himself positioned between Bruford and Wetton, who played with such force and increasing volume that Fripp once compared them to "a flying brick wall", and Cross, whose amplified acoustic violin was consistently being drowned out by the rhythm section, leading him to concentrate more on keyboards. An increasingly frustrated Cross began to withdraw both musically and personally, with the result being that he was voted out of the group following the band's 1974 tour.
In July 1974, Fripp, Bruford, and Wetton began recording Red. Before recording began, Fripp, now increasingly disillusioned with the music industry, turned his attention to the works of English mystic John G. Bennett and had a spiritual experience in which "the top of my head blew off". Most of the album had been developed during live improvisations before Fripp retreated into himself and "withdrew his opinion", leaving Bruford and Wetton to direct the recording sessions. The album contains one live track, "Providence", recorded on 30 June 1974 in Providence, Rhode Island with Cross playing violin. Several guest musicians (including former members Ian McDonald and Mel Collins) contributed to the album. Released on 6 October 1974, Red went to No. 45 in the UK and No. 66 in the US. AllMusic later called it "an impressive achievement" for a group about to disband, with "intensely dynamic" musical chemistry between the band members.
Two months before the release of Red, King Crimson's future looked bright, with talks regarding founder member Ian McDonald rejoining the group. However, Fripp wished not to tour as he felt increasingly disenchanted by the group and the music industry. He also felt the world was going to drastically change by 1981 and that he had to prepare for it. Despite a band meeting while touring the US in which Fripp expressed a desire to end the band, the group did not formally disband until 25 September 1974 and later Fripp announced that King Crimson had "ceased to exist" and was "completely over for ever and ever". It was later revealed that Fripp had attempted to replace himself with McDonald and Steve Hackett of Genesis, but this was rejected by the managers.
Following the band's disbandment, the live album USA was released in May 1975, formed of recordings from their 1974 North American tour. It received some positive reviews, including "a must" for fans of the band and "insanity you're better off having". Issues with the tapes rendered some of Cross's playing inaudible, so Eddie Jobson of Roxy Music was hired to perform violin and keyboard overdubs in a studio; further edits were also made to allow the music to fit on a single LP. More live recordings from the 1972–1974 era would be issued as The Night Watch in 1997, and as part of the box sets The Great Deceiver (1992), Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1972–1973) (2012), The Road to Red (1974), and Starless (1973–1974) (both 2014). Between 1975 and 1981, King Crimson were completely inactive.
=== 1981–1984: Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair and second hiatus ===
In the late autumn of 1980, having spent several years on spiritual pursuits and then gradually returning to music (playing guitar for David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Daryl Hall, pursuing an experimental solo career, leading instrumental new wave band The League of Gentlemen), Fripp decided to form a new "first division" rock group.
Having recruited Bruford as drummer, Fripp asked the American singer and guitarist Adrian Belew, who had previously played with Bowie and Frank Zappa, to join; this was the first time Fripp would actively seek collaboration with another guitarist in a band, and therefore indicative of his desire to create something unlike any of his previous work. After touring with Talking Heads, Belew agreed to join and also become the band's lyricist. Bruford's suggestion of bassist Jeff Berlin, with whom he had played in Bruford, was rejected as Fripp thought his playing was "too busy", so auditions were held in New York: on the third day, Fripp left after roughly three auditions, only to return several hours later with session bassist Tony Levin (who got the job after playing a single chorus of "Red"). Fripp later confessed that, had he known that Levin (whom Fripp had played with in Peter Gabriel's group) was available and interested, he would have selected him without holding auditions. Fripp named the new quartet Discipline, and they went to England to rehearse and write new material. They made their live debut at Moles Club in Bath, Somerset on 30 April 1981, and completed a short tour supported by the Lounge Lizards. By October 1981, the band had opted to change their name to King Crimson.
In 1981, King Crimson recorded Discipline in London with producer Rhett Davies, who had previously worked with Belew on Talking Heads' Remain in Light and with Fripp on Brian Eno's Another Green World and Before and After Science. The album displayed a very different version of the band, with newer influences including post-punk, new wave, funk, minimalism, pointillism, world music and African percussion and a sound described in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide as having a "jaw-dropping technique" of "knottily rhythmic, harmonically demanding workouts". The title track "Discipline" was described as a postminimalist rock song. Fripp intended to create the sound of a "rock gamelan", with an interlocking rhythmic quality to the paired guitars that he found similar to Indonesian gamelan ensembles. Fripp concentrated on playing complex picked arpeggios, while Belew provided an arsenal of guitar sounds that "often mimic animal noises". In addition to bass guitar, Levin used the Chapman Stick, a ten-string two-handed tapping, hybrid guitar and bass instrument which he played in an "utterly original style". Bruford experimented with cymbal-less acoustic kits and a Simmons SDS-V electronic drum kit. The band's songs were shorter in comparison to previous King Crimson albums, shaped by Belew's pop sensibilities and quirky approach to writing lyrics. Though the band's previous taste for improvisation was now tightly reined in, one instrumental ("The Sheltering Sky") emerged from group rehearsals; the noisy, half-spoken/half-shouted "Indiscipline" was a partially written, part-improvised piece created in order to give Bruford a chance to escape from the strict rhythmic demands of the rest of the album. Released in September 1981, Discipline reached No. 41 in the UK and No. 45 in the US.
In June 1982, King Crimson followed Discipline with Beat, the first King Crimson album recorded with the same band lineup as the album preceding it. Beat is the only album where Fripp had no involvement in the original mixing; Davies and Belew undertook production duties. The album had a linked theme of the Beat Generation and its writings, reflected in song titles such as "Neal and Jack and Me" (inspired by Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac), "Heartbeat" (inspired by Carolyn Cassady's "Heart Beat: My Life with Jack and Neal"), "The Howler" (inspired by Allen Ginsberg's "Howl") and "Waiting Man" (inspired by William Burroughs). The album contained themes of life on the road, existential angst and romanticism. While Beat was more accessible, it had the improvised "Requiem", which featured Frippertronics, a guitar technique invented by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp using a tape loop system.
The recording of Beat was faced with tension, with Belew suffering high stress levels over his duties as front man, lead singer, and principal songwriter. On one occasion, he clashed with Fripp and ordered him out of the studio. As Beat reached No. 39 in the UK and No. 52 in the US, King Crimson resumed touring. "Heartbeat" was released as a single, which peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Around this time the band released the VHS The Noise: Live in Frejus, a document of a show played at the Arena, Frejus, France on 27 August 1982, co-headlining with Roxy Music (whose set from the same show was also released on VHS as The High Road). The VHS was later re-released as part of the Neal and Jack and Me DVD in 2004.
King Crimson's next album, Three of a Perfect Pair, was recorded in 1983 and released in March 1984. Having encountered difficulty in both writing and determining a direction for the album, the band chose to record and call the album's first half a "left side" – four of the band's more pop-oriented songs plus an instrumental – and the second half a "right side" – containing experimental work, improvisations that drew influence from industrial music and the third part of the "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" suite. Stress during the writing process and the tension between the band members manifested in both lyrical content and music. The 2001 remaster of the album included the "other side", a collection of remixes and improvisational out-takes plus Levin's humorous song, "The King Crimson Barbershop". Three of a Perfect Pair peaked at No. 30 in the UK and No. 58 in the US, with "Three of a Perfect Pair" and "Sleepless" being released as singles. A VHS document of the Three of a Perfect Pair tour, Three of a Perfect Pair: Live in Japan, was released later in 1984 (and later also included on the Neal and Jack and Me DVD). The last concert of the Three of a Perfect Pair tour, at the Spectrum in Montreal, Canada on 11 July 1984, was recorded and released in 1998 as Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal. Further live recordings of the 1980s band would be released in 2016 as part of the On (and off) The Road (1981–1984) box set. Despite their conflict, the musicians remained professional on stage.
Following the 1984 tour, Fripp dissolved King Crimson for the second time, exactly ten years after dissolving the previous group. Bruford and Belew expressed frustration over this; Belew recalled the first he had heard of the split was when he read about it in a report in Musician magazine.
=== 1994–1999: The Double Trio, Vrooom, Thrak and the ProjeKcts ===
In the summer of 1991, Belew met with Fripp in England to express an interest in reviving King Crimson. One year later, Fripp established his Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) record label with producer David Singleton. Subsequently, DGM would be the primary home for Fripp's work, with larger album releases distributed to bigger record companies (initially Virgin Records), and smaller releases handled by DGM. This afforded Fripp and his associates greater creative freedom and more control over all aspects of their work.
In late 1991, Fripp asked former Japan singer David Sylvian to join the new King Crimson band, but Sylvian declined the offer, though the two collaborated as Sylvian/Fripp. In June 1993, Fripp began to assemble a larger version of the band, joined by Belew and Levin, Chapman Stick player Trey Gunn (a veteran of Fripp's Guitar Craft courses) and drummer Jerry Marotta, with whom Fripp had played with Peter Gabriel. After Sylvian/Fripp's closing concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in December 1993, Fripp decided to ask the tour's drummer Pat Mastelotto, formerly of Mr. Mister, to join instead of Marotta. Bruford wound up being the last of the 1980s group to return to the band. Fripp explained that he had a vision of a "Double Trio" with two drummers while driving along the Chalke Valley in Wiltshire one afternoon in 1992. Bruford later said he had lobbied Fripp at the last minute because he believed that Crimson was still very much "his gig", and that Fripp had come up with a philosophical explanation for utilizing both Mastelotto and himself later. One of the conditions Fripp imposed upon Bruford if he were to return was to give up all creative control to Fripp.
Following rehearsals in Woodstock, New York, the group released the EP Vrooom in October 1994. This revealed the new King Crimson sound, which featured the interlocking guitars of the 1980s mixed with the layered, heavier feel of the 1970s period. There was also a vague influence from the industrial music of that time. Many of the songs were written or finalised by Belew, and displayed stronger elements of 1960s pop than before; in particular, a Beatles influence. Bruford would refer to this lineup as sounding like "a dissonant Shadows on steroids". As with previous lineups, new technology was utilised, including MIDI (which Fripp used to replace Frippertronics with "Soundscapes") and the Warr Guitar with which Gunn replaced his Chapman Stick in 1995. King Crimson toured from 28 September 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; portions of these concerts were released on the double live CD set B'Boom: Live in Argentina in 1995.
In October and December 1994, King Crimson recorded their eleventh studio album, Thrak, at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. Containing revised versions of the songs from Vrooom, plus some new tracks, the album was described by Q magazine as having "jazz-scented rock structures, characterised by noisy, angular, exquisite guitar interplay" and an "athletic, ever-inventive rhythm section", while being in tune with the sound of alternative rock of the mid-1990s. Examples of the band's efforts to integrate their multiple elements could be heard on the accessible (but complex) songs "Dinosaur" and "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream", the more straightforward ballad "One Time", as well as "Radio I" and "Radio II"- a pair of Fripp's Soundscapes instrumentals.
King Crimson resumed touring in 1995 and into 1996; dates from October and November 1995 were recorded and released on the live album Thrakattak in May 1996, which is an hour of improvised music integrating sections from performances from the "THRAK" tour in the United States and Japan, mixed and arranged by Fripp's DGM partner, engineer David Singleton. A more conventional live recording from the period was later made available as the double CD release Vrooom Vrooom (2001), while a full 1995 concert was released on VHS in 1996 as Live in Japan and re-released on DVD in 1999 as Déjà Vrooom. The double trio would be further honored by the Thrak (1994–1997) box set in 2015.
The band began rehearsing again in May 1997 in Nashville, Tennessee. Fripp was dissatisfied with the quality of the new music being developed by the band; longstanding friction and disagreements between himself and Bruford led to the latter deciding to leave King Crimson for good. The resulting bad atmosphere and the lack of workable material almost broke the band up altogether. Instead, the six members opted to work in four smaller groups (or "fraKctalisations", as Fripp called them) known as ProjeKcts. This enabled the group to continue developing ideas and searching for a new direction without the practical difficulty (and expense) of convening all six musicians at once. From 1997 to 1999, the first four ProjeKcts played live in the United States and the United Kingdom, and released recordings that showed a high degree of free improvisation, with influences ranging from jazz, industrial, techno and drum and bass. These have been collectively described by music critic J. D. Considine as "frequently astonishing" but lacking in melody. After Bruford had played four dates with Projekct One in December 1997, he left King Crimson to resume working with his own jazz group Earthworks.
=== 1999–2003: The Double Duo, The Construkction of Light and The Power to Believe ===
In October 1999, King Crimson reconvened. Tony Levin was busy working as a session musician and decided to take a hiatus from the group, so the remaining members (Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto) formed the "Double Duo" to write and record The Construkction of Light at Belew's home studio in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Fripp was inspired by Tool's album Undertow during the writing process of The Construkction of Light. Released in May 2000, the album reached No. 129 in the UK. Most of the pieces were metallic, harsh and industrial metal–influenced in sound. They featured Mastelotto performing exclusively on electronic drums, Gunn taking over the bass role on Warr Guitar, and a different take on the interlocking guitar sound that the band had pioneered in the 1980s. With the exception of an industrial blues (sung by Belew through a voice changer under the pseudonym of "Hooter J. Johnson"), the songs were dense and complex. The album contains the fourth installment of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic". It received a negative reception for lacking new ideas. The band recorded an album of improvised instrumentals at the same time, and released them under the name ProjeKct X, on the CD Heaven and Earth.
King Crimson toured to support both albums, including double bill shows with Tool. The tour was documented on the live album Heavy ConstruKction in 2000 and the Heaven & Earth (1997–2008) box set in 2019. Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and his band supported Crimson on some live shows.
On 9 November 2001, King Crimson released a limited edition live EP called Level Five, featuring three new pieces: "Dangerous Curves", "Level Five" and "Virtuous Circle", plus versions of "The Construkction of Light" and ProjeKct's "The Deception of the Thrush", followed by an unlisted track called "ProjeKct 12th and X" after one minute of silence. A second EP followed in October 2002, Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With. This featured eleven tracks (including a live version of "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV"). Half of the tracks were processed vocal snippets by Belew, and the songs themselves varied between Soundscapes, gamelan, heavy metal and blues.
The double duo lineup released King Crimson's thirteenth album, The Power to Believe, in March 2003. Fripp described it as "the culmination of three years of Crimsonising". The album incorporated, reworked and retitled versions of "Deception of the Thrush" ("The Power to Believe III"); tracks from their previous two EPs; and an extract from a Fripp Soundscape with added instrumentation and vocals. The Power to Believe reached No. 162 in the UK and No. 150 in the US. King Crimson toured in 2003 to support the album; recordings from it were used for the live album EleKtrik: Live in Japan. 2003 also saw the release of the DVD Eyes Wide Open, a compilation of the band's shows Live at the Shepherds Bush Empire (London, 3 July 2000) and Live in Japan (Tokyo, 16 April 2003).
In November 2003, Gunn left the group to pursue solo projects and was replaced by Levin. The band reconvened in early 2004 for rehearsals, but nothing developed from these sessions; they then went on another hiatus. At this point, Fripp was publicly reassessing his desire to work within the music industry, often citing the unsympathetic aspects of the life of a touring musician, such as "the illusion of intimacy with celebrities".
On 21 September 2006, former King Crimson member Boz Burrell died of a heart attack, followed by another former member, Ian Wallace, who died of esophageal cancer on 22 February 2007.
=== 2008: 40th Anniversary tour and third hiatus ===
A new King Crimson formation was announced in 2007: Fripp, Belew, Levin, Mastelotto, and a new second drummer, Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree. In August 2008, after a period of rehearsals, the five completed the band's 40th Anniversary Tour. The setlists featured no new material, drawing instead from the existing mid '70s era/Discipline-era/Double Trio/Double Duo repertoire. Additional shows were planned for 2009, but were cancelled due to scheduling clashes with Belew.
King Crimson began another hiatus after the 40th Anniversary Tour. Belew continued to lobby for reviving the band, and discussed it with Fripp several times in 2009 and 2010. Among Belew's suggestions was a temporary reunion of the 1980s line-up for a thirtieth anniversary tour: an idea declined by both Fripp and Bruford, the latter commenting "I would be highly unlikely to try to recreate the same thing, a mission I fear destined to failure." In December 2010, Fripp wrote that the King Crimson "switch" had been set to "off" since October 2008, citing several reasons for this decision.
In August 2012, Fripp announced his planned retirement from the music industry, leaving the future of King Crimson uncertain.
=== 2014–2021: The Seven-Headed Beast and Three Over Five lineups ===
Prior to Fripp's retirement announcement, a band called Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins (subtitled "A King Crimson ProjeKct") had released an album called A Scarcity of Miracles in 2011. The band featured guitarist and singer Jakko Jakszyk (who'd previously performed King Crimson material with 21st Century Schizoid Band), Fripp and former Crimson saxophonist Mel Collins as the main players/composers, with Tony Levin playing bass and Gavin Harrison playing drums. At one point, Fripp referred to the band as "P7" (ProjeKct Seven). Unusually for a ProjeKct, it was based around "finely crafted" and "mid-paced" original songs derived from improvised sessions.
In September 2013, Fripp announced King Crimson's return to activity with a "very different reformation to what has gone before: seven players, four English and three American, with three drummers". He cited several reasons to make a comeback, varying from the practical to the whimsical: "I was becoming too happy. Time for a pointed stick." The new line-up drew from both the previous lineup (retaining Fripp, Levin, Harrison and Mastelotto) and the Scarcity of Miracles project (Jakszyk and Collins), with Guitar Craft alumnus and former R.E.M./Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin as the seventh member. Adrian Belew was not asked to take part, thus ending his 32-year tenure in King Crimson: Jakszyk took his place as singer and second guitarist. This version of the group took on the nickname of "the Seven-Headed Beast".
This drastically revamped King Crimson had no plans to record in the studio, focussing instead on playing "reconfigured" versions of past material in live concerts. Looking back later at this King Crimson phase, Tony Levin would comment "we were instructed/advised by Robert Fripp to look at the older classic King Crimson material as if we had written it. And so we did that with a lot of older material that the band had done before the '80s. We didn't actually cover that much of the '80s material outside of a few songs."
For the most part, this approach would remain consistent for the remainder of the band's lifetime. In early 2014, and for the first time since 1974, the band's repertoire included songs from the run of albums between In the Court of the Crimson King and Larks' Tongues in Aspic as well as reviving song material from Red. No Adrian Belew-era songs were included in the setlist, although some instrumentals from the period were played (including items from THRAK and The Power to Believe). Some material from A Scarcity of Miracles (the title track, plus "The Light of Day") was also incorporated into the band's repertoire.
After rehearsing in England, King Crimson toured North America from 9 September to 6 October. Recordings from the Los Angeles dates were released as Live at the Orpheum: this included new King Crimson instrumental music in the shape of "Banshee Legs Bell Hassle" and "Walk On: Monk Morph Chamber Music".
Tours across Europe, Canada, and Japan followed in the later half of 2015. Brand-new songs mainly written by Fripp and Jakszyk were debuted at the concerts, as well as drum showcases. A live recording from the Canadian leg of the tour was released at the end of February 2016 as Live In Toronto, which included new songs "Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)" and "Meltdown". A European tour was planned for 2016. Following Rieflin's decision to take a break from music, drummer Jeremy Stacey of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds was called in place for dates from September.
A further live album, Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind, was released in September 2016, drawing from 2015 concert dates of Japan, Canada and France preceding Rieflin's departure and Stacey's arrival. A 4-disc set aimed at documenting the band's shuffling and evolving live setlist, it included one performance of every song the band presented onstage during the tour, and concert footage mostly recorded in Takamatsu, on 19 December 2015.
On 7 December 2016, founding King Crimson member Greg Lake died of cancer. Another former King Crimson member, John Wetton, died of colon cancer on 31 January 2017.
On 3 January 2017, Bill Rieflin returned to King Crimson. Since the band wished to retain Jeremy Stacey, King Crimson became an octet with four drummers, which Fripp initially referred to as the "Double Quartet Formation". Later on, Rieflin shifted his group role and became King Crimson's first full-time keyboard player, with Fripp rechristening the lineup the "Three Over Five" (or "Five Over Three") Formation.
On 2 June 2017, King Crimson released a new live EP named Heroes, featuring a cover of the David Bowie song of the same name. The EP was intended as a tribute to Bowie, for whom Fripp had provided distinctive guitar work on the albums "Heroes" (1977) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980). The video to King Crimson's version of "Heroes" won "Video of the Year" at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. Shortly afterwards, King Crimson embarked on the first leg of a North American tour, from 11 June until 19 July. On 3 September, Robert Fripp said that his differences with Adrian Belew had been resolved and that there were "no current plans for (him) to come out with the current formation" but "the doors to the future are open". Belew confirmed this, adding "it means I may be back in the band in the future at some point".
On 14 October 2017, King Crimson released another contemporary live album, Live in Chicago, recorded on tour in June of the same year. As had been the case with its two predecessors, it included new music in the absence of a new studio album (in this case "Bellscape & Orchestral Werning", "The Errors" and "Interlude"). It also documented the return to the live set of material from the long-neglected 1970 album Lizard (in the form of "Cirkus", which the band had begun adding to their sets in 2016, and the second half of the title suite), as well as new arrangements of some Belew-era songs.
On 13 October 2017, it was announced that Bill Rieflin would be unable to join the Three Over Five Formation on the 2017 Autumn tour in the U.S. He was temporarily replaced by Seattle-based Crafty Guitarist Chris Gibson. During 2018, King Crimson performed the extensive 33-date Uncertain Times tour through the UK and Europe between 13 June and 16 November.
Although the band continued their "no new studio album" policy, April 2018 saw the full release of another live album, Live in Vienna, presenting the complete concert in Vienna on 1 December 2016. The album was originally scheduled for worldwide release in 2017, but was postponed in lieu of Live in Chicago; however, it was only released in Japan in September 2017, with a bonus disc with recordings from the band's tour there in December 2015. The worldwide release added a performance of "Fracture", plus three pieces drawn from the nightly Fripp-composed introductory soundscapes with improvisations by Collins and Levin: these pieces were arranged and realised by David Singleton, reflecting similar work he'd performed for Thrakattak twenty years earlier. On 20 October 2018, a further live album/video was released, Meltdown: Live in Mexico City, recorded during dates in July 2017.
On 6 April 2019, it was announced at a press conference that Rieflin would take another break from King Crimson to attend to family matters, his place on keyboards for the 2019 50th anniversary tour taken by Theo Travis, better known as a saxophonist, Soft Machine member and occasional duo collaborator with Robert Fripp. Although Travis joined the band for rehearsals, Fripp said on 2 May that the band had decided that it was no longer possible to have other musicians deputising for Rieflin and for this reason were "proceed(ing) as a Seven-Headed Beast" without Travis. Rieflin's parts were divided among other band members, with Fripp, Stacey, Jakszyk and Collins adding keyboards to their on-stage rigs, and Levin once again using the synthesizer he used during the '80s tours. Soon after on 11 June, King Crimson's entire discography was made available to stream online on all the major streaming platforms, as part of the band's 50th anniversary celebration.
On 24 March 2020, Bill Rieflin died of cancer. In the same year, King Crimson collaborator Keith Tippett died after several years of illness on 14 June, and former bassist and singer Gordon Haskell died from lung cancer on 15 October.
King Crimson toured North America and then Japan in 2021. Recordings from dates on the American leg of the tour were released as the "official bootleg" live album Music Is Our Friend: Live in Washington and Albany, featuring music from across the band's lifetime plus two new Tony Levin cadenzas.
=== 2022: In the Court of the Crimson King documentary; end of band activity ===
Following the 2021 tour dates, King Crimson ceased activity, although without expressly announcing a breakup. Reasons cited were practical ones involving the old age of several of the members plus the rising cost of services during the pandemic, with no band intentions for any more tours.
On 9 February 2022, founding King Crimson member Ian McDonald died of cancer.
In March 2022, the documentary film In the Court of the Crimson King was premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Toby Amies and filmed between 2019 and 2021, it covered live and backstage activity by the then-current band but also featured a historical overview plus contributions from Crimson alumni Ian McDonald, Michael Giles, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew and Trey Gunn (as well as prolonged interview footage with the late Bill Rieflin). Amies described the film's development as follows: "What began as a traditional documentary about the legendary band King Crimson as it turned fifty, mutated into an exploration of time, death, family, and the transcendent power of music to change lives; but with jokes."
As of 2022, no King Crimson activity was planned for the future, excepting ongoing archive/curatorial matters. Levin said in a late 2022 interview that, "the sense I got from Robert [Fripp] was that it's over. Maybe King Crimson will speak to him in the future in some way, and will revive its head with who-knows-what line up?"
At a post-screening Q&A session for In the Court of the Crimson King, Fripp referred to the seven-member 2021 lineup of King Crimson as "the final incarnation" of the band. Asked if there could ever be a lineup that did not include him, he answered negatively, stating "I see the whole. I see the music. I see the musicians. I see the audience and I see the music industry [...] and you have to engage with all of that to have the overview. So that's the quick answer".
=== Possible future activity/upcoming studio album ===
The 2021 retirement of King Crimson's "Seven-Headed Beast" line-up, and Fripp's subsequent statement that the band had finished, left a certain amount of written/performed King Crimson music unrecorded in the studio, although some of that material had appeared on live recordings from the time. New original songs performed in concert by the band had included "Meltdown", "Radical Action", "Radical Action II", "The Errors", and more. Versions of two Fripp/Jakszyk songs originally intended for King Crimson ("Uncertain Times" and "Separation") had also emerged on Jakszyk's 2020 solo album Secrets and Lies, with participation from Fripp, Harrison, Levin and Collins.
Following the most recent retirement of the band, Jakko Jakszyk hinted, suggested and ultimately stated that this material will see formal release as a studio album, the band's first in over twenty years since the release of The Power to Believe. In August 2021, Jakszyk referred to the existence of "about forty to fifty minutes' worth of new (King Crimson) stuff, a number of songs I've co-written with Robert and some instrumental things he's written. During the lockdown Gavin suggested, 'Why don't we record these things so we've at least got studio recordings of this material?' That doesn't mean we're going to make a new album or it's ever gonna come out, but we have started this process."
In a November 2024 interview with Louder Sound, Jakszyk was questioned about the band's future and mentioned the possibility of new studio recordings being released, stating: "The honest answer is, you'll have to ask Robert. It's all in his hands. He's retired a million times before, but he is 78. One of the things we have been doing of late is recording studio versions of the new material [only previously played live]. We've used the live recordings as a template, and I've done guitars, overdubs and backing vocals. Whether that comes out as a King Crimson album or whether it lies in the vaults, I don't know."
Eight months later, in a July 2025 interview with Goldmine magazine, Jakszyk stated that "as we speak, we're doing a King Crimson studio album" and confirmed that it featured the most recent band line-up. He cautioned "when that will come out and what format or how — that's beyond my brief. But yeah, we've been doing it piecemeal, and then a couple of months ago, the management said, 'Can we?' So, yeah. I've been recording that with a view to it coming out in some format at some point. But who knows when?... There also are future plans for some live film of us playing in various places. There's an ongoing thread. Whether that ever means we'll ever play live again, I don't know, especially after Robert's recent [heart attack]." He confirmed that the new album would feature the studio versions of new songs performed by the band between 2014 and 2021, and that "some other bits and pieces will emerge from putting it together. I think so." This news suggests that despite Fripp's 2021 announcement, King Crimson may still be active (albeit as a studio project).
In a DGM homepage and Facebook posting on 11 July 2025, while suggesting the possibility of "an album the very sound of which no-one has ever heard before. A sound driven by the three drummers," David Singleton both clarified and cautioned speculation about the album. He commented that "it is true that [the three] drummers have now recorded studio versions of their parts – separately, so that there is perfect separation. So there is indeed the seed of a new recording. Whether it is an album, whether it sees the light of day, whether it is something else is unknown. As is the outcome of any creative process. So yes, recordings have taken place. We are building a new studio, and when it is complete I am looking forward to seeing what may, or may not, exist. Getting excited about the possibility of a new album, as has been happening in some quarters, is however somewhat premature. Carts before horses."
No release date or name has yet been given regarding this project, and Fripp himself has not commented on the rumours other than drawing attention to Singleton's comments.
== Musical style ==
King Crimson have been described musically as progressive rock, art rock, and post-progressive, with their earlier works being described as proto-prog. Their music was initially grounded in the rock of the 1960s, especially the acid rock and psychedelic rock movements. The band played Donovan's "Get Thy Bearings" in concert, and were known to play the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in their rehearsals. However, for their own compositions, King Crimson (unlike the rock bands that had come before them) largely stripped away the blues-based foundations of rock music and replaced them with influences derived from classical composers. The first incarnation of King Crimson played the Mars section of Gustav Holst's suite The Planets live and later the band used Mars as a foundation for the song "Devil's Triangle". As a result of this influence, In the Court of the Crimson King is frequently viewed as the nominal starting point of the progressive rock movements. King Crimson also initially displayed strong jazz influences, especially on its signature track "21st Century Schizoid Man". The band also drew on English folk music for compositions such as "Moonchild" and "I Talk to the Wind". In the 1972 lineup, Fripp's intention was to combine the music of Jimi Hendrix, Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók.
The 1981 reunion of the band brought in even more elements, displaying the influence of funk, post-punk, new wave, gamelan music and minimalist classical composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. For its 1994 reunion, King Crimson reassessed both the mid-1970s and 1980s approaches in the light of new technology, intervening music forms such as drum and bass and techno, and further developments in industrial music, as well as expanding the band's ambient textural content via Fripp's Soundscapes.
The 2013 version of the band returned, for the most part, to the band's 1960s and 1970s influences and repertoire but addressed them via current technology and rearrangements suited to a larger ensemble of more experienced musicians, while also incorporating the new standard tuning used by Fripp since 1984.
=== Compositional approaches ===
Several King Crimson compositional approaches remained constant throughout the band's lifetime. These included:
The use of a gradually building rhythmic motif. These include "The Devil's Triangle" (an adaptation and variation on the Gustav Holst piece Mars played by the original King Crimson, based on a complex pulse in 54 time over which a skirling melody is played on a Mellotron), 1973's "The Talking Drum" (from Larks' Tongues in Aspic), 1984's "Industry" (from Three of a Perfect Pair) and 2003's "Dangerous Curves" (from The Power to Believe).
An instrumental piece (often embedded as a break in a song) in which the band played an ensemble passage of considerable rhythmic and polyrhythmic complexity. An early example is the band's initial signature tune "21st Century Schizoid Man", but the "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" series of compositions (as well as pieces of similar intent such as "THRAK" and "Level Five") went deeper into polyrhythmic complexity, delving into rhythms that wander into and out of general synchronisation with each other, but with all 'finishing' together through polyrhythmic synchronisation. These polyrhythms were particularly abundant in the band's 1980s work, which contained gamelan-like rhythmic layers and continual overlaid staccato patterns in counterpoint.
The composition of difficult solo passages for individual instruments, such as the guitar break on "Fracture" on Starless and Bible Black.
The juxtaposition of ornate tunes and ballads with unusual, often dissonant noises (such as "Cirkus" from Lizard, "Ladies of the Road" from Islands and "Eyes Wide Open" from The Power to Believe).
The use of improvisation.
Ascending note structure (e.g. "Facts of Life" and "THRAK").
=== Improvisation ===
King Crimson incorporated improvisation into their performances and studio recordings from the beginning, some of which was embedded into pieces such as "Moonchild", "Providence", "Requiem" and "No Warning", including passages of restrained silence, as with Bill Bruford's contribution to the improvised "Trio". Rather than using the standard jazz or rock "jamming" format for improvisation (in which one soloist at a time takes centre stage while the rest of the band lies back and plays along with established rhythm and chord changes), King Crimson improvisation consisted of musicians collectively making creative decisions and contributions as the music is being played. Individual soloing was largely eschewed; each musician was to listen to each other and to the group sound, to be able to react creatively within the group dynamic. Fripp has used the metaphor of "magic" to describe this process, in particular when the method works particularly well.
Similarly, King Crimson's improvised music was varied in sound and the band has been able to release several box sets and albums consisting mostly or entirely of improvised music, such as the Thrakattak album, and the band's series of ProjeKcts. Occasionally, particular improvised pieces were recalled and reworked in different forms at different shows, becoming more and more refined and eventually appearing on official studio releases.
== Influence and legacy ==
King Crimson have been influential both on the early 1970s progressive rock movement and numerous contemporary artists. Genesis and Yes were directly influenced by the band's usage of the mellotron, and many King Crimson band members were involved in other notable bands: Bruford in Yes; Lake in Emerson, Lake & Palmer; McDonald in Foreigner; Burrell in Bad Company, and Wetton in King Crimson spin-off U.K. and Asia. Canadian rock band Rush's drummer Neil Peart credited the adventurous and innovative style of Michael Giles as an influence on his own approach to percussion.
King Crimson's influence extends to many bands from diverse genres, especially of the 1990s and 2000s. Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the grunge band Nirvana, had stated that the album Red had a major influence on the sound of their final studio album In Utero. Tool are known to be heavily influenced by King Crimson, with vocalist Maynard James Keenan joking on a tour with them: "Now you know who we ripped off. Just don't tell anyone, especially the members of King Crimson." Modern progressive, experimental, psychedelic and indie rock bands have cited them as an influence as well, including MGMT, The Fierce and the Dead, the Mars Volta, Primus, Black Country, New Road, Mystery Jets, Fanfarlo, Phish, and Anekdoten, who first practiced together playing King Crimson songs. Steven Wilson, the leader of Porcupine Tree, was responsible for remixing King Crimson's back catalogue in surround sound and said that the process had an enormous influence on his solo albums, and his band was influenced by King Crimson. In November 2012 the Flaming Lips in collaboration with Stardeath and White Dwarfs released a track-by-track reinterpretation of In the Court of the Crimson King entitled Playing Hide and Seek with the Ghosts of Dawn. Colin Newman, of Wire, said he saw King Crimson perform many times, and that they influenced him deeply. The seminal hardcore punk group Black Flag acknowledge Wetton-era King Crimson as an influence on their experimental period in the mid-1980s. Melvin Gibbs said that the Rollins Band was influenced most by King Crimson, using similar chords. Bad Religion cites the lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man" on their single "21st Century (Digital Boy)" and the name of their record label, Epitaph (founded by their guitarist Brett Gurewitz), comes from the song of the same name on Crimson's debut album. Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid considered Robert Fripp as one of his guitar influences.
King Crimson have frequently been cited as pioneers of progressive metal and as an influence on bands of this genre, including Dream Theater, Opeth, Mastodon, Between the Buried and Me, Leprous, Haken, the Ocean, Caligula's Horse, Last Chance to Reason, and Indukti. Members of metal bands Mudvayne, Voivod, Enslaved, Yob, Pyrrhon, and Pallbearer have cited King Crimson as an influence. Heavy experimental and avant-garde acts like the Dillinger Escape Plan, Neurosis, Zeni Geva, Ancestors, and Oranssi Pazuzu all cite King Crimson's influence.
Other artists affected by King Crimson include video game composer Nobuo Uematsu, noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow, jazz guitarist Dennis Rea of Land, folktronica exponent Juana Molina, hip hop producer RJD2, hip hop and soul composer Adrian Younge, film director Hal Hartley, and folk-pop singer Ian Kelly.
Golden Wind, the fifth part of the Japanese manga and anime franchise JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, has its main antagonist Diavolo possess a Stand known as King Crimson. Stephen King's The Dark Tower also has its main antagonist, the Crimson King, named after the band.
== Related legacy/cover bands featuring former King Crimson members ==
Since the early 2000s, several bands containing former, recent or current King Crimson members have toured and recorded, performing King Crimson music.
Active between 2002 and 2005, the 21st Century Schizoid Band reunited several former King Crimson members who had played on the band's first four albums. The band featured Ian McDonald, Mel Collins, Peter Giles and Michael Giles (the latter subsequently replaced by Ian Wallace), and was fronted by Jakko Jakszyk, a decade prior to his own recruitment into King Crimson. The band engaged in several tours, played material from King Crimson's '60s and '70s catalogue, and recorded several live albums. The band disbanded upon Wallace's death in 2007.
Since 2007, Tony Levin has led the trio Stick Men, which also features Pat Mastelotto. The band was initially completed by Chapman Stick player Michael Bernier, replaced in 2010 by touch guitarist and former Fripp student Markus Reuter. This band includes (and reinterprets) King Crimson compositions in their live sets. Reuter and Mastelotto also play together as a duo (previously called "Tuner"), within which they have been known to rework the mid-1980s King Crimson instrumental "Industry" live. Starting in 2023, Reuter, Mastelotto and Trey Gunn revived the moniker "Tuner" (re-styled as "Tu-ner") to perform music from the Double Duo era of King Crimson, plus material from each of their respective solo and combined careers.
Between 2011 and 2014, Stick Men and Adrian Belew's Power Trio band (Belew plus drummer Tobias Ralph and bass player Julie Slick) joined forces to play and tour as The Crimson ProjeKCt, covering the music made during the '80s and '90s. Following the return of King Crimson in 2014, the Crimson ProjeKct name has been formally abandoned, but the Stick Men and the Power Trio have still performed together from time to time, usually under names like "Belew, Levin, Mastelotto and friends".
During his solo career, including performances with the Power Trio, Adrian Belew has performed various versions of King Crimson songs.
In March 2024, a new spin-off supergroup called Beat performing the 1980s King Crimson repertoire was announced: this featured former members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin along with guitarist Steve Vai and drummer Danny Carey of Tool. Fripp and Bruford had both declined offers to join, but gave their blessings to the group. Fripp also suggested the eventual project name, "Beat" (after the 1982 King Crimson album). The band went on to tour the United States during the latter half of 2024.
== Band members ==
Current
Robert Fripp – guitar, keyboards, Mellotron, electronics (1968–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–2008, 2013–2021, 2025–present)
Mel Collins – saxophones, flute, bass flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, Mellotron, backing vocals (1970–1972, 2013–2021, 2025–present; studio guest 1974)
Tony Levin – bass guitar, Chapman Stick, upright bass, synthesisers, backing vocals (1981–1984, 1994–1999, 2003–2008, 2013–2021, 2025–present)
Pat Mastelotto – drums, percussion, programming (1994–2008, 2013–2021, 2025–present)
Gavin Harrison – drums, percussion (2007–2008, 2013–2021, 2025–present)
Jakko Jakszyk – lead vocals, guitar, flute, keyboards (2013–2021, 2025–present)
Jeremy Stacey – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2016–2021, 2025–present)
Former
Michael Giles – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1968–1970)
Greg Lake – bass guitar, lead vocals (1968–1970; died 2016)
Ian McDonald – saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, keyboards, Mellotron, vibraphone, backing vocals (1968–1970; studio guest 1974; died 2022)
Peter Sinfield – lyrics, lighting, synthesizer (1968–1972; died 2024)
Peter Giles – bass guitar (1970)
Gordon Haskell – bass guitar, lead vocals (1970; studio guest earlier in 1970; died 2020)
Andy McCulloch – drums (1970)
Ian Wallace – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1970–1972; died 2007)
Boz Burrell – bass guitar, lead vocals (1971–1972; died 2006)
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion (1972–1974, 1981–1984, 1994–1999)
John Wetton – bass guitar, lead vocals (1972–1974; died 2017)
David Cross – violin, viola, keyboards (1972–1974)
Jamie Muir – percussion (1972–1973; died 2025)
Adrian Belew – guitar, guitar synthesizer, lead vocals, drums and percussion (1981–1984, 1994–2008)
Trey Gunn – Warr guitar, Chapman Stick, backing vocals, bass guitar (1994–2003)
Bill Rieflin – keyboards, synthesizer, Mellotron, drums, percussion (2013–2016, 2017–2019; died 2020)
== Discography ==
In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)
Lizard (1970)
Islands (1971)
Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973)
Starless and Bible Black (1974)
Red (1974)
Discipline (1981)
Beat (1982)
Three of a Perfect Pair (1984)
Thrak (1995)
The Construkction of Light (2000)
The Power to Believe (2003) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_Detroit_Red_Wings_season | 1996–97 Detroit Red Wings season | The 1996–97 Detroit Red Wings season was the 71st National Hockey League season in Detroit, Michigan. The highlight of the Red Wings season was winning the Stanley Cup, their first since 1955.
== Off-season ==
On July 23, 1996, Detroit Red Wings President Bill Evo resigned his position after serving just ten months at the team's helm. The Nickname "Hockeytown" was coined to launch the start of a five-year marketing campaign.
== Regular season ==
The "HOCKEYTOWN" logo, a Red Wings logo overlapped with the term "HOCKEYTOWN," was shown over center ice starting this season and was still there as of 2022.
A season highlight was Sergei Fedorov's five-goal performance on December 26, 1996, in a game against the Washington Capitals. The Red Wings won 5–4 in overtime. Fedorov's fifth goal of the game came at 2:39 of the overtime period.
On February 8, 1997, coach Scotty Bowman achieved his 1000th victory as an NHL head coach against his previous team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On March 26, 1997, the Red Wings–Avalanche brawl continued to fuel the rivalry between the teams. Detroit won that game 6–5 in overtime.
=== Season standings ===
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
== Playoffs ==
The Red Wings won the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, their first Stanley Cup since the 1954–55 NHL season.
Six days after winning the Stanley Cup, tragedy struck when defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov, defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, and massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov were involved in a limousine accident. The driver, who later said he fell asleep, had a suspended license for previous drunk driving convictions.
== Schedule and results ==
=== Regular season ===
=== Playoffs ===
== Player statistics ==
=== Scoring ===
Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
† = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Red Wings only.
‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Red Wings only.
=== Goaltending ===
== Awards and records ==
=== Awards ===
Vladimir Konstantinov was the runner-up for the James Norris Memorial Trophy.
=== Milestones ===
== Transactions ==
=== Retirement ===
== Draft picks ==
Detroit's picks at the 1996 NHL entry draft.
Notes
The Red Wings acquired this pick as the result of a trade on April 4, 1995 that sent Mike Sillinger and Jason York to Anaheim in exchange for Stu Grimson, Mark Ferner and this pick.
The Red Wings third-round pick went to the Boston Bruins as the result of a trade on August 17, 1995 that sent David Shaw to Tampa Bay in exchange for this pick (80th overall).
Tampa Bay previously acquired this pick as the result of a trade on August 17, 1995 that sent Marc Bergevin and Ben Hankinson to Detroit in exchange for Shawn Burr and this pick. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Flame | Iron Flame | Iron Flame is a 2023 new adult romantic fantasy novel by American author Rebecca Yarros. It is the second book in the Empyrean series, a planned five-book series.
== Background ==
The second installment in the Empyrean series was released on November 7, 2023. Yarros took to Instagram to announce the title and release date of the second installment of the Empyrean series two days after Fourth Wing’s release. Three months before Iron Flame hit shelves, TODAY.com posted an exclusive 500-word teaser excerpt.
The storyline continues where the first book ended. Violet has to use the abilities she learned during Threshing at Basgiath War College and achieve her true power, even though the vice commandant is determined to show her how weak she is.
== Plot ==
Violet Sorrengail discovers that her brother Brennan is alive and a lieutenant colonel in a secret rebellion against a hidden threat in Navarre. The revolutionary group eventually allows her and other cadets who survived an attack to return to their college, provided they keep the attack a secret. They lie about being attacked by gryphons. Colonel Aetos, who led them into the trap during the War Games, is demoted by Lilith Sorrengail and reassigned to another outpost. Violet ends her friendship with Dain, blaming him for Liam's death since he used his retrocognition signet on her without her knowledge or consent. Before leaving, Aetos makes a veiled death threat to Violet, noting that secrets die with the people who keep them.
Xaden, now a lieutenant, is stationed at the Samara outpost. He and Violet can see each other weekly because of their dragons' bond. Xaden refuses to share the truth with Violet and is unwilling to include her in a weapons smuggling operation with other rebels. On conscription day, Violet and Dain see Prince Cam, who is using the name Aaric Graycastle. Violet also meets Sloane, who blames her for her brother Liam's death. Violet survives an assassination attempt by Aetos, while many survivors start to die mysteriously. Andarna, Violet's dragon, enters a necessary phase of growth called "dreamless sleep."
Violet learns about an unactivated ward stone in Aretia and secretly investigates the First Six, who created the wards in Navarre. She gets help from Jesinia, a scribe who illegally smuggles books for her. Xaden confronts Violet about her secret research, while she struggles to keep the truth from Rhiannon and her sister, Mira. Violet discovers Aaric is in Basgiath looking for a solution to the venin threat. Meanwhile, vice commandant Major Burton Varrish grows suspicious of her and regularly searches her bags. During an interrogation exercise on Violet's squad, he orders Dain to read Violet's memories, but he refuses. Violet later sees Jack Barlowe, whom she thought she killed before, back in Basgiath, seemingly healed.
On a trip to Samara, Xaden and Violet deepen their physical relationship. Xaden trusts Violet enough to bring her along to meet a group of gryphon fliers, where he smuggles daggers to help them fight venin. The group includes Xaden's ex-girlfriend, Cat. He gives Violet a special dagger for defense, which she hides. However, upon returning to Basgiath, Violet is captured by Varrish. Rhiannon uses her powers to hide the dagger, but Violet has to reveal the truth about venin to her friends, Ridoc and Sawyer, who agree to help her investigate the First Six. Violet believes that journals written by Lyra and Warrick of the First Six are hidden in a vault that only member of the royal bloodline can access and contain instructions on how to raise wards. She convinces Aaric to join their mission to steal the journals. They succeed and Violet gives Xaden Warrick's journal to take to Brennan. However, Violet is betrayed by Nolon and tricked into drinking a serum that suppresses her signet and connection to Tairn before being captured by Varrish.
Varrish tortures Violet for days for information before once again ordering Dain to read her memory, claiming she is conspiring to bring down the wards. Dain does so, but Violet makes him view the memories of the Venin attack in Athebyne. Realizing he has been lied to, Dain turns on Varrish and stabs him. Xaden arrives and they kill Varrish. To expose the truth about the Venin, Xaden had Wyvern carcasses dropped at several outposts, prompting Navarre leadership to frantically try and cover it up. They are intercepted by Lilith, who helps Violet and reveals she forced Violet to join the riders quadrant to keep her away from Markham, knowing he would groom her to be his successor, but have her killed when she tried to expose the truth about the venin. With the truth exposed, many of Basgiath's riders choose to leave for Aretia to fight against the venin.
Violet translates part of Warrick's journal, but cannot activate the wardstone. She discovers that Viscount Tecarus, an old ally of Fen Riorson, possesses a luminary that could help the rebels make weapons. Violet travels to Krovla to seek an alliance with him. She finds out that Cat is Tecarus's niece and was once engaged to Xaden, who ended it a year before. Tecarus agrees to give them the luminary if the rebels take 100 gryphon fliers back to Aretia for training. Andarna wakes up after a long sleep, but Violet feels guilt over Andarna's sacrifice during the fight in Resson, knowing it harmed her ability to bear a rider.
Violet asks Dain for help translating the journals, and they become closer again after he assures her he did not know about the venin or intend to harm her. During a training exercise, Violet, Cat, and Sloane face an attack from Varrish's dragon, which seeks revenge for Varrish's death. Andarna saves them by killing the dragon, and Sloane manifests a siphon signet. Violet discovers that Xaden has a second signet as a result of Sgaeyl being originally bonded to his grandfather. He is an inntinnsic, allowing him to sense people's intentions, but keeps it a secret due to it being an illegal signet. Though upset about his secret, they reconcile when he promises to be honest. She also realizes she misinterpreted a phrase in the journals and realizes the wardstone will activate when imbued with magic and exposed to fire from a dragon of each of the six dens. She manages to raise the Aretia wards, though only temporarily as they are still missing a key element to truly activate them. Violet, Mira and Xaden are summoned to a meeting by Lilith and Melgren, who reveals he has foreseen a venin attack in Samara that they will lose if they do not help them. Brennan reveals himself to Lilith and rejects their plea, berating them for their refusal to help anyone outside the safety of Navarre's wards. Before leaving, Lilith reveals Warrick had lied in his journal about how to truly activate the wards as he only wanted Navarre to have them and gives Violet Lyra's journal which contains the true instructions.
Realizing the attack on Samara is a distraction and the venin plan to attack Basgiath. Violet and the other return to the college to warn Lilith. Jack reveals he is a venin, and sacrifices his dragon to destroy Basgiath's wardstone, bringing down the wards and allowing the venin to attack the college. The venin siege the college and riders and fliers unite to fight them off. Jesinia translates Lyra's journal which reveals that seven dragon dens are needed to activate the wardstone. Violet discovers Andarna is from an unknown seventh den needed to activate the wards. Brennan is able to mend the wardstone and Violet almost exhausts herself trying to imbue it with enough magic to reactivate it, but Lilith stops and has Sloane siphon all the magic from herself and her dragon to fully imbue the wardstone, sacrificing herself in the process. The wardstone is reactivated when Adarna and a dragon from the six other dens breathe fire on it, killing the wyvern and defeating the venin. After the battle, Xaden reveals he resorted to drawing magic directly from the ground to defeat the venin sage and protect Violet, becoming a venin himself in the process.
== Characters ==
Violet Sorrengail: The protagonist and narrator. Second year in the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College who is bonded to two dragons, Tairn and Andarna, defying expectations that she would not survive due to her size and physical strength (a condition that reflects Ehlers-Danlos syndromes). After being betrayed by those she trusted, Violet needs to decide between aiding the rebellion or hiding behind a lie. She also needs to survive another year in the Rider’s Quadrant and all the life-threatening tests it throws at her.
Xaden Riorson: Now a lieutenant, he must balance leading a secret rebellion, surviving the venin attacks, and his rocky relationship with Violet. He is bonded to Sgaeyl, who is mated to Violet’s dragon, Tairn.
Dain Aetos: On the outs after using his signet of retrocognition on Violet, Dain has to earn back her trust or risk the success of Fourth Wing, of which he is now Wingleader.
Rhiannon Matthias:Violet’s best friend. She knows Violet is keeping secrets from her.
Mira Sorrengail: Lieutenant dragon rider in the Eastern Wing and older sister to Violet. She is assigned to the same fort as Xaden. Bonded to Teine.
Brennan Sorrengail: Violet’s older brother, who was previously known to have died in battle. He is now leading the revolution. Bonded to Marbh. His signet is mending.
Burton Varrish: The new vice commandant at Basgaith War College who takes particular interest in Violet. He is known for his history with brutal interrogation methods due to his signet: reading a person’s weaknesses.
Imogen Cardulo: A third-year rider at Basgiath War College and Xaden's close friend.
Garrick Tavis: An experienced dragon rider and Xaden's childhood friend.
Aaric Graycastle, also known as Cam Tauri, His real name being Camlaen Aaric Tauri: The third son of King Tauri and a first-year rider at Basgiath War College.
== Development ==
The writing schedule Yarros follows makes it so that she can write 2–3 books a year. The process for Iron Flame was expedited due to consumer momentum from the success of Fourth Wing and the excitement from Entangled Publishing, making it so that Iron Flame could be released only seven months after its predecessor.
Yarros’ parents were lieutenant colonels, and her husband was in the United States Army, both of which inspired the death culture of the Empyrean series: “I can tell you: when you go to war, your friends don’t always come home. And so, it was important to me to... keep that realism [in the Empyrean series].” Her husband also aided in developing “aerial combat” scenes with his experience as an Apache pilot.
== Genre ==
Iron Flame is considered romantasy: “fantasy with...a romance vein.” Yarros is considered a notable writer of the genre due to her work on Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Romantasy is largely written by women and marketed for women, but Iron Flame has proven to appeal to a male audience because of its inclusion of dragons and dragon culture reminiscent of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, which continues to draw a heavily male audience.
== Reception ==
The book received widespread acclaim upon its release day, selling over half a million copies. Iron Flame generated significant buzz online and offline with 200 Barnes & Noble stores throughout the USA organizing midnight release parties for the book, including a notable event in New York City attended by Yarros. In addition to these official gatherings, independent bookstores hosted their own celebrations, quickly running out of tickets due to the high demand.
After the release, many readers pointed out that their copies of Iron Flame had a variety of misprints. These included spines that read Fourth Wing instead of Iron Flame and covers that had the title and author's name printed upside down. Other readers said there were pages inside of the book printed the wrong way, or out of order. Entangled Publishing agreed to exchange the misprinted books.
In November 2023, Iron Flame was ranked #1 national fiction bestseller by Publishers Weekly. It has garnered over 400,000 5-star reviews on Goodreads.
Yarros has been accused of misusing the Scottish Gaelic language in her series after mispronouncing several Scottish Gaelic words from her novel during interviews leading up to Iron Flame’s release. This, along with the speed at which Iron Flame was released following Fourth Wing and various misprint issues, has led to comparisons between the current state of the publishing industry and fast fashion.
== Sequel ==
The Empyrean series is planned to contain five books. On December 26, 2023, Yarros posted a reel to her Instagram profile showing her “head[ing] back to Basgiath” to begin writing the next book following Iron Flame. On March 28, 2024 it was announced that the third book, Onyx Storm, will be released on January 21, 2025. The time between the publications of Iron Flame and Onyx Storm was longer than the time between the first two books due to Yarros’ health limitations, which were pushed in the expedited release of the first two installments of the series.
== Adaptation ==
A week prior to Iron Flame’s release, Variety announced Amazon MGM Studios acquired the rights to adapt the entire series for streaming. The deal includes Fourth Wing—which was released in May 2023—Iron Flame, and the three remaining books Yarros plans to write to conclude the series. Yarros is set to executive produce the series with Liz Pelletier, the founder of Entangled Publishing, and Liz Raposo, the president of Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society. Yarros is not set to have any writing credits in the series. The series has yet to be green lit. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trace_Gas_Orbiter | Trace Gas Orbiter | The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO or ExoMars Orbiter) is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Roscosmos agency that sent an atmospheric research orbiter and the Schiaparelli demonstration lander to Mars in 2016 as part of the European-led ExoMars programme. A key goal is to gain a better understanding of methane (CH4) and other trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere that could be evidence for possible biological activity.
The Trace Gas Orbiter delivered the Schiaparelli lander on 16 October 2016, which crashed on the surface due to a premature release of the parachute. TGO has been orbiting Mars since October 2016 and performing science observations of the planet since April 2018.
The ExoMars programme will continue with the Rosalind Franklin rover in 2028, which will search for biomolecules and biosignatures; the TGO will operate as the communication link for the lander and rover and provide communication for other Mars surface probes with Earth.
== Spacecraft ==
== Instruments ==
Like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Trace Gas Orbiter is a hybrid science and telecom orbiter. Its scientific payload mass is about 113.8 kg (251 lb) and consists of:
The Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) has two infrared and one ultraviolet spectrometer channels. Developed by Belgium.
The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) has three infrared spectrometer channels. Developed by Russia.
The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is a high-resolution, 4.5 m per pixel (15 ft/pixel), colour stereo camera for building accurate digital elevation models of the Martian surface. It will also be an important tool for characterising candidate landing site locations for future missions. Developed by Switzerland.
The Fine-Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) is a neutron detector that can provide information on the presence of hydrogen, in the form of water or hydrated minerals, in the top 1 m (3 ft 3 in) of the Martian surface. Developed by Russia.
NOMAD and ACS are providing the most extensive spectral coverage of Martian atmospheric processes so far. Twice per orbit, at local sunrise and sunset, they are able to observe the Sun as it shines through the atmosphere. Detection of atmospheric trace species at the parts-per-billion (ppb) level are possible.
== Science goals ==
The FREND instrument is mapping hydrogen levels to a maximum depth of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) beneath the Martian surface. Locations where hydrogen is found may indicate water-ice deposits, which could be useful for future crewed missions.
Particularly, the mission is characterising spatial, temporal variation, and localisation of sources for a broad list of atmospheric trace gases. If methane (CH4) is found in the presence of propane (C3H8) or ethane (C2H6), that would be a strong indication that biological processes are involved. However, if methane is found in the presence of gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), that would be an indication that the methane is a byproduct of geological processes.
=== Detection ===
The nature of the methane source requires measurements of a suite of trace gases in order to characterise potential biochemical and geochemical processes at work. The orbiter has very high sensitivity to (at least) the following molecules and their isotopomers: water (H2O), hydroperoxyl (HO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), ethane (C2H6), formaldehyde (H2CO), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbonyl sulfide (OCS), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen chloride (HCl), carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3). Detection sensitivities are at levels of 100 parts per trillion, improved to 10 parts per trillion or better by averaging spectra which could be taken at several spectra per second.
=== Characterisation ===
Spatial and temporal variability: latitude–longitude coverage multiple times in a Mars year to determine regional sources and seasonal variations (reported to be large, but still controversial with present understanding of Mars gas-phase photochemistry)
Correlation of concentration observations with environmental parameters of temperature, dust and ice aerosols (potential sites for heterogeneous chemistry)
=== Localisation ===
Mapping of multiple tracers (e.g., aerosols, water vapour, CO, CH4) with different photochemical lifetimes and correlations helps constrain model simulations and points to source/sink regions
To achieve the spatial resolution required to localise sources might require tracing molecules at parts-per-billion concentrations
== Relay telecommunications ==
Due to the challenges of entry, descent and landing, Mars landers are highly constrained in mass, volume and power. For landed missions, this places severe constraints on antenna size and transmission power, which in turn greatly reduce direct-to-Earth communication capability in comparison to orbital spacecraft. As an example, the capability downlinks on Spirit and Opportunity rovers had only 1⁄600 the capability of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter downlink.
Relay communication addresses this problem by allowing Mars surface spacecraft to communicate using higher data rates over short-range links to nearby Mars orbiters, while the orbiter takes on the task of communicating over the long-distance link back to Earth. This relay strategy offers a variety of key benefits to Mars landers: increased data return volume, reduced energy requirements, reduced communications system mass, increased communications opportunities, robust critical event communications and in situ navigation aid.
NASA provided an Electra telecommunications relay and navigation instrument to assure communications between probes and rovers on the surface of Mars and controllers on Earth.
The TGO will provide the Rosalind Franklin rover with telecommunications relay; it will also serve as a relay satellite for future lander missions.
== History ==
Investigations with space and Earth-based observatories have demonstrated the presence of a small amount of methane on the atmosphere of Mars that seems to vary with location and time. This may indicate the presence of microbial life on Mars, or a geochemical process such as volcanism or hydrothermal activity.
The challenge to discern the source of methane in the atmosphere of Mars prompted the independent planning by ESA and NASA of one orbiter each that would carry instruments in order to determine if its formation is of biological or geological origin, as well as its decomposition products such as formaldehyde and methanol.
=== Origins ===
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter was born out of the nexus of ESA's Aurora programme ExoMars flagship and NASA's 2013 and 2016 Mars Science Orbiter (MSO) concepts. It became a flexible collaborative proposal within NASA and ESA to send a new orbiter-carrier to Mars in 2016 as part of the European-led ExoMars mission. On the ExoMars side, ESA authorised about half a billion Euros in 2005 for a rover and mini-station; eventually this evolved into being delivered by an orbiter rather than a cruise stage.
=== Attempted collaboration with NASA ===
NASA's Mars Science Orbiter (MSO) was originally envisioned in 2008 as an all-NASA endeavour aiming for a late 2013 launch. NASA and ESA officials agreed to pool resources and technical expertise and collaborate to launch only one orbiter. The agreement, called the Mars Exploration Joint Initiative, was signed in July 2009 and proposed to use an Atlas rocket launcher instead of a Soyuz rocket, which significantly altered the technical and financial setting of the European ExoMars mission.
Since the rover was originally planned to be launched along with the TGO, a prospective agreement would require that the rover lose enough weight to fit aboard the Atlas launch vehicle with NASA's orbiter. Instead of reducing the rover's mass, it was nearly doubled when the mission was combined with other projects to a multi-spacecraft programme divided over two Atlas V launches: the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) was merged into the project, carrying a meteorological lander planned for launch in 2016. The European orbiter would carry several instruments originally meant for NASA's MSO, so NASA scaled down the objectives and focused on atmospheric trace gases detection instruments for their incorporation in ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
Under the FY2013 budget President Barack Obama released on 13 February 2012, NASA terminated its participation in ExoMars due to budgetary cuts in order to pay for the cost overruns of the James Webb Space Telescope. With NASA's funding for this project cancelled, most of ExoMars's plans had to be restructured.
=== Collaboration with Russia ===
On 15 March 2012, the ESA's ruling council announced it would press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which planned to contribute two heavy-lift Proton launch vehicles and an additional entry, descent and landing system to the 2020 rover mission.
Under the collaboration proposal with Roscosmos, the ExoMars mission was split into two parts: the orbiter/lander mission in March 2016 that includes the TGO and a 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) diameter stationary lander built by ESA named Schiaparelli, and the Rosalind Franklin rover mission in 2020. Both missions were expected to use a Proton-M rocket. The Rosalind Franklin rover mission was later postponed and in 2022, after Russian invasion of Ukraine, ESA terminated its cooperation on the project with Russia.
=== Launch ===
The Trace Gas Orbiter and descent module Schiaparelli completed testing and were integrated to a Proton rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in mid-January 2016. The launch occurred at 09:31 UTC on 14 March 2016. Four rocket burns occurred in the following 10 hours before the descent module and orbiter were released. A signal from the spacecraft was received at 21:29 UTC that day, confirming that the launch was successful and the spacecraft were functioning properly.
Shortly after separation from the probes, a Brazilian ground telescope recorded small objects in the vicinity of the Briz-M upper booster stage, suggesting that the Briz-M stage exploded a few kilometres away, without damaging the orbiter or lander. Briefing reporters in Moscow, the head of Roscosmos denied any anomaly and made all launch data available for inspection.
=== At Mars ===
The Schiaparelli lander separated from the TGO orbiter on 16 October 2016, three days before it arrived on Mars, and entered the atmosphere at 21,000 km/h (13,000 mph; 5.8 km/s). Schiaparelli transmitted about 600 megabytes of telemetry during its landing attempt, before it impacted the surface at 540 km/h (340 mph).
The TGO was injected into Mars orbit on 19 October 2016 and underwent 11 months of aerobraking (March 2017 to February 2018), reducing its orbital speed by 3,600 km/h (2,200 mph) and its orbit from an initial 98,000 by 200 km (60,890 by 120 mi) down to 1,050 by 200 km (650 by 120 mi). Additional thruster firings through mid-April circularised the spacecraft's orbit to 400 km (250 mi), and full science activities began on 21 April 2018.
=== First results ===
The spacecraft took its first photos of the surface of Mars on 15 April 2018. The first year of science operations yielded a wealth of new data and scientific discoveries, including: new observations of the atmospheric composition and structure, water-ice cloud enhancement during a global dust storm, new measurements of the atmospheric thermal structure and density, estimations of the timespan of the climate record of the south polar ice sheet, confirmation of dry-processes being responsible for Recurring Slope Lineae in Hale crater, identifying a variety of ice and non-ice related active processes occurring on the surface in colour, and high-resolution maps of shallow subsurface Hydrogen, increasing the known amounts of probably near-surface buried water ice.
In April 2019, the science team reported their first methane results: TGO had detected no methane whatsoever, even though their data were more sensitive than the methane concentrations found using Curiosity, Mars Express, and ground-based observations. As of 2021, still no methane was detected and scientists used the TGO measurements to set new upper limit on its possible concentration in the atmosphere of Mars (less than 0.05 ppbv and likely less than 0.02 ppbv). Also, no localised plumes of methane were detected.
=== 2020 ===
In 2020, scientists reported the first detection of green oxygen airglow in Mars's atmosphere. For this they used the TGO's NOMAD instrument pointing at the edge of Mars, similarly to analogous observations of Earth airglow from the ISS.
Since 2020, TGO has been cooperating with Mars Express on mutual radio occultation experiments measuring the physical properties of Mars atmosphere. A publication of a study in 2024 in Radio Science marked the first routine use of this technique at another planet and in June 2025, a comprehensive data set from these observations has been made publicly available.
=== 2021 ===
In February 2021, using data from TGO's ACS and NOMAD instruments, scientists reported on the discovery of transient hydrogen chloride (HCl) in Martian atmosphere, the first detection of a halogen gas on Mars. The distribution of the observations pointed to a non-volcanic explanation and the authors proposed that HCl is formed when salty dust is lifted into the atmosphere by wind during dust storms and reacts with atmospheric water to release chlorine, which in turn reacts with hydrogen-containing molecules.
In the same issue of Science Advances, another team using data from NOMAD reported a dramatic variability in deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) ratio of water vapour along altitude across the whole planet. These observations are consistent with large amounts of water being lost over time. TGO also observed multiple instances of accelerated water loss from the atmosphere, all associated with storms and seasonal changes.
=== 2022 ===
Data gathered by the NOMAD instrument in 2022 helped explain the unusual depletion of heavy carbon (13C) in rocks studied by NASA's Curiosity rover, which were considered as a potential biomarker of past life on Mars. Instead, using the TGO measurements, scientists proposed an abiotic mechanism, where CO2 in the atmosphere interact with sunlight and break apart to form CO that is depleted in heavy carbon.
=== 2023 ===
In August 2023, TGO as well as EMM and MRO observed an anomalous out-of-season dust storm in northern summer near the Antoniadi crater north-west of Syrtis Major. The observations from the three orbiters have shown that the storm triggered an intense injection of water vapor into the atmosphere, up to 60–80 km, and subsequent increase in hydrogen escape. These results, published in 2026, show that massive water loss events can be caused by local dust storms at any time of year, not only in southern summer as assumed before.
=== 2024 ===
During May 2024 solar storms, Mars Express and TGO were performing radio occultation experiments and managed to measure the response of the Martian atmosphere to the solar storm. The two orbiters observed a dramatic increase in electrons in two distinct layers of the atmosphere with a 45% increase in 110 km above surface and a 278% increase in 130 km.
In 2024, scientists published a global dataset of potential chloride deposits on Mars based on color-infrared observations by TGO's CaSSIS camera. They identified 965 chloride deposit candidates with diameters between 300 and 3,000 m, which likely formed by evaporation of shallow ponds of water or brine.
=== 2025 ===
A large scale study published in 2025 in Nature Communications using global imagery from MRO and TGO concluded that Recurring Slope Lineae form without liquid water all over Mars. They most likely form when layers of fine dust slide off steep slopes after triggering by falling rocks, meteoroid impacts, or wind gusts.
Combined measurements from TGO's Atmospheric Chemistry Suite and MRO's Mars Climate Sounder revealed a seasonal ozone layer on Mars, formed by low temperatures of the north polar vortex. This discovery was presented in September 2025 at a joint EPSC-DPS meeting.
Using observations from TGO, MRO, and Mars Express, scientists described repeated clay-bearing layers of varying thickness throughout Oxia Planum, the planned landing site of the Rosalind Franklin rover. These clays have likely originated elsewhere before being transported to the Oxia basin by rivers running from the highlands northwest of the region. This means that the landing site of Rosalind Franklin may represent a far wider range of ancient Martian climate history than previously believed. These results were also presented at the 2025 EPSC-DPS meeting.
On 19 September 2025, scientists published the highest resolution images of the atmosphere above the limb of Mars ever taken, revealing details about the hazy edge of the planet's atmosphere. These images, likened to a mille-feuille dessert due to their many thin layers of ice (above 40 km) and dust (below 40 km), were taken on 21 January 2024 over Terra Cimmeria by TGO's CaSSIS stereo camera and have a spatial resolution of 18 metres per pixel. ESA announced plans to carry out such observations once a month during future operations of TGO.
Between 1 and 7 October 2025, TGO observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using its CaSSIS instrument. During its closest approach to Mars on 3 October, the comet was 30 million km away. These observations were later used by ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre to predict the comet's path, resulting in a ten-fold increase in accuracy. This was the first time that astrometric data from a spacecraft at another planet have been accepted in the Minor Planet Center's database.
In October 2025, scientists published a catalogue of 1,039 Martian dust devils observed by TGO and Mars Express during past two decades. Their analyses show near-surface wind speeds of up to 44 m/s, faster than ever observed by surface probes.
A study published in Nature Communications in November 2025 associated over 2 million dark slope streaks observed on Mars between 2006 and 2024 by MRO with their possible drivers and concluded that most are caused by seasonal changes in dust delivery and wind stress. However, the study also identified rare cases when formation of the streaks was caused by meteoroid impacts. One of such cases was documented by TGO's CaSSIS instrument in late 2023 on the edge of Apollinaris Mons. The study also concluded that the best condition for the seasonal formation of dark streaks occur shortly after sunrise and shortly before sunset, which explains the lack of direct observations of these events so far. TGO is among only a few orbiters capable of sunrise and sunset imaging and attempts at capturing the events are underway.
=== 2026 ===
Researchers from the University of Bern used observations by TGO's CaSSIS as well as from MRO to map the drainage channels on a promontory in southeast Coprates Chasma including three "scarp-fronted deposits" interpreted as river deltas. This allowed them to determine the sea level of the global ocean on Mars between the late Hesperian and the early Amazonian, corresponding to an ocean of at least the size of Earth's Arctic Ocean. The results were published in the npj Space Exploration journal in January 2026. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottone_in_villa | Ottone in villa | Ottone in villa (Otho at his villa, RV 729) is an opera in three acts by Antonio Vivaldi to an Italian libretto by Domenico Lalli (the pseudonym of Sebastiano Biancardi). It was Vivaldi's first opera and premiered on 17 May 1713 at the Teatro delle Garzerie in Vicenza. Lalli's pastoral drama is set in ancient Rome and was a condensed adaptation of Francesco Maria Piccioli's satirical libretto for Carlo Pallavicino's opera Messalina (1679). However, Lalli changed several of the characters in Piccioli's libretto. Messalina became an invented character, Cleonilla. The Roman Emperor Claudius became another emperor, Otho (Ottone), who had already appeared as a protagonist in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642) and in Handel's Agrippina (1709).
== Roles ==
== Synopsis ==
The Roman Emperor Ottone is in love with Cleonilla, who can't resist flirting with two young Romans, Ostilio and Caio. Ostilio is in reality a woman, Tullia, who disguised herself because she's in love with Caio. She plans to kill Cleonilla out of jealousy, but she first tries to dissuade her from her relation with Caio. Caio sees the meeting and misinterprets it as a romantic encounter. He warns Ottone, who commands him to kill Ostilio. Before he can execute the order, Ostilio reveals himself to be Tullia. Cleonilla claims to have always known it, to conciliate Ottone. He believes her and the opera closes with the marriage of Tullia and Caio.
== Recordings ==
Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Patrizia Pace (Cleonilla, soprano), Anna Maria Ferrante (Tullia, soprano), Aris Christofellis (Caio, male soprano), Jean Nirouët (Ottone, countertenor), Luigi Petroni (Decio, tenor); Ensemble Seicentonovecento; Flavio Colusso (conductor). Recorded September 1993. Label: Bongiovanni 10016/18.
Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Susan Gritton (Cleonilla, soprano), Monica Groop (Ottone, mezzo-soprano), Nancy Argenta (Caio Silio, soprano), Mark Padmore (Decio, tenor), Sophie Daneman (Tullia, soprano); Collegium Musicum 90; Richard Hickox (conductor). Performing Edition (1997) by Eric Cross. Label: Chandos Chaconne 0614.
Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Maria Laura Martorana (Cleonilla, soprano), Tuva Semmingsen (Ottone, mezzo-soprano), Florin Cezar Ouatu (Caio Silio, countertenor), Luca Dordolo (Decio, tenor), Marina Bartoli (Tullia, soprano); L'Arte dell'Arco; Federico Guglielmo (conductor). Performing edition by Federico Guglielmo (2008 revision) from the manuscript by Vittorio Bolcato. Label: Brilliant Classics 94105.
Vivaldi: Ottone in Villa – Veronica Cangemi (Cleonilla, soprano), Roberta Invernizzi (Tullia, soprano), Julia Lezhneva (Caio, soprano), Sonia Prina (Ottone, contralto), Topi Lehtipuu (Decio, tenor); Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini (conductor). Performing edition by Eric Cross. Label: Naïve B004215TO0. (2010) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Taylor_(wrestler,_born_1990) | David Taylor (wrestler, born 1990) | David Morris Taylor III (born December 5, 1990) is an American former freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competed in the 74, 86 and 92-kilogram categories. He is the current head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
With his most prestigious accolades coming at 86 kilograms, Taylor was most notably the 2020 Summer Olympic gold medalist, a World champion in 2018, 2022 and 2023, and held one of the biggest rivalries in the sport's history against Hassan Yazdani.
One of the most accomplished Nittany Lions in the history of the Penn State program, Taylor was twice the NCAA Division I National champion at 165 pounds, and earned the Dan Hodge Trophy two times during his collegiate years.
== Early life and education ==
Taylor was born in Reno, Nevada, on December 5, 1990. His family moved to Wyoming before he was five. His mother saw an ad in the newspaper for youth wrestling at Evanston High School in Evanston, Wyoming, where Taylor started wrestling. Although initially not having much success in the sport in his first year, Taylor developed a passion to keep improving and eventually started winning local and national tournaments as a youth wrestler. At the age of nine, he attended the Jeff Jordan State Champ Camp in Ohio, and keep coming back to attend the camp each fall. By the time he was in sixth grade, his family moved to Ohio. Taylor attended Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio, where he wrestled for coach Jeff Jordan. As a high schooler, Taylor became a four-time OHSAA state champion with an outstanding 180–2 record and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He received the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2009 as the nation's top high school wrestler.
During his time at Penn State from 2009 to 2014, Taylor was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion (four-time finalist), a four-time Big Ten Conference champion, and two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner. After a perfect freshman year to that point, Taylor was pinned by Arizona State's Bubba Jenkins at the NCAA finals. As a sophomore, he moved up from 157 pounds (71 kg) to 165 lb (75 kg), winning the NCAA title and being named the best college wrestler in the US as the Dan Hodge Trophy winner with a 70–1 overall record.
As a junior, he faced Kyle Dake from Cornell in the NCAA finals, who moved up to attempt to become the third four-time NCAA champion and the first to win titles at four different weight classes in the history of the NCAA. After a back-and-forth battle, Taylor was defeated 5–4. As a senior, he once again had an undefeated campaign, claimed his second NCAA title, helped clinch the team title for the Nittany Lions, and became the third multiple-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner in history. Taylor graduated with 134 wins and three losses, 50 pins, 42 technical falls, and 29 major decisions.
== Career ==
=== 2010–2012 ===
Taylor made his freestyle debut in April 2010, when he claimed a University US National title. In 2012, he competed at the US Olympic Team Trials, where he went 3–2.
=== 2013–2014 ===
In 2013, Taylor claimed runner-up honors at the US Open in April, defeating Nick Marable to reach the finals and then being downed by the defending Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs. After pinning '12 Junior World Champion Magomed Kurbanaliev from Russia at Beat the Streets, Taylor became a two-time US University National and made the US University World Team on May. At the '13 US World Team Trials Challenge of June, Taylor went 4–1 with a lone loss to four-time NCAA Division I National Kyle Dake to claim third-place. At the 2013 Summer Universiade, he claimed a bronze medal for the United States.
In 2014, last year's US Open results were repeated when Taylor fell to Jordan Burroughs, this rematch being much closer and forcing the now defending World Champion to come from behind to get the last minute comeback. After dominating the eventual '16 Olympic bronze medalist and at-the-time two-time World bronze medalist and two-time European Champion Jabrayil Hasanov at Beat the Streets, Taylor made the US World Team Trials finals, but was defeated twice in a row by Burroughs.
=== 2015–2016 ===
Now able to focus on freestyle full-time after graduating from college, Taylor opened up the 2015 year with a fifth-place finish at the Yasar Dogu, where he went 3–2. He then claimed his first US Open National title in May, followed up by a technical fall over Cuba's Liván López at Beat the Streets. In his fourth attempt to make the US World Team, Taylor was once again overpowered by Kyle Dake in the challenge tournament, but he came back and claimed the third place when he beat veteran Andrew Howe. Taylor then claimed Grand Prix of Spain and Stepan Sargsyan Cup gold medals in July, before making the decision to bulk up to the 86 kilogram division on September. Taylor took fifth-place at the Golden Grand Prix of November, and seemed overpowered in his first tournament at a new weight class. In December, Taylor competed at the US Senior Nationals, and after running through '14 US World Team member and teammate Ed Ruth, Taylor was defeated by long-time rival Kyle Dake.
In 2016, Taylor was unable to make the US Olympic Team, as he was defeated by Dake for the fifth time in the senior level, forcing Taylor to battle for the bronze medal, which he comfortably earned. He then claimed his second Spain Grand Prix title on July, and competed again at the World Clubs Cup of December, where he went 3-1 and helped TMWC reach the first-place, while also defeating the accomplished Alireza Karimi.
=== 2017 ===
In his first competition of the year, Taylor dominated the Grand Prix of Paris in January, and despite being initially banned by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he competed at the World Cup in February in Iran. At the World Cup, he defeated four top-level opponents: '12 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time European Champion Dato Marsagishvili in the first round (8-3), that year's World Championship bronze medalist Vladislav Valiev (TF 14–4), '12 Olympic Gold medalist Sharif Sharifov (TF 12–2), and '16 Olympic Gold medalist Hassan Yazdani (fall).
Taylor claimed his second US national title in April, with an overall score of 40–4 against five opponents. After a quick win at Beat the Streets, Taylor made the World Team Trials finals when he ran through '16 US OTT Greco-Roman champion Joe Rau and '12 Junior World Championship runner-up Pat Downey, and defeated three-time NCAA Division I All-American Nick Heflin to make the best-of-three, where he faced returning Olympic Bronze medalist J'den Cox. In the first match, Taylor rallied comfortably with a 9–3 win, but was closely defeated in the second match 4–3, leading to a controversial third bout due to Cox's sweat and alleged passivity, which caused Taylor to kick the challenge cube and his cornerman Cael Sanderson to throw items at the official and a chair onto the mat after losing 5–3.
He came back to competition at the World Clubs Cup on December, where he helped the TMWC to second place with notable victories over Alireza Karimi and Pawan Kumar.
=== 2018 ===
To start off the year, Taylor became only the 12th American to claim a gold medal at the Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix, considered the toughest open tournament in the world. He opened with a win over two-time (and defending) Pan American champion Yurieski Torreblanca, followed by Selim Yaşar on points and a fall over '17 Junior World Champion Artur Naifonov to make the finals. In the finals, he got another fall, this time over Fatih Erdin, to claim the gold medal. On April, he claimed his second consecutive World Cup championship, recording four technical falls to help secure the gold medal for the United States. He also clinched his third US National title, with four victories over fellow Americans.
On May, he claimed his first Pan American title, with notable wins over Yurieski Torreblanca, Pool Ambrocio and Eduardo Gajardo. On his seventh attempt to make the US World/Olympic Team, Taylor finally and dominantly was able to punch tickets to the World Championships, when he defeated '18 Bill Farrell Memorial medalist Nick Reenan twice via technical fall on May, at Final X: State College. He then warmed up at the Yasar Dogu of July, with four dominant pins over foreigners.
At the World Championships, Taylor had a tough start, as he faced his biggest threat of the tournament in the first round, '16 Olympic Gold medalist and defending World champion Hassan Yazdani from Iran. After being down two points to six at the end of the first period, Taylor was able to overcome adversity and put on nine points on his side, finishing the legendary match 11–6. In the next round, he tech'd '18 Alexander Medved champion Hajy Rajabau from Belarus, to advance to the quarterfinals. Next, he picked apart the accomplished Cuban Yurieski Torreblanca, to pick up an 8–0 victory. In the semifinals, he had it harder, as he went to the distance against the '17 European Champion and Russia's best Dauren Kurugliev, but was able to score the comeback win 7–5. During the match, Taylor got briefly knocked out after Kurugliev accidentally wheel kicked him on the chin when escaping a single leg attempt by Taylor. In the finals, he dismantled Fatih Erdin from Turkey, overwhelming his opposition with 12 points to two, to claim the World Championship and help Team USA reach third place.
After the year was over, Taylor was named the UWW International Freestyle wrestler of the Year, and was awarded the John Smith Award winner as USA's Freestyle wrestler of the Year.
=== 2019–2020 ===
After time off competition, the returning World Champion came back in April 2019, when he claimed his second straight Pan American title, tournament in where he scored 34 points to none against his four opponents and Team USA claimed all ten medals in freestyle. On May, he competed at the annual Beat the Streets for charity, against Drew Foster, where he suffered a severe knee injury which led him to forfeit out of the match, and ultimately, forced him to stay inactive during the whole year, missing the opportunity to make his second US World Team (forfeiting it to Pat Downey instead, whom he had tech'd twice), to represent the United States at the 2019 Pan American Games or to defend his title at the World Championships.
After almost a full year of no competition, Taylor came back to wrestle in March 2020, at the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament. He comfortably got three wins to win the bracket and internationally qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Taylor was then scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials on April 4 at State College, Pennsylvania, where he was a heavy favorite. However, the event was postponed for 2021 along with the Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving all the qualifiers unable to compete.
Taylor was unable to compete for a couple of months due to the pandemic, but was scheduled to wrestle Pat Downey (whom he was unable to wrestle at the '19 US World Trials) on July 25, at FloWrestling: Dake vs. Chamizo. After Downey pulled out of the bout due to problems with the organization, Taylor wrestled and tech'd the accomplished Myles Martin. After more months of inactiveness, Taylor defeated two-time NCAA champion Gabe Dean by points on November 24, at the NLWC III.
=== 2021 ===
To start the year, Taylor was scheduled to face his former rival and five-time World and Olympic champion (at 74 kg) Jordan Burroughs, at 86 kilos, on January 9, while headlining FloWrestling: Burroughs vs. Taylor. However, it was announced on January 8 that Taylor was unable to travel to Austin, Texas due to COVID-19 restrictions and the bout was subsequently postponed for four days later and changed its location for Lincoln, Nebraska, thus moving to a different card also named FloWrestling: Burroughs vs. Taylor. After a 4–0 lead for Taylor in the first period, Burroughs rallied late to score four points of his own, but was unable to secure the victory as Taylor had criteria, defeating Burroughs for the first time in five matches. Taylor was also scheduled to compete at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane on January 16, but was not able to travel due to the postponement of his match against Burroughs.
During April 2 to 3, Taylor competed at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials as the heavy favorite and top–seed. After cleaning out All–American Brett Pfarr in the quarterfinal round, Taylor flawlessly knocked off reigning US National champion Gabe Dean in a rematch from their match at the NLWC III, advancing to the best–of–three finals. In the finale, Taylor faced reigning U23 World Champion and Penn State legend Bo Nickal, whom he is close with as a friend and teammate at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He defeated Nickal twice and did not allow him to score any points while scoring ten combined points of his own, becoming the US Olympic Team Member at 86 kilograms, and qualifying him to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In regards to his close relationship with Nickal, Taylor then stated:
"It was a weird emotion," Taylor said. "We had a discussion leading up to it, and we have such a deep room in the wrestling club, especially at 86 kilos, so we're challenged every single day and none of us would be where we are without each other. Bo's amazing, and I wouldn't be where I am without Bo."As a result, Taylor also competed at the Pan American Continental Championships on May 30. Taylor racked up 30 points against his three opponents while not getting scored on to claim the crown and help the USA reach all 10 freestyle medals.
On August 4, Taylor competed in the first date of men's freestyle 86 kg of the 2020 Summer Olympics, where he looked dominant enough to score technical falls over all of his three opponents on his way to the finals; four-time World Championship medalist Ali Shabanau from Belarus, '20 European Championship runner-up Myles Amine from San Marino and defending World silver medalist Deepak Punia from India. On the other side of the finale awaited rival and reigning Olympic and World Champion Hassan Yazdani from Iran, Taylor meeting him in a rubber match on August 5 after downing him twice earlier in his career. Down 0–2 to a step-out and a passivity point in the second period, Taylor scored the first takedown to tie it up, though Yazdani scored another step-out to make it 2–3 on his favor, before being blasted by Taylor for two points late in the match, resulting in the stunning upset comeback win, shocking the world as the underdog going into the match. This result gained Taylor the 2020 Summer Olympic Games gold medal and extended his win-streak to 54 matches.
As an Olympic medalist, Taylor earned the right to automatically represent the United States at the 2021 World Championships without having to compete domestically to make the US World Team, and did do so in October 2–3. On the first date, Taylor once again ran through his competition, dominating the likes of World Championship runner-ups Boris Makoev and Abubakr Abakarov to cruise to the finale. A fourth match with rival and reigning World Champion Hassan Yazdani took place in the finals, but this time the Iranian came up on top for the first time, nullifying Taylor and snapping his 57-match win streak, marking the series 3–1 in favor of Taylor and the latter leaving with a silver medal.
=== 2022 ===
In June, Taylor stopped two-time NCAA champion Zahid Valencia twice to make the US World Team once again, at Final X NYC. In September, after dominantly cruising to the finals, Taylor avenged his loss to Hassan Yazdani and claimed his second World championship.
=== 2023 ===
Repeating as Final X champion to become the US World Team member at the weight, Taylor defeated US National champion and teammate Aaron Brooks twice in a row in June. At the World Championships, Taylor dominated once again, defeating everyone on his way either by fall or technical fall, including Hassan Yazdani, leading 5–1 in the series.
=== 2024 ===
Competing at the US Olympic Trials in April, Taylor sat in the best-of-three finals as a 2023 World medalist, where he was upset twice in a row by now U23 World and four-time NCAA champion, as well as teammate, Aaron Brooks, losing the series and staying out of the 2024 Summer Olympics. In May, after becoming the head coach at Oklahoma State, Taylor expressed at a press conference that he had retired from the sport as a competitor, at the age of 33.
In September, Taylor, now the head coach of the Cowboys, announced he would come out of retirement to compete at the US World Team Trials up at 92 kilograms. After notorious wins on the first day over NCAA champion Michael Macchiavello and All-Americans Trent Hidlay and Marcus Coleman, Taylor made the best-of-three finals, where he faced returning World medalist Zahid Valencia. Then, after consecutive victories over Valencia, Taylor was back on the US World Team.
In October, he competed at his last World Championships, and in his first at 92 kilograms. In a battle of Tokyo Olympic champions, Taylor fell to seven–time World and Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev from Russia, in the first round. After being pulled back into repechage, Taylor bounced back defeating World medalist Abubakr Abakarov from Azerbaijan and Lars Schäfle from Germany to earn the right to contend for a bronze medal. In a battle of 2022 World champions, Taylor beat two-time World champion Kamran Ghasempour from Iran to earn the bronze medal, and subsequently retired from the sport as an athlete.
== Coaching career ==
=== Oklahoma State University ===
In May, a month after a runner-up finish at the 2024 US Olympic Trials, it was announced that Taylor would become the head coach at Oklahoma State University, following John Smith's retirement. During his first year the Cowboy Wrestlers secured a 13-1 dual meet record, clinched the Big 12 Conference title with one Big 12 individual champion, and finished 3rd in the National Championship with six All-Americans and two individual national champions - Dean Hamiti at 174 and Wyatt Hendrickson at 285.
== Freestyle record ==
== NCAA record ==
== Head coaching record ==
== Awards and honors ==
2021
Olympic games
Pan American Championships
== Endorsements ==
In 2015, Taylor and Adidas released a line of wrestling apparel labeled "M2" after Taylor's college nickname "Magic Man". Taylor received the nickname after a collegiate match in which he turned an unfavorable situation for himself into an advantage. The apparel line began with wrestling shoes and has since expanded to clothing, posters and Adidas sponsored events. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgerton | Bridgerton | Bridgerton is an American alternative history, Regency romance television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series of the same name by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. The series stars Adjoa Andoh, Golda Rosheuvel, Ruth Gemmell, Polly Walker, Luke Newton, Nicola Coughlan, and Claudia Jessie.
Narrated by Julie Andrews, itt follows the close-knit siblings of the noble and influential Bridgerton family as they navigate the highly competitive social season, where young marriageable members of the ton, consisting of nobility and gentry, are introduced into society. The series is set during the early 19th century, or 1800s, in an alternative London Regency era, in which George III established racial equality and granted aristocratic titles to people of color due to his wife, Queen Charlotte's fictionalized African heritage within the series.
The first season debuted on December 25, 2020. The second season premiered on March 25, 2022. The third season was released in two parts, which premiered on May 16 and June 13, 2024, respectively. The fourth season was again released in two parts, premiering on January 29 and February 26, 2026, respectively. The series has been renewed for a fifth season. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, a spin-off series focused on Queen Charlotte, was released in May 2023.
Bridgerton has been positively received for its direction, actors' performances, production and set design, winning five Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, a Make-Up Artists And Hair Stylists Guild Awards, and nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Satellite Awards and NAACP Image Awards. The music score by Kris Bowers earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
== Premise ==
Set against the backdrop of the Regency era, the eight close-knit siblings of the noble and powerful Bridgerton family – Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth – navigate London high society in search of love, surrounded by friends and rivals alike.
== Cast and characters ==
=== Main ===
Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury (née Soma Anderson), the sharp-tongued, insightful doyenne of the ton
Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown, the author of a scandalous society newsletter
Lorraine Ashbourne as Mrs. Varley, the Featheringtons' housekeeper
Jonathan Bailey as Lord Anthony Bridgerton, 9th Viscount Bridgerton, the eldest Bridgerton son and head of the family. Husband of Kathani "Kate", Viscountess Bridgerton (née Sharma) and the father of Edmund Bridgerton II.
Ruby Barker (season 1; guest: season 2) as Marina, Lady Crane (née Thompson), a Featherington cousin from a rural gentry family
Sabrina Bartlett (season 1) as Siena Rosso, an opera singer and Anthony's former lover
Harriet Cains (seasons 1–3; guest: season 4) as Philippa Finch (née Featherington), the middle Featherington daughter. The wife of Albion Finch and the mother of Philomena Finch
Bessie Carter (seasons 1–3) as Prudence Dankworth (née Featherington), the eldest Featherington daughter. The wife of Harry Dankworth and the mother of their unnamed daughter
Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton (née Featherington), the youngest Featherington daughter. Wife of Colin Bridgerton and the mother of Elliot Bridgerton, the current Baron Featherington (Lord Featherington).
Phoebe Dynevor (season 1–2) as Daphne Basset (née Bridgerton), Duchess of Hastings, the fourth Bridgerton child and eldest daughter. Wife of Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings and the mother of August "Augie" Basset
Ruth Gemmell as Lady Violet Bridgerton, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton (née Ledger), mother of the Bridgerton children
Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton, the eighth and youngest Bridgerton child
Martins Imhangbe as Will Mondrich, a gentleman's club owner, retired boxer, and confidant of the Duke of Hastings
Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton, the fifth Bridgerton child and second daughter
Ben Miller (season 1) as Lord Archibald Featherington, Baron Featherington, the patriarch of the Featherington family
Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, the third Bridgerton son. Husband of Penelope Bridgerton (née Featherington) and the father of Elliot Bridgerton, the current Baron Featherington (Lord Featherington).
Regé-Jean Page (season 1) as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, one of London's most eligible bachelors who marries Daphne Bridgerton, and the father of August "Augie" Basset
Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, Queen of the United Kingdom and wife of King George III
Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, the second Bridgerton son
Will Tilston as Gregory Bridgerton, the seventh Bridgerton child and youngest son
Polly Walker as Lady Portia Featherington, Dowager Baroness Featherington, the matriarch of the Featherington family
Simone Ashley (season 2–present) as Kathani "Kate", Viscountess Bridgerton (née Sharma), wife of Anthony and the mother of Edmund Bridgerton II.
Charithra Chandran (season 2) as Edwina Sharma, Kate's younger half-sister
Shelley Conn (season 2) as Lady Mary Sharma (née Sheffield), Kate's stepmother and Edwina's mother
Calam Lynch (season 2) as Theo Sharpe, an apprentice at the printing shop used by Lady Whistledown who befriends Eloise
Rupert Young (season 2) as Jack, Baron Featherington, the new head of the Featherington family
Victor Alli (season 3–4) as John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin. Deceased husband of Francesca Stirling (née Bridgerton)
Joanna Bobin (season 3; recurring: season 1–2) as Lady Araminta Cowper, Cressida's mother
Dominic Coleman (season 3; recurring: season 2) as Lord Cowper, Cressida's father
Ruby Stokes (recurring: season 1–2) and Hannah Dodd (season 3–present) as Francesca Stirling (née Bridgerton), Countess of Kilmartin, the sixth Bridgerton child and third daughter. Widow of John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin.
Daniel Francis (season 3–present) as Marcus Anderson, Lady Danbury's brother
Jessica Madsen (season 3–present; recurring: seasons 1–2) as Cressida Gun, Countess of Penwood (née Cowper), an ill-mannered debutante competing with Daphne and Penelope. In season 4, she is now the new Lady Penwood, the wife of the new Earl of Penwood.
Hannah New (season 3) as Lady Tilley Arnold, a widow who has a fling with Benedict
Masali Baduza (season 4; guest: season 3) as Michaela Stirling, John's cousin
Yerin Ha (season 4) as Sophie Bridgerton (née Baek), illegitimate daughter of the previous Lord Penwood, Benedict's love interest and later wife
Katie Leung (season 4) as Lady Araminta Gun, Dowager Countess of Penwood. Rosamund and Posy's mother and Sophie's stepmother
Emma Naomi (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) as Alice Mondrich, Will Mondrich's wife
Hugh Sachs (season 4; recurring seasons 1–3) as Brimsley, the Queen's gossip-mongering secretary and Queen's man
=== Recurring ===
Geraldine Alexander as Mrs. Wilson, the Bridgertons' housekeeper
Jason Barnett as Jeffries, the Bassets' butler (season 1)
Kathryn Drysdale as Genevieve Delacroix, a high society modiste (season 1–3)
Oli Higginson as John, a footman in the Bridgerton household often working for Eloise
Simon Ludders as Humboldt, the Bridgertons' butler (season 1)
Molly McGlynn as Rose Nolan, Daphne's loyal maid and confidant (season 1)
Julian Ovenden as Sir Henry Granville, an artist who befriends Benedict (season 1)
Caleb Obediah as Lord Charles Cho, a society gentleman (season 2–4)
Bert Seymour as Lord Fife, a society gentleman (season 2–4)
Sam Battersea as Lady Barragan, Winifred Barragan's mother (season 3)
Ella Bruccoleri as Winifred Barragan, a debutant with Francesca (season 3)
Genevieve Chenneour as Clara Livingston, a fellow debutante with Francesca (season 3)
Kitty Devlin as Lady Dolores Allison (née Stowell), a fellow debutante with Francesca (season 3–4)
Rosa Hesmondhalgh as Rae, maid and confidant to Penelope Bridgerton (née Featherington) (seasons 3 and 4)
Sesly Hope as Lady Emma Cho (née Kenworthy), a debutante with Francesca (season 3–4)
Molly Jackson-Shaw as Anne Hartigan, a debutante with Francesca (season 3)
Lorn Macdonald as Albion Finch, Philippa Featherington's husband (season 3; guest season 1–2, 4)
Sam Phillips as Lord Alfred Debling, a suitor who courts Penelope (season 3)
James Phoon as Harry Dankworth, Prudence Featherington's husband (season 3; guest season 4)
Vineeta Rishi as Lady Malhotra, Sita Malhotra's mother (season 3–4)
Banita Sandhu as Sita Malhotra, a fellow debutante with Francesca (season 3)
Anna Wilson-Jones as Lady Livingston, Clara Livingston's mother (season 3)
Sophie Woolley as Lady Stowell, Dolores Stowell's mother (season 3)
Michelle Mao as Rosamund Li, Araminta's older daughter and one of Sophie's stepsisters (season 4)
Isabella Wei as Posy Li, Araminta's younger daughter, one of Sophie's stepsisters (season 4)
Fiona Marr as Irma, a cook at Penwood House (season 4)
Gracie McGonigal as Hazel, a maid at Bridgerton House (season 4)
David Moorst as Alfie, a footman at Penwood House (season 4)
=== Guest ===
Jamie Beamish as Nigel, Baron Berbrooke, Daphne's suitor (season 1)
Caroline Quentin as Lady Berbrooke, Nigel's mother (season 1)
Freddie Stroma as Prince Frederick of Prussia, the Queen's grandnephew (season 1)
Amy Beth Hayes as Lady Trowbridge, the hedonistic widow of an earl (season 1)
James Fleet as King George III, the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (season 1–2)
Céline Buckens as Kitty Langham, a general's wife (season 1)
Chris Fulton as Sir Philip Crane, Marina's husband, a baronet (season 1–2)
Daphne Di Cinto as Sarah Basset, Duchess of Hastings, Simon's mother (season 1)
Richard Pepple as the Duke of Hastings, Simon's father (season 1)
Pippa Haywood as Mrs. Colson, the housekeeper at the Hastings' country estate (season 1)
Anthony Head as Lord Sheffield, Lady Mary's father and Edwina's grandfather (season 2)
Shobu Kapoor as Lady Sheffield, Lady Mary's mother and Edwina's grandmother (season 2)
Rupert Evans as Edmund, 8th Viscount Bridgerton, father of the Bridgerton children (season 2)
Zak Ford-Williams as Lord Remington, Lady Whistledown's greatest fan (season 3)
Jude Powell as Lord Allison, husband of Lady Dolores Allison (season 4)
Zheng Xi Yong as Lord Barnaby, suitor of Posy Li (season 4)
== Episodes ==
=== Season 1 (2020) ===
The first season is based on The Duke and I.
=== Season 2 (2022) ===
The second season is based on The Viscount Who Loved Me.
=== Season 3 (2024) ===
The third season is based on Romancing Mister Bridgerton.
=== Season 4 (2026) ===
The fourth season is based on An Offer from a Gentleman.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
On July 20, 2018, Netflix announced that Shonda Rhimes, through her production company Shondaland, would produce the screen adaptation of the bestselling novels of the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn, while Chris Van Dusen would serve as showrunner. Quinn explained on The Tamron Hall Show that when she heard from her agent that Rhimes was interested in adapting her novels, she "almost fell off of [her] stool," and quickly agreed to the offer. Season 1 of the show adapted The Duke and I, the first book of Quinn's series. Van Dusen said in a Shondaland article: "I think [period shows] are considered a bit traditional and conservative. With Bridgerton, I wanted to take everything I loved about a period show and turn it into something fresh, topical, and relatable."
Before the first season aired, the show was already in pre-production for a second season which was officially announced in January 2021. It is focused on Anthony and based on the book The Viscount Who Loved Me. On April 13, 2021, creator Van Dusen revealed on Twitter that the series had additionally been renewed for a third and fourth season.
Unlike the first two seasons, which followed the order of the book series, the third season focuses on Colin and Penelope, based on Quinn's fourth novel Romancing Mister Bridgerton, rather than Benedict. Jess Brownell replaced Van Dusen as writer and showrunner for the third and fourth seasons. In July 2024, it was confirmed that Benedict Bridgerton would be the lead for Season 4. In May 2025, Netflix officially announced a dual season renewal of seasons 5 and 6.
=== Casting ===
Unlike the series of novels, Bridgerton is set in an alternate history with a racially integrated London where people of color are members of the ton, some with titles granted by the sovereign. Creator Chris Van Dusen was inspired by historical debate over the 1940s African ancestry claims of Queen Charlotte "...to base the show in an alternative history in which Queen Charlotte's mixed race heritage was not only well-established but was transformative for Black people and other people of color in England." Van Dusen says the series is not "color-blind" because "that would imply that color and race were never considered, when color and race are part of the show."
On June 19, 2019, Julie Andrews was cast as Lady Whistledown, whose voice-overs explain much of the series' action. In addition, Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page were cast to play the leads with Jonathan Bailey, Golda Rosheuvel, Luke Newton, Claudia Jessie, Nicola Coughlan, Ruby Barker, Sabrina Bartlett, Ruth Gemmell, Adjoa Andoh and Polly Walker co-starring. Luke Thompson, Will Tilston, Florence Hunt, and Ruby Stokes were cast as the remaining four Bridgerton siblings at the end of July. Rounding out the cast were Ben Miller, Bessie Carter, Harriet Cains, Martins Imhangbe, and Lorraine Ashbourne.
On January 21, 2021, it was announced that Jonathan Bailey would be reprising his role as Anthony and would be the center of the show's sophomore season. The following month, Simone Ashley had been cast as Kate. On April 5, 2021, Charithra Chandran joined the cast as Edwina; Rupert Young joined to play a new character; Shelley Conn was cast as Kate's stepmother and Edwina's mother, Mary; and Calam Lynch was cast as Theo Sharpe. On May 28, 2021, Rupert Evans joined the cast as Edmund Bridgerton, the late patriarch of the Bridgerton family.
Page did not return for the second season despite being asked to come back as he only signed a one-year deal and wanted to explore other opportunities outside the show.
In April 2022, Bailey and Ashley were confirmed to return for the third season as Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton, exploring their married life and duties as heads of the eponymous family. The following month, Hannah Dodd was cast to replace Ruby Stokes as Francesca Bridgerton for the third season. Stokes exited the show due to scheduling conflicts with Lockwood & Co. In August 2022, Chandran reported that she would not reprise her role as Edwina for the season. In July 2022, Daniel Francis, Sam Phillips, and James Phoon were cast in undisclosed capacities for the third season. In October 2022, Hannah New joined the cast as Lady Tilley Arnold. In January 2023, Dynevor confirmed she would not appear in the third season, but remained open to returning "in the future".
In May 2024, Coughlan and Newton were confirmed to be returning for the fourth season. In August 2024, Yerin Ha was cast as Sophie Baek (known as Sophie Beckett in the novel) while Bailey confirmed his return for the fourth season, but that he would be filming for only "a few weeks". In September 2024, Katie Leung, Isabella Wei and Michelle Mao joined as Araminta, Rosamund, and Posy, while Hugh Sachs and Emma Naomi have been upgraded to series regulars. In October 2024, Ashley confirmed that she would be returning for the season, later confirmed to be in an additional cast role as opposed to series regular in the previous two seasons. In January 2025, Dynevor revealed that she had not yet been asked to return for an appearance in the fourth season. Upon casting, Yerin Ha made a playlist on Spotify to prepare for the role which included the song “Into My Heart” (Korean: 그대가 이렇게 내 맘에) by Lee So-ra as well as songs by Benjamin Clementine and Billie Eilish.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography commenced in July 2019 and wrapped in late February 2020. Bridgerton was filmed in London and Bath, as well as at various estates and parks around England. Although the series takes place in London, most street scenes were filmed in Bath, York, and Chatham. The grounds of Wilton House were used for Hyde Park and the grounds of Somerley were used for Hampstead Heath. Garden scenes were filmed at Painshill near Cobham and the Commissioner's House in Chatham. Filming locations included Ranger's House in Greenwich (standing in for the Bridgerton House in London exterior); Halton House at RAF Halton (Bridgerton House interior, Featheringtons' interior); Wilton House (Simon's Hastings House, Clyvedon estate interior, St James's Palace throne room); Syon House and Badminton House (Hastings House); Castle Howard (Clyvedon estate); Coneysthorpe (Clyvedon village); Hampton Court Palace and Lancaster House (St. James's Palace); Holburne Museum (Lady Danbury's estate); Hatfield House (Featheringtons' interior); No. 1 Royal Crescent (Grosvenor Square); Queen's House and Somerley (Somerset House); and Dorney Court (coaching inn).
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens no longer exists in its entirety. The production team recreated it for Lady Danbury's ball by combining the remaining parts with Castle Howard and Stowe Park. The banqueting room at the Guildhall, Bath was used for another ball as well as the Great Hall at Leigh Court in Somerset.
Anthony Bridgerton and Simon Basset meet in the real-life Reform Club on Pall Mall in central London. The scene in which Lady Featherington takes Marina to the slums was filmed at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. Boxing scenes were also filmed here in addition to Normansfield Theatre in Teddington. Theatre scenes were filmed at the Hackney Empire. A café in Bath, Pickled Greens, was used as the site of the Modiste shop and the Bathrooms at No.5 store on Trim Street became the site of Gunter's Tea Shop.
The costuming was led by Ellen Mirojnick and involved over two hundred people and five months of preparation to create 5,000 costumes.
Production on the second season began in March 2021. In May 2021, it was reported that the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refused permission to build a film set for the second season in Sunninghill Park near Windsor, despite royal approval. On July 15, 2021, production on the second season was paused for 24 hours when a crew member tested positive for COVID-19, but resumed the following day. However, on July 17, production was halted indefinitely following a second positive test. Production resumed in August 2021. Production for the second season wrapped on November 20, 2021.
New filming locations for season 2 included Wrotham Park (standing in for the Bridgertons' country home Aubrey Hall); West Wycombe Park (Aubrey Hall interior and the Crane estate); Wrest Park, Ivinghoe Beacon, and Ashridge (the Orangery and Aubrey Hall grounds); the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club (Royal Ascot); Old Royal Naval College; Windsor Great Park (woods scenes); Goldsmiths' Hall (Buckingham palace throne room); and Wilton's Music Hall (feminist meeting place). The real St James's Church is in the series. The art display at Petworth House was used for the museum scene, with Royal Artillery Barracks used as the exterior. The finale ball was filmed at Basildon Park.
The third season began principal photography in July 2022 and wrapped in March 2023.
New filming locations for Bridgerton in season 3 included Claydon House, Squerryes Court (garden party scenes), Osterley Park (Full Moon Ball), Grimsthorpe Castle (Hawkins residence), Basildon Park (Arnold residence), Blenheim Palace (standing in for Buckingham House) and Woburn Walk (Modiste dress shop) in London.
The fourth season began principal photography on September 16, 2024 and wrapped by June 20, 2025. Supervising locations manager Tony Hood underwent an "exhaustive search" for Benedict's second home (called My Cottage) and landed on Loseley Park. Another new location was Ham House (Crabtree's domain). During production of season 4, Yerin Ha got irritant contact dermatitis all over her body from personally applying baby powder all over her body before performing a scene in a bath tub for five hours.
=== Music ===
American composer and pianist Kris Bowers composed and arranged the score for the series. Bowers wrote and composed the first season's soundtrack, featuring nineteen songs. Musicians recorded the score remotely from their home studios during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first season featured orchestral covers of contemporary popular music, which director and executive producer Julie Anne Robinson said was inspired by the use of classic rock songs in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale. Songs featured included Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next", Maroon 5's "Girls Like You", Shawn Mendes's "In My Blood" and Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy", all four of which are performed by Vitamin String Quartet. Also included are Celeste's "Strange" performed by Bowers, and Taylor Swift's "Wildest Dreams" performed by Duomo. Bowers also included modern interpretations of classical music, such as Bach's Cello Suite No. 6 in D major from Peter Gregson's Recomposed by Peter Gregson: Bach – The Cello Suites and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons from Max Richter's Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons. The first season also included JPOLND's "The End" which has a "swingy melody but intense lyrics."
In the second season, covers include Nirvana's "Stay Away" and Robyn's "Dancing On My Own" by Vitamin String Quartet, Madonna's "Material Girl", "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" from the soundtrack of the film of the same name and Calvin Harris' "How Deep Is Your Love" by Bowers. Also included are Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" and Pink's "What About Us" by Duomo, Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" by Steve Horner, Rihanna's "Diamonds" by Hannah V and Joe Rodwell and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" by Midnight String Quartet. To promote the show, Morisette appeared in a video performing "You Oughta Know" with Duomo. When discussing the music of season two, music supervisor Justin Kramps explained that "even for these songs that are just huge songs that everyone knows, [an instrumental version] still breathes new life and brings them to a new audience, and in a different way. Pop is where we start, because it fits the style of the show, and it's often using these super-recognizable songs that just add a lot of joy, which is what pop does in general."
In the third season, covers include Gayle's "ABCDEFU" by Vitula, BTS' "Dynamite", Sia's "Cheap Thrills", Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever", and Coldplay's "Yellow" by Vitamin String Quartet, Nick Jonas' "Jealous", by Shimmer, Taylor Swift's "Snow on the Beach" by Atwood Quartet, Pitbull's "Give Me Everything", Demi Lovato's "Confident", and Ellie Goulding's "Lights (Stripped Down)" by Archer Marsh, Ariana Grande's "POV" by Strings from Paris, Imagine Dragons' "Thunder" by Thomas Mercier, and Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" by Duomo.
During the part 1 premiere in New York City, Tori Kelly performed the first original Bridgerton song, "All I Want", which played over the credits in the eighth episode. The cover of "Give Me Everything" went viral on social media.
== Release ==
The eight episodes of the first season of Bridgerton began streaming on Netflix on December 25, 2020. The second season's eight episodes were released on March 25, 2022. The first part of the third season premiered on May 16, 2024, with the first four episodes, while the second part premiered on June 13, 2024, with the last four episodes. The fourth season was again released in two parts, premiering on January 29 and February 26, 2026, respectively.
=== Marketing ===
A preview of a scene from season 2 aired during Netflix's September 2021 Tudum: Extended Talent Panel, which was followed by first look stills. On February 14, 2022, the first teaser trailer for the second season was released. A world premiere was held at Tate Modern on March 22, 2022, in London, England prior to the season's eight episodes being released. Due to a three-month commitment as the lead in the acclaimed West End play Cock, Jonathan Bailey had missed "press, talk shows, FYC events, and even the Met Gala" as part of the show's promotion.
In December 2023, it was announced that the third season would be split into two parts. At a Valentine's Day Event on February 14, 2024, the season's episode titles, exclusive photos and first look footage were released alongside a panel attended by Rhimes, Brownell, Quinn, and cast members: Coughlan, Newton, Rosheuvel, Andoh, Jessie, Thompson, and Imhangbe. The trailer for season 3 part 1 was released on April 11, 2024. A world premiere was held in New York City prior to the premiere of part 1 of Season 3. A world premiere was held in London's Leicester Square prior to the premiere of part 2 of Season 3.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
The series has received an average score of 83% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 71 on Metacritic.
==== Season 1 ====
The first season received positive reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 87% 100 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Sumptuous design, soapy drama, and a sterling cast make Bridgerton a delightful treat." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and wrote, "Bridgerton, it seems, is a wonderful diversion for those who love Pride & Prejudice but wish it had more stairway sex." Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times gave the series four out of four stars and called it "A show that will give you that unmistakable binge twinge and have you activating that "Next Episode" time and again, until there are no more "Next Episodes"." British GQ described Bridgerton as a cross between Downton Abbey and Gossip Girl, but noted that it "may just end up being another disappointment" and "it could have been brilliant." Salamishah Tillet of The New York Times said "Bridgerton provides a blueprint for British period shows in which Black characters can thrive within the melodramatic story lines, extravagant costumes and bucolic beauty [...] without having to be servants or enslaved." Erum Salam of Cosmopolitan wrote "I kept wanting more. I wanted more explanations of how race factored into this society..." Carolyn Hinds from The Observer stated "Bridgerton has been praised as a racially diverse show set in the Regency era, because having Black people in a big budget production period show—or film—about England before the 1900s feels like a foreign concept for white directors and writers, even though Black, South Asian, Asian and other people of color had been living there for hundreds of years as a result of mercantilism, and the monarchy’s colonization of over half the world." Vanity Fair's Caroline Framke describes the sex in the series "isn't altogether shocking material for Shondaland to mine for its first drama series absent broadcast restraints."
The first season's 6th episode drew criticism with regard to the non-consensual nature of a sex scene between Simon and Daphne, which amounted to marital rape. The episode depicts Daphne, while having sex with Simon, changing her position to be on top, preventing Simon from pulling out of her when he climaxes despite his objections, to prove he could impregnate her but chooses not to. Described as one of the toxic plot points of their relationship, it further drew scrutiny due to the fact that the deceit was never addressed as sexual assault in the series. Critics pointed out that it failed to acknowledge the difficulties of male victims of rape and the further fetishization of black men in media.
==== Season 2 ====
The second season received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 95 critic reviews are positive with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus states, "The risqué thrill may have faded, but Bridgerton remains a compulsive episode-turner in this delightful sophomore season." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series an A− writing, "With a second season that's more clever, moving, and emotionally complex than the first, this period drama... proves that it's not just a titillating trifle." The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Hahn echoed the sentiment, describing the season as "older and wiser" than its predecessor's "rampant horniness", with an effective central romance that prioritized "a meeting of minds, played out over quick-witted arguments outside ballrooms and vicious competition during a friendly family game of pall-mall." Peter Travers of ABC praised the season writing, "Kudos to season two for digging deeper into the emotional lives of its characters and continuing the colorblind casting that creates a utopia in which diversity is so ingrained it's hardly worth a mention."
Alison Herman of The Ringer commented that Season 1 is "sexy without quite being erotic" while "Season 2 is the reverse. There's not a lot of sex, but in the crackling chemistry and relentless self-denial that defines Anthony and Kate's dynamic, there's plenty of eroticism." Emma Clarke of The Independent argued that, "it is precisely the lack of physicality that makes this season (of the show and of courtship) so... well, sexy." Scott Bryan of the BBC wrote that the season serves as an antidote to the "always static, laboured and slow" period dramas, adding that it comes with "real energy, it feels so modern (even though it is set in the past) and even though it feels extravagant, it doesn't feel too highbrow. It is refreshingly accessible."
Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast elaborating on Bailey's "exquisite lead performance," wrote that "he has an exceptional ability to carry his angst, pain, and guilt with him without bogging down things into a somber drag." The Telegraph's Anita Singh wrote that Bailey "brings more soul to the role of Lord Bridgerton than Page ever did with the Duke," with Randy Myers of Mercury News adding that Bailey "has a gift at comedic timing." Proma Khosla of Mashable concluded that with "Bailey and Ashley, Bridgerton Season 2 strikes gold" as they deliver "heaping, smoldering helpings of sexual tension" for "their chemistry is nothing short of explosive."
==== Season 3 ====
The third season received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 79 critic reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.0/10. The website's critics consensus states, "The hot goss in London remains juicy as ever in Bridgerton's third season, which benefits tremendously from Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton's endearing chemistry." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Aramide Tinubu of Variety praised Coughlan and Newton's chemistry, noting that while they have always had a "beautiful rapport," "there is something about seeing the bond between Colin and Penelope transform from comfortably platonic to yearning and passionate that elevates this journey." Tinubu also found part 2 of Season 3 "as a gem in the franchise." David Opie of Empire praised part 2's mirror scene as "the most beautiful sex scene this show has ever depicted" and featuring "some of the finest acting seen in Bridgerton yet." Further, Opie found that "Season 3 ends with the show's strongest episodes yet" and that Bridgerton has cemented itself as "the rare Netflix success story that's just as well made as it is widely watched." Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian credited Bridgerton Season 3 of benefiting from having two seasons under its belt in portraying the most "captivating courtship yet," and praised the dynamic between Colin and Penelope, partly attributing it to Coughlan's "sensational" acting. Alyssa Mora of IGN describes Coughlan and Newton's chemistry as "undeniable," and Coughlan's talent as "manag[ing] to take center stage."
Katie Rosseinsky of The Independent called Coughlan "the true diamond of the season," and praised her powerhouse performance alongside Jessie. Carly Lane of Collider also called Coughlan the "true diamond" of the season. Judy Berman of Time praised Coughlan's Penelope as the "series’ most compelling protagonist to date," and Coughlan for the "vividness and sensitivity" in which she portrayed Penelope's transformation. Kelly Lawler of USA Today found that Season 3 made Coughlan "a bona fide star." Keisha Hatchett of TVLine had praise for both leads, naming Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton "Performers of the Week" after part 2 of Season 3. Of the season 3 finale, she noted that Newton "beautifully captured" Colin's "flurry of emotions" "with smart choices" and praised Newton's delivery of Colin's final love declaration of the season as "exuding the irresistible charm we’ve come to love about our male Bridgerton leads." Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter noted that "while the latest chapter faithfully delivers on everything we’ve come to expect from this world [...] it's also the first in which the formula feels more familiar than thrilling." Kathryn VanArendonk of Vulture noted that Season 3 continued an issue in previous seasons of "not [being able to] live up to the complexities of its own emotional stakes in the back half," but that "Bridgerton remains too much fun to consider breaking up with anytime soon." Lauren Sarner of The New York Post also found that the show "remains addictively watchable."
News publications, charities, disabled influencers and fans picked-up on the incidental disability portrayal in the first half of Season 3.
==== Season 4 ====
The fourth season received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 58 critics' reviews are positive. The website's critics consensus states, "Taking a page out of a fairytale, Bridgerton season four excels at selling a fantasy that, no matter how predictable, is as sweet, steamy, and engrossing as ever." Metacritic gave the season a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
=== Audience viewership ===
==== Season 1 ====
On January 27, 2021, Netflix announced that 82 million households had watched at least two minutes of the first season, amounting to 625 million hours viewed. It was the most-watched original series launch on the service at the time of its premiere, prior to being surpassed by Squid Game in October 2021. Caroline Framke of Variety attributed this huge viewership to "the perfect storm of a perfectly timed premiere (Christmas Day of 2020), providing silly and sexy entertainment after the first terrible year of COVID."
==== Season 2 ====
Season 2 premiered on March 25, 2022, and debuted number one in 92 countries on the platform. It was also the most viewed show on United States television screens for three weeks per Nielsen Media Research. Season 2 amassed 193 million viewing hours in its opening weekend, the highest opening for any English-language Netflix series at the time. It also broke the record for most viewed English-language series in a single week at that time, with 251.74 million viewing hours from March 28 to April 3. The first season also re-entered Netflix's top ten in second place. By April 19, Bridgerton's second season had overtaken its predecessor as the most watched English-language television series on Netflix at the time with 627.11 million hours viewed since its March 25, 2022, launch. This viewing numbers went up to 656.16 million by the 28-day mark.
Nielsen Media Research, analyzing the 2.55 billion minutes viewed on United States television screens in the first three days of season 2's availability (double all others across streamers for the week of March 21), characterized Bridgerton's audience as "diverse and broad". The firm found one third of viewers to be Hispanic or African American and an even split in popularity across the 18–34, 35–49, and 50–64 age groups at 25% each. The only exception was gender parity, with 76% of the audience reported to be female. It added 3.2 billion minutes viewed in its second week on top of the chart. It topped the chart for a third week with 1.6 billion minutes viewed.
==== Season 3 ====
In 2023, between seasons 2 and 3, Netflix rolled out a new, different method of counting viewership, which is to divide the number of hours watched by a show's runtime. The platform also expanded the measurement window from 28 days to 91 days. Under this new method of measurement, season 3 part 1, which had 220 minutes of runtime, received 45.05 million views in its first week, and then 25.3 million views in its second week, 11.6 million in its third, and 6.9 million in its fourth. After season 3 part 2 debuted (based on 480 minutes of runtime), the overall season received 28 million views that debut week, 16.5 million views the following week, 6.6 million views the third week, and 4 million the fourth.
Season 3 part 1 recorded the show's biggest opening weekend to date with 165.2 million views (on 220 minutes of runtime). At the time, Season 3 also recorded the highest single weekly view count for any Netflix series, regardless of language, since Netflix started the list in June 2023. On July 2, 2024, Season 3 became Netflix's tenth biggest English-language series ever with 91.9 million views so far. As of January 1, 2025, Season 3 was sixth in Netflix's top-10 all-time list, for any language, with 846.5 million hours viewed/106 million views.
Season 3 became the second most watched series on Netflix during the first half of 2024, with 92 million views. Season 3 has the second-highest viewing figures for streaming in 2024, with 11 billion minutes of watch time. According to Nielsen, Bridgerton was the most-streamed original series of 2024 with 21.42 billion minutes viewed, with Season 3 accounting for 56% of those views.
=== Accolades ===
=== Cultural impact ===
Fashion and interior design trends influenced or made popular by the series have been dubbed "Regencycore" or "the Bridgerton effect." Lyst reported an increase in searches for items such as corsets, headpieces, and elbow-length gloves after the series' premiere. The series' first two female leads, Daphne and Kate, were also linked to a popularity in the colors sky blue and lilac respectively. In 2021, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear wrote a concept album based on characters and situations in season 1 of the series titled The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. After the two presented the songs from the album live in concert at the Kennedy Center in July 2022, Netflix sued them for copyright infringement.
To ring in the second season, an official "Queen's Ball" was held in Washington DC, Chicago, Montréal, and Los Angeles, with similar events and experiences taking place in London and Johannesburg. Bloomingdale's put together a Bridgerton-themed pop-up collection and tea bar, displaying real costumes from the series in the U.S. for the first time in its 59th Street windows.
After season two featured the main characters playing pall-mall, a lawn game considered to be the precursor to croquet, retailer John Lewis reported a 90% rise in sales for croquet sets. There was also a notable increase in internet searches and purchases of tiaras and corsets after season two's premiere.
Stately homes around England saw an uptick in interest and visitors. Regarding Ranger's House, Chris Small of English Heritage said, "Since the launch of Bridgerton in 2020, we have seen many people who were previously unaware of the site inspired to visit." Walking tours of the filming locations of the series have also been created, including an official one by Netflix. Castle Howard opened an exhibition titled Castle Howard on Screen: From Brideshead to Bridgerton in May 2022.
The 33rd season finale episode of The Simpsons on May 22, 2022, featured Marge and her friends watching a period drama called "Tunnelton" with a Lady Whistledown-sounding narrator, and a character emerging drenched from a lake, like Anthony in the fifth episode of the second season. The creators behind Rogue, the sixth episode of the 2024 season of Doctor Who, took great inspiration from Bridgerton as the episode revolves around intrigue and romance at an English country party in 1813, with the show being directly referenced by main character Ruby Sunday.
After season three part one, "The Carriage Scene" became a standalone viral moment for the series, and was individually nominated for a BAFTA P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award and an Edinburgh TV Award for TV Moment of the Year, winning the latter award on August 21, 2025, at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The romantic moment between season three leads Colin and Penelope would go on to be directly referenced in episode 3 of Emily in Paris season four when character Mindy Chen jokes “Oh! Someone's living out their horny Bridgerton fantasies" when she sees a carriage rocking outside of a ball. Bridgerton's carriage scene's social impact also inspired comparisons between the friends to lovers storylines of Bridgerton's "Polin" and The Gilded Age's "Larian" when a carriage scene was used in advertisements for The Gilded Age season three in summer of 2025. In October 2024, Netflix would use "The Carriage Scene" with the tagline "What a Ride" and the timestamp of the scene as the advertisement to launch their "Moments" feature to the Netflix mobile app. The orchestral cover of "Give Me Everything" arranged by Archer Marsh that was used to score The Carriage Scene also contributed to the scene's virality on the social media app TikTok. The original artist Pitbull later took to Instagram to post the scene with the caption “This again shows the world how music is the international language that transcends over boundaries more so how a hit song can remain timeless."
Netflix tripled its brand partnerships for season 3, and the Queen's Ball expanded to a dozen cities in addition to an afternoon tea event at the Lanesborough in London. The Wrap called Bridgerton fans a "ripe testing group" for this international merchandising and live-experience strategy from Netflix, comparing it to the likes of Disney and Universal franchises.
== Historical inaccuracies ==
Chris Van Dusen has said that the show "is a reimagined world, we're not a history lesson, it's not a documentary. What we're really doing with the show is marrying history and fantasy in what I think is a very exciting way. One approach that we took to that is our approach to race." Though Bridgerton takes place during the Regency era, Van Dusen notes that it ultimately is "not a history lesson." The Bridgerton family, Lady Whistledown, and most of the other characters in the show are fictional.
The theory that Queen Charlotte may have had African ancestry has been called an unhistorical assertion by most scholars. In an interview with Insider magazine, American historian Marlene Koenig said the show's representation of Regency-era London was more diverse than it was in reality, adding that "diversity as we know what the word means did not exist" in Britain during that period. Some classical music pieces used in the first season were composed later than 1813, the year of the first season. Examples include Dmitri Shostakovich's Suite for Variety Orchestra, which was written sometime after 1956, and "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" from Jacques Offenbach's 1881 opera The Tales of Hoffmann.
Historians have pointed out inaccuracies in clothing, such as the show using corsets to represent the oppression placed on women in society instead of supportive undergarments they were considered as in the Regency era. In a scene from season 1, Daphne is seen with bruises on her back from the corset; however, at the time it was universal to wear a chemise under it to prevent this. Fabrics and patterns appearing in the show are too modern compared to the ones used in the historical period in which the events are supposed to take place. Other historical inaccuracies include the lack of bonnets present within the show and the contemporary styles of the fabrics and colors. However, a majority of the show's historical inaccuracies regarding clothing are intentional. The show does not reflect an accurate portrayal of the Regency era but rather a world that "borders on historical fantasy." The show depicts a dramatization of the Regency era, where the show is "rooted in Regency times but the volume is turned up."
== Themes ==
=== Gender ===
A recurring topic throughout the show is gender, especially the role of women in British high society. Chris Van Dusen aimed for the show to have a "running, modern commentary about how, over the last 200 years, everything has changed and nothing has changed, for both women and men."
With the focus on each year's social season, Daphne, Kate, Penelope and the other women struggle against the societal expectations held for them. Daphne Bridgerton, the Queen's Diamond of her season, fights to maintain her high reputation in society and avoid ruin while still marrying for love. Kate Sharma, considered "too old" for marrying, attempts to regain her family's place in high society as she tries to set her sister, Edwina, up to marry well. Eloise Bridgerton, uninterested in marrying and wanting to pursue a more meaningful life, finds herself more politically involved.
The men, on the other hand, face significantly lower stakes to their reputations. After overhearing Anthony say that he desires a more agreeable wife, Kate confronts him on his viewpoints toward women and argues that Anthony's high standards for women do not match the standards he has for himself.
=== Race ===
A notable, modernized twist on the show is the diverse cast of characters. Straying from the source novels, Van Dusen "used Queen Charlotte as a centerpiece to weave racial equality in the show." With Queen Charlotte cast as a Black woman, Van Dusen explains, "Could she have used her power to elevate other people of color in society? Could she have given them titles and lands and dukedoms?"
When Simon Basset rejects the idea of pursuing Daphne Bridgerton, Lady Danbury explains that love conquers all, using Queen Charlotte and King George as an example of how their marriage had changed society. However, Simon also counters that, even though Queen Charlotte is currently in power, "Black progress is fragile and dependent on the whims of whichever white king is in charge."
=== Literature ===
Bridgerton also explores "power of the written word," with authors such as Lady Whistledown having immense influence over the social season with her Society Papers. Similar to how media can strongly sway public opinion, Van Dusen makes the statement that "social media is kind of like a modern-day corset."
Throughout the show, Lady Whistledown releases Society Papers that comment on notable figures during the social season, whether it be praising them or airing out their secrets. The pamphlets' influence is enough to sway even Queen Charlotte herself, who seeks to find the author of the Society Papers in order to shut them down.
== Prequel miniseries ==
In May 2021, Netflix ordered a limited prequel series from Shondaland to focus on young Queen Charlotte, a character who does not appear in the Bridgerton novels. Rhimes wrote the spin-off and served as executive producer alongside Betsy Beers and Tom Verica. Rosheuvel, Andoh, Gemmell, and Fleet reprise their roles, while India Amarteifio, Michelle Fairley, Corey Mylchreest, and Arsema Thomas were cast, together with Connie Jenkins-Greig, who plays young Violet. In September 2022, Netflix announced that Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story would be the title for the series and released the first look. The series was released on Netflix on May 4, 2023, consisting of six episodes. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_finale | Series finale | A series finale is the final installment of an episode entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or any final episode.
== Origins in television ==
Most early television series consisted of stand-alone episodes rather than continuing story arcs, so there was little reason to provide closure at the end of their runs. Early comedy series that had special finale episodes include Howdy Doody in September 1960, Leave It to Beaver in June 1963, Hank in April 1966, and The Dick Van Dyke Show in June 1966. One of the few dramatic series to have a planned finale during this period was Route 66, which concluded in March 1964 with a two-part episode in which the pair of philosophical drifters ended their journey across America and then went their separate ways.
Considered to be "the series finale that invented the modern-day series finale," the August 1967 final episode of ABC's The Fugitive, "The Judgment: Part 2", attracted a 72% audience share when broadcast. This remained the highest viewership percentage in American television history until the 1977 finale of the TV mini-series Roots (on the same network) and later the 1980 resolution episode of the internationally prominent "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger of CBS' Dallas.
== Notable television series finales ==
=== Most-watched American series finales ===
The most watched series finale in American television history remains the 1983 finale of the CBS war/medical dramedy M*A*S*H, titled "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". Viewed by 105.9 million viewers and drawing 77% of those watching televisions at the time, the finale of M*A*S*H held the record for most watched telecast of all-time for decades until 2010's Super Bowl XLIV edged it out with 106 million viewers, which coincidentally also aired on CBS. However, M*A*S*H's final episode remains the all-time most-watched U.S. television episode (and so far, the only single television episode in American history to be watched by at least 100 million viewers for a single telecast).
The second-most-watched series finale in American television history was the 1993 finale of the NBC comedy Cheers, titled "One for the Road". "One for the Road" was watched by between 80.4 million and 93.5 million viewers (estimates vary) while drawing 64% of TVs turned on at the time. To date, "One for the Road" remains the most watched American TV series finale following the rise of cable television, and in terms of sheer viewership numbers for non-sports programming, sits second only to the aforementioned finale of M*A*S*H.
With only slightly fewer viewers than the series finale of Cheers was the finale of its one-time follow-up on NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday night line-up, the absurdist NBC comedy Seinfeld. The third most-watched American TV series finale in television history, Seinfeld's controversial 1998 episode "The Finale" was watched by 76.3 million people, drawing 67% of all televisions turned on at the time – as the New York Times put it, "grazing Super Bowl country" in terms of viewership.
With the shift away from network television viewing toward cable television viewing (and later, internet use) that occurred during the decade between the finales of M*A*S*H (1983) and Cheers (1993) – and continued unabated until and beyond the finale of Seinfeld (1998) – it remains debatable which of these three "event" series finales accomplished the most impressive viewership numbers. Moreover, a large gap in viewership numbers exists between the Super Bowl-sized audiences of the M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld finales, and the fourth and fifth most watched series finales in television history – respectively, those of the comedy Friends (2004, NBC, 52.5 million viewers) and the detective procedural Magnum, P.I. (1988, CBS, 50.7 million viewers). The Friends finale's ("The Last One") viewership numbers dwarf those of all finales since the start of the new millennium and seem particularly impressive in light of the increased media options since the 1990s "event" finales of Cheers (1993) and Seinfeld (1998).
In Britain, the most-acclaimed series finale of sitcoms was from Blackadder. In 1989, the Britcom, starring Rowan Atkinson as a Blackadder in 1917 WW1, goes "over the top" with his regiment, leaving their fate unknown as fade to a field of poppies. The finale was praised as a "perfect end-of-show finale".
=== Reception ===
No matter how critically lauded during their respective runs, relatively few popular television series end up pleasing critics and audiences universally or escaping controversy with their final episode. Prominent examples of controversial series finales include the comedies Roseanne ("Into That Good Night", 1997), Seinfeld ("The Finale", 1998), How I Met Your Mother ("Last Forever", 2014), and Two and a Half Men ("Of Course He's Dead", 2015), and the dramas The Prisoner ("Fall Out", 1968), Lost ("The End", 2010), Dexter ("Remember the Monsters?", 2013), True Blood ("Thank You", 2014), and Game of Thrones ("The Iron Throne", 2019). In particular, the finales of Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, and Game of Thrones triggered massive backlash from both fans and critics upon airing, and are often regarded as the worst finales in recent memory.
Some series endings have proved divisive among viewers immediately on airing, leading to extensive discussions online, but ended up being generally lauded by critics. Notable examples of this trend are the finales of The Sopranos ("Made in America", 2007) and The Wire ("-30-", 2008). For example, The Sopranos' finale caused millions of viewers to temporarily believe they had lost cable service due to an abrupt blackout. All three episodes were also nominated for multiple Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Writing, with The Sopranos' finale winning.
Several television series have, however, managed to produce final episodes that lived up to both critics' and audiences' expectations. Examples include the twist endings that concluded both the Newhart and St. Elsewhere finales, the mixture of comedy and resonance that wrapped up The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the redemption arc that concluded The Fugitive.
Several more series finales have received unanimous critical and popular acclaim and are often considered as benchmarks for great TV endings. Recent examples include the finales of Breaking Bad ("Felina", 2013), Community ("Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television", 2015), The Good Place ("Whenever You're Ready", 2020), Better Call Saul ("Saul Gone", 2022), and Succession ("With Open Eyes", 2023).
Examples of universally acclaimed finales from earlier in the millennium include those of Britain's The Office ("Interview", 2002), The Shield ("Family Meeting", 2008), and Six Feet Under ("Everyone's Waiting", 2005), the last of which TV Guide ranked at No. 22 on their list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
== Plot devices ==
Television series finales frequently feature fundamental deviations from the central plot line, such as the resolution of a central mystery or problem, (e.g. Dallas, Two and a Half Men, Full House) the separation or return of a major character (e.g. Cheers, That '70s Show, The Office) or an event signifying the end of an era, such as a change to primary setting for the series (e.g. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Boy Meets World, Martin, Liv and Maddie)
Series finales will sometimes include clips or characters from the series' past (e.g. Seinfeld, Suits, Martin, Star Trek: The Next Generation), and the ending moments of the episode often take place in the show's primary setting.
== Premature series finales ==
In some cases, a TV series finale proves premature, as was the case with Here's Lucy, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Babylon 5, and Arrested Development to name but a few. Some shows that have constantly been in danger of cancellation wrote every season finale with the idea that the episode would serve as a quality series finale if the network decided not to bring it back; in recent years from NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup, Parks and Recreation used this formula for the season finales for Seasons 3–6, before getting a renewal for a seventh and final season where the series finale was planned in advance, and Community wrote its fifth-season finale with the notion that whether the show found new life elsewhere or not, it would definitely not be returning to the network (while NBC did indeed cancel the show, it was renewed for a sixth season by Yahoo! Screen, where the season, and sure enough, series finale was once again scripted as a potential last episode ever; the final image is that of text reading "#andamovie", a reference to the show's recurring catchphrase "six seasons and a movie"). The series finale of Dr. Ken, a fictionalized sitcom based on the life of doctor-turned-actor Ken Jeong, features the title character trying out for a fictional version of Community (Jeong was a cast member in real life).
The medical comedy Scrubs aired its two-part finale episode billed simply as a "My Finale" in May 2009 as the show's renewal or cancellation had not been decided as of its airing, and so it was not known whether the episode would conclude just the season or the entire series; Scrubs would eventually be renewed for one additional season, which became a de facto spin-off series titled Scrubs: Med School.
The cartoon Futurama has had four designated series finales, due to the recurringly uncertain future of the series. "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Into the Wild Green Yonder (Part 4)", "Overclockwise", and "Meanwhile" have all been written to serve as a final episode for the show.
The series American Dad! had two possible finales: the season premiere of the eighth season, "Hot Water" was written due to the uncertainty from the staff of the show getting picked up. The penultimate episode of Season 19 was also intended as a series finale, as revealed by showrunner and executive producer Matt Weitzman.
Before the original run of Power Rangers ended in 2023, the show featured four episodes that were written as series finales. In the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the two-part episode "Doomsday" was originally written as the show's final episode, but the show had its first season order extended and later received two additional seasons due to its increasing popularity. "Countdown to Destruction", the two-part finale of Power Rangers in Space, was also intended as a series finale as it concluded the story arc that began when the series premiered. The final episode of Power Rangers Wild Force was written as a series finale due to The Walt Disney Company's 2001 acquisition of Saban Entertainment (which resulted in the relocation of production from the show's original home of Southern California to New Zealand), while the final episode of Power Rangers RPM was the last episode to be produced by Disney before ownership of the franchise was transferred to Saban Brands in 2010. The franchise's original run would end with Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, which was the final season of the series to be filmed in New Zealand.
The series finale of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (itself an epilogue to I Love Lucy) was unintentionally fitting: stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were about to divorce and end the show, a fact that the show's guest star for what would be the final program, Edie Adams, did not know when she chose the song she would sing on the program. Prophetically, the song was named "That's All." The series also ended with Lucy and Ricky making up and kissing, while in reality Ball and Arnaz would not (the two would eventually reconcile later in life, although both would go on to marry other people). The last produced half-hour episode was titled "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue" which included real-life kids Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. in the final scene where Ricky unveils what he thinks is a Revolutionary War statue only to find out that it is Lucy.
The aforementioned Magnum, P.I. had a premature series finale, as well. At the end of the seventh season, protagonist Thomas Magnum was to be killed off, which was intended to end the series. The final episode of the season, "Limbo", after seeing Magnum wander around as a ghost for nearly the entire run-time, closes with him appearing to walk off into heaven. However, following outcry from fans, who demanded a more satisfactory conclusion, an eighth, final season was produced, to bring Magnum "back to life", and to round the series off. The mystery of whether Higgins was Robin Masters, or not, was a highly anticipated series finale reveal. The mystery still has yet to be revealed. A number of other episodes also make reference to supernatural occurrences and the seeming existence of ghosts.
The Showtime series Californication was designed from start to make any season finale work as a series finale, in case of early cancelling the show. It is seen most primarily at the end of the first and fourth season.
After its fifth season, the sitcom Reba was in danger of being cancelled as a result of its original home, The WB, being replaced by The CW in September 2006, and the resulting uncertainty over which WB series (as well as which series from CW co-predecessor UPN) would be carried over to the new network. (Reba would be renewed by The CW for an additional season as one of the holdover WB series.) The sixth (and final) season's finale episode was written to serve as a series finale, in which Brock and Barbara-Jean come to a reconciliation and Van and Cheyenne move back in with Reba, bringing the show to a full wrap.
A series finale may not be the last aired episode of a show, such as King of the Hill, which produced "To Sirloin with Love" as its series finale, though four more episodes produced before it were aired after in syndication.
Another instance of premature endings was with the Rural Purge of 1971 where networks (notably CBS) axed still-popular TV series in an effort to move to more sophisticated programming. Shows were The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.
== Finales launching spin-offs ==
Series finales are sometimes used as a backdoor pilot to launch spin-off series. Two well-known examples include The Andy Griffith Show's series finale, which launched the spin-off Mayberry R.F.D. and The Practice's series finale, and much of its final season was used as a launching pad for Boston Legal, starring James Spader and William Shatner. The Golden Girls series finale was set up to lead into a new series with most of the remaining cast, The Golden Palace, Three's Company transitioned more or less seamlessly into Three's a Crowd, the Henry Danger finale served as a pilot to Danger Force while The Fosters series finale acted as an introduction to its spin-off series Good Trouble. The Closer was spun off into a new series, Major Crimes the same night that the original ended, after star Kyra Sedgwick chose, as producer, to end the series.
The Steven Universe finale "Change Your Mind" served as not just a conclusion to the original series and its overarching plot, but helped pave the way for Steven Universe: The Movie, and eventually the limited epilogue series Steven Universe Future.
Some planned spin-offs that influenced series finales, however, never materialized, as in the case of the proposed Laverne & Shirley spin-off for Carmine that never came into fruition, or Posse Impossible, a proposed spin-off of Hong Kong Phooey that, instead of getting its own show, aired as an interstitial segment on CB Bears. Arrow used its penultimate episode of its final season, "Green Arrow & The Canaries", as a backdoor pilot for a potential spin-off series based on the characters Mia Smoak, Laurel Lance and Dinah Drake, however, the series was ultimately not picked up. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Fernando_Rubio_Fierros | Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros | Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros (born 3 February 1999) is a Mexican tennis player. Rubio Fierros has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 573 achieved on 16 March 2026 and a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 510 achieved on that 12 August 2024.
Rubio Fierros represents Mexico at the Davis Cup, where he has a W/L record of 0–2.
== Career ==
He received wildcards for the qualifying competition at the 2024 Los Cabos Open and also for the 2024 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Anti-Slavery_Convention | World Anti-Slavery Convention | The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The exclusion of women from the convention gave a great impetus to the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
== Background ==
The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (officially Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade) was principally a Quaker society founded in 1787 by 12 men, nine of whom were Quakers and three Anglicans, one of whom was Thomas Clarkson. Due to their efforts, the international slave trade was abolished throughout the British Empire with the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, in existence from 1823 to 1838, helped to bring about the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, advocated by William Wilberforce, which abolished slavery in the British Empire from August 1834, when some 800,000 people in the British empire became free.
Similarly, in the 1830s many women and men in America acted on their religious convictions and moral outrage to become a part of the abolitionist movement. Many women in particular responded to Wm. Lloyd Garrison's invitation to become involved in the American Anti-Slavery Society. They were heavily involved, attending meetings and writing petitions. Arthur Tappan and other conservative members of the society objected to women engaging in politics publicly.
Given the perceived need for a society to campaign for anti-slavery worldwide, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) was accordingly founded in 1839. One of its first significant deeds was to organise the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840: "Our expectations, we confess, were high, and the reality did not disappoint them." The preparations for this event had begun in 1839, when the Society circulated an advertisement inviting delegates to participate in the convention. Over 200 of the official delegates were British. The next largest group was the Americans, with around 50 delegates. Only small numbers of delegates from other nations attended.
Benjamin Robert Haydon painted The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, a year after the event that today is in the National Portrait Gallery. This very large and detailed work shows Alexander as Treasurer of the new Society. The painting portrays the 1840 meeting and was completed the next year. The new society's mission was "The universal extinction of slavery and the slave trade and the protection of the rights and interests of the enfranchised population in the British possessions and of all persons captured as slaves."
== The question of women's participation ==
The circular message, distributed in 1839, provoked a controversial response from some American opponents of slavery. The Garrisonian faction supported the participation of women in the anti-slavery movement. They were opposed by the supporters of Arthur and Lewis Tappan. When the latter group sent a message to the BFASS opposing the inclusion of women, a second circular was issued in February 1840 which explicitly stated that the meeting was limited to "gentlemen".
Despite the statement that women would not be admitted, many American and British female abolitionists, including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lady Byron, appeared at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. The American Anti-Slavery Society, the Garrisonian faction, made a point to include a woman, Lucretia Mott, and an African American, Charles Lenox Remond, in their delegation. Both the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Societies sent women members as their delegates, including Abigail Kimber, Elizabeth Neall, Mary Grew, and Sarah Pugh. Cady Stanton was not herself a delegate; she was in England on her honeymoon, accompanying her husband Henry Brewster Stanton, who was a delegate. (Notably, he was aligned with the American faction that opposed women's equality.) Wendell Phillips proposed that female delegates should be admitted, and much of the first day of the convention was devoted to discussing whether they should be allowed to participate. Published reports from the convention noted "The upper end and one side of the room were appropriated to ladies, of whom a considerable number were present, including several female abolitionists from the United States." The women were allowed to watch and listen from the spectators gallery but could not take part.
In sympathy with the excluded women, the Americans William Garrison, Charles Lenox Remond, Nathaniel P. Rogers, and William Adams refused to take their seat as delegates as well, and joined the women in the spectators' gallery.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who eight years later organized the Seneca Falls Convention, met at this convention.
== Proceedings (incomplete) ==
The convention's organising committee had asked the Reverend Benjamin Godwin to prepare a paper on the ethics of slavery. The convention unanimously accepted his paper, which condemned not just slavery but also the world's religious leaders and every community who had failed to condemn the practice. The convention resolved to write to every religious leader to share this view. The convention called on all religious communities to eject any supporters of slavery from their midst.
George William Alexander reported on his visits in 1839, with James Whitehorn, to Sweden and the Netherlands to discuss the conditions of slaves in the Dutch colonies and in Suriname. In Suriname, he reported, there were over 100,000 slaves with an annual attrition rate of twenty per cent. The convention prepared open letters of protest to the respective sovereigns.
Joseph Pease spoke and accused the British government of being complicit in the continuing existence of slavery in India.
== Legacy ==
After leaving the convention on the first day, being denied full access to the proceedings, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "walked home arm in arm, commenting on the incidents of the day, [and] we resolved to hold a convention as soon as we returned home, and form a society to advocate the rights of women." Eight years later they hosted the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
One hundred years later, the Women's Centennial Congress was held in America to celebrate the progress that women had made since they were prevented from speaking at this conference.
== Incomplete list of delegates (and women who attended) ==
The official list of delegates has 493 names. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salthill_and_Monkstown_railway_station | Salthill and Monkstown railway station | Salthill and Monkstown railway station (Irish: Stáisiún Chnoc an tSalainn agus Baile na Manach) serves the areas of Salthill (on the coast) and Monkstown (just inland) in Dublin, Ireland.
It is on the DART line between the stations of Seapoint and Dún Laoghaire. The station has a car park, information office, automated ticket and vending machines. The information office is open between 05:45–00:15, Monday to Sunday.
== History ==
The original Salthill station opened in May 1837. It was built by the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. It closed in 1960 and was electrified and reopened in 1984 with the arrival of DART services.
== Services ==
The station is not staffed, it features no toilets and there is no Wi-Fi. There is also no enclosed waiting room, but there are multiple passenger shelters on both sides of the track. There are 2 ticket machines within the station, and a night gate is opened during the evening. There used to be a vending machine within the building however it has since been removed.
== Transport services ==
With the exception of the DART, there is no direct public transport to or from the station. The nearest bus stops are in Monkstown village, located less than 300 m from the station, which are served by the following:
Dublin Bus Routes:
7 / 7A from Mountjoy Square to Bride's Glen / Loughlinstown. Route 7 provides a connection to the Luas Green Line terminus at Bride's Glen
7N Nitelink from Dublin city centre to Shankill, via Blackrock (Fri & Sat only)
Go-Ahead Ireland Routes:
S8 from Citywest to Dún Laoghaire, via The Square and Sandyford Business District
Private Operators
Aircoach route 703 from Killiney to Dublin Airport, via Monkstown
There is also a taxi rank in Monkstown village and a large car park adjacent to the station. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_the_United_Kingdom | Monarchy of the United Kingdom | The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British constitution. The term may also refer to the role of the royal family within the UK's broader political structure. The monarch since 8 September 2022 is King Charles III, who ascended the throne on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The monarch and their immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic and representational duties. Although formally the monarch has authority over the government—which is known as "His/Her Majesty's Government"—this power may only be used according to laws enacted in Parliament and within constraints of convention and precedent. In practice the monarch's role, including that of Head of the Armed Forces, is limited to functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the prime minister, which are performed in a non-partisan manner. The UK Government has called the monarchy "a unique soft power and diplomatic asset". The Crown also occupies a unique cultural role, serving as an unofficial brand ambassador for British interests and values abroad, increasing tourism at home, and promoting charities throughout civil society.
The British monarchy traces its origins from the petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England and early medieval Scotland, which had consolidated into the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland by the 10th century. England was conquered by the Normans in 1066, after which Wales also gradually came under the control of Anglo-Normans. The process was completed in the 13th century when the Principality of Wales became a client state of the English kingdom. The Anglo-Normans also established the Lordship of Ireland. Meanwhile, Magna Carta began the process of reducing the English monarch's political powers. In the 16th century, English and Scottish monarchs played a central role in what became the religious English Reformation and Scottish Reformation, and the English king became King of Ireland. Beginning in 1603, the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign when the Scottish King James VI acceded to the throne of England as James I. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, which followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Following the installation of William III and Mary II as co-monarchs in the Glorious Revolution, the Bill of Rights 1689, and its Scottish counterpart the Claim of Right Act 1689, further curtailed the power of the monarchy and excluded Catholics from succession to the throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland joined to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Beginning in the 16th century, the monarch was the nominal head of what came to be the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the world's land area at its greatest extent in 1921. The title Emperor of India was added to the British monarch's titles between 1876 and 1948. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the evolution of the Dominions of the Empire into separate, self-governing countries within a Commonwealth of Nations. Also in this period, the monarchy in Ireland eventually became limited to Northern Ireland. In the years after World War II, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, effectively bringing the Empire to an end. George VI and his successors adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fourteen other independent sovereign states that share the same person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. Although the monarch is shared, each country is sovereign and independent of the others, and the monarch has a different, specific, and official national title and style for each realm. Although the term is rarely used today, the fifteen Commonwealth realms are, with respect to their monarch, in personal union. The monarch is also head of state of the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories.
== Constitutional role ==
In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch (exclusively referred to in legislation as "the Sovereign", and styled His or Her Majesty) is the head of state. The monarch's image is used to signify British sovereignty and government authority – their profile, for instance, appears on Bank of England notes and all British coins and their portrait in government buildings. The Sovereign is further both mentioned in and the subject of songs, loyal toasts, and salutes. "God Save the King" (or, alternatively, "God Save the Queen") is the British national anthem. Oaths of allegiance are made to the Sovereign and their lawful successors.
The monarch takes little direct part in government. The authority to use the sovereign's formal powers is almost all delegated, either by statute or by convention, to ministers or officers of the Crown, or other public bodies. Thus the acts of state done in the name of the Crown, such as Crown Appointments, even if personally performed by the monarch, such as the King's Speech and the State Opening of Parliament, depend upon decisions made elsewhere. In formal terms:
Legislative power is exercised by the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons acting together as the King-in-Parliament.
Executive power is exercised by His Majesty's Government, which comprises ministers, primarily the prime minister and the Cabinet, which is technically a committee of the Privy Council. They have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services.
Judicial power is vested in the various judiciaries of the United Kingdom, which by constitution and statute are independent of the Government.
The Church of England, of which the sovereign is the titular head, has its own legislative, judicial, and executive structures.
Powers independent of government are legally granted to other public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council, Royal commission or otherwise.
The sovereign's role as a constitutional monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions, such as granting honours. This role has been recognised since the 19th century. The constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the "dignified" rather than the "efficient" part of government.
=== Royal prerogative ===
That part of the government's executive authority which remains theoretically and nominally vested in the sovereign is known as the royal prerogative. The monarch acts within the constraints of convention and precedent, exercising prerogative powers only on the advice of ministers responsible to Parliament, often through the prime minister or Privy Council. In practice, prerogative powers are exercised only on the prime minister's advice – the prime minister, and not the sovereign, has control. The monarch holds a weekly audience with the prime minister; no records of these audiences are taken and the proceedings remain fully confidential. The monarch may express his or her views, but, as a constitutional ruler, must ultimately accept the decisions of the prime minister and Cabinet, who by definition enjoy the confidence of the House of Commons. In Bagehot's words: "the sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy ... three rights – the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn."
Although the royal prerogative is extensive and parliamentary approval is not formally required for its exercise, it is limited. Many Crown prerogatives have fallen out of use or have been permanently transferred to Parliament. For example, the sovereign cannot impose and collect new taxes; such an action requires the authorisation of an Act of Parliament. According to a parliamentary report, "The Crown cannot invent new prerogative powers", and Parliament can override any prerogative power by passing legislation.
The royal prerogative includes the powers to appoint and dismiss ministers, regulate the civil service, issue passports, declare war, make peace, direct the actions of the military, and negotiate and ratify treaties, alliances, and international agreements. However, a treaty cannot alter the domestic laws of the United Kingdom; an Act of Parliament is necessary in such cases. The sovereign is the Head of the Armed Forces (the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force), and accredits British High commissioners and ambassadors, and receives heads of missions from foreign states.
==== Appointment of the prime minister ====
The sovereign has the power to appoint the prime minister. In accordance with unwritten constitutional conventions, the monarch appoints the individual who commands the support of the House of Commons, usually the leader of a party or coalition that has a majority in that House. The prime minister takes office by attending the monarch in a private audience, and after "kissing hands" that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. The sovereign also has the power to dismiss the prime minister, but the last time this power was exercised was in 1834, when William IV dismissed Lord Melbourne; since then, prime ministers have only left office upon their resignation, which they are expected to offer to the monarch upon losing their majority in the House of Commons.
While the sovereign also appoints and may dismiss every other Minister of the Crown, by convention they do so only on the recommendation of the prime minister. It is therefore the prime minister who controls the composition of the government.
In a hung parliament where no party or coalition holds a majority, the monarch has an increased degree of latitude in choosing the individual likely to command the most support, though it would usually be the leader of the largest party. Since 1945, there have only been three hung parliaments. The first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed prime minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilson's Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party. The second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives (the largest party) and Liberal Democrats (the third-largest party) agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II. The third occurred shortly thereafter, in June 2017, when the Conservative Party lost its majority in a snap election, though the party remained in power as a minority government.
==== Summons, prorogation and dissolution of Parliament ====
The sovereign has the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament. Each parliamentary session begins with the sovereign's summons. The new parliamentary session is marked by the State Opening of Parliament, during which the monarch reads the speech from the throne in the chamber of the House of Lords, outlining the Government's legislative agenda. Prorogation usually occurs about one year after a session begins, and formally concludes the session. Dissolution ends a parliamentary term, and is followed by a general election for all seats in the House of Commons. If not dissolved sooner, Parliaments are automatically dissolved after five years.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 temporarily removed the sovereign's authority to dissolve Parliament; however, this power was restored by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022. The sovereign's power of prorogation was unaffected, which is a regular feature of the parliamentary calendar.
In 1950 the Monarch's Private Secretary Alan "Tommy" Lascelles, writing pseudonymously to The Times newspaper, asserted a constitutional convention: according to the Lascelles Principles, if a minority government asked to dissolve Parliament to call an early election to strengthen its position, the monarch could refuse and would do so under three conditions. When Harold Wilson requested a dissolution late in 1974, Queen Elizabeth II granted his request as Heath had already failed to form a coalition. The resulting general election gave Wilson a small majority. The monarch could in theory unilaterally dismiss the prime minister, but in practice, the prime minister's term nowadays comes to an end only by electoral defeat, death, or resignation.
==== Other royal prerogatives ====
Before a bill passed by the legislative Houses can become law, royal assent (the monarch's approval) is required. In theory, assent can either be granted (making the bill law) or withheld (vetoing the bill), but since 1708 assent has always been granted.
The sovereign has a similar relationship to the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as to the government of the UK. The sovereign appoints the First Minister of Scotland on the nomination of the Scottish Parliament, and the First Minister of Wales on the nomination of the Senedd. In Scottish matters, the sovereign acts on the advice of the Scottish Government. However, as devolution is more limited in Wales, in Welsh matters the monarch acts on the advice of the prime minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The sovereign can veto any law passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly, if it is deemed unconstitutional by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The sovereign is deemed the "fount of justice"; although the monarch does not personally rule in judicial cases, judicial functions are performed in his or her name. For instance, prosecutions are brought on the sovereign's behalf, and courts derive their authority from the Crown. The common law holds that the sovereign "can do no wrong", and so cannot be prosecuted for criminal offences. The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 allows civil lawsuits against the Crown in its public capacity (that is, lawsuits against the government), but not lawsuits against the monarch personally. The sovereign exercises the "prerogative of mercy", which is used to pardon convicted offenders or reduce sentences.
The sovereign is the "fount of honour", the source of all honours and dignities in the United Kingdom. The Crown creates all peerages, appoints members of the orders of chivalry, grants knighthoods and awards other honours. Although peerages and most other honours are granted on the advice of the prime minister, some honours are within the personal gift of the sovereign and are not granted on ministerial advice. The sovereign alone appoints members of the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of Merit.
=== Sovereign immunity ===
The sovereign is personally immune from criminal prosecution or arrest, as well as from civil actions, and their property is not subject to execution or foreclosure. The Crown, however, as distinct from the sovereign, can be the subject of proceedings for tort and contract since 1947.
There are more than 160 laws granting express immunity to the sovereign or their property in various respects. For example, the sovereign is exempt from anti-discrimination legislation and other workers' rights, health and safety, or pensions laws, as well as numerous taxes, and environmental inspectors cannot enter the sovereign's property without permission.
== History ==
=== English monarchy ===
Following Viking raids and settlement in the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex emerged as the dominant English kingdom. Alfred the Great secured Wessex, achieved dominance over western Mercia, and assumed the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons". His grandson Æthelstan was the first king to rule over a unitary kingdom roughly corresponding to the present borders of England, though its constituent parts retained strong regional identities. The 11th century saw England become more stable, despite a number of wars with the Danes, which resulted in a Danish monarchy for one generation. The conquest of England in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy, was crucial in terms of both political and social change. The new monarch continued the centralisation of power begun in the Anglo-Saxon period, while the feudal system continued to develop.
William was succeeded by two of his sons: William II, then Henry I. Henry made a controversial decision to name his daughter Matilda (his only surviving child) as his heir. Following Henry's death in 1135, his nephew, Stephen, claimed the throne and took power with the support of most of the barons. Matilda challenged his reign; as a result, England descended into a period of disorder known as the Anarchy. Stephen maintained a precarious hold on power, but agreed to a compromise under which Matilda's son Henry II would succeed him. Henry accordingly became the first Angevin king of England and the first monarch of the Plantagenet dynasty in 1154.
The reigns of most of the Angevin monarchs were marred by civil strife and conflicts between the monarch and the nobility. Henry II faced rebellions from his own sons, including the future monarchs Richard I and John, but nevertheless managed to expand his kingdom, forming what is retrospectively known as the Angevin Empire. Upon Henry's death, his eldest surviving legitimate son Richard succeeded to the throne; Richard was absent from England for most of his reign, for he left to fight in the Crusades. He was killed whilst besieging a castle; John succeeded him. Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, son of John's deceased elder brother Duke Geoffrey II and himself former heir of Richard, was dissatisfied but disappeared the following year after being captured by John in 1202; Arthur's sister, Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany was placed under house arrest by John.
John's reign was marked by conflict with the barons, particularly over the limits of royal power. In 1215, the barons coerced the king into issuing Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") to guarantee the rights and liberties of the nobility. Soon afterwards, further disagreements plunged England into a civil war known as the First Barons' War, and French Prince Louis also claimed the throne as Louis I with the support of the rebellious princes as John's nephew-in-law. The war abruptly ended when John died in 1216, leaving the Crown to his nine-year-old son Henry III. Many rebellious lords also turned to support Henry III. In 1217, Louis was defeated and renounced the English throne. Eleanor's claim was not upheld, but according to John's will, she remained under house arrest until her death in 1241. The London Chronicle referred to her as the rightful heir to the throne, while the Lanercost Chronicle recorded a legend of Henry III giving her a golden crown before her death. With Geoffrey leaving no descendants, Henry III became the hereditary heir of the royal family.
Later in Henry's reign, Simon de Montfort led the barons in another rebellion, beginning the Second Barons' War. The war ended in a clear royalist victory and in the death of many rebels, but not before the king had agreed to summon a parliament in 1265. In 1268, Henry III ordered the Amesbury Priory to commemorate both Arthur and Eleanor in commemoration of past kings and queens as well.
The next monarch, Edward Longshanks, was far more successful in maintaining royal power and was responsible for the conquest of Wales. He attempted to establish English domination of Scotland. However, gains in Scotland were reversed during the reign of his successor, Edward II, who also faced conflict with the nobility. In 1311, Edward II was forced to relinquish many of his powers to a committee of baronial "ordainers"; however, military victories helped him regain control in 1322. Edward was deposed by his wife Isabella and his son, Edward III, became king.
Edward III claimed the French Crown, setting off the Hundred Years' War between England and France. His campaigns conquered much French territory, but by 1374, all the gains had been lost. Edward's reign was also marked by the further development of Parliament, which came to be divided into two Houses; he died in 1377, leaving the Crown to his 10-year-old grandson Richard II. Like many of his predecessors, Richard II conflicted with the nobles by attempting to concentrate power in his own hands. In 1399, while he was campaigning in Ireland, his cousin Henry Bolingbroke seized power. Richard was deposed, imprisoned, and eventually murdered, probably by starvation, and Henry became king as Henry IV.
Henry IV was the grandson of Edward III and the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; hence, his dynasty was known as the House of Lancaster. For most of his reign, Henry IV was forced to fight off plots and rebellions; his success was partly due to the military skill of his son, the future Henry V. Henry V's own reign, which began in 1413, was largely free from domestic strife, leaving the king free to pursue the Hundred Years' War in France. Although he was victorious, his sudden death in 1422 left his infant son Henry VI on the throne and gave the French an opportunity to overthrow English rule.
The unpopularity of Henry VI's counsellors and his consort, Margaret of Anjou, as well as his own ineffectual leadership, led to the weakening of the House of Lancaster. The Lancastrians faced a challenge from the House of York, so-called because its head, a descendant of Edward III, was Richard, Duke of York, who was at odds with the Queen. Although the Duke of York died in battle in 1460, his eldest son, Edward IV, led the Yorkists to victory in 1461, overthrowing Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. Edward IV was constantly at odds with the Lancastrians and his own councillors after his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, with a brief return to power for Henry VI. Edward IV prevailed, winning back the throne at Barnet and killing the Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster, at Tewkesbury. Afterwards he captured Margaret of Anjou, eventually sending her into exile, but not before killing Henry VI while he was held prisoner in the Tower. The Wars of the Roses, nevertheless, continued intermittently during his reign and those of his son Edward V and brother Richard III. Edward V disappeared, presumably murdered by Richard. Ultimately, the conflict culminated in success for the Lancastrian branch led by Henry Tudor, in 1485, when Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field.
King Henry VII then neutralised the remaining Yorkist forces, partly by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV and a Yorkist heir. Through skill and ability, Henry re-established absolute supremacy in the realm, and the conflicts with the nobility that had plagued previous monarchs came to an end. The reign of the second Tudor king, Henry VIII, was one of great political change. Religious upheaval and disputes with the Pope, and the fact that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon produced only one surviving child, a daughter, led the monarch to break from the Roman Catholic Church and establish the Church of England (the Anglican Church) and divorce his wife to marry Anne Boleyn.
Wales – which had been conquered centuries earlier, but had remained a separate dominion – was annexed to England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Henry VIII's son and successor, the young Edward VI, continued with further religious reforms, but his early death in 1553 precipitated a succession crisis. He was wary of allowing his Catholic elder half-sister Mary I to succeed, and therefore drew up a will designating Lady Jane Grey as his heiress. Jane's reign, however, lasted only nine days; with tremendous popular support, Mary deposed her and declared herself the lawful sovereign. Mary I married Philip of Spain, who was declared king and co-ruler. He pursued disastrous wars in France and she attempted to return England to Roman Catholicism (burning Protestants at the stake as heretics in the process). Upon her death in 1558, the pair were succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I. England returned to Protestantism and continued its growth into a major world power by building its navy and exploring the New World.
=== Scottish monarchy ===
In Scotland, as in England, monarchies emerged after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from Great Britain in the early fifth century. The three groups that lived in Scotland at this time were the Picts north of the Forth and Clyde, the Britons in the south, including the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and the Gaels or Scotti (who would later give their name to Scotland), of the Irish petty kingdom of Dál Riata in Argyll and the southern Hebrides. Kenneth MacAlpin is traditionally viewed as the first king of a united Scotland (known as Scotia to writers in Latin, or Alba to the Scots). The expansion of Scottish dominions continued over the next two centuries, as other territories such as Strathclyde were absorbed.
Early Scottish monarchs did not inherit the Crown directly; instead, the custom of tanistry was followed, where the monarchy alternated between different branches of the House of Alpin. There was an elective element to early Scottish kings and this practice lingered for much longer in Scotland. For example, the first Stewart monarch, Robert II, was selected from among eligible royal males at Linlithgow in 1370 by the Three Estates of the Scottish Parliament. However, as a result of this elective element, the rival dynastic lines clashed, often violently. From 942 to 1005, seven consecutive monarchs were either murdered or killed in battle. In 1005, Malcolm II ascended the throne having killed many rivals. He continued to ruthlessly eliminate opposition, and when he died in 1034 he was succeeded by his grandson, Duncan I, instead of a cousin, as had been usual. In 1040, Duncan suffered defeat in battle at the hands of Macbeth, who was killed himself in 1057 by Duncan's son Malcolm. The following year, after killing Macbeth's stepson Lulach, Malcolm ascended the throne as Malcolm III.
With a further series of battles and deposings, five of Malcolm's sons as well as one of his brothers successively became king. Eventually, the Crown came to his youngest son, David I. David was succeeded by his grandsons Malcolm IV, and then by William the Lion, the longest-reigning King of Scots before the Union of the Crowns. William participated in a rebellion against King Henry II of England but when the rebellion failed, William was captured by the English. In exchange for his release, William was forced to acknowledge Henry as his feudal overlord. The English King Richard I agreed to terminate the arrangement in 1189, in return for a large sum of money needed for the Crusades. William died in 1214 and was succeeded by his son Alexander II. Alexander II, as well as his successor Alexander III, attempted to take over the Western Isles, which were still under the overlordship of Norway. During the reign of Alexander III, Norway launched an unsuccessful invasion of Scotland; the ensuing Treaty of Perth recognised Scottish control of the Western Isles and other disputed areas.
Alexander III's death in a riding accident in 1286 precipitated a major succession crisis. Scottish leaders appealed to King Edward I of England for help in determining who was the rightful heir. Edward chose Alexander's three-year-old Norwegian granddaughter, Margaret. On her way to Scotland in 1290, however, Margaret died at sea, and Edward was again asked to adjudicate between 13 rival claimants to the throne. A court was set up and after two years of deliberation, it pronounced John Balliol to be king. Edward proceeded to treat Balliol as a vassal and tried to exert influence over Scotland. In 1295, when Balliol renounced his allegiance to England, Edward I invaded. During the first ten years of the ensuing Wars of Scottish Independence, Scotland had no monarch, until Robert the Bruce declared himself king in 1306.
Robert's efforts to control Scotland culminated in success and Scottish independence was acknowledged in 1328. However, only one year later, Robert died and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, David II. On the pretext of restoring John Balliol's rightful heir, Edward Balliol, the English again invaded in 1332. During the next four years, Balliol was crowned, deposed, restored, deposed, restored, and deposed until he eventually settled in England, and David remained king for the next 35 years.
David II died childless in 1371 and was succeeded by his nephew Robert II of the House of Stuart. The reigns of both Robert II and his successor, Robert III, were marked by a general decline in royal power. When Robert III died in 1406, regents had to rule the country; the monarch, Robert III's son James I, had been taken captive by the English. Having paid a large ransom, James returned to Scotland in 1424; to restore his authority, he used ruthless measures, including the execution of several of his enemies. He was assassinated by a group of nobles. James II continued his father's policies by subduing influential noblemen but he was killed in an accident at the age of thirty, and a council of regents again assumed power. James III was defeated in a battle against rebellious Scottish earls in 1488, leading to another boy-king: James IV.
In 1513 James IV launched an invasion of England, attempting to take advantage of the absence of the English King Henry VIII. His forces met with disaster at Flodden Field; the king, many senior noblemen, and hundreds of soldiers were killed. As his son and successor, James V, was an infant, the government was again taken over by regents. James V led another disastrous war with the English in 1542, and his death in the same year left the Crown in the hands of his six-day-old daughter, Mary. Once again, a regency was established.
Mary, a Roman Catholic, reigned during a period of great religious upheaval in Scotland. As a result of the efforts of reformers such as John Knox, a Protestant ascendancy was established. Mary caused alarm by marrying her Catholic cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565. After Lord Darnley's assassination in 1567, Mary contracted an even more unpopular marriage with the Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of Darnley's murder. The nobility rebelled against the queen, forcing her to abdicate. She fled to England, and the Crown went to her infant son James VI, who was brought up as a Protestant. Mary was imprisoned and later executed by the English queen Elizabeth I.
=== Personal union and republican phase ===
Elizabeth I's death in 1603 ended Tudor rule in England. Since she had no children, she was succeeded by the Scottish monarch James VI, who was the great-grandson of Henry VIII's older sister and hence Elizabeth's first cousin twice removed. James VI ruled in England as James I after what was known as the "Union of the Crowns". Although England and Scotland were in personal union under one monarch – James I & VI became the first monarch to style himself "King of Great Britain" in 1604 – they remained two separate kingdoms. James I & VI's successor, Charles I, experienced frequent conflicts with the English Parliament related to the issue of royal and parliamentary powers, especially the power to impose taxes. He provoked opposition by ruling without Parliament from 1629 to 1640, unilaterally levying taxes and adopting controversial religious policies (many of which were offensive to the Scottish Presbyterians and the English Puritans). His attempt to enforce Anglicanism led to organised rebellion in Scotland and ignited the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In 1642, the conflict between the king and Parliament reached its climax and the English Civil War began.
The Civil War culminated in the execution of the king in 1649, the overthrow of the English monarchy, and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England. Charles I's son, Charles II, was proclaimed King of Great Britain in Scotland, but he was forced to flee abroad after he invaded England and was defeated at the Battle of Worcester. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell, the most prominent military and political leader in the nation, seized power and declared himself Lord Protector (effectively becoming a military dictator, refusing the title of king). Cromwell ruled until his death in 1658, when he was succeeded by his son Richard. The new Lord Protector had little interest in governing, and he soon resigned. The lack of clear leadership led to civil and military unrest, and to a popular desire to restore the monarchy. In 1660, the monarchy was restored and Charles II returned to Britain.
Charles II's reign was marked by the development of the first modern political parties in England. Charles had no legitimate children and was due to be succeeded by his Roman Catholic brother, James, Duke of York. A parliamentary effort to exclude James from the line of succession arose; the "Petitioners", who supported exclusion, became the Whig Party, whereas the "Abhorrers", who opposed exclusion, became the Tory Party. The Exclusion Bill failed; on several occasions, Charles II dissolved Parliament because he feared that the bill might pass. After the dissolution of the Parliament of 1681, Charles ruled without a Parliament until his death in 1685. When James succeeded Charles, he pursued a policy of offering religious tolerance to Separatists and Roman Catholics, thereby drawing the ire of many of his subjects, who suspected his real aim was to reestablish Catholicism. The Tories were committed to the Church of England, and the Whigs were committed to parliamentary authority. Many opposed James's decisions to maintain a large standing army, appoint Roman Catholics to high political and military offices, and imprison Church of England clerics who challenged his policies. As a result, a group of Protestants known as the Immortal Seven invited James II & VII's daughter Mary and her husband William III of Orange to depose the king. William obliged, arriving in England on 5 November 1688 to great public support. Faced with the defection of many of his Protestant officials, James fled the realm and William and Mary (rather than James II & VII's Catholic son) were declared joint Sovereigns of England, Scotland and Ireland.
James's overthrow, known as the Glorious Revolution, was one of the most important events in the long evolution of parliamentary power. The Bill of Rights 1689 affirmed parliamentary supremacy and declared that the English people held certain rights, including freedom from taxes imposed without parliamentary consent. The Bill of Rights required future monarchs to be Protestants and provided that, after any children of William and Mary, Mary's sister Anne would inherit the Crown. Mary II died childless in 1694, leaving William III & II as the sole monarch. By 1700, a political crisis arose, as all of Anne's children had died, leaving her as the only individual left in the line of succession. Parliament was afraid that the former James II or his supporters, known as Jacobites, might attempt to reclaim the throne. Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701, which excluded James and his Catholic relations from the succession and made William's nearest Protestant relations, the family of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, next in line to the throne after his sister-in-law Anne. Soon after the passage of the Act, William III & II died, leaving the Crown to Anne.
=== After the 1707 Acts of Union ===
After Anne's accession, the problem of succession re-emerged. The Scottish Parliament, infuriated that the English Parliament did not consult them on the choice of Sophia's family as the next heirs, passed the Act of Security 1704, threatening to end the personal union between England and Scotland. The Parliament of England retaliated with the Alien Act 1705, threatening to devastate the Scottish economy by restricting trade. The Scottish and English parliaments negotiated the Acts of Union 1707, under which England and Scotland were united into a single Kingdom of Great Britain, with succession under the rules prescribed by the Act of Settlement.
In 1714, Queen Anne was succeeded by her second cousin, and Sophia's son, George I, Elector of Hanover, who consolidated his position by defeating Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1719. The new monarch was less active in government than many of his British predecessors, but retained control over his German kingdoms, with which Britain was now in personal union. Power shifted towards George's ministers, especially to Robert Walpole, who is often considered the first British prime minister, although the title was not then in use.
The next monarch, George II, witnessed the end of the Jacobite threat in 1746 when the Catholic Stuarts were completely defeated. During the long reign of his grandson, George III, thirteen of Britain's American colonies were lost when they formed the United States of America after the American Revolutionary War, but British influence elsewhere in the world continued to grow. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created by the Acts of Union 1800.
From 1811 to 1820, George III was rendered incapable of ruling by a mental illness. His son, the future George IV, ruled in his stead as regent. During the Regency and his own reign, the power of the monarchy declined, and by the time of his successor, William IV, the monarch was no longer able to interfere effectively with parliamentary power. In 1834, William dismissed the Whig Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, and appointed a Tory, Robert Peel. In the ensuing elections, however, Peel lost. The king had no choice but to recall Lord Melbourne. During William IV's reign, the Reform Act 1832, which reformed parliamentary representation, was passed. Together with others passed later in the century, the Act led to an expansion of the electoral franchise and the rise of the House of Commons as the most important branch of Parliament.
The final transition to a constitutional monarchy was made during the long reign of William IV's successor, Victoria. As a woman, Victoria could not rule Hanover, which permitted succession only in the male line, so the personal union of the United Kingdom and Hanover came to an end. The Victorian era was marked by great cultural change, technological progress, and the establishment of the United Kingdom as one of the world's foremost powers. In recognition of British rule over India, Victoria was declared Empress of India in 1876. However, her reign was also marked by increased support for the republican movement, due in part to Victoria's permanent mourning and lengthy period of seclusion following the death of her husband in 1861.
Victoria's son, Edward VII, became the first monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1901. In 1917, the next monarch, George V, changed "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Windsor" in response to the anti-German sentiment aroused by the First World War. George V's reign was marked by the separation of Ireland into Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom, and the Irish Free State, an independent nation, in 1922.
=== Shared monarchy ===
During the twentieth century, the Commonwealth of Nations evolved from the British Empire. Prior to 1926, the British Crown reigned over the British Empire collectively; the Dominions and Crown Colonies were subordinate to the United Kingdom. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 gave complete self-government to the Dominions, effectively creating a system whereby a single monarch operated independently in each separate Dominion. The concept was solidified by the Statute of Westminster 1931, which has been likened to "a treaty among the Commonwealth countries".
The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it is often still referred to as "British" for legal and historical reasons and for convenience. The monarch became separately monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and so forth; one person reigning in multiple distinct sovereign states, in a relationship likened to a personal union.
George V's death in 1936 was followed by the accession of Edward VIII, who caused a public scandal by announcing his desire to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson, even though the Church of England opposed the remarriage of divorcees. Accordingly, Edward announced his intention to abdicate; the Parliaments of the United Kingdom and of other Commonwealth countries granted his request. Edward VIII and any children by his new wife were excluded from the line of succession, and the Crown went to his brother, George VI. George served as a rallying figure for the British people during World War II, making morale-boosting visits to the troops as well as to munitions factories and areas bombed by Nazi Germany. In June 1948 George VI relinquished the title Emperor of India, although remaining head of state of the Dominion of India.
At first, every member of the Commonwealth retained the same monarch as the United Kingdom, but when the Dominion of India became a republic in 1950, it would no longer share in a common monarchy. Instead, the British monarch was acknowledged as "Head of the Commonwealth" in all Commonwealth member states, whether they were realms or republics. The position is purely ceremonial, and is not inherited by the British monarch as of right but is vested in an individual chosen by the Commonwealth heads of government. Member states of the Commonwealth that share the same person as monarch are informally known as Commonwealth realms.
=== Monarchy in Ireland ===
In 1155 the only English Pope, Adrian IV, authorised King Henry II of England to take possession of Ireland as a feudal territory nominally under papal overlordship. The Pope wanted the English monarch to annex Ireland and bring the Irish church into line with Rome, despite this process already being underway in Ireland by 1155. An all-island kingship of Ireland had been created in 854 by Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid. His last successor was Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, who had become High King of Ireland in early 1166 and exiled Diarmait Mac Murchada, the King of Leinster, a vassal kingdom. Diarmait asked Henry II for help, gaining a group of Anglo-Norman aristocrats and adventurers, led by Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, to help him regain his throne. Diarmait and his Anglo-Norman allies succeeded and he became King of Leinster again. De Clare married Diarmait's daughter, and when Diarmait died in 1171, de Clare became King of Leinster. Henry was afraid that de Clare would make Ireland a rival Norman kingdom, so he took advantage of the papal bull and invaded, forcing de Clare and the other Anglo-Norman aristocrats in Ireland and the major Irish kings and lords to recognise him as their overlord.
By 1542, King Henry VIII of England had broken with the Church of Rome and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. The Pope's grant of Ireland to the English monarch became invalid, so Henry summoned a meeting of the Irish Parliament to change his title from Lord of Ireland to King of Ireland.
In 1800, as a result of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Act of Union merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The whole island of Ireland continued to be a part of the United Kingdom until 1922 when what is now the Republic of Ireland won independence as the Irish Free State, a separate Dominion within the Commonwealth. The Irish Free State was renamed Ireland in 1937, and in 1949 declared itself a republic, left the Commonwealth and severed all ties with the monarchy. Northern Ireland remained within the Union. In 1927, the United Kingdom changed its name to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while the monarch's style for the next twenty years became "of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India".
=== Modern status and popularity ===
In the 1990s, republicanism in the United Kingdom grew, partly on account of negative publicity associated with the royal family (for instance, immediately following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales). However, The Independent maintained polls from 2002 to 2007 showed that around 70–80% of the British public supported the continuation of the monarchy. In September 2022, shortly after the death of Elizabeth II, The Guardian reported that a YouGov poll showed that 68% of British people felt positively about the monarchy. The newspaper speculated that some of this may have been a reaction to the Queen's death, and said it showed dissatisfaction is higher among young people; 47% of people aged between 18 and 24 wanted the monarchy to continue, compared to 86% aged 65 and over. In May 2022, before the Queen's death, the newspaper reported that polling showed 33% of those aged between 18 and 24 wanted the monarchy to continue. In January 2023, a YouGov survey of roughly 1,700 UK people found that 64% thought that the country should continue to have a monarchy.
== Religious role ==
The sovereign is the supreme governor of the established Church of England. Archbishops and bishops are appointed by the monarch, on the advice of the prime minister, who chooses the appointee from a list of nominees prepared by a Church Commission. The Crown's role in the Church of England is titular; the most senior clergyman, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the spiritual leader of the Church and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The monarch takes an oath to preserve the Church of Scotland and he or she holds the power to appoint the Lord High Commissioner to the Church's General Assembly, but otherwise plays no part in its governance, and exerts no powers over it. The sovereign plays no formal role in the disestablished Church in Wales or Church of Ireland.
== Succession ==
The relationship between the Commonwealth realms is such that any change to the laws governing succession to the shared throne requires the unanimous consent of all the realms. Succession is governed by statutes such as the Bill of Rights 1689, the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707. The rules of succession may only be changed by an Act of Parliament; it is not possible for an individual to renounce his or her right of succession. The Act of Settlement restricts the succession to the legitimate Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714), a granddaughter of James VI and I.
Upon demise of the Crown (the death of a sovereign), their heir immediately and automatically succeeds (hence the phrase "The king is dead, long live the king!"), and the accession of the new sovereign is publicly proclaimed by an Accession Council that meets at St James's Palace. Upon their accession, a new sovereign is required by law to make and subscribe several oaths: the Accession Declaration as first required by the Bill of Rights, and an oath that they will "maintain and preserve" the Church of Scotland settlement as required by the Act of Union. The monarch is usually crowned in Westminster Abbey, normally by the Archbishop of Canterbury. A coronation is not necessary for a sovereign to reign; indeed, the ceremony usually takes place many months after accession to allow sufficient time for its preparation and for a period of mourning.
When an individual ascends the throne, it is expected they will reign until death. The only voluntary abdication, that of Edward VIII, had to be authorised by a special Act of Parliament, His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. The last monarch involuntarily removed from power was James II and VII, who fled into exile in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution.
=== Restrictions by sex and religion ===
Succession was by male-preference cognatic primogeniture, under which sons inherit before daughters, and elder children inherit before younger ones of the same sex. The British prime minister, David Cameron, announced at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that all 16 Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom, had agreed to abolish the male-preference rule for anyone born after the date of the meeting, 28 October 2011. They also agreed that future monarchs would no longer be prohibited from marrying a Roman Catholic – a law which dated from the Act of Settlement 1701. However, since the monarch is also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the laws which restrict the throne to Protestants remain. The necessary UK legislation making the changes received the royal assent on 25 April 2013 and was brought into force in March 2015 after the equivalent legislation was approved in all the other Commonwealth realms.
Though Catholics are prohibited from succeeding and are deemed "naturally dead" for succession purposes, the disqualification does not extend to the individual's legitimate Protestant descendants.
=== Regency ===
The Regency Acts allow for regencies in the event of a monarch who is a minor or who is physically or mentally incapacitated. When a regency is necessary, the next qualified individual in the line of succession automatically becomes regent, unless they themselves are a minor or incapacitated. Special provisions were made for Queen Elizabeth II by the Regency Act 1953, which stated that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (her husband) could act as regent in these circumstances.
During a temporary physical infirmity or an absence from the kingdom, the sovereign may temporarily delegate some of his or her functions to counsellors of state, chosen from the monarch's spouse and the first four adults in the line of succession. The present counsellors of state are: Queen Camilla; William, Prince of Wales; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex; Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; Princess Beatrice; Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh; and Anne, Princess Royal. While still able to serve, the Duke of Sussex and Duke of York no longer carry out royal duties. With the accession of Charles III and planned overseas trips in 2023, it was decided to expand the list of those eligible to serve as counsellors of state. On 14 November 2022, the King sent a message to both Houses of Parliament, formally asking for a change in the law that would allow Princess Anne and Prince Edward to be added to the list of counsellors of state. The next day, a bill to that end was introduced in Parliament and it received royal assent on 6 December, coming into force on 7 December.
== Finances ==
Until 1760, the monarch met all official expenses from hereditary revenues, which included the profits of the Crown Estate (the royal property portfolio). King George III agreed to surrender the hereditary revenues of the Crown in return for the Civil List, and this arrangement persisted until 2012. An annual Property Services grant-in-aid paid for the upkeep of the royal residences, and an annual Royal Travel Grant-in-Aid paid for travel. The Civil List covered most expenses, including those for staffing, state visits, public engagements, and official entertainment. Its size was fixed by Parliament every 10 years; any money saved was carried forward to the next 10-year period. From 2012, the Civil List and Grants-in-Aid were replaced with a single Sovereign Grant, which was initially set at 15% of the revenues generated by the Crown Estate and increased to 25% in March 2017. The programme of overseas visits by the monarch is determined by the Royal Visits Committee, a Cabinet Office committee.
The Crown Estate is one of the largest property portfolios in the United Kingdom, with holdings of £15.6 billion in 2022. It is held in trust, and cannot be sold or owned by the sovereign in a private capacity. In modern times, the profits surrendered from the Crown Estate to the Treasury have exceeded the Sovereign Grant. For example, the Crown Estate produced £312.7 million in the financial year 2021–22, whereas the Sovereign Grant for the monarch was £86.3 million during the same period.
Like the Crown Estate, the land and assets of the Duchy of Lancaster, a property portfolio valued at £383 million in 2011, are held in trust. The revenues of the Duchy form part of the Privy Purse, and are used for expenses not borne by the parliamentary grants. The Paradise Papers, leaked in 2017, show that the Duchy of Lancaster held investments in the British tax havens of the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The Duchy of Cornwall is a similar estate held in trust to meet the expenses of the monarch's eldest son. The Royal Collection, which includes artworks and the Crown Jewels, is not owned by the sovereign personally and is held in trust, as are the occupied palaces in the United Kingdom such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
The sovereign is subject to indirect taxes such as value-added tax, and since 1993 the monarch has paid income tax and capital gains tax on personal income. Parliamentary grants to the sovereign are not treated as income as they are solely for official expenditure. Republicans estimated in 2012 that the real cost of the monarchy, including security and potential income not claimed by the state, such as profits from the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and rent of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, was £334 million (equivalent to £444,500,000 in 2023) a year.
Estimates of Queen Elizabeth II's wealth varied, depending on whether assets owned by her personally or held in trust for the nation were included. Forbes magazine estimated her wealth at US$450 million in 2010, but no official figure was available. In 1993, the Lord Chamberlain said estimates of £100 million were "grossly overstated". Jock Colville, who was her former private secretary and a director of her bank, Coutts, estimated her wealth in 1971 at £2 million (the equivalent of about £24 million today). The Sunday Times Rich List 2020 estimated Elizabeth II's personal wealth at £350 million.
== Residences ==
The sovereign's official residence in London is Buckingham Palace. It is the site of most state banquets, investitures, royal christenings and other ceremonies. Another official residence is Windsor Castle, the largest occupied castle in the world, which is used principally at weekends, Easter and during Royal Ascot, an annual race meeting that is part of the social calendar. The sovereign's official residence in Scotland is the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The monarch stays at Holyrood for at least one week each year, and when visiting Scotland on state occasions.
Historically, the Palace of Westminster and the Tower of London were the main residences of the English monarch until Henry VIII acquired the Palace of Whitehall. Whitehall was destroyed by fire in 1698, leading to a shift to St James's Palace. Although replaced as the monarch's primary London residence by Buckingham Palace in 1837, St James's is still the senior palace and remains the ceremonial royal residence. For example, foreign ambassadors are accredited to the Court of St James's, and the Palace is the site of the meeting of the Accession Council. It is also used by other members of the royal family.
Other residences include Clarence House and Kensington Palace. The palaces belong to the Crown; they are held in trust for future rulers and cannot be sold by the monarch. Sandringham House in Norfolk and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire are privately owned by the monarch.
== Style ==
The present sovereign's full style and title is "Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith". The title "Head of the Commonwealth" is held by the king personally, and is not vested in the British Crown. Pope Leo X first granted the title "Defender of the Faith" to King Henry VIII in 1521, rewarding him for his support of the Papacy during the early years of the Protestant Reformation, particularly for his book the Defence of the Seven Sacraments. After Henry broke from the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Paul III revoked the grant, but Parliament passed a law authorising its continued use.
The sovereign is known as "His Majesty" or "Her Majesty". The form "Britannic Majesty" appears in international treaties and on passports to differentiate the British monarch from foreign rulers. The monarch chooses his or her regnal name, not necessarily his or her first name – George VI, Edward VII and Victoria did not use their first names.
If only one monarch has used a particular name, no ordinal is used; for example, Queen Victoria is not known as "Victoria I", and ordinals are not used for English monarchs who reigned before the Norman conquest of England. The question of whether numbering for British monarchs is based on previous English or Scottish monarchs was raised in 1953 when Scottish nationalists challenged the Queen's use of "Elizabeth II", on the grounds that there had never been an "Elizabeth I" in Scotland. In MacCormick v Lord Advocate, the Scottish Court of Session ruled against the plaintiffs, finding that the Queen's title was a matter of her own choice and prerogative. The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that monarchs since the Acts of Union had consistently used the higher of the English and Scottish ordinals, which in the applicable four cases has been the English ordinal. The prime minister confirmed this practice but noted that "neither The Queen nor her advisers could seek to bind their successors".
== Arms ==
The coat of arms of the United Kingdom is "Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or [for England]; II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules [for Scotland]; III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent [for Ireland]". The supporters are the Lion and the Unicorn; the motto is "Dieu et mon droit" (French: "God and my Right"). Surrounding the shield is a representation of a Garter bearing the motto of the Chivalric order of the same name; "Honi soit qui mal y pense". (Old French: "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it"). In Scotland, the monarch uses an alternative form of the arms in which quarters I and IV represent Scotland, II England, and III Ireland. The mottoes are "In Defens" (an abbreviated form of the Scots "In my defens God me defend") and the motto of the Order of the Thistle, "'Nemo me impune lacessit" (Latin: "No-one provokes me with impunity"); the supporters are the unicorn and lion, who support both the escutcheon and lances, from which fly the flags of Scotland and England.
The monarch's official flag in the United Kingdom is the Royal Standard, which depicts the Royal Arms in banner form. It is flown only from buildings, vessels and vehicles in which the sovereign is present. The Royal Standard is never flown at half-mast because there is always a sovereign: when one dies, his or her successor becomes the sovereign instantly.
When the monarch is not in residence, the Union Flag is flown at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Sandringham House, whereas in Scotland the Royal Banner of Scotland is flown at Holyrood Palace and Balmoral Castle. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishi_Sunak | Rishi Sunak | Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's Labour Party in the 2024 general election, he became Leader of the Opposition, serving in this role from July to November 2024. He previously held two Cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, latterly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond and Northallerton, previously Richmond (Yorks), since 2015.
Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s. He was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar. During his time at Oxford, Sunak joined the Conservatives. After graduating, he worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at two hedge fund firms. Sunak was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. As a backbencher, he supported the successful campaign for Brexit in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. He was appointed to the junior ministerial position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government by Theresa May in 2018 and was appointed to the cabinet-attending role of Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Johnson in 2019.
In 2020, Sunak was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer. During his time in the post, Sunak was prominent in the government's financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, including the furlough and Eat Out to Help Out schemes and the cost-of-living crisis. As chancellor, Sunak received high approval and popularity ratings in the early stages of the pandemic, although his popularity later declined amid the cost-of-living crisis of 2022. He resigned as chancellor in July 2022 amid a government crisis, and lost the subsequent party leadership election to Liz Truss. After spending the whole duration of the premiership of Liz Truss on the backbenches, Sunak was elected unopposed in the leadership election to succeed Truss; aged 42 at the time he became prime minister, Sunak became the youngest prime minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1812.
During his premiership, Sunak attempted to improve the economy and stabilise national politics. He outlined five key priorities: halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting debt, reducing National Health Service waiting lists, and stopping small-boat crossings of the English Channel by enacting the Rwanda asylum plan. On foreign policy, Sunak authorised foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country, and pledged support for Israel after the October 7 attacks which began the Gaza war whilst later calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He did not avert further unpopularity for the Conservatives, reflected in the party's poor performances in the 2023 and 2024 local elections. Sunak called a general election for July 2024 despite being widely expected to call the election in the autumn; the Conservatives lost this election in a landslide to the opposition Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative government.
After leaving office, Sunak became Leader of the Opposition and remained Conservative leader for nearly four months while the leadership election to replace him took place, and formed a shadow cabinet. He was succeeded by Kemi Badenoch, his Shadow Housing Secretary. He also intends to remain as a backbench MP for the next five years. In 2025 he took a position as a senior advisor, returning to his previous employer, Goldman Sachs, with some limits on his lobbying abilities.
== Early life and education (1980–2001) ==
Rishi Sunak was born on 12 May 1980 in Southampton General Hospital in Southampton, Hampshire, to Punjabi East African-born Hindu parents of the Khatri community.
His father was born in the Kenya Colony in 1949, and was a general practitioner in the National Health Service (NHS). Sunak's mother was born in the Tanganyika Territory (modern-day Tanzania), and was a pharmacist who owned the Sunak Pharmacy in Southampton between 1995 and 2014, and has a degree from Aston University. His paternal grandfather Ramdas Sunak had migrated from Gujranwala (located in present-day Pakistan), to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in 1935, while his maternal grandfather, Raghubir Berry, grew up in Ludhiana (located in present-day India), before eventually moving to Tanzania as an engineer. Both Gujranwala and Ludhiana were part of the Punjab province of British India at the time. Both of Sunak's parents had moved to the UK in 1966. While in the UK, they met and eventually married in 1977.Sunak lived in Portswood but moved to Bassett, after the birth of his younger brother and sister. He attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Romsey, and later studied at Winchester College as a dayboy, becoming head boy of the college. He worked as a waiter, at the curry house Kuti's Brasserie in Southampton, during his summer holidays. He read philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating with a first in 2001. During his time at university, he undertook an internship at Conservative Campaign Headquarters and joined the Conservative Party. In 2006 Sunak earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.
Sunak is the eldest of three siblings. His brother is a psychologist and his sister works in New York as chief of strategy and planning at Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises.
== Career ==
=== Business career (2001–2015) ===
Sunak worked as an analyst for the investment bank Goldman Sachs between 2001 and 2004. He then worked for hedge fund management firm The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI), becoming a partner in September 2006. He left in November 2009 to join former colleagues in California at a new hedge fund firm, Theleme Partners, which launched in October 2010 with $700 million under management (equivalent to $1,033 million in 2025). At both hedge funds, his boss was Patrick Degorce. Sunak was also a director of the investment firm Catamaran Ventures, owned by his father-in-law, the Indian businessman N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, between 2013 and 2015.
=== Backbencher (2015–2018) ===
Sunak was selected as the Conservative candidate for Richmond (Yorks) in October 2014. The seat was previously held by William Hague. In the same year Sunak was head of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Research Unit of the conservative think tank Policy Exchange, for which he co-wrote a report on BME communities in the UK. He was elected as MP for the constituency at the 2015 general election with a majority of 19,550 (36.2%). During the 2015–2017 Parliament he was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. Sunak supported the successful campaign to leave the European Union in the 2016 European Union membership referendum, criticising the EU's immigration laws: "We are discriminating against countries with whom we have ties of history, language and culture" That year, he wrote a report for the Thatcherite think tank Centre for Policy Studies supporting the establishment of free ports after Brexit, and the following year wrote a report advocating the creation of a retail bond market for small and medium-sized enterprises. Following Cameron's resignation, Sunak endorsed Michael Gove in the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election, and later endorsed successful candidate Theresa May after Gove was eliminated in the second round of voting.
Sunak was re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 23,108 (40.5%). In the same year, Sunak wrote a paper for Policy Exchange on the importance and fragility of the UK's undersea infrastructure. Sunak was re-elected at the 2019 general election with an increased majority of 27,210 (47.2%). Following boundary changes in the 2024 general election, Sunak won the seat of Richmond and Northallerton, which replaced his former seat of Richmond (Yorks), with a majority of 23,059 (51.4).
=== Local government under-secretary (2018–2019) ===
Sunak was appointed to a junior ministerial position in May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 cabinet reshuffle. Sunak voted for May's Brexit withdrawal agreement on all three occasions, and voted against a second referendum on any withdrawal agreement. May's withdrawal agreement was rejected by Parliament three times, leading to May announcing her resignation in May 2019.
Sunak supported Boris Johnson's successful bid to succeed May in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election and co-wrote an article with fellow MPs Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden to advocate for Johnson during the campaign in June.
=== Chief secretary to the Treasury (2019–2020) ===
Sunak was appointed to the senior cabinet role of chief secretary to the Treasury by Johnson, serving under Sajid Javid. He became a member of the Privy Council the next day. During the 2019 general election, Sunak represented the Conservatives in debates.
=== Chancellor of the Exchequer (2020–2022) ===
In the weeks leading up to Johnson's first cabinet reshuffle in February 2020, a number of briefings in the press had suggested that a new economic ministry led by Sunak might be established, to reduce the power and political influence of the Treasury. By February 2020, it was reported that Javid would remain in his role as Chancellor and that Sunak would stay on as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in order to "keep an eye" on Javid.
On 13 February 2020, the day of the reshuffle, Javid resigned as chancellor, following a meeting with Johnson. During the meeting, Johnson had offered to allow Javid to keep his position on the condition that he dismiss all his advisers at the Treasury and replace them with ones selected by 10 Downing Street. Upon resigning, Javid told the Press Association that "no self-respecting minister would accept those terms". Sunak was promoted to chancellor to replace Javid as part of Johnson's first cabinet reshuffle later that day.
==== COVID-19 pandemic ====
In response to the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in January 2020, Sunak introduced advice for travellers coming from affected countries in late January and February 2020, and began contact tracing, although this was later abandoned. There were further societal restrictions on the public as the virus spread across the country in the following weeks, initially resisting more stringent measures introduced elsewhere in Europe and Asia. On 23 March 2020, as COVID-19 had become a pandemic and began rapidly spreading across the country, Sunak became prominent in the government's response to the pandemic and its economic impact. On 20 March 2020, Sunak gave a statement on COVID-19, saying:
Now, more than any time in our history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. Our ability to come through this, won't just be down to what government or businesses do, but by the individual acts of kindness that we show each other. When this is over, we want to look back on this moment and remember the many small acts of kindness done by us and to us. We want to look back on this time and remember how we thought first of others and acted with decency. We want to look back on this time and remember how, in the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national effort – and we stood together. It's on all of us.
==== Furlough scheme ====
Sunak introduced a programme providing £330 billion in emergency support for businesses, as well as the Coronavirus Job Retention furlough scheme for employees. This was the first time a British government had created such an employee retention scheme. The scheme was introduced on 20 March 2020 as providing grants to employers to pay 80% of a staff wage and employment costs each month, up to a total of £2,500 per person per month. The cost was estimated at £14 billion a month to run.
The furlough scheme initially ran for three months and was backdated to 1 March. Following a three-week extension of the countrywide lockdown the scheme was extended by Sunak until the end of June 2020. At the end of May, Sunak extended the scheme until the end of October 2020. The decision to extend the job retention scheme was made to avoid or defer mass redundancies, company bankruptcies and potential unemployment levels not seen since the 1930s. In March 2021, Sunak announced that the scheme had been extended once more until September 2021.
==== Eat Out to Help Out ====
In July 2020, Sunak unveiled a plan for a further £30 billion of spending which included a stamp duty holiday, a cut to value-added tax (VAT) for the hospitality sector, a job retention bonus for employers and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, aimed at supporting and creating jobs in the hospitality industry. The government subsidised food and soft drinks at participating cafes, pubs and restaurants at 50%, up to £10 per person. The offer was available from 3 to 31 August on Monday to Wednesday each week. In total, the scheme subsidised £849 million in meals.
Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty were not informed of the scheme. Some considered the scheme to be a success in boosting the hospitality industry, whilst others disagreed. A 2020 study found that the scheme contributed to a rise in COVID-19 infection, which Johnson acknowledged but the Treasury rejected. It was later said by Vallance during the COVID-19 Inquiry that Sunak had not informed medical advisers of the scheme until it was announced, whereas written evidence from Sunak said that the scheme had been discussed with medical advisers, including Vallance, and they had not objected.
==== Cost of living crisis and energy crisis ====
Amid the rising cost of living and energy crises, Sunak intensified efforts to respond to the crisis in May 2022, with a £5 billion windfall tax on energy companies to help fund a £15 billion support package for the public. The package included every household getting a £400 discount on energy bills, which would be in addition to a £150 council tax refund the government had already ordered. For about 8 million of the UK's lowest income households, a further £650 payment was announced. Additionally, pensioners or those with disability would qualify for extra payments, on top of the £550 that every household gets, and the £650 they would receive if they had a low income.
==== Budgets ====
Sunak presented his first budget, Delivering on Our Promises to the British People, on 11 March 2020. It was scheduled to be followed by another budget in the autumn, but in September 2020 he announced that budget would be scrapped because of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating "now is not the right time to outline long-term plans – people want to see us focused on the here and now". Instead, additional statements were given by the chancellor in both summer and autumn.
The Winter Economy Plan was delivered by Sunak on 24 September 2020. The purpose of the statement was to announce measures aimed at further helping to promote economic recovery following the impact of COVID-19. The plan aimed to further promote economic recovery while preserving jobs and businesses which were considered viable. After a second lockdown in England on 31 October 2020, the programme was extended several times, until 30 September 2021.
The July 2020 summer statement (also known as the coronavirus mini-budget) was delivered by Sunak on 8 July 2020. The purpose of the statement was to announce measures aimed at helping to promote economic recovery following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement was delivered to the House of Commons, where Sunak unveiled a spending package worth £30bn. Concerns were subsequently raised by organisations including HM Revenue and Customs and the Institute for Fiscal Studies about the statement's impact, as well as its cost-effectiveness, while at least one major retailer declined to take advantage of a financial bonus scheme intended for rehiring employees placed on furlough during the pandemic.
In his March 2021 budget, Sunak emphasized the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the economy, with 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% (the largest fall in 300 years), and the highest borrowing outside wartime. The budget included an increase in the rate of corporation tax from 19% to 25% in 2023, a five-year freeze in the tax-free personal allowance and the higher rate income tax threshold, and the extension of the furlough scheme until the end of September. Sunak was the first Chancellor to raise the corporation tax rate since Labour's Denis Healey in 1974.
In October 2021, Sunak made his third and final budget statement, which included substantial spending promises related to science and education. The budget increased in-work support through the Universal Credit system by increasing the work allowances by £500 a year, and reducing the post-tax deduction taper rate from 63% to 55%. £560 million of investment was announced for the Levelling Up White Paper. Many of the announcements to be made in the budget were previewed before budget day, drawing criticism and anger from the House of Commons. In response to the criticism, Sunak said the budget "begins the work of preparing for a new economy".
Sunak made what would ultimately be his final budget, his spring statement, on 23 March 2022. He cut fuel duty, removed VAT on energy saving equipment (such as solar panels and insulation) and reduced national insurance payments for small businesses and, while continuing with a planned national insurance rise in April, he promised to align the primary threshold with the basic personal income allowance as of July. He also promised a reduction in income tax in 2024. Sunak also provided some funding which was intended to help vulnerable people cope with the cost of living.
==== Other actions ====
Sunak hosted a G7 summit in London in June 2021. A tax reform agreement was signed, which in principle sought to establish a global minimum tax on multinationals and online technology companies. In October 2021, the OECD signed an accord to join the tax reform plan. Later that month, Sunak attended COP26 in Glasgow. During his speech given on 3 November, he said that he felt optimism despite daunting challenges and that by bringing together finance ministers, businesses and investors, COP26 could begin to deliver targets from the Paris Agreement.
==== Resignation ====
On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned almost simultaneously amid a scandal surrounding the sexual harassment allegations against Chris Pincher, which arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted Pincher to the position of Deputy Chief Whip while knowing of the allegations beforehand. Sunak was the second of 61 Conservative MPs to resign during the government crisis. He was succeeded as chancellor by Nadhim Zahawi. Following the resignations of Sunak and Javid, numerous junior ministers and among the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) also resigned, most of whom cited a lack of honesty and integrity on the part of Johnson. In the following 24 hours, 36 MPs resigned from their roles in government and Johnson announced his resignation. In his resignation letter Sunak said:
The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning. It has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different. I am sad to be leaving Government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this.
=== Conservative leadership bids ===
On 8 July 2022, Sunak announced his candidacy in the leadership election to replace Johnson. Sunak launched his campaign in a video posted to social media, writing that he would "restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country". He said that his values were "patriotism, fairness, hard work", and pledged to "crack down on gender neutral language". During the campaign, Sunak pledged to included tax cuts only when inflation was under control, scrapping of the 5% VAT rate on household energy for one year, introducing a temporary £10 fine for patients who fail to attend GP appointments, capping of refugee numbers, and a tightening of the definition of asylum. On 20 July, Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the contest on 20 July to be put forward to the membership for the final leadership vote. He had received the most votes in each of the series of MP votes with Sunak receiving 137 to Truss's 113 in the final round. Sunak opposed Truss' economic plans and predicted they would result in economic damage, saying "Liz, we have to be honest. Borrowing your way out of inflation isn't a plan, it's a fairytale." A spokesperson for Sunak later said: "The reality is that Truss cannot deliver a support package as well as come good on £50bn worth of unfunded, permanent tax cuts in one go. To do so would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral."
In the membership vote, Truss received 57.4% of the vote, making her the new leader. Sunak responded by offering his support to Truss, saying "It's right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times." He spent the duration of Truss's premiership on the backbenches. As Sunak predicted, Truss announced large-scale tax cuts and borrowing in a mini-budget on 23 September, which was widely criticised and – after it rapidly led to financial instability – largely reversed. She announced her resignation on 20 October 2022 amid a government crisis, triggering a leadership contest. On 22 October, it was reported that Sunak had the required number of supporters—100 members of the House of Commons—to run in the ballot on 24 October. The total number of MPs who publicly declared support passed 100 on the afternoon of 22 October. On 23 October, Sunak declared that he would stand for election. After Johnson ruled himself out of the race and Penny Mordaunt withdrew her candidacy, Sunak was announced as the new leader on 24 October.
== Premiership (2022–2024) ==
As the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, Sunak was appointed as prime minister by Charles III on 25 October 2022, becoming the first British Asian to take the office. At 42, Sunak became the youngest prime minister since Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, in 1812. In his first speech as prime minister, Sunak said that Truss "was not wrong" to want to improve growth and that he "admired her restlessness to create change", and added that "some mistakes were made", and that he was elected as party leader, and prime minister, in part to fix them. He said, "I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government's agenda.
=== Cabinet ===
Sunak selected his cabinet ministers after his appointment as prime minister. Jeremy Hunt was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Dominic Raab was also re-appointed as deputy prime minister and Justice Secretary, he later resigned from these roles in April 2023 and was replaced by Oliver Dowden. James Cleverly was appointed Foreign Secretary with Suella Braverman as Home Secretary. Ben Wallace was appointed Secretary of State for Defence. Michael Gove was appointed Levelling Up Secretary, Grant Shapps was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Penny Mordaunt became Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the council. Other key appointments included Simon Hart as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip of the House of Commons, Nadhim Zahawi as Chairman of the Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Thérèse Coffey as Environment Secretary, Mel Stride as Work and Pensions Secretary and Mark Harper as Transport Secretary.
==== Reshuffles ====
Sunak's first cabinet reshuffle in February 2023 saw a significant restructuring of government departments. New departments included those for Business and Trade, Energy Security and Net Zero, and Science, Innovation and Technology. The Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy were split and merged into other departments. Ministers who joined the cabinet in the first reshuffle included Greg Hands took over as chairman from Zahawi, though later resigned and replaced by Richard Holden. Lucy Frazer became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport taking over from Donelan. Rachel Maclean left the backbenches and joined the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Sunak's last cabinet reshuffle in November 2023 saw the return of former prime minister David Cameron to government following a seven-year absence from frontline politics, replacing James Cleverly as foreign secretary. It also saw the departures of Braverman and Coffey from government and Hands from the cabinet, and the appointment of Laura Trott as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
=== Foreign policy ===
In February 2023, Sunak negotiated a proposed agreement with the EU on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements which was published as the Windsor Framework. On 27 February, Sunak delivered a statement to the House of Commons, saying that the proposed agreement "protects Northern Ireland's place in our Union. On 22 March, the date of the parliamentary vote, 22 Conservative MPs and six DUP MPs voted against the government legislation. The vote ultimately passed by 515 votes to 29.
==== Immigration ====
In 2019 the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson pledged to reduce net migration below 250,000 per year, but Sunak said in 2023 that the priority was not to reduce legal immigration but to stop illegal immigration. Nearly 30,000 undocumented migrants crossed the Channel in small boats to the UK in 2023. Long-term net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022, with legal immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Of the 1,218,000 legal migrants coming to the UK in 2023, only 10% were EU Nationals.
Sunak continued the Rwanda asylum plan to have asylum seekers and illegal immigrants sent to Rwanda for processing. After the plan was blocked by the UK's Court of Appeal in June 2023 due to concerns over international law and the possibility of refoulement (persecution of those sent to Rwanda), Sunak vowed to appeal against the verdict to the Supreme Court.
On 15 November 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling and declared the plan unlawful. In response, Sunak sent Cleverly to Rwanda to negotiate a treaty with Rwanda focused on preventing refoulement which must now be ratified by the British and Rwandan Parliaments. The government also introduced the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, emergency legislation giving ministers the power to disapply sections of the Human Rights Act 1998 and certain aspects of international law in order to allow them to declare Rwanda a safe country according to UK law. The bill was criticised by many on the right of the party for not going far enough, resulting in the resignation of the minister for immigration, Robert Jenrick.
On 12 December 2023 Sunak secured a government majority of 44 for the Safety of Rwanda Bill, despite the opposition of all other parties and abstentions from members of the European Research Group.
==== Russia and Ukraine ====
Following the 15 November missile explosion in Poland, Sunak met US President Joe Biden and delivered a speech about it. Sunak later met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and pledged to give Ukraine £50 million in aid. After meeting Zelenskyy, Sunak said: "I am proud of how the UK stood with Ukraine from the very beginning. And I am here today to say the UK and our allies will continue to stand with Ukraine, as it fights to end this barbarous war and deliver a just peace."
Sunak visited Ukraine on 12 January 2024 to sign a new U.K.-Ukraine Agreement on Security Cooperation with Zelenskyy promising £2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including long-range missiles, artillery ammunition, air defence and maritime security, in addition to £200 million to be spent on military drones, making the UK the largest deliverer of drones to Ukraine out of any nation according to Downing Street.
==== Israel and Palestine ====
In October 2023, Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel that devolved into a war and a growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Sunak pledged the UK's support for Israel and declared that Israel "has an absolute right to defend itself". Sunak backed calls for humanitarian pauses to allow for aid to be brought into Gaza, although he initially rejected calls for a full ceasefire as he argued that this would only benefit Hamas.
Israel used British-supplied weapons in the war. However, Sunak later condemned the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza and called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in which all Israeli hostages were returned to Israel, attacks against Israel ceased and humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza. His government supported the two-state solution as a resolution to the conflict.
When the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan announced that he would seek to charge Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with war crimes, Sunak criticised the move as "unhelpful" and accused Khan of drawing a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
=== Local election results ===
Sunak was faced with the task of rebuilding the Conservatives' reputation which had been significantly damaged by the controversies and scandals of the previous year and the Truss ministry. While their poll ratings recovered slightly over the following months, it still wasn't enough to bring them back to pre-Truss levels. Sunak contested his first local elections as leader on 4 May 2023, where the Conservatives suffered heavy losses. Two months later, on 20 July 2023, they lost two seats in by-elections; one to Labour and one to the Liberal Democrats. Their fortunes remained unchanged throughout policy changes of the following year, such as the shelving of the HS2 northern phase in October. The Conservatives lost two further seats in by-elections on 15 February 2024.
In March 2024, there were suggestions that Sunak could face a leadership challenge before the upcoming general election — which was expected within the calendar year — if the Conservatives perform poorly at the local elections on 2 May. Sunak however said he would resist a challenge, even if that ends up being the case. As predicted, 2 May saw grim showing for the Conservatives, who suffered their worst local election results since 1996. Additionally, they lost another seat to Labour in the Blackpool South by-election, and narrowly lost the West Midlands mayoral election in a knife-edge vote. Sunak's premiership was described as more stable than that of his two predecessors, while still not being able to represent a turnaround for the Conservatives.
=== 2024 general election and resignation ===
On the afternoon of 22 May 2024, Sunak announced that he had asked the King to call a general election for 4 July 2024, surprising his own MPs. Though Sunak had the option to wait until December 2024 to call the election, he said that he decided on the date because he believed that the economy was improving, and that "falling inflation and net migration figures would reinforce the Conservatives' election message of 'sticking to the plan'".
Sunak sought to rebuild the Conservative's reputation following a slump in popularity after the short-lived Truss ministry and a slew of controversies including Partygate that irreparably damaged Johnson's ministry, through campaigning on stabilising the economy, the Rwanda asylum plan, further strengthening the State Pension, and introducing National Service. He released the Conservative manifesto Clear Plan. Bold Action. Secure Future. on 11 June, addressing the economy, taxes, welfare, expanding free childcare, education, healthcare, environment, energy, transport, and crime. Sunak stated during the general election campaign that if his party lost the election he intended to remain as a backbench MP for the next 5 years. On 6 June 2024, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Sunak was heavily criticised for leaving commemoration events early to do an interview with ITV, including by veterans. Sunak apologised three times over the following week.
Labour won a landslide victory in the general election, ending 14 years of Conservative government. A record number of Conservative MPs either stood down or lost their seats at the election. Three Cabinet members stood down and eight full members and four who attended Cabinet lost their seats, the highest number of sitting cabinet seat losses in history. Sunak conceded the election on 5 July. In his resignation speech before tending his resignation to the King, Sunak apologised to Conservative voters and candidates for the party's heavy defeat, and announced his intention to resign as party leader once a new leader is elected. He also offered support to the incoming prime minister Keir Starmer, saying he was "a decent, public-spirited man" he respected and expressed hope he would be successful.
To all the Conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly but without success, I am sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved. It pains me to think how many good colleagues, who contributed so much to their communities and our country, will now no longer sit in the House of Commons. I thank them for their hard work, and their service. Following this result, I will step down as party leader, not immediately, but once the formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place. It is important that after 14 years in government the Conservative Party rebuilds, but also that it takes up its crucial role in Opposition professionally and effectively.
== Post-premiership (2024–present) ==
=== Leader of the Opposition (July–November 2024) ===
After Starmer succeeded Sunak as prime minister, Sunak immediately became Leader of the Opposition and formed his shadow cabinet on 8 July.
Most members of Sunak's cabinet heading into the 2024 general election were given the same portfolios in the shadow cabinet, including former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who became shadow chancellor, and former home secretary James Cleverly, who became shadow home secretary. Former foreign secretary David Cameron chose to retire from frontline politics, with his former deputy Andrew Mitchell becoming shadow foreign secretary instead. Richard Holden resigned as party chairman, and was succeeded by Richard Fuller in an interim capacity outside shadow cabinet.
Sunak appointed new officeholders to the portfolios held by the eleven cabinet ministers who lost their seats in the election, including Edward Argar, who became shadow justice secretary after the outgoing justice secretary Alex Chalk lost his seat, as well as Helen Whately, who became shadow transport secretary after the outgoing transport secretary Mark Harper also lost his seat. Among other noteworthy appointments, Kemi Badenoch became the shadow housing, communities and local government secretary and former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden became deputy leader of the opposition.
Sunak remained leader until his successor, Kemi Badenoch, was elected in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election, after which he returned to the backbenches. Responding to the 2024 State Opening of Parliament, Sunak said his party would not oppose the government "for the sake of it", but would hold them to account on their election promises. On proposals to change planning laws, Sunak said that though such changes were needed "a system that does not allow local people to have a say will damage public consent for more housing in the long term". While he respected Starmer's decision to scrap the Rwanda asylum plan, Sunak said that there needed to be an alternative deterrent, otherwise "a large number of those who crossed the Channel illegally will end up remaining here".
In that same speech, Sunak summarized the rapid trajectory of his political career:
On the Government benches life comes at you fast.
Soon, you might be fortunate enough to be tapped on the shoulder and be offered a junior ministerial role, then you'll find yourself attending cabinet, then in the cabinet and then when the prime minister's position becomes untenable you might end up being called to the highest office.
And, before you know it, you have a bright future behind you and you're left wondering whether you can credibly be an elder statesman at the age of 44.
=== Other activities ===
In January 2025, he became a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, a distinguished fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and signed as an exclusive speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau. In March 2025, Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty founded a charity called The Richmond Project which aims to improve the numeracy skills of schoolchildren and adults.
In July 2025, Sunak took up a position as a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs. With this appointment, ACOBA has restricted him for a year from lobbying the government and influencing policy, and advising investment funds and foreign governments.
Sunak became a paid advisor to both Microsoft and artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic in October 2025; the appointments were again subject to ACOBA restrictions. Sunak stated he would donate his earnings from the roles to a charity he had founded.
== Political positions ==
Sunak has been described as a moderate within his party with a technocratic or managerial leadership style. According to Euronews, Sunak is "frequently perceived as a pragmatist and as belonging to the centre-ground of the Conservative Party". He opposed the economic policies of Truss, and although described as a fellow Thatcherite, he is viewed as less economically liberal than Truss.
In April 2023, Sunak's perception as a centrist contrasted with descriptions of his government's policies on transgender and migration issues as being socially conservative, with Jessica Elgot of The Guardian describing Sunak as "perhaps the most socially conservative PM of his generation". Robert Shrimsley of the Financial Times described Sunak as someone whose "easy manner, career in global finance and ethnic background might suggest a more cosmopolitan conservative", even though he is socially conservative and pragmatic. Meanwhile, the New Statesman described Sunak as uneasily straddling both liberal-conservative and national-conservative instincts. In July 2023, The Economist described him as "the most right-wing Conservative prime minister since Margaret Thatcher".
== Public image ==
Following his appointment as chancellor, Sunak arrived in public discourse from relative obscurity. Some political commentators saw Sunak's appointment as signalling the end of the Treasury's independence from Downing Street, with Robert Shrimsley, chief political commentator of the Financial Times, arguing that "good government often depends on senior ministers – and the Chancellor in particular – being able to fight bad ideas".
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was popular by the standards of British politics, described by one analyst as having "better ratings than any politician since the heydays of Tony Blair". Various polls showed Sunak remained overwhelmingly popular among Conservative supporters and many other Britons throughout 2020. In an Ipsos MORI poll in September 2020, Sunak had the highest satisfaction score of any British chancellor since Labour's Denis Healey in April 1978, and was widely seen as the favourite to become the next Conservative leader. Sunak developed a cult media following, with jokes and gossip about his attractiveness widespread on social media and in magazines, gaining the nickname "Dishy Rishi".
Public attitudes towards Sunak remained broadly positive in 2021, though his popularity declined steadily over time. By early 2022, with the cost of living becoming a growing focus of public concern, Sunak's response as chancellor was perceived as inadequate and he received some of his lowest approval ratings, which continued as the Sunak family's financial affairs came under scrutiny. By the time he resigned as chancellor in July 2022, Sunak's approval ratings slightly recovered. In October 2022, following his appointment as prime minister, Sunak's personal favourability ratings increased. By July 2023, Sunak's approval ratings had decreased back to a similar level to when he resigned as chancellor. The New Statesman named him as the second most powerful right-wing figure of 2023, behind only Nigel Farage. By his resignation as prime minister in July 2024, he had his lowest approval ratings to date. Following the 2024 general election, Sunak received praise for being gracious in defeat, with some commentators recommending for the Conservatives to keep him on as leader.
== Personal life ==
In August 2009, Sunak married Akshata Murty, the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty. His father-in-law is the founder of the technology company Infosys, in which Murty owns a stake, while his mother-in-law is a prolific Indian author and educator. Sunak and Murty met while studying at Stanford University in the US, and he proposed to her on a cliff near the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. They have two daughters: the first born in 2011 and the second in 2013. In November 2020, Sunak was reported by The Guardian to have not declared a significant amount of his wife and family's financial interests on the register of ministers' interests, including a combined £1.7 billion shareholding in Infosys. Ministers are required to declare interests that are "relevant" to their responsibilities and "which might be thought to give rise to a conflict" with their public duties. The independent adviser on ministers' interests investigated and concluded that Sunak had not broken any rules.
In early 2022, newspapers reported that Murty had non-domiciled status, meaning she did not have to pay tax on income earned abroad while living in the UK. The status cost approximately £30,000 to secure, and allowed her to avoid paying an estimated £20 million in UK taxes. On 8 April Murty issued a statement saying that she would pay UK taxes on her global income, and that she regretted the issue had become "a distraction for [her] husband". An inquiry was set up to identify the source of the leak regarding her tax status. Reporting around this time also revealed that Sunak had continued to hold United States' permanent resident (green card) status he had acquired in the 2000s until 2021, including for 18 months after he was made chancellor, which required filing annual US tax returns. An investigation into both his wife's tax status and his residency status found that Sunak had not broken any ministerial rules.
Sunak and Murty live in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire. They own several other homes, including a mews house in Earl's Court in central London; a flat on the Old Brompton Road in South Kensington; and a penthouse apartment on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California. In April 2022, it was reported that Sunak and Murty had moved out of the flat above 10 Downing Street to a newly refurbished west London home for domestic reasons. In October 2022, the Sunaks resumed residence of their former official home at 10 Downing Street, this time as prime minister and reversing the trend started in 1997 of prime ministers living in the four-bedroom flat above 11 Downing Street. In August 2023, Sunak and his family quietly left the UK for 10 days in Santa Monica for his first holiday in almost four years, where they visited the Santa Monica Pier and Disneyland, and attended one of the concerts of The Eras Tour by Taylor Swift.
In April 2022, amid the Partygate scandal, Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by the police who believed he had committed offences under COVID-19 regulations by attending a birthday gathering for Boris Johnson on 19 June 2020. The police also issued 125 fixed penalty notices to 82 other individuals, including Johnson and his wife Carrie Symonds, who all apologised and paid the penalties. After receiving the penalty notice, Sunak said he was "extremely and sincerely sorry" for the hurt caused by him attending the party, and that he respected the police's decision to give him a fine. In January 2023, Sunak was issued a fixed penalty notice by Lancashire Constabulary after a social media video of him failing to wear a seat belt in a moving vehicle was published. After Johnson, he became the second Prime Minister found to have broken the law in office. Sunak apologised for the incident and said he made a "brief error of judgment".
Sunak is a teetotaller. He stated in 2022 that he had seven dental fillings due to excessive consumption of Coca-Cola when he was younger, and expressed a strong preference for Mexican Coke. He was previously a governor of the East London Science School. Sunak has a Labrador called Nova and is a cricket and horse racing enthusiast. As chancellor, Sunak rose early for a daily Peloton workout and was a fan of fitness instructor Cody Rigsby. Sunak is a close friend of The Spectator's former political editor James Forsyth, whom he has known since their school days. Sunak was the best man at Forsyth's wedding to the journalist Allegra Stratton, and they are godparents to each other's children. He appointed Forsyth as his political secretary in December 2022.
Sunak is a steadfast Southampton F.C. fan. When asked what his ideal job would be if he was not a politician, he replied that if he could "run Southampton Football Club" he would be a "very happy man".
Sunak is a Hindu and identifies as British Indian, stating that he is "thoroughly British" but with an Indian religious and cultural heritage. He took his oath as an MP at the House of Commons on the Bhagavad Gita. During the coronation of Charles III, Sunak gave a reading from the Epistle to the Colossians – Colossians 1:9–17. After the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, Sunak said he had also faced racism in his life.
Speaking about his childhood during the 2024 general election campaign, Sunak said his parents "wanted to put everything into our education and that was a priority" and that he did not have Sky TV growing up.
== Awards and honours ==
Ukraine
Member of the Order of Liberty (2024) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Kauffman | Marta Kauffman | Marta Fran Kauffman (born September 21, 1956) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known for co-creating the NBC sitcom Friends with her longtime friend, David Crane; Crane and Kauffman similarly were in a friend group with four other people. Crane and Kauffman were also executive producers of the show, along with Kevin S. Bright; and produced Veronica's Closet and Jesse. From 2005 to 2006 she was an executive producer on Related. Both writers were the creators of the HBO series Dream On. Without Crane, she co-created the Netflix series Grace and Frankie.
== Early life and education ==
Born in the Philadelphia suburbs, Kauffman was raised in a conservative Jewish household. Kauffman attended Marple Newtown High School, located in the Marple Newtown School District near Philadelphia, where she was a thespian and student director of the school play "Our Town" in 1974. Kauffman attended Brandeis University and received a BA in theater in 1978. During her time there, she was a sister of Sigma Delta Tau sorority. Kauffman also studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. She then moved to Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles.
== Career ==
Okay Goodnight production company was headed by partners Kauffman, Robbie Rowe Tollin, and Hannah KS Canter. Fox 21 Television Studios signed Okay Goodnight to a multi-year first-look agreement deal in January 2020, starting with The Dreamers novel adaptation; The Littlefield Company is also in the deal.
== Personal life ==
Kauffman married Michael Skloff, who composed the Friends theme song, and lived in Los Angeles. The couple have three children together. Kauffman is a registered Democrat.
== Filmography ==
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apraxia_of_speech | Apraxia of speech | Apraxia of speech (AOS), also called verbal apraxia, is a speech sound disorder affecting an individual's ability to translate conscious speech plans into motor plans, which results in limited and difficult speech ability. By the definition of apraxia, AOS affects volitional (willful or purposeful) movement pattern. However, AOS usually also affects automatic speech.
People with AOS have difficulty connecting speech messages from the brain to the mouth. AOS is a loss of prior speech ability resulting from a brain injury such as a stroke or progressive illness.
Developmental verbal dyspraxia (DVD), also known as childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and developmental apraxia of speech (DAS), is an inability to utilize motor planning to perform movements necessary for speech during a child's language learning process. Although the causes differ between AOS and DVD, the main characteristics and treatments are similar.
== Presentation ==
Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a neurogenic communication disorder affecting the motor programming system for speech production. Individuals with AOS demonstrate difficulty in speech production, specifically with sequencing and forming sounds. The Levelt model describes the speech production process in the following three consecutive stages: conceptualization, formulation, and articulation. According to the Levelt model, apraxia of speech would fall into the articulation region. The individual does not have a language deficiency, but has difficulty in the production of language in an audible manner. Notably, this difficulty is limited to vocal speech, and does not affect sign-language production. The individual knows exactly what they want to say, but there is a disruption in the part of the brain that sends the signal to the muscle for the specific movement. Individuals with acquired AOS demonstrate hallmark characteristics of articulation and prosody (rhythm, stress or intonation) errors. Coexisting characteristics may include groping and effortful speech production with self-correction, difficulty initiating speech, abnormal stress, intonation and rhythm errors, and inconsistency with articulation.
Wertz et al., (1984) describe the following five speech characteristics that an individual with apraxia of speech may exhibit:
Effortful trial and error with groping
Groping is when the mouth searches for the position needed to create a sound. When this trial and error process occurs, sounds may be held out longer, repeated or silently voiced. In some cases, someone with AOS may be able to produce certain sounds on their own, easily and unconsciously, but when prompted by another to produce the same sound the patient may grope with their lips, using volitional control (conscious awareness of the attempted speech movements), while struggling to produce the sound.
Self correction of errors
Patients are aware of their speech errors and can attempt to correct themselves. This can involve distorted consonants, vowels, and sound substitutions. People with AOS often have a much greater understanding of speech than they are able to express. This receptive ability allows them to attempt self correction.
Abnormal rhythm, stress and intonation
People with AOS present with prosodic errors which include irregular pitch, rate, and rhythm. This impaired prosody causes their speech to be: too slow or too fast and highly segmented (many pauses). An AOS speaker also stresses syllables incorrectly and in a monotone. As a result, the speech is often described as 'robotic'. When words are produced in a monotone with equal syllabic stress, a word such as 'tectonic' may sound like 'tec-ton-ic' as opposed to 'tec-TON-ic'. These patterns occur even though the speakers are aware of the prosodic patterns that should be used.
Inconsistent articulation errors on repeated speech productions of the same utterance
When producing the same utterance in different instances, a person with AOS may have difficulty using and maintaining the same articulation that was previously used for that utterance. On some days, people with AOS may have more errors, or seem to "lose" the ability to produce certain sounds for an amount of time. Articulation also becomes more difficult when a word or phrase requires an articulation adjustment, in which the lips and tongue must move in order to shift between sounds. For example, the word "baby" needs less mouth adjustment than the word "dog" requires, since producing "dog" requires two tongue/lips movements to articulate.
Difficulty initiating utterances
Producing utterances becomes a difficult task in patients with AOS, which results in various speech errors. The errors in completing a speech movement gesture may increase as the length of the utterance increases. Since multisyllabic words are difficult, those with AOS use simple syllables and a limited range of consonants and vowels.
== Causes ==
Apraxia of speech can be caused by impairment to parts of the brain that control muscle movement and speech. However, identifying a particular region of the brain in which AOS always occurs has been controversial. Various patients with damage to left subcortical structures, regions of the insula, and Broca's area have been diagnosed with AOS. Most commonly it is triggered by vascular lesions, but AOS can also arise due to tumors and trauma.
=== Acute apraxia of speech ===
Stroke-associated AOS is the most common form of acquired AOS, making up about 60% of all reported acquired AOS cases. This is one of the several possible disorders that can result from a stroke, but only about 11% of stroke cases involve this disorder. Brain damage to the neural connections, and especially the neural synapses, during the stroke can lead to acquired AOS. Most cases of stroke-associated AOS are minor, but in the most severe cases, all linguistic motor function can be lost and must be relearned. Since most with this form of AOS are at least fifty years old, few fully recover to their previous level of ability to produce speech.
Other disorders and injuries of the brain that can lead to AOS include (traumatic) dementia, progressive neurological disorders, and traumatic brain injury.
=== Progressive apraxia of speech ===
Recent research has established the existence of primary progressive apraxia of speech caused by neuroanatomic motor atrophy. For a long time, this disorder was not distinguished from other motor speech disorders such as dysarthria and in particular primary progressive aphasia. Many studies have been done trying to identify areas in the brain in which this particular disorder occurs or at least to show that it occurs in different areas of the brain than other disorders. One study observed 37 patients with neurodegenerative speech disorders to determine whether or not it is distinguishable from other disorders, and if so where in the brain it can be found. Using speech and language, neurological, neuropsychological and neuroimaging testing, the researchers came to the conclusion that PAS does exist and that it correlates to superior lateral premotor and supplementary motor atrophy. However, because PAS is such a rare and recently discovered disorder, many studies do not have enough subjects to observe to make data entirely conclusive.
== Diagnosis ==
Apraxia of speech can be diagnosed by a speech language pathologist (SLP) through specific exams that measure oral mechanisms of speech. The oral mechanisms exam involves tasks such as pursing lips, blowing, licking lips, elevating the tongue, and also involves an examination of the mouth. A complete exam also involves observation of the patient eating and talking. SLPs do not agree on a specific set of characteristics that make up the apraxia of speech diagnosis, so any of the characteristics from the section above could be used to form a diagnosis. Patients may be asked to perform other daily tasks such as reading, writing, and conversing with others. In situations involving brain damage, an MRI brain scan also helps identify damaged areas of the brain.
A differential diagnosis must be used in order to rule out other similar or alternative disorders. Although disorders such as expressive aphasia, conduction aphasia, and dysarthria involve similar symptoms as apraxia of speech, the disorders must be distinguished in order to correctly treat the patients. While AOS involves the motor planning or processing stage of speech, aphasic disorders can involve other language processes.
According to Ziegler et al., this difficulty in diagnosis derives from the unknown causes and function of the disorder, making it hard to set definite parameters for AOS identification. Specifically, he explains that oral-facial apraxia, dysarthria, and aphasic phonological impairment are the three distinctly different disorders that cause individuals to display symptoms that are often similar to those of someone with AOS, and that these close relatives must be correctly ruled out by a Speech Language Pathologist before AOS can be given as a diagnosis. In this way, AOS is a diagnosis of exclusion, and is generally recognized when all other similar speech sound production disorders are eliminated.
=== Possible co-morbid aphasias ===
AOS and expressive aphasia (also known as Broca's aphasia) are commonly mistaken as the same disorder mainly because they often occur together in patients. Although both disorders present with symptoms such as a difficulty producing sounds due to damage in the language parts of the brain, they are not the same. The main difference between these disorders lies in the ability to comprehend spoken language; patients with apraxia are able to fully comprehend speech, while patients with aphasia are not always fully able to comprehend others' speech.
Conduction aphasia is another speech disorder that is similar to, but not the same as, apraxia of speech. Although patients with conduction aphasia have full comprehension of speech, as do those with AOS, there are differences between the two disorders. Patients with conduction aphasia are typically able to speak fluently, but they do not have the ability to repeat what they hear.
Similarly, dysarthria, another motor speech disorder, is characterized by difficulty articulating sounds. The difficulty in articulation does not occur due in planning the motor movement, as happens with AOS. Instead, dysarthria is caused by inability in or weakness of the muscles in the mouth, face, and respiratory system.
== Management ==
In cases of acute AOS (stroke), spontaneous recovery may occur, in which previous speech abilities reappear on their own. All other cases of acquired AOS require a form of therapy; however the therapy varies with the individual needs of the patient. Typically, treatment involves one-on-one therapy with a speech language pathologist (SLP). For severe forms of AOS, therapy may involve multiple sessions per week, which is reduced with speech improvement. Another main theme in AOS treatment is the use of repetition in order to achieve a large number of target utterances, or desired speech usages.
There are various treatment techniques for AOS. One technique, called the Linguistic Approach, utilizes the rules for sounds and sequences. This approach focuses on the placement of the mouth in forming speech sounds. Another type of treatment is the Motor-Programming Approach, in which the motor movements necessary for speech are practiced. This technique utilizes a great amount of repetition in order to practice the sequences and transitions that are necessary in between production of sounds.
Research about the treatment of apraxia has revealed four main categories: articulatory-kinematic, rate/rhythm control, intersystemic facilitation/reorganization treatments, and alternative/augmentative communication.
Articulatory-kinematic treatments almost always require verbal production in order to bring about improvement of speech. One common technique for this is modeling or repetition in order to establish the desired speech behavior. Articulatory-kinematic treatments are based on the importance of patients to improve spatial and temporal aspects of speech production.
Rate and rhythm control treatments exist to improve errors in patients' timing of speech, a common characteristic of Apraxia. These techniques often include an external source of control like metronomic pacing, for example, in repeated speech productions.
Intersystemic reorganization/facilitation techniques often involve physical body or limb gestural approaches to improve speech. Gestures are usually combined with verbalization. It is thought that limb gestures may improve the organization of speech production.
Finally, alternative and augmentative communication approaches to treatment of apraxia are highly individualized for each patient. However, they often involve a "comprehensive communication system" that may include "speech, a communication book aid, a spelling system, a drawing system, a gestural system, technologies, and informed speech partners".
One specific treatment method is referred to as PROMPT. This acronym stands for Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets, and takes a hands on multidimensional approach at treating speech production disorders. PROMPT therapists integrate physical-sensory, cognitive-linguistic, and social-emotional aspects of motor performance. The main focus is developing language interaction through this tactile-kinetic approach by using touch cues to facilitate the articulatory movements associated with individual phonemes, and eventually words.
One study describes the use of electropalatography (EPG) to treat a patient with severe acquired apraxia of speech. EPG is a computer-based tool for assessment and treatment of speech motor issues. The program allows patients to see the placement of articulators during speech production thus aiding them in attempting to correct errors. Originally after two years of speech therapy, the patient exhibited speech motor and production problems including problems with phonation, articulation, and resonance. This study showed that EPG therapy gave the patient valuable visual feedback to clarify speech movements that had been difficult for the patient to complete when given only auditory feedback.
While many studies are still exploring the various treatment methods, a few suggestions from ASHA for treating apraxia patients include the integration of objective treatment evidence, theoretical rationale, clinical knowledge and experience, and the needs and goals of the patient.
== History and terminology ==
The term apraxia was first defined by Hugo Karl Liepmann in 1908 as the "inability to perform voluntary acts despite preserved muscle strength." In 1969, Frederic L. Darley coined the term "apraxia of speech", replacing Liepmann's original term "apraxia of the glosso-labio-pharyngeal structures." Paul Broca had also identified this speech disorder in 1861, which he referred to as "aphemia": a disorder involving difficulty of articulation despite having intact language skills and muscular function.
The disorder is currently referred to as "apraxia of speech", but was also formerly termed "verbal dyspraxia". The term apraxia comes from the Greek root "praxis," meaning the performance of action or skilled movement. Adding the prefix "a", meaning absence, or "dys", meaning abnormal or difficult, to the root "praxis", both function to imply speech difficulties related to movement. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident | Dyatlov Pass incident | The Dyatlov Pass incident (Russian: Гибель тургруппы Дятлова, romanized: Gibel turgruppy Dyatlova, lit. 'Death of the Dyatlov Hiking Group') was an event in which nine Soviet ski hikers died in the northern part of the Ural Mountains ridge in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union on 1 or 2 February 1959 under undetermined circumstances. The experienced trekking group from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, went on a hike of the highest difficulty level at that time, and had established a camp on the eastern slopes of Kholat Syakhl mountain. Overnight, the group cut their way out of their tent by knives and fled the campsite, inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall, strong winds and extreme cold temperatures as low as −40 °C (−40 °F).
After the group's bodies were discovered, an investigation by Soviet authorities determined that six of them had died from hypothermia while the other three had been killed by physical trauma. One victim had major skull damage, two had severe chest trauma, and another had a small crack in his skull. Four of the bodies were found in May 1959 lying in running water in a creek, and three of them had damaged soft tissue of the head and face – two of the bodies had missing eyes, one had a missing tongue, and one had missing eyebrows. The investigation concluded that a "compelling natural force" (elemental force) had caused the deaths. Numerous theories have been put forward to account for the unexplained deaths, including animal attacks, an avalanche or loud slab avalanche to their tent, appearance of a UFO or ball lightning, katabatic winds, infrasound-induced panic, conflict with local ethnic groups or fugitive criminals, a botched spy meeting with representatives of the Western bloc, military rocket- and nuclear-testing involvement, or some combination of these factors.
Russia reopened an investigation into the incident in 2019, concluding in 2020 that an avalanche had most likely forced survivors to suddenly leave their camp in low-visibility conditions with inadequate clothing before ultimately dying of hypothermia. Andrey Kuryakov, deputy head of the regional prosecutor's office, stated that "It was a heroic struggle. There was no panic, but they had no chance to save themselves under the circumstances." A study led by scientists from EPFL and ETH Zürich, published in 2021, suggested that a type of avalanche known as a slab avalanche could explain some of the injuries.
A mountain pass in the area later was named "Dyatlov Pass" in memory of the group, despite the incident occurring about 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) away on the eastern slope of Kholat Syakhl. A prominent rock outcrop in the area now serves as a memorial to the group. It is about 500 metres (1,600 ft) to the east-southeast of the actual site of the final camp.
== Background ==
In 1959, a group was formed for a skiing expedition across the northern Urals in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union. According to Prosecutor Tempalov, documents found in the tent of the expedition suggest the expedition was named for the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and possibly was dispatched by the local Komsomol organization. Igor Dyatlov, a 23-year-old radio engineering student at the Ural Polytechnical Institute (now Ural Federal University), the leader, assembled a group of nine others for the trip, most of whom were fellow students and peers at the university. The initial group consisted of eight men and two women, but one member later returned because of health issues. Each member of the group was an experienced Grade II-hiker with ski tour experience and would be receiving Grade III certification upon their return.
At the time, Grade III was the highest certification available in the Soviet Union and required candidates to traverse 300 kilometres (190 mi). The route was designed by Dyatlov's group to reach the far northern regions of the Sverdlovsk Oblast and the upper streams of the Lozva river. The Sverdlovsk city route commission approved the route. This was a division of the Sverdlovsk Committee of Physical Culture and Sport, and they confirmed the group of 10 people January 8, 1959. The goal of the expedition was to reach Otorten (Отортен), a mountain 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the site where the incident occurred. This route, estimated as Category III, was undertaken in February, the most difficult time to traverse.
On January 23, 1959, the Dyatlov group was issued their route book, which listed their course following the No.5 trail. At that time, the Sverdlovsk City Committee of Physical Culture and Sport listed approval for 11 people. The 11th person listed was Semyon Zolotaryov, who had been certified to go with another expedition of similar difficulty (the Sogrin expedition group). The Dyatlov group left Sverdlovsk city (today Yekaterinburg) on the same day they received the route book.
== Expedition ==
The group arrived by train at Ivdel (Ивдель), a town at the center of the northern province of Sverdlovsk Oblast in the early morning of January 25, 1959. They then took a truck to Vizhai (Вижай), a lorry village that is the last inhabited settlement to the north.
On January 27, they began their trek toward Gora Otorten. On January 28, one member, Yuri Yudin, who had several health ailments (including rheumatism and a congenital heart defect), turned back because of knee and joint pain that made him unable to continue the hike. The remaining nine hikers continued the trek.
Diaries and cameras found around their last campsite made it possible to track the group's route up to the day preceding the incident. On January 31, the group arrived at the edge of a highland area and began to prepare for climbing. In a wooded valley, they cached surplus food and equipment that would be used for the trip back. The next day, the hikers started to move through the pass. It seems they planned to get over the pass and make camp for the next night on the opposite side, but because of worsening weather conditions – snowstorms and decreasing visibility – they lost their direction and deviated west, toward the top of Kholat Syakhl. When they realized their mistake, the group decided to set up camp there on the slope of the mountain, rather than move 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) downhill to a forested area that would have offered some shelter from the weather. Yudin speculated, "Dyatlov probably did not want to lose the altitude they had gained, or he decided to practice camping on the mountain slope."
== Search and discovery ==
Before leaving, Dyatlov had agreed he would send a telegram to their sports club as soon as the group returned to Vizhai. It was expected this would happen no later than February 12, but Dyatlov had told Yudin, before he departed from the group, he expected it to be longer. When the 12th passed and no messages had been received, there was no immediate reaction. Delays of a few days were common with such expeditions. On February 20, the travelers' relatives demanded a rescue operation, and the head of the institute sent the first rescue groups, consisting of volunteer students and teachers. Later, the army and militsiya (police) forces became involved, with planes and helicopters ordered to join the operation.
On February 26, the searchers found the group's abandoned and badly damaged tent on Kholat Syakhl. The campsite baffled the search party. Mikhail Sharavin, the student who found the tent, said "the tent was half torn down and covered with snow. It was empty, and all the group's belongings and shoes had been left behind." Investigators said the tent had been cut open from inside. Nine sets of footprints, left by people wearing only socks, a single shoe or even barefoot, could be followed, leading down to the edge of a nearby wood on the opposite side of the pass, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the north-east. After 500 metres (1,600 ft) these tracks were covered with snow. At the forest's edge, under a large Siberian pine, the searchers found the visible remains of a small fire. There were the first two bodies, those of Krivonishenko and Doroshenko, shoeless and dressed only in underwear. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that one of the hikers had climbed up to look for something, perhaps the camp. Between the pine and the camp, the searchers found three more corpses: Dyatlov, Kolmogorova and Slobodin, who died in poses suggesting they were attempting to return to the tent. They were found at distances of 300, 480, and 630 metres (980, 1,570, and 2,070 ft) from the tree.
Finding the remaining four travelers took more than two months. They finally were found May 4 under four metres (13 ft) of snow in a ravine 75 metres (246 ft) further into the woods from the pine tree. Three of the four were better dressed than the others, and there were signs that some clothing of those who had died first had been removed for use by the others. Dubinina was wearing Krivonishenko's burned, torn trousers, and her left foot and shin were wrapped in a torn jacket.
== Investigation ==
A legal inquest started immediately after the first five bodies were found. A medical examination found no injuries that might have led to their deaths, and it was concluded that they had all died of hypothermia. Slobodin had a small crack in his skull, but it was not thought to be a fatal wound.
An examination of the four bodies found in May shifted the narrative of the incident. Three of the hikers had fatal injuries: Thibeaux-Brignolles had major skull damage, and Dubinina and Zolotaryov had major chest fractures. According to Boris Vozrozhdenny, the force required to cause such damage would have been extremely high, comparable to that of a car crash. Notably, the bodies had no external wounds associated with the bone fractures, as if they had been subjected to a high level of pressure.
All four bodies found at the bottom of the creek in a running stream of water had soft tissue damage to their head and face. For example, Dubinina was missing her tongue, eyes, part of the lips, as well as facial tissue and a fragment of skullbone, while Zolotaryov had his eyeballs missing, and Aleksander Kolevatov his eyebrows. V. A. Vozrozhdenny, the forensic expert performing the post-mortem examination, judged that these injuries happened post-mortem because of the location of the bodies in a stream.
Initial speculation suggested that the indigenous Mansi people, reindeer herders in the area, had attacked and killed the group for encroaching upon their lands. Several Mansi were interrogated, but the investigation indicated that the nature of the deaths did not support this hypothesis: only the hikers' footprints were visible, and they showed no sign of hand-to-hand struggle.
Although the temperature was low, about −25 to −30 °C (−13 to −22 °F) with a storm blowing, the dead were only partially dressed. Some had only one shoe, while others wore only socks.
Journalists reporting on the available parts of the inquest files claim that it states:
Six of the group members died of hypothermia and three of fatal injuries.
There were no indications of other people nearby on Kholat Syakhl apart from the nine travelers.
The tent had been ripped open from within.
The victims had died six to eight hours after their last meal.
Traces from the camp showed that all group members left the campsite of their own accord, on foot.
Some levels of radiation were found on one victim's clothing.
To dispel the theory of an attack by the indigenous Mansi people, Vozrozhdenny stated that the fatal injuries of the three bodies could not have been caused by human beings, "because the force of the blows had been too strong and no soft tissue had been damaged".
Released documents contained no information about the condition of the hikers' internal organs.
At the time, the official conclusion was that group members had died because of a compelling natural force. The inquest officially ceased in May 1959 as a result of the absence of a guilty party. The files were sent to a secret archive.
In 1997, it was revealed that the negatives from Krivonishenko's camera were kept in the private archive of one of the investigators, Lev Nikitich Ivanov. The film material was donated by Ivanov's daughter to the Dyatlov Foundation. The diaries of the hiking party fell into Russia's public domain in 2009.
In February 2019, Russian authorities reopened the investigation into the incident, although only three possible explanations were being considered: an avalanche, a slab avalanche, or a hurricane. The possibility of a murder had been discounted.
== Related reports ==
Yuri Kuntsevich, who was 12 years old at the time and who later became the head of the Yekaterinburg-based Dyatlov Foundation, attended five of the hikers' funerals. He recalled that their skin had a "deep brown tan". However, skin color ranging from brown to bright orange is very characteristic of those who died in severe frost.
Another group of hikers (about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of the incident) reported that they saw strange orange spheres in the sky to the north on the night of the incident. Similar spheres were observed in Ivdel and adjacent areas continually during the period from February to March 1959, by various independent witnesses (including the meteorology service and the military). These sightings were not noted in the 1959 investigation, and the various witnesses came forward years later.
== Aftermath ==
Anatoly Gushchin (Анатолий Гущин) summarized his research in the book The Price of State Secrets Is Nine Lives (Цена гостайны – девять жизней, Sverdlovsk, 1990). Some researchers criticized the work for its concentration on the speculative theory of a Soviet secret weapon experiment, but its publication led to public discussion, stimulated by interest in the paranormal. Indeed, many of those who had remained silent for thirty years reported new facts about the accident. One of them was the former police officer, Lev Nikitich Ivanov (Лев Никитич Иванов), who led the official inquest in 1959. In 1990, he published an article that included his admission that the investigation team had no rational explanation for the incident. He also stated that, after his team reported that they had seen flying spheres, he then received direct orders from high-ranking regional officials to dismiss this claim.
In 2000, a regional television company produced the documentary film The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass (Тайна перевала Дятлова). With the help of the film crew, a Yekaterinburg writer, Anna Matveyeva (Анна Матвеева), published a docudrama novella of the same name. A large part of the book includes broad quotations from the official case, diaries of victims, interviews with searchers and other documentaries collected by the filmmakers. The narrative line of the book details the everyday life and thoughts of a modern woman (an alter ego of the author herself) who attempts to resolve the case. Despite its fictional narrative, Matveyeva's book remains the largest source of documentary materials ever made available to the public regarding the incident. Also, the pages of the case files and other documentaries (in photocopies and transcripts) are gradually being published on a web forum for enthusiastic researchers.
The Dyatlov Foundation was founded in 1999 at Yekaterinburg, with the help of Ural State Technical University, led by Yuri Kuntsevich (Юрий Кунцевич). The foundation's stated aim is to continue investigation of the case and to maintain the Dyatlov Museum to preserve the memory of the dead hikers. On July 1, 2016, a memorial plaque was inaugurated in Solikamsk in Ural's Perm Region, dedicated to Yuri Yudin (the sole survivor of the expedition group), who died in 2013.
== Explanations ==
=== Avalanche ===
On July 11, 2020, Andrey Kuryakov, deputy head of the Urals Federal District directorate of the Prosecutor-General's Office, announced an avalanche as the "official cause of death" for the Dyatlov group in 1959. Later independent computer simulation and analysis by Swiss researchers also suggest avalanche as the cause. Summarizing Kuryakov's report in The New Yorker, Douglas Preston writes:
The most appealing aspect of Kuryakov's scenario is that the Dyatlov party's actions no longer seem irrational. The snow slab, according to Greene, probably would have made loud cracks and rumbles as it fell across the tent, making an avalanche seem imminent. Kuryakov noted that although the skiers made an error in the placement of their tent, everything they did subsequently was textbook: They conducted an emergency evacuation to ground that would be safe from an avalanche, they took shelter in the woods, they started a fire, they dug a snow cave. Had they been less experienced, they might have remained near the tent, dug it out and survived. But avalanches are by far the biggest risk in the mountains in winter. The more experience you have, the more you fear them. The skiers' expertise doomed them.
==== Original explanation ====
Reviewing a sensationalist "Yeti" hypothesis, American skeptic author Benjamin Radford suggests an avalanche as more plausible:
that the group woke up in a panic (...) and cut their way out the tent either because an avalanche had covered the entrance to their tent or because they were scared that an avalanche was imminent (...) (better to have a potentially repairable slit in a tent than risk being buried alive in it under tons of snow). They were poorly clothed because they had been sleeping, and ran to the safety of the nearby woods where trees would help slow oncoming snow. In the darkness of night, they got separated into two or three groups; one group made a fire (hence the burned hands) while the others tried to return to the tent to recover their clothing given that the danger had passed. But it was too cold, and they all froze to death before they could find their tent in the darkness. At some point, some of the clothes might have been recovered or swapped from the dead, but at any rate, the group of four whose bodies was most severely damaged were caught in an avalanche and buried under 4 meters (13 ft) of snow (more than enough to account for the 'compelling natural force' the medical examiner described). Dubinina's tongue probably was removed by scavengers and ordinary predation.
==== Arguments against avalanche hypothesis ====
Arguments against an actual avalanche (and not the fear of an avalanche) include:
The location of the incident did not have any obvious signs of an avalanche having occurred. An avalanche would have left certain patterns and debris distributed over a wide area. The bodies found within a month of the event were covered with a shallow layer of snow, and had there been an avalanche of sufficient strength to sweep away the second party, these bodies would have been swept away as well; this would have caused more serious and different injuries in the process and would have damaged the tree line.
More than 100 expeditions to the region had been held since the incident, and none ever reported conditions that might create an avalanche. A study of the area using up-to-date terrain-related physics revealed that the location was entirely unlikely for such an avalanche. The "dangerous conditions" found in another nearby area (which had significantly steeper slopes and cornices) were observed in April and May when the snowfalls of winter were melting. During February, when the incident occurred, there were no such conditions.
An analysis of the terrain and the slope showed that even if there could have been a very specific avalanche in the area, its path would have gone past the tent. The tent had collapsed from the side but not in a horizontal direction.
Dyatlov was an experienced skier, and the much older Zolotaryov was studying for his master's certificate in ski instruction and mountain hiking. Neither of these two men would have been likely to camp anywhere in the path of a potential avalanche.
Footprint patterns leading away from the tent were inconsistent with someone, let alone a group of nine people, running in panic from either real or imagined danger. All the footprints leading away from the tent and toward the woods were consistent with individuals walking at a normal pace.
==== 2015–2019 review of 1959 investigation ====
A review of the 1959 investigation's evidence completed 2015 to 2019 by experienced investigators from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) on request of the families confirmed the avalanche with several important details added. First of all, the ICRF investigators (one of them an experienced alpinist) confirmed that the weather on the night of the tragedy was harsh, with wind speeds up to hurricane force, 20–30 metres per second (45–67 mph; 72–108 km/h), a snowstorm and temperatures reaching −40 °C (−40 °F). These factors were not considered by the 1959 investigators who arrived at the scene of the accident three weeks later when the weather had much improved and any remains of the snow slide had settled and been covered with fresh snowfall. The harsh weather at the same time played a critical role in the events of the tragic night, which have been reconstructed as follows:
On February 1, the group arrives at the Kholat Syakhl mountain and erects a large, nine-person tent on an open slope, without any natural barriers such as forests. On the day and a few preceding days, a heavy snowfall persisted, with strong wind and frost.
The group traversing the slope and digging a tent site into the snow weakened the snow base. During the night, the snowfield above the tent started to slide down slowly under the weight of the new snow, gradually pushing on the tent fabric, starting from the entrance. The group wakes up and starts evacuation in panic, with only some able to put on warm clothes. With the entrance blocked, the group escapes through a hole cut in the tent fabric and descends the slope to find a place perceived as safe from the avalanche only 1500 m down, at the forest border.
Because some of the members have only incomplete clothing, the group splits. Two of the group, only in their underwear and pajamas, were found at the Siberian pine tree, near a fire pit. Their bodies were found first and confirmed to have died from hypothermia.
Three hikers, including Dyatlov, attempted to climb back to the tent, possibly to get sleeping bags. They had better clothes than those at the fire pit, but still quite light and with inadequate footwear. Their bodies were found at various distances 300–600 m from the campfire, in poses suggesting they had fallen exhausted while trying to climb in deep snow in extremely cold weather.
The remaining four, equipped with warm clothing and footwear, were trying to find or build a better camping place in the forest further down the slope. Their bodies were found 70 m from the fireplace, under several meters of snow and with traumas indicating that they had fallen into a snow hole formed above a stream. These bodies were found only after two months.
According to the ICRF investigators, the factors contributing to the tragedy were extremely bad weather and lack of experience of the group leader in such conditions, which led to the selection of a dangerous camping place. After the snow slide, another mistake of the group was to split up, rather than building a temporary camp down in the forest and trying to survive through the night. Negligence of the 1959 investigators contributed to their report creating more questions than answers, as well as inspiring numerous alternative and conspiracy theories.
==== Support from 2021 model ====
In 2021, a team of physicists and engineers led by Alexander Puzrin and Johan Gaume published a new model in Communications Earth & Environment that demonstrates how even a relatively small slide of snow slab on the Kholat Syakhl slope could cause tent damage and injuries consistent with those suffered by the Dyatlov team.
=== Katabatic wind ===
In 2019, a Swedish–Russian expedition was made to the site, and investigators ultimately proposed that a violent katabatic wind was a plausible explanation for the incident. Katabatic winds are somewhat rare events and can be extremely violent. They were implicated in a 1978 case at Anaris Mountain in Sweden, where eight hikers were killed and one was severely injured. The topography of these locations was noted to be similar, according to the expedition.
A sudden katabatic wind would have made it impossible to remain in the tent, and the most rational course of action would have been for the hikers to cover the tent with snow and seek shelter behind the tree line. On top of the tent, a flashlight also was left turned on, maybe intentionally so the hikers could find their way back to the tent once the winds subsided. The expedition proposed that the group of hikers constructed two bivouac shelters, one of which collapsed, leaving four of the hikers buried with the severe injuries observed.
=== Infrasound hypothesis ===
Another hypothesis popularised by Donnie Eichar's 2013 book Dead Mountain is that wind going around Kholat Syakal created a Kármán vortex street, which can produce infrasound capable of inducing panic attacks in humans.
According to Eichar's theory, the infrasound generated by the wind as it passed over the top of the Holatchahl mountain was responsible for causing physical discomfort and mental distress in the hikers. Eichar claims that, because of their panic, the hikers were driven to leave the tent by whatever means necessary and fled down the slope. By the time they were farther down the hill, they would have been out of the infrasound's path and would have regained their composure, but in the darkness would have been unable to return to their shelter. The traumatic injuries suffered by three of the victims were the result of their stumbling over the edge of a ravine in the darkness and landing on rocks at the bottom.
=== Military tests ===
In one speculation, the campsite fell within the path of a Soviet parachute mine exercise. This theory alleges that the hikers, woken by loud explosions, fled the tent in a shoeless panic and found themselves unable to return for supply retrieval. After some members froze to death attempting to endure the bombardment, others commandeered their clothing only to be fatally injured by subsequent parachute mine concussions. There are indeed records of parachute mines being tested by the Soviet military in the area about the time the hikers were there. Parachute mines detonate while still in the air rather than upon striking the Earth's surface and produce signature injuries similar to those experienced by the hikers: heavy internal damage with relatively little external trauma. The theory coincides with reported sightings of glowing, orange orbs floating or falling in the sky within the general vicinity of the hikers and allegedly photographed by them, potentially military aircraft or descending parachute mines. This theory (among others) uses scavenging animals to explain Dubinina's injuries. Some speculate that the bodies were unnaturally manipulated, on the basis of characteristic livor mortis markings discovered during an autopsy, as well as burns to hair and skin. Photographs of the tent allegedly show it was erected incorrectly, something the experienced hikers were unlikely to have done.
A similar theory alleges the testing of radiological weapons and is based partly on the discovery of radioactivity on some of the clothing as well as the descriptions of the bodies by relatives as having orange skin and gray hair. However, radioactive dispersal would have affected all, not only some, of the hikers and equipment, and the skin and hair discoloration can be explained by a natural process of mummification after three months of exposure to the cold and wind. The initial suppression by Soviet authorities of files describing the group's disappearance sometimes is mentioned as evidence of a cover-up; but the concealment of information about domestic incidents was standard procedure in the USSR, and thus far from peculiar. By the late 1980s, all Dyatlov files had been released in some manner.
=== Paradoxical undressing ===
International Science Times posited that the hikers' deaths were caused by hypothermia, which can induce a behavior known as paradoxical undressing in which hypothermic subjects remove their clothes in response to perceived feelings of burning warmth. It is undisputed that six of the nine hikers died of hypothermia. However, others in the group appear to have acquired additional clothing (from those who had already died), which suggests that they were of a sound enough mind to try to add layers.
=== Other ===
Keith McCloskey, who has researched the incident for many years and has appeared in several TV documentaries on the subject, traveled to the Dyatlov Pass in 2015 with Yuri Kuntsevich of the Dyatlov Foundation and a group. At the Dyatlov Pass he noted:
There were wide discrepancies in distances quoted between the two possible locations of the snow shelter where Dubinina, Kolevatov, Zolotaryov and Thibeaux-Brignolles were found. One location was about 80 to 100 meters from the pine tree where the bodies of Doroshenko and Krivonishenko were found and the other suggested location was so close to the tree that anyone in the snow shelter could have spoken to those at the tree without raising their voices to be heard. This second location also has a rock in the stream where Dubinina's body was found and is the more likely location of the two. However, the second suggested location of the two has a topography that is closer to the photos taken at the time of the search in 1959.
The location of the tent near the ridge was found to be too close to the spur of the ridge for any significant buildup of snow to cause an avalanche. Furthermore, the prevailing wind blowing over the ridge blew snow away from the edge of the ridge on the side where the tent was. This further reduced any buildup of snow to cause an avalanche. This aspect of the lack of snow on the top and near the top of the ridge was pointed out by Sergey Sogrin in 2010.
McCloskey also noted:
Lev Ivanov's boss, Evgeny Okishev (Deputy Head of the Investigative Department of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Prosecution Office), still was alive in 2015 and had given an interview to former Kemerovo prosecutor Leonid Proshkin in which Okishev stated that he was arranging another trip to the Pass to fully investigate the strange deaths of the last four bodies when Deputy Prosecutor General Urakov arrived from Moscow and ordered the case shut down.
Evgeny Okishev also stated in his interview with Leonid Proshkin that Klinov, head of the Sverdlovsk Prosecutor's Office, was present at the first post mortems in the morgue and spent three days there, something Okishev regarded as highly unusual and the only time, in his experience, it happened.
Donnie Eichar, who investigated and made a documentary about the incident, evaluated several other theories that are deemed unlikely or have been discredited:
They were attacked by Mansi or other local tribesmen.
The local tribesmen were known to be peaceful, and there was no track evidence of anyone approaching the tent.
They were attacked and chased by animal wildlife.
There were no animal tracks, and the group likely would not have abandoned the relative security of the tent.
High winds blew one member away, and the others had attempted to rescue the person.
A large, experienced group would not have behaved like that, and winds strong enough to blow away people with such force would have also blown away the tent.
An argument, possibly related to a romantic encounter that left some of them only partially clothed, led to a violent dispute.
Eichar states that this is "highly implausible. By all indications, the group was largely harmonious, and sexual tension was confined to platonic flirtation and crushes. There were no drugs present and the only alcohol was a small flask of medicinal alcohol, found intact at the scene. The group had even sworn off cigarettes for the expedition." Furthermore, a fight could not have left the massive injuries that one body had suffered.
Researcher Andrei Shepelev hypothesized the hikers fled for shelter after mistaking a photoflash bomb from an American RB-47 reconnaissance jet for a nuclear explosion. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Darwish | Tiffany Darwish | Tiffany Renee Darwish (born October 2, 1971), known mononymously as Tiffany, is an American pop singer. Her 1987 cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells song "I Think We're Alone Now" spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was released as the second single from her debut studio album, Tiffany.
Her singles "Could've Been" and "I Saw Him Standing There", a cover version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" were soon released. The former claimed the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100. Thanks to an original mall tour, "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87", Tiffany found commercial success; and both her singles and the album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts, respectively.
Tiffany's second studio album, Hold an Old Friend's Hand, featured the Top 10 single "All This Time" and charted on the Billboard 200 in 1988. It achieved platinum status, although it did not replicate the success of her debut album. Two additional releases from Tiffany, New Inside (1990) and the Asia-exclusive Dreams Never Die (1993), both failed to rekindle significant interest. She returned in 2000 with her first studio album in six years, The Color of Silence. Although the album received some minor critical success, it also failed to achieve any significant standing. Since 2000, Tiffany has recorded five additional studio albums, as well as two albums of 1980s cover songs, and she continues to tour.
Outside of music, Tiffany posed nude in Playboy and has guest-starred on several reality television shows, including Celebrity Fit Club, Australia's version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, and has acted in a handful of horror and science fiction films, including Necrosis (2009), Mega Piranha (2010), and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011).
== Early life ==
Tiffany Renee Darwish was born on October 2, 1971, in Norwalk, California, which is east of Los Angeles, to Janie Wilson and James Robert Darwish, who divorced when she was 14 months old.
Regarding her background, Tiffany said, “Most of my family is from Dearborn. They’re from Lebanon. So, I’m Lebanese. A little village. Because of Ford, everybody kind of moved here. Big Dearborn community... all my family." She is of Lebanese descent on her father’s side and German descent on her mother‘s side.
Tiffany began singing at age four when she learned the words to the Tanya Tucker song "Delta Dawn". After her parents' divorce, she lived with her father and went to Norwalk High School in Norwalk as a freshman and sophomore. Then she attended Norwalk's Leffingwell Christian High School.
== Music career ==
=== 1980s ===
In 1981, Tiffany debuted with country music singer Jack Reeves at a country and western venue, Narods, in Chino, California. She passed a hat among the crowd afterwards, and collected $235 in what were her first career earnings. When Tiffany was singing at the Palomino Club, she was discovered by Hoyt Axton and his mother Mae Axton. Mae took her to sing in Nashville, Tennessee, where she performed on WSMV's The Ralph Emery Show, singing Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts" and Tammy Wynette's "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad".
In 1984, Tiffany signed a recording contract with George Tobin after he heard her sing on a demo tape. In 1985, she appeared on Star Search with Ed McMahon, where she finished in second place overall. In 1986, she signed a contract that gave Tobin total control over her career, recorded her debut studio album and was signed to an MCA contract. The album, Tiffany, was released in 1987, but the first single she released from it, "Danny", failed to chart. Following the failure of "Danny", Tobin sent Tiffany on a nationwide tour of shopping malls, The Beautiful You: Celebrating the Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87. The tour began at the Bergen Mall in Paramus, New Jersey. Her second single, a cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' hit, "I Think We're Alone Now", became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 list. It remains her biggest hit.
Tiffany's ballad "Could've Been" also peaked at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts, in February 1988. Tiffany's modified version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", retitled "I Saw Him Standing There", peaked at the No. 7 position on the Hot 100. "Feelings of Forever" also had chart success. Tiffany set a record for the youngest female artist to top the Billboard charts with a debut album. Later that year, she toured, with boy band New Kids on the Block as her opening act.
In 1988, at the peak of her popularity, Tiffany was embroiled in a conflict in which Tobin fought her mother and stepfather over control of her career and earnings. This led to a court fight in which Tiffany tried to have herself declared an emancipated minor. This was rejected by the court, but the judge did allow her to move out of her mother's home, and her grandmother (who sided with Tiffany during the trial) became her temporary guardian. In late 1988, Tiffany released her second studio album, Hold an Old Friend's Hand, which was less successful than her debut. Although it did not include any number-one hits, the song "All This Time" made the top 10.
Shortly after turning eighteen, Tiffany left Tobin's management and signed with Dick Scott and Kim Glover, who managed New Kids on the Block, by then a successful boy band.
=== 1990s ===
Tiffany's career suffered as musical tastes changed in the early 1990s, moving away from dance-pop and towards harder-edged rock and rap. Tiffany's popularity, however, remained strong in Asia, especially Hong Kong and Southeast Asia; in Hong Kong, her ballads received cover versions in Cantonese from Cantopop artists. Her third studio album, the urban-influenced New Inside (1990), received mixed reviews from music critics, and failed to chart, despite several TV appearances to promote it, including on the fantasy sitcom Out of This World. In 1991, Tiffany participated in the recording of the song "Voices That Care", which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
During a brief early 1990s comeback attempt, Tiffany reunited with Tobin on the album Dreams Never Die (1993), which spawned the singles "If Love is Blind" and "Can't You See". The album, mostly containing ballads, was released in Asian markets and was accompanied by a six-week tour of clubs, shopping malls and radio stations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia; a US release was planned, but it never materialized. She headlined her own show at the Las Vegas Hilton in the summer of 1993, before breaking with Tobin once again.
In 1995, Tiffany moved to Nashville to develop her career as a songwriter, and to attempt a return as a country music artist. In 1998, she appeared on the U2 tribute album We Will Follow: A Tribute to U2 in a collaboration with Canadian industrial act Front Line Assembly performing "New Year's Day".
=== 2000s ===
In 2000, Tiffany released her fifth studio album, The Color of Silence, which received favorable reviews. Billboard described it as "one of the best pop albums of the year" and the year's "biggest surprise". Her College Promotional Tour broke attendance records at most tour stops.
Tiffany posed nude for the April 2002 issue of Playboy. Tiffany stated in interviews that she explained to her nine-year-old son that it was no different from posing in Vogue or Elle, except that it showed more. She added years later that while she had no regrets about posing in Playboy, some of her family members disapproved because of how young her son was at the time.
On April 2, 2005, Tiffany was featured on the British TV show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time, performing the Girls Aloud song "Love Machine" and securing a place in the show's finale. She also appeared on the US version of the show on June 2, 2005, losing to hip hop group Arrested Development. Tiffany released her sixth studio album Dust Off and Dance on CD Baby in May 2005, followed later as a digital release on iTunes. It was dedicated to her new husband, but recorded as a thank you to her fans (particularly her gay and European fanbase) for reminding her about the fun to be had with her career. The album consisted of Eurodance and Hi-NRG style songs. Singles from Dust Off and Dance, included "Ride It", "Fly", "Be with U Tonite", "Na Na Na", and "Artificial Girlfriend".
Tiffany toured with the album, which in September 2006 was nominated for six JPF Awards. She won for best dance song of the year for "Be with U Tonite" and best dance CD of the year on November 4, 2006. In 2007, Tiffany, who had begun to struggle with her weight, was cast for the fifth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. The show premiered on April 22, 2007. During the show, the singer's weight started at 152 lb (69 kg) and finished with 124 lb (56 kg), a difference of 18.4%. In April 2007, Tiffany released a new album of cover material titled I Think We're Alone Now: '80s Hits and More on Cleopatra Records. The album features updated versions of her first three Top Ten hits from her debut album, as well as cover versions of songs from other artists of the 1980s.
Tiffany's music video for "I Think We're Alone Now" is featured in an episode of The Goldbergs, an episode of The Umbrella Academy, and the 2012 film Ted. Tiffany in 2007 signed a recording contract with 10 Spot Records, a new division of Water Music Records Group, distributed by Universal Music Group, and released a new album titled Just Me. The album contained all-new material in a singer-songwriter format à la her earlier album The Color of Silence (2000). The first single from the album, "Feels Like Love", was released on May 1, 2007.
In early August 2007, the dance single "Higher" began showing up online. On October 2, 2007 (Tiffany's 36th birthday), it debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart as the number-one breakout, her first Billboard chart appearance since 1989. From there, the single climbed the charts to No. 19. In March 2008, Tiffany released Mimi's Kitchen, an album limited to 500 copies and featuring rare demos from age three through the present. It was shipped to fans in a personalized package which also included autographed photos, two autographed CDs, and the Mimi's Kitchen demo collection. A small subset of the release also included Playboy T-shirts.
In late April 2008, a track with the same name as her 2005 dance album Dust Off and Dance became available for download on the Internet. The song consisted of Tiffany performing vocals for the dance team Hydra Productions; it is on their album Liquid. In early January 2009, the single reached number one on the Hot Club Play Breakout charts. In late July 2008, a new Tiffany dance song remixed by Dave Audé, "Just Another Day", was released on CD. It peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Billboard Dance chart. On October 18, 2008, Tiffany appeared on the CMT reality show Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, and was eliminated in the first episode.
=== 2010s ===
On January 14, 2011, Tiffany released the single "Serpentine" on iTunes. The country song was taken from the soundtrack of the film Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, in which she also starred. Her album Rose Tattoo, released on March 1, 2011, was her first professional foray into country music. On April 22, 2011, it was announced that Tiffany would be teaming up with fellow 1980s pop music sensation Debbie Gibson for an upcoming summer concert tour titled Journey Through the 80's. When asked what material the pair would perform in the concerts, Tiffany said it would be a 1980s retrospective which in addition to their own material, would feature covers by Stevie Nicks, Guns N' Roses, and Reba McEntire.
In December 2012, having opened a clothing boutique of her own, Tiffany appeared on TLC's makeover reality show What Not to Wear. In January 2014, Tiffany became one of the eight stars competing in season three of Food Network's Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. She won an MVP bonus of $2,500 in the first week of the competition, and ultimately placed third.
Tiffany was a celebrity contestant in 2018 on the fourth season of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and became the first celebrity eliminated from the series after 16 days in the jungle. On September 21, 2018, Tiffany self-released her tenth studio album, Pieces of Me, via her own label, Go On Then Records. The next month her cover of Logan Lynn’s "Big City Now" was released as part of a multi-media double album titled My Movie Star produced by Lynn and Jay Mohr. In April 2019, Tiffany released an updated version of her hit "I Think We're Alone Now" that featured a rock and roll arrangement. On May 2, 2019, the Mixtape Tour commenced in Cincinnati, Ohio. The other performers on the tour were Salt-N-Pepa, Debbie Gibson, and Naughty by Nature with New Kids on the Block being billed as the headline performers.
Tiffany kicked off her 2019 solo tour on August 31, 2019, with a concert at Daybreak in South Jordan, Utah. The tour included nearly 50 dates at venues across the United States through March 2020. In October 2019, Tiffany was a featured guest on The Sam T. Blues Revue, the successor of The BluesMobile Radio Hour.
=== 2020s ===
In 2020, Tiffany performed a song that appears on the soundtrack of the movie Love, Guaranteed. She also released her first original Christmas single "Angels" on December 4 of the same year on streaming services. "Angels" was written and recorded at her home studio in Nashville, Tennessee with Mark Alberici and Margie Hauser. Tiffany said, "The song is about hope and missing family. In my more than 30-year career, I've never recorded an original Christmas song, but it just felt right. It's raw and real and that's what makes it special to me."
While struggling through a November 2021 live performance of "I Think We're Alone Now" in Melbourne, Florida, Tiffany yelled an expletive at the crowd. Once media outlets picked up the story, Tiffany's representative said that she had lost her voice and was frustrated with her performance. Tiffany then addressed the event herself, apologizing for her actions that she claimed were the result of a combination of voice loss, panic attack, and frustration.
Tiffany's eleventh studio album, Shadows, produced by Alberici, was released on November 25, 2022 via Deko Entertainment and Revolt Artist Management.
In 2025, her 1987 cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" was featured in the third episode of the fifth season of Stranger Things. In December 2025, the song entered the UK Official Streaming Chart, peaking at number 99.
== Film and television career ==
Tiffany's first acting job was providing the voice of Judy Jetson on Jetsons: The Movie, which was released in 1990. She also contributed three songs to the soundtrack including the single "I Always Thought I'd See You Again" and the main song "You and Me". Some controversy resulted from the fact that Janet Waldo, who had voiced the character in all previous Jetsons material, had all of her recorded dialogue in the movie replaced because studio executives thought Tiffany would attract a younger audience. The film however was a box-office bomb. In April 2008, Tiffany starred in a national commercial campaign for AT&T titled "Paradise by the GoPhone Light" for AT&T's GoPhone, which featured the singer Meat Loaf. The ad, which parodies his "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was released in two versions, an extended music video version and a short commercial edit.
Also in April 2008, Tiffany made a cameo appearance on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother in the episode "Sandcastles in the Sand". She played herself as a backing vocalist in the 1980s-inspired music video by a fictional teen Canadian pop star who was inspired by real-life singers like Tiffany making a career out of performing in malls. Tiffany starred in the 2008 short film The Isolationist, which was screened at several film festivals. Her character, Barbara Newman, is a sexually-aggressive woman unwilling to let a co-worker enjoy some alone time. In 2009, she completed work on her first feature film, Necrosis, which was released internationally as Blood Snow. Necrosis is an independent psychological thriller in which she starred alongside James Kyson and George Stults. In the film, she plays Karen, a fun-loving adrenaline junkie who takes matters into her own hands after a blizzard traps her and her friends in a cabin, when paranoia gets the best of them. Necrosis premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Tiffany's musical contemporary, Debbie Gibson, had her film Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus premiere at Cannes, as well. Tiffany also starred in a film from The Asylum, the mockbuster Mega Piranha, directed by Eric Forsberg, which also starred Barry Williams.
Tiffany and Gibson starred together in a Syfy original movie Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, which aired January 29, 2011. The movie featured a protracted catfight between Tiffany and Gibson. The 2008 documentary I Think We're Alone Now is about two fans of Tiffany who both claim to be in love with Tiffany and have been labeled "stalkers" by the media. While Tiffany did not voluntarily participate in the production, she does appear in the film.
In 2011, Tiffany filmed an episode of the Biography Channel TV series Celebrity Close Calls. On the episode first broadcast July 7, 2013, of the reality TV series Celebrity Wife Swap, she traded places with actress/singer Nia Peeples. Tiffany was the subject in 2013 of the Season 10 premiere episode of What Not To Wear on TLC. Later that year she starred in a Miracle Whip commercial alongside other celebrities, including Wynonna Judd, Lance Bass, Susan Boyle, and the Village People. In 2024, Tiffany appeared as Eiffel Tower on the fifth series of the UK edition of The Masked Singer. She finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a place in the finals.
== Personal life ==
Tiffany married makeup artist Bulmaro Garcia in 1992. Their son, Elijah Bulmaro Garcia, was born in September 1992. She and Garcia divorced in 2003. Garcia died in 2018.
Tiffany married British businessman Ben George in 2004. During the writing process of 2018's Pieces of Me, the couple agreed to separate and have divorced.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
Tiffany (1987)
Hold an Old Friend's Hand (1988)
New Inside (1990)
Dreams Never Die (1993)
The Color of Silence (2000)
Dust Off and Dance (2005)
Just Me (2007)
Rose Tattoo (2011)
A Million Miles (2016)
Pieces of Me (2018)
Shadows (2022)
== Filmography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Beashel | Colin Beashel | Colin Kenneth Beashel (born 21 November 1959) is an Australian sailor who crewed on the winning America's Cup team Australia II in 1983 and competed at six Olympics between 1984 and 2004, winning bronze in 1996. He became, jointly with Brazilian Torben Grael, the eighth sailor to compete at six Olympics. He helmed Australia Challenge at the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup.
Born in Sydney, Beashel comes from a sailing family. His father Ken is a local sailing legend. His brother Adam was a sailor for Team New Zealand in the America's Cup in 2003, 2007 and 2013. Adam's wife Lanee Butler sailed at four Olympics.
Beashel competed at the Olympics in the two-person keelboat, with Richard Coxon in 1984, Gregory Torpy in 1988, and David Giles from 1992 to 2004. He and Giles also won the World Championships in 1998 in the Star class. He now runs the family boat shop in Elvina Bay, Pittwater. |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_International_Olympic_Committee | President of the International Olympic Committee | The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC Executive Board consists of the chairman president, four vice-presidents, and ten other IOC members; all of the board members are elected by the IOC Session, using a secret ballot, by a majority vote.
The IOC organizes the modern Olympic Games, held every two years, alternating summer and winter games (each every four years). The IOC president holds the office for a maximum of two terms, renewable once. A president serving for two terms would lead the organization for at least three Summer Olympic Games and three Winter Olympic Games.
== Presidents ==
Initially, it was decided that the main representative from the country holding the games would assume the role of IOC president. However, this idea was quickly abandoned. Over the course of over 130 years, only 10 people have been elected to lead the organization, with the tenth taking office in June 2025. To date, only Belgium has had the privilege to hold the position more than once.
=== Demetrios Vikelas (1894–1896) ===
The Baron de Coubertin had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised the enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment.
He decided to reiterate his efforts at the next congress in 1894, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of recreating the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points that would be debated pertained to amateurism (definition, disqualification, betting, etc.) and the seventh point concerned the possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress.
De Coubertin gained support from several personalities: Leopold II of Belgium; Edward, Prince of Wales; Crown Prince Constantine of Greece; William Penny Brookes, the creator of the Wenlock Olympian Games in Shropshire, England; and Ioannis Phokianos, a professor of mathematics and physics and a college principal. Phokianos was also one of the advocates of sport in Greece; he had organized a series of Olympic Games sponsored by Evangelos Zappas in 1875, and in 1888 he had organized an elite and private Games as the founder of the Pan-Hellenic Gymnastic Club. Phokianos could not travel to Paris for financial reasons and because he was finalizing the construction of his new college. Instead, de Coubertin turned to one of the more eminent representatives of the Greek community in Paris—Demetrios Vikelas—whom he invited to take part in the congress. Athens was approved to host the 1896 Olympic Games, Greece being the original home of the Olympics (at Olympia from 776 BC to 393 AD), and Vikelas was duly chosen as the first president of the IOC.
=== Pierre de Coubertin (1896–1925) ===
Pierre, Baron de Coubertin, took over the IOC presidency when Demetrios Vikelas stepped down after the Olympics in his own country. Despite its initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 Games (in de Coubertin's own Paris) and 1904 Games were both upstaged by World's Fairs—Exposition Universelle in 1900 and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—and received little attention.
The 1906 Intercalated Games revived the momentum, and the Olympic Games grew to become the most important sports event. De Coubertin created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Summer Olympics, further created the Olympic flag and Olympic rings in 1913, and selected Lausanne in Switzerland as the permanent home for the IOC in 1915. He announced his intention to step down after the 1924 Summer Olympics, which proved much more successful than the first attempt in Paris in 1900, and was succeeded as IOC president in 1925 by Belgian Henri de Baillet-Latour.
De Coubertin remained an honorary president of the IOC until his death in 1937.
=== Henri de Baillet-Latour (1925–1942) ===
Henri, Comte de Baillet-Latour was elected IOC president in 1925, after the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Baron de Coubertin, stepped down from the post to become honorary president. The Belgian Comte led the IOC until his death in 1942, when he was succeeded by his vice-president J. Sigfrid Edström.
=== Johannes Sigfrid Edström (1942–1952) ===
When IOC president Henri de Baillet-Latour died in 1942, Swedish industrialist Johannes Sigfrid Edström took over as the acting president until the end of World War II, when he was formally elected IOC president. He played an important role in reviving the Olympic Movement after the war.
In 1931, Edström was involved in the controversial decision to ban legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from competing at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as the IOC considered Nurmi to be a professional athlete. This had a negative effect on Finland's relationship with Sweden, as Nurmi was a celebrated national hero in his own country.
Edström retired from the IOC presidency in 1952 and was succeeded by Avery Brundage.
=== Avery Brundage (1952–1972) ===
Avery Brundage became vice-president of the IOC in 1945 and was subsequently elected president in 1952, at the 47th IOC Session in Helsinki, succeeding J. Sigfrid Edström. While he was being considered for this honor, Brundage fathered two sons with a woman to whom he was not married; in order to avoid a political scandal, he requested that his name be kept off the birth certificates.
During his tenure as IOC president, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games. Gradually, this opinion became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members, but his opinions led to some embarrassing incidents, such as the exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the 1972 Winter Olympics. Likewise, he opposed the restoration of Olympic medals to Native American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of the medals when he was found to have played semi-professional baseball before taking part in the 1912 Summer Olympics (where he had beaten Brundage in the pentathlon and decathlon). Despite this, Brundage accepted the "shamateurism" from Eastern Bloc countries, in which team members were nominally students, soldiers, or civilians working in a non-sports profession, but in reality were paid by their states to train on a full-time basis. Brundage claimed that it was "their way of life". Thorpe's amateur status was restored by the Amateur Athletic Union in 1973, following Brundage's retirement. The IOC officially pardoned Thorpe in 1982 and ordered that his medals be presented posthumously to his family. After his death in 1975, it was revealed that Brundage had notified the IOC that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball years before.
Brundage also opposed anything that he viewed as politicizing sport. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to show support for the Black Power movement during their medal ceremony. Brundage ordered the USOC to expel both African-American men from the Olympic Village and have them suspended from the U.S. Olympic team. When the USOC refused, he threatened to ban the entire U.S. Olympic team. However, Brundage made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics.
He may be best remembered for his decision during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, to continue the Games following the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed eleven Israeli athletes. While some criticized Brundage's decision—including L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray, who wrote "Incredibly, they're going on with it. It's almost like having a dance at Dachau"—most did not, and few athletes withdrew from the Games. The Olympic competition was suspended on 5 September for one complete day. The next day, a memorial service of eighty thousand spectators and three thousand athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium. Brundage gave an address in which he stated:
"Every civilized person recoils in horror at the barbarous criminal intrusion of terrorists into peaceful Olympic precincts. We mourn our Israeli friends [...] victims of this brutal assault. The Olympic flag and the flags of all the world fly at half-mast. Sadly, in this imperfect world, the greater and the more important the Olympic Games become, the more they are open to commercial, political, and now criminal pressure. The Games of the XXth Olympiad have been subject to two savage attacks. We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail. I am sure that the public will agree that we cannot allow a handful of terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic movement. The Games must go on...."
Brundage strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from the Olympics due to its racial policies. After the attacks in Munich, Brundage drew a comparison between the massacre of the Israeli athletes and the barring of the Rhodesian team, for which he later apologized.
Brundage is also remembered for proposing the elimination of all team sports from the Summer Olympic Games, fearing that the Games would become too expensive for all but the wealthiest nations to host; he also proposed the elimination of the Winter Olympic Games entirely due to its association with commercialism.
Brundage retired as IOC president after the 1972 Summer Games, having held the post for twenty years, and was succeeded by Lord Killanin.
=== Michael Morris (1972–1980) ===
Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin was elected as Honorary President of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) in 1950, and became the Irish delegate at the IOC in 1952. He eventually became senior vice-president of the IOC in 1968, and succeeded Avery Brundage to the presidency on 23 August 1972, being elected at the 73rd IOC Session in Munich, just prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The Olympic Movement experienced a difficult period during his presidency, having to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Games and the financial failure of the 1976 Montréal Games. Due to limited interest from potential hosts, the cities of Lake Placid, New York and Los Angeles, California were chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games and the 1984 Summer Games, respectively, in the absence of any competing cities.
Baron Killanin resigned prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, after the massive political boycott of those Games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but retained his position until the Games were completed.
=== Juan Antonio Samaranch (1980–2001) ===
Juan Antonio Samaranch (who was later created the 1st marquess of Samaranch) was elected President of the IOC on 16 July at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow, that was held prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics—between 15 and 18 July 1980. He officially assumed presidency at the end of the Moscow Olympics.
During his term, Samaranch managed to make the Olympic Movement financially healthy, with big television deals and sponsorships. Although the 1984 Summer Olympics were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries, a record number of athletes participated in those Games, and the number of nations with an IOC membership and participating increased at every Games during his presidency. Samaranch also wanted the best athletes to compete in the Olympics, which led to the gradual acceptance of professional athletes.
One achievement of Samaranch has undoubtedly been the financial rescue of the IOC, which was in financial crisis in the 1970s. The games themselves were such a burden on host cities that it appeared that no host would be found for future Olympiads. Under Samaranch, the IOC revamped its sponsorship arrangements (choosing to go with global sponsors rather than allowing each national federation to take local ones), and new broadcasting deals which brought in much money.
==== Criticism ====
Also during his tenure as IOC president, Samaranch insisted that he be addressed with the title of "Excellency", a title used for heads of state and government (the title of Excellency is, however, also used to address Grandees of Spain, and he was a Spanish Marquis and Grandee since late 1991). In addition, when he traveled to conduct Olympic business, he would insist on a chauffeured limousine as well as a presidential suite in the finest hotel of whatever city he visited. The IOC put an annual rental (at a cost of US$500,000 per year) at a presidential suite for his stays in Lausanne.
Besides his lavish accommodations, he was increasingly criticized for the judging and doping scandals and rampant corruption that occurred under his watch. A closed-door inquiry later expelled several IOC members for accepting bribes but cleared Samaranch of wrongdoing. Samaranch declared that the IOC's worst crisis was over but a group of former Olympic athletes, led by Mark Tewksbury, continued to push for his removal.
It became a tradition for Samaranch, when giving the president's address at the close of each Summer Olympics, to praise the organizers at each Olympiad for putting on "the best ever" Games.
=== Jacques Rogge (2001–2013) ===
Jacques Rogge (later created The 1st count Rogge) was elected as president of the IOC on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had led the IOC since 1980.
Under his leadership, the IOC aimed to create more possibilities for developing countries to bid for and host the Olympic Games. Rogge believes that this vision can be achieved in the not too distant future through government backing and new IOC policies that constrain the size, complexity and cost of hosting the Olympic Games.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Rogge became the first IOC president to stay in the Olympic village, to enjoy closer contact with the athletes.
During the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Rogge delivered a commemoration of Georgian luge athlete, after his fatal accident while practicing in Whistler on 12 February 2010.
Rogge retired at the end of the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires and was appointed to the lifetime position of Honorary President of the IOC. Rogge died on 29 August 2021 at the age of 79.
==== Controversies ====
For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rogge stated in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by the mainland authorities: "For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China." However, on 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper had to retract that statement, admitting that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists. Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and Swiss IOC executive director Gilbert Felli—and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made a secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of the IOC. Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored.
Rogge commented that Usain Bolt's gestures of jubilation and excitement after winning the 100 meters in Beijing are "not the way we perceive being a champion," and also said, "that he should show more respect for his competitors." In response to his comments, Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel, who covered the Games, described him as "...a classic stiff-collared bureaucrat," and further contended that "[the IOC] has made billions off athletes such as Bolt for years, yet he has to find someone to pick on." In an interview with The Irish Times' reporter Ian O'Riordan, Rogge clarified, "Maybe there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. [...] What he does before or after the race I have no problem with. I just thought that his gesticulation during the race was maybe a little disrespectful."
He rejected calls for a minute of silence to be held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Games attack during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, despite the standing request of the families of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members who were held hostage and murdered by the Palestinian group Black September. Calls for such a commemoration marking 40 years since the massacre had also come from Jewish organizations worldwide and politicians from the United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, Australia, and Germany. He and the IOC instead opted for a smaller ceremony in London that took place on 6 August, and one at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base on the 40th anniversary of the attack, 5 September.
=== Thomas Bach (2013–2025) ===
Thomas Bach was elected President of the IOC on 10 September 2013, as the successor to Jacques Rogge, at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. He made his first appearance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi and was one of the IOC presidents to take part in other sporting events being held.
=== Kirsty Coventry (2025–present) ===
Kirsty Coventry was elected President of the IOC on 20 March 2025, as the successor to Thomas Bach, at the 144th IOC Session in Pylos, Greece. She is the first female and first African IOC president. She made her first appearance at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(drink_mix) | Tang (drink mix) | Tang is an American drink mix brand that was formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell and chemist William Bruce James in 1957, and first marketed in powdered form in 1959. The Tang brand is currently owned in most countries by Mondelēz International, a North American company spun off from Kraft Foods in 2012. Kraft Heinz owns the Tang brand in North America.
Sales of Tang were poor until NASA used it on John Glenn's Mercury flight in February 1962, and on subsequent Gemini missions. Since then it has been closely associated with the U.S. human spaceflight program, which created the misconception that Tang was invented for the space program. Tang continues to be used on NASA missions in the present day, over 50 years after its introduction.
== History ==
General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell and chemist William Bruce James formulated and trademarked orange Tang in 1957. Tang entered test markets in 1958 and was available to the public beginning in 1959.
Tang was used by early NASA crewed space flights. In 1962, when Mercury astronaut John Glenn conducted eating experiments in orbit, Tang was selected for the menu; it was also used during some Gemini flights, and has also been carried aboard numerous Space Shuttle missions. Although many soda companies sent specially designed canned drinks into space with the crew of STS-51-F, the crew preferred to use Tang, as it could be mixed into existing water containers easily. In 2013, former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin said "Tang sucks". In his autobiography, Return to Earth, published forty years earlier, Aldrin had further clarified: "I can't speak for the other flights, but before ours [Apollo 11], the three of us dutifully sampled the orange drink, supposedly Tang, and instead chose a grapefruit-orange mixture as our citrus drink. If Tang was on our flight I was unaware of it."
The creator of Tang, William A. Mitchell, also invented Pop Rocks, Cool Whip, a form of instant-set Jell-O, and other convenience foods. Chemist William Bruce James also invented several Jell-O flavors.
Orange Tang was packaged in glass jars with a metallic green label and orange metal lid. It was promoted as an "instant breakfast" drink rather than a soft drink mix, because it was fortified with vitamins C and A. In print and television advertising Tang was referred to as the nutritious "space age" drink of the astronauts.
Tang's advertising in the 1990s and early 2000s featured an orangutan as a mascot.
== Nutritional facts ==
Tang is sold in powdered and liquid-concentrate form. The suggested serving size is 2 tablespoons, or 31 grams of powdered Original Orange flavored Tang per 8 US fluid ounces (240 ml) of water. A single suggested serving of Tang contains 29 grams (1.0 oz) of sugar (representing 94% of the product's dry weight); 10% RDA of carbohydrates; 100% RDA of vitamin E; 100% RDA of vitamin C; 6% RDA of calcium and has a total of 120 calories (500 kJ).
== Other versions ==
In 1961 General Foods introduced grapefruit flavored Tang and advertised it in Time Life magazine. It was referred to as a new, natural-tasting Tang flavor. Packaging was a glass jar with yellow label and green metal lid. In 1971 the packaging was updated with an orange metallic label.
In 1971 General Foods introduced a grape flavor of Tang and advertised it in the New York Times Weekly Magazine July 18, 1971. It appeared on store shelves, first with a metallic blue label and blue metal lid, subsequently with a metallic purple label and purple metal lid. While orange Tang could be purchased in various sizes including a large net weight 27 oz. glass jar, the grape flavor was only available in an 18 oz. size.
In 2007, Kraft introduced a new version of orange Tang which replaced half of the sugar with artificial sweeteners. The new packaging advertises "1/2 the sugar of 100% juice". The artificial sweeteners used in the new formulation are sucralose, acesulfame potassium and neotame. The new formula is more concentrated and distributed in smaller containers, with a 12.3 US fl oz (360 ml) (348 g (12.3 oz)) making 8 US quarts (7,600 ml).
According to the preparation instructions on the 20 fl oz (590 ml) Tang orange drink mix, 2 level tablespoons of Tang can be combined with 1 cup or 8 fl oz (240 ml) of cold water for 1 serving.
In 2009, another version of Tang emerged in 20 US fl oz (590 ml) containers making only 6 US quarts (5,700 ml).
Orange flavored Tang contributes to most current sales worldwide; however, there are a wide range of flavors of Tang offered globally, including grape, lemon, mango, and pineapple.
== Sales ==
Tang is sold in more than 30 countries and is available in a variety of flavors depending on location. The top three markets for Tang around the world are Brazil, Argentina, and the Philippines.
In the Middle East, more than half of Tang's annual sales occur in just six weeks around Ramadan.
In June 2011, Kraft Foods announced that Tang has become its twelfth billion-dollar brand, with global sales nearly doubling since 2006. The brand in 2010 controlled a category-best 15.6% of the international powder concentrate market although, like other highly processed or sweetened beverages, demand in developed economies has stagnated or fallen in line with consumers increasing preference for lower calorie drinks. In 2018, Tang's manufacturer Mondelez reported a drop in sales following the introduction of tax on calorific sweetened beverages in the Philippines. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Maple_Leafs#Season-by-season_record | Toronto Maple Leafs#Season-by-season record | The Toronto Maple Leafs, officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Leafs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The club is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, a company that owns several professional sports teams in the city, while the team's broadcasting rights are split between BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications.
The club was founded as the Toronto Arenas for the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season and rebranded to the Toronto St. Patricks two years later. Conn Smythe renamed the franchise to the Maple Leafs after buying it in 1927. The team played home games at the Mutual Street Arena for its first 14 seasons before moving to Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. Since February 1999, the Maple Leafs play at Scotiabank Arena, which was formerly known as Air Canada Centre.
Toronto has won more Stanley Cup championships and played more NHL seasons than any team other than the Montreal Canadiens. The club had two recognized dynasties which spanned the 1946–47 to 1950–51 seasons and the 1961–62 to 1966–67 seasons, during which the Leafs won a combined eight of eleven Stanley Cup championships. These successes were followed by an extended championship drought, which at 57 seasons is the longest in league history. The Maple Leafs have rivalries with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Ottawa Senators. The team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate is the Toronto Marlies.
Several individuals who hold an association with the club have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nineteen players have had their numbers retired by the Maple Leafs, including the first in professional sports.
== History ==
=== Early years (1917–1927) ===
The National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in 1917 in Montreal by teams formerly belonging to the National Hockey Association (NHA) that had a dispute with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts. The owners of the other four clubs—the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs and the Ottawa Senators—wanted to replace Livingstone, but discovered that the NHA constitution did not allow them to simply vote him out of the league. Instead, they opted to create a new league, the NHL, and did not invite Livingstone to join them. They also remained voting members of the NHA, and thus had enough votes to suspend the other league's operations, effectively leaving Livingstone's league with one team.
The NHL had decided that it would operate a four-team circuit, made up of the Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, Ottawa, and one more club in either Quebec City or Toronto. Toronto's inclusion in the NHL's inaugural season was formally announced on November 26, 1917, with concerns over the Bulldogs' financial stability surfacing. The League granted temporary franchise rights to the Arena Company, owners of the Arena Gardens. The NHL granted the Arena responsibility of the Toronto franchise for only the inaugural season, with specific instructions to resolve the dispute with Livingstone or transfer ownership of the Toronto franchise back to the League at the end of the season.
The franchise did not have an official name but was informally called "the Blueshirts" or "the Torontos" by the fans and press. Although the inaugural roster was made up of players leased from the NHA's Toronto Blueshirts, including Harry Cameron and Reg Noble, the Maple Leafs do not claim the Blueshirts' history as their own. During the inaugural season, the club performed the first trade in NHL history, sending Sammy Hebert to the Senators, in return for cash. Under manager Charlie Querrie, and head coach Dick Carroll, the team won the Stanley Cup in the inaugural 1917–18 season.
For the next season, rather than return the Blueshirts' players to Livingstone as originally promised, on October 19, 1918, the Arena Company formed the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, which was readily granted full membership in the NHL. The Arena Company also decided that year that only NHL teams were allowed to play at the Arena Gardens—a move that effectively killed the NHA. Livingstone sued to get his players back. Mounting legal bills from the dispute forced the Arenas to sell some of their stars, resulting in a horrendous five-win season in 1918–19. With the company facing increasing financial difficulties, and the Arenas officially eliminated from the playoffs, the NHL agreed to let the team forfeit their last two games. Operations halted on February 20, 1919, with the NHL ending its season and starting the playoffs. The Arenas' .278 winning percentage that season remains the worst in franchise history. However, the 1919 Stanley Cup Final ended without a winner due to the worldwide flu epidemic.
The legal dispute forced the Arena Company into bankruptcy, and it was forced to sell the team. On December 9, 1919, Querrie brokered the team's purchase by the owners of the St. Patricks Hockey Club (Percy and Fred Hambly), allowing him to maintain an ownership stake in the team. The new owners renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks (or St. Pats for short), which they used until 1927. Changing the colours of the team from blue to green, the club won their second Stanley Cup championship in 1922. Babe Dye scored four times in the 5–1 Stanley Cup-clinching victory against the Vancouver Millionaires.
In 1924, the team's ownership changed again, as movie theatre impresario Nathan Nathanson and mining magnate Jack Bickell purchased the shares of the Hamblys. Bickell invested CA$25,000 in the St. Pats as a favour to his friend Querrie, who needed to financially reorganize his hockey team.
=== Conn Smythe era (1927–1961) ===
After several financially difficult seasons, the St. Patricks' ownership group (Querrie and Nathan Nathanson) seriously considered selling the team to C. C. Pyle for CA$200,000 (equivalent to $3,608,791 in 2025). Pyle sought to move the team to Philadelphia. However, Toronto Varsity Blues coach Conn Smythe put together a group of his own and made a CA$160,000 (equivalent to $2,887,033 in 2025)) offer. With the support of minority shareholder Bickell, Smythe persuaded Querrie and Nathanson to accept their bid, arguing that civic pride was more important than money. Bickell would become team president.
Smythe took control on February 14, 1927; installing himself as governor and general manager. He immediately renamed the team the Maple Leafs, after the national symbol of Canada, but the team was forced to play out the remainder of the 1926–27 season as St. Patricks. He attributed his choice of a maple leaf for the logo to his experiences as a Canadian Army officer and prisoner of war during World War I. Viewing the maple leaf as a "badge of courage", and a reminder of home, Smythe decided to give the same name to his hockey team, in honour of the many Canadian soldiers who wore it. However, the team was not the first to use the name. A Toronto minor-league baseball team had used the name "Toronto Maple Leafs" since 1895. Although Smythe would not acquire controlling interest in the team until 1947, he would be the franchise's dominant voice for the next four decades.
Initial reports were that the team's colours were to be red and white, but the Leafs wore white sweaters with a green maple leaf for their first game on February 17, 1927. On September 27, 1927, it was announced that the Leafs had changed their colour scheme to blue and white. Although Smythe later stated he chose blue because it represents the Canadian skies and white to represent snow, these colours were also used on the trucks for his gravel and sand business. The colour blue was also a colour historically associated with the City of Toronto. The use of blue by top-level Toronto-based sports clubs began with the Argonaut Rowing Club in the 19th century, later adopted by their football team, the Toronto Argonauts, in 1873.
==== Opening of Maple Leaf Gardens (1930s) ====
By 1930, Smythe saw the need to construct a new arena, viewing the Arena Gardens as a facility lacking modern amenities and seating. Finding an adequate number of financiers, he purchased land from the Eaton family, and construction of the arena was completed in five months.
The Maple Leafs debuted at their new arena, Maple Leaf Gardens, with a 2–1 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks on November 12, 1931. The opening ceremonies for Maple Leaf Gardens included a performance from the 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipe and Drums. The military band has continued to perform in every subsequent season home opening game, as well as other ceremonies conducted by the hockey club. The debut also featured Foster Hewitt in his newly constructed press box above the ice surface, where he began his famous Hockey Night in Canada radio broadcasts that eventually came to be a Saturday-night tradition. The press box was often called "the gondola", a name that emerged during the Gardens' inaugural season when a General Motors advertising executive remarked how it resembled the gondola of an airship.
By the 1931–32 NHL season, the Maple Leafs were led by the "Kid Line" consisting of Busher Jackson, Joe Primeau and Charlie Conacher and coached by Dick Irvin. The team captured their third Stanley Cup that season, vanquishing the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round, the Montreal Maroons in the semifinals, and the New York Rangers in the 1932 Stanley Cup Final. Smythe took particular pleasure in defeating the Rangers that year. He had been tapped as the Rangers' first general manager and coach for their inaugural season (1926–27), but had been fired in a dispute with Madison Square Garden management before the season had begun.
Maple Leafs star forward Ace Bailey was nearly killed during the 1933–34 season when Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins checked him from behind at full speed into the boards. Maple Leafs' defenceman Red Horner knocked Shore out with a punch, but Bailey, writhing on the ice, had his career ended. The Leafs held the Ace Bailey Benefit Game, the NHL's first All-Star Game, to collect medical funds to help Bailey. His jersey was retired later the same night. The Leafs reached the Stanley Cup Final five times in the next seven years but bowed out to the now-disbanded Maroons in 1935, the Detroit Red Wings in 1936, Chicago in 1938, Boston in 1939 and the Rangers in 1940. After the end of the 1939–40 season, Smythe allowed Irvin to leave the team as head coach, replacing him with former Maple Leafs' captain Hap Day.
==== The first dynasty (1940s) ====
In the 1942 Stanley Cup Final, the Maple Leafs were down three games to none in the best-of-seven series against Detroit. Fourth-line forward Don Metz then galvanized the team, to score a hat-trick in game four and the game-winner in game five. Goalie Turk Broda shut out the Wings in game six, and Sweeney Schriner scored two goals in the third period to win the seventh game 3–1, completing the reverse-sweep. The Leafs remain the only team to have successfully performed a reverse-sweep in the Stanley Cup Final. Captain Syl Apps won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that season, not taking one penalty, and finished his 10-season career with an average of 5 minutes, 36 seconds in penalties a season.
Smythe, who reenlisted in the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War II, was given leave from military duty to view the final game of the 1942 Cup Final. He arrived at the game in full military regalia. Earlier, at the outbreak of war, Smythe arranged for many of his Maple Leafs players and staff to take army training with the Toronto Scottish Regiment. Most notably, the Leafs announced a large portion of their roster had enlisted, including Apps, and Broda, who did not play on the team for several seasons due to their obligations with the Canadian Forces. During this period, the Leafs turned to lesser-known players such as rookie goaltender Frank McCool and defenceman Babe Pratt.
The Maple Leafs beat the Red Wings in the 1945 Final. They won the first three games, with goaltender McCool recording consecutive shutouts. However, in a reversal of the 1942 Final, the Red Wings won the next three games. The Leafs were able to win the series, winning the seventh game by the score of 2–1 to prevent a complete reversal of the series played three years ago.
After the end of the war, players who had enlisted were beginning to return to their teams. With Apps and Broda regaining their form, the Maple Leafs beat the first-place Canadiens in the 1947 Final. To bolster their centre depth, the Leafs acquired Cy Thomas and Max Bentley in the following off-season. With these key additions, the Leafs were able to win a second consecutive Stanley Cup, sweeping the Red Wings in the 1948 Final. With their victory in 1948, the Leafs moved ahead of Montreal as the team having won the most Stanley Cups in League history. Apps announced his retirement following the 1948 Final, with Ted Kennedy replacing him as the team's captain. Under a new captaincy, the Leafs managed to make it to the 1949 Final, facing the Red Wings, who had finished the season with the best overall record. However, the Leafs went on to win their third consecutive Cup, sweeping the Red Wings in four games. This brought the total of Detroit's playoff game losses against the Leafs to eleven. The Red Wings were able to end this losing streak in the following postseason, eliminating Toronto in the 1950 NHL playoffs.
==== The Barilko Curse (1950s) ====
The Maple Leafs and Canadiens met again in the 1951 Final, with five consecutive overtime games played in the series. Defenceman Bill Barilko managed to score the series-winning goal in overtime, leaving his defensive position (despite coach Joe Primeau's instructions otherwise) to pick up an errant pass and score. Barilko helped the club secure its fourth Stanley Cup in five years. His glory was short-lived, as he disappeared in a plane crash near Timmins, Ontario, four months later. The crash site was not found until a helicopter pilot discovered the plane's wreckage plane about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Cochrane, Ontario 11 years later. The Leafs did not win another Cup during the 1950s, with rumours swirling that the team was "cursed", and would not win a cup until Barilko's body was found. The "curse" came to an end after the Leafs' 1962 Stanley Cup victory, which came six weeks before the discovery of the wreckage of Barilko's plane.
Their 1951 victory was followed by lacklustre performances in the following seasons. The team finished third in the 1951–52 season and was eventually swept by the Red Wings in the semifinals. With the conclusion of the 1952–53 regular season, the Leafs failed to make it to the postseason for the first time since the 1945–46 playoffs. The Leafs' poor performance may be attributed partly to a decline in their sponsored junior system (including the Toronto St. Michael's Majors and the Toronto Marlboros). The junior system was managed by Frank J. Selke until his departure to the Canadiens in 1946. In his absence, the quality of players it produced declined. Many who were called up to the Leafs in the early 1950s were found to be seriously lacking in ability. It was only later in the decade that the Leafs' feeder clubs produced prospects that helped them become competitive again.
After a two-year drought from the playoffs, the Maple Leafs clinched a berth after the 1958–59 season. Under Punch Imlach, their new general manager and coach, the Leafs made it to the 1959 Final, losing to the Canadiens in five games. Building on a successful playoff run, the Leafs followed up with a second-place finish in the 1959–60 regular season. Although they advanced to their second straight Cup Final, the Leafs were again defeated by the Canadiens in four games.
=== New owners and a new dynasty (1961–1971) ===
Beginning in the 1960s, the Leafs became a stronger team, with Johnny Bower as the goaltender, and Bob Baun, Carl Brewer, Tim Horton and Allan Stanley serving as the Maple Leafs' defencemen. To bolster their forward group during the 1960 off-season, Imlach traded Marc Reaume to the Red Wings for Red Kelly. Originally a defenceman, Kelly was asked to make the transition to the role of centre, where he remained for the rest of his career. Kelly helped reinforce a forward group made up of Frank Mahovlich, and team captain George Armstrong. The beginning of the 1960–61 season also saw the debut of rookies Bob Nevin, and Dave Keon. Keon previously played for the St. Michael's Majors (the Maple Leafs junior affiliate), but had impressed Imlach during the Leafs' training camp, and joined the team for the season. Despite these new additions, the Leafs' 1961 playoff run ended in the semifinals against the Red Wings, with Armstrong, Bower, Kelly and others, suffering from injuries.
In November 1961, Smythe sold nearly all of his shares in the club's parent company, Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL), to a partnership composed of his son Stafford Smythe, and his partners, newspaper baron John W. H. Bassett and Toronto Marlboros president Harold Ballard. The sale price was $2.3 million (equivalent to $24,000,000 in 2025), a handsome return on Smythe's original investment 34 years earlier. Initially, Conn Smythe claimed that he knew nothing about his son's partners and was furious with the arrangement (though it is highly unlikely he could have believed Stafford could have financed the purchase on his own). However, he did not stop the deal because of it. Conn Smythe was given a retiring salary of $15,000 per year for life, an office, a secretary, a car with a driver, and seats to home games. Smythe sold his remaining shares in the company, and resigned from the board of directors in March 1966, after a Muhammad Ali boxing match was scheduled for the Gardens. Smythe found Ali's refusal to serve in the United States Army offensive, noting that the Gardens was "no place for those who want to evade conscription in their own country". He had also said that because the Gardens' owners agreed to host the fight they had "put cash ahead of class".
Under the new ownership, Toronto won another three straight Stanley Cups. The team won the 1962 Stanley Cup Final beating the defending champion Chicago Black Hawks on a goal from Dick Duff in game 6. During the 1962–63 season, the Leafs finished first in the league for the first time since the 1947–48 season. In the following playoffs, the team won their second Stanley Cup of the decade. The 1963–64 season saw certain members of the team traded. With Imlach seeking to reinvigorate the slumping Leafs, he made a mid-season trade that sent Duff, and Nevin to the Rangers for Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney. The Leafs managed to make the postseason as well as the Cup Final. In game six of the 1964 Cup Final, Baun suffered a fractured ankle and required a stretcher to be taken off the ice. He returned to play with his ankle frozen, and eventually scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the Red Wings. The Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup in a 4–0 game 7 victory; Bathgate scored two goals.
The two seasons after the Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup victories, the team saw several player departures, including Bathgate, and Brewer, as well as several new additions, including Marcel Pronovost, and Terry Sawchuk. During the 1966–67 season, the team had lost 10 games in a row, sending Imlach to the hospital with a stress-related illness. However, from the time King Clancy took over as the head coach, to Imlach's return, the club was on a 10-game undefeated streak, building momentum before the playoffs. The Leafs made their last Cup Final in 1967. Playing against Montreal, the heavy favourite for the year, the Leafs managed to win, with Bob Pulford scoring the double-overtime winner in game three; Jim Pappin scored the series winner in game 6. Keon was named the playoff's most valuable player and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
From 1968 to 1970, the Maple Leafs made it to the playoffs only once. They lost several players to the 1967 NHL expansion draft, and the team was racked with dissension because of Imlach's authoritative manner, and his attempts to prevent the players from joining the newly formed Players' Association. Imlach's management of the team was also brought into question due to some of his decisions. It was apparent that he was too loyal to aging players who had been with him since 1958. In the 1967–68 season, Mahovlich was traded to Detroit in a deal that saw the Leafs acquire Paul Henderson and Norm Ullman. The Leafs managed to return to the playoffs after the 1968–69 season, only to be swept by the Bruins. Immediately after, Stafford Smythe confronted Imlach and fired him. This act was not without controversy, with some older players, including Horton, declaring that, "if this team doesn't want Imlach, I guess it doesn't want me".
The Maple Leafs completed the 1969–70 season out of the playoffs. With their low finish, the Leafs were able to draft Darryl Sittler at the 1970 NHL amateur draft. The Leafs returned to the playoffs after the 1970–71 season with the addition of Sittler, as well as Bernie Parent and Jacques Plante, who were both acquired through trades during the season. They were eliminated in the first round against the Rangers.
=== The Ballard years (1971–1990) ===
A series of events in 1971 made Harold Ballard the primary owner of the Maple Leafs. After a series of disputes between Bassett, Ballard and Stafford Smythe, Bassett sold his stake in the company to them. Shortly afterwards, Smythe died in October 1971. Under the terms of Stafford's will, of which Ballard was an executor, each partner was allowed to buy the other's shares upon their death. Stafford's brother and son tried to keep the shares in the family, but in February 1972 Ballard bought all of Stafford's shares for $7.5 million, valuing the company at $22 million (equivalent to $165,000,000 in 2025). Six months later, Ballard was convicted of charges including fraud, and theft of money and goods, and spent a year at Milhaven Penitentiary.
By the end of 1971, the World Hockey Association (WHA) began operations as a direct competitor to the NHL. Believing the WHA would not be able to compete against the NHL, Ballard's attitude caused the Maple Leafs to lose key players, including Parent to the upstart league. Undermanned and demoralized, the Leafs finished with the fourth-worst record for the 1972–73 season. They got the fourth overall pick in the 1973 NHL amateur draft, and drafted Lanny McDonald. General Manager Jim Gregory also acquired the 10th overall pick from the Philadelphia Flyers, and the 15th overall pick from the Bruins, using them to acquire Bob Neely and Ian Turnbull. In addition to these first-round picks, the Leafs also acquired Borje Salming during the 1973 off-season.
Despite acquiring Tiger Williams in the 1974 draft, and Roger Neilson as head coach in the 1977–78 season, the Maple Leafs found themselves eliminated in the playoffs by stronger Flyers or Canadiens teams from 1975 to 1979. Although Neilson was a popular coach with fans and his players, he found himself at odds with Ballard, who fired him late in the 1977–78 season. Neilson was later reinstated after appeals from the players and the public. He continued as Leafs' head coach until after the 1979 playoffs, when he was fired again, alongside Gregory. Gregory was replaced by Imlach as general manager.
In the first year of his second stint as general manager, Imlach became embroiled in a dispute with Leafs' captain Darryl Sittler over his attempt to take part in the Showdown series for Hockey Night in Canada. In a move to undermine Sittler's influence on the team, Imlach traded McDonald, who was Sittler's friend. By the end of the 1979–80 season, Imlach had traded away nearly half of the roster he had at the beginning of his tenure as general manager. With the situation between Ballard and Sittler worsening, Sittler asked to be traded. Forcing the Leafs' hand, the club's new general manager, Gerry McNamara, traded Sittler to the Flyers on January 20, 1982. Rick Vaive was named the team's captain shortly after Sittler's departure.
The Maple Leafs' management continued in disarray throughout most of the decade, with an inexperienced McNamara named as Imlach's replacement in September 1981. He was followed by Gord Stellick on April 28, 1988, who was replaced by Floyd Smith on August 15, 1989. Coaching was similarly shuffled often after Nielson's departure. Imlach's first choice for coach was his former player Smith, although he did not finish the 1979–80 season after being hospitalized by a car accident on March 14, 1980. Joe Crozier was named the new head coach until January 10, 1981, when he was succeeded by Mike Nykoluk. Nykoluk was head coach until April 2, 1984. Dan Maloney returned as head coach from 1984 to 1986, with John Brophy named head coach from 1986 to 1988. Both coaches had little success during their tenure. Doug Carpenter was named the new head coach to begin the 1989–90 season when the Leafs posted their first season above .500 in the decade.
The team did not have much success during the decade, missing the playoffs entirely in 1982, 1984 and 1985. On at least two occasions, they made the playoffs with the worst winning percentages on record for a playoff team. However, in those days, the top four teams in each division made the playoffs, regardless of record. Since the Norris only had five teams in total, this meant only the last-place team in the division missed the postseason. In 1985–86, for instance, they finished with a .356 winning percentage, the fourth worst in the league. However, due to playing in a Norris Division where no team cracked the 90-point mark, the Leafs still made the playoffs because Detroit had the worst record in the league. In 1987–88, they entered the final day of the season with the worst record in the league, but were only one point behind the Minnesota North Stars and thus were still in playoff contention. The Red Wings was the only team in the division with a winning record. However, the Leafs upset the Red Wings in their final game while the North Stars lost to the Flames hours later to hand the Leafs the final spot from the Norris.
The low finishes allowed the team to draft Wendel Clark first overall at the 1985 NHL entry draft. Clark managed to lead the Leafs to the playoffs from 1986 to 1988, as well as the 1990 playoffs. Ballard died on April 11, 1990.
=== Resurgence (1990–2004) ===
Don Crump, Don Giffin, and Steve Stavro were named executors of Ballard's estate. Stavro succeeded Ballard as chairman of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and governor of the Maple Leafs. Cliff Fletcher was hired by Giffin to be the new general manager, although this was opposed by Stavro, who told Fletcher that he wanted to appoint his own general manager.
Notwithstanding Stavro's initial reluctance with Fletcher's appointment, the Leafs' new ownership would soon earn a reputation for steering clear of exerting undue interference in hockey operations, in stark contrast to Ballard. Fletcher soon set about building a competitive club, hiring Pat Burns as the new coach, and making a series of trades and free-agent acquisitions, such as acquiring Doug Gilmour and Dave Andreychuk, which turned the Leafs into a contender. Assisted by stellar goaltending from minor league call-up Felix Potvin, the team posted a then-franchise-record 99 points.
During the 1993 playoffs, Toronto dispatched the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the first round, then defeated the St. Louis Blues in another seven games in the division finals. Hoping to meet long-time rival Montreal (who was playing in the Wales Conference finals against the New York Islanders) in the Cup Final, the Leafs faced the Los Angeles Kings in the Campbell Conference finals. They led the series 3–2 but dropped game six in Los Angeles. The game was not without controversy, as Wayne Gretzky clipped Gilmour in the face with his stick, but referee Kerry Fraser did not call a penalty, and Gretzky scored the winning goal moments later. The Leafs eventually lost in game seven 5–4.
The Leafs had another strong season in 1993–94, starting the season on a ten-game winning streak, and finishing it with 98 points. The team made it to the conference finals again, only to be eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in five games. At the 1994 NHL entry draft, the Leafs packaged Wendel Clark in a multi-player trade with the Quebec Nordiques that landed them Mats Sundin. After the Leafs traded Gilmour to the New Jersey Devils in 1997, Sundin was named captain. Missing two consecutive playoffs in 1997 and 1998, the Leafs relieved Fletcher as general manager.
==== New home and a new millennium (1998–2004) ====
On February 12, 1998, Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (MLGL) purchased the Toronto Raptors, a National Basketball Association franchise, and the arena the Raptors were building, from Allan Slaight and Scotiabank. With the acquisition, MLGL was renamed Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), acting as the parent company of the two teams. Larry Tanenbaum was a driving force in the acquisition, having bought a 12.5 percent stake in MLGL in 1996.
Curtis Joseph was acquired as the team's starting goalie, while Pat Quinn was hired as the head coach before the 1998–99 season. Realigning the NHL's conferences in 1998, the Leafs were moved from the Western to the Eastern Conference. On February 13, 1999, the Leafs played their final game at the Gardens before moving to their new home at the then-Air Canada Centre. In the 1999 playoffs, the team advanced to the conference finals but lost in five games to the Buffalo Sabres.
In the 1999–2000 season, the Leafs hosted the 50th NHL All-Star Game. By the end of the season, they recorded their first 100-point season and won their first division title in 37 years. In both the 2000 and 2001 playoffs, the Leafs defeated the Ottawa Senators in the first round and lost to the New Jersey Devils in the second round. In the 2002 playoffs, the Leafs dispatched the Islanders and the Senators in seven games each during the first two rounds, only to lose to the Cinderella-story Carolina Hurricanes in six games in the conference finals. The 2001–02 season was particularly impressive in that injuries sidelined many of the Leafs' better players, but the efforts of depth players, including Alyn McCauley, Gary Roberts and Darcy Tucker, led them to the conference finals.
As Joseph opted to become a free agent during the 2002 off-season, the Leafs signed Ed Belfour as the new starting goaltender. Belfour played well during the 2002–03 season and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. The Leafs lost to Philadelphia in seven games during the first round of the 2003 playoffs. In 2003, an ownership change occurred in MLSE. Stavro sold his controlling interest in MLSE to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) and resigned his position as chairman in favour of Tanenbaum. Quinn remained as head coach but was replaced as general manager by John Ferguson Jr.
Before the 2003–04 season, the team held their training camp in Sweden and played in the NHL Challenge against teams from Sweden and Finland. The Leafs went on to enjoy a very successful regular season, leading the NHL at the time of the All-Star Game (with Quinn named head coach of the East's All-Star Team). They finished the season with a then-franchise-record 103 points. They finished with the fourth-best record in the League, and their highest overall finish in 41 years, achieving a .628 win percentage, their best in 43 years, and third-best in franchise history. In the 2004 playoffs, the Leafs defeated the Senators in the first round of the postseason for the fourth time in five years, with Belfour posting three shutouts in seven games, but lost to the Flyers in six games during the second round.
=== After the lockout (2005–2014) ===
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the Maple Leafs experienced their longest playoff drought in the team's history. They struggled in the 2005–06 season; despite a late-season surge (9–1–2 in their final 12 games), led by goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Toronto was out of playoff contention for the first time since 1998. This marked the first time the team had missed the postseason under Quinn, who was later relieved as head coach. Quinn's dismissal was controversial since many of the young players who were key contributors to the Leafs' late-season run had been drafted by him before Ferguson's arrival, while Ferguson's signings (Jason Allison, Belfour, Alexander Khavanov, and Eric Lindros) had suffered season-ending injuries.
Paul Maurice, who had previously coached the inaugural season of the Maple Leafs' Toronto Marlies farm team, was named as Quinn's replacement. On June 30, 2006, the Leafs bought out fan-favourite Tie Domi's contract. The team also decided against picking up the option year on goaltender Ed Belfour's contract; he became a free agent. However, despite the coaching change, as well as a shuffle in the roster, the team did not make the playoffs in 2006–07. During the 2007–08 season, John Ferguson Jr. was fired in January 2008 and replaced by former Leafs' general manager Cliff Fletcher on an interim basis. The team retained Toronto-based sports lawyer Gord Kirke to begin a search for a new team president and general manager, and negotiate a contract. The Leafs did not qualify for the postseason, marking the first time since 1928 the team had failed to make the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. It was also Sundin's last year with the Leafs, as his contract was due to expire at the end of the season. However, he refused Leafs management's request to waive his no-trade clause for the team to rebuild by acquiring prospects or draft picks. On May 7, 2008, after the 2007–08 season, the Leafs fired Maurice, as well as assistant coach Randy Ladouceur, naming Ron Wilson as the new head coach, and Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler as assistant coaches.
On November 29, 2008, the Maple Leafs hired Brian Burke as their 13th non-interim, and the first American, general manager in team history. The acquisition ended the second Cliff Fletcher era and settled persistent rumours that Burke was coming to Toronto. On June 26, 2009, Burke made his first appearance as the Leafs GM at the 2009 NHL entry draft, selecting London Knights forward Nazem Kadri with the seventh overall pick. On September 18, 2009, Burke traded Toronto's first- and second-round 2010, as well as its 2011 first-round picks, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for forward Phil Kessel. On January 31, 2010, the Leafs made another high-profile trade, this time with the Calgary Flames in a seven-player deal that brought defenceman Dion Phaneuf to Toronto. On June 14, during the off-season, the Leafs named Phaneuf captain after two seasons without one following Sundin's departure. On February 18, 2011, the team traded long-time Maple Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle to the Bruins in exchange for prospect Joe Colborne, Boston's first-round pick in 2011, and a conditional second-round draft choice.
On March 2, 2012, Burke fired Wilson and named Randy Carlyle the new head coach. However, the termination proved to be controversial as Wilson had received a contract extension just two months before being let go. Changes at the ownership level also occurred in August 2012, when the OTPP completed the sale of their shares in MLSE to BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications. On January 9, 2013, Burke was fired as general manager, and replaced by Dave Nonis. In their first full season under the leadership of Carlyle, Toronto managed to secure a playoff berth in the 2012–13 season (which was shortened again due to another lock-out) for the first time in eight years. However, the Leafs lost in seven games to eventual 2013 Stanley Cup finalist Boston in the first round. Despite the season's success, it was not repeated during the 2013–14 season, as the Leafs failed to make the playoffs.
=== Brendan Shanahan era (2014–2025) ===
Following the 2013–14 regular season, Brendan Shanahan was named as the president and an alternate governor of the Maple Leafs. On January 6, 2015, the Leafs fired Randy Carlyle as head coach, and assistant coach Peter Horachek took over on an interim basis immediately. While the Leafs had a winning record before Carlyle's firing, the team eventually collapsed. On February 6, 2015, the Leafs set a new franchise record of 11 consecutive games without a win. At the beginning of February, Shanahan gained the approval of MLSE's board of directors to begin a "scorched earth" rebuild of the club. Both Dave Nonis and Horachek were relieved of their duties on April 12, just one day after the season concluded. In addition, the Leafs also fired several assistant coaches, including Steve Spott and Rick St. Croix, as well as individuals from the Leafs' player scouting department.
On May 20, 2015, Mike Babcock was named as the new head coach, and on July 23, Lou Lamoriello was named the 16th general manager in team history. On July 1, 2015, the Leafs packaged Kessel in a multi-player deal to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for three skaters, including Kasperi Kapanen, a conditional first-round pick, and a third-round pick. Toronto also retained $1.2 million of Kessel's salary for the remaining seven seasons of his contract. During the following season, on February 9, 2016, the Leafs packaged Phaneuf in another multi-player deal, acquiring four players, as well as a 2017 second-round pick from the Ottawa Senators. The team finished last in the NHL for the first time since the 1984–85 season. They subsequently won the draft lottery and used the first overall pick to draft Auston Matthews.
In their second season under Babcock, Toronto secured the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot for the 2017 playoffs. On April 23, 2017, the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs by the top-seeded Washington Capitals four games to two in the best-of-seven series.
Toronto finished the 2017–18 season with 105 points by beating Montreal 4–2 in their final game of the regular season, a franchise-record, beating the previous record of 103 points set in 2004. They faced the Boston Bruins in the first round and lost in seven games. Following the playoffs, Lamoriello was not renewed as general manager. Kyle Dubas was subsequently named the team's 17th general manager in May 2018. During the 2018 off-season, the Maple Leafs signed John Tavares to a seven-year, $77 million contract. On April 1, the Maple Leafs clinched a division berth for the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Maple Leafs were eliminated in the first round of the 2019 playoffs on April 23, after losing to the Bruins in a seven-game series.
On October 2, 2019, Tavares was named as the team's 25th team captain prior to the Leafs' 2019–20 season opening game. After a 9–10–4 start to the 2019–20 season, the club relieved Babcock as head coach on November 20, with Sheldon Keefe named as his replacement. The Maple Leafs were eliminated in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers on August 9, after losing a five-game series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions at the Canada–United States border, the Leafs were temporarily moved to the North Division for the 2020–21 season alongside the NHL's other Canadian teams. During that season, teams only played games against teams in their divisions, in a limited 56-game season. On May 8, 2021, the Leafs clinched the North Division title, giving the Leafs guaranteed home advantage in the first two rounds of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Matthews also led the league in goals with 41 goals, becoming the first Maple Leaf to win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. However, the Leafs lost in the first round to their rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, with the Leafs surrendering a 3–1 series lead in the process.
Despite the ending to the previous season, the Leafs were poised to make another run, with much of the core roster intact. Aided by the arrival of defenceman Mark Giordano and centre Colin Blackwell from the Seattle Kraken on March 21, the team cruised throughout the regular season. The Maple Leafs broke their franchise record for points in a season, with 115, and wins in a season, with 50, during a 4–2 victory over the New York Islanders on April 17. Despite the achievement, they were unable to match the league-leading Florida Panthers', finishing second in the Atlantic Division During the season, Matthews became the first Leaf in a decade to score 60 goals in a season, and was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy. The Leafs made the playoffs but lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. With this loss, the Maple Leafs became the first team in the four major North American sports leagues to lose five consecutive winner-take-all games.
The 2022 off-season saw the departure of the Leafs' goalie tandem, Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek, the former signing with Edmonton, the latter being traded to the Blackhawks during the 2022 NHL entry draft. Needing a goaltender tandem for the upcoming season, the Leafs acquired Matt Murray through a trade with the Senators, and signed free agent Ilya Samsonov.
During the 2022–23 NHL season, the Leafs again fared well in the regular season, achieving an excellent 50–21–11 record and 111 points, one point less than the record achieved the season prior. However, the record-setting 2022–23 Boston Bruins led the division, finishing with 135 points, and leaving the Leafs in second place in the Atlantic. In the first round of the playoffs, the Leafs defeated the Lightning in a six-game series, marking the first time the Maple Leafs advanced to the second round of the playoff appearance since 2004. During the series with the Lightning, the Leafs became the first NHL team to win three road playoff games in overtime. However, the Leafs lost to the Florida Panthers in the second round in five games. Following the loss, Dubas' contract as general manager was not renewed with the club for the 2023–24 season. Dubas was then replaced by Brad Treliving on May 31.
In 2023–24, the team finished with a 46–26–10 record, good for 102 points and the third seed in the Atlantic Division. Matthews broke his own career and franchise records for goals in a season, with 69, and was awarded his third Rocket Richard Trophy. However, they were again eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, falling to the Bruins in seven games. After the season, Keefe was dismissed as head coach on May 9, with Craig Berube hired as his successor on May 17. That off-season, Tavares relinquished his role as captain to Matthews on August 14, 2024, with the latter becoming the 26th overall and first American-born captain in franchise history.
The team finished the 2024–25 season with a 52–26–4 record, topping the Atlantic Division with 108 points, their first division championship in the Atlantic, setting up a Battle of Ontario matchup with the wild card Ottawa Senators in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. In doing so, Berube broke the record for most wins for a Maple Leafs coach in his first season, previously held by Pat Quinn, who had 45 in the 1998–99 season. The Leafs defeated the Senators in a six-game series. As with the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Leafs faced the Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs. The Leafs' goaltender Anthony Stolarz was injured in game one and was replaced with Joseph Woll. Toronto subsequently lost the series to the eventual Stanley Cup victors, the Florida Panthers, in seven games.
Shortly after the end of Toronto's 2025 playoffs, it announced that Shanahan would not return as team president and alternate governor. During the 2025 off-season, the Leafs traded Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights for Nicolas Roy, who would be later be traded for draft picks.
== Team culture ==
=== Fan base ===
The price of a Maple Leafs home game ticket is the highest amongst any team in the NHL. Scotiabank Arena holds 18,819 seats for Leafs games, with 15,500 reserved for season ticket holders. Because of the demand for season tickets, their sale is limited to the 10,000 people on the waiting list. As of March 2016, Leafs' season tickets saw a renewal rate of 99.5 percent, a rate that would require more than 250 years to clear the existing waiting list. In a 2014 survey by ESPN The Magazine, the Leafs were ranked last out of the 122 professional teams in the Big Four leagues. Teams were graded by stadium experience, ownership, player quality, ticket affordability, championships won and "bang for the buck"; in particular, the Leafs came last in ticket affordability.
Leafs fans are known for their dedicated support and notable loyalty to the team despite their performance. They are considered to have the largest fan base in the NHL. In a study conducted by sports retailer Fanatics in March 2017, the Leafs and the Minnesota Wild were the only two NHL teams to average arena sellouts despite a below league average winning percentage. Conversely, fans of other teams harbour an equally passionate dislike of the team. In November 2002, the Leafs were named by Sports Illustrated hockey writer Michael Farber as the "Most Hated Team in Hockey".
Despite their loyalty, there have been several instances where the fanbase voiced their displeasure with the club. During the 2011–12 season, fans attending the games chanted for the dismissal of head coach Ron Wilson, and later general manager Brian Burke. Wilson was let go shortly after the fans' outburst, even though he had been given a contract extension months earlier. Burke alluded to the chants noting "it would be cruel and unusual punishment to let Ron coach another game in the Air Canada Centre". In the 2014–15 season, fans threw Leafs jerseys onto the ice to show their disapproval of the team's poor performances in the past few decades. Similarly, during the later portion of the 2015–16 season, which overlaps with the start of Major League Baseball's regular season of play, fans were heard sarcastically chanting "Let's go Blue Jays!" and clapping alongside the chant as a sign of their farcical shift in priority from an under-performing team to the more successful playoff-bound 2016 Toronto Blue Jays season. Leafs fans also vandalized Mike Babcock's Wikipedia article amid the poor records of the first few months into the 2019–20 season; his article was temporarily semi-protected to minimize further vandalism.
In addition to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), many fans live throughout Ontario, Quebec, including New York state and Michigan. As a result, Leafs' away games at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, KeyBank Center in Buffalo and at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit hold more of a shared crowd. This is due in part to the Leafs fans in those areas, and those cities' proximity to the GTA.
The Leafs are also a popular team in Atlantic Canada. In November 2016, a survey was conducted that found 20 percent of respondents from Atlantic Canada viewed the Leafs as their favourite team, second only to the Montreal Canadiens at 26 percent. The Leafs were found to be the most favoured team in Prince Edward Island, with 24 percent of respondents favouring the Leafs; and the second favourite team in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador (19 and 24 percent respectively, both trailing respondents who favoured the Canadiens by one percent).
=== Rivalries ===
During the 25 years of the Original Six era (1942–67), teams played each other 14 times during the regular season, and with only four teams continuing into the playoffs, rivalries were intense. The Maple Leafs established several rivalries with other teams that played in this era, including the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and the Montreal Canadiens. In addition to the aforementioned teams, the Maple Leafs have also developed a rivalry with the Ottawa Senators, as well as a minor geographic rivalry with the Buffalo Sabres called the Battle of the QEW after the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), the freeway that links Buffalo with Toronto along the western edge of Lake Ontario within the Golden Horseshoe.
==== Boston Bruins ====
Both teams are Original Six teams, with their first game played in Boston's inaugural season on December 3, 1924. In the match-up, the St. Patricks earned a 5–3 victory against the Bruins at Mutual Street Arena. The Maple Leafs played their first Stanley Cup playoff series against the Bruins in 1933, winning the series 3–2. From 1933 to 2019, the two teams played in 16 postseason series against one another, including one Stanley Cup Final.
The rivalry has since been renewed from the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs which saw the Bruins rally from a 4–1 third-period deficit to defeat the Maple Leafs in overtime, 5–4, and advance to the second round. In the 2018, 2019, and 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins would again defeat the Maple Leafs in seven games in all three of those years.
==== Buffalo Sabres ====
The rivalry between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs is due to the 100-mile (160 km) distance between their home arenas (KeyBank Center and Scotiabank Arena respectively). The Sabres won 70 of 103 all-time home games against the Maple Leafs from their inception in 1970–71 until 2015–16 (the last season before Toronto drafted Auston Matthews), despite the always large contingency of Toronto fans at those games. Since the 1998–99 season, both teams have played in the Northeast Division, now the Atlantic Division. Buffalo won the 1999 Eastern Conference finals against Toronto in five games, the only playoff series between the two teams. During the 2018–19 season, Toronto swept Buffalo in the season series for the first time ever. Buffalo previously swept a season series with Toronto in 1979–80, 1987–88, and 1991–92. Due in part to the number of Leafs fans living near or in Buffalo, and in part to Buffalo's relative proximity to Toronto and the rest of Ontario, as well as the lower prices of Sabres tickets, Maple Leafs–Sabres games at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo typically hold around 80 percent of Leafs fans, making it the largest away crowd in the NHL.
==== Detroit Red Wings ====
The Detroit Red Wings and the Maple Leafs are both Original Six teams, playing their first game together in 1927. From 1929 to 1993, the teams met each other in the 16 playoff series, as well as seven Stanley Cup Final. Meeting one another a combined 23 times in the postseason, they have played each other in more playoff series than any other two teams in NHL history except for the Bruins and Canadiens who have played a total of 34 playoff series against each other. Overlapping fanbases, particularly in markets such as Windsor, Ontario, and the surrounding Essex County, have added to the rivalry.
The rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and the Maple Leafs was at its height during the Original Six era. The Leafs and Red Wings met in the playoffs six times during the 1940s, including four Stanley Cup Final series. The Leafs beat the Red Wings in five of their six meetings. In the 1950s, the Leafs and Red Wings met one another in six Stanley Cup semifinals; the Red Wings beat the Leafs in five of their six meetings. From 1961 to 1967, the two teams met one another in three playoff series, including two Stanley Cup Final. Within those 25 years, the Leafs and Red Wings played a total of 15 playoff series including six Cup Final; the Maple Leafs beat the Red Wings in all six Cup Final.
The teams have only met three times in the playoffs since the Original Six era, with their last meeting in 1993. After the Leafs moved to the Eastern Conference in 1998, they faced each other less often, and the rivalry began to stagnate. The rivalry became intradivisional once again in 2013 when Detroit was moved to the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference as part of a realignment. Due in part to the number of Leafs fans living near Detroit and in Michigan, and in part to Detroit's relative proximity to Toronto and the rest of Ontario, Maple Leafs–Red Wings games at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit typically hold at least 40 percent of Leafs fans.
==== Montreal Canadiens ====
The rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and the Maple Leafs is the oldest in the NHL, featuring two clubs that were active since the inaugural NHL season in 1917. In the early 20th century, the rivalry was an embodiment of a larger culture war between English Canada and French Canada. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups, while the Maple Leafs have won 13, ranking them first and second for most Cup wins, respectively.
The height of the rivalry was during the 1960s when the Canadiens and Leafs combined to win all but one Cup. The two clubs had 15 playoff meetings. However, the rivalry has waned with the two having not met in the postseason from 1979 to 2021. It also suffered when Montreal and Toronto were placed in opposite conferences in 1981, with the Leafs in the Clarence Campbell/Western Conference and the Canadiens in the Prince of Wales/Eastern Conference. The rivalry became intradivisional once again in 1998 when the Leafs were moved into the Eastern Conference's Northeast Division.
The rivalry's cultural imprint may be seen in literature and art. The rivalry from the perspective of the Canadiens fan is captured in the popular Canadian short story The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier. Originally published in French as "Une abominable feuille d'érable sur la glace" ("An abominable maple leaf on the ice"), it referred to the Maple Leafs sweater a mother forced her son to wear. The son is presumably based on Carrier himself when he was young. This rivalry is also evident in Toronto's College subway station, which displays murals depicting the two teams, one on each platform (the Leafs mural being on the southbound platform), given that when the murals were installed in 1984, the station was the closest to the Leafs' then-home of Maple Leaf Gardens. Due in part to the large population of Leafs fans living near or in Montreal, and in part to Montreal's relative proximity to Toronto and the rest of Ontario, Maple Leafs–Canadiens games at the Bell Centre in Montreal typically hold a significant amount of Leafs fans.
==== Ottawa Senators ====
The modern Ottawa Senators entered the NHL in 1992, but the rivalry between the two teams did not begin to emerge until the late 1990s. From 1992 to 1998, Ottawa and Toronto played in different conferences (Prince of Wales / Eastern and Clarence Campbell / Western respectively), which meant they rarely played each other. However, before the 1998–99 season, the conferences and divisions were realigned, with Toronto moved to the Eastern Conference's Northeast Division with Ottawa. From 2000 to 2004, the teams played four postseason series; the Leafs won all four playoff series. Due in part to the number of Leafs fans living near or in Ottawa, and in part to Ottawa's relative proximity to Toronto, Maple Leafs–Senators games at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa typically hold more Leafs fans rather than Sens fans, leading to fan chant exchanges with Leafs fans chanting "Go Leafs Go!" and Sens fans chanting "Leafs Suck!" with each chant alternating.
== Team operations ==
=== Branding ===
==== Logo and uniform ====
The team is represented through several images and symbols, including the maple leaf logo found on the club's uniform. The Maple Leafs' jersey has a long history and is one of the best-selling NHL jerseys among fans. The club's uniforms have been altered several times. The club's first uniforms were blue and featured the letter T. The first major alteration came in 1919 when the club was renamed the St. Patricks. The uniforms were green with "Toronto St. Pats" on the logo, lettered in green either on a white "pill" shape or stripes.
When the club was renamed the Maple Leafs in the 1927–28 season, the logo was changed, and the team reverted to blue uniforms. The logo was a 48-point maple leaf with the words lettered in white. The home jersey was blue with alternating thin-thick stripes on the arms, legs and shoulders. The road uniform was white with three stripes on the chest and back, waist and legs. For 1933–34, the alternating thin-thick stripes were replaced with stripes of equal thickness. This remained the basic design for the next 40 years. In 1937, veins were added to the leaf and "Toronto" curved downwards at the ends instead of upwards. In 1942, the 35-point leaf was introduced. In 1946, the logo added trimming to the leaf with a white or blue border, while "C" for captain and "A" for alternate captain first appeared on the sweaters. In 1947, the "Toronto Maple Leafs" lettering was in red for a short time. In 1958, a six-eyelet lace and tie were added to the neck and a blue shoulder yoke was added. In 1961, player numbers were added to the sleeves.
The fourth major change came in the 1966–67 season when the logo was changed to an 11-point leaf, similar to the leaf on the then-new flag of Canada to commemorate the Canadian Centennial. The simpler leaf logo featured the Futura Display typeface, replacing the previous block letters. The stripes on the sleeves and waistline were also changed, adding a wider stripe in between the two thinner stripes (similar to the stripe patterns on the socks and the early Leafs sweaters). Before the 1970–71 season, the Leafs adopted a new 11-point leaf logo, with a Kabel bold-font "Toronto" going straight across, running parallel to the other words. Other changes to the sweater included the replacement of the arm strips with an elongated yoke that extended to the ends of the sleeves, a solid single stripe on the waist replacing the three waistline stripes, two stripes on the stockings, and a smaller, textless Leaf crest on the shoulders. In 1973, the jersey's neck was a lace tie-down design, before the V-neck returned in 1976. In 1977, the NHL rules were changed to require names on the backs of the uniforms, but Harold Ballard resisted the change. Under Ballard's direction, the team briefly "complied" with the rule by placing blue letters on the blue road jersey for a game on February 26, 1978. With the NHL threatening hefty fines for failing to comply with the spirit of the rule (namely, having the names be legible for the fans and broadcasters in attendance), Ballard reached a compromise with the league, allowing the Leafs to finish the 1977–78 season with contrasting white letters on the road sweaters, and coming into full compliance with the new rule in the 1978–79 season by adding names in blue to the white home sweaters.
With the NHL's 75th anniversary season (1991–92 season), the Leafs wore "Original Six" style uniforms similar to the designs used in the 1940s. Because of the fan reaction to the previous season's classic uniforms, the first changes to the Maple Leafs uniform in over 20 years were made. The revised uniforms for 1992–93 featured two stripes on the sleeves and waistline like the classic uniform, but with the 1970 11-point leaf with Kabel text on the front. A vintage-style veined leaf crest was placed on the shoulders. The uniforms would undergo a few modifications over the years.
In 1997, Nike acquired the rights to manufacture Maple Leafs uniforms. Construction changes to the uniform included a wishbone collar and pothole mesh underarms, while the player name and number font were changed to Kabel to match the logo. CCM returned to manufacturing the Leafs uniforms in 1999 when Nike withdrew from the hockey jersey market, and kept most of the changes, although in 2000 the Kabel numbers were replaced with block numbers outlined in silver, and a silver-outlined interlocked TML monogram replaced the vintage leaf on the shoulders. Also during this time, the Leafs began wearing a white 1960s-style throwback third jersey featuring the outlined 35-point leaf, blue shoulders, and lace-up collar.
With Reebok taking over the NHL jersey contract following the 2004–05 lockout, changes were expected when the Edge uniform system was set to debut in 2007. As part of the Edge overhaul, the TML monograms were removed from the shoulders, and the silver outlines on the numbers were replaced with blue or white outlines (e.g. the blue home jersey featured white numbers with blue and white outlines, rather than blue and silver), and the waistline stripes were removed. In 2010, the two waistline stripes were restored, the vintage leaf returned to the shoulders, and the player names and numbers were changed again, reverting to a simpler single-colour block font. Finally, lace-up collars were brought back to the primary uniforms. The Leafs also brought back the 1967–1970 blue uniform, replacing the white 1960s jersey as their third uniform. For the 2014 NHL Winter Classic, the Leafs wore a sweater inspired by their earlier uniforms in the 1930s.
On February 2, 2016, the team unveiled a new logo for the 2016–17 season in honour of its centennial, dropping the use of the Kabel-style font lettering used from 1970; it returns the logo to a form inspired by the earlier designs, with 31 points to allude to the 1931 opening of Maple Leaf Gardens, and 17 veins a reference to its establishment in 1917. 13 of the veins are positioned along the top part in honour of its 13 Stanley Cup victories. The logo was subsequently accompanied by a new uniform design that was unveiled during the 2016 NHL entry draft on June 24, 2016. In addition to the new logo, the new uniforms feature a custom block typeface for the player names and numbers. Two stripes remain on the sleeves, with a single stripe at the waistline. The updated design carried over to the Adidas Adizero uniforms adopted by the NHL in 2017.
The Maple Leafs have worn historical throwback uniforms for select games, with the club wearing Toronto Arenas or St. Pats-inspired throwback designs. Additionally, the Leafs have also used contemporary "historically inspired" uniforms as an alternate uniform. For the Centennial Classic, each Leafs player wore a blue sweater with bold white stripes across the chest and arms; the white stripe being a tribute to the St. Pats, while a stylized-"T" used by the Arenas featured on their hockey pants. For the 2020–21 season, the Maple Leafs wore "reverse retro" alternate uniforms, which included silver stripes inspired by the uniforms used from 1970 to 1972, while using the club's logo used from 1967 to 1970. Then for the 2022 Heritage Classic, the Maple Leafs donned a modified version of the team's Arenas throwbacks, with blue-on-blue lettering on the "Arenas" wordmark as a nod to the infamous 1978 uniforms. A second "reverse retro" alternate uniform, featuring the blue version of the white road uniforms they wore in 1962, was released. This design added a white shoulder yoke which was absent on the original blue uniform.
Other alternate uniforms worn by the team include a white uniform with two blue stripes across the chest and arms, paired this uniform with white pants worn for the 2018 NHL Stadium Series. The uniforms were largely coloured white as a tribute to the Royal Canadian Navy and also included bolder blue outlines to create uniforms more pronounced for outdoor settings.
During the 2021–22 season, the Leafs named TikTok, a video-sharing website, as their helmet entitlement partner. Then in the 2022–23 season, the Maple Leafs announced a uniform sponsorship with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, utilizing the organization's "Milk" insignia. For the 2023–24 season, Pizza Pizza became the team's helmet entitlement partner; however, they were only featured on the home helmets. In the 2024–25 season, Mondelez International's Oreo cookie served as the team's helmet entitlement partner, placing them on all of their helmets.
On March 22, 2022, the Maple Leafs unveiled a new alternate uniform, but for the first time in team history, black served as a base colour with the traditional blue serving as a trim colour. The "Next Gen" uniform features the team crest with a blue and black tie-dye background, along with a subtle black/blue skyline motif serving as sleeve stripes. It also comes with a reversible crest, featuring Canadian singer Justin Bieber's modified drew house insignia inside a yellow Maple Leafs logo and yellow stripes. The black/blue front is normally worn as a game uniform.
==== Mascot ====
The Maple Leafs' mascot is Carlton the Bear, an anthropomorphic polar bear whose name and number (#60) come from the location of Maple Leaf Gardens at 60 Carlton Street, where the Leafs played throughout much of their history. Carlton made his first public appearance on July 29, 1995. He later made his regular season appearance on October 10, 1995.
=== Broadcasting ===
As a result of both Bell Canada and Rogers Communications having an ownership stake in MLSE, Maple Leafs broadcasts are split between the two media companies; with regional TV broadcasts split between Rogers' Sportsnet Ontario and Bell's TSN4. Colour commentary for Bell's television broadcasts is performed by Mike Johnson, while play-by-play is provided by Gord Miller. Colour commentary for Rogers' television broadcasts is performed by Craig Simpson, while play-by-play is provided by Chris Cuthbert; both also serve as the lead broadcast team of Hockey Night in Canada and Sportsnet's national TV broadcasts. From 2001 to 2022, MLSE also operated a specialty channel, the Leafs Nation Network.
Like the Maple Leafs television broadcasts, radio broadcasts are split evenly between Rogers' CJCL (Sportsnet 590, The Fan) and Bell's CHUM (TSN Radio 1050). Both Bell and Rogers' radio broadcasts have their colour commentary provided by Jim Ralph, with play-by-play provided by Joe Bowen.
Radio broadcasts of games played by the club were started in 1923. The first Leafs hockey game that was televised occurred on November 10, 1952; the broadcast also being the first English-language television broadcast of an NHL game in Canada. Foster Hewitt was the Leafs' first play-by-play broadcaster, providing radio play-by-play from 1927 to 1978. In addition, he provided play-by-play for television from 1952 to 1958, and colour commentary from 1958 to 1961. Originally aired over CFCA, Hewitt's broadcast was picked up by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (the CRBC) in 1933, moving to CBC Radio (the CRBC's successor) three years later.
=== Home arenas and practice facilities ===
The team's first home was the Arena Gardens, later known as the Mutual Street Arena. From 1912 until 1931, the Arena was ice hockey's premier site in Toronto. The Arena Gardens was the third arena in Canada to feature a mechanically frozen, or artificial, ice surface, and for 11 years was the only such facility in Eastern Canada. The Arena was demolished in 1989, with most of the site converted to residential developments. In 2011, parts of the site were made into a city park, known as Arena Gardens.
Within six months in 1931, Conn Smythe built Maple Leaf Gardens on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street, for C$1.5 million (C$30 million in 2025). The arena soon acquired nicknames including the "Carlton Street Cashbox", and the "Maple Leaf Mint", since the team's games were constantly sold out. The Maple Leafs won 11 Stanley Cups while playing at the Gardens. The first annual NHL All-Star Game was also held at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1947. The Gardens opened on November 12, 1931, with the Maple Leafs losing 2–1 to the Chicago Blackhawks. On February 13, 1999, the Maple Leafs played their last game at the Gardens, also suffering a 6–2 loss to the Blackhawks. The building is presently used as a multi-purpose facility, with a Loblaws grocery store occupying retail space on the lower floors, Joe Fresh and LCBO occupying another floor, and an athletics arena for Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) occupying the topmost level.
The Maple Leafs presently use two facilities in the City of Toronto. The club moved from the Gardens on February 20, 1999, to their current home arena, Air Canada Centre, later renamed Scotiabank Arena, a multi-purpose indoor entertainment arena on Bay Street in the South Core neighbourhood of Downtown Toronto. The arena is owned by the Maple Leafs' parent company MLSE and is shared with the NBA's Toronto Raptors (another MLSE subsidiary), as well as the National Lacrosse League's Toronto Rock. In addition to the main arena, the Maple Leafs also operate a practice facility at the Ford Performance Centre. The facility was opened in 2009 and operated by the Lakeshore Lions Club until September 2011, when the City of Toronto took over ownership of the facility after the Lions Club faced financial difficulties. The facility now operates as a City of Toronto-controlled corporation. The facility was known as the Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence until 2019 when it was renamed the Ford Performance Centre. The facility has three NHL rinks and one Olympic-sized rink.
On January 1, 2017, the Maple Leafs played the Detroit Red Wings in a home game at BMO Field, an outdoor multipurpose stadium at Exhibition Place, home to Leafs owner MLSE's other teams: the Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts. Known as the NHL Centennial Classic, the outdoor game served as a celebration for both the centennial season of the franchise and the NHL.
=== Minor league affiliates ===
The Maple Leafs are affiliated with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, the Marlies play from Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto. The Maple Leafs' parent company has owned the Marlies franchise since 1978.
The first AHL affiliate owned by the Maple Leafs was the Rochester Americans, a team the Leafs initially co-owned with the Montreal Canadiens from 1956 to 1959, before MLGL bought out the Canadiens' share in the team. MLGL held sole ownership of the team until it was sold to an investor group in 1966. However, it continued to serve as their minor league affiliate until 1969. The Leafs did not have an AHL affiliate from 1969 to 1978 and relied on placing their drafted players with other team's affiliates. However, after several poor draft picks and having insufficient control over their prospect's development, MLGL opted to reestablish their own farm system; co-founding the Marlies franchise in 1978, and operating the Cincinnati Tigers of the Central Hockey League from 1981 to 1982. The Marlies were initially established as the New Brunswick Hawks, and were later relocated to St. Catherines, Newmarket, and St. John's, before finally moving to Toronto in 2005.
The Newfoundland Growlers were the ECHL affiliate of the Maple Leafs from 2018 until 2024, they played from the Mary Brown's Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland. Unlike the Marlies, the Growlers were not owned by the Leafs' parent company but were instead owned by Deacon Sports and Entertainment. The Growlers folded in 2024. The Cincinnati Cyclones signed an agreement to become the ECHL affiliate of the Maple Leafs in July 2024.
The Marlies were named after the Toronto Marlboros, a junior hockey team named after the Duke of Marlborough. Founded in 1903, the Marlboros were sponsored by the Leafs from 1927 to 1989. The Marlboros constituted one of two junior hockey teams the Leafs formerly sponsored, the other being the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. The sponsored junior system served as the Leafs primary farm system for young replacement players from the 1940s to 1950s. Formal NHL sponsorship of junior teams ceased in 1966, making all qualifying prospects not already on NHL-sponsored lists eligible for the draft.
=== Ownership ===
The Maple Leafs is one of six professional sports teams owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). In 2024, Forbes estimated the value of the club at US$3.8 billion, making the Maple Leafs the most valuable franchise in the NHL. However, MLSE has refuted past valuations made by Forbes.
Initially, ownership of the club was held by the Arena Gardens of Toronto, Limited; an ownership group fronted by Henry Pellatt that owned and managed Arena Gardens. The club was named a permanent franchise in the League following its inaugural season, with team manager Charles Querrie, and the Arena Gardens treasurer Hubert Vearncombe as its owners. The Arena Company owned the club until 1919 when litigations from Eddie Livingstone forced the company to declare bankruptcy. Querrie brokered the sale of the Arena Garden's share to the owners of the amateur St. Patricks Hockey Club. Maintaining his shares in the club, Querrie fronted the new ownership group until 1927, when the club was put up for sale. Toronto Varsity Blues coach Conn Smythe put together an ownership group and purchased the franchise for $160,000. In 1929, Smythe decided, amid the Great Depression, that the Maple Leafs needed a new arena. To finance it, Smythe launched Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL), a publicly traded management company to own both the Maple Leafs and the new arena, which was named Maple Leaf Gardens. Smythe traded his stake in the Leafs for shares in MLGL and sold shares in the holding company to the public to help fund construction for the arena.
Although Smythe was the face of MLGL from its founding, he did not gain a controlling interest in the company until 1947. Smythe remained MLGL's principal owner until 1961 when he sold 90 percent of his shares to an ownership group consisting of Harold Ballard, John W. H. Bassett and Stafford Smythe. Ballard became majority owner in February 1972 shortly following the death of Stafford Smythe. Ballard was the principal owner of MLGL until he died in 1990. The company remained a publicly traded company until 1998, when an ownership group fronted by Steve Stavro privatized the company by acquiring more than the 90 percent of stock necessary to force objecting shareholders out.
While initially primarily a hockey company, with ownership stakes in several junior hockey clubs including the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, the company later branched out to own the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League from the late 1970s to late 1980s (though the company would later sell off the Tiger-Cats). On February 12, 1998, MLGL purchased the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association, who were constructing the then–Air Canada Centre. After MLGL acquired the Raptors, the company changed its name to MLSE. The company's portfolio has since expanded to include the Toronto FC of Major League Soccer, the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and a 37.5 percent stake in Maple Leaf Square.
In 2012, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (the company's former principal owner) announced the sale of its 75 percent stake in MLSE to a consortium made up of telecommunications rivals Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, in a deal valued at $1.32 billion. As part of the sale, two numbered companies were created to jointly hold stock. This ownership structure ensures that, at the shareholder level, Rogers and Bell vote their overall 75 percent interest in the company together and thus decisions on the management of the company must be made by consensus between the two. A portion of Bell's share in MLSE is owned by its pension fund, to make Bell's share in MLSE under 30 percent. This was done so that Bell could retain its existing 18 percent interest in the Montreal Canadiens; as NHL's conflict of interest rules prevent any shareholder that owns more than 30 percent of a team from holding an ownership position in another. The remaining 25 percent is owned by Larry Tanenbaum, who is also the chairman of MLSE.
In July 2025, Rogers purchased bell's 37.5% share of MLSE for $4.7 billion to become majority owners.
== Season-by-season record ==
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Maple Leafs. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Toronto Maple Leafs seasons
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
== Players and personnel ==
=== Current roster ===
Updated March 14, 2026
=== Team captains ===
In all, 25 individuals have served as captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ken Randall served as the team's first captain for two years beginning with the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season. John Ross Roach was the first goaltender to be named captain in the NHL, and the only goaltender to serve as the Leafs' captain. He was one of only six goalies in NHL history to have been officially recognized as the team captain. George Armstrong served as captain from 1958 through 1969 and was the longest-serving captain in the team's history. In 1997, Mats Sundin became the first non-Canadian to captain the Maple Leafs. His tenure as captain holds the distinction as the longest captaincy for a non-North American-born player in NHL history. The most recent player named to the position was Auston Matthews on August 14, 2024.
Three captains of the Maple Leafs have held the position at multiple points in their careers. Syl Apps' first tenure as the captain began from 1940 to 1943, before he stepped down and left the club to enlist in the Canadian Army. Bob Davidson served as the Maple Leafs captain until Apps' return from the Army in 1945 and resumed his captaincy until 1948. Ted Kennedy's first tenure as captain was from 1948 to 1955. He announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 1954–55 season, with Sid Smith succeeding him as captain. Although Kennedy missed the entire 1955–56 season, he came out of retirement to play the second half of the 1956–57 season. During that half-season, Kennedy served his second tenure as the Maple Leafs' captain. Darryl Sittler was the third player to have been named the team's captain twice. As a result of a dispute between Sittler and the Maple Leafs' general manager Punch Imlach, Sittler relinquished the captaincy on December 29, 1979. The dispute was resolved in the following off-season after a heart attack hospitalized Imlach. Sittler arranged talks with Ballard to resolve the issue, eventually resuming his captaincy on September 24, 1980. No replacement captain was named during the interim period.
=== Head coaches ===
The Maple Leafs have had 41 head coaches (including four interim coaches). The franchise's first head coach was Dick Carroll, who coached the team for two seasons. Several coaches have served as the Leafs head coach on multiple occasions. King Clancy was named the head coach on three occasions while Charles Querrie and Punch Imlach served the position on two occasions. Craig Berube is the current head coach. He was named coach on May 17, 2024.
Punch Imlach coached the most regular season games of any Leafs' head coach with 770 games, and has the most all-time points with the Maple Leafs, with 865. He is followed by Pat Quinn, who coached 574 games, with 678 points all-time with the Maple Leafs. Both Mike Rodden and Dick Duff, have the fewest points with the Maple Leafs, with 0. Both were interim coaches who coached only two games each in 1927 and 1980 respectively, losing both games. Sheldon Keefe earned the most points of any Leafs head coach in a single season, with 115 points during the 2021–22 season. Five Maple Leafs' coaches have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as players, while four others were inducted as builders. Pat Burns is the only Leafs' head coach to win a Jack Adams Award with the team.
=== Draft picks ===
In the 1963 NHL amateur draft, the NHL's inaugural draft, the Maple Leafs selected Walt McKechnie, a centre from the London Nationals with their first pick, sixth overall. Two Maple Leafs captains were obtained through the draft, Darryl Sittler in the 1970 draft; as well as Wendel Clark in the 1985 draft. The Maple Leafs have drafted two players with a first overall draft pick; Clark in the 1985 draft, and Auston Matthews in the 2016 draft. Other notable Maple Leafs draft picks and current players with the team are defenceman Morgan Rielly (fifth overall, 2012), and wingers William Nylander and Mitch Marner (eighth and fourth overall in 2014 and 2015 respectively). The team's most recent first round selection was Ben Danford, at 31st overall in the 2024 draft.
=== Announcers ===
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had four PA announcers in their history. In addition, Harold (Hap) Watson was the Toronto Arenas' announcer in 1929 before the team moved to Maple Leaf Gardens and became the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Walter (Red) Barber (1931–1961)
Paul Morris (1961–1999)
Andy Frost (1999–2016)
Mike Ross (2016–present)
== Team and league honours ==
The Maple Leafs have won 13 Stanley Cups in its history. Toronto's first two Stanley Cups, in 1918 and 1922, took place when the Stanley Cup tournament operated as an interleague competition. Toronto's subsequent 11 Stanley Cups were awarded after 1926 when the Cup was established as the championship trophy of the NHL. The Maple Leafs won their last Stanley Cup in 1967, with the team's 57-season Stanley Cup drought being the longest championship drought in the NHL. The Maple Leafs were also awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy twice, following the 1946–47 season, and the 1962–63 season. The Prince of Wales Trophy was awarded to the club when it was used as NHL's regular season championship trophy.
=== Retired numbers ===
The Maple Leafs have retired the numbers of 19 players; as some players used the same number, only 13 numbers have been retired. Between October 17, 1992, and October 15, 2016, the Maple Leafs took a unique approach to retired numbers. Whereas players who suffered a career-ending injury had their numbers retired, "great" players had their number "honoured". Honoured numbers remained in general circulation for players, however, during Brian Burke's tenure as the Maple Leafs' general manager, the use of honoured numbers required his approval.
During this period, only two players met the criteria for retirement, the first being number 6, worn by Ace Bailey and retired on February 14, 1934; and Bill Barilko's number 5, retired on October 17, 1992. The retirement of Bailey's number was the first of its kind in professional sports. It was briefly taken out of retirement after Bailey asked that Ron Ellis be allowed to wear his number. Bailey's number returned to retirement after Ellis's final game on January 14, 1981.
The first players to have their numbers honoured were Syl Apps and Ted Kennedy, on October 3, 1993. Mats Sundin was the last player to have his number honoured on February 11, 2012. On October 15, 2016, before the home opening game of the team's centenary season, the Maple Leafs announced they had changed their philosophy on retiring numbers, and that the numbers of those 16 honoured players would now be retired, in addition to the retirement of Dave Keon's number.
As well as honouring and retiring the numbers, the club also commissioned statues of former Maple Leafs. The group of statues, known as Legends Row, is a 9.2 metres (30 ft) granite hockey bench with statues of former club players. Unveiled in September 2014, it is located outside Gate 5 of Scotiabank Arena, at Maple Leaf Square. As of October 2017, statues have been made of 14 players with retired numbers.
In addition to the 13 numbers retired by the Maple Leafs, the number 99 is also retired from use in the organization. At the 2000 NHL All-Star Game hosted in Toronto, the NHL announced the league-wide retirement of Wayne Gretzky's number 99, retiring it from use throughout all its member teams, including the Maple Leafs.
=== Hall of Fame ===
The Toronto Maple Leafs acknowledge an affiliation with 78 inductees of the Hockey Hall of Fame, including 64 former players as well as 13 builders of the sport. The Maple Leafs have the greatest number of players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame of any NHL team. The 13 individuals recognized as builders of the sport include former Maple Leafs broadcasters, executives, head coaches, and other personnel relating to the club's operations. Inducted in 2017, Dave Andreychuk was the latest Maple Leafs player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In addition to players and builders, five broadcasters for the Maple Leafs were also awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1984, radio broadcaster Foster Hewitt was awarded the Hall of Fame's inaugural Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, an award named after him. Before the award's creation, Hewitt had already been inducted as a builder into the Hall of Fame. Other Maple Leafs broadcasters that received the award include Wes McKnight in 1986, Bob Cole in 2007, Bill Hewitt in 2007 and Joe Bowen in 2018.
Players
Builders
=== Franchise career leaders ===
These are the top franchise leaders in regular season points, goals, assists, points per game, games played, and goaltending wins as of the end of the 2024–25 season.
* – current Maple Leafs player |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka#Stories | Franz Kafka#Stories | Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature, his works fuse elements of realism and the fantastique, and typically feature isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surreal predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. The term Kafkaesque has entered the lexicon to describe situations like those depicted in his writings. His best-known works include the novella The Metamorphosis (1915) and the novels The Trial (1924) and The Castle (1926). He is also celebrated for his brief fables and aphorisms, which frequently incorporated comedic elements alongside the darker themes of his longer works. His work has widely influenced artists, philosophers, composers, filmmakers, literary historians, religious scholars, and cultural theorists, and his writings have been seen as prophetic or premonitory of a totalitarian future.
Kafka was born into a middle-class German- and Yiddish-speaking Czech Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (later the capital of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic). He trained as a lawyer, and after completing his legal education was employed full-time in various legal and insurance jobs. His professional obligations led to internal conflict as he felt that his true vocation was writing. Only a minority of his works were published during his life; the story collections Contemplation (1912) and A Country Doctor (1919), and individual stories, such as his novella The Metamorphosis, were published in literary magazines, but they received little attention. He wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formal relationship. He became engaged to several women but never married. He died relatively unknown in 1924 of tuberculosis, aged 40. His literary executor and friend Max Brod ignored Kafka's wishes to destroy his remaining works, publishing them to eventual acclaim.
== Life ==
=== Early life ===
Kafka was born near the Old Town Square in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family were German-speaking middle-class Ashkenazi Jews. His father, Hermann Kafka, was the fourth child of Jakob Kafka, a shochet or kosher butcher in Osek, a Czech village with a large Jewish population located near Strakonice in southern Bohemia. Hermann "came to Prague in the 1870s and opened a store selling haberdashery and ladies' accessories". He employed up to 15 people and used the image of a jackdaw (kavka in Czech, pronounced and colloquially written as kafka) as his business logo. Kafka's mother, Julie, was the daughter of Jakob Löwy, a "cloth-maker in Humpolec in eastern Bohemia".
Kafka's parents, from traditional Jewish society, spoke German replete with influences from their native Yiddish; their children, raised in an acculturated environment, spoke Standard German. The cleanliness and "almost platonic purity" of Kafka's German may derive from the fact that he grew up speaking the language in a country whose primary language was not German. His prose is not marked by slang or fads of contemporary usage that was typical of his generational peers from the heart of the empire in Vienna or, for that matter, from the center of the Second Reich in Berlin.
Hermann and Julie had six children, of whom Franz was the eldest. Franz's two brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died in infancy before Franz was seven; his three sisters were Gabriele ("Elli"), Valerie ("Valli") and Ottilie ("Ottla"). All three were murdered in the Holocaust of World War II. Valli was deported to the Łódź Ghetto in occupied Poland in 1942, but that is the last documentation of her; it is assumed she did not survive the war. Ottilie was Kafka's favourite sister.
Hermann is described by Kafka scholar and translator Stanley Corngold as a "huge, selfish, overbearing businessman" and by Franz Kafka as "a true Kafka in strength, health, appetite, loudness of voice, eloquence, self-satisfaction, worldly dominance, endurance, presence of mind, knowledge of human nature, a certain way of doing things on a grand scale, of course also with all the defects and weaknesses that go with these advantages and into which your temperament and sometimes your hot temper drive you". On business days, both parents were absent from the home, with Julie Kafka working as many as 12 hours each day helping to manage the family business. Consequently, Kafka's childhood was somewhat lonely, and the children were reared largely by a series of governesses and servants. Kafka's troubled relationship with his father is evident in his Brief an den Vater (Letter to His Father) of more than 100 pages, in which he complains of being profoundly affected by his father's authoritarian and demanding character; his mother, in contrast, was quiet and shy. The dominating figure of Kafka's father had a significant influence on Kafka's writing.
The Kafka family had a servant girl living with them in a cramped apartment. Franz's room was often cold. In November 1913, the family moved into a bigger apartment, although Ellie and Valli had married and moved out of the first apartment. In early August 1914, just after World War I began, the sisters did not know where their husbands were in the military and moved back in with the family in this larger apartment. Both Ellie and Valli also had children. Franz at age 31 moved into Valli's former apartment, quiet by contrast, and lived by himself for the first time.
=== Education ===
From 1889 to 1893, Kafka attended the German boys' elementary school at the Masný trh/Fleischmarkt (meat market), now known as Masná Street. His Jewish education ended with his bar mitzvah celebration at the age of 13. Kafka never enjoyed attending the synagogue and went with his father only on four high holidays each year.
After leaving elementary school in 1893, Kafka was admitted to the rigorous classics-oriented state gymnasium, Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium, an academic secondary school at Old Town Square, located within Kinský Palace. German was the language of instruction, but Kafka also spoke and wrote in Czech. He studied the latter at the gymnasium for eight years, achieving good grades. Kafka received compliments for his Czech, but never considered himself fluent in the language. He spoke German with a Czech accent. He completed his Matura exams in 1901.
Kafka was admitted to the Deutsche Karl-Ferdinands-Universität of Prague in 1901. He was originally admitted for philosophy, and he had additionally signed up for chemistry. Kafka began studying chemistry but switched to law after two weeks. Although this field did not excite him, it offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father. In addition, law required a longer course of study, giving Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. He also joined a student club, Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten (Reading and Lecture Hall of the German students), which organised literary events, readings and other activities. Among Kafka's friends were the journalist Felix Weltsch, who studied philosophy, the actor Yitzchak Lowy who came from an orthodox Hasidic Warsaw family, and the writers Ludwig Winder, Oskar Baum and Franz Werfel.
At the end of his first year of studies, Kafka met Max Brod, a fellow law student who became a close friend for life. Years later, Brod coined the term Der enge Prager Kreis ("The Close Prague Circle") to describe the group of writers, which included Kafka, Felix Weltsch and Brod himself. Brod soon noticed that, although Kafka was shy and seldom spoke, what he said was usually profound. Kafka was an avid reader throughout his life; together he and Brod read Plato's Protagoras in the original Greek, on Brod's initiative, and Gustave Flaubert's L'éducation sentimentale and La Tentation de St. Antoine (The Temptation of Saint Anthony) in French, at his own suggestion. Kafka considered Fyodor Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Nikolai Gogol, Franz Grillparzer, and Heinrich von Kleist to be his "true blood brothers". Besides these, he took an interest in Czech literature and was also fond of the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, though his "admiration for Goethe was, however, somewhat ambivalent: 'By the power of his works Goethe probably holds back the development of the German language.'" Kafka was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as a law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
=== Employment ===
On 1 November 1907, Kafka was employed at the Assicurazioni Generali, an insurance company, where he worked for nearly a year. His correspondence during that period indicates that he was unhappy with a work schedule—from 08:00 until 18:00—that made it extremely difficult to concentrate on writing, which was assuming increasing importance to him. On 15 July 1908, he resigned. Two weeks later, he found employment more amenable to writing when he joined the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia (Úrazová pojišťovna dělnická pro Čechy v Praze). The job involved investigating and assessing compensation for personal injury to industrial workers; accidents such as lost fingers or limbs were commonplace, owing to poor work safety policies at the time. It was especially true of factories fitted with machine lathes, drills, planing machines and rotary saws, which were rarely fitted with safety guards.
His father often referred to his son's job as an insurance officer as a Brotberuf, literally "bread job", a job done only to pay the bills; Kafka often claimed to despise it. Kafka was rapidly promoted and his duties included processing and investigating compensation claims, writing reports, and handling appeals from businessmen who thought their firms had been placed in too high a risk category, which cost them more in insurance premiums. He would compile and compose the annual report on the insurance institute for the several years he worked there. The reports were well received by his superiors. Kafka usually got off work at 2 p.m., so that he had time to spend on his literary work, to which he was committed. Kafka's father also expected him to help out at and take over the family fancy goods store. In his later years, Kafka's illness often prevented him from working at the insurance bureau and at his writing.
In late 1911, Elli's husband Karl Hermann and Kafka became partners in the first asbestos factory in Prague, known as Prager Asbestwerke Hermann & Co., having used dowry money from Hermann Kafka. Kafka showed a positive attitude at first, dedicating much of his free time to the business, but he later resented the encroachment of this work on his writing time. During that period, he also found interest and entertainment in the performances of Yiddish theatre. After seeing a Yiddish theatre troupe perform in October 1911, for the next six months Kafka "immersed himself in Yiddish language and in Yiddish literature". This interest also served as a starting point for his growing exploration of Judaism. It was at about this time that Kafka became a vegetarian. Around 1915, Kafka received his draft notice for military service in World War I, but his employers at the insurance institute arranged for a deferment because his work was considered essential government service. He later attempted to join the military but was prevented from doing so by medical problems associated with tuberculosis, with which he was diagnosed in 1917. In 1918, the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute put Kafka on a pension due to his illness, for which there was no cure at the time, and he spent most of the rest of his life in sanatoriums.
=== Personal life ===
Kafka never married. According to Brod, Kafka was "tortured" by sexual desire and filled with a fear of "sexual failure". Kafka visited brothels for most of his adult life, and his collection of erotica and pornographic photographs demonstrates a connoisseur's range of interest in the genre. In addition, he had close relationships with several women during his lifetime. On 13 August 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, a relative of Brod's, who worked in Berlin as a representative of a dictaphone company. A week after the meeting at Brod's home, Kafka wrote in his diary:
Miss FB. When I arrived at Brod's on 13 August, she was sitting at the table. I was not at all curious about who she was, but rather took her for granted at once. Bony, empty face that wore its emptiness openly. Bare throat. A blouse thrown on. Looked very domestic in her dress although, as it turned out, she by no means was. (I alienate myself from her a little by inspecting her so closely…) Almost broken nose. Blonde, somewhat straight, unattractive hair, strong chin. As I was taking my seat I looked at her closely for the first time, by the time I was seated I already had an unshakeable opinion.
Shortly after this meeting, Kafka wrote the story "Das Urteil" ("The Judgment") in only one night and in a productive period worked on Der Verschollene (The Man Who Disappeared) and Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis). Kafka and Felice Bauer communicated mostly through letters over the next five years, met occasionally, and were engaged twice. Kafka's extant letters to Bauer were published as Briefe an Felice (Letters to Felice); her letters did not survive. After he had written to Bauer's father asking to marry her, Kafka wrote in his diary:
My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature… I am nothing but literature and can and want to be nothing else.... Nervous states of the worst sort control me without pause… A marriage could not change me, just as my job cannot change me.
According to the biographers Stach and James Hawes, Kafka became engaged a third time around 1920, to Julie Wohryzek, a poor and uneducated hotel chambermaid. Kafka's father objected to Wohryzek because of her Zionist beliefs. Although Kafka and Wohryzek rented a flat and set a wedding date, the marriage never took place. During this time, Kafka began a draft of Letter to His Father. Before the date of the intended marriage, he took up with yet another woman.
Stach and Brod state that during the time that Kafka knew Felice Bauer, he had an affair with a friend of hers, Margarethe "Grete" Bloch, a Jewish woman from Berlin. Brod says that Bloch gave birth to Kafka's son, although Kafka never knew about the child. The boy, whose name is not known, was born in 1914 or 1915 and died in Munich in 1921. However, Kafka's biographer Peter-André Alt says that, while Bloch had a son, Kafka was not the father, as the pair were never intimate. Stach notes contradictory evidence as to whether Kafka was the father.
Kafka was diagnosed with tuberculosis in August 1917 and moved for a few months to the Bohemian village of Zürau (Siřem in Czech), where his sister Ottla worked on the farm of her brother-in-law Karl Hermann. He felt comfortable there and later described this time as perhaps the best period of his life, probably because he had no responsibilities. He kept diaries and made notes in exercise books (Oktavhefte). From those notes, Kafka extracted 109 numbered pieces of text on single pieces of paper (Zettel); these were later published as Die Zürauer Aphorismen oder Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg (The Zürau Aphorisms or Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way).
In 1920, Kafka began an intense relationship with Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist and writer who was non-Jewish and who was married, but whose marriage, when she met Kafka, was a "sham". His letters to her were later published as Briefe an Milena. During a vacation in July 1923 to Graal-Müritz on the Baltic Sea, Kafka met Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher from an orthodox Jewish family. Kafka, hoping to escape the influence of his family to concentrate on his writing, moved briefly to Berlin (September 1923-March 1924) and lived with Diamant. She became his lover and reignited his interest in the Talmud. He completed four stories, which were published shortly after his death under the title of one of them, Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist).
=== Siblings ===
Kafka's parents had six children; Franz was the eldest. His two brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died in infancy; his three sisters, Gabriele ("Elli") (22 September 1889 – fall of 1942), Valerie ("Valli") (1890–1942) and Ottilie ("Ottla") (1892–1943), are believed to have been murdered in the Holocaust of the Second World War. Ottilie was Kafka's favourite sister.
Gabriele was Kafka's eldest sister. She was known as Elli or Ellie; her married name is variously rendered as Hermann or Hermannová. She attended a German girls' school in Prague's Řeznická Street and later a private girls' secondary school. She married Karl Hermann (1883–1939), a salesman, in 1910. The couple had a son, Felix (1911–1940), and two daughters, Gertrude (Gerti) Kaufmann (1912–1972), and Hanna Seidner (1920–1941). After her marriage to Hermann, she became closer to her brother, whose letters showed an active interest in the upbringing and education of her children. He accompanied her on a 1915 trip to Hungary to visit Hermann, who was stationed there, and spent a summer with her and her children in Müritz the year before he died.
With the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, the Hermann family business experienced financial difficulties and eventually went bankrupt. Karl Hermann died 27 February 1939, and Elli was supported financially by her sisters. On 21 October 1941, she was deported together with her daughter Hanna to the Łódź Ghetto, where she lived temporarily with her sister Valli and Valli's husband in the spring of 1942. She was probably killed in the Kulmhof extermination camp in the fall of 1942. Of Elli's three children, only her daughter Gerti survived the Second World War. A memorial plaque commemorates the three sisters at the family grave in the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague.
=== Personality ===
Kafka had a lifelong suspicion that people found him mentally and physically repulsive. However, those who met him found him to possess a quiet and cool demeanor, obvious intelligence and a dry sense of humour; they also found him boyishly handsome, although of austere appearance. Kafka was thought to be "very self-analytic". Brod compared Kafka to Heinrich von Kleist, noting that both writers had the ability to describe a situation realistically with precise details. Brod thought Kafka was one of the most entertaining people he had met; Kafka enjoyed sharing his humour with his friends but also helped them in difficult situations with good advice. According to Brod, he was a passionate reciter, able to phrase his speech as though it were music. Brod felt that two of Kafka's most distinguishing traits were "absolute truthfulness" (absolute Wahrhaftigkeit) and "precise conscientiousness" (präzise Gewissenhaftigkeit). He explored inconspicuous details in depth and with such precision and love that unforeseen things surfaced that seemed strange but absolutely true (nichts als wahr).
Kafka's letters and unexpurgated diaries reveal homoerotic themes, including a scenario with novelist Franz Werfel and references to the work of Hans Blüher on male bonding. Saul Friedländer argues that this mental struggle may have informed the themes of alienation and psychological brutality in his writing.
Although Kafka showed little interest in exercise as a child, he later developed a passion for games and physical activity and was an accomplished rider, swimmer, and rower. On weekends, he and his friends embarked on long hikes, often planned by Kafka himself. His other interests included alternative medicine, modern education systems such as Montessori, and technological novelties such as airplanes and film. Writing was vitally important to Kafka; he considered it a "form of prayer". He was highly sensitive to noise and preferred absolute quiet when writing. Kafka was also a vegetarian and did not drink alcohol.
Pérez-Álvarez has claimed that Kafka had symptomatology consistent with schizoid personality disorder. His style, it is claimed, not only in Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) but in other writings, appears to show low- to medium-level schizoid traits, which Pérez-Álvarez claims to have influenced much of his work. His anguish can be seen in this diary entry from 21 June 1913:
and in Zürau Aphorism number 50:
The Italian medical researchers Alessia Coralli and Antonio Perciaccante have posited in a 2016 article that Kafka may have had borderline personality disorder with co-occurring psychophysiological insomnia. Joan Lachkar interpreted Die Verwandlung as "a vivid depiction of the borderline personality" and described the story as "model for Kafka's own abandonment fears, anxiety, depression, and parasitic dependency needs. Kafka illuminated the borderline's general confusion of normal and healthy desires, wishes, and needs with something ugly and disdainful".
Though Kafka never married, he held marriage and children in high esteem. He had several girlfriends and lovers during his life. He may have suffered from an eating disorder. Doctor Manfred M. Fichter of the Psychiatric Clinic, University of Munich, presented "evidence for the hypothesis that the writer Franz Kafka had suffered from an atypical anorexia nervosa", and that Kafka was not just lonely and depressed but also "occasionally suicidal". In his 1995 book Franz Kafka, the Jewish Patient, Sander Gilman investigated contemporaneous views about "why a Jew might have been considered 'hypochondriacal' or 'homosexual' and how Kafka incorporates aspects of these ways of understanding the Jewish male into his own self-image and writing". Kafka considered suicide at least once, in late 1912.
=== Political views ===
Before World War I, Kafka attended several meetings of the Klub mladých, a Czech anarchist, anti-militarist, and anti-clerical organization. Hugo Bergmann, who attended the same elementary and high schools as Kafka, fell out with Kafka during their last academic year (1900–1901) because "[Kafka's] socialism and my Zionism were much too strident". Bergmann said: "Franz became a socialist, I became a Zionist in 1898. The synthesis of Zionism and socialism did not yet exist." Bergmann claims that Kafka wore a red carnation to school to show his support for socialism. In one diary entry, Kafka made reference to the influential anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin: "Don't forget Kropotkin!"
During the communist era, the legacy of Kafka's work for Eastern Bloc socialism was hotly debated. Opinions ranged from the notion that he satirised the bureaucratic bungling of a crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the belief that he embodied the rise of socialism. A further key point was Marx's theory of alienation. While the orthodox position was that Kafka's depictions of alienation were no longer relevant for a society that had supposedly eliminated alienation, a 1963 conference held in Liblice, Czechoslovakia, on the eightieth anniversary of his birth, reassessed the importance of Kafka's portrayal of bureaucracy. Whether Kafka was a political writer is still an issue of debate.
=== Judaism and Zionism ===
Kafka grew up in Prague as a German-speaking Jew. He was deeply fascinated by the Jews of Eastern Europe, who he thought possessed an intensity of spiritual life that was absent from Jews in the West. His diary contains many references to Yiddish writers. Yet he was at times alienated from Judaism and Jewish life. On 8 January 1914, he wrote in his diary:
As a teenager, Kafka declared himself an atheist. Issues such as Judaism, the Talmud, the Zohar, and the Kabbalah remain a theme in his diaries. He notes in his diary, shortly before embarking on his composition of The Castle, that in the demonic onslaught of visions assaulting him he perceives "the intimations of a secret doctrine, a new Kabbalah" whose development has been barred by Zionism.
In the final issue of Die Sammlung, a journal for exiles from the Third Reich in Western Europe, Klaus Mann writes, "[T]he collected works of Kafka, offered by the Schocken Verlag in Berlin, are the noblest and most significant publications that have come out of Germany. [Kafka contributes] the epoch's purest and most singular works of literature… [T]his spiritual event has occurred within a splendid isolation, in a ghetto far from the German cultural ministry".
In 1935, as the Nazi Race Laws were being promulgated and prepared for their introduction at that year's Nuremberg Rally, the word ghetto bore the same connotation it carried since the early 17th century: 'a part of the city where Jews were compelled to live'. Mann's mention of the ghetto here is an allusion to Kafka's status as a Jewish writer, and a swipe at Hitler's antisemitic policies. Very likely as a result of this message, the German cultural ministry sent a cease-and-desist letter to Schocken, reminding the publisher that Kafka's name had been placed on the Third Reich's index librorum prohibitorum several weeks earlier.
That same year, a Rabbi of the Bar Kochba Youth Movement in Prague, Martin Buber, wrote to the editor of Kafka's Werke that these stories were "a great possession, that could show how one can live marginally with complete integrity and without loss of background". First published in Buber's Der Jude in 1917, Kafka's story "Jackals and Arabs" is an illustration of the tendency that Buber describes in this letter: Arabs are called Arabs, elsewhere Chinese may be directly referred to as people from China, but in this case references to Jews are zoomorphic, as elsewhere, and in other places Jewish characters are simply not named as such.
Benjamin remarks that Kafka's world is pre-animistic (as opposed to the dualism of later religions)—implying a universal and primordial ur-phenomenology (prior to the distinction of the spiritual and the substantial in human perception) that emerges as a hallmark of Kafka's style. But in the same essay, Benjamin includes a parable of an obviously Chasidic character to describe Kafka's work, and in his correspondence attached to this essay he refers to Kafka's stories as a haggadic (referring to stories in the Talmud) uprising against halakha (referring to legal doctrine). Arendt echoes and expands on Benjamin's larger sentiment (which at that time was still a novelty in Kafka criticism), repeating the injunction that it is a mistake to refer to Kafka as a particularly Jewish or religious figure. Arendt's article, which appeared in the Partisan Review in 1944, was a sequel to Benjamin's earlier piece in many respects. Arendt was a close confidant of Benjamin's and worked as an editor-at-large in Paris for Schocken Books in the late 1930s, when it published the final volumes of Kafka's works. Arendt was also employed by various Zionist associations devoted to facilitating the emigration of Jewish children to Palestine so that they could escape the Third Reich. Arendt and Benjamin both emphasized that Kafka belongs to the whole world.
Hawes suggests that, though Kafka was conscious of his own Jewishness, in his fiction he concealed that of his Jewish characters. In the opinion of literary critic Harold Bloom, although Kafka was uneasy with his Jewish heritage, he was the quintessential Jewish writer. Lothar Kahn is likewise unequivocal: "The presence of Jewishness in Kafka's oeuvre is no longer subject to doubt". Pavel Eisner, one of Kafka's first translators, interprets Der Prozess (The Trial) as the embodiment of the "triple dimension of Jewish existence in Prague… his protagonist Josef K. is (symbolically) arrested by a German (Rabensteiner), a Czech (Kullich), and a Jew (Kaminer). He stands for the 'guiltless guilt' that imbues the Jew in the modern world, although there is no evidence that he himself is a Jew".
In his essay Sadness in Palestine?!, Dan Miron explores Kafka's connection to Zionism: "It seems that those who claim that there was such a connection and that Zionism played a central role in his life and literary work, and those who deny the connection altogether or dismiss its importance, are both wrong. The truth lies in some very elusive place between these two simplistic poles." Kafka considered moving to Palestine with Felice Bauer, and later with Dora Diamant. He studied Hebrew while living in Berlin, hiring a friend of Brod's from Palestine, Pua Bat-Tovim, to tutor him and attending Rabbi Julius Grünthal and Rabbi Julius Guttmann's classes in the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (College for the Study of Judaism), where he also studied the Talmud.
Livia Rothkirchen calls Kafka the "symbolic figure of his era". His contemporaries included numerous Jewish, Czech, and German writers who were sensitive to Jewish, Czech, and German culture. According to Rothkirchen, "This situation lent their writings a broad cosmopolitan outlook and a quality of exaltation bordering on transcendental metaphysical contemplation. An illustrious example is Franz Kafka".
Towards the end of his life Kafka sent a postcard to his friend Hugo Bergmann in Tel Aviv, announcing his intention to emigrate to Palestine. Bergmann refused to host Kafka because he had young children and was afraid that Kafka would infect them with tuberculosis.
== Death ==
Kafka's laryngeal tuberculosis worsened and in March 1924 he returned from Berlin to Prague, where members of his family, principally his sister Ottla, as well as Dora Diamant, took care of him. He went to Hugo Hoffmann's sanatorium in Kierling just outside Vienna for treatment on 10 April, and died there on 3 June 1924. The cause of death seemed to be starvation: the condition of Kafka's throat made eating too painful for him, and since parenteral nutrition had not yet been developed, there was no way to feed him. Kafka was editing "A Hunger Artist" on his deathbed, a story whose composition he had begun before his throat closed to the point that he could not take any nourishment. His body was brought back to Prague where he was buried on 11 June 1924, in the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague-Žižkov. His obituary appeared in the Prager Presse and the Berliner Tageblatt. Kafka was virtually unknown during his own lifetime, but he did not consider fame important. He rose to fame rapidly after his death, particularly after World War II. The Kafka tombstone was designed by architect Leopold Ehrmann.
== Works ==
All of Kafka's published works were written in German. What little was published during his lifetime attracted scant public attention.
Kafka finished none of his full-length novels and burned around 90 percent of his work, much of it during the period he lived in Berlin with Diamant, who helped him burn the drafts. In his early years as a writer he was influenced by von Kleist, whose work he described in a letter to Bauer as frightening and whom he considered closer than his own family.
The first mention of Kafka's work was in an article by Max Brod on 9 February 1907 in the Berlin weekly Die Gegenwart, two years prior to his first publication. Brod would write about his friend again in 1921 in an essay entitled "Der Dichter Frank Kafka".
=== Stories ===
Kafka's earliest published works were eight stories that appeared in 1908 in the first issue of the literary journal Hyperion under the title Betrachtung (Contemplation). He wrote the story "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" ("Description of a Struggle") in 1904; in 1905 he showed it to Brod, who advised him to continue writing and convinced him to submit it to Hyperion. Kafka published a fragment in 1908 and two sections in the spring of 1909, all in Munich.
In a creative outburst on the night of 22 September 1912, Kafka wrote the story "Das Urteil" ("The Judgment", literally "The Verdict") and dedicated it to Felice Bauer. Brod noted the similarity in names of the main character and his fictional fiancée, Georg Bendemann and Frieda Brandenfeld, to Franz Kafka and Felice Bauer. The story is often considered Kafka's breakthrough work. It deals with the troubled relationship of a son and his dominant father, facing a new situation after the son's engagement. Kafka later described writing it as "a complete opening of body and soul", a story that "evolved as a true birth, covered with filth and slime". The story was first published in Leipzig in 1912 and dedicated "to Miss Felice Bauer", and in subsequent editions "for F."
In 1912, Kafka wrote Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis, or The Transformation), published in 1915 in Leipzig. The story begins with a travelling salesman waking to find himself transformed into an ungeheures Ungeziefer, a monstrous vermin, Ungeziefer being a general term for unwanted and unclean pests, especially insects. Critics regard the work as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century. The story "In der Strafkolonie" ("In the Penal Colony"), dealing with an elaborate torture and execution device, was written in October 1914, revised in 1918, and published in Leipzig during October 1919. The story "Ein Hungerkünstler" ("A Hunger Artist"), published in the periodical Die neue Rundschau in 1924, describes a victimized protagonist who experiences a decline in the appreciation of his strange craft of starving himself for extended periods. His last story, "Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse" ("Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk"), also deals with the relationship between an artist and his audience.
=== Novels ===
Kafka began his first novel in 1912; its first chapter is the story "Der Heizer" ("The Stoker"). He called the work, which remained unfinished, Der Verschollene (The Man Who Disappeared or The Missing Person), but when Brod published it after Kafka's death he named it Amerika. The inspiration for the novel was the time Kafka spent in the audience of Yiddish theatre the previous year, bringing him to a new awareness of his heritage, which led to the thought that an innate appreciation for one's heritage lives deep within each person. More explicitly humorous and slightly more realistic than most of Kafka's works, the novel shares the motif of an oppressive and intangible system putting the protagonist repeatedly in bizarre situations. It uses many details of experiences from his relatives who had emigrated to America and is the only work for which Kafka considered an optimistic ending.
In 1914 Kafka began the novel Der Process (The Trial), the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the reader. He did not complete the novel, although he finished the final chapter. According to Nobel Prize-winning author Elias Canetti, Felice is central to the plot of Der Process and Kafka said it was "her story". Canetti titled his book on Kafka's letters to Felice Kafka's Other Trial, in recognition of the relationship between the letters and the novel. Michiko Kakutani notes in a review for The New York Times that Kafka's letters have the "earmarks of his fiction: the same nervous attention to minute particulars; the same paranoid awareness of shifting balances of power; the same atmosphere of emotional suffocation—combined, surprisingly enough, with moments of boyish ardour and delight."
According to his diary, Kafka was already planning his novel Das Schloss (The Castle), by 11 June 1914; however, he did not begin writing it until 27 January 1922. The protagonist is the Landvermesser (land surveyor) named K., who struggles for unknown reasons to gain access to the mysterious authorities of a castle who govern the village. Kafka's intent was that the castle's authorities notify K. on his deathbed that his "legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was to be permitted to live and work there". Dark and at times surreal, the novel is focused on alienation, bureaucracy, the seemingly endless frustrations of man's attempts to stand against the system, and the futile and hopeless pursuit of an unattainable goal. Hartmut M. Rastalsky noted in his thesis: "Like dreams, his texts combine precise 'realistic' detail with absurdity, careful observation and reasoning on the part of the protagonists with inexplicable obliviousness and carelessness."
=== Drawings ===
Kafka drew and sketched extensively. His interest in art grew from 1901 to 1906. He "practiced drawing, took drawing classes, attended art history lectures, and sought to establish a connection to Prague's artistic circles". According to Max Brod, Kafka "was even more indifferent, or perhaps better, more hostile to his drawings than he was to his literary production". As he did with his writings, Kafka asked in his testament for his drawings to be destroyed. Brod preserved all of Kafka's drawings that Kafka gave him or that he could rescue from the wastebasket or otherwise, but "[a]nything that I didn't rescue was destroyed". Until May 2021, only about 40 of his drawings were known. In 2022, Yale University Press published Franz Kafka: The Drawings. The book brought to light about 150 sketches by Kafka.
=== Publishing history ===
Kafka's stories were initially published in literary periodicals. His first eight were printed in 1908 in the first issue of the bi-monthly Hyperion. Franz Blei published two dialogues in 1909 which became part of "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" ("Description of a Struggle"). A fragment of the story "Die Aeroplane in Brescia" ("The Aeroplanes at Brescia"), written on a trip to Italy with Brod, appeared in the daily Bohemia on 28 September 1909. On 27 March 1910, several stories that later became part of the book Betrachtung (Contemplation or Meditation) were published in the Easter edition of Bohemia. In Leipzig during 1913, Brod and publisher Kurt Wolff included "Das Urteil. Eine Geschichte von Franz Kafka." ("The Judgment. A Story by Franz Kafka.") in their literary yearbook for the art poetry Arkadia. In the same year, Wolff published "Der Heizer" ("The Stoker") in the Jüngste Tag series, where it enjoyed three printings. The story "Vor dem Gesetz" ("Before the Law") was published in the 1915 New Year's edition of the independent Jewish weekly Selbstwehr; it was reprinted in 1919 as part of the story collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor) and became part of the novel Der Process. Other stories were published in various publications, including Martin Buber's Der Jude, the paper Prager Tagblatt, and the periodicals Die neue Rundschau, Genius, and Prager Presse.
Kafka's first published book, Betrachtung (Contemplation or Meditation), was a collection of 18 stories written between 1904 and 1912. On a summer trip to Weimar, Brod initiated a meeting between Kafka and Kurt Wolff; Wolff published Betrachtung in the Rowohlt Verlag at the end of 1912 (with the year given as 1913). Kafka dedicated it to Brod, "Für M.B.", and added in the personal copy given to his friend "So wie es hier schon gedruckt ist, für meinen liebsten Max—Franz K." ("As it is already printed here, for my dearest Max").
Kafka's novella Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) was first printed in the October 1915 issue of Die Weißen Blätter, a monthly edition of expressionist literature, edited by René Schickele. Another story collection, Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), was published by Kurt Wolff in 1919, dedicated to Kafka's father. Kafka prepared a final collection of four stories for print, Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist), which appeared in 1924 after his death, in Verlag Die Schmiede. On 20 April 1924, the Berliner Börsen-Courier published Kafka's essay on Adalbert Stifter.
==== Max Brod ====
At the time of his death, Kafka's works were probably known only to a small circle of Czech and German writers. Kafka left his work, both published and unpublished, to his friend and literary executor Max Brod with explicit instructions that it should be destroyed on Kafka's death; Kafka wrote: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod ignored this request and published the novels and collected works between 1925 and 1935. Brod defended his action by claiming that he had told Kafka, "I shall not carry out your wishes", and that "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely determined that his instructions should stand".
Brod took many of Kafka's papers, which remain unpublished, with him in suitcases to Palestine when he fled there in 1939. Kafka's last lover, Dora Diamant (later, Dymant-Lask), also ignored his wishes, secretly keeping 20 notebooks and 35 letters. These were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933, but scholars continue to search for them.
As Brod published the bulk of the writings in his possession, Kafka's work began to attract wider attention and critical acclaim. Brod found it difficult to arrange Kafka's notebooks in chronological order. One problem was that Kafka often began writing in different parts of the book; sometimes in the middle, sometimes working backwards from the end. Brod finished many of Kafka's incomplete works for publication. For example, Kafka left Der Process with unnumbered and incomplete chapters and Das Schloss with incomplete sentences and ambiguous content; Brod rearranged chapters, copy-edited the text, and changed the punctuation. Der Process appeared in 1925 in Verlag Die Schmiede. Kurt Wolff published two other novels, Das Schloss in 1926 and Amerika in 1927. In 1931, Brod edited a collection of prose and unpublished stories as The Great Wall of China, including the titular short story "The Great Wall of China". The book appeared in the Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag. Brod's sets are usually called the "Definitive Editions".
==== Modern editions ====
In 1961 Malcolm Pasley acquired for the Oxford Bodleian Library most of Kafka's original handwritten works. The text for Der Process was later purchased through auction and is stored at the German Literary Archives in Marbach am Neckar, Germany. Subsequently, Pasley headed a team (including Gerhard Neumann, Jost Schillemeit and Jürgen Born) which reconstructed the German novels; S. Fischer Verlag republished them. Pasley was the editor for Das Schloss, published in 1982, and Der Process (The Trial), published in 1990. Jost Schillemeit was the editor of Der Verschollene (Amerika) published in 1983. These are called the "Critical Editions" or the "Fischer Editions".
In 2023, the first unexpurgated edition of Kafka's diaries was published in English, "more than three decades after this complete text appeared in German. The sole previous English edition, with Brod's edits, was issued in the late 1940s". The new edition revealed that Brod had expunged homoerotic references, and negative comments about Eastern European Jews.
==== Unpublished papers ====
When Brod died in 1968, he left Kafka's unpublished papers, which are believed to number in the thousands, to his secretary Esther Hoffe. She released or sold some, but left most to her daughters, Eva and Ruth, who also refused to release the papers. A court battle began in 2008 between the sisters and the National Library of Israel, which claimed these works became the property of the nation of Israel when Brod emigrated to British Palestine in 1939. Esther Hoffe sold the original manuscript of Der Process for US$2 million in 1988 to the German Literary Archive Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach am Neckar. A ruling by a Tel Aviv family court in 2010 held that the papers must be released and a few were, including a previously unknown story, but the legal battle continued. The Hoffes claim the papers are their personal property, while the National Library of Israel argues they are "cultural assets belonging to the Jewish people". The National Library also suggests that Brod bequeathed the papers to them in his will. The Tel Aviv Family Court ruled in October 2012, six months after Ruth's death, that the papers were the property of the National Library. The Israeli Supreme Court upheld the decision in December 2016.
== Critical response ==
=== After-death biographies and critiques ===
After his death, Rudolf Kayser wrote an article titled "Anmerkungen zu Franz Kafka" for the Neue Rundschau, and Manfred Sturmann wrote a biographical essay titled "Erinnerungen an Kafka" for the Allgemeine Zeitung. In 1935, Brod wrote a biography. "Since this work was written in German, however, it was not available to the majority of English critics".
From 1924 to 1927, Brod arranged for the publication of Kafka's three unfinished novels and otherwise promoted Kafka's works. During this period, many analytical essays were written about his work. In the late 1920s, 55 articles were written about Kafka's work, most of them reviews and references. Examples include Heinrich Jacob's "Kafka oder die Wahrhaftigkeit" for Der Feuerreiter in 1924 and Brod's "Infantilismus Kleist und Kafka" in 1927.
Kafka's work was translated to English in the 1930s, and American journals and magazines such as The New Yorker, The Nation and Athenaeum, The Nation, Scribners, New York Tribune, and The Bookman, wrote reviews about his books. The Castle was specially very well reviewed. But afterwards, until 1937, only three articles were written.
At the same time, in Germany, in 1930 only four articles were written, and the following year saw eight articles. But in 1932, only one article was published, possibly because of the rise of the National Socialist party, as there was a strong antisemitic bias at a time. In Nazi Germany, between 1933 and 1937, only 11 articles about Kafka were published, mostly by Jews in periodical such as Der Morgen, Frankfurter Zeitung, Jüdische Rundschau, and Hochland. From 1937 to 1939, no articles were written.
Kafka's writings began to receive the highest possible critical acclaim when they were re-released amidst the imposition of the Nuremberg Racial Hygiene Laws in 1935 as a complete set by Schocken, however distribution and broad awareness of these works was stymied by the totalitarian atmosphere of the Nazi regime. The final volumes of this set were released after Schocken was forced to relocate to Prague. The works became more famous in German-speaking countries after World War II, influencing German literature, and its influence spread elsewhere in the world in the 1960s. A critical edition of his complete works, including many elements that had been edited out by Brod in the earlier Schocken collection, was released by S. Fischer Verlag in the final decades of the 20th century.
In 1937, The Trial was translated to English. There were 12 reviews in the United States, but the book was reviewed 20 times in other languages, including in France and Brazil. The reviews were mixed, with The New York Times reviewer stating that "it is beyond me" and other reviewers stating that Kafka was "one of the most extraordinary writers of our time".
In the following year, Amerika was translated to English and generally well received by four English and two American reviewers. In the same year, Das Schloss was translated into French and received five reviews.
In 1939, Kafka's work was reviewed in many countries, including in the periodicals The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review and Expressionism in German Life. In 1940, The Southern Review published a religious interpretation of The Trial. In 1941, eleven reviews and articles were published, including "a doctor's dissertation at the University of Zürich" by Herbert Tauber, entitled "Franz Kafka, eine Deutung seiner Werke". Other countries whose writers showed interest in Kafka's work were Peru, Cuba, and Brazil.
In the first years of World War II, interest in Kafka's work diminished in the United States, with only two articles published. In 1943, four articles were published, with one that "criticized Kafka as a symbol of the social decadence which was responsible for the failure of the Weimar Republic". But in the following year, interest in his work increased again, with six articles published. As World War II drew to a close, interest in Kafka grew once again, with 16 articles appearing in various countries' periodicals, including Focus One, Quarterly Review of Literature, and Les Cahiers du Sud, as well as in the book Freudism and the Literary Mind. Many intellectuals grew interested on Kafka's work, with articles by Parker Tyler in Accent, Albert Camus in Hope and Absurdity, and Jean Wahl in Kierkegaard and Kafka tying his work to existentialism. In 1946, Kafka's work was popular, with 21 articles on it written that year.
=== Critical interpretations ===
The British-American poet W. H. Auden called Kafka "the Dante of the twentieth century"; the novelist Vladimir Nabokov placed him among the greatest writers of the 20th century. Gabriel García Márquez noted the reading of Kafka's The Metamorphosis showed him "that it was possible to write in a different way". A prominent theme of Kafka's work, first established in the short story "The Judgment", is father–son conflict: the guilt induced in the son is resolved through suffering and atonement. Other prominent themes and archetypes include alienation, physical and psychological brutality, characters on a terrifying quest, and mystical transformation.
Kafka's style has been compared to that of Kleist as early as 1916, in a review of "Die Verwandlung" and "Der Heizer" by Oscar Walzel in Berliner Beiträge. The nature of Kafka's prose allows for varied interpretations and critics have placed his writing into a variety of literary schools. Marxists, for example, have sharply disagreed over how to interpret Kafka's works. Some accused him of distorting reality whereas others claimed he was critiquing capitalism. The hopelessness and absurdity common to his works are seen as emblematic of existentialism. Some of Kafka's books are influenced by the expressionist movement, though the majority of his literary output was associated with the experimental modernist genre. Kafka also touches on the theme of human conflict with bureaucracy. William Burrows claims that such work is centred on the concepts of struggle, pain, solitude, and the need for relationships. Others, such as Thomas Mann, see Kafka's work as allegorical: a quest, metaphysical in nature, for God.
According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the themes of alienation and persecution, although present in Kafka's work, have been overemphasised by critics. They argue that Kafka's work is more deliberate and subversive—and more joyful—than it may first appear. They point out that focusing on the futility of Kafka's characters' struggles reveals Kafka's humour; he is not necessarily commenting on his own problems but rather is pointing out how people tend to invent problems. In his work, Kafka often creates malevolent, absurd worlds. Kafka translator Mark Harman writes, "When Kafka read his own work aloud to his friends he evidently brought covert humor to the surface even when his writing was at its bleakest." Max Brod, Harman adds, recollected that Kafka's friends "laughed quite immoderately" even when he read the first chapter of The Trial, despite its "fearful earnestness", and there were moments when Kafka himself laughed so much that "he couldn't read any further". The novelist Milan Kundera suggests that Kafka's surreal humour may have been an inversion of Dostoevsky's presentation of characters who are punished for a crime. In Kafka's The Trial, a character is punished even though he has committed no crime. Kundera believes that Kafka's inspirations for his characteristic situations came both from growing up in a patriarchal family and from living in a totalitarian state.
Attempts have been made to identify the influence of Kafka's legal background and the role of law in his fiction. Many interpretations identify the importance of the law in his work, in which the legal system is often oppressive. The law in Kafka's works, rather than representing any particular legal or political entity, is usually interpreted to represent a collection of anonymous, incomprehensible forces. These are hidden from the individual but control the lives of the people, who are innocent victims of systems beyond their control. Critics who support this absurdist interpretation cite instances where Kafka describes himself in conflict with an absurd universe, such as the following entry from his diary:
Enclosed in my own four walls, I found myself as an immigrant imprisoned in a foreign country;... I saw my family as strange aliens whose foreign customs, rites, and very language defied comprehension;... though I did not want it, they forced me to participate in their bizarre rituals;... I could not resist.
However, James Hawes argues many of Kafka's descriptions of the legal proceedings in The Trial—metaphysical, absurd, bewildering and nightmarish as they might appear—are based on accurate and informed descriptions of German and Austrian criminal proceedings of the time, which were inquisitorial rather than adversarial. Although he worked in insurance, as a trained lawyer Kafka was "keenly aware of the legal debates of his day". In a 2009 publication that uses Kafka's office writings as its point of departure, Pothik Ghosh states that with Kafka, law "has no meaning outside its fact of being a pure force of domination and determination".
Kafka's work often refers to animals — "zoopoetics," in Jacques Derrida's term. Joachim Seyppel has noted that his stories contain "countless references to animals, human-animal comparisons, allusions to animal life, fables, and animal motifs; there are important works in which the human person has been transformed into an animal, or vice versa. There are hardly any stories in which Kafka did not include at least one significant reference to creatures of the animal kingdom". "Already in his earliest surviving correspondence, he uses animal figures to convey psychological insights, his favorite being the mole." In Kafka's work animals sometimes "occupy leading roles, as narrators and central characters", but there is a "comparative absence of named species in Kafka's fiction". Themes of his stories range from animal cruelty to entomophobia to animal training. Animals are often shown as "others" that suffer from human "animalesque" actions, with Kafka's ideas thus converging with ecocentrist and postcolonialist thoughts.
=== Translations ===
The first instance of Kafka being translated into English was in 1925, when William A. Drake published "A Report for an Academy" in the New York Herald Tribune. Eugene Jolas translated Kafka's "The Judgment" for the modernist journal transition in 1928. In 1930, Edwin and Willa Muir translated the first German edition of Das Schloss. This was published as The Castle by Secker & Warburg in England and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States. In the 1930s, Alberto Spaini translated The Process to Italian and Alexandre Vialatte translated it to French. A 1941 edition, including a homage by Thomas Mann, spurred a surge in Kafka's popularity in the United States during the late 1940s. The Muirs translated all shorter works that Kafka had seen fit to print, including The Metamorphosis in 1933; they were published by Schocken Books in 1948 as The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces, including additionally The First Long Train Journey, written by Kafka and Brod; Kafka's "A Novel about Youth", a review of Felix Sternheim's Die Geschichte des jungen Oswald; his essay on Kleist's "Anecdotes"; his review of the literary magazine Hyperion; and an epilogue by Brod.
Later editions, notably those of 1954 (Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings), included text, translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser, that had been deleted by earlier publishers. Known as "Definitive Editions", they include translations of The Trial, Definitive, The Castle, Definitive, and other writings. These translations are generally accepted to have a number of biases and are considered to be dated in interpretation. Published in 1961 by Schocken Books, Parables and Paradoxes presented in a bilingual edition by Nahum N. Glatzer selected writings, drawn from notebooks, diaries, letters, short fictional works and the novel Der Process.
New translations were completed and published based on the recompiled German text of Pasley and Schillemeit—The Castle, Critical by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 1998), The Trial, Critical by Breon Mitchell (Schocken Books, 1998), and The Man Who Disappeared (Amerika) by Michael Hofmann (Penguin Books, 1996) and Amerika: The Missing Person by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 2008).
==== Translation problems to English ====
Kafka often made extensive use of a characteristic particular to German, which permits long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences sometimes deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop, finalizing the meaning and focus of the sentence. This is due to the construction of subordinate clauses in German, which require that the verb be at the end of the sentence. Such constructions are difficult to duplicate in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same (or an at least equivalent) effect as the original text. German's more flexible word order and syntactical differences provide for multiple ways in which the same German writing can be translated into English. An example is the first sentence of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, which is crucial to the setting and understanding of the entire story:
The sentence above also exemplifies an instance of another difficult problem facing translators: dealing with the author's intentional use of ambiguous idioms and words that have several meanings, which results in phrasing that is difficult to translate precisely. English translators often render the word Ungeziefer as 'insect'; in Middle German, however, Ungeziefer literally means 'an animal unclean for sacrifice'; in today's German, it means 'vermin'. It is sometimes used colloquially to mean 'bug'—a very general term, unlike the scientific 'insect'. Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor, the protagonist of the story, as any specific thing but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation. Another example of this can be found in the final sentence of "Das Urteil" ("The Judgement"), with Kafka's use of the German noun Verkehr. Literally, Verkehr means 'intercourse' and, as in English, can have either a sexual or a non-sexual meaning. The word is additionally used to mean 'transport' or 'traffic'; therefore the sentence can also be translated as: "At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge." The double meaning of Verkehr is given added weight by Kafka's confession to Brod that when he wrote that final line he was thinking of "a violent ejaculation".
== Legacy ==
=== Literary and cultural influence ===
Unlike many famous writers, Kafka is rarely quoted by others. Instead, he is noted more for his visions and perspective. Kafka had a strong influence on Gabriel García Márquez, Milan Kundera and the novel The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare. Shimon Sandbank, a professor, literary critic, and writer, also identifies Kafka as having influenced Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, Eugène Ionesco, J. M. Coetzee and Jean-Paul Sartre. A Financial Times literary critic credits Kafka with influencing José Saramago, and Al Silverman, a writer and editor, states that J. D. Salinger loved to read Kafka's works. The Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu said "Kafka is the author I love the most and who means, for me, the gate to literature"; he also described Kafka as "the saint of literature".
Kafka has been cited as an influence on the Swedish writer Stig Dagerman, and the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, who paid homage to Kafka in his novel Kafka on the Shore with the namesake protagonist.
In 1999 a committee of 99 authors, scholars, and literary critics ranked Der Process and Das Schloss the second and ninth most significant German-language novels of the 20th century. Harold Bloom said "when he is most himself, Kafka gives us a continuous inventiveness and originality that rivals Dante and truly challenges Proust and Joyce as that of the dominant Western author of our century". Sandbank argues that despite Kafka's pervasiveness, his enigmatic style has yet to be emulated. Neil Christian Pages, a professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University who specialises in Kafka's works, says Kafka's influence transcends literature and literary scholarship; it impacts visual arts, music, and popular culture. Harry Steinhauer, a professor of German and Jewish literature, says that Kafka "has made a more powerful impact on literate society than any other writer of the twentieth century". Brod said that the 20th century will one day be known as the "century of Kafka".
Michel-André Bossy writes that Kafka created a rigidly inflexible and sterile bureaucratic universe. Kafka wrote in an aloof manner full of legal and scientific terms. Yet his serious universe also had insightful humour, all highlighting the "irrationality at the roots of a supposedly rational world". His characters are trapped, confused, full of guilt, frustrated, and lacking understanding of their surreal world. Much post-Kafka fiction, especially science fiction, follows the themes and precepts of Kafka's universe. This can be seen in the works of authors such as George Orwell and Ray Bradbury.
The following are examples of works across a range of dramatic, literary, and musical genres that demonstrate the extent of Kafka's cultural influence:
=== "Kafkaesque" ===
The term "Kafkaesque" is used to describe concepts and situations reminiscent of Kafka's work, particularly Der Prozess (The Trial) and Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis). Examples include instances in which bureaucracies overpower people, often in a surreal, nightmarish milieu that evokes feelings of senselessness, disorientation, and helplessness. Characters in a Kafkaesque setting often lack a clear course of action to escape a labyrinthine situation. Kafkaesque elements often appear in existential works, but the term has transcended the literary realm to apply to real-life occurrences and situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre, or illogical.
Numerous films and television works have been described as Kafkaesque, and the style is particularly prominent in dystopian science fiction. Works in this genre that have been so described include Patrick Bokanowski's film The Angel (1982), Terry Gilliam's film Brazil (1985), and Alex Proyas' science fiction film noir, Dark City (1998). Films from other genres that have been similarly described include Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976), Joseph Losey's Monsieur Klein (1976) and the Coen brothers' Barton Fink (1991). The television series The Prisoner and The Twilight Zone are also frequently described as Kafkaesque.
However, the term has become so ubiquitous that it is often misused, according to Kafka scholars. Ben Marcus, as paraphrased in "What it Means to be Kafkaesque" by Joe Fassler in The Atlantic, wrote, "Kafka's quintessential qualities are affecting use of language, a setting that straddles fantasy and reality, and a sense of striving even in the face of bleakness—hopelessly and full of hope."
=== Commemorations ===
3412 Kafka is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 January 1983 by American astronomers Randolph Kirk and Donald Rudy at Palomar Observatory in California, United States, and named after Kafka by them.
The Franz Kafka Museum in Prague is dedicated to Kafka and his work. A major component of the museum is an exhibit, The City of K. Franz Kafka and Prague, which was first shown in Barcelona in 1999, moved to the Jewish Museum in New York City, and finally established in Prague in Malá Strana (Lesser Town), along the Moldau, in 2005. The museum aims with this exhibit to immerse the visitor into the world in which Kafka lived and about which he wrote.
The Franz Kafka Prize, established in 2001, is an annual literary award of the Franz Kafka Society and the City of Prague. It recognizes the merits of literature as "humanistic character and contribution to cultural, national, language and religious tolerance, its existential, timeless character, its generally human validity, and its ability to hand over a testimony about our times". The selection committee and recipients come from all over the world, but are limited to living authors who have had at least one work published in Czech. The recipient receives $10,000, a diploma, and a bronze statuette at a presentation in Prague's Old Town Hall, on the Czech State Holiday in late October.
San Diego State University operates the Kafka Project, which began in 1998 as the official international search for Kafka's last writings. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford | Gerald Ford | Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party, Ford assumed the presidency after the resignation of Richard Nixon, under whom he had served as the 40th vice president from 1973 to 1974 following the resignation of Spiro Agnew. Prior to that, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973.
Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, where he played for the university football team, before eventually attending Yale Law School. Afterward, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. Ford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 from Michigan's 5th congressional district. He served in this capacity for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as the House minority leader. During his career in the House, he was also part of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In December 1973, two months after the resignation of Vice President Agnew, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment. After President Nixon resigned in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency.
Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession. In one of his most controversial acts, he granted a presidential pardon to Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president. Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, which marked a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the collapse of South Vietnam eight months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War essentially ended. In the 1976 Republican presidential primary, he narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to the Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter. Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president.
Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, he died in Rancho Mirage, California, in 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientists have ranked Ford as a below-average president, though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive.
== Early life ==
Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child of Dorothy Ayer Gardner and Leslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader. His paternal grandfather was banker and businessman Charles Henry King, and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessman Levi Addison Gardner. Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford with her to Oak Park, Illinois, where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law Clarence Haskins James lived at 410 N. Humphrey Ave. From there, she moved to the home of her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of their son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930.
Ford later said that his biological father had a history of hitting his mother. In a biography of Ford, James M. Cannon wrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took a butcher knife and threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man during their honeymoon.
After living with her parents for two and a half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; the name change, including the anglicized spelling "Rudolph", was formalized on December 3, 1935. He was raised in what is now East Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage: Thomas Gardner "Tom" Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison "Dick" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis "Jim" Ford (1927–2001).
Ford was involved in the Boy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank, Eagle Scout in August 1927. He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency. Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete and captain of the football team. In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of the Grand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.
== College and law school ==
Ford attended the University of Michigan, where he played center and linebacker for the school's football team and helped the Wolverines to two undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. In his senior year of 1934, the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favored Minnesota—the eventual national champion—to a scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan said, "When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and [Cedric] Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense." Ford later recalled, "During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds." His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, "They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause."
During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed when Georgia Tech said that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player named Willis Ward took the field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play against Georgia Tech when Ward personally asked him to play.
In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team in the Shriners' East–West Shrine Game at San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in the Chicago College All-Star Game at Soldier Field. In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With the blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of the Michigan Football Legends program and issued to sophomore linebacker Desmond Morgan before a home game against Illinois on October 13.
Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join the players in the huddle. Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, "The Victors", instead of "Hail to the Chief".
Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He turned down offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as the boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach at Yale University and applied to its law school.
Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. In 1936, Ford worked as a seasonal park ranger at Yellowstone National Park's Canyon Station. He then spent the summer of 1937 as a student at the University of Michigan Law School and was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 to Yale Law School. That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale. While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with the John Robert Powers agency before investing in the Harry Conover agency, with whom he modelled until 1941.
While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939 Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for the America First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out of World War II. His introduction into politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign of Wendell Willkie.
Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend, Philip W. Buchen.
== U.S. Naval Reserve ==
Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy. He received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in March 1943.
=== Sea duty ===
After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets in late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, Papua New Guinea in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas, Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus, and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.
Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, the Monterey was one of several ships damaged by Typhoon Cobra, which hit Admiral William Halsey Jr.'s Third Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon. The Monterey was damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on the hangar deck. Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, Captain Stuart H. Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again.
After the fire, the Monterey was declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois, at the rank of lieutenant commander.
Ford received the following military awards: the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine 3⁄16" bronze stars (for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), the Philippine Liberation Medal with two 3⁄16" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and the World War II Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged in February 1946.
== U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1973) ==
After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challenge Bartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. "I came back a converted internationalist", Ford wrote, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicated isolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one."
During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked. Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory.
Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holding Michigan's 5th congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure known for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career." Appointed to the United States House Committee on Appropriations two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy." He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman".
In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the U.S. Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to become Speaker of the House, which he called "the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives".
=== Warren Commission ===
On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. He and Earl Warren also interviewed Jack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963 FBI memo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director, Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities. In 1965, he published Portrait of the Assassin, co-written with John R. Stiles, which defended the Warren Report. It has been described as essentially the Warren Report repackaged as a non-fiction book. Again, in the preface to his 2007 book, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions.
=== House Minority Leader (1965–1973) ===
In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replace Charles Halleck of Indiana as minority leader. The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the "Young Turks". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressman Donald H. Rumsfeld from Illinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as the chief of staff and secretary of defense.
With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the "Great Society". During the first session of the Eighty-ninth Congress alone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history.
In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War began to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the 1966 midterm elections produced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs.
Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion. The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played "too much football without a helmet".
As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show". Johnson said at the time, "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time." The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's language, reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time."
After Richard Nixon was elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established a revenue sharing program for state and local governments. Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against).
During the eight years from 1965 to 1973 that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality.
== Vice presidency (1973–1974) ==
For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could become House Speaker. He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976. However, on October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned from the vice presidency. According to The New York Times, Nixon "sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement." The advice was unanimous. House Speaker Carl Albert recalled later, "We gave Nixon no choice but Ford." Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be "a nice conclusion" to his career. Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35. After the confirmation vote in the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president.
Ford became vice president as the Watergate scandal was unfolding. On August 1, 1974, Chief of Staff Alexander Haig contacted Ford to tell him to prepare for the presidency. At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designated vice president's residence in Washington, D.C. However, "Al Haig asked to come over and see me", Ford later said, "to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"
== Presidency (1974–1977) ==
=== Swearing-in ===
When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without being elected to the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation, noting the peculiarity of his position. He later declared that "our long national nightmare is over".
=== Nominating Rockefeller ===
On August 20, Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice presidency he had vacated. Rockefeller's top competitor had been George H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, including Barry Goldwater, voted against him.
=== Pardon of Nixon ===
On September 8, 1974, Ford issued Proclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation "is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."
Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the two men, in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the pardon. According to Bob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared. Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the 1976 presidential election, an observation with which Ford agreed. In an editorial at the time, The New York Times stated that the Nixon pardon was a "profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence". On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president since Abraham Lincoln to testify before the House of Representatives.
In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as "my predecessor" or "the former president". When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondent Fred Barnes recalled that he replied "I just can't bring myself to do it."
After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of Burdick v. United States, a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt. In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to Ford for his pardon of Nixon. In presenting the award to Ford, Senator Ted Kennedy said that he had initially been opposed to the pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision.
=== Draft dodgers and deserters ===
On September 16 (shortly after pardoning Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditional amnesty program for military deserters and Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military. The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters established a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change in military discharge status. Full pardon for draft dodgers came during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter.
=== Administration ===
When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon's Cabinet. During his brief administration, he replaced all members except Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon. Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the "Halloween Massacre". One of Ford's appointees, William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.—the United States Secretary of Transportation—was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (after Robert C. Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration.
Ford selected George H. W. Bush as Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974, and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in late 1975.
Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-ever United States Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Dick Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became the campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.
=== Midterm elections ===
The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the House elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes since Andrew Johnson was President of the United States (1865–1869). Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat, Richard Vander Veen, who defeated Robert VanderLaan. In the Senate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body.
=== Domestic policy ===
==== Inflation ====
The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create, by Executive Order on September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board. In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to "Whip Inflation Now". As part of this program, he urged people to wear "WIN" buttons. At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there was a belief that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment. To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, "WIN" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption. On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the "WIN" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in "WIN" pledges. In hindsight, this was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems. The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $300 billion. At the time, inflation was over twelve percent.
==== Budget ====
The federal budget ran a deficit every year Ford was president. Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting, Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing.
The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worst recession since the Great Depression four decades earlier. The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975. In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation. Ford was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts. In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, these income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976.
When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New York Daily News' famous headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", referring to a speech in which "Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'".
==== Swine flu ====
Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. In the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, an army recruit at Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized; health officials announced that "swine flu" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States be vaccinated. Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. Ford and his family were publicly vaccinated before cameras in October, shortly before he lost the presidential election to Jimmy Carter.
==== Equal rights and abortion ====
Ford was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation no. 4383 in 1975:
In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law.
Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day.
As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported "a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice". This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, which he opposed. Ford came under criticism when First Lady Betty Ford entered the debate over abortion during an August 1975 interview for 60 Minutes, in which she stated that Roe v. Wade was a "great, great decision". During his later life, Ford would identify as pro-choice.
=== Foreign policy ===
Ford continued the détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's own visit in December 1975. The Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union in 1975, creating the framework of the Helsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance which later evolved into Human Rights Watch.
Ford attended the inaugural meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. "We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems," he said in a 1974 speech.
In November 1975, Ford adopted the global human population control recommendations of National Security Study Memorandum 200 – a national security directive initially commissioned by Nixon – as United States policy in the subsequent NSDM 314. The plan explicitly states the goal was population control and not improving the lives of individuals despite instructing organizers to "emphasize development and improvements in the quality of life of the poor", later explaining the projects were "primarily for other reasons". Upon approving the plan, Ford stated "United States leadership is essential to combat population growth, to implement the World Population Plan of Action and to advance United States security and overseas interests". Population control policies were adopted to protect American economic and military interests, with the memorandum arguing that population growth in developing countries resulted with such nations gaining global political power, that more citizens posed a risk to accessing foreign natural resources while also making American businesses vulnerable to governments seeking to fund a growing population, and that younger generations born would be prone to anti-establishment behavior, increasing political instability.
==== Indonesia and East Timor ====
As South Vietnam collapsed, an anti-communist Indonesia was seen as essential by the United States. Good relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than the decolonization process in East Timor. The Ford administration gave the Suharto regime in Indonesia economic and military support, even as it invaded East Timor and committed a genocide that killed close to a third of the population. One day prior to the invasion, Ford and Kissinger met with Suharto, and they assured him that relations with Indonesia would remain strong regardless of Indonesia's actions and that it would not object to the annexation of East Timor.
==== Middle East ====
In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. The Cyprus dispute turned into a crisis with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974, causing extreme strain within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. In mid-August, the Greek government withdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, fearing that it might impede negotiations in Cyprus, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until December 10, 1974, provided Turkey would not send American supplies to Cyprus. U.S. military aid to Turkey was suspended on February 5, 1975.
In the continuing Arab–Israeli conflict, although the initial cease fire had been implemented to end active conflict in the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuing shuttle diplomacy was showing little progress. Ford considered it "stalling" and wrote, "Their [Israeli] tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell." During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, which included:
I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision.
On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration's policies in the Middle East. In practical terms, "reassessment" meant canceling or suspending further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was "an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations". The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford "experienced a real shock" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be "responsive" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $15.5 billion in 2025) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives. The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli "war of nerves" or "test of wills". After much bargaining, the Sinai Interim Agreement (Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed.
==== Vietnam ====
One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuing Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of American prisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces.
The agreements were negotiated by US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese Politburo member Lê Đức Thọ. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu was not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords.
In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province of Phuoc Long. General Trần Văn Trà sought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues, before proceeding with the invasion.
As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam (equivalent to $4.32 billion in 2025), funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin. Senator Jacob K. Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid". President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country. Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at Tulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned". The announcement was met with thunderous applause.
1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million (equivalent to $2.72 billion in 2025) toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees. In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed.
==== Mayaguez incident ====
North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region when Khmer Rouge forces seized an American ship in international waters. The main crisis was the Mayaguez incident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest of Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the Mayaguez sailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded, while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed. Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States, and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath. The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.
Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot. Work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia.
=== Assassination attempts ===
Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. In Sacramento, California, on September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt .45-caliber handgun at Ford and pulled the trigger at point-blank range. As she did, Larry Buendorf, a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and Fromme was taken into custody. She was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years.
In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later. As he left the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, fired a .38-caliber revolver at him. The shot missed Ford by a few feet. Before she fired a second round, retired Marine Oliver Sipple grabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years.
=== Judicial appointments ===
==== Supreme Court ====
In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon. During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached. After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues. Nevertheless, in 2005 Ford praised Stevens. "He has served his nation well," Ford said of Stevens, "with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns."
==== Other judicial appointments ====
Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to the United States district courts.
=== 1976 presidential campaign ===
Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former Governor of California Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords, and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal. (Negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed the Torrijos–Carter Treaties.) Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won numerous primaries, including North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, and California, but failed to get a majority of delegates; Reagan withdrew from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The conservative insurgency did lead to Ford dropping the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of U.S. senator Bob Dole of Kansas.
In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery. Chevy Chase often did pratfalls on Saturday Night Live, imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, "He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree."
Ford's 1976 election campaign benefitted from his being an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display on the Fourth of July was presided over by the President and televised nationally. On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, which was televised on the Public Broadcasting Service network. The 200th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for "reconciliation, not recrimination" and "reconstruction, not rancor" between the United States and those who would pose "threats to peace". Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to "basic American virtues".
Televised presidential debates were reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. As such, Ford became the first incumbent president to participate in one. Carter later attributed his victory in the election to the debates, saying they "gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer". The turning point came in the second debate when Ford blundered by stating, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration." Ford also said that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union". In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush the spirits of eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questioner Max Frankel was visibly incredulous at the response.
In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford.
== Post-presidency (1977–2006) ==
The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing president, saying, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."
After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil with Marvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children.
He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977, he became the president of Eisenhower Fellowships in Philadelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to 1986. Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, a New York Times journalist who was given the assignment to write the former president's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication. In 1979, Ford published his autobiography, A Time to Heal (Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review in Foreign Affairs described it as, "Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye."
During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to the funeral of Anwar el-Sadat in 1981. Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently. Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of the Continuity of Government Commission in 2002.
Like Presidents Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of the Council for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedian Bob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot a hole in one during a Pro-am held in conjunction with the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at Colonial Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan, followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.
Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in 1980, forgoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an "accidental president" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, as well as governors Jim Rhodes of Ohio and Bill Clements of Texas to enter the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee.
After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at the Republican National Convention were unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented "co-presidency", giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State and Alan Greenspan as Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush. Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be "better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter". On October 8, 1980, Ford said former President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: "I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan."
On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of the Federal Reserve Board due to his appointing of most of its members: "President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly."
Following the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser for Thomas Kean that criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon.
In September 1981, Ford advised Reagan against succumbing to Wall Street demands and follow his own agenda for the economic policies of the US during an appearance on Good Morning America: "He shouldn't let the gurus of Wall Street decide what the economic future of this country is going to be. They are wrong in my opinion." During a news conference on October 20, 1981, Ford stated that stopping the Reagan administration's Saudi arms package could have a large negative impact to American relations in the Middle East.
On March 24, 1982, Ford offered an endorsement of Reagan's economic policies while also stating the possibility of Reagan being met with a stalemate by Congress if not willing to compromise while in Washington.
Ford founded the annual AEI World Forum in 1982, and joined the American Enterprise Institute as a distinguished fellow. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State University on March 23, 1988.
During an August 1982 fundraising reception, Ford stated his opposition to a constitutional amendment requiring the US to have a balanced budget, citing a need to elect "members of the House and Senate who will immediately when Congress convenes act more responsibly in fiscal matters." Ford was a participant in the 1982 midterm elections, traveling to Tennessee in October of that year to help Republican candidates.
In January 1984, a letter signed by Ford and Carter and urging world leaders to extend their failed effort to end world hunger was released and sent to Secretary-General of the United Nations Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
In 1987, Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of District of Columbia Circuit Court judge and former Solicitor General Robert Bork after Bork was nominated by President Reagan to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Bork's nomination was rejected by a vote of 58–42.
In 1987, Ford's Humor and the Presidency, a book of humorous political anecdotes, was published.
By 1988, Ford was a member of several corporate boards including Commercial Credit, Nova Pharmaceutical, the Pullman Company, Tesoro Petroleum, and Tiger International, Inc. Ford also became an honorary director of Citigroup, a position he held until his death.
In October 1990, Ford appeared in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with Bob Hope to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, where the two unveiled a plaque with the signatures of each living former president.
In April 1991, Ford joined former presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter, in supporting the Brady Bill. Three years later, he wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives, along with Carter and Reagan, in support of the assault weapons ban.
At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: "If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect." (The Republicans would later win both Houses of Congress at the 1994 mid-term elections.)
In April 1997, Ford joined President Bill Clinton, former president Bush, and Nancy Reagan in signing the "Summit Declaration of Commitment" in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States.
On January 20, 1998, during an interview at his Palm Springs home, Ford said the Republican Party's nominee in the 2000 presidential election would lose if the party turned ultra-conservative in their ideals: "If we get way over on the hard right of the political spectrum, we will not elect a Republican President. I worry about the party going down this ultra-conservative line. We ought to learn from the Democrats: when they were running ultra-liberal candidates, they didn't win."
In the prelude to the impeachment of President Clinton, Ford conferred with former president Carter and the two agreed to not speak publicly on the controversy, a pact broken by Carter when answering a question from a student at Emory University.
In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican Party by stating that gay and lesbian couples "ought to be treated equally. Period." He became the highest-ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters. He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, which The New York Times described as "a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party".
On November 22, 2004, New York Republican governor George Pataki named Ford and the other living former presidents (Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.
In a pre-recorded embargoed interview with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed "very strongly" with the Bush administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision to invade Iraq, calling it a "big mistake" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been president. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested.
=== Health issues ===
On April 4, 1990, Ford was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center for surgery to replace his left knee, orthopedic surgeon Robert Murphy saying, "Ford's entire left knee was replaced with an artificial joint, including portions of the adjacent femur, or thigh bone, and tibia, or leg bone."
Ford suffered two minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted to Hahnemann University Hospital. In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower Medical Center near his residence at Rancho Mirage, California, for treatment of pneumonia. On April 23, 2006, President George W. Bush visited Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage, and voice recording.
While vacationing in Vail, Colorado, Ford was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath. On August 15 he was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with a pacemaker. On August 25, he underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford had entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16. By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study.
== Death and funeral ==
Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis. He had end-stage coronary artery disease and severe aortic stenosis and insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves. At the time of his death, Ford was the longest-lived U.S. president, having lived 93 years and 165 days (45 days longer than Ronald Reagan, whose record he surpassed). He died on the 34th anniversary of President Harry S. Truman's death; he was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission.
On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. president to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. A state funeral and memorial services were held at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Ford's family asked for Scouts to participate in his funeral. A few selected Scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum.
One of the songs selected by Ford during the procession was the University of Michigan fight song, as it was a favorite of his that he preferred to be played during his presidency. After his death in December 2006, the University of Michigan Marching Band played the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The State of Michigan commissioned and submitted a statue of Ford to the National Statuary Hall Collection, replacing Zachariah Chandler. It was unveiled on May 3, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda.
== Personal life ==
=== Family ===
Speaking of his stepfather and his mother, Ford said, "My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing."
Ford had three younger half-siblings from the second marriage of his biological father, Leslie King Sr., to Marjorie King (1921–1993); Leslie Henry King (1923–1976); and Patricia Jane King (1925–1980). They never saw one another as children, and he did not know them at all until 1960. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year, his biological father, whom Ford described as a "carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son," approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two "maintained a sporadic contact" until Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941.
On October 15, 1948, Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer (1918–2011) at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids.
Bloomer, who was originally from Grand Rapids herself, had been living in New York City for several years, where she had been working as a John Robert Powers fashion model, and as a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of the Martha Graham Dance Company. At the time of their engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be the first of his 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. They delayed their wedding until shortly before the election because, as The New York Times reported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, "Jerry Ford was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced exdancer."
The couple had four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950; John Gardner (known as Jack), born in 1952; Steven Meigs, born in 1956; and Susan Elizabeth, born in 1957.
=== Civic and fraternal organizations ===
Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees), American Legion, AMVETS, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Sons of the Revolution, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was an alumnus of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Michigan.
==== Freemasonry ====
Ford was initiated into Freemasonry on September 30, 1949. He later said in 1975, "When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States." Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason on September 26, 1962. In April 1975, Ford was elected by a unanimous vote Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977. Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977, during his term as President of the United States.
Ford was also a member of the Shriners and the Royal Order of Jesters; both being affiliated bodies of Freemasonry.
== Public image ==
Ford is the only person to hold the presidential office without being elected as either president or vice president. The choice of Ford to fill the vacant vice-presidency was based on Ford's reputation for openness and honesty. "In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr. Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word", said Martha Griffiths.
According to the Gallup Organization, Ford took office with the fourth-highest approval rating for a president following their inauguration, but the trust the American public had in him was rapidly and severely tarnished by the pardon of Nixon and his ratings fell an unprecedented 21 points. By January 1975, his disapproval rating had surpassed his approval rating.
In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable, and simple-minded everyman. Henry Kissinger described him as "as close to a normal human being as we'll ever get in that office". Other pieces of the everyman image were attributed to his inevitable comparison with Nixon, his Midwestern stodginess, and his self-deprecation.
An incident in 1975, when Ford tripped while exiting Air Force One in Austria, was famously and repeatedly parodied by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live, cementing Ford's image as a klutz. Additionally, an incident in April 1976, when Ford bit into a still shuck-wrapped tamale, a culinary faux pas, made national news and contributed to the image of Ford as a chronic bumbler. The incident has become a cautionary tale about the hazards of eating on the campaign trail.
Ford has been portrayed in two television productions which included a central focus on his wife: the Emmy-winning 1987 ABC biographical television movie The Betty Ford Story, and the 2022 Showtime television series The First Lady.
== Honors ==
Estonia:
First Class of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (January 7, 1997)
Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in May 1970, as well as the Silver Buffalo Award, from the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1974, he also received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award. In 1985, he received the 1985 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor. In 1992, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded Ford its Lone Sailor Award for his naval service and his subsequent government service. In 1999, Ford was honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. Also in 1999, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton. In 2001, he was presented with the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon to stop the agony America was experiencing over Watergate.
The following are named after Ford:
The Ford House Office Building in the U.S. Capitol Complex, formerly House Annex 2.
Gerald R. Ford Freeway (Nebraska)
Gerald R. Ford Freeway (Michigan)
Gerald Ford Memorial Highway, I-70 in Eagle County, Colorado
Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy, Albion College
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)
Gerald R. Ford Middle School, Grand Rapids, Michigan
President Gerald R. Ford Park in Alexandria, Virginia, located in the neighborhood where Ford lived while serving as a Representative and Vice President
President Ford Field Service Council, Boy Scouts of America The council where he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. Serves 25 counties in Western and Northern Michigan with its headquarters located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey_Bieber | Hailey Bieber | Hailey Rhode Bieber (née Baldwin; born November 22, 1996) is an American model, socialite, creative director, and businesswoman. She is the founder and chief creative officer (CCO) of skin care brand Rhode, which was acquired by e.l.f. in a $1 billion deal. Bieber has also featured in campaigns for Guess, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger.
== Early life and family ==
Bieber was born in Tucson, Arizona, on November 22, 1996. Her mother is Kennya Deodato, a Brazilian graphic designer, while her father is actor Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the Baldwin brothers. Bieber's maternal grandfather is the Brazilian musician Eumir Deodato. She was named after Halley's Comet.
== Career ==
=== Modeling ===
The first modeling agency Bieber signed with was Ford Models, appearing in magazines such as Tatler, LOVE, V and i-D. Her first commercial campaign was for the clothing brand French Connection in the winter of 2014. In October 2014, Bieber made her runway debut walking for Topshop and French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel. In December 2014, she was involved in a photo session for Love magazine, which also produced a short movie shot by photographer Daniel Jackson and released on the magazine's official YouTube channel.
In January 2015, Bieber was photographed for American Vogue and in March for Teen Vogue. In April, she shot her first magazine cover for Jalouse magazine alongside male model Lucky Blue Smith. In the same month she was involved in two further cover-shoots, for the Dutch edition of L'Officiel and the American edition of Wonderland magazine and was also pictured in editorials for Miss Vogue and W magazines. In July 2015, she was featured in Ralph Lauren advertising alongside Australian singer Cody Simpson, and in October returned to the runway for Tommy Hilfiger and Philipp Plein.
In January 2016, Bieber appeared in a Ralph Lauren campaign and shot an editorial for the Korean edition of Vogue. After walking again for Tommy Hilfiger in February, Bieber featured in spring/summer campaigns for Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger. In the same period she was also shot for Self magazine and filmed for a commercial of clothing brand H&M, which was released in the Coachella Music Festival period in April. In March 2016, Bieber signed a contract with high-profile New York modeling agency IMG Models and in May appeared on the cover of Marie Claire, who described her as a "fresh face". The American cover was also released as the July cover of the Dutch edition of Marie Claire. In June, Bieber walked for Moschino alongside high-profile supermodels such as Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman and in the same month she also made her debut in advertising for Guess.
During the summer of 2016, Bieber was photographed and filmed for an UGG footwear campaign, alongside supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Along with Joan Smalls, Bieber was also the face of Karl Lagerfeld's limited-edition North American clothing line entitled "Love from Paris". Bieber also appeared in editorials for Glamour Magazine and Italian Vogue. In September, she took part in New York Fashion Week, walking for Tommy Hilfiger, Prabal Gurung, Jeremy Scott, Tory Burch and Matty Bovan. In London she made a personal appearance at a pre-London Fashion Week party at Stradivarius where she provided social media presence via selfies and tweets. She then walked for Julien Macdonald in LFW. During Milan Fashion Week Bieber walked for Dolce & Gabbana and in Paris Fashion Week she walked for Elie Saab. Bieber also appeared in advertising for Prabal Gurung Sport. Later that year she featured in campaigns for Guess' holiday collection and Australian label Sass & Bide. In November 2016, Bieber was on the cover of the Australian edition of Harper's Bazaar, and featured in a French Elle editorial.
In 2017, Bieber was featured on the cover of Spanish Harper's Bazaar alongside male model Jon Kortajarena and the British edition of Elle. Bieber also appeared in the promotion video for the Fyre Festival. She has since then stated that the money went towards charity. Bieber appeared in the March 2018 issue of US Elle. In September 2018, Bieber became a face of the Power of Good campaign for the Shiseido-owned make-up brand bareMinerals.
Bieber became the face of Levi Jeans in 2019.
=== Business and creative direction ===
On June 15, 2022, Bieber launched a skincare brand called Rhode, after her middle name. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, Rhode achieved $212 million in total sales.
On May 28, e.l.f. cosmetics announced its acquisition of Rhode for $1 billion. The deal consists of a $600 million cash payment, $200 million in shares of e.l.f. stock to Rhode's existing equity holders, and a $200 million earn out that would be payable over three years based on hitting performance goals. Bieber will remain with Rhode as its chief creative officer and head of innovation, overseeing creative, product innovation, and marketing. She will also act as a strategic beauty advisor to both companies. The deal is expected to close later in 2025 subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
=== Other ventures ===
==== Acting and TV appearances ====
In 2005, then aged nine, Bieber appeared alongside her family in the television documentary Livin It: Unusual Suspects, and in 2009, she made an appearance in an episode of the TV show Saturday Night Live by the side of her uncle Alec Baldwin. In 2011, she appeared as Australian singer Cody Simpson's love interest in the music video of the song "On My Mind" as part of her early work and several years later, in 2016, she had a role in a second music video, "Love to Love You Baby" by French model and singer Baptiste Giabiconi, a cover of the Donna Summer song released in 1975.
==== Hosting ====
On October 25, 2015, Bieber worked as a TV host in a segment of the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards in Milan, Italy. Alongside Italian supermodel Bianca Balti and English rapper Tinie Tempah she revealed the winners of the Best Music Video Award, were Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for the video of their song "Downtown". On June 19, 2016, she co-hosted with model Gigi Hadid announcing a live exhibition by Shawn Mendes at the 2016 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards in Toronto, Canada.
Beginning on May 2, 2017, Bieber began hosting a new TBS show Drop the Mic with rapper Method Man, featuring four celebrities facing off in a series of rap battles. As of 2020, the show had been broadcast for two seasons but had yet to be renewed or cancelled for season three.
==== Personal branding ====
In 2016, Bieber collaborated with clothing brand The Daily Edited, promoting a handbag capsule collection labeled as #theHAILEYedited collection. In the same year, she announced a collaboration with UK footwear brand Public Desire using the hashtag #PDxHB, and announced she would be launching her own make-up collection produced by Australian brand ModelCo.
In 2018, Bieber applied for and received a trademark on her name "Hailey Bieber" for commercial purposes.
== Personal life ==
Bieber enjoyed being a classical ballet dancer even though she did not see it as a career. She trained for 12 years and fought through multiple injuries. Bieber stopped ballet when she was discovered at 16 and became a model. In addition to English, Bieber speaks some Portuguese as the maternal side of her family is Brazilian.
Hailey and Justin Bieber entered a month-long relationship in December 2015 before splitting up in January 2016, and later reconciled in June 2018. The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married. The Biebers held a second wedding ceremony in South Carolina on September 30, 2019. On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Hailey was pregnant with the couple's first child. They announced the birth of their son on August 23, 2024. As of 2024, Bieber primarily resides with her husband in La Quinta, California, having previously lived in their lakefront property in Cambridge, Ontario in Canada.
Bieber was raised as an evangelical Christian and attends Churchome, the same nondenominational church attended by her husband.
On World Mental Health Day 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden for the United States presidential election. She had initially endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination during the party's primaries in 2020. Bieber supports abortion rights, describing the overturning of Roe v. Wade as 'an extreme loss and disappointment. This is really really scary.' In May 2022, Bieber appeared alongside almost 160 other celebrities in a "Bans Off Our Bodies" full-page advertisement in the New York Times advocating for reproductive rights.
=== Health ===
Bieber was hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms on March 10, 2022, and was discharged the following day. In a 12-minute video she posted on her YouTube channel, she revealed she had suffered from a transient ischemic attack, caused by a patent foramen ovale and had surgery to repair the heart defect. Bieber stated that she had an ovarian cyst "the size of an apple" on her ovary and she had had such cysts "a few times" in November 2022. On April 20, 2023, Bieber issued a statement about her mental health in which she revealed that she had been "fragile" since the beginning of the year after dealing with online rumors of an alleged feud between her and pop-singer Selena Gomez sparked controversy over social media.
== Filmography ==
=== Television ===
=== Music videos ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University | Columbia University | Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a private Ivy League research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1754 as King's College by royal charter under George II of Great Britain on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States.
The university was renamed Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolution, and in 1787 was placed under a private board of trustees headed by former students Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In 1896, the campus was moved to its current location and renamed Columbia University.
Columbia is organized into 17 schools, two affiliated colleges—Barnard College and Teachers College—and two affiliated seminaries—Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and Union Theological Seminary (UTS). The university's research efforts include the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and accelerator laboratories with Big Tech firms such as Amazon and IBM. Columbia is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the MD degree. The university also supports the administration of the annual Pulitzer Prize, following the independent Pulitzer Prize Board's decisions.
Columbia scientists and scholars have played a pivotal role in scientific breakthroughs including brain–computer interface; the laser and maser; nuclear magnetic resonance; the first nuclear pile; the first nuclear fission reaction in the Americas; the first evidence for plate tectonics and continental drift; and much of the initial research and planning for the Manhattan Project during World War II.
As of December 2021, its alumni, faculty, and staff have included 7 of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America; 4 U.S. presidents; 34 foreign heads of state or government; 2 secretaries-general of the United Nations; 10 justices of the United States Supreme Court; 103 Nobel laureates; 125 National Academy of Sciences members; 53 living billionaires; 23 Olympic medalists; 33 Academy Award winners; and 125 Pulitzer Prize recipients.
== History ==
=== 18th century ===
Discussions regarding the founding of a college in the Province of New York began as early as 1704.
Classes were initially held in July 1754 and were presided over by the college's first president, Samuel Johnson. The college was officially founded on October 31, 1754, as King's College by royal charter of George II, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the State of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.
In 1763, Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by Myles Cooper, a graduate of The Queen's College, Oxford, and an ardent Tory. In the charged political climate of the American Revolution, his chief opponent in discussions at the college was an undergraduate of the class of 1777, Alexander Hamilton. The Irish anatomist, Samuel Clossy, was appointed professor of natural philosophy in October 1765 and later the college's first professor of anatomy in 1767.
Following the start of the American Revolutionary War and the arrival of Continental Army in 1776, the school suspended instruction for eight years. The suspension continued through the military occupation of New York City by British troops until their departure in 1783. During this time, the college's library was looted and its sole building requisitioned for use as a military hospital first by American and then British forces.
The legislature agreed to assist the college. On May 1, 1784, it passed "an Act for granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called King's College". The Act created a board of regents to oversee the resuscitation of King's College. In an effort to demonstrate its support for the new Republic, the legislature stipulated that "the College within the City of New York heretofore called King's College be forever hereafter called and known by the name of Columbia College." In February 1787, the Regents appointed a revision committee, which was headed by John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. In April of that same year, a new charter was adopted for the college granted the power to a separate board of 24 trustees.
For a period in the 1790s, with New York City as the federal and state capital and the country under successive Federalist governments, a revived Columbia operated under Federalists such as Hamilton and Jay. President George Washington and Vice President John Adams, in addition to both houses of Congress attended the college's commencement on May 6, 1789, as a tribute of honor to the alumni of the school who had been involved in the American Revolution.
=== 19th century ===
In 1813, the college incorporated its medical school with The College of Physicians and Surgeons, a new school created by the Regents of New York, forming Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1857, the college moved from the King's College campus at Park Place to a primarily Gothic Revival campus on 49th Street and Madison Avenue, where it remained for the next forty years.
During the last half of the 19th century, under the presidency of Frederick A. P. Barnard, for whom Barnard College is named, the institution rapidly assumed the shape of a modern university. Barnard College was created in 1889 as a response to the university's refusal to accept women.
In 1896, university president Seth Low moved the campus from 49th Street to its present location, a more spacious campus in the developing neighborhood of Morningside Heights. Under the leadership of Low's successor, Nicholas Murray Butler, who served for more than four decades, Columbia became the nation's major institution for research, setting the multiversity model that other universities would adopt.
=== 20th century ===
On March 8, 1917, as a result of America's entrance into World War 1, Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler formed the Columbia Reserve Officers Training Corps. All students over the age of 18 who passed a physical exam were entered into this program. Within 4 months, over 1,400 students were enrolled within the program. They were one of 12 universities designated by the War department to create a naval section for the Student Army Training Corps. As part of this new program, the US Army charged Columbia to create a "War Issues" course. In 1919, a similar course was created for Columbia students, a "peace issues" course that evolved into "Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West", part of the university's core curriculum for undergraduate students.
In 1919, Columbia established a student application process characterized by The New York Times as "the first modern college application".
In 1928, Seth Low Junior College was established by Columbia University in order to mitigate the number of Jewish applicants to Columbia College. The college was closed in 1936 due to the adverse effects of the Great Depression and its students were subsequently taught at the Morningside Heights campus, although they did not belong to any college but to the university at large.
In the 1940s, faculty members, including John R. Dunning, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Enrico Fermi, and Polykarp Kusch, began what became the Manhattan Project, creating the first nuclear fission reactor in the Americas and researching gaseous diffusion.
In the aftermath of World War II, the discipline of international relations became a major scholarly focus of the university, and in response, the School of International and Public Affairs was founded in 1946, drawing upon the resources of the faculties of political science, economics, and history.
In 1947, University Extension, an evening school program open to all for a fee, was reorganized as an undergraduate college and designated the School of General Studies in response to the return of GIs after World War II.
The Columbia University Bicentennial was celebrated in 1954.
During the 1960s, student activism reached a climax with protests in the spring of 1968, when hundreds of students occupied buildings on campus. The incident forced the resignation of Columbia's president, Grayson Kirk, and the establishment of the University Senate.
Though several schools in the university had admitted women for years, Columbia College first admitted women in the fall of 1983, after a decade of failed negotiations with Barnard College, the all-female institution affiliated with the university, to merge the two schools. Barnard College still remains affiliated with Columbia, and all Barnard graduates are issued diplomas signed by the presidents of Columbia University and Barnard College.
During the late 20th century, the university underwent significant academic, structural, and administrative changes as it developed into a major research university. For much of the 19th century, the university consisted of decentralized and separate faculties specializing in Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science. In 1979, these faculties were merged into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 1991, the faculties of Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, and the School of Professional Studies were merged into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, leading to the academic integration and centralized governance of these schools.
In 1995, the Division of Special Programs, later called the School of Continuing Education and now the School of Professional Studies, was established to reprise the former role of University Extension.
=== 21st century ===
==== Bollinger presidency (2002-2023) ====
Lee C. Bollinger became Columbia's 19th president in June 2002, succeeding George Rupp. Bollinger was appointed in October 2001 after arriving from the presidency of the University of Michigan. His presidency emphasized campus expansion, defense of affirmative action in college admissions, support for government funding of private sector media, and opposition to disinformation.
Under Bollinger's tenure, the university publicly launched a record $4 billion capital campaign in September 2006. Financial aid was improved, eliminating loans for undergraduates from families earning under $50,000, and additional funds were allocated to support Bollinger's efforts toward the Manhattanville campus expansion, which nearly doubled Columbia's physical footprint. This expansion was supported by a major gift from trustee Gerry Lenfest.
Globalization efforts continued with the World Leaders Forum and the creation of the Committee on Global Thought, chaired by Joseph Stiglitz.
The 2008 financial crisis impacted Columbia's endowment. The endowment recovered, hitting $8.2B in Oct 2013. Despite the downturn, the university pressed on with Manhattanville construction, receiving final state approval in June 2009.
In May 2011, following the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the University Senate voted 51–17 to invite ROTC back after a 40-year absence, and Bollinger announced an agreement with the Navy. Columbia has maintained its Global Centers network (Amman, Athens, Beijing, Mumbai, Paris, Nairobi, Istanbul, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Tunis, Tel Aviv), aiming to increase global engagement and international student enrollment.
From 2014 to 2021, Columbia University pursued significant physical expansion, notably opening major facilities on the Manhattanville campus (ZMBBI, Lenfest Center, The Forum). Key strategic initiatives launched included the Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia World Projects, and the new Columbia Climate School (2020). A $5 billion university capital campaign was launched (with a $1.5B A&S target), major gifts like $50M for A&S's Uris Hall renovation were secured, and the endowment grew significantly ($14.35B by mid-2021).
In February 2022, Columbia's mathematics professor Michael Thaddeus published a website and argued that data submitted by Columbia for U.S. News college rankings was "inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading". In July 2022, U.S. News & World Report unranked Columbia citing failed verification. In September 2022, Columbia acknowledged the submission of incorrect data to U.S. News college rankings. In June 2023, Columbia announced its non-participation in the rankings. In July 2025, Columbia offered to pay US$9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by its students in Manhattan federal court over the alleged submission of false data to boost its U.S. News college rankings.
==== Shafik presidency (2023-2024) ====
In January 2023, Columbia University announced that Minouche Shafik would be the school's 20th president. Previously, Shafik served as president of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Shafik was inaugurated in October 2023.
Beginning in fall 2023, protests at Columbia University against the Gaza war and what student protesters described as Columbia's complicity in the Gaza genocide, resulted in police action, student disciplinary measures, and the appointment of Katrina Armstrong as interim president in August 2024 after the resignation of former university president Minouche Shafik. The federal government also launched an investigation into antisemitism and then withdrew funding, prompting the university to adopt new policies and adjust disciplinary processes. Claire Shipman was appointed acting president in March 2025. Columbia also closed its Morningside Heights campus to the general public, allowing access only to holders of Columbia ID cards and approved guests. In July 2025, Columbia finalized a $220 million settlement to resume federal funding, agreeing to implement a set of reforms to address anti-semitism. The university also adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
In January 2026, the university announced that it had chosen Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as the next president of Columbia, effective July 1, 2026.
In March 2026, a $481 million ruling that Columbia University had won against software company Gen Digital for infringing patents related to cybersecurity technology was overturned. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stated that Columbia's patents may be invalid and sent the case back to Virginia federal court.
== Campus ==
=== Morningside Heights ===
The majority of Columbia's graduate and undergraduate studies are conducted in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights on Seth Low's late-19th century vision of a university campus where all disciplines could be taught at one location. The campus was designed along Beaux-Arts planning principles by the architects McKim, Mead & White. Columbia's main campus occupies more than six city blocks, or 32 acres (13 ha), in Morningside Heights, New York City, a neighborhood that contains a number of academic institutions. The university owns over 7,800 apartments in Morningside Heights, housing faculty, graduate students, and staff. Almost two dozen undergraduate dormitories (purpose-built or converted) are located on campus or in Morningside Heights. Columbia University has an extensive tunnel system, more than a century old, with the oldest portions predating the present campus. Some of these remain accessible to the public, while others have been cordoned off.
Butler Library is the largest in the Columbia University Libraries system and one of the largest buildings on the campus. It was completed in 1934 and renamed to Butler Library in 1946. As of 2020, Columbia's library system includes over 15.0 million volumes, making it the eighth largest library system and fifth largest collegiate library system in the United States.
Several buildings on the Morningside Heights campus are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Low Memorial Library, a National Historic Landmark and the centerpiece of the campus, is listed for its architectural significance. Philosophy Hall is listed as the site of the invention of FM radio. Also listed is Pupin Hall, another National Historic Landmark, which houses the physics and astronomy departments. Here the first experiments on the fission of uranium were conducted by Enrico Fermi. The uranium atom was split there ten days after the world's first atom-splitting in Copenhagen, Denmark. Other buildings listed include Casa Italiana, the Delta Psi, Alpha Chapter building of St. Anthony Hall, Earl Hall, and the buildings of the affiliated Union Theological Seminary.
A statue by sculptor Daniel Chester French called Alma Mater is centered on the front steps of Low Memorial Library. The statue represents a personification of the traditional image of the university as an alma mater, or "nourishing mother", draped in an academic gown and seated on a throne. She wears a laurel wreath on her head and holds in her right hand a scepter capped by a King's Crown, a traditional symbol of the university. A book, representing learning, rests on her lap. The arms of her throne end in lamps, representing "Sapientia et Doctrina", or "Wisdom and Learning"; on the back of the throne is embossed an image of the seal of the university. The small hidden owl on the sculpture is also the subject of many Columbia legends, the main legend being that the first student in the freshmen class to find the hidden owl on the statue will be valedictorian, and that any subsequent Columbia male who finds it will marry a Barnard student, given that Barnard is a women's college.
"The Steps", alternatively known as "Low Steps" or the "Urban Beach", are a popular meeting area for Columbia students. The term refers to the long series of granite steps leading from the lower part of campus (South Field) to its upper terrace.
=== Other campuses ===
In April 2007, the university purchased more than two-thirds of a 17 acres (6.9 ha) site for a new campus in Manhattanville, an industrial neighborhood to the north of the Morningside Heights campus. Stretching from 125th Street to 133rd Street, Columbia Manhattanville houses buildings for Columbia's Business School, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia School of the Arts, and the Jerome L. Greene Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior, where research will occur on neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The $7 billion expansion plan included demolishing all buildings, except three that are historically significant (the Studebaker Building, Prentis Hall, and the Nash Building), eliminating the existing light industry and storage warehouses, and relocating tenants in 132 apartments. Replacing these buildings created 6.8 million square feet (630,000 m2) of space for the university. Community activist groups in West Harlem fought the expansion for reasons ranging from property protection and fair exchange for land, to residents' rights. Subsequent public hearings drew neighborhood opposition. As of December 2008, the State of New York's Empire State Development Corporation approved use of eminent domain, which, through declaration of Manhattanville's "blighted" status, gives governmental bodies the right to appropriate private property for public use. On May 20, 2009, the New York State Public Authorities Control Board approved the Manhanttanville expansion plan.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is affiliated with the medical schools of both Columbia University and Cornell University. According to U.S. News & World Report's "2020–21 Best Hospitals Honor Roll and Medical Specialties Rankings", it is ranked fourth overall and second among university hospitals. Columbia's medical school has a strategic partnership with New York State Psychiatric Institute, and is affiliated with 19 other hospitals in the U.S. and four hospitals in other countries. Health-related schools are located at the Columbia University Medical Center, a 20-acre (8.1 ha) campus located in the neighborhood of Washington Heights, fifty blocks uptown. Other teaching hospitals affiliated with Columbia through the NewYork-Presbyterian network include the Payne Whitney Clinic in Manhattan, and the Payne Whitney Westchester, a psychiatric institute located in White Plains, New York. On the northern tip of Manhattan island (in the neighborhood of Inwood), Columbia owns the 26-acre (11 ha) Baker Field, which includes the Lawrence A. Wien Stadium as well as facilities for field sports, outdoor track, and tennis. There is a third campus on the west bank of the Hudson River, the 157-acre (64 ha) Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and Earth Institute in Palisades, New York. A fourth is the 60-acre (24 ha) Nevis Laboratories in Irvington, New York, for the study of particle and motion physics. A satellite site in Paris holds classes at Reid Hall.
=== Sustainability ===
In 2006, the university established the Office of Environmental Stewardship to initiate, coordinate and implement programs to reduce the university's environmental footprint. The U.S. Green Building Council selected the university's Manhattanville plan for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Neighborhood Design pilot program.
Columbia has been rated "B+" by the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card for its environmental and sustainability initiatives.
According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Columbia University would have a dominant vegetation type of Appalachian Oak (104) with a dominant vegetation form of Eastern Hardwood Forest (25).
=== Transportation ===
Columbia Transportation is the bus service of the university, operated by Academy Bus Lines. The buses are open to all Columbia faculty, students, Dodge Fitness Center members, and anyone else who holds a Columbia ID card. In addition, all TSC students can ride the buses.
In the New York City Subway, the train serves the university at 116th Street-Columbia University. The M4, M104 and M60 buses stop on Broadway while the M11 stops on Amsterdam Avenue.
The main campus is primarily boxed off by the streets of Amsterdam Avenue, Broadway, 114th street, and 120th street, with some buildings, including Barnard College, located just outside the area. The nearest major highway is the Henry Hudson Parkway (NY 9A) to the west of the campus. It is located 3.4 miles (5.5 km) south of the George Washington Bridge.
== Academics ==
=== Undergraduate admissions and financial aid ===
Columbia is a racially diverse school, with approximately 52% of all students identifying themselves as persons of color. Additionally, around 50% of all undergraduates received grants from Columbia. The college is need-blind for domestic applicants.
On April 11, 2007, Columbia University announced a $400 million donation from media billionaire alumnus John Kluge to be used exclusively for undergraduate financial aid. The donation is among the largest single gifts to higher education. However, this did not apply to international students, transfer students, visiting students, or students in the School of General Studies. In the fall of 2010, admission to Columbia's undergraduate colleges Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering) began accepting the Common Application. The policy change made Columbia one of the last major academic institutions and the last Ivy League university to switch to the Common Application.
=== Organization ===
Columbia University is an independent, privately supported, nonsectarian and not-for-profit institution of higher education. Its official corporate name is Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
Joint degree programs are available through Union Theological Seminary, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the Juilliard School. Teachers College and Barnard College are official faculties of the university; both colleges' presidents are deans under the university governance structure. The Columbia University Senate includes faculty and student representatives from Teachers College and Barnard College who serve two-year terms; all senators are accorded full voting privileges regarding matters impacting the entire university. Teachers College is an affiliated, financially independent graduate school with their own board of trustees. Pursuant to an affiliation agreement, Columbia is given the authority to confer "degrees and diplomas" to the graduates of Teachers College. The degrees are signed by presidents of Teachers College and Columbia University in a manner analogous to the university's other graduate schools. Columbia's General Studies school also has joint undergraduate programs available through University College London, Sciences Po, City University of Hong Kong, Trinity College Dublin, and the Juilliard School.
The university also has several Columbia Global Centers, in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, and Tunis.
=== International partnerships ===
Columbia students can study abroad for a semester or a year at partner institutions such as Sciences Po, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), École normale supérieure (ENS), Panthéon-Sorbonne University, King's College London, London School of Economics, University College London and the University of Warwick. Select students can study at either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge for a year if approved by both Columbia and either Oxford or Cambridge. Columbia also has a dual MA program with the Aga Khan University in London.
=== Rankings ===
Columbia University was ranked 12th in the United States and tenth globally for 2023–2024 by U.S. News & World Report.
In 2021, Columbia was ranked seventh in the world (sixth in the United States) by Academic Ranking of World Universities, sixth in the world by U.S. News & World Report, 19th in the world by QS World University Rankings, and 11th globally by Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It was ranked in the first tier of American research universities, along with Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, in the 2019 report from the Center for Measuring University Performance.
In 2025, Columbia was ranked 250 out of 257 top colleges in "Free Speech Rankings" by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and "College Pulse", after ranking 214 of 248 in 2024 and at the bottom of 203 in 2022/2023. In 2024 and 2025, Columbia received a D on the "Campus Antisemitism Report Card" of the Anti-Defamation League, which the advocacy organization first launched in spring 2024, in the lead-up to and in the context of campus conflict over the 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations.
=== Research ===
Columbia University has been the site of many scientific milestones, including the first nuclear fission in North America, the invention of FM radio and the laser, and key contributions to neuroscience. Researchers at Columbia have also advanced efforts in technology, such as digital media, cellular imaging, and brain-computer interfaces.
Columbia is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Columbia scientists have been credited with about 175 new inventions in the health sciences each year. Columbia is affiliated with many research facilities, such as the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information dedicated to telecommunications and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which is an astronomical observatory affiliated with NASA.
=== Military and veteran enrollment ===
Columbia is a long-standing participant of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Yellow Ribbon Program, allowing eligible veterans and their dependents to pursue a Columbia undergraduate degree regardless of socioeconomic status for over 70 years. As a part of the Eisenhower Leader Development Program (ELDP) in partnership with the United States Military Academy at West Point, Columbia is the only school in the Ivy League to offer a graduate degree program in organizational psychology to aid military officers in tactical decision making and strategic management.
=== Awards ===
Several prestigious awards are administered by Columbia University, most notably the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in history. Other prizes, which are awarded by the Graduate School of Journalism, include the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, the National Magazine Awards, the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, the John Chancellor Award, and the Lukas Prizes, which include the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and Mark Lynton History Prize. The university also administers the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, which is considered an important precursor to the Nobel Prize, 55 of its 117 recipients having gone on to win either a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine or Nobel Prize in Chemistry as of October 2024; the W. Alden Spencer Award; the Vetlesen Prize, which is known as the Nobel Prize of geology; the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature, the oldest such award; the Edwin Howard Armstrong award; the Calderone Prize in public health; and the Ditson Conductor's Award.
== Student life ==
In 2020, Columbia University's student population was 31,455 (8,842 students in undergraduate programs and 22,613 in postgraduate programs), with 45% of the student population identifying themselves as a minority. Twenty-six percent of students at Columbia have family incomes below $60,000. 16% of students at Columbia receive Federal Pell Grants, which mostly go to students whose family incomes are below $40,000. Seventeen percent of students are the first member of their family to attend a four-year college.
Columbia University is home to many fraternities, sororities, and co-educational Greek organizations. Approximately 10–15% of undergraduate students are associated with Greek life. Many Barnard women also join Columbia sororities. There has been a Greek presence on campus since the establishment in 1836 of the Delta chapter of Alpha Delta Phi.
=== Publications ===
The Columbia Daily Spectator is the nation's second-oldest continuously operating daily student newspaper. The Blue and White is a monthly literary magazine established in 1890 that discusses campus life and local politics. Bwog, originally an offshoot of The Blue and White but now fully independent, is an online campus news and entertainment source. The Morningside Post is a student-run multimedia news publication.
Political publications include The Current, a journal of politics, culture and Jewish Affairs; the Columbia Political Review, the multi-partisan political magazine of the Columbia Political Union; and AdHoc, which denotes itself as the "progressive" campus magazine and deals largely with local political issues and arts events.
Columbia Magazine is the alumni magazine of Columbia, serving all 340,000+ of the university's alumni. Arts and literary publications include The Columbia Review, the nation's oldest college literary magazine; Surgam, the literary magazine of The Philolexian Society; Quarto, Columbia University's official undergraduate literary magazine; 4x4, a student-run alternative to Quarto; Columbia, a nationally regarded literary journal; the Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism; and The Mobius Strip, an online arts and literary magazine. Inside New York is an annual guidebook to New York City, written, edited, and published by Columbia undergraduates. Through a distribution agreement with Columbia University Press, the book is sold at major retailers and independent bookstores.
Columbia is home to numerous undergraduate academic publications. The Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal prints original science research in its two annual publications. The Journal of Politics & Society is a journal of undergraduate research in the social sciences; Publius is an undergraduate journal of politics established in 2008 and published biannually; the Columbia East Asia Review allows undergraduates throughout the world to publish original work on China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam and is supported by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute; The Birch is an undergraduate journal of Eastern European and Eurasian culture that is the first national student-run journal of its kind; the Columbia Economics Review is the undergraduate economic journal on research and policy supported by the Columbia Economics Department; and the Columbia Science Review is a science magazine that prints general interest articles and faculty profiles.
Humor publications on Columbia's campus include The Fed, a triweekly satire and investigative newspaper, and the Jester of Columbia. Other publications include The Columbian, the undergraduate colleges' annually published yearbook; the Gadfly, a biannual journal of popular philosophy produced by undergraduates; and Rhapsody in Blue, an undergraduate urban studies magazine. Professional journals published by academic departments at Columbia University include Current Musicology and The Journal of Philosophy. During the spring semester, graduate students in the Journalism School publish The Bronx Beat, a bi-weekly newspaper covering the South Bronx.
Founded in 1961 under the auspices of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) examines day-to-day press performance as well as the forces that affect that performance. The magazine is published six times a year.
Former publications include the Columbia University Forum, a review of literature and cultural affairs distributed for free to alumni.
=== Broadcasting ===
Columbia is home to two pioneers in undergraduate campus radio broadcasting, WKCR-FM and CTV. Many undergraduates are also involved with Barnard's radio station, WBAR. WKCR, the student run radio station that broadcasts to the Tri-state area, claims to be the oldest FM radio station in the world, owing to the university's affiliation with Edwin Howard Armstrong. The station has its studios on the second floor of Alfred Lerner Hall on the Morningside campus with its main transmitter tower at 4 Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. Columbia Television (CTV) is the nation's second oldest student television station and the home of CTV News, a weekly live news program produced by undergraduate students.
=== Debate and Model UN ===
The Philolexian Society is a literary and debating club founded in 1802, making it the oldest student group at Columbia, as well as the third oldest collegiate literary society in the country. The society annually administers the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest. The Columbia Parliamentary Debate Team competes in tournaments around the country as part of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, and hosts both high school and college tournaments on Columbia's campus, as well as public debates on issues affecting the university.
The Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA), oversees Columbia's Model United Nations activities. CIRCA hosts college and high school Model UN conferences, hosts speakers influential in international politics to speak on campus, and trains students from underprivileged schools in New York in Model UN.
=== Technology and entrepreneurship ===
Many engineering entrepreneurs in New York City have attended Columbia. Since 1990, graduates of Columbia have established more than 100 technology companies.
The student-run group Columbia University Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) was founded in 1999 with an aim to foster entrepreneurship on campus. Each year CORE hosts events, including #StartupColumbia, a conference and venture competition for $250,000, and Ignite@CU, a weekend for undergrads interested in design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. Notable speakers include Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, Alexis Ohanian, Drew Houston, and Mark Cuban.
CampusNetwork, an on-campus social networking site called Campus Network that preceded Facebook, was created and popularized by Columbia engineering student Adam Goldberg in 2003. Mark Zuckerberg later asked Goldberg to join him in Palo Alto to work on Facebook, but Goldberg declined the offer. The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science offers a minor in Technical Entrepreneurship through its Center for Technology, Innovation, and Community Engagement. SEAS' entrepreneurship activities focus on community building initiatives in New York and worldwide, made possible through partners such as Microsoft Corporation.
On June 14, 2010, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg launched the NYC Media Lab to promote innovations in New York's media industry. Situated at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, the lab is a consortium of Columbia University, New York University, and New York City Economic Development Corporation acting to connect companies with universities in new technology research. The Lab is modeled after similar ones at MIT and Stanford, and was established with a $250,000 grant from the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
=== World Leaders Forum ===
Established in 2003 by university president Lee C. Bollinger, the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University provides the opportunity for students and faculty to listen to world leaders in government, religion, industry, finance, and academia.
Past forum speakers include former president of the United States Bill Clinton, former prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former president of Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor, president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, prime minister of Russia Vladimir Putin, president of the Republic of Mozambique Joaquim Alberto Chissano, president of the Republic of Bolivia Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert, president of the Republic of Romania Ion Iliescu, president of the Republic of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, the first female president of Finland Tarja Halonen, President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Pervez Musharraf of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Iraq President Jalal Talabani, the 14th Dalai Lama, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, financier George Soros, Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg, President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and Al Gore.
=== Other ===
The Columbia University Orchestra was founded by composer Edward MacDowell in 1896, and is the oldest continually operating university orchestra in the United States. Undergraduate student composers at Columbia may choose to become involved with Columbia New Music, which sponsors concerts of music written by undergraduate students from all of Columbia's schools. The Notes and Keys, the oldest a cappella group at Columbia, was founded in 1909. There are a number of performing arts groups at Columbia dedicated to producing student theater, including the Columbia Players, King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe (KCST), Columbia Musical Theater Society (CMTS), NOMADS (New and Original Material Authored and Directed by Students), LateNite Theatre, Columbia University Performing Arts League (CUPAL), Black Theatre Ensemble (BTE), sketch comedy group Chowdah, and improvisational troupes Alfred and Fruit Paunch.
The Columbia Queer Alliance is the central Columbia student organization that represents the bisexual, lesbian, gay, transgender, and questioning student population. It is the oldest gay student organization in the world, founded as the Student Homophile League in 1967 by students including lifelong activist Stephen Donaldson.
Columbia University campus military groups include the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University and Advocates for Columbia ROTC. In the 2005–06 academic year, the Columbia Military Society, Columbia's student group for ROTC cadets and Marine officer candidates, was renamed the Hamilton Society for "students who aspire to serve their nation through the military in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton".
Columbia has several secret societies, including St. Anthony Hall, which was founded at the university in 1847, and two senior societies, the Nacoms and Sachems.
== Athletics ==
A member institution of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in Division I FCS, Columbia fields varsity teams in 29 sports and is a member of the Ivy League. The football Lions play home games at the 17,000-seat Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. The Baker Athletics Complex also includes facilities for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, track, and rowing, as well as the new Campbell Sports Center, which opened in January 2013. The basketball, fencing, swimming & diving, volleyball, and wrestling programs are based at the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the main campus.
Former students include Baseball Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig and Eddie Collins, football Hall of Famer Sid Luckman, Marcellus Wiley, and world champion women's weightlifter Karyn Marshall. On May 17, 1939, fledgling NBC broadcast a doubleheader between the Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers at Columbia's Baker Field, making it the first televised regular athletic event in history.
Columbia University participated in multiple firsts within collegiate athletics. The football program is best known for its record of futility set during the 1980s: between 1983 and 1988, the team lost 44 games in a row, which is still the record for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. The streak was broken on October 8, 1988, with a 16–13 victory over arch-rival Princeton University. That was the Lions' first victory at Wien Stadium, which had been opened during the losing streak and was already four years old. A new tradition has developed with the Liberty Cup. The Liberty Cup is awarded annually to the winner of the football game between Fordham and Columbia Universities, two of the only three NCAA Division I football teams in New York City.
== Traditions ==
=== The Varsity Show ===
The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia. Founded in 1893 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Columbia undergraduate community for a series of performances every April. Dedicated to producing a unique full-length musical that skewers and satirizes many dubious aspects of life at Columbia, the Varsity Show is written and performed exclusively by university undergraduates. Various renowned playwrights, composers, authors, directors, and actors have contributed to the Varsity Show, either as writers or performers, while students at Columbia, including Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, Herman J. Mankiewicz, I. A. L. Diamond, Herman Wouk, Greta Gerwig, and Kate McKinnon.
Notable past shows include Fly With Me (1920), The Streets of New York (1948), The Sky's the Limit (1954), and Angels at Columbia (1994). In particular, Streets of New York, after having been revived three times, opened off-Broadway in 1963 and was awarded a 1964 Drama Desk Award. The Mischief Maker (1903), written by Edgar Allan Woolf and Cassius Freeborn, premiered at Madison Square Garden in 1906 as Mam'zelle Champagne.
=== Tree Lighting and Yule Log ceremonies ===
The campus Tree Lighting ceremony was inaugurated in 1998. It celebrates the illumination of the medium-sized trees lining College Walk in front of Kent Hall and Hamilton Hall on the east end and Dodge Hall and Pulitzer Hall on the west, just before finals week in early December. The lights remain on until February 28. Students meet at the sundial for free hot chocolate, performances by a cappella groups, and speeches by the university president and a guest.
Immediately following the College Walk festivities is one of Columbia's older holiday traditions, the lighting of the Yule Log. The Christmas ceremony dates to a period prior to the American Revolutionary War, but lapsed before being revived by President Nicholas Murray Butler in 1910. A troop of students dressed as Continental Army soldiers carry the eponymous log from the sundial to the lounge of John Jay Hall, where it is lit amid the singing of seasonal carols. The Christmas ceremony is accompanied by a reading of A Visit From St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore and Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus by Francis Pharcellus Church.
== Notable people ==
=== Alumni ===
The university has graduated many notable alumni, including five Founding Fathers of the United States, an author of the United States Constitution and a member of the Committee of Five. Three United States presidents have attended Columbia, as well as ten justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, including three chief justices. As of 2011, 125 Pulitzer Prize winners and 39 Oscar winners have attended Columbia.
Columbia faculty received multiple Nobel Prizes, including Joseph Stiglitz (Economics, 2001), Richard Axel and Linda Buck (Medicine, 2004), Edmund Phelps (Economics, 2006), and Orhan Pamuk (Literature, 2006), among others.
In a 2016 ranking of universities worldwide with respect to living graduates who are billionaires, Columbia ranked second, after Harvard.
Former U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended the law school. Other political figures educated at Columbia include former U.S. President Barack Obama, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Alan Greenspan, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. The university has also educated 29 foreign heads of state, including president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, president of East Timor José Ramos-Horta, president of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves and other historical figures such as Wellington Koo, Radovan Karadžić, Gaston Eyskens, and T. V. Soong. One of the founding fathers of modern India and the prime architect of the Constitution of India, B. R. Ambedkar, was an alumnus.
Alumni of Columbia have occupied top positions in Wall Street and the rest of the business world. Notable members of the Astor family attended Columbia, while other business graduates include investor Warren Buffett, former CEO of PBS and NBC Lawrence K. Grossman, chairman of Walmart S. Robson Walton, Bain Capital Co-Managing Partner, Jonathan Lavine, Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin, and AllianceBernstein Chairman and CEO Lewis A. Sanders. CEOs of top Fortune 500 companies include James P. Gorman of Morgan Stanley, Robert J. Stevens of Lockheed Martin, Philippe Dauman of Viacom, Robert Bakish of Paramount Global, Ursula Burns of Xerox, Devin Wenig of EBay, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup, Ralph Izzo of Public Service Enterprise Group, Gail Koziara Boudreaux of Anthem, and Frank Blake of The Home Depot. Labor organizer and women's educator Louise Leonard McLaren received her degree of Master of Arts from Columbia.
In science and technology, Columbia alumni include: founder of IBM Herman Hollerith; inventor of FM radio Edwin Armstrong; Francis Mechner; integral in development of the nuclear submarine Hyman Rickover; founder of Google China Kai-Fu Lee; scientists Stephen Jay Gould, Robert Millikan, Helium–neon laser inventor Ali Javan and Mihajlo Pupin; chief-engineer of the New York City Subway, William Barclay Parsons; philosophers Irwin Edman and Robert Nozick; economist Milton Friedman; psychologist Harriet Babcock; archaeologist Josephine Platner Shear; biologist and medical researcher Leona Zacharias, and sociologists Lewis A. Coser and Rose Laub Coser.
Many Columbia alumni have gone on to renowned careers in the arts, including composers Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, and Art Garfunkel; and painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Five United States Poet Laureates received their degrees from Columbia. Columbia alumni have made an indelible mark in the field of American poetry and literature, with such people as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, pioneers of the Beat Generation; and Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, seminal figures in the Harlem Renaissance, all having attended the university. Other notable writers who attended Columbia include authors Isaac Asimov, J.D. Salinger, Upton Sinclair, Ursula K. Le Guin, Danielle Valore Evans, and Hunter S. Thompson. In architecture, William Lee Stoddart, a prolific architect of U.S. East Coast hotels, is an alumnus.
University alumni have also been very prominent in the film industry, with 33 alumni and former students winning a combined 43 Academy Awards (as of 2011). Some notable Columbia alumni that have gone on to work in film include directors Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) and Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), screenwriters Howard Koch (Casablanca) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve), and actors James Cagney, Ed Harris and Timothée Chalamet.
=== Faculty ===
Columbia University's faculty has included many notable names in the role of university president, including 34th President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower, 4th Vice President of the United States George Clinton, Founding Father and U.S. Senator from Connecticut William Samuel Johnson, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nicholas Murray Butler, and First Amendment scholar Lee Bollinger.
Other notable Columbia University faculty include Zbigniew Brzezinski, Sonia Sotomayor, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Lee Bollinger, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Edward Sapir, John Dewey, Charles A. Beard, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Orhan Pamuk, Edwin Howard Armstrong, Enrico Fermi, Chien-Shiung Wu, Tsung-Dao Lee, Jack Steinberger, Joachim Frank, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, Robert Mundell, Thomas Hunt Morgan, Eric Kandel, Richard Axel, Andrei Okounkov, Minky Worden, and William York Tindall.
As of 2021, Columbia employs 4,381 faculty, including 70 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 178 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 65 members of the National Academy of Medicine. In total, the Columbia faculty has included 52 Nobel laureates, 12 National Medal of Science recipients, and 32 National Academy of Engineering members.
Columbia University faculty played particularly important roles during World War II and the creation of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who attended Columbia Law School. The three core members of Roosevelt's Brain Trust: Adolf A. Berle, Raymond Moley, and Rexford Tugwell, were law professors at Columbia. Former United States Secretary of Labor, Francis Perkins was the principle architect of the New Deal and also earned her Master's from Columbia University. The Statistical Research Group, which used statistics to analyze military problems during World War II, was composed of Columbia researchers and faculty including George Stigler and Milton Friedman. Columbia faculty and researchers, including Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, Eugene T. Booth, John R. Dunning, George B. Pegram, Walter Zinn, Chien-Shiung Wu, Francis G. Slack, Harold Urey, Herbert L. Anderson, and Isidor Isaac Rabi, also played a significant role during the early phases of the Manhattan Project.
Following the rise of Nazi Germany, the exiled Institute for Social Research at Goethe University Frankfurt would affiliate itself with Columbia from 1934 to 1950. It was during this period that thinkers including Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse wrote and published some of the most seminal works of the Frankfurt School, including Reason and Revolution, Dialectic of Enlightenment, and Eclipse of Reason. Professors Edward Said, author of Orientalism, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are generally considered as founders of the field of postcolonialism; other professors that have significantly contributed to the field include Hamid Dabashi, Rashid Khalidi, and Joseph Massad. The works of professors Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia J. Williams, and Kendall Thomas were foundational to the field of critical race theory.
Columbia and its affiliated faculty have also made significant contributions to the study of religion. The affiliated Union Theological Seminary is a center of liberal Christianity in the United States, having served as the birthplace of Black theology through the efforts of faculty including James H. Cone and Cornel West, and Womanist theology, through the works of Katie Cannon, Emilie Townes, and Delores S. Williams. Likewise, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America was the birthplace of Conservative Judaism movement in the United States, which was founded and led by faculty members including Solomon Schechter, Alexander Kohut, and Louis Ginzberg in the early 20th century, and is a major center for Jewish studies in general.
Other schools of thought in the humanities to which Columbia professors made significant contributions include the Dunning School, founded by William Archibald Dunning; the anthropological schools of historical particularism and cultural relativism, founded by Franz Boas; and functional psychology, whose founders and proponents include John Dewey, James McKeen Cattell, Edward L. Thorndike, and Robert S. Woodworth. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Vaughn | Lee Vaughn | Lee Vaughn (born November 27, 1974) is an American former football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at the University of Wyoming.
== Early years ==
Vaughn attended East High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he practiced football, basketball and track. As a senior, he received All-state honors at cornerback and return specialist. He also was named the Class 4A Back of the Year.
In track as a senior, he broke the state records in the 100 metres, 200 metres and long jump (originally set in 1963). He also received the Milward Simpson award, given annually to the state's outstanding prep athlete.
== College career ==
Vaughn accepted a football scholarship from the University of Wyoming. As a freshman, he was a backup player, making 10 tackles. As a sophomore, he started 11 games at free safety, tallying 65 tackles, one interception and 3 pass deflections. He also contributed to the team winning the WAC title with an 8–4 record.
As a junior, he was moved to the starting right cornerback position, registering 70 tackles (3 for loss), 3 interceptions, 14 pass deflections, one sack and one quarterback pressure.
As a senior, he registered 75 tackles (51 solo), one interception, 10 pass deflections and 2 fumble recoveries. He contributed to the team achieving a 10–1 regular season record, the WAC's Pacific title and a 22 ranking in the AP Poll. He finished his college career with 220 tackles (4 for loss), 5 interceptions and 27 pass deflections.
== Professional career ==
=== Dallas Cowboys ===
Vaughn was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round (187th overall) of the 1997 NFL draft. On July 23, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and was placed on the injured reserve list on August 14. He was waived on August 24, 1998.
=== Amsterdam Admirals (NFLEL) ===
Vaughn was selected by the Amsterdam Admirals in the 19th round (111th overall) of the 1999 NFL Europe Draft. He was released on March 29.
=== Grand Rapids Rampage (AFL) ===
On July 3, 2001, he was signed by the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League. He was released on July 6.
=== BC Lions (CFL) ===
On May 24, 2001, he was signed by the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He posted 38 defensive tackles, 2 special teams tackles, one interception and 2 fumble recoveries. He was released on October 1.
=== Wichita Stealth (AF2) ===
In 2003, he was signed by the Wichita Stealth of the AF2 League. In June, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and was placed on the injured reserve list. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles | The Beatles | The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band in popular music and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.
Led by primary songwriters Lennon–McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, starting in 1960. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI and achieved their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964).
A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded the album era, increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality, and furthered advancements in electronic music, album art and music videos. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists. While some partial reunions occurred over the next decade, the four members never fully reunited. Lennon was murdered in 1980 and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001; McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of over 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in the history of the US Billboard charts, with the most number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20). They hold the record for most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million), and held the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15) until Robbie Williams surpassed them in 2026. The band received many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
== History ==
=== 1956–1963: Formation ===
==== The Quarrymen and name changes ====
In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They were called the Quarrymen, a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957 and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist.
By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art. The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!"
Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles and by the middle of August simply the Beatles.
==== Early residencies and UK popularity ====
Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3+1⁄2-month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities."
Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the red light Reeperbahn district of St. Pauli into music venues and initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr, who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.
During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records. As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart.
After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality."
==== First EMI recordings ====
Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage. Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band, saying, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein". However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label.
Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal, the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of "Love Me Do" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".
Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number 17 on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places. After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1".
In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency at the Star-Club. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist. Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...".
=== 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years ===
==== Please Please Me and With the Beatles ====
On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer, where it peaked at number two.
Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers, à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant."
Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, "She Loves You", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.
The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison.
In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles, which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original".
In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack. When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow, used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which the media widely adopted as "the Fab Four".
==== First visit to the United States and the British Invasion ====
EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album Introducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally.
Epstein brought a demo copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to Capitol's Brown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". The Odeon label, an EMI subsidiary, pressed Beatles LPs to be shipped out and distributed abroad. After the Beatles' US trip, MGM Records released the single "My Bonnie" backed with "The Saints" in the US on 27 January 1964 as a Beatles single, and Atco followed in issuing the recordings the Beatles had made in Germany with Tony Sheridan in 1961 and 1962.
On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum. Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall. The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.
The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that had momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.
The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion. The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Herman's Hermits, Petula Clark, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.
==== A Hard Day's Night ====
Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with the Marx Brothers.
United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.
==== 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan and stand on civil rights ====
Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people to each 30-minute performance in cities from New York to San Francisco.
In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan. Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis. Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fan bases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists."
Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture.
During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.
==== Beatles for Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul ====
According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.
In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society".
Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia.
In July, the Beatles' second film, Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: "Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride".
The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday". Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills. Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse.
September 1965 saw the launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles, that echoed A Hard Day's Night's slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.
In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to the band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning.
While some of Rubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right".
==== Controversies, Revolver and final tour ====
Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.
The Beatles toured Japan the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, facing death threats from Japanese Conservatives due to the Beatles unknowingly performing at the Budokan Stadium, which was designated as a place to revere Japan's war dead. When they toured the Philippines a few days later, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace. When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.
Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave. "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service. Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."
Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia. Abandoning the customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos", they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June.
Among the experimental songs on Revolver was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data. McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song". Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record. Among these, "Taxman", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music.
As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by Vox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live. Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, and shaken up from the recent incident in the Philippines, they decided to make the August tour their last.
The band performed none of their new songs on the tour. In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much "studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts." The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert. It marked the end of four years dominated by almost nonstop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.
=== 1966–1970: Studio years ===
==== Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ====
Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours. He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around." Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra. The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967; the Sgt. Pepper LP followed with a rush-release in May. The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists. Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal. Gould writes:
The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception, Sgt. Pepper became the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.
In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries". The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover. Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier, who observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy". The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study. A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track standing in front of a crowd of famous people. The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of the hippie movement, while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment" display.
Sgt. Pepper topped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one until February 1968. With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release, Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums. It was the first rock album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records.
==== Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine ====
Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completing Sgt. Pepper: Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, and Yellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced by United Artists. The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter. On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single "All You Need Is Love" to an estimated 350 million viewers on Our World, the first live global television link. Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem. The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer. In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-based commune off the coast of Greece.
On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died. The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide. His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future. Lennon recalled: "We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'" Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd remembered that "Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead." During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed with Magical Mystery Tour.
The Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play (EP) in early December 1967. It was the first example of a double EP in the UK. The record carried on the psychedelic vein of Sgt. Pepper, though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to Sgt. Pepper. In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles. In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP and is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.
Magical Mystery Tour first aired on Boxing Day to an audience of approximately 15 million. Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK. It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express, the Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit" and The Guardian labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience". Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus". Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film.
The group were less involved with Yellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment. Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film. Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style. A soundtrack LP was issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued on Revolver), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.
==== India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album ====
In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their time in India marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album. However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later. For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him. In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."
In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture, Apple Corps. It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism and education. McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism". The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience. Among its numerous subsidiaries were Apple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived Apple Boutique in London. Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."
From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover. During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive. Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums. Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit". Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio. McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make". He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.
With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre. During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort. Describing the double album, Lennon later said: "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. [It's] John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band." The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "Revolution".
Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings. The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations. Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture. Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that Sgt. Pepper had.
==== Abbey Road, Let It Be and separation ====
Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before Abbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film". Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb." Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time". Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special. He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. His bandmates agreed and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.
To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate in the last nine days of sessions. Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release. After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert and the Colosseum. Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Back's "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".
New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke; McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman, whom McCartney married on 12 March. Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers. Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost. On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band, the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.
Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us". The primary recording sessions for Abbey Road began on 2 July. Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album. The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise. Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums.
On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio. On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas. On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
Released on 26 September, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side. Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim. Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record". Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley. Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".
For the still unfinished Get Back album, one last song, Harrison's "I Me Mine", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate. In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled Let It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producer Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!" In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble. McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first self-titled solo album.
On 8 May 1970, Let It Be was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK. The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. Sunday Telegraph critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings". Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks. Describing Let It Be as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'" and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back" and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".
McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970. Legal disputes continued long after their break-up and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974, when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
=== Post-breakup activities ===
==== 1970s ====
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again.
Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint. Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK. Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music. The only one to feature previously unreleased material was The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours.
The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it. Later that year, the off-Broadway musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road opened. All This and World War II (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra. The Broadway musical Beatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.
Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert. Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month. On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live, producer Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to.
==== 1980s ====
In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman, an American Beatles fan. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981. McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982. In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street, and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the soundtrack. In 1987, Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era.
When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour. All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988). Except for the Red and Blue albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the Hollywood Bowl record – from its catalogue.
In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean. McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion". The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material.
==== 1990s ====
Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in 17 years, appeared in 1994. That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project. Anthology was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title The Long and Winding Road.
During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producer Jeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s, resulting in the release of two "new" Beatles singles, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". A third Lennon demo, "Now and Then", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording. The Anthology releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people. A book, The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued.
==== 2000s ====
The Beatles' 1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries. The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.
Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised by Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow, Olivia. The tribute event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death.
In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the Let It Be album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006; The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2 included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release.
As a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Beatles stage revue, Love, George Martin and his son Giles remixed and blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period". The show premiered in June 2006 and the Love album was released that November. In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.
On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years. Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the Past Masters compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set. A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions). The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in the Rock Band series, was issued on the same day. In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.
==== 2010s ====
Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services. Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them". In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, Past Masters and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.
In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division. The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.
In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."
On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The following day, The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music.
In September 2016, the documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. An expanded, remixed and remastered version of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.
On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary. Similar box sets were released for The Beatles in November 2018, and Abbey Road in September 2019. In October 2019, Abbey Road returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as Abbey Road hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.
==== 2020s ====
In November 2021, The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed by Peter Jackson using footage captured for the Let It Be film, was released on Disney+ as a three-part miniseries. A book by the same title was released on 12 October. A super deluxe version of the Let It Be album was released on 15 October. In January 2022, the album Get Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of the Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.
In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of "Let It Be" with Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's album Rockstar in November 2023. In October, a special edition of Revolver was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using AI de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentary Get Back. New music videos were produced for "Here, There and Everywhere" and "I'm Only Sleeping", the latter of which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release "the final Beatles record" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist. The song, "Now and Then", was released on 2 November 2023. Its official music video came out the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours, as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs. "Now and Then" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track. The song became their first UK number-one single since 1969. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, and was also nominated for Record of the Year. The nominations were also historically significant for making "Now and Then" the first artificial intelligence-assisted track to be nominated for a Grammy award, and the first to win.
On 8 May 2024, the 1970 film Let It Be was released on Disney+, following a digital restoration by Jackson's Park Road Post; it was the first time it was publicly screened since its original theatrical release.
== Artistry ==
=== Development ===
In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution:
In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.
In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."
Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".
=== Influences ===
The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him." Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album Pet Sounds amazed and inspired McCartney. Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]." Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.
=== Genres ===
Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre, and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music. Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of Beatles for Sale, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP", while Gould credits Rubber Soul as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".
Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars." They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; Sgt. Pepper's "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the mold of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".
The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record". Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature".
Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:
"A Day in the Life" encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.
Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way."
Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles:
Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained in parallel their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.
As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and the "proto-metal roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter".
=== Contribution of George Martin ===
George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle". He applied his classical musical training in various ways and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould. Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description. Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording. In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.
Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements". Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence:
Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope, Pepper would never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?
Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.
=== In the studio ===
Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music. Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from Rubber Soul and, especially, Revolver onwards.
Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro, and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".
== Legacy ==
Former Rolling Stone magazine associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism" and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the US is credited with initiating the album era; the music historian Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry. They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964." According to Gilmore:
Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus.
Established in 2009, Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles. The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the BBC programme Our World in 1967, performing "All You Need Is Love" broadcast to an international audience.
== Awards and achievements ==
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The best-selling music act in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012. From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan. They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004 and 2011, Rolling Stone named them the greatest artist of all time.
In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Earlier in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles and Yellow Submarine.
== Band members ==
Principal members
John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass (1960–1969; died 1980)
Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums (1960–1970)
George Harrison – guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass (1960–1970; died 2001)
Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970)
Early members
Stuart Sutcliffe – bass, vocals (1960–1961; died 1962)
Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962)
Temporary members
Tommy Moore (died 1981) and Norman Chapman (died 1995) preceded Best as temporary drummers in the Silver Beetles/Beatles before Best joined in August 1960.
Chas Newby (died 2023) performed bass with the Beatles for a short span of live shows in December 1960, filling in for Sutcliffe when he remained in Hamburg.
Jimmie Nicol temporarily replaced Starr during June 1964 for five dates of the Beatles' 1964 world tour.
Billy Preston (died 2006) played keyboards with the Beatles during 1969.
=== Timeline ===
== Discography ==
The Beatles' core catalogue consists of the original 12 UK studio albums, Magical Mystery Tour (a US album which was brought into the core catalog in the 1980s when their discography was standardized for compact disc), and Past Masters, a compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles and EP tracks not released on the previously mentioned 13 releases.
== Song catalogue ==
Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs, formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee. In 1965, the company went public. 5 million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000. At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.
Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work until March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You". The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights. Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding. The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City". By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973. In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.
In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million. According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected. According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million.
In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights. In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.
Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%. Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in 1978, and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications. On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.
== Selected filmography ==
Fictionalised
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Help! (1965)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Yellow Submarine (1968) (brief cameo)
Documentaries and filmed performances
The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966)
Let It Be (1970)
The Compleat Beatles (1982)
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987) (about Sgt. Pepper)
The Beatles Anthology (1995)
The Beatles: 1+ (2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos)
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years)
The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song (2023) (short film about the creation of "Now and Then")
Beatles '64 (2024) (about the cultural impact of the Beatles' first US visit in 1964)
== Concert tours == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garypidae#Genera | Garypidae#Genera | Garypidae is a family of pseudoscorpions, first described by Eugène Simon in 1879.
== Genera ==
As of October 2023, the World Pseudoscorpiones Catalog accepts the following eleven genera:
Ammogarypus Beier, 1962
Anagarypus Chamberlin, 1930
Anchigarypus Harvey, 2020
Elattogarypus Beier, 1964
Eremogarypus Beier, 1955
Garypus L. Koch, 1873
Meiogarypus Beier, 1955
Neogarypus Vachon, 1937
Paragarypus Vachon, 1937
Synsphyronus Chamberlin, 1930
Thaumastogarypus Beier, 1947 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act | Sherman Antitrust Act | The Sherman Antitrust Act (26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce and consequently prohibits unfair monopolies. It was passed by Congress in 1890 and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
The Sherman Act broadly prohibits 1) anticompetitive agreements and 2) unilateral conduct that monopolizes or attempts to monopolize the relevant market. The Act authorizes the Department of Justice to bring suits to enjoin (i.e., prohibit) conduct violating the Act, and additionally authorizes private parties injured by conduct violating the Act to bring suits for treble damages (i.e. three times as much money in damages as the violation cost them). Over time, the federal courts have developed a body of law under the Sherman Act making certain types of anticompetitive conduct per se illegal, and subjecting other types of conduct to case-by-case analysis regarding whether the conduct unreasonably restrains trade.
The law attempts to prevent the artificial raising of prices by restriction of trade or supply. "Innocent monopoly," or monopoly achieved solely by merit, is legal, but acts by a monopolist to artificially preserve that status, or nefarious dealings to create a monopoly, are not. The purpose of the Sherman Act is not to protect competitors from harm from legitimately successful businesses, nor to prevent businesses from gaining honest profits from consumers, but rather to preserve a competitive marketplace to protect consumers from abuses.
== Background ==
In Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan 506 U.S. 447 (1993) the Supreme Court said:
The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself.
According to its authors, it was not intended to impact market gains obtained by honest means, by benefiting the consumers more than the competitors. Senator George Hoar of Massachusetts, another author of the Sherman Act, stated that "a man who merely by superior skill and intelligence [...] got the whole business because nobody could do it as well as he could was not a monopolist," but that it was monopoly if their business practices "made it impossible for other persons to engage in fair competition".
In 1937, the business Apex Hosiery suffered losses when strikers occupied their business, and prevented shipments of orders, including shipments to other states. Apex attempted to sue the union leader for treble damages as provided by the Sherman Act. Apex argued that the union had interfered with interstate commerce. The court held that the Sherman Act did not apply to the unlawful occupation of a business.
The Supreme Court stated in the case Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader 310 U.S. 469, 310 U. S. 492-93 and n. 15:
The legislative history of the Sherman Act, as well as the decisions of this Court interpreting it, show that it was not aimed at policing interstate transportation or movement of goods and property. The legislative history and the voluminous literature which was generated in the course of the enactment and during fifty years of litigation of the Sherman Act give no hint that such was its purpose.
They do not suggest that, in general, state laws or law enforcement machinery were inadequate to prevent local obstructions or interferences with interstate transportation, or presented any problem requiring the interposition of federal authority.
In 1890, when the Sherman Act was adopted, there were only a few federal statutes imposing penalties for obstructing or misusing interstate transportation. With an expanding commerce, many others have since been enacted safeguarding transportation in interstate commerce as the need was seen, including statutes declaring conspiracies to interfere or actual interference with interstate commerce by violence or threats of violence to be felonies.
The law was enacted in the era of "trusts" and of "combinations" of businesses and of capital organized and directed to control of the market by suppression of competition in the marketing of goods and services, the monopolistic tendency of which had become a matter of public concern. The goal was to prevent restraints of free competition in business and commercial transactions which tended to restrict production, raise prices, or otherwise control the market to the detriment of purchasers or consumers of goods and services, all of which had come to be regarded as a special form of public injury.
For that reason the phrase "restraint of trade," which, as will presently appear, had a well understood meaning in common law, was made the means of defining the activities prohibited. The addition of the words "or commerce among the several States" was not an additional kind of restraint to be prohibited by the Sherman Act, but was the means used to relate the prohibited restraint of trade to interstate commerce for constitutional purposes, Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers v. United States, 286 U. S. 427, 286 U. S. 434, so that Congress, through its commerce power, might suppress and penalize restraints on the competitive system which involved or affected interstate commerce. Because many forms of restraint upon commercial competition extended across state lines so as to make regulation by state action difficult or impossible, Congress enacted the Sherman Act, 21 Cong.Rec. 2456. It was in this sense of preventing restraints on commercial competition that Congress exercised "all the power it possessed." Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers v. United States, supra, 286 U. S. 435.
At Addyston Pipe and Steel Company v. United States, 85 F.2d 1, affirmed, 175 U. S. 175 U.S. 211;
At Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 221 U. S. 1, 221 U. S. 54-58.
== Provisions ==
=== Original text ===
The Sherman Act is divided into three sections. Section 1 delineates and prohibits specific means of anticompetitive conduct, while Section 2 deals with end results that are anti-competitive in nature. Thus, these sections supplement each other in an effort to prevent businesses from violating the spirit of the Act, while technically remaining within the letter of the law. Section 3 simply extends the provisions of Section 1 to U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
Section 1:
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal.
Section 2:
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor [. . . ]
==== Subsequent legislation expanding its scope ====
The Clayton Antitrust Act, passed in 1914, proscribes certain additional activities that had been discovered to fall outside the scope of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Clayton Antitrust Act added certain practices to the list of impermissible activities:
price discrimination against competing companies
conditioning sales on "exclusive dealing" agreements
one person serving on the board of directors for two competing companies
mergers and acquisitions that may significantly reduce market competition
The Clayton Antitrust Act specifically states that unions are exempt from this ruling.
The Robinson–Patman Act of 1936 amended the Clayton Act. The amendment proscribed certain anti-competitive practices in which manufacturers engaged in price discrimination against equally-situated distributors. For example, if a wholesale supplier sells products to a franchise at a price that is not available to a smaller business.
== Legacy ==
The federal government began filing cases under the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. Some cases were successful and others were not; many took several years to decide, including appeals.
Notable cases filed under the act include:
United States v. Workingmen's Amalgamated Council of New Orleans (1893), which was the first to hold that the law applied to labor unions.
Chesapeake & Ohio Fuel Co. v. United States (1902), in which the trust was dissolved
Northern Securities Co. v. United States (1904), which reached the Supreme Court, dissolved the company and set many precedents for interpretation.
Hale v. Henkel (1906) also reached the Supreme Court. Precedent was set for the production of documents by an officer of a company, and the self-incrimination of the officer in his or her testimony to the grand jury. Hale was an officer of the American Tobacco Co.
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1911), which broke up the company based on geography, and contributed to the Panic of 1910–1911.
United States v. American Tobacco Co. (1911), which split the company into four.
United States v. General Electric Co (1911), where GE was judged to have violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, along with International General Electric, Philips, Sylvania, Tungsol, and Consolidated and Chicago Miniature. Corning and Westinghouse made consent decrees.
United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co. (1915), which ruled that the company was abusing its monopolistic rights, and therefore, violated the Sherman act.
Federal Baseball Club v. National League (1922) in which the Supreme Court ruled that Major League Baseball was not interstate commerce and was not subject to the antitrust law.
United States v. National City Lines (1953), related to the General Motors streetcar conspiracy.
United States v. AT&T Co., which was settled in 1982 and resulted in the breakup of the company.
Wilk v. American Medical Association (1990) Judge Getzendanner issued her opinion that the AMA had violated Section 1, but not 2, of the Sherman Act, and that it had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade "to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession."
United States v. Microsoft Corp. was settled in 2001 without the breakup of the company.
Fleischman vs Albany Medical Center (2010), where nurses alleged Albany Medical Center suppressed their wages in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, by sharing wage information with other area hospitals. References: (1) Casetext Fleischman vs Albany Medical Center (2) Justia Docket No. 10-0846-mv
United States v. Google LLC (2020, ongoing as of 2025), wherein Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search.
== Legal application ==
=== Constitutional basis for legislation ===
Congress claimed power to pass the Sherman Act through its constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce. Therefore, federal courts only have jurisdiction to apply the Act to conduct that restrains or substantially affects either interstate commerce. (Congress also has ultimate authority over economic rules within the District of Columbia and US territories under the 17th enumerated power and the Territorial Clause, respectively.) This requires that the plaintiff must show that the conduct occurred during the flow of interstate commerce or had an appreciable effect on some activity that occurs during interstate commerce.
=== Elements ===
A Section 1 violation has three elements:
an agreement;
which unreasonably restrains competition; and
which affects interstate commerce.
A Section 2 monopolization violation has two elements:
the possession of monopoly power in the relevant market; and
the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident.
Section 2 also bans attempted monopolization, which has the following elements:
qualifying exclusionary or anticompetitive acts designed to establish a monopoly
specific intent to monopolize; and
dangerous probability of success (actual monopolization).
=== Violations "per se" and violations of the "rule of reason" ===
Violations of the Sherman Act fall (loosely) into two categories:
Violations "per se": These are violations that meet the strict characterization of Section 1 ("agreements, conspiracies or trusts in restraint of trade"). A per se violation requires no further inquiry into the practice's actual effect on the market or the intentions of those individuals who engaged in the practice. Conduct characterized as unlawful per se is that which has been found to have a "'pernicious effect on competition' or 'lack[s] ... any redeeming virtue'" Such conduct "would always or almost always tend to restrict competition and decrease output". When a per se rule is applied (in contrast to a rule of reason analysis), a civil violation of the antitrust laws is found merely by proving that the conduct occurred and that it fell within a per se category. Conduct considered unlawful per se includes horizontal price-fixing, horizontal market division, and concerted refusals to deal.
Violations of the "rule of reason": A totality of the circumstances test, asking whether the challenged practice promotes or suppresses market competition. Unlike with per se violations, intent and motive are relevant when predicting future consequences. The rule of reason is said to be the "traditional framework of analysis" to determine whether Section 1 is violated. The court analyzes "facts peculiar to the business, the history of the restraining, and the reasons why it was imposed", to determine the effect on competition in the relevant product market. A restraint violates Section 1 if it unreasonably restrains trade.
Quick-look: A "quick look" analysis under the rule of reason may be used when "an observer with even a rudimentary understanding of economics could conclude that the arrangements in question would have an anticompetitive effect on customers and markets", yet the violation is also not one considered unlawful per se. Taking a "quick look", economic harm is presumed from the questionable nature of the conduct, and the burden is shifted to the defendant to prove harmlessness or justification. The quick-look became a popular way of disposing of cases where the conduct was in a grey area between illegality "per se" and demonstrable harmfulness under the "rule of reason".
=== Modern trends ===
==== Inference of conspiracy ====
A modern trend has increased difficulty for antitrust plaintiffs as courts have come to hold plaintiffs to increasing burdens of pleading. Under older Section 1 precedent, it was not settled how much evidence was required to show a conspiracy. For example, a conspiracy could be inferred based on parallel conduct, etc. That is, plaintiffs were only required to show that a conspiracy was conceivable. Since the 1970s, however, courts have held plaintiffs to higher standards, giving antitrust defendants an opportunity to resolve cases in their favor before significant discovery under FRCP 12(b)(6). That is, to overcome a motion to dismiss, plaintiffs, under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, must plead facts consistent with FRCP 8(a) sufficient to show that a conspiracy is plausible (and not merely conceivable or possible). This protects defendants from bearing the costs of antitrust "fishing expeditions"; however it deprives plaintiffs of perhaps their only tool to acquire evidence (discovery).
===== Manipulation of market =====
Second, courts have employed more sophisticated and principled definitions of markets. Market definition is necessary, in rule of reason cases, for the plaintiff to prove a conspiracy is harmful. It is also necessary for the plaintiff to establish the market relationship between conspirators to prove their conduct is within the per se rule.
In early cases, it was easier for plaintiffs to show market relationship, or dominance, by tailoring market definition, even if it ignored fundamental principles of economics. In U.S. v. Grinnell, 384 U.S. 563 (1966), the trial judge, Charles Wyzanski, composed the market only of alarm companies with services in every state, tailoring out any local competitors; the defendant stood alone in this market, but had the court added up the entire national market, it would have had a much smaller share of the national market for alarm services that the court purportedly used. The appellate courts affirmed this finding; however, today, an appellate court would likely find this definition to be flawed. Modern courts use a more sophisticated market definition that does not permit as manipulative a definition.
=== Monopoly ===
Section 2 of the Act forbids monopoly. In Section 2 cases, the court has, again on its own initiative, drawn a distinction between coercive and innocent monopoly. The act is not meant to punish businesses that come to dominate their market passively or on their own merit, only those that intentionally dominate the market through misconduct, which generally consists of conspiratorial conduct of the kind forbidden by Section 1 of the Sherman Act, or Section 3 of the Clayton Act.
=== Application of the act outside pure commerce ===
While the Act was aimed at regulating businesses, its prohibition of contracts restricting commerce was applied to the activities of labor unions until the 1930s. This is because unions were characterized as cartels as well (cartels of laborers). In 1914 the Clayton Act created exceptions for certain union activities, but the Supreme Court ruled in Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering that the actions allowed by the Act were already legal. Congress included provisions in the Norris–La Guardia Act in 1932 to more explicitly exempt organized labor from antitrust enforcement, and the Supreme Court upheld these exemptions in United States v. Hutcheson 312 U.S. 219.
== Preemption by Section 1 of state statutes that restrain competition ==
To determine whether the Act preempts a state law, courts will engage in a two-step analysis, as set forth by the Supreme Court in Rice v. Norman Williams Co.
First, they will inquire whether the state legislation "mandates or authorizes conduct that necessarily constitutes a violation of the antitrust laws in all cases, or ... places irresistible pressure on a private party to violate the antitrust laws in order to comply with the statute." Rice v. Norman Williams Co., 458 U.S. 654, 661; see also 324 Liquor Corp. v. Duffy, 479 U.S. 335 (1987) ("Our decisions reflect the principle that the federal antitrust laws pre-empt state laws authorizing or compelling private parties to engage in anticompetitive behavior.")
Second, they will consider whether the state statute is saved from preemption by the state action immunity doctrine (aka Parker immunity). In California Retail Liquor Dealers Ass'n v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc., 445 U.S. 97, 105 (1980), the Supreme Court established a two-part test for applying the doctrine: "First, the challenged restraint must be one clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed as state policy; second, the policy must be actively supervised by the State itself." Id. (citation and quotation marks omitted).
The antitrust laws allow coincident state regulation of competition. The Supreme Court enunciated the test for determining when a state statute is in irreconcilable conflict with Section 1 of the Sherman Act in Rice v. Norman Williams Co. Different standards apply depending on whether a statute is attacked on its face or for its effects.
A statute can be condemned on its face only when it mandates, authorizes or places irresistible pressure on private parties to engage in conduct constituting a per se violation of Section 1.
If the statute does not mandate conduct violating a per se rule, the conduct is analyzed under the rule of reason, which requires an examination of the conduct's actual effects on competition. If unreasonable anticompetitive effects are created, the required conduct violates Section 1 and the statute is in irreconcilable conflict with the Sherman Act. Then statutory arrangement is analyzed to determine whether it qualifies as "state action" and is thereby saved from preemption.
Rice sets out guidelines to aid in preemption analysis. Preemption should not occur "simply because in a hypothetical situation a private party's compliance with the statute might cause him to violate the antitrust laws". This language suggests that preemption occurs only if economic analysis determines that the statutory requirements create "an unacceptable and unnecessary risk of anticompetitive effect", and does not occur simply because it is possible to use the statute in an anticompetitive manner. It should not mean that preemption is impossible whenever both procompetitive and anticompetitive results are conceivable. The per se rule "reflects the judgment that such cases are not sufficiently common or important to justify the time and expense necessary to identify them".
Another important, yet, in the context of Rice, ambiguous guideline regarding preemption by Section 1 is the Court's statement that a "state statute is not preempted by the federal antitrust laws simply because the state scheme might have an anticompetitive effect". The meaning of this statement is clarified by examining the three cases cited in Rice to support the statement.
In New Motor Vehicle Board v. Orrin W. Fox Co., automobile manufacturers and retail franchisees contended that the Sherman Act preempted a statute requiring manufacturers to secure the permission of a state board before opening a new dealership if and only if a competing dealer protested. They argued that a conflict existed because the statute permitted "auto dealers to invoke state power for the purpose of restraining intrabrand competition".
In Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, oil companies challenged a state statute requiring uniform statewide gasoline prices in situations where the Robinson-Patman Act would permit charging different prices. They reasoned that the Robinson-Patman Act is a qualification of our "more basic national policy favoring free competition" and that any state statute altering "the competitive balance that Congress struck between the Robinson-Patman and Sherman Acts" should be preempted.
In both New Motor Vehicle and Exxon, the Court upheld the statutes and rejected the arguments presented as
Merely another way of stating that the ... statute will have an anticompetitive effect. In this sense, there is a conflict between the statute and the central policy of the Sherman Act – 'our charter of economic liberty'. ... Nevertheless, this sort of conflict cannot itself constitute a sufficient reason for invalidating the ... statute. For if an adverse effect on competition were, in and of itself, enough to render a state statute invalid, the States' power to engage in economic regulation would be effectively destroyed.
This indicates that not every anticompetitive effect warrants preemption. In neither Exxon nor New Motor Vehicle did the created effect constitute an antitrust violation. The Rice guideline therefore indicates that only when the effect unreasonably restrains trade, and is therefore a violation, can preemption occur.
The third case cited to support the "anticompetitive effect" guideline is Joseph E. Seagram & Sons v. Hostetter, in which the Court rejected a facial Sherman Act preemption challenge to a statute requiring that persons selling liquor to wholesalers affirm that the price charged was no higher than the lowest price at which sales were made anywhere in the United States during the previous month. Since the attack was a facial one, and the state law required no per se violations, no preemption could occur. The Court also rejected the possibility of preemption due to Sherman Act violations stemming from misuse of the statute. The Court stated that rather than imposing "irresistible economic pressure" on sellers to violate the Sherman Act, the statute "appears firmly anchored to the assumption that the Sherman Act will deter any attempts by the appellants to preserve their ... price level [in one state] by conspiring to raise the prices at which liquor is sold elsewhere in the country". Thus, Seagram indicates that when conduct required by a state statute combines with other conduct that, taken together, constitutes an illegal restraint of trade, liability may be imposed for the restraint without requiring preemption of the state statute.
Rice v. Norman Williams Co. supports this misuse limitation on preemption. Rice states that while particular conduct or arrangements by private parties would be subject to per se or rule of reason analysis to determine liability, "[t]here is no basis ... for condemning the statute itself by force of the Sherman Act."
Thus, when a state requires conduct analyzed under the rule of reason, a court must carefully distinguish rule of reason analysis for preemption purposes from the analysis for liability purposes. To analyze whether preemption occurs, the court must determine whether the inevitable effects of a statutory restraint unreasonably restrain trade. If they do, preemption is warranted unless the statute passes the appropriate state action tests. But, when the statutory conduct combines with other practices in a larger conspiracy to restrain trade, or when the statute is used to violate the antitrust laws in a market in which such a use is not compelled by the state statute, the private party might be subjected to antitrust liability without preemption of the statute.
=== Evidence from legislative history ===
The Act was not intended to regulate existing state statutes regulating commerce within state borders. The House committee, in reporting the bill which was adopted without change, declared:
No attempt is made to invade the legislative authority of the several States or even to occupy doubtful grounds. No system of laws can be devised by Congress alone which would effectually protect the people of the United States against the evils and oppression of trusts and monopolies. Congress has no authority to deal, generally, with the subject within the States, and the States have no authority to legislate in respect of commerce between the several States or with foreign nations.
See also the statement on the floor of the House by Mr. Culberson, in charge of the bill,
There is no attempt to exercise any doubtful authority on this subject, but the bill is confined strictly and alone to subjects over which, confessedly, there is no question about the legislative power of Congress.
And see the statement of Senator Edmunds, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee which reported out the bill in the form in which it passed, that in drafting that bill the committee thought that "we would frame a bill that should be clearly within our constitutional power, that we would make its definition out of terms that were well known to the law already, and would leave it to the courts in the first instance to say how far they could carry it or its particular definitions as applicable to each particular case as the occasion might arise."
Similarly Senator Hoar, a member of that committee who with Senator Edmunds was in charge of the bill, stated
Now we are dealing with an offense against interstate or international commerce, which the State cannot regulate by penal enactment, and we find the United States without any common law. The great thing that this bill does, except affording a remedy, is to extend the common-law principles, which protected fair competition in trade in old times in England, to international and interstate commerce in the United States.
== Criticism ==
Alan Greenspan, in his essay entitled Antitrust, described the Sherman Act as stifling innovation and harming society. "No one will ever know what new products, processes, machines, and cost-saving mergers failed to come into existence, killed by the Sherman Act before they were born. No one can ever compute the price that all of us have paid for that Act which, by inducing less effective use of capital, has kept our standard of living lower than would otherwise have been possible." Greenspan summarized the nature of antitrust law as "a jumble of economic irrationality and ignorance". Greenspan at that time was a disciple and friend of Ayn Rand, and he first published Antitrust in Rand's monthly publication The Objectivist Newsletter. Rand, who described herself as "a radical for capitalism", opposed antitrust law not only on economic grounds but also morally, as a violation of property rights, asserting that the "meaning and purpose" of antitrust law is "the penalizing of ability for being ability, the penalizing of success for being success, and the sacrifice of productive genius to the demands of envious mediocrity".
In 1890, Representative William E. Mason said "trusts have made products cheaper, have reduced prices; but if the price of oil, for instance, were reduced to one cent a barrel, it would not right the wrong done to people of this country by the trusts which have destroyed legitimate competition and driven honest men from legitimate business enterprise." Consequently, if the primary goal of the act is to protect consumers, and consumers are protected by lower prices, the act may be harmful if it reduces economy of scale, a price-lowering mechanism, by breaking up big businesses. Mason put small business survival, a justice interest, on a level concomitant with the pure economic rationale of consumer interest.
Economist Thomas DiLorenzo notes that Senator Sherman sponsored the 1890 William McKinley tariff just three months after the Sherman Act, and agrees with The New York Times which wrote on October 1, 1890: "That so-called Anti-Trust law was passed to deceive the people and to clear the way for the enactment of this Pro-Trust law relating to the tariff." The New York Times went on to assert that Sherman merely supported this "humbug" of a law "in order that party organs might say ... 'Behold! We have attacked the trusts. The Republican Party is the enemy of all such rings.'" Dilorenzo writes: "Protectionists did not want prices paid by consumers to fall. But they also understood that to gain political support for high tariffs they would have to assure the public that industries would not combine to increase prices to politically prohibitive levels. Support for both an antitrust law and tariff hikes would maintain high prices while avoiding the more obvious bilking of consumers."
Robert Bork was well known for his outspoken criticism of the antitrust regime. Another conservative legal scholar and judge, Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit, does not condemn the entire regime, but expresses concern with the potential that it could be applied to create inefficiency, rather than to avoid inefficiency. Posner further believes, along with a number of others, including Bork, that genuinely inefficient cartels and coercive monopolies, the target of the act, would be self-corrected by market forces, making the strict penalties of antitrust legislation unnecessary. Conversely, liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas criticized the judiciary for interpreting and enforcing the antitrust law unequally: "From the beginning it [the Sherman Act] has been applied by judges hostile to its purposes, friendly to the empire builders who wanted it emasculated ... trusts that were dissolved reintegrated in new forms ... It is ironic that the Sherman Act was truly effective in only one respect, and that was when it was applied to labor unions. Then the courts read it with a literalness that never appeared in their other decisions."
According to a 2018 study in the journal Public Choice, "Senator John Sherman of Ohio was motivated to introduce an antitrust bill in late 1889 partly as a way of enacting revenge on his political rival, General and former Governor Russell Alger of Michigan, because Sherman believed that Alger personally had cost him the presidential nomination at the 1888 Republican national convention ... Sherman was able to pursue his revenge motive by combining it with the broader Republican goals of preserving high tariffs and attacking the trusts." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Luigi_Ferraris | Stadio Luigi Ferraris | The Stadio Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa CFC and UC Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is the oldest stadium still in use for football and other sports in Italy. Aside from football, the stadium has hosted meetings of rugby in the Italian national rugby team and, more rarely, some concerts.
The stadium is named after Luigi Ferraris (1887–1915), an Italian footballer, engineer and soldier who died during WWI.
== Notable matches ==
The stadium was inaugurated on 22 January 1911 with a football match between Genoa and Internazionale, and had a capacity of 20,000. On 22 December 1912, it hosted its first international, in which Italy lost 3–1 to Austria in a friendly.
It also hosted the 1934 World Cup round-of-16 match between Spain and Brazil, and by then its capacity had been expanded to 30,000.
The stadium was dismantled and rebuilt before the 1990 FIFA World Cup, for which it hosted three Group C matches (between Costa Rica, Scotland and Sweden) and a round-of-16 match between the Republic of Ireland and Romania.
The highest attendance at the Luigi Ferraris was 60,000 on 27 February 1949, for a match between Italy and Portugal.
On 12 October 2010, a Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia was abandoned after Serbia fans continued to throw flares onto the pitch and light fireworks. When the game finally began, more flares and fireworks were thrown onto the field and the referee stopped the match after only six minutes of play.
On 29 February 2012, the United States defeated Italy 1–0 in a friendly played at the stadium. It was the first time in almost 100 years that Italy had been defeated in Genoa after 22 December 1912 defeat against Austria, and the first time that the US had ever defeated Italy.
On 14 November 2014, it hosted Italy's end-of-year rugby union international against Argentina who won 20–18.
== Average attendances ==
== 1990 FIFA World Cup ==
The stadium was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and held the following matches: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket#Governance | Cricket#Governance | Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that is played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre; 66-foot) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the batting team, the striker and nonstriker, stand in front of either wicket holding bats, while one player from the fielding team, the bowler, bowls the ball toward the striker's wicket from the opposite end of the pitch. The striker's goal is to hit the bowled ball with the bat and then switch places with the nonstriker, with the batting team scoring one run for each of these swaps. Runs are also scored when the ball reaches the boundary of the field or when the ball is bowled illegally.
The fielding team aims to prevent runs by dismissing batters (so they are "out"). Dismissal can occur in various ways, including being bowled (when the ball hits the striker's wicket and dislodges the bails), and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease line in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings (playing phase) ends and the teams swap roles. Forms of cricket range from traditional Test matches played over five days to the newer Twenty20 format (also known as T20), in which each team bats for a single innings of 20 overs (each "over" being a set of 6 fair opportunities for the batting team to score) and the game generally lasts three to four hours.
Traditionally, cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket, they wear club or team colours. In addition to the basic kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball, which is a hard, solid spheroid made of compressed leather with a slightly raised sewn seam enclosing a cork core layered with tightly wound string.
The earliest known definite reference to cricket is to it being played in South East England in the mid-16th century. It spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, with the first international matches in the second half of the 19th century. The game's governing body is the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has over 100 members, twelve of which are full members who play Test matches. The game's rules, the Laws of Cricket, are maintained by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London. The sport is primarily played in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, New Zealand, England and Wales, South Africa and the West Indies.
While cricket has traditionally been played largely by men, women's cricket has experienced significant growth in the 21st century.
The most successful side playing international cricket is Australia, which has won eight One Day International trophies, including six World Cups, more than any other country, and has been the top-rated Test side more than any other country.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Cricket is one of many games in the "club ball" sphere that involve hitting a ball with a hand-held implement. Others include baseball (which shares many similarities with cricket, both belonging in the more specific bat-and-ball games category), golf, hockey, tennis, squash, badminton and table tennis. In cricket's case, a key difference is the existence of a solid target structure, the wicket (originally, it is thought, a "wicket gate" through which sheep were herded), that the batter must defend. The cricket historian Harry Altham identified three "groups" of "club ball" games: the "hockey group", in which the ball is driven to and from between two targets (the goals); the "golf group", in which the ball is driven towards an undefended target (the hole); and the "cricket group", in which "the ball is aimed at a mark (the wicket) and driven away from it".
It is generally believed that cricket originated as a children's game in the south-eastern counties of England, sometime during the medieval period. Although there are claims for prior dates, the earliest definite reference to cricket being played comes from evidence given at a court case in Guildford in January 1597 (Old Style, equating to January 1598 in the modern calendar). The case concerned ownership of a certain plot of land, and the court heard the testimony of a 59-year-old coroner, John Derrick, who gave witness that:
Being a scholler in the ffree schoole of Guldeford hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play there at creckett and other plaies.
Given Derrick's age, it was about half a century earlier when he was at school, and so it is certain that cricket was being played c. 1550 by boys in Surrey. The view that it was originally a children's game is reinforced by Randle Cotgrave's 1611 English-French dictionary in which he defined the noun "crosse" as "the crooked staff wherewith boys play at cricket", and the verb form "crosser" as "to play at cricket".
One possible source for the sport's name is the Old English word "cryce" (or "cricc") meaning a crutch or staff. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". In Old French, the word "criquet" seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch (in use in Flanders at the time) "krick"(-e), meaning a stick (crook). Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word "krickstoel", meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church that resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University, "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, "met de (krik ket)sen" ("with the stick chase"). Gillmeister has suggested that not only the name but also the sport itself may be of Flemish origin.
=== Growth of amateur and professional cricket in England ===
Although the main object of the game has always been to score the most runs, the early form of cricket differed from the modern game in certain key technical aspects; the North American variant of cricket known as wicket retained many of these aspects. The ball was bowled underarm by the bowler and along the ground towards a batter armed with a bat that in shape resembled a hockey stick; the batter defended a low, two-stump wicket; and runs were called notches because the scorers recorded them by notching tally sticks.
In 1611, the year Cotgrave's dictionary was published, ecclesiastical court records at Sidlesham in Sussex state that two parishioners, Bartholomew Wyatt and Richard Latter, failed to attend church on Easter Sunday because they were playing cricket. They were fined 12d each and ordered to do penance. This is the earliest mention of adult participation in cricket and it was around the same time that the earliest known organised inter-parish or village match was played, at Chevening, Kent. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall died after he was accidentally struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex.
Cricket remained a low-key local pursuit for much of the 17th century. It is known, through numerous references found in the records of ecclesiastical court cases, to have been proscribed at times by the Puritans before and during the Commonwealth. The problem was nearly always the issue of Sunday play, as the Puritans considered cricket to be "profane" if played on the Sabbath, especially if large crowds or gambling were involved.
According to the social historian Derek Birley, there was a "great upsurge of sport after the Restoration" in 1660. Several members of the court of King Charles II took a strong interest in cricket during that era. Gambling on sport became a problem significant enough for Parliament to pass the 1664 Gambling Act, limiting stakes to £100, which was, in any case, a colossal sum exceeding the annual income of 99% of the population. Along with horse racing, as well as prizefighting and other types of blood sport, cricket was perceived to be a gambling sport. Rich patrons made matches for high stakes, forming teams in which they engaged the first professional players. By the end of the century, cricket had developed into a major sport that was spreading throughout England and was already being taken abroad by English mariners and colonisers—the earliest reference to cricket overseas is dated 1676. A 1697 newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" played in Sussex "for fifty guineas apiece", the earliest known contest that is generally considered a First Class match.
The patrons and other players from the gentry began to classify themselves as "amateurs" to establish a clear distinction from the professionals, who were invariably members of the working class, even to the point of having separate changing and dining facilities. The gentry, including such high-ranking nobles as the Dukes of Richmond, exerted their honour code of noblesse oblige to claim rights of leadership in any sporting contests they took part in, especially as it was necessary for them to play alongside their "social inferiors" if they were to win their bets. In time, a perception took hold that the typical amateur who played in first-class cricket, until 1962 when amateurism was abolished, was someone with a public school education who had then gone to one of Cambridge or Oxford University. Society insisted that such people were "officers and gentlemen" whose destiny was to provide leadership. In a purely financial sense, the cricketing amateur would theoretically claim expenses for playing while his professional counterpart played under contract and was paid a wage or match fee; in practice, many amateurs claimed more than actual expenditure, and the derisive term "shamateur" was coined to describe the practice.
=== English cricket in the 18th and 19th centuries ===
The game underwent major development in the 18th century to become England's national sport. Its success was underwritten by the twin necessities of patronage and betting. Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and, in the middle years of the century, large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match, its popularity peaking in the 1748 season. Bowling underwent an evolution around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch (bounce) the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batter. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape.
The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next twenty years until the formation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century include the three-stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).
The 19th century saw underarm bowling superseded by first roundarm and then overarm bowling. Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex in 1839. In December 1889, the eight leading county clubs formed the official County Championship, which began in 1890.
The most famous player of the 19th century was W. G. Grace, who started his long and influential career in 1865. It was especially during the career of Grace that the distinction between amateurs and professionals became blurred by the existence of players like him who were nominally amateur but, in terms of their financial gain, de facto professional. Grace himself was said to have been paid more money for playing cricket than any professional.
The last two decades before the First World War have been called the "Golden Age of cricket". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed.
=== Cricket becomes an international sport ===
Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas, and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in Australia, the Caribbean, British India (which also includes present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh), New Zealand, North America and South Africa. In 1844, the first international match took place between what were essentially club teams, from the United States and Canada, in New York; Canada won. In 1859, a team of English players went to North America on the first overseas tour.
In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia. The first Australian team to travel overseas consisted of Aboriginal stockmen who toured England in 1868.
In 1876–77, an England team took part in what was retrospectively recognised as the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882, which remains Test cricket's most famous contest. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England.
=== Cricket in the 20th century ===
The inter-war years were dominated by Australia's Don Bradman, statistically the greatest Test batter of all time. To curb his dominance, England employed bodyline tactics during the 1932–33 Ashes series. These involved bowling at the body of the batter and setting a field, resulting in batters having to choose between being hit or risk getting out. This series moved cricket from a game to a matter of national importance, with diplomatic cables being passed between the two countries over the incident.
During this time, the number of Test nations continued to grow, with the West Indies, New Zealand and India being admitted as full Test members within a four-year period from 1928 to 1932.
An enforced break during the Second World War stopped Test Cricket for a time, although the Partition of India caused Pakistan to gain Test status in 1952. As teams began to travel more, the game quickly grew from 500 tests in 84 years to 1000 within the next 23.
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative, and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971, and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC), seeing its potential, staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975.
Sri Lanka joined the ranks in 1982. Meanwhile, South Africa was banned by the ICC due to apartheid from 1970 until 1992. 1992 also brought about the introduction of the Zimbabwe team.
=== Cricket in the 21st century ===
The 21st century brought with it the Bangladesh Team, who made their Test debut in 2000. The game itself also grew, with a new format made up of 20-over innings being created. This format, called T20 cricket, quickly became a highly popular format, putting the longer formats at risk. The new shorter format also introduced franchise cricket, with new tournaments like the Indian Premier League and the Australian Big Bash League. The ICC has selected the T20 format as cricket's growth format, and has introduced a T20 World Cup which is played every two years; T20 cricket has also been increasingly accepted into major events such as the Asian Games. The resultant growth has seen cricket's fanbase cross one billion people, with 90% of them in South Asia. T20's success has also spawned even shorter formats, such as 10-over cricket (T10) and 100-ball cricket, though not without controversy.
Outside factors have also taken their toll on cricket. For example, the 2008 Mumbai attacks led India and Pakistan to suspend their bilateral series indefinitely. The 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team during their tour of Pakistan led to Pakistan being unable to host matches until 2019.
In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland became the 11th and 12th Test nations.
== Laws and gameplay ==
In cricket, the rules of the game are codified in The Laws of Cricket (hereinafter called "the Laws"), which has a global remit. There are 42 Laws (always written with a capital "L"). The earliest known version of the code was drafted in 1744, and since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in London.
=== Playing area ===
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played on a cricket field (see image of cricket pitch and creases) between two teams of eleven players each. The field is usually circular or oval in shape, and the edge of the playing area is marked by a boundary, which may be a fence, part of the stands, a rope, a painted line, or a combination of these; the boundary must if possible be marked along its entire length.
In the approximate centre of the field is a rectangular pitch (see image, below) on which a wooden target called a wicket is sited at each end; the wickets are placed 22 yards (20 m) apart. The pitch is a flat surface 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses (cricket can also be played on artificial surfaces, notably matting). Each wicket is made of three wooden stumps topped by two bails.
As illustrated, the pitch is marked at each end with four white painted lines: a bowling crease, a popping crease and two return creases. The three stumps are aligned centrally on the bowling crease, which is eight feet eight inches long. The popping crease is drawn four feet in front of the bowling crease and parallel to it; although it is drawn as a 12 ft (3.7 m) line (six feet on either side of the wicket), it is, in fact, unlimited in length. The return creases are drawn at right angles to the popping crease so that they intersect the ends of the bowling crease; each return crease is drawn as an 8 ft (2.4 m) line, so that it extends four feet behind the bowling crease, but is also, in fact, unlimited in length.
=== Match structure ===
Before a match begins, the team captains (who are also players) toss a coin to decide which team will bat first and so take the first innings. "Innings" is the term used for each phase of play in the match. In each innings, one team bats, attempting to score runs, while the other team bowls and fields the ball, attempting to restrict the scoring and dismiss the batters. When the first innings ends, the teams change roles; there can be two to four innings depending upon the type of match. A match with four scheduled innings is played over three to five days; a match with two scheduled innings is usually completed in a single day. During an innings, all eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but usually only two members of the batting team are on the field at any given time. The order of batters is usually announced just before the match, but it can be varied.
The main objective of each team is to score more runs than their opponents, but in some forms of cricket, it is also necessary to dismiss all but one of the opposition batters (making their team 'all out') in their final innings in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn (not ending with a winner or tie.)
=== Clothing and equipment ===
The wicket-keeper (a specialised fielder behind the batter) and the batters wear protective gear because of the hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) and presents a major health and safety concern. Protective clothing includes pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves or wicket-keeper's gloves for the hands, a safety helmet for the head, and a box for male players inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batters wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads. The only fielders allowed to wear protective gear are those in positions very close to the batter (i.e., if they are alongside or in front of him), but they cannot wear gloves or external leg guards.
Subject to certain variations, on-field clothing generally includes a collared shirt with short or long sleeves; long trousers; woolen pullover (if needed); cricket cap (for fielding) or a safety helmet; and spiked shoes or boots to increase traction. The kit is traditionally all white, and this remains the case in Test and first-class cricket, but in limited overs cricket, team colours are now worn instead.
==== Bat and ball ====
The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers (i.e., bowls) the ball from their end of the pitch towards the batter who, armed with a bat, is "on strike" at the other end (see next sub-section: Basic gameplay).
The bat is made of wood, usually Salix alba (white willow), and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (97 cm). There is no standard for the weight, which is usually between 2 lb 7 oz and 3 lb (1.1 and 1.4 kg).
The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid, with a circumference of 9 inches (23 cm). The ball has a "seam": six rows of stitches attaching the leather shell of the ball to the string and cork interior. The seam on a new ball is prominent and helps the bowler propel it in a less predictable manner. During matches, the quality of the ball deteriorates to a point where it is no longer usable; during the course of this deterioration, its behaviour in flight will change and can influence the outcome of the match. Players will, therefore, attempt to modify the ball's behaviour by modifying its physical properties. Polishing the ball and wetting it with sweat or saliva was legal, even when the polishing was deliberately done on one side only to increase the ball's swing through the air. The use of saliva has since been made illegal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The acts of rubbing other substances into the ball, scratching the surface or picking at the seams constitute illegal ball tampering.
=== Player roles ===
==== Basic gameplay: bowler to batter ====
During normal play, thirteen players and two umpires are on the field. Two of the players are batters and the rest are all eleven members of the fielding team. The other nine players in the batting team are off the field in the pavilion. The image with overlay below shows what is happening when a ball is being bowled and which of the personnel are on or close to the pitch.
In the photo, the two batters (3 and 8, wearing yellow) have taken position at each end of the pitch (6). Three members of the fielding team (4, 10 and 11, wearing dark blue) are in shot. One of the two umpires (1, wearing white hat) is stationed behind the wicket (2) at the bowler's (4) end of the pitch. The bowler (4) is bowling the ball (5) from his end of the pitch to the batter (8) at the other end who is called the "striker". The other batter (3) at the bowling end is called the "non-striker". The wicket-keeper (10), who is a specialist, is positioned behind the striker's wicket (9), and behind him stands one of the fielders in a position called "first slip" (11). While the bowler and the first slip are wearing conventional kit only, the two batters and the wicket-keeper are wearing protective gear, including safety helmets, padded gloves and leg guards (pads). The wicket-keeper is the only fielding player able to wear protective gloves.
While the umpire (1) in shot stands at the bowler's end of the pitch, his colleague stands in the outfield, usually in or near the fielding position called "square leg", so that he is in line with the popping crease (7) at the striker's end of the pitch. The bowling crease (not numbered) is the one on which the wicket is located between the return creases (12). The bowler (4) intends to hit the wicket (9) with the ball (5) or at least prevent the striker (8) from scoring runs. The striker (8) intends, by using his bat, to defend his wicket and, if possible, hit the ball away from the pitch in order to score runs.
Some players are skilled in both batting and bowling, so are termed all-rounders. Bowlers are classified according to their style and speed, generally as fast bowlers, seam bowlers or spinners. Batters are classified according to whether they are right-handed or left-handed, with switch-hitting uncommon and largely utilised as a tactic, where a batter changes stance shortly before the bowler releases the ball.
===== Overs =====
The Laws state that, throughout an innings, "the ball shall be bowled from each end alternately in overs of 6 balls". The name "over" came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six legal balls (deliveries) have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batters do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can (and usually does) bowl alternate overs, from the same end, for several overs which are termed a "spell"; if the captain wants a bowler to "change ends", another bowler must temporarily fill in so that the change is not immediate. The batters do not change ends at the end of the over, and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at "square leg" now stands behind the wicket at the nonstriker's end and vice versa.
==== Fielding ====
Of the eleven fielders, three are in shot in the image above. The other eight are elsewhere on the field, their positions determined on a tactical basis by the captain or the bowler. Fielders often change position between deliveries, again as directed by the captain or bowler.
If a fielder is injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of the aforementioned fielder, but the substitute cannot bowl or act as a captain, except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return. The Laws of Cricket were updated in 2017 to allow substitutes to act as wicket-keepers.
==== Batting and scoring ====
Batters take turns to bat via a batting order which is decided beforehand by the team captain and presented to the umpires, though the order remains flexible when the captain officially nominates the team. Substitute batters are generally not allowed, except in the case of concussion substitutes in international cricket.
In order to begin batting the batter first adopts a batting stance. Standardly, this involves adopting a slight crouch with the feet pointing across the front of the wicket, looking in the direction of the bowler, and holding the bat so it passes over the feet and so its tip can rest on the ground near to the toes of the back foot.
A skilled batter can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to the best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat, it is called an "edge". The batter does not have to play a shot and can allow the ball to go through to the wicket-keeper. Equally, the batter does not have to attempt a run when hitting the ball with their bat. Batters do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs by simply making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists, or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that the player has time to take a run. A wide variety of shots are played, the batter's repertoire including strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., "cut", "drive", "hook", and "pull".
The batter on strike (i.e., the "striker") must prevent the ball from hitting the wicket and try to score runs by hitting the ball with their bat so that the batter and their partner have time to switch places, with each of them running from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball and attempt a run out (throwing the ball at one of the wickets before the run is scored.) To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the popping crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batters carry their bats as they run) before a fielder can throw the ball at the nearby wicket. Each completed run increments the score of both the team and the striker.
The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batter who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling, usually "yes", "no" or "wait". More than one run can be scored from a single hit. Hits worth one to three runs are common, but the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary without touching the ground within the boundary. In these cases the batters do not need to run. Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball.
If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batters have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.
Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways: no-ball, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if they break the rules (often by failing to bowl the ball before their front foot passes the popping crease at their end); wide, a penalty of one extra conceded by the bowler if they bowl so that the ball is out of the batter's reach; bye, an extra awarded if the batter misses the ball and it goes past the wicket-keeper and gives the batters time to run in the conventional way; and leg bye, as for a bye except that the ball has hit the batter's body, though not their bat. If the bowler has bowled an illegal delivery (i.e., a no-ball or a wide), the bowler's team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again, and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. In addition, the ways in which the batters can be dismissed on an illegal delivery greatly narrow down; in the case of a no-ball, which is the more egregious type of illegal delivery, the only common way in which the batters can be dismissed is by being run out.
==== Dismissals ====
There are nine ways in which a batter can be dismissed: five relatively common and four extremely rare. When a batter is dismissed, they are said to have 'lost their wicket', and are barred from batting again in that inning; their team is also said to have 'lost a wicket'. Once a team has lost 10 wickets, its innings is over.
The common forms of dismissal are:
bowled – when the striker fails to prevent a delivery from hitting their wicket
caught – when a ball struck by the bat is caught by a fielder before it hits the ground
leg before wicket – when the striker's body 'unfairly' prevents a delivery from hitting the wicket
run out – generally when the ball is thrown at a wicket by a fielder while the batters are running between the wickets
stumped – a special type of run out involving the wicket-keeper and striker
Rare methods are:
hit wicket – a striker hitting their own wicket
hit the ball twice
obstructing the field
timed out – a batter failing to enter the field in a timely manner
The Laws state that the fielding team, usually the bowler in practice, must appeal for a dismissal before the umpire can give their decision. If the batter is out, the umpire raises a forefinger and says "Out!"; otherwise, the umpire will shake their head and say "Not out". There is, effectively, a tenth method of dismissal, retired out (self-dismissal – generally permanent except in cases of injury), which is not an on-field dismissal as such but rather a retrospective one for which no fielder is credited.
==== Bowling ====
Most bowlers are considered specialists in that they are selected for the team because of their skill as a bowler, although some are all-rounders, and even specialist batters bowl occasionally. These specialists bowl "spells" that are generally 4 to 8 overs long in order not to physically exhaust the bowler, cause muscle strain and stress the skeleton. The rules prevent a single bowler from bowling consecutive overs, resulting in at least two bowlers alternating each over. If the captain wants a bowler to "change ends", another bowler must temporarily fill in so that the change is not immediate. The action of bowling the ball is akin to throwing, with the caveat that a bowler's elbow extension is almost entirely restricted, resulting in most bowlers maintaining a straight arm when releasing the ball during their delivery stride. Additionally, while the bowler is not required to pitch (bounce) the ball, a full toss (non-bouncing) delivery that reaches the striker above waist height is penalised as a no-ball.
A bowler reaches their delivery stride by means of a "run-up", and an over is deemed to have begun when the bowler starts their run-up for the first delivery of that over, the ball then being "in play". Fast bowlers, or pacemen, need momentum, taking a lengthy run up, while bowlers with a slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph), and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try to defeat the batter, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile by making the ball seam or swing (i.e., curve) in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batter into miscuing their shot, for example, so that the ball just touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicket-keeper or a slip fielder. At the other end of the bowling scale is the spin bowler, who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batter. A spinner will often "buy their wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, steeper parabolic path) to lure the batter into making a poor shot. The batter has to be very wary of such deliveries, as the batter is often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as the batter expects it to, and the batter could be "trapped" into getting themself out. Accidental full toss deliveries can also get wickets, as the failure of the ball to bounce can surprise a batsman or induce a poor stroke in an effort to punish the poor delivery with a boundary hit. In between the pacemen and the spinners are the medium-paced seamers, who rely on persistent accuracy to try to contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batter's concentration.
==== Specialist roles ====
The captain is often the most experienced player in the team, certainly the most tactically astute, and can possess any of the main skillsets as a batter, a bowler or a wicket-keeper. Within the Laws, the captain has certain responsibilities in terms of nominating their players to the umpires before the match and ensuring that the captain's players conduct themselves "within the spirit and traditions of the game as well as within the Laws".
The wicket-keeper (sometimes called simply the "keeper") is a specialist fielder subject to various rules within the Laws about their equipment and demeanour. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side who can effect a stumping and is the only one permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.
Depending on their primary skills, the other ten players in the team tend to be classified as specialist batters or specialist bowlers. Generally, a team will include five or six specialist batters, and four or five specialist bowlers, plus the wicket-keeper.
=== Match closure ===
There are a number of ways that a cricket match can end and its result be described, depending on whether the team batting first or last wins as well as the format of the game.
If the team batting last is 'all out' having scored fewer runs than their opponents, they are said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the aggregate number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall (batters yet to be dismissed) until the team would have been all out. For example, a team that passes its opponents' total having lost six wickets (i.e., six of their batters have been dismissed) wins the match "by four wickets", since the team would only have been prevented from scoring the winning runs if four more of its batters had been dismissed, which would have resulted in all but one of its eleven batters being dismissed.
In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have "won by an innings and n runs" and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores. If the team batting last is all out and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side with only 62 happening in first-class matches from the earliest known instance in 1741 until January 2017. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw.
If the match has only a single innings per side, then usually a maximum number of overs applies to each innings. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. In some cases, ties are broken by having each team bat for a one-over innings known as a Super Over; subsequent Super Overs may be played if the first Super Over ends in a tie. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern (DLS) method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible, for example, wet weather.
In all forms of cricket, the umpires can abandon the match if bad light or rain makes it impossible to continue. There have been instances of entire matches, even Test matches scheduled to be played over five days, being lost to bad weather without a ball being bowled, for example, the third Test of the 1970/71 series in Australia.
==== Innings ====
The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for each phase of play during a match. Depending on the type of match being played, each team has either one or two innings. Sometimes all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they have all done so. The innings terminates if the batting team is "all out", a term defined by the Laws: "At the fall of a wicket or the retirement of a batter, further balls remain to be bowled but no further batter is available to come in". In this situation, one of the batters has not been dismissed and is termed not out; this is because he has no partners left and there must always be two active batters while the innings is in progress.
An innings may end early while there are still two not out batters:
the batting team's captain may declare the innings closed, even though some of the captain's players have not had a turn to bat: this is a tactical decision by the captain, usually because the captain believes that their team have scored sufficient runs and need time to dismiss the opposition in their innings
the set number of overs (i.e., in a limited overs match) have been bowled
the match has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time
in the final innings of the match, the batting side has reached its target (i.e., scored more runs than the opposition) and won the game.
=== Umpires and scorers ===
The game on the field is regulated by the two umpires, one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end and the other in a position called "square leg", which is about 15–20 m (49–66 ft) away from the batter on strike and in line with the popping crease on which that umpire is taking guard. The umpires have several responsibilities, including adjudication on whether a ball has been correctly bowled (i.e., not a no-ball or a wide); when a run is scored; whether a batter is out (the fielding side must first appeal to the umpire, usually with the phrase "How's that?" or "Howzat?"); when intervals start and end; and the suitability of the pitch, field and weather for playing the game. The umpires are authorised to interrupt or even abandon a match due to circumstances likely to endanger the players, such as a damp pitch or deterioration of the light.
Off the field in televised matches, there is usually a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test and Limited Overs International matches played between two ICC full member countries. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws and the spirit of the game.
The match details, including runs and dismissals, are recorded by two official scorers, one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire (see image, right). For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batter is out (has been dismissed); the umpire raises both arms above their head if the batter has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws to record all runs scored, wickets taken, and overs bowled; in practice, they also note significant amounts of additional data relating to the game.
A match's statistics are summarised on a scorecard. Prior to the popularisation of scorecards, most scoring was done by men sitting on vantage points cuttings notches on tally sticks, and runs were originally called notches. According to historian Rowland Bowen, the earliest known scorecard templates were introduced in 1776 by T. Pratt of Sevenoaks and soon came into general use. It is believed that scorecards were printed and sold at Lord's for the first time in 1846.
Scores are displayed differently depending on location, although it is standard to show how many wickets have been lost and how many runs a team has made. Within Australia, the format is Wickets/Runs, while in the rest of the world, the format is Runs/Wickets. For example, a score of 125 runs with 4 wickets lost would be displayed as 4/125 or 125/4, respectively.
=== Spirit of the Game ===
Besides observing the Laws, cricketers must respect the "Spirit of Cricket", a concept encompassing sportsmanship, fair play and mutual respect. This spirit has long been considered an integral part of the sport but is only nebulously defined. Amidst concern that the spirit was weakening, in 2000, a Preamble was added to the Laws instructing all participants to play within the spirit of the game. The Preamble was last updated in 2017, now opening with the line:
Cricket owes much of its appeal and enjoyment to the fact that it should be played not only according to the Laws, but also within the Spirit of Cricket.
The Preamble is a short statement intended to emphasise the "positive behaviours that make cricket an exciting game that encourages leadership, friendship, and teamwork". Its second line states that, "the major responsibility for ensuring fair play rests with the captains, but extends to all players, match officials and, especially in junior cricket, teachers, coaches and parents".
The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play. They are required under the Laws to intervene in case of dangerous or unfair play or in cases of unacceptable conduct by a player.
Previous versions of the Spirit identified actions that were deemed contrary (for example, appealing knowing that the batter is not out), but all specifics are now covered in the Laws of Cricket, the relevant governing playing regulations and disciplinary codes, or left to the judgement of the umpires, captains, their clubs and governing bodies. The terse expression of the Spirit of Cricket now avoids trying to enumerate the diverse cultural conventions that exist in the detail of sportsmanship, or its absence.
== Women's cricket ==
Women's cricket was first recorded in Surrey in 1745. International development began at the start of the 20th century, and the first Test match was played between Australia and England in December 1934. The following year, New Zealand joined them, and in 2007 Netherland became the tenth women's Test nation when they made their debut against South Africa. In 1958, the International Women's Cricket Council was founded (it merged with the ICC in 2005). In 1973, the first Cricket World Cup of any kind took place when a Women's World Cup was held in England. In 2005, the International Women's Cricket Council was merged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to form one unified body to help manage and develop cricket. The ICC Women's Rankings were launched on 1 October 2015 covering all three formats of women's cricket. In October 2018 following the ICC's decision to award T20 International status to all members, the Women's rankings were split into separate ODI (for Full Members) and T20I lists.
== Governance ==
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai, is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965 and took up its current name in 1989. The ICC in 2017 has 105 member nations, twelve of which hold full membership and can play Test cricket. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the men's and women's versions of the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, Limited Overs Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
Each member nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country, selects the national squad, and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies, which for cricket purposes is a federation of nations, these matters are addressed by Cricket West Indies.
The table below lists the ICC full members and their national cricket boards:
== Forms of cricket ==
Cricket is a multifaceted sport with multiple formats that can effectively be divided into first-class cricket, limited overs cricket, and historically, single wicket cricket.
The highest standard is Test cricket (always written with a capital "T") which is in effect the international version of first-class cricket and is restricted to teams representing the twelve countries that are full members of the ICC (see above). Although the term "Test match" was not coined until much later, Test cricket is deemed to have begun with two matches between Australia and England in the 1876–77 Australian season; since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes. The term "first-class", in general usage, is applied to top-level domestic cricket. Test matches are played over five days and first-class over three to four days; in all of these matches, the teams are allotted two innings each and the draw is a valid result.
Limited overs cricket is always scheduled for completion in a single day, and the teams are allotted one innings each. There are two main types: List A which normally allows fifty overs per team; and Twenty20 in which the teams have twenty overs each. Both of the limited overs forms are played internationally as Limited Overs Internationals (LOI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). List A was introduced in England in the 1963 season as a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other leading cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three to four hours, usually in an evening session. The first Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007. In addition, a few full-member cricket boards have decided to start leagues that are played in the T10 format, in which games are intended to last approximately 90 minutes. Most recently, in 2021, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) introduced a new league featuring a hundred-ball tournament, known as The Hundred. Limited overs matches cannot be drawn, although a tie is possible and an unfinished match is a "no result".
Single wicket was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, and its matches were generally considered top-class. In this form, although each team may have from one to six players, there is only one batter in at a time, and that batter must face every delivery bowled while their innings lasts. Single wicket has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began. Matches tended to have two innings per team like a full first-class one and they could end in a draw.
== Competitions ==
Cricket is played at both the international and domestic level. There is one major international championship per format, and top-level domestic competitions mirror the three main international formats. There are now a number of T20 leagues, which have spawned a "T20 freelancer" phenomenon.
=== International competitions ===
Most international matches are played as parts of 'tours', when one nation travels to another for a number of weeks or months, and plays a number of matches of various sorts against the host nation. Sometimes a perpetual trophy is awarded to the winner of the Test series, the most famous of which is The Ashes.
The ICC also organises competitions that are for several countries at once, including the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. A league competition for Test matches played as part of normal tours, the ICC World Test Championship, had been proposed several times, and its first instance began in 2019. A league competition for ODIs, the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League, began in August 2020 and lasted only for one edition. The ICC maintains Test rankings, ODI rankings and T20 rankings systems for the countries which play these forms of cricket.
Competitions for member nations of the ICC with Associate status include the ICC Intercontinental Cup, for first-class cricket matches, and the World Cricket League for one-day matches, the final matches of which now also serve as the ICC World Cup Qualifier.
The game's only appearance in an Olympic Games was the 1900 Olympics. However, it is scheduled to make a return, with the T20 format of the game, in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
=== National competitions ===
==== First-class ====
First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship. The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire, who had won 32 official titles (plus one shared) as of 2019.
Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has the highest number of titles.
The other ICC full members have national championship trophies called the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament (Afghanistan); the National Cricket League (Bangladesh); the Ranji Trophy (India); the Inter-Provincial Championship (Ireland); the Plunket Shield (New Zealand); the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Pakistan); the Currie Cup (South Africa); the Premier Trophy (Sri Lanka); the Shell Shield (West Indies); and the Logan Cup (Zimbabwe).
==== Limited overs ====
==== Other ====
=== Club and school cricket ===
The world's earliest known cricket match was a village cricket meeting in Kent which has been deduced from a 1640 court case recording a "cricketing" of "the Weald and the Upland" versus "the Chalk Hill" at Chevening "about thirty years since" (i.e., c. 1611). Inter-parish contests became popular in the first half of the 17th century and continued to develop through the 18th with the first local leagues being founded in the second half of the 19th.
At the grassroots level, local club cricket is essentially an amateur pastime for those involved but still usually involves teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. Schools cricket, first known in southern England in the 17th century, has a similar scenario and both are widely played in the countries where cricket is popular. Although there can be variations in game format, compared with professional cricket, the Laws are always observed and club/school matches are therefore formal and competitive events. The sport has numerous informal variants such as French cricket.
=== Rivalries ===
== Culture ==
=== Influence on everyday life ===
Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. It has, for example, influenced the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with various phrases such as "that's not cricket" (that's unfair), "had a good innings" (lived a long life), and "sticky wicket". "On a sticky wicket" (aka "sticky dog" or "glue pot") is a metaphor used to describe a difficult circumstance. It originated as a term for difficult batting conditions in cricket, caused by a damp and soft pitch.
=== In the arts and popular culture ===
Cricket is the subject of works by noted English poets, including William Blake and Lord Byron. Beyond a Boundary (1963), written by Trinidadian C. L. R. James, is often named the best book on any sport ever written.
In the visual arts, notable cricket paintings include Albert Chevallier Tayler's Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury (1907) and Russell Drysdale's The cricketers (1948), which has been called "possibly the most famous Australian painting of the 20th century." French impressionist Camille Pissarro painted cricket on a visit to England in the 1890s. Francis Bacon, an avid cricket fan, captured a batter in motion. Caribbean artist Wendy Nanan's cricket images are featured in a limited edition first day cover for Royal Mail's "World of Invention" stamp issue, which celebrated the London Cricket Conference 1–3 March 2007, first international workshop of its kind and part of the celebrations leading up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
In music, many calypsos make reference to the Sport of Cricket. See List of calypso songs about cricket.
=== Influence on other sports ===
Cricket has close historical ties with Australian rules football and many players have competed at top levels in both sports. In 1858, prominent Australian cricketer Tom Wills called for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with "a code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during the off-season. The Melbourne Football Club was founded the following year, and Wills and three other members codified the first laws of the game. It is typically played on modified cricket fields.
In England, a number of association football clubs owe their origins to cricketers who sought to play football as a means of keeping fit during the winter months. Derby County was founded as a branch of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1884; Aston Villa (1874) and Everton (1876) were both founded by members of church cricket teams. Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground was, from 1854, the home of the Sheffield Cricket Club, and then of Yorkshire; it was not used for football until 1862 and was shared by Yorkshire and Sheffield United from 1889 to 1973.
In the late 19th century, a former cricketer, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was credited with devising the baseball box score (which he adapted from the cricket scorecard) for reporting game events. The first box score appeared in an 1859 issue of the Clipper. The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick is sometimes referred to as "the Father of Baseball" because he facilitated the popularity of the sport in its early days.
The influence of cricket and other English sports in British India resulted in the local sports becoming standardised by the 1920s. The 21st century success of the Indian Premier League also inspired the growth of other sports leagues in India, with some of the native sports being further modernised, as with the popular Pro Kabaddi League. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Area_Rapid_Transit | Dublin Area Rapid Transit | The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) system is an electrified commuter rail railway network serving the coastline and city of Dublin, Ireland. The service makes up the core of Dublin's suburban railway network, stretching from Greystones, County Wicklow, in the south to Howth and Malahide in north County Dublin. The DART serves 32 stations and consists of 53 route kilometres of electrified railway (46 km (29 mi) double track, 7 km (4.3 mi) single), and carries to up 23 million passengers per year. In a similar manner to the Berlin S-Bahn, the DART blends elements of a commuter rail service and a rapid transit system.
The DART system was established by Córas Iompair Éireann in 1984 to replace an ageing fleet of diesel-powered locomotives. It was, and still is, the only electric mainline railway in Ireland, and one of two currently operating electric railways, the other being the Luas tram which opened in 2004. Since 1987, the service is operated by Iarnród Éireann, Ireland's national rail operator. Contemporary rolling stock on the DART network is powered by 1,500 V DC overhead lines and uses the 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Irish gauge.
The network is being significantly expanded in the 2020s as part of the DART+ project, with future services to run to Drogheda, County Louth, Celbridge and Maynooth in County Kildare and Dunboyne, County Meath.
== History ==
=== Initial development ===
The section of trackbed between Dún Laoghaire and Dublin City was originally laid out as part of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, Ireland's first railway. This line was later connected with the Belfast mainline to the north and Wexford mainline to the south and joined the Harcourt Street line at Shanganagh Junction. The scenic views from the railway over Dublin Bay at this point have been compared to those on the Gulf of Naples and have resulted in trips to Killiney Hill and Greystones along the line becoming tourist attractions.
Prior to electrification in 1984, the line was operated using 1950s-era CIÉ 2600 Class rail cars which had been converted in the early 1970s to push-pull operation. These diesel-powered trains were powered by a CIE 201 Class locomotive, with a driving trailer carriage on the other end. This service was notoriously uncomfortable, unreliable, and overcrowded. By the late 1970s, the need for an urgent upgrade to the system had become apparent, as the 2600 Class railcars were in poor condition. Replacement parts had become difficult to obtain due to the age of the rolling stock and its conversion to push-pull operation, which had been intended as a temporary measure until a more permanent solution could be established, had come to the end of its serviceable life.
After studies in the early 1970s, the Dublin Rapid Rail Transit Study, published in 1975, recommended the construction of a rapid transit system with 2 lines: the first one between Howth and 'Ronanstown Centre', a station to be located roughly where Clondalkin/Fonthill is today, and navigating the city centre via a cross-city tunnel; and the second line between Bray and 'Blanchardstown Centre'. The two lines would intersect at an interchange known as 'Dublin Central'. Additionally, branches were to be constructed to serve the suburbs of Ballymun and Tallaght.
The first phase of the project (Howth–Bray) would receive CIÉ approval in 1977, and government approval on 31 May 1979 amidst the 1979 European elections. Linke-Hofmann-Busch would win the contract and supply 40 EMUs, beginning trials in March 1983. Public services began on 23 July 1984 and be inaugurated by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald on 22 October of that year. The rest of the study would not be implemented reportedly due to a lack of funds.
In conjunction with electrification, three disused stations at Sandymount, Booterstown and Salthill and Monkstown were reopened for the DART in 1984. Sandymount and Booterstown were each built at the sites of a previous station while Salthill and Monkstown was built near the site of the original Kingstown railway terminus, between Seapoint and Dún Laoghaire. As electrification work was undertaken from 1981 to 1982, a spur which had served the ferry port at Dún Laoghaire was disconnected from the mainline as the installation of overhead power lines to service the harbour would have necessitated the lowering of the track which travelled through a portal south of Dún Laoghaire station.
Early DART services ran from the north-eastern suburb of Howth, through Connolly, Tara Street, and Pearse stations in the city centre and on to Bray, which lies on the border between Dublin and Wicklow. This route remained unchanged for almost sixteen years until the line between Bray and Greystones was electrified. Further electrification of the line took place between Howth Junction & Donaghmede and Malahide, the northernmost DART station, on the Belfast mainline. The service to Portmarnock and Malahide began in October 2000.
In March 2017, the government announced plans for a proposed new DART station, Woodbrook, to be built between Shankill and Bray on the southern section of the DART line. In 2020, Iarnród Éireann submitted a planning application for the station, and planning permission was granted in July 2021. Work on the station commenced by late 2023. The station opened in August 2025, as the 32nd station on the line.
== Operation ==
The DART service is operated by a mixed fleet of electric multiple unit trains. As of 2025, the trains run every ten minutes on weekdays with a reduced service on weekends. Trains north of Howth Junction are split between Howth and Malahide while the Malahide service is supplemented by Northern Commuter trains.
Trains are typically run as four-car, six-car or eight-car sets during the 07.00–09.30 and 17.00–19.00 weekday peak periods. Capacity is reduced during off-peak periods and at weekends, with up to four eight-car sets running. Four-car sets typically consist of a single 8500 Class unit while six-car sets are made up of three 8100 Class units. Eight-car sets can be made up of either two 8500 Class or four 8100 Class units. Both classes had worked in tandem prior to the refurbishment of the ageing 8100 Class in 2007, after which both have been run separately.
Forty two-car 8100 Class units were purchased to run the initial network. Two of these were damaged beyond repair in a depot fire in 2001. Expanding passenger numbers and the need to refurbish the ageing 8100 Class units saw the purchase of four 8500 Class train sets in 2000. These were complemented with three 8510 Class sets in 2001 and ten 8520 Class sets in 2003 and 2004. The now-withdrawn 8200 Class sets which were first run in 2000 operated until 2008 at which point they were retired from revenue service and decommissioned due to longstanding technical issues. A redevelopment of the network's stations was undertaken between 2003 and 2005 to lengthen platforms to accommodate eight-car sets, upgrade the power grid, and improve accessibility for disabled passengers.
=== Service ===
All trains in the Dublin suburban area, including DART services, are monitored and regulated by a Central Traffic Control (CTC) facility located in Connolly Station, known as Suburban CTC. This facility has been extensively automated and requires a staff of five; two signallers, one with responsibility for level crossings, an electrical control officer, who supervises the electrical power supply equipment and an overall supervisor. The main CTC is staffed at all times however, there are also backup local control rooms which allow services to continue in the event of serious technical problems.
A single driver is responsible for the management of each train from the cab in the leading carriage. Automatic doors are controlled by the driver and are armed upon arrival at stations. Real-time passenger information displays on station platforms offer passengers updates on the next train arrival times, service updates and outages. Automatic PA announcements are made in case of service disruptions and are tailored to each station.
The majority of stations on the network have been renovated to include automatic barriers which require passengers to submit their tickets for verification before they can set foot on the platform. A ticket is required in advance of boarding DART services and can be purchased at stations from staffed kiosks and automated machines. Passengers can also avail of the option of using a Leap Card, Dublin's integrated ticketing scheme. Leap cards are offered as contactless cards onto which passengers can load set ticket options or a cash balance. Leap fares are typically cheaper than paying in cash for a journey. On the DART network, users tag on at their point of entry and tag off at their exit point. Irish Rail, along with Dublin's other public transport operators operated its own smart card system which was phased out to coincide with the Leap Card's introduction. Revenue protection officers check passengers' tickets to ensure validity both onboard trains and on station platforms at random intervals.
== Future ==
=== DART+ ===
In February 2018, the Irish government and National Transport Authority announced a 10-year plan to electrify the lines to Drogheda, Maynooth, Hazelhatch, M3 Parkway and Docklands. The proposed project, which had previously been referred to as "DART Expansion", was renamed "DART+" in 2020. The project was split into five sub-projects:
DART+ Coastal North: Drogheda to Connolly Station.
DART+ Coastal South: Greystones to Connolly Station.
DART+ West: Maynooth and the M3 Parkway (merging at Clonsilla Station) to Connolly Station and Spencer Dock Station.
DART+ South West: Hazelhatch & Celbridge to Heuston Station and a proposed station at Glasnevin.
DART+ Fleet : The purchasing of a new fleet to serve these routes.
In 2019, a tender for up to 600 bi-mode battery-electric units was issued to provide fleet capacity for the proposed expansion, and a tender was also issued for initial design work on the additional electrification requirements.
==== Extension to Maynooth (DART+ West) ====
The initial phase of the DART+ plan, DART+ West, proposes to provide 40 km (25 mi) of electrification to Maynooth and M3 Parkway, a new terminus at Spencer Dock to replace Docklands station, a new maintenance depot at Maynooth and additional works in relation to signalling and level crossing closures. The project was at the design stage as of April 2019, and the planning stage in December 2021. Public consultation closed in October 2022.
An Bord Pleanála was initially due to issue a decision by March 2023 with Iarnród Éireann hoping to begin construction in early 2024, but later postponed the deadline to December 2023. Permission for DART+ West was granted in July 2024, though permission for the Maynooth depot was refused due to flood risks. As of July 2024, Iarnród Éireann stated that it aimed for services on the lines to "start by 2029". The company stated a revised proposal for a new depot would be submitted separately and would "not cause delays to the completion date". Revised plans for the depot, now situated west of Kilcock, were submitted in March 2026.
==== Extension to Hazelhatch and Celbridge (DART+ South West) ====
The second phase, DART+ South West, was approved by the government in March 2023. A railway order application was submitted by Iarnród Éireann the same month. The proposal included the electrification of 20 kilometres of track from Connolly to Hazelhatch and Celbridge via the Phoenix Park Tunnel, a new Heuston West station in place of platform 10 at Heuston and an expansion of track capacity along the Dublin–Cork line between Heuston and Park West and Cherry Orchard. If built as planned, the upgraded line would connect at Connolly to the existing DART lines on the east coast to allow for through services. The application was approved by An Bord Pleanála in November 2024.
==== Extension to Drogheda (DART+ Coastal North) ====
The DART+ project proposes an extension to Drogheda through the introduction of new bi-mode rolling stock. The trains would be powered by batteries on the currently unelectrified tracks between Drogheda MacBride station and the current terminus at Malahide, and use the existing overhead wires on the remainder of the route. Iarnród Éireann stated, in 2024, that the trains would enter service on the route in early 2026. Charging facilities are currently under construction at Drogheda MacBride station.
Further infrastructure works to increase capacity on the route are planned as part of the DART+ Coastal North project, which is currently in its planning stage. It proposes the extension of overhead wires on the Belfast–Dublin line by 37 kilometres to Drogheda, a new platform at MacBride station, several modifications to bridges and track configurations as well as upgrades to signalling and power infrastructure. DART+ Coastal North was approved by the government in May 2024 and the railway order application was submitted by Iarnród Éireann in July 2024; it was approved in August 2025.
=== Airport link ===
In 2011, plans were submitted by Irish Rail for a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) rail line from Clongriffin to Dublin Airport, which it stated at the time could be completed at a "relatively moderate" cost of €200 million. The National Transport Authority's 2016-2035 Dublin Transport Strategy omitted the plans, stating in 2017 it had no intention to revive them. In response to MetroLink delays, Irish Rail said that the link could be completed by 2030, and would come in line with the All-Island Strategic Rail Review.
=== Proposed stations ===
A station was proposed near the site of the former Glasnevin station as part of the MetroLink project. If built as planned, it would see platforms for mainline trains constructed along the overground Western and Southern Commuter lines, which could become part of the DART network if the DART+ West and South West projects are completed as proposed.
A new station named Kylemore was proposed in September 2025, for the Dart+ South West line between Heuston and Park West and Cherry Orchard stations with a public consultation running until October 2025 and planning to be submitted in early 2026.
=== Former/suspended proposals ===
Several proposals have been made to expand the DART network beyond the coastal mainline and provide service to the north and west of the city. These expansion plans included a proposed tunnel linking the Docklands Station at Spencer Dock in the city's quays and Heuston Station. This proposed DART Underground project, first posited in 1972, included plans for services from Celbridge/Hazelhatch to the Docklands via St. Stephen's Green. The DART Underground project was put on hold in September 2015. While included in the Greater Dublin Transport Strategy 2016-2035 (published in 2016), the DART Underground proposal was not included in the Greater Dublin Area Strategy 2022-2042 (published in 2021).
Plans were unveiled under Transport 21 to expand the DART to consist of two lines. DART Line 1 would go from Maynooth to Greystones, with a branch to M3 Parkway. DART Line 2 would utilise the Interconnector to make a line between Balbriggan and Hazelhatch and retain the Howth branch line. The project was due to be completed in 2009. In April 2009, the government announced plans to extend the planned terminus for DART Line 1 from Balbriggan to Drogheda.
== Rolling stock ==
=== Current fleet ===
=== Former fleet ===
=== Future fleet changes ===
==== Dart+ Fleet ====
In 2017, IÉ announced plans to procure a new fleet of trains with the intention of extending DART services from 2023 onwards. An initial purchase of 100 vehicles was proposed to allow replacement of the existing fleet; this proposed purchase would include bi-mode units to allow services to run beyond the existing electrified network.
In December 2021, IÉ announced that Alstom had been selected as the provider of up to 750 new vehicles, with 325 planned as part of the DART+ plan. The 90000 Class are part of Alstom's X'Trapolis family. An initial order of 95 vehicles was made, formed into 19 5-car units. A total of 13 of these are due to be fitted both with pantographs to operate using the 1,500 V DC OHLE on the main DART network, and batteries to allow operation on non-electrified routes. The battery operation is planned to allow the extension of DART services as far as Drogheda. The remaining units in the initial batch are expected to also be 5-car, fitted with pantograph only.
In 2023, Alstom revealed prototypes of the new DART trains. The prototype plans include 4 bike spaces per car, dedicated wheelchair areas, and automatic ramps for passenger accessibility. In April 2023, TD Fergus O'Dowd suggested that the first set of trains was due to be delivered by 2025, enabling expansion of DART services to Drogheda along the DART+ Coastal North route. The first train was delivered in November 2024.
== Competitors ==
Iarnród Éireann, the operator of DART services, operates a rail monopoly. They also operate faster Commuter and InterCity services, which also serve Greystones, Bray, Dún Laoghaire, Blackrock, Sydney Parade, Lansdowne Road, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin Pearse, Tara Street, Dublin Connolly, Howth Junction & Donaghmede, Clongriffin, Portmarnock and Malahide. The only other company to operate on lines in the Republic of Ireland is Northern Ireland Railways, which jointly operates the cross-border Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast.
A number of other public transport modes are available in Dublin. The CIÉ-owned Dublin Bus and the private Go-Ahead Ireland (owned by Go-Ahead Group) operate throughout the city and have many routes that run parallel to DART for stretches. However, they do not have any scheduled routes that traverse the entire length of the DART line. As in the rest of Ireland, integration of bus and rail services is limited, though there are some "feeder bus" routes for which it is possible to buy a through ticket valid for both the rail and bus section of the journey. Travel passes and integrated ticketing (Leap Cards) for DART, Luas and Dublin Bus services were introduced in 2011.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Wackerman | Brooks Wackerman | Brooks Wackerman (born February 15, 1977) is an American musician. He is the current drummer of metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was The Stage (2016). He was previously the drummer for the punk rock band Bad Religion (2001 to 2015). Wackerman has also performed, either as a member or a session or touring member, with Blink-182, Bad4Good, Infectious Grooves, Glenn Tipton, Mass Mental, Suicidal Tendencies, the Vandals, Avril Lavigne, Korn, Kidneys (in which he sang and played guitar, releasing two albums), Fear and the Nervous System, Tenacious D, Farmikos, Tom Delonge, and Big Talk. His brothers Chad Wackerman and John Wackerman are also drummers.
== Early life ==
Wackerman's father Chuck, also a drummer, started teaching him how to play drums as early as five years old and was also his jazz band teacher at Los Alamitos High School, winning Most Outstanding Musician at the Reno Jazz Festival in 1993. Wackerman started his musical career as a teen with a group called Bad4Good in 1991. The band released one album in 1992 called Refugee, produced by Steve Vai.
== Career ==
=== Infectious Grooves (1993–present) ===
From 1993 to 2000, Wackerman was a member of Infectious Grooves, playing drums on the albums Groove Family Cyco in 1994 and Mas Borracho in 2000 as well as touring with the band. He returned to the band when they resumed activities and did a show in Brazil in November 2019.
=== Suicidal Tendencies (1996–2001) ===
Wackerman was a member of Suicidal Tendencies from 1996 to 2001, playing drums on Six the Hard Way in 1998, Freedumb in 1999, and Free Your Soul and Save My Mind in 2000. He left the band to join Bad Religion in 2001.
=== Bad Religion (2001–2015) ===
In 2001, he became the drummer for Bad Religion by replacing Bobby Schayer, who left the band due to a shoulder injury. He appeared on five albums with them (The Process of Belief, The Empire Strikes First, New Maps of Hell, The Dissent of Man and True North) as well as their 2013 EP Christmas Songs. On October 27, 2015, Brooks left Bad Religion after deciding it was time to pursue another path. At the time of his departure, Wackerman was Bad Religion's all-time longest standing drummer, surpassing Bobby Schayer, who was in the band for ten years. He was also the youngest member of the band, with all of the other members being at least ten years his senior. Wackerman was replaced by Jamie Miller.
=== Tenacious D (2006–2015) ===
In 2006, for The Pick of Destiny tour, Wackerman was selected to feature as the drummer for Tenacious D due to his previous work on the Vandals' Look What I Almost Stepped In... album, which both Jack Black and Kyle Gass cameo on. He would go on to play for Tenacious D at various festivals as well as support act and benefit concerts throughout 2008 to 2011. in 2012, Wackerman played with Tenacious D again on their Rize of the Fenix tour where he got the nickname "Thunderskin" from Jack Black for comical remark, making appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They also performed at the 2012 Rock am Ring Festival. Wackerman also appeared in the music videos for their songs "Roadie" and "Rize of the Fenix". He would perform on their 2012 EP Tenacious D Jazz and their 2015 live album Tenacious D Live.
=== Avenged Sevenfold (2015–present) ===
On November 4, 2015, it was revealed that Wackerman was the new drummer for Avenged Sevenfold. Brooks was working with the band one year prior to the official announcement because the band wanted to "fit in" with the new drummer. Like his predecessors Mike Portnoy and Arin Ilejay, but unlike the rest of the band members, he doesn't have a stage name. His first full-length album with the band was their October 2016 release The Stage, which showcased his progressive metal style of drumming, often using fast double kicks and blast beats.
=== Other projects ===
Alongside Terry Bozzio, Wackerman contributed drums and percussion for Korn's untitled album. Wackerman is also the drummer for the Innocent, a thrash metal band featuring bassist Ryan Sinn (formerly of Angels & Airwaves and the Distillers), vocalist Brandan Schieppati (Bleeding Through), and guitarist Dave Nassie (No Use for a Name). In March 2008, Wackerman joined Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer's newest solo project, experimental industrial rock band Fear and the Nervous System, alongside vocalist Steve Krolikowski (Repeater), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Leopold Ross (Error), and Zac Baird (Korn, Billy Goat). Brooks also played drums for Avril Lavigne. Brooks filled in for Travis Barker during Blink-182's 2013 tour of Australia in the Soundwave festival as well as their sideshows. Brooks was hired to record drums on Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge's debut solo album To the Stars... Demos, Odds and Ends.
Wackerman formerly fronted Kidneys alongside fellow Tenacious D band member John Spiker. Initially, his brother, John Wackerman played with Kidneys, but he would later be replaced by Todd Hennig (Death by Stereo). A full-length self-titled album was released in 2007, and another album in 2012, entitled Hold Your Fire, is available for digital download. The band parted ways in 2012.
Wackerman appeared in the Suicide Machines' "S.O.S." music video in place of drummer Derek Grant, due to Grant's refusal to appear in photos or videos.
== Gear ==
Wackerman currently endorses Drum Workshop drums, Remo drumheads and also uses Innovative Percussion drumsticks. Additionally, in 2021, after many years of using and endorsing Zildjian cymbals Wackerman officially signed on as an Istanbul Agop artist. He also once had a signature line of drumsticks manufactured by Zildjian as well.
Drum setup circa 2015 (Avenged Sevenfold tour): Drum Workshop drums, Evans drumheads and Zildjian cymbals and sticks:
Drums: Drum Workshop collector's series w/ maple/mahogany shells in black ice finish:
22"x16" bass drums (x2)
6"x12" rata drums (x2)
10"x8" rack tom
12"x9" rack tom
13"x9" rack tom
15"x13" floor tom
16"x14" floor tom
14"x6.5" nickel over brass snare
Drumheads: Evans:
Snare: ST dry/300 snare side
Toms: G2 clear/G1 clear
Bass: EQ4 clear/EQ3 reso black
Cymbals: Zildjian:
21" A mega bell ride (left side)
15" A Custom hi-hats
20" A Custom EFX
19" A Custom crash
14" FX Oriental china "trash"/12" K splash (stacked)
19" A Custom crash
22" S rock ride or 22" S medium ride
15" A Custom hi-hats
20" S trash crash
19" A ultra-hammered china
Sticks:
Zildjian Brooks Wackerman signature
Drum setup 2021 (current): Drum Workshop drums, Remo drumheads, Innovative Percussion drumsticks and Istanbul Agop cymbals:
Drums: Drum Workshop collector's series w/ maple shells in black ice or cherry finish:
22"x18" bass drums (x2)
10"x8" rack tom
12"x10" rack tom
13"x10" rack tom
14"x12" floor tom
16"x14" floor tom
14"x5.5" bronze snare
14"x7" maple snare
Drumheads: Remo:
Snare: Powerstroke 77 clear/Ambassador hazy snare side
Toms: Controlled Sound clear black dot or Emperor coated/Ambassador clear
Bass: Powerstroke P3 clear
Cymbals: Istanbul Agop:
18" Xist china or 20" Xist china
15" Mantra hi-hats
8" Xist Brilliant bell
19" Xist Brilliant crash
14" Traditional trash hit stack
19" Xist Brilliant crash or 20" Traditional heavy crash
24" Joey Waronker ride
15" Xist Dry Dark hi-hats
20" Agop Signature china
Sticks:
Innovative Percussion Brooks Wackerman A7X signature sticks
== Discography ==
=== With Avenged Sevenfold ===
Avenged Sevenfold – "Jade Helm Score" from Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015)
Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage (2016)
Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage Deluxe Edition (2017)
Avenged Sevenfold – "Mad Hatter" from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
Avenged Sevenfold – Life Is But a Dream... (2023)
=== With Mass Mental ===
Mass Mental – How to Write Love Songs (1999)
=== With Bad Religion ===
Bad Religion – The Process of Belief (2002)
Bad Religion – The Empire Strikes First (2004)
Bad Religion – New Maps of Hell (2007)
Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man (2010)
Bad Religion – True North (2013)
Bad Religion – Christmas Songs (2013)
=== With Tenacious D ===
Tenacious D – Jazz (2012)
Tenacious D – Tenacious D Live (2015)
=== With Suicidal Tendencies ===
Suicidal Tendencies – Prime Cuts (new recordings only)
Suicidal Tendencies – Freedumb (1999)
Suicidal Tendencies – Free Your Soul and Save My Mind (2000)
=== With Infectious Grooves ===
Infectious Grooves – Groove Family Cyco (1994)
Infectious Grooves – Mas Borracho (2000)
Infectious Grooves – Take U on a Ride EP (2020)
=== Other ===
Bad4Good – Refugee (1992)
Glenn Tipton – Baptizm of Fire (1997)
The Vandals – Look What I Almost Stepped In (2000)
Hot Potty – One Step Closer to Broadway (with Josh Freese) (2002)
Avril Lavigne – Under My Skin (2004)
Korn – Untitled (2007)
Kidneys – Kidneys (2007)
Fear and the Nervous System – Fear and the Nervous System (2011)
Kidneys – Hold Your Fire (2012)
Farmikos – Farmikos (2014)
Tom DeLonge – To the Stars... Demos, Odds and Ends (2015)
Big Talk – Straight In No Kissin' (2015) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Capital_Territory | Australian Capital Territory | The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, and is the territory's primate city. It is located in southeastern Australian mainland as an enclave surrounded by the state of New South Wales (NSW). Exclaved from NSW after federation as the seat of government for the new nation, the territory hosts parliament house, High Court of Australia and the head offices of many Australian Government agencies.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies of Australia was achieved. Section 125 of the new Australian Constitution provided that land, situated in New South Wales and at least 100 miles (160 km) from Sydney, would be ceded to the new federal government. Following discussion and exploration of various areas within New South Wales, the Seat of Government Act 1908 was passed in 1908 which specified a capital in the Yass-Canberra region. The territory was transferred to the federal government by New South Wales in 1911, two years prior to the capital city being founded and formally named as Canberra in 1913.
While the overwhelming majority of the territory population resides in the city of Canberra in the territory's north-east, the territory also includes some towns such as Williamsdale, Oaks Estate, Uriarra, Tharwa and Hall. The territory also includes the Namadgi National Park, which comprises the majority of land area of the territory. Despite a common misconception, the Jervis Bay Territory is not part of the ACT, although ACT laws apply in the Jervis Bay Territory. The territory has a relatively dry, continental climate, experiencing warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. Among the states and territories of Australia, the Australian Capital Territory is the only one which is landlocked.
The territory is home to many important institutions of the federal government, national monuments and museums. These include the Parliament of Australia, the High Court of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Australian War Memorial. It also hosts the majority of foreign embassies in Australia, as well as regional headquarters of many international organisations, not-for-profit groups, lobbying groups and professional associations. Several major universities also have campuses in the territory, including the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the University of New South Wales, Charles Sturt University and the Australian Catholic University.
A locally elected legislative assembly has governed the territory since 1988. However, the Commonwealth maintains authority over the territory and may disallow or overturn local laws. The Commonwealth maintains control over the area known as the Parliamentary Triangle through the National Capital Authority. Residents of the territory, together with residents of the Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island, elect three members of the House of Representatives and two senators. While senators who represent Australian states have fixed six-year terms, the terms of Territory senators are not fixed but are governed by the opening and dissolution of the House of Representatives.
With 475,600 residents, the territory is the second smallest mainland state or territory by population. At the 2016 census, the median weekly income for people in the territory aged over 15 was $998, significantly higher than the national median of $662. The average level of degree qualification in the territory is also higher than the national average. Within the territory, 37.1% of the population hold a bachelor's degree level or above education compared to the national figure of 20%. With high standards of living; in 2023, the territory recorded the second highest subnational Human Development Index (HDI) score of 0.988 out of over 1,700 in the world, just after Zurich.
== History ==
=== Indigenous inhabitants ===
Indigenous Australians have long inhabited the area. Evidence indicates habitation dating back at least 25,000 years, and it is possible that the area was inhabited for considerably longer. The principal group occupying the region were the Ngunnawal people, with the Ngarigo and Walgalu living immediately to the south, the Wandadian to the east, the Gandangara to the north and the Wiradjuri to the north-west.
=== European colonisation ===
Following European settlement, the growth of the new colony of New South Wales led to an increasing demand for arable land. Governor Lachlan Macquarie supported expeditions to open up new lands to the south of Sydney. The 1820s saw further exploration in the Canberra area associated with the construction of a road from Sydney to the Goulburn plains. While working on the project, Charles Throsby learned of a nearby lake and river from the local Indigenous peoples and he accordingly sent Wild to lead a small party to investigate the site. The search was unsuccessful, but they did discover the Yass River, and it is surmised that they would have set foot on part of the future territory.
A second expedition was mounted shortly thereafter, and they became the first Europeans to camp at the Molonglo (Ngambri) and Queanbeyan (Jullergung) Rivers. However, they failed to find the Murrumbidgee River. The issue of the Murrumbidgee was solved in 1821 when Throsby mounted a third expedition and successfully reached the watercourse, on the way providing the first detailed account of the land that now comprises the territory. The last expedition in the region before settlement was undertaken by Allan Cunningham in 1824. He reported that the region was suitable for grazing and the settlement of the Limestone Plains followed immediately thereafter.
=== Early settlement ===
The first land grant in the region was made to Joshua John Moore in 1823, and European settlement in the area began in 1824 with the construction of a homestead by his stockmen on what is now the Acton Peninsula. Moore formally purchased the site in 1826 and named the property Canberry or Canberra.
A significant influx of population and economic activity occurred around the 1850s gold rushes. The gold rushes prompted the establishment of communication between Sydney and the region by way of the Cobb & Co coaches, which transported mail and passengers. The first post offices opened in Ginninderra in 1859 and at Lanyon in 1860.
During colonial times, the European communities of Ginninderra, Molonglo and Tuggeranong settled and farmed the surrounding land. The region was also called the Queanbeyan-Yass district, after the two largest towns in the area. The villages of Ginninderra and Tharwa developed to service the local agrarian communities.
During the first 20 years of settlement, there was only limited contact between the settlers and Aboriginal people. Over the succeeding years, the Ngunnawal and other local indigenous people effectively ceased to exist as cohesive and independent communities adhering to their traditional ways of life. Those who had not succumbed to disease and other predations either dispersed to the local settlements or were relocated to more distant Aboriginal reserves set up by the New South Wales government in the latter part of the 19th century.
=== Creation of the territory ===
In 1898, a referendum on a proposed Constitution was held in four of the colonies – New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. Although the referendum achieved a majority in all four colonies, the New South Wales referendum failed to gain the minimum number of votes needed for the bill to pass. Following this result, a meeting of the four Premiers in 1898 heard from George Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, who argued that locating the future capital in New South Wales would be sufficient to ensure the passage of the Bill. The 1899 referendum on this revised bill was successful and passed with sufficient numbers. Section 125 of the Australian Constitution thus provided that, following Federation in 1901, land would be ceded freely to the new federal government.
This, however, left open the question of where to locate the capital. In 1906 and after significant deliberations, New South Wales agreed to cede sufficient land on the condition that it was in the Yass-Canberra region, this site being closer to Sydney. Initially, Dalgety, New South Wales remained at the forefront, but Yass-Canberra prevailed after voting by federal representatives. The Seat of Government Act 1908 was passed in 1908, which repealed the 1904 Act and specified a capital in the Yass-Canberra region. Government surveyor Charles Scrivener was deployed to the region in the same year to map out a specific site and, after an extensive search, settled upon the present location, basing the borders primarily on the need to secure a stable water supply for the planned capital.
The territory was transferred to the Commonwealth by New South Wales on 1 January 1911, two years before the naming of Canberra as the national capital on 20 March 1913.
The Commonwealth gained control of all land within the borders of the new territory but ownership only of NSW Crown land, with significant parcels of extant freehold remaining in the hands of their pre-existing owners. Much of this was acquired during World War One, though a few titles were not transferred until the late 20th Century.
Land within the territory is granted under a leasehold system, with 99-year residential leases sold to buyers as new suburbs are planned, surveyed, and developed. The current policy is for these leases to be extended for another 99-year period on expiry, subject to payment of an administrative fee. In an arrangement inspired by Georgism, the ideas of 19th-century American economist Henry George, leaseholders had to pay 5% of the unimproved value of the underlying land in rent until the Gorton government abolished it in 1970.
=== Development throughout 20th century ===
In 1911, an international competition to design the future capital was held; it was won by the Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin in 1912. The official naming of Canberra occurred on 12 March 1913 and construction began immediately.
After Griffin's departure following difficulty in implementing his project, the Federal Capital Advisory Committee was established in 1920 to advise the government of the construction efforts. The committee had limited success meeting its goals. However, the chairman, John Sulman, was instrumental in applying the ideas of the garden city movement to Griffin's plan. The committee was replaced in 1925 by the Federal Capital Commission.
In 1930, the ACT Advisory Council was established to advise the minister for territories on the community's concerns. In 1934, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory was established.
From 1938 to 1957, the National Capital Planning and Development Committee continued to plan the further expansion of Canberra. However, it did not have executive power, and decisions were made on the development of Canberra without consulting the committee. During this time, Prime Minister Robert Menzies regarded the state of the national capital as an embarrassment.
After World War II, there was a shortage of housing and office space in Canberra. A Senate Select Committee hearing was held in 1954 to address its development requirements. This Committee recommended the creation of a single planning body with executive power. Consequently, the National Capital Planning and Development Committee was replaced by the National Capital Development Commission in 1957. The National Capital Development Commission ended four decades of disputes over the shape and design of Lake Burley Griffin and construction was completed in 1964 after four years of work. The completion of the centrepiece of Griffin's design finally laid the platform for the development of Griffin's Parliamentary Triangle.
=== Self-government ===
In 1978, an advisory referendum was held to determine the views of citizens resident in the territory about whether there should be self-government. Just under 64 percent of voters rejected devolved government options, in favour of the status quo. Nevertheless, in 1988, the new federal minister for the territory Gary Punch received a report recommending the abolition of the National Capital Development Commission and the formation of a locally elected government. Punch recommended that the Hawke government accept the report's recommendations and subsequently Clyde Holding introduced legislation to grant self-government to the territory in October 1988.
The enactment on 6 December 1988 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 established the framework for self-government. The first election for the 17-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on 4 March 1989.
The initial years of self-government were difficult and unstable. A majority of territory residents had opposed self-government and had it imposed upon them by the federal parliament. At the first election, 4 of the 17 seats were won by anti-self-government single-issue parties due to a protest vote by disgruntled Canberrans and a total of 8 were won by minor parties and independents.
In 1992, Labor won eight seats and the minor parties and independents won only three. Stability increased, and in 1995, Kate Carnell became the first elected Liberal chief minister. In 1998, Carnell became the first chief minister to be re-elected.
== Geography ==
The territory is 2,358 km2 (910 mi2) in area, slightly smaller than Luxembourg.
It is bounded by the Bombala railway line in the east, the watershed of Naas Creek in the south, the watershed of the Cotter River in the west and the watershed of the Molonglo River in the north-east. These boundaries were set to give the territory an adequate water supply. The territory extends about 88.5 km (55.0 mi) north-south between 35.124°S and 35.921°S, and 57.75 km (35.88 mi) west-east between 148.763°E and 149.399°E. The city area of Canberra occupies the north-eastern corner of this area.
The territory includes the city of Canberra and some towns such as Williamsdale, Oaks Estate, Uriarra Village, Tharwa and Hall. The territory also contains agricultural land (sheep, dairy cattle, vineyards and small amounts of crops) and a large area of national park (Namadgi National Park), much of it mountainous and forested.
Tidbinbilla is a locality to the south-west of Canberra that features the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, operated by the United States' NASA as part of its Deep Space Network. The Southern Tablelands Temperate Grassland straddles the state.
The territory includes a large range of mountains, rivers and creeks, largely contained within the Namadgi National Park. These include the Naas and Murrumbidgee Rivers.
In September 2022, a proposal was announced to change the border between NSW and the territory, the first change since the territory was created in 1911. ACT chief minister Andrew Barr said NSW premier Dominic Perrottet had agreed to a proposed border change of 330 ha (1.3 sq mi) in the Ginninderra watershed.
=== Climate ===
The territory has a relatively dry, continental climate, experiencing warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters. Under the Köppen-Geiger classification, the territory has an oceanic climate (Cfb).
January is the hottest month with an average high of 27.7 °C. July is the coldest month when the average high drops to 11.2 °C (52.2 °F). The highest maximum temperature recorded in the territory was 44.0 °C on 4 January 2020. The lowest minimum temperature was −10.0 °C on 11 July 1971.
Rainfall varies significantly across the territory. Much higher rainfall occurs in the mountains to the west of Canberra compared to the east. The mountains act as a barrier during winter with the city receiving less rainfall. Average annual rainfall in the territory is 629mm and there is an average of 108 rain days annually. The wettest month is October, with an average rainfall of 65.3mm, and the driest month is June, with an average of 39.6mm.
Frost is common in the winter months. Snow is rare in Canberra's city centre, but the surrounding areas get annual snowfall through winter and often the snow-capped mountains can be seen from the city. The last significant snowfall in the city centre was in 1968.
Smoke haze became synonymous with the 2019/2020 Australian summer. On 1 January 2020 Canberra had the worst air quality of any major city in the world, with an AQI of 7700 (USAQI 949).
=== Geology ===
Notable geological formations in the territory include the Canberra Formation, the Pittman Formation, Black Mountain Sandstone and State Circle Shale.
In the 1840s fossils of brachiopods and trilobites from the Silurian period were discovered at Woolshed Creek near Duntroon. At the time, these were the oldest fossils discovered in Australia, though this record has now been far surpassed. Other specific geological places of interest include the State Circle cutting and the Deakin anticline.
The oldest rocks in the territory date from the Ordovician around 480 million years ago. During this period the region along with most of Eastern Australia was part of the ocean floor; formations from this period include the Black Mountain Sandstone formation and the Pittman Formation consisting largely of quartz-rich sandstone, siltstone and shale. These formations became exposed when the ocean floor was raised by a major volcanic activity in the Devonian forming much of the east coast of Australia.
=== Flora and fauna ===
The environments range from alpine area on the higher mountains, to sclerophyll forest and to woodland. Much of the territory has been cleared for grazing and is also burnt off by bushfires several times per century. The kinds of plants can be grouped into vascular plants, that include gymnosperms, flowering plants, and ferns, as well as bryophytes, lichens, fungi and freshwater algae. Four flowering plants are endemic to the territory. Several lichens are unique to the territory. Most plants in the territory are characteristic of the Flora of Australia and include well known plants such as Grevillea, Eucalyptus trees and kangaroo grass.
The native forest in the territory was almost wholly eucalypt species and provided a resource for fuel and domestic purposes. By the early 1960s, logging had depleted the eucalypt, and concern about water quality led to the forests being closed. Interest in forestry began in 1915 with trials of a number of species including Pinus radiata on the slopes of Mount Stromlo. Since then, plantations have been expanded, with the benefit of reducing erosion in the Cotter catchment, and the forests are also popular recreation areas.
Fauna in the territory includes representatives from most major Australian animal groups. This includes kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, platypus, echidna, emu, kookaburras and dragon lizards.
== Government and politics ==
=== Territory government ===
Unlike the states of Australia which have their own constitutions, territories are governed under a Commonwealth statute—for the ACT, the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988. The Self-Government Act constitutes a democratic government for the territory consisting of a popularly elected Legislative Assembly which elects a Chief Minister from among its membership who, in turn, appoints an Executive consisting of a number of Ministers.
The executive power of the territory rests with the ACT government, headed by the Chief Minister (currently the Labor Party's Andrew Barr) and consists of ministers appointed by them. The ministers are supported by the ACT Public Service, which is arranged into directorates, and a number of public authorities. The Chief Minister is the equivalent of a State Premier and sits on the National Cabinet. Unlike the states, there is no vice-regal representative who chairs the executive government council. The Chief Minister performs many of the roles that a state governor normally holds in the context of a state; however, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly gazettes the laws and summons meetings of the Assembly.
The ACT Labor party has been in power since 2001.
The legislative power of the territory is vested in the unicameral Legislative Assembly. The assembly has 25 members, elected from five electorates using the Hare-Clark single transferable voting system. The assembly is presided over by the Speaker (currently the Liberal Party's Jeremy Hanson). The Assembly has almost all of the same powers as the state parliaments, the power to "make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Territory", with limited exceptions relating to the territory's unique relationship with the commonwealth. The Hare-Clark voting system was adopted after a referendum in 1992 and was entrenched by another referendum in 1995. The electoral system cannot be changed except by a two-thirds majority in the Assembly or a majority vote of support at a public referendum.
There is no level of local government below the territory government as in the states and the functions associated with local government are carried out principally by the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate. There is an indigenous voice to the ACT government, called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.
Despite the wide powers of the territory government, the federal government continues to have power over the territory. This includes an unused power to dissolve the assembly and appoint a caretaker government in extraordinary circumstances. The federal and territory governments share some officers, such as the Ombudsman. The federal parliament also retains the power to make any law for the territory under section 122 of the Constitution and an exclusive power to legislate for the "seat of government". Territory laws which conflict with federal law are inoperable to the extent of the inconsistency. Land in the territory that is designated to be "National Land" under federal law remains under the control of the federal government, usually represented by the National Capital Authority. The federal parliament can disallow laws enacted by the Assembly by a joint resolution of both houses of Parliament, a power which replaced a federal executive veto in 2011.
=== Judiciary and policing ===
The judicial power of the territory is exercised by the territory courts. These are the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory (with summary jurisdiction), and the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. From 2001, appeals from the Supreme Court are heard by a panel of Supreme Court judges sitting as the Court of Appeal. The current Chief Justice is Lucy McCallum and the current Chief Magistrate is Lorraine Walker.
The Federal Court has concurrent jurisdiction over civil matters arising under territory law, a fact which has become increasingly important to the practice of defamation law across Australia.
Policing services are provided by the ACT Policing unit of the Australian Federal Police under agreements between the territory government, the federal government, and the police force. Canberra had the lowest rate of crime of any capital city in Australia as of February 2019.
=== Federal representation ===
In the Australian federal parliament, the territory is represented by three members of the House of Representatives, for the Division of Bean, the Division of Canberra and the Division of Fenner and two Senators. The member for Bean also represents voters of Norfolk Island while the member for Fenner also represent voters of the Jervis Bay Territory. Senators representing the ACT also represent voters of Norfolk Island and the Jervis Bay Territory.
=== Jervis Bay Territory ===
Jervis Bay Territory, created in 1915, is a separate territory but, by the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915 it is subject to ACT law. ACT magistrates conduct court in Jervis Bay Territory.
== Demographics ==
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the population of the territory was 453,324 on 31 December 2021, with an annual growth in 2021 of 0.4%. A 2019 projection estimated the population would reach to approximately 700,000 by 2058.
The overwhelming majority of the population reside in the city of Canberra.
At the 2016 census, the median weekly income for people in the territory aged over 15 was $998 while the national average was $662.
The average level of degree qualification in the territory is higher than the national average. Within the territory, 37.1% of the population hold a bachelor's degree level or above education compared to the national figure of 20%.
=== City and towns ===
Major settlements include the city of Canberra and the towns of Williamsdale, Oaks Estate, Uriarra, Tharwa and Hall.
The urban areas of the territory are organised into a hierarchy of districts, town centres, group centres, local suburbs as well as other industrial areas and villages. There are seven districts (with an eighth currently under construction), each of which is divided into smaller suburbs, and most of which have a town centre which is the focus of commercial and social activities. The districts were settled in the following chronological order:
North Canberra: mostly settled in the 1920s and '30s, with expansion up to the 1960s, now 14 suburbs;
South Canberra: settled from the 1920s to '60s, 13 suburbs;
Woden Valley: first settled in 1963, 12 suburbs;
Belconnen: first settled in 1967, 25 suburbs;
Weston Creek: settled in 1969, 8 suburbs;
Tuggeranong: settled in 1974, 19 suburbs;
Gungahlin: settled in the early 1990s, 18 suburbs although only 15 are developed or under development;
Molonglo Valley: first suburbs currently under construction.
The North and South Canberra districts are substantially based on Walter Burley Griffin's designs. In 1967, the then National Capital Development Commission adopted the "Y Plan" which laid out future urban development in the territory a series of central shopping and commercial area known as the 'town centres' linked by freeways, the layout of which roughly resembled the shape of the letter Y, with Tuggeranong at the base of the Y and Belconnen and Gungahlin located at the ends of the arms of the Y.
=== Ancestry and immigration ===
At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:
The 2021 census showed that 32.5% of territory inhabitants were born overseas. Of inhabitants born outside of Australia, the most prevalent countries of birth were India, England, China, Nepal and New Zealand.
2.0% of the population, or 8,949 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2021.
=== Language ===
At the 2021 census, 71.3% of people spoke only English at home. The other languages most commonly spoken at home were Mandarin (3.2%), Nepali (1.3%), Vietnamese (1.1%), Punjabi (1.1%), Hindi (1.0%).
=== Religion ===
The most common responses in the 2021 census for religion in the territory were No Religion (43.5%), Catholic (19.3%), Anglican (8.2%), Not stated (5.2%) and Hinduism (4.5%).
== Culture ==
=== Education ===
Almost all educational institutions in the territory are located within Canberra. The territory government ("public" sector) school system is mostly divided into Pre-School, Primary School (K-6), High School (7–10) and College (11–12). Many private sector high schools include years 11 and 12 and are referred to as colleges. Children are required to attend school until they turn 17 under the territory government's "Learn or Earn" policy.
In February 2005 there were 140 public and non-governmental schools in the territory; 96 operated by the government and 44 independently. In 2025, there were 83,259 students in the territory school system. 60.2% of the students were enrolled in government schools with the remaining 39.8% in non-government schools. There were 46,518 students in primary school, 24,816 in high school and 11,925 in college.
As of May 2004, 30% of people in the territory aged 15–64 had a level of educational attainment equal to at least a bachelor's degree, significantly higher than the national average of 19%. The two main tertiary institutions are the Australian National University (ANU) in Acton and the University of Canberra (UC) in Bruce. There are also two religious university campuses in Canberra: Signadou is a campus of the Australian Catholic University and St Mark's Theological College is a campus of Charles Sturt University. Tertiary level vocational education is also available through the multi-campus Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT).
The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Royal Military College, Duntroon (RMC) are in the suburb of Campbell in Canberra's inner northeast. ADFA teaches military undergraduates and postgraduates and is officially a campus of the University of New South Wales while Duntroon provides Australian Army Officer training.
The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) offers courses in computer game development and 3D animation.
=== Sport ===
The territory is home to a number of major professional sports league franchise teams including the ACT Brumbies (Rugby Union), Canberra United (Soccer), Canberra Raiders (Rugby League), Canberra Capitals (Basketball) and the Canberra Chill (Field Hockey).
Big Bash League matches and other international cricket matches are held at the Manuka Oval. The ACT Comets (also known as the Canberra Comets) are a cricket team in the territory. The Comets are the premier team of Cricket ACT which is affiliated with Cricket Australia.
The Prime Minister's XI (Cricket), started by Robert Menzies in the 1950s and revived by Bob Hawke in 1984, has been played every year at Manuka Oval against an overseas touring team.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants (Football) play three regular season matches a year and one pre-season match in Canberra at Manuka Oval.
=== Arts and entertainment ===
The territory is home to many national monuments and institutions such as the Australian War Memorial, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library, the National Archives, the Australian Academy of Science, the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Museum. Many Commonwealth government buildings in the territory are open to the public, including Parliament House, the High Court and the Royal Australian Mint.
Lake Burley Griffin is the site of the Captain James Cook Memorial and the National Carillon. Other sites of interest include the Telstra Tower, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the National Zoo and Aquarium, the National Dinosaur Museum and Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre.
The Canberra Museum and Gallery in the city is a repository of local history and art, housing a permanent collection and visiting exhibitions. Several historic homes are open to the public: Lanyon and Tuggeranong Homesteads in the Tuggeranong Valley, Mugga-Mugga in Symonston, and Blundells' Cottage in Parkes all display the lifestyle of the early European settlers. Calthorpes' House in Red Hill is a well-preserved example of a 1920s house from Canberra's very early days.
The territory has many venues for live music and theatre: the Canberra Theatre and Playhouse which hosts many major concerts and productions; and Llewellyn Hall (within the ANU School of Music), a world-class concert hall are two of the most notable. The Albert Hall was Canberra's first performing arts venue, opened in 1928. It was the original performance venue for theatre groups such as the Canberra Repertory Society.
There are numerous bars and nightclubs which also offer live entertainment, particularly concentrated in the areas of Dickson, Kingston and the city. Most town centres have facilities for a community theatre and a cinema, and all have a library. Popular cultural events include the National Folk Festival, the Royal Canberra Show, the Summernats car festival, Enlighten festival and the National Multicultural Festival in February.
=== Media ===
The territory has a daily newspaper, The Canberra Times, which was established in 1926. There are also several free weekly publications, including news magazines City News and Canberra Weekly.
Major Australian metropolitan newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, The Age and Herald Sun from Melbourne as well as national publications The Australian and the Australian Financial Review are also available.
There are a number of AM and FM stations broadcasting throughout the territory (AM/FM Listing). The main commercial operators are the Capital Radio Network (2CA and 2CC), and Southern Cross Austereo/ARN Media (Hit 104.7 and Mix 106.3). There are also several community operated stations as well as the local and national stations of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
A DAB+ digital radio trial is also in operation, it simulcasts some of the AM/FM stations, and also provides several digital only stations (DAB+ Trial Listing).
Five free-to-air television stations service the territory:
ABC Canberra (ABC)
SBS New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory (SBS)
WIN Television Southern NSW & ACT (WIN) – Nine Network affiliate
Prime7 Southern NSW & ACT (CBN) – A Seven Network owned & operated station, Seven Network affiliate
Southern Cross 10 Southern NSW & ACT (CTC) – Network 10 affiliate
Each station broadcasts a primary channel and several multichannels.
Pay television services are available from Foxtel (via satellite) and telecommunications company TransACT (via cable).
== Infrastructure ==
=== Health ===
The territory has two large public hospitals both located in Canberra: the approximately 600-bed Canberra Hospital in Garran and the 174-bed Calvary Public Hospital in Bruce. Both are teaching institutions. The largest private hospital is the Calvary John James Hospital in Deakin. Calvary Private Hospital in Bruce and Healthscope's National Capital Private Hospital in Garran are also major healthcare providers.
The territory has 10 aged care facilities. Territory hospitals receive emergency cases from throughout southern New South Wales, and ACT Ambulance Service is one of four operational agencies of the ACT Emergency Services Authority. NETS provides a dedicated ambulance service for inter-hospital transport of sick newborns within the ACT and into surrounding New South Wales.
=== Transport ===
The automobile is by far the dominant form of transport in the territory. The city is laid out so that arterial roads connecting inhabited clusters run through undeveloped areas of open land or forest, which results in a low population density; this also means that idle land is available for the development of future transport corridors if necessary without the need to build tunnels or acquire developed residential land. In contrast, other capital cities in Australia have substantially less green space.
Suburbs of Canberra are generally connected by parkways—limited access dual carriageway roads with speed limits generally set at a maximum of 100 km/h (62 mph). An example is the Tuggeranong Parkway which links Canberra's CBD and Tuggeranong, and bypasses Weston Creek. In most districts, discrete residential suburbs are bounded by main arterial roads with only a few residential linking in, to deter non-local traffic from cutting through areas of housing.
ACTION, the government-operated bus service, provides public transport route services in the territory. CDC Canberra provides bus services between the territory and nearby areas of New South Wales (Murrumbateman and Yass) and as Qcity Transit (Queanbeyan). A light rail line that opened in April 2019 links the CBD with the northern district of Gungahlin. At the 2016 census, 7.1% of the journeys to work involved public transport while 4.5% were on foot.
There are two local taxi companies. Aerial Capital Group enjoyed monopoly status until the arrival of Cabxpress in 2007. In October 2015, the territory government passed legislation to regulate ride sharing, allowing ride share services including Uber to operate legally in the territory. The territory government was the first jurisdiction in Australia to enact legislation to regulate the service.
An interstate NSW TrainLink railway service connects Canberra to Sydney. Canberra's railway station is in the inner south suburb of Kingston. Train services to Melbourne are provided by way of a NSW TrainLink bus service which connects with a rail service between Sydney and Melbourne in Yass, about a one-hour drive from Canberra.
Canberra is about three hours by road from Sydney on the Federal Highway (National Highway 23), which connects with the Hume Highway (National Highway 31) near Goulburn, and seven hours by road from Melbourne on the Barton Highway (National Highway 25), which joins the Hume Highway at Yass. It is a two-hour drive on the Monaro Highway (National Highway 23) to the ski fields of the Snowy Mountains and the Kosciuszko National Park. Batemans Bay, a popular holiday spot on the New South Wales coast, is also two hours away via the Kings Highway.
Canberra Airport provides direct domestic services to Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Hobart and Perth, with connections to other domestic centres. Regular direct international flights operate to Nadi in Fiji. Canberra Airport is, as of September 2013, designated by the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development as a restricted use designated international airport. Until 2003, the civilian airport shared runways with RAAF Base Fairbairn. In June of that year, the Air Force base was decommissioned and from that time the airport was fully under civilian control.
=== Utilities ===
The government-owned Icon Water, formerly ACTEW, manages the territory's water and sewerage infrastructure. ActewAGL is a joint venture between Icon and AGL and is a retail provider of territory utility services including water, natural gas, electricity, and also some telecommunications services via a subsidiary TransACT.
The territory's water reservoirs are the Corin, Bendora and Cotter dams on the Cotter River and the Googong Dam on the Queanbeyan River. Although the Googong Dam is located in New South Wales, it is managed by the territory government. Icon Water owns the territory's two wastewater treatment plants, located at Fyshwick and on the lower reaches of the Molonglo River.
Electricity for the territory mainly comes from the national power grid through substations at Holt and Fyshwick (via Queanbeyan). Power was first supplied from a thermal plant built in 1913, near the Molonglo River, but this was finally closed in 1957. The ACT has four solar farms, which were opened between 2014 and 2017: Royalla (rated output of 20 megawatts, 2014), Mount Majura (2.3 MW, 2016), Mugga Lane (13 MW, 2017) and Williamsdale (11 MW, 2017). In addition numerous houses in Canberra have photovoltaic panels or solar hot water systems. In 2015 and 2016, rooftop solar systems supported by the territory government's feed-in tariff had a capacity of 26.3 megawatts, producing 34,910 MWh. In the same year, retailer-supported schemes had a capacity of 25.2 megawatts and exported 28,815 MWh to the grid (power consumed locally was not recorded).
The territory has the highest rate with internet access at home (94 per cent of households in 2014–15).
== Economy ==
Economic activity in the territory is heavily concentrated around the city of Canberra.
A stable housing market, steady employment and rapid population growth in the 21st century have led to economic prosperity and, in 2011, CommSec ranked the territory as the second best performing state or territory in the country. This trend continued into 2016, when the territory was ranked the third best performing out of all of Australia's states and territories.
In 2017–18, the territory had the fastest rate of growth in the nation due to a rapid growth in population, a strongly performing higher education sector as well as a significant housing and infrastructure investment.
Higher education is the territory's largest export industry. The territory is home to a significant number of universities and higher education providers. The other major services exports of the territory in 2017–18 were government services and personal travel. The major goods exports of the territory in 2017–18 were gold coin, legal tender coin, metal structures and fish, though these represent a small proportion of the economy compared to services exports.
The economy of the territory is largely dependent on the public sector with 30% of the jobs in the territory being in the public sector. Decisions by the federal government regarding the public service can have a significant impact on the territory's economy.
The territory's gross state product in 2017–18 was $39.8 billion which represented 2.2% of the gross domestic product of Australia. In 2017–18 the territory economy grew by 4.0 per cent, the highest growth rate of any jurisdiction in Australia. This brought real economic growth over the three years to June 2018 to 12 per cent. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Rusedski | Greg Rusedski | Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a Canadian-British former professional tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 May 1998 to 21 June 1998.
In 1997, he was the US Open finalist, which led to him receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team. Along with erstwhile rival and teammate Tim Henman, Rusedski was credited with beginning a renaissance in British men's singles tennis from the doldrums of the eighties and nineties, reaching a grand slam final and returning Great Britain to relevance in the Davis Cup, progress that would eventually be brought to fruition by Andy Murray.
== Personal life ==
Rusedski was born in Montreal, Quebec, to a British mother and a Canadian father of Polish and Ukrainian descent. He was a very promising junior player in Canada in the 1980s, and subsequently caused some anger in Canada when he decided to adopt British citizenship and play for Great Britain in 1995. Rusedski made the decision for "lifestyle reasons", noting that his girlfriend — who later became his wife — lived in Britain.
Rusedski has been with his wife Lucy Connor since 1991, they met while he was competing in a junior tournament where she was a ball girl. They married in a Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in West Berkshire in December 1999. They have two children: a daughter born in 2006, and a son born in 2009.
== Career ==
Rusedski's first career singles tournament title was at the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. He opted to compete for the United Kingdom rather than Canada from 22 May 1995 onwards, a decision which was received poorly by Canadian fans; it was reported that he was given a "traitor's reception" by the crowd when he competed in his first Canadian Open after the switch.
Rusedski reached the singles final of the US Open in 1997, where he lost to Pat Rafter in four sets (shortly thereafter reaching his career high rank of world No. 4). He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. In 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number one tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the Grand Slam Cup in 1999.
In the 1999 US Open, Rusedski reached the fourth round where he was eliminated 5–7, 0–6, 7–6 (7–3), 6–4, 6–4, by Todd Martin; Rusedski had a two-sets-to-none advantage and was serving for the match in the third set, then in the fifth set he was up 4–1, but lost 20 of the final 21 points including a stretch of 18 consecutive points.
In the 2002 US Open, after losing to Pete Sampras in the third round in a grueling five-set match, Rusedski described Sampras as "a half-step slow" and predicted that Sampras would lose his fourth-round match to young German star Tommy Haas. Sampras, however, went on to win the tournament.
At Wimbledon in 2003, Rusedski was playing in a second-round match against Andy Roddick. Roddick had won the first two sets, but Rusedski was 5–2 up in the third set. During a point on Roddick's service game, a member of the crowd loudly called one of Roddick's shots long, causing Rusedski to stop playing the point as he believed it was a line judge. The umpire ruled that the ball was good and that, as Roddick's next shot landed in court, Roddick was awarded the point. Rusedski, believing the point should have been replayed, launched into a long and expletive-riddled tirade at the umpire and, never regaining his composure, went on to lose the next five games without reply to concede the match. Rusedski apologized after the match, and Roddick reached the semifinals.
Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in January 2004, but he was cleared of the charges in a hearing on 10 March 2004.
Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by Joachim Johansson of Sweden. Later that year, he defended his title at the Hall of Fame Championship, defeating Vince Spadea in the final. This was the first time he had successfully defended a title and the third time he had won the championship. He then reached the semifinals at both the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, losing to Taylor Dent, and the Canada Masters tournament in Montreal, losing to Andre Agassi.
Towards the end of 2005, Rusedski's ranking had risen to the high 30s. A defeat for Rusedski in the first round of the Challenger event in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, left him ranked 38th, just one place short of regaining the UK top spot. Rusedski reclaimed the UK number-one spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters. He lost the top UK ranking again after a first-round exit at Wimbledon.
On 7 April 2007, Rusedski officially retired from tennis after partnering with Jamie Murray to a doubles victory over the Netherlands in a Davis Cup match, a result which gave Great Britain a winning 3–0 lead in the tie. He announced his retirement immediately after the win during a live interview with Sue Barker on BBC Television. Rusedski has stayed involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the Lawn Tennis Association as a talent and performance ambassador. Rusedski held the record for fastest serve at 149 miles per hour until Andy Roddick broke it.
On 24 January 2009, Rusedski confirmed he had been seeking a return to professional tennis. However, Davis Cup captain John Lloyd turned down his offer to compete in the Davis Cup, and Rusedski was unable to obtain any wild-card tournament entries. Because of this, Rusedski quickly retracted his announcement and is still retired.
Rusedski was often overshadowed in the British press by Tim Henman, especially at Wimbledon.
== Media career ==
Rusedski has an active media career, having written columns for The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Daily Telegraph. He also works for the television channel British Eurosport providing analysis during the stations' coverage of the Australian Open. He provided commentary and analysis for Sky Sports for their coverage of the US Open and ATP World Tour Events, and for the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon. He has done some acting, appearing in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple as a tennis player. In 2008, he appeared as a contestant on the reality TV shows Dancing on Ice and Beat the Star. He has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown.
== Grand Slam tournament finals ==
=== Singles: 1 (0–1) ===
== Other significant finals ==
=== Grand Slam Cup ===
==== Singles: 1 (1–0) ====
=== Masters Series ===
==== Singles: 2 (1–1) ====
== Career finals ==
=== Singles: 27 (15 titles, 12 runners-up) ===
=== Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups) ===
== Singles performance timeline ==
1 This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.
2 Rusedski was granted British citizenship in May 1995, and competed for Great Britain from 22 May 1995 onwards.
== Top 10 wins == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XIV#Results | WrestleMania XIV#Results | WrestleMania XIV, also promoted as WrestleMania dX raided, was a 1998 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; WWE as of 2002). It was the 14th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 29, 1998, at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. A total of eight matches were held at the event.
This was the first WrestleMania of the Attitude Era and also the first WrestleMania event since 1986 not to feature Bret Hart, who jumped to the rival World Championship Wrestling the previous year after the Montreal Screwjob. In the main event, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to win the WWF Championship for the first time; Michaels performed despite a severe injury sustained during a match at the Royal Rumble and would not compete again until SummerSlam in 2002. This pay-per-view event was also notable for the involvement of boxer Mike Tyson, who acted as a ring enforcer for the main event.
== Production ==
=== Background ===
WrestleMania is the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania XIV was scheduled to be held on March 29, 1998, at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. In print advertisements, the event was billed as "WrestleMania: dX raided".
=== Storylines ===
After the Legion of Doom lost their WWF Tag Team Championship to The New Age Outlaws in December 1997, they were then assaulted by the Outlaws and D-Generation X. At the Royal Rumble, the LOD lost a championship match, thanks in large part to Road Dogg handcuffing Hawk outside of the ring. Following this, the LOD suffered two defeats at the hands of NWA members Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham. Finally, on the February 23 episode of Raw Is War, the LOD once again lost to The New Age Outlaws when, despite having the match all but won following a Doomsday Device, the non-legal Hawk did not leave the ring as Animal was making the cover; while the referee was busy removing Hawk, Animal was struck by the title belts, causing them to lose the match. Following the match, the two men brawled all the way to the back and announced their dissolution, not appearing again until WrestleMania.
After the Montreal Screwjob, Owen Hart was left as the only member of the Hart family to remain with the company; and after a temporary absence, Owen returned during the closing moments of D-Generation X: In Your House to attack Shawn Michaels. Following this, he turned his attention to Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who would later be known simply as Triple H) and the European Championship that Michaels had given to Helmsley as a Christmas present. After weeks of deterring a championship match by way of a fractured kneecap (which was, in fact, legitimate), Triple H finally acquiesced to a match on the January 26 edition of Raw Is War, only for The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust (who was dressing up from week-to-week in a bid for attention) to appear in Helmsley's place. After Hart won the match, WWF Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter declared the disguise to be so convincing that he upheld the decision and awarded the championship to Hart. On the March 2 episode of Raw Is War, Owen defended the title against Mark Henry. During the match, Chyna came to the ring and pushed Hart off the turnbuckle allowing Henry to lock on a bearhug, but before Owen could submit, Chyna delivered a blatant low blow to Henry, resulting in a disqualification in favor of Hart. The following week in a match against Barry Windham, Hart landed awkwardly on his ankle, suffering a sprained ankle with ligament damage as a result. On a special Tuesday edition of Raw Is War on March 17, Hart joined the commentary team with a supportive cast on his leg. This would bring Triple H to ringside, where he goaded Owen into an impromptu title defense despite his cast. During the match, Chyna appeared and struck Owen's ankle with a baseball bat, allowing Helmsley to capitalize and win the title back.
Due to his jealousy over the attention his wife and valet, Sable, was garnering from the crowd, Marc Mero would try to intentionally cover up Sable's provocative clothing and eventually send her to the back during his matches, replacing her with The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, who at the time was dressing up from week-to-week in his own bid of self-attention. Although the two initially worked well together, Goldust's valet Luna Vachon grew vocally disdainful of Sable, who was also being mocked by Mero and Goldust, causing Sable to eventually grow tired of the disrespect and fight back. As the two women brawled, their partners tried to separate them; but when Goldust grabbed Sable in order to restrain her, Mero's jealousy took over and he attacked him. The two men then had a match on Raw, where both women were handcuffed to the ring posts in an effort to prevent their brawling. But after the referee was knocked down, Goldust stole the key and unchained Luna who attacked Sable with make up, painting her face before also throwing water on her. Goldust then challenged Mero and Sable to a mixed tag team match at WrestleMania XIV.
After successively beating members of the Nation of Domination week after week, Ken Shamrock initially defeated the Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia (later known as The Rock) at the Royal Rumble despite being hit with a foreign object, seemingly winning the title. However, The Rock convinced the referee that it was, in fact, he who suffered an illegal attack and the referee reversed his decision (Maivia had placed the foreign object in Shamrock's trunks after hitting him with it). The following month at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, Shamrock capitalized on the in-fighting of the Nation, due to leadership disputes between Faarooq and The Rock, by making the champion tap out in a ten-man tag team match. The two men were then scheduled for an Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania XIV with an added stipulation stating that if The Rock was disqualified, Ken Shamrock would win the championship.
At the end of the inaugural Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood: In Your House, just as The Undertaker looked to win the match against Shawn Michaels, the lights went out and a huge masked man came to the ring, delivering a tombstone piledriver to the shocked Undertaker. The masked man was revealed to be Kane, Undertaker's (kayfabe) half-brother and, despite the animosity and the presence of Paul Bearer, Undertaker vowed never to fight his little brother. Before Undertaker's casket match with Michaels at the Royal Rumble, D-Generation X claimed Kane had joined them, but in fact, he came to the ring to assist Undertaker. The alliance was short-lived, however, as during the Royal Rumble, Kane came to the ring and turned on his brother, allowing Michaels to win the match before locking Undertaker in the casket and setting it ablaze, presuming his brother dead. On the March 2 episode of Raw Is War, Kane's scheduled opponent, Stone Cold Steve Austin, was taken out by D-Generation X before the match could begin. With nothing else to do, Bearer ordered the timekeeper to deliver a ten-bell salute for The Undertaker's passing, before then telling Kane to tombstone him. After he did, more bells were heard ringing, this time signaling Undertaker's arrival. The ringing continued much longer than normal, with Bearer vehemently denying the possibility of it being Undertaker. Eventually, a sarcophagus appeared on the top of the ramp. After the sarcophagus was struck by a bolt of lightning, The Undertaker sat up before revealing that he had been to Hell and talked with his parents, telling them that he would have to go back on his vow before finally challenging Kane to a match at WrestleMania. The week before WrestleMania, Kane came to the ring and began to display similar supernatural powers as his brother, striking the TitanTron with lightning, as well as the announce table, before finally striking a crew worker with lightning, setting him on fire; Undertaker was shown on the same episode speaking to his parents' gravestones, revealing it may have to take the damnation of his soul to reunite the troubled family.
In January, Stone Cold Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble match while Shawn Michaels retained his WWF Championship, all while Mike Tyson looked on from the director's box. The following night on Raw Is War, Vince McMahon was set to reveal that Tyson would be the special guest referee for WrestleMania's main event; however, Austin appeared and gave the finger to Tyson, offering him a fight and proclaiming the wrestling ring to be his, not Tyson's. Austin and Tyson then engaged in a massive brawl that garnered headlines all around the world. At the ensuing press conference, McMahon officially announced that due to the explosive situation, Tyson's role was being changed to that of ringside enforcer. On the February 2 episode of Raw Is War, in a scheduled match against Road Dogg, D-Generation X stormed the match and tied Austin in the ropes, allowing Shawn Michaels to hurl insults at Austin while rubbing the championship belt in his face, taunting him with it until Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie came to his aid. The following week, Austin stole the championship belt from Michaels in the hopes of baiting him into a singles match, but the partnership of D-Generation X and The New Age Outlaws continued, allowing Michaels to retrieve the belt back. This all led to a "non-sanctioned" eight-man tag match at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House, which Michaels was unable to participate in due to a legitimate back injury; Austin won the match for his team by pinning Road Dogg. With WrestleMania drawing closer, on the March 2 episode of Raw Is War, Mike Tyson appeared once again to be interviewed by Vince McMahon, only for DX to interrupt; Shawn Michaels then challenged Tyson to a fight. After both men's entourages left the ring, the two taunted each other for a bit until Michaels would rip off Tyson's shirt, revealing a DX T-shirt underneath, showing the enforcer's degenerate alliance; Later in the evening, as Austin came out to take place in a match against Kane, Triple H appeared on the ramp and lured Austin to him. Austin fell for the trap, and promptly turned around into a Sweet Chin Music by Michaels which knocked him out, a trap which occurred again the following week. Also that week, during a St. Patrick's Day Tuesday broadcast of Raw Is War on March 17, Austin called out Vince McMahon and verbally berated him for describing Mike Tyson as "the baddest man on the planet", but McMahon would not be goaded into a fight, as he instead forced Austin to fight Rocky Maivia the following episode, just before WrestleMania.
== Event ==
Chris Warren and The DX Band opened the show by performing hard rock versions of "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner". The audience did not react well to the performance, booing the band during and after their songs. This segment was edited off all subsequent home video releases, as well as Peacock and Netflix.
=== Preliminary matches ===
The night began with the mystery entrants in the tag team battle royal being revealed as the reunited Legion of Doom, now known as LOD 2000, with Sunny as their new valet. Savio Vega was first eliminated by Chainz meaning his tag team partner, Miguel Perez, had to leave too. Kurrgan illegally entered the ring to enact revenge on Sniper and Recon by eliminating them on behalf of The Jackyl. Barry Windham also illegally entered to eliminate Chainz, and so left his partner Bradshaw. The final four teams lasted a while until Skull would be eliminated by Henry Godwinn, which meant The Disciples of Apocalypse were eliminated. 8-Ball then eliminated Phineas Godwinn, which meant The Godwinns were then eliminated. Afterwards, The Godwinns attacked LOD 2000 with slop buckets before leaving. The Midnight Express tried to keep Animal out of the ring while double-teaming Hawk, but once Animal re-entered the ring, LOD 2000 simultaneously eliminated both Bob and Bart, leaving LOD 2000 the last team standing and the winners of the battle royal, earning them a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championships.
The second match was a Light Heavyweight Championship match, with Taka Michinoku defending his title against Águila; this would be the first and only time the championship was defended at WrestleMania, though its successor, the Cruiserweight Championship would be defended at the event more than once. After throwing Taka out the ring and baseball sliding into him, Águila hit an asai moonsault outside the ring, but was soon the victim of a springboard crossbody after Taka reversed a suplex from the apron. Águila almost won the match with a moonsault crossbody into a pin, but remained on the offensive with a frankensteiner. Taka tried to land the Michinoku Driver, but as Aguila flipped out and attempted a hurricanrana, Taka managed a powerbomb reversal. Taka then stopped a high flying dive attempt by Aguila with a dropkick, before successfully executing a Michinoku Driver and picking up the win. After the match, both contestants shook each other's hand and celebrated together. Also, partway into the matchup, Jim Ross made a fleeting comment about the date of Taka's title win, December 7, the date of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, calling it "ironic enough". This incident went largely unnoticed, only causing a slight stir in the wrestling community.
Triple H made his way to the ring with his theme being played by the DX Band. Before Owen Hart came to the ring, Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter handcuffed himself to Chyna so that she would not interfere, despite her protestations. The match began with Hart pummeling Helmsley with fists before sliding out of the ring. Triple H tried to jump from the apron onto Hart, but made contact with the crowd barrier instead. After executing a powerbomb, Hart attempted to lock in the sharpshooter, but Helmsley reversed it and started some offensive maneuvers of his own, kicking Hart in the turnbuckle and delivering a suplex. Hart then suffered a cut to the bridge of his nose from a boot to the face, after which Triple H began to work on Hart's damaged ankle, dropping his knee onto it and stretching it. After avoiding another kick to the face and crouching Helmsley onto the ring post, Owen managed to take advantage, reversing a Pedigree attempt into the sharpshooter. Chyna, having to pull Slaughter, pulled Triple H to the rope for the break. As Slaughter was distracted, Chyna then threw white powder into Slaughter's face, causing the referee to check on him. While the referee was distracted and as Owen turned around to confront Triple H, Chyna low-blowed him from outside, allowing Triple H to successfully nail the Pedigree and retain the title. After she was freed from the handcuffs, Chyna nailed Slaughter with a forearm and shoved him over the barricade into the crowd.
Next up was the mixed tag team match. Marc Mero and Goldust began the match, but Goldust soon tagged in Luna Vachon, requiring Sable to be tagged in too, as per the rules. However, Vachon simply ran around the outside of the ring with Sable chasing her, before tagging Goldust back in. Wanting to get her hands on Vachon, Sable double-teamed Goldust with a boot to the face after an Irish whip from Mero, but could not get Vachon to enter the ring. A near-pinfall came from a running crossbody from Mero and following this, the two ran into each other, causing both men to crawl and tag in the women. Sable then took Luna down and punched her around the face before kicking her in the midsection and face in the turnbuckle and attacking Goldust, before running back to clothesline Vachon over the ropes. Vachon tagged Goldust in, but before Sable would do the same, she struck him in the face, then let Mero take over who had his TKO reversed into a DDT. Mero would then reverse the Curtain Call, allowing him the chance to try a moonsault pin to a standing Goldust. After Vachon struck a running Mero with her knee, Mero went to punch her, but ducked out of the way as Goldust ran to her rescue, causing him to inadvertently knock her off the apron. Mero then executed the TKO, but Luna interrupted the pin count, jumping on Mero's back resulting in Sable tagging in as Mero wandered around the ring with Vachon on his back. Sable tried pinning Goldust, but the referee was distracted and as he finally began to count, Sable leapt off Goldust so the interfering Vachon would inadvertently bodysplash Goldust. Sable then performed a powerbomb and Mero's TKO to win the bout.
Gennifer Flowers, who was accompanied by Jeff Jarrett and Tennessee Lee, then came to the ring as the special guest ring announcer for the upcoming Intercontinental Championship match between Ken Shamrock and Rocky Maivia, with the added stipulation that if Maivia was disqualified, he would lose the title. The fight began in the aisleway with a brawl that saw Shamrock get whipped into the steel steps before both men entered the ring. Maivia then delivered his People's Elbow, but could not secure a three-count. Shamrock then rolled out of the ring and grabbed a steel chair; when the referee tried to take it off him, he threw the referee into the corner; Maivia quickly grabbed the chair and hit Shamrock with it as the referee recovered. Shamrock kicked out and quickly re-gained the advantage, delivering a belly-to-belly suplex off an Irish whip and then securing his ankle lock submission in the center of the ring, making Maivia tap to win the match and the title. The surrounding members of the Nation quickly jumped into the ring, but Shamrock dispatched them all with suplexes, including the four hundred pound Mark Henry, before then reapplying the ankle lock to a bloody Maivia. Faarooq then ran down from the back and jumped onto the apron, only to look on at Maivia with a smile, before walking away. A number of referees (the ones Shamrock attacked were actually independent wrestlers, or stuntmen put in referee uniforms) and officials would appear, trying to subdue Shamrock. After being surrounded, Shamrock suplexed a referee and then an official before calming down as Maivia was wheeled away on a gurney. Howard Finkel then announced Shamrock had been disqualified for not breaking his ankle lock submission, meaning The Rock would retain the Intercontinental championship. This would cause Shamrock to become enraged and chase Rocky, and dump him off of the gurney and fighting him on the Chris Warren band stage.
The WWF Tag Team Championship match was a "Dumpster match", the objective being the first tag team to put their opponents into a dumpster with the lids being closed shut would be the winners. The match began with Billy Gunn facing Chainsaw Charlie and Road Dogg exchanging blows with Cactus Jack. Trying a cannonball on Road Dogg from the apron, Cactus missed and slammed himself into the dumpster instead. The Outlaws then focused on Charlie, using a back drop to deposit him into the dumpster and, as he attempted to climb out, they simultaneously slammed the lid shut on the hardcore legends' heads. With Cactus and Charlie both in the dumpster, the Outlaws shut the lid down on them, but Cactus managed to get back up while the Outlaws were celebrating and pushed Road Dogg down to the ground with a mandible claw, pulling him into the dumpster. Both teams took time to recover and began to brawl with weapons in the ring, Cactus Jack pulling out a ladder and climbing it opposite Billy Gunn, only for both men to be pushed off straight into the dumpster outside the ring, thanks to a dazed Chainsaw Charlie. Road Dogg pulled his partner out and the two then focused their efforts on Charlie, powerbombing him into the dumpster, but Cactus had managed to escape in the meantime. The fight eventually found its way to the backstage area, with both Outlaws throwing Cactus into boxes and promotional displays, but Jack replied with a chair shot to both of them and planted Billy Gunn onto a wooden pallet with a double-arm DDT. Charlie then reappeared on a forklift and elevated the wooden pallet as Jack dragged Road Dogg onto it too. Charlie then drove the forklift above a backstage dumpster and dropped both opponents inside as Cactus Jack closed the lid to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
=== Main event matches ===
Before The Undertaker's match with Kane, baseball record-holder Pete Rose came to the ring as the special ring announcer. However, after insulting the hometown team and introducing Kane, he received a tombstone piledriver, starting a tri-year tradition. The Undertaker was preceded by a league of torch-bearing druids to the tune of "O Fortuna". As the match began, The Undertaker cornered Kane and threw a flurry of punches into him, ducking and reversing Kane's attempts until Kane hit him with a clothesline that he instantly sat up from. Kane then set Undertaker up in a tree of woe to begin his assault of punches and Irish whips, before suplexing Undertaker onto the ropes and delivering a flying club to the neck from the turnbuckle. As The Undertaker began to fight back, Kane threw him into the ropes, but Undertaker retaliated by jumping onto his back, which was met a face-first electric chair. Paul Bearer kept the referee distracted while Kane landed the steel steps onto Undertaker, and repeated the effort a second time while Undertaker was lying on the steps, crushing him in-between them. As the referee tried to keep Kane in check, Bearer slapped Undertaker while walking past him. Kane caught his brother running and delivered a chokeslam, but Undertaker lifted his shoulders off the mat before the three-count could be made. Kane put The Undertaker into a sleeper hold that he eventually fought out of with a flurry of punches. Undertaker then dropped Kane on top of the ropes and punched him off the apron; he followed this with an over the top rope suicide dive that Kane managed to sidestep, sending Undertaker crashing through the Spanish announce table. As Undertaker made it back into the ring, Kane hit him with a flying lariat. Undertaker then attempted to give Kane the Tombstone Piledriver, but Kane managed to shift his weight, reversing the positions and allowing Kane to deliver the tombstone to Undertaker instead. Undertaker kicked out and after landing a running clothesline, Undertaker chokeslammed Kane and then delivered a tombstone piledriver of his own; but Kane kicked out. This would mark the first time anyone had ever kicked out of Undertaker's tombstone piledriver. It would take three tombstones with a guillotine leg drop and flying clothesline in between to stop Kane. But in the end, Undertaker scored the pin and was victorious. As soon as the match was over, Bearer attacked Undertaker and ordered Kane to attack him, which he did with a chair shot to the head and then a tombstone piledriver onto the chair. After Kane and Bearer left, Undertaker sat up and left the ring.
With Mike Tyson enforcing from ringside, the WWF Championship match began with both wrestlers taunting each other, engaging in a few light punches before Shawn Michaels escaped the ring and ran back in to take advantage of Stone Cold Steve Austin, but was met with a standing clothesline. Austin followed up by pulling down Michaels' tights, exposing Michaels' backside. Michaels then tried to run at Austin, but was back dropped over the top rope onto Triple H. As Triple H threw Austin into the crowd barrier, the referee ordered he and Chyna to leave ringside. As they were leaving Austin followed and fought with Triple H up to the entrance gate. Michaels caught up and hit Austin with a cymbal from the DX Band's stage, before Irish whipping Austin into the dumpster. As the match resumed in the ring, Austin met Michaels's high-risk maneuver with a clothesline and then ran him into the turnbuckle before picking him up for an inverted atomic drop. Michaels' attempt to pick up some momentum saw him picked up and dropped onto the ropes, but Michaels managed to push Austin away as he attempted a stunner. When Michaels tried to escape the ring though, Austin delivered a right hand, forcing the champion to fall upon the announce table. After Austin slowed the match down with a sleeper hold, Michaels tried to pull his knee into the ring post but was instead pulled into it himself. Austin then tried to rush at Michaels, but was back dropped into the crowd and struck with the ring bell. Michaels used the momentum to take advantage inside the ring, delivering a snapmare and then a low kick to the grounded Austin, while also taking time to taunt the audience. Austin briefly picked up some speed throwing Michaels out of the ring, but just as quickly lost ground as Michaels repeatedly worked on Austin's left knee, throwing it into the ring post before kicking and dropping onto it back inside the ring. When Austin tried to recover outside of the ring, he was met with a baseball slide that launched him over the announce table. Austin was then thrown back into the ring by Tyson, where he soon suffered a figure-four leglock that Michaels illegally elevated using the second and third ring rope. Austin's eventual counter was stopped by a rope break. Austin then tried to reverse a standing sleeper hold by throwing Michaels back into the turnbuckle, but unwittingly trapped referee Mike Chioda who fell unconscious. With both men on the floor, Michaels recovered with a kip-up and landed a high-flying elbow drop, getting in position for Sweet Chin Music. As Austin eventually stood up, he ducked the superkick, attempting a stunner on Michaels. Michaels responded by throwing Austin into the ropes before once again attempting Sweet Chin Music. However, Austin grabbed Michaels' foot, spun him around and nailed him with a Stone Cold Stunner. Mike Tyson jumped into the ring to make a quick three count and the new champion celebrated by tossing the enforcer an "Austin 3:16" t-shirt. When Shawn Michaels stood up, he confronted Tyson about his turn, but was met with a punch that instantly floored him, before Tyson then draped Michaels with Austin's t-shirt.
== Aftermath ==
The result of the main event heralded a changing of the guard in the World Wrestling Federation. Shawn Michaels, who had been a major superstar in the WWF for many years, having won his first WWF Championship at WrestleMania two years previously, took a four-year hiatus from wrestling due to a severe back injury sustained during the casket match against The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. During his retirement, Michaels made several ostensible one-off appearances as a guest commentator during episodes of Raw Is War in the summer of 1998, and eventually replacing Sgt. Slaughter as the WWF commissioner at the end of the year, holding onto the position for a year and a half. After what was supposed to be a one-time match four years later at SummerSlam, Michaels and the now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment realized that his injuries had healed, and he made a full-time return to wrestling, eventually retiring permanently in 2010 at WrestleMania XXVI, 12 years after this event.
With Stone Cold Steve Austin as the new WWF Champion, the "Attitude Era" was fully ushered in. The company's iconic scratch logo had started to replace the "New Generation" logo and began to appear on ring aprons and promotional material during and after this event. The next night on Raw Is War after WrestleMania, the old WWF "winged eagle" world championship belt was retired, and a new belt design with a larger eagle and blue globe (dubbed as the "attitude globe" title) debuted, eventually being retired in 2002. The Attitude Era saw Austin's feud with Vince McMahon escalate and two weeks later, Raw Is War defeated World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in the ratings war for the first time in eighty-four weeks.
Shawn Michaels' loss was criticized by Triple H the following night on Raw Is War, with Triple H blaming Michaels for "dropping the ball" and overlooking Tyson's potential double-cross. Helmsley delivered a promo essentially kicking Michaels out of the group, saying that he would now lead D-Generation X and turn it into an army, saying "the first thing you do is look to your blood. You look to your buddies. You look to your friends. You look...to the Kliq", before introducing a returning Sean Waltman, now under the "X-Pac" persona, who had re-signed with the company after being fired from World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Later in the evening, it was revealed that Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were also part of the DX Army.
The ongoing saga between The Undertaker and Kane continued to escalate even further. The following night, Paul Bearer challenged Undertaker on behalf of Kane to a match at Unforgiven: In Your House, where the ring would be surrounded by fire. The first man to be set ablaze would lose, thus giving birth to the Inferno Match.
By winning the fifteen-team battle royal, LOD 2000 won the right to face the WWF Tag Team Champions at Unforgiven. The champions by rights were Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, but some legal wrangling from The New Age Outlaws saw the match held up on account of the wrong dumpster being used. The vacant titles were then decided in a steel cage match between the two teams the following night, which the Outlaws won after interference from the newly formed DX Army, concreting their ties, and by handcuffing Charlie to the cage by his neck. Following this match, Charlie would return to his original moniker of Terry Funk, whilst Cactus Jack became Dude Love again. Meanwhile, the New Age Outlaws became part of the DX Army, achieving further success.
In a tag team match against Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman, Rocky Maivia promised to show Faarooq that the Nation was stronger and more connected than ever before. The promise was a sour one as, during the match, Rocky left Faarooq to suffer the wrath of Shamrock and Blackman. Afterwards, Faarooq demanded that Rocky come back out so the two could fight. When Rocky returned and squared up to Faarooq, the other members of the Nation turned on him, and Maivia proclaimed himself as the new "ruler" of the faction.
Before Marc Mero's match with Taka Michinoku the next night, Luna Vachon appeared and challenged Sable to a singles match, which Sable promptly accepted. Vachon also announced that it was not to be a traditional wrestling match, because she wanted to humiliate Sable, and so it would be an evening gown match to be held at Unforgiven.
== Results == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights | European Convention on Human Rights | The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights or ECHR) is a supranational international treaty designed to protect human rights and political freedoms throughout Europe. It was opened for signature on 4 November 1950 by the member states of the newly formed Council of Europe and entered into force on 3 September 1953. All Council of Europe member states are parties to the Convention, and any new member is required to ratify it at the earliest opportunity.
The ECHR was directly inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. Its main difference lies in the existence of an international court, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), whose judgments are legally binding on states parties. This ensures that the rights set out in the Convention are not just principles but are concretely enforceable through individual complaint or inter-state complaint procedures.
To guarantee this judicial enforcement, the Convention established both the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the ECtHR, which has sat in Strasbourg since its creation in 1959. Any person who believes their rights under the Convention have been violated by a state party can bring a case before the Court, provided their state allows it under Article 56 of the Convention. Judgments finding violations are binding on the states concerned, which are obliged to comply, particularly by paying appropriate compensation to applicants for any damage suffered. The Committee of Ministers supervises the execution of judgments.
The ECtHR has defined the Convention as a living instrument, meaning it must be interpreted in light of present-day conditions. This evolving case law can restrict the margin of appreciation left to states or create new rights derived from existing provisions.
Since its adoption, the Convention has been amended by seventeen additional protocols, which have added new rights or extended existing ones. These include the right to property, the right to education, the right to free elections, the prohibition of imprisonment for debt, the right to freedom of movement, the ban on expelling nationals, the prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens, the abolition of the death penalty, procedural safeguards for the expulsion of lawfully residing foreigners, the right to a double degree of jurisdiction in criminal matters, the right to compensation for wrongful conviction, the ne bis in idem principle (not to be tried or punished twice for the same offence), equality between spouses, and a general prohibition of discrimination.
The most recent version entered into force on 1 August 2021 through Protocol No. 15, which added the principle of subsidiarity to the preamble. This principle reaffirms that states parties have the primary responsibility to secure and remedy human rights violations at national level.
The European Convention on Human Rights is widely considered the most effective international treaty for the protection of human rights and has had a significant influence on the domestic law of all Council of Europe member states.
== Context ==
The European Convention on Human Rights has played an important role in the development and awareness of human rights in Europe. The development of a regional system of human rights protections operating across Europe can be seen as a direct response to twin concerns. First, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the convention, drawing on the inspiration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, can be seen as part of a wider response from the Allied powers in delivering a human rights agenda to prevent the most serious human rights violations which had occurred during the Second World War from happening again.
Second, the convention was a response to the growth of Stalinism in Central and Eastern Europe and was designed to protect the member states of the Council of Europe from communist subversion. This, in part, explains the constant references to values and principles that are "necessary in a democratic society" throughout the convention, despite the fact that such principles are not in any way defined within the convention itself. Consequently, the convention was principally conceived, at the time of its creation, as an "anti-totalitarian" measure to help stabilise social democracies in Western Europe, rather than as a specific reaction to the legacy of Nazism and the Holocaust. This approach was a continuation of Atlanticist beliefs from World War II and the early Cold War which called for the defence of democracy against all forms of authoritarianism.
== History ==
From 7 to 10 May 1948, politicians including Winston Churchill, François Mitterrand, and Konrad Adenauer, as well as civil society representatives, academics, business leaders, trade unionists, and religious leaders convened the Congress of Europe in The Hague. At the end of the Congress, a declaration and following pledge to create the convention was issued. The second and third articles of the pledge state: "We desire a Charter of Human Rights guaranteeing liberty of thought, assembly and expression as well as right to form a political opposition. We desire a Court of Justice with adequate sanctions for the implementation of this Charter."
The convention was drafted as one the first and most important tasks of the newly-formed Council of Europe. Over 100 parliamentarians from the then-twelve member states of the Council gathered in Strasbourg in the summer of 1949 for the first-ever meeting of the Council's Consultative Assembly to draft the "charter of human rights" announced at the Hague, and to establish a court to enforce it. British MP and lawyer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, the chair of the Assembly's Committee on Legal and Administrative Questions, was one of its leading members and guided the drafting of the convention, based on an earlier draft produced by the European Movement. As a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, he had seen first-hand the power of international justice.
French former minister and French Resistance fighter Pierre-Henri Teitgen submitted a report to the Assembly proposing a list of rights to be protected, selecting a number from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that had recently been agreed to in New York, and defining how the enforcing judicial mechanism might operate. After extensive debates, the Assembly sent its final proposal to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, which convened a group of experts to draft the convention itself.
The convention was designed to incorporate a traditional civil liberties approach to securing "effective political democracy", from the strongest traditions in the United Kingdom, France and other member states of the fledgling Council of Europe, as said by Guido Raimondi, President of the European Court of Human Rights:
The European system of protection of human rights with its Court would be inconceivable untied from democracy. In fact, we have a bond that is not only regional or geographic: a State cannot be party to the European Convention on Human Rights if it is not a member of the Council of Europe; it cannot be a member State of the Council of Europe if it does not respect pluralist democracy, the rule of law and human rights. So a non-democratic State could not participate in the ECHR system: the protection of democracy goes hand in hand with the protection of rights.
The convention was opened for signature on 4 November 1950 in Rome. It was ratified and entered into force on 3 September 1953. It is overseen and enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and the Council of Europe. Until procedural reforms in the late 1990s, the convention was also overseen by a European Commission on Human Rights.
Proposals for reform of the convention have been put forward, for example by former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and other UK politicians. Conservative politicians have proposed reform or withdrawal from the convention during the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. After the September 2025 British cabinet reshuffle Labour Party officials said other member countries wanted Britain to play a leading role in reforming the convention, while opposition party Reform UK pledged to leave the ECHR to have free hand in deporting migrants. It has been argued by many academics and most recently the then-Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood that rather than the Convention being the issue, it is rather the way in which the UK interprets the Convention domestically which tends to be more strict than most other State Parties.
== Membership ==
As of 2025, all 46 member states of the Council of Europe are High Contracting Parties to the Convention. Article 59 of the Convention states that it is open for signature by member states of the Council of Europe, and ratification of the Convention is a prerequisite for any state wishing to join the Council. Therefore, the membership of the two bodies is identical.
The Convention and its protocols are not open to states outside the Council of Europe. However, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe may invite a non-member state to accede, though this power has not been used.
=== Former members ===
Russia was a party to the Convention from 1998 until 2022. Although it joined the Council of Europe in 1996, it ratified the Convention on 5 May 1998. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe suspended Russia's rights of representation on 25 February 2022.
On 16 March 2022, Russia was formally excluded from the Council of Europe. As a legal consequence of its expulsion, Russia ceased to be a High Contracting Party to the Convention on 16 September 2022, after a six-month transitional period. The European Court of Human Rights remains competent to handle applications against Russia concerning violations that occurred before this date.
=== Accession by the European Union ===
A unique and ongoing membership consideration is the accession of the European Union (EU) itself to the Convention. The EU is an international organisation, not a state, and its member states are already parties to the Convention.
The ambition for the Union to join the Convention is a pursuit rooted in the legal friction of the late 1970s. Because the founding treaties focused primarily on economic integration, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found it necessary to bridge the legislative gap by recognizing fundamental rights as "general principles of law" through its own jurisprudence. This evolution was largely a response to pressure from national constitutional courts most significantly the German Federal Constitutional Court in its 1974 Solange I ruling, which signaled a refusal to accept the primacy of European law if it bypassed the human rights protections guaranteed by domestic constitutions. Consequently, to prevent a fragmented legal landscape and to solidify the Union’s commitment to democratic standards, the European Commission issued its first formal memorandum proposing accession to the ECHR on 2 May 1979.
The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in 2009, made it a legal obligation for the EU to accede to the ECHR. Accession would subject the EU's institutions, including the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), to the external human rights monitoring of the European Court of Human Rights. A draft accession agreement was finalised in 2013.
However, in its Opinion 2/13, delivered on 18 December 2014, the CJEU ruled that the draft agreement was incompatible with EU's treaties, citing several objections, including potential conflicts with the autonomy of the EU legal order. Negotiations resumed in 2020 to address the CJEU's objections.
The CJEU's objections in Opinion 2/13 primarily concerned the preservation of "mutual trust" between member states and the potential for national courts to bypass the CJEU via Protocol No. 16. Furthermore, the initial draft raised jurisdictional issues regarding the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
In 2019, the European Commission announced the EU’s readiness to resume negotiations on accession to the ECHR. In 2020, the Council of Europe tasked the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), within the 46+1 negotiation group, with finalising the legal instruments governing accession. Between 2020 and 2023, the group held multiple meetings and concluded negotiations on all issues except one concerning the CJEU’s jurisdiction over alleged fundamental rights violations linked to the EU’s common foreign and security policy. The EU undertook to resolve this matter internally and to keep the CDDH informed of developments.
On 17 March 2023, the Draft agreement on the accession of the European Union to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was adopted. This draft agreement would allow the European Union to take part in the defence of respondent States before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) through a co-respondent mechanism. Likewise, the European Union would accede to the Convention as well as to its Additional Protocol No. 1 and No. 6, but not to No. 13, concerning the total abolition of the death penalty, even though it has already been ratified by all its Member States. As this is an amending protocol, all States Parties to the Convention will have to ratify it for it to enter into force. The finalization of the process has since hinged on resolving the remaining legal complexities surrounding the CFSP and the formal ratification requirements.
This draft requires the referral of the matter to the CJEU and the obtaining of a favourable opinion before the signature procedure can begin. This referral ultimately took place on 26 January 2026. The time between this referral and the delivery of the opinion is estimated at between 18 and 24 months.
== Drafting ==
The convention is drafted in broad terms, in a similar (albeit more modern) manner to the 1689 Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689, to the 1689 English Bill of Rights, the 1791 U.S. Bill of Rights, the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, or the first part of the German Basic Law. Statements of principle are, from a juridical point of view, not determinative and require and have given occasion to extensive interpretation by courts to bring out meaning in particular factual situations.
== Convention articles ==
As amended by Protocol 11, the convention consists of three parts. The main rights and freedoms are contained in Section I, which consists of Articles 2 to 18. Section II (Articles 19 to 51) sets up the court and its rules of operation. Section III contains various concluding provisions.
Before the entry into force of Protocol 11, Section II (Article 19) set up the commission and the court, Sections III (Articles 20 to 37) and IV (Articles 38 to 59) included the high-level machinery for the operation of, respectively, the commission and the court, and Section V contained various concluding provisions.
Many of the articles in Section I are structured in two paragraphs: the first sets out a basic right or freedom (such as Article 2(1) – the right to life) but the second contains various exclusions, exceptions or limitations on the basic right (such as Article 2(2) – which excepts certain uses of force leading to death).
=== Article 1 – respecting rights ===
Article 1 simply binds the signatory parties to secure the rights under the other articles of the convention "within their jurisdiction". In exceptional cases, "jurisdiction" may not be confined to a contracting state's own national territory; the obligation to secure convention rights then also extends to foreign territories, such as occupied land in which the state exercises effective control.
In Loizidou v Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that jurisdiction of member states to the convention extended to areas under that state's effective control as a result of military action.
=== Article 2 – life ===
Article 2 protects the right of every person to their life. The right to life extends only to human beings, not to animals, nor to "legal persons" such as corporations. In Evans v United Kingdom, the court ruled that the question of whether the right to life extends to a human embryo fell within a state's margin of appreciation. In Vo v France, the court declined to extend the right to life to an unborn child, while stating that "it is neither desirable, nor even possible as matters stand, to answer in the abstract the question whether the unborn child is a person for the purposes of Article 2 of the Convention".
The court has ruled that states have three main duties under Article 2:
a duty to refrain from unlawful killing,
a duty to investigate suspicious deaths, and
in certain circumstances, a positive duty to prevent foreseeable loss of life.
The first paragraph of the article contains an exception for lawful executions, although this exception has largely been superseded by Protocols 6 and 13. Protocol 6 prohibits the imposition of the death penalty in peacetime, while Protocol 13 extends the prohibition to all circumstances.
The second paragraph of Article 2 provides that death resulting from defending oneself or others, arresting a suspect or fugitive, or suppressing riots or insurrections, will not contravene the Article when the use of force involved is "no more than absolutely necessary".
Signatory states to the convention can only derogate from the rights contained in Article 2 for deaths which result from lawful acts of war.
The European Court of Human Rights did not rule upon the right to life until 1995, when in McCann and Others v United Kingdom it ruled that the exception contained in the second paragraph does not constitute situations when it is permitted to kill, but situations where it is permitted to use force which might result in the deprivation of life.
=== Article 3 – torture ===
Article 3 prohibits torture and "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". There are no exceptions or limitations on this right. This provision usually applies, apart from torture, to cases of severe police violence and poor conditions in detention.
The court has emphasised the fundamental nature of Article 3 in holding that the prohibition is made in "absolute terms ... irrespective of the victim's conduct". The court has also held that states cannot deport or extradite individuals who might be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in the recipient state.
The first case to examine Article 3 was the Greek case, which set an influential precedent. In Ireland v. United Kingdom (1979–1980) the court ruled that the five techniques developed by the United Kingdom (wall-standing, hooding, subjection to noise, deprivation of sleep, and deprivation of food and drink), as used against fourteen detainees in Northern Ireland by the United Kingdom were "inhuman and degrading" and breached the European Convention on Human Rights, but did not amount to "torture".
In Aksoy v. Turkey (1997) the court found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in the case of a detainee who was suspended by his arms while his hands were tied behind his back.
Selmouni v. France (2000) the court has appeared to be more open to finding states guilty of torture ruling that since the convention is a "living instrument", treatment which it had previously characterized as inhuman or degrading treatment might in future be regarded as torture.
In 2014, after new information was uncovered that showed the decision to use the five techniques in Northern Ireland in 1971–1972 had been taken by British ministers, the Irish Government asked the European Court of Human Rights to review its judgement. In 2018, by six votes to one, the court declined.
=== Article 4 – servitude ===
Article 4 prohibits slavery, servitude and forced labour but exempts labour:
done as a normal part of imprisonment,
in the form of compulsory military service or work done as an alternative by conscientious objectors,
required to be done during a state of emergency, and
considered to be a part of a person's normal "civic obligations".
=== Article 5 – liberty and security ===
Article 5 provides that everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Liberty and security of the person are taken as a "compound" concept – security of the person has not been subject to separate interpretation by the court.
Article 5 provides the right to liberty, subject only to lawful arrest or detention under certain other circumstances, such as arrest on reasonable suspicion of a crime or imprisonment in fulfilment of a sentence. The article also provides those arrested with the right to be informed, in a language they understand, of the reasons for the arrest and any charge they face, the right of prompt access to judicial proceedings to determine the legality of the arrest or detention, to trial within a reasonable time or release pending trial, and the right to compensation in the case of arrest or detention in violation of this article.
Assanidze v. Georgia, App. No. 71503/01 (Eur. Ct. H.R. 8 April 2004)
=== Article 6 – fair trial ===
Article 6 provides a detailed right to a fair trial, including the right to a public hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal within reasonable time, the presumption of innocence, and other minimum rights for those charged with a criminal offence (adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence, access to legal representation, right to examine witnesses against them or have them examined, right to the free assistance of an interpreter).
The majority of convention violations that the court finds today are excessive delays, in violation of the "reasonable time" requirement, in civil and criminal proceedings before national courts, mostly in Italy and France. Under the "independent tribunal" requirement, the court has ruled that military judges in Turkish state security courts are incompatible with Article 6. In compliance with this Article, Turkey has now adopted a law abolishing these courts.
Another significant set of violations concerns the "confrontation clause" of Article 6 (i.e. the right to examine witnesses or have them examined). In this respect, problems of compliance with Article 6 may arise when national laws allow the use in evidence of the testimonies of absent, anonymous and vulnerable witnesses.
Steel v. United Kingdom (1998) 28 EHRR 603
Assanidze v. Georgia [2004] ECHR 140
Othman (Abu Qatada) v. United Kingdom (2012) – Abu Qatada could not be deported to Jordan as that would be a violation of Article 6 "given the real risk of the admission of evidence obtained by torture". This was the first time the court ruled that such an expulsion would be a violation of Article 6.
=== Article 7 – retroactivity ===
Article 7 prohibits the retroactive criminalisation of acts and omissions. No person may be punished for an act that was not a criminal offence at the time of its commission. The article states that a criminal offence is one under either national or international law, which would permit a party to prosecute someone for a crime which was not illegal under domestic law at the time, so long as it was prohibited by international law. The Article also prohibits a heavier penalty being imposed than was applicable at the time when the criminal act was committed.
Article 7 incorporates the legal principle nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege (no crime, no penalty without law) into the convention.
Relevant cases are:
Kokkinakis v. Greece [1993] ECHR 20
S.A.S. v. France [2014] ECHR 69
=== Article 8 – privacy ===
Article 8 provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to restrictions that are "in accordance with law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others". This article clearly provides a right to be free of unlawful searches, but the court has given the protection for "private and family life" that this article provides a broad interpretation, taking for instance that prohibition of private consensual homosexual acts violates this article. There have been cases discussing consensual familial sexual relationships, and how the criminalisation of this may violate this article. However, the ECHR still allows such familial sexual acts to be criminal.
This may be compared to the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court, which has also adopted a somewhat broad interpretation of the right to privacy. Furthermore, Article 8 sometimes comprises positive obligations: whereas classical human rights are formulated as prohibiting a state from interfering with rights, and thus not to do something (e.g. not to separate a family under family life protection), the effective enjoyment of such rights may also include an obligation for the state to become active, and to do something (e.g. to enforce access for a divorced parent to his/her child).
Notable cases:
Malone v. United Kingdom [1984] ECHR 10, (1984) 7 EHRR 14
Goodwin v. United Kingdom (2002) ECHR 28957/95
Zakharov v. Russia [2015] ECHR 47143/06
Oliari and Others v. Italy (2015)
Vavřička and Others v. the Czech Republic (ECtHR April 8, 2021), holding that the nation of the Czech Republic did not violate the convention by imposing a vaccination mandate on children in that country
=== Article 9 – conscience and religion ===
Article 9 provides a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This includes the freedom to change a religion or belief, and to manifest a religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".
Relevant cases are:
Kokkinakis v. Greece [1993] ECHR 20
Universelles Leben e.V. v. Germany [1996] (app. no. 29745/96)
Buscarini and Others v. San Marino [1999] ECHR 7
Pichon and Sajous v. France [2001] ECHR 898
Leyla Şahin v. Turkey [2004] ECHR 299
Leela Förderkreis E.V. and Others v. Germany [2008] ECHR
Lautsi v. Italy [2011] ECHR 2412
S.A.S. v. France [2014] ECHR 695
Eweida v. United Kingdom [2013] ECHR 2013
=== Article 10 – expression ===
Article 10 provides the right to freedom of expression, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society". This right includes the freedom to hold opinions, and to receive and impart information and ideas, but allows restrictions for:
interests of national security
territorial integrity or public safety
prevention of disorder or crime
protection of health or morals
protection of the reputation or the rights of others
preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence
maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary
Relevant cases are:
Lingens v. Austria (1986) 8 EHRR 407
The Observer and The Guardian v. United Kingdom (1991) 14 EHRR 153, the "Spycatcher" case.
Bowman v. United Kingdom [1998] HUDOC, (1998) 26 EHRR 1, distributing vast quantities of anti-abortion material in contravention of election spending laws
Communist Party v. Turkey (1998) 26 EHRR 1211
Appleby v. United Kingdom (2003) 37 EHRR 38, protests in a private shopping centre
TV Vest and Rogaland Pensioners Party v. Norway (2008)
=== Article 11 – association ===
Article 11 protects the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".
Vogt v. Germany (1995)
Yazar, Karatas, Aksoy and Hep v. Turkey (2003) 36 EHRR 59
Bączkowski and Others v. Poland (2005)
=== Article 12 – marriage ===
Article 12 provides a right for women and men of marriageable age to marry and establish a family.
Despite a number of invitations, the court has so far refused to apply the protections of this article to same-sex marriage. The court has defended this on the grounds that the article was intended to apply only to different-sex marriage, and that a wide margin of appreciation must be granted to parties in this area.
In Goodwin v. United Kingdom the court ruled that a law which still classified post-operative transsexual people under their birth sex violated article 12 as it meant that transsexual people were unable to marry individuals of the opposite sex. This reversed an earlier ruling in Rees v. United Kingdom. This did not, however, alter the Court's understanding that Article 12 protects only different-sex couples.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria that countries are not required to provide marriage licenses for same-sex couples; however, if a country allows same-sex couple marriage it must be done under the same conditions that opposite-sex couples marriage face, in order to prevent a breach of article 14 – the prohibition of discrimination. Additionally, the court ruled in the 2015 case of Oliari and Others v. Italy that states have a positive obligation to ensure there is a specific legal framework for the recognition and protection of same-sex couples.
=== Article 13 – effective remedy ===
Article 13 provides for the right for an effective remedy before national authorities for violations of rights under the convention. The inability to obtain a remedy before a national court for an infringement of a Convention right is thus a free-standing and separately actionable infringement of the convention.
=== Article 14 – discrimination ===
Article 14 contains a prohibition of discrimination. This prohibition is broad in some ways and narrow in others. It is broad in that it prohibits discrimination under a potentially unlimited number of grounds. While the article specifically prohibits discrimination based on "sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status", the last of these allows the court to extend to Article 14 protection to other grounds not specifically mentioned such as has been done regarding discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation.
At the same time, the article's protection is limited in that it only prohibits discrimination with respect to rights under the convention. Thus, an applicant must prove discrimination in the enjoyment of a specific right that is guaranteed elsewhere in the convention (e.g. discrimination based on sex – Article 14 – in the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression – Article 10).
Protocol 12 extends this prohibition to cover discrimination in any legal right, even when that legal right is not protected under the convention, so long as it is provided for in national law.
=== Article 15 – derogations ===
Article 15 allows contracting states to derogate from certain rights guaranteed by the convention in a time of "war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation". Permissible derogations under article 15 must meet three substantive conditions:
there must be a public emergency threatening the life of the nation;
any measures taken in response must be "strictly required by the exigencies of the situation"; and
the measures taken in response to it must be in compliance with a state's other obligations under international law.
In addition to these substantive requirements, the derogation must be procedurally sound. There must be some formal announcement of the derogation and notice of the derogation and any measures adopted under it, and the ending of the derogation must be communicated to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.
As of 2016, only eight member states had ever invoked derogations. The court is quite permissive in accepting a state's derogations from the convention but applies a higher degree of scrutiny in deciding whether measures taken by states under a derogation are, in the words of Article 15, "strictly required by the exigencies of the situation". Thus in A v United Kingdom, the court dismissed a claim that a derogation lodged by the British government in response to the September 11 attacks was invalid, but went on to find that measures taken by the United Kingdom under that derogation were disproportionate.
Examples of such derogations include:
In the 1969 Greek case, the European Commission of Human Rights ruled that the derogation was invalid because the alleged Communist subversion did not pose a sufficient threat. This is the only time to date that the convention system has rejected an attempted derogation.
Operation Demetrius—Internees arrested without trial pursuant to "Operation Demetrius" could not complain to the European Commission of Human Rights about breaches of Article 5 because on 27 June 1957, the UK lodged a notice with the Council of Europe declaring that there was a "public emergency within the meaning of Article 15(1) of the Convention".
=== Article 16 – foreign parties ===
Article 16 allows states to restrict the political activity of foreigners. The court has ruled that European Union member states cannot consider the nationals of other member states to be aliens.
=== Article 17 – abuse of rights ===
Article 17 provides that no one may use the rights guaranteed by the convention to seek the abolition or limitation of rights guaranteed in the convention. This addresses instances where states seek to restrict a human right in the name of another human right, or where individuals rely on a human right to undermine other human rights (for example where an individual issues a death threat).
Communist Party of Germany v. the Federal Republic of Germany (1957), the Commission refused to consider the appeal by the Communist Party of Germany, stating that the communist doctrine advocated by them is incompatible with the convention, citing article 17's limitations on the rights to the extent necessarily to prevent their subversion by adherents of a totalitarian doctrine.
=== Article 18 – permitted restrictions ===
Article 18 provides that any limitations on the rights provided for in the convention may be used only for the purpose for which they are provided. For example, Article 5, which guarantees the right to personal freedom, may be explicitly limited in order to bring a suspect before a judge. To use pre-trial detention as a means of intimidation of a person under a false pretext is, therefore, a limitation of right (to freedom) which does not serve an explicitly provided purpose (to be brought before a judge), and is therefore contrary to Article 18.
== Convention protocols ==
As of July 2025, seventeen protocols to the convention have been opened for signature. These can be divided into two main groups: those amending the framework of the convention system, and those expanding the rights that can be protected. The former require unanimous ratification by member states before coming into force, while the latter require a certain number of states to sign before coming into force.
=== Protocol 1 ===
This Protocol contains three different rights which the signatories could not agree to place in the convention itself. Monaco and Switzerland have signed but never ratified Protocol 1.
==== Article 1 – property ====
Article 1 ("A1P1") provides that "every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions". The European Court of Human Rights acknowledged a violation of the fair balance between the demands of the general interest of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual's fundamental rights, also, in the uncertainty – for the owner – about the future of the property, and in the absence of an allowance.
In the case of Mifsud and others v Malta (38770/17) the Maltese state was found to have violated Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the convention. The case involved a plot of land owned by the Mifsud family and their heirs which was expropriated twice (in 1984 and in 2012). The court, in its judgment, stated that
the [Maltese] Constitutional Court had no basis on which to ground its finding. The Court is disconcerted by the circumstances of the present case which led to an expropriation of property being endorsed without anyone being able to assert the reasons behind such an expropriation.
In 2013 the Court of Appeal in England and Wales upheld a judgment in favour of Infinis against Ofgem, who had denied the company access to Renewable Obligation Certificates, a form of funding incentive for renewable energy generation, to which they were entitled. This case represented the first UK case where A1P1 compensation had been granted in relation to a regulatory authority.
==== Article 2 – education ====
Article 2 ("A2P1") provides for the right not to be denied an education and the right for parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views. It does not however guarantee any particular level of education of any particular quality.
Although phrased in the Protocol as a negative right, in Şahin v. Turkey the court ruled that:
it would be hard to imagine that institutions of higher education existing at a given time do not come within the scope of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No 1. Although that Article does not impose a duty on the Contracting States to set up institutions of higher education, any State doing so will be under an obligation to afford an effective right of access to them. In a democratic society, the right to education, which is indispensable to the furtherance of human rights, plays such a fundamental role that a restrictive interpretation of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 would not be consistent with the aim or purpose of that provision.
==== Article 3 – elections ====
Article 3 provides for the right to elections performed by secret ballot, that are also free and that occur at regular intervals.
Matthews v. United Kingdom (1999) 28 EHRR 361
=== Protocol 4 – civil imprisonment, free movement, expulsion ===
Article 1 prohibits the imprisonment of people for inability to fulfil a contract. Article 2 provides for a right to freely move within a country once lawfully there and for a right to leave any country. Article 3 prohibits the expulsion of nationals and provides for the right of an individual to enter a country of their nationality. Article 4 prohibits the collective expulsion of foreigners.
Turkey and the United Kingdom have signed but never ratified Protocol 4. Greece and Switzerland have neither signed nor ratified this protocol.
The United Kingdom's failure to ratify this protocol is due to concerns over the interaction of Article 2 and Article 3 with British nationality law. Specifically, several classes of "British national" (such as British National (Overseas)) do not have the right of abode in the United Kingdom and are subject to immigration control there. In 2009, the UK government stated that it had no plans to ratify Protocol 4 because of concerns that those articles could be taken as conferring that right.
=== Protocol 6 – restriction of death penalty ===
Article 6 requires parties to restrict the application of the death penalty except for "acts committed in time of war" or of "imminent threat of war".
Every Council of Europe member state has signed and ratified Protocol 6.
=== Protocol 7 – crime and family ===
Article 1 provides for a right to fair procedures for lawfully resident foreigners facing expulsion.
Article 2 provides for the right to appeal in criminal matters.
Article 3 provides for compensation for the victims of miscarriages of justice.
Article 4 prohibits the re-trial of anyone who has already been finally acquitted or convicted of a particular offence (double jeopardy).
Article 5 provides for equality between spouses.
Despite having signed the protocol more than thirty years ago Germany and the Netherlands have never ratified it. Turkey, which signed the protocol in 1985, ratified it in 2016, becoming the latest member state to do so. The United Kingdom has neither signed nor ratified the protocol.
=== Protocol 12 – discrimination ===
Protocol 12 applies the current expansive and indefinite grounds of prohibited discrimination in Article 14 to the exercise of any legal right and to the actions (including the obligations) of public authorities. The additional scope of the Protocol covers four categories of cases:
Cases where a person is subjected to discrimination in the enjoyment of any right specifically conferred upon the individual by national law (and not solely rights provided under the Convention);
Cases where a person is subjected to discrimination in the enjoyment of any right arising from clear obligations imposed upon public authorities under national law (where such authorities are legally obliged to act in a particular manner);
Cases involving discrimination by public authorities in the exercise of discretionary powers (such as grants or subsidies);
Cases involving discrimination resulting from other acts or omissions by public authorities (for instance, the conduct of law enforcement officials in quelling a riot).
The Protocol entered into force on 1 April 2005 and has (as of March 2018) been ratified by 20 member states. Several member states—Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Monaco, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—have not signed the protocol.
The United Kingdom government has declined to sign Protocol 12 on the basis that they believe the wording of protocol is too wide and would result in a flood of new cases testing the extent of the new provision. They believe that the phrase "rights set forth by law" might include international conventions to which the UK is not a party, and would result in incorporation of these instruments by stealth.
It has been suggested that the protocol is therefore in a catch-22, since the UK will decline to either sign or ratify the protocol until the European Court of Human Rights has addressed the meaning of the provision, while the court is hindered in doing so by the lack of applications to the court concerning the protocol caused by the decisions of Europe's most populous states—including the UK—not to ratify the protocol. The UK government, nevertheless, stated in 2004 that it "agrees in principle that the ECHR should contain a provision against discrimination that is free-standing and not parasitic on the other Convention rights". The first judgment that found a violation of Protocol No. 12, Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, was delivered in 2009.
=== Protocol 13 – complete abolition of death penalty ===
Protocol 13 provides for the total abolition of the death penalty. Currently all Council of Europe member states but Azerbaijan have ratified Protocol 13.
However, account must be taken of the position of the Court, which in practice has regarded the Convention as prohibiting the death penalty. In its 2010 judgment in Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v. the United Kingdom, the Court held that Article 2 and Article 3 of the Convention prohibit the death penalty, owing to the general trend towards its abolition among the States Parties to the Convention. This prohibition applies to all States Parties to the Convention, including those which have not ratified Protocol 13.
Accordingly, the ratification of this Protocol is now essentially symbolic: it demonstrates a State Party’s voluntary commitment to the abolitionist trend in Europe, without constituting an obligation to which it is compelled to adhere.
=== Protocol 16 – dialogue ===
Protocol 16 was adopted on 2 October 2013 and entered into force on 1 August 2018. It allows the highest national courts of ratifying States to request non-binding advisory opinions from the Court on questions of principle concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention. The purpose of this Protocol is to foster dialogue between courts and to strengthen the ‘constitutional’ role of the Court.
Only courts designated as the "highest" by each State can submit requests, which must relate to a pending domestic case and raise a question of principle. If the request is accepted by a five-judge panel, the Grand Chamber delivers the opinion; the national judge sits ex officio.
Advisory opinions are formally non-binding under Article 5 of the Protocol, but they carry strong persuasive weight in national proceedings and are generally followed by the Strasbourg Court in later cases.
Since its entry into force, the Court has received eleven requests and issued seven opinions. Topics addressed include surrogacy and recognition of parenthood (France), defamation and double jeopardy (Armenia), and adult adoption (Finland).
As of November 2025, twenty-six States have ratified the Protocol and three more have signed it without ratifying it.
=== Summary of ratifications of the substantive additional protocols ===
=== Procedural and institutional protocols ===
The convention's provisions affecting institutional and procedural matters have been altered several times by means of protocols. These amendments have, with the exception of Protocol 2, amended the text of the convention. Protocol 2 did not amend the text of the convention as such but stipulated that it was to be treated as an integral part of the text. All of these protocols have required the unanimous ratification of all the member states of the Council of Europe to enter into force.
==== Protocol 11 ====
Protocols 2, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 have now been superseded by Protocol 11 which entered into force on 1 November 1998. It established a fundamental change in the machinery of the convention. It abolished the commission, allowing individuals to apply directly to the court, which was given compulsory jurisdiction and altered the latter's structure. Previously states could ratify the convention without accepting the jurisdiction of the Court of Human Rights. The protocol also abolished the judicial functions of the Committee of Ministers.
==== Protocol 14 ====
Protocol 14 follows on from Protocol 11 in proposing to further improve the efficiency of the court. It seeks to "filter" out cases that have less chance of succeeding along with those that are broadly similar to cases brought previously against the same member state. Furthermore, a case will not be considered admissible where an applicant has not suffered a "significant disadvantage". This latter ground can only be used when an examination of the application on the merits is not considered necessary and where the subject-matter of the application had already been considered by a national court.
A new mechanism was introduced by Protocol 14 to assist enforcement of judgements by the Committee of Ministers. The committee can ask the court for an interpretation of a judgement and can even bring a member state before the court for non-compliance of a previous judgement against that state. Protocol 14 also allows for European Union accession to the convention. The protocol has been ratified by every Council of Europe member state, Russia being last in February 2010. It entered into force on 1 June 2010.
A provisional Protocol 14bis had been opened for signature in 2009. Pending the ratification of Protocol 14 itself, 14bis was devised to allow the court to implement revised procedures in respect of the states which have ratified it. It allowed single judges to reject manifestly inadmissible applications made against the states that have ratified the protocol. It also extended the competence of three-judge chambers to declare applications made against those states admissible and to decide on their merits where there already is a well-established case law of the court. Now that all Council of Europe member states have ratified Protocol 14, Protocol 14bis has lost its raison d'être and according to its own terms ceased to have any effect when Protocol 14 entered into force on 1 June 2010.
==== Protocol 15 ====
Protocol 15, opened for signature by the States Parties on 24 June 2013 and entered into force on 1 August 2021, amends the Convention by introducing a reference to the principle of subsidiarity and to the margin of appreciation left to national judges in the interpretation of the Convention. With Protocol 15, the time limit for lodging an application with the Court is reduced from six to four months from the date of the final national decision. In addition, judges are no longer eligible for election after the age of 65, which allows them to complete a full term of office. Finally, the Court may declare an application inadmissible even if the case has not been examined by a domestic court. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Hamilton | Josh Hamilton | Joshua Holt Hamilton (born May 21, 1981) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 2007 to 2015, most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers teams that won consecutive American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. A five-time All-Star, Hamilton won three Silver Slugger Awards and was named the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2010. He also won an AL batting championship along with an AL RBI title. During his major league tenure, he also played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Hamilton was chosen by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the first overall pick in the 1999 MLB draft. He was considered a blue chip prospect until injuries sustained in a 2001 car accident and a drug addiction derailed his career. Prior to the 2007 season, Hamilton was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the Rule 5 draft; the Cubs traded him to the Cincinnati Reds, where he made his MLB debut in 2007. Before the 2008 season, he was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he had a breakout season in 2008 and helped the team reach the World Series in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Hamilton received more fan votes than any other player in the history of the All-Star Game. On May 8, 2012, Hamilton became the 16th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game; on that date, he also set an AL record for total bases in a game with 18. Hamilton was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2019.
Hamilton signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2012, but his tenure with the team was marred by injuries, performance issues, and a drug relapse. The Angels traded Hamilton back to the Rangers in 2015, and he played one more season for the Rangers before injuries ended his career.
In 2019, Hamilton was charged with a felony for allegedly abusing his daughter. On February 22, 2022, Hamilton pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint.
== Early life ==
Joshua Holt Hamilton was born on May 21, 1981, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Tony and Linda Hamilton. Of majority Scottish heritage, Hamilton was raised in Raleigh, playing Little League Baseball alongside former South Carolina and Oakland Athletics catcher Landon Powell. Hamilton attended Athens Drive High School in Raleigh where he starred as both a pitcher and outfielder. As a high school senior, Hamilton ran the 60-yard dash in 6.7 seconds and was clocked at 97 miles per hour (156 km/h) on the mound. After hitting .529 in 25 games with 13 home runs, 20 stolen bases, 35 runs batted in (RBIs), and 34 runs scored, Hamilton was widely considered one of the top two prospects for the 1999 MLB draft, along with Josh Beckett, a Texas high school athlete. Hamilton initially signed a letter of intent to play college baseball for North Carolina State.
== Professional career ==
=== Draft and minor leagues ===
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays owned the number one pick in the 1999 MLB draft and used it to select Hamilton. The Devil Rays viewed Hamilton as a can't-miss prospect. Hamilton signed with Tampa Bay, receiving a $3.96 million signing bonus, and joined their minor league system. His first stop in the minor leagues was the rookie-level Princeton Devil Rays of the Appalachian League, where he played 56 games. Hamilton later joined the Short Season Single-A club, the Hudson Valley Renegades, and helped lead them to their first New York–Penn League championship. He spent the 2000 season with the Charleston RiverDogs in the South Atlantic League. Hamilton hit .301 in 96 games, with 13 home runs and 61 RBIs. He was also selected to the South Atlantic League All Star game and took home MVP honors after going 2–6 with two triples and two runs scored. In addition, Hamilton was named to the 2000 All-Star Futures Game, a game designed to showcase minor league prospects. Hamilton was also voted Minor League Player of the Year by USA Today.
At the beginning of his professional career, Hamilton's parents quit their jobs and began following their son on the road. However, in February 2001, Hamilton and his mother were injured in a car accident. His mother returned home and Hamilton, with an injured back, found himself unable to play baseball, flush with cash and unsupervised by his parents for the first time. At age 20, he had his first drink of alcohol. He began spending his idle time at a tattoo shop drinking and using drugs. Later that year he also made his first attempt at rehabilitation. Hamilton only played 45 games in the 2001 season, split between the Charleston (Single-A) and the Orlando Rays, a Double-A team in the Southern League. Hamilton began the 2002 season with the Bakersfield Blaze, batting .303 with nine home runs and 44 RBIs in 56 games before his season came to an end due to lingering toe and neck injuries.
During spring training of the 2003 season, Hamilton failed his first drug test. At the start of the season, Hamilton showed up late several times during spring training and was reassigned to the team's minor league camp. He left the team and resurfaced several times, but eventually took the rest of the season off for personal reasons. Hamilton was hoping to return to spring training with the Devil Rays in 2004, though was suspended 30 days and fined for violating the drug policy put in place by MLB. A "failed" test is one in which there is a positive result for a drug more severe than marijuana. A month later, MLB suspended him for the entire season after he failed two more tests.
Hamilton was out of baseball for almost three years. He made several attempts at rehabilitation, and started off the 2005 season with hopes of being a star major league outfielder. However, he was arrested before the season for smashing the windshield of a friend's truck. The Rays placed Hamilton on the restricted list, moving him off the 40-man roster. After another relapse, MLB suspended him for the entire 2006 season.
Hamilton's return to baseball was helped along by former minor league outfielder and manager Roy Silver, who owned a baseball academy in Florida. After hearing about Hamilton's desire to return to baseball, Silver offered the use of his facility if Hamilton agreed to work there. After several months there, Hamilton attempted to play with an independent minor league team, but MLB stepped in and disallowed it.
Hamilton was allowed to work out with the Devil Rays' minor league players starting on June 2, 2006. By the end of the month, he was allowed to participate in minor league games. In order for this to happen, the Rays had to run Hamilton through waivers, making him available for any team for $20,000. No team put a claim in for him. Hamilton played in 15 games with the Hudson Valley Renegades at the end of the 2006 season, his second stint with the minor league ball club.
=== Rule 5 draft ===
Left off the Rays' 40-man roster, Hamilton was selected third overall in the 2006 Rule 5 draft by the Chicago Cubs, who immediately traded him to the Reds for $100,000 ($50,000 for his rights, and $50,000 to cover the cost of the Rule 5 selection). In their coverage of the draft, Chris Kline and John Manuel of Baseball America called Hamilton "the biggest name in the Rule 5 in many years".
=== Cincinnati Reds (2007) ===
Hamilton was one of the Reds' best hitters in spring training in 2007, leaving camp with a .403 batting average. In order to retain the rights to Hamilton, though, the Reds would have to keep him on their Major League 25-man roster for the entire 2007 season, so they planned to use him as a fourth outfielder.
Hamilton made his Major League debut at the age of 26 on April 2 against the Chicago Cubs in a pinch-hit appearance, receiving a 22-second standing ovation. As he was waiting to bat, Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said, "You deserve it, Josh. Take it all in, brother. I'm happy for you." After he lined out, Hamilton stayed in the game to play left field. He made his first start on April 10 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, batting leadoff. In that game, he recorded his first Major League hit, a home run off Édgar González. The next night, he hit another. Hamilton was named the National League Rookie of the Month for April.
On May 22, the Reds placed Hamilton on the 15-day disabled list with gastroenteritis; they activated him on June 5 after he batted .333 (8-for-24) with four home runs and six RBIs in a six-game Minor League rehabilitation assignment. Hamilton went back on the DL on July 12 with a sprained wrist.
Hamilton ended up starting most of the season in center field after an injury to Ryan Freel, but was shut out in the voting for the Rookie of the Year, which was won by Ryan Braun. For the 2007 season, he hit .292 with 19 home runs and 47 runs batted in in 90 games.
On December 21, 2007, the Reds traded Hamilton to the Texas Rangers for Edinson Vólquez and Danny Herrera.
=== Texas Rangers (2008–2012) ===
==== 2008 ====
The 2008 season was a breakout season for Hamilton. He locked up the Rangers' starting center fielder job with a stellar spring training. His spring training performance continued into the regular season. Hamilton, usually slotted fourth in the Texas batting order, led all major league players in RBIs for the month of April. He was named AL Player of the Month after hitting .330 with 32 RBIs during the month. Hamilton then went on to win player of the month for the second straight month in May, becoming the first AL player in baseball history to be awarded Player of the Month for the first two months of the season. Hamilton was featured on the cover of the June 2, 2008, issue of Sports Illustrated, in a story chronicling his comeback. On July 9, Hamilton hit the first walk-off home run of his career, against Francisco Rodríguez.
Fans selected Hamilton as one of the starting outfielders for the AL at the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. He finished first in voting among outfielders. He was one of seven first-time starters in the game. Along with Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, and Ryan Braun, Hamilton was one of four who had made their MLB debut in 2007 or 2008. He was selected to participate in the 2008 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby the evening before the game. Hamilton selected 71-year-old Clay Council to throw to him during the Derby. Council was a volunteer who threw batting practice for him as a child in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the first round of the event Hamilton hit 28 home runs, breaking the single-round record of 24 set by Bobby Abreu in 2005. Hamilton ended up hitting the most total home runs in the contest with 35, but lost in the final round to Justin Morneau, as the scores were reset. His record-setting first round included 13 straight home runs at one point, and seven that went further than 500 feet (150 m). His longest home run was 518 feet. In 2006, when Hamilton was trying to get back into baseball, he had a dream in which he participated in a Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, but he could not remember how many home runs he had hit. After the Derby, Hamilton said: "This was like living the dream out, because like I've said, I didn't know the ending to that dream."
On August 17, Hamilton was intentionally walked with the bases loaded against the Rays in the bottom of the ninth, with the Rays leading 7–3, to bring Marlon Byrd to the plate. The Rays went on to win the game 7–4. Hamilton thus became the sixth player in history, and the first American League player in 107 years, to receive an intentional walk with the bases loaded.
In the 2008 season, Hamilton had a .304 batting average, 32 home runs, and an American League-leading 130 runs batted in. He won a Silver Slugger Award and finished seventh in the balloting for AL MVP, behind Dustin Pedroia, Justin Morneau, Kevin Youkilis, Joe Mauer, Carlos Quentin, and Francisco Rodríguez.
==== 2009 ====
Hamilton endured an injury-plagued season in 2009.
In spring training, Hamilton led all players in RBIs, with 27, and total bases, with 59, in 81 at-bats. He hit a 460 ft (140 m) home run into the right field home run porch off Angels reliever Shane Loux in the bottom of the eighth inning on May 15 in Arlington. Then, in the same series against the Angels, Hamilton leaped at the wall in center field and slammed into it, robbing Howie Kendrick of a possible home run.
In June 2009, Hamilton went on the disabled list with an abdominal strain caused by the May wall collision. On June 9, Hamilton underwent a successful surgical procedure to repair the tear. He was expected to be out for four to six weeks.
Though injured, Hamilton was selected by fan voting to play in the 2009 All-Star game.
In August 2009, Hamilton acknowledged that he had become intoxicated at an Arizona bar in January and had been photographed "in lurid poses" with women other than his wife. Hamilton apologized for his behavior.
Hamilton batted .268 with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs in 2009.
==== 2010: MVP season and trip to World Series ====
In 2010, Hamilton was moved to left field to make room for Julio Borbon in center field. As in his prior two seasons with the Rangers, Hamilton was selected to start in the 2010 All-Star Game. He was one of six members of the Rangers to represent the franchise at the 2010 All-Star Game. Hamilton entered the All-Star Break with a .346 batting average, tied for first in the AL with Miguel Cabrera.
On August 27, Hamilton set a Rangers record with his 24th three-hit game of the season. On September 4, Hamilton bruised his rib cage after making a leaping catch and crashing into an outfield wall. He was later found to have two fractured ribs. Hamilton returned to the lineup on October 1, hitting a home run the next day.
Hamilton hit for a league-leading .359 average in 2010, winning his first batting title. He also finished fourth in Major League Baseball in OBP (.411), first in slugging percentage (.633) and OPS (1.044), and tied for 10th in home runs (32), despite missing 29 games due to an injury.
On October 22, Hamilton and the Rangers won the 2010 ALCS, defeating the New York Yankees in six games. With four home runs and seven RBIs, Hamilton won the ALCS MVP Award.
The 2010 World Series was the Rangers' first-ever World Series. The Rangers were defeated by the San Francisco Giants, four games to one. Hamilton hit .100 with one home run and one run batted in.
Hamilton won the AL Players Choice Award for Outstanding Player in 2010. He also won a Silver Slugger Award. On November 23, 2010, Hamilton was voted the American League Most Valuable Player.
==== 2011: Second trip to World Series ====
On February 10, 2011, Hamilton avoided arbitration by signing a contract for two years and $24 million with the Rangers. On April 12, in Detroit, he suffered a fracture to his right humerus on a play at home plate. He returned to the Rangers' lineup on May 23, and went 2–4 against Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks, hitting his first home run of the season on the second pitch he saw during his first at-bat. He was an All-Star in 2011.
On July 7, during a home game at Rangers Ballpark, a 39-year-old firefighter died while catching a foul ball tossed into the stands by Hamilton. The fan, Shannon Stone, leaned over the rail to catch the ball and fell 20 feet. It was the third incident in which a fan fell out of the stands at Rangers Ballpark. On September 30, the son of the fallen firefighter threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Hamilton to start the American League Division Series.
In the 2011 season, Hamilton batted .298 with 25 home runs. He was third in the American League in sacrifice flies (10), sixth in intentional walks (13), and eighth in slugging percentage (.536).
The Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers four games to two in the 2011 American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series for the second consecutive season. In the 2011 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Rangers in seven games. Hamilton hit .241 with one home run and six runs batted in during the Series.
==== 2012: Continued success ====
On February 2, 2012, it was reported Hamilton had suffered a relapse with alcohol. Hamilton held a press conference on February 3, 2012, to apologize for his actions.
Hamilton hit .395 with nine home runs and 25 RBI during the month of April and was named the league's AL Player of the Month. His home run total for the month tied a franchise record for April with four other Rangers.
On May 8, in a 10–3 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, Hamilton registered multiple career-highs; he had five hits in five at-bats, hitting four two-run home runs and a double for a total of eight runs batted in. In doing this, he not only became just the 16th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in one game and the first to do so since Carlos Delgado in 2003, but also set the American League record for most total bases in a single game with 18. Hamilton was one base shy of tying the Major League record.
Hamilton was selected to appear in his fifth All-Star Game after accumulating the most fan votes by any player in the history of the All-Star Game selection process. José Bautista held the previous record with 7,454,753 votes in 2011 until Hamilton received 11,073,744 in 2012. The record stood until 2015, when Josh Donaldson received 14,090,188 votes.
Because Hamilton had been hitting .190 with a slugging percentage of .374 since June 1, Manager Ron Washington moved Hamilton to the fifth spot in the batting order before a game with the White Sox on July 29. Washington said he moved Hamilton in hopes of taking some of the pressure off of him. Hamilton responded quickly; on July 29, he recorded multiple walks for the first time in the month of July and did not record a strikeout for the first time in seven games. On July 30 he went 3–for–4 with a home run, his first game recording greater than two hits since May 11.
For the 2012 season, Hamilton hit .285 with 43 home runs and 128 runs batted in and finished in fifth place in the American League Most Valuable Player voting. He also won his third Silver Slugger Award. The Rangers lost the 2012 American League Wild Card Game to the Baltimore Orioles.
=== Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2013–2014) ===
On December 13, 2012, Hamilton agreed in principle to a five-year contract worth $125 million with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This deal became official on December 15. Hamilton's Angels tenure was not a successful one.
==== 2013 ====
During his first year with the Angels, Hamilton played in 151 games, batting .250 with 21 home runs and 79 RBIs.
==== 2014 ====
In the 2014 season, Hamilton batted .263 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs in 89 games. Hamilton incurred a thumb injury and a shoulder injury during the season.
In the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals, Hamilton went hitless (going 0-for-13 overall).
==== 2015 ====
In February 2015, Hamilton underwent shoulder surgery to repair a separated shoulder. While he was recovering, it was revealed he had a relapse into his drug addiction, which he voluntarily reported to MLB. An outside arbitrator ruled Hamilton's voluntary admission did not violate baseball's drug policy, and he could not be suspended. Despite the ruling, Angels owner Arte Moreno made comments to the media implying that he did not want Hamilton back on the team's roster. Furthermore, all Hamilton-related merchandise items were removed and recalled from all stores. The Players Association and several Angels players spoke up in Hamilton's defense. The Angels began to lay out a rehabilitation plan for him, but shortly afterwards, trade rumors were reported.
Hamilton was traded back to the Rangers on April 27, 2015, for cash or a player to be named later. The Angels remained responsible for paying most of the remaining money due to him under the five-year contract he signed with them in 2012. The contract that Hamilton signed with the Angels is widely regarded as one of the worst free agent signings in MLB history.
=== Second stint with the Texas Rangers (2015) ===
==== 2015 ====
After rehabilitating his injured shoulder between the Rangers' AA and AAA Minor League affiliates, Hamilton was called up to the MLB team on May 24, and was inserted into the starting lineup on May 25 in a Memorial Day matchup in Cleveland against the Indians. He recorded his first hit back with the Rangers on May 25. On May 28 of the same year, Hamilton returned to Texas for the first time in a Rangers uniform since leaving the team after the 2012 season. He received a standing ovation, hit a double on the first pitch he saw, and went 2–4 in the game, driving in the only run for his own team in a 5–1 loss. On May 29, Hamilton hit two home runs in his first multi-homer game with the Rangers since 2012, leading the team to a 7–4 victory. Two days later, he hit a pinch-hit two-run double vs. the Red Sox to win the game in walk-off fashion, 4–3. On July 30, 2015, Hamilton recorded four RBI in a 7–6 Rangers' win over the New York Yankees.
For the 2015 season, Hamilton hit .253 with eight home runs and 25 runs batted in in 50 games.
In the ALDS, Hamilton's first hit was a single in Game 3. This ended his postseason hitless streak at 31 at-bats, which tied for the second-longest such streak of all time.
==== 2016 ====
On May 25, 2016, it was announced that Hamilton would be out for the entire 2016 season after undergoing knee surgery for the third time in nine months. The Rangers activated Hamilton from the disabled list and released him on August 23.
==== 2017 ====
Hamilton did not play in 2017. On January 16, 2017, Texas re-signed Hamilton to a minor-league deal with intentions of him trying out at first base. On February 26, it was revealed Hamilton was experiencing discomfort in his left knee—the same knee on which he had undergone surgery during the 2016 season. On February 27, Hamilton underwent surgery on his left knee to repair torn cartilage that was causing discomfort. On April 21, the Rangers released Hamilton after revealing that he suffered a right knee injury while rehabilitating his left knee.
=== Career statistics and recognition ===
In 1,027 games over nine seasons, Hamilton posted a .290 batting average (1,134-for-3,909) with 609 runs, 234 doubles, 24 triples, 200 home runs, 701 RBI, 50 stolen bases, 352 bases on balls, .349 on-base percentage and .516 slugging percentage. Defensively, he recorded a .980 fielding percentage playing at all three outfield positions. In 42 postseason games, he hit .202 (33-for-163) with 18 runs, 9 doubles, 6 home runs, 23 RBI, 4 stolen bases and 15 walks for a .633 OPS overall. Hamilton was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2019.
== Personal life ==
=== Family ===
Hamilton was married to Katie (née Chadwick), the daughter of Michael Chadwick who helped guide him in his recovery from drugs and alcohol abuse for several years. They started dating in 2002 when he returned to Raleigh, and married in 2004. In early 2015, shortly after another substance-abuse relapse, Hamilton filed for divorce from Katie after 11 years of marriage. The couple had three daughters together, along with Katie's daughter from a previous relationship.
=== Drug addiction and alcoholism ===
Prior to the 2001 season, Hamilton was involved in an automobile accident. His mother and father were also injured but recovered. The 2001 season marked the beginning of Hamilton's drug and alcohol use, and he made his first attempt at rehabilitation. He first stopped using drugs and alcohol after being confronted by his grandmother, Mary Holt. During spring training of the 2003 season, Hamilton failed his first drug test. Hamilton was hoping to return to spring training with the Devil Rays in 2004, though was suspended 30 days and fined for violating the drug policy put in place by MLB. A "failed" test is one in which there is a positive result for a drug more severe than marijuana. A month later, MLB suspended him for the entire season after he failed two more tests.
Hamilton was out of baseball for almost three years. He made several attempts at rehabilitation. He was arrested before the 2005 season for smashing the windshield of a friend's truck. The Rays placed Hamilton on the restricted list, moving him off the 40-man roster. After another relapse, MLB suspended him for the entire 2006 season.
During the days of his most prolific abuse, Hamilton met a businessman named Michael Chadwick, who made an attempt to steer him in the right direction. It was through this relationship Hamilton ended up meeting his wife, Katie, who was Chadwick's daughter. Hamilton's return to baseball was helped along by former minor league outfielder and manager Roy Silver, who owned a baseball academy in Florida. After hearing about Hamilton's desire to return to baseball, Silver offered the use of his facility if Hamilton agreed to work there. Hamilton first started working at Silver's Academy in January 2006. His duties included cleaning the bathrooms and raking the infield. Hamilton spent his nights sleeping on an air mattress in one of the facility's offices.
In 2007, The New York Times reported that Hamilton provided urine samples for drug testing at least three times per week to comply with the provisions of MLB's drug policy.
A portion of the story of Hamilton's return to sobriety was shown on The Learning Channel's reality show "The Real Deal". "A Home Run for Trademark" aired March 31, 2007, and chronicled the renovation of Shoeless Joe Jackson's house during 2006. Richard C. Davis, the owner of Trademark Properties, hired Hamilton as the construction foreman. Davis was negotiating the purchase of a minor league baseball team and entertaining the idea of giving Hamilton a chance to join the team.
In May 2008, Hamilton said he had not used drugs or alcohol since October 6, 2005.
When giving a brief summary of his recovery, Hamilton has said: "It's a God thing." He has stated publicly that he believes that Jesus brought him back from the brink, and that faith is what keeps him going. Hamilton also wrote an autobiography called Beyond Belief which explains how he quit drugs and alcohol and found a relationship with God.
In late 2008, Hamilton, among other celebrities such as Brian Welch and Greg Ellis, appeared in testimonial videos entitled "I Am Second". In his video, Hamilton shared his story of recovering from drug use with the help of his Christian faith.
Hamilton confirmed that he had suffered a relapse in early 2009 after photos were released in August 2009. Sports website Deadspin posted photos of Hamilton shirtless in a bar in Tempe, Arizona with several women. According to reports, witnesses saw Hamilton drinking, heard him asking where he could obtain cocaine, and heard him reveal his plans to go to a strip club later that evening. The photos do not show Hamilton drinking or taking any illegal drugs.
Although this news did not break until August 2009, Hamilton revealed he had informed his wife, the Texas Rangers, and MLB the day after the incident occurred. Hamilton called a press conference on August 8 to discuss the photos. Regarding the incident, Hamilton said:
Obviously it was one of those things that reinforce that I can't have alcohol. I got away from the one thing that kept me on the straight and narrow and that was my relationship with the Lord. That should always come first. Hamilton also admitted he had very little memory of the night after getting drunk. MLB tested Hamilton for illegal drugs two days after the incident and he passed that test.
Hamilton's Rangers teammates—mindful of his past struggles—chose to celebrate major events (such as winning the 2010 American League Division Series and 2010 American League Championship Series) with ginger ale instead of champagne. The Rangers repeated the celebrations with ginger ale the following postseason when they won their second consecutive pennant and reached the 2011 World Series.
On February 2, 2012, it was reported Hamilton had suffered a relapse with alcohol. He claimed to have had two or three drinks before inviting his friend and then-teammate, Ian Kinsler, to talk at a bar. Hamilton held a press conference on February 3, 2012, to apologize for his actions.
In February 2015, Hamilton relapsed, using both cocaine and alcohol. Hamilton voluntarily reported his relapse to MLB. An outside arbitrator ruled Hamilton's voluntary admission did not violate baseball's drug policy, and he could not be suspended.
=== Legal issues ===
Hamilton was arrested on October 30, 2019, and charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony, after being accused of physically assaulting his oldest daughter. On April 8, 2020, Hamilton was indicted on a felony charge for allegedly beating his daughter. The charge carried a sentence of up to ten years in prison. On February 22, 2022, Hamilton pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint, a misdemeanor. Hamilton received a year of probation, was fined $500, and was ordered to perform 20 hours of community service; the court also imposed other requirements upon him. According to the court, the charge against him will be dismissed if he satisfies the probation requirements. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force | United States Air Force | The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the Air Force was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.
The Department of the Air Force, which serves as the USAF's headquarters and executive department, is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the secretary of defense and is appointed by the president with Senate confirmation. The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the chief of staff of the Air Force, who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As directed by the secretary of defense and secretary of the Air Force, certain Air Force components are assigned to unified combatant commands. Combatant commanders are delegated operational authority of the forces assigned to them, while the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force retain administrative authority over their members.
Along with conducting independent air operations, the United States Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. The world's largest air force, the service operates approximately 5,500 military aircraft, has a $179.7 billion budget and is the second largest branch of the DoD, with 321,848 active duty airmen, 147,879 civilian personnel, 68,927 reserve airmen, 105,104 Air National Guard airmen, and approximately 65,000 Civil Air Patrol auxiliaries. USAF operates the world's largest strategic bomber force at 130 aircraft, and the largest crewed stealth aircraft force at 636 fighters and bombers. USAF also operates 400 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles with 800 available nuclear warheads, and 1,205 nuclear weapons deliverable by aircraft, together 49% of the US nuclear stockpile.
== Mission, vision, and functions ==
=== Missions ===
According to the National Security Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 502), which created the USAF:
In general, the United States Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned. It shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peacetime components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war.
Section 9062 of Title 10 US Code defines the purpose of the USAF as:
to preserve the peace and security, and provide for the defense, of the United States, the Territories, Commonwealths, and possessions, and any areas occupied by the United States;
to support national policy;
to implement national objectives;
to overcome any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United States.
=== Core missions ===
The five core missions of the Air Force have not changed dramatically since the Air Force became independent in 1947, but they have now evolved and are articulated as air superiority, global integrated ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. The purpose of all of these core missions is to provide what the Air Force states as global vigilance, global reach, and global power.
==== Air superiority ====
Air superiority is "that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, air, and special operations forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force" (JP 1-02).
Offensive Counter-Air (OCA) is defined as "offensive operations to destroy, disrupt, or neutralize enemy aircraft, missiles, launch platforms, and their supporting structures and systems both before and after launch, but as close to their source as possible" (JP 1-02). OCA is the preferred method of countering air and missile threats since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source and typically enjoys the initiative. OCA comprises attack operations, sweep, escort, and suppression/destruction of enemy air defense.
Defensive Counter-Air (DCA) is defined as "all the defensive measures designed to detect, identify, intercept, and destroy or negate enemy forces attempting to penetrate or attack through friendly airspace" (JP 1-02). In concert with OCA operations, a major goal of DCA operations is to provide an area from which forces can operate, secure from air and missile threats. The DCA mission comprises both active and passive defense measures. Active defense is "the employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy" (JP 1-02). It includes both ballistic missile defense and airborne threat defense and encompasses point defense, area defense, and high-value airborne asset defense. Passive defense is "measures taken to reduce the probability of and to minimize the effects of damage caused by hostile action without the intention of taking the initiative" (JP 1-02). It includes detection and warning; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense; camouflage, concealment, and deception; hardening; reconstitution; dispersion; redundancy; and mobility, counter-measures, and stealth.
Airspace control is "a process used to increase operational effectiveness by promoting the safe, efficient, and flexible use of airspace" (JP 1-02). It promotes the safe, efficient, and flexible use of airspace, mitigates the risk of fratricide, enhances both offensive and defensive operations, and permits greater agility of air operations as a whole. It both deconflicts and facilitates the integration of joint air operations.
==== Global integrated ISR ====
Global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) is the synchronization and integration of the planning and operation of sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, dissemination systems across the globe to conduct current and future operations.
Planning and directing is "the determination of intelligence requirements, development of appropriate intelligence architecture, preparation of a collection plan, and issuance of orders and requests to information collection agencies" (JP 2-01, Joint and National Intelligence Support to Military Operations). These activities enable the synchronization and integration of collection, processing, exploitation, analysis, and dissemination activities/resources to meet information requirements of national and military decision-makers.
Collection is "the acquisition of information and the provision of this information to processing elements" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to obtain required information to satisfy intelligence needs (via use of sources and methods in all domains). Collection activities span the Range of Military Operations (ROMO).
Processing and exploitation is "the conversion of collected information into forms suitable to the production of intelligence" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to transform, extract, and make available collected information suitable for further analysis or action across the ROMO.
Analysis and production is "the conversion of processed information into intelligence through the integration, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of all source data and the preparation of intelligence products in support of known or anticipated user requirements" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to integrate, evaluate, and interpret information from available sources to create a finished intelligence product for presentation or dissemination to enable increased situational awareness.
Dissemination and integration is "the delivery of intelligence to users in a suitable form and the application of the intelligence to appropriate missions, tasks, and functions" (JP 2-01). It provides the ability to present information and intelligence products across the ROMO enabling understanding of the operational environment to military and national decision-makers.
==== Rapid global mobility ====
Rapid global mobility is the timely deployment, employment, sustainment, augmentation, and redeployment of military forces and capabilities across the ROMO. It provides joint military forces the capability to move from place to place while retaining the ability to fulfill their primary mission. Rapid Global Mobility is essential to virtually every military operation, allowing forces to reach foreign or domestic destinations quickly, thus seizing the initiative through speed and surprise.
Airlift is "operations to transport and deliver forces and materiel through the air in support of strategic, operational, or tactical objectives" (Annex 3–17, Air Mobility Operations). The rapid and flexible options afforded by airlift allow military forces and national leaders the ability to respond and operate in a variety of situations and time frames. The global reach capability of airlift provides the ability to apply US power worldwide by delivering forces to crisis locations. It serves as a US presence that demonstrates resolve and compassion in humanitarian crisis.
Air refueling is "the refueling of an aircraft in flight by another aircraft" (JP 1-02). Air refueling extends presence, increases range, and serves as a force multiplier. It allows air assets to more rapidly reach any trouble spot around the world with less dependence on forward staging bases or overflight/landing clearances. Air refueling significantly expands the options available to a commander by increasing the range, payload, persistence, and flexibility of receiver aircraft.
Aeromedical evacuation is "the movement of patients under medical supervision to and between medical treatment facilities by air transportation" (JP 1-02). JP 4-02, Health Service Support, further defines it as "the fixed wing movement of regulated casualties to and between medical treatment facilities, using organic and/or contracted mobility airframes, with aircrew trained explicitly for this mission." Aeromedical evacuation forces can operate as far forward as fixed-wing aircraft are able to conduct airland operations.
==== Global strike ====
Global precision attack is the ability to hold at risk or strike rapidly and persistently, with a wide range of munitions, any target and to create swift, decisive, and precise effects across multiple domains.
Strategic attack is defined as "offensive action specifically selected to achieve national strategic objectives. These attacks seek to weaken the adversary's ability or will to engage in conflict, and may achieve strategic objectives without necessarily having to achieve operational objectives as a precondition" (Annex 3–70, Strategic Attack).
Air Interdiction is defined as "air operations conducted to divert, disrupt, delay, or destroy the enemy's military potential before it can be brought to bear effectively against friendly forces, or to otherwise achieve JFC objectives. Air Interdiction is conducted at such distance from friendly forces that detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of friendly forces is not required" (Annex 3-03, Counterland Operations).
Close Air Support is defined as "air action by fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces and which require detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of those forces" (JP 1-02). This can be as a pre-planned event or on demand from an alert posture (ground or airborne). It can be conducted across the ROMO.
The purpose of nuclear deterrence operations (NDO) is to operate, maintain, and secure nuclear forces to achieve an assured capability to deter an adversary from taking action against vital US interests. In the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. The sub-elements of this function are:
Assure/Dissuade/Deter is a mission set derived from the Air Force's readiness to carry out the nuclear strike operations mission as well as from specific actions taken to assure allies as a part of extended deterrence. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD and delivering them contributes to promoting security and is also an integral part of this mission. Moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. The Air Force maintains and presents credible deterrent capabilities through successful visible demonstrations and exercises that assure allies, dissuade proliferation, deter potential adversaries from actions that threaten US national security or the populations, and deploy military forces of the US, its allies, and friends.
Nuclear strike is the ability of nuclear forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. If a crisis occurs, rapid generation and, if necessary, deployment of nuclear strike capabilities will demonstrate US resolve and may prompt an adversary to alter the course of action deemed threatening to our national interest. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level and lead to a rapid cessation of hostilities. Post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. The Air Force may present a credible force posture in either the Continental United States, within a theater of operations, or both to effectively deter the range of potential adversaries envisioned in the 21st century. This requires the ability to engage targets globally using a variety of methods; therefore, the Air Force should possess the ability to induct, train, assign, educate and exercise individuals and units to rapidly and effectively execute missions that support US NDO objectives. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of nuclear operations to ensure high levels of performance.
Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations. Because of their political and military importance, destructive power, and the potential consequences of an accident or unauthorized act, nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon systems require special consideration and protection against risks and threats inherent in their peacetime and wartime environments. In conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, the Air Force achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. This program applies to materiel, personnel, and procedures that contribute to the safety, security, and control of nuclear weapons, thus assuring no nuclear accidents, incidents, loss, or unauthorized or accidental use (a Broken Arrow incident). The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements. Adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Force's ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission. Positive nuclear command, control, communications; effective nuclear weapons security; and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function.
==== Command and control ====
Command and control is "the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission. Command and control functions are performed through an arrangement of personnel, equipment, communications, facilities, and procedures employed by a commander in planning, directing, coordinating, and controlling forces and operations in the accomplishment of the mission" (JP 1-02). This core function includes all of the C2-related capabilities and activities associated with air, cyberspace, nuclear, and agile combat support operations to achieve strategic, operational, and tactical objectives.
At the strategic level command and control, the US determines national or multinational security objectives and guidance, and develops and uses national resources to accomplish these objectives. These national objectives in turn provide the direction for developing overall military objectives, which are used to develop the objectives and strategy for each theater.
At the operational level command and control, campaigns and major operations are planned, conducted, sustained, and assessed to accomplish strategic goals within theaters or areas of operations. These activities imply a broader dimension of time or space than do tactics; they provide the means by which tactical successes are exploited to achieve strategic and operational objectives.
Tactical Level Command and Control is where individual battles and engagements are fought. The tactical level of war deals with how forces are employed, and the specifics of how engagements are conducted and targets attacked. The goal of tactical level C2 is to achieve commander's intent and desired effects by gaining and keeping offensive initiative.
== History ==
The origins of the United States Air Force can be traced back to the Union Army Balloon Corps of the American Civil War. The Union Balloon Corps, established by aeronaut Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, provided aerial reconnaissance for the Union Army. This early use of balloons for military purposes marked the beginning of modern aerial warfare and set the stage for the development of the United States Air Force.
The U.S. War Department created the first antecedent of the U.S. Air Force, as a part of the U.S. Army, on 1 August 1907, which through a succession of changes of organization, titles, and missions advanced toward eventual independence 40 years later. In World War II, almost 68,000 U.S. airmen died helping to win the war, with only the infantry suffering more casualties. In practice, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) was virtually independent of the Army during World War II, and in virtually every way functioned as an independent service branch, but airmen still pressed for formal independence. The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947, which established the Department of the Air Force, but it was not until 18 September 1947, when the first secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office that the Air Force was officially formed as an independent service branch.
The act created the National Military Establishment (renamed Department of Defense in 1949), which was composed of three subordinate Military Departments, namely the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the newly created Department of the Air Force. Prior to 1947, the responsibility for military aviation was shared between the Army Air Forces and its predecessor organizations (for land-based operations), the Navy (for sea-based operations from aircraft carriers and amphibious aircraft), and the Marine Corps (for close air support of Marine Corps operations). The 1940s proved to be important for military aviation in other ways as well. In 1947, Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in his X-1 rocket-powered aircraft, beginning a new era of aeronautics in America.
=== Antecedents ===
The predecessor organizations in the Army of today's Air Force are:
Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps (1 August 1907 – 18 July 1914)
Aviation Section, Signal Corps (18 July 1914 – 20 May 1918)
Division of Military Aeronautics (20 May 1918 to 24 May 1918)
U.S. Army Air Service (24 May 1918 to 2 July 1926)
U.S. Army Air Corps (2 July 1926 to 20 June 1941) and
U.S. Army Air Forces (20 June 1941 to 18 September 1947)
=== 21st century ===
During the early 2000s, two USAF aircraft procurement projects took longer than expected, the KC-X and F-35 programs. As a result, the USAF was setting new records for average aircraft age.
Since 2005, the USAF has placed a strong focus on the improvement of Basic Military Training (BMT) for enlisted personnel. While the intense training has become longer, it also has shifted to include a deployment phase. This deployment phase, now called the BEAST, places the trainees in a simulated combat environment that they may experience once they deploy. While the trainees do tackle the massive obstacle courses along with the BEAST, the other portions include defending and protecting their base of operations, forming a structure of leadership, directing search and recovery, and basic self aid buddy care. During this event, the Military Training Instructors (MTI) act as mentors and opposing forces in a deployment exercise. In November 2022, the USAF announced that it will discontinue BEAST and replace it with another deployment training program called PACER FORGE.
In 2007, the USAF undertook a Reduction-in-Force (RIF). Because of budget constraints, the USAF planned to reduce the service's size from 360,000 active duty personnel to 316,000. The size of the active duty force in 2007 was roughly 64% of that of what the USAF was at the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. However, the reduction was ended at approximately 330,000 personnel in 2008 in order to meet the demand signal of combatant commanders and associated mission requirements. These same constraints have seen a sharp reduction in flight hours for crew training since 2005 and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel directing Airmen's Time Assessments.
On 5 June 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accepted the resignations of both the secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne, and the chief of staff of the Air Force, General T. Michael Moseley. In his decision to fire both men Gates cited "systemic issues associated with... declining Air Force nuclear mission focus and performance". Left unmentioned by Gates was that he had repeatedly clashed with Wynne and Moseley over other important non-nuclear related issues to the service. This followed an investigation into two incidents involving mishandling of nuclear weapons: specifically a nuclear weapons incident aboard a B-52 flight between Minot AFB and Barksdale AFB, and an accidental shipment of nuclear weapons components to Taiwan. To put more emphasis on nuclear assets, the USAF established the nuclear-focused Air Force Global Strike Command on 24 October 2008, which later assumed control of all USAF bomber aircraft.
On 26 June 2009, the USAF released a force structure plan that cut fighter aircraft and shifted resources to better support nuclear, irregular and information warfare. On 23 July 2009, The USAF released their Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Flight Plan, detailing Air Force UAS plans through 2047. One third of the planes that the USAF planned to buy in the future were to be unmanned. According to Air Force chief scientist Greg Zacharias the USAF anticipates having hypersonic weapons by the 2020s, hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as remotely-piloted vehicles, or RPAs) by the 2030s and recoverable hypersonic RPAs aircraft by the 2040s. The USAF intends to deploy a Sixth-generation jet fighter by the mid-2030s.
On 22 October 2023, the USAF conducted its first-ever trilateral exercise with the South Korean and Japanese air forces near the Korean Peninsula. On 29 November 2023, a USAF Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey crashed in the Japan island of Yakushima killing 1 airman.
In 2024, citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Air Force refused to comply with an EPA order that they develop a cleanup plan for drinking water around Tucson, Arizona after the region's groundwater was contaminated by PFAS runoff from nearby Air Force bases.
General David Allvin, the head of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), stated earlier in 2024 that the United States cannot rely on its air dominance for an extended period.
=== Conflicts ===
The United States Air Force has been involved in many wars, conflicts and operations using military air operations. The USAF possesses the lineage and heritage of its predecessor organizations, which played a pivotal role in U.S. military operations since 1907:
Mexican Expedition as Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
World War I as Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and United States Army Air Service
World War II as United States Army Air Forces
Cold War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Contemporary Historical Examination of Current Operations (CHECO)
Operation Eagle Claw (1980 Iranian hostage rescue)
Operation Urgent Fury (1983 US invasion of Grenada)
Operation El Dorado Canyon (1986 US Bombing of Libya)
Operation Just Cause (1989–1990 US invasion of Panama)
Gulf War (1990–1991)
Operation Desert Shield (1990–1991)
Operation Desert Storm (1991)
Operation Southern Watch (1992–2003 Iraq no-fly zone)
Operation Deliberate Force (1995 NATO bombing in Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Operation Northern Watch (1997–2003 Iraq no-fly zone)
Operation Desert Fox (1998 bombing of Iraq)
Operation Allied Force (1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia)
Afghanistan War (2001–2021)
Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–2014)
Operation Freedom's Sentinel (2015–2021)
Iraq War (2003–2011)
Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2010)
Operation New Dawn (2010–2011)
Operation Odyssey Dawn (2011 Libyan no-fly zone)
Operation Inherent Resolve (2014–present: intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)
In addition since the USAF dwarfs all other U.S. and allied air components, it often provides support for allied forces in conflicts to which the United States is otherwise not involved, such as the 2013 French campaign in Mali.
=== Humanitarian operations ===
The USAF has also taken part in numerous humanitarian operations. Some of the more major ones include the following:
Berlin Airlift (Operation Vittles), 1948–1949
Operation Safe Haven, 1956–1957
Operations Babylift, New Life, Frequent Wind, and New Arrivals, 1975
Operation Provide Comfort, 1991
Operation Sea Angel, 1991
Operation Provide Hope, 1992–1993
Operation Provide Promise, 1992–1996
Operation Unified Assistance, December 2004 – April 2005
Operation Unified Response, 14 January 2010 – 22 March 2010
Operation Tomodachi, 12 March 2011 – 1 May 2011
== Culture ==
The culture of the United States Air Force is primarily driven by pilots, at first those piloting bombers (driven originally by the Bomber Mafia), followed by fighters (Fighter Mafia).
In response to a 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accepted in June 2009 the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley. Moseley's successor, General Norton A. Schwartz, a former airlift and special operations pilot, was the first officer appointed to that position who did not have a background as a fighter or bomber pilot. The Washington Post reported in 2010 that General Schwartz began to dismantle the rigid class system of the USAF, particularly in the officer corps.
In 2014, following morale and testing/cheating scandals in the Air Force's missile launch officer community, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James admitted that there remained a "systemic problem" in the USAF's management of the nuclear mission.
Daniel L. Magruder Jr. defines USAF culture as a combination of the rigorous application of advanced technology, individualism and progressive airpower theory. Major General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. adds that the U.S. Air Force's culture also includes an egalitarianism bred from officers perceiving themselves as their service's principal "warriors" working with small groups of enlisted airmen either as the service crew or the onboard crew of their aircraft. Air Force officers have never felt they needed the formal social "distance" from their enlisted force that is common in the other U.S. armed services. Although the paradigm is changing, for most of its history, the Air Force, completely unlike its sister services, has been an organization in which mostly its officers fought, not its enlisted force, the latter being primarily a rear echelon support force. When the enlisted force did go into harm's way, such as crew members of multi-crewed aircraft, the close comradeship of shared risk in tight quarters created traditions that shaped a somewhat different kind of officer/enlisted relationship than exists elsewhere in the military.
Cultural and career issues in the U.S. Air Force have been cited as one of the reasons for the shortfall in needed UAV operators. In spite of demand for UAVs or drones to provide round the clock coverage for American troops during the Iraq War, the USAF did not establish a new career field for piloting them until the last year of that war and in 2014 changed its RPA training syllabus again, in the face of large aircraft losses in training, and in response to a GAO report critical of handling of drone programs. Paul Scharre has reported that the cultural divide between the USAF and US Army has kept both services from adopting each other's drone handling innovations.
Many of the U.S. Air Force's formal and informal traditions are an amalgamation of those taken from the Royal Air Force (e.g., dining-ins/mess nights) or the experiences of its predecessor organizations such as the U.S. Army Air Service, U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Army Air Forces. Some of these traditions range from "Friday Name Tags" in flying units to an annual "Mustache Month". The use of "challenge coins" dates back to World War I when a member of one of the aero squadrons bought his entire unit medallions with their emblem, while another cultural tradition unique to the Air Force is the "roof stomp", practiced by Airmen to welcome a new commander or to commemorate another event, such as a retirement.
== Organization ==
=== Administrative organization ===
The Department of the Air Force is one of three military departments within the Department of Defense, and is managed by the civilian secretary of the Air Force, under the authority, direction, and control of the secretary of defense. The senior officials in the Office of the Secretary are the under secretary of the Air Force, four assistant secretaries of the Air Force and the general counsel, all of whom are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The senior uniformed leadership in the Air Staff is made up of the chief of staff of the Air Force and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force.
The directly subordinate commands and units are named Field Operating Agency (FOA), Direct Reporting Unit (DRU), and the currently unused Separate Operating Agency.
The Major Command (MAJCOM) is the superior hierarchical level of command. Including the Air Force Reserve Command, as of 30 September 2006, USAF has ten major commands. The Numbered Air Force (NAF) is a level of command directly under the MAJCOM, followed by Operational Command (now unused), Air Division (also now unused), Wing, Group, Squadron, and Flight.
=== Air Force structure and organization ===
Headquarters, United States Air Force (HQ USAF):
The major components of the U.S. Air Force, as of 28 August 2015, are the following:
Active duty forces
57 flying wings and 55 non-flying wings
nine flying groups, eight non-flying groups
134 flying squadrons
Air Force Reserve Command
35 flying wings
four flying groups
67 flying squadrons
Air National Guard
89 flying wings
101 flying squadrons
The USAF, including its Air Reserve Component (e.g., Air Force Reserve + Air National Guard), possesses a total of 302 flying squadrons.
=== Installations ===
=== Operational organization ===
The organizational structure as shown above is responsible for the peacetime organization, equipping, and training of air units for operational missions. When required to support operational missions, the secretary of defense (SECDEF) directs the secretary of the Air Force (SECAF) to execute a Change in Operational Control (CHOP) of these units from their administrative alignment to the operational command of a Regional Combatant commander (CCDR). In the case of AFSPC, AFSOC, PACAF, and USAFE units, forces are normally employed in-place under their existing CCDR. Likewise, AMC forces operating in support roles retain their componency to USTRANSCOM unless chopped to a Regional CCDR.
==== Air Expeditionary Task Force ====
"Chopped" units are referred to as forces. The top-level structure of these forces is the Air Expeditionary Task Force (AETF). The AETF is the Air Force presentation of forces to a CCDR for the employment of air power. Each CCDR is supported by a standing Component Numbered Air Force (C-NAF) to provide planning and execution of air forces in support of CCDR requirements. Each C-NAF consists of a Commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR) and AFFOR/A-staff, and an Air Operations Center (AOC). As needed to support multiple Joint Force Commanders (JFC) in the CCMD's Area of Responsibility (AOR), the C-NAF may deploy Air Component Coordinate Elements (ACCE) to liaise with the JFC. If the Air Force possesses the preponderance of air forces in a JFC's area of operations, the COMAFFOR will also serve as the Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC).
==== Commander, Air Force Forces ====
The commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR) is the senior USAF officer responsible for the employment of air power in support of JFC objectives. The COMAFFOR has a special staff and an A-Staff to ensure assigned or attached forces are properly organized, equipped, and trained to support the operational mission.
==== Air Operations Center ====
The Air Operations Center (AOC) is the JFACC's Command and Control (C2) center. Several AOCs have been established throughout the Air Force worldwide. These centers are responsible for planning and executing air power missions in support of JFC objectives.
==== Air Expeditionary Wings/Groups/Squadrons ====
The AETF generates air power to support CCMD objectives from Air Expeditionary Wings (AEW) or Air Expeditionary Groups (AEG). These units are responsible for receiving combat forces from Air Force MAJCOMs, preparing these forces for operational missions, launching and recovering these forces, and eventually returning forces to the MAJCOMs. Theater Air Control Systems control employment of forces during these missions.
== Personnel ==
The classification of any USAF job for officers or enlisted airmen is the Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC).
AFSCs range from officer specialties such as pilot, combat systems officer, special tactics, nuclear and missile operations, intelligence, cyberspace operations, judge advocate general (JAG), medical doctor, nurse or other fields, to various enlisted specialties. The latter range from flight combat operations such as loadmaster, to working in a dining facility to ensure that Airmen are properly fed. There are additional occupational fields such as computer specialties, mechanic specialties, enlisted aircrew, communication systems, cyberspace operations, avionics technicians, medical specialties, civil engineering, public affairs, hospitality, law, drug counseling, mail operations, security forces, and search and rescue specialties.
Beyond combat flight crew personnel, other combat USAF AFSCs are Special Tactics Officer, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Combat Rescue Officer, Pararescue, Security Forces, Combat Control, Tactical Air Control Party, Special Operations Weather Technician.
Nearly all enlisted career fields are "entry level", meaning that the USAF provides all training. Some enlistees are able to choose a particular field, or at least a field before actually joining, while others are assigned an AFSC at Basic Military Training (BMT). After BMT, new enlisted airmen attend a technical training school where they learn their particular AFSC. Second Air Force, a part of Air Education and Training Command, is responsible for nearly all enlisted technical training.
Training programs vary in length; for example, 3F1X1 (Services) has 29 days of tech school training, while 3E8X1 (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) is one year of training with a preliminary school and a main school consisting of over ten separate divisions, sometimes taking students close to two years to complete. Officer technical training conducted by Second Air Force can also vary by AFSC, while flight training for aeronautically rated officers conducted by AETC's Nineteenth Air Force can last well in excess of one year.
USAF rank is divided between enlisted airmen, non-commissioned officers, and commissioned officers, and ranges from the enlisted Airman Basic (E-1) to the commissioned officer rank of General (O-10), however in times of war officers may be appointed to the higher grade of General of the Air Force. Enlisted promotions are granted based on a combination of test scores, years of experience, and selection board approval while officer promotions are based on time-in-grade and a promotion selection board. Promotions among enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers are generally designated by increasing numbers of insignia chevrons. Commissioned officer rank is designated by bars, oak leaves, a silver eagle, and anywhere from one to five stars. General of the Air Force Henry "Hap" Arnold is the only individual in the history of the US Air Force to attain the rank of five-star general.
As of 30 June 2017, 70% of the Air Force is White, 15% Black and 4.8% Asian. The average age is 35 and 21% of its members are female.
=== Commissioned officers ===
The commissioned officer ranks of the USAF are divided into three categories: company grade officers, field grade officers, and general officers. Company grade officers are those officers in pay grades O-1 to O-3, while field grade officers are those in pay grades O-4 to O-6, and general officers are those in pay grades of O-7 and above.
Air Force officer promotions are governed by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980 and its companion Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act (ROPMA) for officers in the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard. DOPMA also establishes limits on the number of officers that can serve at any given time in the Air Force. Currently, promotion from second lieutenant to first lieutenant is virtually guaranteed after two years of satisfactory service. The promotion from first lieutenant to captain is competitive after successfully completing another two years of service, with a selection rate varying between 99% and 100%. Promotion to major through major general is through a formal selection board process, while promotions to lieutenant general and general are contingent upon nomination to specific general officer positions and subject to U.S. Senate approval.
During the board process, an officer's record is reviewed by a selection board at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. At the 10 to 11-year mark, captains will take part in a selection board to major. If not selected, they will meet a follow-on board to determine if they will be allowed to remain in the Air Force. Promotion from major to lieutenant colonel is similar and occurs approximately between the fourteen year and the fifteen year mark, where a certain percentage of majors will be in zone (i.e., "on time") or above zone (i.e., "late") for promotion to lieutenant colonel. This process will repeat at the 18-year mark to the 21-year mark for promotion to full colonel.
The Air Force has the largest ratio of general officers to total strength of all of the U.S. Armed Forces and this ratio has continued to increase even as the force has shrunk from its Cold War highs.
=== Warrant officers ===
Although provisions were made in Title 10 of the United States Code for the secretary of the Air Force to appoint warrant officers, the Air Force had not used warrant officer grades for many years, and, along with the Space Force, were the only U.S. Armed Services not to do so until 2024. The Air Force inherited warrant officer ranks from the Army at its inception in 1947. The Air Force stopped appointing warrant officers in 1959, the same year the first promotions were made to the new top enlisted grade, chief master sergeant. The remaining warrant officers were slowly phased out.
The last active duty Air Force warrant officer, CWO4 James H. Long, retired in 1980, and the last Air Force Reserve warrant officer, CWO4 Bob Barrow, retired in 1992. Upon his retirement, he was honorarily promoted to CWO5, the only person in the Air Force ever to hold this grade. Since Barrow's retirement, the Air Force warrant officer ranks, while still authorized by law, were not used.
It was announced at the AFA Warfare Symposium on 12 February 2024, that warrant officer ranks in the cyber and information technology fields would be reintroduced, beginning in FY25. It was stated that this effort was to retain talent in these technical fields for airmen who did not wish to pursue a leadership path. The Air Force initially wanted a class of 30 warrant officers that would begin training by the summer 2024. By the end of July 2024, 78 airmen were selected to be among the first Air Force warrant officers in over 66 years, more than double than originally estimated. The 78 airmen will be spread out across three training classes, with the first starting in October 2024. On December 6, 2024, 30 airmen graduated from the Air Force's Warrant Officer Training School located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. These are the first warrant officers to serve in the U.S. Air Force since 1992. The warrant officer candidates graduated as either Warrant Officer 1 or Chief Warrant Officer 2.
=== Enlisted airmen ===
Enlisted airmen have pay grades from E-1 (entry level) to E-9 (senior enlisted). While all USAF personnel, enlisted and officer, are referred to as airmen, in the same manner that all Army personnel, enlisted and officer, are referred to as soldiers, the term also refers to the pay grades of E-1 through E-4, which are below the level of non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Above the pay grade of E-4 (i.e., pay grades E-5 through E-9) all ranks fall into the category of NCO and are further subdivided into "NCOs" (pay grades E-5 and E-6) and "senior NCOs" (pay grades E-7 through E-9); the term "junior NCO" is sometimes used to refer to staff sergeants and technical sergeants (pay grades E-5 and E-6).
The USAF, along with the US Space Force, are the only branches of the U.S. military where NCO status is achieved when an enlisted person reaches the pay grade of E-5. In all other branches, NCO status is generally achieved at the pay grade of E-4 (e.g., a corporal in the Army and Marine Corps, Petty Officer Third Class in the Navy and Coast Guard). The Air Force mirrored the Army from 1976 to 1991 with an E-4 being either a senior airman wearing three stripes without a star or a sergeant (referred to as "buck sergeant"), which was noted by the presence of the central star and considered an NCO. Despite not being an NCO, a senior airman who has completed Airman Leadership School can be a supervisor according to the AFI 36–2618.
=== Uniforms ===
The first USAF dress uniform, in 1947, was dubbed and patented "Uxbridge blue" after "Uxbridge 1683 blue", developed at the former Bachman-Uxbridge Worsted Company. The current service dress uniform, which was adopted in 1994, consists of a three-button coat with decorative pockets, matching trousers, and either a service cap or flight cap, all in Shade 1620, "Air Force blue" (a darker purplish-blue). This is worn with a light blue shirt (shade 1550) and shade 1620 herringbone patterned necktie. Silver "U.S." pins are worn on the collar of the coat, with a surrounding silver ring for enlisted airmen. Enlisted airmen wear sleeve rank on both the jacket and shirt, while officers wear metal rank insignia pinned onto the epaulet loops on the coat, and Air Force blue slide-on epaulet loops on the shirt. USAF personnel assigned to base honor guard duties wear, for certain occasions, a modified version of the standard service dress uniform that includes silver trim on the sleeves and trousers, with the addition of a ceremonial belt (if necessary), service cap with silver trim and Hap Arnold Device (instead of the seal of the United States worn on the regular cap), and a silver aiguillette placed on the left shoulder seam and all devices and accoutrements.
The Airman Combat Uniform (ACU) in the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) replaced the previous Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) on 1 October 2018.
=== Awards and badges ===
In addition to basic uniform clothing, various badges are used by the USAF to indicate a billet assignment or qualification-level for a given assignment. Badges can also be used as merit-based or service-based awards. Over time, various badges have been discontinued and are no longer distributed.
=== Training ===
All enlisted airmen attend Basic Military Training (BMT) at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for 7+1⁄2 weeks. Individuals who have prior service of over 24 months of active duty in the other service branches who seek to enlist in the Air Force must go through a 10-day Air Force familiarization course rather than enlisted BMT, however prior service opportunities are severely limited.
Officers may be commissioned upon graduation from the United States Air Force Academy, upon graduation from another college or university through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) program, or through the Air Force Officer Training School (OTS). OTS, located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama since 1993, in turn encompasses two separate commissioning programs: Basic Officer Training (BOT), which is for officer candidates for the Regular Air Force and the Air Force Reserve; and the Academy of Military Science (AMS), which is for officer candidates of the Air National Guard.
The Air Force also provides Commissioned Officer Training (COT) for officers of all three components who are direct-commissioned into medicine, law, religion, biological sciences, or healthcare administration. COT is fully integrated into the OTS program and today encompasses extensive coursework as well as field exercises in leadership, confidence, fitness, and deployed-environment operations.
==== Air Force Fitness Test ====
The US Air Force Fitness Test (AFFT) is designed to test the abdominal circumference, muscular strength/endurance and cardiovascular respiratory fitness of airmen in the USAF. As part of the Fit to Fight program, the USAF adopted a more stringent physical fitness assessment; the new fitness program was put into effect on 1 June 2010. The annual ergo-cycle test which the USAF had used for several years had been replaced in 2004. In the AFFT, Airmen are given a score based on performance consisting of four components: waist circumference, the sit-up, the push-up, and a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) run. Airmen can potentially earn a score of 100, with the run counting as 60%, waist circumference as 20%, and both strength tests counting as 10% each. A passing score is 75 points. Effective 1 July 2010, the AFFT is administered by the base Fitness Assessment Cell (FAC), and is required twice a year. Personnel earning a score over 90% may test once a year. Additionally, only meeting the minimum standards on each one of these tests will not get you a passing score of 75%, and failing any one component will result in a failure for the entire test.
== Aircraft inventory ==
The U.S. Air Force has a total force of approximately 5,500 aircraft. Of these, an estimated 4,131 are in active service. Until 1962, the Army and Air Force maintained one system of aircraft naming, while the U.S. Navy maintained a separate system. In 1962, these were unified into a single system heavily reflecting the Army and Air Force method. For more complete information on the workings of this system, refer to United States military aircraft designation systems. The various aircraft of the Air Force include:
=== A – Attack ===
The attack aircraft of the USAF are designed to attack targets on the ground and are often deployed as close air support for, and in proximity to, U.S. ground forces. The proximity to friendly forces require precision strikes from these aircraft that are not always possible with bomber aircraft. Their role is tactical rather than strategic, operating at the front of the battle rather than against targets deeper in the enemy's rear. Current USAF attack aircraft are operated by Air Combat Command, Pacific Air Forces, and Air Force Special Operations Command. On 1 August 2022, USSOCOM selected the Air Tractor-L3Harris AT-802U Sky Warden as a result of the Armed Overwatch program. As of 2025, 62 are on order.
A-10C Thunderbolt II
AC-130J Ghostrider
OA-1K Skyraider II
=== B – Bomber ===
US Air Force bombers are strategic weapons, primarily used for long range strike missions with either conventional or nuclear ordnance. Traditionally used for attacking strategic targets, today many bombers are also used in the tactical mission, such as providing close air support for ground forces and tactical interdiction missions. All Air Force bombers are under Global Strike Command.
The service's B-2A aircraft entered service in the 1990s, its B-1B aircraft in the 1980s and its current B-52H aircraft in the early 1960s. The B-52 Stratofortress airframe design is over 60 years old and the B-52H aircraft currently in the active inventory were all built between 1960 and 1962. The B-52H is scheduled to remain in service for another 30 years, which would keep the airframe in service for nearly 90 years, an unprecedented length of service for any aircraft. The B-21 is projected to replace the B-2 and parts of the B-1B force by the mid-2020s.
B-1B Lancer
B-2A Spirit
B-52H Stratofortress
=== C – Cargo/Transport ===
Cargo aircraft are typically used to deliver troops, weapons and other military equipment by a variety of methods to any area of military operations around the world, usually outside of the commercial flight routes in uncontrolled airspace. The workhorses of the USAF airlift forces are the C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, and C-5 Galaxy. The CV-22 is used by the Air Force for special operations. It conducts long-range, special operations missions, and is equipped with extra fuel tanks and terrain-following radar. Some aircraft serve specialized cargo and transport roles such as executive or embassy support (C-12), Antarctic support (LC-130H), and AFSOC support (C-27J and C-146A). Although most of the US Air Force's cargo aircraft were specially designed with the Air Force in mind, some aircraft such as the C-12 Huron (Beechcraft Super King Air) and C-146 (Dornier 328) are militarized conversions of existing civilian aircraft. Transport aircraft are operated by Air Mobility Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, and United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa.
C-5M Galaxy
C-12C, C-12D, C-12F and C-12J Huron
C-17A Globemaster III
C-130H, LC-130H, and WC-130H Hercules
C-130J and C-130J-30 Super Hercules
C-146A Wolfhound
CV-22B Osprey
=== E – Special Electronic ===
The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent an advantage in the EMS and ensure friendly, unimpeded access to the EM spectrum portion of the information environment. Electronic warfare aircraft are used to keep airspaces friendly, and send critical information to anyone who needs it. They are often called "the eye in the sky". The roles of the aircraft vary greatly among the different variants to include electronic warfare and jamming (EC-130H), psychological operations and communications (EC-130J), airborne early warning and control (E-3), airborne command post (E-4B), range control (E-9A), and communications relay (E-11A, EQ-4B).
E-3B, E-3C and E-3G Sentry
E-4B "Nightwatch"
E-9A Widget
E-11A
EA-37B Compass Call
EC-130H Compass Call
EC-130J Commando Solo
=== F – Fighter ===
The fighter aircraft of the USAF are small, fast, and maneuverable military aircraft primarily used for air-to-air combat. Many of these fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are dual-roled as fighter-bombers (e.g., the F-16 Fighting Falcon); the term "fighter" is also sometimes used colloquially for dedicated ground-attack aircraft, such as the F-117 Nighthawk. Other missions include interception of bombers and other fighters, reconnaissance, and patrol. The F-16 is currently used by the USAF Air Demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds, while a small number of both man-rated and non-man-rated F-4 Phantom II are retained as QF-4 aircraft for use as full-scale aerial targets (FSATs) or as part of the USAF Heritage Flight program. These extant QF-4 aircraft are being replaced in the FSAT role by early model F-16 aircraft converted to QF-16 configuration. The USAF had 2,025 fighters in service as of September 2012.
F-15C and F-15D Eagle
F-15E Strike Eagle
F-15EX Eagle II
F-16C, F-16D Fighting Falcon
F-22A Raptor
F-35A Lightning II
=== H – Search and rescue ===
These aircraft are used for search and rescue and combat search and rescue on land or sea. The HC-130N/P aircraft are being replaced by newer HC-130J models. HH-60W are replacement aircraft for "G" models that have been lost in combat operations or accidents. New HH-60W helicopters are under development to replace the "G" model Pave Hawks. The Air Force also has four HH-60U "Ghost Hawks", which are converted "M" variants. They are based out of Area 51.
HC-130N and HC-130P Combat King
HC-130J Combat King II
HH-60G, HH-60U and HH-60W Pave Hawk
=== K – Tanker ===
The USAF's KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling aircraft are based on civilian jets. The USAF aircraft are equipped primarily for providing the fuel via a tail-mounted refueling boom, and can be equipped with "probe and drogue" refueling systems. Air-to-air refueling is extensively used in large-scale operations and also used in normal operations; fighters, bombers, and cargo aircraft rely heavily on the lesser-known "tanker" aircraft. This makes these aircraft an essential part of the Air Force's global mobility and the U.S. force projection. The KC-10A Extender was retired in 2024. The KC-46A Pegasus began to be delivered to USAF units in 2019.
KC-46A Pegasus
KC-135R and KC-135T Stratotanker
=== M – Multi-mission ===
Specialized multi-mission aircraft provide support for global special operations missions. These aircraft conduct infiltration, exfiltration, resupply, and refueling for SOF teams from improvised or otherwise short runways. The MC-130J is currently being fielded to replace "H" and "P" models used by U.S. Special Operations Command.
Initial generations of RPAs were primarily surveillance aircraft, but some were fitted with weaponry (such as the MQ-1 Predator, which used AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles). An armed RPA is known as an "unmanned combat aerial vehicle" (UCAV).
MC-130H Combat Talon II
MC-130J Commando II
MQ-9B Reaper
=== R – Reconnaissance ===
The reconnaissance aircraft of the USAF are used for monitoring enemy activity, originally carrying no armament. Although the U-2 is designated as a "utility" aircraft, it is a reconnaissance platform. The roles of the aircraft vary greatly among the different variants to include general monitoring, ballistic missile monitoring (RC-135S), electronic intelligence gathering (RC-135U), signal intelligence gathering (RC-135V/W), and high altitude surveillance (U-2).
Several unmanned remotely controlled reconnaissance aircraft (RPAs), have been developed and deployed. Recently, the RPAs have been seen to offer the possibility of cheaper, more capable fighting machines that can be used without risk to aircrews.
RC-135S Cobra Ball
RC-135U Combat Sent
RC-135V and RC-135W Rivet Joint
RQ-4B Global Hawk
RQ-11 Raven
RQ-170 Sentinel
U-2S "Dragon Lady"
=== T – Trainer ===
The Air Force's trainer aircraft are used to train pilots, combat systems officers, and other aircrew in their duties.
T-1A Jayhawk
T-6A Texan II
T-38A, (A)T-38B and T-38C Talon
T-41D Mescalero
T-51A
T-53A Kadet II
TC-135W
TH-1H Iroquois
TU-2S Dragon Lady
A-29 Super Tucano
=== TG – Trainer gliders ===
Several gliders are used by the USAF, primarily used for cadet flying training at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
TG-15A
TG-15B
TG-16
=== U – Utility ===
Utility aircraft are used basically for what they are needed for at the time. For example, a Huey may be used to transport personnel around a large base or launch site, while it can also be used for evacuation. These aircraft are all around use aircraft. Mostly for troops and cargo.
U-28A Draco
UH-1N Iroquois
UV-18B Twin Otter
=== V – VIP staff transport ===
These aircraft are used for the transportation of Very Important Persons (VIPs). Notable people include the president, vice president, cabinet secretaries, government officials (e.g., senators and representatives), the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other key personnel.
VC-25A (two used as Air Force One)
C-21A Learjet
C-32A and C-32B (used as Air Force Two)
C-37A Gulfstream V and C-37B Gulfstream G550
C-40B and C-40C
=== W – Weather reconnaissance ===
These aircraft are used to study meteorological events such as hurricanes and typhoons.
WC-130J Hurricane Hunter
WC-135C and WC-135W Constant Phoenix
=== Undesignated foreign aircraft ===
CN-235-100 (427th Special Operations Squadron)
Grob G 120TP
Mil Mi-17 (OPFOR training) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix | Netflix | Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres. It is available internationally in multiple languages.
Launched in 2007, nearly a decade after Netflix, Inc. began its pioneering DVD-by-mail movie rental service, Netflix is the most-subscribed video on demand streaming media service, with 325 million paid memberships in more than 190 countries as of 2026. By 2022, "Netflix Original" productions accounted for half of its library in the United States and the namesake company had ventured into other categories, such as video game publishing of mobile games through its flagship service. As of 2025, Netflix is the 18th most-visited website in the world, with 21.18% of its traffic coming from the US, followed by the United Kingdom at 6.01%, Canada at 4.94%, and Brazil at 4.24%.
== History ==
=== Launch as a mail-based rental business (1997–2006) ===
Netflix was founded by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, was a co-founder of Pure Software, which was acquired by Rational Software that year for $750 million, the then-biggest acquisition in Silicon Valley history. Randolph had worked as a marketing director for Pure Software after Pure Atria acquired a company where Randolph worked. He was previously a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, a computer mail-order company, as well as vice president of marketing for Borland.
Hastings and Randolph came up with the idea for Netflix while carpooling between their homes in Santa Cruz, California, and Pure Atria's headquarters in Sunnyvale. Patty McCord, later head of human resources at Netflix, was also in the carpool group. Randolph admired Amazon and wanted to find a large category of portable items to sell over the Internet using a similar model. Hastings and Randolph considered and rejected selling and renting VHS, as they were too expensive to stock and too delicate to ship. When they heard about DVDs, first introduced in the US in early 1997, they tested the concept of online DVD rental or sales by mail, by mailing a compact disc to Hastings's house in Santa Cruz. When the CD arrived intact, they decided to enter the $16 billion home-video sales and rental industry. Hastings invested $2.5 million into Netflix from the sale of Pure Atria. Netflix launched as the first DVD rental and sales website with 30 employees and 925 titles available—nearly all DVDs published. Randolph and Hastings met with Jeff Bezos, whose Amazon offered to acquire Netflix for between $14 and $16 million. Fearing competition from Amazon, Randolph thought the offer was fair, but Hastings, who owned 70% of the company, turned it down.
Not restricted to the size of a retail store, Netflix could offer hundreds of thousands of DVDs to customers in a long tail business model. Early employee Cindy Holland compared the company acquiring DVDs to "shoveling coal in the side door of the house". Initially, Netflix offered a per-rental model for each DVD but introduced a monthly subscription concept in September 1999. The per-rental model was dropped by early 2000, allowing the company to focus on the business model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees, or per-title rental fees. While customers enjoyed the convenience, more important to Netflix was that it did not have to store or ship DVDs; subscribers' homes acted as warehouses. The company secretly slowed deliveries to heavy users ("pigs"), to discourage them from quickly returning DVDs.
In September 2000, during the dot-com bubble, while Netflix was suffering losses, Hastings and Randolph offered to sell the company to Blockbuster for $50 million. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, thought the offer was a joke and declined, saying, "The dot-com hysteria is completely overblown." While Netflix experienced fast growth in early 2001, the continued effects of the dot-com bubble collapse and the September 11 attacks caused the company to delay plans for its initial public offering (IPO) and to lay off one-third of its 120 employees.
DVD players were a popular gift for holiday sales in late 2001, and demand for DVD subscription services were "growing like crazy", according to chief talent officer McCord. The company went public on May 23, 2002, opening on NASDAQ at $15.00 per share with a sale of 5.5 million shares of common stock. In 2003, Netflix was issued a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office to cover its subscription rental service and several extensions. The company posted its first profit in 2003, earning $6.5 million on revenues of $272 million; by 2004, profit had increased to $49 million on over $500 million in revenues. In 2005, 35,000 different films were available, and Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs out every day.
In 2004, Blockbuster introduced a DVD rental service that allowed users to check out titles through online sites and return them at brick-and-mortar stores. By 2006, Blockbuster's service reached two million users, and while trailing Netflix's subscriber count, was drawing business away from Netflix. Netflix lowered fees in 2007. While it was an urban legend that Netflix ultimately "killed" Blockbuster in the DVD rental market, Blockbuster's debt load and internal disagreements hurt the company.
In April 2006, Netflix filed a patent infringement lawsuit in which it demanded a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Blockbuster's online DVD rental subscription program violated two patents held by Netflix. The first cause of action alleged Blockbuster's infringement of copying the "dynamic queue" of DVDs available for each customer, Netflix's method of using the ranked preferences in the queue to send DVDs to subscribers, and Netflix's method permitting the queue to be updated and reordered. The second cause of action alleged infringement of the subscription rental service as well as Netflix's methods of communication and delivery. The companies settled their dispute in June 2007; terms were not disclosed.
In October 2006, Netflix announced the Netflix Prize: $1million to the first developer of a video-recommendation algorithm that could beat its existing algorithm, Cinematch, at predicting customer ratings by more than 10%. In September 2009, it awarded the $1 million prize to a seven-person team, "BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos". Cinematch, launched in 2000, was a system that recommended movies to its users, many of which might have been entirely new to the user. As of April 2012, Netflix had not used the $1 million algorithm and did not have plans to implement it due to engineering costs.
Through its Red Envelope Entertainment division, Netflix licensed and distributed independent films such as Born into Brothels (2004) and Sherrybaby (2006). In late 2006, Red Envelope Entertainment also expanded into producing original content with filmmakers such as John Waters. Netflix closed Red Envelope Entertainment in 2008.
=== Transition to streaming services (2007–2012) ===
Hastings reportedly told Mynette Louie in the late-1990s that his goal was always streaming media, and that Netflix rented DVDs only to grow its customer base for streaming. By the mid-2000s, data speeds and bandwidth costs improved sufficiently, allowing customers to download movies from the internet. The original idea was a "Netflix box" that could download movies overnight and be ready to watch the next day. By 2005, Netflix had acquired movie rights and designed the box and service. But after witnessing how popular streaming services such as YouTube were despite the lack of high-definition content, the concept of using a hardware device was scrapped and replaced with a streaming concept. In January 2007, the company launched a streaming media service, introducing video on demand via the Internet. However, at that time, it only had 1,000 films available for streaming, compared to 70,000 available on DVD. The service, then called "Watch Now", at first required Internet Explorer on a computer. Hollywood studios (including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, and Lionsgate) licensed second-run content to the service, not expecting it to threaten their existing lucrative relationships with cable television.
In February 2007, Netflix delivered its billionth DVD, a copy of Babel (2006) to a customer in Texas. In April 2007, Netflix recruited ReplayTV founder Anthony Wood, to build a "Netflix Player" that would allow streaming content to be played directly on a television rather than a desktop or laptop. Hastings eventually shut down the project to help encourage other hardware manufacturers to include built-in Netflix support, which would be spun off as the digital media player product Roku.
In January 2008, all rental-disc subscribers became entitled to unlimited streaming at no additional cost. This change came in response to the introduction of Hulu and to Apple's new video-rental services. In August 2008, the Netflix database was corrupted and the company was unable to ship DVDs to customers for three days, leading the company to move all its data to the Amazon Web Services cloud. In November 2008, Netflix began offering subscribers rentals on Blu-ray and discontinued its sale of used DVDs. In 2009, Netflix streams overtook DVD shipments.
In January 2010, Netflix agreed with Warner Bros. to delay new release rentals to 28 days after the DVDs became available for sale, in an attempt to help studios sell physical copies, and similar deals involving Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox were reached on April 9. In February 2010, Netflix signed a deal to stream 300 indie movie titles. In July 2010, Netflix signed a deal to stream movies of Relativity Media. It also announced an expansion of its deal with Warner Bros. Television adding more shows, including Veronica Mars and Nip/Tuck. In August 2010, Netflix reached a five-year deal worth nearly $1 billion to stream films from Paramount, Lionsgate, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The deal increased Netflix's annual spending fees, adding roughly $200 million per year. It spent $117 million in the first six months of 2010 on streaming, up from $31 million in 2009. In September 2010, Netflix launched in Canada, its first international market. In November 2010, Netflix began offering a standalone streaming service separate from DVD rentals.
In 2010, Netflix acquired the rights to Breaking Bad, produced by Sony Pictures Television, after the show's third season, at a point where original broadcaster AMC had expressed the possibility of canceling the show. Sony pushed Netflix to release Breaking Bad in time for the fourth season, which as a result, greatly expanded the show's audience on AMC due to new viewers binging on past episodes via Netflix, and doubling its viewership by the time of the fifth season. Breaking Bad is considered the first show to have this "Netflix effect".
In January 2011, Netflix announced agreements with several manufacturers to include branded Netflix buttons on the remote controls of devices compatible with the service, such as Blu-ray players. By May 2011, Netflix had become the largest source of Internet streaming traffic in North America, accounting for 30% of traffic during peak hours.
In July 2011, Netflix announced it would be separating its existing subscription plans into two: one covering the streaming and the other DVD rental services. The cost for streaming would be $7.99 per month, while DVD rental would start at the same price. In September 2011, Netflix expanded to countries in Latin America. That same month, Netflix announced its intentions to rebrand and restructure its DVD home media rental service as an independent subsidiary called Qwikster, separating DVD rental and streaming services. Customers reacted negatively, seeing this as a price increase and a betrayal of customer loyalty. Netflix's stock value dropped, and 800,000 of its 12 million customers cancelled their subscriptions. Netflix quickly apologized, and in October 2011, announced it would retain its DVD service under the name Netflix and that its streaming and DVD-rental plans would remain branded together.
On September 26, 2011, Netflix announced a content deal with DreamWorks Animation.
In October 2011, Netflix and The CW signed a multi-year output deal for its television shows. In January 2012, Netflix started its expansion to Europe, launching in the UK and Ireland. In February 2012, Netflix reached a multi-year agreement with The Weinstein Company. In March 2012, Netflix acquired the domain name DVD.com. By 2016, Netflix rebranded its DVD-by-mail service under the name DVD.com, A Netflix Company. In April 2012, Netflix filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to form a political action committee (PAC) called FLIXPAC. Netflix spokesperson Joris Evers tweeted that the intent was to "engage on issues like net neutrality, bandwidth caps, UBB and VPPA". In June 2012, Netflix signed a deal with Open Road Films.
In August 2012, Netflix and The Weinstein Company signed a multi-year output deal for RADiUS-TWC films. In September 2012, Epix signed a five-year streaming deal with Netflix. For the initial two years of this agreement, first-run and back-catalog content from Epix was exclusive to Netflix. Epix films came to Netflix 90 days after premiering on Epix. These included films from Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate.
In October 2012, Netflix launched in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In December 2012, Netflix and Disney announced an exclusive multi-year agreement for first-run US subscription television rights to Walt Disney Studios' animated and live-action films, with classics such as Dumbo (1941), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Pocahontas (1995) available immediately and others available on Netflix beginning in 2016. Direct-to-video releases were made available in 2013.
In January 2013, Netflix signed an agreement with Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Bros. Television to distribute Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Animation, and Adult Swim content, as well as TNT's Dallas, beginning in March 2013. The rights to these programs were given to Netflix shortly after deals with Viacom to stream Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. Channel programs expired.
For cost reasons, Netflix stated it would limit its expansion in 2013, adding only one new market—the Netherlands—in September of that year. This expanded its availability to 40 territories.
=== Development of original programming and distribution expansion (2013–2017) ===
Netflix had long closely analyzed its customers' preferences. Watch Now gave the company real-time data on their behavior, such as scenes that customers replayed or skipped, or when they stopped watching a show. In 2011, Netflix began its efforts into original content development. In March, it made a straight-to-series order from MRC for the political drama House of Cards, led by Kevin Spacey, outbidding US cable networks. This marked the first instance of a first-run television series being specifically commissioned by the service. Netflix executives said that its customers' love of films by Spacey and show director David Fincher caused the company to acquire the show. Customers' tendency to binge watch many episodes without stopping caused it to release all 13 episodes of the show's first season at the same time. In November the same year, Netflix added two more significant productions to its roster: the comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black (OITNB), adapted from Piper Kerman's memoir, and a new season of the previously canceled Fox sitcom Arrested Development. Netflix acquired the US rights to the Norwegian drama Lilyhammer after its television premiere on Norway's NRK1 in January 2012. Notably departing from the traditional broadcast television model of weekly episode premieres, Netflix chose to release the entire first season on February 8 of the same year.
House of Cards was released by Netflix on February 1, 2013, marketed as the first "Netflix Original" production. Later that month, Netflix announced an agreement with DreamWorks Animation to commission children's television series based on its properties, beginning with Turbo: F.A.S.T., a spin-off of its film Turbo (2013). OITNB would premiere in July 2013; Netflix stated that OITNB had been its most-watched original series so far, with all of them having "an audience comparable with successful shows on cable and broadcast TV."
In March 2013, Netflix added a Facebook sharing feature, letting US subscribers access "Watched by your friends" and "Friends' Favorites" by agreeing. This was not legal until the Video Privacy Protection Act was modified in early 2013. In August 2013, Netflix reintroduced the "Profiles" feature that permits accounts to house up to five user profiles.
In November 2013, Marvel Television and ABC Studios announced Netflix had ordered a slate of four television series based on the Marvel Comics characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. Each of the four series received an initial order of 13 episodes, and Netflix also ordered a Defenders miniseries that would tie them together. Daredevil and Jessica Jones premiered in 2015. The Luke Cage series premiered in September 2016, followed by Iron Fist in March 2017, and The Defenders in August 2017. Marvel owner Disney later entered into other content agreements with Netflix, including acquiring its animated Star Wars series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and a new sixth season.
In February 2014, Netflix began to enter into agreements with US internet service providers, beginning with Comcast (whose customers had repeatedly complained of frequent buffering when streaming Netflix), to provide the service a direct connection to their networks. In April 2014, Netflix signed Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz and his production firm The Hurwitz Company to a multi-year deal to create original projects for the service. In May 2014, Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation had a major multi-deal to acquire streaming rights to produce films. It also began to introduce an updated logo, with a flatter appearance and updated typography.
In September 2014, Netflix expanded into six new European markets, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. On September 10, 2014, Netflix participated in Internet Slowdown Day by deliberately slowing down its speed in support of net neutrality regulations in the US. In October 2014, Netflix announced a four-film deal with Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions.
In April 2015, following the launch of Daredevil, Netflix director of content operations Tracy Wright announced that Netflix had added support for audio description, and had begun to work with its partners to add descriptions to its other original series over time. The following year, as part of a settlement with the American Council of the Blind, Netflix agreed to provide descriptions for its original series within 30 days of their premiere, and add screen reader support and the ability to browse content by availability of descriptions.
In March 2015, Netflix expanded to Australia and New Zealand. In September 2015, Netflix launched in Japan, its first country in Asia. In October 2015, Netflix launched in Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
In January 2016, at the Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix announced a major international expansion of its service into 130 additional countries, making it available worldwide except in China, Syria, North Korea, Kosovo, and Crimea. As part of this expansion, Netflix officially launched its services in Africa, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. Between 2018 and 2020, Netflix had started making significant investments in African storytelling, and hired Dorothy Ghettuba, a Kenyan media entrepreneur, as head of African Originals. According to the company, it has invested the equivalent of €160 million in film content production in Africa since it began working on the continent in 2016, with over 12,000 jobs created across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
In April 2016, Hastings stated that the company planned to expand its in-house, Los Angeles-based Netflix Studios to grow its output; Hastings ruled out any potential acquisitions of existing studios. In May 2016, Netflix created a tool called Fast.com to determine the speed of an Internet connection. It received praise for being "simple" and "easy to use", and does not include online advertising, unlike competitors. In November 2016, Netflix launched an offline playback feature, allowing users of the Netflix mobile apps on Android or iOS to cache content on their devices in standard or high quality for viewing offline, without an Internet connection. Netflix released an estimated 30 original series or films over that year, more than any network or cable channel.
In February 2017, Netflix signed a music publishing deal with BMG Rights Management, whereby BMG would oversee rights outside of the US for music associated with Netflix Original content. Netflix continues to handle these tasks in-house in the US. In April 2017, Netflix signed a licensing deal with IQIYI, a Chinese video streaming platform owned by Baidu, to allow selected Netflix Original content to be distributed in China on the platform.
In August 2017, Netflix acquired Millarworld, the creator-owned publishing company of comic book writer Mark Millar. The purchase marked the first corporate acquisition to have been made by Netflix. That same month, Netflix entered into an exclusive development deal with Shonda Rhimes and her production company Shondaland.
In September 2017, Netflix announced it would offer its low-broadband mobile technology to airlines to provide better in-flight Wi-Fi so passengers could watch movies on Netflix while on planes. That same month, Minister of Heritage Mélanie Joly announced that Netflix had agreed to make a CA$500 million (US$400 million) investment over the next five years in producing content in Canada. The company denied that the deal was intended to result in a tax break. Netflix realized this goal by December 2018.
In October 2017, Netflix iterated a goal of having half of its library consist of original content by 2019, announcing a plan to invest $8 billion on original content in 2018. In October 2017, Netflix introduced the "Skip Intro" feature, which allows customers to skip the intros to shows on its platform through a variety of techniques including manual reviewing, audio tagging, and machine learning.
In November 2017, Netflix signed an exclusive multi-year deal with Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan. That same month, Netflix withdrew from co-hosting a party at the 75th Golden Globe Awards with The Weinstein Company due to the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases.
=== Expansion into international productions and new productions, Co-CEOs (2017–2020) ===
In November 2017, Netflix announced it would be making its first original Colombian series, to be executive produced by Ciro Guerra. In December 2017, Netflix signed Stranger Things director-producer Shawn Levy and his production company 21 Laps Entertainment to what sources say is a four-year deal. In 2017, Netflix invested in distributing exclusive stand-up comedy specials from Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Chris Rock, Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, and Jerry Seinfeld.
In February 2018, Netflix acquired the rights to The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) from Paramount Pictures for $50 million and launched it on February 4, 2018, shortly after airing its first trailer during Super Bowl LII. Analysts believed that Netflix's purchase of the film helped to make the film instantly profitable for Paramount compared to a more traditional theatrical release, while Netflix benefited from the surprise reveal. Other films acquired by Netflix include international distribution for Paramount's Annihilation (2018) and Universal's News of the World (2020) and worldwide distribution of Universal's Extinction (2018), Warner Bros.' Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), Paramount's The Lovebirds (2020) and 20th Century Studios' The Woman in the Window (2021). In March, the service ordered Formula 1: Drive to Survive, a racing docuseries following teams in the Formula One world championship.
In March 2018, Sky UK announced an agreement with Netflix to integrate Netflix's subscription VOD offering into its pay-TV service. Customers with its high-end Sky Q set-top box and service will be able to see Netflix titles alongside their regular Sky channels. In October 2022, Netflix revealed that its annual revenue from the UK subscribers in 2021 was £1.4bn.
In April 2018, Netflix pulled out of the Cannes Film Festival, in response to new rules requiring competition films to have been released in French theaters. The Cannes premiere of Okja in 2017 was controversial, and led to discussions over the appropriateness of films with simultaneous digital releases being screened at an event showcasing theatrical film; audience members also booed the Netflix production logo at the screening. Netflix's attempts to negotiate to allow a limited release in France were curtailed by organizers, as well as French cultural exception law—where theatrically screened films are legally forbidden from being made available via video-on-demand services until at least 36 months after their release. Besides traditional Hollywood markets as well as from partners like the BBC, Sarandos said the company was also looking to expand investments in non-traditional foreign markets due to the growth of viewers outside of North America. At the time, this included programs such as Dark from Germany, Ingobernable from Mexico, and 3% from Brazil.
In May 2018, former president, Barack Obama, and his wife, Michelle Obama, signed a deal to produce docuseries, documentaries, and features for Netflix under the Obamas' newly formed production company, Higher Ground Productions.
In June 2018, Netflix announced a partnership with Telltale Games to port its adventure games to the service in a streaming video format, allowing simple controls through a television remote. The first game, Minecraft: Story Mode, was released in November 2018. In July 2018, Netflix earned the most Emmy nominations of any network for the first time with 112 nods. In August 2018, the company signed a five-year exclusive overall deal with international best-selling author Harlan Coben. At the same time, the company signed an overall deal with Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch. In October 2018, Netflix paid under $30 million to acquire Albuquerque Studios (ABQ Studios), a $91 million film and TV production facility with eight sound stages in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for its first US production hub, pledging to spend over $1 billion over the next decade to create one of the largest film studios in North America. In November 2018, Paramount Pictures signed a multi-picture film deal with Netflix, making Paramount the first major film studio to do so. A sequel to AwesomenessTV's To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) was released on Netflix under the title To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020) as part of the agreement. In December 2018, the company announced a partnership with ESPN Films on a television documentary chronicling Michael Jordan and the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls season titled The Last Dance. It was released internationally on Netflix and became available for streaming in the US three months after a broadcast airing on ESPN.
In January 2019, Sex Education made its debut as a Netflix Original series, receiving much critical acclaim. On January 22, 2019, Netflix sought and was approved for membership into the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), making it the first streaming service to join the association. In February 2019, The Haunting creator Mike Flanagan joined frequent collaborator Trevor Macy as a partner in Intrepid Pictures ,and the duo signed an exclusive deal with Netflix to produce television content. In May 2019, Netflix contracted with Dark Horse Entertainment to make television series and films based on comics from Dark Horse Comics. In July 2019, Netflix announced it would be opening a hub at Shepperton Studios as part of a deal with Pinewood Group. In early-August 2019, Netflix negotiated an exclusive multi-year film and television deal with Game of Thrones creators and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The first Netflix production created by Benioff and Weiss was planned as an adaptation of Liu Cixin's science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem, part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. In September 2019, in addition to renewing Stranger Things for a fourth season, Netflix signed The Duffer Brothers to an overall deal covering future film and television projects for the service.
In November 2019, Netflix and Nickelodeon entered into a multi-year agreement to produce several original animated feature films and television series based on Nickelodeon's library of characters. This agreement expanded on their existing relationship, in which new specials based on the past Nickelodeon series Invader Zim and Rocko's Modern Life (Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus and Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, respectively) were released by Netflix. Other new projects planned under the team-up include a music project featuring Squidward Tentacles from the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, and films based on The Loud House and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The agreement with Disney ended in 2019 due to the launch of Disney+, with its Marvel productions moving exclusively to the service in 2022. Also in November 2019, Netflix announced it had signed a long-term lease to save the Paris Theatre, the last single-screen movie theater in Manhattan. The company oversaw several renovations at the theater, including new seats and a concession stand.
In January 2020, Netflix announced a new four-film deal with Adam Sandler worth up to $275 million. In February 2020, Netflix formed partnerships with six Japanese creators to produce an original Japanese anime project. This partnership includes manga creator group CLAMP, manga creator Shin Kibayashi, manga creator Yasuo Ohtagaki, novelist and film director Otsuichi, novelist Tow Ubukata, and manga creator Mari Yamazaki. In March 2020, ViacomCBS announced it will be producing two spin-off films based on SpongeBob SquarePants for Netflix. In April 2020, Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment made a multi-year first-look deal with Netflix to make films. In May 2020, Netflix announced the acquisition of Grauman's Egyptian Theatre from the American Cinematheque to use as a special events venue. In July 2020, Netflix appointed Sarandos as co-CEO. That same month, Netflix invested in Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones' new production outfit Broke And Bones.
In September 2020, Netflix signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry and Meghan agreed to a multi-year deal promising to create TV shows, films, and children's content as part of their commitment to stepping away from the duties of the royal family. That same month, Hastings released a book about Netflix culture titled No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, which was coauthored by Erin Meyer. In December 2020, Netflix signed a first-look deal with Millie Bobby Brown to develop and star in several projects, including a potential action franchise.
=== Expansion into gaming, Squid Game, new programing, and new initiatives (2021–2022) ===
In March 2021, Netflix earned the most Academy Award nominations of any studio, with 36 nods. Netflix won seven Academy Awards, which was the most by any studio. Later that year, Netflix also won more Emmys than any other network or studio with 44 wins, tying the record for most Emmys won in a single year set by CBS in 1974.
In April 2021, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced an agreement for Netflix to hold the US pay television window rights to its releases beginning in 2022, replacing Starz and expanding upon an existing agreement with Sony Pictures Animation. The agreement also includes a first-look deal for any future direct-to-streaming films being produced by Sony Pictures, with Netflix required to commit to a minimum number of them. On April 27, Netflix announced it was opening its first Canadian headquarters in Toronto. The company also announced that it would open an office in Sweden, Rome, and Istanbul to increase its original content in those regions.
In early-June, Netflix hosted a first-ever week-long virtual event called "Geeked Week", where it shared exclusive news, new trailers, cast appearances, and more about upcoming genre titles like The Witcher, The Cuphead Show!, and The Sandman. On June 7, Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions signed a multi-year first-look deal with Netflix spanning feature films, TV series, and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers, and filmmakers. On June 10, Netflix announced it was launching an online store for curated products tied to the Netflix brand and shows such as Stranger Things and The Witcher. On June 21, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners signed a deal with Netflix to release multiple new feature films for the streaming service. On June 30, Powerhouse Animation Studios (the studio behind Netflix's Castlevania) announced signing a first-look deal with the streamer to produce more animated series.
In July 2021, Netflix hired Mike Verdu, a former executive from Electronic Arts and Facebook, as vice president of game development, along with plans to add video games by 2022. Netflix announced plans to release mobile games that would be included in subscribers' service plans. Trial offerings were first launched for Netflix users in Poland in August 2021, offering premium mobile games based on Stranger Things, including Stranger Things 3: The Game, for free to subscribers through the Netflix mobile app. On July 14, 2021, Netflix signed a first-look deal with Joey King, star of The Kissing Booth franchise, in which King would produce and develop films for Netflix via her All The King's Horses production company. On July 21, Zack Snyder, director of Netflix's Army of the Dead, announced he had signed his production company The Stone Quarry to a first-look deal with Netflix; his upcoming projects included a sequel to Army of the Dead and a sci-fi adventure film titled Rebel Moon. In 2019, he had agreed to produce an anime-style web series inspired by Norse mythology.
As of August 2021, Netflix Originals made up 40% of Netflix's overall library in the US. The company announced that "TUDUM: A Netflix Global Fan Event", a three-hour virtual behind the scenes featuring first-look reveals for 100 of the streamer's series, films, and specials, would have its inaugural show in late September 2021. According to Netflix, the show garnered 25.7 million views across Netflix's 29 Netflix YouTube channels, Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok, and Tudum.com.
Also in September, the company announced The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, an immersive, Regency-era ball, launching in 2022 in Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, and Washington, D.C. Then Squid Game, a South Korean survival drama created and produced by Hwang Dong-hyuk, rapidly became the service's most-watched show within a week of its launch in many markets on September 17, 2021, including Korea, the US, and the UK. Within its first 28 days on the service, Squid Game drew more than 111 million viewers, surpassing Bridgerton and becoming Netflix's most-watched show. On September 20, Netflix signed a long-term lease with Aviva Investors to operate and expand the Longcross Studios in Surrey, UK. On September 21, Netflix announced it would acquire the Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages the rights to Roald Dahl's stories and characters, for an undisclosed price and would operate it as an independent company. The company acquired Night School Studio, an independent video game developer, on September 28.
On October 13, 2021, Netflix announced the launch of the Netflix Book Club, partnering with Starbucks for a social series called But Have You Read the Book?. Uzo Aduba became inaugural host of the series and announced monthly book selections set to be adapted by the streamer. Aduba speaks with the cast, creators, and authors about the book adaptation process over a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Through October 2021, Netflix commonly reported viewership for its programming based on the number of viewers or households that watched a show in a given period (such as the first 28 days from its premiere) for at least two minutes. On the announcement of its quarterly earnings in October 2021, the company stated that it would switch its viewership metrics to measuring the number of hours that a show was watched, including rewatches, which the company said was closer to the measurements used in linear broadcast television, and thus "our members and the industry can better measure success in the streaming world."
Netflix officially launched mobile games on November 2, 2021, for Android users around the world. Through the app, subscribers had free access to five games, including two previously made Stranger Things titles. Netflix intends to add more games to this service over time. On November 9, the collection launched for iOS. Some games in the collection require an active internet connection to play, while others will be available offline. Netflix Kids' accounts will not have games available. On November 16, Netflix announced the launch of "Top10 on Netflix.com", a new website with weekly global and country lists of the most popular titles on their service based on their new viewership metrics. On November 22, Netflix announced that it would acquire Scanline VFX, the visual effects and animation company behind Cowboy Bebop and Stranger Things. On the same day, Roberto Patino signed a deal with Netflix and established his production banner, Analog Inc., in partnership with the company. Patino's first project under the deal is a series adaptation of Image Comics' Nocterra.
On December 6, 2021, Netflix and Stage 32 announced that they have teamed up the workshops at the Creating Content for the Global Marketplace program. On December 7, 2021, Netflix partnered with IllumiNative, a woman-led non-profit organization, for the Indigenous Producers Training Program. On December 9, Netflix announced the launch of "Tudum", an official companion website that offers news, exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes videos for its original television shows and films. On December 13, Netflix signed a multi-year overall deal with Kalinda Vazquez. On December 16, Netflix signed a multi-year creative partnership with Spike Lee and his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks to develop film and television projects.
In compliance with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive and its implementation in France, Netflix reached commitments with French broadcasting authorities and film guilds, as required by law, to invest a specific amount of its annual revenue into original French films and series. These films must be theatrically released and would not be allowed to be carried on Netflix until 15 months after their release.
In January 2022, Netflix ordered additional sports docuseries from Drive to Survive producers Box to Box Films, including a series that would follow PGA Tour golfers, and another that would follow professional tennis players on the ATP and WTA Tour circuits.
The company announced plans to acquire Next Games in March 2022 for €65 million as part of Netflix's expansions into gaming. Next Games had developed the mobile title Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales as well as two The Walking Dead mobile games. Later that month, Netflix also acquired the Texas-based mobile game developer, Boss Fight Entertainment, for an undisclosed sum.
In March 2022, Netflix announced a partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to produce five new series and specials based on Seuss properties following the success of Green Eggs and Ham. On March 29, Netflix announced it would open an office in Poland to serve as a hub for its original productions across Central and Eastern Europe. On March 30, Netflix extended its lease agreement with Martini Film Studios, just outside Vancouver, Canada, for another five years. On March 31, Netflix ordered a docuseries that would follow teams in the 2022 Tour de France, which would also be co-produced by Box to Box Films.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Netflix suspended its operations and future projects in Russia. It also announced that it would not comply with a proposed directive by Roskomnadzor requiring all internet streaming services with more than 100,000 subscribers to integrate the major free-to-air channels (which are primarily state-owned). A month later, ex-Russian subscribers filed a class action lawsuit against Netflix.
In April 2022, Netflix stated that 100 million households globally were sharing passwords to their account with others, and that Canada and the US accounted for 30 million of them. Following these announcements, Netflix's stock price fell by 35%. By June 2022, Netflix had laid off 450 full-time and contract employees as part of the company's plan to trim costs amid lower than expected subscriber growth.
On April 13, 2022, Netflix released the series Our Great National Parks, which was hosted and narrated by former US President Barack Obama. It also partnered with Group Effort Initiative, a company founded by Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, to provide opportunities behind the camera for those in underrepresented communities. On the same day, Netflix partnered with Lebanon-based Arab Fund For Arts And Culture for supporting the Arab female filmmakers. It would provide a one-time grant of $250,000 to female producers and directors in the Arab world through the company's Fund for Creative Equity. Also on the same day, Netflix announced an Exploding Kittens mobile card game tied to a new animated TV series, which would launch in May. Netflix formed a creative partnership with J. Miles Dale. The company also formed a partnership with Japan's Studio Colorido, signing a multi-film deal to boost their anime content in Asia. The streaming giant is said to co-produce three feature films with the studio, the first of which would premiere in September 2022. On April 28, the company launched its inaugural Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival, featuring more than 250 shows over 12 nights at 30-plus locations across Los Angeles, including the first-ever stand-up show at Dodger Stadium.
The first volume of Stranger Things 4 logged Netflix's biggest premiere weekend ever for an original series with 286.79 million hours viewed. This was preceded by a new Stranger Things interactive experience hosted in New York City that was developed by the show's creators. After the release of the second volume of Stranger Things 4 on July 1, 2022, it became Netflix's second title to receive more than one billion hours viewed. On July 19, 2022, Netflix announced plans to acquire Australian animation studio Animal Logic. Also that month, in collaboration with Sennheiser, Netflix began to add Ambeo 2-channel audio mixes (referred to as "spatial audio") to selected original productions, which allows simulated surround sound on stereo speakers and headphones.
In September 2022, Netflix opened an office in Warsaw, Poland, responsible for the service's operations in 28 markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
In October 2022, Netflix signed a creative partnership with Andrea Berloff and John Gatins. On October 11, Netflix signed up with the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board for external measurement of viewership in the UK. On October 12, Netflix signed to build a production complex at Fort Monmouth in Eatontown, New Jersey. On October 18, Netflix began exploring a cloud gaming offering and opened a new gaming studio in Southern California.
In November 2022, Netflix announced a strategic partnership with The Seven, a Japanese production company owned by TBS Holdings, to produce multiple original live-action titles over the next five years. In December 2022, Netflix announced that 60% of its subscribers had watched a Korean drama. CEO Ted Sarandos attributed the increase in viewership of Korean content among Americans to Korean films and dramas being "often unpredictable" and catching "the American audience by surprise".
Inn January 2023, Netflix announced plans to open an engineering hub in its Warsaw office to provide Netflix's creative partners with software solutions for the production of films and series. In February 2023, Netflix launched a wider rollout of spatial audio, and began allowing Premium subscribers to download content for offline playback on up to six devices (expanded from four).
In March 2023, Netflix broadcast its first-ever global live-streaming event, the stand-up comedy special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.
Netflix reworked its viewership metrics again in June 2023. Viewership of shows was measured during the first 91 days of availability, instead of the first 28 days, and are now based on the total viewership hours divided by the total hours of the show itself. This provided more equal considerations for shorter shows and movies compared to longer ones.
In August 2023, the company announced Netflix Stories, a collection of interactive narrative games from Netflix series and movies such as Love is Blind, Money Heist, and Virgin River.
=== Discontinuation of DVDs, expansion of live events and venues, WWE (2023–present) ===
In January 2023, Hastings stepped down from his role as co-CEO and assumed the role of executive chairman. He was replaced by Greg Peters, who joined Ted Sarandos as co-CEOs of Netflix. Peters previously served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO), while Sarandos served as Chief Content Officer (CCO).
In April 2023, Netflix announced it would discontinue its DVD-by-mail service on September 29. Users of the service were able to keep the DVDs they had received. Over its lifetime, the service had sent out over 5 billion shipments.
In October 2023, Eunice Kim was promoted to CPO and Elizabeth Stone was promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). That same month, amid a restructuring of its animation division, Netflix announced a multi-film agreement with Skydance Animation beginning with Spellbound (2024). The agreement partially replaces one it had with Apple TV+.
In December 2023, Netflix released its first "What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report", a look at viewership for every original and licensed title watched more than 50,000 hours from January to June 2023. The company also announced plans to publish the report twice a year. In its first report for the first six months of 2023, it revealed that The Night Agent was the most watched show globally during that period.
In January 2024, Netflix announced a major agreement with professional wrestling promotion WWE, under which it would acquire the rights to its live weekly program Raw beginning January 6, 2025; the rights would initially cover the US, Canada, the UK, and Latin America, and expand to other territories over time. As part of the agreement, Netflix also acquired the international rights to WWE's main weekly programs (Raw, SmackDown, and NXT) and pay-per-view events outside of the US, and the former WWE Network library of supplemental and archive content. The agreement was reported to be valued at $500 million per-year over ten years. Netflix would later acquire the library rights in the US under a separate deal, replacing an agreement with Peacock.
In February 2024, Netflix joined with Peter Morgan, creator of Netflix series The Crown, to produce the play Patriots on Broadway. The venture is the first Broadway credit for the company but not its first stage project. It was actively involved as a producer of Stranger Things: The First Shadow in London. Both productions share a lead producer, Sonia Friedman.
In May 2024, the company hosted its second Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles. It streamed several specials from the festival live, including Katt Williams's Woke Folk and The Roast of Tom Brady, both of which ranked on Netflix's global top 10 the following two weeks. That same month, Netflix announced it would stream both National Football League Christmas games in 2024. For 2025 and 2026, the streamer would have exclusive rights to at least one NFL Christmas game each year.
In June 2024, Netflix announced it would develop new entertainment venues known as "Netflix House" at the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania and Galleria Dallas in Texas. The spaces would feature retail shops, restaurants, and other interactive experiences related to Netflix Original content, building upon other "pop-up" initiatives to promote individual programs. Netflix House Philadelphia would feature immersive experiences for Wednesday and One Piece, while Netflix House Dallas will feature Stranger Things: Escape the Dark and Squid Game: Survive the Trials. Netflix House Las Vegas Strip will open in 2027.
In November 2024, Netflix announced it would discontinue further work on interactive specials and remove all but four of them from the platform, citing a desire to focus on "technological efforts in other areas". On November 15, Netflix streamed a boxing event from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, featuring as co-main events an exhibition match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, and Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano for the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles. While afflicted by technical issues, Paul's promoter reported that the stream had a peak concurrent viewership of 65 million viewers, surpassing the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final (which had a reported 57 million concurrent streams on Disney+ Hotstar) as the most live-streamed sporting event. Netflix stated that the event had an "average minute audience" (AMA) of 108 million worldwide, and that the AMA of 47 million in the US made the Taylor versus Serrano bout the most-watched women's professional sporting event in US history.
In December 2024, FIFA announced that Netflix would be the exclusive US broadcaster of the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup, in what was deemed the platform's most significant push into sports content. On December 25, Netflix aired its first-ever NFL games: the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans. The games both averaged over 30 million global viewers and became the two most-streamed NFL games in US history, while simultaneously creating Netflix's most-watched Christmas Day ever in the US.
In January 2025, Netflix announced it had exceeded 300 million subscribers worldwide after adding a record 18.9 million in Q4 of 2024, amounting to 41 million for the full year. In May 2025, Netflix announced a redesign of its home screen for the first time since 2013, which has a simplified appearance with more prominent metadata, and replaces the sidebar menu with a streamlined section of tabs along the top of the screen. Netflix stated that the redesign was meant to allow users to "have an easier time figuring out if a title is right for them", and be more reflective of new types of content offerings such as sports and other live events.
In August 2025, Netflix announced an exclusivity deal to stream the World Baseball Classic in Japan starting in 2026. The 2026 edition marks the first time it will stream a live event in Japan. Through this agreement, Netflix will stream all 47 games of the 2026 World Baseball Classic live and on-demand for its users in Japan. The animated musical KPop Demon Hunters (2025) became Netflix's most popular film of all time later that month.
In November 2025, Netflix acquired rights to selected Major League Baseball (MLB) games for the 2026 to 2028 seasons, including Opening Night, the Home Run Derby, and an additional special event matchup each season, including the 2026 season Field of Dreams game.
In February 2026, it was announced that two Netflix movies, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) and KPop Demon Hunters, were being adding to the Criterion Collection, giving the films physical releases. This first happened in 2020 withAlfonso Cuarón's Roma (2018), followed by Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story (2019), Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019), and a few others.
=== Attempted acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery ===
In October 2025, Netflix, Inc. was reported to be actively exploring a bid for the studios and streaming assets of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). According to the report, Netflix retained investment bank Moelis & Co. to evaluate a potential offer and had been granted access to WBD's financial data room as part of its preparatory due-diligence. The acquisition would give Netflix control over major IP such as DC Comics and rights to the Harry Potter franchise, along with HBO's premium dramas, and Warner Bros.' distribution rights of several foreign-produced movies such as Under Parallel Skies (2024) and Ex Ex Lovers (2025), which were already available on Netflix prior these acquisition deals. Netflix stressed that it remains "predominantly focused on growing organically" and is not interested in owning legacy linear television networks such as CNN, TBS, and TNT.
On December 4, 2025, Netflix won the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, to be followed by exclusive talks to finalize a deal. On December 5, Netflix announced they would be buying the Warner Bros. assets for $72 billion, valuing the entirety of WBD at $82.7 billion. The deal would include the Warner Bros. film, television, and video game studios, HBO/HBO Max and their respective libraries, DC Entertainment/DC Studios, and WBD's distribution and licensing divisions. It would exclude Discovery Global—the planned spin-off of WBD's legacy linear television businesses (including the Discovery+ streaming service); pending regulatory approval, the sale and spin-off were expected to both be completed in Q3 of 2026.
On December 8, 2025, Paramount launched a $77.9 billion hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Paramount argued for its $30 per share all cash offer (versus Netflix's $27.75) and alleged lower regulatory hurdles were better for shareholders. On December 17, WBD told its shareholders to reject Paramount's bid, instead proceeding with the Netflix acquisition.
On January 20, 2026, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery said they amended the proposed takeover to a new all-cash deal, which removed any uncertainty related to Netflix share price volatility. Warner shareholders were expected to vote on the deal by April. On February 26, WBD confirmed it considered Paramount's increased bid to be superior to Netflix's current offer, triggering a four-business-day period during which Netflix could improve its offer. Paramount's latest acquisition bid was reported to be approximately $111 billion for the entirety of WBD, including its linear cable channels, for $31 per share. Netflix subsequently declined to increase its bid, in which Sarandos and Greg Peters released a statement saying the deal was "no longer financially attractive." This cleared the way for Paramount to pursue its deal. When asked about a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in the future on Bloomberg, Ted Sarandos said "Possibly. If you look at the History of Warner Bros."
=== Acquisition of InterPositive ===
On March 5, 2026, it was announced that Netflix was acquiring Ben Affleck's AI firm, InterPositive, which makes tools developed and intended for filmmaking. The purchase stems from the relationship between the two, with a first-look deal from Artists Equity, the new-model production company led by Affleck and Matt Damon. In January, the streaming giant released The Rip, an action movie co-starring Affleck and Damon. Affleck first mentioned his AI venture to Netflix execs in the fall of 2025, initiating months of dialogue that culminated in the acquisition.
The firm will seek to create tools "purpose-built to represent and protect all the qualities that make a great story: the nuances of filmmaking, the predictable – and unpredictable – challenges of production environments, the distortion of a lens or the way light shape-shifts across a scene," Affleck said. "We also need to preserve what makes storytelling human, which is judgment." Affleck will take on the role of senior advisor.
Netflix CCO Bela Bajaria said, "We believe new tools should expand creative freedom, not constrain it or replace the work of writers, directors, actors, and crews. Ben and his team at InterPositive are part of a long tradition in our industry of artists leading the way in how innovation is used in storytelling."
=== Expansion into podcasts ===
Netflix announced it would expand its catalog to include video podcasts in early 2026. It acquired the exclusive video podcasting rights from several podcast companies including IHeartMedia, The Ringer, and Barstool Sports. The shows include The Breakfast Club, Dissect and Pardon My Take.
== Availability and access ==
=== Global availability ===
Netflix is available in every country and territory except for China, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Russia.
In January 2016, Netflix announced it would begin VPN blocking since it can be used to watch videos from a country where they are unavailable. The result of the VPN block is that people can only watch videos available worldwide and other videos are hidden from search results. Variety is present on Netflix. Hebrew and Arabic's right-to-left interface orientation, which is a common localization strategy in many markets, are what define the Middle Eastern user interface's localization, and in some regions, Netflix offers a more affordable mobile-only subscription.
=== Subscriptions ===
Customers can subscribe to one of three plans; the difference in plans relates to video resolution, the number of simultaneous streams, and the number of devices to which content can be downloaded.
At the end of Q1 2022, Netflix estimated that 100 million households globally were sharing passwords to their account with others. In March 2022, Netflix began to charge a fee for additional users in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica to attempt to control account sharing. On July 18, 2022, Netflix announced that it would test the account sharing feature in more countries, including Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. On October 17, Netflix launched Profile Transfer to help end account sharing.
On July 13, 2022, Netflix announced plans to launch an advertising-supported subscription option. Netflix's planned advertising tier would not allow subscribers to download content like the existing ad-free platform. On July 20, 2022, it was announced that the advertising-supported tier would be coming to Netflix in 2023 but it would not feature the full library of content. In October, the launch date was announced as November 3, 2022, and was launched in 12 countries: US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan and South Korea. The ad-supported plan was called "Basic with Ads" and it cost $6.99 per month in the US at launch.
On February 24, 2023, Netflix cut subscription prices in more than 30 countries around the world to attract more subscribers from those countries. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Croatia, Venezuela, Kenya, and Iran are on the list of countries where the cost for a subscription will be reduced. In the same month stronger anti-password-sharing rules were expanded to Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. In May 2023, these measures were further expanded to US and Brazil subscribers.
In July 2023, Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers for the second quarter of the year for a total of 238.39 million subscribers overall. The US and Canada accounted for 1.2 million subscribers which was the largest regional quarterly gain since 2021.
In February, Netflix announced it would enforce stricter regulations on password sharing, and by May 2023 it began cracking down in the US, UK, and Australia. Under these new rules, multiple people can use and share one account, but they have to be under the same household. Netflix defines a household as people who live in the same location as the owner of the account. Users are asked to set a primary location based on the device's IP address.
Netflix reported 8.05 million new subscribers in Q2 2024, up from 5.9 million subscribers added in Q2 2023.
In July 2024, Netflix started phasing out its cheapest subscription plan for users in France and the US, a year after the plan was removed for Canada and the UK. Members in these countries have the option to sign up for either the standard ad-free plan or the ad plan.
=== Device support ===
Netflix can be accessed via a web browser, while Netflix apps are available on various platforms, including Blu-ray players, tablet computers, mobile phones, smart TVs, digital media players, and video game consoles. Currently supported game consoles include:
Microsoft Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Sony PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
Several older devices no longer support Netflix. For home gaming consoles, this includes the PlayStation 2, PlayStation TV, Wii and Wii U. For handheld gaming consoles, this includes the Nintendo 3DS family of systems and the PlayStation Vita. The second and third generation Apple TV previously supported Netflix with an ad-free plan, but the app was automatically removed on these devices on July 31, 2024.
In addition, a growing number of multichannel television providers, including cable television and IPTV services, have added Netflix apps accessible within their own set-top boxes, sometimes with the ability for its content (along with those of other online video services) to be presented within a unified search interface alongside linear television programming as an "all-in-one" solution.
The maximum video resolution supported on computers is dependent on the DRM systems available on a particular operating system and web browser.
== Content ==
=== Original programming ===
"Netflix Originals" are content that is produced, co-produced, or distributed exclusively by Netflix. Netflix funds its original shows differently than other TV networks when they sign a project, providing the money upfront and immediately ordering two seasons of most series. It keeps licensing rights, which normally give production companies future revenue opportunities from syndication, merchandising, etc.
Over the years, Netflix output ballooned to a level unmatched by any television network or streaming service. According to Variety Insight, Netflix produced a total of 240 new original shows and movies in 2018, then climbed to 371 in 2019, a figure "greater than the number of original series that the entire U.S. TV industry released in 2005." The Netflix budget allocated to production increased annually, reaching $13.6 billion in 2021 and projected to hit $18.9 billion by 2025, a figure that once again overshadowed any of its competitors. As of August 2022, original productions made up 50% of Netflix's overall library in the US.
=== Film and television deals ===
Netflix has exclusive pay TV deals with several studios. The deals give Netflix exclusive streaming rights while adhering to the structures of traditional pay TV terms.
Distributors that have licensed content to Netflix include Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and previously The Walt Disney Studios. Netflix also holds current and back-catalog rights to television programs distributed by Walt Disney Television, DreamWorks Classics, Kino International, PBS, Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Global Content Distribution, along with titles from other companies such as ABS-CBN Studios, GMA Network, Cignal Entertainment, MQ Studios, Regal Entertainment, Viva Films, MNC Media, Screenplay Films, Soraya Intercine Films, Falcon Pictures, MD Pictures, MDTV, Rapi Films, Starvision Plus, CJ ENM, JTBC, Kakao Entertainment, TBS, TV Asahi, Fuji TV, Mediacorp, Primeworks Studios, GMM Grammy, Public Television Service, Gala Television, ITV Studios, Hasbro Entertainment and StudioCanal. Formerly, the streaming service also held rights to select television programs distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Sony Pictures Television and 20th Century Fox Television.
Netflix negotiated to distribute animated films from Universal that HBO declined to acquire, such as The Lorax, ParaNorman, and Minions.
Netflix holds exclusive streaming rights to the film library of Studio Ghibli (except Grave of the Fireflies) worldwide except in the US and Japan as part of an agreement signed with Ghibli's international sales holder Wild Bunch in 2020.
=== Netflix Games ===
In July 2021, Netflix hired Mike Verdu, a former executive from Electronic Arts and Facebook, as vice president of game development, along with plans to add video games by 2022. Netflix announced plans to release mobile games that would be included in subscribers' service plans. Trial offerings were first launched for Netflix users in Poland in August 2021, offering premium mobile games based on Stranger Things including Stranger Things 3: The Game, for free to subscribers through the Netflix mobile app.
Netflix officially launched mobile games on November 2, 2021, for Android users around the world. Through the app, subscribers had free access to five games, including two previously made Stranger Things titles. Netflix intends to add more games to this service over time. On November 9, the collection launched for iOS. Verdu said in October 2022 that besides continuing to expand their portfolio of games, they were also interested in cloud gaming options.
To support the games effort, Netflix began acquiring and forming a number of studios. The company acquired Night School Studio, an independent video game developer, in September 2021. Netflix announced plans to acquire Next Games in March 2022 for €65 million as part of Netflix's expansions into gaming. Next Games had developed the mobile title Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales as well as two The Walking Dead mobile games. Later in the month, Netflix also acquired the Texas-based mobile game developer, Boss Fight Entertainment, for an undisclosed sum. Netflix opened a mobile game studio in Helsinki, Finland in September 2022, and a new studio, their fifth overall, in southern California in October 2022, alongside the acquisition of Spry Fox in Seattle.
In June 2024, Verdu was moved into a new role focusing on "innovation in game development." The next month, Netflix hired Alain Tascan, vice president of game development at Epic Games, to head up Netflix Games. As of July 2024, Netflix has over 80 games in development, releasing at least one game each month to attract fans. The company shut down its Southern California "Team Blue" AAA gaming studio in October 2024, leading to the departure of developers like Overwatch producer Chacko Sonny, Halo veteran Joseph Staten and God of War art director Rafael Grassetti. Netflix indicated that it maintains a commitment to grow its gaming business despite the changes. In late October, Netflix announced several games based on hit series including Netflix Stories: Outer Banks, Netflix Stories: A Perfect Couple, Netflix Stories: A Virgin River Christmas, and The Ultimatum: Choices, as well as a new daily word game in partnership with TED Talks, TED Tumblewords.
On December 12, 2024, at The Game Awards 2024, Netflix Games revealed game designer Yu Suzuki's next game Steel Paws. In November 2025, Netflix released its first batch of TV games which members play by using their phone as a controller. The games included Boggle Party, Lego Party, Pictionary: Game Night, Tetris Time Warp and Party Crasher: Fool Your Friends.
== Technology ==
=== Content delivery ===
Netflix freely peers with Internet service providers (ISPs) directly and at common Internet exchange points. In June 2012, a custom content delivery network, Open Connect, was announced. For larger ISPs with over 100,000 subscribers, Netflix offers free Netflix Open Connect computer appliances that cache their content within the ISPs' data centers or networks to further reduce Internet transit costs. By August 2016, Netflix closed its last physical data center, but continued to develop its Open Connect technology. A 2016 study at the University of London detected 233 individual Open Connect locations on over six continents, with the largest amount of traffic in the US, followed by Mexico.
As of July 2017, Netflix series and movies accounted for more than a third of all prime-time download Internet traffic in North America.
=== API ===
On October 1, 2008, Netflix offered access to its service via a public application programming interface (API). It allowed access to data for all Netflix titles, and allows users to manage their movie queues. The API was free and allowed commercial use. In June 2012, Netflix began to restrict the availability of its public API. Netflix instead focused on a small number of known partners using private interfaces, since most traffic came from those private interfaces. In November 2014, Netflix retired the public API. Netflix then partnered with the developers of eight services deemed the most valuable, including Instant Watcher, Fanhattan, Yidio and Nextguide.
=== Recommendations and thumbnails ===
Netflix presents viewers with recommendations based on interactions with the service, such as previous viewing history and ratings of viewed content. These are often grouped into genres and formats, or feature the platform's highest-rated content. Each title is presented with a thumbnail. Before around 2015, these were the same key art for everyone, but since then has been customized. Netflix may select a specific key art for a thumbnail based on viewing history, such as an actor or scene type based on genre preferences. Some thumbnails are generated from video stills.
The Netflix recommendation system is a vital part of the streaming platform's success, enabling personalized content suggestions for hundreds of millions of subscribers worldwide. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, Netflix analyzes user interactions, including viewing history, searches, and ratings, to deliver personalized recommendations for movies and TV shows.
The recommendation system considers individual user preferences, similarities with other users with comparable tastes, specific title attributes (genre, release year, etc.), device usage patterns, and viewing time. As users interact with the platform and provide feedback with their viewing habits, the recommendation system is able to adapt and refine its suggestions over time. Netflix uses a two-tiered ranking system, using the presentation of titles on the homepage for easy navigation to maximize user engagement. This is done by organizing content into rows and ranking the titles within each row based on how much the user would be interested in it. Netflix also uses A/B testing to determine what causes the biggest interest and engagement related to options concerning movie suggestions and how titles are organized.
Tags like "bittersweet", "sitcom", or "intimate" are assigned to each title by Netflix employees. Netflix also uses the tags to create recommendation micro-genres like "Goofy TV Shows" or "Girls Night In".
Netflix launched "responsive recommendations", which display titles on the home page based on what its users are actively searching, in 2025.
== Awards ==
On July 18, 2013, Netflix earned the first Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for original streaming programs at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Three of its series, Arrested Development, Hemlock Grove and House of Cards, earned a combined 14 nominations (nine for House of Cards, three for Arrested Development and two for Hemlock Grove). The House of Cards episode "Chapter 1" received four nominations for both the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards and 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, becoming the first episode of a streaming television series to receive a major Primetime Emmy Award nomination. With its win for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series, "Chapter 1" became the first episode from a streaming service to be awarded an Emmy. David Fincher's win for Directing for a Drama Series for House of Cards made the episode the first from a streaming service to win a Primetime Emmy.
On November 6, 2013, Netflix earned its first Grammy nomination when You've Got Time by Regina Spektor—the main title theme song for Orange Is the New Black—was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
On December 12, 2013, the network earned six nominations for Golden Globe Awards, including four for House of Cards. Among those nominations was Wright for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her portrayal of Claire Underwood, which she won. With the accolade, Wright became the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a streaming television series. It also marked Netflix's first major acting award. House of Cards and Orange is the New Black also won Peabody Awards in 2013.
On January 16, 2014, Netflix became the first streaming service to earn an Academy Award nomination when The Square was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
On July 10, 2014, Netflix received 31 Emmy nominations. Among other nominations, House of Cards received nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series and Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Orange is the New Black was nominated in the comedy categories, earning nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew, and Uzo Aduba were respectively nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (the latter was for Aduba's recurring role in season one, as she was promoted to series regular for the show's second season).
Netflix got the largest share of 2016 Emmy Award nominations, with 16 major nominations. However, streaming shows only got 24 nominations out of a total of 139, falling significantly behind cable. The 16 Netflix nominees were: House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, A Very Murray Christmas with Bill Murray, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Master of None, and Bloodline.
Stranger Things received 19 nominations at the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards, while The Crown received 13 nominations.
In December 2017, Netflix was awarded PETA's Company of the Year for promoting animal rights movies and documentaries like Forks Over Knives and What the Health.
At the 90th Academy Awards, held on March 4, 2018, the film Icarus, distributed by Netflix, won its first Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. During his remarks backstage, director and writer Bryan Fogel remarked that Netflix had "single-handedly changed the documentary world." Icarus had its premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was bought by Netflix for $5 million, one of the biggest deals ever for a non-fiction film. Netflix became the network whose programs received more nomination at the 2018 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards with 112 nominations, therefore breaking HBO's 17-years record as a network whose programs received more nomination at the Emmys, which received 108 nominations.
On January 22, 2019, films distributed by Netflix scored 15 nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture for Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, which was nominated for 10 awards. The 15 nominations equal the total nominations films distributed by Netflix had received in previous years.
In 2020, Netflix received 20 TV nominations and films distributed by Netflix also got 22 film nominations at the 78th Golden Globe Awards. It secured three out of the five nominations for best drama TV series for The Crown, Ozark and Ratched and four of the five nominations for best actress in a TV series: Olivia Colman, Emma Corrin, Laura Linney and Sarah Paulson.
In 2020, Netflix earned 24 Academy Award nominations, marking the first time a streaming service led all studios.
Films and programs distributed by Netflix received 30 nominations at the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards, more than any other distribution company, where their distributed films and programs won seven awards including best motion picture for The Trial of the Chicago 7 and best TV drama for The Crown. Netflix also received the most nominations of any studio at the 93rd Academy Awards—35 total nominations with 7 award wins.
In February 2022, The Power of the Dog, a gritty western distributed by Netflix and directed by Jane Campion, received 12 nominations, including Best Picture, for the 94th annual Academy Awards. Films distributed by the streamer received a total of 72 nominations. Campion became the third female to receive the Best Director award, winning her second Oscar for The Power of the Dog. At the 50th International Emmy Awards, Netflix original Sex Education won Best Comedy Series. Later that year, Netflix received 26 Emmy Awards including six for Squid Game. The Squid Game wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series were the first-ever for a non-English language series in those categories.
In March 2023, Netflix won six Academy Awards including four for All Quiet on the Western Front which was the most awarded Netflix film in its history. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was the first streaming film to win Best Animated Feature and The Elephant Whisperers was the first Indian-produced film to receive Best Documentary Short Film. Netflix received 103 Emmy nominations including 13 each for the limited series Beef and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
In July 2024, Netflix received 107 Emmy nominations, which was the most of any network.
In January 2025, Netflix received 18 Academy Award nominations across six titles—the most of any studio. Thirteen of those nominations belonged to the musical crime drama Emilia Pérez, making it the most nominated film of the year and the most nominated non-English language film in Academy history. Emilia Pérez ultimately won an award for Best Original Song for "El Mal" and Zoe Saldaña was awarded Best Supporting Actress. Other Netflix films recognized with nominations were The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which took home the award for Best Documentary Short, Pablo Larraín's Maria, Tyler Perry's The Six Triple Eight, animated feature Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and live-action short film Anuja.
In July 2025, Netflix received 120 Emmy nominations, including 13 nods for Adolescence, 11 for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and 10 for Black Mirror. It won 30, including eight for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series winner Adolescence. The show's star, Owen Cooper, was the youngest Emmy winner ever in any male acting category at 15 years old.
In January 2026, Netflix received 18 Academy Award nominations across six titles. These included Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein with nine nominations (Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Sound), Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams with three nominations (Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song), The Perfect Neighbor for Best Documentary, KPop Demon Hunters for Best Animated Feature, as well as two short films: The Singers and All the Empty Rooms, nominated for Live Action Short Film and Documentary Short Film, respectively.
== Criticism ==
Customers of Netflix have complained about price increases in Netflix offerings dating back to the company's decision to separate its DVD rental and streaming services, which was quickly reversed. As Netflix increased its streaming output, it has faced calls to limit accessibility to graphic violence and include viewer advisories for issues such as sensationalism and promotion of pseudoscience. Netflix's content has also been criticized by disability rights movement advocates for lack of closed captioning quality. The launch of ad-supported plans has also been criticized by some subscribers as undermining Netflix's once ad-free experience.
Some media organizations and competitors have criticized Netflix for selectively releasing ratings and viewer numbers of its original programming. The company has made claims boasting about viewership records without providing data to substantiate its successes or using problematic estimation methods. In March 2020, some government agencies called for Netflix and other streamers to limit services due to increased broadband and energy consumption as use of the platform increased. In response, the company announced it would reduce bit rate across all streams in Europe, thus decreasing Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25 percent. These same steps were later taken in India.
In May 2022, Netflix's shareholder Imperium Irrevocable Trust filed a lawsuit against the company for violating the US securities laws. In January 2024, a federal judge dismissed the suit, stating that shareholders failed to provide instances of Netflix lying about subscriber growth.
In May 2023, Netflix officially banned the use of password sharing between individuals of different households, meaning sharing an account was only available to those living in the same house. After reporting a record number of new subscribers in Q4 2024, Netflix raised prices
in early 2025. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein_Medal | Albert Einstein Medal | The Albert Einstein Medal is an award presented by the Albert Einstein Society in Bern. First given in 1979, the award is presented to people for "scientific findings, works, or publications related to Albert Einstein" each year.
== Recipients ==
Source: Einstein Society |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company | Hudson's Bay Company | The Hudson's Bay Company (abbreviated HBC and colloquially Hudson's Bay) is a Canadian holding company of department stores and commercial property. It was the oldest corporation in North America, founded in 1670 and liquidated in 2025. It was headquartered at the Simpson Tower in Toronto.
The founding royal charter, issued by King Charles II, granted the company the right of "sole trade and commerce" over the Rupert's Land territory, the borders of which were based on the Hudson Bay drainage basin. It controlled the fur trade throughout English and later British North America, and was its de facto government until it relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869. The company then diversifed with the ownership and operation of several retail businesses throughout the latter country. It established its namesake department stores in 1881, the Home Outfitters home furnishings stores in 1999, and acquired the Zellers and Fields discount stores in 1978. It also owned several regional department stores that were eventually converted to The Bay, including Morgan's, Simpsons, and Woodward's. Expansions beyond Canada included the United States, where it owned department stores including Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Saks Off 5th in the 2010s; and the Netherlands, where it sold its remaining stores in 2019.
The Thomson family was the majority stockholder of HBC from 1979 to 1992 and sold its last shares in the company in 1997. HBC was bought by American businessman Jerry Zucker in 2006 and became privately held. Following Zucker’s death, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners in 2008 and was operated by the latter's holding company Hudson's Bay Trading Company until 2012. HBC went public again from 2012 to 2020 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with NRDC as the main shareholder.
HBC spun-off its American assets into the holding company Saks Global in November 2024, and filed for creditor protection in March 2025. By this time, its business consisted only of Hudson's Bay stores and the Canadian locations of Saks. Following the closure of its remaining stores by June 2025 and the subsequent sale of its intellectual property to Canadian Tire, the Hudson's Bay Company was formally renamed 1242939 B.C. Unlimited Liability Co. in August 2025. By December 2025, the liquidation of the company was essentially over, with the royal charter and art collection having been auctioned off, and the former store leases either sold to other parties or returned to landlords. As of February 2026, eight people were still working at the company, compared to 9,364 when it had filed for creditor protection and closed its stores in 2025, and a high of 70,000 employees back in 2006.
== 17th century history ==
For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based in New France, operated a de facto monopoly in the North American fur trade. Two French traders, Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers (Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from the Cree that the best fur country lay north and west of Lake Superior, and that there was a "frozen sea" still further north. Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According to Peter C. Newman, "concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from the St. Lawrence River, the French governor", Marquis d'Argenson (in office 1658–61), "refused to grant the coureurs des bois permission to scout the distant territory". Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government.
Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants in Boston to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into pack ice in the Hudson Strait. Boston-based English commissioner Colonel George Cartwright learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing. Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of the Great Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship of Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king – Charles II. In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, the Nonsuch and the Eaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on the Nonsuch, commanded by Captain Zachariah Gillam, while the Eaglet was commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port at Deptford, England, but the Eaglet was forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland.
The Nonsuch continued to James Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fort at the mouth of the Rupert River. It later became known as "Rupert House", and developed as the community of present-day Waskaganish, Quebec. Both the fort and the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69, Nonsuch returned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay. The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay.
A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay" on 2 May 1670. The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking part on behalf of England. The area was named "Rupert's Land" after Prince Rupert,
the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi), comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-central United States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land "purchase" in the 19th century.
The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House (1668, southeast), Moose Factory (1673, south) and Fort Albany, Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper: New Severn (1685), York Factory (1684), and Fort Churchill (1717). Inland posts were not built until 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of the Saskatchewan and Red rivers. Originally called "factories" because the "factor", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations in New Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the "Made Beaver" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: "the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB".
During the fall and winter, First Nations men and European fur trappers accomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled by canoe and on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and the Hudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized "trading ceremony" between the chief trader and the captain of the Indigenous contingent who traded on their behalf. During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post.
The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with Indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent a raiding party under the Chevalier de Troyes more than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointed Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt to resettle Fort Albany failed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and France were officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBC recovered Fort Albany; d'Iberville captured York Factory in 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.
In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Hudson's Bay (5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany again in 1709 during Queen Anne's War but was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. See Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.
== 18th century history ==
With the ending of the Nine Years' War in 1697, and the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713 with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession. (The Kingdom of Great Britain had been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707).
After the treaty, the HBC built Prince of Wales Fort, a stone star fort at the mouth of the nearby Churchill River. In 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, a French squadron under Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse captured and demolished York Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.
In its trade with Indigenous peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by Indigenous hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 per cent of the trade. The number of indigo stripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts.
A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by the East India Company over India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major competitor.
Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established by Samuel Hearne in 1774 with Cumberland House, Saskatchewan.
Conversely, a number of inland HBC "houses" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, (HH) established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kenogami Rivers, a prime strategic location between Upland and Lowland Indigenous peoples, as well as the rival English and French traders. HH was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication. Henley House was sacked in 1754, and its servants killed. Three of the five attackers (rebels?) were apprehended at Albany Fort and hanged on June 21, 1755. HH was raised a few years later, then rebuilt in 1759, only to be sacked again immediately. Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a "New Discovery" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location. Additional inland posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the 1770s. These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), and Beaver Lake Posts.
In 1779, other traders founded the North West Company (NWC) in Montreal as a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the first joint-stock company in Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783. By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits.
== 19th century history ==
The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the small Pemmican War in 1816, which culminated in the Battle of Seven Oaks on 19 June 1816. In 1821, the NWC and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to the violent competition. Of the 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable. Their combined territory was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory, which reached to the Arctic Ocean in the north and, with the creation of the Columbia Department in the Pacific Northwest, to the Pacific Ocean in the west. The NWC's regional headquarters at Fort George (Fort Astoria) was relocated to Fort Vancouver by 1825, making it the HBC's base of operations on the Pacific Slope.
Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the NWC, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management of Sir George Simpson (1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km2 (3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees.
Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its own paper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in the Red River Colony.
=== Competition and exploration ===
Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair and Andrew McDermot (Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by the Red River Trails to Norman Kittson, a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled the maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast until the 1830s.
Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River. Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief Factor John McLoughlin of the company's Columbia District, was to discourage US settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.
=== Additional early presence in present-day United States ===
Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites: Spokane House, Fort Okanogan and Fort Nez Percés. Fort Colville located further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825.
In the mid-1820s, Peter Skene Ogden and a brigade of over 100 men pushed south to trap in the area that is now the state of Utah. As one of the notable early European explorers in the region, several locations in northern Utah now bear Ogden's name, including the city of Ogden, the Ogden Valley and the Ogden River.
Fort Umpqua was established in 1832 in present-day southern Oregon after the Willamette River had been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State of Washington, resulting in Fort Nisqually a few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites.
The HBC established Fort Boise in 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the American Fort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of the Oregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail.
HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development of Northern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as the Siskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading post at Yerba Buena (San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company was French Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city of Stockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser known Peter Skene Ogden and Samuel Black.
The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859.
Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North as Fort Stikine in the Alaska Panhandle by present-day Wrangell. The RAC-HBC agreement (1839) with the Russian American Company (RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. The Puget Sound Agricultural Company subsidiary was created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually, Fort Cowlitz and Fort Langley in present-day southern British Columbia.
The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by the first successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led by Marcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into the Willamette Valley of Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the 49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store at Oregon City. He later became known as the "Father of Oregon".
=== Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia) ===
The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northern British Columbia with noteworthy sites: Fort Alexandria, Fort d'Épinette (Fort St. John), Fort St. James, Fort George and Fort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops).
Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th parallel border only as far as the Rocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from the Fort George regional headquarter on the southern shore of the Columbia River all the way to the Fraser River. The three boats 40 some crew led by the James McMillan were first to officially ever make it to Puget Sound from the continent, to reach its northern end into Boundary Bay and to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The first Fort Langley was subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity.
The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline with Fort Simpson (1831) on the Nass River, Fort McLoughlin (1833) and the Beaver (1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: "By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over".
The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur rich New Caledonia district in current day northern British Columbia: "monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains".
By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the looming Oregon Treaty border negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC built Fort Victoria at the southern end of present-day Vancouver Island in southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. The Fort Rupert (1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland, Fort Hope and Fort Yale (1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on the Fraser River as far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuilt Fort Langley (1840) on the Lower Fraser to Fort Kamloops by 1850 and the rest of the transportation network to York Factory on the Hudson Bay along with the New Caledonia district fur returns.
=== End of monopoly ===
The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly. Guillaume Sayer, a Métis trapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The Court of Assiniboia brought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led by Louis Riel Sr. gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, Judge Adam Thom did not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, "Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!" ("Trade is free! Trade is free!"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River.
Another factor was the findings of the Palliser Expedition of 1857 to 1860, led by Captain John Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement.
In 1863, the International Financial Society bought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather the financial collapse of 1866 which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America.
In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer of CA$10 million, the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses. HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments. The deal, known as the Deed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, the North-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of the Rupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province, Manitoba, to the Confederation on 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force.
During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West.
=== Shift to department stores ===
The modern department store evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established in Fort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops in Fort Victoria (1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884), Vancouver (1887), Vernon (1887), Edmonton (1890), Yorkton (1898), and Nelson (1902). The first of the grand "original six" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.
== 20th century history ==
The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur trade and real estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business. During the Russian Civil War, the company briefly operated in the Siberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with the Soviet government until departing in 1924. The company co-founded Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company (HBOG) in 1926 with Marland Oil Company (which merged with Conoco in 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand. The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic.
=== Indigenous health ===
The medical scientist Frederick Banting was travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheeler Distributor were responsible for spreading the influenza virus down the Slave River and Mackenzie River. Less than a decade after the 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the Indigenous population of the north. Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with a Toronto Star reporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record. The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia. Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them.
The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: "For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods." He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that "the result was a diet of 'flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'"
The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks "false and slanderous", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at the King Edward Hotel to demand a retraction. Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of Indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic. As A. Y. Jackson, the Group of Seven painter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: "He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes."
Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior:He noted that "infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth"; that "white man's food leads to decay of native teeth"; that "tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay"; that "an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell"; and that "the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The "proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer.
=== Latter 20th century ===
HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967.
In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law, Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto.
In 1972, the company acquired the four-store Shop-Rite chain of catalogue stores. The chain quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales. In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquired Freimans department stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay.
In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum.
In 1978, the Zellers discount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC; however, the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.
In 1979, Canadian billionaire Kenneth Thomson won control of the company in a battle with George Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million. Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG to Dome Petroleum in 1981. The Thomson family sold most of its stake in the company in 1992 and the last remaining 25% shares on September 15, 1997.
Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (now North American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adopted The North West Company name three years later.
In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailing fur in response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose. In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet consumer demand.
== 21st century history ==
=== 2000s ===
In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, a Nova Scotia-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company. Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswoman Anita Zucker, widow of Jerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution, Dominion Textile.
It had been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 2001 to 2005. On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release, the HBC announced that Zucker would replace Yves Fortier as governor and George Heller as CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO.
From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores called Designer Depot. The concept was similar to the Winners and HomeSense retail format, but Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.
On 16 July 2008 shortly after Zucker’s death, the company was sold to NRDC Equity Partners for just over $1.1 billion, a private equity firm based in Purchase, New York, which already owned Lord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States. The Canadian and US holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008.
=== 2010s ===
Another HBC chain, Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012. Established in 1950, Fields was acquired by Zellers in 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.
In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billion initial public offering (IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners.
In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of an online flash sales site, the Gilt Groupe, for US$250,000,000. HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gone bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany.
In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture to Macy's for a potential takeover of the US department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase of Neiman Marcus Group Inc. It did not proceed with either deal.
On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach "amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies". A July 2019 hack of Capital One, which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC.
In June 2019, a consortium including chairman Richard Baker, Rhône Group, WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private. The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc. said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A US company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan. In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private.
HBC sold Galeria Kaufhof, Galeria Inno, Gilt Groupe, and Lord & Taylor by August 2019. A feature article by Bloomberg News mentioned that CEO Helena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, "had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay". She was selling assets "to put the company on more solid financial footing" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC "has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into irrelevance".
=== 2020s ===
In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker. Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange, with Richard A. Baker replacing Foulkes as CEO.
On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC and Sycamore Partners were preparing bids to buy Kohl's.
In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products.
=== 2025 liquidation and dissolution ===
HBC filed for creditor protection in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on 7 March 2025, after failing to secure financing and consistently delaying in paying suppliers. The filing came during a trade war with the United States and an escalation of the ongoing retail apocalypse due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief financial officer Jennifer Bewley warned that if funding was not received within days, it would struggle with payroll obligations, lease defaults, and possible store closings. HBC began liquidating 74 Hudson's Bay stores, two Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and all 13 Saks Off Fifth outlets later that month, resulting in 9,000 employee layoffs. HBC intended for six Hudson's Bay stores in Ontario and Quebec to stay open. However, on 23 April, the company announced the liquidation of all remaining stores after a court ruling determined that it was unlikely that they would be bought. All remaining Hudson's Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Saks Off Fifth stores were permanently closed by 1 June.
In early May, the liquidator solicited bids for HBC's leases, intellectual property, and real estate. By 3 June, HBC had completed its efforts to auction off its store leases. 62 leases had no bidder interest, and were returned to their landlords, and 12 properties were co-owned by RioCan, who decided to put them into receivership. On 23 May, successful bids were made by Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corporation for 28 Hudson's Bay store leases. Objections were made by landlords for 23 of the leases, citing an insufficient business plan, financing, or retail expertise. On 23 June, the court approved the acquisition of 3 leases where Liu was the landlord. By late July 2025, HBC reached a deal with YM Inc. to sell the leases to five stores in Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba for $5.3 million. On 31 July, a deal was reached with Ivanhoe Realties Inc. to sell the lease to a store in a mall owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge. On 24 October, the Ontario Supreme Court sided with landlords for the 23 disputed store leases and rejected Liu's bid to acquire them.
On 27 May, it was announced by the liquidator that HBC's intellectual property rights had been purchased by Canadian Tire for $30 million. The property consisted of the Hudson's Bay name, trademarks, logos, coat of arms, and stripes pattern, as well as many slogans, including Zellers's catchphrase, "Lowest price is the law". However, the Zellers brand itself was not acquired by Canadian Tire. The purchase of intellectual property by Canadian Tire required that HBC be renamed during the final liquidation proceedings to avoid confusion with the trademark acquired. By August 13, the company changed its name to 1242939 B.C. Unlimited Liability Co., which will be responsible for selling the former HBC's leases and auctioning its remaining art and artifacts.
In August 2025, filings revealed that the Hudson's Bay trademarks has transferred Zellers trademarks to Les Alies de la mode Inc., a defunct Quebec-based retailer run by Issac Benitah, owner of Fairweather and International Clothiers, a company that specializes in zombie retailing.
In October 2025, Canadian Tire announced that they would be marketing Hudson's Bay Point Blankets at their stores.
A 2026 Canadian Press report indicated that the company was still being unwound through court proceedings.
== Canadian stores ==
=== Hudson's Bay (1881–2025) ===
The first Hudson's Bay Company department store opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1881. The chain was rebranded "the Bay" in 1965, and "Hudson's Bay" in 2013. It was the final HBC retail operation at the time of its liquidation in 2025.
HBC acquired the Morgan's department stores in 1960 and converted its Ontario stores to the Bay by 1968 and its Quebec stores to la Baie in 1973. Before the conversions, HBC updated the Morgan's logo to match the Bay's visual identity in 1965. HBC acquired the Simpsons department stores in Ontario and Quebec in 1978 and converted them to the Bay in 1991. The related Simpsons-Sears department stores were not acquired by the Bay, and became Sears Canada in 1978.
=== Zellers (1978–2013) ===
Zellers was founded in 1931 by Walter P. Zeller, and acquired by HBC in 1978. It expanded in part with the HBC acquisitions and conversions of Towers Department Stores (1990) and Kmart Canada (1998).
In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the US-based retailer Target and shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013. Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open. The Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers. Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio to Target Canada in 2011. Those stores closed in January 2020.
In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and within Hudson's Bay physical locations in 2023. It operated in a store-within-a-store format across Canada.
=== Home Outfitters (1999–2019) ===
Home Outfitters originally launched in 1998 as Bed, Bath & More, before being revamped and relaunched under the new name in 1999. The chain peaked at 69 locations in October 2014. It sold bedding, towels, housewares, and other home accessories. In July 2014, HBC announced that it would begin integrating Home Outfitters into its Hudson's Bay retail division (including increased availability of its product line through Hudson's Bay locations and its website), along with the closure of 2 stores. In 2016, HBC rebranded three Home Outfitters locations in Winnipeg under the banner Hudson's Bay Home as a pilot. The stores closed a few years later, along with Home Outfitters. In February 2019, HBC announced all 37 locations of Home Outfitters would be phased out.
== International stores ==
=== United States ===
==== Lord & Taylor (2012–2019) ====
On 24 January 2012, the Financial Post reported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolved Hudson's Bay Trading Company and that the HBC would now also operate the Lord & Taylor chain. At the time, the company was run by president Bonnie Brooks. Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer.
In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagship Lord & Taylor store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to WeWork Property Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor. The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces.
In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business to Le Tote Inc., which was to pay CA$99.5 million in cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additional CA$33.2 million two years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote. The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value of CA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as "Not a clean exit". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated at CA$77 million cash per year.
==== Saks Fifth Avenue (2013–2024) ====
On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buy Saks, Inc., operator of the American Saks Fifth Avenue brand, for US$2.9 billion, or $16 per share. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013. The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon. After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions.
Saks Global purchased the American Neiman Marcus Group (NMG). The acquisition was finalized in December 2024 and the purchase cost $2.7 billion. The acquisition brought together Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th. The purchase was supported with financing from Amazon (who will work with the group to “to innovate on behalf of customers and brand partners”), Authentic Brands Group, G-III Apparel Group and Salesforce. There is also the possibility of store closures across Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. In an interview with Vogue Business, Metrick (CEO of Saks Global Operating Group) said that this was only the beginning of the group's ambitions and that they were thinking of what the entity might look like internationally. On 4 July 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquire Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations.
=== Europe ===
HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary, Galeria Inno, from Metro Group in September 2015 for US$3.2 billion.
On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firm Signa Holding for Kaufhof and other real estate. An unnamed source told CNBC that the value of the offer was approximately €3 billion. This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal. In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt merged as part of a spin off.
HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 per cent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firm Signa Holding in June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC. At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end.
== List of retail operations ==
== Brand identity ==
Following the 2012 IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving a wordmark from the original HBC flag), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand.
=== Olympic outfitter ===
The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship was renewed through 2020. Beginning in the late 2000s, HBC used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands.
On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier, Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004. The Canadian Olympic collection was sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold to Target Canada).
HBC's 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics uniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy red letter jackets and Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material.
HBC's apparel for the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf that were sold for $10, with one-third of the proceeds going to the Canadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the "Canada" hoodies.
The HBC's 2010 Winter Olympics apparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like a Cowichan sweater. After a meeting between HBC representatives and Cowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters could sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations.
Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the 2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended the Vancouver Olympics, noted that Canadians were passionate in embracing the games with their "Canada" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year). HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games.
In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the 2022 Winter Olympics, Lululemon would replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter.
=== Charitable involvement ===
The HBC was involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raised funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation was a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009.
=== Archives and Artifacts ===
The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year.
On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba.
At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs. More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building.
In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations "Memory of the World Programme" project, under UNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc.
When the HBC dissolved in 2025, the Heffel Gallery was appointed to auction off 1,700 pieces of art and 2,700 artifacts including the 1670 royal charter.
=== Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company ===
The Charter was issued by Charles II of England on May 2, 1670, on parchment with the Kings seal. It gave authority to the “Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay.”
The document was originally kept by the company in London, although likely not at Windsor Castle. During the London Blitz, the charter was kept in manor house in rural Hertfordshire to keep it safe and then from the 1970s until the present, the document had been displayed at HBC's head office in Toronto. Between 2020 and 2021, it was loaned to the Manitoba Museum.
==== Rent obligation under charter ====
Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give two elk skins and two black beaver pelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads:
...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted.
The ceremony was first conducted with the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with King George VI in 1939, and last with his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo in Assiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four "rent ceremonies" took place in or around Winnipeg.
==== Donation ====
In December 2025, the Weston family and Thomson family agreed to jointly pay $18 million for the royal charter document and donate it joint ownership of the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and the Royal Ontario Museum.
== Corporate affairs ==
=== Historical hierarchy ===
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. The officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart.
Hierarchical order pre-1821
Hierarchical order 1821–1871
==== Progression ====
In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720.
=== Modern-day executive board ===
As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are:
=== Governors ===
Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company:
== Miscellany ==
=== HBC explorers, builders, and associates ===
James Knight (c. 1640 – c. 1721) was a director of Hudson's Bay Company and an explorer who died in an expedition to the Northwest Passage.
Henry Kelsey (c. 1667 – 1 November 1724), a.k.a. the Boy Kelsey, was an English fur trader, explorer, and sailor who played an important role in establishing Hudson's Bay Company in Canada. In 1690, Henry Kelsey embarked on a 2-year exploration journey that made him the first white man to see buffalo.
Thanadelthur (c. 1697 – 5 February 1717) was a woman of the Chipewyan nation who was a guide and interpreter for Hudson's Bay Company.
Samuel Hearne (1745–92) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. In 1774, Hearne built Cumberland House for the Hudson's Bay Company, its first interior trading post and the first permanent settlement in present Saskatchewan.
David Thompson (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader that worked for both the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Trading Company. He is best known for his extensive explorations and map-making activities. He mapped almost half of North America between the 46th and 60th parallels, from the St Lawrence and Great Lakes all the way to the Pacific.
Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk (20 June 1771 – 8 April 1820) was a Scottish peer and philanthropist who, as HBC's majority shareholder, arranged to purchase land at Red River to establish a colony for dispossessed Scottish immigrants.
Isobel Gunn or Isabella Gunn (c. 1780 – 7 November 1861), also known as John Fubbister or Mary Fubbister, was a Scottish labourer employed by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), noted for having passed herself as a man, thereby becoming the first European woman to travel to Rupert's Land, now part of Western Canada.
George Simpson (1787 – 7 September 1860) was the Canadian governor of Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power, a period which began in 1821 following the company's merger with the North West Trading Company.
John McLean (c. 1799 – 8 September 1890), a Scoto-Canadian trapper and trader who successfully crossed the entire Labrador Peninsula, opening up an overland route between Fort Smith on Lake Melville and Fort Chimo on Ungava Bay; first European to discover Churchill Falls on the Churchill River.
Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal (6 August 1820 – 21 January 1914), at various times Chief Factor of the Labrador district, Commissioner of the Montreal district, and President of the Council of the Northern Department, who pacified Louis Riel during the Red River Rebellion of 1870, thus enabling the transfer of Rupert's Land from the HBC to the fledgling government of Canada. Later, he became Governor of the HBC.
Dr. John Rae (Inuktitut Aglooka ᐊᒡᓘᑲ English: "long strider") (30 September 1813 – 22 July 1893) was a Scottish doctor who explored Northern Canada, surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage and reported the fate of the Franklin Expedition.
William Keswick (15 April 1834 – 9 March 1912) and grandson Sir William Johnstone Keswick (1903–90) served at HBC; the former as a director and later as governor from 1952 to 1965. The Keswick family are the Scottish business dynasty that controls Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson, one of the original British trading houses or Hongs in British Hong Kong.
=== HBC sternwheelers and steamships ===
=== Rivals ===
The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_(rapper) | Common (rapper) | Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known professionally as Common (formerly known as Common Sense), is an American rapper, actor and activist. The recipient of three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, he signed with the independent label Relativity Records at the age of 20. The label released his first three studio albums: Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992), Resurrection (1994) and One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997). He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s, and achieved mainstream success through his work with the Black music collective Soulquarians.
After attaining a major label record deal, he released his fourth and fifth albums, Like Water for Chocolate (2000) and Electric Circus (2002), to continued acclaim and modest commercial response. He guest performed on fellow Soulquarian, Erykah Badu's 2003 single, "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", which became his highest entry — at number nine — on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best R&B Song at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. He signed with fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West's record label GOOD Music, in a joint venture with Geffen Records to release his sixth and seventh albums Be (2005) and Finding Forever (2007); both were nominated for Best Rap Album Grammys, while the latter became his first to debut atop the Billboard 200 and contained the song "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), the recipient of Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. His eighth album, Universal Mind Control (2008), was met with a critical decline and served as his final release with GOOD.
Common's label imprint, Think Common Entertainment, was founded in 2011 and entered a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records to release his ninth album, The Dreamer/The Believer (2011), and later No I.D.'s ARTium Recordings, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings to release his tenth album, Nobody's Smiling (2014). Both received critical praise and further discussed social issues in Black America; his eleventh album, Black America Again (2016) saw widespread critical acclaim and served as his final release on a major label. Signing a contract with Loma Vista, he later released his twelfth album Let Love (2019), thirteenth album A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1 (2020), and fourteenth album A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 (2021), to positive reviews. For collaborative effort, he worked with Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper on the album August Greene (2018) under the supergroup of the same name, and with Pete Rock on the album The Auditorium Vol. 1 (2024).
Lynn won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song "Glory" (with John Legend), which he released for the film Selma (2014), wherein he co-starred as civil rights leader James Bevel. His other film roles include Smokin' Aces (2006), Street Kings (2008), American Gangster (2007), Wanted (2008), Date Night (2010), Just Wright (2010), Happy Feet Two (2011), Now You See Me (2013), Run All Night (2015), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Smallfoot (2018), Alice (2022), and Fool's Paradise (2023). In television, he starred as Elam Ferguson in AMC western series Hell on Wheels from 2011 to 2014, and has played a supporting role in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Silo since 2023. His song "Letter to the Free" was released for the Ava DuVernay-directed Netflix documentary 13th (2017), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. He made his Broadway acting debut on the play Between Riverside and Crazy (2023), which won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
== Early life and education ==
Lonnie Rashid Lynn was born on March 13, 1972, at the Chicago Osteopathic Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of educator and former principal of John Hope College Preparatory High School, Mahalia Ann Hines, and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn. Lynn shares the same first name as his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. He is known by his middle name, Rashid, to his family and friends. Lynn's godfather is basketball player Spencer Haywood who was a teammate of his father on the Denver Rockets.
Lynn was raised in the Calumet Heights neighborhood. His father left the family because of his drug and alcohol addictions while Lynn was young. When he was aged two, Lynn's father attempted to take him and his mother to Seattle, where he had arranged a tryout with the Seattle SuperSonics. His father was arrested when the family stopped at a motel in Wisconsin and charged with false imprisonment.
Lynn's parents divorced in the late 1970s, resulting in his father moving to Denver, Colorado. This left Lynn to be raised by his mother; however, his father remained active in his life, and was able to get him a job as a ballboy with the Chicago Bulls when he was 11, also witnessing Michael Jordan's first professional exhibition game. Lynn attended Florida A&M University (FAMU) for two years under a scholarship and majored in business administration but did not graduate.
== Music career ==
Common's music has embraced several styles, including Midwestern hip-hop, neo soul and progressive rap.
=== 1987–1996: Career beginnings ===
Lynn began rapping in the late 1980s, while a student at Luther High School South in Chicago, when he, along with two of his friends, formed C.D.R., a rap trio that opened for acts such as N.W.A and Big Daddy Kane. When C.D.R dissolved by 1991, Lynn began a solo career under the stage name of Common Sense. After being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine, he debuted as a solo artist in 1992 with the single "Take It EZ", followed by the album Can I Borrow a Dollar?.
With the 1994 release of Resurrection, Common Sense achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim which extended beyond the Chicago music scene. The album sold relatively well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip-hop fans at the time. Resurrection was Common Sense's last album produced almost entirely by his long-time production partner, No I.D., who would later become a mentor to a young Kanye West.
In 1996, Common Sense appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America Is Dying Slowly (A.I.D.S.), alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip-hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as "a masterpiece" by The Source magazine. He would later also contribute to the Red Hot Organization's Fela Kuti tribute album, Red Hot and Riot in 2002. He collaborated with Djelimady Tounkara on a remake of Kuti's track, "Years of Tears and Sorrow".
The song "I Used to Love H.E.R." from Resurrection ignited a feud with West Coast rap group Westside Connection. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip-hop music was taking, using a metaphor of a woman to convey hip-hop and were interpreted by some as directing blame towards the popularity of West Coast gangsta rap. Westside Connection first responded with the 1995 song "Westside Slaughterhouse," with the lyrics "Used to love H.E.R., mad cause I f*cked her". "Westside Slaughterhouse" also mentioned Common Sense by name, prompting the rapper to respond with the scathing Pete Rock-produced attack song "The Bitch in Yoo". Common Sense and Westside Connection continued to insult each other back and forth before finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute. Following the popularity of Resurrection, Common Sense was sued by an Orange County-based reggae band with the same name, and was forced to shorten his moniker to simply Common.
=== 1996–1999: One Day It'll All Make Sense ===
Initially scheduled for an October 1996 release, Common released his third album, One Day It'll All Make Sense, in September 1997. The album took a total of two years to complete and included collaborations with artists such as Lauryn Hill, De La Soul, Q-Tip, Canibus, Black Thought, Chantay Savage, and Questlove — a future fellow member of the Soulquarians outfit. The album, which made a point of eschewing any gangsterism (in response to questions about his musical integrity), was critically acclaimed and led to a major label contract with MCA Records. In addition to releasing One Day, Common's first child, daughter Omoye Assata Lynn, was born shortly after the release of the album.
As documented by hip-hop journalist Raquel Cepeda, in the liner notes for the album, this event had a profound spiritual and mental effect on Common and enabled him to grow musically while becoming more responsible as an artist. She writes:Rashid found out that he was going to become a daddy in about 8 months. Stunned and confused, Rashid had life-altering decisions to make with his girlfriend, Kim Jones. The situation led to the composition of his favorite cut on One Day... that offers a male slant on abortion. "Retrospect for Life", produced by James Poyser and No I.D. featuring Lauryn Hill (who was due on the same day as Rashid's girlfriend), is the song that is the driving force behind the project. Rashid listens to "Retrospect for Life" today at the mastering session geeked as if it were for the first time. He tells me as we listen to L-Boogie wail the chorus, "when I listen to the song now, I think about how precious her (Omoye's) life is".
Common addresses family ethics several times on One Day..., and the album sleeve is decorated with old family photos, illustrating the rapper's childhood, as well a quote from 1 Corinthians 13:11, which summarizes the path to manhood:When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
=== 1999–2003: Soulquarians era ===
Following One Day..., Common signed a major label record deal with MCA Records and relocated from Chicago to New York City in 1999. He began recording almost exclusively with a loose collective of musicians and artists (dubbed the "Soulquarians" by central figure Questlove) throughout 1999, and made a few sporadic guest appearances on The Roots' Things Fall Apart, and the Rawkus Records compilation, Soundbombing 2.
In 2000, his fourth album, Like Water for Chocolate, was released to mass critical acclaim. Executive produced by Questlove and featuring significant contributions by J Dilla, (who helmed every track except — "Cold Blooded", "Geto Heaven Part II", "A Song For Assata", "Pop's Rap Part 3...All My Children" & the DJ Premier-produced track "The 6th Sense"), Like Water for Chocolate transpired to be a considerable commercial breakthrough for Common, earning the rapper his first gold record, and greatly expanding his fanbase among critics and listeners alike.
With both artists hailing from the Great Lakes region of the United States (Chicago and Detroit, respectively), Common and J Dilla established their chemistry early on. Both became members of the Soulquarians collective, and collaborated on numerous projects together, even placing one song, "Thelonius", on both the Slum Village album Fantastic, Vol. 2, and Common's Like Water for Chocolate. As Dilla's health began to decline from the effects of Lupus Nephritis, he relocated to Los Angeles, and asked Common to make the move with him as a roommate (Dilla would later lose his battle with the rare disease).
This album saw Common exploring themes (musically and lyrically), which were uncommon for a hip-hop record, as he does on the song "Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)"; a homage to Nigerian music legend, and political activist Fela Kuti. The most popular single from the album "The Light" was nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 2002, Common released his fifth album, Electric Circus. The album was highly anticipated and praised by many critics for its ambitious vision. However, it was not as commercially successful as his previous album, Like Water for Chocolate, selling under 300,000 copies. An eclectic album, Electric Circus featured fusions of several genres such as hip-hop, pop, rock, electronic, and neo-soul. The album's style tended to divide critics; some praised its ambitious vision while others criticized it for the same reason. Most of the criticism tended to revolve around the album's experimental nature; some felt Common had strayed too far from his previous sound. This was Common's second and last album for MCA, and the label's final release prior to its absorption into Geffen Records.
Around this time, Common appeared as a guest performer on singer and fellow Soulquarian Bilal's Love for Sale album, recording a remake of the 1977 Fela Kuti song "Sorrow, Tears & Blood". Bilal also featured on Electric Circus, the first of many future collaborations with Common.
=== 2004–2011: GOOD Music era ===
In early 2004, Common made an appearance on fellow Chicagoan Kanye West's multi-platinum debut album, The College Dropout (on the song "Get Em High"), and announced his signing to West's then-newfound label GOOD Music. West had been a longtime fan of Common and the two even participated in a friendly on-air MC battle, where West took jabs at his lyrical idol for "going soft" and wearing crochet pants (as he does for his appearance in the video for the Mary J. Blige song "Dance for Me"). The pair worked together on Common's next album, Be, almost entirely produced by Kanye West, with some help from Common's longtime collaborator James Yancey (J Dilla) — also a favorite of West. The album was released in May 2005, and performed very well, boosted by Kanye's involvement and the singles "The Corner", and "Go". Be earned Common the second gold record of his career, with sales topping out at around 800,000 copies. The Source magazine gave it a near-perfect 4.5 mic rating, XXL magazine gave it their highest rating of "XXL", and AllHipHop gave the album 4 stars. The album was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006.
Following the release of Be in 2005, several mixed-race artists from the UK hip-hop scene took exception to Common's comments about interracial relationships on the song "Real People." Yungun, Doc Brown and Rising Son recorded a track over an instrumental version of "The Corner" named "Dear Common (The Corner Dub)." Common states that he has heard of the track but never actually taken the time to listen to it, and has not retaliated in song.
Common's seventh LP titled Finding Forever was released on July 31, 2007. For this album, he continued his work with Kanye West, as well as other producers such as Will.i.am, Devo Springsteen, Derrick Hodge, and Karriem Riggins, as well as the only J Dilla-produced track, "So Far To Go". The album features guest spots from artists such as Dwele, Bilal, D'Angelo, and UK pop starlet Lily Allen. The first single from the album was "The People" b/w "The Game". West predicted that Finding Forever would win the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album, but did not win, losing to West's Graduation; however, Common did win his second Grammy for "Southside," which won the 2008 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group.
On July 31, 2007, Common performed a free concert in Santa Monica, California, on the 3rd Street Promenade to promote the release of Finding Forever. Common explained to the audience that the title "Finding Forever" represented his quest to find an eternal place in hip-hop and also his wishes to be an artist for the rest of his life. The album debuted at No. 1 on the national Billboard 200 charts.
In an August 2007 interview with XXL, rapper Q-Tip of the group A Tribe Called Quest stated that he and Common were forming a group called 'The Standard', and were planning to record an album to be produced by Q-Tip; however, this never came to fruition.
Common was instrumental in bridging the trans-Atlantic gap by signing UK's Mr. Wong and J2K to Kanye West's Getting Out Our Dreams recording outfit. Common met the pair during his tour in the UK earlier on in the year. It is speculated that the deal is not only to bring the UK and US hip-hop genres together but that to rival Syco Music's cross-Atlantic success with Leona Lewis. He also has a deal with Zune mp3 players. In 2008 Common made an estimated 12 million dollars, making him equal in earnings to Eminem and Akon, tied for the 13th highest grossing Hip-Hop artist.
The eighth album from Chicago hip-hop artist Common was originally scheduled to be released on June 24, 2008, under the name Invincible Summer, but he announced at a Temple University concert that he would change it to Universal Mind Control. The release date was pushed back to September 30, 2008, due to Common filming Wanted. The release date was set for November 11, 2008, however, it was once again pushed back to December 9, 2008.
The album's eponymous lead single "Universal Mind Control", was officially released on July 1, 2008, via the US iTunes Store as part of The Announcement EP (sold as Universal Mind Control EP in the UK). The song features Pharrell, who also produced the track. The Announcement EP included an additional track titled "Announcement", also featuring Pharrell. The video for the lead single was filmed in September by director Hype Williams. In 2009, Common was prominently featured throughout his GOOD Music label-mate Kid Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, as a narrator and featured artist. In late 2009, it was revealed Common was nominated for two Grammys at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Make Her Say", alongside Kid Cudi and Kanye West, as well as Best Rap Album for Universal Mind Control.
=== 2011–present: Think Common Ent. ===
==== The Dreamer/The Believer and feud with Drake ====
American producer No I.D., stated that he and Kanye West would be producing Common's album The Dreamer/The Believer. In July 2011, it was announced that No I.D. would be the album's sole producer. Common made an appearance on The Jonas Brothers' most recent album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times as a guest rapper for the group's 2009 song, "Don't Charge Me for the Crime."
On July 6, 2011, Common released his first single, titled "Ghetto Dreams", from his next album. A second single, "Blue Sky", was released on October 4, 2011. On December 20, 2011, Common released his ninth solo album, titled The Dreamer, The Believer. Although he left GOOD Music in 2011, Common was featured on the label's first compilation album, 2012's Cruel Summer. Common released a song entitled "Sweet", from The Dreamer/The Believer, which included lyrics critical of rappers who sing, although this criticism was not aimed specifically at Canadian recording artist Drake. Drake took offense and responded by releasing "Stay Schemin'", a song with Rick Ross and French Montana. Common fans only had to wait two-and-a-half days for him to respond to Drake's diss track. On February 13, 2012, Common commented on the feud by saying "It's over. But it was all in the art of hip hop. He said some things to me so I had to say some things back...I wouldn't say [he started it] but I know I heard something that I felt was directed to me so I addressed it. That's all. But you know, thank God we were able to move forward from it and all is good."
==== Artium Recordings and further albums ====
After a quiet 2012, Common announced he would release an extended play (EP) in January 2013, and his first mixtape in April. In February 2013, Common announced his tenth solo studio album would be released in September 2013 and will feature Kanye West and production from Kanye West and No I.D. Later on September 8, 2013, he gave an update to his projects saying the previously announced EP would be released soon, and would feature a song with new Def Jam signee Vince Staples. He also told HipHopDX, his tenth solo studio album would be released in early 2014.
On January 6, 2014, Common announced his tenth studio album to be titled Nobody's Smiling and would be produced entirely by longtime collaborator 'No I.D.'. The album, which Common revealed was originally going to be an EP, is set to feature Vince Staples, James Fauntleroy and "some new artists from Chicago." The concept of the album was inspired by his troubled hometown of Chicago: "We came up with this concept 'nobody's smiling.' It was really a thought that came about because of all the violence in Chicago," he says. "It happens in Chicago, but it's happening around the world in many ways." He continues, "We was talking about the conditions of what's happening, when I say 'nobody's smiling.' But it's really a call to action." On June 4, 2014, it was announced Common signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings and No I.D.'s Artium Records. It was also announced Nobody's Smiling would be released July 22, 2014. Lonnie "Pops" Lynn was to be featured on this album as well but the recording fell through as Lonnie's health declined. A recording was indeed made and is in process of being released on Dirty Laboratory Productions featuring production by AwareNess.
In 2016 Common released his eleventh studio album titled Black America Again under Def Jam Recordings, the album featured guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Bilal, Marsha Ambrosius, BJ The Chicago Kid, John Legend, PJ, Syd, Elena & Tasha Cobbs. The album was primarily produced by Karriem Riggins alongside many other contributors including Robert Glasper.
In 2018, Common also announced he would be forming a jazz group called August Greene with Karriem Riggins & Robert Glasper, shortly after this announcement an August Greene album was released through a partnership with Amazon Music. The album featured guest vocals (credited and uncredited) by male singer Samora Pinderhughes and featured award-winning singer Brandy Norwood on two songs titled "Optimistic" and "Time" respectively. On August 30, 2019, Common released his twelfth solo studio album titled Let Love, the album was released by Loma Vista Recordings and Concord Records. The album features guest appearances from Samora Pinderhughes, Daniel Caesar, Swizz Beatz, Leikeli47, BJ the Chicago Kid, A-Trak, Jill Scott, Leon Bridges and Jonathan McReynolds and production of the album was primarily handled by Karriem Riggins and the song titled "HER Love" (feat. Daniel Caesar) was produced by J. Dilla.
In 2020, Common released a nine-track album titled A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1. The album features female singer PJ on seven tracks and also features guest vocals from Black Thought and Lenny Kravitz. In 2021, he released a sequel album, A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2, which features guest vocals from Jessica Care Moore, PJ, Black Thought, Seun Kuti, Marcus King, Isaiah Sharkey, Brittany Howard, and Morgan Parker. Production of both albums was handled primarily by long-time collaborator Karriem Riggins, with various other producers credited as session musicians.
On August 1, 2023, Common was featured in Men's Health's Hip-Hop 50th Anniversary edition alongside Method Man, Wiz Khalifa, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and 50 Cent.
In 2024, it was announced that Common would be releasing a collaborative album with Pete Rock titled The Auditorium Vol. 1, and released the album's first single, "Wise Up". The album has since been nominated for rap album of the year at the Grammy's and has accumulated millions of streams on Spotify.
== Other work ==
=== Acting ===
In 2003, Common appeared on the American UPN sitcom Girlfriends. In the episode "Take This Poem and Call Me in the Morning", he appeared as Omar, a slam poet who competes with fellow poet Sivad (played by Saul Williams) for the affection of Lynn Searcy (played by Persia White). He also had a cameo appearance on an episode of UPN's One on One, where he played a drama class instructor named Darius. He also made an appearance on the ABC show Scrubs. In 2007, Common appeared with Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, and Alicia Keys in the crime film Smokin' Aces, making his big screen debut as villainous Mob enforcer Sir Ivy. He appeared alongside Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, The RZA and T.I. in the 2007 crime thriller American Gangster. On January 20, 2007, one week before the opening of Smokin Aces, he appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch as himself. The show's host was Piven, his Aces co-star.
In 2007, Common played the role of Smokin' Aces co-star Alicia Keys's boyfriend in the music video "Like You'll Never See Me Again".
In 2008, he had a supporting role in the film adaptation of the comic book Wanted alongside Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. Common also appeared in the film Street Kings with Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, The Game, and Forest Whitaker. Common also starred in the 2010 movie Just Wright as a basketball player who falls in love with his physical therapist Queen Latifah. He appeared in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation as John Connor's lieutenant Barnes.
In 2009, Common was cast as John Stewart/Green Lantern in the unproduced film Justice League: Mortal.
Common starred as a corrupt cop in the 2010 comedy Date Night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. He was also featured in the role of deployed soldier Chino in 2011's New Year's Eve, the husband of Halle Berry's character, Nurse Aimee.
He was part of the ensemble cast of AMC's Hell on Wheels, as one of the lead characters, Elam Ferguson, a recently freed slave trying to find his place in the world.
In 2013, Common played the role of Agent Evans, an FBI agent in Now You See Me along with Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. In the 2014 film Selma, for which he also co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Glory", Common co-starred as 1960s civil rights movement leader James Bevel. In 2015, he played a hitman in Run All Night.
Common appeared as a gangster in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer and part of the DC Extended Universe.
In December 2015, Common appeared in the NBC TV special The Wiz Live!, as the Bouncer guarding the Emerald City.
In 2016, he co-starred in the film Barbershop: The Next Cut, alongside former rival Ice Cube.
In February 2017, he appeared alongside Keanu Reeves again, this time as professional hitman/bodyguard Cassian in John Wick: Chapter 2.
In August 2017, Common began voicing Kiburi the crocodile in Disney Junior's The Lion Guard.
Common played opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Eva Vives's debut feature, All About Nina, which had its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. It was a major, breakout role for which he has received much critical acclaim (Variety's Peter Debruge calling his performance "easily the strongest of the half-dozen supporting roles he's had this year"). That same year, he appeared as Rear Admiral John Fisk in the action thriller film Hunter Killer.
In 2018, Common starred in the film adaptation of The Hate U Give, playing Starr's uncle Carlos, a black police officer that is forced to defend his colleague that is involved in the shooting of a black teen.
In September 2022, it was announced that Common would make his Broadway debut in Second Stage Theater's Between Riverside and Crazy in the winter of 2022.
=== Film production ===
On October 27, 2015, Common signed a two-year deal with HBO that allowed to start his own film production company, Freedom Road Productions. He stated in an interview in February 2012 that one of his big career goals was to start his own film production company.
In 2016 Common also worked with Amazon Studios and American Girl, serving as an executive producer for the direct-to-video feature An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win.
=== Modeling and clothing ===
In 2006, Common was a model for photos of The Gap's fall season collection, appearing on posters in stores. Later that year, he performed in The Gap's "Holiday in Your Hood" themed Peace Love Gap. In February 2007, Common signed a deal with New Era to promote their new line of Layers fitted caps. Common also stars in a television commercial for the 2008 Lincoln Navigator. He appears in NBA 2K8 in NBA Blacktop mode. In the fall of 2008, Common appeared in an ad for Microsoft's Zune, comparing his new song, "Universal Mind Control", to "Planet Rock", a song from hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Also, he featured in the Diesel campaign for a new fragrance called "Only The Brave". His song "Be (intro)" is featured in a commercial for BlackBerry as of January 2011.
In December 2008, Common launched a new clothing line in partnership with Microsoft titled "Softwear", based on 1980s computing.
=== Writing ===
Common was invited by First Lady Michelle Obama to appear at a poetry reading on May 11, 2011, at the White House. His poetry was found to be greatly influenced by Maya Angelou's works. This invitation caused furor with the New Jersey State Police and their union, who cited some of Common's previous lyrical content, most notably the song "A Song For Assata" about Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army (and step-aunt of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur) who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. At another poetry reading, Common had stated, "flyers say 'free Mumia' on my freezer", a reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who murdered Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.
Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary at the time, stated that President Obama opposed these particular lyrics, but supported what Common stood for more broadly. Common responded by saying: "I guess Sarah Palin and Fox News doesn't like me." On Facebook, he also stated, "The one thing that shouldn't be questioned is my support for the police officers and troops that protect us every day." Common later discussed the matter with Jon Stewart during a September 14, 2011, appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.
In September 2011, Common published his memoir, One Day It'll All Make Sense, through Atria Books. As the book details how his close relationship with his mother influenced his life, it is partially narrated by her.
Common released his second memoir, Let Love Have The Last Word, in May 2019. The book highlights his relationship with his daughter Omoye, romantic relationships, his parents, and his struggle to cement his perspective in the concept of love.
== Activism ==
Common is a vegan and he is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. He appeared in a print advertisement for PETA titled "Think Before You Eat," and in a documentary titled Holistic Wellness for the Hip-Hop Generation where he promoted vegetarianism.
Common is also part of the "Knowing Is Beautiful" movement, which supports HIV/AIDS awareness. He is featured in the video for "Yes We Can," a song in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama, which made its debut on the internet on February 2, 2008. Common pledged to stop using anti-gay lyrics in his music.
Common is the founder of the Common Ground Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to empower underprivileged youth to be contributing citizens and strong leaders in the world. The foundation includes programs dedicated to leadership development & empowerment, educational development, creative expression, as well as a book club. In 2014, Common Ground inaugurated the AAHH! Fest music festival in Chicago's Union Park. After a one-year hiatus, AAHH! Fest returned in 2016, but was canceled one week before showtime in 2017. An official announcement stated the fest would return September 15, 2018.
In 2017, Common performed concerts in several California prisons, as well as on the grounds of the California State Capitol. This concert tour inspired him to found Imagine Justice, another non-profit organization.
In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Common launched a social media campaign through Imagine Justice, dubbed #WeMatterToo, with dozens of advocacy and activist groups calling attention to the threat that the pandemic poses for incarcerated men and women and intended to create greater public awareness about conditions facing incarcerated populations. The campaign includes the production of short films that will include recordings of inmates expressing their concern about the coronavirus spreading inside prisons.
Along with other rappers and activists, Common appeared in the award-winning documentary short film #Bars4Justice, which was shot in Ferguson, Missouri and produced by Nation19 Magazine. Common performed with Andra Day in the opening musical performance for the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. He also performed at the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death in Memphis, at an event co-hosted by the labor union UNITE HERE. Common was later accused of joining anti-union efforts by crossing a UNITE HERE picket line in Boston.
He supported the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign and performed at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
== Other activities and honours ==
On May 4, 2019, Common served as spring commencement speaker at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and after his address, was awarded an honorary DFA degree.
== Personal life ==
Common has a daughter, Omoye, from his relationship with his ex-fiancé Kim Jones. Omoye graduated from Howard Law School in 2022.
Common was in a relationship with comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish from mid-2020 to November 2021. In 2022, while working on the film Breathe, Common met and subsequently began dating singer and actress Jennifer Hudson.
Common is a vegan.
He is a lifelong fan of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears. He is a Christian, attending Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992)
Resurrection (1994)
One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997)
Like Water for Chocolate (2000)
Electric Circus (2002)
Be (2005)
Finding Forever (2007)
Universal Mind Control (2008)
The Dreamer/The Believer (2011)
Nobody's Smiling (2014)
Black America Again (2016)
Let Love (2019)
A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 1) (2020)
A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 2) (2021)
Collaboration albums
August Greene (with Karriem Riggins & Robert Glasper as August Greene) (2018)
The Auditorium Vol. 1 (with Pete Rock) (2024)
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Video games ===
=== Documentary ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovian_(emperor) | Jovian (emperor) | Jovian (; Latin: Jovianus; Greek: Ἰοβιανός Iobianós; 331 – 17 February 364) was Roman emperor from June 363 to February 364. As part of the imperial bodyguard, he accompanied Julian on his Persian expedition. Julian was killed in battle, and the exhausted and ill-provisioned Roman army declared Jovian his successor. Unable to cross the Tigris, Jovian made peace with the Sasanian Empire on humiliating terms. He spent the rest of his seven-month reign traveling back towards Constantinople, but died at Dadastana without reaching the capital city.
Jovian was a Christian, whose accession ended the imperial endorsement of polytheism briefly revived under Julian; during a stop in Edessa he received petitions from bishops over doctrinal issues. He was also the third-last emperor to govern the empire as a single polity, and the last to do so for the whole of his reign. From his successor Valentinian I to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, all subsequent administrations involved co-emperors governing a territory split into jurisdictions of East and West.
== Early life and accession ==
Jovian was born at Singidunum, Moesia Superior (today Belgrade in Serbia), in 331, son of Varronianus, the commander of Constantius II's imperial bodyguards (comes domesticorum). He also joined the guards and in this capacity in 361, escorted Constantius' remains to the Church of the Holy Apostles. Jovian was married to Charito and they had two sons, Varronianus, and another whose name is unknown.
In 363 Jovian accompanied the Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. At the Battle of Samarra, a small but decisive engagement, Julian was mortally wounded. Ammianus Marcellinus reports that the dying emperor declined to name his preferred successor, fearful that he either might overlook a worthy candidate, or put his desired candidate in danger of power-hungry nobles. Julian died on 26 June 363. The next day, the army offered the throne to the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, who refused it. Instead, and in spite of Julian's reinstitution of paganism, the army chose the Christian Jovian, senior officer of the Scholae, as Emperor.
== Reign ==
On the very morning of his accession, Jovian resumed the retreat begun by Julian. Though harassed by the Sasanians, the army succeeded in reaching the city of Dura on the banks of the Tigris. Unable to bridge the river and reach Roman lands on the western bank, Jovian was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliating terms. In exchange for an unhindered retreat to his own territory, he agreed to a thirty-year truce, a withdrawal from the five Roman provinces, Arzamena, Moxoeona, Azbdicena, Rehimena and Corduena, and to allow the Sasanians to occupy the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Sasanians. The king of Armenia, Arsaces II, was to receive no help from Rome. The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace.
After crossing the Tigris, Jovian sent an embassy to the West to announce his elevation. With the treaty signed, Jovian and his army marched to Nisibis, whose populace were given three days to leave before the city was handed over to the Sasanians.
In September 363 Jovian arrived at Edessa where he issued two edicts. The first, a limitation on the distance a soldier could be sent for straw, was to indicate an end to the war with Sasanid Persia. The second was the restoration of estates of the res privata to the Imperial finances following Julian's incorporating them to pagan temples.
Jovian's arrival at Antioch in October 363, was met with an enraged populace. Faced with offensive graffiti and insulting authorless bills (famosi) throughout the city, he ordered the Library of Antioch to be burned down. Jovian left Antioch in November 363, headed for Constantinople. By December 363 he was at Ancyra, where he proclaimed his infant son, Varronianus, consul.
The journey ended prematurely on 17 February 364, when Jovian was found dead in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea. His death, which went uninvestigated, was possibly the result of suffocating on poisonous fumes seeping from the newly painted bedchamber walls by a brazier. Jovian died aged 33 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, in a porphyry sarcophagus. He was succeeded by the brothers Valentinian I and Valens, who divided the empire between them. Seeking to remove any threats to their position, they blinded Varronianus; according to John Chrysostom, Charito was spared but lived the rest of her life in fear.
== Restoration of Christianity ==
Jovian was met at Edessa by a group of bishops, including Athanasius, who was newly returned from exile. The Semi-Arian bishops received a poor greeting, while Athanasius delivered a letter to Jovian insisting on the Nicene Creed and the rejection of Arianism. Athanasius was restored to his episcopal duties, and allowed to accompany Jovian to Antioch.
Upon his arrival in the city, Jovian received a letter from the Synod of Antioch, imploring for Meletius' restoration as bishop. By September 363, Jovian restored the labarum ("Chi-Rho") as the army's standard and revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians, but did not close any pagan temples. He issued an edict of toleration, granting his subjects full liberty of conscience, but also banned magic and divination. Despite supporting the Nicene doctrines, he passed no edicts against Arians. Philostorgius, an Arian church historian, stated, "The Emperor Jovian restored the churches to their original uses, and set them free from all the vexatious persecutions inflicted on them by the Apostate Julian." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_(series) | Kirby (series) | Kirby is a platform game series developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. The series centers around the adventures of the titular character as he fights to protect and save his home on the distant Planet Popstar from a variety of threats. The majority of the games in the series are side-scrolling platformers with puzzle-solving and beat 'em up elements. Kirby has the ability to inhale enemies and objects into his mouth, spitting them out as a projectile or eating them. If he inhales certain enemies, he can gain the powers or properties of that enemy manifesting as a new weapon or power-up called a Copy Ability. The series is intended to be easy to pick up and play even for people unfamiliar with action games, while at the same time offering additional challenge and depth for more experienced players to come back to.
The Kirby series includes 39 games, and has sold over 50 million units worldwide, making it one of Nintendo's best-selling franchises and making it the 53rd best-selling video game franchise of all time.
== Gameplay ==
The main Kirby games are side-scrolling action platforms. As Kirby, the spherical pink protagonist, the player must run, jump, and attack enemies while traversing a number of areas, solving puzzles, and battling bosses along the way. Kirby possesses the ability to inhale objects and enemies, even those larger than himself, which he can spit out as a projectile or swallow. Some of these, when swallowed, will grant Kirby a Copy Ability, which allows him to take on a characteristic of that enemy and use it in combat. For example, upon swallowing an enemy that breathes fire, Kirby becomes able to breathe fire or swallowing an enemy with a sword Kirby can use a sword. Kirby can also take in air to inflate himself and fly. In most games, he can do this for as long as he wants, but his attack options become limited to an air bullet.
Kirby games often contain a number of hidden items that unlock more parts of the game or are simple incentives to collect, and are usually required to reach 100% in-game completion. These special items are usually related to the plot of the game, most often used to create a special weapon needed to defeat the final boss such as the rainbow sword. In some games, the special weapon is optional and can be used regularly in the game after defeating the final boss with it. These elements have remained constant in most series, with each game having its own unique twist to affect gameplay.
There are also several spin-off games in the series, which involve a variety of different video game genres such as pinball, puzzle, racing, and motion-sensor-technology-based games.
== Characters ==
The series' main protagonist is Kirby, who resides in the kingdom of Dream Land on a five-point-star-shaped Planet Popstar. Much of Dream Land is peaceful, and its people lead laid-back, carefree lives. However, when the peace in Dream Land is shattered by threats both terrestrial and alien, it is up to Kirby to save his home and those who reside there.
Besides Kirby, many characters appear throughout the series as both allies and enemies, such as King Dedede, a gluttonous bird-like creature resembling a blue penguin and self-proclaimed ruler of Dream Land. King Dedede debuted in the first game of the series, Kirby's Dream Land, and his selfish nature or greater forces controlling him often lead him to clash with Kirby, but he mostly teams up with Kirby when a greater threat emerges, that is not controlling him, especially in the more recent games, where he is portrayed more so as a rival to Kirby as opposed to an enemy. King Dedede has appeared in all Kirby games except Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.
Another major character in the series is the enigmatic Meta Knight, a chivalrous masked creature similar in size and shape to Kirby who one day wishes to fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy and leads a group of like-minded warriors. Meta Knight has some kind of code of conduct which is why whenever he and Kirby fight, he will always offer Kirby a sword. While his unmasked face resembles Kirby's, his exact relationship with Kirby remains a mystery.
Popstar is home to a number of common creatures, the most notable of which are called Waddle Dees. They appear in some capacity in every Kirby game and are usually passive or aggressive towards the player, depending on the game. A certain Waddle Dee known as Bandana Waddle Dee, who wears a blue bandana and commonly wields a spear, occasionally assists Kirby and appears as a playable character in some games.
One recurring boss in the series is some variant of Whispy Woods, a tree, and is often the first boss in the game and has appeared in other media as well.
== Development ==
=== 1992–1999: Conception and first games ===
The Kirby franchise was first conceived by Masahiro Sakurai in 1990. He drew a ball-shaped character as a prototype, but it was so well liked that it ended up becoming the final design. The character's name was originally Popopo during development, the game's title being Twinkle Popo, before Kirby's name was chosen as a tribute to the lawyer John Kirby. The first game in the Kirby series, Kirby's Dream Land for the original Game Boy, was released in Japan on April 27, 1992, and later in North America, Europe and Australasia in August that year. A simple game, consisting of five levels, it introduced Kirby's ability to inhale enemies and objects, but lacked the power to obtain or use Copy Abilities. The game contains an unlockable hard mode, known as the "Extra Game", which features stronger enemies and more difficult bosses. The North American box art showed a white Kirby, although the Japanese box art had the correct pink coloring. Originally, Shigeru Miyamoto suggested Kirby should be yellow.
The second game, Kirby's Adventure, was released in Japan on March 23, 1993, in North America on May 1, 1993, and Europe on September 12, 1993. Kirby's Adventure gave Kirby the ability to gain special powers when he ate certain enemies, called Copy Abilities; the game contained a total of 25 different ones to use. These powers replaced Kirby's inhale and could be used until Kirby sustained damage causing him to drop the ability, or the player voluntarily discarded it to obtain another one. This game sets Kirby's core color as firmly pink, which was also translated to the North American box art. As one of the last games created for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Kirby's Adventure featured advanced graphics and sound that pushed the hardware's capabilities to the limit, including pseudo 3D effects on some stages.
After Kirby's Adventure, the Kirby series received a number of spin-off games. Kirby's Pinball Land, released in November 1993 for the Game Boy, is a pinball game featuring Kirby as the pinball. Kirby's Dream Course, released in Japan on September 21, 1994, North America on February 1, 1995, and Europe on August 24, 1995, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, is a golf-based game which features an isometric graphic design. Kirby's Avalanche, released in Europe on February 1, 1995, and in North America on April 25, 1995, also for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, is a puzzle game, a westernized version of the Japanese game Puyo Puyo.
Kirby's Dream Land 2, released in Japan on March 21, 1995, in North America on May 1, 1995, in Europe on July 31, 1995, and Australasia on November 22, 1995, for the Game Boy, brought the Copy Abilities from Kirby's Adventure to a handheld system, but due to system limitations lowered the number of abilities to seven. The game introduced three rideable animal companions: Rick the hamster, Coo the owl, and Kine the ocean sunfish. Pairing up with any of these three alters how Kirby's abilities work. It also introduced Dark Matter, a reoccurring antagonist in the Kirby series. Kirby's Dream Land 2 was the first game in the series to be directed by Shinichi Shimomura instead of Masahiro Sakurai. Shimomura would go on to direct Kirby's Dream Land 3, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land.
Kirby's Block Ball, released for the Game Boy on December 14, 1995, in Japan, on March 13, 1996, in North America and on August 29, 1996, in Europe, is a variation of the game Breakout, featuring multiple levels, some of Kirby's Copy Abilities, and various enemies in unique boss battles. In 1996, a Kirby minigame series, Kirby's Toy Box, was released via the St.GIGA satellite broadcasting system for the Satellaview. These minigames were given a unique broadcast date. Minigames included Arrange Ball, Ball Rally, Baseball, Cannonball, Guru Guru Ball, Hoshi Kuzushi, Pachinko, and Pinball.
Kirby Super Star (also known as Hoshi no Kirby Super Deluxe in Japan and Kirby's Fun Pak in Europe) was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan on March 21, 1996, in North America on September 20, 1996, and in Europe on January 23, 1997. Kirby Super Star is composed of seven separate games and two sub-games, with four games in the beginning and three games that would be unlocked after beating certain games. It features several characters and abilities which have not appeared since in the series. The game features "Helpers", which can be created by sacrificing the ability in use, to help the player dispatch enemies.
Released for the Game Boy in 1997, Kirby's Star Stacker is a puzzle game which involves touching two or more similar blocks together that have Kirby's animal friends on them. The game received a sequel on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1998 in Japan titled Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu (known in English as Kirby's Super Star Stacker). 26 years after its release, the game would be internationally via the Nintendo Switch Online service.
Kirby's Dream Land 3, released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on November 27, 1997, in North America and on March 27, 1998, in Japan, is a direct sequel to Kirby's Dream Land 2, as it featured the return of Kirby's animal friends. Similar to Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3 features a few Copy Abilities which were modified when Kirby paired up with one of his six animal friends. The game had a multiplayer option with the second player controlling Gooey, a recurring character. The antagonist is Dark Matter, and if certain conditions are met, Zero was fought as the true final boss. The game had a unique pastel-drawing art style and used dithering to improve visual performance.
There was also a planned game called Kid Kirby that was to be released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game would have served as a prequel to the series and would have utilized the SNES Mouse. The game was developed by DMA Design and was scheduled for release in 1995, but was canceled due to the declining sales of the mouse; however, early screenshots of the canceled game have been posted online.
=== 2000–2004: Introduction of 3D graphics and further spin-offs ===
The first game to have 3D graphics in the Kirby series, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, was released on the Nintendo 64 in Japan on March 24, 2000, in North America on June 26, 2000, and in Europe on June 22, 2001. The game features a compound ability system that allows two of the seven abilities in the game to be combined, making a new compound ability. It also marked the first playable instance of King Dedede, where sections of some stages had Kirby riding piggyback while King Dedede attacked enemies and obstacles with his hammer. A Waddle Dee is also playable, by helping Kirby with certain sections in the game. It is considered a direct follow-up to Kirby's Dream Land 3 due to the reemergence of Dark Matter and the final boss, albeit in a different form, called 02 (Zero Two). It also included three four-player minigames.
The next game in the Kirby series, Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble became one of Nintendo's first motion-sensor-based games on August 23, 2000. Players are instructed to tilt the Game Boy Color to move Kirby on the screen. Quickly flicking the Game Boy Color upwards would make Kirby jump into the air. Tilt 'n' Tumble is the only Kirby game to have a special cartridge color (transparent pink) in North America. Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble 2 on the GameCube, which was supposed to use a combination of motion-sensor technology and connectivity to the Game Boy Advance via the Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable, was presented during Nintendo Space World 2001 and scheduled for a May 2002 release in Japan. The Kirby theme was eventually scrapped and Kirby was replaced with a generic marble, and the game was shown again at E3 2002 as Roll-O-Rama, but eventually canceled completely. Kirby Family was a Game Boy Color piece of software developed by Natsume Co., Ltd. that would connect to a compatible Jaguar JN-100 or JN-2000 sewing machine and embroider cloth with a Kirby pattern of choice. The game was also shown during Nintendo Space World 2001 and scheduled for release on September 10, 2001, but presumably canceled due to poor sales of Mario Family which released two weeks prior. The game was leaked on September 9, 2020, as part of the Game Boy Color lotcheck leak.
Kirby's Air Ride 64 (also known as Kirby Bowl 64 and Kirby Ball 64) on the Nintendo 64 was going to be a sequel to Kirby's Dream Course which featured an additional game mode where the player controlled Kirby on a snowboard. However, this was canceled for unknown reasons. Some of its concepts were later implemented into the only Kirby game for the GameCube, Kirby Air Ride, which was released in North America on October 13, 2003. Air Ride is a racing game which deviates greatly from other Kirby games, although still featuring series staples including enemies and Copy Abilities. After the release of Kirby Air Ride, the GameCube was going to have its own original Kirby game, simply titled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube at the time. It was nearly complete and featured at E3 2005, but was canceled due to troubles incorporating a unique multiplayer mechanic. At a later point, the game was concepted as a full 3D platformer visually similar to Kirby Air Ride, but also canceled because it did not achieve HAL Laboratory's quality standards.
In late 2002, Nintendo released Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, an enhanced remake of Kirby's Adventure for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) featuring updated graphics and sound, multiplayer support, and a new mode starring one of the game's bosses, Meta Knight.
During the 2003 Holiday season, a Kirby e-Reader card for the Game Boy Advance was released. The card was released under two names, Kirby Slide and Kirby Puzzle. Swiping the card would allow for a sliding puzzle game starring Kirby to be played. Cards were given out at Toys "R" Us stores and in the 2003 December issues of Nintendo Power and Tips & Tricks. The game was released to advertise the English dub of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. The card would become incredibly rare, with all copies of the card believed to have been destroyed.
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror was released on October 18, 2004, on the Game Boy Advance. It is the second game released on that system, following Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. It features Kirby in a Metroidvania format, with all the levels being interconnected and able to be completed in any order. Also unique was the in-game phone, which can be used to summon up to three additional copies of Kirby to fight enemies and solve puzzles.
=== 2005–2011: Touch-based gameplay ===
The next game in the series was Kirby: Canvas Curse, released on the Nintendo DS in Japan on March 24, 2005, North America on June 13, 2005, Europe on November 25, 2005, and Australia on April 6, 2006, under the name Kirby Power Paintbrush. Unlike most previous Kirby games, the player does not directly control Kirby with a directional pad, analog stick, face buttons, or shoulder buttons. Instead, Kirby is a helpless ball, and can only move when he gains momentum, the player painting paths with the stylus to direct his movement.
This was followed by Kirby: Squeak Squad (titled Kirby: Mouse Attack in Europe) in late 2006, also on the Nintendo DS, which revived traditional Kirby gameplay and dabbled in the use of the touch screen to store several items and Copy Abilities in Kirby's stomach. Ability scrolls could be found that served as upgrades for each ability, giving them additional moves and/or enhanced functionality. An unlockable Copy Ability was also introduced.
Kirby Super Star Ultra, announced for the Nintendo DS in early fall 2007 and released on September 22, 2008 in North America, is a remake of Kirby Super Star. In addition to the nine games from Kirby Super Star, seven new games have been added. The game features updated graphics, pre-rendered cutscenes, and all info on the bottom screen. The game is notable for being the first Kirby game to be directed by Shinya Kumazaki, who would go on to become the general director for the series. Kirby's Epic Yarn was announced for the Wii at E3 2010 and released in North America on October 17, 2010. Epic Yarn began development as an original game by Good-Feel called Fluff of Yarn, but was given the Kirby license at Nintendo's proposal.
A fourth game for the Nintendo DS was released in North America on September 19, 2011, Kirby Mass Attack. The game features multiple copies of Kirby in touch screen-based gameplay reminiscent of games such as Lemmings. Unfortunately, Mass Attack would become one of the worst selling Kirby games of all-time due to being very late for the DS' release.
=== 2011–2021: Evolution of 2.5D platforming ===
Kirby's Return to Dream Land (titled Kirby's Adventure Wii in PAL regions) was released on the Wii in North America on October 24, 2011, returning to the traditional Kirby gameplay and allowing up to four players to play simultaneously. Players 2–4 could choose to play as Meta Knight, King Dedede and/or Bandana Waddle Dee, each with dedicated abilities; they could also play as different-colored Kirbys which offered power copying abilities, or as a mixture of the options. The unique multiplayer mechanic originally to be incorporated in the GameCube build became the special attack in Return to Dream Land (where all players stack on each other, hold A and release at the same time).
An anthology disc for the Wii called Kirby's Dream Collection was released on July 19, 2012, in Japan and on September 16, 2012, in North America to celebrate Kirby's 20th Anniversary. It includes six games from the early history of the series, which are Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. It also has new Challenge Stages that run on the engine of Kirby's Return to Dream Land (titled Kirby's Adventure Wii in PAL regions), and a Kirby history section, which includes three episodes from Hoshi no Kirby (Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in North America). Similar to the Super Mario 25th Anniversary packaging in 2010, a booklet and a soundtrack containing music from the various games in the series are released alongside the disc.
On October 1, 2013, during a Nintendo Direct presentation, a new untitled original Kirby game for the Nintendo 3DS was announced, later named Kirby: Triple Deluxe. The game was released in Japan on January 11, 2014, in North America on May 2, 2014, in Europe on May 16, 2014, and in Australasia on May 17, 2014. It incorporated action spanning varied depths, where Kirby could swap between the foreground and background areas. It included a multiplayer fighting minigame called Kirby Fighters, where players could choose one of ten available abilities and fight on themed stages, with the winner being the last Kirby standing. It also included a rhythm-based action minigame starring King Dedede titled Dedede's Drum Dash. There were also over 250 in-game "keychains" to collect that featured sprites from previous Kirby games as well some original sprites based on characters from Triple Deluxe.
In August 2014, Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe (enhanced versions of the minigames in Kirby: Triple Deluxe) were released. At E3 2014, a new game for the Wii U was announced. Titled Kirby and the Rainbow Curse in North America and Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush in PAL regions, the game is a sequel/successor to Kirby: Canvas Curse and features a similar gameplay style. It was released by Nintendo on January 22, 2015, in Japan, February 20, 2015, in North America, May 8, 2015, in Europe and May 9, 2015, in Australasia.
On March 3, 2016, during a Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo unveiled a new game based on the context of Kirby: Triple Deluxe called Kirby: Planet Robobot, the second Kirby game released on the Nintendo 3DS. It was released alongside a set of Amiibo figures made for the Kirby franchise, including a newly announced Amiibo, Waddle Dee, on April 28, 2016, in Japan, June 10, 2016, in North America and Europe, and June 11, 2016, in Australasia. The game is compatible with other Amiibo. It also includes 2 new minigames, called Kirby 3D Rumble and Team Kirby Clash, the former being an arena based, 3D action game where Kirby uses his inhale to defeat large groups of baddies to rack up points and achieve a high score, and the latter being a mix of fighting, platform, and role-playing. Players can level up to level 10, and can play with AI or other friends.
In a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 12, 2017, three new Kirby games were announced for Kirby's 25th Anniversary which were released the same year: Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, an enhanced version of the Kirby: Planet Robobot minigame Team Kirby Clash; Kirby's Blowout Blast, an 3D action-strategy game and an enhanced version of the Kirby: Planet Robobot minigame Kirby 3D Rumble; and Kirby Battle Royale, an action-multiplayer fighting game.
At E3 2017, Nintendo unveiled a new untitled original installment for the Nintendo Switch, later named Kirby Star Allies. The game was released on March 16, 2018. Kirby can throw Friend Hearts to turn enemies into computer- or player-controlled allies, a variation of the "Helper System" from Kirby Super Star. "Power Combinations" return from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and Kirby: Squeak Squad. Kirby can also summon "Dream Friends", consisting of major Kirby characters acting as Helpers, which includes King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana Waddle Dee.
On March 8, 2019, Epic Yarn got a remake/port on the Nintendo 3DS entitled Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn. On September 4, 2019, Nintendo released a new Nintendo Switch game, Super Kirby Clash, on the Nintendo eShop, as the successor to Team Kirby Clash Deluxe. The game expands on the previous installment with new quests. On September 23, 2020, Nintendo released a new Nintendo Switch game, Kirby Fighters 2, on the Nintendo eShop, as the successor to Kirby Fighters Deluxe. Before its official reveal, the game was leaked on the Play Nintendo website, but was later taken down. The game expands on the previous installment with new game modes and an exclusive ability, Wrestler.
=== 2022–present: Introduction of 3D gameplay ===
During the Nintendo Direct event held on September 23, 2021, a new Nintendo Switch title in the Kirby series was revealed, titled Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It is the first true 3D entry in the mainline series (fourth overall since the spin-offs Kirby Air Ride, Kirby's Blowout Blast, and Kirby Battle Royale) and was released on March 25, 2022, becoming the highest-selling game in the series. The game was co-developed with Japanese video game company Vanpool. The Forgotten Land is the first Kirby game to feature the new logo, which was introduced in 2022.
On July 12, 2022, a new Nintendo Switch title in the Kirby series was announced, titled Kirby's Dream Buffet. It is a multiplayer party game, and was released on the Nintendo eShop on August 17, 2022. A remake of Kirby's Return to Dream Land for the Nintendo Switch, titled Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe was revealed during the Nintendo Direct event held on September 13, 2022, and was released on February 24, 2023. It features new abilities, modes, and a graphical style similar to a comic book. This was the last game Vanpool, who co-developed all Kirby games since Super Kirby Clash, worked on before shutting down on May 31, 2023.
In the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on April 2, 2025, two new Kirby games were announced to release that year. The first was an enhanced port of Kirby and the Forgotten Land with higher frame rates and a new game mode, Star-Crossed World. The second was a sequel to Kirby Air Ride, dubbed Kirby Air Riders. Masahiro Sakurai is set to direct the game, marking his return to the franchise after Kirby & the Amazing Mirror in 2004.
== Games ==
== Reception ==
The Kirby games have received reception that ranges from mixed to very favorable reviews by players and critics. According to Metacritic reviews: Kirby: Canvas Curse and Kirby's Epic Yarn are the most acclaimed games in the series, while Kirby Battle Royale and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe are the lowest-rated. Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Kirby: Squeak Squad are respectively the highest-rated and the lowest-rated mainline series games.
=== Sales ===
Many Kirby games have performed commercially well, selling at least one million or more copies worldwide. Kirby's Dream Land, the first title in the series, had been its best-selling game at 5 million copies until it was overtaken by Kirby and the Forgotten Land thirty years into the series, with it selling 7.5 million copies. Kirby's Dream Land 3 would become the worst selling mainline Kirby game at just 76 thousand copies sold only in Japan, as international sales information for games that have sold less than one million copies is unavailable.
The Kirby manga would have over 10 million copies in print in 2023.
As a brand, the series sold $150 million to $200 million worth of merchandise in 2002.
== Legacy ==
=== Crossovers ===
Kirby appears as a character in Nintendo's crossover fighting game series Super Smash Bros. (also developed by series creator Masahiro Sakurai), appearing in all installments of the franchise; Meta Knight and King Dedede have also appeared in every entry since Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Many items from the Kirby series also appear in Super Smash Bros. such as the Maxim Tomato (all games), Warp Star (since Melee), Dragoon (since Brawl) and Star Rod (all games) as items, and Knuckle Joe (since Brawl), Nightmare (since 3DS/Wii U) and Chef Kawasaki (Ultimate) appear as characters summoned by the Assist Trophy. All playable Kirby characters in Smash Bros. have the ability to jump more than twice. Kirby has also made cameo appearances in other games as well, such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, EarthBound, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Stunt Race FX, Arcana, Pokémon Stadium. The two Kirby Amiibo figures, one based on the Super Smash Bros. series and the other made for the Kirby franchise are compatible with Mario Kart 8 where they can be scanned to unlock a costume for the player's Mii based on his appearance, and Super Mario Maker where they can be scanned to unlock a Kirby costume.
=== Kirby Café ===
In 2016, "Kirby Café" was unveiled as a restaurant chain in Japan themed around Kirby with two permanent locations, one in Sumina in the Solamachi entertainment complex, and the other within Hakata-ku in the Canal City Hakata entertainment complex. Kirby Café has had a number of temporary locations which have run continuously since August 2016.
=== Other media ===
==== Anime ====
The Kirby games were the basis for a Japanese animated TV series which premiered in Japan on October 6, 2001, where it was titled simply Hoshi no Kirby. It was produced by Warpstar, Inc., a company formed from a joint investment between Nintendo and HAL Laboratory, Inc. It was licensed in North America by 4Kids Entertainment, under the title Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, on 4Kids TV, with VHS and DVD distribution in North America by FUNimation Entertainment and DVD distribution in Australia by Magna Pacific. It ended in Japan in 2003 with 100 episodes.
The show is about the adventures Kirby has with his friends Tiff and Tuff after he crash lands in Dream Land (this is known as "Pupu Village" in the Japanese version and "Cappy Town" in the English dub), on Planet Popstar. Here, he is a legendary Star Warrior destined to save the universe from the intergalactic conqueror known as Nightmare. However, because he was awakened two centuries too early, he arrived in a childlike state and his powers have not fully developed. The ruler of Dream Land, King Dedede, is jealous of the attention Kirby receives from its inhabitants and frequently orders monsters from Nightmare's company, Nightmare Enterprises, in an attempt to do away with Kirby. Nightmare Enterprises at first appears to be an intergalactic delivery company, but is really a front for Nightmare's intergalactic conquest that dupes unsuspecting customers into funding Nightmare's armies. Not yet ready to achieve his destiny, Kirby must learn how to use his incredible abilities with the help of his friends and sometimes with the help of the enigmatic Meta Knight, who, while claiming to be loyal to King Dedede, will often work behind the scenes in order to aid Kirby or train him in the use of his abilities.
The series is based on the game series, but rather than being a direct adaptation of any of the games it uses characters and concepts from the games (especially Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby's Adventure and Kirby Super Star) to tell its own story.
==== Comics, manga and novels ====
Kirby stars in several manga series that have been drawn by over 20 manga artists.
The longest running Kirby manga, Kirby of the Stars: The Story of Dedede Who Lives in Pupupu, was serialized in CoroCoro Comic from 1994 to 2006, and released 25 tankōbon volumes with over 10 million copies being printed. The series was written and illustrated by Hirokazu Hikawa. The series was later published as a "best-of" collection, which featured the series' first new chapter in 11 years, as well as bonus comics. It was published in English as Kirby Manga Mania by Viz Media. Originally, Viz had plans to localize The Story of Dedede Who Lives In Pupupu for North America in 2009, For unknown reasons, these plans were quietly abandoned by 2011.
An ongoing series of novels based upon the Kirby series have been published by Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko since 2013. They are written by Mie Takase and illustrated by Tau and Poto Karino. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan | Pakistan | Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.
Pakistan is the site of several ancient cultures, including the 8,500-year-old Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in Balochistan, the Indus Valley Civilisation of the Bronze Age, and the ancient Gandhara civilisation. The regions that compose the modern state of Pakistan were the realm of multiple empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid, the Maurya, the Kushan, the Gupta; the Umayyad Caliphate in its southern regions, the Hindu Shahis, the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Samma, the Shah Miris, the Mughals, and finally, the British Raj from 1858 to 1947.
Spurred by the Pakistan Movement, which sought a homeland for the Muslims of British India, and election victories in 1946 by the All-India Muslim League, Pakistan gained independence in 1947 after the partition of British India, which awarded separate statehood to its Muslim-majority regions and was accompanied by an unparalleled mass migration and loss of life. Initially a dominion of the British Commonwealth, Pakistan adopted a republican constitution in 1956 and became an Islamic republic with two geographically separate provinces, East Pakistan and West Pakistan. East Pakistan seceded as the new country of Bangladesh in 1971 after a nine-month-long civil war. In the following four decades, Pakistan has been ruled by governments that alternated between civilian and military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively secular and Islamist.
Pakistan is considered a middle power nation, with the world's seventh-largest standing armed forces. It is a declared nuclear-weapons state, and is ranked amongst the emerging and growth-leading economies, with a large and rapidly growing middle class. Pakistan's political history since independence has been characterized by periods of significant economic and military growth as well as those of political and economic instability. It is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with similarly diverse geography and wildlife. The country continues to face poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and terrorism. Pakistan is a member of the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and the Islamic Military Counter-Terrorism Coalition, and is designated as a major non-NATO ally by the United States.
== Etymology ==
The name Pakistan was coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who in January 1933 first published it (originally as "Pakstan") in a pamphlet Now or Never, using it as an acronym. Rahmat Ali explained: "It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our homelands, Indian and Asian, Panjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan." He added, "Pakistan is both a Persian and Urdu word... It means the land of the Paks, the spiritually pure and clean." Etymologists note that پاک pāk, is 'pure' in Persian and Pashto and the Persian suffix ـستان -stan means 'land' or 'place of'.
Rahmat Ali's concept of Pakistan only related to the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent. He also proposed the name "Banglastan" for the Muslim areas of Bengal and "Osmanistan" for Hyderabad State, as well as a political federation between the three.
== History ==
=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan. The earliest known stone tools in the region, dating to the Lower Palaeolithic (~2 million years ago), were discovered in the Soan Valley of northern Pakistan. The Indus region, which covers most of the present-day Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic (7000–4300 BCE) site of Mehrgarh, and the 5,000-year history of urban life in South Asia to the various sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.
Following the decline of the Indus Valley civilisation, semi-nomadic Indo-European Aryans migrated into the Indian subcontinent around 2000 BCE, perhaps by way of the Khyber Pass. They fused with the indigenous Harappan culture of the Indus Valley, and elements of the pre-Aryan spiritual traditions were assimilated into the developing Vedic tradition. This cultural milieu shaped the Gandhara civilization, which flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East, connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse civilisations. By the early Vedic period, parts of the Indus region in present-day Pakistan were populated by numerous tribes that were beginning to coalesce into chieftain-led clans and early kingdoms. During this period, the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed.
=== Classical period ===
The western regions of Pakistan became part of Achaemenid Empire around 517 BCE. In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the region by defeating various local rulers, most notably, the King Porus, at Jhelum. Among the major powers that ruled the region were the Mauryas (322–185 BCE), during which Ashoka the Great extended the empire. The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander (165–150 BCE), prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world, which was established during the late Vedic period in the 6th century BCE. The ancient university was documented by the invading forces of Alexander the Great and was also recorded by Chinese pilgrims in the 4th or 5th century CE. At its zenith, the Rai dynasty (489–632 CE) ruled Sindh and the surrounding territories.
=== Medieval period ===
The Arab conqueror Muhammad ibn Qasim conquered Sindh and some regions of Punjab in 711 CE. The Pakistan government's official chronology claims this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid. The early medieval period (642–1219 CE) witnessed the spread of Islam in the region. Before the arrival of Islam beginning in the 8th century, the region of Pakistan was home to a diverse plethora of faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional population to Islam. Upon the defeat of the Turk and Hindu Shahi dynasties which governed the Kabul Valley, Gandhara, and western Punjab in the 7th to 11th centuries CE, several successive Muslim empires ruled over the region, including the Ghaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom, and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE). The Lodi dynasty, the last of the Delhi Sultanate, was replaced by the Mughal Empire (1526–1857 CE).
The Mughals introduced Persian literature and high culture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culture in the region. In the region of modern-day Pakistan, key cities during the Mughal period were Multan, Lahore, Peshawar and Thatta, which were chosen as the site of impressive Mughal buildings. In the early 16th century, the region remained under the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the slow disintegration of the Mughal Empire was hastened by the emergence of the rival powers like the Maratha Empire and later the Sikh Empire, as well as invasions by Nader Shah from Iran in 1739 and the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan in 1759. The growing political power of the British in Bengal had not yet reached the territories of modern Pakistan.
=== Colonial rule ===
None of modern Pakistan was under British rule until 1839 when Karachi, a small fishing village governed by Talpurs of Sindh with a mud fort guarding the harbour, was taken, and used as an enclave with a port and military base for the First Afghan War that ensued. The remainder of Sindh was acquired in 1843, and subsequently, through a series of wars and treaties, the East India Company, and later, after the post-Sepoy Mutiny (1857–1858), direct rule by Queen Victoria of the British Empire, acquired most of the region. Key conflicts included those against the Baloch Talpur dynasty, resolved by the Battle of Miani (1843) in Sindh, the Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849), and the Anglo–Afghan Wars (1839–1919). By 1893, all modern Pakistan was part of the British Indian Empire, and remained so until independence in 1947.
Under British rule, modern Pakistan was primarily divided into the Sind Division, Punjab Province, and the Baluchistan Agency. The region also included various princely states, with the largest being Bahawalpur.
An important uprising against the British in the region was the Indian Rebellion of 1857, known at the time as the Sepoy Mutiny. Divergence in the relationship between Hinduism and Islam resulted in significant tension in British India, leading to religious violence. The language controversy further exacerbated tensions between Hindus and Muslims. A Muslim intellectual movement, led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to counter the Hindu renaissance, advocated for the two-nation theory and led to the establishment of the All-India Muslim League in 1906.
In March 1929, in response to the Nehru Report, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, issued his fourteen points, which included proposals to safeguard the interests of the Muslim minority in a united India. These proposals were rejected. In his 29 December 1930 address, Allama Iqbal advocated the amalgamation of Muslim-majority states in North-West India, including Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind, and Baluchistan. The perception that Congress-led British provincial governments neglected the Muslim League from 1937 to 1939 motivated Jinnah and other Muslim League leaders to embrace the two-nation theory. This led to the adoption of the Lahore Resolution of 1940, presented by Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque, also known as the Pakistan Resolution.
By 1942, Britain faced considerable strain during World War II, with India directly threatened by Japanese forces. Britain had pledged voluntary independence for India in exchange for support during the war. However, this pledge included a clause stating that no part of British India would be compelled to join the resulting dominion, which could be interpreted as support for an independent Muslim nation. Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement, demanding an immediate end to British rule. In contrast, the Muslim League chose to support the UK's war efforts, thereby nurturing the possibility of establishing a Muslim nation.
=== Independence ===
The 1946 elections saw the Muslim League secure 90 percent of the Muslim seats, supported by the landowners of Sindh and Punjab. This forced the Indian National Congress, initially skeptical of the League's representation of Indian Muslims, to acknowledge its significance. Jinnah's emergence as the voice of the Indian Muslims, compelled the British to consider their stance, despite their reluctance to partition India. In a final attempt to prevent partition, they proposed the Cabinet Mission Plan.
As the Cabinet Mission failed, the British announced their intention to end rule by June 1948. Following rigorous discussions involving Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Muhammad Ali Jinnah of the All-India Muslim League, and Jawaharlal Nehru of Congress, the formal declaration to partition British India into two independent dominions—namely Pakistan and India—was issued by Mountbatten on the evening of 3 June 1947. In Mountbatten's oval office, the prime ministers of around a dozen major princely states gathered to receive their copies of the plan before its worldwide broadcast. At 7:00 P.M., All India Radio transmitted the public announcement, starting with the viceroy's address, followed by individual speeches from Nehru, and Jinnah. The founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah concluded his address with the slogan Pakistan Zindabad (Long Live Pakistan).
As the United Kingdom agreed to the partitioning of India, the modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27th of Ramadan in 1366 of the Islamic calendar, a holy time regarded as auspicious and noted for its religious importance). This new nation amalgamated the Muslim-majority eastern and northwestern regions of British India, comprising the provinces of Balochistan, East Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, and Sindh.
In the riots that accompanied the partition in Punjab Province, between 200,000 and 2,000,000 people were killed in what some have described as a retributive genocide between the religions. Around 50,000 Muslim women were abducted and raped by Hindu and Sikh men, while 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women experienced the same fate at the hands of Muslims. Around 6.5 million Muslims moved from India to West Pakistan and 4.7 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from West Pakistan to India. It was the largest mass migration in human history. A subsequent dispute over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir eventually sparked the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.
=== Post-independence ===
After independence in 1947, Jinnah, the President of the Muslim League, became Pakistan's first Governor-General and the first President-Speaker of the Parliament, but he died of tuberculosis on 11 September 1948. Meanwhile, Pakistan's founding fathers agreed to appoint Liaquat Ali Khan, the secretary-general of the party, the nation's first Prime Minister. From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations, and had two monarchs before it became a republic.
The creation of Pakistan was never fully accepted by many British leaders including Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League's idea of Pakistan. Jinnah refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as Governor-General of Pakistan. When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, he replied 'most probably'.
Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a respected Deobandi alim (scholar) who held the position of Shaykh al-Islam in Pakistan in 1949, and Maulana Mawdudi of Jamaat-i-Islami played key roles in advocating for an Islamic constitution. Mawdudi insisted that the Constituent Assembly declare the "supreme sovereignty of God" and the supremacy of the shariah in Pakistan.
The efforts of Jamaat-i-Islami and the ulama led to the passage of the Objectives Resolution in March 1949. This resolution, described by Liaquat Ali Khan as the second most significant step in Pakistan's history, affirmed that "sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust". It was later included as a preamble to the constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1973.
Democracy faced setbacks due to the martial law imposed by President Iskander Mirza, who was succeeded by General Ayub Khan. After adopting a presidential system in 1962, Pakistan witnessed significant growth until the second war with India in 1965, resulting in an economic downturn and widespread public discontent in 1967. In 1969, President Yahya Khan consolidated control, but faced a devastating cyclone in East Pakistan resulting in 500,000 deaths.
In 1970, Pakistan conducted its first democratic elections since independence, intending to transition from military rule to democracy. However, after the East Pakistani Awami League emerged victorious over the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Yahya Khan and the military refused to transfer power. This led to Operation Searchlight, a military crackdown, and eventually sparked the war of liberation by Bengali Mukti Bahini forces in East Pakistan, described in West Pakistan as a civil war rather than a liberation struggle.
Independent researchers estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 civilians died during this period while the Bangladesh government puts the number of dead at three million, a figure that is now nearly universally regarded as excessively inflated. Some academics such as Rudolph Rummel and Rounaq Jahan say both sides committed genocide; others such as Richard Sisson and Leo E. Rose believe there was no genocide. In response to India's support for the insurgency in East Pakistan, preemptive strikes on India by Pakistan's air force, navy, and marines sparked a conventional war in 1971 that resulted in an Indian victory and East Pakistan gaining independence as Bangladesh.
Yahya Khan was replaced by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as president; the country worked towards promulgating its constitution and putting the country on the road to democracy. In 1972 Pakistan embarked on an ambitious plan to develop its nuclear deterrence capability with the goal of preventing any foreign invasion; the country's first nuclear power plant was inaugurated in that same year. India's first nuclear test in 1974 gave Pakistan additional justification to accelerate its nuclear program.
Democracy ended with a military coup in 1977 against the leftist PPP, which saw General Zia-ul-Haq become the president in 1978. From 1977 to 1988, President Zia's corporatisation and economic Islamisation initiatives led to Pakistan becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia. While building up the country's nuclear program, increasing Islamisation, and the rise of a homegrown conservative philosophy, Pakistan helped subsidise and distribute US resources to factions of the mujahideen against the USSR's intervention in communist Afghanistan. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province became a base for the anti-Soviet Afghan fighters, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a significant role in encouraging and organising the 'jihad'.
President Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, and Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the country's first female Prime Minister. The PPP was followed by conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML (N)), and over the next decade the leaders of the two parties fought for power, alternating in office. This period is marked by prolonged stagflation, political instability, corruption, misgovernment, geopolitical rivalry with India, and the clash of left wing-right wing ideologies. As PML (N) secured a supermajority in elections in 1997, Nawaz Sharif authorised nuclear testings, as a retaliation to the second nuclear tests conducted by India in May 1998.
Military tension between the two countries in the Kargil district led to the Kargil War of 1999, and turmoil in civil-military relations allowed General Pervez Musharraf to take over through a bloodless coup d'état. Musharraf governed Pakistan as chief executive from 1999 to 2002 and as president from 2001 to 2008—a period of enlightenment, social liberalism, extensive economic reforms, and direct involvement in the US-led war on terrorism. By its own financial calculations, Pakistan's involvement in the war on terrorism has cost up to $118 billion, over eighty one thousand casualties, and more than 1.8 million displaced civilians.
The National Assembly historically completed its first full five-year term on 15 November 2007. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007, the PPP secured the most votes in the elections of 2008, appointing party member Yusuf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister. Threatened with impeachment, President Musharraf resigned on 18 August 2008, and was succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari. Clashes with the judicature prompted Gilani's disqualification from the Parliament and as the Prime Minister in June 2012. The general election held in 2013 saw the PML (N) achieve victory, following which Nawaz Sharif was elected as Prime Minister for the third time. In 2018, PTI won the general election and Imran Khan became the 22nd Prime Minister. In April 2022, Shehbaz Sharif was elected as prime minister, after Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote. During 2024 general election, PTI-backed independents became the largest bloc, but Shehbaz Sharif was elected prime minister for a second term, as a result of a coalition between PML (N) and PPPP.
== Geography ==
Pakistan's diverse geography and climate host a wide array of wildlife. Covering 881,913 km2 (340,509 sq mi), Pakistan ranks as the 33rd-largest nation by total area, but this varies based on Kashmir's disputed status. Pakistan boasts a 1,046 km (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, and shares land borders totaling 6,774 km (4,209 mi), including 2,430 km (1,510 mi) with Afghanistan, 523 km (325 mi) with China, 2,912 km (1,809 mi) with India, and 909 km (565 mi) with Iran. It has a maritime border with Oman and is separated from Tajikistan via the narrow strip of the Wakhan Corridor. Situated at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia, Pakistan's location is geopolitically significant. Geologically, Pakistan lies at the interaction of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates within the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone, a region of high seismic activity. The collision between these two plates occurs in northwest Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sindh and Punjab are located on the north-western corner of the Indian Plate, while Balochistan and much of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lie along its north-western margin. Northern areas of Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir, lie along the northern edge of the Indian Plate and are prone to powerful earthquakes.
Pakistan's landscapes vary from coastal plains to glaciated mountains, offering deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus. Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands, the Indus River plain, and the Balochistan Plateau. The northern highlands feature the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Pamir mountain ranges, hosting some of the world's highest peaks, including five of the fourteen eight-thousanders (mountain peaks over 8,000 metres or 26,250 feet), notably K2 (8,611 m or 28,251 ft) and Nanga Parbat (8,126 m or 26,660 ft). The Balochistan Plateau lies in the west and the Thar Desert in the east. The 1,609 km (1,000 mi) Indus River and its tributaries traverse the nation from Kashmir to the Arabian Sea, sustaining alluvial plains along the Punjab and Sindh regions.
The climate varies from tropical to temperate, with arid conditions in the coastal south. There is a monsoon season with frequent flooding due to heavy rainfall, and a dry season with significantly less rainfall or none at all. Pakistan experiences four distinct seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. Rainfall varies greatly from year to year, with patterns of alternate flooding and drought common.
=== Flora and fauna ===
The diverse landscape and climate in Pakistan support a wide range of trees and plants. From coniferous alpine and subalpine trees like spruce, pine, and deodar cedar in the northern mountains to deciduous trees like shisham in the Sulaiman Mountains, and palms such as coconut and date in the southern regions. The western hills boast juniper, tamarisk, coarse grasses, and scrub plants. Mangrove forests dominate the coastal wetlands in the south. Coniferous forests span altitudes from 1,000 to 4,000 metres (3,300 to 13,100 feet) in most northern and northwestern highlands. In Balochistan's xeric regions, date palms and Ephedra are prevalent. In Punjab and Sindh's Indus plains, tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forests as well as tropical and xeric shrublands thrive. Approximately 4.8% or 36,845.6 square kilometres (3,684,560 ha) of Pakistan was forested in 2021.
Pakistan's fauna mirrors its diverse climate. The country boasts around 668 bird species, including crows, sparrows, mynas, hawks, falcons, and eagles. Palas, Kohistan, is home to the western tragopan, with many migratory birds visiting from Europe, Central Asia, and India. The southern plains harbor mongooses, small Indian civet, hares, the Asiatic jackal, the Indian pangolin, the jungle cat, and the sand cat. Indus is home to mugger crocodiles, while surrounding areas host wild boars, deer, and porcupines. Central Pakistan's sandy scrublands shelter Asiatic jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats, and leopards. The mountainous north hosts a variety of animals like the Marco Polo sheep, urial, markhor goat, ibex goat, Asian black bear, and Himalayan brown bear.
The lack of vegetative cover, severe climate, and grazing impact on deserts have endangered wild animals. The chinkara is the only animal found in significant numbers in Cholistan, with a few nilgai along the Pakistan–India border and in some parts of Cholistan. Rare animals include the snow leopard and the blind Indus river dolphin, of which there are believed to be about 1,816 remaining, protected at the Indus Dolphin Reserve in Sindh. In total, 174 species of mammals, 177 species of reptiles, 22 species of amphibians, 198 species of freshwater fish, 668 species of birds, over 5,000 species of insects, and over 5,700 species of plants have been recorded in Pakistan. Pakistan faces deforestation, hunting, and pollution, with a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.42/10, ranking 41st globally out of 172 countries.
== Government and politics ==
Pakistan operates as a democratic parliamentary federal republic, with Islam designated as the state religion. The military's influence in mainstream politics has been significant throughout Pakistan's history. Initially adopting a constitution in 1956, Pakistan saw it suspended by Ayub Khan in 1958, replaced by a second constitution in 1962. Under the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the 1973 constitution established a parliamentary system, but it was suspended under Zia-ul-Haq's martial law in 1977 and restored, with amendments, in 1985. The eras of 1958–1971, 1977–1988, and 1999–2008 witnessed military coups, leading to martial law and military leaders governing de facto as presidents. Presently, Pakistan operates a multi-party parliamentary system, with distinct checks and balances among government branches. The first successful democratic transition occurred in May 2013. Pakistani politics revolves around a blend of socialism, conservatism, and the third way, with the three main political parties being the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N), socialist Pakistani People's Party, and centrist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Constitutional amendments in 2010 curtailed presidential powers, enhancing the role of the prime minister.
Head of State: The ceremonial head of the state and civilian commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces is the President, elected by an Electoral College. The Prime Minister advises the President on key appointments, including military and judicial positions, and the President is constitutionally bound to act on this advice. The President also holds powers to pardon and grant clemency.
Legislative: The bicameral legislature includes a 96-member Senate (upper house) and a 336-member National Assembly (lower house). National Assembly members are elected via first-past-the-post under universal adult suffrage, representing National Assembly constituencies. The constitution reserves 70 seats for women and religious minorities, allocated to political parties based on proportional representation. Senate members are elected by provincial legislators, ensuring equal representation across all provinces.
Executive: The Prime Minister, typically the leader of the majority rule party or coalition in the National Assembly (the lower house), serves as the country's chief executive and head of government. Responsibilities include forming a cabinet, making executive decisions, and appointing senior civil servants, subject to executive confirmation.
Provincial governments: Each of the four provinces follows a similar governance system, with a directly elected Provincial Assembly choosing the Chief Minister, usually from the largest party or coalition. Chief Ministers lead the provincial cabinet and oversee provincial governance. The Chief Secretary, appointed by the Prime Minister, heads the provincial bureaucracy. Provincial assemblies legislate and approve the provincial budget, typically presented by the provincial finance minister annually. Ceremonial heads of provinces, the Provincial Governors, are appointed by the President based on the binding advice of the Prime Minister.
Judicature: The judiciary in Pakistan has two classes: the superior and subordinate judiciary. The superior judiciary includes the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Federal Shariat Court, and five high courts, with the Supreme Court at the top. It's responsible for safeguarding the constitution. Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have their own court systems.
=== Role of Islam ===
Pakistan, the only country established in the name of Islam, had overwhelming support among Muslims, especially in provinces like the United Provinces, where Muslims were a minority. This idea, articulated by the Muslim League, the Islamic clergy, and Jinnah, envisioned an Islamic state. Jinnah, closely associated with the ulama, was described upon his death by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as the greatest Muslim after Aurangzeb, aspiring to unite Muslims worldwide under Islam.
The Objectives Resolution of March 1949 marked the initial step towards this goal, affirming God as the sole sovereign. Muslim League leader Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman asserted that Pakistan could only truly become an Islamic state after bringing all believers of Islam into a single political unit. Keith Callard observed that Pakistanis believed in the essential unity of purpose and outlook in the Muslim world, expecting similar views on religion and nationality from Muslims worldwide.
Pakistan's desire for a united Islamic bloc, called Islamistan, wasn't supported by other Muslim governments, though figures like the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were drawn to the country. Pakistan's desire for an international organization of Muslim countries was fulfilled in the 1970s when the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) was formed. In East Pakistan, Bengali Muslims increasingly prioritised Bengali ethno-nationalism over religious nationalism. The Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami backed an Islamic state and opposed Bengali nationalism.
After the 1970 general elections, the Parliament crafted the 1973 Constitution. It declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic, with Islam as the state religion, and mandated laws to comply with Islamic teachings laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted. Additionally, it established institutions like the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to interpret and apply Islam.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto faced opposition under the banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the Prophet"), advocating an Islamic state. Bhutto conceded to some Islamist demands before being ousted in a coup.
General Zia-ul-Haq, after seizing power, committed to establishing an Islamic state and enforcing sharia law. He instituted Shariat judicial courts, and court benches, to adjudicate using Islamic doctrine. Zia aligned with Deobandi institutions, exacerbating sectarian tensions with anti-Shia policies.
Most Pakistanis, according to a Pew Research Center (PEW) poll, favor Sharia law as the official law, and 94 percent of them identify more with religion than nationality compared to Muslims in other nations.
=== Administrative units ===
Pakistan, a federal parliamentary republic, consists of four provinces: Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan, along with three territories: Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir. The Government of Pakistan governs the western parts of the Kashmir Region, organized into separate political entities, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. In 2009, the constitutional assignment (the Gilgit–Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order) granted Gilgit-Baltistan semi-provincial status, providing it with self-government.
The local government system consists of districts, tehsils, and union councils, with an elected body at each tier.
=== Foreign relations ===
Since independence, Pakistan has aimed to maintain an independent foreign policy. Pakistan's foreign policy and geostrategy focus on the economy, security, national identity, and territorial integrity, as well as building close ties with other Muslim nations. According to Hasan Askari Rizvi, a foreign policy expert, "Pakistan highlights sovereign equality of states, bilateralism, mutuality of interests, and non-interference in each other's domestic affairs as the cardinal features of its foreign policy."
The Kashmir conflict remains a major issue between Pakistan and India, with three of their four wars fought over it. Due partly to strained relations with India, Pakistan has close ties with Turkey and Iran, both focal points in its foreign policy. Saudi Arabia also holds importance in Pakistan's foreign relations.
As a non-signatory of the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Pakistan holds influence in the IAEA. For years, Pakistan has blocked an international treaty to limit fissile material, arguing that its stockpile does not meet its long-term needs. Pakistan's nuclear program in the 20th century aimed to counter India's nuclear ambitions in the region, and reciprocal nuclear tests ensued after India's nuclear tests, solidifying Pakistan as a nuclear power. Pakistan maintains a policy of Full spectrum deterrence, considering its nuclear program vital for deterring foreign aggression.
Located strategically in the world's major maritime oil supply lines and communication fiber optic corridors, Pakistan also enjoys proximity to the natural resources of Central Asian countries. Pakistan actively participates in the United Nations with a Permanent Representative representing its positions in international politics. It has advocated for the concept of "enlightened moderation" in the Muslim world. Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, SAARC, ECO, and the G20 developing nations.
Pakistan is designated as an "Iron Brother" by China, emphasizing the significance of their close and supportive relationship. In the 1950s, Pakistan opposed the Soviet Union for geopolitical reasons. During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, it was a close ally of the United States. Relations with Russia have improved since the end of the Cold War, but Pakistan's relationship with the United States has been "on-and-off". Initially a close ally during the Cold War, Pakistan's relations with the US soured in the 1990s due to sanctions over its secretive nuclear program. Since 9/11, Pakistan has been a US ally on counterterrorism, but their relationship has been strained due to diverging interests and mistrust during the 20-year war and terrorism issues. Although Pakistan was granted major non-NATO ally status by the U.S. in 2004, it faced accusations of supporting the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Pakistan does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel; nonetheless, an exchange occurred between the two countries in 2005, with Turkey acting as an intermediary.
==== Relations with China ====
Pakistan was among the first nations to establish formal diplomatic ties with China, forging a strong relationship since China's 1962 conflict with India, culminating in a special bond. During the 1970s, Pakistan acted as an intermediary in U.S.-China rapprochement, facilitating US President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. Despite changes in Pakistani governance and regional/global dynamics, China's influence in Pakistan remains paramount. In reciprocation, China stands as Pakistan's largest trading partner, with substantial investment in Pakistani infrastructure, notably the Gwadar port. In 2015 alone, they inked 51 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for cooperative efforts. Both nations signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2006, with China making its largest investment in Pakistan's history through CPEC. Pakistan acts as China's liaison to the Muslim world, and both nations support each other on sensitive issues like Kashmir, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and more.
==== Relations with the Muslim world ====
After Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries. The Ali brothers sought to project Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, partly due to its significant manpower and military strength. Khaliquzzaman, a prominent Muslim League leader, declared Pakistan's ambition to unite all Muslim countries into Islamistan, a pan-Islamic entity.
These developments, alongside Pakistan's creation, didn't receive approval from the United States, with British Prime Minister Clement Attlee expressing a hope for India and Pakistan to reunite. However, due to a nationalist awakening in the Arab world at that time, there was little interest in Pakistan's Pan-Islamic aspirations. Some Arab countries perceived the 'Islamistan' project as Pakistan's bid to dominate other Muslim states.
Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, consistently advocated for the Palestinian cause, shaping Pakistan's foreign policy to support Palestinian rights within the broader framework of Muslim solidarity. During the 1967 Arab-Israel war, Pakistan supported the Arab states and played a key role in securing Iran's backing for the Arab cause both within the U.N. and beyond.
Pakistan's relations with Iran have been strained by sectarian tensions, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia using Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy sectarian war. Since the early days of the Iran–Iraq war, President Zia-ul-Haq played an important mediatory role, with Pakistan actively engaging in efforts to end the conflict. Pakistan provided support to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Pakistan chose to remain neutral during Operation Decisive Storm, refraining from sending military support to Saudi Arabia in its offensive against Yemen. Instead, Pakistan aimed to play a proactive diplomatic role in resolving the crisis, which led to tensions between the two countries. In 2016, Pakistan mediated between Saudi Arabia and Iran following the execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, with visits to both countries by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Chief of Army Staff, Raheel Sharif.
Pakistan provided refuge to millions of displaced Afghans after the Soviet invasion and supported the Afghan mujahideen in their efforts to expel Soviet forces from Afghanistan. After the Soviets withdrew, infighting erupted among Mujahideen factions over control of Afghanistan. Pakistan facilitated peace talks to help end the conflict. After four years of unresolved conflict between rival Mujahideen groups, Pakistan helped establish the Taliban as a stabilizing force. Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan challenged Shia-led Iran, which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Pakistan vigorously advocated for self-determination among Muslims globally. Its efforts in supporting independence movements in countries like Indonesia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Eritrea fostered strong ties. Due to its support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Pakistan has not established diplomatic relations with Armenia.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have experienced strained relations, particularly under the Awami League governments led by Sheikh Hasina, driven by her pro-India stance and historical grievances.
Pakistan, a prominent member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), prioritizes maintaining cultural, political, social, and economic relations with Arab and other Muslim-majority nations in its foreign policy.
In September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement under which any aggression against one country is considered an aggression against both, formalising a defensive commitment that also extends Pakistan's nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia.
=== Kashmir conflict ===
Kashmir, a Himalayan region at the northern tip of the Indian subcontinent, was governed as the autonomous princely state of Jammu and Kashmir during the British Raj before the Partition of India in August 1947. This sparked a major territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, resulting in several conflicts over the region. India controls about 45.1% of Kashmir, including Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, while Pakistan controls roughly 38.2%, comprising Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit−Baltistan. Additionally, about 20% of the region, known as Aksai Chin and the Shaksgam Valley, is under Chinese control. India claims the entire Kashmir region based on the Instrument of Accession signed by the princely state's ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, while Pakistan argues for its Muslim-majority population, and geographical proximity to Pakistan. The United Nations was involved in resolving the conflict, leading to a ceasefire in 1949 and the establishment of the Line of Control (LoC) as a de facto border. India, fearing Kashmir's secession, did not hold the promised plebiscite, as it believed Kashmiris would vote to join Pakistan.
Pakistan claims that its position is for the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their future through impartial elections as mandated by the United Nations, while India has stated that Kashmir is an "integral part" of India, referring to the 1972 Simla Agreement and to the fact that regional elections take place regularly. Certain Kashmiri independence groups believe that Kashmir should be independent of both India and Pakistan.
=== Military ===
Pakistan is considered a middle power nation, with the world's seventh-largest standing armed forces in terms of personnel size, comprising approximately 660,000 active-duty troops and 291,000 paramilitary personnel as of 2024. Established in 1947, the armed forces of Pakistan wielded significant influence over national politics. The main branches include the Army, Navy, and Air Force, supported by numerous paramilitaries.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) is the highest-ranking military officer, advising the civilian government. However, they lack direct command over the branches and serve as intermediaries, ensuring communication between the military and civilian leadership. Overseeing the Joint Staff Headquarters, they coordinate inter-service cooperation and joint military missions.
Command and control over Pakistan's strategic arsenal development and employment is vested in the National Command Authority, overseeing work on nuclear doctrine to maintain Full spectrum deterrence.
The United States, Turkey, and China maintain close military relations with Pakistan Armed Forces, regularly exporting military equipment and technology transfer. Pakistan was the 5th-largest recipient and importer of arms between 2019 and 2023.
==== Military history ====
Since 1947, Pakistan has been involved in four conventional wars with India. The first conflict took place in Kashmir and ended in a United Nations-mediated ceasefire, with Pakistan gaining control of one-third of the region. Territorial disputes led to another war in 1965. In 1971, India and Pakistan fought another war over East Pakistan, with Indian forces aiding its independence, leading to the creation of Bangladesh. Tensions in Kargil brought the two countries to the brink of war.
Pakistan's primary intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was established within a year of Pakistan's independence in 1947. During the Soviet–Afghan War, Pakistan's intelligence community, mostly the ISI, coordinated US resources to support Afghan mujahideen and foreign fighters against Soviet presence. The PAF engaged with Soviet and Afghan Air Forces during the conflict. Pakistan has been an active participant in UN peacekeeping missions, playing a major role in operations like the rescue mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993. According to a 2023 UN report, the Pakistani military was the fifth largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions.
Pakistan has deployed its military in some Arab countries, providing defense, training, and advisory roles. The PAF's fighter pilots participated in missions against Israel during the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Pakistani special forces assisted Saudi forces in Mecca during the Grand Mosque Seizure. Pakistan also sent 5,000 troops as part of a US-led coalition for the defense of Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.
Despite the UN arms embargo on Bosnia, the ISI under General Javed Nasir airlifted anti-tank weapons and missiles to Bosnian mujahideen, shifting the tide in favor of Bosnian Muslims. ISI, under Nasir's leadership, supported Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang, rebel groups in the Philippines, and religious groups in Central Asia.
Since 2001, the Pakistan military has been engaged in counterinsurgency and internal security operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, primarily targeting Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and associated militant groups. Major military operations conducted during this period include Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation al-Mizan, Operation Zalzala, Operation Sherdil, Operation Rah-e-Haq, Operation Rah-e-Rast, and Operation Rah-e-Nijat.
=== Law enforcement ===
Law enforcement in Pakistan consists of federal and provincial police agencies. Each of the four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan) has its own police force, while the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has the Islamabad Police. Provincial police forces are led by an Inspector-General of Police (IGP), who is appointed from the federally recruited and trained Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) through a consultative process between the federal and provincial governments. All positions above the Assistant Superintendent level are filled from the PSP, ensuring national standards across provincial forces.
Specialized Units:
National Highways & Motorway Police (NHMP): Enforces traffic laws and ensures safety on Pakistan's inter-provincial motorway network.
Specialized Rapid Response Units: Specialized counter-terrorism units, such as the Punjab Elite Police Force, have been trained by army commandos and exist in every province to respond to hostage situations and neutralize armed groups.
The Civil Armed Forces (CAF) assist local law enforcement agencies and participate in border security and internal security operations, particularly in conflict-affected regions.
In 2021, the National Intelligence Coordination Committee was established to improve coordination among Pakistan's intelligence agencies. The inaugural meeting was attended by the heads of the ISI, IB, and FIA.
=== Human rights ===
Pakistan scored 27 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2024, ranking 135th out of 180 countries in the assessment of perceived public-sector corruption. In 2025, Pakistan ranked 158 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, highlighting restrictions on freedom of the press. According to the journalist Raza Rumi, in 2023, TV channels in Pakistan faced suspensions and legal threats for airing content critical of the government or military, while online platforms also experienced temporary takedowns. According to a 2025 report, some newspapers have faced financial pressure—such as withdrawal of government advertisements—for publishing content critical of government policies. Both military and civilian governments have historically used such tactics.
In Pakistan, all sexual activity outside of marriage is illegal. The punishment for sex outside marriage (zina) ranges from up to five years' imprisonment for minors to 100 lashes for unmarried adults and stoning to death for married adults, depending on marital status, age, sanity, and whether strict evidentiary requirements for a hadd punishment—such as four adult male Muslim witnesses or a confession—are met; however, no one has been stoned to death under the law to date. Male homosexuality is illegal in Pakistan and is punishable by up to ten years in prison, corporal punishment such as whipping, and, under Islamic law since 1990, potentially even stoning.
Honour killings, locally referred to as karo-kari in parts of Pakistan, involve the killing of women and, less frequently, men by family or community members over alleged extramarital relationships or perceived violations of honour. Human rights organisations report that hundreds of women are killed each year, with many cases unreported. Pakistan also has a high number of reported acid attacks, with about 200 incidents annually as of 2023, most victims being women. According to Masarrat Misbah, founder of the Depilex Smileagain Foundation, women have been targeted for rejecting marriage proposals, giving birth to daughters instead of sons, or insufficient dowry. The 2011 Acid and Burn Crime Bill criminalised acid attacks, making them punishable by lengthy imprisonment and fines.
In parts of Pakistan, girls are given in marriage to settle disputes or crimes between families in a customary practice called Vani. Girls married through this practice are often treated as compensation for a dispute, which places them in a vulnerable social position within the family they marry into. In 2021, the Federal Shariat Court declared the practice un-Islamic and unconstitutional, reaffirming earlier Supreme Court jurisprudence.
UN Women reported in 2024 that around one in six girls in Pakistan are married during childhood, with the country home to nearly 19 million child brides. In 2025, Pakistan enacted a law setting the minimum legal age for marriage at 18 and introducing penalties for arranging underage marriages; the law is limited to the Islamabad Capital Territory and does not apply nationwide.
== Economy ==
Pakistan's economy ranks 27th globally by purchasing power parity (PPP) and 42nd by nominal GDP. Historically, Pakistan was part of the wealthiest region in the first millennium CE, but lost ground to regions like China and Western Europe by the 18th century. Pakistan is a developing country, and part of the Next Eleven, poised to become one of the world's largest economies in the 21st century, alongside the BRIC countries. The semi-industrialised economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, and industrial growth in Pakistan benefits significantly from agricultural expansion. In 2023, Pakistan was the 66th-largest export economy, with a trade deficit of US$21.3 billion.
As of 2025, Pakistan's nominal GDP stood at US$410.5 billion, with GDP by PPP at US$1.67 trillion. The nominal per capita GDP was US$1,710, and the GDP (PPP)/capita amounted to US$6,950 (international dollars). Around 44.7% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$4.20 a day, 16.5% live in extreme poverty on less than US$3 a day, 8% of the total labour force is unemployed, and CPI inflation in 2025 was 4.5%. Pakistan ranks near the bottom globally on the Global Gender Gap Index's economic participation and opportunity sub-index for women, reflecting very low female labour force participation and limited representation of women in senior economic roles. Pakistan's middle class is estimated to be around 40–50 million people, representing 15–20 per cent of the population. Among South Asian countries, Pakistan's GDP growth rate of 2.5% in 2024 was the second lowest after Afghanistan.
Pakistan has strong potential to produce diverse food commodities due to its vast natural resource base across varied ecological and climatic zones. It has the world's 7th-largest labour force, and its diaspora of around 10 million, sent US$38.3 billion in remittances in fiscal year 2024–25, as reported by the Special Investment Facilitation Council. Pakistan's share of global exports averaged 0.14% between 1990 and 2023 and was 0.12% in 2023.
=== Agriculture and mining sector ===
The Pakistani economy has shifted from agriculture to services, with agriculture contributing only 20.9% of the GDP as of 2015. Despite this, Pakistan's wheat production in 2005 surpassed Africa's and nearly matched South America's, highlighting its agricultural significance. The sector employs 43.5% of the labor force and is a major source of foreign exchange.
Manufactured exports, heavily reliant on agricultural raw materials like cotton and hides, face inflationary pressures due to supply shortages and market disruptions. Pakistan ranks fifth in cotton production, self-sufficient in sugarcane, and the fourth-largest milk producer globally. Though land and water resources haven't increased proportionately, productivity gains, especially from the Green Revolution in the late 1960s and 1970s, significantly boosted wheat and rice yields. Private tube wells and High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) further augmented crop yields. Meat industry accounts for 1.4 percent of overall GDP.
=== Industry ===
Industry, constituting 19.74% of GDP and 24% of total employment, is the second-largest sector. Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) dominates, representing 12.2% of GDP, with cement production thriving due to demand from Afghanistan and the domestic real estate sector. In 2013, Pakistan exported 7,708,557 metric tons of cement, with an installed capacity of 44,768,250 metric tons. The textile industry, a key player in Pakistan's manufacturing, contributes 9.5% to GDP and employs around 15 million people. As of 2022, Pakistan ranks seventh globally in cotton production, with substantial spinning capacity, making it a major exporter of textile products in Asia. China has been a significant buyer of Pakistani textiles, importing US$1.527 billion worth of textiles in 2012.
=== Services ===
As of 2014–15, the services sector contributes 58.8% to GDP, serving as the main driver of economic growth in Pakistan, with a consumption-oriented society. The sector's growth rate surpasses that of agriculture and industry, accounting for 54% of GDP and over one-third of total employment. It has strong linkages with other sectors, providing essential inputs to agriculture and manufacturing. Pakistan's IT sector is one of the fastest-growing, ranked 110th for ICT development by the World Economic Forum. With around 82 million internet users as of May 2020, Pakistan ranks among top ten globally, and its ICT industry is projected to exceed $10 billion by 2020. With 12,000 employees, Pakistan is among the top five freelancing nations, and its export performance in telecom, computer, and information services has notably improved.
=== Tourism ===
With its diverse cultures, landscapes, and attractions, Pakistan drew around 6.6 million foreign tourists in 2018. However, this was a decline from the peak of tourism in the 1970s driven by the popular Hippie trail. Pakistan boasts attractions from mangroves in the south to Himalayan hill stations in the northeast, including ancient Buddhist ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Taxila, the 5,000-year-old Indus Valley civilization sites such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, and numerous mountain peaks over 7,000 metres (23,000 feet). The northern part of Pakistan boasts numerous old fortresses, showcasing ancient architecture. It encompasses the Hunza and Chitral valleys, where the small pre-Islamic Kalasha community resides, claiming descent from Alexander the Great. Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, showcases numerous examples of Mughal architecture, including the Badshahi Masjid, the Shalimar Gardens, the Tomb of Jahangir, and the Lahore Fort. Following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, The Guardian highlighted "The top five tourist sites in Pakistan" to boost tourism, featuring destinations like Taxila, Lahore, the Karakoram Highway, Karimabad, and Lake Saiful Muluk. Festivals and government initiatives aim to promote Pakistan's cultural heritage. In 2015, the World Economic Forum ranked Pakistan 125th out of 141 countries in its Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report.
== Infrastructure ==
Pakistan was lauded as the top nation for infrastructure development in South Asia during the 2016 annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
=== Power and energy ===
As of May 2021, Pakistan operates six licensed commercial nuclear power plants. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) oversees these plants, while the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority ensures their safe operation. These plants contribute approximately 5.8% to Pakistan's electricity supply, while fossil fuels (crude oil and natural gas) provide 64.2%, hydroelectric power provides 29.9%, and coal contributes 0.1%. The KANUPP-I, Pakistan's first commercial nuclear power plant, was supplied by Canada in 1971. Sino-Pakistani nuclear cooperation began in the 1980s, leading to the establishment of CHASNUPP-I. In 2005, both countries proposed a joint energy security plan, aiming for a generation capacity exceeding 160,000 MWe by 2030. Pakistan's Nuclear Energy Vision 2050 targets a capacity of 40,000 MWe, with 8,900 MWe expected by 2030.
In June 2008, the nuclear complex at Chashma in Punjab Province expanded with the installation of Chashma-III and Chashma–IV reactors, each with 325–340 MWe, costing ₨129 billion, with ₨80 billion from international sources, mainly China. Another agreement for China's assistance was signed in October 2008, seen as a response to the US–India agreement. The project's cost was then US$1.7 billion, with a foreign loan of US$1.07 billion. In 2013, Pakistan established a second nuclear complex in Karachi with plans for additional reactors, similar to Chashma. Electrical energy in Pakistan is generated by various corporations and distributed evenly among the four provinces by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA). However, Karachi-based K-Electric and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) generate much of the electricity used in Pakistan and collect revenue nationwide. In 2023, Pakistan's installed electricity generation capacity was ~45,885 MWt. Pakistan produced 1,135 megawatts of renewable energy for the month of October 2016. Pakistan expects to produce 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2025.
=== Transport ===
Pakistan boasts 2567 km of motorways and approximately 263,942 km of highways, which handle 92% of passengers and 96% of freight traffic. Despite constituting only 4.6% of the total road length, these north–south links manage 85% of the nation's traffic. They connect southern seaports such as Karachi port and Port Qasim in Sindh, along with Gwadar Port and Port of Pasni in Balochistan, to populous provinces like Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa domestically, and neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. According to the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report, Pakistan's port infrastructure quality ratings rose from 3.7 to 4.1 between 2007 and 2016. The railway's share of inland traffic is reduced to below 8% for passengers and 4% for freight. This shift led to a decrease in total rail track from 8,775 kilometres (5,453 miles) in 1990–91 to 7,791 kilometres (4,841 miles) in 2011.
The transport landscape of Pakistan features various modern transit systems. The Orange Line Metro Train in Lahore, inaugurated in 2020, spans 27.1 km (16.8 mi), and includes both elevated and underground sections, accommodating over 250,000 passengers daily. Lahore also boasts the Lahore Metrobus, the first of its kind in Pakistan, operational since February 2013. The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus, stretching 48.1 km, commenced its first phase in June 2015, with subsequent extensions, and employs e-ticketing and an Intelligent Transportation System. Multan Metrobus, inaugurated in January 2017, serves Multan with its rapid transit services. Peshawar's Bus Rapid Transit, inaugurated in August 2020, marks the fourth BRT system in Pakistan. Karachi's Green Line Metrobus, operational since December 2021, is part of a larger metrobus project financed by the Government of Pakistan and initiated in February 2016. Meanwhile, Faisalabad awaits its proposed rapid transit project, the Faisalabad Metrobus. Karachi Circular Railway, partially revived in November 2020, offers public transit services in the Karachi metropolitan area. Additionally, plans are underway to resurrect Karachi's tramway service, which ceased operations in 1975, in collaboration with Austrian experts.
As of 2013, Pakistan boasts approximately 151 airports and airfields, encompassing both military and civilian installations. Despite Jinnah International Airport serving as the primary international gateway, significant international traffic also flows through Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Multan airports. The civil aviation industry, deregulated in 1993, operates with a blend of public and private entities while state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) dominates, carrying 73% of domestic passengers and all domestic freight.
=== Science and technology ===
Developments in science and technology have played a significant role in Pakistan's infrastructure, linking the nation to the global community. Each year, the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the government invite scientists worldwide to the International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics. In 2005, Pakistan hosted an international seminar on "Physics in Developing Countries" for the International Year of Physics. Pakistani theoretical physicist Abdus Salam won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the electroweak interaction. Pakistani scientists have made notable contributions in mathematics, biology, economics, computer science, and genetics.
In chemistry, Salimuzzaman Siddiqui identified the medicinal properties of the neem tree's components. Ayub K. Ommaya developed the Ommaya reservoir for treating brain conditions. Scientific research is integral to Pakistani universities, national laboratories, science parks, and the industry. Abdul Qadeer Khan spearheaded Pakistan's HEU-based gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment program for its atomic bomb project. He established the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976, serving as both its senior scientist and the Director-General until his retirement in 2001. Besides atomic bomb project, he made significant contributions in molecular morphology, physical martensite, and their applications in condensed and material physics.
In 2023, Pakistan ranked 26th globally in published scientific papers. The influential Pakistan Academy of Sciences guides the government on science policies. Pakistan was ranked 99th in the Global Innovation Index by 2025.
The 1960s marked the rise of Pakistan's space program, led by SUPARCO, yielding advancements in rocketry, electronics, and aeronomy. Notably, Pakistan launched its first rocket into space, pioneering South Asia's space exploration. In 1990, it successfully launched its first satellite, becoming the first Muslim nation and second in South Asia to achieve this milestone.
Following the 1971 war with India, Pakistan hastily developed atomic weapons to deter foreign intervention and entered the atomic age. Tensions with India led to Pakistan's 1998 underground nuclear tests, making it the seventh country to possess such weapons.
Pakistan is the sole Muslim nation active in Antarctica research, maintaining its Jinnah Antarctic Research Station since 1992. The government invests heavily in information technology projects, focusing on e-government and infrastructure.
== Demographics ==
=== Urbanisation ===
Since independence due to the partition of India, urbanisation has surged for various reasons. In the south, Karachi stands as the most populous commercial hub along the Indus River. In the east, west, and north, a dense population arc spans cities like Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan, and Peshawar. By 1990–2008, city dwellers constituted 36% of Pakistan's population, making it South Asia's most urbanized nation, with over 50% living in towns of 5,000+ inhabitants. Immigration, both domestic and international, significantly fuels urban growth. Migration from India, especially to Karachi, the largest metropolis, and from nearby countries, accelerates urbanization, posing new political and socio-economic challenges. Economic shifts like the green revolution and political developments also play crucial roles.
=== Ethnicity and languages ===
Pakistan is a diverse society with estimates suggesting it has between 75 and 85 languages. Urdu and English serve as the official languages, with Urdu being the country's lingua franca and a unifying force among over 75% of Pakistanis. According to the 2023 national census, the largest ethnolinguistic groups include the Punjabis (36.98%), Pashtuns (18.15%), Sindhis (14.31%), Saraikis (12%), Urdu speaking people (9.25%), Balochs (3.38%), Hindkowans/Hazarewals (2.32%), and Brahuis (1.16%). The remaining population consists of various ethnic minorities such as Kashmiris, Paharis, Chitralis, various peoples of Gilgit-Baltistan, Kohistanis, Torwalis, Meos, Hazaras, Kalash and Siddis. The Pakistani diaspora, numbering over seven million, is the sixth largest in the world.
=== Immigration ===
Even post-1947 partition, the Muslims from India kept migrating to Pakistan, especially Karachi and Sindh province. Wars in neighboring Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s pushed millions of Afghan refugees into Pakistan, mainly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas, with some in Karachi and Quetta. Pakistan hosts one of the world's largest refugee populations. Additionally, around 2 million Bengalis and half a million undocumented individuals, purportedly from Myanmar, reside in Pakistan. Pakistan ordered the mass expulsion of undocumented Afghans in October 2023, citing national security risks.
Migration of Bengalis and Rohingya to Pakistan started in the 1980s and continued till 1998. Karachi hosts a significant number of Bengali settlements, and large Rohingya migration made it one of their largest populations outside Myanmar. Karachi's Burmese community resides in various slums across the city.
According to BBC, thousands of Uyghur Muslims live in Gilgit-Baltistan, some left Xinjiang, China and the thriving trading town of Kashgar in 1949, while others are later arrivals, claiming to escape political oppression. Since 1989, thousands of Kashmiri Muslim refugees fled to Pakistan, alleging rape and forced displacement by Indian soldiers.
=== Diaspora ===
According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the sixth-largest diaspora globally. Approximately 7 million Pakistanis reside abroad, mainly in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Pakistan ranks 10th globally for remittances sent home. Saudi Arabia is the largest source of remittances, contributing $5.9 billion as of 2016. The term Overseas Pakistani is officially recognized by the Government of Pakistan, with the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development addressing their needs, welfare, and issues. Overseas Pakistanis constitute the second-largest source of foreign exchange remittances to Pakistan, with remittances increasing by over 100% from US$8.9 billion in 2009–10 to US$19.9 billion in 2015–16.
=== Religion ===
Islam is the state religion, with freedom of religion guaranteed by the constitution. The majority are Muslims (96.35%), followed by Hindus (2.17%) and Christians (1.37%). Minorities include Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians (Parsi), and the unique Kalash people who practice animism. In 2012, 2% of the population identified as atheist in a Gallup survey.
==== Islam ====
Islam dominates in Pakistan, with about 96.35% of the population being Muslim. Pakistan ranks second globally in Muslim population, and is home to 10.5% of the world's Muslims. Karachi is the largest Muslim city in the world.
The majority follow Sunni Islam, with a significant presence of Sufism, while Shia Muslims constitute a minority. Shias represent between 5–25%. The Shia population in Pakistan was estimated at 42 million in 2019. As of 2012, 12% of Pakistani Muslims self-identify as non-denominational Muslims.
The Ahmadis are a minority, officially considered non-Muslims. Ahmadis face persecution, banned from calling themselves Muslims since 1974.
==== Hinduism ====
Hinduism is the second-largest religion, followed by 2.17% of the population according to the census in 2023. Pakistan had the fifth-largest Hindu population globally in 2010. In 2023, Hindus numbered 5,217,216. They reside across Pakistan but are concentrated in Sindh, where they make up 8.81% of the population. Umerkot district of the province is the only Hindu majority area. Tharparkar district hosts the largest Hindu population. Four districts – Umerkot, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, and Sanghar – have over half of Pakistan's Hindus.
At Pakistan's inception, the 'hostage theory' suggested fair treatment of Hindus to safeguard Muslims in India. However, some Pakistani Hindus felt marginalized, leading to emigration to India. They faced violence post the Babri Masjid demolition.
==== Christianity and other religions ====
Christians are the next largest religious minority after Hindus, constituting 1.37% of the population. They are concentrated in Lahore District (5%) and Islamabad Capital Territory (over 4%). Karachi hosts a historic Roman Catholic community established by Goan and Tamil migrants during British colonial rule.
Following Christianity, the Bahá'í Faith had 30,000 followers in 2008, followed by Sikhism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, each with around 20,000 adherents in 2008, alongside a small Jain community.
=== Education ===
Pakistan's constitution mandates free primary and secondary education, with public universities established in each province, including Punjab University, Sindh University, Peshawar University, Karachi University, and Balochistan University. The country's educational landscape encompasses both public and private universities, fostering collaboration to enhance research and higher education opportunities, albeit with concerns regarding teaching quality in newer institutions. Technical and vocational institutions in Pakistan number approximately 3,193, complemented by madrassahs providing free Islamic education to students, with government efforts to regulate and monitor their quality amidst concerns over extremists recruitment. Education is divided into six main levels, including nursery, primary, middle, matriculation, intermediate, and university programs. Additionally, private schools offer a parallel secondary education system based on the curriculum set by the Cambridge International Examinations, with 439 international schools reported in Pakistan.
Initiatives since 2007 made English medium education mandatory nationwide. Following a 2012 attack on activist Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban, she became the youngest Nobel laureate for her education advocacy. Reforms in 2013 mandated Chinese language courses in Sindh, reflecting China's growing influence. As of 2018, Pakistan's literacy rate stands at 62.3%, with significant regional and gender disparities. Government initiatives, including computer literacy since 1995, aim to eradicate illiteracy, targeting 100% enrollment among primary school-age children and an ~86% literacy rate by 2015. Pakistan allocates 2.3% of its GDP to education, among the lowest in South Asia.
== Culture ==
Civil society in Pakistan is hierarchical, emphasizing local cultural etiquette and traditional Islamic values. The primary family unit is the extended family, but there's a rising trend towards nuclear families due to socio-economic factors. Both men and women typically wear Shalwar Kameez; men also favor trousers, jeans, and shirts. The middle class has grown to about 35 million, with another 17 million in the upper and upper-middle classes, leading to a shift in power from rural landowners to urban elites. Festivals like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Azha, Ramadan, Christmas, Easter, Holi, and Diwali are primarily religious. Pakistan ranked 56th on the 2006 A.T. Kearney/FP Globalization Index due to increasing globalization.
=== Architecture ===
Four periods define Pakistani architecture: pre-Islamic, Islamic, colonial, and post-colonial. The onset of the Indus civilization around the mid-3rd millennium BCE heralded an urban culture, evidenced by surviving large structures. Notable pre-Islamic settlements include Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, and Kot Diji. The fusion of Buddhism and Greek influences birthed a distinctive Greco-Buddhist style from the 1st century CE, exemplified by the renowned Gandhara style. Notable Buddhist architectural remnants include the Takht-i-Bahi monastery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The advent of Islam in present-day Pakistan marked the cessation of Buddhist architecture, ushering in Islamic architecture. The notable Indo-Islamic structure, the tomb of Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan, remains significant. During the Mughal era, Persian-Islamic design merged with Hindustani art, seen in Lahore's architectural gems like the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort with the iconic Alamgiri Gate. Lahore also boasts the vibrant Wazir Khan Mosque, and the lush Shalimar Gardens. In the British colonial period, Indo-European buildings emerged, blending European and Indian-Islamic styles. Post-colonial identity shines through modern landmarks like the Faisal Mosque, Minar-e-Pakistan, and Mazar-e-Quaid. British architectural influence persists in structures across Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi.
=== Clothing, arts, and fashion ===
The Shalwar kameez is Pakistan's national dress, worn in all provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Azad Kashmir. Each province has its own style. Pakistanis wear a variety of fabrics like silk, chiffon, and cotton. In addition to the national dress, men often wear domestically tailored suits and neckties, especially in offices, schools, and social gatherings.
Pakistan's fashion industry has thrived, blending traditional and modern styles to create a unique cultural identity. Regional and traditional dress remain significant symbols of native tradition, evolving into both modern and purer forms. Organizations like the Pakistan Fashion Design Council in Lahore and the Fashion Pakistan Council in Karachi host events like PFDC Fashion Week and Fashion Pakistan Week. Pakistan's inaugural fashion week took place in November 2009.
=== Literature and philosophy ===
Pakistan boasts literature in various languages including Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Baluchi, Persian, English, and more. The Pakistan Academy of Letters actively promotes literature and poetry both domestically and internationally. National Library contributes to literary dissemination. Historically, Pakistani literature consisted mainly of lyric, religious, and folkloric works, later diversifying under colonial influence into prose fiction, now widely embraced.
The national poet of Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal, wrote influential poetry in Urdu and Persian, advocating for Islamic civilizational revival. Notable figures in contemporary Urdu literature include Josh Malihabadi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and Saadat Hasan Manto. Popular Sufi poets like Shah Abdul Latif and Bulleh Shah are revered. Mirza Kalich Beg is hailed as the father of modern Sindhi prose. Pakistani philosophy has been shaped by influences from British and American philosophy, with notable figures like M. M. Sharif contributing to its development. Post-1971, Marxist thought gained prominence in Pakistani philosophy through figures like Jalaludin Abdur Rahim.
=== Media and entertainment ===
The private print media, state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) dominated media until the 21st century. Pakistan now boasts a vast network of domestic, privately owned 24-hour electronic news media and cable television channels. The Reporters Without Borders has indicated pressure faced by Pakistani reporters, particularly when reporting against the military or government. The BBC describes Pakistani media as "among the most outspoken in South Asia". Pakistani media has been instrumental in exposing corruption.
The Lollywood, Punjabi, and Pashto film industry is centered in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar. Although Bollywood films were banned from public cinemas from 1965 to 2008, they remained influential in Pakistani popular culture. However, in 2019, the screening of Bollywood movies faced an indefinite ban. Despite challenges faced by the Pakistani film industry, Urdu televised dramas and theatrical performances remain popular, frequently broadcast by many entertainment media outlets. Urdu dramas dominate the television entertainment industry, renowned for their quality since the 1990s. Pakistani music encompasses diverse forms, from provincial folk music and traditional styles like Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern fusions of traditional and western music. Pakistan boasts numerous renowned folk singers, and the arrival of Afghan refugees in western provinces has sparked interest in Pashto music, despite occasional intolerance.
=== Cuisine ===
Pakistani cuisine, rooted in the royal kitchens of 16th-century Mughal emperors, blends influences from British, Indian, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern culinary traditions. Unlike Middle Eastern fare, Pakistani dishes are heavily spiced with garlic, ginger, turmeric, chili, and garam masala. Roti, a wheat-based flatbread, accompanies most meals, alongside curry, meat, vegetables, and lentils. Rice is also common, served plain, spiced, or in sweet dishes. Lassi, a traditional drink from the Punjab region, and black tea with milk and sugar are popular beverages enjoyed nationwide. Sohan halwa, a beloved sweet dish from southern Punjab, is savored across Pakistan.
=== Sports ===
Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan, followed by football. Field hockey is the national sport. Other sports like squash, polo, and traditional games are also enjoyed.
In cricket, Pakistan boasts victories in all major ICC tournaments, including the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC World Twenty20, and ICC Champions Trophy. The Pakistan Super League ranks among the top T20 leagues globally.
In football, Pakistan established the Pakistan Football Federation soon after its creation, and it is known for producing FIFA World Cup balls.
In field hockey, Pakistan boasts four Hockey World Cup wins, eight Asian Games gold medals, and three Olympic gold medals. Squash player Jahangir Khan holds the record for the longest winning streak in professional sport history, winning 555 consecutive matches. Pakistan has hosted various international events, including Cricket and Hockey World Cups and Asian Games. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton | Dolly Parton | Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman. After achieving success as a songwriter for other artists, Parton's debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, was released in 1967, commencing a career spanning 60 years and 50 studio albums. Referred to as the "Queen of Country", Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers in history and has received various accolades, including eleven Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards including an humanitarian honorary Oscar win in 2025, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.
Parton has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists ever. Her music includes Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She has had 25 singles reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She has 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist and she has 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. Her 49th solo studio album, Rockstar (2023), became her highest-charting Billboard 200 album, peaking at number three. Parton has composed over 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper and an international hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5". As an actress, she has starred in the films 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for each of which she earned Best Actress Golden Globe nominations, as well as Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), and Joyful Noise (2012).
She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, the National Medal of Arts in 2004, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2025. In 1986, Parton was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2021, she was included on the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She was ranked at No. 27 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2025, it was announced that Parton would be the recipient of the 2026 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (an honorary Oscar).
Outside of her work in the music and film industries, Parton co-owns The Dollywood Company, which manages a number of entertainment venues including the Dollywood theme park, the Splash Country water park and a number of dinner theater venues such as The Dolly Parton Stampede and Pirates Voyage. She has founded a number of charitable and philanthropic organizations, chief among them being the Dollywood Foundation, who manage a number of projects to bring education and poverty relief to East Tennessee, where she was raised.
== Early life ==
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee.
She is the fourth of twelve children born to Avie Lee Caroline (née Owens; 1923–2003) and Robert Lee Parton Sr. (1921–2000). Parton's middle name comes from her maternal great-great-grandmother Rebecca (née Dunn) Whitted.
Parton's father, known as "Lee", worked in the mountains of East Tennessee, first as a sharecropper and later tending his own small tobacco farm and acreage. He also worked construction jobs to supplement the farm's small income. Despite her father's illiteracy, Parton has often commented that he was one of the smartest people she has ever known with regard to business and making a profit.
Parton's mother cared for their large family. Her eleven pregnancies (the tenth being twins) in twenty years made her a mother of twelve by age thirty-five. Parton attributes her musical abilities to the influence of her mother; often in poor health, she still managed to keep house and entertain her children with Smoky Mountain folklore and ancient ballads. Having Welsh ancestors, Avie Lee knew many old ballads that immigrants from the British Isles brought to southern Appalachia in the 18th and 19th century. Avie Lee's father, Jake Owens, was a Pentecostal preacher and Parton and her siblings all attended church regularly.
Parton has long credited her father for her business savvy and her mother's family for her musical abilities.
When Parton was a young girl, her family moved from the Pittman Center area to a two-room cabin and farm on nearby Locust Ridge. Most of her cherished memories of youth happened there. A replica of the Locust Ridge cabin is displayed at Parton's namesake theme park Dollywood. The farm acreage and surrounding woodland inspired her to write the song "My Tennessee Mountain Home" in the 1970s. Years after the farm was sold, Parton bought it back in the late 1980s. Her brother Bobby helped with building restoration and new construction.
Parton has described her family as being "dirt poor". Parton's father paid missionary Dr. Robert F. Thomas with a sack of cornmeal for delivering her. Later in life, Parton wrote a song about Dr. Thomas. She also outlined her family's poverty in her early songs "Coat of Many Colors" and "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)".
For six or seven years, Parton and her family lived in their one-bedroom cabin on their small subsistence farm on Locust Ridge. This was a predominantly Pentecostal area located north of the Greenbrier Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Music played an important role in her early life. She was brought up in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), in a congregation her grandfather, Jake Robert Owens, pastored. Her earliest public performances were in the church, beginning at age six. At seven, she started playing a homemade guitar. When she was eight, her uncle bought Dolly her first real guitar.
The Parton family was well-fed despite their poverty, and her 2024 cookbook, Good Lookin' Cookin' (co-written with her sister Rachel), recalls numerous family meals.
After graduating from Sevier County High School in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville the next day.
== Music career ==
=== 1956–1966: Early work and songwriting ===
Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television programs in the East Tennessee area. By 10 years old, she was appearing on The Cas Walker Show on both WIVK Radio and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. At 13, she recorded the single "Puppy Love" on a small Louisiana label, Goldband Records, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, where she first met Johnny Cash, who encouraged her to follow her own instincts regarding her career.
Parton's initial success came as a songwriter, having signed with Combine Publishing shortly after her arrival. Along with her frequent songwriting partner, uncle Bill Owens, she wrote several charting singles during this time, including two Top 10 hits for Bill Phillips: "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" and "The Company You Keep" (1966). She also wrote Skeeter Davis's number 11 hit "Fuel to the Flame" (1967). Her songs were recorded by many other artists during this period, including Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr. At 19, She signed with Monument Records in 1965, where she was initially pitched as a bubblegum pop singer. She released a string of singles, but the only one that charted, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby", did not crack the Billboard Hot 100. Although she expressed a desire to record country material, Monument resisted, thinking her unusually high soprano voice was not suited to the genre.
After her uncredited composition of "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" with Bill Phillips went to number six on the country chart in 1966, the label relented and allowed her to record country. Her first country single, "Dumb Blonde", composed by Curly Putman, reached number 24 on the country chart in 1967, followed by "Something Fishy", which went to number 17. The two songs appeared on her first full-length album, Hello, I'm Dolly.
=== 1967–1975: Country music success ===
In 1967, musician and country music entertainer Porter Wagoner invited Parton to join The Porter Wagoner Show, offering her a regular spot on his weekly syndicated television program and in his road show. As documented in her 1994 autobiography, much of Wagoner's audience was initially unhappy that Parton had replaced previous performer Norma Jean, who had left the show, sometimes chanting loudly for Norma Jean from the audience. With Wagoner's assistance however, Parton was eventually accepted. Wagoner convinced his label, RCA Victor, to sign her. RCA decided to protect their investment by releasing her first single as a duet with Wagoner. That song, a remake of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind", released in late 1967, reached the country Top 10 in January 1968, launching a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted Top 10 singles for the pair.
Parton's first solo single for RCA Victor, "Just Because I'm a Woman", was released in the summer of 1968 and was a moderate chart hit, reaching number 17. For the next two years, none of her solo efforts – even "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)", which later became a standard – were as successful as her duets with Wagoner. The duo was named Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association, but Parton's solo records were continually ignored. Wagoner had a significant financial stake in her future; as of 1969, he was her co-producer and owned nearly half of Owe-Par, the publishing company Parton had founded with Bill Owens.
By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success. Wagoner persuaded Parton to record Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues", a gimmick that worked. The record shot to number three, followed closely by her first number-one single, "Joshua" in February 1971. For the next two years, she had numerous solo hits in addition to her duets, including her signature song, "Coat of Many Colors" (number four, 1971). Further Top 20 singles included "The Right Combination" and "Burning the Midnight Oil" (both duets with Wagoner, 1971); "Lost Forever in Your Kiss" (with Wagoner), "Touch Your Woman" (1972), "My Tennessee Mountain Home" and "Travelin' Man" (1973).
Although her solo singles and the Wagoner duets were successful, her biggest hit of this period was "Jolene". Released in late 1973, the song topped the country chart in February 1974 and reached the lower regions of the Hot 100. It also eventually charted in the U.K., reaching number seven in 1976, representing Parton's first U.K. success. Parton, who had always envisioned a solo career, made the decision to leave Wagoner's show and she stopped appearing in mid-1974. The pair performed their last duet concert in April 1974, although they remained affiliated, with Wagoner helping to produce her records through 1975. Their final release as a duo was 1975's Say Forever You'll Be Mine.
In 1974, her song, "I Will Always Love You", written about her professional break from Wagoner, went to number one on the country chart. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to record the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song recorded by Presley. Parton refused. That decision has been credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years. Parton had three solo singles reach number one on the country chart in 1974 ("Jolene", "I Will Always Love You" and "Love Is Like a Butterfly"), as well as the duet with Porter Wagoner, "Please Don't Stop Loving Me". Parton again topped the singles chart in 1975 with "The Bargain Store". In a 2019 episode of the Sky Arts music series Brian Johnson: A Life on the Road, Parton described finding old cassette tapes later on in her career and discovered that she had composed both "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" in the same songwriting session. As she told Johnson, "Buddy, that was a good night!"
=== 1976–1986: A broader audience ===
Between 1974 and 1980, Parton had a series of country hits, with eight singles reaching number one. Her influence on pop culture is reflected by the many performers covering her songs, including mainstream and crossover artists such as Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.
Parton began to embark on a high-profile crossover campaign, attempting to aim her music in a more mainstream direction and increase her visibility outside of the confines of country music. In 1976, she began working closely with Sandy Gallin, who served as her personal manager for the next 25 years. With her 1976 album All I Can Do, which she co-produced with Porter Wagoner, Parton began taking more of an active role in production and began specifically aiming her music in a more mainstream, pop direction. Her first entirely self-produced effort, New Harvest...First Gathering (1977), highlighted her pop sensibilities, both in terms of choice of songs and production: the album contained covers of the pop and R&B classics "My Girl" and "Higher and Higher". Though the album was well received and topped the U.S. country albums chart, neither it nor its single "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" made much of an impression on the pop charts.
After New Harvest's disappointing crossover performance, Parton turned to high-profile pop producer Gary Klein for her next album. The result, 1977's Here You Come Again, became her first million-seller, topping the country album chart and reaching number 20 on the pop chart. The Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil-penned title track topped the country singles chart and became Parton's first Top 10 single on the pop chart (no. 3). A second single, the double A-sided "Two Doors Down"/"It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" topped the country chart and crossed over to the pop Top 20. For the remainder of the 1970s and into the early 1980s, many of her subsequent singles moved up on both charts simultaneously. Her albums during this period were developed specifically for pop-crossover success.
In 1978, Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her Here You Come Again album. She continued to have hits with "Heartbreaker" (1978), "Baby I'm Burning" (1979) and "You're the Only One" (1979), all of which charted in the pop Top 40 and topped the country chart. "Sweet Summer Lovin'" (1979) became the first Parton single in two years to not top the country chart, although it did reach the Top 10. During this period, her visibility continued to increase with multiple television appearances. A highly publicized candid interview on a Barbara Walters Special in 1977, timed to coincide with Here You Come Again's release, was followed by appearances in 1978 on Cher's ABC television special and her own joint special with Carol Burnett on CBS, Dolly & Carol in Nashville.
Parton served as one of three co-hosts (along with Roy Clark and Glen Campbell) on the CBS special Fifty Years of Country Music. In 1979, Parton hosted the NBC special The Seventies: An Explosion of Country Music, performed live at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C. and whose audience included President Jimmy Carter. Her commercial success grew in 1980, with three consecutive country chart number-one hits: the Donna Summer-written "Starting Over Again", "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" and "9 to 5", which topped the country and pop charts in early 1981. She had another Top 10 single that year with "Making Plans" from the 1980 album with Porter Wagoner, released as part of a lawsuit settlement between the pair.
The theme song to the 1980 feature film 9 to 5, in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, not only reached number one on the country chart, but also on the pop and the adult-contemporary charts in February 1981, giving her a triple number-one hit. Parton became one of the few female country singers to have a number-one single on the country and pop charts simultaneously. It also received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her singles continued to appear consistently in the country Top 10. Between 1981 and 1985, she had twelve Top 10 hits, with half of them hitting number one. She continued to make inroads on the pop charts as well. A re-recorded version of "I Will Always Love You", from the feature film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) scraped the Top 50 that year and her duet with Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream" (written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb), spent two weeks at number one in 1983.
In the mid-1980s, her record sales were still relatively strong, with songs like "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Tennessee Homesick Blues", "God Won't Get You" (1984), "Real Love" (another duet with Kenny Rogers), "Don't Call It Love" (1985) and "Think About Love" (1986) all reaching the country Top 10. "Tennessee Homesick Blues", "Think About Love" and "Real Love" reached number one on the country chart and became modest crossover hits. Despite this success, RCA Records did not renew her contract after it expired in 1986 and she signed with Columbia Records in 1987.
=== 1987–2005: Country and bluegrass period ===
Along with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, Parton released Trio (1987) to critical acclaim. The album revitalized Parton's music career, spending five weeks at number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart and also reached the Top 10 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart. It sold several million copies and produced four Top 10 country hits, including Phil Spector's "To Know Him Is to Love Him", which went to number one. Trio won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. After a further attempt at pop success with the album Rainbow (1987), which included the single "The River Unbroken", it was not well-received commercially, causing Parton to focus on recording country material. White Limozeen (1989) produced two number one hits in "Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That" and "Yellow Roses". Although Parton's career appeared to be revived, it was actually just a brief revival before contemporary country music came in the early 1990s and moved most veteran artists off the charts.
A duet with Ricky Van Shelton, "Rockin' Years" (1991) reached number one, though Parton's greatest commercial fortune of the decade came when Whitney Houston recorded "I Will Always Love You" for the soundtrack of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). Both the single and the album were massively successful. Parton's soundtrack album from the 1992 film, Straight Talk, however, was less successful. But her 1993 album Slow Dancing with the Moon won critical acclaim and did well on the charts, reaching number four on the country albums chart and number 16 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It would also become Platinum certified. She recorded "The Day I Fall in Love" as a duet with James Ingram for the feature film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). The songwriters Ingram, Carole Bayer Sager and Clif Magness were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Parton and Ingram performed the song at the awards telecast. Similar to her earlier collaborative album with Emmy-Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, Parton released Honky Tonk Angels in the fall of 1993 with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. It was certified as a gold album by the Recording Industry Association of America and helped revive both Wynette and Lynn's careers. Also in 1994, Parton contributed the song "You Gotta Be My Baby" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. A live acoustic album, Heartsongs: Live from Home, featuring stripped-down versions of some of her hits, as well as some traditional songs, was released in late 1994.
Parton's recorded music during the mid-to-late-1990s remained steady and somewhat eclectic. Her 1995 re-recording of "I Will Always Love You", performed as a duet with Vince Gill from her album Something Special, won the Country Music Association's Vocal Event of the Year Award. The following year, Treasures, an album of covers of 1960s/70s hits was released and featured a diverse collection of material, including songs by Mac Davis, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens and Neil Young. Her recording of Stevens' "Peace Train" was later re-mixed and released as a dance single, reaching Billboard's dance singles chart. Her 1998 country-rock album Hungry Again was made up entirely of her own compositions. Although neither of the album's two singles, "(Why Don't More Women Sing) Honky Tonk Songs" and "Salt in my Tears", charted, videos for both songs received significant airplay on CMT. A second and more contemporary collaboration with Harris and Ronstadt, Trio II, was released in early 1999. Its cover of Neil Young's song "After the Gold Rush" won a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Parton also was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
Parton recorded a series of bluegrass-inspired albums, beginning with The Grass Is Blue (1999), winning a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album; and Little Sparrow (2001), with its cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The third, Halos & Horns (2002) included a bluegrass version of the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven". In 2005, she released Those Were The Days consisting of her interpretations of hits from the folk-rock era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including "Imagine", "Where Do the Children Play?", "Crimson and Clover" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
=== 2005–2020: Touring and holiday album ===
Parton earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Travelin' Thru", which she wrote specifically for the feature film Transamerica. (2005) Due to the song's (and film's) acceptance of a transgender woman, Parton received death threats. She returned to number one on the country chart later in 2005 by lending her distinctive harmonies to the Brad Paisley ballad, "When I Get Where I'm Going". In September 2007, Parton released her first single from her own record company, Dolly Records, titled, "Better Get to Livin'", which eventually peaked at number 48 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. It was followed by the studio album Backwoods Barbie, which was released on February 26, 2008 and reached number two on the country chart. The album's debut at number 17 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart was the highest in her career. Backwoods Barbie produced four additional singles, including the title track, written as part of her score for 9 to 5: The Musical, an adaptation of her feature film. After the death of Michael Jackson, whom Parton knew personally, she released a video in which she sombrely told of her feelings on Jackson and his death.
On October 27, 2009, Parton released a four-CD box set, Dolly, which featured 99 songs, spanning most of her career. She released her second live DVD and album, Live From London in October 2009, filmed during her sold-out 2008 concerts at London's The O2 Arena. On August 10, 2010, with longtime friend Billy Ray Cyrus, Parton released the album Brother Clyde. Parton is featured on "The Right Time", which she co-wrote with Cyrus and Morris Joseph Tancredi. On January 6, 2011, Parton announced that her new album would be titled Better Day. In February 2011, she announced that she would embark on the Better Day World Tour on July 17, 2011, with shows in northern Europe and the U.S. The album's lead-off single, "Together You and I", was released on May 23, 2011 and Better Day was released on June 28, 2011. In 2011, Parton voiced the character Dolly Gnome in the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet. On February 11, 2012, after the sudden death of Whitney Houston, Parton stated, "Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, 'Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'"
In 2013, Parton joined Lulu Roman for a re-recording of "I Will Always Love You" for Roman's album, At Last. In 2013, Parton and Kenny Rogers reunited for the title song of his album You Can't Make Old Friends. For their performance, they were nominated at the 2014 Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. In 2014, Parton embarked on the Blue Smoke World Tour in support of her 42nd studio album, Blue Smoke. The album was first released in Australia and New Zealand on January 31 to coincide with tour dates there in February and reached the Top 10 in both countries. It was released in the United States on May 13 and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, making it her first Top 10 album and her highest-charting solo album ever; it also reached the number two on the U.S. country chart. The album was released in Europe on June 9 and reached number two on the UK album chart. On June 29, 2014, Parton performed for the first time at the UK Glastonbury Festival, singing songs such as "Jolene", "9 to 5" and "Coat of Many Colors" to a crowd of more than 180,000. On March 6, 2016, Parton announced that she would be embarking on a tour in support of her new album, Pure & Simple. The tour was one of Parton's biggest tours within the United States in more than 25 years. 64 dates were planned in the United States and Canada, visiting the most requested markets missed on previous tours.
In the fall of 2016 she released "Jolene" as a single with the a cappella group Pentatonix and performed on The Voice with Pentatonix and Miley Cyrus in November 2016. Also in 2016, Parton was one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country", a mash-up of the songs, "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again" and her own "I Will Always Love You". The song celebrates fifty years of the CMA Awards. At the ceremony itself, Parton was honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by Lily Tomlin and preceded by a tribute featuring Jennifer Nettles, Pentatonix, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Carrie Underwood and Martina McBride. In 2017, Parton appeared on Rainbow, the third studio album by Kesha performing a duet of "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You". The track had been co-written by Kesha's mother Pebe Sebert. It was previously a hit for Parton and was included on her 1980 album Dolly, Dolly, Dolly. She also co-wrote and provided featuring vocals on the song "Rainbowland" on Younger Now, the sixth album by her goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
In July 2019, Parton made an unannounced appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island and performed several songs accompanied by the Highwomen and Linda Perry. In 2019, Parton collaborated with Christian alternative rock duet For King and Country and released a version of their hit "God Only Knows". She followed this by recording a duet with Christian music artist Zach Williams in the song "There Was Jesus".
In 2020, Parton received worldwide attention after posting four pictures, in which she showed how she would present herself on social media platforms LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The original post on Instagram went viral after celebrities posted their own versions of the so-called Dolly Parton challenge on social media. On April 10, 2020, Parton re-released 93 songs from six of her classic albums: Little Sparrow, Halos & Horns, For God and Country, Better Day, Those Were The Days and Live and Well. On May 27, 2020, Parton released a brand new song called "When Life Is Good Again". This song was released to help keep the spirits up of those affected by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. She also released a music video for "When Life Is Good Again", which premiered on Time 100 talks on May 28, 2020.
In October 2020, Parton was featured on the single "Pink" alongside Monica, Jordin Sparks, Sara Evans and Rita Wilson. The single was released in aid of Breast Cancer Research. Parton released A Holly Dolly Christmas in October 2020. On December 6, CBS aired a Christmas special, "A Holly Dolly Christmas", where Parton performed songs from her album.
=== 2022–present: Rockstar and Las Vegas residency ===
In 2021, a duet version of the song "Does He Love You" with singer Reba McEntire was released.
In early 2022, Parton was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Parton initially declined the nomination believing that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was "for the people in rock music", but after learning that this was not the case, Parton said she would accept her induction if she were chosen for the honor. In May, her induction was announced and finally on November 5, 2022, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In October 2022, Parton stated in an interview that she would no longer tour, but would continue to play live shows occasionally. On December 31, 2022, Parton co-hosted NBC's New Year's special Miley's New Year's Eve Party.
On January 17, 2023, Parton announced she would release her first rock album, titled Rockstar, later that year, during an interview on The View. The lead single "World on Fire" was released on May 11, 2023, and it went on to peak at number one a week later. The album was released on November 17, 2023, and features collaborations with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sting, Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus and Lizzo, amongst others. The album received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming Parton's highest-charting solo studio album as well as topping the Country and Rock Albums charts.
The soundtrack single "Gonna Be You" from the movie 80 for Brady was released January 20, 2023. The song was written by Diane Warren and performed by Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and Gloria Estefan. The official music video shows Parton, Carlisle, Lauper and Estefan performing while wearing football jerseys similar to the ones worn by the women in the film, interspersed with clips from the film.
On February 14, 2025, Parton featured on Sabrina Carpenter's song "Please Please Please" on the deluxe edition of her album Short n' Sweet and its accompanying music video.
On March 7, 2025, Parton released the single "If You Hadn't Been There", as a tribute to her husband, who had died a week before. In the United Kingdom, the single peaked at number twenty-one on the sales and downloads chart components.
On June 23, 2025, it was announced that Parton would be embarking on a six-date Las Vegas residency, Dolly: Live in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace. The run was set for December 2025, but Parton postponed her residency until September 2026 due to health procedures she would be undergoing.
On January 16, 2026, in anticipation of her 80th birthday, Dolly Parton released a new live version of the song "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" featuring several celebrity guests: Queen Latifah, Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Reba McEntire, David Foster.
On March 13, 2026, Parton made her first major appearance since the health scare to give the keynote address at Dollywood during the 41st anniversary celebration.
== Public image ==
Parton had turned down several offers to pose nude for Playboy magazine, but did appear on the cover of the October 1978 issue wearing a Playboy bunny outfit, complete with ears. The issue featured Lawrence Grobel's extensive and candid interview with Parton, representing one of her earliest high-profile interviews with the mainstream press. The association of breasts with Parton's public image is illustrated in the naming of Dolly the sheep after her, since the sheep was cloned from a cell taken from an adult ewe's mammary gland. In Mobile, Alabama, the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge is commonly called "the Dolly Parton Bridge" due to its arches resembling her bust. The thickened appearance of the turret frontal armor of the T-72A main battle tank led to the unofficial Army nickname "Dolly Parton" and later the T-72BIs got the "Super Dolly Parton" nickname.
Parton is known for having undergone considerable plastic surgery. On a 2003 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey asked what kind of cosmetic surgery Parton had undergone. Parton replied that cosmetic surgery was imperative in keeping with her famous image.
Parton has repeatedly joked about her physical image and surgeries, saying, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." Her breasts have garnered her mentions in several songs, including "Dolly Parton's Hits" by Bobby Braddock, "Marty Feldman Eyes" by Bruce Baum (a parody of "Bette Davis Eyes"), "No Show Jones" by George Jones and Merle Haggard and "Make Me Proud" by Drake, featuring Nicki Minaj. When asked about future plastic surgeries, she famously said, "If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging, I'll get it nipped, tucked or sucked." Parton's feminine escapism is acknowledged in her words, "Womanhood was a difficult thing to get a grip on in those hills, unless you were a man." Parton said in 2012 that she had entered a Dolly Parton drag queen lookalike contest and lost.
== Artistry ==
=== Influences ===
Parton, though influenced by big-name stars, often credits much of her inspiration to her family and community. In her 2020 book, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, Parton wrote of her mother, "So it was just natural for my mom to always be singing. My mother had that old-timey voice and she used to sing all these songs that were brought over from the Old World. They were English, Irish, Welsh, folk songs where people tell stories." Parton calls her mother's voice "haunting". "Lord you would feel it", she wrote. Her biggest influence however was her Aunt Dorothy Jo: "People often ask me who my influences were, they think I'm going to say some big names and there were a few 'stars' I was impressed with. But my hero was my aunt Dorothy Jo, Mama's baby sister. She was not only an evangelist, she played banjo, she played guitar and she wrote some great songs." Fellow singers also had an impact on Parton, describing George Jones as her "all time favorite singer", as well as her love for other artists such as Kitty Wells, Roy Acuff and Rose Maddox.
=== Musicianship ===
Though unable to read sheet music, Parton can play many instruments, including: the dulcimer, autoharp, banjo, guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, piano, recorder and the saxophone. Reflecting on her multi-instrumental abilities, Parton said, "I play some of everything. I ain't that good at none of it, but I try to sell it. I really try to lay into it." Parton has also used her fingernails as an instrument, most evident on her 1980 song "9 to 5", which she derived the beat from clacking her nails together while backstage on the set of the film 9 to 5.
== Other ventures ==
In 1998, Nashville Business ranked her the wealthiest country music star. As of 2017, her net worth is estimated at $500 million.
=== Songwriting ===
Parton is a prolific songwriter, writing country music songs with strong elements of folk music and her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings, as well as reflecting her family's Christian background. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors", "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene", among others, have become classics. On November 4, 2003, Parton was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Country Awards.
Parton has earned over 35 BMI Pop and Country Awards. In 2001, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In a 2009 interview on CNN's Larry King Live, she said she had written "at least 3,000" songs, having written seriously since the age of seven. Parton also said she writes something every day, be it a song or an idea.
Parton's songwriting has been featured prominently in several films. In addition to the title song for 9 to 5, she also recorded a second version of "I Will Always Love You" for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982). The second version was a number one country hit and also reached number 53 on the pop charts.
"I Will Always Love You" has been covered by many country artists, including Linda Ronstadt on Prisoner In Disguise (1975), Kenny Rogers on Vote for Love (1996) and LeAnn Rimes on Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997). Whitney Houston also performed it on The Bodyguard soundtrack and her version became a best-selling hit both written and performed by a female vocalist, with worldwide sales of over twelve million copies. In addition, the song has been translated into Italian and performed by the Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins.
As a songwriter, Parton has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "9 to 5" and "Travelin' Thru" (2005) from the film Transamerica. "Travelin' Thru" won Best Original Song at the 2005 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. It was also nominated for both the 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (also known as the Critics' Choice Awards) for Best Song. A cover of "Love Is Like A Butterfly" by Clare Torry was used as the theme music for the British TV show Butterflies.
=== Stage musicals ===
==== 9 to 5: The Musical ====
Parton wrote the score (and Patricia Resnick the book) for 9 to 5: The Musical, a musical-theater adaptation of Parton's feature film 9 to 5 (1980). The musical ran at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, in late 2008. It opened on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre in New York on April 30, 2009, to mixed reviews.
The title track of her 2008 album Backwoods Barbie was written for the musical's character Doralee. Although her score (as well as the musical debut of actress Allison Janney) was praised, the show struggled, closing on September 6, 2009, after 24 previews and 148 performances. Parton received nominations for Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics as well as a nomination for Tony Award for Best Original Score. Developing the musical was not a quick process. According to the public-radio program Studio 360 (October 29, 2005), in October 2005 Parton was in the midst of composing songs for a Broadway musical theater adaptation of the film. In late June 2007, 9 to 5: The Musical was read for industry presentations. The readings starred Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Bebe Neuwirth and Marc Kudisch. Ambassador Theatre Group announced a 2012 UK tour for Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, commencing at Manchester Opera House, on October 12, 2012.
==== Dolly: A True Original Musical ====
In June 2024, Parton announced an autobiographical musical about her life and career initially titled Hello, I'm Dolly (named after her debut album and also a play on Hello, Dolly!), with a goal of opening on Broadway in 2026 with direction by Bartlett Sher. The musical, with a co-written book by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, features original songs as well as her more well-known hits. Parton also revealed that she has been working on the musical for the last decade. The title was promoted as Dolly: An Original Musical on December 6, coinciding with a nationwide casting call for actresses to play Parton through different stages of her life, using the hashtag #SearchForDolly on social media video posts. The show opened as Dolly: A True Original Musical at the Belmont University Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville in July 2025.
=== The Dollywood Company ===
Parton invested much of her earnings into business ventures in her native East Tennessee, notably Pigeon Forge. She is a co-owner of The Dollywood Company, which operates the theme park Dollywood (a former Silver Dollar City), a dinner theater, Dolly Parton's Stampede, the waterpark Dollywood's Splash Country and the Dream More Resort and Spa, all in Pigeon Forge. With 3.1 million visitors in 2024, Dollywood is among the 20 most popular theme park in the United States, and the fifth most popular theme park that operates seasonally. The Dolly Parton's Stampede business has venues in Branson, Missouri and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In 2011, the Myrtle Beach Stampede location was redesigned under the name Pirates Voyage, and the show later expanded to Tennessee and Florida locations. A former location in Orlando, Florida, closed in January 2008 after the land and building were sold to a developer.
Parton has been honored with proclamations of "Dolly Parton Day" multiple times. In 1970, her hometown Sevierville, Tennessee, declared one day to be Dolly Parton Day. In 2011, the South Carolina General Assembly declared June 3, 2011, as Dolly Parton Day, in connection with the grand opening of Pirates Voyage in Myrtle Beach. In 2026, the State of Tennessee declared her 80th birthday to be Dolly Parton Day in the state.
On January 19, 2012, Parton's 66th birthday, Gaylord Opryland and Dollywood announced plans to open a $50 million water and snow park, a family-friendly destination in Nashville that is open all year. On September 29, 2012, Parton officially withdrew her support for the Nashville park due to the restructuring of Gaylord Entertainment Company after its merger with Marriott International.
On June 12, 2015, it was announced that the Dollywood Company had purchased the Lumberjack Feud Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge. The show, which opened in June 2011, was owned and operated by Rob Scheer until the close of the 2015 season. The new, renovated show by the Dollywood Company opened in 2016.
=== Dolly Parton's SongTeller Hotel and Dolly's Life of Many Colors Museum ===
Parton announced in October 2025 that she would be opening her new SongTeller Hotel in downtown Nashville in partnership with the firm Herschend. With the hotel, Parton will also be opening her new Dolly's Life of Many Colors Museum, which claims to be the "largest exhibit celebrating her life anywhere to date." Advance tickets for the museum's opening in June 2026 went on sale on October 29, 2025.
=== Production work ===
Parton was a co-owner of Sandollar Productions, with Sandy Gallin, her former manager. A film and television production company, it produced the documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989), which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; the television series Babes (1990–91), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), and Angel (1999-2004); and the feature films Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride: Part II (1995) Straight Talk (1992) (in which Parton starred) and Sabrina (1995), among other shows. In a 2009 interview, singer Connie Francis revealed that Parton had been contacting her for years in an attempt to film the singer's life story. Francis turned down Parton's offers, as she was already in negotiations with singer Gloria Estefan to produce the film, a collaboration now ended. After the retirement of her partner, Sandy Gallin, Parton briefly operated Dolly Parton's Southern Light Productions and in 2015 she announced her new production company would be called Dixie Pixie Productions and produce the movies-of-week in development with NBC Television and Magnolia Hill Productions.
=== Acting ===
==== Breakthrough ====
In addition to her performing appearances on The Porter Wagoner Show in the 1960s and into the 1970s, her two self-titled television variety shows in the 1970s and 1980s and on American Idol in 2008 and other guest appearances, Parton has had television roles. In 1979, she received an Emmy award nomination as "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety Program" for her guest appearance in a Cher special. During the mid-1970s, Parton wanted to expand her audience base. Although her first attempt, the television variety show Dolly! (1976–77), had high ratings, it lasted only one season, with Parton requesting to be released from her contract because of the stress it was causing on her vocal cords. (She later tried a second television variety show, also titled Dolly (1987–88); it too lasted only one season).
In her first feature film, Parton portrayed a secretary in a leading role with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the comedy film 9 to 5 (1980). The movie highlights discrimination against women in the workplace and created awareness of the National Association of Working Women (9–5). She received nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy and a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. Parton wrote and recorded the film's title song. It received nominations for an Academy Award for Best Song and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Released as a single, the song won both the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. It also reached no. 1 on the Hot 100 chart and it was no. 78 on the "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs" list released by the American Film Institute in 2004. 9 to 5 became a major box office success, grossing over $3.9 million its opening weekend and over $103 million worldwide. Parton was named Top Female Box Office Star by the Motion Picture Herald in both 1981 and 1982 due to the film's success.
In late 1981, Parton began filming her second film, the musical film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982). The film earned her a second nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was greeted with positive critical reviews and became a commercial success, earning over $69 million worldwide. After a two-year hiatus from films, Parton was teamed with Sylvester Stallone for Rhinestone (1984), a comedy film about a country music star's efforts to mold an unknown into a music sensation. The film was a critical and financial failure, making just over $21 million on a $28 million budget.
==== Continued roles ====
In 1989, Parton returned to film acting in Steel Magnolias (1989), based on the play Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling. The film was popular with critics and audiences, grossing over $95 million in the U.S. Parton starred in the television movies A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986), Wild Texas Wind (1991), Unlikely Angel (1996), portraying an angel sent back to earth after a deadly car crash and Blue Valley Songbird (1999), where her character lives through her music. She starred with James Woods in Straight Talk (1992), which received mixed reviews and grossed a mild $21 million at the box office.
Parton's 1987 variety show Dolly lasted only one season. She made a cameo appearance as herself in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), an adaptation of the long-running TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). Parton has done voice work for animation for television series, playing herself in Alvin and the Chipmunks (episode "Urban Chipmunk", 1983) and the character Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy (Ms. Frizzle's first cousin) in The Magic School Bus (episode "The Family Holiday Special", 1994). She also has guest-starred in several sitcoms, including a 1990 episode of Designing Women (episode "The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire Twentieth Century") as herself, the guardian movie star of Charlene's baby. She made a guest appearance on Reba (episode "Reba's Rules of Real Estate") portraying a real-estate agency owner and on The Simpsons (episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday", 1999). She appeared as herself in 2000 on the Halloween episode of Bette Midler's short-lived sitcom Bette and on episode 14 of Babes (produced by Sandollar Productions, Parton and Sandy Gallin's joint production company). She made cameo appearances on the Disney Channel as "Aunt Dolly", visiting Hannah and her family in fellow Tennessean and real-life goddaughter Miley Cyrus's series Hannah Montana (episodes "Good Golly, Miss Dolly", 2006, "I Will Always Loathe You", 2007 and "Kiss It All Goodbye", 2010). She was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
Parton appeared as an overprotective mother in the comedy Frank McKlusky, C.I.. (2002) She made a cameo appearance in the comedy film Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, starring Sandra Bullock. She was featured in The Book Lady (2008), a documentary about her campaign for children's literacy. Parton expected to reprise her television role as Hannah's godmother in the musical comedy film Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), but the character was omitted from the screenplay.
==== Since 2010 ====
Parton had a voice role in the comedy family film Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), an animated film with garden gnomes about William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She co-starred with Queen Latifah in the musical film Joyful Noise (2012), playing a choir director's widow who joins forces with Latifah's character, a mother of two teens, to save a small Georgia town's gospel choir. Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors, a made-for-TV film based on Parton's song "Coat of Many Colors" and featuring narration by Parton, aired on NBC in December 2015, with child actress Alyvia Alyn Lind portraying the young Parton. Parton also had a cameo in the sequel, which aired in November 2016.
In June 2018, Parton announced an eight-part Netflix series, featuring her music career. She is its executive producer and co-star. The series, called Dolly Parton's Heartstrings, aired in November 2019. Parton is the subject of the NPR podcast Dolly Parton's America. It is hosted by Jad Abumrad and produced and reported by Shima Oliaee. In December 2019, the biographical documentary Here I Am was added to the catalog of the Netflix streaming service. The documentary, a co-production of Netflix and the BBC, takes its name from Parton's 1971 song.
In November 2020, Parton produced and starred in the Netflix musical film Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square, which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. In November 2021, Parton was confirmed to be appearing in the final season of Grace and Frankie in a guest-starring role, reuniting with her 9 to 5 co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. In July 2022, Parton appeared as a simulation of herself on sci-fi show The Orville in the episode "Midnight Blue". In December 2022, Parton appeared in an NBC special titled Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas. On Thanksgiving 2023, Parton performed songs during halftime at the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys NFL football game.
== Personal life ==
=== Family ===
Parton is the fourth of twelve children born to Avie Lee Caroline (née Owens; 1923–2003) and Robert Lee Parton Sr. (known as Lee; 1921–2000). Her siblings are Willadeene, David Wilburn (1942–2024), Coy Denver, Robert Lee "Bobby," Stella Mae, Cassie Nan, Randle Huston "Randy" (1953–2021), Larry Gerald (1955), twins Frieda Estelle and Floyd Estel (1957–2018), and Rachel Ann.
=== Faith ===
Parton is a committed Christian, which has influenced many of her musical releases.
She talked about her liberal approach to faith in the January 2024 issue of New Humanist magazine. "I wouldn't even say I'm religious, though I grew up with that background. But I have a lot of faith in myself and I've been so blessed to have been around great people my whole life, my Uncle Bill and my family being supportive and all the people I met along the way."
=== Carl Dean ===
Dolly Parton arrived in Nashville on a Saturday morning, the day after graduating from Sevier County High School. After starting her laundry inside the Wishy Washy Laundromat, Parton got a cold drink and walked outside. Carl Thomas Dean (July 20, 1942 – March 3, 2025), a Nashville native, pulled up along the sidewalk where Parton was standing. Dean mentioned Parton might get sunburned because of the style of shirt she was wearing. They began a conversation. Two years later, they were married in Ringgold, Georgia, on May 30, 1966. Although Parton does not use Dean's surname professionally, she has stated that her passport reads "Dolly Parton Dean" and she sometimes uses Dean when signing contracts.
Dean, who ran an asphalt road and driveway-paving business in Nashville for decades, always shunned publicity and rarely accompanied his wife to public events. According to Parton, he only saw her perform once. However, she would also state in interviews that even though it appeared they spent little time together, it was because nobody saw him publicly. Dean would often visit Dollywood by himself and tour the park unrecognized.
Parton has commented on Dean's romantic side, saying that he did spontaneous things to surprise her and sometimes even wrote poems for her. In 2011, she said, "We're really very proud of our marriage. It's the first for both of us. And the last." On May 6, 2016, Parton announced that she and Dean would renew their vows in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary later in the month.
Dean and Parton moved into their long-term home on 75 acres in Brentwood, Tennessee, in 1972. However, they retained ownership of their prior home in Antioch, Tennessee, for several years. Since the 2010s, many clickbait articles and videos claim Dean and Parton purchased their home in Brentwood in 1999. This is not correct. Parton's uncle, Dot Watson, and Dean constructed the home in 1970 and 1971. Parton's brothers Denver and Randy also worked on the structure. Several years later, they added a guesthouse to the property. Dean and Parton lived at their home together for over 52 years until Dean's death.
While Parton and Dean never had children, they helped raise several of her younger siblings in Nashville, leading her nieces and nephews (and great nieces and nephews as well) to refer to them as "Uncle Peepaw" and "Aunt Granny"; the latter a moniker that later lent its name to one of Parton's Dollywood restaurants. Parton is also the godmother of singer-songwriter and actress Miley Cyrus.
On March 3, 2025, Parton announced on her social media that Dean had died in Nashville at the age of 82.
== Philanthropy ==
Since the mid-1980s, Parton has supported many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation.
Her literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is a part of the Dollywood Foundation, was founded in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write. It mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. Over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 850,000 children each month across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. In February 2018, she donated her 100 millionth free book, a copy of Parton's children's picture book Coat of Many Colors, to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and was honored by the Library of Congress on account of the "charity sending out its 100 millionth book".
In February 2025, Indiana governor Mike Braun declined to continue a state 50% match for Parton's Imagination Library. Dollywood Foundation President Jeff Conyers said, "We are hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state's funding match for local Imagination Library programs." Braun would soon afterwards task his wife Maureen with finding ways to keep the Imagination Library's Indiana chapter alive.
For her work in literacy, Parton has received awards including the Association of American Publishers Honors Award (2000), Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001) (the first time the seal had been awarded to a person), American Association of School Administrators – Galaxy Award (2002), National State Teachers of the Year – Chasing Rainbows Award (2002) and Parents as Teachers National Center – Child and Family Advocacy Award (2003).
On May 8, 2009, Parton gave the commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences. During the ceremony, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university. It was only the second honorary degree given by the university and in presenting the degree, the university's Chancellor, Jimmy Cheek, said, "Because of her career not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for education, it is fitting that she be honored with an honorary degree from the flagship educational institution of her home state."
In 2006, Parton published a cookbook, Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food.
The Dollywood Foundation, funded from Parton's profits, has brought jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region. Parton has also worked to raise money for other causes, including the American Red Cross and HIV/AIDS-related charities.
In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90 million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Sevierville in the name of Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her. She announced a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. The concert played to about 8,000 people. That same year, Parton and Emmylou Harris allowed use of their music in a PETA ad campaign that encouraged pet owners to keep their dogs indoors rather than chained outside.
In 2003, her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Parton received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony in Nashville on November 8, 2007.
In response to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, Parton was one of the country music artists who participated in a telethon to raise money for victims of the fires. This was held in Nashville on December 9. In addition, Parton hosted her own telethon for the victims on December 13 and reportedly raised around $9 million. Her fund, the "My People Fund", provided $1,000 a month for six months to over 900 families affected by the wildfires, culminating with $5,000 to each home in the final month due to increased fundraising, totaling $10,000 per family. In 2018, the FBI honored Parton for her wildfire aid, awarding her the 2018 Director's Community Leadership Award at a ceremony at FBI Headquarters. The honor was bestowed by Director Christopher Wray and was accepted on Parton's behalf by David Dotson, the CEO of the Dollywood Foundation.
The impact of the fund's financial relief for the 2016 wildfire victims was studied by University of Tennessee College of Social Work professor Stacia West, who examined the impact of cash transfers on poverty alleviation. West surveyed 100 recipients of the emergency relief funds in April 2017 on topics including housing, financial impact, physical and emotional health and sources of support, with a follow-up survey conducted in December 2017. West found that the "My People Fund", in tandem with traditional disaster response, gave families the ability to make decisions that were most beneficial to them and concluded that unconditional cash support may be more beneficial for disaster relief than conditional financial support. The report cited the impact of the monthly financial disbursements from the "My People Fund" on residents' emergency savings: "Following the monthly disbursements of unconditional cash assistance, participants were able to return to baseline financial stability reported prior to the wildfire and improve their ability to set aside savings for hypothetical future emergencies."
Parton has been a generous donor to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Among her gifts was a contribution to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Pediatric Cancer Program in honor of a friend, Naji Abumrad and her niece, Hannah Dennison, who was successfully treated for leukemia as a child at the Children's Hospital.
In the aftermath of 2024's Hurricane Helene, Parton announced a donation of $2 million to relief efforts, $1 million personally and another $1 million through her various businesses and the Dollywood Foundation.
=== LGBTQ+ rights ===
Though often politically neutral, Parton is known for her long history of openly supporting the gay community and publicly came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2009. She also voiced her support for the trans community after a series of anti-trans measures came into law in Tennessee in 2023.
=== Moderna COVID-19 vaccine ===
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parton donated $1 million towards research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and encouraged those who can afford it to make similar donations. She said "I'm a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that's going to help us through this crazy pandemic." Her donation funded the critical early stages of development of the Moderna vaccine. In March 2021, Parton was vaccinated against COVID-19 at Vanderbilt University. She labeled social media accounts of the occasion "Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine." Parton strongly encouraged everyone to get vaccinated when eligible and performed a song celebrating her vaccination, set to the tune of her song "Jolene".
== Awards and honors ==
Dolly Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers in history. The Record Industry Association of America has certified 25 of her single or album releases as either Gold Record, Platinum Record or Multi-Platinum Record. She has had 26 songs reach no. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 42 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist and 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. As of 2012 she had written more than 3,000 songs and sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the best-selling female artists ever. As of 2021, she had appeared on the country music charts in each of seven decades, the most of any artist.
Dolly Parton has earned 11 Grammy Awards (including her 2011 Lifetime Achievement Grammy) and a total of 55 Grammy Award nominations, the third-most nominations of any female artist in the history of the prestigious awards.
At the American Music Awards, she has won three awards out of 18 nominations. At the Country Music Association, she has won ten awards out of 42 nominations. At the Academy of Country Music, she has won seven awards and 39 nominations. She is one of only six female artists (including Reba McEntire, Barbara Mandrell, Shania Twain, Loretta Lynn and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year (1978). She also has been nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her appearance in a 1978 Cher television special. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her music in 1984, located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California; a star on the Nashville StarWalk for Grammy winners; and a bronze sculpture on the courthouse lawn in Sevierville. She has called that statue of herself in her hometown "the greatest honor", because it came from the people who knew her. Parton was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1969 and in 1986 was named one of Ms. Magazine's Women of the Year. In 1986, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1999, Parton received country music's highest honor, an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Carson-Newman College (Jefferson City, Tennessee) in 1990. This was followed by induction into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2002, she ranked no. 4 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
Parton was honored in 2003 with a tribute album called Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton. The artists who recorded versions of Parton's songs included Melissa Etheridge ("I Will Always Love You"), Alison Krauss ("9 to 5"), Shania Twain ("Coat of Many Colors"), Meshell Ndegeocello ("Two Doors Down"), Norah Jones ("The Grass is Blue") and Sinéad O'Connor ("Dagger Through the Heart"). Parton herself contributed a re-recording of the title song, originally the title song for her first RCA album in 1968. Parton was awarded the Living Legend Medal by the U.S. Library of Congress on April 14, 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States. She is also the focus of a Library of Congress collection exploring the influences of country music on her life and career. The collection contains images, articles, sheet music and more.
In 2005, she was honored with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts. The award is presented by the U.S. President. On December 3, 2006, Parton received the Kennedy Center Honors from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her lifetime of contributions to the arts. During the show, some of country music's biggest names came to show their admiration. Carrie Underwood performed "Islands in the Stream" with Rogers, Parton's original duet partner. Krauss performed "Jolene" and duetted "Coat of Many Colors" with Twain. McEntire and Reese Witherspoon also came to pay tribute. On November 16, 2010, Parton accepted the Liseberg Applause Award, the theme park industry's most prestigious honor, on behalf of Dollywood theme park during a ceremony held at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2010 in Orlando, Florida.
In 2015, a newly discovered species of lichen found growing in the southern Appalachians was named Japewiella dollypartoniana in honor of Parton's music and her efforts to bring national and global attention to that region. In 2018, Parton received a second star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inducted alongside Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in recognition of their work as a trio. Parton was also recognized in the Guinness World Records 2018 Edition for holding records for the Most Decades with a Top 20 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart and Most Hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart by a Female Artist. In 2020, Parton received a Grammy award for her collaboration with For King & Country on their song, "God Only Knows". In 2021, she was included on the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The New York Times called her among the three of America's Most Beloved Divas (alongside Patti LaBelle and Barbra Streisand).
During the Trump presidency, Parton turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice due to her husband's illness and the ongoing pandemic. Parton turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom a third time during the Biden presidency to avoid the appearance of politics. In response to a 2021 proposal by the Tennessee legislature to erect a statue of Parton, she released a statement asking the legislature to remove the bill from consideration, saying "Given all that is going on in the world, I don't think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time."
In late 2022, Parton received a $100-million Courage and Civility Award from the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. According to Bezos, the award was given to Parton because of her charity work focused on improving children's literacy around the world.
In 2023, Parton was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership.
Parton is a Kentucky Colonel, awarded to her by the governor of Kentucky.
She was ranked at No. 27 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Asteroid (10731) Dollyparton, the former 1998 BL3, was named in her honor in 2022.
=== Hall of Fame honors ===
During her career, Parton has gained induction into numerous Halls of Fame. Those honors include:
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1986)
Small Town of America Hall of Fame (1988)
East Tennessee Hall of Fame (1988)
Country Music Hall of Fame (1999)
Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001)
Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame (2003)
The Americana Highway Hall of Fame (2006)
Grammy Hall of Fame – "I Will Always Love You – 1974 Recording" (2007)
Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame – Songwriter Category (2008)
Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2009)
Music City Walk of Fame (2009)
Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010)
Grammy Hall of Fame – "Jolene – 1974 Recording" (2014)
The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans (2014)
The Happiness Hall of Fame (2016)
East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame (2019)
Grammy Hall of Fame – "Coat of Many Colors – 1971 Recording" (2019)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2022)
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame (2025)
Licensing International Hall of Fame (2025)
Volunteer State Music Hall of Fame (2025)
Musicians Hall of Fame (2026)
== Discography ==
Solo studio albums
Collaborative studio albums
Just Between You and Me (with Porter Wagoner) (1968)
Just the Two of Us (with Porter Wagoner) (1968)
Always, Always (with Porter Wagoner) (1969)
Porter Wayne and Dolly Rebecca (with Porter Wagoner) (1970)
Once More (with Porter Wagoner) (1970)
Two of a Kind (with Porter Wagoner) (1971)
The Right Combination • Burning the Midnight Oil (with Porter Wagoner) (1972)
Together Always (with Porter Wagoner) (1972)
We Found It (with Porter Wagoner) (1973)
Love and Music (with Porter Wagoner) (1973)
Porter 'n' Dolly (with Porter Wagoner) (1974)
Say Forever You'll Be Mine (with Porter Wagoner) (1975)
Porter & Dolly (with Porter Wagoner) (1980)
Once Upon a Christmas (with Kenny Rogers) (1984)
Trio (with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) (1987)
Honky Tonk Angels (with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette) (1993)
Trio II (with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) (1999)
Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables (credited as Dolly Parton and Family) (2024)
== Filmography ==
Theatrical releases
9 to 5 (1980)
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Rhinestone (1984)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Straight Talk (1992)
Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002)
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Joyful Noise (2012)
== Published works ==
Parton, Dolly (1979). Just the Way I Am: Poetic Selections on "Reasons to Live, Reasons to Love and Reasons to Smile" from the Songs of Dolly Parton. Blue Mountain Press. ISBN 978-0883960431.
Parton, Dolly (January 1, 1994). Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0060177201.
Parton, Dolly (January 1, 1994). Coat of Many Colors. illustrated by Judith Sutton. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060234133.
Parton, Dolly (January 1, 2006). Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food. Viking Studio. ISBN 9780670038145.
Parton, Dolly (January 1, 2009). I Am a Rainbow. illustrated by Heather Sheffield. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 9780141330105.
Parton, Dolly (November 27, 2012). Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You. Putnam Pub Group. ISBN 9780399162480.
Parton, Dolly; Boynton-Hughes, Brooke (October 18, 2016). Coat of Many Colors. Grosset & Dunlap/Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780451532374.
Parton, Dolly; Oermann, Robert K. (November 17, 2020). Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1797205090.
Parton, Dolly; Patterson, James (March 7, 2022). Run, Rose, Run. Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 978-0-7595-5434-4.
Parton, Dolly (April 25, 2023). Dolly Parton's Billy The Kid Makes It Big. Penguin Workshop. ISBN 9780593661574.
Parton, Dolly; Seaver, Rebecca; George-Warren, Holly (October 17, 2023). Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781984862129.
Parton, Dolly; Parton-George, Rachel (September 17, 2024). Good Lookin' Cookin': A Year of Meals - A Lifetime of Family, Friends and Food. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781984863164.
Parton, Dolly (October 1, 2024). Dolly Parton's Billy The Kid Comes Home for Christmas. Penguin Workshop. ISBN 9780593755006.
Parton, Dolly; Roland, Tom (November 11, 2025). Star of the Show: My Life on Stage. Ten Speed Press. ISBN 978-1984863133.
Parton, Dolly (December 2, 2025). Dolly Parton's Billy The Kid Dances His Heart Out. Penguin Workshop. ISBN 978-0593755020.
Parton, Dolly; Boynton-Hughes, Brooke (May 26, 2026). Coat of Many Colors: 10th Anniversary Edition. Penguin Workshop. ISBN 9798217140640. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Borough_of_Solihull | Metropolitan Borough of Solihull | The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, often colloquially just called Solihull, is a metropolitan borough in the east of the West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. Much of the borough is considered to be part of the West Midlands conurbation, and the borough's area was historically in Northwestern Warwickshire. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG32) and is one of seven boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region.
Much of the large residential population in the north of the borough centres on the communities of Chelmsley Wood, Castle Bromwich, Marston Green and Smith's Wood as well as the towns of Kingshurst and Fordbridge. In the south are the towns of Shirley and Solihull. The borough also contains the large villages of Knowle, Dorridge, Meriden and Balsall Common, all of which are outside of the West Midlands conurbation, to its east.
Since 2011, Solihull has formed part of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership along with neighbouring authorities Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Redditch, Tamworth and Wyre Forest.
== History ==
Solihull probably derived its name from a 'miry or muddy' or soily hill. The parish church was built on a hill of stiff red marl, which turned to sticky mud in wet weather.
Solihull was an ancient parish, covering the town itself and adjoining rural areas, including Shirley. Solihull was made the centre of a poor law union in 1836, covering eleven parishes: Baddesley Clinton, Balsall, Barston, Elmdon, Knowle, Lapworth, Nuthurst, Packwood, Solihull, Tanworth and Yardley. Yardley was in Worcestershire and the rest of the parishes were in Warwickshire.
Such poor law unions formed the basis for later local government areas. In 1872 poor law unions also became rural sanitary districts for the parts of their areas without urban authorities; there were no urban authorities in the Solihull union. In 1894 rural sanitary districts were converted into rural districts with their own elected councils under the Local Government Act 1894. The 1894 Act split districts which straddled county boundaries, and so Yardley became a separate rural district (which was later absorbed into Birmingham in 1911), whilst the Warwickshire parishes from the Solihull poor law union became the Solihull Rural District. The 1894 Act also created parish councils for rural parishes, including Solihull.
The Solihull Rural District and the Solihull Parish Council were abolished in 1932. A new urban district of Solihull was created; the parishes of Solihull, Elmdon, Knowle, Nuthurst, Packwood and Sheldon were abolished and most of their combined area became the new urban district, subject to various adjustments to the boundaries with neighbouring parishes. The parts of the old Solihull Rural District not included were added to neighbouring rural districts.
Expansion continued and Queen Elizabeth II granted a charter in 1954 making Solihull into a Municipal Borough; ten years later it was given the status of County Borough. Reorganisation of boundaries and council responsibilities in 1974 created the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull by the merger of the Solihull County Borough and most of the Meriden Rural District, which forms the main rural part of the borough and county. It included Balsall Common, Barston, Berkswell, Bickenhill, Castle Bromwich, Chelmsley Wood, Elmdon, Fordbridge, Hampton in Arden, Hockley Heath, Kingshurst, Knowle, Marston Green, Meriden, Olton, Smiths Wood, Solihull, Shirley and Temple Balsall.
In 1986 the Solihull borough effectively became a unitary authority when the West Midlands County Council was abolished. It remains part of the West Midlands for ceremonial purposes, and for functions such as police, fire and public transport. There is some support to return the borough to Warwickshire for ceremonial purposes, as was the case when the County of Avon was abolished and Bath was returned to Somerset. There were also complaints that Solihull was not involved in the design of the Warwickshire flag in 2016.
== Geography ==
The borough is bordered by the M6 and the M40 and split by the M42 which divides the urban centre of the borough from the rural south and east. The borough's transport links have led to a number of established large businesses being based in the borough, such as Land Rover, the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham Airport. A short automatic light transport system links the airport to the nearby Birmingham International railway station. Around three-quarters of the borough is greenbelt and a large proportion of that is worked farmland. The borough shares its boundaries with Birmingham to the west and north, Coventry to the east, Warwickshire to both the north and south and Worcestershire to the south west. The borough contains a sizeable rural area known as the Meriden Gap (after the village of Meriden) which serves as a green belt separating the Birmingham conurbation from the city of Coventry. Parts of Solihull neighbour the suburbs of Minworth and Hall Green. Parts also lie close to (but not contiguous with) the town of Coleshill and city of Coventry.
=== Council ===
Elections to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 51 seats on the council being elected at each election. Since the 2011 election The Conservative Party has had a majority on the council.
At the 2024 election to the council, the following members were returned:
For election purposes the council is divided up into the following wards based on civil parishes. Each ward is represented by three councillors:
Bickenhill
Blythe
Castle Bromwich
Chelmsley Wood
Dorridge and Hockley Heath
Elmdon
Kingshurst and Fordbridge
Knowle
Lyndon
Meriden
Olton
Shirley East
Shirley South
Shirley West
Silhill
Smith's Wood
St Alphege
== Coat of arms ==
The constituent parts of the borough's coat of arms are:
Battlements, sickles and an oak tree with golden acorns, which represent the rural and agricultural nature of the Forest of Arden.
The Black Griffin is taken from the arms of the Earls of Aylesford, who are associated with Meriden.
The Silver Fleur-de-lys comes from the Digby family, who were associated with Fordbridge.
The Black Greyhound is taken from the arms of the Greswolds, the family who built the 15th century house called the Manor House in the High Street, Solihull.
A stylised version of the coat of arms can be seen on the top left of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's website pages, and the official, heraldic version appears on a dedicated page on the same site – external links below.
== Economy ==
Solihull is regarded as having one of the strongest subregional economies in the West Midlands, with a significantly higher nominal GVA per capita and Silhillians enjoying considerably higher disposable income rates than both regional and UK averages.
Analysis also shows Solihull as having the lowest (and fastest falling) claimant count for Jobseeker's Allowance in the region.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Solihull at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
^1 includes hunting and forestry
^2 includes energy and construction
^3 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
^4 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
== Settlements in Solihull ==
Localities in the borough include:
Balsall, Balsall Common, Barston, Bentley Heath, Berkswell, Bickenhill, Blossomfield
Castle Bromwich, Catherine-de-Barnes, Chadwick End, Chelmsley Wood, Cheswick Green, Coleshill Heath, Copt Heath
Dickens Heath, Dorridge
Elmdon, Elmdon Heath
Fordbridge
Hampton in Arden, Hockley Heath
Kingshurst, Knowle
Lyndon
Marston Green, Meriden, Monkspath Street
Olton
Packwood
Sharmans Cross, Shirley, Silhill, Smith's Wood, Solihull
Temple Balsall, Tidbury Green
Whitlock's End
== Notable people ==
Dorian Yates - IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and six-time Mr Olympia winner (1992-1997) born in Solihull
Michael Buerk – BBC news presenter and journalist born and educated in Solihull
Jasper Carrott – Born and lived in the Solihull Area
Lucy Davis - Daughter of Jasper Carrott. Born and raised in Solihull
Richard Hammond – Top Gear presenter and radio presenter was born in Solihull.
Martin Johnson – Rugby World Cup- winning England team captain and later their manager was born in Solihull.
John Wyndham – Science fiction author (The Day of the Triffids) was born in Dorridge in the Solihull area.
There is a longer list in the article for Solihull town.
== Freedom of the Borough ==
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Solihull.
=== Individuals ===
Lance corporal Matthew Croucher: 16 December 2008.
=== Military Units === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Trudeau | Justin Trudeau | Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament (MP) for Papineau from 2008 until 2025.
Trudeau was born in Ottawa, Ontario, as the eldest son of then prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from McGill University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. He then taught at the secondary school level in Vancouver before returning to Montreal in 2002 to further his studies. From 2002 to 2006, he served as chair of Katimavik, a youth charity. In 2006, he became chair of the Liberal Party's Task Force on Youth Renewal. In the 2008 federal election, Trudeau was elected to represent the riding of Papineau in the House of Commons. He was appointed the Liberal Party's Official Opposition critic for youth and multiculturalism in 2009 and critic for citizenship and immigration in 2010. In 2011, he was appointed to be a critic for post secondary education, youth and sport. Trudeau was elected as leader of the Liberal Party in 2013. In the 2015 federal election, Trudeau led the Liberals to a majority government, bringing the party from third party status with the largest-ever numerical increase of seats by a party in a Canadian election. Aged 43, he became the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history (after Joe Clark) and was the first to be the child of a previous prime minister.
Upon assuming office, Trudeau introduced the Canada Child Benefit, legalized medical assistance in dying, legalized recreational cannabis, pursued Senate reform by creating the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, and established the federal carbon tax. In foreign policy, Trudeau's government resettled refugees of the Syrian civil war, signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, and negotiated trade deals such as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). He was found twice to have violated conflict of interest law by Canada's ethics commissioner—first in the Aga Khan affair, and later in the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Trudeau's Liberal Party was re-elected with a minority government in the 2019 federal election. From 2020, Trudeau responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession by launching financial aid measures, a nationwide vaccination campaign, and military support. His government also announced a ban on "assault-style" weapons after the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks and introduced a national $10-a-day child care program. He was investigated for a third time by the ethics commissioner for his role in the WE Charity scandal, but was cleared of any wrongdoing. Trudeau led the Liberals to another minority government in the 2021 federal election. He then invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history in response to the Freedom Convoy protests; the Federal Court later ruled against this action. His party signed a confidence and supply agreement with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in early 2022, which resulted in the introduction of the Canadian Dental Care Plan and a framework for national pharmacare before the NDP withdrew from the agreement in late 2024. He also launched a national school food program. Internationally, Trudeau's government responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. His premiership ended during a trade war with the United States, to which he responded by introducing 25% retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion of U.S. goods.
Following a steady decline in popular support, the sudden resignation of deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland in December 2024 and an ensuing political crisis, Trudeau announced in January 2025 that he would resign as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party. He advised the governor general to prorogue Parliament until March 24, while the party held a leadership election. Trudeau remained Liberal leader until Mark Carney was elected as his successor on March 9. He resigned as prime minister five days later and stood down as an MP at the 2025 federal election.
== Early life and education ==
=== Ancestry and birth ===
On June 23, 1971, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wife of four months, Margaret Trudeau (née Sinclair), was pregnant and due in December. Justin Trudeau was born on December 25, 1971, at 9:27 pm EST at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. He is the second child in Canadian history to be born to a prime minister in office; the first was John A. Macdonald's daughter Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald (February 8, 1869 – January 28, 1933). Trudeau's younger brothers Alexandre "Sacha" (born December 25, 1973) and Michel (October 2, 1975 – November 13, 1998) were the third and fourth.
Trudeau is predominantly of Scottish and French Canadian descent. His grandfathers were businessman Charles-Émile Trudeau and Scottish-born James Sinclair, who was minister of fisheries in the cabinet of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. Trudeau's maternal great-grandfather Thomas Bernard was born in Makassar, Indonesia and immigrated to Penticton, British Columbia, in 1906 at age 15 with his family. Through the Bernard family, kinsmen of the Earls of Bandon, Trudeau is the fifth great-grandson of Major-General William Farquhar, a leader in the founding of modern Singapore; Trudeau also has remote ethnic Malaccan and Nias ancestry.
Trudeau was baptized with his father's niece Anne Rouleau-Danis as godmother and his mother's brother-in-law Thomas Walker as godfather, at Ottawa's Notre Dame Basilica on the afternoon of January 16, 1972, which marked his first public appearance. and given the names "Justin Pierre James". On April 14, 1972, Trudeau's father and mother hosted a gala at the National Arts Centre, at which visiting U.S. president Richard Nixon said, "I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada, to Justin Pierre Trudeau" to which Pierre Trudeau responded that should his son ever assume the role, he hoped he would have "the grace and skill of the president". Earlier that day, first lady Pat Nixon had visited him in his nursery and gifted him a stuffed toy Snoopy.
=== Childhood ===
Trudeau's parents announced their separation in 1977, when he was five years old; his father was given primary custody. There were repeated rumours of a reconciliation for many years afterwards. However, his mother eventually filed for a no-fault divorce which the Supreme Court of Ontario granted in 1984; his father had announced his intention to retire as prime minister a month earlier. Eventually, his parents came to an amicable joint-custody arrangement and learned to get along quite well. Interviewed in October 1979, his nanny Dianne Lavergne was quoted, "Justin is a mommy's boy, so it's not easy, but children's hurts mend very quickly. And they're lucky kids, anyway." Of his mother and father's marriage, Trudeau said in 2009, "They loved each other incredibly, passionately, completely. But there was 30 years between them, and my mom never was an equal partner in what encompassed my father's life, his duty, his country." Trudeau has three half-siblings, Kyle and Alicia, from his mother's remarriage to Fried Kemper, and Sarah, from his father's relationship with Deborah Coyne.
Trudeau lived at 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, the official residence of Canada's prime minister, from his birth until his father's government was defeated in the 1979 federal election. The Trudeaus were expected to move into Stornoway, the residence of the leader of the Official Opposition, but because of flooding in the basement, Prime Minister Joe Clark offered them Harrington Lake, the prime minister's official country retreat in Gatineau Park, with the expectation they would move into Stornoway at the start of July. However, the repairs were not complete, so Pierre Trudeau took a prolonged vacation with his sons to the Nova Scotia summer home of his friend, Member of Parliament Don Johnston, and later sent his sons to stay with their maternal grandparents in North Vancouver for the rest of the summer while he slept at his friend's Ottawa apartment. Trudeau and his brothers returned to Ottawa for the start of the school year but lived only on the top floor of Stornoway while repairs continued on the bottom floor. His mother purchased and moved into a new home nearby at 95 Victoria Street in Ottawa's New Edinburgh neighbourhood in September 1979. Pierre Trudeau and his sons returned to the prime minister's official residence after the February 1980 election that returned him to the Prime Minister's Office.
His father had intended Trudeau to begin his formal education at a French-language lycée, but Trudeau's mother convinced his father of the importance of sending their sons to a public school. In the end, Trudeau was enrolled in 1976 in the French immersion program at Rockcliffe Park Public School. It was the same school his mother had attended for two years while her father was a member of Parliament. He could have been dropped off by limousine, but his parents elected he take the school bus albeit with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) car following.
After his father's retirement in June 1984, his mother remained at her New Edinburgh home while the rest of the family moved into his father's home at 1418 Pine Avenue, Montreal known as Cormier House; the following autumn, he began attending the private Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, his father's alma mater. The school had begun as a Jesuit school but was non-denominational by the time Justin matriculated. In 2008, Trudeau said that of all his early family outings he enjoyed camping with his father the most, because "that was where our father got to be just our father – a dad in the woods". During the summers his father would send him and his brothers to Camp Ahmek, on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, where he would later work in his first paid job as a camp counsellor.
Trudeau and his brothers were given shares in two numbered companies by their father: the first containing a portfolio of securities, from which they receive regular dividends, up to $20,000 per year; and the second which receives royalties from their father's autobiography and other sources, about $10,000 a year. As of August 2011, the first numbered company had assets of $1.2 million. The Trudeau brothers were also given a country estate of about 50 hectares in the Laurentians with a home designed by the esteemed Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, and the Cormier House in Montreal. The country estate land was estimated to be worth $2.7 million in 2016.
=== University and early career ===
Trudeau earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from McGill University in 1994 and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia in 1998. In his first year at McGill, Trudeau became acquainted with his future principal secretary, Gerald Butts, through their mutual friend, Jonathan Ablett. Butts invited Trudeau to join the McGill Debating Union. They bonded while driving back to Montreal after a debate tournament at Princeton University. After graduation, Trudeau stayed in Vancouver where he became a substitute teacher at local schools such as Killarney Secondary and worked permanently as a French and math teacher at the private West Point Grey Academy. He became a roommate at the Douglas Lodge with fellow West Point Grey Academy faculty member and friend Christopher Ingvaldson. From 2002 to 2004, he studied engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, affiliated with Université de Montréal, but did not graduate. He started a master's degree in environmental geography at McGill but withdrew from the program to seek public office.
In August 2000, Trudeau attended the Kokanee Summit in Creston, British Columbia, to raise funds in honour of his brother Michel Trudeau and other avalanche victims. After the event, an unsigned editorial in the Creston Valley Advance (a local newspaper) accused Trudeau of having groped an unnamed female reporter while at the music festival. The editorial stated Trudeau provided a "day-late" apology to the reporter, saying, "If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward". In 2018, Trudeau was questioned about the groping incident but said he did not remember any negative incidents from that time. His apology and later statement about the event have been described as hypocritical, while responses to the story have described it as a witch hunt or non-story.
In October 2000, Trudeau, then 28, emerged as a prominent figure after delivering a eulogy at his father's state funeral. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) received numerous calls to rebroadcast the speech after its initial transmission, and leading Quebec politician Claude Ryan described it as "perhaps ... the first manifestation of a dynasty". A book issued by the CBC in 2003 included the speech in its list of significant Canadian events from the past fifty years.
In 2007, Trudeau starred in the two-part CBC Television miniseries The Great War, which gave an account of Canada's participation in the First World War. He portrayed his fifth cousin, twice removed, Major Talbot Mercer Papineau, who was killed on October 30, 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele. Trudeau is one of several children of former prime ministers who have become Canadian media personalities. The others are Ben Mulroney (son of Brian Mulroney), Catherine Clark (daughter of Joe Clark), and Trudeau's younger brother, Alexandre. Ben Mulroney was a guest at Trudeau's wedding.
=== Advocacy ===
Trudeau and his family started the Kokanee Glacier Alpine Campaign for winter sports safety in 2000, two years after his brother Michel died in an avalanche during a ski trip. In 2002, Trudeau criticized the Government of British Columbia's decision to stop its funding for a public avalanche warning system.
From 2002 to 2006, Trudeau chaired the Katimavik youth program, a project started by longtime family friend Jacques Hébert.
In 2002–03, Trudeau was a panelist on CBC Radio's Canada Reads series, where he championed The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston. Trudeau and his brother Alexandre inaugurated the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto in April 2004; the centre later became a part of the Munk School of Global Affairs. In 2006, he hosted the presentation ceremony for the Giller Prize for literature.
In 2005, Trudeau fought against a proposed $100-million zinc mine that he argued would poison the Nahanni River, a United Nations World Heritage Site located in the Northwest Territories. He was quoted as saying, "The river is an absolutely magnificent, magical place. I'm not saying mining is wrong ... but that is not the place for it. It's just the wrong thing to be doing."
On September 17, 2006, Trudeau was the master of ceremonies at a Toronto rally organized by Roméo Dallaire that called for Canadian participation in resolving the Darfur crisis.
== Political beginnings ==
Trudeau supported the Liberal Party from a young age, offering his support to party leader John Turner in the 1988 federal election. Two years later, he defended Canadian federalism at a student event at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, which he attended.
Following his father's death, Trudeau became more involved with the Liberal Party throughout the 2000s. Along with Olympian Charmaine Crooks, he co-hosted a tribute to outgoing prime minister Jean Chrétien at the party's 2003 leadership convention, and was appointed to chair a task force on youth renewal after the party's defeat in the 2006 federal election.
In October 2006, Trudeau criticized Quebec nationalism by describing political nationalism generally as an "old idea from the 19th century", "based on a smallness of thought" and not relevant to modern Quebec. This comment was seen as a criticism of Michael Ignatieff, then a candidate in the 2006 Liberal Party leadership election, who was promoting recognition of Quebec as a nation. Trudeau later wrote a public letter on the subject, describing the idea of Quebec nationhood as "against everything my father ever believed".
Trudeau announced his support for leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy shortly before the 2006 convention and introduced Kennedy during the candidates' final speeches. When Kennedy dropped off after the second ballot, Trudeau joined him in supporting the ultimate winner, Stéphane Dion.
Rumours circulated in early 2007 that Trudeau would run in an upcoming by-election in the Montreal riding of Outremont. The Montreal newspaper La Presse reported despite Trudeau's keenness, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion wanted Outremont for a star candidate who could help rebuild the Liberal Party. Instead, Trudeau announced that he would seek the Liberal nomination in the nearby riding of Papineau for the next general election. The riding, which had been held for 26 years by André Ouellet, a senior minister under his father, had been in Liberal hands for 53 years before falling to the Bloc Québécois in 2006.
On April 29, 2007, Trudeau won the Liberal party's nomination, winning 690 votes to 350 for Mary Deros, a Montreal city councillor, and 220 for Basilio Giordano, the publisher of a local Italian-language newspaper.
== Opposition (2008–2015) ==
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election for October 14, 2008, by which time Trudeau had been campaigning for a year in Papineau. On election day, Trudeau narrowly defeated Bloc Québécois incumbent Vivian Barbot. Following his election win, Edward Greenspon, editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, noted that Trudeau would "be viewed as few other rookie MPs are—as a potential future Prime Minister—and scrutinized through that lens".
The Conservative Party won a minority government in the 2008 election, and Trudeau entered parliament as a member of the Official Opposition. Trudeau's first legislative act was a motion that called for the creation of a "national voluntary service policy for young people". He later co-chaired the Liberal Party's April 2009 national convention in Vancouver, and in October of the same year he was appointed as the party's critic for multiculturalism and youth.
In September 2010, he was reassigned as critic for youth, citizenship, and immigration. During that time, he criticized the government's legislation targeting human smuggling, which he argued would penalize the victims of smuggling.
Trudeau sparked controversy when it was revealed that he earned $1.3 million in public speaking fees from charities and school boards across Canada, $277,000 of which Trudeau received after becoming an MP.
He encouraged an increase of Canada's relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and sought more accessible immigration procedures for Haitians moving to Canada in the time of crisis. His own riding includes a significant Haitian community.
Trudeau was re-elected in Papineau in the 2011 federal election, as the Liberal Party fell to third-party standing in the House of Commons with only thirty-four seats. Ignatieff resigned as party leader immediately after the election, and rumours again circulated that Trudeau could run to become his successor. On this occasion, Trudeau said, "I don't feel I should be closing off any options... because of the history packaged into my name, a lot of people are turning to me in a way that... to be blunt, concerns me." Weeks after the election, Toronto MP Bob Rae was selected as the interim leader until the party's leadership convention, which was later decided to be held in April 2013. Rae appointed Trudeau as the party's critic for post-secondary education, youth and amateur sport. After his re-election, he travelled the country hosting fundraisers for charities and the Liberal Party.
Trudeau wanted to take part in a charity boxing match on behalf of the cancer research fundraising event Fight for the Cure, but was having difficulty finding a Conservative opponent until Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau agreed when asked on Trudeau's behalf by their mutual hairdresser Stefania Capovilla. The fight took place on March 31, 2012, at the Hampton Inn in Ottawa, and it was broadcast live on Sun News with commentary by Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley. Trudeau won in the third round; the result was considered an upset.
=== Leader of the Liberal Party ===
==== Earlier speculation ====
After Dion's resignation as Liberal leader in 2008, Trudeau's name was mentioned as a potential candidate with polls showing him as a favourite among Canadians for the position.
However, Trudeau did not enter the race and Michael Ignatieff was named leader in December 2008. After the party's poor showing in the 2011 election, Ignatieff resigned from the leadership and Trudeau was again seen as a potential candidate to lead the party.
Following the election, Trudeau said he was undecided about seeking the leadership; months later on October 12 at Wilfrid Laurier University, he announced he would not seek the post because he had a young family. When interim leader Bob Rae, who was also seen as a frontrunner, announced he would not be entering the race in June 2012, Trudeau was hit with a "tsunami" of calls from supporters to reconsider his earlier decision to not seek the leadership.
Opinion polling conducted by several pollsters showed that if Trudeau were to become leader the Liberal Party would surge in support, from a distant third place to either being competitive with the Conservative Party or leading them. In July 2012, Trudeau stated that he would reconsider his earlier decision to not seek the leadership and would announce his final decision at the end of the summer.
==== 2013 leadership election ====
On September 26, 2012, multiple media outlets started reporting that Trudeau would launch his leadership bid the following week. While Trudeau was seen as a frontrunner for the leadership of the Liberal Party, he was criticized for his perceived lack of substance. During his time as a member of Parliament, he spoke little on policy matters and it was not known where he stood on many issues such as the economy and foreign affairs. Some strategists and pundits believed the leadership would be the time for Trudeau to be tested on these issues; however, there was also fear within the party that his celebrity status and large lead might deter other strong candidates from entering the leadership race.
On October 2, 2012, Trudeau held a rally in Montreal to launch his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party. The core people on his campaign team were considered longtime friends, and all in their 30s and 40s. His senior advisor was Gerald Butts, the former president of WWF-Canada who had previously been principal secretary to former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. Other senior aides included campaign manager Katie Telford, and policy advisors Mike McNeir and Robert Asselin, who had all worked for recent Liberal Party leaders. His brother Alexandre also took a break from his documentary work to be a senior advisor on Trudeau's campaign.
During the leadership campaign, three by-elections were held on November 26, 2012. The riding Calgary Centre was expected to be a three-way race between the Conservatives, Liberals and Green Party. A week before by-election day Sun Media reported on comments Trudeau had made in a 2010 interview with Télé-Québec, in which he said, "Canada isn't doing well right now because it's Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda." Trudeau's campaign advisor said that the comments were being brought up now because of the close race in Calgary Centre. The following day, Trudeau apologized, saying he was wrong to use "Alberta" as "shorthand" in referring to Stephen Harper's government. The Conservatives held onto Calgary Centre in the by-election by less than 1,200 votes. Liberal candidate Harvey Locke said he lost the by-election on his own and that comments made by Trudeau did not influence the outcome.
Fellow leadership candidate Marc Garneau, seen as Trudeau's main challenger in the race, criticized Trudeau for not releasing enough substantial policy positions. Garneau called on him to release more detailed policies before members and supporters begin to vote. Garneau later challenged Trudeau to a one-on-one debate, and said that if Trudeau could not defend his ideas in a debate against him, he wouldn't be able to do so against Prime Minister Harper. Trudeau clashed in debates with challenger Joyce Murray, who was the only Liberal leadership candidate to speak out strongly in favour of electing the House of Commons with a system of proportional representation. She challenged Trudeau over his support for a preferential ballot voting system.
On March 13, 2013, Garneau dropped out of the leadership race, saying that polling conducted by his campaign showed he would be unable to defeat Trudeau.
With Joyce Murray, the last challenger, receiving significant press time, more Liberal politicians and public figures declared themselves for Trudeau. Trudeau was declared the winner of the leadership election on April 14, 2013, garnering 80.1% of 30,800 votes. Joyce Murray finished in second place with 10.2%, ahead of Martha Hall Findlay's 5.7%. Trudeau had lost only five ridings, all to Murray and all in BC.
===== Early leadership (2013–2015) =====
In the days following his victory in the leadership race, snapshot polls recorded a surge in support for the Liberal party.
In 2013, Trudeau chose to give up his seat at the funeral of Nelson Mandela, in deference to Irwin Cotler as representative of the Liberal Party of Canada, because of Cotler's work for and with Nelson Mandela in fighting apartheid.
During the leadership campaign, Trudeau pledged to park all his assets, exclusive of real estate holdings, into a blind trust which is atypical for opposition MPs, including leaders. According to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, he fulfilled the pledge in July 2013 when the blind trust was set up by BMO Private Banking.
Trudeau launched an internet video the week before the 2014 Liberal party convention titled "An economy that benefits us all" in which he narrates his economic platform. He said that Canada's debt to GDP ratios have come down in recent years and now it's time for Ottawa to "step up".
==== 2015 federal election ====
On October 19, 2015, after the longest official campaign in over a century, Trudeau led the Liberals to a decisive victory in the federal election. The Liberals won 184 of the 338 seats, with 39.5% of the popular vote, for a strong majority government; a gain of 150 seats compared to the 2011 federal election.
This was the second-best performance in the party's history. The Liberals won mostly on the strength of a solid performance in the eastern half of the country. In addition to taking all of Atlantic Canada and Toronto, they won 40 seats in Quebec—the most that the Liberals had won in that province since Trudeau's father led them to a near-sweep of the province in 1980, and also the first time since then that the Liberals won a majority of Quebec's seats in an election. The 150-seat gain was the biggest numerical increase for a single party since Confederation and marked the first time that a party had rebounded from third place in the Commons to a majority government.
In addition to the appeal of his party's platform, Trudeau's success has been credited to his performance both on the campaign trail and televised leaders' debates exceeding the lowered expectations created by Conservative advertisements and conservative media outlets.
Trudeau declared victory shortly after CBC News projected that he had won a majority government. He began his speech with a reference to former Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laurier's "sunny ways" (French: voies ensoleillées) approach to bringing Canadians together despite their differences. According to Trudeau, Laurier "knew that politics can be a positive force, and that's the message Canadians have sent today". Harper announced his resignation as the leader of the Conservative Party that night.
== Prime Minister of Canada (2015–2025) ==
=== Swearing-in ===
Trudeau and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in by Governor General David Johnston on November 4, 2015. He said that his first legislative priority was to lower taxes for middle-income Canadians and raise taxes for the top 1% of income earners after parliament was reconvened on December 3, 2015. Trudeau also issued a statement promising to rebuild relations with Indigenous peoples in Canada and run an open, ethical and transparent government.
=== Domestic policy ===
The Trudeau government's economic policy initially relied on increased tax revenues to pay for increased government spending. While the government has not balanced the budget, it reduced Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio every year until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Trudeau's self-described progressive and feminist social policy has included strong advocacy for abortion rights. His government introduced the bill that made conversion therapies illegal in Canada. Canada introduced the right to medically-assisted dying in 2016, and legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2018. In 2021, Trudeau announced the creation of a national child care plan with the intention of reducing day care fees for parents down to $10 a day per child within five years.
His environmental policy included introducing new commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% before 2030, and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. His main tool for reaching this target is a federal carbon pricing policy. Trudeau's parliament also adopted legislation for marine conservation, banning six common single-use plastic products, and strengthening environmental impact assessments. Trudeau pledged to ban single use plastic in 2019. In 2022, his government announced a ban on producing and importing single use plastic from December 2022. The sale of those items will be banned from December 2023 and the export from 2025. However, Trudeau is in favour of oil and gas pipelines to bring Canadian fossil fuel resources to foreign markets.
Before winning the 2015 election, Trudeau promised to accept 50,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq by the end of 2016. In 2016, Trudeau's advisors recommended drastically increasing immigration levels to stimulate the economy. Despite warnings about the impact of rapid population growth on housing and services, Trudeau's government increased targets each year, reaching almost 1 million newcomers (permanent and temporary residents) in both 2022 and 2023. In November 2022, the Trudeau government announced that Canada would admit 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025. Trudeau initiated measures to combat housing inflation such as banning foreign buyers and creating the Housing Accelerator Fund, but asserted in a May 2024 interview that, "housing needs to retain its value". In October 2024, as Canadians endured cost of living and housing crises, and as Trudeau's unpopularity grew, he announced cuts to immigration targets in a video message. This had little effect on Trudeau's approval rating, however, which had plummeted from 65% in 2016 to 22% in December 2024. In 2024, food bank usage was also at an all-time high and more working people than ever were using food banks, which occurred amidst global food crises at the time. Reports released in early 2025 suggested that population growth would not be significantly slowed even with the Trudeau government's proposed cuts.
On September 22, 2023, Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian Canadian who fought in the SS Division Galicia of the military wing of the Nazi Party, the Waffen-SS, was invited to the House of Commons of Canada to be recognized by Speaker Anthony Rota, the Member of Parliament for Hunka's district. Hunka received two standing ovations from all house members, including Justin Trudeau, other party leaders, and visiting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The incident, seen as a political blunder and a scandal, such that it drew comparisons to the most embarrassing moments in Canada's history, was leveraged by the Russian establishment to further its justifications for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Trudeau said, "this is a mistake that deeply embarrassed parliament and Canada", and apologized to President Zelenskyy.
As prime minister, Trudeau launched three major independent investigations: the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIWG), the Joint Federal/Provincial Commission into the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks (in partnership with the Government of Nova Scotia), and the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions. The latter was called in response to allegations of Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections, but also deals with interference from other states deemed hostile to Canada. The MMIWG investigation found that Canada's response to this issue amounts to genocide, a finding Trudeau said he accepted.
Trudeau chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada: Richard Wagner (as chief justice), Malcolm Rowe, Sheilah Martin, Nicholas Kasirer, Mahmud Jamal, Michelle O'Bonsawin, and Mary Moreau. He appointed the first visible minority and Indigenous Canadian to the court.
==== COVID-19 pandemic ====
Trudeau was prime minister during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. His government's response to the pandemic included funds for provinces and territories to adapt to the new situation, funds for coronavirus research, travel restrictions, screening of international flights, self-isolation orders under the Quarantine Act, an industrial strategy, and a public health awareness campaign. Initially, Canada faced a shortage of personal protective equipment, as the Trudeau government had cut PPE stockpile funding in the previous years.
To deal with the economic impact of the pandemic in 2020, Trudeau waived student loan payments, increased the Canada Child Benefit, doubled the annual Goods and Services Tax payment, and introduced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) as part of a first package in March. In April 2020, Trudeau introduced the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Business Account, and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit. Trudeau also deployed the Canadian Forces in long-term care homes in Quebec and Ontario as part of Operation LASER.
Throughout the pandemic, the federal government was also responsible for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. On May 12, 2020, the Trudeau government announced it had reached an exclusive deal with CanSino Biologics. However, due to deteriorating Canadian-Chinese relations, the Cansino deal fell through. On August 5, 2020, the Trudeau government created a plan to secure doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Starting in December 2020, Trudeau oversaw the implementation of Canada's mass-vaccination program.
The spread of COVID-19 in Canada continued beyond the initial outbreak, with a strong second wave in the fall of 2020 and an even more serious third wave in the spring of 2021. Throughout the crisis, Trudeau periodically extended the scope and duration of the federal aid programs. The 2021 Canadian federal budget planned to phase them out by the end of September 2021, and projected a $354.2-billion deficit in the 2020–21 fiscal year. While CERB was indeed phased out on September 26, the Canada Recovery Benefit (CBR) continued to provide support until October 23. The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit was introduced that month to replace the CBR, and expanded during the spread of the Omicron variant in December 2021.
==== Freedom Convoy and Emergencies Act invocation ====
The Canada convoy protest, called the Freedom Convoy, was a protest in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers to re-enter the country by land introduced by the Government of Canada on January 15, 2022. Originally composed of several routes traversing all of the Canadian provinces, the truck convoys converged on Ottawa.
On January 29, the first day of protest at Parliament Hill, Trudeau moved to an undisclosed location. According to The Guardian, the demonstration developed to express a number of "antigovernment grievances", particularly against Trudeau. On January 31, Trudeau called the protests an "insult to truth". On February 3, he said that a military response was "not in the cards right now". On February 11, Reuters reported that Trudeau promised the US "quick action" regarding protesters who have forcefully blocked the Ambassador Bridge on the US-Canada border, the continent's "busiest land border crossing". Trudeau subsequently indicated that there would be "robust police intervention" and called for all protesters to "go home".
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, for the first time since it was enacted in 1988, as a result of the public order emergency caused by the demonstrations in Ottawa. On February 23, 2022, Trudeau announced that the federal government would revoke the emergency declaration. Later that day, the governor general signed a proclamation revoking it. A year later, on February 17, 2023, a judicial inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act concluded that the Trudeau government met the legal threshold required to invoke the act. In early 2024, Federal Court judge Richard Mosley ruled that the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the 2022 convoy protest was "not justified" and infringed on Charter rights. The federal government lost its appeal of the ruling in January 2026.
==== 2019 federal election ====
On September 11, 2019, Trudeau visited Governor General Julie Payette, to request the dissolution of Parliament, and formally triggering an election. Prior to the formal start of the campaign, Trudeau announced his intention to only participate in the three leaders' debates, two organized by the Leaders' Debates Commission, and one organized by TVA. Other leader's debates were either cancelled or took place with an empty podium left on stage for Trudeau.
In September 2019, controversial pictures and video were published showing Trudeau in brownface and blackface. On September 18, 2019, Time magazine published a photograph of Trudeau wearing brownface makeup in the spring of 2001, at an Arabian Nights-themed gala, while Trudeau was a teacher at West Point Grey Academy. Trudeau publicly apologized, agreeing the photo was racist and saying: "I shouldn't have done that. I should have known better and I didn't. I'm really sorry." He further went on to say "It was something that I didn't think was racist at the time, but now I recognize it was something racist to do". Trudeau also admitted to wearing blackface makeup in high school while singing "Day-O" at a talent show that was subsequently published by Global News. A third instance, a video, of Trudeau in racist dress was also published. After this video was published, Trudeau admitted he could not remember how often he had worn blackface makeup. In the days following the scandal, pollsters pointed out that many Canadians either were not bothered by the scandal or had accepted Trudeau's apology. Additionally, some minority community groups, racialized commentators and some of Trudeau's opponents came to his defence. Others were more critical, including members of his own party.
While Trudeau's Liberal Party lost 20 seats in the House of Commons (lowering its total from 177 to 157) from the time of dissolution, they still won the most seats of any party—enough to allow Trudeau to form a minority government. For the first time since 1979, the party that garnered the largest share of the national popular vote did not win the most seats; the Liberals under Trudeau had 33.1% of the popular vote, while the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer had 34.4%.
==== 2021 federal election ====
On August 15, 2021, Trudeau advised Governor General Mary Simon to dissolve parliament, scheduling an election for September 20. The election was called on the same day as the Fall of Kabul. In the first two weeks of the campaign, Trudeau received criticism for not acting fast enough in the face of the 2021 Taliban offensive to evacuate Canadian citizens and Afghans who supported Canada's military and diplomatic efforts during the War in Afghanistan. The Liberals called the election to win a majority government and govern alone.
In the 2021 federal election, Trudeau secured a third mandate and his second minority government after winning 160 seats. However, the Liberals came in second in the national popular vote, behind the Conservatives. They received 32.6% of the popular vote, the lowest percentage of the national popular vote for a governing party in Canadian history. The results were mostly unchanged from the 2019 federal election.
===== Confidence and supply agreement =====
On March 22, 2022, the Liberals and the NDP entered a supply and confidence agreement, in which the NDP committed to supporting the Liberals in all votes of confidence for the duration of the 44th Parliament. In exchange, the Liberal Party would back key NDP priorities, including national dental care for low-income Canadians, national pharmacare, labour reforms for federally-regulated workers, and new taxes on financial institutions.
In September 2024, the NDP pulled their support and ended the supply and confidence agreement. The Conservative Party made three failed no-confidence motions in September, October, and December, all of which did not receive NDP support. On December 20, 2024, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh pledged to put forward another no-confidence motion and vote out Trudeau's government.
=== Foreign policy ===
In 2015, Trudeau told the New York Times Magazine that Canada could be the "first postnational state".
Trudeau enjoyed good relations with the "like-minded" United States president Barack Obama, despite Trudeau's support for the Keystone Pipeline, which was rejected by the Democratic president. Trudeau's first foreign policy challenges included follow-through on his campaign promise to withdraw Canadian air support from the Syrian civil war and to welcome 25,000 Syrian war refugees.
In 2016, Trudeau lifted visa requirements for Mexican citizens. Asylum claims by Mexicans grew from 110 in 2015 to 24,000 in 2023. Visas and some restrictions were reinstated in 2024.
In January 2017, Trudeau wrote, "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada," on Twitter. As a result, irregular border crossing increased, mainly at Roxham Road. Increased strain on services in Quebec and Ontario, and criticism over the unsustainable influx of claimants, appeared to influence the decision to close Roxham Road in March 2023; however, the new terms of the Canada–United States Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) had been arranged the previous year. After irregular border crossings were shut down, asylum claims surged at airports.
When Donald Trump became president in 2017, Canada-US relations deteriorated. The Trump administration forced the renegotiation of NAFTA to create the CUSMA, in which Canada made significant concessions in allowing increased imports of American milk, weakening Canada's dairy supply management system. Donald Trump also implemented tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, to which Trudeau retaliated by imposing tariffs on American steel, aluminum and a variety of other American products.
Canada's relationship with China also deteriorated during Trudeau's time as prime minister. The turmoil led to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou at the Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 at the behest of the United States, and the arrest of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in China 12 days later. Trudeau appointed Liberal advisor, Dominic Barton (McKinsey & Company, Century Initiative) ambassador to China in 2019. While Barton negotiated the release of Spavor and Kovrig, Canada-China trade reached historic highs. Barton resigned in December 2021, "amidst growing pressure from...President Joe Biden for Ottawa to take a tougher stance with Beijing." As Wanzhou, Spavor and Kovrig were released at the exact same time in September 2021, many observers speculated they were exchanged as part of a deal between the United States and China. Trudeau greeted Spavor and Kovrig at the airport upon their repatriation. In 2024, Spavor was awarded $7 million in compensation for his arrest and detainment. Although Trudeau repeatedly claimed the two were arbitrarily targeted, it was later reported Spavor had unwittingly participated in espionage by sharing information on North Korea with Kovrig who then passed it onto the Canadian government.
In a similar fashion, Canada's relationship with Saudi Arabia was also put under strain, as human rights groups called on Trudeau to stop selling military equipment to that country under a deal struck by the Harper government. In 2018, Saudi Arabia recalled its Canadian ambassador and froze trade with the country in response to Canada's call for the Saudis to release opposition blogger Raif Badawi. However, in 2019, Canada doubled its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, despite a "moratorium on export permits following the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and mounting civilian deaths from the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen."
In 2020, Canada lost its bid to join the United Nations Security Council. This was the second time Canada had failed an attempt to join the Security Council, the first time being in 2009 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In September 2023, Trudeau said that the government of Canada had "credible intelligence" that the government of India was involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, outside a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey. This episode triggered the Canada–India diplomatic row.
On October 7, 2023, Trudeau condemned the Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel, which devolved into the Gaza war, and expressed his support to Israel and its right to self-defence. On October 24, he rejected calls for a ceasefire but said he supported "humanitarian pauses" to deliver aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. On December 12, in a joint statement with the Prime Minister of Australia and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Trudeau called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in the war. Trudeau neither endorsed nor rejected South Africa's genocide case against Israel.
Following Donald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025, Canada-US relations again deteriorated. On March 4, 2025, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian exports, 10% tariffs on Canadian energy products, with an exemption for the automotive industry set to expire on April 2. In retaliation, Trudeau announced countermeasures, with Canada imposing 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods, effective March 5, 2025. These retaliatory tariffs were set to increase to $155 billion worth of U.S. products within 21 days and would remain in place until the U.S. trade actions were withdrawn.
On March 8, while giving a speech at the National Forum on Combatting Antisemitism, Trudeau identified himself as a Zionist.
==== Foreign interference ====
In 2022 and 2023, Canadian media reported that the People's Republic of China had made attempts to interfere in the 2019 Canadian federal election and 2021 Canadian federal election.
Canadian opposition parties demanded a public inquiry into election interference. Rejecting a full public inquiry, Trudeau nominated former Governor General of Canada David Johnston to investigate the allegations. Johnston delivered a report in May 2023, which described China's interference as a danger to Canadian democracy, stated that some of the media reports were partially incorrect, and that the Canadian intelligence services and Canadian government needed to make several improvements to counter the threat and protect members of Parliament.
Following Johnston's resignation on June 9, Justin Trudeau commissioned Québec justice Marie-Josée Hogue to preside over the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions. In May 2024, the inquiry issued its preliminary report, finding that China engaged in foreign interference in both elections, but the interference did not affect the ultimate result of either election.
=== Ethics ===
Trudeau was criticized by opposition members in November 2016 for his fundraising tactics, which they saw as "cash for access" schemes. Trudeau attended fundraisers where attendees paid upwards of $1500 for access to him and other cabinet members. In some instances, the events were attended by foreign businessmen who needed government approval for their businesses. Trudeau defended his fundraising tactics, saying that they were not in breach of any ethics rules. He also stated that he was lobbied at the fundraisers but not influenced. In 2017, Trudeau introduced legislation that would eliminate such exclusive events by requiring increased transparency for political fundraisers.
In January 2017, the ethics commissioner, Mary Dawson, began an investigation into Trudeau for a vacation he and his family took to Aga Khan IV's private island in the Bahamas. The ethics commissioner's report, released in December 2017, found that Trudeau had violated four provisions of the 2006 Conflict of Interest Act. He became the first prime minister to break the modern federal conflict of interest law. In 2022, it was reported that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had considered bringing criminal charges against Trudeau over the affair.
In February 2018, Trudeau was criticized when his government invited Khalistani nationalist Jaspal Atwal to the Canadian High Commission's dinner party in Delhi. Atwal had previously been convicted for the shooting and attempted murder of Indian Cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in 1986, as well as the assault on former BC premier Ujjal Dosanjh in 1985. Following the dinner, the PMO rescinded the invitation, and apologized for the incident.
==== SNC-Lavalin affair ====
On February 8, 2019, The Globe and Mail reported that sources close to the government said that the Prime Minister's Office had allegedly attempted to influence Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould concerning an ongoing prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. The charges allege that between 2001 and 2011, SNC-Lavalin paid CA$48 million in bribes in Libya to officials in the government of Muammar Gaddafi. When asked about the allegations, Trudeau said that the story in the Globe was false and that he had never "directed" Wilson-Raybould concerning the case. Wilson-Raybould did not comment on the matter, citing solicitor-client privilege. Soon after, Trudeau voluntarily waived privilege and cabinet confidences, permitting her to speak. On February 11, the ethics commissioner announced the opening of an investigation into the allegations. Trudeau said he "welcomed the investigation". The Justice Committee of the House of Commons has conducted a series of hearings on the alleged interference. The investigation heard from several witnesses, including Jody Wilson-Raybould, who submitted as evidence a telephone call she secretly recorded between herself and Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick, which was subsequently released to the public. On the recording, Wernick is heard asking to understand why the "DPA route" is not being used, stating that people were "talking past each other", and suggesting Trudeau obtain independent legal advice from former Supreme Court chief justice Beverly McLachlin. Wilson-Raybould is heard suggesting that Trudeau would be "breaching a constitutional principle of prosecutorial independence". On March 19, 2019, the Liberal committee members voted as a bloc to shut down the Justice Committee's investigation.
Trudeau was the subject of an investigation by the ethics commissioner, pursuant to the Conflict of Interest Act, in regard to criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin in the SNC-Lavalin affair. The commission's final report, issued August 14, 2019, concluded "Mr. Trudeau contravened section 9 of the Act".
==== WE Charity investigation ====
Following complaints by opposition parties that the Trudeau family had ties to WE Charity, the ethics commissioner on July 3, 2020, announced an investigation into Trudeau's and the government's decision to have the charity administer a summer, student-grant program which could assist students financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trudeau responded by saying WE was the charity that had the capability to administer such a program. WE and the federal government decided to "part ways" leaving administration of the grant program to the federal government.
WE Charity was criticized for its close ties to the Trudeau family; the investigation came after revelations that Trudeau's mother, brother, and wife were paid nearly $300,000 in total to speak at WE Charity events.
On July 16, 2020, the ethics commissioner also announced the investigation was being expanded to include Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Trudeau was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing by the ethics commissioner though Morneau was found to have broken the conflict of interest law.
=== Resignation ===
Following the 2021 federal election, the Liberals faced declining poll numbers and disappointing results in by-elections, including losses in safe seats such as Toronto—St. Paul's in Toronto and LaSalle—Émard—Verdun in Montreal. The months following these losses saw frequent media stories about internal frustration and discontent with Trudeau's leadership. This appeared to culminate in a caucus meeting where multiple members called on Trudeau to resign. Trudeau emerged from this meeting stating that the party remained "strong and united".
The closing months of 2024 saw a wave of resignations in Trudeau's cabinet. On September 19, Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez resigned to run for leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. On November 20, Alberta MP Randy Boissonnault resigned following allegations that he ran a business seeking federal contracts and falsely claimed to be Indigenous. On December 15, Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced his intention to leave the federal cabinet in the next shuffle, citing family reasons.
On December 16, 2024, Chrystia Freeland resigned as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, hours before she was due to release the government's fall economic statement. Freeland was often nicknamed the "minister of everything", and widely seen as a potential successor to Trudeau for the leadership of the Liberal Party. In her resignation letter, Freeland reported Trudeau had asked her to resign as finance minister and that she would be offered another Cabinet position. She instead decided to resign altogether from his Cabinet, saying that "to be effective, a Minister must speak on behalf of the Prime Minister and with his full confidence. In making your decision, you made clear that I no longer credibly enjoy that confidence."
Freeland's resignation came amid threats from the incoming Trump administration to impose 25% tariffs upon Canada, as well as Freeland's reported opposition to Trudeau's promise of $250 cheques to working Canadians who earned $150,000 or less in 2023. The resignation raised speculation as to the future of Trudeau's leadership, with renewed calls for his resignation emerging from Liberal MPs. The government's economic statement, released later that day, showed a deficit of $61.9 billion for 2023–24, exceeding the previous target of $40.1 billion or less, and left Trump's tariff threats largely unaddressed.
On January 6, 2025, citing that Canada "[deserved] a real choice in the next election", and that he was facing "internal battles" he felt would be a distraction, Trudeau announced during a news conference at Rideau Cottage that he would tender his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party, and as prime minister of Canada after the party elects his successor. He also announced that Governor General Mary Simon would prorogue Parliament until March 24, while the party organizes and holds its next leadership election. On January 15, Trudeau subsequently confirmed he would not seek re-election in his riding of Papineau. On March 9, the Liberal Party elected Mark Carney as the new leader, and the transition of power from Trudeau to Carney began the following day. On March 14, Trudeau formally notified the governor general of his resignation. Carney was sworn in as the 24th prime minister of Canada later that morning.
== Post-premiership (2025–present) ==
In April 2025, Trudeau made his first public engagement following his resignation, campaigning for Liberal candidate Marjorie Michel in his former riding of Papineau. He was also present for the 2025 Speech from the Throne in May, along with former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Kim Campbell. In January 2026, he attended the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
== Personal life ==
=== Family and relationships ===
Trudeau first met Sophie Grégoire when they were both children growing up in Montreal; Grégoire was a classmate and childhood friend of Trudeau's youngest brother, Michel. They reconnected as adults in June 2003, when Grégoire, by then a Quebec television personality, was assigned as Trudeau's co-host for a charity ball; they began dating several months later. Trudeau and Grégoire became engaged in October 2004 and married on May 28, 2005, in a ceremony at Montreal's Sainte-Madeleine d'Outremont Church. They have three children: a son, Xavier, a daughter, Ella-Grace, and a second son, Hadrien.
In June 2013, two months after Trudeau became the leader of the Liberal Party, the couple sold their home in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood of Montreal. They began living in a rented home in Ottawa's Rockcliffe Park, the neighbourhood near where Trudeau resided as a child during his father's time as prime minister.
On August 18, 2014, an intruder broke into the house while Grégoire and the couple's three children were sleeping and left a threatening note; however, nothing was stolen and there was no damage to the property. Following the incident, Trudeau, who was in Winnipeg at the time of the break-in, stated his intention to inquire with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about his home security. After his 2015 electoral victory, Trudeau opted to live at Rideau Cottage, on the grounds of Rideau Hall.
On August 2, 2023, Trudeau announced he and Grégoire had separated. On August 21, Trudeau said he was focusing on his children and the future.
In 2025, it was reported that Trudeau was dating American singer Katy Perry. On December 6, the two confirmed their relationship on Instagram.
Trudeau resided in Ottawa for a year following his resignation as prime minister. In February 2026, he purchased a family home in the Montreal borough of Outremont after announcing he would be moving back to Montreal. The real estate documents indicate Trudeau is the sole owner of the property and state that he and Grégoire Trudeau are in the process of divorcing.
=== Religion ===
Trudeau's father was a practising Catholic and his mother converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism just before their wedding. Trudeau himself became a lapsed Catholic at age 18, as he felt that much of his day-to-day life was not addressed by the formality and structure of the church. Trudeau described his faith during this period as "like so many Catholics across this country, I said, 'OK, I'm Catholic, I'm of faith, but I'm just not really going to go to church. Maybe on Easter, maybe midnight Mass at Christmas.'" After the death of his brother Michel in 1998, Trudeau was persuaded by a friend to participate in an Alpha course, during which he regained his faith. In 2011, Trudeau stated, "My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with."
== Honours ==
According to Canadian protocol, as a former prime minister, he is styled "The Right Honourable" for life.
Following the death of his father, Pierre Trudeau, on September 8, 2000, Justin Trudeau inherited his father’s arms and crest, which had originally been granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority on December 7, 1994.
Honorary degrees
Other awards and honours
== Electoral history ==
== Published works == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties | World War I casualties | The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
The total number of deaths includes from nine to 11 million military personnel. The civilian death toll was about six to 13 million. The Triple Entente (also known as the Allies) lost about six million military personnel while the Central Powers lost about four million. At least two million died from diseases and six million went missing, presumed dead. This article lists the casualties of the belligerent powers based on official published sources.
About two-thirds of military deaths in World War I were in battle, unlike the conflicts that took place in the 19th century when most deaths were from disease. Nevertheless, disease, including the 1918 flu pandemic and deaths while held as prisoners of war, still caused about one third of total military deaths for all belligerents.
== Classification of casualty statistics ==
Casualty statistics for World War I vary to a great extent; estimates of total deaths range from nine million to over 15 million. Military casualties reported in official sources list deaths due to all causes, including an estimated seven to eight million combat related deaths (killed or died of wounds) and another two to three million military deaths caused by accidents, disease and deaths while prisoners of war. Official government reports listing casualty statistics were published by the United States and Great Britain. These secondary sources published during the 1920s, are the source of the statistics in reference works listing casualties in World War I. This article summarizes the casualty statistics published in the official government reports of the United States and Great Britain as well as France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Russia. More recently the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has revised the military casualty statistics of the UK and its allies; they include in their listing of military war dead personnel outside of combat theaters and civilians recruited from Africa, the Middle East and China who provided logistical and service support in combat theaters. The casualties of these support personnel recruited outside of Europe were previously not included with British war dead, however the casualties of the Labour Corps recruited from the British Isles were included in the rolls of British war dead published in 1921. The methodology used by each nation to record and classify casualties was not uniform, a general caveat regarding casualty figures is that they cannot be considered comparable in all cases. First World War civilian deaths are "hazardous to estimate" according to Micheal Clodfelter who maintains that "the generally accepted figure of noncombatant deaths is 6.5 million."
== Casualties by borders of 1914 ==
The source of population data is: Haythornthwaite, Philip J., The World War One Source Book pp. 382–383
== Casualties by post-war (1924) borders ==
The war involved multi-ethnic empires such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Many ethnic groups in these territories were conscripted for military service. The casualties listed by modern borders are also included in the above table of figures for the countries that existed in 1914. The casualty figures by 1924 post war borders are rough estimates by Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, the sources of his figures were published in the Soviet era and in post-Soviet Russia.
According to the 1914–1918 Online Encyclopedia "In addition to losses suffered by African military personnel and the laborers supporting their operations, very large, but unknown numbers of African civilians perished during the war." They made an estimate of civilian losses in Africa of 750,000 based on the study by the Vadim Erlikman. They noted that Erlikman's figures are based on the work of the Russian demographer Boris Urlanis, noting that these estimates were "imprecise" and "could be used to provide a frame of reference for further inquiry". The Oxford History of World War One notes that "In east and central Africa the harshness of the war resulted in acute shortages of food with famine in some areas, a weakening of populations, and epidemic diseases which killed hundreds of thousands of people and also cattle."
Austria
The following estimates of Austrian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 175,000: including military losses 120,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 30,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 25,000.
Belarus
The following estimates of Belarusian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 130,000: including military losses 70,000 with the Russian forces. Civilian dead were 60,000.
Ukraine
The following estimates of Ukrainian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 590,000: including military losses 450,000,(Erlikman did not break out military losses between Austro-Hungarian and Russian armed forces). Civilian dead were 140,000.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Belgian Congo was part of the Kingdom of Belgium during the war. A Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia estimated a total of 155,000 deaths in the Belgian Congo during the war.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was part of Austro-Hungary during the war. The estimates of Czechoslovak deaths within 1991 borders were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 185,000: including military losses 110,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 45,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 30,000. The Czechoslovak Legions fought with the armies of the Allies during the war.
Estonia
Estonia was part of the Russian Empire during the war and about 100,000 Estonians served in the Russian Army. Of them about 10,000 were killed.
Finland
From 1809 Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. Finland's autonomous status meant that Finns were exempt from conscription into the Russian Army. Approximately 800 Finns voluntarily served during World War I. According to data regarding Finnish war casualties, 317 Finns were killed between 1914 and 1917.
French colonies
The following estimates of deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. These numbers only include military deaths, total civilian deaths in Africa could amount up to 750,000.
Algeria (1914 known as French Algeria): 26,000
Vietnam (1914 known as French Indochina): 12,000
Mali (1914 part of French West Africa): 10,000
Morocco (1914 known as the French protectorate of Morocco): 8,000
Senegal (1914 part of French West Africa): 6,000
Guinea (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,500
Madagascar: 2,500 military
Benin (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Burkina Faso (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Republic of the Congo (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 2,000
Ivory Coast (1914 part of French West Africa): 2,000
Tunisia (1914 known as French Tunisia): 2,000
Chad (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 1,500
Central African Republic (1914 known as French Oubangui-Chari): 1,000
Niger (1914 part of French West Africa): 1,000
Gabon (1914 part of French Equatorial Africa): 500
India (French Establishments in India): 195
Total: 82,000
Georgia
The following estimates of Georgian deaths, within contemporary borders, were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Georgia was part of the Russian Empire during the war and about 150,000 Georgians served in the Russian Army. Of them about 10,000 were killed.
German colonies
The following estimates of deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. These numbers only include military deaths, total civilian deaths in Africa could amount up to 750,000.
Tanzania (1914 part of German East Africa): 20,000
Namibia (1914 known as German South-West Africa): 1,000
Cameroon (1914 known as Kamerun): 5,000 military and 50,000 civilian
Togo (1914 known as German Togoland): 2,000
Rwanda (1914 part of German East Africa): 15,000
Total: 48,000
Hungary
The following estimates of Hungarian deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead 385,000: including military losses 270,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 70,000. Civilian dead due to famine and disease were 45,000.
Ireland
Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom during World War I. Five-sixths of the island left to form the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland, in 1922. A total of 206,000 Irishmen served in the British forces during the war. The number of Irish deaths in the British Army recorded by the registrar general was 27,405. A significant number of these casualties were from what, in 1920, became Northern Ireland. While 49,400 soldiers died serving in Irish divisions (the 10th, 16th and 36th), although not all of the men serving in these divisions were natives of Ireland and many Irish who died in non-Irish regiments are not listed. For example, 29% of the casualties in the 16th Division were not natives of Ireland. Neither does it include Irish emigrants in Britain who enlisted there and are not categorised as Irish. Australia lists 4,731 of its first World War soldiers as having been born in Ireland and more than 19,000 Irish-born soldiers served in the Canadian Corps. According to research done by John Horne of Trinity College Dublin, there are at least 30,986 soldiers who were born in Ireland that died; however, that's considered a "conservative" estimate and is very likely to rise.
Mozambique
The losses of Portuguese Mozambique were estimated by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia. 52,000
Poland
Poland was territory of Germany, Austria-Hungary and partially annexed by Russia, from 1795 to 1918. By late 1915, Germany had complete control over modern-day Poland. A 2005 Polish study estimated 3,376,800 Poles were conscripted into the armed forces of these countries during World War I, an additional 300,000 were conscripted for forced labor by the Germans. The Russians and Austrians forcibly resettled 1.6 to 1.8 million persons from the war zone in Poland. According to Micheal Clodfelter, Polish war dead were 1,080,000, whilst 200,000 Polish civilians were killed in the fighting on the Eastern Front; 870,000 men served in the German, Austrian and Russian armies. Another estimate made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, put total Polish war dead at 640,000, including military losses of 270,000 Poles conscripted, civilian losses of 120,000 due to military operations and 250,000 caused by famine and disease. The ethnic Polish Blue Army served with the French Army. The ethnic Polish Legions fought as part of the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern Front.
Romania
The territory of Transylvania was part of Austria-Hungary during World War I. The following estimates of Romanian deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead: 748,000, including military losses of 220,000 with the Romanian forces, 150,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces and POW deaths in captivity of 48,000. Civilian dead were as follows due to famine and disease: 200,000, killed in military operations 120,000 and 10,000 dead in Austrian prisons.
British colonies
Britain recruited Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other overseas labour to provide logistical support in the combat theatres. Included with British casualties in East Africa are the deaths of 44,911 recruited labourers. The CWGC reports that nearly 2,000 workers from the Chinese Labour Corps are buried with British war dead in France.
The following estimates of British Empire colonial military deaths, within contemporary borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian Vadim Erlikman in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Erlikman's estimates are based on sources published in the Soviet Union and Russia.
Ghana (1914 known as the Gold Coast): 1,200
Kenya (1914 known as British East Africa): 2,000
Malawi (1914 known as Nyasaland): 3,000
Nigeria (1914 part of British West Africa): 5,000
Sierra Leone (1914 part of British West Africa): 1,000
Uganda (1914 known as the Uganda Protectorate): 1,500
Zambia (1914 known as Northern Rhodesia): 3,000
Zimbabwe (1914 known as Southern Rhodesia): 5,716 persons of European origin served in the war, of whom about 700 were killed, or died of wounds or other causes. In explicitly Rhodesian units, 127 were killed, 24 died of wounds, 101 died of disease or other causes and 294 were wounded. Of the territory's black African servicemen, 31 were killed in action, 142 died of other causes and 116 were wounded.
Total: 18,000
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The following estimates are for Yugoslavia within the 1991 borders.
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Vojvodina (Now part of Serbia) were part of Austria-Hungary during World War I. Serbia, which included Macedonia, and Montenegro was an independent nation. The Yugoslav historian Vladimir Dedijer put the total losses of the Yugoslav lands at 1.9 million, of which 43% were from Serbia. The following estimates of Yugoslav deaths, within 1991 borders, during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century. Total dead: 996,000 including military losses, 260,000 with the Serbian forces, 80,000 with the Austro-Hungarian forces, 13,000 with Montenegrin forces and POW deaths in captivity of 93,000. Civilian dead were as follows due to famine and disease: 400,000, killed in military operations: 120,000 and 30,000 dead in Austrian prisons or executed.
Nepal
During World War I, the Nepalese army was expanded and six new regiments, totaling more than 20,000 troops—all volunteers—were sent to India, most of them to the North-West Frontier Province, to release British and Indian troops for service overseas. Simultaneously, the Nepalese government agreed to maintain recruitment at a level that would sustain the existing British Gurkha units and allow the establishment of additional ones. The battalions were increased to thirty-three with the addition of 55,000 new recruits and Gurkha units were placed at the disposal of the British high command for service on all fronts. Many volunteers were assigned to non-combat units, such as the Army Bearer Corps and the labour battalions but they also were in combat in France, Turkey, Palestine and Mesopotamia. The Rana prime ministers urged Nepalese males to fight in the war. Of the more than 200,000 Nepalese who served in the British army, there were some 20,000 Gurkha casualties included above with the British Indian Army.
== Footnotes ==
^a East and Central Africa
The conflict in East Africa caused enormous civilian casualties. The Oxford History of World War One notes that "In east and central Africa the harshness of the war resulted in acute shortages of food with famine in some areas, a weakening of populations, and epidemic diseases which killed hundreds of thousands of people and also cattle." According to the 1914–1918 Online Encyclopedia "In addition to losses suffered by African military personnel and the laborers supporting their operations, very large, but unknown numbers of African civilians perished during the war." They made an estimate of civilian losses in Africa of 750,000 The following estimates of civilian deaths in East Africa during World War I were made by a Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century: Kenya 30,000; Tanzania 100,000; Mozambique 50,000; Rwanda 15,000; Burundi 20,000 and the Belgian Congo 150,000.
The military casualties of the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal include Africans who served with their armed forces, the details are noted above in the list of the various colonies.
^b Australia
The Australian War Memorial puts their war dead at 61,513.
The Australian War Memorial maintains a database listing the names of war dead.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Australian war dead is 62,149.
The report of the UK War Office listed 59,330 Army war dead, 152,171 wounded and 4,084 taken prisoner.
In 1924, the Australian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 412,953 men mobilized and 59,337 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total military deaths are 54,000 killed and died of wounds.
^c Belgium
Belgian government figures for military losses in Europe were 40,367 (26,338 killed, died of wounds or accidents and 14,029 died of disease or missing). In Africa: 2,620 soldiers were killed and 15,650 porters died. The combined total for Europe and Africa is 58,637.
United States War Dept. figures for Belgium are: Total mobilized force 267,000; total casualties 93,061 including killed and died 13,716; wounded 44,686; Prisoners and missing 34,659.
The report of the UK War Office listed 93,061 casualties up until 11 November 1918 including 13,716 killed and died; 24,456 missing; 44,686 wounded and 10,208 POW. "These figures are approximate only, the records being incomplete."
In 1924, the Belgian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 365,000 men mobilized and 40,936 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Belgian military deaths are 35,000 killed and died of wounds
Civilian deaths according to Belgian government statistics were 23,700 (6,000 killed in the 1914 German massacres and 17,700 victims in prisons, deportations and by military tribunals). According to a demographic study, there were 92,000 indirect deaths in Belgium (62,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 30,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). John Horne estimated that 6,500 Belgian and French civilians were killed in German reprisals.
^d Canada
According to the Canadian War Museum Close to 61,000 Canadians were killed during the war, and another 172,000 were wounded. The small Dominion of Newfoundland suffered 1,305 killed and several thousand wounded. The Canadian Expeditionary Force lost 59,544 in the war, including 51,748 due to enemy action; the Royal Canadian Navy reported 150 deaths from all causes and 1,388 Canadians died while serving with the British Flying Services.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Canadian war dead is 64,996.
The report of the UK War Office listed 56,639 Canadian war dead, 149,732 wounded and 3,729 taken prisoner.
In 1924, the Canadian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 628,964 men mobilized and 51,674 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Canadian military deaths are 53,000 killed and died of wounds.
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial contains a registry of information about the graves and memorials of Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served valiantly and gave their lives for their country.
The 2,000 civilian deaths were due to the Halifax Explosion.
^e France
French casualty figures up until 1 June 1919 were listed in a French government report of 1 August 1919 presented to the French Chamber of Deputies. Total Army dead and missing up until 11 November 1918 were 1,357,800; in addition there were 28,600 deaths after 11 November 1918 of those wounded and 11,400 Navy dead which brings total dead and missing to 1,397,800. These figures include 35,200 French Colonial Forces, 35,900 "north Africans" and 4,600 French Foreign Legion personnel.
According to the French Army official report "La Statistique médicale de l'armée" Total dead were 1,325,000 (675,000 killed in action, 225,000 missing and prisoners killed, 250,000 died of wounds and 175,000 died of disease.)
A breakdown of French casualties published in the Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914–1918 lists 674,700 killed in action, 250,000 died of wounds, 225,300 missing and presumed dead and 175,000 dead from disease and injury. Wounded amounted to 2,300,000.
United States War Dept. figures for French casualties are: Total mobilized force 8,410,000; total casualties 6,160,800 including killed and died: 1,357,800, wounded: 4,266,000, prisoners and missing: 537,000.
The UK War Office put French dead, killed and missing at 1,385,300 dead and missing, including 58,000 colonial soldiers up until 1 November 1918. They noted that a government report of 1 August 1919, listed the number of killed and died at 1,357,000. There were no figures available of the wounded.
In 1924, the French government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 7,935,000 men mobilized and 1,400,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The names of the soldiers who died for France during World War I are listed on-line by the French government.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total French military deaths are 1,126,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to the French encyclopedia Quid 30–40,000 foreign volunteers from about 40 nationalities served in the French army, including 12,000 with the Czechoslovak Legion and the ethnic Polish Blue Army; 5,000 Italians served in a "Legion" commanded by Colonel Garibaldi. There were also 1,000 Spaniards and 1,500 Swiss in French service, 200 American volunteers served with the French from 1914 to 1916, including the Lafayette Escadrille. Luxembourg was occupied by Germany during the war. According to the Mobile Reference travel Guide 3,700 Luxembourg citizens served in the French armed forces, 2,800 gave their lives in the war. They are commemorated at the Gëlle Fra in Luxembourg. The French Armenian Legion served as part of the French armed forces during the war. French colonies, such as Algeria and Vietnam, also sent troops to fight and serve on the battlefront. American military historian Douglas Porch reported of the French Foreign Legion, in which most non-French nationals served, that some estimates put Legion casualties during the war as high as 31,000 of the 44,150 men who served in the Legion, a 70 per cent casualty rate.
According to a demographic study, there were 500,000 indirect deaths in France (300,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 200,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). Another estimate of the demographic loss of the civilian population in the France during the war, put total excess deaths at 264,000 to 284,000, not including an additional 100,000 to 120,000 Spanish flu deaths. Civilian dead include 1,509 merchant sailors and 3,357 killed in air attacks and long range artillery bombardments Kramer quotes Huber as estimating 600,000 excess deaths, though it's unclear what proportion are due to influenza.
Tertiary sources put French civilian war dead at 40,000.
^f Greece
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated total military dead of 26,000, including 15,000 deaths due to disease and 11,000 killed and died of wounds
United States War Dept. figures for Greek casualties are: Total mobilized force 230,000; total casualties 27,000 (killed and died 5,000; wounded 21,000; prisoners and missing 1,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed 27,000 casualties (5,000 killed or died of wounds; 21,000 wounded and 1,000 prisoners and missing).
In 1924, the Greek government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 355,000 men mobilized and no dead and missing in World War I.
Jean Bujac in a campaign history of the Greek Army in World War I, listed 8,365 combat related deaths and 3,255 missing.
According to a demographic study there were 150,000 indirect deaths in Greece due to wartime privations.
^g India (British)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for Indian war dead is 73,905.
The report of the UK War Office listed 64,449 Army war dead, 69,214 wounded and 11,264 taken prisoner, these figures include British serving in the Indian Army (2,393 dead, 2,325 wounded and 194 taken prisoner).
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Indian military deaths are 27,000 killed and died of wounds.
^h Italy
The Italian government put military war deaths at 651,000 (killed in action or died of wounds 378,000; died of disease 186,000 plus an additional 87,000 deaths of invalids from 12 November 1918 until 30 April 1920, due to war related injuries.) These official figures were published in an Italian study of war losses by G. Mortara, however he estimated actual losses until the war's end in Nov. 1918, at 600,000 (400,000 killed or died of wounds and 200,000 deaths due to disease). A brief summary of data from this study can be found online.
United States War Dept. figures for Italian casualties are: Total mobilized force 5,615,000; total casualties 2,197,000 (killed and died 650,000; wounded 947,000; prisoners and missing 600,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed 1,937,000 casualties up until 11 November 1918 (460,000 dead; 947,000 wounded and 530,000 prisoners).
In 1924, the Italian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 5,615,000 men mobilized and 750,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Italian military deaths are 433,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 1,021,000 indirect deaths in Italy (589,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 432,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic). Another estimate of the demographic loss of the civilian population in the Italy during the war, put total excess deaths at 324,000 not including an additional 300,000 Spanish flu deaths. Civilian deaths due to military action were 3,400 (including 2,293 by attacks on shipping, 965 during air raids and 142 by sea bombardment). Kramer cites Mario Isnenghi and Giorgio Rochat, La Grande Guerra, 1914–1918 (Florence: Scandicci, 2000), pp. 301–2. They give excess war-related civilian mortality for the period 1915–18 of 606,407, of which influenza accounts for 274,041.
A relatively recent initiative to render easily accessible data concerning all Italian war dead, is the “ISTORECO PROJECT” (see: ISTORECO Reggio Emilia (Italy). The project, launched in 2008 and continuously expanded and updated (2025), involved the creation and development of a comprehensive Database containing all the data from the " Roll of Honour of the Military Fallen in the National War 1915–1918” (an editorial initiative of the Italian fascist Government, by the Royal Decree of November 22, 1925, No. 2130, and published in Rome in 28 volumes). The database has been made available online by ISTORECO through a publicly accessible website: “Roll of the Italian Fallen in the Great War” (Albo caduti militari della Guerra 1915-18), under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Defence and other institutions. The digital Roll provides a permanent tool for free and easy access to the data of more than 531,000 fallen soldiers. The information collected is continuously corrected, updated, and supplemented thanks to ongoing researches or access to new sources by the editorial team of the website. Among the project’s most commendable goals is the effort to identify the exact burial place of every fallen soldier recorded.
^i Japan
In 1924, the Japanese government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 800,000 men mobilized and 4,661 dead and missing in World War I.
The Yasukuni Shrine lists 4,850 dead in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Japanese casualties are: total mobilized force 800,000; total casualties 1,210 (including Killed and died 300; wounded 907; Prisoners and missing 3).
^k Montenegro
In 1924, the Yugoslav government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported Montenegro mobilized 50,000 men and 13,325 were dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Montenegrin casualties are: total mobilized force 50,000; total casualties 20,000 including killed and died 3,000; wounded 10,000; prisoners and missing 7,000.
^l New Zealand
The Auckland War Memorial Museum commemorates the 18,060 New Zealand World War I dead.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum maintains a database listing the names of the New Zealand war dead.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for New Zealand war dead is 18,060.
The report of the UK War Office listed 16,711 army war dead, 41,317 wounded and 498 taken prisoner.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total New Zealand military deaths are 14,000 killed and died of wounds.
^m Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was not part of Canada during World War I. The report of the UK War Office listed 1,204 Army war dead, 2,314 wounded and 150 taken prisoner.
An academic journal published in Newfoundland has given the details of Newfoundland's military casualties. Fatalities totaled 1,570 The Royal Newfoundland Regiment suffered 1,297 dead; there were an additional 171 dead in the Royal Navy and 101 in the Merchant Navy.
^n Portugal
United States War Dept. figures for Portuguese casualties are: total mobilized force 100,000; total casualties 33,291 (including killed and died 7,222; wounded 13,751; prisoners and missing 12,318).
The report of the UK War Office listed 33,291 casualties: 7,222 dead (1,689 in Europe and 5,533 in Africa); 13,751 wounded (figure for Europe only) and 12,318 prisoners and missing (6,678 in Europe and "a large number of missing in Mozambique).
In 1924, the Portuguese government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 100,000 men mobilized and 4,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Portuguese military deaths are 6,000 killed or missing in action and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 220,000 indirect deaths in Portugal (82,000 deaths due to wartime privations and 138,000 in the Spanish flu pandemic).
13 Portuguese civilians that were killed during bombardment of Funchal, Madeira Island on 3 December 1916, and 12 December 1917, by German submarines.
^o Romania
In 1924, the Romanian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,000,000 men mobilized and 250,000 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Romanian casualties are: total mobilized force 750,000; total casualties 535,706 (including killed and died 335,706; wounded 120,000; prisoners and missing 80,000).
The report of the UK War Office listed military casualties of 335,706 killed or missing. In addition 265,000 civilians were killed or missing.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Romanian military deaths are 177,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to a demographic study there were 430,000 indirect deaths in Romania due to wartime privations.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 330,000 civilian dead (120,000 due to military activity, 10,000 as prisoners and 200,000 caused by famine and disease).
^p Russian Empire
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis the sources for Russian casualties are difficult to ascertain. Casualty figures, compiled from the field reports during the war, were published in 1925 by the Soviet Central Statistical office They put Russia's total losses at 775,400 dead and missing, 348,500 disabled and 3,343,900 POW. Those evacuated to the rear area were 1,425,000 sick and 2,844,500 wounded. Included in these figures are battle casualties of 7,036,087. (626,440 killed in action, 17,174 died of wounds, 228,838 missing, 3,409,433 held as prisoners of war and 2,754,202 wounded in action). Urlanis believes that the figures for those killed were considerably underestimated, because a large part of the reports were lost in retreats. Urlanis estimated the actual total military war dead at 1,811,000 (killed 1,200,000, died of wounds 240,000, gassed 11,000, died from disease 155,000, POW deaths 190,000, deaths due to accidents and other causes 15,000).
A study by the Russian military historian G.F. Krivosheev estimated the total war dead at 2,254,369 (killed in action 1,200,000; missing and presumed dead 439,369; died of wounds 240,000, gassed 11,000, died from disease 155,000, POW deaths 190,000, deaths due to accidents and other causes 19,000). Wounded 3,749,000. POW 3,343,900. Total mobilized force 15,378,000.
United States War Dept. figures for Russian casualties are: Total mobilized force 12,000,000. Total casualties 9,150,000 (including Killed and died 1,700,000, wounded 4,950,000, prisoners and missing 2,500,000).
The UK War Office Based on a telegram from Petrograd to Copenhagen in December 1918 listed military casualties of 9,150,000 (including 1,700,000 killed, 1,450,000 disabled, 3,500,000 wounded and 2,500,000 POW).
In 1924, the Soviet government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported for Russia 15,070,000 men mobilized and 1,700,000 dead and missing in World War I.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis there were 1,500,000 civilian deaths due to wartime privations up until the end of 1917.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 1,140,000 war related Russian civilian deaths, from 1914 to 1917 in 1914 borders (410,000 due to military operations and 730,000 caused by famine and disease).
^q Serbia
Sources for total Serbian casualties range from 750,000 to 1,250,000.
A demographic study in 1927, put total the war dead for Serbia and Montenegro at 750,000 (300,000 military and 450,000 civilians). The overall population loss from 1912 to 1920, based on the pre-war level was 1,236,000 persons (including 750,000 in World War I; 150,000 killed in the Balkan Wars and a decline in the number of births of 336,000), in addition there were 47,000 war related deaths during 1914–1920, that are included with deaths by natural causes.
According to Frédéric Le Moal, Serbian historian Dušan T. Bataković puts their losses at 1,250,000 (450,000 military and 800,000 civilians). These losses are from 1912 to 1918 and include the Balkan Wars. In July 2014, Serbian poet and academic Matija Bećković said "that 402,435 Serbian soldiers have been killed and 845,000 civilians hanged or exterminated in concentration camps during WWI. At a September 2014 conference sponsored by the Serbian Ministry of Defense, Dr. Alexander Nedok put Serbian war dead at 1,247,435 persons.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis regarding Serbia "it is particularly difficult to ascertain the number of killed". Based on a demographic analysis of the population, Urlanis estimated total Serbian and Montenegrin casualties of 728,000 including military dead: 278,000 (140,000 killed in action; 25,000 died of wounds; 50,000 disease; 60,000 POW and 3,000 from other causes) and total civilian dead of 450,000.
In 1924, the Serbian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,008,240 men mobilized and 365,164 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Serbian casualties are: total mobilized force 707,343; total casualties 331,106 (including killed and died 45,000; wounded 133,148; prisoners and missing 152,958).
The report of the UK War Office listed military casualties of 331,106 including 45,000 killed, 133,148 wounded and 70,243 prisoners and 82,535 missing.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century, estimated 120,000 Serbian civilian deaths due to military activity and 30,000 executed (казнено и убито) by the Austro-Hungarians. His estimate for total Yugoslav civilian casualties including Austro-Hungarian territory was 550,000.
^r South Africa
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figure for South Africa war dead is 9,726
The report of the UK War Office listed 7,121 Army war dead, 12,029 wounded and 1,538 taken prisoner.
In 1924, the South African government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 136,070 men mobilized and 7,134 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total South African military deaths are 5,000 killed and died of wounds.
^s United Kingdom
^s1 UK military casualties were reported separately by branch of service: Total of 744,000 dead and missing from the British Isles: Army 702,410 "soldiers"; Royal Navy 32,287 Losses at sea were 908 UK civilians and 63 fisherman killed in U-boat attacks.
Overseas labor units serving with the British and French forces. The UK employed about 300,000 Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other nations as laborers during the war. By the end of 1917, there were 50,000 Chinese workers in France, rising to 96,000 by August 1918 (with another 30,000 working for the French). 100,000 Egyptians were working in France and the Middle East, alongside 21,000 Indians and 20,000 South Africans, who were also in East Africa. A total of about 140,000 Chinese workers recruited in the Beiyang government, served on the Western Front during and after the war with the British and French Armed Forces. According to the Commonwealth war Graves Commission "In all, nearly 2,000 men from the Chinese Labour Corps died during the First World War, some as a direct result of enemy action, or of wounds received in the course of their duties, but many more in the influenza epidemic that swept Europe in 1918–19" One historical controversy is the number who died in the war. Some Chinese scholars say the number was as high as 20,000 but records kept by the British and French recruiters, show just under 2,000 lost their lives, many from the flu pandemic that swept the world starting in 1919. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, "The African combatant troops raised for the East African campaign numbered 34,000. The non-combatant porters, stevedores and followers of the Military Labour Corps 600,000. Almost 50,000 of these men were lost, killed in action died of sickness or wounds" According to The Africa Research Institute official British figures the death toll exceeded 105,000 native African troops and military carriers
Kramer gives 600,000 excess civilian deaths, of which 200,000 are due to the influenza pandemic, citing Brill’s Encyclopedia of the First World War, pp. 732–3.
^t United States
US Dept. of Defense figures from 2010, list 116,516 war dead from all causes for the period ending 31 December 1918, including 106,378 in the Army, 7,287 in the Navy and 2,851 in the Marine Corps. There were 53,402 battle deaths, including 50,510 in the Army, 431 in the navy and 2,461 in the Marines. There were 63,114 non-combat deaths, 55,868 in the Army, 6,856 in the Navy and 390 in the Marines. Wounded: 204,002 (Army: 193,663, Navy: 819, Marines: 9,520). The figures include 279 deaths during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1920. The U.S. casualty figures were revised by the US Dept. of Defense in 1957. The US Coast Guard lost 192 dead (111 deaths in action and 81 from other causes).
United States War Dept. figures from 1924 for U.S. casualties were: total mobilized force 4,355,000; total casualties 350,300 (including killed and died from all causes 126,000; wounded 234,300 (including 14,500 died of wounds); prisoners and missing 4,500).
In 1924, the U.S. government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 4,272,521 men mobilized and 67,813 dead and missing in World War I.
United States civilian losses include 128 killed in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (before the U.S. became a belligerent) as well as 629 Merchant Mariners killed in enemy submarine attacks on their merchant ships.
^u Austria-Hungary
The official history of Austria-Hungary's involvement in the First World War put total military dead at 1,494,200: (1,016,200 killed and 478,000 while prisoners of war).
In 1924, the Austrian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 9,000,000 men mobilized and 1,542,817 dead and missing in World War I.
United States War Dept. figures for Austro-Hungarian casualties are: total mobilized force 7,800,000; total casualties 7,020,000 (including killed and died 1,200,000; wounded 3,620,000; prisoners and missing 2,200,000).
The UK War Office estimate for Austro-Hungarian casualties up to 31 December 1918: total casualties of 7,020,000 including 1,200,000 killed, 3,620,000 wounded and 2,200,000 prisoners. Preliminary figures up to the end of May 1918, given by the U. K. Director of Military Intelligence give the following estimated totals: 800,000 killed, 1,800,000 prisoners/missing, and 3,200,000 wounded/sick, for a total of 5,800,000. An additional 80,000 killed, 320,000 wounded/sick, and 20,000 prisoners are estimated in the Austrian offensive against Italy from 1 June to 24 October 1918. At the same time there 72,500 casualties on the Balkans and Western Fronts. Finally, during the last Italian offensive the prisoners claimed by the Italians amounted to 448,000, while a further 30,000 Austro-Hungarians were killed and 50,000 wounded.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Austro-Hungarian military deaths are 900,000 killed and died of wounds.
A study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated that there were 467,000 civilian deaths attributable to wartime privations caused by the allied blockade.
A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated 120,000 civilian deaths due to military activity in Austro-Hungarian Galicia.
^v Bulgaria
United States War Dept. figures for Bulgarian casualties are: total mobilized force 1,200,000; total casualties 266,919 (including Killed and died 87,500; wounded 152,930; Prisoners and missing 27,029).
The UK War Office listed casualties reported by the Bulgarian War Office: 87,500 total dead (48,917 killed, 13,198 died of wounds, 888? accidentally killed, 24,497 died of disease); 13,729 missing; 152,390 wounded and 10,623 prisoners. The Bulgarian War Office stated that "losses during the retreat from sickness and privations were much greater than the figures they possess".
In 1924, the Bulgarian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 400,000 men mobilized and 32,772 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Bulgarian military deaths are 62,000 killed and died of wounds.
According to the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis there were 100,000 civilian deaths due to wartime privations.
^w German Empire
In 1934, the official German war history listed 2,037,000 military dead. Confirmed dead from all causes 1,936,897 (Army 1,900,876, Navy 34,836, Colonial troops 1,185); wounded 4,215,662; prisoners and missing 974,977 of which an estimated 100,000 were presumed dead.
United States War Dept. figures for German casualties are: total mobilized force 11,000,000; total casualties 7,142,558 (including Killed and died 1,773,700; wounded 4,216,058; prisoners and missing 1,152,800).
The UK War Office listed official German figures from 1921 of 1,808,545 killed and 4,247,143 wounded, exclusive of 14,000 African conscript deaths during the war.
In 1924, the German government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 13,250,000 men mobilized and 2,000,000 dead and missing in World War I.
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total German military deaths are 1,796,000 killed and died of wounds.
The UK War Office listed official German figures from 1919 of 720 German civilians who were killed by allied air raids.
The figures for civilian deaths due to the Blockade of Germany are disputed. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 maintained that 763,000 German civilians died from malnutrition and disease caused by the blockade up until the end of December 1918. A German academic study in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000. A study sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1940, estimated the German civilian death toll due to the war at over 600,000. Based on the above-mentioned German study of 1928, they maintained that "A thorough inquiry has led to the conclusion that the number of "civilian" deaths traceable to the war was 424,000, to which number must be added about 200,000 deaths caused by the influenza epidemic". Finally, Kramer cites Jay Winter, who estimates 478,500 civilian war-related excess deaths, of which 180,000 was due to the influenze pandemic.
^x Ottoman Empire
Based on his analysis of the non-published individual World War I campaign histories in the Ottoman Archives, Edward J. Erickson estimated Ottoman military casualties in the study Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War. The casualties included total war dead of 771,844, (243,598 killed in action, 61,487 missing action and 466,759 deaths due to disease). The number of wounded was 763,753 and POWs 145,104.
The Ottoman official casualty statistics published in 1922 were: total dead 325,000 including (killed in action 50,000, 35,000 died of wounds, 240,000 died of disease). Wounded 400,000. POWs, sick and missing 1,565,000 and total mobilized: 2,850,000.
United States War Dept. figures for Ottoman casualties are: total mobilized force 2,850,000; total casualties 975,000 (including killed and died 325,000; wounded 400,000; prisoners and missing 250,000).
The UK War Office figures for Ottoman casualties were: total accounted for 725,000 (killed 50,000, died of wounds 35,000, died of disease 400,000, wounded 400,000). Total unaccounted for: 1,565,000 (prisoners, deserters, invalids and missing).
The Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated that included in total Ottoman military deaths are 318,000 killed and died of wounds.
Estimates of Ottoman civilian casualties in western sources range from 2,000,000 to 2,150,000. A Russian historian in a 2004 handbook of human losses in the 20th century estimated total Ottoman civilian dead from 1915 to 1918 at about 3.2 million including the deaths of 2.2 million Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek victims of genocides committed by the Ottomans and 1,000,000 war-related civilian deaths in the Ottoman Empire due to famine and disease.(In current borders Turkey 500,000; Syria 160,000; Lebanon 110,000; Iraq 150,000; Israel/Palestine 35,000 and Jordan 20,000) According to the BBC 200,000 persons perished in the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon during the war.
Civilian casualties include the Armenian genocide. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been 1.5 million. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks. Some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination. The overwhelming majority of historians as well as academic institutions on Holocaust and Genocide Studies recognize the Armenian Genocide. "Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present".
^y Denmark
Denmark was neutral in the war but Germany at that time included part of Danish Schleswig. Men from this area were conscripted into the German forces and their losses are included with German casualties. Over 700 Danish merchant sailors and fisherman died, mostly due to vessels torpedoed by German submarines.
The Danish National Archives estimated the losses of Danes in the German forces at 6,000.
^j Luxembourg
Luxembourg remained under German occupation during the war. The government, led by Paul Eyschen, chose to remain neutral. This strategy had the approval of Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Some citizens were conscripted into the German forces and others escaped to volunteer for the Allies. According to the Mobile Reference travel Guide, 3,700 Luxembourgeois citizens served in the French armed forces and 2,800 gave their lives in the war. They are commemorated at the Gëlle Fra in Luxembourg.
^z Norway
Norway was neutral in the war but lost ships and merchant sailors in trading through the war zones. Norway is at times referred to as the Neutral Ally due to its close relationship with the United Kingdom during the war. In 1924, the Norwegian government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 1,180 persons dead and missing in World War I.
^az Qajar Persia
Though Qajar Persia maintained a neutral stance, the country was divided into many factions and militaries, some allying with the Allied powers such as the Persian Cossack Brigade and others with the Central Powers such as the Persian Central Government Gendarmerie and Khamseh Tribesmen. The presence of British and Russian troops led to blockades of food distribution, which culminated into the Persian famine of 1917–1919, which under most modern estimates caused two million deaths.
^bz Sweden
Sweden was neutral in the war but lost ships and merchant sailors in trading through the war zones. In 1924, the Swedish government in a reply to a questionnaire from the International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, reported 800 persons dead and missing in World War I.
^cz Albania
Albania was invaded and occupied by both Allied and Central powers despite its neutrality. During occupation, Albanians were massacred on numerous occasions, both inside and outside of Albania. The total number of Albanian deaths due to disease and fighting is approximately 70,000 according to Spencer Tucker, roughly 8.75% to 10% of the pre-war population. The number of Albanians that died due to famine, however, is unknown, but contemporary estimates by the American Red Cross indicate a death toll of 150,000 in 1915, resulting in 200,000 refugees.
^dz Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein was neutral in the war yet held sympathies to the Central Powers, particularly Austria-Hungary. As such, a number of Liechtensteiner citizens volunteered for both the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, of which 4 were confirmed to have been killed.
Foreign nationals living in Liechtenstein who were conscripted into the armies of their home countries are not counted.
== Sources ==
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Annual Report 2014–2015 provides current statistics on the military dead for the British Empire. The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. The statistics tabulated by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen/women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former UK Dependencies, whose death was attributable to their war service. Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions. For the purposes of CWGC the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921. Total World War I dead were 1,116,371 (UK and former colonies 887,711; Undivided India 73,895; Canada 64,997; Australia 62,123; New Zealand 18,053; South Africa 9,592). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission figures also include the Merchant Navy.
Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920, The War Office March 1922. This official report lists Army casualties (including Royal Naval Division) of 908,371 killed in action, died of wounds, died as prisoners of war and were missing in action from 4 August 1914 to 31 December 1920, (British Isles 702,410; India 64,449; Canada 56,639; Australia 59,330; New Zealand 16,711; South Africa 7,121 and Newfoundland 1,204, other colonies 507). Figures of the Royal Navy war dead and missing of 32,287 were listed separately. These figures do not include the Merchant Navy dead of 14,661. The losses of France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Russia, the USA, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey were also listed in the UK War Office report.
The official "final and corrected" casualty figures for British Army, including the Territorial Force (not including allied British Empire forces) were issued on 10 March 1921. The losses were for the period 4 August 1914 until 30 September 1919, included 573,507 "killed in action, died from wounds and died of other causes"; 254,176 missing less 154,308 released prisoners; for a net total of 673,375 dead and missing. There were 1,643,469 wounded also listed in the report.
Sources for British Empire casualties are divergent and contradictory. The report of the War Office published in 1922 put the total number of British Empire "soldiers who lost their lives" at 908,371. On a separate schedule the War Office listed the losses of the Royal Navy at 32,237 dead and missing. It is implicit in this presentation that the figures for "soldiers who lost their lives" do not include the Royal Navy. However many published reference works list total British Empire(including the Dominions) losses at 908,371, it is implicit in these presentations that the figures for total losses include the Royal Navy.
The War Office report puts the number of "soldiers who lost their lives" from the British Regular Army and Royal Naval Division at 702,410. This is not in agreement with the "final and corrected" figures in the 1921 report for the army published in the General Annual Report of the British Army 1912–1919, which put British Army dead and missing at 673,375 and the official compilation of Army war dead published in 1921 that put total losses at about 673,000. The War Office report did not explain the reason for this discrepancy; the difference is more than likely due to their inclusion of the Royal Naval Division and deaths outside of combat theaters.
Casualties and Medical Statistics published in 1931. was the final volume of the Official Medical History of the War, gives British Empire, including the Dominions, for Army losses by cause of death. Total war dead in combat theaters from 1914 to 1918 were 876,084, which included 418,361 killed, 167,172 died of wounds, 113,173 died of disease or injury, 161,046 missing and presumed dead and 16,332 prisoner of war deaths. Also listed were 2,004,976 wounded and 6,074,552 sick and injured. Total losses were not broken out for the UK and each Dominion, the figures are for losses in combat theaters only and do not include casualties of forces stationed in the UK from accidents or disease, casualties of the Royal Naval Division are also not included in these figures; the losses of the Gallipoli Campaign are for British forces only, since records for Dominion forces were incomplete. Figures do not include the Royal Navy.
Military Casualties–World War–Estimated," Statistics Branch, General Staff, U.S. War Department, 25 February 1924. This report prepared by the U.S. War Department estimated the casualties of the belligerents in the war. The figures from this report are listed in the Encyclopædia Britannica and often cited in historical literature.
Huber, Michel La Population de la France pendant la guerre, Paris 1931. This study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, lists official French government figures for war-related military deaths and missing of France and its colonies.
Mortara, Giorgo La Salute pubblica in Italia durante e dopo la Guerra, New Haven: Yale University Press 1925. The official government Italian statistics on war dead are listed here. A brief summary of data from this report can be found online. go to Vol 13, No. 15 Archived 24 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
The demographer Boris Urlanis, analysis of the military dead for the belligerents in the war including his estimates for the combat related deaths included in total deaths.
The Belgian government published statistics on their war losses in the Annuaire statistique de la Belgique et du Congo Belge 1915–1919
Heeres-Sanitätsinspektion im Reichskriegsministeriums, Sanitätsbericht über das deutsche Heer, (Deutsches Feld- und Besatzungsheer), im Weltkriege 1914–1918, Volume 3, Sec. 1, Berlin 1934. The official German Army medical war history listed German losses.
Grebler, Leo and Winkler, Wilhelm The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary This study published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace details the losses of Austria-Hungary and Germany in the war.
Erickson, Edward J. Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War The authors estimates were made based data from official Ottoman sources.
Hersch, Liebmann, La mortalité causée par la guerre mondiale, Metron. The International Review of Statistics, 1927, Vol 7. No 1. This study published in an academic journal, detailed the demographic impact of the war on France, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Serbia, Romania and Greece. The total estimated increase in the number of civilian deaths due to the war was 2,171,000, not including an additional 984,000 Spanish flu deaths. These losses were due primarily wartime privations.
Dumas, Samuel (1923). Losses of Life Caused by War published by Oxford University Press. This study detailed the impact of the war on the civilian population. The study estimated excess civilian deaths at: France (264,000 to 284,000), the UK (181,000), Italy (324,000) and Germany(692,000).
In The International Labour Office, an agency of the League of Nations, published statistics on the military dead and missing for the belligerents in the war.
The source of population data is:
Haythornthwaite, Philip J., The World War One Source Book pp. 382–383 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela | Nelson Mandela | Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( man-DEL-ə, Xhosa: [xolíɬaɬa mandɛ̂ːla]; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His administration focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation, a national peace accord and eventual multiracial democracy. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, Mandela and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 that led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. Following the Rivonia Trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state.
Mandela served 27 years in prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure and fears of racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela became president. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, his administration retained its predecessor's liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services. Internationally, Mandela acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Mandela focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid's supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Globally regarded as an icon of moral leadership, peace, democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation". Mandela is widely considered one of the greatest and most admired figures of the 20th century.
== Early life ==
=== Childhood: 1918–1934 ===
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa's Cape Province. He was given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", and in later years became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the Thembu Kingdom in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province. One of Ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela, was Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela was the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.
Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he was appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.
Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Xhosa custom and taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but his mother, being a devout Christian, sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment that Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".
Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their children. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. Nevertheless, at the time he considered the European colonizers not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, his cousin Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.
=== Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–1940 ===
Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his secondary education in 1933 at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority of European culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Sotho, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in his second year he became a prefect.
In 1939, with Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution of approximately 150 students in Alice, Eastern Cape. He studied English, anthropology, politics, "native administration" and Roman-Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln, and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Although he had friends who held connections to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be independent of the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement with the nascent movement, and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out. At the end of his first year he became involved in a students' representative council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.
=== Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943 ===
Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the induna (headman) discovered that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced Mandela to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.
Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter. To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg—there forgiving Mandela for running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.
== Early revolutionary activity ==
=== Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949 ===
Mandela began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student and faced racism. There, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish and Indian students, among them Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Becoming increasingly politicised, Mandela marched in August 1943 in support of a successful bus boycott to reverse fare rises. Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending time with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including his old friend Oliver Tambo. In 1943, Mandela met Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the "Africanist" branch of African nationalism, which was virulently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists. Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black Africans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. Deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass-mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Lembede as president and Mandela as a member of its executive committee.
At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei. Entering a relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with her relatives until moving into a rented house in the township of Orlando in early 1946. Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later. Mandela enjoyed home life, welcoming his mother and his sister, Leabie, to stay with him. In early 1947, his three years of articles ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student, subsisting on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.
In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede, who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL president by the more moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela ANCYL secretary. Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, and in December 1947 supported an unsuccessful measure to expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology un-African. In 1947, Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When Ramohanoe acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists, Mandela was one of those who forced his resignation.
In the South African general election in 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-dominated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation with new apartheid legislation. Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his party cadre allies began advocating direct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, influenced by the tactics already employed by South Africa's Indian community. Xuma did not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no confidence, replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive committee containing Sisulu, Mda, Tambo and Godfrey Pitje. Mandela later related that he and his colleagues had "guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path." Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; he was ultimately denied his degree in December 1949.
=== Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–1954 ===
Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and that same year was elected national president of the ANCYL. In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention was held in Johannesburg, bringing together African, Indian and communist activists to call a May Day general strike in protest against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups. At the ANC national conference of December 1951, he continued arguing against a racially united front, but was outvoted.
Thereafter, Mandela rejected Lembede's Africanism and embraced the idea of a multi-racial front against apartheid. Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and by the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberation, his mistrust of communism broke down and he began reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, eventually embracing the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism. Commenting on communism, he later stated that he "found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal." In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law firm, which was owned by a communist, although his increasing commitment to work and activism meant he spent less time with his family.
In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path of nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons, but Mandela instead considered it pragmatic. At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed an assembled crowd of 10,000 people, initiating the campaign protests for which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison. These events established Mandela as one of the best-known black political figures in South Africa. With further protests, the ANC's membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000 members; the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the Public Safety Act, 1953 to permit martial law. In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANC president J. B. Marks from making public appearances; unable to maintain his position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed his candidacy, Mandela was elected to be regional president in October.
In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as one of the 21 accused—among them Moroka, Sisulu and Yusuf Dadoo—in Johannesburg. Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that the government used to describe most opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended for two years. In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or talking to more than one individual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical, and during this period the Defiance Campaign petered out. In September 1953, Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-Plan, involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.
Mandela obtained work as an attorney for the firm Terblanche and Brigish, before moving to the liberal-run Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Tambo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved black people, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act; as a result, their clientele dwindled. As a lawyer of aristocratic heritage, Mandela was part of Johannesburg's elite black middle-class, and accorded much respect from the black community. Although a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. He may have had affairs with ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela in this period have stated that the latter bore him a child. Disgusted by her son's behaviour, Nosekeni returned to Transkei, while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected Mandela's preoccupation with politics.
=== Congress of the People and the Treason Trial: 1955–1961 ===
After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent action would prove necessary to end apartheid and white minority rule. On his advice, Sisulu requested weaponry from the People's Republic of China, which was denied. Although the Chinese government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insufficiently prepared for guerrilla warfare. With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the People, calling on all South Africans to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom Charter was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisation of major industry. The charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference in Kliptown, which was forcibly closed down by police. The tenets of the Freedom Charter remained important for Mandela, and in 1956 he described it as "an inspiration to the people of South Africa".
Following the end of a second ban in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discuss the implications of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local Xhosa chiefs, also visiting his mother and Noengland before proceeding to Cape Town. In March 1956, he received his third ban on public appearances, restricting him to Johannesburg for five years, but he often defied it. Mandela's marriage broke down and Evelyn left him, taking their children to live with her brother. Initiating divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; he denied the allegations and fought for custody of their children. She withdrew her petition of separation in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's care. During the divorce proceedings, he began courting a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana in June 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison. Together they had two children: Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa (1960–2020).
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive and accused of "high treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests, they underwent a preparatory examination before being granted bail. The defence's refutation began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé, and continued until the case was adjourned in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the case, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying to have the three judges—all linked to the governing National Party—replaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in October the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November which argued that the ANC leadership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution, a charge the defendants denied.
In April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC); Mandela disagreed with the PAC's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve". Both parties took part in an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally obliged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in the Sharpeville massacre. The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting throughout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.
Responding to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial law and banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists, imprisoning them for five months without charge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria Local prison. Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in protest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency was lifted in late August 1960. Over the following months, Mandela used his free time to organise an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa became a republic. On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges produced a verdict of not guilty, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of "high treason", since they had advocated neither communism nor violent revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.
=== MK, the SACP, and African tour: 1961–1962 ===
Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell structure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press—a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel—a warrant for his arrest was put out by the police. Mandela held secret meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was morally opposed to violence—and allied activist groups of its necessity.
Inspired by the actions of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961, Mandela, Sisulu and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming chairman of the militant group, Mandela gained ideas from literature on guerrilla warfare by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the latter's reputation, MK was later widely recognised as the party's armed wing. Most early MK members were white communists who were able to conceal Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution. Although in later life Mandela denied, for political reasons, ever being a member of the Communist Party, historical research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This was confirmed by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee.
Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful action, did not involve killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterwards; he nevertheless acknowledged that should this have failed then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary. Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.
The ANC decided to send Mandela as a delegate to the February 1962 meeting of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leaving South Africa in secret via Bechuanaland, on his way Mandela visited Tanganyika and met with its president, Julius Nyerere. Arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selassie's at the conference. After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5,000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian president William Tubman and Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré. He left Africa for London, England, where he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters and prominent politicians. Upon returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa by the ANC's leadership.
== Imprisonment ==
=== Arrest and Rivonia trial: 1962–1964 ===
On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick. Many MK members suspected that the authorities had been tipped off with regard to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave these ideas little credence. In later years, Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat, revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency, which feared Mandela's associations with communists, had informed the South African police of his location. Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court. Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London International Programmes. His hearing began in October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika".
On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those that they found there and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from December 1963 until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents and photographs to the trial.
Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech—which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was widely reported in the press despite official censorship. The speech had been polished and edited by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, a South African Jewish novelist, and British journalist Anthony Sampson, both of whom cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society, following Mandela's direction. The trial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency. On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.
=== Robben Island: 1964–1982 ===
In 1964, Mandela and his co-accused were transferred from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years. Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep. Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight. At night, he worked on his LLB degree, which he was obtaining from the University of London through a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was initially classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, meaning that he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.
The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikes—the latter considered largely ineffective by Mandela—to improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid struggle. ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ" along with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba, and he involved himself in a group, named Ulundi, that represented all political prisoners (including Eddie Daniels) on the island, through which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. Initiating the "University of Robben Island", whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, he debated socio-political topics with his comrades.
Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela studied Islam. He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the warders and convert them to his cause. Various official visitors met with Mandela, most significantly the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed Mandela's cause outside of prison. In September 1970, he met British Labour Party politician Denis Healey. South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but he and Mandela did not get along with each other. His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral. His wife was rarely able to see him, being regularly imprisoned for political activity, and his daughters first visited in December 1975. Winnie was released from prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort and remained unable to see him.
From 1967 onwards, prison conditions improved. Black prisoners were given trousers rather than shorts, games were permitted, and the standard of their food was raised. In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but it was abandoned after the conspiracy was infiltrated by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape. In 1970, Commander Piet Badenhorst became commanding officer. Mandela, seeing an increase in the physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenhorst reassigned. He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.
By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner, which allowed him greater numbers of visits and letters. He corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu, and wrote to Albert Luthuli's widow Nokukhanya Bhengu to offer his condolences when he died. Also in 1975, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained unpublished at the time; prison authorities discovered several pages, and his LLB study privileges were revoked for four years. Instead, he devoted his spare time to gardening and reading until the authorities permitted him to resume his LLB degree studies in 1980.
By the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but, following the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island. Mandela tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists. Renewed international interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. In March 1980, the slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign that led the UN Security Council to call for his release. Despite increasing foreign pressure, the government refused, relying on its Cold War allies US president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela's ANC a terrorist organisation sympathetic to communism and supported its suppression.
=== Pollsmoor Prison: 1982–1988 ===
In April 1982, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town, along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba; they believed that they were being isolated to remove their influence on younger activists at Robben Island. Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than at Robben Island, although Mandela missed the camaraderie and scenery of the island. Getting on well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela was permitted to create a roof garden; he also read voraciously and corresponded widely, now being permitted 52 letters a year. He was appointed patron of the multi-racial United Democratic Front (UDF), founded to combat reforms implemented by South African president P. W. Botha. Botha's National Party government had permitted Coloured and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments, which had control over education, health and housing, but black Africans were excluded from the system. Like Mandela, the UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid movement on racial lines.
The early 1980s witnessed an escalation of violence across the country, and many predicted civil war. This was accompanied by economic stagnation as various multinational banks—under pressure from an international lobby—had stopped investing in South Africa. Numerous banks and Thatcher asked Botha to release Mandela—then at the height of his international fame—to defuse the volatile situation. Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist", Botha offered him, in February 1985, a release from prison if he "unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his daughter Zindzi stating, "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."
In 1985, Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland before being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor. He was met by an international delegation sent to negotiate a settlement, but Botha's government refused to co-operate, calling a state of emergency in June and initiating a police crackdown on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC committing 231 attacks in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The violence escalated as the government used the army and police to combat the resistance and provided covert support for vigilante groups and the Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was involved in an increasingly violent struggle with the ANC. Mandela requested talks with Botha but was denied, instead secretly meeting with Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987, and having a further 11 meetings over the next three years. Coetsee organised negotiations between Mandela and a team of four government figures starting in May 1988; the team agreed to the release of political prisoners and the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break links with the Communist Party, and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions, insisting that the ANC would end its armed activities only when the government renounced violence.
Mandela's 70th birthday in July 1988 attracted international attention, including a tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium that was televised and watched by an estimated 200 million viewers. Although presented globally as a heroic figure, he faced personal problems when ANC leaders informed him that Winnie had set herself up as head of a gang, the "Mandela United Football Club", which had been responsible for torturing and killing opponents—including children—in Soweto. Though some encouraged him to divorce her, he decided to remain loyal until she was found guilty by trial.
=== Victor Verster Prison and release: 1988–1990 ===
Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the damp conditions in his cell, Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988. He was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, and he used the time to complete his LLB degree. While there, he was permitted many visitors and organised secret communications with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.
In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke; although he retained the state presidency, he stepped down as leader of the National Party, to be replaced by F. W. de Klerk. In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July 1989, an invitation Mandela considered genial. Botha was replaced as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new president believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some were deeply opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting both men considered friendly, before legalising all formerly banned political parties in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release. Shortly thereafter, for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in South Africa.
Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of amassed crowds and the press; the event was broadcast live across the world. Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but he made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid". He expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations, so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections. Staying at Tutu's home, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium.
Mandela was a planned target of Project Coast with the intention to poison him with toxic agents to damage his mental capacities whilst he was incarcerated during the Botha regime. According to later witnesses during the trial of Dr. Wouter Basson in 2002, the initial plan was to poison Mandela with thallium shortly before his release in 1990.
== End of apartheid and elections ==
=== Early negotiations: 1990–1991 ===
Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Algeria, and continuing to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo, and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium. Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the apartheid government, he met President François Mitterrand in France, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, and Thatcher in the United Kingdom. In the United States, he met President George H. W. Bush, addressed both Houses of Congress and visited eight cities, being particularly popular among the African American community. In Cuba, he became friends with President Castro, whom he had long admired. He met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia. He visited Japan, but not the Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.
In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 11 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur Minute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August, Mandela—recognising the ANC's severe military disadvantage—offered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which he was widely criticised by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and build the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1,600 delegates, many of whom found him more moderate than expected. At the ANC's July 1991 national conference in Durban, Mandela admitted that the party had faults and wanted to build a task force for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected ANC President, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered national executive was elected.
Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winnie's large Soweto home. Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, but he supported her during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but, in June 1991, she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison, reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down from the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. Mandela's prospects for a peaceful transition were further damaged by an increase in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but the ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela argued that there was a "third force" within the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed de Klerk—whom he increasingly distrusted—for the Sebokeng massacre. In September 1991, a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg at which Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord, though the violence continued.
=== CODESA talks: 1991–1992 ===
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a key figure. After de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's violence, Mandela took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as the "head of an illegitimate, discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation was achieved. CODESA 2 was held in May 1992, at which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to ensure the protection of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority rule. Following the Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and proposed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state terrorism". Calling for domestic mass action, in August the ANC organised the largest-ever strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.
Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed to do so on the conditions that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels would be fenced off; de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The negotiations agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing influence. The ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil servants; such concessions brought fierce internal criticism. The duo agreed on an interim constitution based on a liberal democratic model, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court, and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.
The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of black ethnic-secessionist groups like Inkatha and far-right Afrikaner parties; in June 1993, one of the latter—the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)—attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre. Following the murder of ANC activist Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting, soon after appearing at a mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died of a stroke. In July 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk visited the United States, independently meeting President Bill Clinton, and each receiving the Liberty Medal. Soon after, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures, and he played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed foreign investment. Although criticised by socialist ANC members, he had been encouraged to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties at the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
=== General election: 1994 ===
With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices and orchestrating People's Forums across the country at which Mandela could appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans. The ANC campaigned on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would be funded. With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime. He also urged a reduction in the voting age from 18 to 14; rejected by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.
Concerned that COSAG would undermine the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell House massacre—incidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectively—Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system. With de Klerk, he also convinced Inkatha's Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession. As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeared on a televised debate; Mandela's offer to shake his hand surprised him, leading some commentators to deem it a victory for Mandela. The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell killed 20 with car bombs. As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 63% of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking one. Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured his election as president, he publicly accepted that the election had been marred by instances of fraud and sabotage.
== Presidency of South Africa: 1994–1999 ==
The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South Africa's first black chief executive. His inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by four thousand guests, including world leaders from a wide range of geographic and ideological backgrounds. Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANC—which had no experience of governing by itself—but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under the Interim Constitution, Inkatha and the National Party were entitled to seats in the government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with earlier agreements, both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President. Although Mbeki had not been his first choice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to shape policy details. Moving into the presidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate, instead settling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. Retaining his Houghton home, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, meeting with locals, and judging tribal disputes.
Aged 76, he faced various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely. He often entertained celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and the Spice Girls, and befriended wealthy businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo American. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, which earned him strong criticism from ANC anti-capitalists. Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela lived simply, donating a third of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which he had founded in 1995. Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out in favour of freedom of the press and befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-class whites and believing that it focused too heavily on scaremongering about crime.
In December 1994, Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based around a manuscript he had written in prison, augmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard Stengel. In late 1994, he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein, at which a more militant national executive was elected, among them was his wife, Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August 1995. By 1995, he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had first met in July 1990 when she was still in mourning, but their friendship grew into a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned down Mandela's first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her time between Maputo and Johannesburg.
=== National reconciliation ===
Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation". Although his Government of National Unity would be dominated by the ANC, he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as Deputy President and appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs. The other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whom—like Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj and Dullah Omar—had long been comrades of Mandela, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were far younger. Mandela's relationship with de Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk felt that he was being intentionally humiliated by the president. In January 1995, Mandela heavily chastised de Klerk for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police officers just before the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan when the latter was charged with murder.
Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including lawyer Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombee, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. Emphasising personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt at the final against New Zealand, and after the Springboks won the match, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. This was widely seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans." Mandela's efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of white people, but also drew criticism from more militant black people. Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC of being more interested in appeasing the white community than in helping the black majority.
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the commission granted individual amnesties in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings and assassinations before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela praised the commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future".
=== Domestic programmes ===
Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, and 12 million lacked clean water supplies, with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation or job creation. In 1996, the RDP was replaced with a new policy, Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), which maintained South Africa's mixed economy but placed an emphasis on economic growth through a framework of market economics and the encouragement of foreign investment; many in the ANC derided it as a neo-liberal policy that did not address social inequality, no matter how Mandela defended it. In adopting this approach, Mandela's government adhered to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99. The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child maintenance grants and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups. In 1994, free healthcare was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996. By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3 million people.
The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants living on farms where they grew crops or grazed livestock. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65. Recognising that arms manufacturing was a key industry for the South African economy, Mandela endorsed the trade in weapons but brought in tighter regulations surrounding Armscor to ensure that South African weaponry was not sold to authoritarian regimes. Under Mandela's administration, tourism was increasingly promoted, becoming a major sector of the South African economy.
Critics like Edwin Cameron accused Mandela's government of doing little to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country; by 1999, 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive. Mandela later admitted that he had personally neglected the issue, in part due to public reticence in discussing issues surrounding sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the issue for Mbeki to deal with. Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest crime rates, and the activities of international crime syndicates in the country grew significantly throughout the decade. Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem of corruption.
Further problems were caused by the exodus of thousands of skilled white South Africans from the country, who were escaping the increasing crime rates, higher taxes and the impact of positive discrimination toward black people in employment. This exodus resulted in a brain drain, and Mandela criticised those who left. At the same time, South Africa experienced an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer parts of Africa; although public opinion toward these illegal immigrants was generally unfavourable, characterising them as disease-spreading criminals who were a drain on resources, Mandela called on South Africans to embrace them as "brothers and sisters".
=== Foreign affairs ===
Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be the core of international relations". Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation. In September 1998, Mandela was appointed secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their annual conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests" of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he was criticised by both Israel and India. Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Malaysia, although this was prevented by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He extended diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC), who were growing as an economic force, and initially also to Taiwan, who were already longstanding investors in the South African economy. However, under pressure from the PRC, he cut recognition of Taiwan in November 1996, and he paid an official visit to Beijing in May 1999.
Mandela attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian president Suharto, whose regime was responsible for mass human rights abuses, although on a July 1997 visit to Indonesia he privately urged Suharto to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor. He also faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria, Cuba and Libya and for his personal friendships with Castro and Gaddafi. Castro visited South Africa in 1998 to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted such criticism as having racist undertones, and stated that "the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies." Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute between Libya and the United States and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in November 1991 and accused of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which was agreed to by all parties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.
Mandela echoed Mbeki's calls for an "African Renaissance", and he was greatly concerned with issues on the continent. He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but later became a leading figure in calling for sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human rights violations. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in Zaire. He also played a key role as a mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu political groups in the Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement which brought increased stability to the country but did not end the ethnic violence. In South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation, troops were ordered into Lesotho in September 1998 to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disputed election had prompted opposition uprisings. The action was not authorised by Mandela himself, who was out of the country at the time, but by Buthelezi, who was serving as acting president during Mandela's absence, with the approval of Mandela and Mbeki.
=== Withdrawing from politics ===
The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining a series of institutions to place checks on political and administrative authority within a constitutional democracy. De Klerk opposed the implementation of this constitution, and that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest, claiming that the ANC were not treating them as equals. The ANC took over the cabinet positions formerly held by the Nationals, with Mbeki becoming sole Deputy President. Inkatha remained part of the coalition, and when both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country in September 1998, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship with Mandela. Although Mandela had often governed decisively in his first two years as president, he had subsequently increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki, retaining only a close personal supervision of intelligence and security measures. During a 1997 visit to London, he said that "the ruler of South Africa, the de facto ruler, is Thabo Mbeki" and that he was "shifting everything to him".
Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997 conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless. Mandela and the Executive supported Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, as Mbeki's replacement for Deputy President. Zuma's candidacy was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric had gained her a strong following within the party, although Zuma defeated her in a landslide victory vote at the election.
Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998, he publicly stated that he was "in love with a remarkable lady", and under pressure from Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his 80th birthday, in July that year. The following day, he held a grand party with many foreign dignitaries. Although the 1996 constitution allowed the president to serve two consecutive five-year terms, Mandela had never planned to stand for a second term in office. He gave his farewell speech to Parliament on 29 March 1999 when it adjourned prior to the 1999 general elections, after which he retired. Although opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popular, with 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.
== Post-presidency and final years ==
=== Continued activism and philanthropy: 1999–2004 ===
Retiring in June 1999, Mandela aimed to lead a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. Although he set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be titled The Presidential Years, it remained unfinished and was only published posthumously in 2017. Mandela found such seclusion difficult and reverted to a busy public life involving a daily programme of tasks, meetings with world leaders and celebrities, and—when in Johannesburg—working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS. Although he had been heavily criticised for failing to do enough to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to the issue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all previous wars"; affiliating himself with the Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's government to ensure that HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retrovirals. Meanwhile, Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.
In 2002, Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS. He gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as HIV/AIDS. Mandela publicised AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005, to defy the stigma about discussing the disease.
Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world. In 2003, he spoke out against the plans for the United States to launch a war in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair (whom he referred to as an "American foreign minister") for undermining the UN, saying, "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil". He attacked the United States more generally, asserting that "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America", citing the atomic bombing of Japan; this attracted international controversy, although he later improved his relationship with Bush. Retaining an interest in the Lockerbie suspect, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions of his treatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".
=== "Retiring from retirement": 2004–2013 ===
In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from retirement" and retreating from public life, remarking, "Don't call me, I will call you." Although continuing to meet with close friends and family, the foundation discouraged invitations for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.
He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust, travelling to the United States to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa. He spoke with US senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush and first met the then-senator Barack Obama. Mandela also encouraged Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country. When this proved ineffective, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity". That year, Mandela, Machel and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their wisdom and independent leadership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delivered on his 89th birthday.
Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008; a tribute concert was held in Hyde Park, London. Throughout Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, usually overshadowing Mbeki at any public events that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor, Zuma, although the Nelson Mandela Foundation was upset when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.
In 2004, Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring that there would be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the fall of apartheid. Despite maintaining a low profile during the event due to ill health, Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received much applause. Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a series of legal disputes regarding money held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants. In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in Pretoria, his descendants were involved in an intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's children, and ultimately Mandela himself.
=== Illness and death: 2011–2013 ===
In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international attention, before being re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012. After a successful medical procedure in early March 2013, his lung infection recurred and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. In June 2013, his lung infection worsened and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition. The Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba visited Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Machel, while Zuma cancelled a trip to Mozambique to visit him the following day. In September 2013, Mandela was discharged from hospital, although his condition remained unstable.
After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, at around 20:50 local time at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family. Zuma publicly announced his death on television, proclaiming ten days of national mourning, a memorial service held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013, and 8 December as a national day of prayer and reflection. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu. Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled to South Africa to attend memorial events. It was later revealed that 300 million rand (about 20 million dollars) originally earmarked for humanitarian development projects had been redirected to finance the funeral. The media was awash with tributes and reminiscences, while images of tributes to Mandela proliferated across social media. His US$4.1 million estate was left to his widow, other family members, staff, and educational institutions.
== Political ideology ==
Mandela identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC, and as a socialist. He was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political theorist. According to biographer Tom Lodge, "for Mandela, politics has always been primarily about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about morally exemplary conduct, and only secondarily about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends."
The historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni described Mandela as a "liberal African nationalist–decolonial humanist", while political analyst Raymond Suttner cautioned against labelling Mandela a liberal and stated that Mandela displayed a "hybrid socio-political make-up". Mandela adopted some of his political ideas from other thinkers—among them Indian independence leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, African American civil rights activists, and African nationalists like Nkrumah—and applied them to the South African situation. At the same time, he rejected other aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment of many African nationalists. In doing so he synthesised both counter-cultural and hegemonic views, for instance by drawing upon ideas from the then-dominant Afrikaner nationalism in promoting his anti-apartheid vision.
His political development was strongly influenced by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to achieve change not through violence but through "legal revolution". Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation. When endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative, and was always pragmatic about it, perceiving it as a means to get his opponent to the negotiating table. He sought to target symbols of white supremacy and racist oppression rather than white people as individuals and was anxious not to inaugurate a race war in South Africa. This willingness to use violence distinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism, with which some commentators have sought to associate him.
=== Democracy ===
Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, Mandela was a devout believer in democracy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them. He had exhibited a commitment to the values of democracy and human rights since at least the 1960s. He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals of democracy, and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights. Suttner argued that there were "two modes of leadership" that Mandela adopted. On one side he adhered to ideas about collective leadership, although on the other believed that there were scenarios in which a leader had to be decisive and act without consultation to achieve a particular objective.
According to Lodge, Mandela's political thought reflected tensions between his support for liberal democracy and pre-colonial African forms of consensus decision making. He was an admirer of British-style parliamentary democracy, stating that, "I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of its judiciary never fail to arouse my admiration." In this he has been described as being committed to "the Euro-North American modernist project of emancipation", something which distinguishes him from other African nationalist and socialist leaders like Nyerere who were concerned about embracing styles of democratic governance that were Western, rather than African, in origin. Mandela nevertheless also expressed admiration for what he deemed to be indigenous forms of democracy, describing Xhosa traditional society's mode of governance as "democracy in its purest form".
=== Socialism and Marxism ===
Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society, with Sampson describing him as being "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money". Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the revolution he advocated scientific socialism. He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial, and maintained this stance both when later talking to journalists, and in his autobiography, where he outlined that the cooperation with the SACP was pragmatic, asking rhetorically, "who is to say that we were not using them?" According to the sociologist Craig Soudien, "sympathetic as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not." Conversely, the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela had assimilated much of the Marxist–Leninist ideology by 1960.
Ellis also found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) during the late 1950s and early 1960s, something that was confirmed after his death by both the ANC and the SACP, the latter of which claimed that he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee. His membership had been hidden by the ANC, aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to his attempts to attract support from Western countries. Mandela's view of these Western governments differed from those of Marxist–Leninists, for he did not believe that they were anti-democratic or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.
The 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and land, to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency in line with trends in other countries of the time. It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred to develop a social democratic economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result of the international political and economic situation during the early 1990s. This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.
== Personality and personal life ==
Mandela was widely considered a charismatic leader, described by biographer Mary Benson as "a born mass leader who could not help magnetising people". He was highly image conscious and throughout his life always sought out fine quality clothes, with many commentators believing that he carried himself in a regal manner. His aristocratic heritage was repeatedly emphasised by supporters, thus contributing to his "charismatic power". While living in Johannesburg in the 1950s, he cultivated the image of the "African gentleman", having "the pressed clothes, correct manners, and modulated public speech" associated with such a position. In doing so, Lodge argued that Mandela became "one of the first media politicians ... embodying a glamour and a style that projected visually a brave new African world of modernity and freedom". Mandela was known to change his clothes several times a day, and he became so associated with highly coloured Batik shirts after assuming the presidency that they came to be known as "Madiba shirts".
For political scientists Betty Glad and Robert Blanton, Mandela was an "exceptionally intelligent, shrewd, and loyal leader". His official biographer, Anthony Sampson, commented that he was a "master of imagery and performance", excelling at presenting himself well in press photographs and producing sound bites. His public speeches were presented in a formal, stiff manner, and often consisted of clichéd set phrases. He typically spoke slowly, and carefully chose his words. Although he was not considered a great orator, his speeches conveyed "his personal commitment, charm and humour".
Mandela was a private person who often concealed his emotions and confided in very few people. Privately, he lived an austere life, refusing to drink alcohol or smoke, and even as president made his own bed. Renowned for his mischievous sense of humour, he was known for being both stubborn and loyal, and at times exhibited a quick temper. He was typically friendly and welcoming, and appeared relaxed in conversation with everyone, including his opponents. A self-described Anglophile, he claimed to have lived by the "trappings of British style and manners". Constantly polite and courteous, he was attentive to all, irrespective of their age or status, and often talked to children or servants. He was known for his ability to find common ground with very different communities. In later life, he always looked for the best in people, even defending political opponents to his allies, who sometimes thought him too trusting of others. He was fond of Indian cuisine, and had a lifelong interest in archaeology and boxing.
He was raised in the Methodist denomination of Christianity; the Methodist Church of Southern Africa claimed that he retained his allegiance to them throughout his life. On analysing Mandela's writings, the theologian Dion Forster described him as a Christian humanist, adding that his thought relied to a greater extent on the Southern African concept of Ubuntu than on Christian theology. According to Sampson, Mandela never had "a strong religious faith", while Elleke Boehmer stated that Mandela's religious belief was "never robust".
Mandela was very self-conscious about being a man and regularly made references to manhood. He was heterosexual, and biographer Fatima Meer said that he was "easily tempted" by women. Another biographer, Martin Meredith, characterised him as being "by nature a romantic", highlighting that he had relationships with various women. Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren and at least seventeen great-grandchildren. He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his grandchildren. His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944; they divorced in March 1958 under the multiple strains of his alleged adultery and constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion requiring political neutrality. Mandela's second wife was the social worker Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he married in June 1958. They divorced in March 1996, following reports of her affairs and her involvement in political corruption and violence. Mandela married his third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998.
Biographers have noted that Mandela's early life included complex and often private relationships. British journalist David James Smith, author of Young Mandela, noted: "He constantly had a multiplicity of relationships in those years... Zindzi [his daughter] told me he was a bit of a player and she wouldn't be surprised if more children came forward".
In 2010, the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian reported the case of Mpho Pule, who believed she was Mandela's daughter and had attempted multiple times to meet Mandela. Pule claimed to have learned in 1998 from her grandmother that she was the result of a brief relationship between Mandela and Seipati Monakali in Cape Town in 1945. She died in 2009. Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, dismissed the claim due to the lack of DNA evidence. Verne Harris of the Nelson Mandela Foundation acknowledged that Pule's account aligned with Mandela's historical timeline but deferred responsibility to the family.
In 2013, Onica Nyembezi Mothoa claimed to be Mandela's daughter, born in 1947 to Sophie Majeni, a domestic worker in Pretoria. Mothoa alleged that her mother had a relationship with Mandela during the 1940s and was forced into hiding due to fears of political repercussions under apartheid. Mothoa claimed to have made several unsuccessful attempts to meet Mandela from as early as 2003.
== Reception and legacy ==
By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father of the nation" and "the founding father of democracy". Outside of South Africa, he was a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rita Barnard describing him as "one of the most revered figures of our time". One biographer considered him "a modern democratic hero". Some have portrayed Mandela in messianic terms, in contrast to his own statement that "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." He is often cited alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders. Boehmer described him as "a totem of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy" and "a universal symbol of social justice".
Mandela's international fame emerged during his incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous political prisoner, a symbol of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality. In 1986, Mandela's biographer characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for liberation" in South Africa. Meredith stated that in becoming "a potent symbol of resistance" to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally. Sampson commented that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint". Within a decade of the end of his presidency, Mandela's era was widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony", with much nostalgia being expressed for it. His name was often invoked by those criticising his successors like Mbeki and Zuma. Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation, coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". Mandela's iconic status has been blamed for concealing the complexities of his life.
Mandela generated controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician, having detractors on both the right and the left. During the 1980s, Mandela was widely labelled a terrorist by prominent political figures in the Western world for his embrace of political violence. According to Thatcher, for instance, the ANC was "a typical terrorist organisation". The US government's State and Defense departments officially designated the ANC as a terrorist organisation, resulting in Mandela remaining on their terrorism watch-list until 2008. On the left, some voices in the ANC—among them Frank B. Wilderson III—accused him of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government and for not implementing the reforms of the Freedom Charter during his presidency. According to Barnard, "there is also a sense in which his chiefly bearing and mode of conduct, the very respect and authority he accrued in representing his nation in his own person, went against the spirit of democracy", and concerns were similarly expressed that he placed his own status and celebrity above the transformation of his country. His government would be criticised for its failure to deal with both the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the high levels of poverty in South Africa.
The "Mandela effect" refers to false memories shared by a large group of people. The term originated due to the widespread false memory of Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s.
=== Orders, decorations, monuments, and honours ===
Over the course of his life, Mandela was given more than 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees and citizenships in recognition of his political achievements. Among his awards were the Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. In 1990, India awarded him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992 Pakistan gave him their Nishan-e-Pakistan. The same year, he was awarded the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey; he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but later accepted the award in 1999. He was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Canada, and was the first living person to be made an honorary Canadian citizen. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John and granted him membership in the Order of Merit.
In 2004, Johannesburg granted Mandela the Freedom of the City, and in 2008 a Mandela statue was unveiled at the spot where Mandela was released from prison. On the Day of Reconciliation 2013, a bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled at Pretoria's Union Buildings. In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Mandela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement. In 2015 the UN General Assembly named the amended Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as "the Mandela Rules" to honour his legacy. Subsequently, the years 2019 to 2028 were also designated the United Nations Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.
=== Biographies and popular media ===
The first biography of Mandela was based on brief interviews with him that the author, Mary Benson, had conducted in the 1960s. Two authorised biographies were later produced by friends of Mandela. The first was Fatima Meer's Higher Than Hope, which was heavily influenced by Winnie and thus placed great emphasis on Mandela's family. The second was Anthony Sampson's Mandela, published in 1999. Other biographies included Martin Meredith's Mandela, first published in 1997, and Tom Lodge's Mandela, brought out in 2006.
Since the late 1980s, Mandela's image began to appear on a proliferation of items, among them "photographs, paintings, drawings, statues, public murals, buttons, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more", items that have been characterised as "Mandela kitsch". In the 1980s he was the subject of several songs, such as The Specials' "Free Nelson Mandela", Hugh Masekela's "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)", and Johnny Clegg's "Asimbonanga (Mandela)", which helped to bring awareness of his imprisonment to an international audience.
Mandela has also been depicted in films on multiple occasions. Some of these, such as the 2013 feature film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the 2017 miniseries Madiba and the 1996 documentary Mandela, have focused on covering his adult life in entirety or until his inaugural as president. Others, such as the 2009 feature film Invictus and the 2010 documentary The 16th Man, have focused on specific events in his life. Lukhele has argued that in Invictus and other films, "the America film industry" has played a significant part in "the crafting of Mandela's global image". |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Baddeley | Aaron Baddeley | Aaron John Baddeley (born 17 March 1981) is an Australian professional golfer.
== Early life ==
Baddeley was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire in the United States. However, his family moved to Australia when he was two years old. As a teen, Baddeley was perceived as one of the most promising golf talents in the world.
== Amateur career ==
Baddeley was the youngest player ever to represent Australia in the Eisenhower Trophy. He won the Holden Australian Open as an amateur in 1999.
== Professional career ==
In 2000, Baddeley turned pro. He successfully defended his Australian Open title in 2000. He was awarded the 2000 Australian Young Male Athlete of the Year. In 2001, he won the Greg Norman Holden International in Australia. He won the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit in 2000/01.
In 2002, Baddeley played on the second tier Nationwide Tour in the U.S. and placed tenth on the money list to earn a PGA Tour card for 2003. He had second-place finishes on the PGA Tour in 2003 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and 2004 at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. However he struggled for consistency, and after a solid rookie season, when he finished 73rd on the money list, he only just retained his card in 2004, when he came 124th. In 2005 he moved back up the rankings to 78th and in 2006 he won his first PGA Tour title at the Verizon Heritage.
Baddeley won his second PGA Tour tournament in early 2007 and reached the top 50 of the world rankings. By September, he had entered the top 20. His career high ranking was 17th in 2008.
Baddeley was the leader after the third round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club on 16 June 2007 with a two over par score of 212 (72-70-70). He finished with an 80 and ended T-13.
After a lull in form over the following few seasons, where he was finishing only in the lower reaches of the top-125 on the money list, Baddeley returned to the winner's circle when he won the 2011 Northern Trust Open in California. He defended a one-shot third-round lead over Kevin Na and veteran Fred Couples, completing a steady closing round of 69 to beat another veteran, Vijay Singh, by two strokes.
In October 2011, Baddeley was selected by Greg Norman as one of his two wildcard picks for the 2011 Presidents Cup team. He was selected along with fellow Australian Robert Allenby to compete at Royal Melbourne in November.
Statistically speaking, Baddeley frequently ranks as one of the very best putters on the PGA Tour. As of 2010, he has qualified for the Tour's end-of-season statistical rankings 8 times; of those, he finished among the circuit's top 10 in putts per green in regulation five times, and among the top 15 seven times. The only qualified season in which Baddeley was not among the PGA Tour's top 15 putters by that metric came in 2004, when he finished 64th out of 196 players.
Baddeley started the 2015–16 season playing out of the Past Champions category after finishing 157th in the FedEx Cup and failing to regain a PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals. He earned his first win in five years at the 2016 Barbasol Championship, beating Kim Si-woo in a four-hole playoff.
== Personal life ==
Baddeley is a committed Christian and has confessed that it was his faith that prevented him from giving up professional golf on numerous occasions.
Baddeley's wife Richelle, whom he married on 15 April 2005, sums up Baddeley's faith in God, saying: "It never faltered. He never asked, 'What are you trying to teach me? I want you to be the man you want me to be. I will go through these [bad] times if that is Your will'."
Richelle has also been pivotal to Baddeley's resurgence. "I had to learn the balance of letting him be alone when he comes home sometimes upset. It's sheer frustration from him. He's played his best, and it just hasn't happened," she said.
Baddeley and his wife have six children: Jewell, Jolee, Jeremiah, Josiah, Jaddex and Jedidiah.
He has joint U.S. and Australian citizenship. He represents Australia in golf.
== Amateur wins ==
this list may be incomplete
1998 Victorian Amateur Championship, Victorian Junior Masters
1999 Riversdale Cup
== Professional wins (8) ==
=== PGA Tour wins (4) ===
PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)
=== European Tour wins (2) ===
1Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia
European Tour playoff record (2–0)
=== PGA Tour of Australasia wins (4) ===
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (2–0)
== Results in major championships ==
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place
=== Summary ===
Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2014 U.S. Open – 2018 U.S. Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 0
== Results in The Players Championship ==
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic
== Results in World Golf Championships ==
DQ = Disqualified
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
== PGA Tour career summary ==
* Through the 2024 season.
Note: Baddeley did not join the PGA Tour until 2003 so he was not ranked on the money list until then.
== Team appearances ==
Amateur
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Australia): 1998, 2000
Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches (representing Victoria): 1998, 1999
Professional
World Cup (representing Australia): 2001
Presidents Cup (International Team): 2011 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bear_(TV_series) | The Bear (TV series) | The Bear is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer for FX on Hulu. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy Berzatto, an award-winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother's Italian beef sandwich shop. The regular cast includes Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott, Matty Matheson, and Edwin Lee Gibson.
All episodes of the first season were released on FX on Hulu on June 23, 2022; the second season was released on June 22, 2023. In November 2023, the series was renewed for a third season, which was released on June 26, 2024. Ahead of the third-season premiere, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which released on June 25, 2025. The series was renewed for a fifth and final season in July 2025.
The series has received critical acclaim for its performances, writing, directing, visual style, soundtrack, and production values. The series' classification as a comedy, particularly at award ceremonies, has been contested; reviewers more commonly describe the series as a psychological drama with occasional comedic elements, given its largely dramatic style and focus on heavy topics including suicide, alcoholism, familial trauma, and workplace dysfunction.
The Bear has received many accolades, including twenty-one Primetime Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series) and five Golden Globe Awards (including Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy).
== Premise ==
Talented haute cuisine chef Carmen "Carmy" Anthony Berzatto inherits his family's Italian beef sandwich shop after his older brother Michael's suicide. He goes home to Chicago to run it, leaving behind his world of working in Michelin-starred restaurants. He is left to deal with his brother's unresolved debts, a rundown kitchen, and an unruly staff, while dealing with his own pain and family trauma.
== Cast and characters ==
=== Main ===
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his deceased brother Michael's failing Italian beef restaurant, The Original Beef of Chicagoland (more commonly known as "The Beef"); later he converts The Beef to a fine dining restaurant called The Bear.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, Michael's best friend, the de facto manager of the restaurant; later maître d'hôtel of The Bear.
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney "Syd" Adamu, a talented young chef who joins The Beef as its new sous-chef under Carmy.
Lionel Boyce as Marcus Brooks, The Beef's bread-baker-turned-pastry-chef, spurred on by Sydney and Carmy's mentoring.
Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina Marrero, an acerbic and stubborn line cook who embraces the opportunity to train professionally.
Abby Elliott as Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto, Carmy and Michael's sister, the reluctant co-owner and business manager of The Beef/The Bear.
Matty Matheson as Neil Fak (season 2–present, recurring season 1), a childhood friend of the Berzattos, and sometime handyman for the restaurant.
Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim (season 4, recurring seasons 1–3), a Somali veteran line cook at The Beef who is close with Tina.
=== Recurring ===
=== Guest ===
== Episodes ==
The storyline of The Bear is subdivided into parts marked by onscreen title cards. The Part II title card appears in the first episode of season 2. The Part III title card appears in the first episode of season 3, which concluded with a "to be continued" card.
=== Season 1 (2022) ===
=== Season 2 (2023) ===
=== Season 3 (2024) ===
=== Season 4 (2025) ===
== Production ==
Most of the episodes are roughly half an hour, but running time ranges from the 20-minute "Review" of season one to the 70-minute "Bears" of season four.
=== Development ===
FX ordered a pilot for The Bear in March 2021, to be written and directed by series creator Christopher Storer. FX then ordered the series in October 2021 for a 2022 premiere date. The sandwich shop interior is copied from the Chicago shop Mr. Beef on Orleans Street, in River North. Storer was a frequent patron and is a friend of Christopher Zucchero, the shop's current owner who inherited it from his deceased father.
In July 2022, the series was renewed for a ten-episode second season. In November 2023, it was renewed for a third season. In March 2024, the series was renewed for a fourth season. Parts of the fourth season were filmed during filming for the third season, with production set to restart in 2025. In July 2025, it was renewed for a fifth season. Jamie Lee Curtis later revealed that the series will conclude with the fifth season.
=== Writing ===
Creative Screenwriting magazine wrote in 2025, "Amid a torrent of colorful language, the dialogue in The Bear unfurls as poetry—a meditation, a stream of consciousness, a series of fragmented thoughts. It's messy, natural speech more than dialogue."
=== Notable production staff ===
The show's culinary producer, responsible for the food of The Bear, is co-executive producer Courtney Storer, sister of creator Chris Storer. C. J. Capace is culinary co-producer. The culinary production team includes chef Justin Selk, Nicole Biyani, Danielle Stefanick, Gabriel Wallace, Jeffrey Thomas, and chef Brian Lockwood.
The Bear's lead costume designer is Courtney Wheeler; assistant costume designer is Lariana Santiago. Ally Vickers heads the hair department. The Chicago-based prop master is Laura Roeper, sister of Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper. The production designer is Merje Veski. The art director is Lisa Korpan. Eric Frankel heads the set decoration department.
The show's primary cinematographer is Andrew Wehde. A-camera operator Gary Malouf and B-camera operator Chris Dame had both worked with Storer and Wehde on their previous projects. Scott D. Smith has led the sound mixing team since the pilot episode. Steve "Major" Giammaria is the supervising sound editor. Evan Benjamin is the sound editor for dialogue. The film editors who cut the episodes are Joanna Naugle, Adam Epstein, and Megan Mancini. The color grading is done by Christian Rush and Mishel Hassidim.
=== Music ===
The Bear has a soundtrack of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s alternative and mainstream rock classics, chosen by Storer and executive producer Josh Senior. Several songs featured on the show include Chicago-based Wilco with "Spiders (Kidsmoke)", "Impossible Germany", "Via Chicago", and "Handshake Drugs", Radiohead's "Let Down", Van Morrison's "Saint Dominic's Preview", Pearl Jam's "Animal" and "Come Back", Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago", John Mayer's "Last Train Home", Refused's "New Noise", The Breeders' "Saints", Erasure's "A Little Respect", The Replacements' "Bastards of Young", Counting Crows' "Have You Seen Me Lately?", Genesis' "In Too Deep", Nine Inch Nails' "The Day the World Went Away", John Mellencamp's "Check It Out", R.E.M.'s "Oh My Heart", "Strange Currencies" and "Finest Worksong", Weezer's "The Christmas Song", The Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm", Led Zeppelin's "That's the Way", Oasis's "Stay Young" and Taylor Swift's "Love Story (Taylor's Version)", "Long Live (Taylor's Version) and "Style (Taylor's Version)".
The show's principal composers are Chicagoans Jeffrey "JQ" Qaiyum and Johnny Iguana, whose instrumentals play primarily over "back of house" scenes. In 2025, Iguana told an interviewer, "JQ is a wizard producer. He makes the beats," and described himself as the "chords and notes guy".
== Release ==
The Bear premiered on FX on Hulu in the United States on June 23, 2022, and became available internationally in the Star hub on Disney+. The 10-episode second season was released on June 22, 2023. Along with other Hulu content, The Bear became available to stream on Disney+ in the United States via the Hulu hub on December 6, 2023. The third season was released on June 26, 2024. The fourth season was released on June 25, 2025.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
The Bear has received critical acclaim. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the overall series holds a 93% rating. On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the overall series has received a score of 83 out of 100.
==== Season 1 ====
For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% based on 82 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Like an expertly confected sandwich, The Bear assembles a perfect melange of ingredients and stacks them for optimal satisfaction—and thankfully keeps the crust-iness for extra flavor." Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews.
The American Film Institute named it one of the ten best television programs of the year. The Guardian named it number one of the best 100 TV shows of 2022 and described it as "the best workplace drama since Mad Men". The Bear appeared in the top ten on numerous publications' "Best of 2022" lists, including first for The A.V. Club, BBC, People, and TVLine, among others.
==== Season 2 ====
On Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 113 critic reviews are positive for the second season. The site's critical consensus reads, "Instead of reinventing the menu, The Bear's second season wisely opts to toss its lovable characters into another frying pan of adversity, lets 'em cook, and serves up yet another supremely satisfying dish." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 43 critic reviews.
For the second year in a row, the American Film Institute named The Bear one of the ten best television programs of the year. The Bear appeared on many publications' lists of the best TV shows of 2023, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and People, among others.
==== Season 3 ====
On Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 104 critics gave the third season a positive review. The website's critics consensus states, "Having set an exceedingly high standard of excellence for itself, The Bear spends its third season simmering, stewing, and giving off an aroma that whets the appetite." The website also reported that the season was "as audacious as ever" and it "still seems to continue delivering compelling and often intense television with performances that are so dependably brilliant that they're not even mentioned in most of the reviews. Instead, at this point in a show's life, it's easier to find faults in its sameness or changes, or in its attempts to repeat or outdo itself." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 based on 45 critic reviews.
==== Season 4 ====
On Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 86 critics gave the fourth season a positive review. The website's critics consensus reads, "After simmering for too long, The Bear's fourth season finally turns the heat back up with a renewed sense of urgency, serving a rich meal despite tiresome wait times between courses." Metacritic assigned it a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 40 critic reviews.
=== Accolades ===
==== Genre classification ====
The classification of The Bear as a comedy in certain award ceremonies, specifically the Primetime Emmys, has attracted criticism, given its dramatic style and focus on heavy topics. Proponents of the series' categorization as "comedy" argue that the show unfolds as a dark comedy marked by ridiculous situations and comedic timing, relies on the comedic effect inherent to chaos, is a comedy of errors and is heavily characterized by back-and-forth banter or snark.
In 2024, the series became the most-nominated series in comedy categories at the Emmys with 23 nominations, surpassing 30 Rock which had 22 nominations in 2009. However, it went on to lose the award for Outstanding Comedy Series, which it had been heavily favored to win, to Hacks, with The Hollywood Reporter suggesting that there was an insult among voters over its continued classification as a comedy. In June 2025, Vulture published an article, claiming that "an undercurrent of industry resentment" over the show's lack of comedic content led to its 2024 Comedy Series Emmy loss.
=== Viewership ===
==== Season 1 ====
The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which monitors real-time data from 5 million users in the U.S. for original and acquired streaming programs and movies across subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, reported that The Bear was the second-most-streamed program during the week of July 13. It later rose to become the most-streamed program for the week of July 22, before ranking as the seventh most-streamed during the week of July 27. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, estimated that The Bear was the second most-streamed series in the U.S. during the week ending July 3. It maintained the same position during the week ending July 17. FX announced that the first season of The Bear was the most-watched comedy series in the network's history.
==== Season 2 ====
FX reported that the second season of The Bear was the most-watched season premiere in the network's history. Reelgood calculated that The Bear was the second most-streamed program in the U.S. during the week of June 22. It later rose to first place during the week of June 29. JustWatch reported that The Bear was the most-streamed series in the U.S. during the week ending June 25. Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, announced that The Bear was the eighth most-watched streaming original television series of 2023.
==== Season 3 ====
The season 3 premiere of The Bear garnered 5.4 million views in its first four days of streaming, marking the best performance for an FX premiere on Hulu and the most-watched season premiere for any scripted series on the platform. This viewership represents a 24% increase over the season 2 premiere and accounts for streaming on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S., and Disney+ in available international territories. The Bear achieved the third-largest season premiere for Hulu overall and the biggest Hulu on Disney+ premiere since the bundle's launch on March 27. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, calculated that The Bear was watched for 1,233 million minutes from June 24—30. It surpassed its previous peak of 1.01 billion minutes recorded shortly after the premiere of its second season the previous year. JustWatch reported that The Bear was the third most-streamed show in the United States in 2024, while in Canada, it ranked as the second most-streamed show of the year. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Creley | Jack Creley | Jack Creley (March 6, 1926 – March 10, 2004) was an American-born Canadian actor. Although most prominently a stage actor, he also had film and television roles.
== Background ==
Creley was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 6, 1926. During the Great Depression, his family moved to California, where he acted in amateur theatre as a teenager, until he was old enough to enlist in the United States Army late in World War II. He was shot in the shoulder during the Battle of Okinawa, and spent the rest of his life telling the story that he knew he was destined to become an actor when he realized he was responding to the injury like a character in a John Wayne film.
After the end of the war, he went to New York City to study acting under Erwin Piscator at the Dramatic Workshop, where he was a classmate of Harry Belafonte, Tony Curtis and Rod Steiger. He moved to Montreal in 1951 to take a job with the Mountain Theatre Company, and remained there until 1954, when he moved to Toronto. Soon after moving to Toronto, he met David Smith, who would be his partner for the remainder of his life.
== Acting career ==
In Toronto, he acted on stage, including frequent performances at the Stratford Festival, and often appeared in CBC Television anthology series, including Scope, Playbill, CBC Summer Theatre, Encounter, Folio, Startime, Horizon, Playdate and several Wayne and Shuster sketches, as well as performing in cabaret shows.
In 1956, Creley starred in the Canadian production of Salad Days, and in 1958 he starred in the Canadian production of Visit to a Small Planet. In 1960, he played two roles at the Stratford Festival, as Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and as King Philip in King John.
Creley had his first major film role in 1961, in the Western film The Canadians. After completing a run as Holofernes in a Stratford Festival production of Love's Labour's Lost that summer, he returned to New York to appear in a Broadway production of A Man for All Seasons as Cardinal Wolsey. After completing his run in New York, he appeared in a Stratford Festival production of The Gondoliers, and then went to London to appear alongside Corinne Conley, Dave Broadfoot, Eric House and Eric Christmas in the musical revue Clap Hands at the Hammersmith Theatre. Following the end of that show's run, most of the cast returned to Canada, although Creley remained in London to take a role as Mr. Staines in the film Dr. Strangelove.
After returning to Canada, he appeared in productions of Edward Albee's The Zoo Story and Anton Chekhov's Summer in the Country. During this time, he also became a popular voice-over artist for television commercials, recording at least 18 commercial spots in 1965 and 1966. He directed a musical revue, The Decline and Fall of the Entire World As Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter, in 1965 and 1966, and when he stepped in for several shows in the absence of lead performer Louis Negin, it was his first time singing on stage since the end of Clap Hands in 1963.
In 1966, he appeared as Wilfrid Laurier in the CBC Television miniseries Reluctant Nation, and in 1969 he appeared in the television series Strange Paradise as Laslo Thaxton.
In 1970, he starred in the musical Oh, Coward! at Theatre in the Dell, alongside Patricia Collins and Gordon Thomson. Charles Pope from the Toronto Star called his performance "magnificent".
In 1972 he had his second and final Broadway role, appearing in a production of There's One in Every Marriage as Roubillon, and in 1974 he had his last role at Stratford in a production of The Imaginary Invalid. In this era, he began to appear more often in film and television roles, most notably in the film Videodrome and the television sitcom Snow Job. His final role was a guest appearance on E.N.G. in 1990.
== Personal life ==
Creley and Smith shared ownership of an antique store, The Green Dolphin, beginning in 1955, and later of a clothing store, Mr. Smith. They also had a widespread reputation among actors as being excellent hosts of parties; performers such as Vivien Leigh, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Bea Arthur, and Billy Dee Williams were frequent houseguests of the couple.
Late in life, Creley suffered two strokes, and began to develop aphasia. He died on March 10, 2004, in Toronto.
== Filmography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_musicians | List of Canadian musicians | This is a list of Canadian musicians. Only notable individuals appear here; bands are listed at List of bands from Canada.
== 0-9 ==
2Rude – hip hop/R&B record producer
347aidan – rapper
== A ==
Lee Aaron – jazz and rock singer-songwriter, also known as "Metal Queen"
Abdominal – hip-hop musician
Adaline – singer-songwriter
Bryan Adams – singer-songwriter
Bernard Adamus – singer-songwriter
Susan Aglukark – folk-pop singer-songwriter
AHI – folk singer-songwriter
Lydia Ainsworth – composer/singer
Robert Aitken – composer, flute player
Chuckie Akenz – rapper, songwriter
Pierrette Alarie – opera singer
Emma Albani – opera singer
Jeremie Albino – country/roots rock singer-songwriter
Coco Love Alcorn – pop singer
John Alcorn – jazz singer
Don Alder – fingerstyle guitarist, singer-songwriter, composer
Toya Alexis – R&B singer
Madeleine Allakariallak – Inuk throat singer, folk singer
Chad Allan – singer (the Guess Who)
Andrew Allen – singer
John P. Allen – bluegrass, country and rock fiddler
Lillian Allen – dub poet
Archie Alleyne – jazz drummer
a l l i e – R&B singer
Allie X – singer-songwriter
Tommy Alto – indie rock singer-songwriter
Don Amero – singer-songwriter
Barbra Amesbury – singer-songwriter
Ammoye – reggae singer
Amylie – pop singer-songwriter
Anachnid – pop/electronic singer-songwriter
Laura Anglade – jazz singer
Charlie Angus – alternative country singer-songwriter, writer, politician
Paul Anka – singer-songwriter, 1950s pop star
Matt Andersen – singer-songwriter
Kerri Anderson – pop singer
James Anthony – blues guitarist
Tafari Anthony – rhythm and blues singer
Alan Anton – bassist (Cowboy Junkies)
Aphrose – soul/R&B singer
Natalie Appleton – singer (All Saints)
Aqyila – rhythm and blues singer
Violet Archer – composer
Jann Arden – pop singer-songwriter
Ardn – rapper
Carolyn Arends – Contemporary Christian pop singer
Susie Arioli – jazz singer
Julian Armour – cellist
John Arpin – pianist, composer, recording artist, entertainer
Marie-Pierre Arthur – pop singer-songwriter
Talena Atfield – bassist (Kittie)
Athésia – pop/dance singer
Allison Au – jazz saxophonist
Rich Aucoin – indie rock singer-songwriter
Viviane Audet – singer, composer
Melissa Auf der Maur – rock bassist (Hole, the Smashing Pumpkins)
Shawn Austin – country singer and songwriter
Eva Avila – singer (winner of Canadian Idol, 2006)
Mike Ayley – singer, bass guitarist (Marianas Trench)
Jay Aymar – guitarist and singer-songwriter
Marcel Aymar – singer-songwriter
Aysanabee – singer-songwriter
Caroline Azar – singer-songwriter, keyboardist (Fifth Column)
== B ==
Sebastian Bach – rock singer
Randy Bachman – rock singer, guitarist
Tal Bachman – singer (son of Randy Bachman)
Back Alley John – blues singer-songwriter, harmonica player
Backxwash – rapper
Bad News Brown – rapper
Bahamas – folk singer-guitarist
Jason Bajada – singer-songwriter
Carroll Baker – country music singer
Tim Baker – indie rock singer-songwriter
James Baley – rhythm and blues/dance singer
Gord Bamford – country singer
Buddy Banks – jazz double-bassist
Lanie Banks – Canadian-Ugandan rapper
Del Barber – singer-songwriter
Steve Barakatt – composer-pianist
Jill Barber – singer-songwriter
Matthew Barber – singer-songwriter
Barlow – composer, rock
Emilie-Claire Barlow – singer-songwriter
Kim Barlow – singer-songwriter
Quinton Barnes – R&B/electronic singer
Alexis Baro – jazz, rhythm and blues trumpeter
Laura Barrett – singer-songwriter, kalimba player
Claudja Barry - disco singer
Mary Barry – singer-songwriter, composer, pianist, jazz, blues, chanson
Yank Barry – rock singer, composer, guitar, percussion
Miguel de la Bastide – flamenco guitarist
Annie Mottram Craig Batten – singer, vocal teacher, composer
Isabel Bayrakdarian – soprano
Kevin Bazinet – pop singer
Bobby Bazini – singer-songwriter
bbno$ – rapper, singer-songwriter
Gary Beals – R&B singer
Eric Bearclaw – guitarist
Martin Beaver – violinist
Dany Bédar – singer-songwriter
Gabriela Bee – singer-songwriter
Jaymz Bee – singer, music director
Begonia — singer
Dan Bejar – singer-songwriter (Destroyer; Swan Lake; Hello, Blue Roses; the New Pornographers)
Daniel Bélanger – pop, electro, rock, ambience singer
Steve Bell – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Clayton Bellamy – singer-songwriter
Belly – rapper, songwriter
Quanteisha Benjamin – singer
Eli Bennett – saxophonist, composer
Willie P. Bennett – folk/alternative country singer-songwriter
Ridley Bent – country singer
Barney Bentall – rock singer-songwriter
Beppie – children's musician
Jennifer Berezan – singer-songwriter, producer
Moe Berg – singer-songwriter (Pursuit of Happiness)
Art Bergmann – punk/alternative singer-songwriter
Ruth Berhe – singer-songwriter
Camille Bernard – opera singer
Mario Bernardi – conductor, pianist
Geoff Berner – klezmer/folk accordionist, singer-songwriter
Larry Berrio – country singer-songwriter
Salome Bey – blues/gospel/jazz singer
Amélie Beyries – pop singer-songwriter
Laila Biali – jazz singer/pianist
Ed Bickert – jazz guitarist
Charlie Biddle – jazz bassist
Dave Bidini – guitarist (Rheostatics)
Justin Bieber – pop singer-songwriter
Big Rude Jake – singer-songwriter, band leader, blues shouter, guitarist
Dan Bigras – singer-songwriter
Kim Bingham – rock/ska singer-songwriter
Heather Bishop – folk singer-songwriter
Jaydee Bixby – country singer
Annesley Black (born 1979) – composer
Gwendolyn Black – pianist, educator and activist
Jully Black – R&B musician
Stacey Blades – guitarist (L.A. Guns)
Jason Blaine – country singer
Jean-Michel Blais – composer and pianist
Forest Blakk – pop singer
Paul Bley – jazz pianist
Omar Blondahl – singer
George Blondheim – pianist, composer
Joe Bocan – pop singer
La Bolduc – singer-songwriter, harmonicist, violinist
Mars Bonfire – from Steppenwolf
Jonas Bonnetta – singer-songwriter
Bonky (Onno Borgen) – trance musician
Will Bonness – jazz pianist
Boogat – rapper
Dave Bookman – indie rock singer-songwriter
Brian Borcherdt – singer-songwriter
John Borra – singer-songwriter and bassist
Bob Bossin – folk singer-songwriter, activist; co-founded the Canadian folk group Stringband with Marie-Lynn Hammond
Boslen – rapper
Robi Botos – jazz pianist
John Bottomley – singer-songwriter
Claire Boucher (Grimes) - singer, songwriter, artist
Isabelle Boulay – pop singer
Gerry Boulet – rock singer
Bill Bourne – folk/alternative singer-songwriter
Pierre Bouvier – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Reset, Simple Plan)
Mitch Bowden – rock singer, guitarist (Don Vail, the Priddle Concern, Chore)
Benjamin Bowman – violinist
Jimmy Bowskill – blues guitarist, bassist and singer
Boy Golden – alternative country singer-songwriter
Liona Boyd – classical guitarist
Philippe Brach – singer-songwriter
David Bradstreet – singer-songwriter
Tim Brady – electric guitarist, composer, improviser, working in contemporary classical, experimental, musique actuelle
Andru Branch – singer-songwriter, keyboardist (Andru Branch, Halfway Tree)
Paul Brandt – country singer-songwriter
Russell Braun – operatic baritone
Lenny Breau – guitarist
Beverly Breckenridge – bassist (Fifth Column and Phono-Comb)
Michael Breen – pop/rock singer and guitarist
Dean Brody – country singer-songwriter
Lisa Brokop – country singer-songwriter
Michael Brook – guitarist, producer, film scorer
Alma Faye Brooks – disco, soul and R&B singer
Jon Brooks – folk singer-songwriter
Colleen Brown – singer-songwriter
Divine Brown – R&B/soul singer
Michael Jerome Browne – blues singer and guitarist
Edwin Orion Brownell – neo-classical composer, pianist
Chad Brownlee – country singer
Measha Brueggergosman – operatic soprano
Roxane Bruneau – pop singer
Paul Brunelle – country music guitarist, songwriter
Rod Bruno – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Billy Bryans – percussionist, record producer
Jon Bryant – singer-songwriter
Dan Bryk – singer-songwriter
Jim Bryson – singer-songwriter
Michael Bublé – singer
Buck 65 – hip-hop artist
Basia Bulat – singer-songwriter
George Burdi
Malcolm Burn – singer, record producer
Louise Burns – singer-songwriter
Jason Burnstick – folk singer-songwriter
Spencer Burton – indie rock and country singer-songwriter
Win Butler – member of Arcade Fire
Matthew Byrne – folk singer-songwriter
== C ==
Meryn Cadell – rock singer-songwriter, performance artist
Cadence Weapon – rapper
Daniel Caesar – R&B, singer-songwriter
Buddy Cage – pedal steel guitar player
Shawna Cain – Christian R&B singer
Kathryn Calder – indie rock/pop singer-songwriter
John Allan Cameron – folk singer, guitarist
Steph Cameron – folk singer-songwriter
Cherie Camp – singer-songwriter
James Campbell – clarinetist
Torquil Campbell – singer-songwriter (Stars)
Brendan Canning – singer-songwriter (Broken Social Scene, Valley of the Giants)
Patricia Cano – jazz/Latin music singer and musical theatre actress
Lou Canon – singer-songwriter
George Canyon – country singer
Ben Caplan – folk musician
Alessia Cara – contemporary R&B
Craig Cardiff – singer-songwriter
Charlotte Cardin – pop singer
Celeigh Cardinal – singer-songwriter
Paul Cargnello – singer-songwriter
Jean Carignan – fiddler
Marie Carmen – pop singer, musical theatre actor (Starmania)
Glory-Anne Carriere – country singer
Stef Carse – country and pop singer
Wilf Carter – country singer
Jazz Cartier – rapper
João Carvalho – recording and mastering engineer, producer and musician
Andrew Cash – singer-songwriter
Peter Cash – singer-songwriter
Barbara Cass-Beggs – singer
Andrew Cassara – pop singer-songwriter
Ian Casselman – singer, drummer (Marianas Trench)
Lou-Adriane Cassidy – pop singer-songwriter
Tory Cassis – folk and jazz singer
France Castel – pop and blues singer, musical theatre actress
Jennifer Castle – singer-songwriter
Demo Cates – jazz/R&B saxophonist and singer
Rachel Cavalho – pianist, music educator
Cayouche – singer-songwriter
David Celia – singer-songwriter
CFCF – electronic musician
Tim Chaisson – singer-songwriter
Chantal Chamandy – pop/dance singer-songwriter
Champion – DJ, electronic musician
Keshia Chanté – urban/R&B singer
Robert Charlebois – rock and funk singer
Chloe Charles – soul pop singer
Gregory Charles – chorister and pianist
Nuela Charles – soul/pop/R&B/hip hop singer
Tanika Charles – soul and rhythm and blues singer
Régine Chassagne – member of Arcade Fire
Checkmate – rapper
Vern Cheechoo – country singer-songwriter
Brad Cheeseman – jazz bassist and composer
Rita Chiarelli – blues singer
Jane Child – pop and rock dance artist, songwriter, producer
Choclair – hip-hop artist
Charlene Choi – pop singer in Hong Kong
Gina Choi – South Korean singer
Tommy Chong – guitarist (Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers), comedian
Timothy Chooi – violinist
Christophe – pop singer
Jarvis Church – R&B singer-producer (real name Gerald Eaton)
Annabelle Chvostek – folk singer
Cikwes – traditional Cree music singer
Clairmont the Second – rapper
Terri Clark – country singer-songwriter
Alanna Clarke – pop/rock singer-songwriter
Classified – rapper
Renée Claude – singer
Véronique Claveau – musical theatre actress
David Clayton-Thomas – singer
Jim Clench – bassist, vocalist (April Wine, Bachman–Turner Overdrive)
Kevin Closs – singer-songwriter
William Cloutier – pop singer
Tom Cochrane – singer-songwriter
Bruce Cockburn – singer-songwriter
Code Pie – indie-pop/rock
Leonard Cohen – singer-songwriter, poet
Cold Specks – soul singer
Holly Cole – jazz singer
Naida Cole – pianist
Raquel Cole – country pop singer-songwriter
Don Coleman – rock singer
Jason Collett – singer-songwriter (also member of Broken Social Scene)
Dorothy Collins – pop singer
Simon Collins – pop/electronic musician
Chuck Comeau – drummer (Reset, Simple Plan)
Ray Condo – rockabilly singer
Chantal Condor – singer
Tyler Connolly – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Theory of a Deadman)
Stompin' Tom Connors – country singer-songwriter
Jesse Cook – guitarist, producer, composer
Robin-Joël Cool – songwriter, composer
Spirit Cool – live-looping acoustic guitarist, singer
Bill Coon - guitarist, composer
Jim Corcoran – singer-songwriter, radio personality
J. P. Cormier – singer, guitarist
Jacinta Cormier – singer, pianist
Louis-Jean Cormier – rock singer-songwriter
Corneille – funk, R&B, soul singer-songwriter
Antoine Corriveau – singer-songwriter
Michel Corriveau – keyboardist, composer
Pierre-Philippe Côté – singer-songwriter, composer
Ève Cournoyer – pop and rock singer
Rose Cousins – singer-songwriter
Deborah Cox – pop/R&B singer
Jonny Craig – vocalist, songwriter, ex-front man for Dance Gavin Dance, front man for Emarosa and Isles and Glaciers
Sara Craig – singer-songwriter
Terri Crawford – rock singer, children's entertainer
Siobhan Crawley – pop singer
Jim Creeggan – singer-songwriter, member of the Barenaked Ladies and the Brothers Creeggan
Andy Creeggan – singer-songwriter, former member of the Barenaked Ladies and the Brothers Creeggan
CRi – electronic producer
Cold Specks (Ladan Hussein) – soul musician
Colin Cripps – rock guitarist, producer (Crash Vegas)
Julie Crochetière – singer-songwriter, pianist (jazz, pop, R&B, soul)
John Crossingham – rock singer (Raising the Fawn)
Allison Crowe – singer-songwriter
Alex Cuba – jazz/pop singer-songwriter
Jim Cuddy – rock singer (Blue Rodeo)
Eliana Cuevas – jazz/Latin singer
Lori Cullen – pop/jazz singer
Burton Cummings – rock musician (the Guess Who, solo artist)
Chris Cummings – country singer-songwriter
Amelia Curran – singer-songwriter
Andy Curran – rock singer and bassist
Bobby Curtola – singer
Isabelle Cyr – singer
== D ==
Ryan Dahle – guitarist (Limblifter)
Gail Dahms – pop singer, musical theatre actress
Lisa Dalbello – singer-songwriter
Sean Dalton – drummer (The Trews)
France D'Amour – singer-songwriter
Leah Daniels – country singer-songwriter
Rick Danko – bassist, violinist, guitarist, singer (the Band)
Mychael Danna – film composer
D'Ari – rock singer-songwriter
Datsik – dubstep artist
Benoît David – singer (Mystery)
Marie Davidson – EDM singer and producer
Maïa Davies – singer-songwriter
Mark Davis – singer-songwriter
Stu Davis – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Tanya Davis – singer-songwriter, poet
Desirée Dawson – singer-songwriter, ukulele player
Dax – rapper
Sophie Day – jazz singer
Luc de Larochellière – singer-songwriter
deadmau5 – house artist, electronic music producer, real name Joel Zimmerman
Aselin Debison – Celtic pop
Art d'Ecco – indie rock, glam rock singer
Tony Dekker – folk rock singer-songwriter (Great Lake Swimmers)
Gordon Delamont – big-band conductor, arranger, teacher
Helena Deland – singer-songwriter
Mac DeMarco – indie rock musician
Kris Demeanor – singer-songwriter
Simone Denny – dance/house/pop/techno singer
Gisela Depkat – cellist
Richard Desjardins – singer
Shawn Desman – pop, R&B singer
Lorraine Desmarais – jazz pianist, composer
Dave "Rave" Desroches – singer-songwriter (Teenage Head, the Dave Rave Conspiracy)
David Desrosiers – bassist, singer (Reset, Simple Plan)
Marie-Michèle Desrosiers – pop and rock singer
Angela Desveaux – singer-songwriter
Devon – rapper
Devours – electronic musician
Alpha Yaya Diallo – guitarist, composer
Scott Dibble – singer-songwriter (Scott Dibble and Watertown)
Steffi DiDomenicantonio – pop singer, musical theatre actress
DijahSB – rapper
Hugh Dillon – frontman of Headstones and Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir
Natalie Di Luccio – singer, soprano
Céline Dion – pop singer
Carl Dixon – singer-songwriter, guitarist
DL Incognito – rapper
Creighton Doane – drummer, songwriter
Melanie Doane – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Bonnie Dobson – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Fefe Dobson – singer-songwriter
Dr. Draw – electronic violinist, composer
Denny Doherty – singer (the Mamas & the Papas)
Julie Doiron – singer-songwriter
Nicole Dollanganger – singer-songwriter
Luke Doucet – singer-songwriter
Jerry Doucette – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Gordon Downie – singer (Tragically Hip)
Aaryn Doyle – rapper, singer-songwriter
Alan Doyle – singer, guitarist (Great Big Sea)
Damhnait Doyle – pop singer-songwriter
Drake – rapper, singer, actor
Kevin Drew – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Glen Drover – guitarist (Megadeth, Eidolon)
Shawn Drover – drummer (Megadeth, Eidolon)
Ian D'Sa – songwriter, vocalist, guitarist (Billy Talent)
Dubmatix – reggae/electronic musician
Claude Dubois – pop singer-songwriter, musical theatre actor
Martin Dubreuil – tambourinist (Les Breastfeeders)
Annette Ducharme – singer, songwriter
Armond Duck Chief – country singer-songwriter
Victoria Duffield – singer-songwriter
Dumas – Québécois singer
Kyle Bobby Dunn – composer, musician, live performer
Marc Dupré – singer-songwriter, comedian
Élie Dupuis – singer, pianist
Shae Dupuy – country singer-songwriter
Melanie Durrant – R&B singer
Bill Durst – guitarist (Thundermug)
Matt Dusk – jazz singer-songwriter
Jeremy Dutcher – singer
DVBBS – DJ, producer
Paul Dwayne – country singer-songwriter
Phil Dwyer – jazz saxophonist
Jesse Aaron Dwyre – drummer
Howard Dyck – conductor, broadcaster
Félix Dyotte – singer-songwriter
== E ==
Fred Eaglesmith – alternative country singer-songwriter
Jade Eagleson – country music singer-songwriter
Eddie Eastman – country music singer-songwriter, Juno Award winner
Chris Eaton – indie rock singer-songwriter
Gerald Eaton – R&B singer, producer (known as Jarvis Church)
Mike Edel – folk musician & guitarist
Jerry Edmonton – drummer (Steppenwolf); his brother wrote "Born to Be Wild" under the pseudonym Mars Bonfire
Kathleen Edwards – singer-songwriter
Efajemue – jazz drummer
Coral Egan – pop, jazz singer
Thompson Egbo-Egbo – jazz pianist
James Ehnes – violin virtuoso
Eightcubed – electronic artist
Shirley Eikhard – singer-songwriter (known for Something to Talk About)
Elisapie – pop singer
Peter Elkas – singer-songwriter
Lindsay Ell – country singer
Emanuel – rhythm and blues singer
Emma-Lee – singer-songwriter, photographer
Rik Emmett – singer-songwriter (former member of Triumph)
Ariel Engle – indie pop singer (Broken Social Scene, La Force)
Matt Epp – singer-songwriter
Quique Escamilla – singer-songwriter
Esthero – singer-songwriter
Elise Estrada – pop singer
Emmalyn Estrada – pop singer (G.R.L)
Eternia – rapper
Quin Etheridge-Pedden – fiddler
Andre Ethier – rock singer-songwriter
Eric Ethridge – country singer-songwriter
George Evans – jazz vocalist
Gil Evans – pianist, arranger
Kellylee Evans – jazz/soul vocalist
Eva Everything – New Wave pop singer, television composer
Mike Evin – pop singer-songwriter
Excision – dubstep artist
Bob Ezrin – musician, producer of The Wall by Pink Floyd
== F ==
Andrew F – singer-songwriter, pop rock singer
Lara Fabian – pop singer
Eria Fachin – dance/pop singer
Julie Fader – folk-pop singer-songwriter, keyboardist
Bruce Fairbairn – musician, rock band producer (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Loverboy)
Percy Faith – composer
Famous – rapper
Todd Fancey – bassist (the New Pornographers), singer-songwriter
Faouzia – singer-songwriter, musician
Mylène Farmer – singer
Robert Farnon – arranger, composer, conductor
Stephen Fearing – singer-songwriter
Leslie Feist – pop singer-songwriter
Christine Fellows – folk-pop singer-songwriter
Kate Fenner – singer-songwriter
Jay Ferguson – power pop singer-songwriter, guitarist (Sloan)
Maynard Ferguson – jazz band leader, trumpet
Danny Fernandes – pop singer
Ferron – folk singer-songwriter
Michael Feuerstack – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Wooden Stars, Snailhouse)
Janina Fialkowska – pianist
Dominique Fils-Aimé – jazz, rhythm and blues singer
Hank Fisher – known as Washboard Hank, singer-songwriter and multi-instrument entertainer
Jeremy Fisher – singer-songwriter
Brent Fitz – drummer, pianist (Slash, Theory of a Deadman, Alice Cooper, Vince Neil, Union)
Warren Dean Flandez – R&B, gospel singer
Jon-Rae Fletcher – rock singer-songwriter
Luca Fogale – pop singer
Peter Foldy – singer-songwriter
Sue Foley – blues singer-songwriter
Roy Forbes – folk music singer-songwriter
Frazey Ford – folk music guitarist, singer-songwriter (the Be Good Tanyas)
Angel Forrest – singer
Maureen Forrester – contralto
Judith Forst – operatic mezzo-soprano
Amanda Forsyth – cellist
Marc Fortier – singer-songwriter, EPIC guitarist
Fred Fortin – rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, drummer
J.D. Fortune – former INXS lead singer
David Foster – composer, producer, pianist, vocalist
FouKi – rapper
Jeanick Fournier – singer, Canada's Got Talent season 2 winner
George Fox – country singer-songwriter
Foxtrott – electronic/indie pop musician
David Francey – folk singer-songwriter
Angelique Francis – blues singer
Frankenstein – rapper and record producer
Allan Fraser – folk singer-songwriter (formerly of Fraser & DeBolt)
Fredz – rapper
Matt Frenette – drummer (Headpins, Loverboy, Streetheart)
Fresh I.E. – Christian rapper
Alan Frew – singer-songwriter (Glass Tiger)
Debby Friday – electronic musician
Allen Froese – contemporary Christian singer
Lily Frost – singer-songwriter, performer and recording artist
Georgette Fry -- blues singer, songwriter, choir director
Rhys Fulber – electronic musician/producer, Front Line Assembly, Delerium, Conjure One
Aaron Funk – breakcore artist
Lewis Furey – rock singer-songwriter, film music composer
Nelly Furtado – R&B/pop singer-songwriter, record producer, actress
== G ==
B. B. Gabor – new wave artist
André Gagnon – pianist, composer
John Harvey Gahan – violinist
Jonathan Gallant – bassist (Billy Talent)
Lennie Gallant – singer-songwriter
Patsy Gallant – singer
Edward Gamblin – singer-songwriter
Daniel Gardner – electronic musician
Yoan Garneau – singer-songwriter
Gale Garnett – singer-songwriter of the 1964 Top 10 Hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine"
Garou – singer
Amos Garrett – guitarist, singer
Sebastian Gaskin – R&B singer-songwriter
Ali Gatie – singer-songwriter
Nadia Gaudet – folk singer-songwriter
Karina Gauvin – soprano
Gayance – electronic/house DJ
Eric Genuis – composer, pianist
Hannah Georgas – singer-songwriter
Jian Ghomeshi – singer, broadcaster, writer, producer
Joel Gibb – singer-songwriter (the Hidden Cameras)
Tim Gilbertson – singer-songwriter
Nick Gilder – singer-songwriter, "Hot Child in the City"
Flora Gionest – singer-songwriter
Fernande Giroux – jazz singer
Martin Giroux – singer
Alice Glass – lyricist, vocalist (Crystal Castles)
Greg Godovitz – singer, bass guitarist
Gary Pig Gold – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Dave Rave), producer (Simply Saucer)
Roxanne Goldade – country singer
Rose Goldblatt – pianist
Kat Goldman – singer-songwriter
Anthony Gomes – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Adam Gontier – singer (Three Days Grace, Saint Asonia)
Chilly Gonzales – classical musician
Matthew Good – singer-songwriter (Matthew Good Band)
Myles Goodwyn – singer-songwriter, guitarist (April Wine)
James Gordon – singer-songwriter
Valery Gore – singer-songwriter
Rex Goudie – singer-songwriter (Canadian Idol runner-up, 2005)
Denis Gougeon – composer
Glenn Gould – classical pianist, composer, philosopher
Robert Goulet – baritone singer, Broadway musical star
Lawrence Gowan – rock singer (solo, Styx)
Max Graham – house DJ
Sebastien Grainger – singer, drummer, percussionist (Death from Above 1979)
Gil Grand – country singer-songwriter
Jenn Grant – singer-songwriter
Justin Gray – jazz bassist, recording engineer
Saya Gray – alternative pop bassist
Gordon Grdina – jazz, indie rock and world music guitarist
Dallas Green – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Alexisonfire, City and Colour)
Brian Greenway – guitarist, harmonicist, vocalist (April Wine, Mashmakhan)
Joey Gregorash
Adam Gregory – country musician
Grimes (Claire Boucher) – singer-songwriter, visual artist, music video director
Matthew Grimson – singer-songwriter
Paul Gross – singer-songwriter, actor, producer
Emm Gryner – singer-songwriter, pianist, guitarist
Jean "Guilda" Guida – cabaret pop singer
Molly Guldemond – singer, synthesizer player (Mother Mother)
Ryan Guldemond – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Mother Mother)
Jim Guthrie – singer-songwriter
Trevor Guthrie – singer-songwriter, formerly of SoulDecision
Bruce Guthro – singer-songwriter (lead vocalist of Runrig)
Caity Gyorgy – jazz singer
== H ==
Emily Haines – singer-songwriter (also member of Metric, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton and Broken Social Scene)
Nate Haller – country singer-songwriter
Marc-André Hamelin – classical pianist and composer
Mark Hamilton – frontman of Woodpigeon
Moshe Hammer – violinist
Marie-Lynn Hammond – folk singer
Handsome Ned – country singer
Gerry Hannah – bass player of Subhumans
Barbara Hannigan – soprano, conductor
Lynne Hanson – singer-songwriter
Buster Harding – jazz pianist, composer, arranger
Hagood Hardy – jazz vibraphonist, pianist, known for "The Homecoming"
Georgia Harmer – singer-songwriter
Sarah Harmer – singer-songwriter
Neil Harnett – blues-rock singer-songwriter
Ofra Harnoy – cellist
Barry Harris – dance music DJ, remixer, musician
Chris Harris - multi-instrumentalist
Harrison - electronic musician
Robin Harrison – pianist, composer
Corey Hart – singer
Joshua Haulli – singer-songwriter
Ron Hawkins – singer-songwriter
Ronnie Hawkins – American-born singer, naturalized Canadian
Richie Hawtin – techno musician-DJ, producer
Hayden – singer-songwriter, real name Paul Hayden Desser
Oliver Haze – singer-songwriter
Terra Hazelton – jazz singer
Jeff Healey – guitarist, trumpet player, singer
Kevin Hearn – singer-songwriter (Barenaked Ladies)
Tim Hecker – ambient/electronic musician
Coleman Hell – indie pop/electronic musician
Thomas Hellman – jazz/pop singer
Scott Helman – singer-songwriter
Wade Hemsworth – folk singer-songwriter
Bill Henderson – singer-songwriter (Chilliwack)
Sheila Henig – pianist, soprano
Carl Henry – R&B, reggae musician
Darcy Hepner – saxophonist, composer/arranger
Ben Heppner – operatic tenor
Mikey Heppner – guitarist, singer-songwriter (Priestess)
Angela Hewitt – pianist
Tim Hicks – country singer-songwriter
Jolene Higgins – folk and acoustic blues singer-songwriter known as "Little Miss Higgins"
Rebekah Higgs – singer-songwriter
Dan Hill – pop singer
Warren Hill – smooth jazz musician
Veda Hille – singer-songwriter
Florian Hoefner – jazz pianist
Jacob Hoggard – singer (Hedley)
Frannie Holder – singer, composer
Steve Holt – pianist, singer-songwriter
Matt Holubowski – singer-songwriter
Amy Honey – singer-songwriter
Jason Hook – guitarist
Chris Hooper – drummer
Tom Hooper – singer-songwriter
Charlie Hope – children's musician
Kelly Hoppe – harmonica player, multi-instrumentalist (Big Sugar)
Paul Horn – flute player
Luke Hoskin – guitar player (Protest the Hero)
Gregory Hoskins – singer-songwriter
Stuart Howe – operatic tenor
Andrew Huang – musician
Andrew Huculiak – drummer (We Are the City)
Garth Hudson – multi-instrumentalist (the Band)
Paul Humphrey – singer-songwriter (Blue Peter)
Alex Zhang Hungtai – indie rock singer-songwriter, performing as Dirty Beaches
Jimmy Hunt – singer-songwriter
Tommy Hunter – singer who had his own CBC TV show
Nate Husser – rapper
Timothy Hutchins – flute player
Andrew Hyatt – country singer
Paul Hyde – singer-songwriter (Payola$)
Ron Hynes – Newfoundland folk singer-songwriter
Hyper-T – rapper
Joshua Hyslop – singer-songwriter
== I ==
Zaki Ibrahim – soul, R&B singer
Norman Iceberg – pop singer
Lucie Idlout – rock singer
Ill-esha – electronic, R&B vocalist, producer, songwriter
Joshua Ingram – rock drummer, percussionist
Chin Injeti – R&B singer
Paolo Iovannone – singer-songwriter, producer
May Irwin – vaudeville singer
Elisapie Isaac – singer-songwriter
Orin Isaacs – bandleader, bass guitarist
Brandon Isaak – blues singer and guitarist
iskwē – pop, electronic music singer
== J ==
Lenni Jabour – pop singer-songwriter
Susan Jacks – pop singer-songwriter
Terry Jacks – pop singer-songwriter, producer
Sammy Jackson – jazz and rhythm and blues singer
Jacynthe – pop singer
Emmanuel Jal – hip hop musician
Colin James – blues and rock musician
Freddie James – R&B singer
John James – dance musician
Ryland James – pop singer
Reid Jamieson – pop and folk singer-songwriter (Vinyl Cafe)
Patti Jannetta – pop and rock singer
Paul Janz – singer-songwriter
Sterling Jarvis – R&B singer, musical theatre actor
Yves Jarvis – indie rock singer-songwriter
JayWood – indie funk-rock singer and songwriter
JBM (Jesse Marchant) – singer-songwriter
Anik Jean – rock and pop singer
Jelleestone – rapper
Jemeni – hip-hop, R&B singer
Drake Jensen – country singer
Ingrid Jensen – jazz trumpet player
Jeon So-mi – singer-songwriter, former member of I.O.I
Carly Rae Jepsen – singer-songwriter
Jhyve – rhythm and blues singer
Berk Jodoin – folk/country singer-songwriter
Mendelson Joe
Lyndon John X – reggae musician
Rita Johns – pop singer
Alexz Johnson – singer-songwriter, actress
Bill Johnson – blues and roots music performer
Carolyn Dawn Johnson – country singer-songwriter
Gordie Johnson – guitar player and singer (Big Sugar)
Martha Johnson – singer-songwriter (Martha and the Muffins)
Molly Johnson – rock and jazz singer
Rick Johnson – rock guitarist, children's entertainer
Taborah Johnson (Tabby Johnson) – jazz and rock singer
France Joli – disco singer
Danko Jones – singer-songwriter
G.B. Jones – guitarist, drummer (Fifth Column)
Jeff Jones – rock bassist, singer
Miles Jones – rapper, singer-songwriter, producer
Oliver Jones – jazz pianist
Jorane – cellist, singer-songwriter
Keven Jordan – pop/rock singer-songwriter
Marc Jordan – singer-songwriter
Sass Jordan – rock singer, judge on Canadian Idol
Michelle Josef – drummer
Leila Bronia Josefowicz – violinist
Martha Joy – singer
Junia-T – rapper
Juurini – singer-songwriter
== K ==
Florence K – pop singer-songwriter
K-Anthony – gospel singer
K-Bust – singer-songwriter
Todd Kerns – vocalist/bassist (Slash, Age of Electric)
Michael Kaeshammer
Connie Kaldor – singer-songwriter, poet
Kamau – hip-hop musician
Kevin Kane – singer-songwriter
Kanen – singer-songwriter
KAPRI – dance/pop singer
Kardinal Offishall – rapper
Kaia Kater – singer-songwriter
Cevin Key – songwriter, producer, and composer
Ethan Kath – producer (Crystal Castles)
Kathleen – Quebec pop singer
Katie B – singer-songwriter (formerly with Jakalope)
John Kay – singer (Steppenwolf)
Kaya – rock and pop singer, formerly known as Francis Martin
Kaytranada – electronic
Sherry Kean
James Keelaghan – singer-songwriter
Jesse F. Keeler – Death from Above 1979, MSTRKRFT
Greg Keelor – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Blue Rodeo, solo artist)
Simeonie Keenainak – accordionist
Joey Keithley – also known as Joey Shithead, Vancouver punk rock singer, guitarist (D.O.A.), political and environmental activist
Geoffrey Kelly – Celtic-folk musician, singer (Spirit of the West, the Paperboys)
Sean Kelly – singer, guitarist (Crash Kelly)
Roy Kenner – singer-songwriter
Mo Kenney – singer-songwriter
Lydia Képinski – singer-songwriter
Cassius Khan – ghazal player, tabla player, Indian classical musician
Khotin – house, downtempo electronic musician
Rich Kidd – hip hop artist
Brett Kissel – country singer
Kid Koala – hip-hop artist
Kiesza (Kiesa Rae Ellestad) – singer-songwriter
Andy Kim – singer-songwriter, pop musician ("Sugar, Sugar")
Kiva – harmonic overtone singer, keyboardist, worldbeat/jazz artist
Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie – dance music
Francois Klark – pop singer-songwriter
Trish Klein – folk music guitarist, singer-songwriter (the Be Good Tanyas)
Billy Klippert – rock musician
K.Maro – R&B, rap musician, producer
K'naan – rapper
Aidan Knight – singer-songwriter
Chester Knight – singer-songwriter
Moe Koffman – jazz artist
Gwendolyn Koldofsky – piano accompanist and music educator
Ron Korb – composer, flutist
Koriass – rapper
k-os – rapper, hip-hop musician
Keith Kouna – punk rock singer
Benjamin Kowalewicz – frontman of Billy Talent
Dan and Ryan Kowarsky – singers (RyanDan and b4-4)
Nik Kozub – bassist (Veal), keyboardist (Shout Out Out Out Out), remixer (the Paronomasiac)
Serouj Kradjian – pianist, composer
Norbert Kraft – guitarist
Diana Krall – jazz singer, pianist
Chantal Kreviazuk – singer-songwriter
Nicholas Krgovich – indie rock, pop singer-songwriter
David Kristian – film composer, electronic musician
Kyrie Kristmanson – singer-songwriter
Chad Kroeger – singer, guitarist, Nickelback
Patricia Krueger – classical pianist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Spencer Krug – singer-songwriter (Fifths of Seven, Frog Eyes, Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake)
Pierre Kwenders – pop/world music singer, rapper
Kyprios – hip-hop musician
== L ==
Jesse Labelle – country singer country singer
James LaBrie – singer-songwriter - Dream Theater
Kathryn Ladano – bass clarinetist
Elise LeGrow – singer-songwriter
Lanie Banks – Canadian-Ugandan rapper
James LaBrie – singer-songwriter (Dream Theater)
Kathryn Ladano – bass clarinetist
Paul Laine – singer (solo, Danger Danger)
Corky Laing – drummer
Jon Lajoie – comedian, actor, rapper, singer, musician, Internet celebrity
Mary Jane Lamond – Gaelic singer
Willie Lamothe – country singer
Wendy Lands – pop and jazz singer
Tory Lanez – R&B
k.d. lang – country punk singer
Matt Lang – country singer
Steve Lang – bassist (April Wine, Mashmakhan)
Robert Langevin – flute player
Daniel Lanois – composer, producer
Jessy Lanza – electronic musician
Abigail Lapell – folk singer-songwriter
André Laplante – pianist
Eric Lapointe – rock singer
Pierre Lapointe – pop, rock, funk singer-songwriter
Steph La Rochelle – country/pop singer-songwriter, musical theatre actress
Thierry Larose – rock singer-songwriter
Bells Larsen – singer-songwriter
Grit Laskin – folk singer, luthier
Henry Lau – violinist, singer, dancer (Super Junior-M)
Michael Laucke – classical and flamenco guitarist, composer, producer
Carole Laure – pop/folk singer
Laurence-Anne – pop singer
Sherisse Laurence – country/pop singer, musical theatre actress
Wayne Lavallee – singer-songwriter, film, television and theatre composer
Avril Lavigne – singer-songwriter, musician, record producer
Charles Lavoie – singer, composer
Daniel Lavoie – singer-songwriter
Barbara Law – pop and rock singer
Grant Lawrence – rock singer, radio personality
Marshall Lawrence – blues, rock
Dorothy Lawson – cellist, composer (ETHEL)
Lisa LeBlanc – singer-songwriter, banjoist
Félix Leclerc – singer-songwriter
Salomé Leclerc – singer-songwriter
Daniel Ledwell – singer-songwriter, record producer, keyboardist (In-Flight Safety)
Geddy Lee – singer, bassist, keyboardist (Rush)
Jess Lee – country singer-songwriter
Mark Lee – rapper, dancer of NCT, NCT 127, and SuperM, NCT Dream
Lee Kum-Sing – classical pianist
Ranee Lee – jazz singer, drummer, tenor saxophonist
Sook-Yin Lee – rock singer-songwriter, broadcaster
Sebastien Lefebvre – guitarist, singer (Simple Plan)
Vincent Legault – instrumentalist, composer
Ray Legere – bluegrass mandolinist and fiddler
Elise LeGrow – singer-songwriter
Peter Leitch – jazz guitarist
Jean Leloup – singer-songwriter
Lynda Lemay – singer-songwriter
Michel Lemieux – experimental electronic music, performance art
Hubert Lenoir – rock singer
Martin Léon – singer-songwriter, composer
Exco Levi – reggae singer
Mike Levine – bassist and keyboardist
Andrea Lewis – singer
Glenn Lewis – R&B singer
Jacob Lewis – pop/rock singer
Larnell Lewis – drummer
Neil Leyton – rock singer and guitarist
David Lickley – singer-songwriter
Alex Lifeson – guitarist (Rush)
Murray Lightburn – indie-rock singer-songwriter, guitarist
Gordon Lightfoot – singer-songwriter (voted Canada's favourite singer-songwriter)
Terra Lightfoot – singer-songwriter
LIGHTS – singer-songwriter
Andrea Lindsay – singer-songwriter
Aaron Lines – country musician
Bruce Liu – pianist
Liu Fang – pipa player
Brianna Lizotte – fiddler
Guy Lombardo – big band leader
Celine Lomez – pop singer
Rich London – rapper
Morley Loon – singer-songwriter
Loony – R&B singer
Oscar Lopez – Latin-folk guitarist
Myrna Lorrie – country singer-songwriter ("first lady of Canadian country music")
Louis Lortie – pianist
Loud – rapper
Russell Louder – pop singer, performance artist
Alexina Louie – pianist
Wyatt C. Louis – singer-songwriter
Johnnie Lovesin – rock singer
Lowell – electropop singer-songwriter
Larissa Loyva – singer-songwriter
Luba – pop singer
Lederhosen Lucil – singer-songwriter
Zachary Lucky – singer-songwriter
Chris "Old Man" Luedecke – folk singer-songwriter
Todd Lumley – pianist, keyboardist
Sekou Lumumba – drummer
Corb Lund – country singer-songwriter
Rob Lutes – folk/blues singer-songwriter
Loma Lyns – country singer
Lysandre – pop singer-songwriter and pianist
== M ==
Amanda Mabro – singer-songwriter
Mark Masri – tenor singer/gospel composer
Galt MacDermot – composer, musician, wrote the music for Hair
Colin MacDonald – singer, guitarist (the Trews)
Sarah MacDonald – conductor and organist
John-Angus MacDonald – guitarist (the Trews)
Maggie MacDonald – singer, keyboardist (the Hidden Cameras, Kids on TV)
Tom MacDonald – Independent rapper
Kris MacFarlane – independent drummer/multi-instrumentalist (Great Big Sea, the Paperboys)
Ryan MacGrath – singer-songwriter
Ashley MacIsaac – violinist
Gisele MacKenzie – singer, violinist
Jon McKiel – rock singer-songwriter
Tara MacLean – singer-songwriter
Catherine MacLellan – singer-songwriter
Gene MacLellan – singer-songwriter
Brian Macleod – songwriter, music producer (best known as a member of Chilliwack and the Headpins)
Buddy MacMaster – violinist
Natalie MacMaster – violinist, stepdancer
Kevin MacMichael – guitarist (Cutting Crew)
Rita MacNeil – country and folk singer
Rozalind MacPhail – singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Mad Child – rapper
Madagascar Slim – folk and blues guitarist
Ria Mae – singer-songwriter
Maestro Fresh Wes – hip-hop musician, singer of "Let Your Backbone Slide"
Matt Maher – contemporary Christian singer
Raine Maida – singer (Our Lady Peace)-songwriter, producer
Phyllis Mailing – mezzo-soprano
Catherine Major – singer-songwriter
Charlie Major – singer-songwriter
Kate Maki – country rock singer-songwriter
Ryan Malcolm – lead singer (Low Level Flight), first Canadian Idol winner
Manafest – hip-hop musician
Dan Mangan – singer-songwriter
Casey Manierka-Quaile (Casey MQ) – electronic musician, songwriter, producer
John Mann – rock singer (Spirit of the West)
Dayna Manning – singer-songwriter
Catherine Manoukian – violinist
Richard Manuel – pianist, vocalist, drummer (the Band)
Richard Margison – operatic tenor
Kristina Maria – pop singer-songwriter
Marie-Mai – singer
Frank Marino – guitarist, singer (Mahogany Rush)
Carolyn Mark – alt-country singer-songwriter
Gerry Markman – rock guitarist (the Lincolns)
Cory Marks – country rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
Hugh Marsh – violinist
Amanda Marshall – singer-songwriter
Lois Marshall – soprano
Béatrice Martin – singer-songwriter, pianist, also known as Cœur de pirate
Jeff Martin – singer-songwriter (the Tea Party)
Stephanie Martin – singer-songwriter, actress
Mia Martina – pop singer-songwriter
Masia One – rapper
Dutch Mason – blues artist
Jojo Mason – country singer-songwriter
Massari – R&B singer
Ken Masters – rapper
Andrew Matheson – punk rock singer and songwriter
Jake Mathews – country singer-songwriter
André Mathieu – pianist and composer
Matiu – singer-songwriter
Kalle Mattson – folk rock singer-songwriter
Romi Mayes – country singer
Matt Mays – singer-songwriter
Bill McBirnie – jazz/Latin flutist (Extreme Flute)
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos – keyboardist (the Deadly Snakes)
Séan McCann – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Great Big Sea)
Jay McCarrol – composer
Melissa McClelland – singer-songwriter
Jeremiah McDade – composer, saxophonist, Irish whistle (the McDadea)
Solon McDade – composer, bassist (the McDades)
Eileen McGann – folk singer-songwriter
Anna McGarrigle – folk singer-songwriter (Kate & Anna McGarrigle)
Kate McGarrigle – folk singer-songwriter (Kate & Anna McGarrigle)
Jay W. McGee – soul, R&B and hip hop singer/rapper
Wayne McGhie – soul, R&B, reggae singer
Blake McGrath – pop singer
Eamon McGrath – singer-songwriter
Kyle McKearney – alternative country singer-songwriter
Mike McKenna – rock/blues guitarist noted for his electric slide playing
Loreena McKennitt – Celtic-inspired musician, vocalist
Chris McKhool – violinist, guitarist, singer (Sultans of String)
Sarah McLachlan – singer-songwriter
Murray McLauchlan – singer-songwriter
Ambre McLean – singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Kelly McMichael – singer-songwriter
Holly McNarland – singer-songwriter
Suzie McNeil – pop rock singer-songwriter
Trevor McNevan – singer-songwriter (Thousand Foot Krutch, FM Static)
Colin McPhee – classical composer, musicologist
Linda McRae – singer-songwriter (Spirit of the West, solo artist)
Tate McRae – singer-songwriter
Glen Meadmore – punk/rock musician
Michie Mee – rapper
Tom Meikle – singer-songwriter who records as Mappe Of and Forest Moon
Brian Melo – singer (winner of Canadian Idol, 2007)
Shawn Mendes – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Dylan Menzie – singer-songwriter
Jerry Mercer – drummer, vocalist (April Wine, Mashmakhan, the Wackers)
Madeline Merlo – country singer-songwriter
Kathleen Ivaluarjuk Merritt – Inuk throat singer
Scott Merritt – singer-songwriter
Don Messer – fiddler
Patrice Michaud – singer-songwriter
Danny Michel – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Anthony J. Mifsud (Mif) – singer-songwriter (Slash Puppet)
Brandon Mig – pop singer
Haviah Mighty – rapper
Lynn Miles – singer-songwriter
Amy Millan – singer-songwriter (Stars, Broken Social Scene)
Tim Millar – rhythm guitar player (Protest the Hero)
Muriel Millard – singer-songwriter
Derek Miller – blues singer-songwriter, guitarist
Darby Mills – singer (the Headpins)
Frank Mills – pianist
Tyler Joe Miller – country music singer-songwriter
Millimetrik – electronic musician
Kenneth G. Mills – pianist, conductor, composer
Andy Milne – jazz pianist
Matt Minglewood – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Ben Mink – guitarist, violinist (k.d. lang, Geddy Lee, Rush, FM)
Ruth Minnikin – singer-songwriter
Joni Mitchell – folk and jazz artist, painter
Kim Mitchell – guitarist, singer-songwriter, radio personality
Lindsay Mitchell – guitarist, songwriter (Prism)
Taylor Mitchell – singer-songwriter
Willy Mitchell – singer, guitarist
Mitsou – pop singer
Dave Moffatt – pop/rock keyboardist, singer
Aviva Mongillo – singer, actress
Monsune – electronic musician
Montag – electronic musician
Betty Moon – singer-songwriter
Jacob Moon – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Kevin Moon – singer, main vocalist (the Boyz)
Darren Moore – member of Harlequin, founder of Living Under Venus, writer of themes for Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays
Gil Moore – drummer, vocalist (Triumph)
Katie Moore – singer-songwriter
Mae Moore – singer-songwriter
Rick Moranis – singer, actor
Ryland Moranz – folk/roots singer-songwriter
Carlos Morgan – R&B/soul singer
Jeffrey Morgan – singer-songwriter, rock critic
Alanis Morissette – rock singer
Johannes Moser – cellist
Jess Moskaluke – country pop singer
Mr. Roam – rapper
Geoffrey Moull – conductor, pianist
Art Murphy – singer-songwriter
Chris Murphy – power pop singer-songwriter, bassist (Sloan)
Matt Murphy – singer-songwriter, guitarist (the Super Friendz, the Flashing Lights, The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico)
Anne Murray – country/pop singer
Alannah Myles – rock singer
David Myles – singer-songwriter
Ken Myhr – guitarist, composer
Men I Trust – indie band.
== N ==
N Nao – dream-pop singer and songwriter
Kaveh Nabatian – trumpeter
Bif Naked – punk/pop singer
Nardwuar the Human Serviette
Nancy Nash – blues and pop singer
Narcy – rapper
Nash the Slash – multi-instrumental rock musician (FM)
Kamila Nasr – singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist
Nav – rapper
Haydain Neale – soul, R&B, jazz singer-songwriter
Nemahsis – pop singer
Laurence Nerbonne – pop singer
Richard Newell – also known as King Biscuit Boy, blues singer, songwriter, band leader and harmonica player
Carl Newman – guitarist, songwriter (the New Pornographers)
Billy Newton-Davis – R&B, jazz, gospel singer-songwriter
Yannick Nézet-Séguin – conductor
Luke Nicholson – singer-songwriter
Larry Nickel – composer
Dave Nicol – folk singer-songwriter
Chris Nielsen – country singer
Eliza Niemi – singer-songwriter, cellist
Laura Niquay – singer-songwriter
Noah23 – rapper
Graph Nobel – hip-hop artist, R&B rapper, singer-songwriter
Sierra Noble – singer-songwriter, fiddler
Bob Nolan – country singer-songwriter (the Sons of the Pioneers)
Faith Nolan – jazz singer-songwriter, guitarist
Safia Nolin – singer-songwriter
Craig Norris – rock singer, radio personality
Craig Northey – rock singer (Odds)
Aldo Nova – rock/pop artist
George Nozuka – singer
Justin Nozuka – singer, writer
Nyssa – singer-songwriter
== O ==
OBUXUM – record producer
Patricia O'Callaghan – singer
Michael Occhipinti – jazz guitarist
Roberto Occhipinti – jazz/classical bassist
Ryan Ofei – gospel singer
Nivek Ogre – industrial rock singer
Maggie Blue O'Hara – singer, actress, voice artist
Mary Margaret O'Hara – pop/rock singer-songwriter
Jenny Omnichord – indie pop singer-songwriter
Melissa O'Neil – pop singer (winner of Canadian Idol, 2005)
Mike O'Neill – singer-songwriter and guitarist (the Inbreds)
Moka Only – rapper
Maren Ord – pop singer
Johnny Orlando – pop singer
Achilla Orru – lukembé player
Lindi Ortega – singer-songwriter
Robyn Ottolini – country singer-songwriter
Walter Ostanek – polka musician, accordionist
John Oswald – composer
Karim Ouellet – pop singer-songwriter
Peter Oundjian – violinist, conductor
Ouri – electronic-classical fusion composer
== P ==
Dorothea Paas – singer-songwriter
Steven Page – singer-songwriter (formerly with the Barenaked Ladies)
Michel Pagliaro – bilingual singer, songwriter, guitarist
Doug Paisley – singer-songwriter
Owen Pallett – indie pop singer, violinist (Final Fantasy)
Bruce Palmer – bassist (Buffalo Springfield)
Alex Pangman – jazz singer
Charlie Panigoniak – Inuk singer-songwriter, guitarist
Gabrielle Papillon – singer-songwriter
Parichay – Bollywood/ Hip Hop/ R&B and Pop music producer and artist
Sarina Paris – techno singer
Jon Kimura Parker – classical pianist
Kathleen Parlow – classical violinist
Evalyn Parry – folk singer-songwriter
Mark Parry – guitarist
Samantha Parton – folk music multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter (the Be Good Tanyas)
Night Lovell – hip hop musician/rapper, songwriter
PartyNextDoor – rapper
Blaise Pascal – singer-songwriter
Meghan Patrick – country singer
Shan Vincent de Paul – pop/electronic/hip hop singer
Nico Paulo – singer-songwriter
Trevor W. Payne – gospel and R&B singer, composer
Matt Paxton – singer-songwriter
Peaches – electroclash/dance punk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Ryan Peake – guitarist (Nickelback)
Neil Peart – drummer, percussionist, lyricist (Rush)
Orville Peck – country musician
Klô Pelgag – pop singer-songwriter
Bruno Pelletier – singer-songwriter
Fred Pellerin – folk singer
Fred Penner – children's music performer
Patrick Pentland – power pop singer-songwriter, guitarist (Sloan)
Yann Perreau – electro-rock musician
Anjulie Persaud – singer-songwriter
Colleen Peterson – country singer-songwriter
Oscar Peterson – jazz pianist
Billy Pettinger – singer-songwriter
Lou Phelps – rapper
Philémon Cimon – singer-songwriter
Stu Phillips – country singer
Pascale Picard – singer
Scott-Pien Picard – singer-songwriter
Paul Piché – singer
Jason Pierce – drummer (Our Lady Peace)
Lido Pimienta – electronic pop singer and producer
Grenville Pinto – violinist, recording artist, entertainer and composer
Nestor Pistor – country singer/comedy musician
Louise Pitre – musical theatre actor
Dany Placard – singer-songwriter
Dominique Plante – guitarist, composer
Bill Plaskett – folk/rock/jazz musician
Joel Plaskett – alternative rock musician
Jason Plumb – singer-songwriter
Poizunus – DJ, human beatbox
Steve Poltz – singer-songwriter (known for collaboration with Jewel)
poolblood – indie pop singer-songwriter
Carole Pope – new wave rock/pop singer
Kalan Porter – singer-songwriter (winner of Canadian Idol, 2004)
Shelley Posen – folklorist, songwriter
Catherine Potter – bansuri
Roxanne Potvin – blues singer-songwriter
Blake Pouliot – violinist
Tom Power – folk musician
Daniel Powter – singer-songwriter
Pressa – rapper
Chad Price – singer-songwriter
Garth Prince – children's entertainer
William Prince – singer-songwriter
Peter Pringle – pop and jazz singer, pianist, theremin player
Promise – hip-hop rapper, singer-songwriter
ThePropheC – singer-songwriter, producer
P'tit Belliveau
Adonis Puentes – jazz, world music
Don Pyle – drummer (Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Fifth Column)
== Q ==
Q052 – rapper
Charlotte Angugaattiaq Qamaniq – Inuk throat singer
Quanteisha – singer
Sara Quin – singer-songwriter, producer (Tegan and Sara)
Tegan Quin – singer-songwriter, producer (Tegan and Sara)
== R ==
Raffi – folk/pop singer-songwriter
Billy Raffoul – rock singer, songwriter
Iceis Rain – pop/rock singer
Ralph – singer-songwriter
Alcvin Ramos – shakuhachi player (solo and ensemble)
Josh Ramsay – singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist Marianas Trench
Jan Randall – film composer
Luv Randhawa – bhangra singer
Allan Rayman – rhythm and blues singer
Corin Raymond – singer-songwriter
Richard Raymond – pianist
Savannah Ré – soul/rhythm and blues singer
Lee Reed – rapper
Josh Reichmann – singer-songwriter (Tangiers, Jewish Legend)
Alyssa Reid – pop singer-songwriter
Noah Reid – singer-songwriter
Colleen Rennison – singer (No Sinner)
Ginette Reno – singer
Mike Reno – singer (Loverboy)
Jessie Reyez – singer
Donn Reynolds – yodeler; folk and country singer-songwriter
Isabelle Rezazadeh – DJ and record producer (Rezz)
Amanda Rheaume – folk singer-songwriter
Kyle Riabko – singer, guitarist
Alejandra Ribera – pop and jazz singer-songwriter
Jackie Richardson – blues, jazz and gospel singer
Sébastien Ricard – rapper (Loco Locass), actor
Charles Richard-Hamelin – pianist
Kim Richardson – pop, blues, jazz and gospel singer
River Tiber – rhythm and blues musician
Jesse Rivest – singer-songwriter
Ian Robb – folk musician
Vincent Roberge – indie-pop singer
Robert Robert – pop/electronic singer and producer
Brad Roberts – singer (Crash Test Dummies)
Sam Roberts – rock musician
Ed Robertson – singer-songwriter (Barenaked Ladies)
Robbie Robertson – guitarist, singer (the Band)-songwriter
Alex J. Robinson – country singer-songwriter
Damien Robitaille – musician
Bob Rock – singer-songwriter (Payola$), producer (Metallica)
Andrew Rodriguez – singer-songwriter
Garnet Rogers – singer-songwriter
Kate Rogers – singer-songwriter
Nathan Rogers – singer-songwriter
Stan Rogers – folk musician
Daniel Romano – folk, country and indie rock musician
Don Ross – fingerstyle guitarist, musician, composer
Josh Ross – country singer and songwriter
Lukas Rossi – singer-songwriter, winner of Rockstar: Supernova
Adolphe-Basile Routhier – lyricist of the original French version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada"
Ariane Roy – pop singer-songwriter
Jonathan Roy – pop singer-songwriter
Spookey Ruben – singer-songwriter
Paul Rudolph – guitarist, singer-songwriter (Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Brian Eno)
Allison Russell – singer-songwriter, musician and activist
Brenda Russell – singer-songwriter, keyboardist
Justin Rutledge – alt-country singer-songwriter
Deric Ruttan – country singer-songwriter
Serena Ryder – folk/pop singer-songwriter
== S ==
Shakura S'Aida – blues/jazz singer-songwriter
Julien Sagot – percussionist, singer-songwriter
Josh Sahunta – pop/R&B singer-songwriter
Martine St-Clair – pop singer
Jordan St Cyr – contemporary Christian singer
Samian – rapper
Gordie Sampson – blues, rock singer
Lance "Aquakultre" Sampson – soul, R&B singer and rapper
John K. Samson – indie rock singer and songwriter (the Weakerthans)
Chase Sanborn – jazz trumpeter
Curtis Santiago – dance rock singer-songwriter
Ivana Santilli – R&B singer
Sarahmée – rapper
SATE – rock singer
Saukrates – rapper
Andrew Scott – power pop singer-songwriter, drummer (Sloan)
Jack Scott – rock and roll singer
Jay Scøtt – folk/hip hop singer-songwriter
Jennifer Scott – jazz singer, pianist
Keith Scott- rock guitarist (Bryan Adams band)
Sea Oleena – indie folk singer-songwriter
Joyce Seamone – country singer
Lorraine Segato – singer-songwriter
Jacques Kuba Séguin – jazz trumpeter
Jay Semko – singer-songwriter, bassist
Matthew Seok – singer, (Zerobaseone)
Ron Sexsmith – singer-songwriter
Mike Shabb – rapper
Shad – rapper
Paul Shaffer – musical director
Remy Shand – R&B/soul singer
Jackie Shane – R&B singer
Jairus Sharif – experimental jazz saxophonist
Andy Shauf – singer-songwriter
Shauit – singer-songwriter
Andrew Shaver – folk/country singer-songwriter
Bernie Shaw – rock singer (Uriah Heep)
Graham Shaw – rock singer, television composer
James Shaw – guitarist (Metric)
Tyler Shaw – singer-songwriter, cinematic composer
Crystal Shawanda – country singer
Shay Lia – singer
Shiloh – pop singer-songwriter
Shingoose – singer-songwriter
Stefie Shock – pop and funk singer-songwriter
Gabrielle Shonk – singer-songwriter
Howard Shore – composer (The Lord of the Rings trilogy and films of David Cronenberg)
Shotgun Jimmie – singer-songwriter
Edythe Shuttleworth – mezzo-soprano
Ali Siadat – drummer (Mother Mother)
Rosemary Siemens – violinist, vocalist
Jane Siberry – singer-songwriter
Siibii – pop singer
Lucas Silveira – rock singer, guitarist
Liberty Silver – R&B singer
Marie-Josée Simard – percussionist
Nathalie Simard – pop singer
René Simard – pop singer
Denis Simpson – singer
Shane Simpson – guitarist, singer-songwriter
Dylan Sinclair – rhythm and blues singer
Zal Sissokho – Kora) player, Griot
Sister Ray – singer-songwriter
Sixtoo – hip-hop DJ and MC
Skiifall – rapper
Ken Skinner – pianist/composer, record producer
Amy Sky – singer-songwriter
Slakah the Beatchild – soul and R&B singer, record producer
Sarah Slean – singer-songwriter, pianist
Alberta Slim – country music singer
Tannis Slimmon – folk singer-songwriter
Henry Small – singer-songwriter, radio personality
Dallas Smith – rock/country singer-songwriter
Laura Smith – folk singer
Maybe Smith – indie pop singer-songwriter
Meaghan Smith – singer
R. Harlan Smith – country singer
Samantha Savage Smith – singer-songwriter
Dan Snaith – songwriter
Floyd Sneed – rock drummer
Bob Snider – folk singer-songwriter
Jason Sniderman – keyboardist (Blue Peter)
Snow – reggae/rap/pop musician
Hank Snow – country and western singer
So Sus – electronic musician
Bryce Soderberg – bassist (Lifehouse)
Viviana Sofronitsky – pianist
Ana Sokolovic – composer
Theresa Sokyrka – singer (Canadian Idol semi-finalist, 2004)
Solitair – rapper
Lenny Solomon – pop and jazz singer
Maribeth Solomon – songwriter, composer
Aaron Solowoniuk – drummer (Billy Talent)
Harry Somers – composer
SonReal – rapper
Martina Sorbara – folk-pop singer
Arielle Soucy – singer-songwriter
Souldia - rapper
Jay Sparrow – rock singer-songwriter
Spek Won – rapper
Kevin Spencer – multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer
Spirit – guitarist and singer-songwriter
Rae Spoon – folk/indie singer-songwriter
Tony "Wild T" Springer – blues-rock guitarist
Frederick Squire – rock singer, guitarist (Shotgun & Jaybird)
Glen Stace – rock singer
Leeroy Stagger – singer-songwriter
Ethel Stark – violinist and conductor
Erroll Starr – rhythm and blues singer
Kinnie Starr – singer-songwriter
Lucille Starr – singer
Cassie Steele – singer-songwriter, actress
Chrissy Steele – rock singer
Emily Steinwall – singer, composer, saxophonist
Katie Stelmanis – singer-songwriter
Ian Stephens – punk rock musician
Martin Stevens – disco singer
Tyler Stewart – drummer
Craig Stickland – singer-songwriter
Jeff Stinco – singer-songwriter and rhythm-guitarist (Simple Plan)
Georgina Stirling – singer
Andy Stochansky – singer-songwriter, drummer (former drummer for Ani DiFranco)
Kim Stockwood – singer
Jayme Stone – banjoist, composer
Miranda Stone – singer-songwriter
Storry – pop, R&B singer-songwriter
Charlie Storwick – singer-songwriter
Amanda Stott – singer
Jeffery Straker – singer-songwriter
Byron Stroud – bassist (Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory)
Sukha – rapper
Mark Sultan – singer-songwriter, Sultan Records founder
Harold Sumberg – violinist
Cree Summer – rock/alternative singer
Richard Summerbell – singer-songwriter
Leonard Sumner – singer-songwriter
Terry Sumsion – country singer
Michelle Sweeney – jazz singer
Skye Sweetnam – singer-songwriter
Gwen Swick – singer-songwriter
Tomi Swick – singer-songwriter
Ember Swift – singer-songwriter
Kurt Swinghammer – singer-songwriter
== T ==
Tablo – rapper (Epik High)
Tanya Tagaq – Inuk throat singer, folk singer
Talk – indie rock singer
Tamia – R&B singer
Theo Tams – singer-songwriter (winner of Canadian Idol, 2008)
Eva Tanguay – vaudeville singer
Chaim Tannenbaum – folk singer
Tariq – singer-songwriter, radio personality
Tasha the Amazon – rapper
Bobby Taylor – R&B singer-songwriter
Dione Taylor – jazz singer
Julian Taylor – rock singer
R. Dean Taylor – singer-songwriter, producer for Motown
Lydia Taylor – rock singer
Tebey – country singer-songwriter
Mark Templeton – electro-acoustic musician
The Tenors – vocal trio tenor musician operatic gospel pop
Marie-Jo Thério – singer-songwriter
David Thibault – singer
David Clayton Thomas – singer (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
Ian Thomas – singer-songwriter, actor, author
T. Thomason – singer-songwriter
Don Thompson – jazz musician
Jamie Thompson – drummer, beat-maker
Nicholas Thorburn – frontman for Islands
Ian Thornley – singer-songwriter
Willie Thrasher – Inuk singer-songwriter
Thrust – rapper
Georges Thurston – soul singer
Martin Tielli – singer-songwriter (Rheostatics)
Margo Timmins – singer (Cowboy Junkies)
Tire le coyote – singer-songwriter
Brent Titcomb – musician, actor
Liam Titcomb – singer-songwriter
Ken Tobias – singer-songwriter
Maylee Todd – pop singer
Yvette Tollar – jazz singer, composer
Henri Tomasi – composer and conductor
Töme – reggae singer
Morgan Toney – folk singer-songwriter and fiddler
Tor – electronic musician
Marie-Chantal Toupin – Francophone pop singer
Theresa Tova – musical theatre actress
Tenille Townes – country singer-songwriter
Devin Townsend – multi-instrumentalist, metal guitarist, songwriter
Pete Traynor – rock guitarist and bassist, designer of Traynor Amplifiers
Pat Travers – rock guitarist
Tre Mission – rapper
Lucie Blue Tremblay – folk singer-songwriter
Domenic Troiano – guitarist
Valerie Tryon – pianist
Andrina Turenne – folk singer-songwriter
Ronald Turini - classical pianist
Cynthia Johnston Turner – conductor
Kreesha Turner – R&B singer
Shania Twain – country/pop singer
Jessica Tyler – singer-songwriter and actress
Ian Tyson – folk singer
Sylvia Tyson – singer-songwriter, guitarist
== U ==
Dave Ullrich – drummer, singer (the Inbreds, Egger)
Shari Ulrich – folk rock singer-songwriter
Suzie Ungerleider – alternative country singer
UpsideDown – DJ, producer
David Usher – rock singer-songwriter (Moist)
Terry Uyarak – singer-songwriter
== V ==
Mathew V – pop singer
Jake Vaadeland – country and bluegrass singer-songwriter
Vaï – hip-hop singer
Elizabeth Anka Vajagic – post-rock singer, guitarist
Valdy – singer-songwriter
Gilles Valiquette – rock singer, guitarist
Jim Vallance – songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Rosie Valland – pop singer-songwriter
Dom Vallie – rapper
Diyet van Lieshout – singer-songwriter
Randy Vancourt – pop singer-songwriter, theatre and TV composer
Chad VanGaalen – singer-songwriter
Vanity – singer, model
Gino Vannelli – rock singer
Chris Velan – pop and rock singer-songwriter
Alx Veliz – singer-songwriter
Stéphane Venne – songwriter and composer
Reg Vermue – singer-songwriter ("Gentleman Reg")
Tim Vesely – singer, guitarist (Rheostatics)
Jon Vickers – operatic tenor
Daniel Victor – rock musician (Neverending White Lights)
Gilles Vigneault – singer-songwriter
Annie Villeneuve – singer-songwriter
Suzie Vinnick – folk and blues singer-songwriter, guitarist
Laura Vinson – country singer-songwriter
Jon Vinyl – R&B/soul singer
Virginia to Vegas – singer-songwriter
Claude Vivier – classical composer
Roch Voisine – singer-songwriter
Florent Vollant – aboriginal singer
Leif Vollebekk – singer-songwriter
Brian Vollmer – rock singer (Helix)
Lindy Vopnfjörð – singer-songwriter
== W ==
Martha Wainwright – folk-pop singer
Rufus Wainwright – folk-pop singer
Frank Walker – EDM DJ
Rody Walker – singer (Protest the Hero)
Colter Wall – folk singer
Christopher Ward – songwriter
Chris Wardman – songwriter, guitarist (Blue Peter)
Andy Warren – singer-songwriter
Jackie Washington – blues and folk singer-songwriter, guitarist
Jeff Waters – guitarist and vocalist for heavy metal band Annihilator
Ruby Waters – singer-songwriter
Sneezy Waters – singer-songwriter
Dawn Tyler Watson – blues singer
Patrick Watson – singer-songwriter
Andrée Watters – singer-songwriter
The Weeknd – singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor born Abel Tesfaye
John Welsman – composer, songwriter
Zack Werner – artist, producer, entertainment lawyer, manager
Daniel Wesley – singer-songwriter
Wesli – world music guitarist
Jim West – guitarist for "Weird Al" Yankovic
Phil Western – drummer, programmer (Download)
Dawud Wharnsby-Ali – singer-songwriter
Deryck Whibley – singer-songwriter (Sum 41)
Bill White – composer, choral group leader
Nancy White – singer-songwriter, musical satirist
Portia White – operatic contralto
Rick White – singer-songwriter (Eric's Trip), guitarist
Alissa White-Gluz – metal vocalist and songwriter (Arch Enemy, The Agonist)
Jenny Whiteley – folk and country singer-songwriter
Ken Whiteley - multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer
Andrew Whiteman – singer-songwriter, guitarist (Broken Social Scene, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Apostle of Hustle)
David Wiffen – folk singer-songwriter
David Wilcox – blues guitarist, singer
Richie Wilcox – singer
Simon Wilcox – singer-songwriter (daughter of David Wilcox)
JJ Wilde – rock singer
Healey Willan – organist, composer
Hal Willis – singer-songwriter
Charlotte Day Wilson – singer-songwriter
Tom Wilson – singer-songwriter
Jesse Winchester – singer-songwriter
Kurt Winter – guitarist, songwriter (the Guess Who)
Bob Wiseman – pianist, songwriter
Karl Wolf – R&B singer-songwriter
Royal Wood – singer-songwriter
Donovan Woods – singer-songwriter
Roy Woods – singer-songwriter, rapper
Hawksley Workman – singer-songwriter
Michelle Wright – country singer-songwriter
Kris Wu – rapper
== Y ==
Tony Yike Yang – pianist
Jonah Yano – indie pop singer-songwriter
Nikki Yanovsky – singer
Zal Yanovsky – guitarist, singer (the Lovin' Spoonful)
Francesco Yates – singer-songwriter
Ken Yates – folk singer-songwriter
Lori Yates – country singer
Kathleen Yearwood – singer-songwriter, guitarist
d'bi Young – dub poet
Neil Young – singer-songwriter, guitarist
Young K – singer-songwriter, bass player Day6
Catalina Yue – singer-songwriter
== Z ==
Jordon Zadorozny – singer, producer
La Zarra – singer
Mary Lu Zahalan – rock singer
Zaho – R&B singer
Alfie Zappacosta – singer, actor
Maurice Zbriger – violinist, composer, conductor
Zeina – pop/R&B singer
Liping Zhang – soprano
Joel Zifkin – electric violinist, songwriter, composer
Brock Zeman – producer, singer-songwriter, touring musician
Gilles Zolty – singer-songwriter, composer, sound designer
Jesse Zubot – violinist, composer |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Beale_McLean | Edward Beale McLean | Edward "Ned" Beale McLean (1889 – July 28, 1941) was the publisher and owner of The Washington Post newspaper, from 1916 until 1933. McLean was also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and purchaser of the Hope Diamond, which was traditionally believed to carry a curse. Edward McLean was declared insane and died in a psychiatric hospital.
== Early life ==
McLean was born into a publishing fortune founded by his paternal grandfather, Washington McLean, who owned The Washington Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer. He was the only child of John Roll McLean, for whom McLean, Virginia, is named, and the former Emily Truxtun Beale, daughter of Edward F. Beale and the former Mary Edwards. Emily was a hostess and socialite who was the inspiration for the character Victoria Dare in the 1880 comic novel, Democracy: An American Novel by Henry Brooks Adams. He attended Brooks Debartolo Collegiate High School.
== Career ==
In 1916, Edward inherited The Washington Post, which he owned and published until 1933.
=== Thoroughbred horse racing ===
In 1915, Edward McLean acquired Belmont Plantation, where he had built a horse stable and training track for thoroughbreds. Involved with show horses for a number of years, in 1917 McLean purchased 32 racehorses and hired trainer H. Eugene Leigh. His notable runners included Toro, the winner of the 1928 American Derby. The horse also ran third in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness Stakes. McLean dispersed his bloodstock in June 1931 and, in December, the estate was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Hurley.
== Hope Diamond ownership ==
On January 28, 1911, in a deal made in the offices of The Washington Post, McLean purchased the Hope Diamond for US$180,000 from Pierre Cartier of Cartier Jewelers on Fifth Avenue in New York City. A clause in the sale agreement for the diamond (which was widely believed to have brought death and disaster to its owners) stated: "Should any fatality occur to the family of Edward B. McLean within six months, the said Hope diamond is agreed to be exchanged for jewelry of equal value". By March, as the diamond had not been paid for, Cartier retained a lawyer to sue McLean for payment. McLean responded by saying that the diamond was on loan for inspection. On February 2, 1912 The New York Times reported, "Wealthy Purchasers of Famous Stone to Retain It Despite Sinister Reputation." The McLeans purchased the diamond for $180,000. For eight years, the bad luck association of the diamond was not evident. However, some subsequent events led to further speculation of the curse. In 1997, The Washington Post referenced its former publisher, the feckless Ned McLean, as "more of a curse even than the diamond".
== Personal life ==
His wife, Evalyn Walsh McLean, was a prominent Washington socialite. They married in 1908. She was the only surviving child and sole heiress of mining millionaire Thomas Walsh. Following a honeymoon trip around the world, the couple returned to Washington and settled into the McLean family's country house, called "Friendship", now the McLean Gardens Condominium development in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington. The McLeans lived lavishly and were prominent in Washington society.
=== Political friends ===
The McLeans were close friends of Senator and President Warren G. Harding and first lady Florence Harding.
McLean was also a friend of Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, through whom he became embroiled in the Teapot Dome scandal. McLean falsely told investigating Senator Thomas J. Walsh that he had given Fall a $100,000 loan when, in fact, Fall had illegally received money from private oil companies. When Walsh threatened to have McLean charged with perjury, McLean admitted the falsity of his claim. This admission was later characterized as "the first climactic sensation" and "the smoking gun" of the scandal.
=== Divorce, mental illness, and death ===
The McLean marriage ended with much publicized and bitterly contested divorce proceedings, initiated by Mrs. McLean on grounds of infidelity, in October 1931. McLean filed for divorce in Mexico but his wife obtained a permanent injunction from a District of Columbia court ordering the cessation of the Mexican proceedings. Edward McLean then suddenly announced he had already married Rose Douras, a sister of Hollywood film star Marion Davies; though a marriage had not occurred. McLean immediately took up residence in Riga, Latvia, where he again filed for a divorce, which was granted on December 13, 1932.
Edward McLean's increasingly erratic behavior and reckless spending led to the forced sale of The Washington Post by trustees appointed by the court. The divorce proceedings of Evalyn McLean continued in United States court but were dropped following an October 31, 1933, verdict by a jury in a Maryland trial that declared Edward McLean to be legally insane and incapable of managing his affairs. The court ordered that he be committed indefinitely to a psychiatric hospital.
Edward McLean died of a heart attack at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson, Maryland in 1941.
=== Progeny ===
On May 18, 1919, nine-year-old Vinson Walsh McLean (born December 18, 1909), the eldest of four McLean children, was struck by a car and killed while crossing Wisconsin Avenue in front of their house.
On October 9, 1941, their 19-year-old daughter, Evalyn Washington "Evie" McLean (November 16, 1921–September 20, 1946), became the fifth wife of 57-year-old Senator Robert Rice Reynolds of North Carolina. Less than five years later, she was found dead by her mother. A coroner's inquest determined the cause of death to be an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Their daughter, Mamie Spears Reynolds, who was the first woman to qualify for the Daytona 500, married Luigi "Coco" Chinetti Jr., son of Italian race car driver and Ferrari agent Luigi Chinetti, in 1963; they divorced two years later. She later married Joseph E. Gregory, with whom she had two children.
The couple's second son, John Randolph "Jock" McLean II, married three times to socialites: first to Agnes Landon Pyne Davis Bacon (née Davis) in 1941, then to Elizabeth Muhlenberg “Betty” Brooke Blake Phipps Reed (née Blake) in 1943, and finally to former model Mildred W. "Brownie" Brown Schrafft (née Brown) in 1953. In 1976, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt rented Brownie McLean's Palm Beach estate, El Solano, as a background for published photographs. In January 1980 she sold the mansion to Yoko Ono and John Lennon. She turned down the Hope Diamond in 1952 when offered by her husband on the passing of his mother, due to the so-called "curse" associated with it.
Third son, Edward Beale McLean, Jr., married Ann Carroll Meem in May 1938. Their divorce was granted in July 1943 and in August he married actress Gloria Hatrick, with whom he had two sons, Ronald and Michael. Ronald was killed in action in 1969 by enemy fire while serving in Vietnam as a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. McLean Jr. and Gloria divorced in January 1948. In October of that year, he married Manuela Mercedes "Mollie" Hudson, who had been the first wife of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr.; in August 1949, Gloria married actor James Stewart. McLean Jr. and Hudson-Vanderbilt separated in the 1960s and divorced in 1973, after which he married Patricia Dewey. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Centre | Rogers Centre | Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a retractable roof stadium in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). As well as being improved over the decades, during the MLB offseasons of 2022–24, the stadium was renovated by upgrading the sports facilities and hospitality whilst reducing the capacity for baseball games. While it is primarily a sports venue, the stadium also hosts other large events such as conventions, trade fairs, concerts, travelling carnivals, circuses and monster truck shows.
Previously, the stadium was also home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) played an annual game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. The stadium served as the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan American Games (renamed the Pan-Am Dome or Pan-Am Ceremonies Venue due to sponsorship regulations).
The stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the 2005 purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, the corporation that also owns the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite the name change, the stadium is still commonly referred to as SkyDome in informal contexts among fans. The venue is noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball.
== History ==
=== Background and design ===
The idea of building a domed stadium can be traced back to the bid that Toronto lost to Montreal as the Canadian candidate city for the 1976 Summer Olympics. In the proposal, an 80,000–100,000 seat complex would be part of the planned Harbour City development on the site of Maple Leaf Stadium.
The contemporary impetus for building an enclosed sports venue in Toronto came following the Grey Cup game in November 1982, held at the outdoor Exhibition Stadium. The game, in which the hometown Toronto Argonauts (also known as the Argos) were making their first Grey Cup appearance since 1971, was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched, leading the media to call it "the Rain Bowl". As many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, thousands watched the game from the concession section. To make a bad experience even worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, and the poor conditions were seen by the largest television audience in Canada (over 7.862 million viewers) to that point. The following day, at a rally for the Argos at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!"
Seven months later, in June 1983, Davis formally announced a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay.
The committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to BC Place in Vancouver. In 1985, an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site. Some of the proposed sites included Exhibition Place, Downsview Airport, and York University. The final site was at the base of the CN Tower not far from Union Station, a major railway and transit hub. The Railway Lands were a major Canadian National Railway rail switching yard encompassing the CNR Spadina Roundhouse (the desolate downtown lands were part of a master plan for revitalizing the area, which includes CityPlace). Ultimately, the Robbie/Allen concept won because it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound.
The stadium was designed by architect Rod Robbie and structural engineer Michael Allen and was constructed by the EllisDon Construction company of London, Ontario and the Dominion Bridge Company of Lachine, Quebec. The stadium's construction lasted about 2+1⁄2 years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million ($1.25 billion in 2025 dollars) which was paid for by the federal government, Ontario provincial government, the City of Toronto, and a large consortium of corporations.
=== Financing ===
The stadium was funded by a public–private partnership, with the government paying the largest percentage of the cost. The initial cost of $150 million was greatly underestimated, as the final cost was C$570 million ($1.25 billion in 2025 dollars). Two levels of government (Metro Toronto and provincial) each initially contributed $30 million ($65.9 million in 2025 dollars). This does not include the value of the land that the stadium sits on, which was owned by the Canada Lands Company (a Crown corporation of Canada) and the City of Toronto and was leased for $900,000 a year through 2088. Canada's three main breweries (Labatt's, Molson, and Carling O'Keefe) and the Toronto Blue Jays each paid $5 million ($11 million in 2025 dollars) to help fund the stadium. An additional 26 other Canadian corporations (selected by invitation only) also contributed $5 million, for which they received one of the 161 Skyboxes with four parking spaces (for ten years, with an opportunity for renewal) and a 99-year exclusive option on stadium advertising. The initial cost of leasing a Skybox ranged from $150,000 to $225,000 ($329,278 to $493,917 in 2025 dollars) a year in 1989 – plus the cost of tickets for all events.
The then unusual financing structure created controversy. First of all, there was no public tender for supplies and equipment. Secondly, companies that paid the $5 million fee, such as Coca-Cola, TSN and CIBC, received 100 percent stadium exclusivity, including advertising rights, for the life of their contract that could be extended up to 99 years. Third, the contracts were not put up for bid, meaning there was some doubt the contracts were made at a market rate: Pepsi stated at the time that had it known the terms of the contract it would have paid far more than $5 million for the rights. Local media like NOW Magazine called the amount charged to the companies "scandalously low".
=== Construction ===
Construction of the Ontario Stadium Project was spearheaded by lead contractor EllisDon. Several factors complicated the construction: The lands housed a functioning water pumping station that needed to be relocated, the soil was contaminated from a century of industrial use, railway buildings needed to be torn down or moved, and the site was rich with archaeological finds. One of the most complex issues was moving the John Street pumping station across the street to the south of the stadium. Foundations to the stadium were being poured even as the facility (in the infield area) continued to function, as construction on its new location had yet to be completed.
Because the stadium was the first of its kind in the world, the architects and engineers kept the design simple (by using a sturdy dome shape) and used proven technologies to move the roof. It was important the design would work and be reliable as to avoid the various problems that plagued Montreal's Olympic Stadium. The 31-storey-high roof consists of four panels: one (on the north end) is fixed in place and the other three are moved by electrically driven 'train' engines, that run on high-strength railway rails. The roof, which takes 20 minutes to open, was made out of steel trusses covered by corrugated steel cladding, which in turn is covered by a single-ply PVC membrane.
Because of its location south of the major railway corridor, new pedestrian connections had to be built; the infrastructure was part of the reason for the high cost of the stadium. The SkyWalk is an approximately 500-metre (1,600 ft) enclosed walkway that leads from the base of the CN Tower and via a bridge connects to Union Station (and is part of the Path network). The John Street cable-stayed bridge was built to provide north–south passage over the rail tracks, linking Front Street with the stadium.
Construction at the site, which at one time was south of the shoreline, unearthed over 1,500 artifacts. These included a 200-year-old French cannon used as ballast for a ship, cannonballs, pottery and a telescope. The stadium was completed two months late, having been planned to open for the first regular season game of the 1989 Toronto Blue Jays season; the team played the first two months of its home schedule at Exhibition Stadium that year.
=== Naming ===
The official name prior to and during construction was the 'Ontario Stadium Project' but was widely referred to in local media as simply 'the Dome' or 'Toronto Domed stadium'. As completion neared, the name "SkyDome" was chosen as part of a province-wide "name the stadium" contest in 1987. Sponsored by the Toronto Sun, ballots were offered for people to submit their suggested name, with lifetime seats behind home plate to all events at the stadium (including concerts) as the prize. Over 150,000 entries were received with 12,897 different names. The selection committee narrowed it down to four choices: "Towerdome", "Harbourdome", "SkyDome", and simply "the Dome". The judges' final selection was SkyDome. Premier David Peterson drew the prize-winning entry of Kellie Watson from a lottery barrel containing the over-2,000 entries that proposed "SkyDome". At the press conference announcing the name, Chuck Magwood, president of the Stadium Corporation of Ontario (Stadco), the crown corporation created to run SkyDome, commented: "The sky is a huge part of the whole roof process. The name has a sense of the infinite and that's what this is all about." Kellie Watson received lifetime seating of choice at SkyDome, which is still honoured after the stadium was renamed to Rogers Centre, under new ownership.
=== Opening ===
The stadium was intended to be ready in time for Opening Day of the 1989 Toronto Blue Jays season. However, due to construction delays caused in part by widespread construction worker strikes across Ontario, this was postponed and the Blue Jays began their season at Exhibition Stadium. The stadium officially opened on June 3, 1989, and hosted an official grand opening show: "The Opening of SkyDome: A Celebration", broadcast on CBC Television the following evening hosted by Brian Williams. With a crowd of over 50,000 in attendance, the event included appearances by Alan Thicke, Oscar Peterson (no relation to David), Andrea Martin of SCTV, impressionist André-Philippe Gagnon and rock band Glass Tiger. The roof was ceremonially "opened" by Ontario Premier David Peterson with a laser pen. The roof's opening exposed the crowd to a downpour of rain. Despite audible chants of "close the roof", Magwood insisted the roof remain fully open.
=== Financial problems and fallout ===
The stadium became a thorn in the side of David Peterson's Ontario Liberal government for repeated cost overruns. After the Liberals were defeated by the NDP in the 1990 Ontario election, a review by the new Bob Rae government in October 1990 revealed Stadco's debt meant the Dome would have to be booked 600 days a year to turn a profit, almost twice as many days as there are days in a calendar year. The stadium income was only $17 million in its first year of operations, while debt service was $40 million. It was determined the abrupt late inclusion by Stadco of a hotel and health club added an additional $112 million to the cost of the building.
As the province slipped into a recession, Rae appointed University of Toronto professor Bruce Kidd and Canadian Auto Workers President Bob White to the Stadco board to help deal with the stadium's growing debt, but the original $165 million debt had increased to $400 million by 1993. Stadco became a political liability, and in March 1994, the Ontario government paid off all outstanding Stadco debts from the government treasury and sold the stadium for $151 million to a private consortium that included Labatt Breweries, the Blue Jays' owner.
In November 1998, the stadium, which Labatt then owned as 49 percent of total, filed for bankruptcy protection, triggered after disastrous Skybox renewal numbers. Most of the 161 Skybox tenants had signed on for 10-year leases; a marked decrease in interest in the stadium's teams and the construction of the Air Canada Centre, which hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, resulted in few renewals for Skybox leases. That same month, the Blue Jays re-signed for an additional ten years in the facility.
In April 1999, Sportsco International LP bought the stadium out of bankruptcy protection for $80 million.
=== Purchase and renaming ===
In November 2004, Rogers Communications, parent company of the Blue Jays, acquired SkyDome, excluding the attached SkyDome hotel, which had been sold to Renaissance for a reported $31 million in 1999, from Sportsco for about $25 million – roughly four percent of the cost of construction.
On February 2, 2005, Ted Rogers, President and CEO of Rogers Communications, announced a three-year corporate contract to change the name of SkyDome to Rogers Centre. The name change remains controversial and is unpopular with many fans, most of whom continue to refer to it as SkyDome in opposition to increased commercialism from the purchase of naming rights. One example is a 25,000-name petition started by TTC bus driver Randy Rajmoolie. A baseball diamond in Toronto's Trinity Bellwoods Park is officially named SkyDome after the stadium's former and popular name.
After the purchase, Rogers refurbished the stadium by, among other things, replacing the Jumbotron with a Daktronics video display, and erecting other new monitors, including several built into the outfield wall. They also installed a new FieldTurf artificial playing surface.
In May 2005, the Toronto Argonauts agreed to three five-year leases at Rogers Centre, which could have seen the Argonauts play out of Rogers Centre up to and including 2019. The team had the option to leave at the end of each of the three lease agreements. Proposed plans to lock Rogers Centre into its baseball configuration permanently in order to install a natural grass surface forced the Argonauts to relocate to BMO Field before the 2016 season.
In November 2005, Rogers Centre received a complete makeover to "open" the 100 Level concourse to the playing field and convert 43 luxury boxes to "party suites". This required some seats to be removed, which decreased overall capacity.
In April 2006, Rogers Centre became one of the first buildings of its size to adopt a completely smoke-free policy in Canada, anticipating an act of provincial legislature that required all Ontario public places to go smoke-free by June 1, 2006.
Alcohol was not available to patrons of Rogers Centre on April 7, 2009, as the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) imposed the first of a three-day alcohol suspension at the stadium for "infractions (that) took place at certain past events", according to the press release.
=== Major renovation in the 2020s ===
By 2020, with the Rogers Centre over 30 years old and one of the oldest active stadiums in MLB, Rogers had begun to explore options for the long-term home of the team. Rogers Communications and Brookfield Asset Management reportedly discussed replacing Rogers Centre with a smaller, baseball-specific stadium plus residential towers, office buildings, retail stores and public space. The new venue would be constructed on the southern end of the current stadium and adjacent parking lots, while the mixed-use development would be built on the northern portion of the site. An alternate site was also considered for a new baseball park at Quayside in Toronto's east end next to Lake Ontario.
However, the Blue Jays instead decided to undertake a major $400 million renovation of the stadium's interior in two phases, during the 2022–23 and 2023–24 offseasons. The objective of the renovations was to extend the ballpark's shelf life by another 10–15 years, while continuing to plan for a new stadium or more significant rebuild of the Rogers Centre within the next 10 to 12 years.
==== 2022–2023 ====
The first phase of the renovations was designed by Populous and involved re-orienting outfield seats to face home plate, raising bullpens, adjusting the outfield dimensions to be asymmetrical, adding social spaces with bars in the outfield sections of the 500 Level (the highest level), and removing some seats to widen all remaining seats, thereby reducing capacity to 41,500 attendees. The 2023 Blue Jays home opener was moved a few days later to accommodate the first phase of the renovation.
==== 2023–2024 ====
The second phase involved re-orienting the infield seats to face home plate, the addition of cupholders to the seats in the 100 Level, as well as reducing the size of foul territory, improving the dugouts for the Blue Jays and their opponents, and the addition of LED backstop advertising to cover the entire backstop, which is much more visible during television broadcasts. Following the second phase, capacity of the stadium was reduced further to 39,150. The 2024 Blue Jays home opener was also moved a few days later to accommodate the second phase of the renovation.
=== List of improvements ===
Significant improvements to the facility since opening in 1989 include:
Exterior roof lighting that can be programmed for themes and events.
The Blue Jays clubhouse was substantially renovated, including a larger training room, an open concept lounge and personal lockers. In total, the clubhouse expanded from 12,000 to 24,000 square feet (1,100 to 2,200 m2).
Main level concourse expansion, making the space brighter, more fan-friendly with expanded wheelchair seating.
The FieldTurf was upgraded to AstroTurf Gameday Grass for 2010.
The main video board was upgraded in 2005, from a JumboTron to a modern Daktronics video board, measuring 33 by 110 feet (10 by 34 m).
Jays Shop – Stadium Edition, was expanded to an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) retail space along the main concourse (2007).
Two video boards were built into the outfield fence that each measure 10 by 65 feet (3 by 20 m). These boards provide player stats, out-of-town scores and other information related to the game and league.
A continuous, ribbon-style video board was installed on the facing of the 300 Level, providing statistics and scores.
Installation of 150 new 42-inch (1.07 m) flat-screen video monitors in the main- and second-level concourses, bringing the number of stadium monitors to around 300.
Upgrade of the entire field lighting system in a two-month conversion process with all 840 of the 2,000-watt bowl lights replaced.
A centre-field porch (later named the WestJet Flight Deck) in the 200 Level was added following the removal of the windows of the former Windows Restaurant (2013, $2 million).
The AstroTurf Gameday Grass was upgraded to AstroTurf Gameday Grass 3D Extreme for the 2015 season.
A full dirt infield was installed for 2016; for the previous six seasons, Rogers Centre was the only MLB ballpark with sliding pits.
A two-year, $10 million roof upgrade, completed for the 2017 season, updated the aging OT network and control system to speed up the opening and closing process, reduce monitoring staff requirements, and added a rooftop weather station to better predict incoming weather systems.
A new AstroTurf field was installed prior to the 2021 season. The new turf is attached to the floor, so the stands will no longer be able to be rolled and will be permanently locked into baseball configuration.
Further lighting and video board upgrades were made for the 2022 season.
For the 2024 The Eras Tour by Taylor Swift, new antennas were installed in the Rogers Centre for 5G cellular service, at a cost of $8 million. The stadium street address was also renamed "1 Taylor Swift Way" specifically for the concerts.
== Stadium features ==
=== Retractable roof ===
The venue was the first major team sports stadium in North America with a functional, fully retractable roof (Montreal's Olympic Stadium also had a retractable roof, but due to operational issues, it was replaced with a permanent fixed roof). The roof is composed of four panels and covers an area of 345,000 square feet (32,100 m2). The two middle panels slide laterally to stack over the north semi-circular panel, and then the south semi-circular panel rotates around the stadium and nests inside the stack. It takes 20 minutes for the roof to open or close. It is not possible to move the roof in cold weather because the mechanism that closes the roof could fail in cooler weather.
=== Field ===
The original AstroTurf installation was replaced with FieldTurf from 2005 to 2010. The FieldTurf took about 40 hours to remove for events such as concerts or trade shows, as it used 1,400 trays that needed to be stacked and transported off the field. Prior to the 2010 baseball season, to reduce the amount of time required to convert the playing field, a new, roll-based version of AstroTurf was installed. Similar to FieldTurf, the installation uses a sand- and rubber-based infill within the synthetic fibres. Rogers Centre is one of five venues in Major League Baseball that use artificial turf (the others are Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, LoanDepot Park in Miami, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona) and was the last venue to use "sliding pits" before switching to a full dirt infield for the 2016 baseball season. Before the Argonauts moved out, the pitcher's mound could be lowered or raised hydraulically when converting from baseball to football (or vice versa).
The use of natural grass was long thought to be unfeasible since the stadium was designed as a closed structure with a roof that opens, and as such, the interior was not intended or built to deal with weather, including low temperatures and drainage. As of the 2020 season, they are one of two teams to have never played a home game on grass at their main stadium (the Tampa Bay Rays played some home games in 2007 and 2008 at Champion Stadium in Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, as well as during the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field; during the 2020 and much of the 2021 seasons, due to travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Toronto Blue Jays played most of their home games at their AAA affiliate's home stadium of Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York with the Blue Jays also playing home games in TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, during the first two months of the 2021 season). Along with Tropicana Field, the Rogers Centre warning track consists of brown turf, which does not provide any tactile differences from the rest of the field.
However, the Blue Jays have long explored the possibility of converting the Rogers Centre to a natural grass surface, and plans were examined in order to install a grass field by 2018 to allow enough time for research and growing of the sod. Installing grass would require digging up the floor, adding a drainage system, and installing 30 cm (1 ft) of dirt. The stadium would need to be permanently locked into its baseball configuration; the lower stands, which roll into position for football, would be permanently fixed in position for baseball. The plan became more definite when Rogers renewed the Argonauts' lease through 2017, but ruled out any further extensions; in May 2015, it was announced the Argonauts would move to BMO Field for the 2016 season. The Blue Jays subsequently confirmed the Argonauts' early departure would not accelerate their own plans to install grass in 2018, though it did allow for a dirt infield to be installed for the 2016 season. However, it does not appear likely the field will be converted to natural grass, as no further announcements for replacing the surface have been made since, and the field continues to retain its artificial surface.
=== Seating ===
There are a total of 5,700 club seats and 161 luxury suites at the Rogers Centre. The complex had a Hard Rock Café restaurant until December 2009 when the restaurant closed after its lease expired. The Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel is also within Rogers Centre with 70 rooms, and a restaurant and bar called the Sportsnet Grill overlooks the field. The Blue Jays in partnership with theScore Bet announced plans in April 2022 to create a new premium branded flagship sports bar and restaurant that would be open 365 days a year at the Rogers Centre and provide sports betting lines, including for daily fantasy sports.
==== Seating capacity ====
=== Main video board ===
The Rogers Centre video board is 33 feet (10 m) high and 110 feet (34 m) across. The panel is made up of modular LED units that can be replaced unit by unit, and can be repaired immediately should it be damaged during an event. Originally, this screen was a Sony Jumbotron, which was the largest in North America at the time of the stadium's opening, but it has since been replaced a few times. There are also two ribbon boards made up of LEDs that run along the east and west sides of the stadium interior. Each board is 434 feet (132 m) long by 3.5 feet (1.1 m) high. In addition, two video boards make up parts of the left and right outfield walls while the stadium is in baseball configuration. These are 65 feet (20 m) wide by nearly 10 feet (3.0 m) high.
The main video board was upgraded again for the 2022 Blue Jays season, this time by using more modern technology and adding four "wings", two on each side of the central part of the main video board with the lower wings on each side being wider, making the main video board no longer rectangular. This was to accommodate the windows of the hotel behind the main video board.
The video board and the stadium played host to several serial television events, including the series finales for Cheers and Star Trek: The Next Generation, along with live coverage of the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997.
The Rogers Centre was used to host watch parties during the 1992, 1993, and 2025 World Series when the Blue Jays were on the road against the Atlanta Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.
=== Public art ===
Over $5 million of artwork was commissioned in 1989 ($11 million in 2025 dollars):
The Audience – by Michael Snow, above the northeast and northwest entrances; it is a larger-than-life depiction of fans in various acts of celebration.
A Tribute to Baseball – by Lutz Haufschild, above the southeast and southwest entrances of Gate 5.
The Art of the Possible – by Mimi Gellman, inside along the north side of the concourse on the 100 Level. The glass and steel sculpture incorporates the signatures of 2,000 builders of SkyDome, and is a tribute to their work. Some of the artifacts found during excavation, such as musket balls and pottery, have also been included. The brightly illuminated sculpture became an issue to baseball players when the stadium first opened. The bright lights were considered a distraction to batters.
Salmon Run – by Susan Schelle, outside by the southeast entrance in Bobbie Rosenfeld Park; it is a large fountain with various stainless steel salmon cutouts.
Spiral Fountain – by Judith Schwarz.
A statue of Edward S. Rogers Jr., founder of Rogers Communications which purchased the Rogers Centre and Toronto Blue Jays in the early 2000s, was installed outside Rogers Centre between Gates 5 and 6,in 2013. In February 2026 it was announced that the statue would be moved to Rogers corporate headquarters, and replaced by a statue of Joe Carter's 1993 World Series home run. The new statue will be unveiled on 18 July 2026.
=== Parking ===
Rogers Centre's parking lot is located under the stadium itself. The underground parking lot is divided into four sections for stadium use (Sun, Moon, Star, and Cloud) and the ramps within the stadium correspond to these sections, while the fifth section, the Hotel Zone, being the northernmost section, is reserved for hotel uses by the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel directly above this section.
== Stadium usage ==
=== Baseball ===
The Blue Jays have hosted three World Series at Rogers Centre. Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 1992 World Series and Games 1, 2, and 6 of the 1993 World Series were played at the stadium, then known as SkyDome, with the Jays winning the championship both years. Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 of the 2025 World Series were also hosted at Rogers Centre. Additionally, the stadium hosted the 1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Game 3 of the 1992 World Series was the first time a championship game was ever played outside of the United States. The 1991 American League Championship Series was the first Major League Baseball playoff series played entirely indoors, with the first two games at the Metrodome in Minneapolis and the final three at SkyDome.
Games in the first round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic were played at the Rogers Centre.
=== Basketball ===
Besides baseball, Rogers Centre was the original home of the National Basketball Association's Toronto Raptors, who played at the venue from November 1995 to February 1999, while the Air Canada Centre (later renamed Scotiabank Arena) was being planned and built. It proved to be somewhat problematic as a basketball venue, even considering it was only a temporary facility. For instance, many seats theoretically in line with the court were so far away that fans needed binoculars to see the action. Other seats were so badly obstructed that fans sitting there could only watch the game on the replay boards. For most games, Rogers Centre seated 22,900 people. However, the Raptors sometimes opened the 500 Level, which is the stadium's uppermost level, when popular opponents came to town, such as the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was a member of the team, expanding capacity to 29,000 and held over 36,000 attendees at one point.
=== Football ===
Rogers Centre hosted Canadian football from opening in 1989 to 2015, as the Argonauts moved to BMO Field in 2016. In November 2007, it hosted the 95th Grey Cup, its first since 1992 and third all-time. It was the 56th Grey Cup hosted by the city of Toronto since the championship's inception in 1909.
From 1989 to 2003, SkyDome hosted the Vanier Cup championship of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (later renamed U Sports in 2016) football.
In 1994, then-part owner of SkyDome Labatt considered purchasing a National Football League and a Major League Soccer team to play at the stadium.
The International Bowl, an NCAA college football game between two American schools – one from the Big East Conference and one from the Mid-American Conference – has been played at Rogers Centre four times. The Big East school has won all four bowl games. On January 6, 2007, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the Western Michigan University Broncos, 27–24. The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University won the second bowl game in the series on January 5, 2008, by beating the Cardinals of Ball State University, 52–30. The Bulls of the University at Buffalo, a school within a ninety-minute drive of Rogers Centre, lost the third International Bowl to the University of Connecticut Huskies, 38–20. On January 2, 2010, the University of South Florida Bulls beat the Huskies of Northern Illinois University, 27–3.
Rogers Centre was also the venue for the 43rd Vanier Cup on Friday, November 23, 2007, just two days before Grey Cup Sunday. It was the 16th Vanier Cup hosted at the venue, returning after a three-year absence in which it was hosted by Hamilton, Ontario (2004 and 2005) and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (2006). It was the 40th Vanier Cup hosted by Toronto since that championship's inception in 1965.
==== NFL ====
The National Football League's Buffalo Bills announced its intentions to play five "home" games (and three pre-season games) in Rogers Centre in October 2007, so beginning the Bills Toronto Series; the first of these regular-season games took place on December 7 of the 2008 season versus the Miami Dolphins. It marked the first time an NFL team has established a "home" stadium outside the United States for regular-season games. The Bills played a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Rogers Centre on August 14, 2008; the Toronto Series was played every year through the 2013 season.
=== Soccer ===
The SkyDome Cup was held in late January 1995 between hosts Canada, then–European champions Denmark (specifically Denmark League XI), and Portugal. From the mid-2000s, soccer matches have been regularly held in SkyDome / Rogers Centre; they had been rarely played at the venue when its AstroTurf surface had been in place. Examples of soccer (association football) matches:
On June 8, 2005, an international soccer friendly between Serbia and Montenegro and Italy took place, ending in a 1–1 draw.
On May 25, 2010, the stadium hosted a friendly soccer match between Italy's ACF Fiorentina and Juventus FC with Fiorentina winning 1–0.
On July 16, 2010, the stadium hosted a friendly soccer match between England's Manchester United F.C. and Scotland's Celtic F.C. Manchester United F.C. defeated Celtic F.C. with a score of 3–1. The match was played on a temporary grass surface harvested from Burford, Ontario and transported via 18 tractor-trailers.
On July 21, 2012, the stadium hosted the friendly between Toronto FC and Liverpool F.C., a match that finished in a 1–1 draw.
On November 19, 2013, Rogers Centre hosted a friendly soccer match between Brazil and Chile, a match that finished in a 2–1 victory for the Brazilian side.
=== Motorsports ===
Having originated in 1980 at Exhibition Stadium, the Toronto Supercross moved to the Rogers Centre upon its opening in 1989. The event was held annually through 1996 before going on hiatus. It was revived as a part of the FIM World Supercross GP series in 2004 and joined the AMA Supercross Championship after the two series fully merged in 2008. The event ran until 2014 and returned for 2016 and 2017. Then, on January 16, 1993, the stadium hosted the Skydome Grand Prix featuring the USAC National Midget Car Series. The night of racing featured NASCAR stars John Andretti, Kenny Irwin Jr., Tony Stewart and Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva racing on an 1/6 mile oval track and was broadcast across Canada on TSN.
=== Other sports ===
Rogers Centre has also hosted exhibition cricket, gaelic football, hurling, Australian rules football and tennis.
It hosted the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships.
On May 31, 1997, the venue hosted a post-Olympic track and field event that pitted Olympic track champions Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson, in a 150 m race billed as a competition for the title of the "World's Fastest Man", given media disputes over that title during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Bailey won the race, completing it in a time of 15 seconds and winning the $1.5 million prize. Johnson pulled up lame at the 110 m mark claiming a quadriceps injury.
Rogers Centre is the site of several major high school and collegiate sporting competitions, such as the Prentice Cup for high school baseball. Since 2008, the Rogers Centre is the host of the Greater Toronto high schools' Metro Bowl.
On April 30, 2011, UFC 129 was hosted at Rogers Centre, in the first major mixed martial arts event to ever be held in Ontario after the province lifted a ban on prizefighting. Due to overwhelming demand for tickets (with the initial slate of 42,000 selling in around half an hour), the UFC and Rogers Centre reconfigured the event for 55,000 tickets. The event broke a UFC attendance record set at UFC 124 in Montreal, and also set records for the largest single-day gate revenue in both UFC (surpassing UFC 66 by at least double) and Rogers Centre history.
For the 2015 Pan American Games, the Rogers Centre was used for the opening and closing ceremonies.
=== Professional wrestling ===
WWE has hosted WrestleMania at Rogers Centre twice. Under the former name of WWF, WrestleMania VI was held on April 1, 1990, with the main event being a title vs title match which saw WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior defeat the World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, set the SkyDome attendance record of 67,678. The attendance record was broken when 68,237 attended WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, the main event seeing Triple H win the Undisputed WWF Championship from Canadian Chris Jericho.
In February 1999, the stadium hosted a taping for the February 13, 1999, episode of Raw (a special Saturday-night airing due to USA Network's coverage of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show), featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin being defeated by Mr. McMahon in a gauntlet match against The Corporation. It had the largest crowd in Raw history, with a reported attendance of 41,432.
On March 1, 2025, WWE returned to the Rogers Centre to host Elimination Chamber.
=== Music concerts ===
The stadium has several concert configurations, including smaller Theatre (capacity 5,000 to 7,000) and Concert Hall (formerly SkyTent; capacity 10,000 to 25,000). Due to the stadium's design and building materials, the acoustics are poor, and the loudness/quality can vary greatly around the stadium. Its popularity with artists and fans has diminished over the years, and the Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Stadium now host most major concerts. The SkyTent, a group of acoustical curtain sails hoisted on rigging above the floor, helps reduce sound distortion and improve sound quality by dampening reverberations around the stadium.
Soon after its opening, the stadium became a popular venue for large-scale rock concerts and is the largest indoor concert venue in Toronto. Artists have included:
Bruce Springsteen, U2 with two concerts in 2009, as well as their concert in 2011, all part of their 360° Tour.
Bon Jovi performed two sellout shows on July 20 and 21, 2010, at Rogers Centre as part of The Circle Tour.
Bruce Springsteen performed on August 24, 2012, during his Wrecking Ball World Tour in front of 39,000 attendees.
The Rolling Stones played two sold-out concerts at the stadium: on December 4, 1989, during the Steel Wheels Tour and on September 26, 2005, during their highest-grossing tour A Bigger Bang Tour.
Madonna performed three shows from 27 May, 1990 at the Skydome, the shows were part of the Blond Ambition World Tour, and were Canada's only dates. Later, she performed two concerts at the stadium again during The Girlie Show World Tour for October 11 & 12, 1993.
Rogers Centre has been a venue for large electronic dance music events. During 2013, the stadium hosted two electronic dance music events, including two sold-out shows on Swedish House Mafia's One Last Tour, and Sensation.
Guns N' Roses performed at Rogers Centre on July 16, 2016, during their Not in This Lifetime... Tour in front of 48,016 attendees with Billy Talent.
Metallica also played a sold-out show at the stadium as part of their WorldWired Tour on July 16, 2017, with special guests Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat.
Shawn Mendes headlined his first stadium show to a sold-out crowd on September 6, 2019, at Rogers Centre during his Shawn Mendes: The Tour.
Beyoncé opened the North American leg of her Renaissance World Tour at the Rogers Center on July 8 and 9 2023, for 56,577 people.
Taylor Swift, the American singer-songwriter performed at the Rogers Centre as part of The Eras Tour from November 14 to 16, 2024 and subsequently November 21 to 23rd, which made her the first artist to schedule six shows on a single tour at Rogers Centre.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA, the American rapper and singer-songwriter performed two sold-out shows back to back on June 12 and 13, 2025 during their Grand National World Tour.
Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd, the Toronto native singer-songwriter, performed at the Rogers Centre as part of the After Hours til Dawn Tour on September 22–23, 2022; July 27–28, and August 7–8, 2025, and was awarded the keys to the city of Toronto for his July 27–28, 2025 performances, officially recognized as "The Weeknd Weekend."
=== Other uses ===
Rogers Centre contains 143,000 sq ft (13,300 m2) of exhibition space, allowing it to host a variety of events year-round.
Disney on Ice and circuses have used the venue.
It is home to several annual auto shows, with the Canadian International AutoShow in February and Importfest in October.
The Opening Ceremonies of the XVI International AIDS Conference were held at Rogers Centre on August 13, 2006.
It has also hosted many public speakers, including appearances by the Dalai Lama, Christian evangelist Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, and for a book reading with J. K. Rowling and Margaret Atwood.
In addition to being a venue that hosts sports, concerts and other events, the Rogers Centre also houses the head offices of a number of businesses. The Toronto Blue Jays have its office headquarters in the building and until 2008, the Toronto Argonauts did as well. It is also the home of the head offices of Ticketmaster Canada and Zuffa Canada, the former also having the main Ticketmaster outlet (ticket centre) for eastern Canada, at the south end of the building beside Gate 9.
In addition, the building contains the Toronto Renaissance Hotel, a Premier Fitness/Health Club, (formerly) a Hard Rock Cafe (now John Street Terrace), and (formerly) Windows Restaurant (now WestJet Flight Deck). From 2006 until its closure in 2009, the Hard Rock Cafe only opened when there was a performance in the building. On non-event days, there are daily tours of the Rogers Centre.
=== Attendance records ===
World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania X8 attracted the largest paid crowd to SkyDome. The March 17, 2002, event gathered 68,237 fans. WrestleMania VI held the previous record of 67,678 on April 1, 1990.
Major League Baseball: The 1991 All-Star Game on July 9 attracted 52,383 spectators.
Billy Graham Mission Ontario Youth Rally: This meeting, on June 10, 1995, is conceivably the most attended event in the stadium's history. The attendance of 72,500 was boosted by performances by several Christian music groups, and by extensive seating on the field. There were as many as 30,000 people outside, watching the event on screens around the stadium.
Toronto Blue Jays: A crowd of 52,268 attended game five of the 1992 World Series, which Toronto lost 7–2 to the Atlanta Braves. The smallest crowd for a Jays game occurred in April 2010, when 10,314 watched Toronto win 8–1 against the Kansas City Royals.
Canadian Football League: 54,088 packed the SkyDome to watch the 1989 Grey Cup Game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Toronto Argonauts: The 1991 Eastern Division Final played against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers drew a crowd of 50,386. The smallest crowd for an Argonauts game occurred on July 13, 2001, when 11,041 people watched Toronto lose 30–16 against Winnipeg
National Football League: 55,799 fans filled the Rogers Centre to see the Buffalo Bills defeat the Dallas Cowboys 9–7 in an American Bowl exhibition game on August 12, 1995.
Toronto Raptors: A March 24, 1996, game against the Chicago Bulls drew a crowd of 36,131. For this game, the basketball venue was reconfigured to accommodate more fans due to the popularity of the visiting team, which basketball superstar Michael Jordan played for during this time. The expansion Raptors handed the record-setting Bulls one of their ten defeats that season, winning 109–108.
Soccer: A July 31, 2004, soccer game between Celtic F.C. and AS Roma drew 50,158.
Mixed martial arts: UFC 129 sold 55,000 tickets for the highest single-day event gate in the stadium's history and set new world records for the sport.
== Timeline ==
1986 – October 3 – SkyDome's ground is broken.
1987 – June 3 – The stadium is officially named "SkyDome".
1989 – June 2 – Dress rehearsal for opening ceremony, family/friends of volunteer performers invited to attend. First unofficial "wave" performed at SkyDome.
1989 – June 3 – SkyDome officially opens, hosting a live opening night gala.
1989 – June 5 – SkyDome plays host to its first Blue Jays game. The Blue Jays lose 5–3 to the Milwaukee Brewers.
1989 – June 5 – Fred McGriff hits the first home run at SkyDome.
1989 – June 7 – John Cerutti records the first Blue Jays win at SkyDome, beating the Brewers 4–2.
1989 – June 8 – Rod Stewart performs the first concert at SkyDome.
1989 – July 12 – The stadium plays host to its first Argonauts game, a 24–15 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
1989 – July 17 – First Doubleheader at Skydome and the Jays win both games beating the Angels.
1989 – October 7 - Athletics' Jose Canseco hits a home run into the fifth deck of SkyDome, off Toronto Blue Jays' pitcher Mike Flanagan. It is an estimated 480-foot (150 m) shot, although one journalist estimated it to be at least 500 feet.
1989 – November 5 – Rest of the World defeats West Indies by 11 runs in longest game (cricket) hosted by SkyDome
1989 – November 26 – The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43–40 in the 77th Grey Cup.
1990 – April 1 – WrestleMania VI saw the then SkyDome attendance record of 67,678.
1990 – The MLB single-season attendance record is broken with 58 sellouts and a season total crowd of 3,885,284.
1991 – July 9 – The stadium is the host of the MLB All-Star Game.
1992 – The Calgary Stampeders defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24–10 in the 80th Grey Cup.
1992 – The first World Series game outside the United States is played at SkyDome, as the Blue Jays host the Atlanta Braves in game three of the 1992 World Series.
1993 – October 23 – The Blue Jays win their second straight World Series championship when Toronto outfielder Joe Carter hits a walk-off home run against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams.
1995 – June 22 – During a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, two acoustic panels fall off the inner ceiling in the seventh inning, injuring seven fans. The game is not stopped.
1995 – July 9 – A worker dies when installing lights for a computer show (falling 7.6 metres (25 ft))
1998 – November – Several dignitaries, including Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, honour the visiting South African president Nelson Mandela.
1998 – November – SkyDome files for bankruptcy protection.
1998 – SkyDome is purchased out of bankruptcy by Sportsco.
2001 – April 12 – A scheduled Blue Jays' game against the Kansas City Royals is cancelled due to the retractable roof jamming during a test run, damaging the roof and sending debris crashing to the field below.
2001 – August 3 – The retractable roof is ordered closed in the third inning of a Toronto Blue Jays' game against the Baltimore Orioles at the request of home plate umpire Tim Welke, as a swarm of thousands of aphids descends on SkyDome.
2001 – Oct 5 – The second doubleheader at SkyDome and the Jays win both games again beating the Cleveland Indians.
2002 – March 17 – WrestleMania X8 sets the SkyDome attendance record of 68,237.
2005 – February 2 – Rogers Communications buys the stadium and renames it Rogers Centre.
2007 – November 25 – Rogers Centre plays host to the 95th Grey Cup, the first in Toronto in 15 years. The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23–19 in the game.
2008 – August 14 – Rogers Centre plays host to a pre-season National Football League game between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers, the first of a five-year lease deal that sees the Bills playing occasional home games in Toronto.
2011 – April 30 – Rogers Centre holds its first UFC event, UFC 129. It is the first to be held in a stadium and was the biggest MMA event in North America at that time.
2011 – June 25 – Rogers Centre successfully holds the first International Indian Film Academy Awards event in North America.
2012 – November 25 – The Toronto Argonauts defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the 100th Grey Cup 35–22. Johnny Reid headlined a special Kick-Off Show, and half time performers include internationally renowned Canadian singers Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Marianas Trench, and Gordon Lightfoot.
2015 – July 10 – Rogers Centre holds the opening ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games.
2015 – July 26 – Rogers Centre holds the closing ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games.
2015 - November 6 - The last Argonauts game hosted at Rogers Centre before the team's move to BMO Field in the next season. The Argonauts won against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a score of 21–11.
2016 – October 4 – Rogers Centre opens its roof for the first time in Blue Jays postseason history during the American League Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles.
2018 – April 16 – A scheduled Blue Jays' game against the Kansas City Royals is cancelled due to the retractable roof having a hole as a result of the mid-April 2018 ice storm.
2018 – April 17 – The third doubleheader in Blue Jays history at Rogers Centre and the Blue Jays would remain unbeaten in doubleheaders at Rogers Centre as they beat Royals 11–3 in Game 1 and 5–4 in Game 2.
2020–21 – The Blue Jays are forced to relocate their home games to Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York and TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida on a temporary basis for the 2020 season and the start of the following season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the Canada–United States border.
2021 – July 30 – The first Blue Jays game back at Rogers Centre since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was against the Kansas City Royals.
2022 – July - The Blue Jays unveil plans for a major renovation of the Rogers Centre, with phase 1 focusing on outfield improvements.
2023 – July - Phase 2 of the Rogers Centre renovation plans are unveiled.
2024 – April - The two offseason renovations are completed, and the stadium was officially re-opened.
2025 – March 1 - WWE hosted Elimination Chamber: Toronto, which had an attendance of 38,493. The event was also notable for the John Cena turning heel for the first time in 22 years, and was the highest-grossing WWE event ever held in Canada.
== Facts and figures ==
=== Baseball firsts ===
==== Opening day (June 5, 1989) ====
Reference: Retrosheet: Skydome firsts
==== Batting ====
==== Pitching ====
=== Stadium-related ===
The stadium roof had a patent, which prevented its design from being easily copied: U.S. Patent #4676033. The patent was filed on May 1, 1986, and published June 30, 1987, to dome designers, architect Rod Robbie and structural engineer Michael Allen. The patent expired in 2006.
The original mascot of the stadium was a turtle by the name of Domer. Domer has not been widely used since the mid-1990s, although he did make a return on June 6, 2014, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rogers Centre.
When the retractable roof is open, people standing on the observation deck of the nearby CN Tower can look down on the field.
Over 50 million people have visited SkyDome/Rogers Centre.
When the roof is open, 91 percent of the seats and 100 percent of the field is open to the sky, covering an area of 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres).
The roof weighs 10,000 tonnes (11,000 short tons) and is held together by 250,000 bolts.
The stadium's inward-looking hotel rooms have regular two-way windows, yielding instances of what some could consider indecent exposure and leading to nicknames such as "SexDome" and "Exhibitionist Stadium". When SkyDome first opened, a couple engaging in sexual intercourse was televised on the scoreboard Jumbotron during a baseball game, thanks to illumination from stadium lighting despite the room's lights being off. Days later, a man was caught masturbating during a game in full view of the packed stands. The man, later tracked down by a Sports Illustrated reporter, calmly said, "I thought they were one-way windows." Patrons now have to sign contracts stipulating they will not perform any lewd acts within view of the stadium. The last reported such instance occurred in 1996. Occasionally, broadcasts will zoom into humorous instances from these hotel rooms, such as a pillow fight during the 1992 World Series.
When the stadium first opened, the Toronto Transit Commission was worried about the challenge of moving the large crowds. As a way to streamline the entry to the subway and to encourage public transit use to the stadium, all tickets for the first 30 days also worked as a Metropass, which was the commission's monthly pass.
The stadium corporation has been requested to help in the planning of other venues from the U.S., the Netherlands, England, Australia, New Zealand, to Singapore, China and Germany (Source: Rogers Centre Press release).
It was the most expensive stadium in both the Canadian Football League and Major League Baseball, constructed at a price of C$570 million (C$1.25 billion in 2025 dollars). This record was passed by the New Yankee Stadium at a cost of US$1.5 billion. If Montreal's Olympic Stadium (which was formerly the home field of the Expos, only used for CFL playoff games since the late 2000s and MLS playoff games since the mid-2010s) were counted, it would take the title, with a 1976 cost of C$1.6 billion (C$3.51 billion in 2025 dollars).
Rogers Centre has hosted regular-season games of five of the six major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada throughout the stadium's history; all but a National Hockey League (NHL) game, despite the Toronto Maple Leafs being in the NHL.
== In popular culture ==
The stadium is the setting of the climax in the 2022 Pixar animated film Turning Red, in which the fictional boy band 4*Town performs a large-scale concert during which the stadium is partially destroyed. As the Toronto-set film takes place in 2002, the stadium is referred to by its original name, SkyDome.
The exterior part of the venue was used in M. Night Shyamalan's 2024 film Trap to portray the fictional "Tanaka Arena" as it hosts a concert for in-universe popstar Lady Raven.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6441 | NGC 6441 | NGC 6441, sometimes also known as the Silver Nugget Cluster, is a globular cluster in the southern constellation of Scorpius. It was discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop on May 13, 1826, who described it as "a small, well-defined rather bright nebula, about 20″ in diameter". The cluster is located 5 arc minutes east-northeast of the star G Scorpii, and is some 43,000 light-years from the Sun.
This is one of the most massive and luminous globular clusters in the Milky Way, with an estimated 1.6 million solar masses of stars. It is located in the bulge of the galaxy at a distance of 13 kilolight-years (3.9 kpc) from the core, and is considered metal "rich". That is, it has a relatively high abundance of elements with higher mass than helium. The core region of the cluster subtends an angle of 0.11 arc minutes, compared to the half-mass radius of 0.64 arc minutes. The density of stars in the core region is indicated by the luminosity density: 5.25 L⊙ pc−3. The cluster has a half-light radius of 7.1 ly (2.18 pc).
This cluster has an abnormally large number of RR Lyrae variables—68 candidates as of 2006, and their periods are longer than is typical for their respective metallicities. (The mean period for the cluster's RRab stars is 0.759 day.) There are also several type II Cepheid stars, which is unusual given the high metallicity of this cluster. Examination of the red giant branch section of the color-magnitude diagram suggests that there are at least two and possibly three distinct populations in the cluster. The brightest and higher temperature members of the red clump stars are more concentrated toward the center of the cluster. This group may be a helium-enriched second generation of stars.
The cluster contains at least four millisecond pulsars, of which two are in binary systems. One of these binaries, PSR J1750−37A, is in a highly eccentric orbit with an eccentricity of 0.71. The cluster has an X-ray burster, X1746-370, which has the longest period known in any globular cluster and is consistent with the galaxy as a whole. Finally, there is a planetary nebula, JaFu 2, one of only four planetary nebulas known to inhabit globular clusters in the Milky Way. |
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